Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Only after putting away the whale shark’s Divine Soul Origin did Tang Jie take the talisman, and he found that it really did record the resources the Ice Dragon Emperor had been gathering over the years.

This was one of the Ice Dragon Emperor’s trusted subordinates, yet it had been secretly investigating its master’s movements. And considering what the Ice Dragon Emperor and Rootless Tree Ancestor had already done, one could say that there was truly no one trustworthy among these fiends. Tang Jie made up his mind to use this fiend, but not for anything important.

To put it simply, he could bring it to battle, but otherwise, he would just find some place to leave it and ensure that it wasn’t involved.

The whale shark Fiend God didn’t know that Tang Jie had already decided to give it the cold shoulder and was still anxiously awaiting his reaction.

Only when Tang Jie finished reading and showed no signs of breaking his word did it relax.

Meanwhile, Tang Jie began to quickly analyze the use of these resources.

With his understanding of formations, he quickly determined what sort of formations the Ice Dragon Emperor could make, but there were still a few too many choices.

Thus, Tang Jie asked the whale shark what level the Ice Dragon Emperor’s understanding of formations was at, and once he had a rough understanding, he was able to remove some formations. “The formations he definitely wanted to use are the Miniature Heaven Star Formation, the Nine Twists Yellow River Formation, and the Yin Yang Cycle Formation. He also might have wanted to use the Black Wind Formation, the Celestial Radiance Formation, and the Four Symbols Time Formation…”

“Please explain the functions of these formations, Master,” the whale shark Fiend God said.

Tang Jie replied, “The Miniature Heaven Star Formation is used to identify one’s location using the stars in heaven as a guide. Since the Ice Dragon Emperor already knew the hidden realm’s location, if he needed this formation, it would mean that there was an illusion protecting the hidden realm or else that the entrance was frequently moving. But whichever one it is, it would mean that the entrance is on the land, not underground or in the sea, as the Miniature Heaven Star Formation is useless if you can’t see the stars.

“The Nine Twists Yellow River Formation is a formation that can be used for both attack and defense. It can create corroding waters to attack an enemy, but it can also allow one to use these waters to swiftly travel a great distance. There must be a danger in the hidden realm that made the old dragon wary, which is why he wanted this formation. But laying down this formation requires a sufficiently long river to serve as its center. In addition, there has to be sufficient Yin corpse energy in the area and dense forests, the former to serve as a source of corroding water and the latter to allow for endless transformation.

“The Yin Yang Cycle Formation is a formation that can substitute for one’s death. This means that the hidden realm either must have some place of certain death or else the dragon had a limited understanding of the inner workings of the hidden realm and wanted this formation to ensure that things went smoothly. But the materials needed for this formation are too complex, and it still hasn’t gathered them all. And laying down this formation requires a place where Yin and Yang intersect…”

“‘A place where Yin and Yang intersect’?” the whale shark Fiend God chimed in. “Does a place rich in ice and fire count?”

“Of course. A collision of extreme Yin and extreme Yang, one of the wonders of the world.”

“Haha, then I know of exactly such a place!” The whale shark Fiend God clapped its hands and laughed.

After all that, they finally had an important clue.

The Divine Spring Domain didn’t have many such locations where Yin and Yang intersected, and considering that it also had to be on the surface, in a forest, and near a river, the whale shark was quickly able to pin down a location.

The Forest of Majesty!

“‘The Forest of Majesty’? Isn’t that where the Rootless Tree Ancestor is?” Tang Jie said in surprise. He had already learned a lot about the Divine Spring Domain from Yiyi, and where the Rootless Tree Ancestor was located was one of those things.

“Indeed.” The whale shark nodded. “The Rootless Tree Ancestor could never have expected that the Divine Spring Hidden Realm it spent so long searching for was right in its own territory.”

It cackled.

Fiends were fiends, with chaotic natures, so when it got cocky, it even forgot to address Tang Jie respectfully.

Fortunately, Tang Jie let this pass, only saying, “It seems like I’ll have to go and pay a visit to the Tree Ancestor.”

At this moment, Mu Ziyang flew over.

“Greetings, Freedom Celestial Sovereign!” Although his cultivation level was higher than Tang Jie’s, Mu Ziyang was not arrogant in the slightest, bowing to Tang Jie, much to the whale shark Fiend God’s surprise. But when it recalled Tang Jie’s heaven-shaking strength, it immediately understood. Originally, it had found submitting to someone of lower cultivation to be a shameful thing, but now that it saw someone of the same level being respectful to its master, it felt much better, even regaining some of its arrogance. It looked at Mu Ziyang as if saying, You are lower than my master, so you are naturally lower than me.

