Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 308: The Revival of the Dead

It was a silent warning that scared away all of the weapons around him.

The Martial Lord had been the master of all weapons.

The moment the Weapon Mantra was used, all these weapons did not dare to confront it.

It was only on this ancient battlefield haunted by tens of thousands of weapon souls that Tang Jie was able to truly experience the power and majesty the Martial Lord had once enjoyed, that awe-inspiring aura with which he had dominated the world.

In front of this august figure, no weapon dared to take a stab at him.

By utilizing the lingering fear for the Martial Lord and the power of the Weapon Mantra, Tang Jie was able to walk the battlefield without any weapon daring to cause him trouble for the time being.

This ancient battlefield was huge and empty. It was hard to tell which direction he needed to go in to get through the formation.

But if one calmed down, one would discover that this place was dense in spiritual energy, the flows of spiritual energy moving like water. Their flows followed some sort of principle, and this battlefield was replete with special nodes. From this, one could see that this place was still laid out in accordance with the rules of the formation. It was just harder to detect.

Tang Jie focused his vision and looked up at the sky, observing how the spiritual energy shifted and the direction in which it flowed and scattered. The spiritual energy was like the wind, just blowing around without rhyme or reason, but Tang Jie stared with absolute focus, his fingers twitching as he constantly calculated.

He was like those people who told fortune by counting fingers, but rather than fate, he was trying to calculate the rules of the world.

After calculating for quite a while, Tang Jie finally stopped moving his fingers. His eyes gleamed as he shouted, “Found it! The energy nexus!”

He rushed out to one side of the battlefield. It wasn’t long before he spotted a small mountain in the distance.

Excited, Tang Jie ran even faster. That mountain was the energy nexus of the formation, and also the land nexus.

As he ran up the mountain, Tang Jie saw that five giant stones were standing atop it, mysterious inscriptions carved between them. Even the passage of thousands of years had not been able to dispel the mystical energy they exuded. Rainbow light flowed through the carvings, and Tang Jie was momentarily enchanted by the sight.

These carvings extended like spiderwebs across the ground, and in the very center of it all was a book.

Tang Jie immediately understood that this was the checkpoint for this Profound Weapon Formation.

With the Weapon Mantra, he could travel through this formation with essentially no obstruction, and he just needed to get through this checkpoint to enter the fourth formation. As for the book in the middle of the formation, it was probably the reward for passing the third formation.

With this thought in mind, Tang Jie waved his hand, and the book in the middle of the formation flew into his hand.

The Ninedark Mantra.

As expected.

Tang Jie smiled when he saw the name.

The first formation had the Martial Mirror key, the second formation had the Visceral Manifestation Classic, and the third formation would naturally give the technique to be cultivated once one had opened one’s Jade Gate.

The Martial Lord’s plan for steady progress was akin to a game. And based on what he had seen so far, the fourth formation should also be doable for someone at the Spirit Platform Realm.

The first and second formations of the Nine Executions Immortal Formation were for mortals, and the third and fourth were for Spirit Platform. Continuing on this line, the fifth and sixth were for Mortal Shedding, the seventh and eighth for Celestial Heart, and the ninth for Violet Palace. In other words, based on the strength requirements, he would have to wait until Violet Palace to fully unlock the formation and inherit the legacy.

The thought of needing to be at Violet Palace to get the entire legacy made Tang Jie sweat.

Did the Martial Lord believe that only someone at Violet Palace just barely reached the minimum standard to become his disciple?

Flipping through the Ninedark Mantra, Tang Jie found that it truly was a cultivation mantra.

As he read more of it, Tang Jie began to develop an idea of what it did.

As to be expected from a text from the Martial Lord, the Ninedark Mantra emphasized boundless strength. Successful cultivation entailed vast and endless strength, and crucially, before cultivating this mantra, one needed a powerful body as the foundation. Otherwise, one was liable to hurt one’s body.

It was no wonder the Martial Lord had placed the Martial Mirror and Visceral Manifestation Classic before this. Before they became a cultivator, his successor needed a stronger body than normal. This was one of the key aspects in which the Martial Lord differed from others.

The body first, and then cultivation!

As a supreme technique passed down from High Antiquity, the Ninedark Mantra inherited that era’s all-embracing and vigorous power. But this was precisely why cultivating it was quite difficult. Besides that, it lacked any special properties.

