Aspiring to the Immortal Path

On the plains of the dead, several dozen ghost generals unleashed their various powers against Tang Jie.

Their fear of the Hundred Ghost Slaughter made it difficult for them to work together, so their various attacks arrived at different times.

A ghost general with no legs and a ghastly pale face charged up, letting out a piercing screech. This ghost was called the Weeping Departed. It possessed a sinister nature and craved human flesh, particularly that of infants. Thus, it charged at the very front, and once it was a thousand feet from Tang Jie, it let out this screech that created a chilling wind.

The icy gale invaded Tang Jie's body and made him shiver, but then he simply shook his body, upon which he seemed to shed this cold energy, much to the shock of the Weeping Departed. Its bone-chilling wind was even capable of freezing Yakshas for a time, but it had only made this human shiver.

Tang Jie threw out a punch, concentrating the power of the Evil Punishing Seal on his fist. The energy struck the Weeping Departed, which let out a terrible shriek as it evaporated, dying on the spot.

This was the second form of the Evil Punishing Seal, the Soul Slayer. After this period of cultivation, Tang Jie was finally able to use it. It lacked the large area of the Hundred Ghost Slaughter, instead concentrating all that power. Thus, while the Hundred Ghost Slaughter couldn't kill ghost generals in one strike, the Soul Slayer could easily do so, much to the shock of the ghosts.

But the energy was all hidden within the fist, so the other ghosts failed to see it. Thus, they weren't too stunned, simply thinking that the Weeping Departed was too weak, which gave Tang Jie a chance, and continued their assault.

A saber-wielding ghost general, its body rotting all over, charged out on a bone horse. As a ghost with a physical body, it possessed immense strength and ranked above the Weeping Departed. From a distance, it swung its saber at Tang Jie.

As the saber fell, a cold wave of energy sliced through the plain, cutting a fissure in the black soil en route to Tang Jie.

Although he always talked about wanting to use his strength to overcome his foes, his nature made it almost a requirement for him to trick others. Since there were no people to trick, he would just have to make do with ghosts.

As expected, the ghost general shrugged off the blow and kept charging. Tang Jie let out a dozen more blows, and while all of them seemed impressive, only one of them had been suffused with the Soul Slayer, which took down the ghost general in one strike.

But this provided an opportunity for the other ghost generals.

While he was taking down two ghost generals, the other ghosts used this chance to attack.

The methods of ghosts were primarily focused on cold and darkness, resentment and other negative emotions. The air was soon full of shrieking and wailing, the souls of the dead instantly filling Tang Jie's mind with sorrow, despair, pain, hatred, envy, savagery, cruelty, trickery, and so on.

A normal person would have had their soul instantly extinguished and turned into a raving fool.

But Tang Jie simply shook his head a little.

In his time in the Nether Domain, he had used the combination of the Yellow Springs Dao Seeking Scripture and the Fake Sky, False Sun Immortal Art to absorb large quantities of Soul Fire, thus obtaining the perfect body. He was no longer so easily affected by these ghosts.

Tang Jie was the classic case of someone who was invincible against those of the same level such that even numbers no longer mattered.

In this aspect, Tang Jie was a contradictory existence. In the Stellar Chiliocosm, unless one was an entire realm higher than one's opponent, it was very difficult to ignore the power of numbers. Theoretically, the fact that Tang Jie could ignore numbers meant that Tang Jie, who was currently at Cognitive Creation, was actually as strong as a Soul Transformation cultivator.

In reality, though, this was far from the case. At best, Tang Jie could only defeat someone one tier above, Cognitive Creation defeating Spirit Ring. He would have a hard time defeating someone at Heart Demon, and it would have been impossible to beat Soul Transformation. But he was doing something that even a Soul Transformation cultivator couldn't do.

This was all thanks to the perfect body, letting him go beyond the limits of his cultivation.

Thus, he treated these ghost generals like they were nothing more than clay dolls. He was only dragging things out so long because of his habit of using more troublesome methods so that he could use less strength in gaining victory.

The howling of the ghosts had a negligible effect on Tang Jie, and a moment later, he let out several dozen palm strikes.

All these palm strikes created a thick white fog.

Black fog mixed with white, and the wailing ghosts could be heard within, but this time, rather than sounding wicked and sinister, these were cries full of fear and panic.

These ghosts who saw scaring others as their duty had gotten scared first.

That zone full of ghost energy was overcome, and the land was purified.

The ghosts howled, wanting to fight back and resist, but they were greeted by rays of white light.

It turned out that Tang Jie had concealed numerous Soul Slayer strikes in the palm blasts. There were neither too many nor too few, exactly as many as needed to slay all the ghosts. One by one, the ghosts disintegrated, causing Maraju to shiver in fear. Suddenly, the ghost eagle's eyes flashed, and it let out a cry and took to the air, stirring up a mighty gale.

