The Blood River Domain experienced its most tragic day in history, with all eight of its Immortals falling.
With their deaths, the Blood River Domain became a part of history, and as the domain-merging formation continued its work, a single whole Rosecloud Domain emerged.
After Blood River’s death, the skeleton stopped moving, and it didn’t react no matter what anyone did to it. Yun Tianlan intervened and brought it back to his small hut back at the Basking Moon Sect, observing it every day in the hopes of comprehending something. The two giant fish had vanished, leaving behind no trace. As for the Godslayer Sword, Xu Guanghua took it to be Horizon Ocean Pavilion’s sect treasure.
With this, the curtain finally fell on the cultivator war. All that was left was for the merging to complete.
But on occasion, Tang Jie would brood within the Hall of Divine Conference, his brows furrowed.
His worries hadn’t cleared because of the victory. On the contrary, they only worsened.
Gazing at all the twinkling lights, he muttered, “Why… why are you still slumbering? Just what is missing… where is the key…”
The Flame Yang Domain.
Humanity was still engaged in its counterattack against the Nether Domain.
This had effectively stopped the ghost offensive. The speed of the Nether Domain advance had clearly slowed, and many commoners had been saved.
All this battle also made Tang Jie quickly grow stronger. Facing no bottlenecks or thresholds, he soared upward as fast as he could, his only limiter being resources. If Tang Jie weren’t holding back a little to avoid shocking everyone, he might have already reached Soul Transformation. Even so, the terrifying speed that let him go from early-phase Heart Demon to middle-phase Heart Demon had everyone gawking.
Quite a few people were already inquiring as to what art Tang Jie cultivated.
Alas, Tang Jie was no longer alone. He was the leader of the reinforcements from the Rosecloud Domain, so attacking him would be cutting off their own arm. The Flame Yang Domain’s cultivators could only think, not act.
Today, Tang Jie was cultivating on the Great Sun Sect’s Flying Flame Peak.
This was a mountain the Great Sun Sect had specifically allotted to Tang Jie. There was an Earthfire vein running under it which could be of great assistance when one cultivated Fire-type arts. Tang Jie’s Contraflame Mantra could absorb all the fires of the world, so it could also utilize this Earthfire vein. While it was rather ordinary as far as flames went, there was plenty of it available. Thus, absorbing flames became part of his daily routine.
As he was absorbing fire, a page boy rushed in and prostrated to Tang Jie. “The sect master requests a meeting with Young Master Tang.”
Upon hearing that Yuan Tianzhong wanted to see him, Tang Jie ended his cultivation and flew to the Spiral Flame.
Entering the thirteenth floor, Tang Jie saw that a large number of cultivators had gathered there.
Yuan Tianzhong warmly waved at Tang Jie. “Brother Tang, this way.”
Tang Jie came over and asked, “Did you find a new refining formation site?”
Yuan Tianzhong smiled. “Ah, Brother Tang is quick to catch on. Please look.”
With a wave of his sleeve, a hazy scene began to emerge.
The pitch-black ghost fog spread through the hall, still eerie and bizarre despite only being a projection.
The ghost fog gradually thinned, revealing a massive city.
This vast city was made of black stones, its thick walls covered in formation lines. But this formation had been shattered, and the walls had crumbled. Within the city was a majestic imperial palace. Once home to nobles and royalty, it was now deserted, with only ghosts prowling its halls.
This was the capital of the largest human country in the Flame Yang Domain, Heaven City.
But this Heaven had become Hell, a land of humans fallen to ghosts.
From this height, one could see countless ghosts moving through the city with order and purpose.
“They seem to be up to something.” Tang Jie immediately noticed something strange.
Yuan Tianzhong praised, “Brother Tang is sharp. These ghosts seemed to be randomly walking around, but if you look closely, you’ll notice that there’s a method to their madness, and you can’t compare them to the usual ignorant ghosts. In addition, we’ve discovered that there are many humans gathered in this city.”
“‘Humans’? Why can’t I see any?”
“They’re all underground. We can’t see them, but we are sure that there are at least one million civilians down below.”
“‘One million’?” Tang Jie was alarmed. “How could there be this many?”
Yuan Tianzhong deeply sighed. “The Nether Domain’s assault was too sudden, and many lands were conquered before there was time to evacuate. Although we’ve done our best to save as many as we could, there are still many who have yet to be saved. But this one million is presumably because the ghosts have gathered all the humans they’ve captured in one place.”
“How can you be sure?” Tang Jie asked.