When Mu Ziyang saw Tang Jie speaking with this fiend, he guessed that Tang Jie had probably subdued it, which was no big deal. But when he saw this fiend acting so proud rather than dejected, he wondered if there was something wrong with it. Happy about being a slave? Fiends truly were an unreasonable race.

He said, “Celestial Sovereign, please punish me for arriving late.”

Mu Ziyang, Fairy Gu Ye, Huang Wuji, and the Mother Cloud combat puppet had all been assigned to the North Sea, but as they weren’t familiar with the terrain, their trajectories had been slightly off. Thus, other than Fairy Gu Ye, who had landed right on the battlefield, they had landed far off the mark and could only hasten to the battlefield.

This was truly a tactical failure, and if Tang Jie had been in danger, this delay might have been fatal.

But since Tang Jie hadn’t been in any danger, he naturally wouldn’t make trouble for Mu Ziyang. After all, it hadn’t been on purpose, as even Huang Wuji and the Mother Cloud combat puppet had been late. Thus, he coolly said, “You came as quickly as you could, so you committed no crime. But the situation in the North Sea has been settled, and your assistance is no longer needed. Follow me to the Forest of Majesty to pacify the Rootless Tree Ancestor.”

Mu Ziyang was startled. “‘The situation has been settled’?”

The Ice Dragon Emperor was still a True Immortal existence, and it was only because it was injured that Tang Jie was able to fight it. No one had believed that Tang Jie would actually win. But not only had Tang Jie won, he had won quickly, ending the battle before Mu Ziyang had even arrived.

Mu Ziyang’s eyes were full of disbelief, and when he looked at the Fiend God next to him, he finally understood why this fiend had been willing to submit to Tang Jie.

Whether it was humans or fiends, they all had their own pride. Even if it was to survive, they wouldn’t so easily submit. This Fiend God had surrendered not merely to survive, but because it had experienced the living terror that was Tang Jie!

Tang Jie didn’t know what he was thinking, simply saying, “Mm, it’s over. Let’s go, to the Forest of Majesty to take down the Rootless Tree Ancestor. We can end this war early.”

He flew off into the distance.

Mu Ziyang and the Fiend God followed.

The Forest of Majesty was a land covered by a giant tree canopy.

Countless branches covered the world, writhing like pythons. A massive trunk stood in the center of the forest like a mountain.

Tang Jie had never seen such a big tree before, one tree being a forest all on its own.

Around this tree, countless other trees were also flailing their branches, the human faces on their trunks howling at the sky in anger. They had even pulled out their roots and were running around on the ground, chasing after a human in the sky.

One human had incited the wrath of the entire forest.

Yun Tianlan!

He stood high in the sky, gazing down indifferently at the countless branches below. “Rootless Tree Ancestor, just give up. I admit that you are very strong, but this is a world war, not a single person’s fight. I alone can’t do anything to you, but in a battle of worlds, the Divine Spring Domain is bound to fall to my Rosecloud Domain!”

“Human, use your ability to prove it! You won’t go far on the path of the stars with just your tongue,” the Rootless Tree Ancestor said in a rumbling voice, its branches waving more urgently, sending torrents of air upward.

This turbulence all dissipated the moment it reached Yun Tianlan.

Yun Tianlan acted as if nothing was happening, saying, “Haven’t I already shown you? I’m right here, but you and your children and grandchildren can do nothing to me. I just need to hold you down, and once my Rosecloud Domain pacifies the rest of the fiends of the Divine Spring Domain and comes here, your death will be nigh.”

The Rootless Tree Ancestor was skilled in defense, not offense. If one tried to attack it, even two Yun Tianlans wouldn’t be enough. But if he simply stood guard here and prevented the Rootless Tree Ancestor from going to the aid of other locations, then this tree would be rendered helpless. In the end, it would go just as Yun Tianlan said, the war lost because of a rout on the other battlefields.

The Rootless Tree Ancestor also seemed to realize this, roaring, “You think you can hold me back?”

It suddenly uprooted itself, forming two giant legs and standing up.

It was already a mountain-sized tree, and when it stood up, it seemed to grow several thousand more meters, looming tall over the world. It was so huge that even Tang Jie’s giant form seemed like a baby before it.

Countless branches formed two arms that swung at Yun Tianlan.

Not even Yun Tianlan dared to underestimate this swing that concentrated the power of the tree ancestor’s branches, and he immediately retreated thousands of meters.

“You can’t stop me!” the tree giant bellowed, striding forward. With one step, it had closed the distance with Yun Tianlan and once more swung an arm at him.

Yun Tianlan was forced to evade again.

With his retreat, the several thousand tree sprites immediately began to run out of the forest, but in the opposite direction of Yun Tianlan. They were going off to other battlefields, to assist the Rootless Tree Ancestor’s other subordinates who had been besieged and isolated.