Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 1016: Striking Back from Desperate Straits

For Maraju, seizing this human was just a game.

A game that could relieve his boredom in this monotonous world.

A fun game normally needed a few conditions: a bored existence that could enjoy the game, a target that could be played with, and a method of playing that wasn't too annoying and suited one's interests.

All three conditions were met. Maraju was bored enough, combat was a playing method that one could never get tired of, and Tang Jie appeared like a rather decent target—not too weak, but not strong enough to give Maraju a headache.

Thus, he sat back and spectated the battle.

Like the pair earlier, the four ghost generals put immense pressure on Tang Jie, and he was barely able to hold out against their combined attacks. One versus two had been hard enough to win, so four was even more challenging.

Amid the howling ghosts, Tang Jie seemed to once more be losing ground, but just when Maraju thought the battle was about to be settled, there was another abrupt turn. In a blinding flash of light, all four ghost generals were seriously wounded and began to howl in pain, but no matter how they struggled, they couldn't break free of the power that invaded their bodies. Tang Jie kept a tight hold on them, giving them no chance of escaping, and they ultimately dissolved into white light.

Tang Jie threw up blood, his complexion growing even worse, indicating that this attack had once again taxed him.

But a moment later, he stood up, his body trembling. He stared at Maraju, his eyes brimming with resolve, stubbornness, and savagery, with the spirit of a warrior who would fight to the death.

Maraju was taken aback by these eyes. "It's a rare soul to possess such indomitable resolve, perfect for nurturing into a mighty ghost general. A real treasure!"

In the Nether Domain, powerful souls were themselves valuable treasure, and Maraju found himself enticed by Tang Jie's resolve.

He waved his hand and said, "Go, and do your best to keep him alive. I need to extract his soul and refine it."

He had originally chased down Tang Jie primarily because of the natural hostility the Nether Domain had toward living creatures, but now, he stood to actually benefit. Maraju was confident that if he captured this human, he could refine it into formidable soul energy that would make him stronger!

Eight ghost generals charged into the fray.

This seemed to push Tang Jie to his breaking point.

Needles of ghost energy, sinister winds, flickering ghost flames, and soul-chilling cold assailed Tang Jie. The gleeful cackling of ghosts could be heard throughout the wasteland, their joy inspiring terror in all who heard it.

A macabre dance weaved its way around Tang Jie, a host of horrors descending.

Nothing else was audible over the cacophony of wails and screeches.

A single person darted here and there in the darkness like a candle in the night, and while it flickered in the rain, it never went out.

But while the candle stubbornly burned on, the ghosts were stronger.

The black winds and ghost flames threatened to drown out the flame of righteousness.

The resistance from Tang Jie grew weaker and weaker.

As his capture seemed imminent, the ghosts began to howl in joy. Tang Jie had already fallen to his knees under their assault, and only the flashing of spiritual energy served as a symbol of his indomitable resolve, served as proof that he had yet to submit.

A deep hatred appeared in Tang Jie's eyes as he gazed at the cheering ghosts. "You wicked ghosts, running rampant as you please, even if I die today, I'm bringing you down with me!"

The white light from before reappeared, this time even stronger than before.

Maraju shouted in alarm, "Fall back!"

But it was too late.

The eight ghost generals were engulfed in the light.

Just like in the last battle, all eight were slain by the white light.

At the same time, Tang Jie dropped to his knees, not even able to stand.

"Bastard!" Maraju cursed.

It was just one human, yet he had caused a painful loss of fourteen ghost generals.

Yakshas had to raise these ghost generals themselves, and to get one ghost general Tang Jie and lose fourteen was a terrible deal. Even if he could grow stronger from his flesh, it was still a huge loss!

Tang Jie was still on his knees, propping himself up with his hands and stubbornly staring at Maraju.

Maraju took in a deep breath. "You two, seize him."

He sent the two Nether Attendants this time.

The Nether Attendants were much stronger than ghost generals. If Yakshas were kings, these Nether Attendants were like upper-class generals, semi-kings.

In the Nether Domain, there were different levels to kings. The Yakshas were one of the stronger races, and their Nether Attendants were thus stronger than their peers.

The Nether Attendants immediately teleported to Tang Jie's side, swinging their scythes at him.

