Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 1185: Conspiracy (2)
Primal Dark Heaven gave the human traitor a little more advice: “You must be extremely careful. If Tang Jie finds out and takes countermeasures, we will take severe losses and might even incur a backlash from the Nether Domain.”
The human traitor nodded and indicated that he would be careful, and only then did Dark Heaven leave.
By now, Tang Jie knew that this man was Yang Yipan, a wandering cultivator. Lacking the support of a sect, wandering cultivators had to rely entirely on themselves for cultivation, so they had a particularly strong desire for resources and arts while at the same time lacking a sense of belonging to the Stellar Chiliocosm, so it was no surprise that he had turned traitor. But since he dared to become a traitor, he should have prepared himself for the consequences of being discovered.
Yang Yipan departed very cautiously, flying back to camp while using that high-level concealment art. To avoid being discovered, he made a circle of the perimeter before returning as if nothing had happened. He was even holding a bottle of wine, as if he had just come back from fetching it.
The celebratory feast was still going, and even the guards were somewhat distracted, so nobody had noticed someone secretly leaving and secretly returning.
It seems I’ll have to strengthen the guard, Tang Jie thought with a sigh.
He knew that he couldn’t completely blame the guards, since the camp also had some detection formations, but these were mostly aimed at those on the outside, not the inside. There were few methods of identifying human cultivators who went in and out, and the only formation that could truly identify everyone was the Eight Ocean Mountains. But Tang Jie was too busy to take in all that information.
If only he still had his avatar! The avatar had entered the Dao of Wisdom and could easily analyze all that information in a flash. Immortal Emperor Yu Cheng was currently using the Dao of Wisdom to handle the numerous matters of the Immortal court in an orderly fashion, the very thought of which made Tang Jie angry.
While demons were rampaging about the Vast Wilderness Continent, the Court of Myriad Domains was making orderly progress. Moreover, Yu Cheng undoubtedly had a meticulous plan such that the defeat of the demons was only a matter of time. Right now, the real thing dragging Yu Cheng down was Tang Jie. The avatar’s will in his mind meant that there were many parts of his plan that Yu Cheng didn’t dare to speak of, think of, or execute. He had spent more than four hundred years thinking of a way to deal with Tang Jie, even creating a secret art that could create an isolated space in his Sea of Cognition where all of his thinking could take place, thus preventing the avatar’s will from eavesdropping.
But this art was not all-powerful. Creating this space meant essentially shrinking his brain, which meant that he could think less and became stupider. Moreover, maintaining this space required large amounts of soul power. In addition, the avatar’s will would do his best to cause trouble whenever Yu Cheng created this space, trying to waste energy. Thus, Yu Cheng could only use this space to ponder important matters.But this was a digression. After Yang Yipan returned to camp, Tang Jie decided to not expose him yet, thinking that he might be able to use Yang Yipan to teach the demons a harsh lesson.
His first priority, however, was to increase the guard around the camp.
Tang Jie went up to one of the cultivator guards and asked, “Who is the general in charge of camp defense today?”
According to the plan drafted by Tang Jie and Yun Tianlan, there were at least four Violet Palace generals tasked with guarding the camp each day, each one to a side.
The guard bowed to Tang Jie. “The Wrathful Sword Gate’s Master Zhi Weiyue, the Deep Ocean Temple’s First Seat Reverend Cloudjar, the Wandering Palace’s Master Shen Qingdan, and Elder Chang of the Brocade Garden.”
“Oh? Shen Qingdan is also here?” Tang Jie raised an eyebrow at this coincidence.
Tang Jie and Shen Qingdan’s relationship had ended up morphing into a tale of its own. The general summary was that the Immortal Sovereign of the Basking Moon Sect, Tang Jie, had fallen in love at first sight with the young master of the Wandering Palace, Shen Qingdan, on his travels, but because of an engagement, he had been forced to give up on her. The weaver of this tale had been smart enough to not make Xu Miaoran into the villain, instead making her very virtuous and open-minded, willing to accept the arrangement. Alas, Shen Qingdan saw the love between Tang and Xu and grew ashamed, ultimately departing. Of course, there was still a villain, that role filled by the Tuoba Hong that Xu Miaoran had killed.
