Aspiring to the Immortal Path

The Floating Rock Domain.

This was a world of primarily yellow, half its surface covered in rock in which no plant could take purchase.

But this didn’t mean that this domain was barren.

Beneath the endless fields of stone of the Floating Rock Domain were what were considered the most abundant sources of Earth Element resources in the chiliocosm.

These abundant and unique resources made the Floating Rock Domain an Immortal paradise in the eyes of cultivators.

But today, this paradise had become a hell.

The skies had been dyed purple-black, and blood painted the rocks red.

The smoke of battle plumed into the air and corpses were strewn across the earth.

There were corpses of both cultivators and demons, and all around them were shattered weapons and art relics. The only sound was the keening and howling of ghosts from the Nether Domain as they wandered here and there.

At the end of this bloody battlefield was a formation of stone giants, thousands of them doing battle against hordes of demons. The shortest of these stone giants was still a thousand feet tall, while the tallest were a hundred thousand feet tall. There were also many palaces built on these stone giants, all of them containing numerous human cultivators.

These stone giants were the mountain ranges of the Floating Rock Domain. When refined using a special method, they could transform into giants to do battle, and it was the principal method used by the domain’s inhabitants against foreign invaders. Atop each giant was a sect.

But today, even the mountain giants found it hard to resist this endless ocean of demons.

Jellyfish-like creatures flew out of the bronze gates in the sky. These slow floating creatures appeared to be nonthreatening as they waved around their tentacles, but these were demons. Whenever they got close to a giant, they would attach themselves to it, after which part of the stone giant’s body would turn into yellow sand and dissipate.

Human cultivators would occasionally fly out from the giants to unleash various spell arts and Divine Connections against these terrifying jellyfish, but demons would also emerge from the jellyfish, screeching as they charged at the cultivators.

One of the stone giants was particularly gigantic.

It towered high over everyone else, looking down at them from above. Even the demons flying high in the sky only came up to its chest.

Several hundred black jellyfish came over, clinging with their tentacles and attempting to corrode this titanic giant, but the effects were almost negligible.

Each of its strides covered thousands of feet, its hands blotting out the sky as it obliterated a jellyfish with each strike.

But still more jellyfish floated over, like buzzing little mosquitoes. Even if it cost them their lives, they would still take a bite from this giant.

This mighty giant was pestered to no end, but no matter how it raged, it could not change reality.

The head of this giant contained an enormous palace, its two eyes serving as two massive observation windows, its ears and nose as entry points from which cultivators flew in and out.

A white-haired elder stood in the left eye of the giant, holding a sword as he gravely observed the battle.

“Sect Master!” A young cultivator with a yellow band strapped around his head prostrated before the elder and sorrowfully reported, “The 38 sects of Xiliang have fallen, and the line has been lost. The demons are charging into our middle ranks… We’re about to break!”

“I see,” the elder slowly answered.

“In only three days, we’ve lost a third of the 1142 Mountain Gods… It’s too much, too much!” The old man closed his eyes in grief. “We were wrong, wrong from the very start. There’s no opposing the demons. We should have listened to Xiong Feiyue and avoided a battle to the death. Now… it’s too late, too late.”

The prostrating cultivator sorrowfully replied, “The Floating Rock Domain is our root. Even if we retreated, where would we go? This Wei Yu has never regretted fighting a decisive battle with the foe, only that we were too weak to defeat the demons!”

“Nobody can defeat the demons… nobody,” the elder sighed.

The cultivator opened his mouth, wanting to say that Immortal Emperor Yu Cheng had defeated the demons before, but in the end, he said nothing. After all, there was no point in saying such things in the battle’s current state.

Boom!

Suddenly, a great boom came from outside. A mountain giant let out a pained roar and collapsed, while the several dozen dark jellyfish around it let out shrieks of excitement. As the giant fell, several hundred cultivators flew out of its body, upon which they were instantly engulfed in a wave of demons.

Another Mountain God had died, and another sect had disappeared.

The elder shook his head in grief.

They were the mountain ranges of the Floating Rock Domain, its foundation, and they were also the supporting pillars and guardian gods of Floating Rock’s cultivators. But now, they were all bound to die in this unwinnable battle.

He was the one who had pushed for a decisive battle, even requesting to use the ancestor’s Dao armament, the Mountain God Horn. He had personally blown the horn, awakening the slumbering Mountain Gods and sending them into this suicidal battle.

One battle had wasted away ten thousand years of accumulation.

