When Tao Tiande woke up, he found himself in a small room, stripped completely naked.
Tang Jie was seated nearby, looking through his possessions.
These mostly consisted of art relics and medicines used by a Celestial Heart cultivator. While Tao Tiande came from a decent background, in Tang Jie’s eyes, there was nothing of value other than the Blueheart Flame.
This left him rather unhappy.
This was exactly what was so terrible about the Dao of Fate. It was far too unfathomable, and even when it gave the occasional guidance, it was difficult to figure out what direction it was pointing in. All he knew was that something on Tao Tiande was the answer he sought, but he had no idea what form this answer took. He could use the Wish Granting Book to find out, but Tang Jie wasn’t willing to pay such a heavy cost.
However, it seemed that the answer wasn’t in these art relics.
“You…” Tao Tiande began to shout and yell.
But no matter how loudly he shouted, his voice couldn’t leave this room.
After confirming that there was nothing among the possessions that he was looking for, Tang Jie walked over and coldly gazed at Tao Tiande.
Alas, Tang Jie had no interest in chatting with him. “Those who kill will always be killed by others. I’m sure you understand this principle, so let’s not waste our time. If you want to live, honestly answer my questions, or else I’ll kill you.”
Tao Tiande’s heart went cold.
“Brother Tang, spare me! I know my wrongs. I shouldn’t have tried to harm you…”
Tang Jie stopped him. “None of this nonsense. It’s not what I want to hear.”
“Eh?” Tao Tiande looked at Tang Jie in confusion.
Had this man not captured him because of the assassination attempt?
“Let me ask you: how much do you know about Thousand Autumns City?”
Tao Tiande was baffled by his question, but he didn’t dare to not answer. “I know a lot, but what does Brother Tang want to know?”
“If the Hemos invaded with experts at Soul Projection or above, how would you deal with them?”
Tao Tiande instantly replied, “Activate the city’s formation and defend with all our might.”
“The Flowing Frost Cloud Formation is pretty good, but it can only fend off the combined might of two Soul Projection cultivators at most. If more Soul Projection cultivators are dispatched, or even an Earth Immortal, what then?”
Tao Tiande was taken aback by the question, but he still answered, “Humanity has more than one border city. There are thirteen border cities on the front line, and this is only the first line. All the cities mutually assist and support each other.”
“But that’s still not enough against the Hemos, right? Or else you wouldn’t be so scared of them.”
Tao Tiande dropped his head and fell silent. He didn’t know what Tang Jie was trying to find out, only that Tang Jie would kill him if he answered incorrectly.
Tang Jie continued, “It’s impossible to hold the borders for a thousand years with only this little power. I want to know what the real trump card of the border defense is.”
Tao Tiande gave Tang Jie a horrified look. “You… Are you a Hemos spy?”
It wasn’t surprising that Tao Tiande thought this way. Tang Jie was concerned about precisely what a spy would be concerned about.
Tang Jie didn’t explain himself, simply saying, “I want an answer. If you can give it to me, I’ll give you a chance to live. Otherwise, it’s death.”
He then made a Heavenly Dao Oath.
Tao Tiande panicked.
This wasn’t concern for the survival of humanity. He had no plans on being a martyr.
But he was just a disciple of the small Black Frost Gate’s master, while even Red Leaf Alliance Lord Liu Nanshan might not know what the trump card of humanity’s border was. How exactly was he supposed to know?
Yet Tang Jie was asking, even threatening his life over it.
Tao Tiande was frantic because he had no means of selling out humanity.
Tang Jie could see that he really didn’t know, so after some thought, he said, “It seems that you really don’t know anything. But the guidance of Fate can’t be wrong. You have to know something related to the answer I seek, so why don’t we do this? Tell me about your experiences. Have you encountered anything strange? Been to any forbidden grounds and secret areas?”
After some thought, Tao Tiande replied, “I haven’t encountered anything strange, but as for forbidden lands, in the border area, there really is such a place.”
“Oh? You have a connection to that forbidden land?” Tang Jie asked.
Tao Tiande nodded. “Three years ago, I was ordered to go to that forbidden land. That was where I obtained the Blueheart Flame.”
“Oh?” Tang Jie grew excited.
With a flip of his wrist, that blue flame appeared on his fingertip.
The Blueheart Flame had the bizarre power to enter the body and burn one from the inside out, so Tao Tiande didn’t dare to touch it directly. Instead, he kept it in a box and used a mantra to control it. Only a cultivator at Violet Palace or above could block it and prevent it from entering the body. The moment Tao Tiande saw Tang Jie hold up the flame on his fingertip, he began to tremble in fear. Violet Palace! This was a Violet Palace cultivator!
And given how at ease Tang Jie seemed, he was no ordinary Violet Palace expert.
Tang Jie didn’t know what was going on Tao Tiande’s mind, nor did he care, carefully examining the flame. The insight from the Sea of Fate grew even stronger, that blue flame lighting up his mind and opening his eyes.
“That’s it!” Tang Jie excitedly said. “The guidance of Fate really was here.”
