Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Tang Jie flew back to the ground with Na Shan, who then took him to the Celestial Fla Pagoda.
His status in the Celestial Fla Pagoda was clearly extrely high, and nobody stopped them as they went up.
They went all the way to the eighth floor, where Na Shan guided Tang Jie to a set of large double doors and pushed them open.
The doors creaked open, revealing a spacious hall.
This was clearly a martial exhibition hall. Various weapons were on display, with the lowest being middle-grade art relics.
There were three people in the center of the hall, sparring with each other.
One person wore a water-blue gown and seed to be elegantly dancing, ripples of watery light constantly appearing in her hands. This was none other than the Shui Yao who had been speaking with the red-robed man.
Another was a person with a withered constitution and wearing an azure robe, vines wrapped around their body.
The last was surrounded in a haze of black demonic energy, recognizable at a glance as a demon. He was a rather handso demon youth, but the pair of dark circles around his eyes seed to indicate that he hadn't had a good rest in a long ti.
The three of them were sparring in the hall, various colors of flas intersecting. But when they saw Na Shan co in, they imdiately stopped.
The demon youth said, "Big Brother Na Shan is back. What's the situation?"
Shui Yao cast Tang Jie an alluring gaze, and she flirtatiously said, "Since he's here, he must have passed."
Na Shan laughed. "Of course. Co, Brother Tang, and I'll introduce you."
He pointed at the three. "Shui Yao, Qing Lian (Green Lotus), Hei Yan (Black Eyes). They're all our people."
Tang Jie had heard of all three. They were all illustrious figures in the arena.
After introducing the three, Na Shan pointed at the principal seat of the hall. "This is the Western Heavenly King."
Na Shan was pointing at empty space.
But a mont later, the space distorted, and a man in a fiery cowled robe appeared before Tang Jie.
Tang Jie saw a middle-aged man whose face was brimming with majesty. He had very special eyes, covered in concentric grooves that ford their own little maze. In the center of his forehead was a fla insignia, which flickered ceaselessly as if it was an actual fla. Just looking at it made Tang Jie dizzy.
Those patterned eyes fell upon Tang Jie, and the Western Heavenly King smiled.
He nodded. "Good, very good, extrely good!"
He seed to be extrely satisfied that Tang Jie had been able to pass Na Shan's test.
He then said, "My na is Hero. You may call the Western Heavenly King or the Western Lord."
"Hero"?
Tang Jie was startled. This na had a very strong Hemos flavor.
As if he could see Tang Jie's surprise, the Western Heavenly King removed his cowl.
What Tang Jie saw was a pair of broken horns atop the Western Heavenly King's head.
"I am a Hemos," the Western Heavenly King said. "But I am also a Hemos that has abandoned this status. In the Celestial Fla Pagoda, there are only allies and enemies, no race."
"'Only allies and enemies, no race.'" Tang Jie pondered these words.
Turning his head, he looked at Na Shan, Shui Yao, Qing Lian, and Black Eyes, and then he looked at himself. Humans, Hemos, and demons were all standing together, and Na Shan had said that they were all on the sa side.
He turned back to the Western Heavenly King and said, "If there is no race, then who is the enemy?"
Western Heavenly King Hero chuckled.
He said, "There is only one thing that can transcend race."
Tang Jie was startled, and then after so thought, he said, "Profit."
Na Shan and the others laughed.
Shui Yao covered her mouth and chuckled. "The Western Lord's eyes are as sharp as ever. Brother Tang is very quick-witted."
Hero nodded in satisfaction. "Correct. Only profit can transcend all boundaries and bring together different races. It is also profit that allows the Celestial Fla Arena to stand tall in this place, and allows you to stand before here today."
He waved his hand, and the surrounding walls turned transparent, allowing them to see the outside world.
He saw that they were high in the clouds, and beneath them was the clamorous Celestial Fla Arena.
Countless braves were fighting to the death, blood splashing amid the rising and falling of cheers.
Pointing down at the arena below, Hero slowly said, "All the world rushes here and there for the sake of profit. But different people are bound to obtain different profits. We are all cultivators, but so people will participate in battles where they have only a one-in-ten chance of winning to earn a paltry ten blackstone coins, whereas God Killers can take part in a single bout and gain tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of blackstone coins. Which would you choose?"
"The latter, naturally," Tang Jie replied.
"But to beco a God Killer, you must experience various dangers and tribulations," Hero said.
Tang Jie smiled. "The Great Dao is the stage, and flesh and blood are the steps. The Immortal path has always been like this. One either becos a stepping stone for another or else climbs up on the bodies of others."
