Aspiring to the Immortal Path

The heavens had accepted the blessing of Fate, which was protecting the Basking Moon Sect in its own formless yet very real way.

Just now, because Yun Tianlan and the others were willing to die for their disobedience, prompting Yu Cheng to destroy the Basking Moon Sect, the blessing’s protection had been triggered.

This protection required an opportunity to be activated, which meant that it couldn’t conjure up energy out of thin air to deal with this threat. Instead, it massaged every possible detail in order to nudge things in the direction desired.

Fate could not directly stop Yu Cheng from destroying the Basking Moon Sect, but the appearance of Tang Jie gave Fate an opportunity. The power of Fate thus empowered Tang Jie, through this method averting disaster for the Basking Moon Sect.

Thus, rather than say that it was protecting Tang Jie, it was better to say that it was protecting the Basking Moon Sect.

It was not concerned about who won or lost, but if Yu Cheng still wanted to destroy the Basking Moon Sect, this Fate power would remain, granting Tang Jie the power to fight back against Yu Cheng.

Upon realizing this, Yu Cheng instantly knew what to do, shouting:

“The Basking Moon Sect stubbornly adheres to its way and refuses to submit, but this emperor pities all mankind and is not willing to bring about excess bloodshed. I will spare you all for today and revisit this matter in the future. All who heed my orders, withdraw with me from this place, and make no more trouble for them!”

He waved his sleeve, pulling up one of the Zephyr Mountains, which transformed into a sword as it left the ground and flew into Yu Cheng’s hand.

This sword had been half of his Xuanyuan Sword, and it had immediately answered the call of its original owner.

With sword in hand, he simply left, and behind him were his previous subjects from the court, the Azure Dragon and Lithos Dragon among them. As for Mu Ziyang and Ye Yun, they hesitated. If Yun Tianlan hadn’t promptly said, “The Basking Moon Sect will always welcome the two of you,” they really might have chosen to leave with Yu Cheng.

Although they didn’t understand why Yu Cheng had suddenly given up, everyone had seen his struggle with Tang Jie just now.

Tang Jie was alive!

This thought encouraged everyone.

Of course, they didn’t know that if they hadn’t mistakenly believed that Tang Jie was dead, which stimulated their unified hostility against Yu Cheng, thus triggering the blessing of Fate… then Tang Jie really might have died.

Meanwhile, as Yu Cheng flew away from the Zephyr Mountains, the Fate power surrounding Tang Jie faded.

“Die already!”

In the Sea of Cognition, Yu Cheng once more summoned a tsunami against Tang Jie.

Without the protection of Fate, Tang Jie no longer had the foundation to fight back.

Against the Immortal Emperor’s immense will, Tang Jie’s figure became like a guttering candle.

But no matter what he did, Tang Jie’s Divine Soul refused to go out.

Yu Cheng carefully examined him and found that there was still a sliver of Fate power within his Divine Soul. His mind rapidly worked, and he swiftly determined what was going on, grunting, “So you extracted some power from the Great Dao to protect yourself.”

Yes, Tang Jie had used that moment where he had a chance to attack to instead extract some Fate power, which now allowed him to hold out against Yu Cheng.

Yu Cheng snarled, “So what if you stole a little of that Fate blessing? All it does is prolong your miserable existence a little longer. Even if I can’t kill you now, I can seal you. Seal, seal, seal!”

As he roared, great waves surged within the Sea of Cognition.

Yu Cheng’s will transformed into a giant mountain that fell onto Tang Jie’s Divine Soul.

Tang Jie bellowed, “Yu Cheng, so long as I’m alive, you’ll never take this body! Each day I live in this Sea of Cognition is another day I’ll haunt your dreams. You might have sealed me, but I’ll always come back and ruin your plans. I am you, a second you!!!”

Yu Cheng’s face turned pale with anger. “You think you’re worthy? Forty-nine days is all this emperor needs to grind away that little bit of Fate power, and that will be the moment of your death!”

With a raise of his arms, the mountain slammed down, blocking out Tang Jie’s voice.

Finally, Yu Cheng once more had control over the body.

Although Tang Jie was not completely dead, Yu Cheng had not been bluffing. In just forty-nine days, he could grind that soul down to nothing.

The Azure Dragon saw his face return to calm, but he was still unsure whether this was Yu Cheng or Tang Jie. Gathering his resolve, he said, “Your Majesty…”

Yu Cheng could tell what he was thinking, but he left that unsaid, simply grunting, “Alright, it’s over now. That Tang Jie refused to go down, even in death, causing some small problems, but I’ve resolved them now.”

The Immortals all sighed in relief.

Essence Refiner said, “Since Your Majesty’s internal problems have been resolved, we should immediately go back and subdue the Basking Moon Sect.”

Yu Cheng shook his head. “Forget it. The Basking Moon Sect was still the place where my past life grew up. For the deed of raising me up, I will let them be for now.”