This was like a formidable existence who was strong in every aspect. While they did well in everything, they lacked any sort of special abilities. When it came to sharpness, detail, and the speed of spiritual energy circulation, it was actually inferior to the Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra.

Upon understanding this, Tang Jie decided to use the Ninedark Mantra as his primary technique and the Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra as his support technique. After all, he was in the Nine Executions Immortal Formation, where spiritual energy was abundant, which was perfect for cultivating the Ninedark Mantra.

As for his clone, it could also cultivate the Ninedark Mantra, but unless he had a large amount of resources, the Ninedark Mantra was only useful in making up for shortcomings. Cultivating it too much would only slow down the avatar.

Tang Jie put away the Ninedark Mantra and looked at the five stone pillars. Now that he had a better look at them, he found that the five stone pillars were arranged in the manner of the Five Elements. One only needed to find the correct position and place the appropriate elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth to activate the mechanism in the formation.

Since the next formation was also doable for someone at the Spirit Platform Realm, Tang Jie naturally didn’t hesitate.

Though this battlefield was desolate, it wasn’t completely devoid of everything. The dense greenery in the distance indicated that there was a jungle around here, and there were also a few small trees growing on the battlefield. Thus, Tang Jie was very quickly able to gather objects pertaining to the Five Elements.

But after he placed down the Five Elements objects, the formation still didn’t activate. Tang Jie was at a loss, wondering what he had missed.

He thought about it for a while, and then his eyes flashed in realization.

He went back down the mountain and looked around the battlefield. After a long while, he found a half-buried art relic in the sand.

This was a scimitar art relic. It seemed at about the same level as the Azure Light Sword, perhaps even worse. Its owner had probably been at the Celestial Heart Realm and become Returned Remnants after death, leaving behind only this weapon buried in the earth. The blessing of the Titans who had died in this place managed to preserve this weapon until now, but it did not have any sort of weapon soul.

Tang Jie flicked the blade, which let out a discordant clang.

Tang Jie chuckled. “I don’t know if it will actually work.”

The scimitar broke apart, and a golden mote of light floated in Tang Jie’s hand.

With this golden grain, Tang Jie went back up to the mountain and placed it on the Metal Element position.

The Metal Element pillar let out a light, but it still seemed unmoved.

“It seems like it’s not enough.” Seeing that light, Tang Jie knew that he was on the right track.

The Weapon Mantra’s intimidating power allowed him to move freely in the formation without being attacked, and the golden grains from the Weapon Mantra would open the path to the fourth formation.

Sure enough, the formation was designed so that every step was interlinked. Someone who wasn’t the Martial Lord’s successor couldn’t hope for even the slightest chance.

Tang Jie went down the mountain again to look for weapons that he could break down. At his current level of strength, destroying a single low-tier art relic would consume more than half of his physical energy, so he didn’t even look at those art relics of middle tier and above. He only wanted to find a few spell weapons to break down.

But while this place had plenty of weapons, it was sorely lacking in low-tier weapons. After searching for a while, he was only able to find a few low-tier art relics and not a single spell weapon, which almost left him in tears.

Tang Jie took more than half a day to destroy these low-tier art relics.

After five golden grains had been placed on the Metal Element Pillar, all five pillars finally lit up.

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The entire battleground shuddered, and then a large mist engulfed it, starting from the area around the mountain.

What was going on here?

Tang Jie was surprised that he hadn’t been transported somewhere else. Instead, it was the battlefield itself that had changed.

After a moment of confusion, Tang Jie realized that the fourth formation was probably still the ancient battlefield, but that some hidden danger had most likely been unleashed.

As the mists churned, Tang Jie felt like he could hear something wailing. As he took a closer look, he found that there were ghosts flitting down below.

“I thought it was something else, but it was just ghosts,” Tang Jie sighed in relief.

With “Little Three”, he no longer feared ghosts.

But a moment later, Tang Jie saw that these ghosts weren’t making trouble for him, instead wandering around as if they were looking for something.

A ghost circled around a corpse for a while and then tried to charge at it. Unable to get in, it wailed and flew off.

Tang Jie paled at this sight. “Could it be… Oh, no!”

A chill emerged in Tang Jie’s heart.

At this moment, a ghost in the distance found its target. Howling, it lunged at the body of a human cultivator down below.

That deceased cultivator tottered to its feet and then turned its eyes to Tang Jie, a cold brilliance within them.

