Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 861: Dao Formation

While the Dao Runes of the Wall of Dao Comprehension were complex and abstruse, if one didn't directly observe those stars and instead viewed things from a higher level, one would find that the movements of the stars were in tune with some heavenly principle.

With his experience, Tang Jie quickly discovered that the Dao Rune stars were actually in a formation.

A formation created from a Dao!

Tang Jie's mind was blown away by this revelation.

This was a formation that used Dao Runes as its foundation. If his guess was right, then this was the Jewel Palace's defensive formation. It was no wonder even Immortal Platform experts couldn't break through it!

Within the formation, the stars operated in a unique fashion, and they seemed to complement each other in ways that Tang Jie could not comprehend. Solving the secret of the stars was impossible for Tang Jie's current level.

But he was somewhat confident in breaking down the structure of the formation.

Turning his attention away from the stars themselves, he began to focus on how they moved, and he immediately felt a change. While their movements remained complex and difficult to understand, at least with his understanding of formations, he had some basis to work from.

The traces left behind by those stars as they leapt around the wall became intersecting formation lines.

Tang Jie pushed his Wisdom Dao to the limit, rapidly calculating those paths of lights, and the formation began to appear in his mind.

This formation was far more complicated than he had initially surmised, and even with his Dao of Wisdom, even drawing out the entire formation was a tough task, let alone dissecting and analyzing it.

The formation itself was a supreme Immortal formation!

This was the conclusion Tang Jie had reached.

He had already thought of countless ways to lay out this formation with regular materials.

Everyone else was trying to comprehend the Dao Runes on the wall, with Tang Jie alone tirelessly trying to comprehend the formation that they formed.

In truth, no small number of Immortal Platform formation masters had also noticed this formation, but in the end, they had all been more tempted by the Dao Runes themselves.

This was the Wall of Dao Comprehension, after all. What were they here for if not to comprehend the Dao?

Tang Jie was an exception, for he had little interest in other Daos.

This was because he had already comprehended the Twelve Great Daos and already had his own path to walk. The Daos of others could only serve as reference and were much less valuable to him. But he was the only one in the world who had actually comprehended the Twelve Great Daos, so the temptation of the Dao on the wall had always proved stronger than the formation. Besides, not many Immortal Platform cultivators understood formations.

For this reason, in the previous openings, nobody had diligently researched the formation as Tang Jie had, and if they did attempt it, they didn't have the backing of the Dao of Wisdom.

Still, Tang Jie ended up using three days on this effort.

Tang Jie neither slept nor ate, focusing entirely on the wall.

The other cultivators shook their heads at this boy's recklessness.

The Wall of Dao Comprehension seemed simple, but it had a powerful influence on the mind, making one impatient and irascible. For Tang Jie to be staring at it for three days meant that once he broke out of the meditative state, he would suffer severe mental damage, perhaps ruining his entire future.

The yellow-robed man said, "What a pity that he's so stubborn! My girl, persuade your husband out of this. If this goes on, he will die here."

Xu Miaoran simply smiled. "I trust my husband. If he dares to look, then everything will be fine."

The yellow-robed man had actually tried to convince Xu Miaoran multiple times to wake Tang Jie up, but Xu Miaoran had complete faith in Tang Jie. She knew that Tang Jie was at a critical moment, and awakening him now would ruin everything. Thus, she stood guard at her husband's side, preventing anyone from getting close.

This was perhaps another reason that other Immortal Platform experts had failed to comprehend the formation. There were few women like Xu Miaoran.

Three days later, Tang Jie finally opened his eyes, letting out a long breath.

"Husband, you're awake?" Xu Miaoran happily asked.

Tang Jie smiled and pulled Xu Miaoran over. "I put you through a lot over these past few days."

Xu Miaoran replied, "I didn't do anything, but you spent all this time studying the wall. Did you comprehend anything?"

Tang Jie nodded. "I had a rich harvest."

"Pfft!" Laughter came from nearby.

He turned and saw an elegant young master standing there. Despite his youthful appearance, he was already at Soul Projection, like Tang Jie. Holding a folding fan, he fanned himself a few times before saying,

"The Wall of Dao Comprehension is an enigmatic place from High Antiquity, and countless Titans have failed to solve its secrets, spending several dozen days contemplating it to no avail. Yet you, a Soul Projection cultivator, dare to claim a rich harvest? Have you no shame!?"

Tang Jie indifferently said, "We're both at Soul Projection, so there's no need to slander me so quickly. It's not your place to say if I've gotten anything or not."

"Hmph!" The young master closed his fan and glared at Tang Jie. "You can talk big enough! Since you say you've gotten a rich harvest, then let me ask you: what Dao are the runes on the wall from?"

Tang Jie shook his head. "I don't know."

"Haha!" The young master threw his head back and laughed. "You don't even know what Dao the Dao Runes on the wall belong to, and you dare to claim some big harvest? Absurd! Ridiculous!"

Tang Jie ignored him, instead looking toward the Jewel Palace and doing some silent calculations. He then said to Xu Miaoran, "In a little while, the Jewel Palace will open. Let's go and wait on the side."

