Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Tang Jie was pointing at the area where he had just battled with the devils.

Twenty-some devils had died here, so the air was still thick with demonic energy.

And in the center of this mass of demonic energy, a ball of light had appeared. Closer inspection would reveal that it was a spatial passage.

…The spatial passage that had been destroyed not too long ago!

This spatial passage was already more than halfway complete, and the gate was already open. Nether energy was billowing out of the passage, and numerous ghost ships could be made out within it.

“The Nether Domain? Why are they still coming?” Libido said in shock.

Hadn’t the passage to the Nether Domain already been closed? Why had it opened again?

Libido saw a familiar figure on the leading ghost ship, and he blurted out, “Emperor Corpserot!”

Emperor Corpserot was none other than the Nether Emperor he had used as bait.

When the Nether Domain passage was destroyed, the Nether army within was completely vanquished, with only that Nether Emperor surviving. In the battle with Tang Jie, Emperor Corpserot had gone missing. Since it was only at Soul Projection, Libido hadn’t cared, not expecting it to appear again.

Emperor Corpserot sat on its throne of white bone, staring at Libido with a pair of decaying eyeballs.

Libido was familiar with this kind of gaze.

It was the gaze of resentment!

Curses! This guy’s seeking revenge!

Libido realized what was going on.

But he couldn’t understand. How had the Nether Emperor fled back to the Nether Domain?

As he was wondering what was going on, a person appeared next to Tang Jie.

It was Tang Chuan.

The ghost smiled at Tang Jie, scratching his bald head as he said, “Father, your son has done what you requested.”

“Good job,” Tang Jie replied with a smile.

Yes, Tang Jie had ordered Tang Chuan to save Emperor Corpserot.

Tang Chuan’s spatial talent and his status as a Nether Emperor meant that he could freely travel between the worlds of mortals and ghosts.

When the spatial passage was destroyed, numerous ghost soldiers died, and still more were stuck back in the Nether Domain. All that was left was Emperor Corpserot, furious and despairing.

Libido regarded it as an insignificant Nether Emperor, but Tang Jie felt like it could still be useful.

One Nether Emperor naturally wasn’t strong enough to play any sort of decisive role.

But the Nether Domain’s strength had never been about its top-tier combatants. What mattered was its endless army of ghost soldiers.

Back then, a single Nether Emperor Zoros had been almost able to conquer the Flame Yang Domain, and a Nether Emperor stronger than Zoros would have an even greater army under their control.

Thus, Tang Jie immediately had Tang Chuan save the Nether Emperor and take it back to the Nether Domain. Since Tang Chuan was now at Soul Projection, Emperor Corpserot was a denizen of the Nether Domain, and most importantly, the spatial barrier was already extremely weak, Tang Chuan was able to easily pull off the rescue.

In the heat of the battle, nobody had noticed.

And now, Corpserot had returned!

With its hatred toward Libido!

Emperor Corpserot’s ghost ship charged out of the passage.

Boom!

It seemed to almost jump out of the passage, despite its enormous size.

Pointing a decaying finger at Libido, Corpserot roared, “Libido, you bastard, you dare to use me as bait!? This emperor will make you pay!”

“With just you?” Libido smirked.

A mere Nether Emperor dared to berate him?

“Then what about this god?” a sinister voice said.

Libido paled. “Sovereign Lord Hades? What are you here for?”

The passage suddenly expanded from several hundred feet in circumference to more than three thousand feet.

A ghost face cloaked in death energy appeared in the passage, gazing at Libido. “Libido, if you want to use my ghost armies against the humans, I have no objection. But if you want to use my ghost armies as bait for a shameless trap, that is disrespecting we ghosts too much! Corpserot came to find me and told me of your crimes. As his master, I cannot disregard this. If you want someone to blame, blame yourself for hurting ghosts without respect for our dignity. Since you dared to strike me in the face, I must recover my pride.”

“Nonsense! In the Nether Domain, there’s a strict hierarchy, and all Nether Emperors have a master! Any Nether Emperor I chose to invite would have a master. I would like to find one without a master, so maybe you could introduce me to one?” Libido snorted.

“That’s none of my business. You harmed my subordinates, so you need to pay,” Sovereign Lord Hades coldly replied.

“You think I’m afraid of you? A mere low-tier Nether God dares to contend against me?” Libido bellowed.

In terms of cultivation, Hades was only an Earth Immortal, far from Libido’s level. In terms of actual combat strength, any random Earth Immortal devil of the Primordial Fog would be stronger than Hades.

Hades was unconcerned, replying, “I know the power of Primordial Fog devils. Fortunately, my Nether Domain has never relied on high-tier combatants when it comes to war.”

The giant ghost face opened its mouth wide, and the waters of the Yellow Springs gushed out of it.

It was a mighty raging river, rushing out with an unstoppable force.

Sovereign Lord Hades had used his immense powers to summon the Yellow Springs, and within its waters were countless ghosts. There were also intelligent Nether fiends, hissing and screeching in all of their various bizarre forms. There were tens of thousands of them, ranging from Soul Transformation to Violet Palace in strength, carried along by the Yellow Springs toward the demons.

