As Tang Jie was helping the Flame Yang Domain with its counterattack, back at the Rosecloud Domain, the final battle was imminent.
On this day, Tang Jie suddenly had a feeling and realized that Yun Tianlan had decided to end the war today.
He rose and exited the Hall of Divine Conference, upon which he saw Yun Tianlan standing in the clouds. Next to him were the Star Radiant Gate’s Huang Wuji, Horizon Ocean Pavilion’s Fairy Gu Ye, Godhead Palace’s Ye Yun, the Beast Refining Gate’s Mu Ziyang, the Thousand Passions Sect’s Blossom Queen Ran Qing, and the Seven Absolutions Sect’s Ji Wenzhang—six Earth Immortals in all. With them was also the human Earth Immortal from Blood River, Guang Yuan. But when Tang Jie emerged, all of them bowed to him.
This was to show their respect to Tang Jie, but it was also a natural courtesy toward the strong.
Yun Tianlan said, “The Flame Celestial Sovereign has sent a message saying that the moment is right.”
While Tang Jie had been secluded in cultivation, the Flame Celestial Sovereign had directly messaged Yun Tianlan.
Tang Jie scoffed, “‘The moment’? It’s probably their moment, no?”
“Of course.” Yun Tianlan smiled. “If that weren’t the case, how could they dare to battle us?”
Yun Tianlan had been seeking a decisive battle with the Lord of the Blood River all this time, but the Lord of the Blood River had refused to come out. Thus, even though the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s message was probably a trap, Yun Tianlan and the others were willing to walk into that trap.
But in the past, it had been Tang Jie laying a trap and his opponents insisting on walking into it. The tables were now turned, and he was the one boldly marching into a mountain even though he knew there was a tiger.
This was the inevitable result of his position. Someone who was strong had to think like they were strong and had to be ready to react to all hidden traps and ambushes. If one lacked even this courage, one could not call themself strong.
Tang Jie couldn’t get used to the feeling of going from ambusher to ambushee.
He smiled and said, “Then let’s go and see what sort of gift Old Man Blood River has prepared for us.”
Everyone laughed. “We think the same!”
In a mighty gale, they flew off to find Blood River.
The Blood River of the Blood River Domain flowed across this entire world, and they flew along the river until they reached an ocean of blood.
Yun Tianlan said, “According to the Flame Celestial Sovereign, this is the location of those remains.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” a white-haired granny standing next to Yun Tianlan said.
This person was the ancestor of the Thousand Passions Sect, Blossom Queen Ran Qing. It was said that she was once a generational beauty. Alas, for the sake of ascending to Immortal Platform, she cultivated a time art and burned up her own lifespan to forcibly enter the Dao of Time so that she could reverse time and find the emotions she lacked. While she ultimately succeeded in ascending, she lost her beauty. Although transformation arts could conceal this, there was no hiding the timeworn nature of her soul.
Still, her cultivation was not to be underestimated. If Horizon Ocean Pavilion was the expert in Space, the Thousand Passions Sect was the expert in Time, as could be seen from how their spell arts all emphasized agility and speed. Unfortunately, Time was much harder to comprehend than Space, so the Thousand Passions Sect was inferior to Horizon Ocean Pavilion in terms of peak-level combat strength. If Blossom Queen Ran Qing hadn’t paid such an immense price to ascend, the Thousand Passions Sect would have been suppressed by Horizon Ocean Pavilion and the other sects long ago.
One could say that the Thousand Passions Sect could stand among the six major sects entirely because of the Blossom Queen’s sacrifice.
Tang Jie smiled. “Blossom Queen, no rush. Let me see if there are any traps first.”
His Celestial Eye opened, and he gazed into the Blood River.
While his Celestial Eye had developed in the direction of identifying weaknesses, he had made seeing through illusions his secondary development priority. But as he looked down at the river, all he saw was a dazzling crimson radiance.
Slightly frowning, Tang Jie said, “There seems to be a formation in the river that obscures my sight.”
“What formation could block even Brother Tang’s Celestial Eye?” Huang Wuji said in surprise.
Tang Jie shook his head. “I don’t know either, but there are countless strange and powerful arts in the world, so it’s not strange for one or two to be capable of it.”
“If that’s the case, then let me try.” The ancestor of the Seven Absolutions Sect, Ji Wenzhang, took out a mirror.
He aimed the mirror at the river, and it shot out a beam of light. A ripple spread across the river’s surface, upon which that crimson radiance weakened.
Tang Jie said in surprise, “What is this?”
Ji Wenzhang explained, “This is the Clear Ripple Mirror, and it specializes in breaking Water-based illusions.”
It was a good treasure, but its uses were very narrow. They didn’t know that there would be an illusion formation here, and the only reason Ji Wenzhang could take out this treasure was that he had many of this kind on him.
