Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Su Hongmei had never been so happy fighting before.

When facing the Hemos, she had always been the one being beaten and chased. Never once had she been able to beat them up to her heart's content. As the blood in her veins boiled, she used everything she had learned, and those normally aloof Hemos became like stray dogs, desperately trying to flee.

Su Hongmei was so excited that she didn't even consider why her opponents had suddenly become so weak. She simply fought with all her might, unleashing spell art after spell art. Under the combined power of the three humans, the Hemos cultivators died one by one, and soon, they had all been slain.

Once the Hemos cultivators were all dead, the three finally calmed down and realized what they had done.

One of them paled and shouted, "We killed them! We killed the Hemos hunting squad!"

His name was Wang An, and he was Su Hongmei's senior brother. He was the most timid of them, so when he realized that they had killed all the Hemos, his first reaction was fear.

"Yeah, we killed them. What's so scary about that?" the other cultivator tersely replied. This was Su Cang, Su Hongmei's older brother, and he was the strongest of the three as a Spirit Ring cultivator.

The charming spell Tang Jie had used on them was set up specifically to expire after the battle was over so that he could see what their real reactions would be. It now seemed that this Su Cang had a little guts. Although it was Tang Jie who had given him the courage to strike, at least he wasn't acting horrified and was openly confronting reality.

"Strange—how did our opponents become so weak?" Confusion appeared in Su Hongmei's eyes.

Su Hongmei was well aware of the difference in strength between the parties, so their victory was rather suspect.

From behind them, Tang Jie said, "These people were struck by my Spring Breeze Erosion spell. Anyone struck by it will feel weak and unable to use spiritual energy."

Rather than trying to cover things up, it was better to just admit that he had made the enemy weaker. Su Hongmei had nothing to say to such a reasonable explanation.

Meanwhile, Su Cang clearly didn't have as many worries, excitedly saying, "So it was thanks to Sir's secret art! It's all thanks to Sir that we were able to escape danger and kill those cultivators."

His line of thinking was rather simple. Since this person had saved them, then whatever he said was right, and if he was saving them, it made complete sense for him to weaken the enemy and work with them to kill the Hemos.

Tang Jie smiled. "While it is a formidable spell art, it prevents the user from moving, so it's thanks to you three that they could all be slain. If I were alone, it would have been very difficult for me to take them out."

His real intent behind this statement was to tie everyone together and ensure that no one could shirk responsibility.

Wang An worriedly said, "Regardless, killing a hunting squad is a big deal. That Li Xiao won't let this matter go."

The mention of Li Xiao caused the faces of the Su siblings to darken.

Tang Jie asked, "Who is this Li Xiao?"

Su Cang replied, "Li Xiao is the captain of the Hemos hunting squads, an Infant Tending Violet Palace cultivator of unfathomable strength."

Tang Jie almost burst out laughing at the use of "unfathomable strength", but considering their cultivation levels, an Infant Tending cultivator truly did fit this descriptor. Thus, he only said, "Among the hundreds of thousands of cultivators of my human race, is there not a single Infant Tending cultivator?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Su Hongmei replied, "Of course there is. The human race has its own Titans. But we humans can't compare to the power of the fiends and demons, who have their own Titans. We are greatly outnumbered, so we don't dare to recklessly start fights."

"So an Infant Tending junior is allowed to run rampant on the Cloudsea?" Tang Jie asked.

The three humans rolled their eyes.

"An Infant Tending junior is allowed to run rampant"? You're only at Heart Demon yourself, and you dare to call someone at Infant Tending a junior? Do you realize how big the gap is?

But since this person had saved their life, they didn't try to argue too much.

Su Hongmei tactfully replied, "Li Xiao alone isn't someone to be afraid of, but Li Xiao belongs to the Bloodfiend Alliance. The Bloodfiend Alliance consists of eighteen Hemos tribes and is too powerful to contend with. Thus, while those Hemos hunting squads seem like bandits of the Cloudsea Plains, they're actually a vanguard for the Bloodfiend Alliance. Provoking them means having to watch out for the vengeance of the entire Bloodfiend Alliance."

"I see." Tang Jie nodded.

Through the inter-domain trade, Rosecloud had learned a lot about the Blood River Domain. Tang Jie knew that the Bloodfiend Alliance was a powerful Hemos organization that included the majority of the Hemos tribes. It was this alliance that was the number one faction of the entire Blood River Domain. Second to it was the Demon Gate.

The demons of the Blood River Domain primarily consisted of cultivators who cultivated Demon Gate arts and became demons. They could not strictly be considered demons, only to carry some demon nature. They weren't completely irredeemable like the demons of the Primordial Fog Domain, with some of them even being able to retain their humanity. Hei Yan had been an example of one. In reality, they were rejected by both the demons of the Primordial Fog and the humans. These demon cultivators, unable to join either of these sides, could only form their own demon faction. Moreover, there were also some real Primordial Fog demons in the territory of the Demon Gate, and together with the demon cultivators, they formed the main body of the demon race in the Blood River Domain.

