Aspiring to the Immortal Path

"Aaaah!"

Feng Wuxiang let out a wretched scream, and dust flew out of his book to neutralize the aftershocks of the sword energy. At the same time, he thrust out a palm to push Tang Jie away. But Aurora chuckled and sent out a wave of rainbow light, knocking aside Feng Wuxiang's book and clearing the way for Tang Jie's attack.

Tang Jie pushed forward, the Sovereign Blade carrying Feng Wuxiang as its sword energy ran rampant in his body, tearing his organs apart!

"YOU!" Feng Wuxiang threw up blood as he stared at Tang Jie, his eyes brimming with loathing.

"Tang Jie!" Everyone cried out in alarm.ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N(o)vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.nᴇt

They couldn't understand what had just happened.

Tang Jie's three eyes were locked onto Feng Wuxiang as he roared, "Die already!"

His left hand gathered up an immense force and unleashed it at Feng Wuxiang's skull.

Just when Tang Jie's punch was about to obliterate Feng Wuxiang's head, Feng Wuxiang threw up blood and transformed into a gust of wind, causing Tang Jie's strike to miss. Feng Wuxiang appeared behind Tang Jie, thrusting a finger at him.

Tang Jie didn't even try to dodge, throwing himself backward.

Finger collided with back, and while Tang Jie earned himself a large hole in his body, Feng Wuxiang's finger crumbled into dust.

At the same time, that rainbow light engulfed the pair, Aurora's laughter ringing through the air. "Thank you, my friend Tang Jie, for giving this emperor the chance to secure the victory."

"So your method of gratitude is to kill me with him?" Tang Jie said as he punched backward, the blast of energy suppressing Feng Wuxiang so that Tang Jie could use him as a shield.

Just when Feng Wuxiang was about to take on the full brunt of the rainbow light, a roar erupted through the air.

A flashing golden counting rod flew in at an angle, blocking more than half of the rainbow. The rest of the light struck Feng Wuxiang, leaving him bleeding all over.

It was Reverend Seer.

But to save Feng Wuxiang, he had let the Iron Blood Fiend Emperor take a swing at him with his saber, sustaining a rather bad wound.

"Preceptor! Reverend!" The human cultivators cried out.

Liu Zongchang feinted with his sword to misdirect any foes before retreating to Feng Wuxiang's side to protect him.

Reverend Seer, Feng Wuxiang, and Liu Zongchang all drew close to each other, and as they stopped fighting, so did everyone else. Even the demons silently retreated as if they had received some order.

Thus, the battle entered a temporary ceasefire.

But most of the humans were angrily glaring at Tang Jie, and Tang Jie was standing between the humans and fiends, coldly staring at Feng Wuxiang as if he was resentful that he had failed to kill the man.

Shentu Yuan shouted, "Tang Jie, what are you doing?"

Ice Phoenix said in a trembling voice, "Why? Why did you do this?"

All of the human cultivators stared at Tang Jie, and even the fiends were wondering what was going on.

Only Aurora was chuckling as if he knew that this was going to happen.

Tang Jie coldly replied, "That's exactly what I want to ask. Lord Preceptor, might I ask what Tang Jie did wrong that made you want to kill me?"

This question left everyone stunned.

It wasn't Tang Jie who was ambushing Feng Wuxiang?

From Tang Jie's tone, it sounded like Feng Wuxiang was trying to secretly get rid of Tang Jie?

Ice Phoenix was smarter than the rest, and as she recalled the scene of Tang Jie being suppressed by the young Aurora's rainbow shackles, she suddenly understood, shouting, "Tang Jie, you're saying that the Preceptor wasn't using his full strength so that Aurora would have the chance to kill you?"

These words caused an uproar, and everyone looked at Feng Wuxiang.

If that was the case, then Tang Jie really couldn't be blamed.

The one most hated would always be the one on their side who sold out their own, with second place being the enemy.

Feng Wuxiang scowled, holding a hand to his chest as he glared at the vertical eye on Tang Jie's forehead. After a while, he said, "The Celestial Eye of Insight?"

"On the Dao-entering level," Tang Jie confirmed.

Everyone gasped.

