With the Mother Cloud combat puppet settled, Tang Jie prepared to leave. Suddenly, he remembered something and turned to the body of Reverend Five Origins.
Although its owner had been dead for many years, it still seemed to be alive. But there was no spirit in the body, presumably having dissipated over the eons.
Tang Jie bowed to the corpse three times and said, “This lowly one, Tang Jie, was fortunate enough to enter your Immortal estate and obtain Senior’s legacy. I know to repay kindness shown to me, so I will bury Senior so that you may rest undisturbed.”
He lightly pressed a hand down, creating a hole next to the stone bed.
Tang Jie came forward and picked up the corpse, intending to place it in the hole.
At this moment, a bang came from outside. Tang Jie turned his head in shock and found that there was something outside—the ice dragon that had escaped from the jungle chess board!
As the estate was closed, the ice dragon had managed to escape Tang Jie but not escape the estate. It had ended up in the formation and found its way to this cave. Seeing this, Tang Jie put down the body and walked over to the ice dragon.
The ice dragon’s original size was enormous, but it had been shrunk down by the Miniaturization Formation such that it was only slightly bigger than Tang Jie. Strength-wise, it was now much weaker, no match for Tang Jie at all. As such, Tang Jie was able to just reach out and seize the ice dragon.
The ice dragon writhed in his grip, but it was impossible to overcome Tang Jie’s divine strength. Mighty blasts of frost spewed out of its mouth, but alas, because of the Miniaturization Formation, its effects were more like a cool breeze on a summer day.
After a while, Tang Jie released the ice dragon and had the Myriad Immortals Cauldron suppress it. Meanwhile, he took out the Eternity Sarcophagus from his Divine Palace. In the sarcophagus lay a woman: Lin Xin’s body holding the Azure Dragon.
As Tang Jie opened the Eternity Sarcophagus, “Lin Xin” opened her eyes and looked at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie said, “Azure Dragon, you’ve been imprisoned in the sarcophagus for more than three hundred years. Although one day in the sarcophagus is equivalent to one year outside, those three hundred years must not have been very enjoyable for you, right?”
The Azure Dragon grunted, “Kid, just go ahead and say whatever you want to say.”
“It’s nothing. I just feel like I can release you now.”
“‘Release me’?” The Azure Dragon was startled, and then it laughed. “Kid, don’t try that on me. When did you ever become so kind?”
“I’m not being kind, of course. But if you can agree to serve me, I will let you out.”
The Azure Dragon laughed. “When I was in the Basking Moon Sect, I said so much to plead for my freedom, even professing my willingness to be a servant, but you still weren’t willing to give me my freedom. Why the change of heart? You think I’m a fool?”
Tang Jie replied, “I didn’t release you back then because your half-step Gold Immortal Divine Soul could have quickly boosted this body to the point where you could contend against my sect’s ancestor. With no one to restrain you, you would be a source of endless problems.”
“But didn’t Yun Tianlan become a True Immortal? Without my original body, the highest I could reach after starting over is Earth Immortal. The Basking Moon Sect had nothing to fear.”
“There are still concerns,” Tang Jie answered. “An Earth Immortal with a grudge, even when restrained by the ancestor, has to be regarded with caution. What if we drop our guard for a moment and let you go crazy? You could destroy the Zephyr Mountains with just a few palm strikes, and even if our ancestor kills you afterward, will that undo the damage done?”
“Then why do you dare to release me now?”
“Because you’re not in the Rosecloud Domain right now.” Tang Jie smiled. “I don’t have the right to put the lives of the entire sect at risk, but I can put my own life at risk.”
The Azure Dragon was delighted. “Great, great! So long as you release me, I can do whatever you say.”
Back in the Basking Moon Sect, the Azure Dragon had begged Yun Tianlan numerous times for its freedom, but Yun Tianlan had feared that it would rebel and had to consider the lives of his sect members. Just as Tang Jie said, an individual of this level with a grudge could flatten a mountain with a single slap. Yun Tianlan would never take this risk.