Tang Jie groaned, knowing that he was in trouble.

Ghosts were naturally skilled in possession, and there were countless intact bodies on this ancient battlefield, now ready for these ghosts to use. It had to be understood that only Violet Palace cultivators could have left behind these corpses, so each one possessed prodigious power.

As the ghost had the corpse move toward him, Tang Jie took a few steps back and then turned to run.

The corpse swayed and then raised a hand toward Tang Jie. A wind vortex shot out of its hand and began to suck Tang Jie back. Tang Jie was completely caught off guard, and the corpse grabbed Tang Jie’s back and took a big bite toward his neck.

In panic, Tang Jie elbowed the corpse right in the mouth. The corpse closed its mouth and tore a chunk of flesh from his arm. His steely body had been like tofu to the corpse.

But with this strike, Tang Jie now had the time to kick back his foot into the corpse’s chest, pushing it several steps back.

Tang Jie threw a fist at the corpse’s face, forcing it to the ground.

“So you weren’t that big of a deal after all,” Tang Jie said in relief upon seeing how easily he had succeeded.

While the ghost could control this Violet Palace corpse, it clearly couldn’t use the strength of the Violet Palace Realm.

Violet Palace cultivators were capable of linking their minds to the world.

But with the death of the cultivator, the Divine Will had ceased to exist, so there was no mind to link with the world.

Even if the ghost could control the body, at best, it could only use the remaining spiritual energy in the body to cast a few spell arts. Even then, as the corpse’s meridians had stiffened and become unsuitable for spiritual energy circulation, their power would be greatly reduced.

This was why that Dragon Vortex Hand had only been able to pull Tang Jie to its side. In normal circumstances, the vortex would have made his entire body explode, killing him on the spot.

Upon understanding this, Tang Jie stopped being afraid. The corpse was about to get back up, so he kicked it back down again.

With his strength, the kick should have destroyed the head of the corpse, but to his surprise, the corpse’s head only swayed a little before it stood back up, completely unaffected.

Tang Jie was somewhat dumbstruck.

Only then did he remember that these were the bodies of Violet Palace Titans, able to remain intact through the passage of thousands of years. With nowhere else for the spiritual energy in the body to go, it had fused with the flesh and organs, making them absurdly tough.

They would have a hard time killing Tang Jie, yes, but Tang Jie would also find it very difficult to destroy them.

“If that’s the case, try my sword,” Tang Jie snorted. His Azure Light Sword erupted with a brilliant light as he swung it at the corpse’s neck.

He had truly put all his strength behind this blow. He had the Jewel Body, and the art relic Azure Light Sword had been imbued with Windcleaver, so the power was immense. As it landed on the corpse’s neck, there was a loud clang and a shower of sparks.

Even an attack like this hadn’t managed to cut off the corpse’s head, only getting a third of the way through.

Tang Jie was aghast at the toughness of the corpse.

If he had to use the ranking of the Parting Classic, it would probably be a Diamond Body.

“I don’t believe it!” Tang Jie grunted. Taking advantage of how slowly the corpse moved, he jumped up, raising the Azure Light Sword overhead and circulating the Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra as he once more swung his sword.

The powerful impact left his arm numb, but he swiftly followed with a third strike.

After three attacks in a row on the same place, he finally managed to hack at the neck until there was only a thin layer of bloody skin connecting the head to the body.

The corpse turned and grabbed Tang Jie’s leg, tearing off another chunk of flesh. At the same time, Tang Jie gave a flying kick at the corpse’s head, and that last sliver of flesh snapped.

No blood gushed out of the skull cavity. The headless body simply stopped moving, and after a bit, it swayed and then crashed down.

Tang Jie wiped the sweat off his forehead and spat out, “I don’t believe I can’t deal with you.”

The three attacks just now had completely emptied him of spiritual energy, and all he felt was extreme exhaustion.

He had barely spoken when he heard rustling from behind him.

Tang Jie grimaced.

He slowly turned around and saw countless corpses turning toward him, their necks swaying. It was like countless statues coming to life.

“Really… Fucking hell!” Tang Jie was gobsmacked for a moment, and then he cursed.

These corpses getting to their feet could be seen all the way to the horizon. It was like an ocean of spirits of the dead, engulfing his field of vision.

The normally fearless Tang Jie shivered.

He stopped hesitating and ran for his life, and behind him, the heavens shook with the furious roars of ghosts!