Aspiring To The Immortal Path

Standing on the Ink Jade wagon, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign exuded a peerless aura.

Although she couldn't turn into a thousand-foot-tall giant like Tang Jie, when her mind became one with the world, her supreme will dominated all, pressing down on Heavenly Balance Mountain such that even the air began to condense.

The spectating cultivators nodded upon seeing this immense presence.

An unaffiliated Violet Palace expert commented, "As expected of the Jewel Immortal Sovereign. With just her aura alone, she is extraordinary. In my view, while that Freedom Celestial Sovereign has progressed very quickly, it's precisely the reason his foundations are unstable and that he lacks experience."

He resided in Endsea, so he spoke out in favor of Jewel.

Another person sneered, "You haven't even seen the Freedom Celestial Sovereign do anything, so isn't this a little inappropriate? Moreover, for the Freedom Celestial Sovereign to dare challenge a Soul Projection expert while being at Deification means that he possesses extraordinary daring."

As if responding to this conversation, in the face of Jewel's grandiose presence, Tang Jie laughed and said, "This doesn't seem all that mighty to me at all!"

With a shake of his arms, he took on his actual giant form.

As that thousand-foot-tall giant rose into the air, it erupted with a majestic presence that was not at all inferior to the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's, leaving the cultivators speechless.

As expected, Tang Jie had dared to fight Jewel because he had his own domineering abilities.

As he revealed his true form and their auras clashed, the valley was swept up in a furious storm, but when the winds reached its walls, formation lines flashed, sucking up this energy. If one looked carefully, one would discover that Heavenly Balance Mountain had seemingly become a little sturdier. It seemed that Tang Jie's formation could use the energy absorbed to strengthen itself.

In normal circumstances, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign wouldn't have permitted him to benefit in this way, but as they were in a duel, she could only let it pass, snorting, "You have quite a few little tricks."

Her eyes flashed with a divine light.

A moment later, a yellow beam shot toward Tang Jie, packed to the brim with lethal energy.

Tang Jie didn't dare to be careless, and with a light grunt, he summoned an azure wave of energy.

Azure and yellow clashed in a multicolored explosion, and the outpouring of lethal energy alone was enough to turn the world bleak and somber.

But for Tang Jie and Jewel, this was only the pre-battle appetizer.

These two were both experienced veterans, and they both intended to cautiously probe their opponent first rather than unleashing their strongest moves immediately.

Jewel wasn't surprised to see Tang Jie easily deal with her attack, and with a wave of a delicate hand, she threw out a banner.

This banner was apricot yellow, and as it appeared, it stirred up a storm of dust.

In the dust, one could vaguely make out a vast army charging at Tang Jie.

Just like how Tang Jie had studied Jewel, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign had also studied Tang Jie.

She was well aware that his strongest aspect was the powerful constitution granted to him by the Martial Lord's secret arts, a fleshly body as tough as the strongest divine weapon.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign naturally had prepared a counter.

This Five Armies Apricot Banner was a divine item intended to counter Tang Jie's physical body. The banner created an endless army to attack the opponent. Each soldier wasn't very strong, but they were like ants, and their constant gnawing could amount to a huge problem.

Tang Jie had always dominated through his incredible toughness and recovery abilities, and this endless army was meant to counter his recovery. If he dared to let the army attack him, the Five Armies Apricot Banner would let him understand how horrifying it was to be devoured by ants. And if he didn't, he would have to use some of his energy to deal with them, and while his physical body was strong, it dealt poorly with large groups.

Sure enough, Tang Jie frowned upon seeing the banner. Unwilling to waste energy on this army, in a flash of red light, he used the Flesh Millstone Divine Connection.

The Flesh Millstone was the bane of an endless army, the seething crimson smoke able to devour an army of any size and use it to make itself stronger.

But the Jewel Immortal Sovereign was unconcerned.

Her eyes flashed again, and the sky was suddenly full of lightning.

The lightning condensed into thunderbolts, and without the slightest pause, they barraged Tang Jie.

With his powerful body, Tang Jie naturally didn't fear these lightning bolts, but they weren't meant for him. They were for his Flesh Millstone.

As the thunderbolts blasted the Flesh Millstone, blood splashed out from the crimson flood.

Lightning was brimming with Yang energy and was the perfect counter for all that was filthy and impure.

The Flesh Millstone wasn't exactly a filthy substance, but it wasn't as fierce or domineering as the lightning. The deluge of lightning bolts soon blasted the Flesh Millstone into bits.

Tang Jie didn't panic, merely laughing. As he laughed, countless blades erupted from the clouds, howling the dirge of death: the Nine Heavens Calamity Blades.