In a flash, the demon fortress was being attacked from two sides.

“NO!” Libido yelled out in terror.

He was already having a tough time dealing with Tang Jie and the humans, and now the ghost army was essentially stabbing him in the back.

The vast ghost armies were the best cannon fodder against the Violet Extrema Demon Formation, and the ghost energy pouring into demon territory also began to conflict with the demonic energy, which greatly affected the strength of the demons.

Libido had never anticipated this situation. While fending off Yun Tianlan and the others, he shouted, “Sovereign Lord Hades, stay your hand! For eons, the Primordial Fog Domain and Nether Domain have always fought alongside each other. In each trimillenial Primordial Fog invasion, the Primordial Fog Domain has always received much aid from the Nether Domain…”

“But we have never been welcomed,” Hades coldly replied.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re both from the negative plane!” Libido shouted. “Fine, but why do you have to go this far? This lord might truly have gone too far. If you are willing to call back your soldiers, this lord can apologize to you and offer you compensation.”

“I don’t care about your compensation. The humans will give me what I want.”

“What?”

Libido turned to Tang Jie in shock.

And then he shouted in realization, “So you were the one who invited them?”

Tang Jie smiled. “Of course. You didn’t think that I would just let Corpserot go after rescuing it, did you?”

Tang Jie was never one to leave his fate in the hands of others. Who could say whether Corpserot would choose to immediately take its revenge or choose to wait?

Thus, Tang Chuan had been ordered to rescue Corpserot and have it convey a message to its master. So long as it was willing to request the assistance of its Nether God, he would make the Rosecloud Domain the reception ground for this Nether God for the next one hundred years.

Being a reception ground meant that the souls of the deceased from the Rosecloud Domain would enter this Nether God’s territory, under this Nether God’s command.

This wasn’t a big loss for the humans. At worst, it meant that, excluding those who had reached Immortal Platform, it would be basically impossible for cultivators to revive, which was disadvantageous to those cultivators that possessed secret resurrection arts.

But for a Nether God, this was a way to greatly increase their strength.

In the past, Tang Jie had refused to let a Nether Emperor take away the souls of the Yellow Court World because that was his world, so he could revive those souls. But now, he was willing to hand over the souls of the Rosecloud Domain, and the Nether God was happy to accept.

As for the limit of one hundred years, that was a negotiating method. Selling off the rights for anything without a chance to recover them made them lose their value.

Even so, the Nether God had still taken the deal. After all, these one hundred years were the one hundred years of the Primordial Fog Calamity. The number of people to die in one hundred years of war probably compared to the number that died in one thousand years of peace.

Of course, this was also because Libido had used the ghosts as bait.

Sovereign Lord Hades could use this matter as the pretext. In the future, he would have an excuse for the other devils and would only offend Libido and not the entire Primordial Fog Domain.

If not for that, then even if Tang Jie had offered up the rights to the Rosecloud Domain in perpetuity, he wouldn’t have the courage to oppose the Primordial Fog Domain.

Libido was utterly stunned by this revelation.

He could understand if this were some long-brewing plot, but it wasn’t.

Tang Jie had clearly sensed an opportunity as he was destroying the passage, so he had immediately come up with a plan and executed it. And in that period, he had even been fighting Libido and the other devils.

The thought made Libido’s heart go cold.

When he looked at Tang Jie again, there was a tinge of despair in his eyes.

This was not over the fate of the demons, but the fact that he had been overwhelmed by his opponent in all aspects, from strength to intelligence.

“To take control of the battlefield with such methods, Tang Jie, I admit that you have won!” Libido reluctantly admitted.

He had no choice but to admit that the demons had lost.

It was a complete and absolute defeat.

This was truly ironic. Ten-some days after the invasion, it was actually the demons that were suffering a total defeat.

Tang Jie replied with a smile, “It’s all down to luck. I simply seized an opportunity presented to me. After all, those who don’t seize opportunities are punished by the heavens.”

“…” This reply was greeted with speechless silence.

Weren’t you punished by the heavens just recently? Don’t you feel any shame saying such a thing?

Libido was in no mood to retort. He took one last glance at the battlefield. With ghosts and humans attacking from both sides, the demons were in a dire state. The Violet Djinns had taken devastating losses, the Shadow Nagas were sustaining terrible damage, and the Immortals were slaughtering the high-tier devils. The only ones holding on were the low-level demons and the Bluestar Blood Demons. But Tang Jie had yet to use his Heavenly Dao Realm and the ghost army was still flooding in. Collapse was only a matter of time.

Libido angrily growled, “My race has lost this battle. But don’t celebrate too early, Tang Jie. If my Primordial Fog Domain were so easily defeated, this wouldn’t be called the Primordial Fog Calamity. You’re strong, so someone stronger will naturally come looking for you. Your biggest mistake was defeating me so quickly. It would have been better for you to take my advice and maintain an equilibrium with me, playing for time. Now, however, your arrogance will bring about the Rosecloud Domain’s destruction!”

Libido turned around and flew toward the bronze Demon Gate.

He was running away!