Aspiring to the Immortal Path

An arm nearly a thousand feet in length plummeted from the sky.

With a wave of his hand, Tang Jie collected this arm and laughed. “My thanks.”

He continued to fly away with Qian Tian.

There was a great storm as numerous Titans took action, a black tide flooding out and drenching the entire world in darkness. But Tang Jie was like a squid zooming out of a cloud of ink, leaving the demon Titans’ region of absolute control in the blink of an eye as he headed back to Skybrink Ridge.

Only then did Qian Tian sigh in relief. Bowing to Tang Jie, he said, “Many thanks for Immortal Sovereign’s assistance. It is thanks to you that I was able to survive.”

“Scared silly, right?” Tang Jie grinned.

Qian Tian blushed.

He truly had been scared, and while he had had his moment of passion and courage, that was simply a counter-reaction to his extreme fear. After Tang Jie had brought him back to his senses, that fear had once more swept over him, and he felt his entire body go weak. He awkwardly said, “Fortunately, they were careless. If all those devils had attacked at the start, we wouldn’t be able to escape.”

Tang Jie simply chuckled.

He had been willing to do this only because he was confident of his chances. Even if all the devils had mobilized, at worst, he would just have to activate the Mountain River Diagram and the Heavenly Dao Realm to leave.

Qian Tian didn’t know what Tang Jie was thinking. After a while, he shook his head and said, “No, it wasn’t that they were careless, but because Immortal Sovereign intended it to be this way. It’s no wonder Immortal Sovereign didn’t reveal your strength beforehand, precisely so you could suddenly unleash it at the end to depart, correct?”

“So long as you understand,” Tang Jie replied. This was true. Although he had the Heavenly Dao Realm, the price would have been too great and made the entire trip not worth it. He wouldn’t make such a hard choice if he could make things a little easier for himself.

“But in this way, we exposed Immortal Sovereign’s strength without being able to kill a few more high-level devils,” Qian Tian regretfully said.

While they had managed to kill one devil, that was insignificant compared to the overall disposition of the opposing forces. Of course, if Tang Jie had gone on a killing spree, he wouldn’t have found it that easy to leave.

“What? You think I went to just kill a few of them?” Tang Jie casually asked.

Qian Tian was startled. “Is that not the case?”

Tang Jie shook his head. “Of course not. The deaths of a few devils can’t determine anything. This is a war, and it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight in the war. Never have any delusions that you can fight it all on your own. We’ve cultivated for too long and grown accustomed to only considering the strength of the individual, forgetting about the strength of the masses. But to win this war, we have to be more united than our enemy and better at using the power of organization.”

Qian Tian half-understood what he was saying. “But is this somehow related to Immortal Sovereign charging into enemy lines?”

“Of course it is. Didn’t you determine the enemy numbers? Such a huge enemy army is bound to put a lot of pressure on our side. I presume that many people think that it will be impossible to defeat such a powerful foe. And if we can’t win, what’s the point in fighting?”

Qian Tian momentarily froze. Indeed, he had thought the same thing after finding out how many demons there were.

But despite the vastness of the world, there was nowhere for humans to run. He had to harden his heart and complete his work, though he did it with a heavy heart, bereft of confidence.

Until just now!

He said in understanding, “That’s why Immortal Sovereign charged into the enemy ranks! You wanted to have us all know that the enemy is not to be feared, that their numbers really aren’t anything to worry about! That Immortal Sovereign can still come and go as you please!”

Skybrink Ridge and Heavenweave Ridge weren’t too far from each other, so presumably many cultivators had seen Tang Jie’s charge, and the news had probably already spread.

The human cultivators intimidated by the enemy forces must have received a huge boost in confidence.

Tang Jie nodded. “This is one of the reasons.”

“There’s a second reason?” Qian Tian said in surprise.

Tang Jie using this act to raise morale already surprised him enough. He didn’t think that there would be another purpose.

Tang Jie answered, “In the end, I’m still me. That I can freely go in and out of the enemy ranks doesn’t mean that others can… I’m sure many people thought this.”

Qian Tian froze.

Indeed. That Tang Jie could do it didn’t mean that others could. That heaven-obscuring black hand that Tang Jie had destroyed with one swing of his blade would have thrown anyone else into endless despair.

“That’s why I brought you,” Tang Jie said.

“Me?” Qian Tian pointed at himself in shock.

“Correct!” Tang Jie confirmed. “Not only can I go in and out of the enemy ranks, you can too. You are closer to them than me, so if you can do it, many people will think that they can do it as well.”

“But that’s because I had Immortal Sovereign’s protection…”

“Does anyone know that?” Tang Jie countered.

Qian Tian fell silent.

Tang Jie added, “And so what if they find out? I will be with you on the battlefield, and I will be with them. I can protect you, so I can protect them…”

Qian Tian was speechless.

He really wanted to say that Tang Jie was wrong and that it didn’t make sense, but he quickly realized that there was no point in arguing.

It didn’t need to be correct, only to give everyone this implication.