Yun Tianlan chuckled, “The Seven Absolutions Sect lives up to its reputation of being a sect of many treasures…”
Before he could finish, the crimson radiance restrengthened, the Clear Ripple Mirror failing to break it.
The Beast Refining Gate’s Mu Ziyang then said, “So they were ready for this. Let me try, then.”
He threw out a serpent dragon.
As the serpent dragon entered the water, it transformed into a giant serpent that began to stir up massive waves in the river.
If this river had any formation traps or a cultivator presiding over it, this powerful attack was bound to trigger something. The serpent dragon was essentially serving as the vanguard so that they didn’t have to do it themselves.
But moments after the serpent dragon entered the water, a stream of black energy emerged from the depths, transforming into countless black chains that twisted around the serpent dragon and rendered it immobile. Not only that, the chains swiftly tightened, threatening to choke the serpent dragon to death.
“Eternal Life Demon Sovereign!” All of them snorted, immediately realizing who this assailant was.
Mu Ziyang threw out streams of energy to slice at the black chains, but these were chains made of demonic energy, and his attacks failed to break them. When it seemed like the serpent dragon would lose its life, Fairy Gu Ye suddenly intervened, a barrier of frigid light descending around the serpent dragon, and then it miraculously escaped the chains.
Horizon Ocean Pavilion’s expertise was in space, and she had used Spatial Shift to shift Mu Ziyang’s serpent dragon away and save it from being strangled.
Ran Qing, Huang Wuji, and Ye Yun attacked in unison, the combined might of three Immortals like a meteor slamming into the earth, sending water high into sky and shockwaves sweeping out for a thousand li.
The Blood River could no longer keep up its crimson radiance, and Tang Jie instantly saw through everything. With a single thought, bolts of lightning shot into the river. Bursts of electricity erupted from the river as snakes of lightning swam through its waters.
The battle had begun before they had even gone into the river. A few moments later, the lightning ceased, and the river became calm once more.
“We can go in now!” Tang Jie declared.
The Immortals descended toward the river bottom.
The moment they entered the river, they felt a pressure converging on them from all directions. This was not a trap, but the Blood River itself rejecting the Immortals.
The Immortals put up barriers to isolate themselves from the blood.
Yun Tianlan said, “Everyone, be careful. The Blood River is the actual body of the Lord of the Blood River. Going in is the same as going into his body. We will be naturally suppressed by about three percent just by fighting here.”
Huang Wuji chuckled. “No matter how much the suppression is, I’m sure it poses no threat to Brother Yun.”
“It’s still better to be cautious,” Yun Tianlan said.
While he was the one that said to be careful, he was also the first to descend, leaving everyone far behind, showing through his actions that he wasn’t afraid at all.
At this moment, a pillar of water shot out from the depths toward Yun Tianlan.
Yun Tianlan grunted and waved his hand in disdain, easily blocking the water pillar. But even more water pillars shot toward him.
Yun Tianlan angrily growled, “You really think you can stop me with just this?”
He simply glared, upon which the water pillars rolled back and shot back the way they came.
Everyone then saw that it was not some cultivator shooting these water pillars, but a strange fish.
This fish was ten thousand feet long, like a mountain range lying on the bottom of the river. It had two rows of huge teeth that it was constantly gnashing together. On the sides of its body were various air holes, which was where the water pillars had come from.
The water pillars Yun Tianlan had fired back struck the fish with even greater force than originally, but that strange fish seemed to be completely fine, merely shaking its tail.
Surprised, Yun Tianlan thrust out a finger.
This attack was no Immortal art, but it was imbued with the principles of the world, naturally in tune with the Daos, so it was extremely powerful nevertheless.
Yet when it hit that fish, all it left was a faint white impression, such was the toughness of the fish.
The fish felt pain this time, roaring in anger and charging at Yun Tianlan, its massive body as fast as lightning in the water. It instantly reached Yun Tianlan and opened its massive maw to devour him. Past its mountain-sized teeth was its black hole of a throat, from which a terrifying power emanated. It was clear that whether one were crushed by its teeth or simply swallowed whole, one would not fare well.
For a giant fish like this, every section of its body was essentially a natural formation.
Even Yun Tianlan had to be serious when facing this sort of creature. He had never imagined that this sort of giant fish would be lurking at the bottom of the Blood River. His eyes flashed with divine light as Immortal power poured out of his body, influencing his surrounding environment and instantly turning the bottom of the Blood River into a defensive formation.
The fish slammed into the formation, the impact sending shockwaves through the river.
Yun Tianlan chuckled. “Hurry up and submit!”
This fish could block the strike of a True Immortal, so it was suitable to take as his pet or else refine for materials. Yun Tianlan was determined to take it as his spoils.
What he hadn’t expected was for another one of these strange fish to appear and charge at him.