Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-838

This outstretched claw was like that of a mighty dragon, on a completely different level from the previous attacks.

As Xin Tianchou thrust out this claw, Tang Jie grew a little angry.

So you're trying to take me down without even trying to understand the situation?

Good, good! Very domineering of you, Guanshan City Lord!

The furious Tang Jie roared, "Since City Lord insists on making me stay, this Tang will take up your offer!"

His words resounded with a force that shook the soul.

The Four-Nine True Words.

But Tang Jie didn't use the power of the Dao of Truth, did not use Law Speaking. Even so, these words had the power of a Divine Connection, shaking Xin Tianchou down to his core and slowing his actions.

That tyrannical hand weakened under the effect of the True Words, and what greeted it was a wall of fire.

You use ice, so I'll use fire.

Tang Jie was rather proficient in the Fire Element, and besides that, he also had the Pale Cloud Flame and the Deicide Flame.

Tang Jie wanted to use only his Deification cultivation in this fight, forgoing his body refining strength and the Sovereign Blade, so he used proper cultivator moves. This Triple Divine Flame was a Divine Connection he had cultivated at the Basking Moon Sect after grasping the Black Yellow Treatise. It had considerable power, but it had been no good against the likes of the Jewel Immortal Sovereign. However, it was perfect for an opponent like this.

Blazing flames and dancing ice clashed in the sky, two furious torrents of power surging through the heavens. The overflowing power from their impacts formed a powerful shockwave that cleared the sky of clouds. But a moment later, seething steam obscured the sky once more, and the remaining power from the attacks fell upon the city's formation in a dazzling burst of colors that left all the onlookers stunned.

This was the power of a duel between Deification cultivators.

Cultivators at this level could lift mountains with a raise of the hand or boil seas with a wave.

Na Shan, that Hemos from the Blood River Domain, had seemed divine when he could use his physical strength to hold up mountains, but in the eyes of Deification experts, this was like a child trying to lift up a bag of rice that weighed only ten catties in front of them, their swaying and tottering a subject of amusement.

Tang Jie and Xin Tianchou were both Deification cultivators, able to thoughtcast, so in this brief moment, they had already exchanged several hundred blows.

Xin Tianchou had numerous spell arts, but Tang Jie had his own array of tricks.

He had learned all sorts of things. Besides the arts and techniques of the Basking Moon Sect and the Martial Lord, he had also learned things from the Five Gods Faith, Immortal Ji Yao, the Celestial Flame Pagoda, the Verdant Cloud Domain, the Vermillion Bird, and so on. In the past, he had had no chance to use all this knowledge, but after learning the Black Yellow Treatise in preparation for his battle against Jewel, he had gradually integrated all of this knowledge. But the boost in strength that came from this integration improved his ordinary attacks, only boosting his ultimate power a little, so it hadn't been of much use against Jewel. Here, now, it finally had a chance to show off.

Xin Tianchou was alarmed by all the different spells Tang Jie could cast at once, and he felt like beating him would be extremely difficult.

Meanwhile, Tang Jie was getting more and more engrossed.

He mostly fought in major battles and rarely used ordinary moves in fights, so he found all this rather enjoyable. In the past, he was either locked in a desperate battle or able to completely crush his opponents. Rarely had he fought opponents of comparable level.

Excited, he shouted, "Go!"

A sword appeared in his hand: the Primal Yang Needle.

This divine treasure was his prize from the Jewel Immortal Sovereign for defeating her, and it was the best divine treasure he had besides the Mountain River State Diagram, the best of the upper grade.

Although Tang Jie had numerous Dao armaments, at his current level, the Primal Yang Needle was actually easier to use.

The Jewel Immortal Sovereign had needed several hundred years to forge this needle, gathering up several dozen kinds of rare metals from across the world. Without considering Dao power, it was just as powerful as a Dao armament, even surpassing them in some aspects.

Tang Jie had ignored it before because he mostly used the Sovereign Blade, but since he had decided to not use the Sovereign Blade in this battle against the City Lord, it was now time to use it.

The Primal Yang Needle transformed into a sword lay in his hand, shining with a solar radiance, the searing heat of the sun melting away Xin Tianchou's Absolute Ice Prison, allowing Tang Jie's Triple Divine Flame to break through.

Carrying the name of "Primal Yang", the needle was naturally a Fire-type treasure, a perfect match for the Triple Divine Flame.

Rather than being shocked, Xin Tianchou rejoiced, greedily eying the Primal Yang Needle. He thought to himself, This guy really is carrying around nice things. From the aura alone, this should be a middle-grade divine treasure at least. If I kill him, it will be mine.

His desire to kill grew even stronger, and he threw out a snow-white pearl.

The moment the pearl appeared, it unleashed a snowy radiance that clashed with the sunlight of the Primal Yang Needle, pushing it back and even suppressing it.

