Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Heavenly Balance Mountain.

This former battlefield of Celestial Sovereigns had now become Tang Jie\'s private property. An enormous formation had turned it into a giant furnace. High mountains of violet gold formed the sides, and the inner valley was covered in formation lines and blazed with flames.

From a distance, the place really did seem like a massive furnace.

Within the valley, a man and a woman, both completely naked, were seated facing each other.

It was Tang Jie and Xu Miaoran.

Despite the fact that they were completely naked, there was no hint of lust on either of their faces.

Tang Jie was constantly striking Xu Miaoran\'s body with his palm, each strike creating a hissing noise and causing blood to rush to Xu Miaoran\'s face before rapidly fading.

After a long while, Tang Jie finally stopped.

Xu Miaoran let out a long breath, and then she slowly collapsed onto Tang Jie\'s chest.

The look of suffering was gone from her face, and she was now bashfully blushing. "My husband is truly capable. Your wife truly does feel that her Divine Soul has gotten stronger."

Tang Jie smiled. "I learned this method in the Vast Wilderness Continent. Big places are different like that, home to all kinds of secret techniques and arts. It\'s no wonder they have so many Violet Palace and Immortal Platform experts. With this Soul-Stirring Hand, the Peaceful Divine Abode Classic, the Divine Genesis Immortal Ascension Formation, and Horizon Ocean Pavilion\'s secret arts, your chances of succeeding are forty to fifty percent."

Xu Miaoran replied, "I\'ve already refined the Triflora Divine Incense, but alas, I didn\'t have enough resources to refine the Supreme Imperial Jadefall Pill. However, I did manage to create the slightly inferior Heavenly Jasper Mansion Pill. The two of them together can raise my chances by twenty percent."

"I\'ll also adjust your fortune, which can bring your chances to at least seventy percent. Seventy percent…" Tang Jie sighed. "Although it\'s still a little risky, you can still make an attempt. As long as you\'re not too impatient and proceed steadily, you should come out fine."

Seventy percent didn\'t mean that one would fail three times out of ten, but that one had enough power to succeed. The only worry was that various incidents or mental problems would make this power insufficient.

Ascension wasn\'t throwing a pair of dice. In truth, an artificial seventy percent was completely different from a natural seventy percent.

The reason other people had a low chance of success when ascending was that they didn\'t prepare as much as Tang Jie. After all, whether it was secret arts or Immortal medicines, they were all priceless and difficult to come by. Many people got only one or two before taking the risk, which naturally meant that their chances of failure were high.

This was the case for Ming Yekong. His success had truly been down to luck, the heavens looking out for him.

But if someone like Tang Jie or Xu Miaoran failed after all their preparations, then one could only say that the heavens loathed them.

This was why Tang Jie was willing to let Xu Miaoran make the attempt. He didn\'t care what the heavens thought, only that Xu Miaoran had no mental obstructions.

Xu Miaoran chuckled. "Aren\'t you the one who\'s always rushing forward?"

Tang Jie was startled, and then he laughed.

Yes, he had always been the greediest person, seeking the maximal outcome.

Meanwhile, Xu Miaoran had always been very clear on where her limits were and was never worried about any potential losses.

This made Tang Jie feel much more relaxed.

He said with a laugh, "It\'s my bad."

Xu Miaoran rolled her eyes and then threw herself into his embrace.

The two of them nuzzled against each other for a while, after which Xu Miaoran asked, "Right, if it\'s just cultivating, why did we have to come to this Heavenly Balance Mountain? It seems that you\'ve made some more modifications to this place. Do you have plans for it?"

"Indeed," Tang Jie admitted. "I plan to forge something."

"\'Forge something\'?" Xu Miaoran said in shock.

What did Tang Jie want to forge?

He was an expert in shattering weapons, not making them.

Moreover, he already had the Sovereign Blade, and what could be stronger than that?

Tang Jie smiled. "What I have in mind is different, rather special."

"How is it special?"

Tang Jie continued to smile. "You\'ll find out once you see it."

Tang Jie used spiritual energy to create some clothes, and then he flew up to a distant mountain top, motioning for Xu Miaoran to join him.

Xu Miaoran elegantly flew up, Tang Jie embracing her, and then he waved his right hand.

Heavenly Balance Mountain rumbled as if something had rammed into it.

Tang Jie\'s arm shook as he roared, "Rise!"

Heavenly Balance Mountain fiercely shuddered.

In the middle of this shuddering, Heavenly Balance Mountain slowly pulled itself out of the earth, flying upward.

It flew higher and higher into the sky, slowly turning as it did, radiating a faint violet light. From a distance, it appeared like a crudely shaped cauldron.

Tang Jie stood outside of it, using his immense powers to push the mountain upward.

Xu Miaoran was dumbfounded by this sight.

Na Shan had been considered to have divine might due to being able to raise up a mountain, and the Sword of the Five Sacred Mountains had been considered a divine treasure.

This mountain of violet gold was a hundred times heavier than an ordinary mountain, so it required even more strength from Tang Jie.

A boy who had once relied on schemes for everything was finally a peerless powerhouse who could lift up mountains.

Xu Miaoran couldn\'t help but give a melancholy sigh.

Heavenly Balance Mountain was still rising higher and higher.

Eventually, it entered the cloud layer and began to make its way toward the Astral Winds.

"Go!" Tang Jie barked, waving his hand.

The spinning Heavenly Balance Mountain entered the Astral Winds.