The Heavenly Blades swiftly intercepted the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's lightning, their intersection producing a gorgeous light show.

As Heavenly Balance Mountain's formation stopped the energy from their clash from flowing outward, focusing it only in the mountain, the resulting surge of energy was particularly fierce and focused on that sole opening in the sky. This vast flood of energy became a thick pillar of light that pierced the heavens, leaving everyone dazzled and awed.

Was this really a pre-battle appetizer?

With the lightning impeded, the Flesh Millstone began to turn once more, and in the meantime, spiritual energy gathered around Tang Jie and formed into various spell arts that attacked the Jewel Immortal Sovereign. He mindlessly threw spell arts like Star Finger and Dragonlike Hand at the Jewel Immortal Sovereign, while at the same time activating his protective spell arts to defend himself.

A battle at Violet Palace could involve several dozen exchanges in a single second. While Tang Jie could thoughtcast, Jewel could think even faster. The spell arts he created were blasted apart by torrents of energy before they could even get close, and even more vicious attacks flooded toward Tang Jie.

The two of them engaged in a frenzied spell art duel in the Valley of the Eight Wilds.

It was frenzied only in that the two of them were creating spell arts far too quickly, manifesting new ones before the old ones had time to dissipate. Yet both of them were cool and composed, not even moving their hands. It was clear that they were still probing each other, their emotions unruffled, so it was far from appropriate to call this frenzied.

Two tides of energy formed in the Valley of the Eight Wilds, one coming from Tang Jie to Jewel and the other in the exact opposite direction. At times, Tang Jie would have the upper hand, and at others, Jewel would hold an edge, like they were in a tug-of-war contest.

But in this contest of basic arts, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign undoubtedly had the advantage.

She sat calmly on her wagon, easily undoing Tang Jie's attacks before they could even reach her. Meanwhile, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's attacks had Tang Jie barely fending them off, sometimes even failing and being struck. Although his body was tough and these attacks barely itched, he inevitably fell behind.

If this continued, Jewel could simply strengthen her attacks, upon which Tang Jie would no longer be able to easily block them.

Change always came from the weaker side.

Seeing that he couldn't beat Jewel when it came to ordinary attacks, Tang Jie wasn't discouraged, saying with a laugh, "The Immortal Sovereign's methods are profound and performed with ease. Tang Jie admits that he is no match when it comes to thoughtcasting. In the end, I must rely on cruder methods to respond."

A weapon appeared in his hand.

Gazing at that golden sword, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign showed a little reaction. "The Sovereign Blade?"

Just like the Martial Lord's hidden realm, the Sovereign Blade had also gradually become more known.

But while the Martial Lord's hidden realm had already been confirmed as a fact, the Sovereign Blade had remained simply a rumor. Even Tang Jie wouldn't dare to say that this weapon created from shattering thousands of weapons through the Weapon Mantra was actually the Sovereign Blade.

But its authenticity and name did not matter. What mattered was its power.

Grasping the Sovereign Blade, Tang Jie smiled and said, "Immortal Sovereign, please instruct me!"

With a swing of the Sovereign Blade, a wave of sword light shot toward the Jewel Immortal Sovereign.

The Longevity Sword!

The long band of sword energy gleamed with a sacred aura.

An invisible energy surged forth, and the Jewel Immortal Sovereign instinctively felt a hint of pressure. She knew that this was no ordinary move, and immediately applied numerous barriers around herself.

At her level, one had long ago broken the limitations on the number of defenses that lower-level cultivators suffered from, and in a flash, she had created several dozen layers of defenses, at which point the wave of sword light arrived. The sword was clearly still in Tang Jie's hand, and Tang Jie was still around a thousand steps away from Jewel, but this attack had ignored distance and almost instantly appeared in front of Jewel. All of Jewel's defenses were like paper in front of this attack. At this moment, the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's eyes flashed with a divine light, and she spat out a cloud of breath.

This ball of air wafted up like a cloud, covering Jewel's face and blocking Tang Jie's attack.

As Tang Jie found that his attack had been stopped, Jewel's eyes began to shine.

She shouted, "Audacious!"

With this cry, that ball of air twisted, and Tang Jie felt the Sovereign Blade trying to break free of his grasp. He hastily put away the sword, and the Longevity Sword was ended.

Jewel swallowed back the ball of air and then pointed a finger at Tang Jie. "Die!"

A blast of finger energy shot out.

Karmic Cycle Finger!

It was the same Karmic Cycle Finger that Lan Yu had used, but it was on a completely different level.

As this finger thrust out, the spectating cultivators felt like the only left in the world was this finger thrusting at Tang Jie.

Upon seeing this, everyone understood one thing:

The battle had risen to another level.