In comparison, while the humans had their own alliances, they were the weakest, and not only were they weak, they refused to join together.

This single region was home to three large alliances and seven small alliances, each with their own designs. It was no wonder the humans were being pressed so hard.

The three before him came from one of the small human alliances, the Red Leaf Alliance.

The Red Leaf Alliance consisted of four sects, with their leader being the Red Maple Association, the sect that Su Hongmei's group belonged to. Its sect master was a Deification True Lord. The other three sects were also each led by a single True Lord. Put together, the Red Leaf Alliance alone was stronger than the Hemos hunting squads.

Even so, the Red Leaf Alliance's people still fled for their lives, the reason being that the gap between the strength of their respective backers was too big.

The Su siblings were disciples of Red Maple Association Master Liu Nanshan, and they had been coming back from a mission to pick up goods when they had been attacked. If Tang Jie hadn't intervened, they would have been devoured and lost together with the goods.

After hearing all this, Tang Jie introduced himself as Tang Chong, a wandering cultivator. The three thanked Tang Jie for saving their lives and invited him to stay at the Red Leaf Alliance.

This Red Leaf Alliance was located in Thousand Autumns City, a day's journey from here.

The four of them ended up arriving at Thousand Autumns City by nightfall.

The headquarters of the Red Leaf Alliance was located right outside Thousand Autumns City, on the slopes of the mountains to the west. Tang Jie saw a mountain covered in green bamboo and waterfalls. Although the mountain wasn't particularly tall, it was a lush and picturesque place. But Tang Jie couldn't help but frown.

Whether in Rosecloud, Vast Wilderness, or even the Verdant Cloud Domain, all the bases of Immortal sects emphasized majestic spectacle so as to embody the grandeur and ambition of a major sect. While picturesque landscapes like this did exist, they were mainly reserved for the residences of recluses who sought peace and quiet, away from the affairs of the world.

The Red Leaf Alliance was all about worldly affairs, but it displayed an elegant and secluded atmosphere that signified a lack of ambition. It was no wonder its achievements were so limited.

Su Hongmei didn't know that the Red Leaf Alliance's choice of location was being objected to, excitedly explaining, "This is the headquarters of my Red Leaf Alliance. Beautiful, right?"

Tang Jie plainly answered, "Elegant and secluded, a picturesque place perfect for retirement."

Su Hongmei, with her pure thoughts, failed to catch his meaning, proudly raising her head and saying, "Of course. Big Brother Tang, come with me. I'll take you to see my Red Leaf Alliance's Scarlet Cloud Forest. This is a famous sight of Thousand Autumns City."

She pulled Tang Jie along.

Tang Jie had a youthful appearance and had the cultivation of the Heart Demon Tier. This was two tiers above Su Hongmei, but it wasn't a huge difference, so Su Hongmei didn't treat him like a senior and called him "Big Brother". Of course, this was only a privilege he afforded to women. Another person would have been slapped countless times by now.

As Su Hongmei guided Tang Jie through the gates of the Red Leaf Alliance, a cultivator came flying out of the distance. He also didn't seem very old. Bearing an eagle-like nose and sharp eyes, he flew by on a large sword. When he spotted Su Hongmei, he excitedly had the sword fly down. Once it was near the ground, he jumped off and said, "Junior Sister, you've returned! Was your journey smooth?"

Su Hongmei lowered her head. "Greetings, Senior Brother Tao."

Senior Brother Tao turned to Tang Jie. "And who are you? Daring to intrude on my Red Leaf Alliance?"

Given that he had seen Su Hongmei pull Tang Jie inside, it was clear that he was looking for trouble. Having noticed the jealousy in his eyes, Tang Jie instantly knew what was going on.

This was definitely one of Su Hongmei's suitors feeling a little possessive.

In truth, this wasn't anything rare among youths. It was just that ever since entering the Basking Moon Sect, Tang Jie and his peers had all been earnestly striving on the Immortal path, so none of them had time to bicker over love. Unexpectedly, it was only now that he was an Earth Immortal that he had run into such a thing. At this, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, feeling a sense of both glee and regret.

The glee came from being able to experience this "missing" part of life, and the regret from the fact that someone of his status gained no joy from stomping on people of this level.

But sometimes, stomping on people wasn't for joy. It might solely be for the sake of amusement, a sudden impulse—like seeing a beetle on the road and stomping it to death just to hear the crunch.

Tang Jie suddenly felt like hearing that crunch.

So he said, "Roll off."

This was imbued with Law Speaking, so Su Hongmei witnessed Senior Brother Tao immediately rolling away with his hands over his head.