Even though it was just a story, it had a rather large effect on Shen Qingdan, as now, people would think twice before causing trouble for her.
Tang Jie was rather surprised to hear that Shen Qingdan was on guard duty. After all, while being a guard was an important duty, one would have to take responsibility if there was a problem and wouldn’t get rewarded if nothing happened. Thus, many people were not willing to do it.
Tang Jie asked where Shen Qingdan was and then headed to her post.
On the western side of Skybrink Ridge was a thick forest. Shen Qingdan sat in a clearing here, and planted around her were seven Shadowheir Trees, each one rigged with traps. There were also mirrors hanging from the trees, 1,008 in all, displaying the areas around the camp.
This area was one of the primary nodes of the Eight Ocean Mountains. Each of the cultivator generals had to be stationed here to keep watch over all directions, and they were some of the few open nodes of the formation in this region.
Shen Qingdan was seated in the center of the node, carefully examining all the information on the mirrors.
“False Moon Hill, west side! A group of shadow demon scouts is attempting to infiltrate the first defensive region. Demon Hunter Squad 2, go and intercept them.
“Blackwater Mire, south side! A large group of Demonhorns and Red Bats is wandering around the vicinity. Demon Hunter Squad 14, move to intercept them.
“The second defensive region’s spirit fog is showing abnormalities. Celestial Eye Squad, inspect the area! Demon Hunter Elite Squad, protect them, and remember to be careful…”
Order after order was issued from Shen Qingdan’s mouth. Many people were celebrating, unaware that there were still many battles taking place in the shadows.
Now that the demons knew about the Eight Ocean Mountains, they had no expectation of their sneak attacks working. But besides ambushes and regular battles, there was still plenty for the two races to fight over, the most obvious being the resources out in the wild.
Besides their demonic energy, the demons’ most formidable aspect was the efficiency with which they used resources.
In the barren wastes of the Primordial Fog Domain, any demon that could survive was a survival expert. Presented with such a rich land, they became like rats jumping into a jar of rice. Even if they were stuck in a jar, they were going to eat their fill before dying.
From the moment they entered the Rosecloud Domain, the demons were constantly searching for resources.
Those high-level resources that could help them cultivate, those middle-level resources that they could use for formations, those low-level resources they could eat—they wanted them all.
Between Heavenweave Ridge and Skybrink Ridge were eighteen large mountains, a vast mountain range with many locations rich in spiritual energy. Even if all the mature spirit herbs had been picked clean, there were undoubtedly still younger spirit herbs, which the demons naturally wanted to collect.
Shen Qingdan’s duty was to find them and intercept them. By hunting them down, she prevented them from gathering resources, and at the same time, prevented the enemy from infiltrating the human lines.
This was a war without any fanfare, but it was much more dangerous and unpredictable than the war during the daytime.
Shen Qingdan was focused on her work when she suddenly noticed someone approaching in the distance. Outsiders were not allowed here, and Shen Qingdan was alarmed. Thinking that this was an intruder, she fired off a bolt of sword energy and shouted, “Who’s there?”
The bolt of energy disappeared without a sound.
Stunned at the power of her foe, she was just about to sound the alarm, but then that figure walked out and said, “Long time no see! You’ve grown stronger.”
“Tang Jie?” Shen Qingdan exhaled in relief.
She looked at Tang Jie and found that he looked the same. Four hundred years had not weathered away his face, instead making him seem even more youthful and handsome. But there was a majestic bearing to him now that made one want to prostrate in reverence.
But Shen Qingdan did not fall under this category.
The expression in her eyes was so complicated that one could write an entire book about it.
In the end, she simply lowered her head and said, “Why are you here?”
