Aspiring to the Immortal Path
chapter-872

The Flame Celestial Sovereign stared at Tang Jie, his eyes full of hatred.

At this moment, he was in a bedraggled state, not appearing at all like an Immortal. An Immortal would not leave their body so filthy, but that fierce ordeal had cost him a great deal of energy. Besides that, the dejection on his face was a far greater indicator of his downtrodden state than his clothes.

While the maze's traps played a large part in pushing a peak Earth Immortal this far, in the end, it was all Tang Jie's fault. Whenever he thought about how Tang Jie had gotten him into this miserable state, he couldn't help but gnash his teeth.

Tang Jie was totally unaware of this, looking up at the vortex.

He knew that this was the entrance to a mysterious world, but if he flew there, he might be facing some immense danger.

Even so, Tang Jie still made up his mind to go in. After all, the Flame Celestial Sovereign left him with few other options.

But before going in, Tang Jie used the Reflections of Floating Life to create a clone to fly into the vortex and test for attacks.

His clone was created from a Dao Art, the highest level of clone, so theoretically, there was nothing that could see through it, and it would trigger any possible traps.

But his clone flew all the way to the vortex without triggering any traps. However, the moment his clone entered the clouds, it shattered. Tang Jie felt a strange power severing his Great Dao power so that he couldn't maintain the clone.

This left Tang Jie flabbergasted. Had his Dao Art been seen through, or were there simply no traps?

But he couldn't shake the image of the finger obliterating him.

After some thought, he came up with a plan: to separate his body cultivator original body and law cultivator avatar.

He didn't use his Dao Art this time, truly separating himself into two.

If there was really danger in the vortex, a finger waiting to crush him, then he stood a better chance of escaping with two bodies. Most importantly, this created a scene different from what he had witnessed in the formation—if one wanted to prevent a prophecy from coming true, the best option was not to do everything one could to avoid it, as that was liable to make one walk straight into it. Instead, it was best to alter the details that were the easiest to change.

When the details changed, it meant that the future had also changed.

The Heavenly Simulation Formation couldn't determine his Fate, for he was also proficient in Fate!

As the flame drew ever closer, two Tang Jies flew upward.

The vortex turned, waiting for Tang Jie like an open mouth. The law cultivator Tang Jie charged into the vortex first.

No finger came down to obliterate him, and Tang Jie found another dimension through the vortex.

Before he could inspect his surroundings, he suddenly felt something on his body shift and fly out.

When he saw what it was, he paled.

It was Immortal Ji Yao's finger!

As the finger flew out, it jabbed at his original body below.

This was exactly the same as the vision Tang Jie had received.

Immortal Ji Yao's slender finger grew larger and larger, becoming a pillar of heaven as it slammed down, and his original body could only look up at that finger in shock and despair.

"NO!" Tang Jie shouted.

A moment later, the finger smashed into the original body's head, its terrifying power obliterating the original body.

"NO!" Tang Jie cried out as he pointed at the shattering original body.

Split-Second Youth!

Through Split-Second Youth, the original body was fixed at the moment of shattering.

He pointed his finger again.

Dao of Yin Yang, conversation between Life and Death!

Many years ago, in his battle with He Chong in the Martial Lord's hidden realm, the original body had been killed by the Divine Will of a Godhead. At the time, the avatar Tang Jie had used the Life and Death Dao Will of the Dao of Yin Yang together with the Dao of Life to revive his original body.

But this time, the original's physical body was not resurrected, and what remained were countless motes of starlight that neither scattered nor came together.

Tang Jie knew that this was because the original body's life force was too strong, so strong that he didn't have the power to revive it.

He instantly made the decision to have the Dao of Life extract life force from his avatar and transfer it to the original body.

At the same time, the elegant finger, still with excess power, continued forward, this time taking aim at the Flame Celestial Sovereign, who had come up behind him.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign had never expected this development, and his crown erupted with rainbow light to protect him as the finger blasted toward him.

This was the finger of a Boundless Gold Immortal, further empowered to unimaginable levels by the vortex, and even the light of the Dao armament couldn't stop it. On the contrary, a grayish-black energy appeared on the finger, making it a sharp blade that began to slice through the barrier.

"The Slaughter Dao! The Great Severing!" the Flame Celestial Sovereign shrieked.

