Aspiring to the Immortal Path

With a roar, the assault resumed.

It was still flailing branches, but each one was much more powerful, essentially comparable to a divine treasure. They tore at space, creating thunderclaps wherever they struck.

The planet had become the Rootless Tree Ancestor’s source of power, and the sky had become its target of attack. Wherever the branches were, mighty gales were created. But because of its deep roots, the Rootless Tree Ancestor could no longer move. This was why it was known for being invincible on the defensive.

The Rootless Tree Ancestor had been forced by Yun Tianlan to spread its roots to the maximum extent so it could take in as much energy from the world as possible. But this placed a massive burden on the planet and also on itself.

However, considering that the Divine Spring Domain was already in peril, the Rootless Tree Ancestor naturally couldn’t care about such things and had to go all-out.

As the branches danced, gusts of wind swept out like sharp blades. Even with the crown, Yun Tianlan didn’t dare to take on these branches and had to fly back in retreat.

As the Rootless Tree Ancestor couldn’t move, it couldn’t properly chase, only extend its branches. And the farther the branches extended, the weaker they became.

As Yun Tianlan retreated a thousand kilometers, the Rootless Tree Ancestor’s branches chased him across the skies, covering half of the planet under its canopy.

Some unlucky cultivators were caught up in this attack and were killed before they even had a chance to run.

The top-class attack of a True Immortal was so great that even being a thousand kilometers away wasn’t far enough to be free of the shockwaves, and many cultivators trembled in fear. Some of the swifter cultivators manage to activate their talismans, thus escaping disaster.

The branches of the Rootless Tree Ancestor had covered the entirety of the Forest of Majesty, creating a terrifying region of death. Any non-fiend that tried to enter would only face death.

Only by retreating so far was Yun Tianlan able to bring down the Rootless Tree Ancestor’s branches to a manageable level, but this meant that he could no longer stop the tree sprite army. After exterminating the white tigers created by the Silver River Spear, the tree sprites began to move to reinforce the fiends elsewhere.

Yun Tianlan could only helplessly sigh.

Although he had known that the Rootless Tree Ancestor wouldn’t be easy to deal with, it had been far more powerful than he had expected. Gazing at the giant canopy that blotted out the heavens, he felt a little helpless.

At this moment, someone said, “The Rootless Tree Ancestor is more powerful than I thought. This Tang Jie did a poor job, failing to realize it had this ability.”

“Tang Jie?” Yun Tianlan turned his head in surprise to see Tang Jie flying over. When he saw that he was being followed by Mu Ziyang and a Fiend God, he immediately understood. “You’ve handled matters in the North Sea?”

“The Dark Night Ancestor and Ice Dragon Emperor are both dead. The sea fiends and underground fiends are both done for, and the remaining survivors are on their last breath. Fairy Gu Ye and Brother Wuji are currently sweeping them up, so I came over first to take a look.”

Yun Tianlan was delighted. “Good job! With the Ice Dragon Emperor dead, a peak combat expert of the Divine Spring Domain has been eliminated as a threat, a variable removed. Victory is close at hand! Unfortunately, this Rootless Tree Ancestor is stronger than expected, able to use the entire Divine Spring Domain as its energy reserve. If we keep fighting, even if we win, the Divine Spring Domain will have been sucked half-dry.”

A planet’s energy determined how well it could nurture its inhabitants.

Why couldn’t smaller domains bring forth Immortal Platform experts? Why could a place as large as the Vast Wilderness Continent create True Immortals and Gold Immortals without end? Why had Yun Tianlan started these cultivator domain wars?

It was all to expand and increase the energy a domain could provide, giving the world greater space and giving himself greater potential!

The Rootless Tree Ancestor was pulling energy out of the Divine Spring Domain in a frenzy, its every attack essentially being an attack from the Divine Spring Domain. This was the true source of Yun Tianlan’s heartache. All they would end up winning would be a wasteland.

Tang Jie understood what he meant and smiled. “Since it’s rooted itself in the world, we just have to sever the roots.”

“Easier said than done,” Yun Tianlan sighed.

He also understood that cutting the roots was the best plan, but how could the Rootless Tree Ancestor’s endless roots be cut down? Its roots were just like its branches on the surface, all possessing incredible power. To attack them was to attack the Rootless Tree Ancestor, and it meant dealing with the same unending onslaught. Worst of all, severing all the roots required going deep underground, where one held no advantage.

