Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 888: A Hundred Past Lives

Why had a Fate Oath turned into a real Heavenly Dao Oath? Tang Jie couldn't understand.

But what he did understand was that this was a rare opportunity that he couldn't let pass.

A smart cultivator would never pass up any opportunity to grow stronger. Through the Celestial Eye, Tang Jie had traced the thread back to its origin, and as a result, he was once more standing before the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel, so how could he not try to once more glimpse its secrets?

Although he had already comprehended the Twelve Great Daos, the path of the Great Daos was endless. He had only comprehended a small corner of them and was far from seeing the entire thing.

But which should he choose?

After some thought, Tang Jie ultimately chose the Dao of Reincarnation.

Reincarnation had always been Tang Jie's weakest category. His comprehension of Reincarnation was entirely thanks to that one-time linking of his mind with the world in his ascension to Violet Palace.

Without his own understanding of Reincarnation, this level of Dao comprehension was not very useful. With Wisdom and Yin Yang, although Tang Jie had comprehended these Daos through studying external objects, after he comprehended them, he had been using what he learned, constantly deepening his understanding and experience, thereby comprehending new things.

Only with the Dao of Reincarnation had he never had a chance to use what he had comprehended.

It was like knowledge gained from reading a book. Some of what was read would be frequently used and become one's own knowledge, but some of it would never have any practical use at all, making learning it pointless.

Wisdom and Yin Yang represented the former while Reincarnation represented the latter. As he had never used it, not only did he not add to his knowledge, this idle knowledge even began to fade a little.

But Tang Jie didn't plan to give up on it.

He had already comprehended all Twelve Great Daos. If his comprehension of one of them faded, his set would no longer be complete, which he just couldn't stand. Moreover, for some reason, Tang Jie felt like there was a voice telling him not to give up.

For these reasons, Tang Jie chose Reincarnation.

He had started to forget what he had learned, so he needed to hit the books again.

Tang Jie's mind flew toward the Dao of Reincarnation.

As his thread-like will twined itself around the Dao of Reincarnation, he suddenly found countless scenes flashing through his mind. They were countless memories of countless beings, and Tang Jie traveled amongst them as if he was seeing countless incarnations of himself. In a split second, Tang Jie went through innumerable lives, as if he had been everything from revered emperors all the way down to lowly peasants.

But Tang Jie knew that these were not his past lives.

He had no past life in this world.

He wasn't a person of this world, so he had no past here to speak of. All of this was an illusion.

Perhaps this was a reason he found it difficult to enter the Dao of Reincarnation.

All in the Dao of Reincarnation had past lives. He was the only one who had transcended Reincarnation.

If he did not enter the cycle, he could not enter its Dao, and comprehending its Dao Will granted him no understanding of its operating principles.

As he realized this, when he looked at those past lives again, he felt like they all belonged to someone else and had nothing to do with him. He was just a spectator to this world, and as a result, his mind grew more and more indifferent.

In these circumstances, even with Dao Wills flooding through his mind, he found it hard to understand their meaning or comprehend their spirit.

Tang Jie couldn't help but be annoyed.

Was it going to be like last time, only comprehending the Dao and not being able to enter it?

In the middle of his vexation, he saw a past life that had an appearance somewhat similar to his, whose way of speaking and acting was also familiar. As he was wondering what was going on, he remembered something. Wasn't this the past life of Little River Village's Tang Jie?

When his soul had crossed over into Little River Village's Tang Jie, the boy had already died from his injuries. But no matter what, he was still the former owner of this body. Thus, while Tang Jie couldn't see his own past lives in the Dao of Reincarnation, he could see the past lives of that Tang Jie.

Since he himself had no past life, he would experience the past lives of the old Tang Jie.

"My apologies. Not only did I take your present life, I even have to borrow your past lives," Tang Jie said with a bitter chuckle.

Concentrating all his will on this past life, Tang Jie focused his mind. The scene began to accelerate, everything playing out before Tang Jie's eyes at maximum speed. He saw a scholar earnestly studying and his efforts finally paying off in a high position at court, but then falling to court intrigues and being thrown into jail, a prosperous life turning to nothing. Further back, Tang Jie was now a bandit, savage and cruel, killing without regard, ultimately being hanged by the government…

Tang Jie moved further into the past, seeing each one of the old Tang Jie's past lives go by, and through these constant cycles, he finally began to deepen his understanding of the Dao of Reincarnation.

This session lasted for ten thousand years.

Tang Jie observed a hundred of that Tang Jie's past lives.

As another life passed and Tang Jie was about to end this session, the scene suddenly changed, and Tang Jie saw a flying cultivator. From his appearance, he appeared rather similar to Tang Jie, which marked him as yet another one of that Tang Jie's past lives.

So that Tang Jie had also been a cultivator in a past life.