Tang Jie had already become a “past life” for Yu Cheng, so his explanation made sense. Of course, he neglected to mention that Tang Jie was not totally dead yet.

The Immortals could only comply with his decision.

Yu Cheng continued, “Our utmost priority is to reestablish the court to await my former subjects.”

With Yu Cheng’s return, all the hibernating Immortals of the Court of Myriad Domains had begun to awaken. Scattered across the cosmos as they were, Yu Cheng couldn’t possibly go and pick them all up, so he wanted to rebuild the royal court and wait for them to come to him. Once this major matter was resolved, taking care of the Rosecloud Domain would be a trivial concern.

“But there is one thing we have to do before that,” Yu Cheng casually said, reaching out a hand. A light erupted in the distance, flying toward Yu Cheng like a dragon. In a flash, it had reached his side, transforming into a divine sword, the Godslayer Sword.

The moment this sword fell into his hand, it began to resonate with the God-Conquering Merak Sword like two long-parted brothers finally reuniting.

No, they were even closer than brothers, for they were once part of the same sword.

Yu Cheng brought the swords together, and in a heaven-soaring pillar of light, the two swords were replaced with an ancient and mottled longsword.

The Xuanyuan Sword!

It lacked the domineering aura of its two halves, but it exuded a weight and dignity that came with the passage of the eons, instilling admiration and veneration in all who beheld it.

Yu Cheng raised the sword and warmly said, “Xuanyuan Sword, you finally returned. In my last life, I used you to cleave apart space and sweep away the Primordial Fog. In this life, I will use you to shatter the Stellar Net and break free of the world’s shackles!”

The Xuanyuan Sword buzzed in reply.

Yu Cheng laughed at its response. “Good, good! The Xuanyuan Sword has returned, so there is no need to linger here. Let us go to the Vast Wilderness Continent, both to rebuild the court and to settle accounts with some old friends.”

The teleportation formation Tang Jie had built that led to Vast Wilderness had been moved elsewhere after the Martial Lord’s hidden realm had been destroyed. Yu Cheng searched Tang Jie’s memories for this information and led the Immortals in that direction.

——————————————————

A surging killing intent traveled along the severed mental connection, heading straight for Tang Jie.

A boundless lethality.

The God Immortal Slayer Art!

This was Immortal Emperor Yu Cheng’s supreme Immortal Art, aimed right at the Divine Soul, obliterating Gods and butchering Immortals!

Tang Jie was a mere True Person. There was no way he could take on this blow.

On top of that was a Nether God seeking to tear him to shreds.

But Tang Jie didn’t give up, and as that killing intent was about to descend, a black fog rose up from his Sea of Cognition.

The black grains!

The countless Death God weapons Tang Jie had destroyed using the Weapon Mantra had become a special aggregation of Reincarnation Dao power, which now transformed into a black curtain that protected Tang Jie’s mind.

This was his greatest trump card. No soul power could be stronger than the black grains, just like how no physical substance could be tougher than the Sovereign Blade made from the golden grains!

The God Immortal Slayer Art targeted the Divine Soul. Only such an attack could possibly use the soul connection to travel the vast distance between Tang Jie’s avatar and original body to kill him. Even so, crossing this space spent ninety percent of this power. Of course, Yu Cheng had been confident that the remaining ten percent was enough to kill Tang Jie.

After all, this was Celestial Heart, not even Violet Palace, the spirit still seeking to become a Divine Soul and not even having attempted to reach Godhood. This was a strike that could kill a God in one blow, so it was enough to obliterate Tang Jie a thousand times over.

This was the strike that crashed into the black curtain.

That soul-piercing attack failed to penetrate the curtain. Instead, it was devoured and then fired off in another direction: to the Nether God.

The Chaos Net Heavenly Formation, the Yellow Springs vortex.

The Nether God’s hand had extended out of the vortex and was gathering a powerful blow.

At this moment, a small bolt of lightning flew out from the center of Tang Jie’s forehead, striking his hand.

It was just a little spark, but the moment it touched the Nether God’s hand, he let out a terrible scream.

“NOOO!!!!” The Nether God’s cry could be heard throughout the Flame Yang Domain.

The Nether God who was so full of anger just moments ago now withdrew his hand and fled.

“A pity,” Tang Jie muttered.

The God Immortal Slayer Art had been at only 10% of its original power, and it had been further weakened when Tang Jie had diverted it, so it had not been enough to kill the Nether God. Still, he could tell that it had dealt the Nether God a severe blow.

Injuries to the Divine Soul were extremely difficult to heal, and the Nether God was bound to fall into a deep slumber after this battle.

“You think I’ll let you run that easily?” Tang Jie snorted. “Tang Chuan, keep an eye on him!”

“Yes, Father!” Right before the Yellow Springs vortex closed, Tang Chuan jumped in.

At this moment, Tang Jie gasped in surprise. “What’s going on here…”

He looked up at the sky as his connection with the avatar was restored.