Xin Tianchou cultivated ice and snow, and all of his treasures focused on it.

But Tang Jie wasn't primarily a cultivator of fire. Although the Primal Yang Needle had the Fire trait, that didn't mean that controlling fire was all it could do.

Seeing that the fire had been sealed by the ice, Tang Jie casually laughed and thrust his sword at Xin Tianchou.

In this thrust, Xin Tianchou felt a peerless and unstoppable majesty. In shock, he immediately created layer after layer of ice shields, utilizing his thoughtcasting to the maximum extent to create an impenetrable defense.

At the same time, the Primal Yang Needle landed on Xin Tianchou's ice shields.

As that pinprick of red light stabbed in, the ice shields exploded, the Primal Yang Needle blasting through them. In the end, Xin Tianchou was unable to stop this sword, and the Primal Yang Needle pierced through his chest.

"Aaah!" Xin Tianchou howled in pain and hastily retreated, while that ice pearl in the air began to unleash an even stronger cold to slow Tang Jie down. This allowed Xin Tianchou to back away, but there was now a blazing hole in his chest.

An ordinary cultivator would have been utterly slain by such an attack, but this was only a minor wound for Deification cultivators. Even so, it was still rather troublesome, and multiple such wounds could pile up into a big problem.

But Xin Tianchou simply looked at it and snorted, "You have some skill."

He stroked the wound, upon which it disappeared, flames and all, and Xin Tianchou seemed like he had never been wounded at all.

Tang Jie was dumbfounded.

Was Xin Tianchou a body refiner? Based on his defense just now, he definitely didn't have the defense of a body refiner, and besides, body cultivators only had faster recovery speeds than ordinary people. They still had to go through the recovery process, not directly heal the wound like what had happened just now.

And if he had used the Dao of Life, there was also a process for that. It was faster than the body cultivator's process, but not like this, done without a single trace.

The Dao of Time!

Tang Jie came to a sudden realization.

"This is your Dao Art? Using the Dao power of time to return everything to a set point in time?"

Xin Tianchou laughed. "What do you think? My Origin Return Dao Art isn't bad, right?" Despite carrying the same name, the Origin Return Dao and Origin Return Art were as different as night and day. The art had a form, and to use Origin Return, one was limited to lifeless objects and only to a certain limit. But the Dao of Time was a formless art that could be unreasonable as it wanted.

The Origin Return Dao Art could reverse the time of all things. So long as Xin Tianchou wanted, he could reverse the time of any object in the world, which was a sign that Xin Tianchou had achieved an extremely high level when it came to entering the Dao.

With this Origin Return Dao Art, Xin Tianchou was able to maintain a firm hold on his position as Guanshan City Lord. Once he reached Soul Projection, he could start aiming for the position of Daye Prefectural Lord, achieving even higher status.

But while the Dao of Time was formidable, it had its limits. The more one played around with time, the more Dao power one consumed. This was why a Dao Art that froze time was impossible, because that was essentially pausing the time of the entire Great Stellar Chiliocosm.

Freezing time in a localized region was possible, but this consumed far more Dao power than one could accept, and only a Dao Controller could pull it off.

Xin Tianchou naturally hadn't reached the level of freezing time. He didn't even dare to use the Dao of Time on Tang Jie. But there was nothing wrong with him using the Dao of Time on himself.

If the Jewel Immortal Sovereign's Gale of Dancing Void was the strongest spear, Xin Tianchou's Origin Return Dao Art was the strongest shield.

Protected by his Dao Art, Xin Tianchou grasped at the air, forming a spear of ice. "Just die already!"

Radiating a boundless chill, the spear shot toward Tang Jie.

Tang Jie had to be careful in the face of such a powerful spear, the Primal Yang Needle summoning a fiery gale and unleashing a radiant wave of sword energy. It blasted through the spear and continued forward, stabbing into Xin Tianchou.

Although he wasn't using his body cultivator abilities, he still had the body and the strength, and the Longevity Sword was a Divine Connection that maximized the power of a body cultivator, so a casual flourish was enough to overcome Xin Tianchou's attack.

But Xin Tianchou didn't even try to dodge, shooting a cold blast of energy out of his finger at Tang Jie.

Despite its size, Tang Jie felt an immense danger from this finger blast, but it was too late to retreat.

The Primal Yang Needle plunged into Xin Tianchou's body as the cold light burst apart within Tang Jie. A freezing energy traveled through his meridians, almost freezing him solid in both body and soul.

"How do you like my Freezing Soul Pearl?" Xin Tianchou laughed, the Dao of Time making the wound he had just sustained disappear.

With the wave of a hand, Xin Tianchou fired off another Freezing Soul Pearl.

With this shield of Time, Xin Tianchou thought nothing of his safety, choosing to trade attacks with Tang Jie.