Aspiring to the Immortal Path

It was only a momentary clash, but it had been more dangerous than any before.

Tang Jie could never have imagined that just seeing the message left behind by the Martial Lord would bring down the Heavenly Dao’s eraser.

Tang Jie had not known about this eraser in the past, but in that moment, he had understood.

The Heavenly Dao’s eraser was not a Heavenly Tribulation. The Heavenly Tribulation was a method of punishment employed by the heavens. If the Heavenly Dao was the emperor, the Heavenly Tribulation was its army.

But the Heavenly Dao’s eraser signified the personal intervention of the Heavenly Dao.

It directly erased an existence from the universe on the level of the Great Daos.

Just what had Tang Jie done to make the Heavenly Dao want to personally erase him?

Alas, nobody could know the answer except Tang Jie.

As he silently gazed at that “战” character, he suddenly sighed.

He bowed respectfully to the wall and then turned to leave.

Hong Shenji and the Vermillion Bird were waiting for him outside.

The Vermillion Bird excitedly asked, “Did the Martial Lord leave behind some supreme secret for you?”

“‘Supreme secret’?” Tang Jie chuckled.

With his current status, what sort of person could leave behind a secret art for him?

Even if it was the Immortal art of some Saint Immortal, it could only serve as a reference at best.

The Vermillion Bird realized that she had misspoken, sticking out her tongue and falling silent.

The Gigantes King then asked, “Tang Jie, did you see the message?”

Tang Jie nodded. “I saw it, but there are still some things that I don’t understand that I would like Your Majesty’s guidance on.”

“Please, ask away.”

“I would like to know if the Gigantes were formerly much larger than they are.”

The Gigantes King nodded. “Yes. In the past, we Gigantes were much larger such that we were even called the Skyholders. It is said that in High Antiquity, all of us were a thousand feet tall, and even further in the past, ten-thousand-feet-tall giants were commonplace, while the Gigantes King was a hundred thousand feet tall, able to seize the moon.”

The Gigantes King sighed. “But over the eons, we Gigantes have grown smaller and smaller. At present, the average person is only around a hundred feet tall.”

The Vermillion Bird said in disdain, “What’s so good about growing so tall? That just means you eat more.”

The Gigantes King rolled his eyes. “Little girl, what do you know? We Gigantes have always had strength connected to our body size. The Gigantes are born body cultivators and cannot cultivate laws and arts. Instead, our spiritual energy is merged with our blood energy and converted into the purest force, which makes us the strongest body cultivators in the world. It is said that so long as we never stop cultivating our bodies, our bodies will never stop growing.”

Body cultivators made their bodies a treasure that contained the world. As a result, the more they cultivated, the larger they grew. For example, Tang Jie’s real form was that of a giant ten thousand meters tall. However, because he had a perfect body that allowed him to also cultivate spell arts, he could conceal his true form. The Gigantes did not have the same luxury. Thus, one could simply judge a Gigantes’ strength by their height.

The Vermillion Bird’s eyes flew open. “Eh? Doesn’t that mean that you’re the strongest among the Gigantes and that the gap between you and the other Gigantes is enormous?”

The Gigantes King was currently ten thousand meters tall, which made him a strong existence, even back in High Antiquity. It was very unusual for the Gigantes King to still be able to maintain his strength while the rest of his race was degenerating.

But that was not what was most unbelievable.

What was unbelievable was that there was no gradation between him and his subjects. Cultivation was like a pyramid, with fewer people the higher one went.

The Gigantes clearly did not follow this model. The Gigantes King was the only super-tall giant, with all the Gigantes below him being thirty to fifty feet tall, the strongest ones around a hundred feet. Those that were several hundred feet tall were a rarity, while the thousand-feet-tall Gigantes were basically extinct. The Gigantes King alone had maintained a size of ten thousand feet.

Hong Shenji said, “Perhaps it’s because of the royal bloodline.”

Tang Jie clearly didn’t think this way.

He knew that the royal line was simply the tribe that had beaten all the others. There was no fundamental difference between them and the other Gigantes.

He said, “Since it’s restricted only to the Gigantes royal line, it must be because you know the Combat Emperor Fist, right?”

The Gigantes King trembled and then gave a bitter smile. “Ah, so you figured it out. Yes, it’s not because of the royal bloodline. I am only this strong because of the Combat Emperor Catalog.”

“‘The Combat Emperor Catalog’?” the Vermillion Bird said in surprise. “The legacy of the Martial Lord can let you maintain the bloodline of your ancestors? How does that work?”

The Gigantes King shook his head. “I don’t know, either.”

Hong Shenji asked, “Then why didn’t you pass on the Combat Emperor Catalog to your subjects?”

The Gigantes King bitterly smiled again. “You think I couldn’t think of that? I tried to pass on the Combat Emperor Catalog to the other Gigantes, but whenever I tried, my mind would go blank, and I couldn’t think of what I wanted to pass on.”

“That can happen?” The Vermillion Bird looked at the Gigantes King in confusion.

Tang Jie lightly said, “The Great Dao cannot be transmitted.”

The Great Dao could not be transmitted!

This was why the Gigantes King could not pass on his knowledge to others.

The Parting Classic and the Combat Emperor Catalog both had the Great Dao as their core, so it was very difficult to pass them on orally. Only someone who could control the Dao could break this rule.

The Gigantes King sighed. “Precisely.”