As the Astral Winds gusted, Heavenly Balance Mountain let out a dazzling light, its defensive formation activating to thwart its destruction. But the howling Astral Winds still carved off large chunks of the mountain.

Rocks, dirt, and plants were burned up in the flames of the Astral Wind, leaving only the tough violet gold within, which was able to resist the intrusion of the Astral Winds.

As that outer layer of stone and dirt was cast off, the drab mountain became smooth and bright.

The Astral Winds carved away all the useless parts of Heavenly Balance Mountain, leaving only the violet gold.

This was a refining of unprecedented scale, refining the entire mountain in a single stroke.

But Tang Jie wasn\'t done yet.

He began to fire off blasts of energy from his finger, applying more formation lines to the mountain.

These formation lines intersected with and complemented the existing formations, forming a vast net. This vast net began to contract and shift, until eventually, a giant furnace appeared.

"You\'re forging the mountain into a furnace?" Xu Miaoran finally understood what Tang Jie wanted to make.

He was using the mountain as a basis to make a furnace.

It was no wonder Tang Jie dared to try his hand at making something. This sort of method didn\'t require any knowledge of forging or craftsmanship. His specialty was in vastness and grandeur, and he had no need to worry about small and intricate seals, for he had more than enough space to flex his abilities.

Tang Jie then began to throw various treasures into the mountain.

Tang Jie had gathered up these treasures over many years, and they now became decoration for this furnace. As each one fell onto a formation line, they added their glow to the mountain.

Slowly, the mountain transformed into a furnace.

A world furnace appeared before Xu Miaoran\'s eyes.

"This is like… the work of a god!" Xu Miaoran couldn\'t help but praise.

She could easily imagine the capabilities of a furnace created in this way.

Tang Jie worked on the furnace for 81 days.

In these 81 days, Heavenly Balance Mountain was constantly turning and being blasted by the Astral Winds.

After 81 days, the creation process began to reach its end. As the formation lines were completed, the furnace began to radiate a majestic aura.

In contrast, Tang Jie\'s aura had reached its weakest point.

81 days of forging had been an immense burden for him. If he didn\'t cultivate both body and law, he might not have endured it all.

But something that had taken Tang Jie so much energy was bound to be a priceless treasure if he succeeded.

"Miao\'er, take out your medicine furnace!" Tang Jie shouted as his furnace approached completion.

Xu Miaoran hastily brought out her medicine furnace and threw it toward Tang Jie.

This medicine furnace was an excellent treasure that Xu Miaoran had purchased at a high price, capable of boosting her chances of success and the quality of the medicines she refined.

But Tang Jie threw it in without a second glance.

As the medicine furnace flew toward the giant furnace, Tang Jie said, "With this as the soul, take form!"

The medicine furnace landed in the very center of the Valley of the Eight Wilds, the center of Heavenly Balance Mountain.

All the formations lit up in unison, and Heavenly Balance Mountain began to spin even faster and shrink in size.

The massive furnace ultimately shrank down to the size of a regular one, shaped exactly like Xu Miaoran\'s medicine furnace.

But Xu Miaoran knew that this was no longer her original furnace, but one with even greater functions than before.

Tang Jie waved his hand, and the furnace once more grew to the size of a mountain.

He smiled and said, "The world as the furnace, created by nature with Yin and Yang as its fuel, able to smelt and forge all things. Using Heavenly Balance Mountain, 3,999 art relics, and the World Furnace Formation, I have created this Myriad Yin Yang Furnace. My dear wife, what do you think?"

Her eyes shining with admiration, she flew around the furnace and inspected it. "What\'s the purpose of this furnace?"

"\'Purpose\'?" Tang Jie chuckled. "With the world as the furnace and the Astral Winds as the flame, you can refine pills, forge tools, even refine people. Really, you can refine anything you want."

With a wave of his sleeve, he summoned the Mother Cloud combat puppet from the Mountain River State Diagram.

The combat puppet flew right into the furnace, seating itself in the very center.

Eighteen more puppets flew out—the ones he had taken from the Five Origins Paradise.

These eighteen puppets circled the Mother Cloud combat puppet.

Xu Miaoran understood what Tang Jie was up to. "You want to upgrade the Mother Cloud combat puppet."

Upgrading this puppet was no easy task.

When it had been upgraded to peak Soul Transformation, it had run into a tough bottleneck, just like any other cultivator.

Just materials weren\'t enough to push through this bottleneck.

Materials were the bones, formations were the muscle, the Ghost Guard was the brain, the crystal core was the heart, and all of this needed a top-class production method to finally create a peerless combat puppet. Tang Jie had the first four, but he was missing the last.

A production method was the same as a refinement method, a proper environment to grow the puppet as the womb was to the fetus.

In the past, Tang Jie hadn\'t needed a good refining method because he wasn\'t looking to make puppets of that level.

But now that he wanted a Violet Palace puppet, he needed the complete set.

Tang Jie had racked his brains to resolve this problem.

The Myriad Yin Yang Furnace had been one of the solutions Tang Jie had come up with.

Tang Jie laughed at Xu Miaoran\'s words. "With the world as my furnace and the Astral Wind as my flames, I\'m sure I can create a Violet Palace puppet. Go!"

As he shouted, the Astral Winds outside of the Myriad Yin Yang Furnace howled.

Heat traveled through the walls of the furnace.

The first forging using the Myriad Yin Yang Furnace had officially begun.