His eyes pierced through the veil and saw a thread of Karma extending to the horizon, pointing him in the direction he needed to go.
There was no doubt that that forbidden ground was the true trump card of humanity’s border region.
He didn’t know what it was, but he was sure.
Putting away the Blueheart Flame, Tang Jie sternly said, “Tell me everything about the forbidden ground and how you got the Blueheart Flame in as much detail as you can.”
Tao Tiande didn’t dare to delay, quickly recounting everything about the forbidden ground.
The forbidden ground was located five hundred kilometers away in a valley within the Soaring Immortal Mountains. It was called the Ice Blue Forbidden Ground and was closely guarded. Tao Tiande didn’t know what was inside, but every year, the human alliance would send in many resources and bring out some resources in return.
Three years ago, the Black Frost Gate was summoned and sent to the Ice Blue Forbidden Ground to carry out a special mission. His master accepted the mission, and Tao Tiande was one of the people he brought along. It was in that trip to the forbidden ground that Tao Tiande obtained that ball of Blueheart Flame.
“Was it only your sect?” Tang Jie asked.
“No, there were many other sects,” Tao Tiande replied. “But I wasn’t familiar with them.”
“What was in the forbidden ground?”
Tao Tiande shook his head. “I don’t know much. When I followed my master into the forbidden ground, we found a garden valley in which spirit plants grew, but most of them were withered. As we proceeded forward, we passed through the garden to reach a cliff wall. The wall was covered in cracks, and a blue flame blazed within them. Our Black Frost Gate’s mission was to use our Dark Ice energy to seal the cracks.”
Tang Jie had some understanding of the Black Frost Gate’s Dark Ice energy. It could create an unmeltable ice, a rather decent freezing spell. The human alliance had the Black Frost Gate go into the forbidden ground precisely for their Dark Ice energy. The other sects must have been asked for similar reasons, to repair the cracks in the mountain wall.
They had essentially been called as repairmen. Tao Tiande had been rather clever. When he was repairing the wall, he had taken a liking to the blue flame and stolen some, and this was the Blueheart Flame.
“You’re saying that all those flames behind the wall were Blueheart Flames?” Tang Jie asked.
“Indeed!” Tao Tiande replied. “Unfortunately, the alliance’s guards were watching too closely for us to steal it. Moreover, the Blueheart Flame is so strong that nobody below Violet Palace can even use their hands to touch it. Some ignorant people attempted to steal it this way and ended up being burned to death. I was lucky, having obtained a special stone that could be made into a Firehold Jade Box, and then I recognized the Blueheart Flame and came across an opportunity to steal a little.”
Tang Jie indifferently said, “Others might also have managed to steal it and just kept it a secret like you.”
“Yes, yes, Senior, you’re right.” Tao Tiande was so scared that he agreed with whatever Tang Jie said. Once he learned that Tang Jie was at Violet Palace, he even addressed him as “Senior” and would probably be kowtowing if it were possible.
Tang Jie fell into thought as he tried to figure out where the Blueheart Flame and Ice Blue Forbidden Ground had come from.
But even someone as well-read as him had no knowledge of this.
But it was fine. Ultimately, he would find out once he went over.
Tao Tiande saw him fall into thought and said, “I told you everything I knew, so please, Senior, let me go! This lowly one was blind and failed to see…”
He began to beg and plead for his life.
Annoyed, Tang Jie sealed Tao Tiande’s mouth.
Tang Jie said, “Although the Heavenly Dao Oath doesn’t have much binding power over me, all the effort it would take to break the oath isn’t worth it for someone as small as you. But you knew that I was a Hemos spy, yet you still worked with me and told me all of humanity’s secrets. This is not at all the demeanor appropriate for a human cultivator, so I can’t just let you go like this.”
Tao Tiande was aghast when he heard that this man had the ability to break the oath. It was no wonder he had so easily made that promise!
Tang Jie said, “Whatever; a war needs a pretext. Since you like betraying so much, I’ll make you into a hero instead. You will be the one to start this war.”
“Wh-what?” Tao Tiande said in confusion.
Tang Jie pointed at Tao Tiande, who was immediately robbed of control over his body, which stood up, walked out of the room, and flew into the air.
As he flew higher and higher, Tao Tiande discovered that numerous Hemos cultivators had gathered outside Thousand Autumns City.
Their leader was a savage figure seething with blood energy.
“Li Xiao?” Tao Tiande cried out.
This was clearly the leader of the Hemos hunting squad, Li Xiao.
Tao Tiande realized that the Hemos hunting squad had finally come to demand an explanation for yesterday’s incident.
Liu Nanshan and the others had already appeared, floating over the city and negotiating with Li Xiao.
At this moment, Tao Tiande found himself shouting, “Li Xiao, you coward, you think you can just bully around us humans as you please?”
No, why did I say something like that? I didn’t say that!
Tao Tiande inwardly cried out in terror, but his mouth continued to move on its own.
“Hurry up and die!”
With a furious roar, he summoned a storm of frost that swept toward the Hemos cultivators.