Tang Jie was willing to release it now firstly because they weren’t in the Rosecloud Domain, and secondly because he no longer feared Immortal Platform experts. Only when he was this strong could he control an existence like the Azure Dragon without fear of being bitten back. Finally, he had a need for the Azure Dragon at this time.
Tang Jie lightly said, “If you want your freedom, there are some things you need to understand. Firstly, I am your master, so you need to listen to my orders. If you don’t agree to this, I won’t try to force you, and you can just stay in this coffin.”
“I’m willing, of course, of course!” The Azure Dragon had already been willing to sell itself several hundred years ago, so it naturally agreed.
“Your word alone won’t suffice. I need your sincerity.”
“Naturally,” the Azure Dragon quickly replied. “My young friend, you may plant a seal on me.”
Tang Jie chuckled. “Glad to see you know where you stand. If that’s the case, I want the Immortal Shackling Stamp.”
“‘The Immortal Shackling Stamp’?”
This was a High Antiquity sealing art. When this seal was applied, the target would be able to go around as usual, but once the stamp was activated, it would leave the target in so much pain that they would wish for death. Yun Tianlan had brought it up in his conversations before, which was why Tang Jie knew about it.
But to be honest, this sealing art primarily affected the physical body and had limited effect on the Divine Soul. The Azure Dragon was currently strong in Divine Soul and not physical body, so sealing arts like the Godseal Hand or Heavenly Execution Stamp would be more effective.
But if that was what Tang Jie wanted, the Azure Dragon had no reason to refuse, so it passed the sealing art to him. It didn’t try any tricks with it, as someone of Tang Jie’s level required a high level of deception in order to fool.
Tang Jie performed a few calculations and quickly determined that this was the real thing. He first turned the Sovereign Blade into a small rainbow nail, and then he stabbed the nail into the ice dragon’s body. He then began to apply the Immortal Shackling Stamp to the ice dragon.
The Azure Dragon was mystified by Tang Jie’s actions, asking in both surprise and joy, “You want me to enter this dragon’s body?”
“Isn’t it better to have you change bodies? Moreover, with this ice dragon’s body as your foundation, you still have a chance at reaching True Immortal.”
The ice dragon struggled against the seal, and Tang Jie shouted at the Azure Dragon, “Hurry up and project your Divine Soul!”
With a bang, the Azure Dragon’s Divine Soul left Lin Xin’s body and flew into the ice dragon. As it battled with the ice dragon’s Divine Soul, Tang Jie finished the Immortal Shackling Stamp.
Although Tang Jie could have summoned the ice dragon from the Myriad Immortals Cauldron to have it fight for him, in reality, the vast majority of fiends grew much weaker once they were controlled. Otherwise, the dragon and phoenix wouldn’t have grown so much stronger once the jungle chess board was destroyed. On the other hand, if the Azure Dragon’s soul took control of the ice dragon’s body, its strength would only increase. Moreover, applying the Immortal Shackling Stamp at this time was the safest. After all, a possession battle was extremely dangerous, and even if the Azure Dragon had a True Immortal’s soul, the ice dragon had the home court advantage. Neither of them would have the time to care about Tang Jie. It was also better than using it on that body that the Azure Dragon had gotten several hundred years to grow accustomed to.
A few moments later, the possession battle was over, with the victor unsurprisingly being the Azure Dragon. This wasn’t to say that a True Immortal’s soul was bound to defeat an Earth Immortal’s soul. On the contrary, that advantage wasn’t even enough to counter the ice dragon’s home court advantage. However, Tang Jie had turned the Sovereign Blade into a Soul-Sealing Nail, and then he had used the God-Corroding Finger Art of the Five Gods Faith codex to deal a heavy blow to the ice dragon’s soul.
The Azure Dragon had finally regained its freedom. Looking at its new body, it said in joy, “I’m finally free!”
And then it looked at Tang Jie, its eyes containing a complex mixture of emotions.