Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 399: Painting a Mountain

Dust rose into the air as a giant of more than four meters stood up, so tall that both Mei Huaping and Mad Sword Meng had to raise their heads to look.

Mei Huaping’s vision was severely damaged such that he couldn’t see clearly, but Mad Sword Meng’s eyes were working properly, and he saw that the giant’s face was extremely similar to Tang Jie’s. He cried out in shock, “What’s going on here?”

But Tang Jie was no longer interested in talking with him.

He had been talking before to buy time for the original body to lay down the formation, and now that the original body was back, it was time to speedily end this battle. Otherwise, one of them might escape, or a passerby might discover his secret of two bodies sharing one soul, which would be a real problem.

As the original body appeared, the avatar waved his hand, and a long-handled warhammer flew out of the Mustard Seed Bag toward the original body.

The warhammer was around five meters long and as thick as a large bowl. The hammerhead alone was the size of a millstone. A normal person holding it would seem like a child holding a giant axe, not even able to lift it up, let alone fight with it. But it was perfect for the original body’s four-meter-tall figure.

Tang Jie had spent a great deal of money to have this art relic forged for his original body. It was made from tough metals, all the seals had the single purpose of toughening the weapon, and it weighed a hundred tons. The weapon alone had cost more than a hundred thousand spirit coins, taking up a third of the money Tang Jie had gotten from selling off the materials for the Jade Gate Heaven Seal Formation. As for armor, Tang Jie hadn’t gotten any, as it might affect his ability to move around.

The original body grabbed the warhammer and swung it at Meng and Mei.

The two of them reacted quickly by jumping to the sides. The giant hammerhead brushed past them and slammed into the ground with a powerful shockwave.

This enormous force was comparable to numerous exquisite spell arts. The site of the impact now played host to a crater ten-some meters deep.

As the shockwave swept out, a halo appeared beneath Mei Huaping’s feet, extending outward with a silver glow.

A Spirit Ring!

Every Celestial Heart True Person had one, and it was a manifestation of their spirit power leaking outward. But the vast majority of Celestial Heart True Persons had very faint Spirit Rings that were barely discernible. Shi Jingzhai and the others had also had them, but they were so faint as to be invisible.

As the Spirit Ring emerged, Mei Huaping waved the brush in his right hand and then jabbed at the air, shouting, “The brush stirs the autumn winds!”

With a stroke of his brush, a gale erupted, creating a vortex that swept up him and Mad Sword Meng and blocked the shockwave.

Mad Sword Meng bellowed as his sword unleashed a large wave of sword energy: “Heaven Absolute Sword Energy!”

A rain of swords engulfed Tang Jie’s original body, but he simply covered his face with his left hand and ignored the rest of the attacks. The sharp wave of swords collided with him in a great clatter and a shower of sparks, like it was striking a man made of metal.

“How is this possible?” Mad Sword Meng was stunned.

His Heaven Absolute Sword Energy was of such ferocity that the barriers of ordinary cultivators couldn’t last against it. But this giant had blocked it with his physical body. All the storm of swords had done was leave several hundred white marks on him, and with his formidable regeneration, these marks quickly faded.

Tang Jie smirked. “That just shows how little you’ve seen of the world!”

He had even endured the Southern Divine Fire, so what was a little sword rain?

As he spoke, he raised the warhammer again, sending it howling at Mei Huaping’s waist. The hammerhead was so big that it would smash more than half of his body into a pulp.

Mei Huaping raised his brush again. “Follow the wind into my canvas!”

As he raised his brush, space seemed to freeze. Tang Jie’s charging figure became immobile, and his surroundings filled with dazzling colors. As these colors flashed, they gradually formed into a plane.

In this plane, Tang Jie’s arm expanded as if it was being imprinted into a painting. In a bizarre sensation, the flowing lights made Tang Jie’s body spin in the air.

This “Follow the wind into my canvas” was an Immortal spell that Mei Huaping had spent many years trying to comprehend. It was like Tang Jie’s Heavenly Cloud Blade, though it was many times more profound. It managed to tightly bind Tang Jie’s body in a canvas.

