Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 1176: First Battle
Boom!
A storm suddenly erupted from the area in between Heavenweave Ridge and Skybrink Ridge.
It originated from an unremarkable location, the air swirling around it as if two different streams of energy were pushing it along, the vortex spinning faster and faster until it transformed into a massive tornado.
But this tornado didn’t move, simply spinning in place.
It dug into the ground like a drill, tossing soil into the air and creating a sandstorm.
The tornado dug deeper and deeper, and only after it had dug a pit a thousand feet deep did it finally dissipate.
“What happened?” Some cultivators sensed something happening in the distance, but when they turned to look, all they saw was the remnants of the storm.
“Tang Jie!” Wei Tianchong flew over to the forest of stones and asked, “What happened over there?”
“Nothing,” Tang Jie coolly replied. “Did you need me for something?”
“Oh, the cultivators from all the sects are arriving after receiving their orders. In total, we have 16 Earth Immortals, 688 Violet Palace True Lords, 198,000 Celestial Heart True Persons…”As the Rosecloud Domain grew and transformed on the path of stars, its potential rose, and cultivators had more space to develop, which made advancing easier. The most obvious example of this was that in the past four-hundred-some years, sixteen people outside the seven supreme sects and recruited Immortals had achieved Immortal Platform, making it so that the Rosecloud Domain had more than fifty Immortal Platform cultivators. The number of Violet Palace True Lords was near seven hundred, this number consisting of those who had cultivated to that point as well as those that had been taken in from the ten-some domains that had been consumed.
“But there are eight thousand registered cultivators who have yet to arrive,” Wei Tianchong added.
“Order the punishment division to move out and bring back all those who have yet to arrive, and put them into their own special division,” Tang Jie ordered. “Immediately execute anyone who objects.”
“But some of them might have been delayed for various reasons…” Wei Tianchong argued.
Tang Jie firmly replied, “Military orders are as immovable as mountains. Intentional or not, those who have arrived late to a muster have broken military law and must be punished.”
“As you command!” Wei Tianchong bowed his head.
Normally, Wei Tianchong would be much more at ease around Tang Jie, even calling him by name, but when it came to business, he was always serious.
Wei Tianchong left, and another person arrived—a Violet Palace True Lord.
This man was True Lord Qian Tian, a cultivator responsible for scouting the front line. With the battle imminent, the Titans on each side had used their abilities to obscure their respective camps, and the most formidable of Divine Wills found it hard to peer into them. But such abilities were not absolute, and some methods were still able to get through. The simplest method was to go in person. Those secret arts that could obscure the heavens were often helpless against close observation.
Thus, both sides had sent out many scouts, and even a Violet Palace True Lord might have to lower themself to serve in this role.
True Lord Qian Tian had a method of scent identification that he had already entered the Dao in, which made him the ideal scout, and thus had he been entrusted with this important role.
He kneeled before Tang Jie. “I pay my respects to the Immortal Sovereign!”
“Rise and speak.”
“Yes!” True Lord Qian Tian stood up and said, “Immortal Sovereign, I have found that there are 1.2 million Demonhorns, 1 million Red Bats, 800,000 Ironbones, 500,000 Silver Pyros, 300,000 Shadow Nagas, 100,000 Violet Djinn, and 30,000 Blood Demons. In addition, there are around 1,800 high-level devils.”
This True Lord couldn’t help but shiver as he gave his report.
The gap was too big!
The human cultivators taking part only added up to 200,000, while the Celestial Heart–level demons like the Shadow Nagas numbered around four hundred thousand, let alone that horde of low-level demons and the high-level devils.
This number was enough to completely overwhelm the Rosecloud Domain.
In comparison, the high-tier devils didn’t have as much of an advantage and could even be considered slightly weaker.
This was why the low-level demons of the Primordial Fog were scarier.
For human cultivators, those below Celestial Heart weren’t allowed to participate because they were the hope for the future. But in the Primordial Fog, these were cannon fodder that were freely sent to their deaths. The Archdemon and Lesser Demon Lords had no care for their lives, for they were akin to weeds—no matter how many times they were cut down, they would grow back.
These weren’t even all of the demons, for still more demons were coming out from the bronze gate.
For the next one hundred years, so long as the Spatial Gate was open, the demons could come in at any time. Even if all of the current demons were exterminated, there would just be more demons waiting for them. This was why the vast majority of humans were willing to focus entirely on defense—every Demon Lord had their own territory. Unless it was an enormous world like the Vast Wilderness Continent, there was basically one Demon Lord to a domain, and other Demon Lords wouldn’t take part for fear of inciting a war. But if that Demon Lord were killed, other demons could come in to fill the gap.
