Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Developing a world from nothing was immensely difficult.

Tang Jie was well aware of how much time and effort it had taken to build up the Yellow Court World. In that period of time, most of his resources had been invested into this world.

Although he was starting to get a return now, like using it to reach Immortal Platform, there was no end to the Immortal path. The day after becoming a True Immortal, Yun Tianlan had started thinking about his path to Gold Immortal, and Tang Jie was no different.

But getting the Yellow Court World to raise a second Earth Immortal was already difficult, let alone a True Immortal.

And without the help of the Yellow Court World, Tang Jie's path to becoming a True Immortal would be many times more difficult.

While it was true that the Yellow Court World needed far more resources than a single cultivator, it was much less picky. As a small world, it essentially needed everything. Impurities could be turned into dirt, spiritual objects could be turned into spiritual energy, and even filth could be recycled into useful things. In this aspect, it was much easier to raise the Yellow Court World than himself.

This was why Yun Tianlan bringing up merging worlds into the Yellow Court immediately caused Tang Jie to change his attitude.

This matter was far too important to him.

Yun Tianlan was amused by Tang Jie's shameless reversal. "You're already a Titan, yet you're still so profit-minded, not even getting out of bed unless you think it's worth it."

Tang Jie chuckled. "In front of Ancestor, your disciple will be your disciple no matter what cultivation level he reaches, and there is no need to pretend in front of my master."

Yun Tianlan bitterly smiled and shook his head. "How much is split to you will depend on your contribution."

"Protecting the Basking Moon Sect's prosperity for ten thousand years isn't enough of a contribution?" Tang Jie acted dumb.

Yun Tianlan pretended to be angry, snorting, "That's repayment for all that the Basking Moon Sect has done for you over the years."

Tang Jie grumbled, "I thought I had repaid that when I helped you become a True Immortal."

"Nonsense!" Yun Tianlan scoffed and glared. "Then how should we settle the accounts over how the Basking Moon Sect gathered up all spirit plants older than five hundred years and expended all the thousand-year spirit fields in the Water Moon Paradise for the sake of your advancement?"

"I brought all of you to the Court of Myriad Domains."

"And I helped you take the crown and block the Bejeweled Star Lord's attacks!"

The two of them argued over the matter of contribution like they were children, which would have certainly stunned any outsider bearing witness to it. Suddenly, they stopped and smiled at each other.

Yun Tianlan pointed at Tang Jie and said, "You brat, let me tell you: don't try and slack off around this old man. The entire domain is at stake in a cultivator war, so we can't afford any carelessness. Before every battle, we have to be absolutely sure about our chances, or else we'll bring about disaster. If you want sufficient benefits, you have to make a sufficient contribution."

"What do I need to do? And what can I get?" Tang Jie simply asked.

In all of Rosecloud, he was probably the only one who could talk to Yun Tianlan this way.

Yun Tianlan answered, "Merging domains isn't some game. Making one world devour another requires a special formation called a domain fusion formation. Using this formation as the entrance, one can employ a devouring method to gradually encompass the other world. Even then, the process takes hundreds to thousands of years, depending on the world's size."

"'A domain fusion formation'…" Tang Jie muttered. He knew nothing about this kind of formation.

"In addition, you need a domain migration formation. Every small world is out there in the endless void of the Chiliocosm. To merge domains, one needs to move domains, and only when the domains are adjacent to each other can there be any devouring. This is also an extremely taxing and difficult process." ṝ𝙖ɴОʙЁ𝘚

"Then Ancestor means…"

"The Rosecloud Domain doesn't have these two kinds of formations, but the Vast Wilderness Continent does."

Tang Jie understood. "Ancestor wants me to learn these two kinds of formations."

Yun Tianlan nodded. "You are more familiar with the Vast Wilderness Continent, and you are proficient in formations, so nobody is more suited for this mission. Moreover, you will also need to be the one who lays down this formation. This contribution alone will be enough to get you ten percent when we start merging domains."

"Only ten percent," Tang Jie said in disdain.

"Ten percent of a world, and you're still not satisfied? Can all of the resources of your Yellow Court World add up to even ten percent of the Rosecloud Domain's?" Yun Tianlan harrumphed.

Tang Jie was rendered silent. While his Yellow Court World had developed well, it really couldn't match one tenth of the Rosecloud Domain. Otherwise, it wouldn't be "panting for breath" after producing only one Earth Immortal. The Rosecloud Domain was still a world that could produce a True Immortal, just with a little difficulty.

Yun Tianlan added, "Moreover, this is only the contribution from those two formations. If you want more, you can just do more. With your current strength and cultivation, you could even fight on par with me. If you join the battle, you could get fifteen percent."

Tang Jie immediately said, "Ancestor, do you mean that you are also only fifteen percent?"

Yun Tianlan glared. "This old man counts for twenty, the other five Earth Immortals of the major sects put together count for twenty percent, and all the True Lords count for ten percent. The rest can be considered twenty-five percent."

