In the Five Origins Estate, Jade Truth was still fighting with Tang Jie, but he was no longer as arrogant as before. On the contrary, his eyes were full of fear.
While the first death could be written off as carelessness and the second death as good luck on his opponent’s part, the third and fourth deaths were rather hard to explain. His mind was somewhat unable to handle what had happened, and he could only shout “How?” over and over. After the fifth and sixth deaths, his mind finally cleared, and he began to reluctantly accept the reality that he couldn’t beat Tang Jie.
A mighty Earth Immortal like him couldn’t beat Tang Jie!
How could this be?
But the following two deaths proved this fact. Even though Jade Truth used all his strength, he still couldn’t prevent his defeat.
Thus, after the seventh and eighth deaths, Jade Truth finally went from astonishment, anger, panic, and disbelief to fear.
The fear of oblivion!
He was well aware of how much Immortal energy he had used in this battle and how many more times he could be reborn.
Only two more times!
Jade Truth no longer wanted to keep fighting. He began to retreat, waving his horsetail whisk and stirring up powerful gales to stop Tang Jie from getting closer. These winds contained mouths that bit and tore, could tear to shreds anything that entered them.
Tang Jie charged forward without a care.
He let the bitter frost blast his face, the blades bite into his body, the flames roast his flesh, the poison seep into his skin, the cold stab into his bones. As the storm tore away at his body, new flesh grew in its place, recovering at least as quickly as an Earth Immortal could. He raised the Sovereign Blade and once more swung it at Jade Truth.
Jade Truth had already experienced the power of the Sovereign Blade and knew that it could ignore defenses. Not daring to take the attack, he retreated as quickly as he could. But no matter how far he fled, if Tang Jie unleashed that waterfall of swords, he would have nowhere to run.
The biggest difference between the Dao of Slaughter and the Dao of Destruction was that the former was the process and the latter was the result. When Slaughter was used, it was like the god of death swinging their scythe. Nobody could avoid it, not even Earth Immortals, so there was no evading Skyrend Swordfall. Although a Slaughter Dao Art didn’t have the same effect of termination as a Destruction Dao Art, bringing death to all who were struck, Tang Jie could deal so much damage to Jade Truth with each use that it ultimately led to Jade Truth’s death.
He chased right after Jade Truth, and no matter how fast Jade Truth was, he couldn’t outrun Nearby Horizon.
As one wave of sword energy after another came down, Jade Truth inwardly groaned and cursed over the fact that Flowing Wind and the others still hadn’t come to support him.
If he were just given a little time to rest, he could rapidly recover the Immortal energy he had used.
So long as there was Immortal energy, an Immortal would not die!
But Tang Jie wasn’t giving him this chance, each attack coming right on the heels of the previous one.
Just a little!
Just a little!
All that awaited him was a savage blow from Tang Jie’s sword that once more turned Jade Truth to dust.
Immortal energy gathered, and Jade Truth was reborn once more. Before Tang Jie could attack, he shouted, “Brother Tang, we can talk about this!”
“Now I’m your brother?” Tang Jie snorted as he once more unleashed Skyrend Swordfall.
Tang Jie knew his condition best, and dealing with an Earth Immortal in prime condition was no easy task. To kill Jade Truth, Tang Jie had used everything he had. The Imperishable Law Robe had limited the usefulness of the Ten Extinctions Blade, so he had been forced to repeatedly use Skyrend Swordfall, which severely depleted his Slaughter Dao power. He was now running very low, and without Skyrend Swordfall, it would be very hard to deal with this Earth Immortal.
Tang Jie was able to annihilate Earth Immortals at Violet Palace thanks to his tough body and numerous Great Dao Arts. These were his foundation, but Dao power was not endless, and the constant fighting had eaten away at this base.
This was why Tang Jie could not let Jade Truth go. Any chance he had to catch his breath meant restored Immortal energy, and if he accumulated enough, it was another chance to be reborn.
Thus, he attacked with all his might, waves of sword energy throwing up rains of blood as they swept over Jade Truth.
“Awooo!” Jade Truth howled. “You go too far! Let my body become the Yellow Springs!”
As he roared and moved his arms, the blood gushing out of his body turned into savage ghosts that lunged at Tang Jie.
“Nothing more than some cheap tricks!” Tang Jie could tell from the fact that Jade Truth was using Ghost Dao spell arts that he was at his limit. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned Little Three, who proceeded to devour the blood ghosts while Tang Jie continued to charge at Jade Truth.
“Hurry up and help me… May the eternal will of the heavens protect my spirit! Heavenly Jadefication!” In panic, Jade Truth slapped the top of his head, and his soul emerged from his body, appearing as a fair-faced boy with red lips. This was Jade Truth’s True God, evolved from his Divine Soul after he had attained Earth Immortal.
The moment the boy opened his eyes, Tang Jie felt the air around him solidify, and he could no longer move. Immense pressure surrounded Tang Jie on all sides, attempting to flatten him. As that boy’s eyes shone with a divine radiance, the entire region started to possess a crystalline luster.
This was Jade Truth’s Supreme Divine Connection, Heavenly Jadefication.
Divine Connections had two meanings. The first was the Divine Will linking to the world to create supreme arts, which was the level of Divine Connection that Tang Jie possessed. But the second was when an Immortal used a True God’s power. This was called a Supreme Divine Connection, also known as an Immortal Art.
Immortal Arts could normally only be used at the level of a True Immortal, but a few powerful Earth Immortals could barely manage it.
Jade Truth had been secretly able to use this Supreme Divine Connection for many years. When it was used, the entire world would become as he envisioned, turned into jade.
Not even Tang Jie could escape, sealed within.
Wiping the blood from his mouth, Jade Truth snarled, “I can’t believe you forced me to use this move! Die!”
He thrust a hand at Tang Jie’s head.
“Big Brother!” Yiyi shouted in alarm.
Flowing Wind heard this shout, and his eyes opened wide. “Over there!”
He pointed at a distant point in space, and a sharp bolt of energy shot through the passage. With his peak Earth Immortal power, only one strike was needed to obliterate Yiyi.
At the same time, Mou Siming spat out that small silver ring, which slammed into his cage and smashed it open. The earth shuddered as Mou Siming broke free and triumphantly crowed, “Juniors, you dared to imprison me? Die!”
His hands formed into hooks and swung at the heads of Xu Miaoran and the Vermillion Bird.