Aspiring to the Immortal Path

“So he was a body cultivator.”

The fiends were unconcerned by Tang Jie’s true form.

This wasn’t because body cultivators weren’t strong. On the contrary, they were quite strong, their savage way of fighting often able to produce unexpected results.

But from another perspective, body cultivators also carried the least surprise.

No matter how tenacious their will or great and boundless their strength was, their lack of variety meant that they were largely incapable of producing miracles. They might occasionally be able to explode in strength and kill one or two foes, creating the miracle of the weak defeating the strong, but they would never be able to defeat a group of powerful opponents.

Most importantly, body cultivators, with their brutish ways, could never come up with some kind of scheme.

At this critical moment, the fiends’ greatest worry was that Tang Jie’s sudden appearance signified some kind of scheme, but when they found that Tang Jie was a body cultivator, this concern was halved. As for why Tang Jie had come out alone—for a body cultivator, this wasn’t strange at all.

Body cultivators had always been rash. Without a fearless and suicidal mindset, just how could one become a body cultivator?

Thus, the fiends all relaxed a little.

The Fiend Emperor that was battling with Tang Jie laughed, “None of you join in. I want to kill him personally!”

It charged forward again, transforming into a giant alligator, choosing to rely on its innate scale armor to endure Tang Jie’s fist.

Tang Jie immediately began to pound away at the giant alligator like he was hammering steel, and in response came a chorus of dings and clangs. These two brutish beasts began to battle it out in space, their fighting intent almost taking physical form, their moves all imbued with a world-shattering power. It was so exciting that the fiends almost forgot about the battle down below.

In the end, it was still the leading Fiend God that frowned. “The battle below seems to be going poorly, so it would be best not to delay. Hurry and finish off this human to minimize any variables.”

With its status, it naturally didn’t need to deal with a Deification cultivator personally. On the contrary, the Fiend Emperors would all have to offer this human to it once he was slain.

Several Fiend Emperors immediately flew toward Tang Jie.

Tang Jie remained fearless, his immense body surging with power as he chose to simply endure the attacks of those Fiend Emperors.

For a Deification body to endure the attacks of several Soul Projection Fiend Emperors, this kid was truly quite strong.

But for some reason, the Fiend God felt unhappy.

Annoyed, it grumbled, “Useless things.”

It chose to personally intervene, raising its hand, and a giant hand descended on Tang Jie.

Not even Tang Jie could resist the majestic power of a Fiend God. The giant hand seized his body, raising him up like he was a little chick and bringing him before the Fiend God. “Human, speak. What’s happening down there?”

Tang Jie grinned at the Fiend God. “The same thing happening to you.”

The Fiend God instantly realized that it was in trouble, but it was too late to cast Tang Jie aside.

The giant hand suddenly exploded with light akin to a sun.

“Awooo!” The Fiend God bellowed in pain as the giant hand was sliced into bits by the Sovereign Blade. Although the hand reformed a moment later, the damage the Sovereign Blade dealt directly to its Divine Soul still left it in immense pain. Fortunately, it was a Void Returning Fiend, possessing an everlasting soul, or else this blow would have been devastating.

“Seeking death!” the Fiend God roared, its eyes crackling with lightning.

“Devil Crushing Fist!” Tang Jie countered.

But he wasn’t as powerless this time, the blast from his fist slamming into the lightning and stopping it cold.

This display of strength stunned the Fiend God as well as the Fiend Emperors.

“This… How?”

The fiends cried out in disbelief.

A Deification cultivator had blocked the full-strength attack of a Fiend God? It had to be understood that this was a difference of two tiers!

In this world where even Soul Projection defeating Immortal Platform was a miracle, a human Deification cultivator blocking a Fiend God’s attack completely overturned their understanding of the world.

“Nothing is impossible!” Tang Jie laughed. He once more punched at the Fiend God, while at the same time, the Sovereign Blade transformed into thousands of rays of light that blasted the surroundings.

He was accomplishing the unimaginable, holding off a Fiend God and several dozen Fiend Emperors all by himself.

At this moment, the Fiend God paled. “Shit! A large number of humans are coming up from below!”

The fiends wanted to run, and the humans naturally wanted to give chase.

Tang Jie had only killed the fastest of the fiends in the Astral Wind region, but many more had been pursued by other human cultivators. Now, they were finally approaching.

This Fiend God, even with the formation and Astral Winds interfering with its Divine Will, still had the soul of a True God, so as battle neared the endless void, it finally realized what was going on.