Hero was taken aback, and then he erupted in laughter. "Good, good, the Great Dao as the stage, and the flesh and blood as the steps! In other words, you're willing to take risks for big profit?"
Tang Jie replied, "Isn't that the case for anyone who has entered the arena? For , the question will always be this: 'Are the rewards appropriate for the risks involved? Am I getting enough for what I'm paying?'"
Hero laughed again. "Hahaha, good words! This is exactly the reason Master established the Celestial Fla Arena. As you said, those who enter the arena are people who are willing to brave the risks for the sake of profit, and what we need… is exactly people like this!"
"So you're saying that the Celestial Fla Arena isn't for making money?" Tang Jie asked.
"'Making money'?" Hero chuckled. "Of course, that also played a part, but it wasn't the original purpose of the Celestial Fla Arena. From the very start, the Celestial Fla Arena has existed to choose the talents we require. And only this sort of person has the right to vie for huge profits!"
"'Huge profits'?" Tang Jie's eyes narrowed. "What do you an?"
"Naturally, the only thing that can be considered 'huge profits' for us is a trendous fortune that can lead to the supre Heavenly Dao, opening up our path to Immortality!" Hero proclaid.
"Then where do you plan to get these huge profits from?" Tang Jie asked.
"The Treasure Paradise."
Tang Jie was instantly dumbfounded.
On the subject of the Treasure Paradise, one first had to discuss sothing else.
The Lustrous Treasure River!
This was a legendary place.
It was said that in the depths of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm's infinite void was a resplendent sea of stars.
That was the Boundless Sea of Stars.
Nobody could say how large the Boundless Sea of Stars was. All that could be said was that nobody had ever been able to cross this sea of stars and reach the other side.
But everybody knew what was beyond the sea of stars.
The Lustrous Treasure River!
This was a river that consisted entirely of divine tools and Dao armants, countless natural treasures of extrely high quality. These were much stronger than ordinary Dao armants.
Countless people had seen this river before, because while it was impossible to physically reach it, it was possible for the will to cross.
When Tang Jie had charged at Mortal Shedding, his energy had linked with the heavens and earth and his mind had ventured into the void, so he had passed through this area before. He had gone even farther, seeing the Heavenly Dao Law Wheel and comprehending the Dao of Insight. After that, he had experienced the sa thing when his original body had reached Mortal Shedding.
He knew that any one of the treasures in the Lustrous Treasure River could shake all of the Great Chiliocosm, yet they were as nurous as the grains of sand in the bank of a river, flowing endlessly through the cosmos.
Only a small number of powerful wills could commune with one of those treasures and borrow the power of its treasure light, even calling that treasure over to their side. And each one of these treasures was a divine weapon that could shake the world.
The people who could reach this level were far too few in number.
But there were always a few astounding geniuses who could do what others could not. When other cultivators were wondering if they could succeed once in a lifeti, others could successfully communicate with treasures again and again as if they were fishing, pulling treasure after treasure out of the Lustrous Treasure River.
Such a person was the famous Reverend Celestial Hook.
He was called "Celestial Hook" because of his ability to fish out treasures.
In his lifeti, this person had fished out more than eight hundred treasures from the Lustrous Treasure River. More than six hundred had been divine treasures and more than a hundred had been Dao armants, and all of them were naturally ford. Many of the Dao armants circulating through the Great Stellar Chiliocosm in the present had co from Reverend Celestial Hook, who had beco shockingly wealthy.
In the legends, this person was the only person who had more money than the Court of Myriad Domains.
But this was exactly the reason he had died.
It was said that several Titans of the Court of Myriad Domains had joined together to kill Reverend Celestial Hook, seizing his property for the Court of Myriad Domains.
Even so, the Court of Myriad Domains still didn't rest, and it began to seek out existences linked to Reverend Celestial Hook. Gradually, a rumor began to circulate that Reverend Celestial Hook had a secret treasury that contained all of the real treasures he had gathered over the years.
This was the Treasure Paradise.
The Court of Myriad Domains had spent ages searching for the Treasure Paradise, but they ultimately found nothing. With the passage of ti, the Treasure Paradise beca nothing more than a myth.
But so people still believed that the Treasure Paradise existed.
The Fla Celestial Sovereign was one of them.
――――――――――
The hall on the eighth floor of the Celestial Fla Pagoda.
The transparent walls had been replaced with flashing golden walls.
At the back of the hall was a large golden throne.
Western Heavenly King Hero was seated on this throne.
Beneath the throne were five long tables, and Tang Jie and the other four were seated behind them. Various exquisite fruits had been served, all of them of a spiritual nature.