He had entered the Dao of Insight?

What sort of freak was this?

It was no wonder he was able to identify the weak points of all those fiends and kill them in one strike.

Shentu Yuan was originally going to say that Tang Jie's words might all be speculation, but he now understood. "You have Insight, so you were able to tell that the Preceptor wasn't using his full strength?"

Tang Jie nodded.

His Insight hadn't been meant for looking at Feng Wuxiang, but nothing could escape the gaze of the Celestial Eye, so when he was seeing the weaknesses of the fiends, he also discovered that Feng Wuxiang wasn't using his full strength on Aurora at all, so it was no wonder Aurora was able to focus so much strength on him.

It had to be understood that in terms of strength, an initial-grade Violet Palace cultivator couldn't even beat him now. In other words, Aurora was actually using the majority of the power of his two bodies on him. This could only happen because Feng Wuxiang was going easy on him.

How could Tang Jie not be shocked and angered by this? But he was a very cunning and composed fellow, so rather than acting out, he first killed some fiends to weaken the fiend side, continuing to fight on humanity's side, while furtively reaching out to Aurora.

Although Aurora couldn't see that Feng Wuxiang was holding back, given that they were old rivals, he was already wondering why Feng Wuxiang had become so weak. Upon getting Tang Jie's message, he immediately understood. Though he didn't understand why Feng Wuxiang was doing this, he was happy to work together with Tang Jie to kill Feng Wuxiang if that was what he wanted.

Of course, the fact that this fiend was bold enough to trust Tang Jie also played a part. The average person would never have had the guts to expose their back to an enemy.

But Aurora had won his gamble, and the two of them had successfully worked together to deal Feng Wuxiang a heavy blow.

If Reverend Seer hadn't risked his own life to come to the rescue, they could have killed him.

Tang Jie had given his reason, but most of the human cultivators were still unwilling to believe.

Ximen Changfeng shook his head and said, "Impossible! This can't be right! Tang Jie, you must have seen wrong! The Preceptor would never harm you!"

Tang Jie coldly replied. "This is reality. Although I don't know why, it's clear that Preceptor Feng doesn't want to see me survive. In truth, when I was heavily injured by Aurora, I was wondering why you guys had yet to arrive, but now I see that it wasn't without reason."

"Impossible!" the humans shouted.

Tang Jie raised his head and pointed at Feng Wuxiang. "If you want to know if it's true or not, you can just ask him."

All the humans looked at Feng Wuxiang, expecting him to deny it.

But they were disappointed.

Feng Wuxiang silently gazed at Tang Jie, and only after some time did he finally speak. "Tang Jie, I have long heard of your reputation, and sure enough, you are no ordinary individual. I simply played a few tricks, but you were able to see through them. Admirable, admirable!"

The humans turned ice-cold.

Ice Phoenix shook her head in disbelief. "Preceptor, why? It was Tang Jie who killed Silver Eyes, killed Thunder Blade, killed Blackwater, and it was he who called us here and gave us the opportunity to wipe out the fiends. He was the one who gave humanity the chance to revive, so why do you want to kill him? You don't even know him!"

Feng Wuxiang said nothing, remaining silent.

At that moment, Reverend Seer abruptly said, "It wasn't him who wanted to kill Tang Jie. Preceptor was ordered to."

"Why?" Everyone looked at Reverend Seer.

Reverend Seer sighed, sorrow appearing on his elderly face. "Tang Jie, in the end, I underestimated you. I thought that you had only achieved success in the Dao of Fate, but to my surprise, you've entered the Daos of Insight, Wisdom, and Yin Yang as well. You are a natural-born Child of Fate, possessing the strength to match Violet Palace despite having not reached it. In all the world, you are the first to reach this level. Such achievements are unprecedented, but alas, the heavens have decreed that we should stand on opposite sides! What a great pity!"

Everyone was in an uproar over these words.

"What? Tang Jie has entered three Daos?"

"'Strength to match Violet Palace'? How? I've never heard of anyone able to surpass this realm!"

"What does Reverend Seer mean? Was he the one who asked the Preceptor to kill Tang Jie? But why?"

The clamor of conversation filled the air.

