Aspiring to the Immortal Path

War drums thundered with an apocalyptic tone.

A silent pressure descended.

Under black clouds, the demons organized into an army and began to march toward the human ranks.

They marched in a disciplined fashion, blazing with demonic flames, exuding a terrifying pressure that threatened to overwhelm the world.

On the ground was a disciplined army, in the sky was the air force, and above that, within the clouds, were the devils and Demon Lords!

There was a lion-headed devil with a giant maw that seemed like it could devour a hundred thousand soldiers.

There was a five-headed crow, its heads respectively spitting out Astral Wind, flames, lightning, black water, and toxic gas.

There was a living flame that surged with demonic energy, and in the center of that flame was a twisted and repulsive face.

There was an undying resentful soul, surrounded in ghostly energy and constantly wailing.

Of course, there were those more pleasant to the eye. Among those countless devils was one with a rather handsome appearance, but then they suddenly grinned and stuck out their tongue, on the end of which was clearly a smaller head, giving an eerie smile.

Riding on the wind and clouds, they put their power on full display, their combined aura causing the earth to shiver and the mountains to quake, and even the streams to stop flowing…

This terrifying pressure from the denizens of another world sorely tested the confidence that Tang Jie had put so much effort into building.

Was this terrifying demon army really something they could deal with?

Was it really wise to take them on directly?

Many people couldn’t help but think this way.

The demon army advanced, emerging from the demonic energy zone and entering the white fog, the territory controlled by humans.

Each step they took made the human cultivators a little bit more nervous.

The enemy approaching en masse was a major mental trial. Even those cultivators who had been through the toughest and cruelest of battles had never been in a battle of this scale before.

At this level, individual strength was insignificant, and even Violet Palace and Immortal Platform cultivators could be drowned in an ocean of spell arts and Divine Connections.

At this moment, Tang Jie’s voice rang out over the human ranks: “Sand Ocean Formation, activate!”

As Tang Jie spoke, large quantities of soil to the west of Skybrink Ridge turned into flowing sand which was directly teleported right into the fog region, under the feet of the encroaching demon army.

The marching demons instantly found themselves immersed in the yellow sand, and while they bellowed and struggled, this only served to make them sink faster into the sand.

Not only that, countless hands made of sand reached out to pull the demons down.

Just like that, numerous demons were dragged into the sandy mire…

The devils naturally wouldn’t just let this happen.

The moment the Sand Ocean Formation activated, a voice rang out, “Condense Sand to Stone!”

It was just a simple spell art to make stones from sand, but it was enough to resist the Sand Ocean Formation, large quantities of sand starting to harden into stone slabs. The demon army ceased sinking, and some of the fallen demons even managed to pull themselves out of the hardened sand.

But a second later, the fog rolled in, neutralizing the power of the sand-converting spell and turning the ground back into an ocean of sand. Another devil Titan took action, doing the same thing as their colleague…

In a brief moment, the ten-some Titans on both the human and demon sides intervened, the front line going from sand to stone and back again several dozen times.

It was clearly the demon army that suffered in such circumstances. Whether it was sand turning to stone or stone turning to sand, each conversion dealt some damage to the demons. In this seemingly even exchange, the demon army that was being fought over was bound to suffer devastating losses.

But the devil Titans didn’t care.

Demons did not care about life, nor did they fear death!

While the tug of war played out on the ground, the Red Bats and Silver Pyros in the sky were already a third of the way to the human lines.

Tang Jie’s voice rang out again: “Gold Ignis Astral Wind Formation!”

Golden Astral Winds appeared in the sky—none other than the Domain Astral Winds of the Rosecloud Domain. They instantly erupted into a storm that caused countless Red Bats and Silver Pyros to die. A moment later, demonic energy rushed out to push back the Astral Winds.

Just like with the Sand Ocean Formation, another back-and-forth struggle began.

Even though the devil Titans tried their best to destroy these formations, as the defender, the humans had the innate terrain advantage.