Tang Jie replied, “Even if it’s not easy, we still have to do it. Ancestor, Brother Mu and this shark fiend will help you hold down the Rootless Tree Ancestor while I go and sever those roots.”

“You?” Yun Tianlan looked at Tang Jie in shock.

Although Tang Jie had killed the Ice Dragon Emperor, that had been an injured True Immortal, with strength on par with an Earth Immortal. But the Rootless Tree Ancestor was at its strongest state, and not even Yun Tianlan could defeat it. For what reason did Tang Jie think he could win?

Tang Jie took out the Sovereign Blade. “I’ll just chop them off. Let’s see what’s faster: the speed at which it grows its roots or the speed at which I cut them off!”

Yun Tianlan was startled, and then he laughed, “Haha, great idea! Then this old man will hold down this tree and leave killing it to you!”

“As Ancestor commands!” Tang Jie swung the Sovereign Blade, unleashing a wave of sword energy that cleaved into the earth, creating a massive fissure.

But this was only the beginning. He continued to swing the blade, covering the land in scars.

The roots on the surface were the easiest to destroy. Each of his swings could create a canyon nearly a hundred meters in length, destroying all roots in the area. But for the Rootless Tree Ancestor, this was only a meager part of its massive root network, so insignificant that it couldn’t even be considered a loss. Not only that, more roots continued to grow out of the stumps.

Tang Jie simply smirked in disdain and flew toward the ground, approaching one of the severed roots. As he approached, his body erupted in flames that lunged at the root.

The Rootless Tree Ancestor suddenly shrieked in terror, “The Eternal Flame!?”

With that shriek, the root broke apart on its own. The Eternal Flame burned the root to ash, but it didn’t harm the tree ancestor. As a tree sprite, it was different from ordinary life forms, so it was able to avoid the Eternal Flame attaching to its soul. It would be impossible for a human to get rid of the Eternal Flame by simply cutting off their own arm.

Tang Jie’s eyes lit up. “So you are afraid of the Eternal Flame? That’s enough!”

The Eternal Flame leapt onto the Sovereign Blade.

Tang Jie couldn’t control the Eternal Flame without the Heavenly Dao Realm, but he could still use his strength to point it in a direction. Enduring the pain, Tang Jie guided the Eternal Flame onto the Sovereign Blade and began to swing away at the roots. With each swing, several dozen roots would be severed, and all of them would be lit up by the Eternal Flame.

The Rootless Tree Ancestor had to sever its roots again and again to avoid the Eternal Flame, but this disabled its formidable regeneration abilities. While severing every root, it also had to remove the small number of embers on each stump, which greatly affected its regeneration.

Tang Jie used this chance to keep chopping away.

Visible from the sky, a man on fire was slicing away as he moved deeper and deeper, until all that could be seen was a red glow. At some point, even the red glow disappeared, and all appeared silent as if the battle had stopped. Only the constant roars from the Rootless Tree Ancestor indicated that the battle continued, and the Rootless Tree Ancestor was in great pain.

Yun Tianlan was all smiles, summoning gales with the Silver River Spear in order to reduce the pressure on Tang Jie.

Deep in the bowels of the earth, Tang Jie was continuing to hack away at the tree ancestor’s roots.

He could see roots all around, lunging at him like giant pythons. Thanks to the Sovereign Blade, Tang Jie could cut through them with a single chop. But the roots were so powerful that each collision brought Tang Jie a major backlash.

Just once was no problem, but Tang Jie was experiencing hundreds every passing second, and even with his body, he was starting to get sore.

But he couldn’t stop.

The Rootless Tree Ancestor, pulling energy from the core of the domain, had extremely strong regeneration, and the Eternal Flame was just barely stopping it. If Tang Jie were a little slow, his chopping speed would drop below the Rootless Tree Ancestor’s regeneration, which would make all his effort for naught, and there would be no other method to defeat this foe than exhausting the world’s core.

“No wonder they call it invincible on defense,” Tang Jie exclaimed.

With a set of deep roots, it had become so powerful that even Tang Jie and Yun Tianlan working together found it hard to defeat. The Rootless Tree Ancestor was on par with, if not superior to, the Lord of the Blood River.

But so what?

“It’s just a motionless target,” Tang Jie muttered.

He threw out an item.

The Myriad Yin Yang Furnace.

108 beams of divine light erupted from the furnace, lighting up the roots in flames.