Mei Huaping laughed. “No matter how strong you are, in my…”

Before he could finish bragging, that canvas in the air started to crack apart, creating a spiderweb of fractures in the air.

The spiderweb grew larger and larger, and finally, with one last pop, it completely shattered into countless streams of light.

The giant crashed down from the sky, swinging the long warhammer at Mei Huaping.

If this hit struck true, even a Celestial Heart True Person would be turned into a pancake.

Mei Huaping rapidly backed away while waving around his brush. He had no time to cast any spell arts, simply making strokes, and with each stroke of his brush, he created spatial ripples.

Tang Jie was like a mad bull, charging headlong into the spatial ripples, which left bloody streaks across his body. Mad Sword Meng’s Heaven Absolute Sword Energy hadn’t been able to hurt him, yet these casual brush strokes had drawn blood.

But Tang Jie didn’t care at all. As a body refiner, no matter what the ultimate outcome was, in a battle, he always needed to be on the offense. If he couldn’t even do that, then there simply wasn’t a point in fighting.

A minor pain like this couldn’t make him back down. On the contrary, they stimulated his nerves, and he brazenly laughed, “Too weak!”

His voice rumbled like thunder, and as Tang Jie charged and swung his warhammer around, it created a furious gale that made it impossible for Mei Huaping to stand straight.

At the same time, Tang Jie grabbed a giant rock and tossed it at Mei Huaping. This rock was a powerful weapon in his hand, and even though Mei Huaping was a Celestial Heart True Person, the impact of the rock smashing into him made him throw up blood as he was sent flying into the air.

On the side, Mad Sword Meng rushed up in panic and thrust his sword at Tang Jie’s back.

For an ordinary disciple or student, this sword would appear to have come out of nowhere, sublime to the extreme while losing nothing in power.

But this sublime and powerful attack was barely even worth considering for the original body. He let the sword stab into the muscles on his back, and it was only able to get three inches deep. He smirked and said, “A mere bee sting.”

This mighty attack was nothing more than a bee sting to Tang Jie.

Mad Sword Meng froze in shock as Tang Jie turned around and chuckled.

His smiling face was utterly horrifying.

And then Tang Jie punched, sending Mad Sword Meng flying.

Fortunately for him, Mad Sword Meng had a barrier, so he wasn’t instantly flattened by the punch. But the barrier shattered from the punch, and Mad Sword Meng threw up blood upon impact and was no longer able to rise.

The original body snorted, “Can’t even take one attack.”

At this moment, a furious voice came from behind him. “Then try this… Invite the Immortal within the Painting!”

The original Tang Jie turned to see Mei Huaping flying in the air, his arms spread out as a painting scroll unfurled behind him.

It was a painting of a palace lady. She was wearing a gown and had a seductive figure, but she had her back to the painting, her face hidden. As the painting appeared, Mei Huaping’s eyes flew open. The fire in those eyes was no more, replaced by the image of the woman’s back.

“This is…” The original Tang Jie was taken aback. He felt like he had heard about this painting before, but he didn’t remember where.

Mei Huaping called out, “Immortal, please turn around!”

The woman in the painting suddenly moved, her body turning ever so slightly.

This little shift made Tang Jie feel like his entire mind was drawn into the painting. The world suddenly went dark, and all that was left was the back of that palace lady. It filled up the world, spanning the heavens and earth. His surroundings became cramped and small, and all sound died away.

In the eyes of others, it appeared as if Tang Jie had gone dumb, just standing there with a blank look on his face.

Mei Huaping laughed. “Hurry up and die!”

His brush came down, and as he waved it around in the air, a giant sword began to take form. Mei Huaping waved his sleeve. “Go!”

The sword shot toward Tang Jie’s original body.

Thud!

The sword pierced through Tang Jie’s body and dissolved into spiritual light. Tang Jie seemed to not sense it, his eyes remaining fixed on the painting.

“Hahaha!” Mei Huaping heartily laughed. Waving his brush again, he drew out a fierce tiger. This tiger leaped through the air and bit at Tang Jie. While it wasn’t as strong as that sword, it was longer-lasting.

