Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 811: Wager

Once it seemed like just about everyone had arrived, Tang Jie bowed to the Jewel Immortal Sovereign. "Immortal Sovereign, I have come to fulfill the agreement from two hundred years ago. Please instruct me."

He thrust his hands down, and Heavenly Balance Mountain erupted in light.

This light was so brilliant that it was hard to look at directly.

Heavenly Balance Mountain shuddered and rumbled, and then it began to rise from the ground. As the entire mountain rose upward, it left an enormous crater in the ground.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign's eyes narrowed upon seeing this magnificent display. "Quite the excellent move. As expected, you prepared the ground beforehand?"

Tang Jie laughed. "Immortal Sovereign, don't misunderstand. Tang Jie only made some arrangements so that our conflict wouldn't affect anyone else. I have already refined this mountain using a formation, converting it into a battlefield. When we fight here, our power will be restrained within it."

"Oh?" The Jewel Immortal Sovereign's eyes sharply gleamed.

Wasn't this saying that his formation could hold a Soul Projection Celestial Sovereign?

In other words, even if Tang Jie was no match for Jewel, he could use this formation to imprison and kill her.

She was rather happy that there were spectators now. If Tang Jie had some sort of trap or had messed with the formation somehow, everyone would be able to see it clearly. If Tang Jie was truly up to something, the cultivators gathered here wouldn't permit it, and the Basking Moon Sect would suffer a drastic drop in reputation. She trusted that Tang Jie wasn't dumb enough to do something like that.

Tang Jie flipped his hand over, and the light from Heavenly Balance Mountain subsided, and with a rumble, the mountain began to shrink. In the shrinking process, the mountain shed its trees and soil, revealing the violet gold interior, sparkling under the sunlight. This enormous mountain range that had extended fifty kilometers had turned into a much smaller violet gold mountain. In the middle of it was a giant circular valley, the Valley of the Eight Wilds. This was where Tang Jie and Jewel would fight.

The violet gold encircled the valley completely, ensuring that nothing could escape.

After condensing, the tough violet gold had become even more solid, and it was further reinforced by the formation into an unbreakable barrier. Only the sky was left open, so that the spectators around the mountain could watch.

"Immortal Sovereign, before we fight, why don't we set down a rule?" Tang Jie said. He pointed at the valley below. "Let's treat the Valley of the Eight Wilds as the stage. Whichever one of us leaves the valley is the loser."

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign chuckled. "Interesting. Is this to restrain my Horizon Ocean Pavilion's Oceancrosser Step?"

Horizon Ocean Pavilion's Oceancrosser Step was regarded as the fastest movement technique in the Rosecloud Domain, so when Horizon Ocean Pavilion's cultivators fought, they had always rapidly moved around a large area. They lived on the ocean, and the open seas and skies were perfect for them to use the Oceancrosser Step. But Tang Jie's conditions happened to place a huge limitation on the movement technique Horizon Ocean Pavilion was so proud of.

Tang Jie smiled. "This is unavoidable. There are many spectators here, and if we didn't place any limitations and fought around here and there, taking our battle across the world, our spectating friends wouldn't be able to keep up. In the end, with no referee, it will be hard to say who won or if our methods were appropriate."

His argument made sense. If someone from Horizon Ocean Pavilion really started running, no one would be able to catch them, not even considering that this was a Soul Projection Celestial Sovereign. But did Tang Jie have the ability to have this Immortal Sovereign running for the hills? But it was true that if there were no limits placed, a battle between Violet Palace experts could throw a good part of the Rosecloud Domain into disarray.

While the Jewel Immortal Sovereign was angry, in the end, she simply gave a cold smile.

She was originally worried that Tang Jie had some sort of scheme, but now, it appeared that while there really was a scheme on this Heavenly Balance Mountain, it was an open scheme, not a hidden one. This was good. After all, she had not intended to use such methods to deal with Tang Jie, for if she did, even if she won, she would lose all her reputation.

She would go down into the Valley of the Eight Wilds and openly crush Tang Jie with her strength!

But before that, there was one thing they had to discuss.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign said, "Tang Jie, this venerable one didn't wait for you for two hundred years simply to have a match with you. If you lose this battle, I won't kill you so long as you agree to a condition of mine."

Tang Jie asked, "Is it handing over the inter-domain trade?"

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign snorted. "In the past, this condition would be enough. But you made this venerable one wait two hundred years to have a fight with you, so it no longer suffices."

"Then what else do you want?"

"It's simple. The Martial Lord's hidden realm!"

Tang Jie laughed. "The Immortal Sovereign has an excellent appetite. But what will you give me if you lose?"

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign took out a thin needle. "This Primal Yang Needle has been with me all over the world. It is a divine item made from 39 kinds of rare metal and is extremely sharp, able to pierce through all energy barriers. What do you think of this as a wager?"

Tang Jie shook his head. "Immortal Sovereign, you want both the inter-domain trade and the Martial Lord's hidden realm, but you only offer a single divine treasure in return? This is a little too petty. This is at least worth putting up a Dao armament as a wager, no?"