“I heard that you were here, so I came to take a look.” Tang Jie confidently strode over.
He spoke lightly and walked casually, but Shen Qingdan couldn’t help but get nervous.
She backed up a few steps, her head still lowered. “Since we already parted, why come visit?”
“What? I’m not welcome?” Tang Jie chuckled.
He stopped next to Shen Qingdan, and she felt her heart begin to wildly thump.
Even so, she still spoke in a cold tone: “I just don’t think that you would come specifically for me. Given your personality and your affection for Fairy Xu, you wouldn’t do such a thing. If you have business, please get straight to the point.”
Tang Jie was taken aback, and when he thought about it, he really hadn’t come specifically to see Shen Qingdan, so she couldn’t be blamed for thinking this.
But why did he hear resentment in her voice?
Tang Jie replied, “You’re overthinking. I just happened to learn that you were on guard duty, so I came over to see if anyone had pushed you to do this… Mm, you’re right that I wouldn’t come looking for you if I didn’t have any business, and it happens to be that. No matter how you view it, I view you as a friend. I can’t give you more than that, but I also won’t let anyone bully you.”
He didn’t speak with passion, but with sincerity.
Shen Qingdan was startled by his words.
So he came because he was worried about me?
Then I suppose I was wrong to blame him.
After a brief pause, she shook her head. “After what happened to Tuoba Hong, who dares to bully me now? Thank you for your concern, but I’m doing very well. Even members of the Basking Moon Sect get all polite when they see me. I’m only standing guard by pure coincidence. A friend of mine, Fairy Blue Lotus, should have been on duty today, but she was contaminated by demonic energy during the battle in the day and is currently being treated by Fairy Ice Phoenix, so she had no choice but to ask me to go in her place.”
Ever since the fruitless journey to Vast Wilderness for a cure for Ice Phoenix, Tang Jie had been forced to leave Ice Phoenix in the Rosecloud Domain. Fortunately, although she had become a demon, her strength was limited and couldn’t cause too much damage to the Rosecloud Domain, so these years had been rather peaceful.
(TN: The author has seemingly forgotten that he wrote 11 chapters ago that Ice Phoenix was locked up in the Yellow Court World all this time.)
At the advent of the human–demon war, Ice Phoenix saw an opportunity.
She cultivated the Jade Lady Iceheart Mantra, which was skilled at opposing illusion arts, poison arts, and demonic arts, which Tang Jie had long known. Immortal Ji Yao had become a demon precisely because she had honed herself using demonic energy, which had backlashed on her when her art failed.
The same was true for Ice Phoenix.
Thus, even though Ice Phoenix couldn’t remove her own demonic energy, she could help others remove theirs. Of course, this was only true for those cultivators with light contamination who had not become demons.
Ice Phoenix could do nothing about those who had already become demons.
When the war started, Ice Phoenix suggested that she could help cultivators get rid of their demonic energy in exchange for some freedom.
Considering that Ice Phoenix had been obedient for many years and that demons had no inherent loyalty to each other, he had agreed.
Many cultivators had been contaminated by demonic energy in today’s battle. There were those who managed to get rid of it on their own, those who simply died, and those still enduring, which was where Ice Phoenix came in. And she had saved quite a few people.
As a demon, she had now become the number one “doctor” for the humans, which was rather ironic.
Regardless, the battlefield was full of strange and illogical things.
Tang Jie realized that he had misunderstood.
But since he was here and couldn’t just say, “Since you’re fine, I guess I’ll go,” he could only say, “I can rest easy knowing that no one is trying to harm you. Are you interested in taking a walk with me?”
Shen Qingdan hesitated, looking at the mirrors around her.
Tang Jie smiled. “No problem.”
He clapped his hands, and Tang Chuan appeared.
“Stay here and take Sister Qingdan’s post for a while. We’ll be back after having a chat.”
Tang Chuan looked away, using the back of his head to show his dissatisfaction with this mission.