Mei Huaping painted a giant bear, an eagle, and a venomous snake.

These creatures made from paint all had the strength of Mind Opening fiends and could not be considered weak. They lunged at Tang Jie and began to bite away, but when Tang Jie’s tough muscles clashed with those sharp teeth, there was a discordant clanging like that of metal. While Tang Jie was being bitten all over, the teeth of those fiends began to break.

To Mei Huaping’s surprise, his fiends were left with nothing but shattered teeth despite the giant just standing there, and could only howl in futility. His eyes went wide as he shouted, “Bastard… The brush falls, manifesting the painting!”

He cried out as he brought his brush down.

Whereas before he had been making strokes to form a picture, this time, he was just making dots to form the picture.

As Mei Huaping brought his brush down in a flurry, making more than a hundred points in the air, a forest of swords began to take form.

Each of these swords was like the one he had made before: huge, sharp, and fierce. He had created a hundred, and all of them were aimed at Tang Jie’s original body. Mei Huaping’s complexion had worsened after he created these swords, clearly indicating that it was taxing him. He pointed at Tang Jie. “Go!”

The one hundred swords shot at Tang Jie, and Mei Huaping savagely laughed. “You’re dead for sure!”

At this moment, avatar Tang Jie, who had not moved this entire time, chuckled. “Is that so?”

As he smiled, the frozen form of the original Tang Jie suddenly laughed as well. “So it was the Dream Pearl Lady painting! The Painting Immortal entered a dream where the Pearl Lady callously flew away. In the end, it’s nothing more than a dream!”

As he spoke, he swung the warhammer in his right hand at the one hundred magic swords. Despite their sharpness, this enormous warhammer shattered all of them, turning them back into spiritual light. The few swords that managed to strike him did not present a lethal threat, and with Tang Jie’s constitution, he quickly recovered.

“How is this possible?” Mei Huaping didn’t dare to believe his eyes, throwing up blood.

Tang Jie was right. This truly was the Dream Pearl Lady painting.

The Dream Pearl Lady painting was a rather famous art relic of Rosecloud. It was said that more than three thousand years ago, Zhan Mengqian, who had been known as the Painting Immortal, went to sleep one day and dreamed of a fairy. This fairy was situated on a high mountain, looking up at the sky. She was ascending to the sky, so all that could be seen of her was her back, and all that was heard of her was a faint murmur of “Pearl”. Zhan Mengqian gave chase, but he couldn’t catch up. He could only watch as the fairy flew higher and higher until she disappeared into the clouds. Frantic with worry, Zhan Mengqian, who had been a mortal, suddenly started to fly. Just when he was about to enter the clouds, there was a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder. Startled, he lost his footing and plunged from the sky.

Zhan Mengqian woke up and immediately made a painting of this dream, calling it the Dream Pearl Lady painting. It was said that Zhan Mengqian himself attained the Dao from this dream, instantly becoming an Immortal.

Of course, this was just a legend. Mortals could cultivate for hundreds of years and still not attain the Dao. For someone to attain the Dao after a dream was a little too unfair. Rather than calling it a real story, it was better to call it a hope or a dream.

But whether the story was real or not, the Dream Pearl Lady painting was truly a top-class art relic for entrancing the mind. When the art relic was used, the fairy would draw the target into the dream, making them seem asleep. In this period, anyone could attack the target without resistance. Its effects were astounding, and the only way to resist it was through one’s own will, such as Spirit Will or Divine Will.

For this reason, this item wasn’t as effective when used against cultivators at Cognitive Creation or above, but it excelled when used against those below Cognitive Creation.

But this item had not appeared in Rosecloud for many years, and Tang Jie had only heard about it in class. He had originally believed that it had ceased to exist long ago, not expecting that it was in the hands of the Seven Absolutions Sect. The Seven Absolutions Sect was awash with money and had a fondness for gathering the treasures of the world, so it wasn’t strange for it to have such a thing.

As for why the Dream Pearl Lady painting was of no use against Tang Jie, that was simply because Tang Jie was one soul sharing two bodies.