This implication would give them hope and confidence when facing a powerful enemy, would make them courageous and bold rather than weak and yielding. Even in the darkest hour, they would still have a sliver of light!

If that was the case, what was the point in explaining?

Wasn’t it fine to let them keep thinking like this?

“Besides… the only high-level devil to die was killed by you,” Tang Jie casually added.

What? Me?

Qian Tian looked at Tang Jie in confusion.

“Yes, you! The first hero of humanity!” Tang Jie announced.

He had brought along Qian Tian precisely to make him a hero.

Tang Jie had employed his former world’s method of creating heroes to raise morale.

Qian Tian had probably already become the new idol of the army.

If anyone was unconvinced or thought that they were stronger than Qian Tian, then they could go in themselves!

Face down the foe and kill them!

The devils were no emissaries of death, but future merit for the cultivators of humanity!

This was what Tang Jie wanted.

Realizing Tang Jie’s intent, Qian Tian said in shame, “This one cannot keep up with Immortal Sovereign’s wisdom, thinking only to kill a few powerful foes to earn some merit and not realizing the breadth of Immortal Sovereign’s plan!”

Tang Jie replied, “There’s naturally merit for killing powerful enemies, and we still might be able to kill a few more through this trip.”

“Eh?” Qian Tian was once more surprised.

Isn’t the fight already over? Other than a pile of low-level demons, we only managed to kill one high-tier devil, right? Where are these other devils to kill?

Tang Jie didn’t explain.

They had already reached Skybrink Ridge, and there was a great crowd of cheering cultivators waiting for them.

“Go and receive the glory that you’ve earned.” Tang Jie stopped and pushed True Lord Qian Tian forward.

True Lord Qian Tian looked back at him, and when he saw Tang Jie smile, he inexplicably felt a twinge of heartache, and he gave Tang Jie a deep bow.

“Qian Tian will not waste the immense affection the Immortal Sovereign has graced me with!”

He went off. He was no fool. Since Tang Jie had chosen to support him, he naturally had to play his role, and after a few pointers, he knew what he had to do.

As for Tang Jie, he didn’t consider himself to have any “immense affection” for Qian Tian. He had just grabbed someone to use.

A war depended on many factors. Whether the matter with Qian Tian succeeded or failed, it was just one tiny part of the war, not a decisive factor. Meanwhile, the unspoken third reason might be even more valuable.

“I just wonder what level will be coming,” Tang Jie muttered. “Ideally, a Lesser Demon Lord.”

He had barely finished speaking when a massive dark figure appeared, like a dark cloud, casting Skybrink Ridge into darkness.

And then there was a bout of wild laughter. “Useless human dregs dare to challenge the dignity of we Primordial Fog devils? I’ll make you pay!”

A black bolt of energy shot out of the clouds toward True Lord Qian Tian.

But Tang Jie was delighted. “It really is a Lesser Demon Lord.”

At the same moment, a wave of energy surged out, appearing behind Qian Tian and blocking the bolt of energy.

“Impudent! Daring to charge right up to the ranks of humanity? You think my Rosecloud has nobody that can stop you?” Yun Tianlan’s voice rang out.

An immense pressure descended on the area.

The Lesser Demon Lord discovered to its shock that this pressure was formed by no fewer than three True Immortals.

Shit, what’s going on here?

It was you humans who first sent a True Immortal pretending to be an Earth Immortal to attack us. We had a proper duel with him and didn’t try to bully him, but now that we’ve come to return the favor, you’re ganging up?

For three True Immortals to appear, it was clear that they wanted to keep the devil here.

The Lesser Demon Lord retreated in shock. “It was clearly your humans’ True Immortal who attacked first and acted like there was no demon who could stop you…”

Tang Jie cut it off. “You lot are all shameless demons anyway, so what’s wrong about that?”

He raised his sword.

Four True Immortals attacked in unison.

The Lesser Demon Lord tried to retreat, but it found itself with nowhere to go.

Three True Immortals had created a cage around it as Tang Jie swung his Sovereign Blade.

“Don’t even think about it!”

With a great rumble, at least three Demon Lords and seven other devils all intervened, attacking the cage from a distance.

But long-distance attacks couldn’t compare to close-range ones, and Skybrink Ridge was the human camp, protected by a formation. When Tang Jie had charged into the demon ranks, the demons had not activated their formation both because they were arrogant and also because the formation was not complete. But the humans weren’t going to be so kind to this Lesser Demon Lord that had walked into the trap on its own. A moment later, Tang Jie activated the formation, and Skybrink Ridge erupted in golden light to fend off those long-distance attacks. Moreover, several more True Immortals took action, throwing back the attacks of the devils, and instead of breaking the cage, the devils ended up suffering a few light injuries for their trouble.

Meanwhile, the Sovereign Blade easily sliced through the Lesser Demon Lord, its soul-destroying power both slaying the Lesser Demon Lord and heavily injuring its Divine Soul. But Tang Jie wasn’t satisfied with this, taunting, “Hurry and come back to life! Let’s get this over with quickly!”