Formations were the “terrain” of the cultivation world, replacing walls, crenellations, and towers as the main defensive tool. The attackers facing these formations would be like mortal soldiers placed up against high walls, bound to take huge losses.

This meant the death of countless demons.

As the demons were slain, the sand devoured their bodies, only for more demon soldiers to charge in. Demon corpses were also tumbling from the sky, wreathed in flames and burning to cinders before they even touched the ground.

Purple-black blood gushed from the bodies of the demons, dyeing the world black as lives became worthless.

But the devil Titans did not care.

This was how war was. Although cultivator wars differed from those of mortals, they were fundamentally the same. The attacker was bound to pay a price at the start of the war, and only after they broke through the formations in their way could they commence the slaughter.

The demons were currently in this stage.

These demons were not dying in vain. Their blood contained the corrosive energy of the Primordial Fog Domain. As this blood seeped into the earth, it contaminated it and converted it to the putrid and decaying soil of the demon world.

Once this conversion was complete, the entire region would become the home court of the Primordial Fog. All formations would become less effective, and human cultivators would find it very difficult to fight there.

For them, the low-level demons were meant to be expended so as to use up the power of the enemy formations, were meant to contaminate the soil with their blood, were meant to charge into the death zone so as to create opportunities for the elite units behind them…

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The energy of the formation flashed as demons died in great swaths.

But the demon army marched on, charging onward on a path paved with their own blood. They drew closer and closer, nearing the middle of the region.

The third human formation activated.

Lightning bolts exploded out of the heavens. While the Sand Ocean Formation targeted the land and the Gold Ignis Astral Wind Formation targeted the air, these lightning bolts targeted both land and air.

The ferocity of these bolts was so great that even the devil Titans found them hard to stop.

But they were not disheartened, instead growing more excited. They roared, “Kill! Kill as many as you can! The power of the Primordial Fog, the dark corruption, will bloom on this soil. All those who try and stop us will turn to dust!!!”

“Is that so?” Tang Jie muttered.

From his position, he could see the dark blood irrigating the entire front line, contaminating and putrefying the soil. Not even the Immortal Spirit white fog could stop this corrosion, and it was clear that it was losing ground to the corrupted soil.

The soil covered by the white fog was already starting to give off tendrils of demonic energy, which weakened the formation and strengthened the demons.

Even when all three formations were active, the numbers of demons being killed was dropping.

In their charge, they had already gotten through two thirds of the white fog region.

The human ranks were in sight now, and some of the stronger demons could even start attacking.

For cultivators, this was already close combat.

To put it simply, the enemy had mounted the walls!

Everyone started to get nervous.

The demons were no longer simply marching to their deaths.

Some of the stronger demons were already starting to cast arts as they charged, the demon spell arts streaking through the sky like meteors.

The human cultivators countered with their own spell arts. Empowered by the Sky Feather Formation, they could fire their spell arts farther, and the numerous spell arts painted a rainbow of colors across the battlefield.

The strong point of demons became apparent here.

They cared not for the enemy barrage, charging straight through it and closing the distance in a flash. As the distance closed, more demons could attack, increasing the danger the humans were in.

In the sky, the clashing of Titans also became more frequent.

At first, it was only a limited conflict around the demon army, but as the demons drew closer, their conflict also intensified.

First, the Violet-Palace-level experts began to use their Divine Connections, various storms of energy howling back and forth, and then the Immortal-Platform-level Titans began to get involved. Mystic Moon, Nine Splendors, Ming Yekong, Ling Xiao, Xiao Biehan, Jin Wuyu, and Wang Juemie all took action, and then even Fairy Gu Ye entered the fray.

War was like a snowball, the scale growing ever larger as the fighting went on.

But in Tang Jie’s view, these were only appetizers.

Standing on that mountain, he gazed into the distance at the advancing demon army.

Ignoring the bitter fighting before him, he patiently waited.

Finally, the rumbling of war drums once more resounded over those distant dark skies.

Amidst the sky-rending drumming, dark clouds spiraled and sinister winds blew as large numbers of Shadow Nagas emerged.

“The main dish is finally here.” Tang Jie coldly smiled.