The Vermillion Bird asked, “Then why didn’t you send your people into the cave to learn it themselves?”

“I did,” the Gigantes King replied.

“And?”

Tang Jie suddenly butted in. “I’m guessing… they all disappeared.”

The Gigantes King’s imposing body trembled, and he looked at Tang Jie in disbelief. “How did you know?”

His eyes were full of fear and unease.

This was the fear of the unknown, unease over the incomprehensible. When Tang Jie had guessed at the truth with a single sentence, the Gigantes King had felt both indescribable relief and deep-seated terror!

He looked at Tang Jie in horror.

Could it be…

Tang Jie simply said, “The Great Dao cannot be transmitted, and the Heavenly Dao cannot be defied.”

The Gigantes King instantly shut his mouth.

The Vermillion Bird stared with bright eyes, looking at the Gigantes King and Tang Jie as she tried to guess at what they were talking about.

But Hong Shenji got the idea. Stroking his beard, he said, “If the Heavenly Dao does not allow it, then why can Your Majesty use this technique?”

“Because of the Martial Lord’s protection,” Tang Jie answered.

It was the Martial Lord that allowed the Gigantes royal line to learn the Combat Emperor Catalog. But the Martial Lord’s power was limited, and he could only protect that single member of the Gigantes royal line. Anyone else that tried to learn the Combat Emperor Catalog would be erased by the Heavenly Dao.

Just what’s hiding in the Combat Emperor Catalog, that the Heavenly Dao would protect it so?

No, wait!

If that had been the case, how he had been able to learn the Combat Emperor Catalog without a problem?

If the Martial Lord’s remnant power could only protect a single person, then what power had been protecting him?

It was illogical, so there had to be something wrong with his line of thinking.

Tang Jie worked his mind through countless possibilities. With his current intellect, if there was some problem he couldn’t think through with his mind operating at full power in one second, then he might not be able to find a solution in ten thousand years.

A moment later, Tang Jie’s eyes flashed as a possibility occurred to him.

Perhaps what the Heavenly Dao wanted to protect wasn’t related to the Combat Emperor Catalog.

That was just betraying the Dao, which was no secret.

There had to be something else.

What could it be?

Tang Jie’s gaze rested on the Gigantes King.

He recalled the scene in the illusion: those mighty giants, enormous beasts, and the Martial Lord striding through it all… Why? Why had he come here to leave behind his legacy before going to save the Pearl Lady?

“Perhaps… the real secret isn’t in the Combat Emperor Catalog, but the Gigantes,” Tang Jie muttered.

Maybe this was the secret the Heavenly Dao wanted to protect.

“What?” The Gigantes King looked at Tang Jie in confusion.

Tang Jie said, “Your Majesty, Tang Jie has a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“I would like to know the history of the Gigantes.”

“I thought it was going to be something big,” the Gigantes King chuckled. “Just ask me what you want to know.”

Tang Jie shook his head. “I require a systematic understanding. Are there any books on this subject?”

“Of course. But we’re in a war right now, and with the demons invading, we Gigantes are doing everything we can just to survive. I’m afraid I can’t spare anyone to go help you look for books.”

Tang Jie laughed.

He had almost believed that the Gigantes King was only concerned about fulfilling the mission the Martial Lord had entrusted to him and not about the welfare of the Gigantes, but it seemed like he had been waiting for exactly this moment.

Tang Jie said, “My Rosecloud Domain didn’t come from afar simply to pass by. Exterminating the demons is the duty of we humans. Since the Gigantes are in trouble, my Rosecloud Domain will naturally fulfill its duty and offer full assistance.”

“Haha, that would be wonderful,” the Gigantes King said. “But while I was waiting outside the cave for you, I spoke with your friends Vermillion Bird and Elder Hong, so I know of your domain’s style. Alas, while I am very happy to hear that the Rosecloud Domain is willing to help, let me make clear that my Gigantes Domain cannot merge with yours, nor can it offer talents.”

“It can’t merge nor can it offer talents?” Tang Jie was taken aback.

The Rosecloud Domain did not intervene for free. Whenever it assisted others in exterminating domains, it either merged with the domain it had rescued or else recruited many high-level cultivators. Only in this way could it grow ever stronger and deal with ever greater enemies.

Tang Jie hadn’t set his hopes on merging with the Gigantes Domain.

The Gigantes Domain was simply too big for the Rosecloud Domain to digest. But he had hoped to recruit some Gigantes cultivators to his ranks. After all, the Gigantes were body cultivators, which made them the perfect tanks. Even if they had grown weaker since High Antiquity, they were still excellent in this role.

Tang Jie had no reason to pass up this opportunity.

But now, the Gigantes King was rejecting this possibility.

The Gigantes King explained, “It is not because I am small-minded. It is simply because it is impossible to merge with my Gigantes Domain, and we Gigantes cannot leave this domain. For eons, any Gigantes that leaves this domain will die, no matter what method they employ. And my Gigantes Domain has only ever broken apart, never merged.”

“‘Only broken apart, never merged’?” Tang Jie repeated.

“Indeed,” the Gigantes King confirmed. “The Gigantes Domain of the past was even larger than it is now, but it has always been breaking up, and those parts that were broken off never returned to our domain. And do you know where all those broken parts ended up?”

“Where did they end up?” Tang Jie asked, though he already knew the answer.

The Gigantes King laughed.

“The Vast Wilderness Continent.”