Aspiring to the Immortal Path

The stone man’s ability to sense all that was in the earth proved as useful as expected. When this ability was used, no suspicious areas could be hidden from it, whether they were secret treasure grounds or forbidden areas.

Of course, not every suspicious area was necessarily connected to the Dark Night Ancestor, but at least they knew what to look for. And with the stone man’s instant travel through the earth, all of this vast underground world was within their search range.

After a brief search, Tang Jie found a dry and hot mountain, and when he saw a temple to the Dark Night Ancestor in the distance, he knew he had found the right place.

This mountain was unremarkable on the surface, but there was a blazing Earthfire vein running underneath, as well as a seething lake of lava. Tang Jie immediately rushed toward the lava lake and easily found the flame infant hidden within.

Using the same method as before, Tang Jie stimulated the fire infant’s growth, passing to the fire infant all of the various exotic flames he had gathered over the years.

These exotic fires had been gathered through the years through the Contraflame Mantra, and they included rare flames like the Triple Truth Flame and Pale Cloud Flame. These flames had been of great help in his many battles, but as Tang Jie grew stronger and stronger, they gradually became less useful. But now, rather than guttering away in his storage, they could finally serve as nutrients for the fire infant. With these flames, the fire infant would be just like the snow doll and not suffer from maturing early.

In just a few moments, the fire baby was mature, and Tang Jie subdued it the same way as the rest. And as with last time, the Dark Night Ancestor’s clone was suppressed.

Tang Jie now had three out of the five Elementals.

Tang Jie went on his way and soon found the next location.

There was even a vein of essence gold running through it.

It was plain to see that this was where the Metal Elemental was being nurtured.

The Metal Elemental baby had already absorbed much of the essence gold ore vein, causing the metal to lose its luster and turn into ashen-white stone.

But there was still much essence gold left within this white mountain, able to provide energy for the Metal Elemental.

This time, however, Tang Jie didn’t even need to scan to sense an abnormality within the mountain.

There seemed to be heart pulsing, a power thrumming and surging toward him.

“Is it the Metal Elemental?” Tang Jie immediately pinpointed the source of this oddity.

He had not expected the Metal Elemental to call out to him.

What was going on here?

As he was wondering what was going on, Tang Jie felt something on him pulse in response.

It wasn’t strong, but it stabbed into the mountain like a sword, cutting open a path straight into the white mountain.

There was no Divine Connection or spell art, simply a mental strike, yet it had cleaved straight through, causing Tang Jie’s eyes to go wide.

He could tell where that pulse had come from.

The Sovereign Blade!

He immediately summoned the Sovereign Blade from his Divine Palace, and it let out a harmonious resonance as it floated in the air.

At the same time, out of that newly-cut cave flew a giant chunk of metal in the shape of a slumbering infant, but one could tell that there was an expression of joy on its face.

Yes, joy!

When Tang Jie saw the Metal Elemental, he realized what was happening.

It had been lured out by the Sovereign Blade.

The Sovereign Blade was made from the essence of all weapons, and the Weapon Dao was under Metal. The Sovereign Blade originated from the Metal Element, but it had also transcended the Metal Element, possessing the tenacity of Metal and the lethality of Weapons, the supreme manifestation of the Martial Lord’s Weapon Dao!

While one could still find a few top-ranked exotic flames and sacred waters across the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, the Sovereign Blade could only be made through the Weapon Mantra, and only Tang Jie possessed it. This sort of divine weapon was the greatest temptation for the Metal Elemental.

Thus, the Metal Elemental wanted to come out at all cost, forcing a premature birth.

Seeing this, Tang Jie didn’t know what to do. “Sovereign Blade, it likes you, but it’s up to you if you want to give it anything.”

The Sovereign Blade had a soul and its own will, and it responded to Tang Jie with a clattering sound.

A blade immediately split off from the Sovereign Blade, dissolving into a mercurial stream of metal, slowly seeping into the ore vein. A moment later, a beam of light erupted from the ore mountain, infused with a sensation of ecstasy.

Tang Jie could sense this joy, and he knew that even without his blood brand, the Metal Elemental would acknowledge him as its master.

Tang Jie chuckled and summoned the fire baby, which used its fierce flames to melt the essence gold and hasten the Metal Elemental’s development. Gradually, the essence gold ore vein turned into a giant black stone. Boom! A little golden man erupted from the black stone, its entire body glinting. It could even transform its body, transforming into a shining river of gold that threw itself into Tang Jie’s bosom.

