Published at 23rd of September 2024 1:54 pm

Chapter 865: Escape and Pursuit (1)

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With a boom, a beam of light erupted from the protrusion.

This beam of light was like a majestic dragon, exuding an ancient and awe-inspiring energy.

Countless people turned in the direction of the Jewel Palace and saw this dragon of Immortal energy lighting up the sky.

In a valley of giant rocks, Yun Tianlan stood with his hands behind his back. At his feet was a three-headed fiend that radiated the aura of a Void Returning great fiend. But Yun Tianlan had chopped off its three heads, extracted its core, and refined its soul. Behind that fiend was a cave, from which Xiao Biehan and the others emerged. "We have fulfilled our mission and obtained the Heavenly Jade Divine Pill and Heavenly Pearl Diagram from the cave."

Yun Tianlan smiled, but just as he was about to say something, he suddenly turned his head and gazed into the distance. Seeing that dragon of Immortal energy, he paled and shouted, "Not good! Tang Jie is in trouble! We need to go and save him!"

He flew out.

Elsewhere, near the Jewel Palace, Huang Wuji suddenly looked back in surprise. "Isn't that the Jewel Palace's location? Why did such phenomena appear? Did my young friend Tang manage to find that hidden palace?"

This thought in mind, he flew toward the Jewel Palace.

Farther off, a group of gray-robed cultivators were searching for treasure in a palace complex when they heard the rumbling of thunder and raised their heads. Their leader called out, "What a huge commotion! It seems that some valuable treasure has emerged."

"What are we waiting for, then? All the treasures of the world should belong to my Heaven's Equal Sect!"

"Come on, let's go!"

The cultivators of the Heaven's Equal Sect cast aside their current location and headed toward the Jewel Palace.

At the same time, in a vast desert, a group of cultivators in silk robes speckled with starlight was chasing a wandering cultivator alliance. They were ruthless, swiftly slaughtering all members.

A cultivator coldly grunted, "Trying to oppose my Stellar Net Gate? No different from suicide."

Suddenly, he sensed something and turned his head, a fire lighting up in his eyes. "Draconic phenomena in the heavens. A valuable treasure must have emerged. It should be a Dao armament, most likely a natural Dao armament."

The other cultivators all grew excited. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Go!" The cultivators all set off.

To the west of the Jewel Palace, a handsome scholar, the demon from the Unbounded Palace, was on a leisurely stroll. Behind him was a horse, and if one looked closely, one would find that it was the Void Returning Heavenly Horse that had scared Tang Jie out of his wits.

The scholar suddenly gasped in surprise and looked to the distance. "A dragon of Immortal energy, engulfing the eight directions. Imprisoning the dragon, sealing the heavens—the Five Elements Formation! Could someone have unlocked that place? Hahaha, if that's really the case, then that's wonderful!"

He began to walk toward the Jewel Palace, but while he seemed to be maintaining the same leisurely pace, each step covered a vast distance. The Heavenly Horse galloped after him, but no matter how fast it ran, it couldn't keep up with the scholar. Without turning his head, the scholar remarked, "You're moving too quickly, so it's only natural that you can't keep up."

A bystander would have certainly been befuddled by this logic, but the Heavenly Horse seemed to understand. Its speed dropped and its hooves moved slower, yet it somehow began to close the distance with the scholar.

The scholar chuckled. "That's the right way. If you only have your Void Returning cultivation and no knowledge of the Daos of the world, you are still no different from a brute."

He waved his sleeve, and his energy levels began to rapidly fall, going all the way from Immortal Platform down to Mortal Shedding. He shook his head regretfully. "It seems that this is the best I can do. Ah, forget it."

He mounted the Heavenly Horse, which let out a neigh and flew forward.

———————

The Jewel Palace!

The rising dragon of Immortal energy triggered by Tang Jie's punch had shattered the Flame Celestial Sovereign's cage with a single strike. The Flame Celestial Sovereign had taken such a heavy blow that he was throwing up blood. Realizing that this was trouble, he condensed his flames into a dragon and struck back.

The fire dragon and light dragon clashed, sending howling winds sweeping through the area, of such force that even Tang Jie found it hard to stand steady. He could only stimulate his body cultivation powers while growing four arms and two heads so that he could hold onto the ground for dear life.

For the first time in his life, he was using the Three Heads Six Arms Divine Connection to resist a storm so that he wouldn't be swept away.

As he stabilized himself, he saw that a pitch-black cave entrance had appeared where the light dragon had emerged from.

The unfathomable darkness of that cave gave Tang Jie a very familiar feeling.

The Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation!

This was clearly the same Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation that had sealed Immortal Ji Yao in the Verdant Cloud Domain. He hadn't expected to find it here.

But compared to the one in the Verdant Cloud Domain, this one was even more powerful and domineering, such that even an Immortal Platform expert like the Flame Celestial Sovereign couldn't resist. The light dragon tore his flame dragon apart, raining fire over the land, creating a sight both beautiful and lethal!

Without hesitation, Tang Jie fled into the cave.

"You're not getting away!" The Flame Celestial Sovereign bellowed and gave chase.

The light dragon, having just emerged victorious, swung its tail at the Flame Celestial Sovereign.

The dragon tail of light seemed to have no power behind it at all, yet a single swing stirred up a furious gale that prevented the Flame Celestial Sovereign from getting close. Shocked and furious, he decided to go all-in, condensing the sea of fire into a human form, another Flame Celestial Sovereign.

This flame avatar immediately went to battle with the light dragon. It possessed only 30% of the Flame Celestial Sovereign's power, which made it no match for the dragon, but it was enough to buy time. The Flame Celestial Sovereign used this chance to fly into the cave. Although he was now 30% weaker, his remaining power was enough to crush Tang Jie.