Moreover, from how he gracefully flew through the skies, he was clearly a cultivator of immense power, at least an Immortal. This was because Tang Jie saw this cultivator passing straight through some Astral Winds, traversing the gap between heaven and earth in an instant and stepping into the endless void.

In the darkness, a giant dragon swam over to that Immortal, and Tang Jie thought he was about to see the Immortal be devoured or engage in some vicious battle. But to his shock, the dragon flew beneath that Immortal's feet, a fawning expression on its face.

The Immortal stood on the dragon's head and waved his hand.

The dragon flew off into the void.

As they traveled through the void, Tang Jie saw a majestic palace shining in the depths.

"The Court of Myriad Domains!" Tang Jie cried out.

As he shouted, that Immortal seemed to sense something and turned to look back.

This gaze transcended Time and Space to meet Tang Jie's gaze, and then Tang Jie saw nothing at all, a blinding light devouring him whole.

"AH!" he shouted.

His mind was returned, and his physical body staggered back a few steps.

Only then did he realize that he was still standing in the Infinite Palace.

The Heavenly Dao Law Wheel, the Dao of Reincarnation, his hundred past lives, and that ancient Immortal were all gone.

Tang Jie panted for breath, his mind still reeling from the shock.

That last glance from the Immortal felt particularly eerie, as if there was something connecting all of this.

Everything seemed to be foreordained.

This indescribable feeling weighed heavily on his heart.

What he could not understand now, he might understand in the future. Of course, there was also the chance he might never understand it.

As he pondered this question, Tang Jie inspected his body and found that he now had a rune of the Dao of Reincarnation.

He had entered the Dao of Reincarnation.

Two attempts at comprehending the Dao of Reincarnation and the experience of the other Tang Jie's past lives had finally filled in what Tang Jie was lacking, allowing him to make a big leap in progress. Although he had not created a Dao Art yet, as his cultivation advanced, a Dao Art would only be a matter of time.

Satisfied, Tang Jie turned to the cultivators. "Then… shall we continue?"

His comprehension of the Great Dao and the hundred past lives had only taken an instant. The cultivators were still shaken by the heavenly punishment, and none of them knew of the transformation Tang Jie had just experienced.

Seeing that Tang Jie wanted to continue fighting made them despair, but they had no choice.

The heavenly punishment meant that they couldn't escape, only fulfill their side of the promise.

Thus, the duels continued.

But the combination of the Celestial Eye and Law Speaking meant that none of the cultivators here could endure Tang Jie's single attack.

Tang Jie was always able to find their weakness and pierce through it.

Never before had the Celestial Eye's weakness detection been able to so fully display its power. It was a refreshing feeling, and his Celestial Eye even improved thanks to this repeated use.

Tang Jie had hugely profited from this trip to the Court of Myriad Domains. Not only had he risen from Deification to Soul Projection, he had completed the Treasure Cosmos Formation diagram, upgraded the Myriad Yin Yang Furnace, and advanced greatly in his understanding of the Dao. And not only had he gotten stronger in all these aspects, those around him had gotten stronger as well.

One by one, the cultivators on the other side fell to his hand.

The surviving cultivators were completely cowed. One of them shouted, "Hong Qianli, do you not fear offending the Stellar Net Gate and Heaven's Equal Sect with your bloodlust?"

Tang Jie snorted. "What a joke! If I didn't offend you, wouldn't your True Immortals still try and kill me on sight? And when I appeared to kill those demon cultivators, wasn't it you who attacked me? I did not intend to start a massacre, but you people were too despicable, forcing me to counterattack. It's precisely because I fear the power of the two sects that I have to kill all of you now and leave no survivors!"

He made another strike, slaying another cultivator.

The remaining cultivators gave in to their desperation and cried out, "Together!"

The remaining seven or eight cultivators charged in together.

But before they could reach Tang Jie, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, massive lightning bolts descending from the heavens. The power of the heavenly punishment was not to be underestimated, and the cultivators screamed. But one of the cultivators managed to endure the heavenly punishment, howling, "As a cultivator, I defy the heavens, so what can the punishment of the heavens do to me? If I break the oath, I break it! If I can endure the punishment, I'm free! Haha!"

He moved to escape, but at this moment, a golden light swept across his neck. Blood fountained from his neck, and as his head flew into the air, he wondered, Who killed me?

He saw Tang Jie holding the golden Sovereign Blade.

In realization, the cultivator mouthed, "You lied… wouldn't use… heavenly… punishment…"

His movement ceased.

Sheathing his blade, Tang Jie casually said, "If even some nameless guy like you can break the oath and resist the heavenly punishment, why can't I? Besides… you broke the oath first, so me acting afterward can't be considered breaking the oath."

He looked up and found that the skies were clear.

Smiling, Tang Jie raised the Sovereign Blade and moved on to the next cultivator.