It also realized Tang Jie’s goal. “He’s trying to stop us from escaping!”

These words made the fiends understand what was happening.

They had lost!

Not only had they lost, they had suffered a crushing defeat, such that the humans had been able to chase them to the void, even sending someone to intercept them and prevent them from escaping!

In shock, the fiends turned their senses downward and found the energy signatures from below to be getting stronger and stronger. All their desire to fight evaporated, and they began to retreat.

“Like I said, since you’re here, don’t even think about leaving!” Tang Jie darkly said. He raised his left hand, and countless threads of light appeared in the void, weaving a giant net.

“An illusion formation?” the Fiend God shouted in alarm.

Tang Jie had been fighting earlier not only to buy time, but also to lay down a formation and prevent the fiends from running.

But there were some sharp ones among the fiends, one of them shouting, “He was laying down the formation in secret and without preparation, and Lord Fiend God was attacking him, so it’s not truly complete. We can still get out!”

Tang Jie chuckled. “You’re right, but what if I add this?”

He pointed his finger, and the Sovereign Blade turned into golden threads that embedded themselves in the void, working together with that half-complete illusion formation to complete the net.

Using the Sovereign Blade naturally didn’t have as good of an effect as the actual complete formation, but Tang Jie didn’t mind. He was just buying time for everyone else to arrive.

The fiends shouted in dismay, “Kill this kid and then run!”

The Fiend Emperors all attacked Tang Jie, not caring that there was only a single enemy, only seeking to kill him as quickly as possible.

Tang Jie smiled. “That’s exactly what I want.”

The Heavenly Dao Realm activated, a ring of light spreading outward.

The flood of attacks fell into Tang Jie’s Heavenly Dao Realm and then all turned toward the Fiend God.

The Fiend God didn’t expect this outcome. Not even a Fiend God could simply take the attacks of several dozen Fiend Emperors, and a moment later, the Fiend God was blasted until its entire body gave off white smoke.

This was no ordinary smoke, but turbulent Immortal energy created by a powerful impact. It meant that much Immortal energy had been lost, and for God Immortals, Immortal energy was blood!

This one salvo had left the Fiend God heavily injured, and it furiously roared, summoning a host of rainbow bubbles.

This Fiend God’s original form was a clam fiend, and it was a master of illusions. Enraged by Tang Jie, it had used its strongest skill. Each of these rainbow bubbles was an illusion zone made of its fiend energy. Anyone engulfed by one would be completely lost in the illusion while the clam fiend drained their life force.

But the moment these bubbles appeared, they all bounced off toward the Fiend Emperors, Tang Jie once more repulsing them.

The clam Fiend God hadn’t expected Tang Jie to be able to reflect its own attacks, and it had no choice but to call back the bubbles and bring the Fiend Emperors back to their senses.

This was the power of Tang Jie’s Heavenly Dao Realm. Within this realm, everything happened according to his will. In order to maximize its time limit, Tang Jie gave up on all other functions and focused only on distorting attacks.

It was a good thing there was this Fiend God here, for when it was placed alongside all the other Fiend Emperors, they created a sort of equilibrium. Tang Jie’s role was to stand at the center and manipulate their attacks so that they attacked each other.

If one side were missing, Tang Jie would have had a much more difficult time.

Counterbalancing the powers of the fiends was like dancing on the edge of a cliff, bringing Tang Jie endless stimulation while bringing the fiends immense shock.

They had never before seen a cultivator with such abilities, able to singlehandedly hold them down.

Shrill screams could be heard rising from the Astral Winds below as the pursued fiends were slain. The battle was getting closer and closer, and they would soon be swept up in it.

If they didn’t leave now, they would never be able to leave.

Panicking, the clam fiend howled and began to attack the fabric of space itself.

This seemed like a pointless attack, but it was precisely Tang Jie’s weakness.

To extend the time he could keep the Heavenly Dao Realm up, Tang Jie used himself as a relay station. The simpler the mission given to the Heavenly Dao Realm, the less energy it consumed, which meant that he would have more time until he hit the threshold for the Heavenly Tribulation. But this also meant that it was much less flexible.

When the clam fiend changed the target of its attacks, Tang Jie could no longer alter their trajectory, which meant that he could no longer neutralize the Fiend Emperors. The attacks from the fiends flooded in, and this time, Tang Jie could do nothing about them. His body instantly lit up in a storm of light.