“Are you afraid?” Tang Jie asked, noticing that True Lord Qian Tian was trembling.
“Y-your subordinate would not dare!” True Lord Qian Tian said, clenching his teeth.
Tang Jie chuckled. “Nothing wrong with being afraid. It’s very normal to be afraid of such a foe, right?”
True Lord Qian Tian didn’t know how to respond and was at a loss for words.
Tang Jie said, “Does anyone else know of the disposition of the enemy forces?”
True Lord Qian Tian replied, “Many people are tasked with scouting, and I’m sure the others have gathered similar information.”
“So the news has probably already spread,” Tang Jie softly said.
True Lord Qian Tian was alarmed. “Immortal Sovereign, this will hurt morale! This subordinate will make sure they keep the information to themselves.”
“Too late; it’s already out there,” Tang Jie replied.
“What?” Qian Tian was shocked.
Tang Jie added, “It’s nothing. They would have to find out at some point. Everyone should have already known of the vastness of the Primordial Fog hordes and that they would be fighting a more powerful foe.”
“Even so, without confidence, it’s difficult to maintain morale,” True Lord Qian Tian worried.
“If they have no confidence, then just give them confidence,” Tang Jie answered.
“Hm?” True Lord Qian Tian was taken aback.
Tang Jie stepped forward, flying straight toward the demon army.
True Lord Qian Tian called out in confusion, “Immortal Sovereign, what are you…”
“I’m going to charge into their lines, kill a few devils, and destroy their morale,” Tang Jie answered.
“You can’t! Immortal Sovereign is too important for something so risky!”
There was one thing he didn’t dare to say, which was: I know you’re incredibly strong, but those are demons! What if you lose your life? It will be a huge blow to the human side.
Tang Jie casually replied, “I’m not going alone.”
‘Not going alone’?
That’s good, Qian Tian sighed in relief. But he still wasn’t done worrying. Wasn’t it a little too rushed to start a fight now? He was about to say so when he heard Tang Jie say, “I also have you.”
What?
The hairs all over Qian Tian’s body bristled like he was a cat.
As he saw Tang Jie flying toward him, Qian Tian wanted to refuse, but then a pressure descended and left him paralyzed. A ball of energy enclosed him, and Qian Tian was unwillingly dragged along with Tang Jie.
The two of them flew out of the mountains toward the demon camp. True Lord Qian Tian was so scared that his soul almost left his body, but alas, Tang Jie’s Immortal energy seemed to freeze him in place, even minimizing his emotions of fear and despair.
Qian Tian didn’t even have time to truly experience despair before he found himself right in front of the demons.
Standing outside the black demonic energy, Tang Jie looked at the scouting Red Bats on the perimeter and smiled, after which he charged in.
These Red Bats immediately shrieked and rushed at this intruder, transforming into red bolts of lightning.
But the gap between Red Bats and Tang Jie was too great for numbers to make up, and no matter how they shrieked or flew, they couldn’t even get close to Tang Jie. He didn’t even need to do anything particularly special. Just releasing his aura would exterminate them all, the Red Bats tumbling out of the air like dumplings.
But the demons reacted quickly, and as if sensing that an expert from the humans had come, no less than three energies locked onto him.
All of them were at the Earth Immortal level.
Tang Jie was releasing the pressure of an Earth Immortal, so devils of the same level came to find him.
This was the pride of the Primordial Fog Domain. They didn’t believe that humans of the same cultivation level could be stronger than them, so three devils working together was already a show of great respect. A moment later, there was a mighty roar:
“He’s mine!”
Two of the energies retreated while the remaining one continued to surge toward Tang Jie.
It went without saying that this devil was the strongest of the three, which was why it could push aside the others.
Tang Jie chuckled. “I’ll take this guy. You go and kill those demons.”
As he spoke, True Lord Qian Tian felt the pressure around him disappear, allowing him to move.
But he was terrified by Tang Jie’s words. “Your subordinate is incapable of this task!”
How could a single Violet Palace True Lord go on a massacre right in the middle of the demon army? That was really rating his abilities too highly.
“Oh? Is that so?” Surprisingly, Tang Jie wasn’t angry, simply nodding. “If that’s the case, forget it.”
“‘Forget it’?” He was dropping the matter just like that?
“Mm, forget it. You can go back.” Tang Jie waved his hand as he spoke, easily neutralizing an attack from that approaching devil. The devil was enraged and emerged with a howl, revealing itself to be a thousand-foot-tall humanoid with a panther head and four arms, swinging axes at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie turned to his opponent, ignoring Qian Tian.
Qian Tian turned around and saw a horde of demons rushing at him from all sides.
He wailed, “I can’t go back!”