Low-tier cultivators could not be underestimated, for many ants could bite an elephant to death. While they lacked strength, they had numbers, and when combined with special formations and treasures, they could display considerable power. The six major sects all had formations that could be used by their lower-tier disciples to combine their powers. This was why numbers had always held some relevance in the cultivation world, and why the experts of the various sects needed to treat them well. This was why Yun Tianlan considered all the cultivators beneath Violet Palace as twenty-five percent, and in a real battle, tens of thousands of cultivators combining their powers might be even more powerful than a True Immortal—of course, whether all those people could combine their powers was a major problem.

Tang Jie wasn't happy to hear that Yun Tianlan was giving himself twenty percent and Tang Jie only fifteen percent, but he didn't dare to argue. When he thought about how he would also have the ten percent from the formations, which put him at twenty-five percent and above Yun Tianlan, he decided to drop the matter entirely.

In truth, merging domains was a wide-ranging matter that couldn't be simply divided up so easily. At the very least, the twenty-five percent assigned to every cultivator below Violet Palace wasn't going to be parceled out to each individual.

Yun Tianlan was partitioning this way as a way to negotiate with Tang Jie. If they won a cultivator war in the future, everyone else would divide the conquered world between themselves, while Tang Jie could take away an entire quarter straight away.

And enriching Tang Jie was the same as enriching the Basking Moon Sect—the Rosecloud Domain belonged to everyone, but what was Tang Jie's was the Basking Moon Sect's!

Yun Tianlan and Tang Jie both understood this.

The two of them smiled at each other, thus reaching an agreement.

"If that's the case, your disciple will head off to the Vast Wilderness Continent to get those two formations."

"How do you plan to get them?" Yun Tianlan asked.

"I"ll find Huang Wuji. His Star Radiant Gate is a country-level sect of the Vast Wilderness Continent, similar to my Basking Moon Sect, so it should have the privilege to know of those formations."

Yun Tianlan nodded. "That would be for the best. Come back quickly so that we can prepare for the cultivator war."

"So quickly? You've already chosen the target?" Tang Jie said in surprise.

A cultivator war was no small matter, but moving a domain would take some time. How would they get started when they had nothing at all?

Yun Tianlan replied, "There is one world that we can attack without moving our domain."

Tang Jie was puzzled at first, but then he cried out in realization, "The Blood River Domain!"

——————————————

The Blood River Domain!

This was the first domain he had ever traveled to.

Unlike all the other worlds, the Blood River Domain was right next to the Rosecloud Domain.

It was so close that they could be considered separated by only a wall.

It was precisely because they were so close that the Lord of the Blood River was able to so easily open up the spatial barrier and infiltrate the Rosecloud Domain. It was precisely because they were so close that Tang Jie was able to use the teleportation formation in the Martial Lord's hidden realm, which could only penetrate through a single domain barrier, to travel between the two domains. It was precisely because they were so close that Tang Jie was able to achieve the inter-domain trade at a low cost. And it was precisely because they were so close that Yun Tianlan had chosen it as the first target.

They were so close that Yun Tianlan didn't even need to move the domain. He just needed to attack and then devour.

Tang Jie hadn't expected Yun Tianlan to turn his attention to the Blood River Domain.

Now that he thought about it, the inter-domain trade had been running for long enough now, and Xu Miaoran had made enough money. Moreover, the extended trade had begun to lower the profit margins.

For the last few years, the presence of so many goods from another domain had started to tip off the Blood River Domain side to the existence of a teleportation formation, and they had started to interfere with the trading company run by Xian Tao. In these circumstances, Xian Tao decided to withdraw from the trade and the Blood River Domain for the time being. Only when the goods from the two domains were all used up and the profit margins rose would she restart it.

Now, however, this plan would be put on hold, because Yun Tianlan planned to take the entire Blood River Domain.

The inter-domain trade meant that the Rosecloud Domain had a very deep understanding of the Blood River Domain. On the Blood River Domain side were five Earth Immortals, which made it weaker than Rosecloud, and with the Flame Celestial Sovereign subdued, there were only four.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In other words, the Rosecloud Domain could take down this world without the intervention of Tang Jie or Yun Tianlan. Of course, they would still each get their share of the spoils. While Yun Tianlan didn't care about his part, Tang Jie very much did.

The thought of attacking the Blood River Domain made Tang Jie recall his acquaintances.

Na Shan, Hei Yan, Shui Yao, and also Liu Qianyi… The thought of her figure at their parting made Tang Jie's heart grow a little hotter.

How were they doing now?

And what sort of state was the Lord of the Blood River in?

Yun Tianlan's voice resounded in his ear. "You don't need to go to the Blood River Domain this time. All you need to do is bring back those two formations…"

"Go! Of course I'll go! There are some old friends that I dearly miss. Moreover, my Flesh Millstone is somewhat unable to keep up with my cultivation, and I don't want to waste this Divine Connection. If I can get some energy from the Immortals of Blood River, I might be able to turn it into an Immortal Art, make it even stronger!" Tang Jie replied.