Aspiring to the Immortal Path

“Awooo! Let me go and I’ll leave the Divine Spring Domain! This world is yours, and I promise never to oppose you!”

The whale shark Fiend God shouted while flying through the air.

Tang Jie callously pursued, his body still blazing. Enduring the searing pain, he coldly said:

“Idiot! When the nest overturns, no egg will survive. If you don’t even understand this principle, it’s no wonder the Divine Spring Domain is doomed. In truth, it’s only thanks to the heavens that you’ve managed to occupy this domain for ten thousand years.”

Tang Jie casually slashed with the Sovereign Blade as he spoke, the edge of his weapon easily slicing through the Fiend God’s hide. The Fiend God wailed and fled, in disbelief that it was running for its life from a mere Soul Projection cultivator. It protested:

“Killing me is of no benefit to you!”

“Humans and fiends consume each other, so how could it be of no benefit? Your flesh, blood, and pellet are all things I need, can be converted into the power I require and assist me in reaching the next level,” Tang Jie said, swinging his sword once more.

Each swing dealt severe damage to his foe.

The whale shark Fiend God shouted, “Let me become your subordinate! I’m more useful to you alive!”

“I don’t need someone as indecisive and fickle as you.” Tang Jie had the means of maximally absorbing resources, so he really didn’t care about the whale shark’s fealty.

The whale shark Fiend God despaired.

Still not willing to give up, it shouted, “What if I told you where the Divine Spring is?”

“Hm?” Tang Jie’s arm froze mid-swing.

What was the most famous treasure of the Divine Spring Domain?

Who needed to ask? It was the Divine Spring! It was written right in the name!

Neither Tang Jie nor Yiyi had found any information on the Divine Spring.

Nobody knew where it was or what function it had, or even what its full name was.

But now, Tang Jie finally had a clue to the Divine Spring.

“Is that so…” Tang Jie put away the Sovereign Blade and stroked his chin.

After some thought, he said, “Tell me what you know about the Divine Spring. If it’s real and of value, I’ll consider giving you the chance to join me.”

The whale shark immediately responded, “Of course it’s of value! This is the wellspring of divinity!”

“‘The wellspring of divinity’?” Tang Jie was taken aback. “You’re saying…”

“Holy Soul Water!” the whale shark Fiend God said.

The mention of Holy Soul Water had Tang Jie’s head buzzing.

As the name indicated, this water directly affected the soul, with its greatest benefit being to purify and sublimate the soul.

It had to be understood that to go from Soul Transformation to Violet Palace or from Soul Projection to Immortal Platform all required a qualitative evolution in the soul. The creation of the Violet Palace was for the purpose of having the soul become independent of the body, and Immortal Platform required the soul to become a God while the body became an Immortal, the two combined creating the God Immortal. The quality of a soul was of utmost importance in both cases.

Holy Soul Water solved this problem.

It was a divine substance ten thousand times more valuable than the Nine Heavens Luan Grass. If the Yellow Springs Essence could be ranked as one of the top three most divine waters, the Holy Soul Water was the undisputed number one. No other water was more valuable to a cultivator.

Tang Jie was dumbfounded to learn that the Divine Spring of the Divine Spring Domain consisted of Holy Soul Water.

The whale shark began to explain.

It turned out that there was a place in the Divine Spring Domain known as the Divine Spring Hidden Realm, in which there was a spring from which a single drop of water would emerge every one hundred years. This water was the Holy Soul Water, which was able to purify and sublimate the Divine Soul.

This hidden realm had been first discovered by the Heavenly Rat Emperor, the True Immortal Fiend God that was now deceased. It was said that when it found this water, it was a simple rat that had yet to become a fiend, but the Holy Soul Water granted it intelligence. This was a rare case of a rat gaining intelligence before becoming a fiend.

At that time, it began to cultivate, absorbing the essence of the world and learning the human methods of cultivation, stealing and feeding on spiritual objects, ultimately becoming a Fiend God.

This was the fundamental reason the fiends of the Divine Spring Domain were able to defeat the humans. With the Holy Soul Water, the Heavenly Rat Emperor quickly became the strongest existence of the Divine Spring Domain. Not only that, it used the Holy Soul Water to strengthen its trusted subordinates, creating a massive fiend army.

This was how the Ice Dragon Emperor and Rootless Tree Ancestor had come to be.

But too many years of domination had clearly made the Heavenly Rat Emperor lose its way. After destroying the humans and ruling over the Divine Spring Domain as its emperor, the Heavenly Rat Emperor set its sights on the distant Ocean King Domain, seeking to add to its achievements in that place.

But it made a fatal mistake.

It wasn’t that it had chosen the wrong opponent. In truth, the Ocean King Domain wasn’t as strong as the Divine Spring Domain, but the gap wasn’t huge. The Heavenly Rat Emperor ended up overestimating its own strength, so when it led the Divine Spring Domain fiends in invading the Ocean King Domain, it suffered a painful blow. Although the Divine Spring Domain was powerful, without having deployed all of its forces, it ended up at a slight disadvantage.

The real problem was that the fiends were fighting among themselves. At the most intense point in the battle, the Heavenly Rat Emperor suffered the worst betrayal in its life. The Ice Dragon Emperor and Rootless Tree Ancestor sold it out, causing it to come under assault by all the Immortals of the Ocean King Domain.