This scythe was called the Severing Hook, and was able to sever life and death, divide Yin and Yang. When the blade entered the body, it would only cut into the soul, not the flesh, separating the two. The soul would leave the body and be seized by the Nether Attendant to be taken to the Nether Domain to become a ghost. For this reason, it was also called the Soulseize Scythe.

The scythes were aimed at the back of Tang Jie's neck. From here, they could penetrate into the depths of his body, ending his life and shaving off his soul as easily as a hot knife cutting through butter.

But as the scythes approached, Tang Jie's body suddenly lurched as if he had finally run out of the strength to hold himself up.

This lurch let him avoid the two scythes, which brushed over his skull. Though they didn't cut a single hair, in the gust of cold wind that followed, a large patch of hair withered and fell from his scalp like dead leaves in autumn.

Tang Jie threw his hands out behind him, reaching for the legs of the Nether Attendants.

Maraju grimaced, an ill foreboding swelling up, and he shouted, "Watch out!!!"

White light erupted from Tang Jie's hands.

This light was even more intense than before, and all the exhaustion was gone from his face.

"Evil… Punishing!" Tang Jie squeezed out.

With this shout, the Nether Attendants screeched, the power of the Evil Punishing Seal causing their bodies to evaporate.

But at this moment, the Nether Attendants turned half their bodies into fog and escaped from Tang Jie's grip, falling back.

"Trying to run?" Tang Jie wickedly smiled.

He had worked so hard to create this opportunity, so how could he let them escape? As the two attendants retreated, Tang Jie jumped into the air and fired off three strikes of the Evil Punishing Seal.

While the Evil Punishing Seal could counter ghosts, it wasn't invincible. Back at the wasteland of resentful souls, his one strike had failed to kill one ghost general, which made him realize that his cultivation was lacking and that it would still be tough to deal with higher-level ghosts.

One ghost general was able to resist a single strike of the Evil Punishing Seal, and if there were more, their overall resistance would also grow stronger, making them even more difficult to kill. And for stronger ghosts than ghost generals, even five strikes might not suffice.

When it came to the ghosts chasing him, he couldn't hope that they were weak. They could have quantity, quality, or both.

And things were exactly as Tang Jie had expected.

Maraju was a king-level ghost, the two Nether Attendants were semi-kings, and there were twenty-some ghost generals.

Whether in terms of quantity or quality, they had enough to overwhelm him, so even the Evil Punishing Seal wasn't enough to bring him victory.

Unless…

Unless his enemies chose to attack him separately.

This was why Tang Jie had chosen to act weak.

After all, Yakshas were kings, and kings had their pride and would not intervene personally, as that would be beneath them.

This was a chance for Tang Jie, his only chance.

Thus, Tang Jie had to act like every victory was hard-fought so that Maraju would mistakenly think that only a little more pressure would be needed to take him down, making him fall into the trap of testing his power by sending his men in batches.

To be honest, Tang Jie wasn't sure that the plan would succeed. After all, while it wasn't complex, the real problem was that it relied on his acting.

Great acting would cover up for the flaws in the plan, but bad acting would render it useless.

Tang Jie's acting was pretty good.

As a major actor who had already starred in several big dramas in his cultivation career, while he wouldn't consider himself a master, he felt like he was at least a professional, which was enough to trick Maraju.

But no matter how good his acting was, the moment he used his full strength against the Nether Attendants, the drama came to an end.

Thus, before the curtains fell, Tang Jie wanted to use this final opportunity to utterly bury Maraju's two most important subordinates.

The three Evil Punishing Seal strikes made the Nether Attendants shriek and retreat even faster.

But Tang Jie unleashed unprecedented strength, firing off seven Evil Punishing Seal strikes at the retreating ghosts. Such a savage offensive was extremely taxing on Tang Jie at his current cultivation level, but he still did so without hesitation.

The two Nether Attendants were strong, but nine strikes of the ghost-countering Evil Punishing Seal was more than they could endure.

"Impudent!" Maraju, who realized he had fallen for the trap, roared, attacking with all his strength.

His hand passed through space to strike at Tang Jie's back.

Tang Jie straightened up, and an immense Life energy burst out of his body. At this moment, he finally revealed his powerful physique, enduring Maraju's strike as he continued his attack.

Light illuminated the underworld as if the gods in the heavens had descended to bring salvation.

The dog-headed ghosts howled in despair.

In the last moments of their lives, they mustered up the resolve of semi-king ghosts and swung their scythes at Tang Jie.