With one flap of the wings, it appeared behind Tang Jie.

Its wings came together to seize Tang Jie.

Such was the force of these wings that even Tang Jie's perfect body might crumble if struck by them.

Tang Jie abruptly lunged forward, perfectly demonstrating the Passing Shadow Step.

As the wings brushed over him, Tang Jie thrust out his palm behind him without even looking back.

Soul Slayer!

The ghost eagle sensed the danger approaching and immediately beat its wings in retreat, screeching, "A powerful move! No wonder Maraju was no match for you."

"You're not bad either," Tang Jie said, turning around.

The ghost eagle stood there with a very human look on its face. "You flatter me."

While it had been taken aback by Tang Jie's attack just now, the ghost eagle still viewed him with disdain, which was either out of pride or confidence.

As it spoke, Maraju lost his patience and flew off the ship, raising the fork in his hand. "Human, if you tell me how you shattered the Severing Hook Scythe, I promise to leave your corpse intact!"

"'The Severing Hook Scythe'?" Tang Jie cocked his head and gazed at Maraju. "Was that its name? It sounds like you valued it a lot."

Maraju huffed and puffed so hard that his nose almost became dislocated.

"Valued"? This wasn't merely about value! This bastard human had no idea what he had destroyed!

He had destroyed Maraju's future!

He jabbed the fork at Tang Jie. "Hurry and kneel!"

Tang Jie snorted. "If you're going to be like that, I'll get my answer once I capture you."

He extended a hand imbued with golden light at the fork.

Maraju was a king in terms of cultivation, tantamount to a Spirit Ring cultivator. While one could rate him as rather weak among his peers, he was still quite strong. The fork also had unusual properties, and while it seemed to be made of rusted metal, it was actually made from the bone of a Yaksha. This was his soul weapon, and it was extremely powerful. Yakshas were famous for their physical strength, and this fork was a manifestation of it, with few being able to contend against it.

But as Tang Jie thrust out his palm, there was a boom, and Maraju was swatted away like a fly despite being an entire tier above Tang Jie.

"How could this be?" Maraju stared at Tang Jie in shock.

He couldn't bring himself to believe what had just happened.

Tang Jie calmly drew back his hand. "Nothing much."

Getting in a strength contest with him?

It had to be understood that this body still walked the body cultivation path of the original body, his physical strength still serving as his foundation. While the perfect body now allowed it to use spell arts, that didn't change its foundation. In fact, being able to use spell arts meant that he could further enhance his physical prowess. For Maraju to challenge him in strength was essentially giving Tang Jie a chance to flex his muscles. It would have been far stranger if he had won.

The ghost eagle's eyes glinted in shock, and it shrieked, "Truly a formidable human, to get this far! The soul and flesh of such a human is bound to be delectable. Maraju, I will help you seize this human, but you must give me three times what we originally agreed upon!"

Maraju winced, but nodded. "Fine; I agree!"

The ghost eagle cackled.

As it laughed, its body grew larger.

It had soon grown to the size of a mountain, its aura growing with it, sweeping over the battlefield. While Tang Jie stood firm, his eyes turned stern.

He immediately recognized this pressure as being from a middle-grade Ghost King, equivalent to a Heart Demon True Person.

And the ghost eagle's aura was still growing, only stopping at peak middle-grade, which was half-step Soul Transformation.

Tang Jie was no match for an existence so strong as this.

At the same time, Maraju raised his fork and shouted, "Ghost March Ship, attack!"

Countless hands erupted from under the Ghost March Ship, grabbing for Tang Jie as the ship displayed its offensive might. The hands seized his legs and attempted to drag him underground, and it was only thanks to his body cultivation that he managed to remain above the ground. Still, the ghost hands rendered him immobile.

The ghost eagle laughed and then pecked at him, caring nothing for honor and choosing to take advantage of the two-versus-one.

While the ghost eagle had been growing larger and Maraju was attacking, Tang Jie hadn't been just standing around.

He took out one of the talismans he had made from the Corpsespirit Flowers and stuck it onto his head. His eyes flew open, and a black ray shot out from the center of his forehead: a tiny black grain. As it fell on the talisman, the talisman began to burn and let off gray smoke.

This gray smoke coiled itself around Tang Jie's head.

It was at this moment that the ghost hands grabbed him and the ghost eagle attacked while Tang Jie was incapable of evading.

He calmly gazed up at the eagle and said in a booming voice, "A puny ghost dares to act so arrogantly!?"

As he spoke, the smoke took human form—none other than that of Tang Jie.

But this Tang Jie formed from smoke was majestic and divine, an almighty god that reigned over the heavens. It was none other than the avatar Tang Jie, who had somehow transcended the domain barrier and projected himself onto the original body.

Manifesting in the Nether Domain!!!