But to his surprise, just when he was about to enter the cave, a string of explosions resounded.

Alarmed, the Flame Celestial Sovereign instinctively raised up barriers around himself. A moment later, the light of Heavenbane Lightning Pearls engulfed him. It turned out that Tang Jie had thrown out several pearls as he was entering the cave, setting them to explode if anyone entered.

But these items were meant to be used against Celestial Heart cultivators. They could consume a little energy from Violet Palace cultivators, but were utterly useless against Immortal Platform experts. The explosions didn't even create ripples on the barrier of Immortal energy before vanishing.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign laughed and descended.

This cave was rather deep, and the Flame Celestial Sovereign flew for quite a while before finally landing. On the way down, he encountered several more waves of Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, but he didn't bother trying to defend himself, simply keeping up his barrier as he flew down.

As he finally hit the ground, he saw several more round objects at his feet. Noting that they were also Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, he paid them no mind and advanced. As the pearls exploded, the Flame Celestial Sovereign sensed that something was wrong.

His sense for danger had been trained across several thousand years and tens of thousands of battles, and it had saved his life more than once. He immediately raised the power of his barrier, and at the same moment, an energy of unprecedented vastness erupted from under his feet.

"Awooo!" The Flame Celestial Sovereign howled in pain as he jumped into the air, by which point his legs were drenched in blood.

He had been injured!

He had actually been injured!

This cunning bastard had set up a formation beneath the Heavenbane Lightning Pearls, using the energy ripples from the pearls to conceal it. Together with the previous attacks, he had made him careless, allowing the sneak attack to work.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign was furious.

Tang Jie's cold snort came from the depths of the cave. "I've always heard that one becomes undying and everlasting after reaching Immortal Platform, so I thought they would be difficult to deal with. But it doesn't seem that way at all. If you can be injured, that means… that you can die!"

"Audacious brat!" The Flame Celestial Sovereign furiously thrust his palm forward.

A berserk tide of energy issued forth, but there was no reaction.

It was clear that Tang Jie wasn't at the same place his voice had come from. He had most likely used some method to observe the situation and transmit his voice while the actual person was long gone.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign was enraged and wanted to give chase, but given what had just happened, he didn't dare to move recklessly.

Tang Jie had been right. While Immortals called themselves undying and everlasting, they had not attained true Immortality.

Nobody could do this. Hadn't even Immortal Emperor Yu Cheng and Martial Lord Li Jiuyang ultimately fallen? Countless Titans from Remote Antiquity and High Antiquity had all vanished in the river of time. Nobody had ever been able to truly escape death. Immortals were simply harder to kill than ordinary cultivators.

The earlier strike had not carried Tang Jie's full strength.

He had been testing the Flame Celestial Sovereign's power, trying to see how strong he really was. After all, everyone was different, and Earth Immortals could show vast differences between each other despite being at the same level. After this attack, he now had a better understanding of the Celestial Sovereign.

Even so, it wasn't enough. As Tang Jie ran through the cave, he sprinkled Heavenbane Lightning Pearls on the ground. These pearls weren't meant to hurt the Flame Celestial Sovereign, but to numb him and delay him. If he ignored them, what awaited was a world-shaking blow, and if he treated them cautiously like he was walking among thorns, then his speed would fall, giving Tang Jie more time to lay traps.

As he reached a turn, Tang Jie took in his surroundings and chuckled. "The Death Gate! Excellent, wonderful. Let's see how you deal with this trap!"

He swiftly laid out his materials and then used lines of energy to create formation lines. After some thought, he took out the Sovereign Blade and lopped off a part of it. This severed part he carefully placed in the soil, after which he planted an Illuminating Eye in a hidden spot. Once this was done, he continued his flight.

This time, he ran as fast as he could. After all, he had created a trap on the Metal Element Death Gate of the Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation. Once activated, it would bring down the formation's power on the Flame Celestial Sovereign. Besides that, Tang Jie had also planted a part of the Sovereign Blade to pierce through barriers. In this move, Tang Jie was planning to kill the Flame Celestial Sovereign.

As he was running at full speed, he kept looking back. Finally, the Flame Celestial Sovereign's form appeared, rushing forth like a cloud of flame.

Tang Jie hadn't left any Heavenbane Lightning Pearls at his trap.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign had been habituated into thinking that traps were only found where Heavenbane Lightning Pearls were, and he hadn't expected Tang Jie to change things up. The moment he stepped onto the trap, he felt the flow of energy shift around him, and he immediately defended himself with a barrier of Immortal energy.

The moment he raised his barrier, countless golden points of light converged on him.

This was the activation of the Five Elements Formation, the Metal Element Formation summoning ten thousand blades to pierce his heart.

"You think this can hurt me?" the Flame Celestial Sovereign roared. Waves of flame rose up, turning into a giant shield.

But among these golden lights, one was different. It pierced straight through the Flame Celestial Sovereign's barrier as if it wasn't there, plunging into his body and punching a hole through it before flying back to Tang Jie.

"Aaaah!" The Flame Celestial Sovereign screamed, but he quickly discovered that the true terror was yet to come. The Sovereign Blade had done little damage to him, but it had pierced through his barrier!

The ten thousand points of light were the lethal blade created by the Five Elements formation, far beyond any ordinary attacks. They charged through the sea of flames, bursting through the fire shield and piercing through his barrier. Most importantly, the barrier had already been pierced through by the Sovereign Blade, so the countless blades instantly broke through and turned the Flame Celestial Sovereign into a beehive.

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