The Great Severing of the Slaughter Dao was the best method for destroying barriers, destroying it down to the root. When barriers were broken in other ways, one could only guarantee that one's current attack would strike, but when the Great Severing destroyed a barrier, it would obliterate the barrier and make it unusable for a long period of time.

But this Dao Art had only been in use during High Antiquity, and very few people could use it now, so why could this giant finger do so?

Could the Immortal Emperor still be alive?

This thought almost scared the soul out of the Flame Celestial Sovereign, and he retreated as quickly as he could.

The finger shrieked as it swept through the crown's barrier, cutting through it like an electric chainsaw, but it was a little slow, allowing the Flame Celestial Sovereign to dart away in his streak of flame. The finger was thus only able to brush against his body, causing the Flame Celestial Sovereign to throw up a mouthful of blood rich in Immortal energy before vanishing.

The finger didn't give chase, retreating.

It went back into the vortex, shrinking back down to its original size and landing in Tang Jie's hand.

"Damn it!" Tang Jie, who was busy reviving the original, grabbed the finger and threw it far away, after which he threw up a mouthful of blood and pushed it toward the original body.

This blood contained all of his power and Dao Will, all of it mindlessly thrown out.

There was a boom, and the place where the original body was erupted with starlight.

Amidst this blinding starlight, an immense energy stirred.

Tang Jie sensed that this was Immortal Essence.

The little bit of Immortal Essence the original body had cultivated through the Immortal Spirit Body had suddenly appeared, expanding at a rapid pace.

But to his surprise, this rush of energy suddenly began to collapse.

It was imploding!

Gradually, it became something like a black hole, rotating in the air.

Gradually, a human shape began to form around the black hole.

It was Tang Jie.

He had appeared once more.

Like one of those undying Immortals, he emerged from the void, and that black hole began to fade, vanishing into his heart.

The original body had been revived.

At this moment, the finger in the distance suddenly began to fly back.

"No!" Tang Jie angrily shouted, rushing to the vortex, willing to use his own body as a shield. At the same time, he mentally messaged the original body to quickly leave.

He had expended almost all of his life force to rescue the original body. While he was a Soul Projection Celestial Sovereign, he had burned his life force down to almost nothing. The finger only needed to brush him to finish him off.

But to his surprise, when he blocked the vortex, the finger stopped. Instead of attacking Tang Jie, it flew about, looking for a way to get past.

Tang Jie was startled.

He didn't understand what was going on. Looking back, he saw that not only had his original body not left, it was angrily glaring upward, its eyes abnormally red.

It was a murderous red that was aimed upward.

Tang Jie was aghast, and only now did he realize that there was seemingly some sort of barrier between him and the soul in the original body, preventing them from communicating with each other.

Even so, Tang Jie still felt an intense hatred from the original body.

It was hatred that reached to the heavens, with roots reaching deep into the oceans.

Why did his original body have such hatred?

Tang Jie didn't know.

And then he realized that this wasn't the will of the original body, but the Martial Lord!

The Martial Lord's hatred for Yu Cheng was being manifested through the original body. But why was this happening?

Had the Martial Lord really been reborn in his original body? Or was the Martial Lord so strong that he could manifest his will through the strength he had left behind?

Tang Jie was alarmed.

Having not reached that level yet, Tang Jie didn't dare to draw conclusions.

Regardless, Tang Jie couldn't watch his original body get itself killed, so he urged it to leave.

Finally, the original body seemed to sense the avatar's will. After one last glare, he turned and began to descend.

Only then did Tang Jie exhale in relief.

"I see now. What you were rejecting was only the Martial Lord's strength?" Tang Jie muttered.

While the finger was strong, what was controlling it was not Immortal Ji Yao's will, but an existence buried deep within this tomb.

He didn't know what sort of grudges existed between Yu Cheng and the Martial Lord, but it was clear that they held an immense loathing for each other, so that even the powers they had left behind were mutually hostile.

Or at least Tang Jie hoped that it was only their powers.

With the original body gone, the finger flew in a circle before returning to Tang Jie.

This glossy finger seemed much more drab now, and the bright red wound was much darker. It was clear that much of the finger's power had been expended. Even so, this finger had been able to severely injure the Flame Celestial Sovereign, giving Tang Jie a little taste of a Boundless Gold Immortal's terrifying power.

He could only imagine how strong a Dao-Proving Saint Immortal was, or the Martial Lord when he had destroyed the court.

All these matters were beyond his knowledge and understanding.

All he could do was take a look at where he was. Only now did he truly have time for this.