Yuan Tianzhong didn’t directly answer, only saying, “We lost three Soul Transformation cultivators to get this projection and this information.”
Not even Tang Jie dared to question information that had come at the cost of three Soul Transformation cultivators.
He seriously inspected the scene, and after a while, he finally concluded, “They’re laying down a formation.”
“What kind of formation?” Yuan Tianzhong wasn’t surprised. They had already realized this, which was why they had urgently requested to see Tang Jie.
Alas, Tang Jie shook his head and said, “I can’t tell either. I only know that it’s a formation that can only work based on conditions only possible in the Nether Domain. The exact method and function are unknown to me.”
Everyone sighed.
If even Tang Jie couldn’t tell what formation it was, there was no way they could.
But Tang Jie followed up, “Although I can’t tell, I can make a guess on some related things.”
“Oh?” Everyone turned to Tang Jie.
Fairy Hong Luan urgently said, “Hurry and tell us!”
Tang Jie explained, “The Ghost Kings are using refining formations to obtain Severing Hooks. This is their own business, a competition between them, so in normal circumstances, they would never hand their captives to someone else. But now, all of the humans have been gathered together and stowed away underground. Don’t you find it strange?”
Everyone looked at each other blankly.
Yuan Tianzhong was the first to react, his eyes flashing. “If something’s made the Ghost Kings give up on their competition and hand over their humans, could it be…”
“A Nether Emperor!” Chang Xiran exclaimed.
There was a Nether Emperor in Heaven City!
Everyone realized what Tang Jie was hinting at.
It was probably that Nether Emperor Zoros. He was the one who had caused this Nine Nethers Feast to be much larger than usual. Had he finally lost patience and personally intervened?
Wu Xiuqian snorted, “The Nether Domain has always relied on numbers. One Nether Emperor isn’t enough to scare us.”
Tang Jie nodded. “Hunter Captain Wu is correct that just one Nether Emperor isn’t anything to be afraid of. The problem is that the presence of a Nether Emperor means that the number of ghosts will also greatly increase.”
Tang Jie had lived in the Nether Domain long enough to know how things worked there.
A Nether Emperor was equivalent to Violet Palace, so its personal combat power meant little to a Violet Palace True Lord. But a Nether Emperor could summon countless more subordinates.
The Nether Domain encompassed all the lives of the Stellar Chiliocosm, accepting all the dead, who were at the beck and call of the emperor.
A Nether Emperor could command an army of millions. While large domains like Vast Wilderness might be able to fend one off, a single Nether Emperor was easily capable of obliterating a small domain.
This was why a Nether Emperor was far more powerful than imagined. This power resided not in themselves, but in their title.
Nether Emperor Zoros was the one presiding over this Nine Nethers Feast, and with him there, all the ghosts great and small would gather, and his reason for doing this was worth seriously pondering.
Tang Jie explained the significance, and the others all looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.
In the end, Chang Xiran said, “So what do we do? Are we just going to give up and ignore them?”
Tang Jie immediately rejected that idea. “We naturally can’t give up on it. This Nine Nethers Feast is three times larger than usual, and it has also lasted much longer than usual. The reason rests on this Nether Emperor. If he personally intervenes, he must be looking to carry out some plan. No matter what this plan is, just the fact that it needs a million people shows how vicious it is. Once it succeeds, it will probably cause even more trouble. Whether it’s for the people or for the future of the Flame Yang Domain, we can’t let the Nether Emperor succeed, or else the one trouble next will be us.”
“What sort of trouble?” someone stupidly asked.
“I don’t know.” Tang Jie shook his head. “Perhaps it will increase the length of the invasion by three times, or perhaps it will help a Nether Emperor ascend to Nether God, or it might be to summon several dozen Nether Emperors to assist him…”
Everyone shivered. None of those possibilities was something they could abide, but that didn’t mean they were impossible.
Tang Jie continued, “I don’t know which possibility it is. I just know that if my enemy wants to do something, I can’t go wrong by doing everything I can to ruin their plans.”
Everyone heartily agreed.
Thus, destroying this formation at all costs became their number one priority. Fortunately, though Tang Jie couldn’t identify the formation, he could tell that it needed at least seven days to complete.
“Within seven days, we need to attack Heaven City and destroy the formation at all costs.”
Gazing at that city wrapped in dark fog, Tang Jie said, “After this battle, whether we win or lose, I imagine that the Nine Nethers Feast will come to an end. This is bound to be our final battle with the Nether Domain.
“Life or death, freedom or slavery—it all ends with this battle!”