“I am a sinner of the Floating Rock Domain!” the elder cried out.

“No! Sect Master, you just didn’t want to see the demons wreaking havoc on my Floating Rock Domain!” the young cultivator cried out.

“It’s pointless.” The elder shook his head in despair. “The winner is king and the loser is a bandit. Since this war is lost, my decision was wrong.”

At this moment, there was another massive boom from outside.

Looking up, he saw a large chunk of the Domain Astral Winds disappear, as if someone had torn a hole through them. Beyond that hole was a dazzling rainbow of colors, clearly another Astral Wind layer trying to merge into this world.

“This is…” Both old and young cultivator cried out in alarm.

A solemn voice proclaimed, “Demons run rampant across the world. By decree of the Domain Lord of the Rosecloud Domain, the Freedom Godhead, we have come to save this domain, uphold humanity, and cleanse the universe.”

Countless shuttles flew in through the hole.

Following these shuttles were flying warships, pavilions, carriages, banners, and other kinds of art relics and divine treasures, all shining with a dazzling light.

The cry of countless cultivators created a massive wave of energy that swept away the demonic energy corrupting the skies. As the hole had appeared in the rear of the demon ranks, the cultivators were able to deliver a lethal strike to their force. The first to suffer was the Demon Gate, which was blasted to bits by the combined might of no fewer than 12 Earth Immortals. Although another Spatial Gate could be established so long as there were still Devil Titans, at least for now, the flow of reinforcements had been severed, and the demons in the Floating Rock Domain were all on their own.

The cultivators of the Floating Rock Domain cheered.

The cultivators from beyond then formed into groups and began to charge, and those demons that had been so domineering were utterly unable to stop them.

“The Rosecloud Domain! The Rosecloud Domain has come to save us!” the young cultivator called out in excitement.

“Has it?” The elder, after his initial excitement, had swiftly calmed down.

Gazing up at the raging Astral Winds, he muttered, “I’m afraid that they haven’t come to drive away the demons, but to replace them.”

“What?” the young cultivator said in shock.

At this moment, a beam of moonlight appeared in front of the elder, gradually congealing into the form of Tang Jie.

Nodding at the elder, Tang Jie said, “I presume that you are Elder Tian Huang of the Five Mountains Sect. The Lord of the Rosecloud Domain, Tang Jie, pays respect to Sect Master Tian Huang. Please forgive me for the late arrival of our reinforcements.”

Elder Tian Huang gazed at Tang Jie and sighed. “If these were reinforcements, why did you move your entire domain? The Rosecloud Domain seems to have mustered a force too great for the purpose, no?”

Tang Jie smiled. “All domains are in peril during the Primordial Fog Calamity, and simply dispatching some cultivators will not do. Only moving the entire domain and mobilizing all its strength can rescue another domain from disaster and bring salvation to its people. Do you not agree with me, Sir?”

Elder Tian Huang grunted. “And then you will devour my Floating Rock Domain, yes?”

Tang Jie chuckled. “The fiends and demons of the Primordial Fog are innumerable. Even if we kill this group, another group will come tomorrow. There is simply no end to them. There are even those demons who, having attained victory in one domain, will go through the Primordial Fog Domain to reach another domain and continue their conquest. Thus, one or two victories is pointless. My Rosecloud Domain can save your Floating Rock Domain today, but if my Rosecloud Domain were to leave tomorrow, how will you deal with the next wave of demons? Thus, joining together against the Primordial Fog is a good strategy. Not only can we protect the Floating Rock Domain from further incursion, we can also increase the overall strength of the human side.”

Elder Tian Huang replied, “But it also strengthens the demons, no? Does the Rosecloud Domain not have to deal with demon invasion?”

“My Rosecloud Domain has its ways of dealing with them. Since my Rosecloud Domain can come to your aid, we naturally have ways of defeating the invading demons and the confidence to continue defeating them. Moreover, while the Primordial Fog will detect the merging of domains in the positive plane and make the appropriate adjustments, there is a time lag. This time lag gives us much more room to maneuver when it comes to dealing with demons,” Tang Jie sincerely said.

“But Rosecloud will just replace the demons. The people of my Floating Rock will simply have a different master.”

Tang Jie sternly replied, “How could that be? Rosecloud and Floating Rock are all a part of humanity. Once Floating Rock merges with the Rosecloud Domain, all the people of the Floating Rock Domain will have the same status as those of Rosecloud. In no way will they be discriminated against. How can this compare to rule under the demons?”