Even Aurora and Iron Blood looked between Tang Jie and Reverend Seer in shock. Reverend Seer's words had just been too much, and it was hard to blame them for not believing it.

They had no idea that even more shocking revelations awaited them.

Tang Jie narrowed his eyes at Reverend Seer. "Reverend, it sounds like this was your doing. Although this is our first meeting, our conversations in the Web of Fate were quite enjoyable. I don't feel that I offended Reverend in any way, so why do you suddenly want to kill me?"

Reverend Seer's eyes were filled with grief as he sighed and shook his head. "Alas, my young friend, you can no longer speak with me through the Web of Fate, no?"

Tang Jie was startled for a moment, and then he nodded. "Two days ago, I severed all the threads of Fate and broke free from the entanglement of Fate."

Feng Wuxiang and Aurora looked at Tang Jie in disbelief.

Aurora even blurted out, "You entered the Dao of Fate, but you severed the entanglement of Fate?"

Feng Wuxiang muttered, "No wonder, no wonder the Reverend ordered me to kill you."

Even Liu Zongchang looked at Tang Jie in disbelief.

But those cultivators and fiends who had yet to reach Violet Palace/Divine Division looked at each other in confusion.

Reverend Seer nodded. "Then it's true. No wonder I suddenly couldn't find you when observing Fate. You disappeared from the Web of Fate and were replaced by someone else. At first, I was unable to confirm what had happened, but when I saw him, I understood."

Reverend Seer pointed at Er Hu.

When Reverend Seer saw all those threads of Fate tangled around Er Hu, he understood what had happened.

It was also at that moment that he gained a desire to eliminate Tang Jie.

But this was exactly what confused Tang Jie.

He asked Reverend Seer, "Why? Just because you think this is the correct path, just because I didn't choose the path you chose? This makes you want to kill me?"

"No!" Reverend Seer replied. "It is not I who wants to kill. It is the will of the heavens that wishes it."

It was Tang Jie's turn to be shocked.

He suddenly recalled that furious roar of "TRAITOR!"

Reverend Seer continued, "When you severed the entanglement of Fate, you betrayed Fate and abandoned the Heavenly Dao. You went against the heavens, so you must be punished by them. From the moment you severed the threads of Fate, I felt a sense of anger, a desire to murder, from the Web of Fate."

Reverend Seer's voice boomed, "You betrayed the will of the heavens, disrupted the operation of the Heavenly Dao, causing the formation to lose effect and allowing us all to go in."

"Is that what happened?" Tang Jie chuckled. "So you feel that the will of the heavens ordered the execution of this traitor, so you decided to try and backstab me?"

"Hahahaha!" Reverend Seer laughed. "Tang Jie, I know what you're thinking. You take me for a fool, singlemindedly believing in the Heavenly Dao, correct?"

"Is that not the case?"

"Of course not. I accepted the will of the heavens because you have already become a demon!"

Tang Jie was stunned. What did this have to do with demons?

"What do you think demons are? Is it ugly appearances that make a demon?" Reverend Seer pointed at the fiends and shouted, "What of them? All of them are inhuman, but are they considered demons?"

Of course they weren't. Fiends were fiends and demons were demons. They were two completely different things.

"Or perhaps those who possess evil and wicked arts are demons? But what about him? Does he count?" Reverend Seer said, pointing at Ye Xiao.

He was not, either.

While ghost refining arts were wicked in nature, those that cultivated them were not demons.

Everyone started to somewhat understand.

Reverend Seer shouted, "Demons are those who go against the Great Dao! The Great Stellar Chiliocosm is the positive plane, and the Primordial Fog Domain is the negative, and so its denizens, as residents of the opposite plane, are demons! Those who form Divine Wills and succeed become gods, and those who fail become demons, which is why the opposite of gods are demons! Demons have nothing to do with appearance, origin, or cultivation technique, only with the Great Dao! Those who comply are gods, and those who oppose are demons.

"And you!"

Reverend Seer pointed at Tang Jie. "By severing the entanglement of Fate, you betrayed the Great Dao. As a rebel, you have become a demon.

"You are already a demon, so you must be executed!"