When the Dream Pearl Lady painting was used on the original body, it would affect only the original body, not the avatar. Thus, the avatar remained sober, so from the very start, the Dream Pearl Lady painting couldn’t control the original body.

Tang Jie hadn’t reacted initially because he had been looking at this world from both the outside and the inside, and on the inside, the vision of that Pearl Lady’s back gave him a strange feeling.

It was a mysterious feeling that Tang Jie had no way of describing. But when he saw that world-spanning back of the Pearl Lady, the pressure on his mind was somewhat like when he was observing the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel.

Alas, before he could actualize this sensation, Mei Huaping’s attack had interrupted him. If that final attack of his hadn’t been so savage, Tang Jie might have tried to digest that feeling a little longer. But at that moment, the avatar had no choice but to stir the original body from the dream so that he could disperse the hundred magic swords.

This giant had clearly not reached Cognitive Creation, but he was somehow able to resist the Dream Pearl Lady painting. Mei Huaping couldn’t possibly believe this, so he hastily formed more hand signs and then shouted, “Immortal, please turn around!”

The fairy in the painting turned a little more, revealing a small part of her face. But this face was covered by a divine light that made the details indistinguishable, and the entrancing power intensified.

Alas, no matter what Mei Huaping did, Tang Jie wouldn’t fall asleep. He just looked at the painting in a daze before grinning. “It’s quite the nice treasure. I’ll take it for myself and give it a closer look later.”

He said a little more this time, and it wasn’t as savage-sounding as when he was fighting, so when Mei Huaping heard it, his mind shook. The voice sounded rather familiar!

The Southern Divine Fire in his eyes was gradually fading, and as his vision was restored, the giant’s face grew clearer and clearer. He finally saw that this giant had a face very similar to Tang Jie’s, and what was strangest of all was the voice.

He looked at the giant and then at the figure of Tang Jie standing in the distance. “Twins?” he blurted out.

Before Tang Jie could reply, Mei Huaping saw that the two of them swung their right arm in exactly the same manner, and then he remembered how the giant had never said a single word to Tang Jie this whole time, and he finally understood. “Not twins! An avatar!”

Tang Jie smiled, and the two of them said in unison, “You finally understand.”

The original Tang Jie swung the hammer at Mei Huaping.

Mei Huaping let out a yelp and backed away, his left hand producing an inkstone. His brush dabbed on the inkstone and then made a stroke, and the addition of ink produced an entirely different effect.

As his ink-soaked brush moved around, a small mountain began to appear.

Even Tang Jie was taken aback. “This isn’t possible…”

If one said that Mei Huaping was able to turn his paintings into reality, Tang Jie would believe it.

But if one said that he could paint anything without restriction and make it real, Tang Jie would never believe it.

If that were really the case, why didn’t he just paint an Immortal Platform Titan? Wouldn’t he then even be able to challenge Violet Palace True Lords?

Moving mountains was something only those at Celestial Heart or above could do, and painting mountains and making them real required even more skill. Let alone Mei Huaping, who was only at the first tier of Celestial Heart, even a peak Celestial Heart cultivator at the Soul Transformation Period might not be able to do it.

But Mei Huaping was doing it nonetheless.

As he hastily painted, the task seemed to get harder and harder, and he sweated profusely. But his brush did not stop, and the mountain grew larger and larger. It was narrow at the bottom and widened at the top, appearing like a giant spinning top.

Tang Jie was rather dumbfounded. “You can’t possibly pull this off.”

Mei Huaping laughed. “You think I didn’t make any preparations before coming? Or do you really think it’s that easy to take the possessions of my Seven Absolutions Sect? I’ll show you! Rise!”

He drew back the brush and pointed at the sky, at none other than the Mountain River State Diagram.

As Mei Huaping pointed, the Mountain River State Diagram erupted with light, the Eternal Universe Formation letting out a beam of rainbow light at the mountain in the air.

The mountain that should have been impossible for Mei Huaping to substantialize all on his own went from illusory to real, and it crashed down on the giant Tang Jie.

It seems like all that masochism and self-harm was worth it!