Jewel furiously retorted, "What do you think Dao armaments are, that you think they can be so easily wagered? Is that inter-domain trade and the Martial Lord's hidden realm worth so much?"

This time, Jewel actually wasn't being petty.

The Primal Yang Needle she was offering was an upper-grade divine treasure, something that spirit coins could no longer buy. While the inter-domain trade made a lot of money, all of its money could never buy a treasure like this. As for the Martial Lord's hidden realm, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had not seen what it was like inside, so she had no way to appraise its value. But considering that Tang Jie had owned that hidden realm for a long time, it couldn't have much value remaining.

And this was true. As Tang Jie grew stronger, he had picked most of its Immortal plants, and it wasn't like he could give her the arts and techniques. Thus, other than the unknown rewards in the ninth layer, there wasn't much to offer to her.

Thus, a single Primal Yang Needle for these two was not unreasonable.

But Tang Jie had seen so many Dao armaments that he had started to discount divine treasures. In truth, he had been able to see so many Dao armaments primarily because of that battle involving four sects, where everyone had taken out their ultimate weapons. In normal circumstances, it was impossible to see that many Dao armaments. Moreover, true top-class divine treasures were still extraordinarily valuable and were the main weapons of Violet Palace experts. Finally, at Violet Palace, a good divine treasure was sometimes easier to use than a Dao armament. After all, the latter had a cultivation restriction which made them hard to use.

But Tang Jie didn't care, simply saying, "The Martial Lord's hidden realm is more valuable than this. You don't know this, but I do. Only I know that the wager offered by the Immortal Sovereign isn't enough, so I have the right to refuse. If Immortal Sovereign is not willing to add to this wager, then we can wager nothing and just fight purely for the outcome."

How could that be acceptable?

If that was really the case, then Tang Jie could just go through the motions with Jewel and then concede. What could Jewel do to him then?

Had she waited two hundred years just to hear him say, "I concede"?

Or perhaps she would ignore the consequences of enraging the Basking Moon Sect and Xu Guanghua and kill him?

This clearly wasn't possible.

And there was no hope of Tang Jie caring about his pride and refusing to concede. Given Tang Jie's previous behavior, he would never do this. Most importantly, given his age and cultivation level, it was no shame for him to concede.

Thus, on this matter, Tang Jie had her dead to rights and could demand a high price.

He casually said, "Even if the Martial Lord's hidden realm is no longer valuable, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign is still a Soul Projection senior. In fighting me, Soul Projection versus Deification, Immortal Sovereign has an extremely high chance of winning. In these circumstances, isn't adding to your wager only appropriate?"

Now that he had brought up the betting odds, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had even less reason to refuse. She could only ask, "What do you want?"

Tang Jie replied, "Immortal Sovereign, as the Helmsman of Horizon Ocean Pavilion, do you not know what is the most valuable?"

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign scowled. "Do you want Horizon Ocean Pavilion itself?"

Horizon Ocean Pavilion's number one Dao armament was Horizon Ocean Pavilion itself. It was precisely because the Jewel Immortal Sovereign captained it that she was called the Helmsman.

For Tang Jie to bring this up, did he want Horizon Ocean Pavilion to be wagered? If that was the case, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign would never agree. This had nothing to do with her dignity, but rather that Horizon Ocean Pavilion was simply not something she could wager.

Fortunately, Tang Jie said, "What would I want Horizon Ocean Pavilion for? But if I win, I would like Immortal Sovereign to step down from the position of Helmsman."

"You want me to step down? For who?" The Jewel Immortal Sovereign was taken aback.

Tang Jie said nothing, merely looking at Xu Guanghua.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign understood what he wanted and threw her head back and laughed. "Good, good! Tang Jie, you truly are a sly one. Fine, I agree. If l lose, I will cede the Helmsman position to Guanghua and lock myself up in seclusion at the Mountain of Blossoms, only emerging if the sect is in grave danger. Are you satisfied!?"

Tang Jie nodded.

To force the Immortal Sovereign this far over a wager had already been an extremely profitable transaction.

"So then, what are we waiting for? Tang Jie, come and fight me!" The Jewel Immortal Sovereign slapped her Ink Jade wagon, and the wagon flew toward the valley.

Tang Jie laughed. "Happy to!"

In a flash, he also charged into the valley.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign's eyes seethed with murderous intent. "Tang Jie, I admit that you've made incredibly fast progress. To reach Deification in four hundred years is unprecedented, and there probably won't be anyone who does the same in the future. But you've progressed too quickly, and your foundations are shaky. You might be fine fighting someone of the same tier, but trying to challenge me will be much more difficult than you think. Today, I will have you understand how vast the gap between us is!"

She raised her head and whistled.

In response, the winds began to stir.

This was not an attack. She was simply building presence.

An infinitely vast and powerful presence.

At the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's level, a battle was no longer about advantages in spell arts. Just like how a strategist didn't concern themselves with the loss or gain of a single city, they focused on first establishing their presence.

They wanted to make themselves as big as the world, crushing their opponent with sheer dominance.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign's aura grew larger and larger, her supreme majesty sweeping over the world.