This time, a whole group of people inwardly laughed. What skill does this kid have, that he can predict the opening time of the Jewel Palace? they thought to themselves in disdain.

But a few moments later, the gates of the Jewel Palace really did rumble open, the energy surrounding the walls beginning to recede.

In delight, everyone flew into the Jewel Palace, with only that yellow-robed man thoughtfully glancing at Tang Jie.

Tang Jie could have gotten just lucky, given how vague "a little while" was and how long they had already waited for the Jewel Palace to open, but the yellow-robed man sensed that Tang Jie probably hadn't just made a random guess, that he might really have seen through how the palace operated.

While the Jewel Palace was now open, it was full of traps and dangers. Knowing of them beforehand could allow one to turn disaster into fortune, increasing one's chances at getting treasure. But in the end, he wasn't acquainted with Tang Jie, so after some thought, he headed in alone.

The ones who went in first were all Earth Immortals.

The strong relied on their strength to rush in first and snatch up the treasure while the weak could only clear out the perimeter. The Court of Myriad Domains had been here for ten thousand years, and a set of rules had been developed long ago.

Tang Jie patiently waited for everyone else to go in before finally entering with Xu Miaoran.

Upon entering the palace, they found themselves surrounded by opulent buildings, pavilions, and fountains.

Xu Miaoran spotted a pretty little building that no one was going into and wanted to take a look inside, but Tang Jie pulled her back. "Don't. That's a death trap."

Xu Miaoran was startled. At this moment, a cultivator who had circled back around also spotted this building. Noticing that Xu Miaoran wanted to go in, he hastened inside first. As Xu Miaoran was sighing, the small building suddenly turned into a pagoda that erupted with flames to burn the cultivator alive.

The cultivator in the pagoda tried to resist, but gradually, he fell to the flames and began to scream.

Xu Miaoran turned to Tang Jie in alarm and found him calmly watching. Earlier, he had wanted to get away, but now, he was in no rush to leave.

A few moments later, the cultivator's screams died away, as did he.

At this moment, Tang Jie rushed into the pagoda, slapping its walls eighty times, each strike aimed at a specific part of the pagoda. The pagoda didn't attempt to resist, and with every strike, the pagoda shrank a little, until it was finally only a foot tall, small enough to sit on one's palm.

Tang Jie grabbed the pagoda and laughed. "We got a fine treasure here. The Divine Fire Pagoda is a divine treasure that allows for the storage and usage of all exotic flames, a fine tool of the Fire Dao. Wonderful, wonderful. I have a place to put the Deicide Flame now."

He blew at the tower, and the Deicide Flame flitted into it.

The Deicide Flame could burn away all things, and while Tang Jie owned it, he had never been able to subdue it, always finding it a struggle to use. Thus, he rarely used it in battle. Now that he had the Divine Fire Pagoda, he finally had a way of controlling the Deicide Flame.

As he put away the pagoda, he saw the surprise on Xu Miaoran's face and smiled. "This Jewel Palace is a huge formation, and all the treasures have actually been turned into formation eyes to support the formation, creating various lethal traps. If you show the slightest neglect, you could easily end up dead. But on the other hand, if you can break the formation eye, you can take the treasure. That guy just now triggered the formation with his body, which was why he was burned to nothing. But this gave me the opportunity, or else even with my understanding of the formation's operations, I still wouldn't have been able to undo it."

"So what you were comprehending from the Wall of Dao Comprehension was the Jewel Palace's formation."

"Indeed. This is a Great Dao formation, each formation eye using a valuable treasure as its foundation, Dao Arts as the formation lines. Those stars on the wall actually represent formation eyes. They were showing the formation from the very start. Only someone who understands formations can take the treasures, with no other way to do it."

The biggest difference between the Jewel Palace and other locations was that all the treasures were merged with the formation. At other places, one could push through dangers to take the treasure, but here, there was no going around it. Only breaking the formation would give one access. And every formation eye was independent, so breaking one would not affect the rest of the formation.

Xu Miaoran gasped. "No wonder the Jewel Palace still has so many treasures despite the court being entered so many times. I didn't think it would be this difficult!"

"Of course. If you think about it, this is a kind of Treasure Cosmos Formation, but both the quality of the treasures and the level of formation are far higher than what's in my formation diagram. Besides that, given the power of these formations, even I have to find the right moment to break the formation. Those who don't understand formations will have an even harder time of it. Ordinary Earth Immortals definitely won't be able to do it, and True Immortals will need some luck. Perhaps only Boundless Gold Immortals could force their way through, but they might not care about any of the treasures in this place."

"Dear husband, are you confident in being able to break the formation?" Xu Miaoran asked.

Tang Jie pinched her cheek and said, "I don't have the power to completely break it, but a few spots should be fine."

Pulling on Tang Jie, Xu Miaoran said in glee, "Then what are we waiting for?"

As the two walked off, deep in the Court of Myriad Domains, an Immortal suddenly sensed something and gazed into the distance, their eyes gleaming.

"The Deicide Flame… yes, it's the Deicide Flame. I can't be wrong. But why would the Deicide Flame be here? Could it be… Could that kid have come to the Vast Wilderness Continent?"

That Immortal immediately flew in the direction of the Jewel Palace.