The Ice Dragon Emperor and Rootless Tree Ancestor seized this moment to raid two important areas of the Ocean King Domain, plundering them of many treasures before retreating. A momentary lapse caused the Ice Dragon Emperor to be struck by the Eternal Flame at this time.

As for the Heavenly Rat, although it managed to kill numerous powerful foes, it ultimately fell under the combined assault of the numerous Immortals, cursing its subordinates.

The Ice Dragon Emperor and Rootless Tree Ancestor had sold out the Heavenly Rat primarily for the Holy Soul Water.

Although the Heavenly Rat had always tried to keep it a secret, through persistent searching, the two had eventually managed to find some clues to the Divine Spring Hidden Realm. But to avoid the Heavenly Rat’s suspicion, the dragon and tree had split up the work. The dragon was responsible for finding the actual location of the hidden realm, while the tree was responsible for finding the way to open it. Once both sides had achieved their goals, they plotted to sell out the Heavenly Rat and return to the Divine Spring Domain, where they would open the hidden realm and split the Holy Soul Water evenly.

This was a very good plan, but the Ice Dragon Emperor’s injury immediately threw a wrench into the works.

The Ice Dragon Emperor was well aware that it was no match for the Rootless Tree Ancestor in its injured state. It knew that opening the hidden realm and sharing the Holy Soul Water was nothing more than a pipe dream. The Rootless Tree Ancestor was bound to take it all for itself, and it would be showing mercy if it didn’t kill the dragon.

There was no way it was willing to work with the Rootless Tree Ancestor in this condition, and the moment it returned to the Divine Spring Domain, it holed up in its dragon palace. The tree wasn’t good at water battles, and even less could be said of its subordinates. What could some land fiends and tree sprites do once they were in the ocean?

Thus, even though the Rootless Tree Ancestor attempted to persuade the dragon multiple times, even offering to swear a Heavenly Dao Oath, the Ice Dragon Emperor refused to agree. It wasn’t like a Heavenly Dao Oath was unbreakable, particularly for a True Immortal. At their level, there was little that could restrain them. Thus, the dragon refused to consider working together until it had healed its injuries.

Alas, the Eternal Flame was too formidable, and three thousand years passed without the Ice Dragon Emperor recovering. Most importantly, with the Rootless Tree Ancestor watching, the Ice Dragon Emperor didn’t even dare to go out and search for resources. After all, if it had been traveling for three thousand years, there was no way it couldn’t have found a solution.

One could say that the Ice Dragon Emperor had been afraid of the Rootless Tree Ancestor for all of these three thousand years.

This was why it had asked the Dark Night Ancestor for the Five Elementals after learning of the Rosecloud Domain’s invasion. According to its original plan, after one hundred years, when the Five Elementals were completely mature, it would have taken them then. After all, it had no means of hastening their growth like Tang Jie. But the Rosecloud Domain had ruined everything.

“I see…” Tang Jie finally gained some understanding of this domain’s situation.

It was no wonder Yiyi couldn’t find any information on the Divine Spring. It turned out that it was restricted to Immortals. The commoners only knew that this place was the Divine Spring Domain, but never the real reason it was called that.

“Then do you know where the Divine Spring Hidden Realm is?” Tang Jie asked.

The whale shark Fiend God shook its head. “That was the Dragon Emperor’s greatest secret. It was the only one who knew.”

Tang Jie frowned. “If that’s the case, why should I keep you?”

Alarmed, the Fiend God hastily said, “Although the Dragon Emperor never told me, I can guess.”

“‘Guess’?”

“Yes!” the whale shark said. “Although the Dragon Emperor feared the Rootless Tree Ancestor and refused to work with it, that didn’t mean that the Dragon Emperor didn’t try to open the hidden realm on its own. Moreover, the Dragon Emperor knew the hidden realm’s location, just not how to open it. In these years, it was searching for a way to open it, and for this purpose, it made many preparations. Through these preparations, we were able to gather clues and analyze the location of the hidden realm!”

“Oh, so you can analyze.”

Tang Jie chuckled, and the whale shark blushed in shame. But it could only inwardly curse Tang Jie, saying with a smile, “This old fiend has still lived nearly ten thousand years, so I still possess some analytical ability. When the Dragon Emperor still lived, I did not dare to openly search, but now that it has passed and the Divine Spring Domain is bound to change owners, I can act with confidence.”

It spat out a talisman which was covered in writing.

The whale shark said, “In these years, the Dragon Emperor was gathering various resources and formations to open the hidden realm. Sir knows that we fiends are not good at creation and have a limited understanding of formations. But from the earlier battle, it is clear that Sir is a formation expert. Through these materials, you should be able to analyze the method the Dragon Emperor planned to use. Meanwhile, I can offer you information on the terrain of the Divine Spring Domain, which will allow us to identify the location of the hidden realm. If Sir is willing to spare me, I am willing to serve.”

It raised the talisman over its head.

Tang Jie examined the talisman for a while before finally nodding.

“Hand over a part of your Divine Soul Origin. You will serve me from now on.”

The whale shark Fiend God clenched its teeth and obediently handed over its Divine Soul Origin.