Aspiring to the Immortal Path

This was a wondrous world.

A rhombus-shaped sun hung high in the sky, and the soil was a fiery red.

Spotted rodentapedes were happily basking in the sun. They were like fusions of rats and centipedes, with the heads of rats but segmented bodies and six legs bearing sharp claws that could help them swiftly dig through the soil.

Oileye butterflies beat their wings as they sought prey. These were carnivorous butterflies that would land on their targets and then jab them with their long and sharp proboscis, injecting a kind of liquid that would liquefy the flesh into something they could suck up. While they were doing this, they wouldn't let go or even move, even if one tried to grab them.

A three-headed monkey sat on a ghost-faced tree, boredly looking around. Grabbing a louse from its body, it was unable to decide which head should eat it, so it instead offered it to the face on the tree. The face opened its mouth, grabbing the louse with a green tongue and chowing down, moaning in satisfaction.

Rain didn't come from the sky, but from down below.

Occasionally, threads of rain would emerge from the ground, not gushing up like fountains, but like fine tendrils of mist.

Whenever this happened, the creatures of the plains and forest would cheer as they welcomed the rain season.

The rain season was the season of growth, growth for all living things.

It was followed by the fire season.

When the fire season arrived, the rain would disappear, and that blazing red mountain in the distance would begin to spew endless flames. The heat from the broiling flames would cause all the animals living on the red grasslands to hide underground and begin hibernating. But some creatures instead welcomed their spring.

Amid the spewing flames, the fire monkeys would wake from their slumber and frolic in the rain of fire, drinking down the flames as if they were fire fairies. Of course, they had to be careful of other fire creatures like them, such as the blazing bears and firegreed snakes.

The fire season was shorter than the rain season, only fifty days. Thus, the fire monkeys were creatures that were only active for fifty days out of the year, and they lived for only three years.

The sleeping otters were much more fortunate in comparison, active in the rain, earth, and wood seasons.

When the light of the flames faded, the sky started to turn gloomy and dust filled the air. This was a sign that earth season had come.

Earth season was the season when most landbound creatures were active. When the surface of this world was silent, the underground world became active like never before.

The soil at this time became very loose. Large numbers of insects began to reproduce, after which the centipedes, rodents, and snakes became active, and these creatures just so happened to be the favorite food of sleeping otters.

Sleeping otters only hunted during earth season. They spent the remainder of their time sleeping, with some occasional activity in the rain and wood seasons. The rain season was when they reproduced, and the wood season was when they found mates. In that season, they would emerge on the surface and begin looking for mates, but they had to be careful, or else they could end up as food for the giant elephants.

Wood season was the season where all things thrived.

After the earth season passed, the entire world entered a season of flourishing. The plants would grow to a huge size and bear fruits, and the surface animals would begin moving again. With the abundant food around, they could go into heat and mate as they pleased.

The wood season lasted for forty days.

After forty days, the plants would stop growing, and a golden wind would begin to blow in the sky. This golden wind would bring large numbers of golden grains wherever it went, a terrifying golden storm that would annihilate all life it passed.

In fire season, at least the fire elementals could survive, but in metal season, the golden wind mowed down everything in its path.

Thus, the metal season was also called the season of annihilation.

After the season of annihilation, another rain season started.

This was the Yellow Court World!

There were five seasons, a polygonal sun, and a continent ringed by an ocean. It was a world completely unknown to humans!

Tang Jie had invested countless resources into this world, and through the management of He Chong's group, it had gone from a barren land to its current thriving state.

A thriving small world!

It was a dream sought by countless cultivators.

This small world had many uses.

For example, having a small world was like having a blessed land or paradise like the Water Moon Paradise. If it was developed well, it could produce many spiritual resources. Of course, the exact kinds would depend on the Great Dao laws. If this world's Great Daos weren't suitable for the growth of those spiritual resources, then it couldn't be used for that purpose. Alas, this world was not suitable for such things. After all, he already had the Martial Lord's hidden realm, so he didn't want another one.

But what the Yellow Court World could produce was something that the Great Stellar Chiliocosm did not have. Currently, this world had already produced all manner of strange creatures and plants, though the lack of time meant that they had yet to evolve into fiends.

The Yellow Court World could be said to have moved from its barren phase into its wild phase, and a period of great development was imminent. Once they were ripe, Tang Jie would have an army of fiends and sprites and materials that had never been seen or heard of before! Most of these materials might not be of any use, but any that did would be Tang Jie's exclusive merchandise.

But more important was comprehension of the Great Daos.

He could use the creation of this world and the writing of its Great Daos to comprehend the Daos of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm—a method which many cultivators would never be able to replicate. It was the same as building a small-scale model before carving an actual statue, and one could say that it was almost necessary to comprehend the Great Daos.

Today, however, Tang Jie had found another use for it: the Heaven–Man Union.

"You're going to perform the Heaven–Man Union here?" Xu Miaoran asked Tang Jie in shock.

"To be more precise, I plan to establish a divine kingdom," Tang Jie answered. "I plan to build an Immortal palace here, and if those mortal believers are sufficiently pious, I will let them enter my Yellow Court World. In this world, everyone will have happy and peaceful lives, and their existence will help me complete my world and bring it closer to perfection."

"You'll let humans inside?" Xu Miaoran gasped. "But the Yellow Court World still isn't a suitable place for mortals to live in, is it?"

"Indeed," Tang Jie sighed. "At first, I was planning on building a special world that would be primarily used for comprehending the Great Daos, producing resources on the side, and I didn't plan to let people in. But while the outer world is no good, the inner world is fine."

Tang Jie pointed at the "Immortal island" in the center.

This place was closest to the human living environment, and it was rich in spiritual energy and home to many human-like intelligent creatures.

Tang Jie wanted to pull this island into the sky and use it as the foundation for an Immortal court where people could live. This would help him both with the Heaven–Man Union and also with his continued alteration of the world.

He naturally copied these ideas from a certain religion of his past life, but it was fine so long as it worked.

Xu Miaoran was stunned by Tang Jie's unconventional idea, but once she thought it over, she found it feasible.

"But even then, this environment is still rather poor. The Yellow Court World doesn't have the power to assist you in the charge to Earth Immortal," Xu Miaoran said.

Actually, the more than a hundred Violet Palace corpses Tang Jie had thrown into the diagram had given the world a massive boost that theoretically should have been enough for him to reach Earth Immortal. However, not enough time had passed for this energy to be digested, and besides that, Tang Jie was too ambitious, going for three times the normal region for his Heaven–Man Union, which left the power sorely lacking.

"Yes." Tang Jie nodded. "I'm still lacking some, so I should add in some more."

"Are you planning to go out plundering again?" Xu Miaoran said in alarm.

Tang Jie grinned. "Is there anyone with a treasury big enough to upgrade a world?"

"Then you…"

"Throwing in a few Earth Immortals shouldn't be a problem. And it just so happens that there's some people who just won't leave me alone. It's about time I dealt with them, killing two birds with one stone," Tang Jie casually said.

Xu Miaoran was dumbfounded.

These were Earth Immortals Tang Jie was talking about! He was even thinking about going after them now! Although he had been beaten two already, he had relied on Huang Wuji and the large number of divine treasures he had. Huang Wuji wasn't here anymore, and the number of divine treasures was limited, so he couldn't depend on them alone.

"Husband, are you confident in beating Earth Immortals now?"

"'Now'? To be honest, no." Tang Jie shook his head. "Thus, we have to go to another place first."

"Where?"

"The Martial Lord's hidden realm," Tang Jie replied.