But Tang Jie wasn't interested in eating. He was imrsed in Hero's story of the Treasure Paradise.
"Master always believed that the Treasure Paradise existed. This is because Reverend Celestial Hook obtained so very famous treasures, but when the Myriad Court exterminated the reverend, they didn't find these supre treasures that were known as being the kings of Dao armants. Thus, Master believed that Reverend Celestial Hook had kept them in the Treasure Paradise. The reason the Treasure Paradise has never been discovered is simply that it is too well-hidden. That's why Master ca to the Blood River Domain. He was hoping to find an answer here."
"Why the Blood River Domain?" Tang Jie asked.
"Because Reverend Celestial Hook was a native of the Blood River Domain," Na Shan replied.
Since the reverend was a native, if he wanted to hide his most important treasures, he would naturally put them in the Blood River Domain.
Upon arriving, the Fla Celestial Sovereign began searching for the Treasure Paradise.
And he really did manage to find it.
"Where is it?" Tang Jie couldn't help but ask after hearing this.
He asked despite knowing that this was important information that Hero probably wouldn't divulge to him.
But to his surprise, Hero pointed downward.
Tang Jie was stunned by this action, and then he realized and blurted out, "Here?"
"To be more precise: it's under the arena," Hero casually said. "Three thousand ters under the arena is an entrance, the entrance to the Treasure Paradise."
As Hero spoke, Tang Jie finally understood what had transpired.
After arriving at the Blood River Domain, the Fla Celestial Sovereign, through herculean efforts, really did manage to find the Treasure Paradise's entrance.
But the Treasure Paradise was a sealed world. To be more precise: it had been created from a supre Dao armant. Even the Fla Celestial Sovereign wasn't strong enough to break that seal and enter the world to search for treasure.
The Fla Celestial Sovereign had racked his mind for ideas.
Gradually, he ca up with the idea of the Celestial Fla Arena.
The Fla Celestial Sovereign had several goals behind establishing the Celestial Fla Arena. The first was to establish his own territory and prevent any other Titans from interfering. The second was to gather talented individuals in preparation for his adventure into the Treasure Paradise, for the Fla Celestial Sovereign had already realized that the Treasure Paradise was brimming with dangers. Even if he opened the seal, he couldn't just rush in. And the third reason was to set up a blood formation to open the seal.
Very early on, Tang Jie had noticed sothing strange: even though many cultivators fought and died in the Celestial Fla Arena every year, the spiritual energy concentration was very average.
Mortal Shedding Realm cultivators were insignificant in this regard, but if Celestial Heart Realm cultivators died, a spirit rain would appear. And if Soul Transformation cultivators died, a long deluge was commonplace.
But even though he had spent so ti in the City of Freedom, he had yet to see anything like this.
He thought that this was because the Blood River Domain was different from the Rosecloud Domain and that Returned Remnants were less likely to appear.
But this wasn't the case at all.
Under the Celestial Fla Arena was a Sanguine Death Sea Formation. All the cultivators who died in the Celestial Fla Arena would have their energies turned into blood by the formation, upon which it would seep into the ground and enter the blood sea in the formation.
Once there was enough blood in that sea, it could wipe away the seal and open up the Treasure Paradise.
"I see." Tang Jie finally understood why the Fla Celestial Sovereign had founded the Celestial Fla Arena.
Now that he thought about it, it was only this sort of thod that could cause mass death without causing trouble. As for making money, in front of the Treasure Paradise, this was truly just small change.
After hearing the Western Heavenly King say all this, Tang Jie said, "The arena has been running for much longer than a few days, and the Fla Celestial Sovereign is now wandering the myriad domains. It looks to like the Fla Celestial Sovereign has already opened up the Treasure Paradise and taken its treasure, no?"
Hero chuckled. "Correct. If not, I wouldn't have been willing to tell all of you such a big secret. But alas, the Treasure Paradise didn't have as many valuable treasures as imagined. There were five natural Dao armants that had gone missing back then, but only four were found in the Treasure Paradise. The first beca the Treasure Paradise and couldn't be taken away, and the second and third had been rged into the Treasure Paradise to create a sealing treasure, so they also couldn't be taken. As for the last, Master obtained it. Even though there weren't many natural Dao armants, there were plenty of divine treasures and art relics. Those things were of little use to Master, so most of them were left in the Treasure Paradise."
Tang Jie seed to understand. "Heavenly King must have been referring to those divine treasures and art relics left in the Treasure Paradise before, yes?"