This metal baby had obtained part of the Sovereign Blade’s body, so it was born incredibly strong, the leader of the Elementals. Next were the Water and Fire Elementals, strengthened by exotic flames and the Yellow Springs Essence. They suffered minimal effects from their hastened growth, the ample nutrition ensuring that they were healthy. The weakest was the stone man. As the first to have its growth accelerated, it still wasn’t as healthy as it should be. But in this underground world, surrounded by soil and rock, it was on its home court, which actually made it the most useful. Once it left the underground, on the surface or in the air, it would be much weaker.

But this was fine. Once he gathered all five Elementals, there would be an earthshaking evolution, and their individual ranking would no longer matter.

Tang Jie was now missing only the Wood Element.

But before Tang Jie could start finding it, he was gripped by a strange sensation.

The world suddenly went dark.

There was not even the smallest shred of light.

As darkness engulfed the earth, Tang Jie felt a cold and wicked energy infiltrating his mind.

But he almost instantly drove it out and sneered, “Dark Night Ancestor, you’ve finally come looking for me?”

The Dark Night Ancestor had come, and with its main body, not a clone.

A voice brimming with fury came in from all sides: “Audacious fellow, daring to steal my treasures and destroy my clones? Who put you up to this? The Rootless Tree Ancestor or the Ice Dragon Emperor of the North Sea?”

A figure appeared in the air—not a creature of mud, but a savage and ugly human face.

This human face had four eyes and two mouths, seeming like two faces inexpertly put together in a mixed-up mess. There were also a few holes on the face from which black mud dripped, staining the fabric of space with inky darkness.

The surrounding darkness had all been caused by the black mud coming from these holes.

Tang Jie was momentarily stunned by the Dark Night Ancestor’s bizarre appearance. While the world had all sorts of strange creatures, few were as ugly and amorphous as the Dark Night Ancestor.

‘The Rootless Tree Ancestor’? ‘The Ice Dragon Emperor of the North Sea’?

Tang Jie smiled upon hearing these two names.

He knew these two to be the two surviving True Immortals of the Divine Spring Domain. He couldn’t tell the Dark Night Ancestor’s true strength from its bizarre appearance, but based on its questioning him on two True Immortals, it was sure that Earth Immortals wouldn’t dare to provoke it.

In other words, it was a True Immortal?

Or perhaps a peak Earth Immortal, beyond the ability of ordinary Earth Immortals to deal with?

Tang Jie turned a little more serious.

As expected, the Divine Spring Domain had a strong foundation. Yiyi had not known that there was still a hidden Titan like the Dark Night Ancestor. If he hadn’t happened to run into Huangfu Meng and gone to the underground world, he might have completely missed this.

Tang Jie had originally come here not to get treasures, but to gather information on the strength of the enemy. Thus, he said, “My king has recently obtained a formation called the Cloud Sea Revitalization Formation. Once it is laid down, my king will be able to completely recover from the injuries they suffered. But this formation is too profound and the materials required too rare. Knowing that Ancestor has Elementals of the Five Elements, they wanted to borrow them.”

The Dark Night Ancestor was furious. “I knew it! That damn old dragon has never given up on my Elementals! Does he really think I’m afraid of him? You leave those Elementals right there!”

The darkness congealed into a giant hand that reached for Tang Jie.

Tang Jie could have easily taken this attack, but then he had other ideas.

He had just lied to the Dark Night Ancestor on a whim, not thinking that he would actually be believed. His main goal had been to see if he could gather more information from their conversation. But the Dark Night Ancestor had swallowed his story.

He could probably get more use out of this lie.

Thus, he didn’t use his full power against the Dark Night Ancestor, simply punching while feigning that he was using his full strength.

Tang Jie’s fist blasts failed to break through the Dark Night Ancestor’s hand, and he was soon being pushed back.

Seeing this, Tang Jie suddenly thrust out his hands and shouted, “Go!”

There was a yellow burst of light that pulled Tang Jie and Huangfu Meng underground: the stone man.

The Dark Night Ancestor bellowed, “You’re not running away! Seal!”

A powerful sealing energy converged on the area.

Tang Jie laughed, “Old Man Dark Night, you think I came to steal your treasures unprepared? The Dragon King granted me a treasure that can break your seal. Just watch me!”

He threw out a golden pearl, which exuded a baptizing light that shredded the Dark Night Ancestor’s seal of darkness.

A moment later, the stone man activated its earth movement art and disappeared.