Hero nodded. "Correct. The huge profits I refer to are those divine treasures and art relics. The Treasure Paradise is opened up every twenty years, and we four martial brothers will send people into the Treasure Paradise to seek out treasures."
Tang Jie frowned. "I don't understand. Why didn't the Fla Celestial Sovereign simply leave them to you, instead of opting for this thod? And why don't you four take the treasures yourselves?"
Hero replied, "There are three reasons. As I said before, two Dao armants rged with the Treasure Paradise. One of them is called the Divine Genesis."
"'The Divine Genesis'?"
"Yes. Unlike other Dao armants, it has no combat ability, but it has the ability to create all treasures. Any item placed within the Treasure Paradise will beco a treasure in the future, and ordinary beasts will evolve into fiends. This is one of the reasons that the Treasure Paradise has so many art relics. Rather than being put in there by Reverend Celestial Hook, they were created by the Divine Genesis. This Dao armant rged with the Treasure Paradise, and the Treasure Paradise is a small and isolated world embedded into the Blood River Domain, so it cannot be taken away. We can only co back at intervals to take the treasures. Thus, Master chose to leave everything in the Treasure Paradise for us to take ourselves."
"I see."
"The second reason is that the Treasure Paradise is not without danger. Of the two Dao armants that rged with it, the Divine Genesis creates and produces countless art relics and terrifying fiends, but the other is a divine sword that can even kill Immortal Platform Titans. After rging with the Treasure Paradise, its horrifying power was spread out across the Treasure Paradise, and you can never know when you might be killed. Even Violet Palace and Immortal Platform cultivators face the risk of death. And in that place, the stronger one's cultivation, the more liable one is to trigger the power of the divine sword. I went into the Treasure Paradise in my early years, and there, I experienced so of the power of the divine sword. That scene…"
Hero did not continue, but there was a hint of awe on his face.
He shook his head. "Anyone who has experienced it once won't want to go in again."
Tang Jie understood. "This arena's purpose, other than undoing the seal, is for selecting talented individuals to venture into the Treasure Paradise, and based on what the Heavenly King has said, what matters about the person entering isn't whether they have a high cultivation level, but how strong they are among their peers."
"Correct!" Hero nodded.
He was currently at Violet Palace, so if he went in, he had an extrely high chance of dying, so he did not make the decision to go in lightly.
"And the third reason?"
Na Shan replied, "The third reason is very simple: so people are sent specifically to die. The Treasure Paradise is an isolated world, and while it is powerful enough to simulate its own universe and produce spiritual energy, only putting out without putting in is not a long-term solution."
Is that what was going on?
Tang Jie understood.
From a certain perspective, the Treasure Paradise was like the Water Moon Paradise.
If spiritual energy was the power source, they were the tools used to convert power. In the Water Moon Paradise, this spiritual energy was used to irrigate the fields and produce spiritual herbs. In the Treasure Paradise, the spiritual energy was given to the Divine Genesis to produce art relics.
And the ideal vessel for spiritual energy was cultivators.
In the Celestial Fla Arena, the dead were responsible for breaking the seal and providing energy while the living took the treasures and enjoyed the wealth.
The Celestial Fla Pagoda didn't need to hide this. Just as was said before, those who chose to enter the arena understood that they might have to offer themselves for the sake of wealth and profit.
The Great Dao was the stage, and blood and flesh ford the steps.
Either ascend on the bodies of others or be the body being stepped on.
―――――――――――
Author's Note: In response to the comnts from all my friends, when I talked about learning from other novels, I wasn't saying that I was going to abandon my own style and turn entirely to writing empty novels. The purpose of all these changes is for progress, not retreat.
As for whether the changes are good or bad, I won't make this judgnt based on the opinion of others, but based on my performances, and I will keep adjusting and changing according to it.
Thus, don't believe that I'm giving up completely on my style just because I said I'm going to change.
This is impossible.
It's just that I'm finally confronting so subjects that I've always avoided. For example, this sort of treasure hunting is a more popular topic that I've always done my best to avoid, but I'm not avoiding this ti. This is what it ans to learn from and use. But the contents will still be written according to my style.
So don't be too afraid of change. Change has never been scary. What's important is to evolve while changing.
Compared to making mistakes while changing, staying in one place is even scarier. If there's a problem with the forr, at least I can go back, but the latter ans that I will be stuck in the sa place forever.
Finally, the year 2015 has co, so I'm wishing all my friends who support progress in your studies, a smooth ti at work, a healthy body, and a harmonious ho.
At the sa ti, I wish for myself to write better works, get more fans, and have fewer complainers.
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