The Flame Celestial Sovereign was about to go crazy from rage.
He was an Earth Immortal who had entered the Dao of Fire and could be considered a Godhead, a top-class figure no matter where he went in the cosmos.
But when facing Tang Jie, he was forced to choose between death and slavery. Never in his cultivation career had he encountered something like this.
Yet there was no ignoring the suffocating pressure exuded by Tang Jie’s strength.
This was Tang Jie with a greater Immortal Spirit Body, his body cultivation serving as his foundation while his Dao Arts served as attacks. In this way, both offense and defense involved the Daos, his every move unleashing an overwhelming tsunami.
Tang Jie was getting into the rhythm of the battle now, his vertical eye opening as the Sovereign Blade sliced at the Flame Celestial Sovereign once more.
He was using all his strength now and holding nothing back, and as a result, sword energy engulfed the heavens.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign could only muster his Origin Flames to defend.
While the Origin Flame wasn’t weak, Tang Jie had entered the Dao of Five Elements. He may not have been as specialized as the Flame Celestial Sovereign, but his time immersed in the Dao had endowed him with a level of resistance against the Origin Flame, so it couldn’t do much to him.
He spread out his arms, and his Origin Flame transformed into a giant dragon and charged at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie chuckled. “Immortal Sovereign, you seem to be out of moves.”
He simply reached out, upon which the dragon fell into his hand, flopping about like a fish out of water and helpless to escape.
Tang Jie then sent a wave of sword energy at the Flame Celestial Sovereign, who roared and unleashed all of his Immortal energy. The fire dragon grew explosively in size, breaking free of Tang Jie’s palm and immediately snapping its jaws at him.
“Useless.” Tang Jie shook his head and thrust out a finger, striking a certain point on the fire dragon’s body.
As he grew more and more proficient with his Celestial Eye, he could see the weaknesses not only of a person, but also of spell arts. All things in the world had their means of functioning, and everything that existed had a weak point that could be used to destroy it.
Tang Jie couldn’t do this before, but now, even the flaws of Immortal arts were bared to him.
With one strike of his finger, the fire dragon was destabilized, its power cut down by more than half. However, the Flame Celestial Sovereign was not thwarted so easily, the dragon still ramming into Tang Jie. Alas, it rammed into the Infinite Palace instead. The Fire Dao clashed with the Five Elements Great Dao, one with quality and the other with quantity, neither able to come out ahead. In the middle of their blinding clash of light, Tang Jie blinked behind the Flame Celestial Sovereign and swung the Sovereign Blade at his neck. “Immortal Sovereign, you’ve gotten old.”
His head went flying, but the Flame Celestial Sovereign wasn’t willing to give up this life and reached out to snatch it back.
Tang Jie swung again, chopping off the arm, upon which the Flame Celestial Sovereign attempted to turn into flame. But Tang Jie simply turned the Sovereign Blade into a giant umbrella with the flick of his hand, sticking it right into the flame and letting it unfurl, thus breaking the flame in two. Unable to bring his body back together, the Flame Celestial Sovereign left his flame state, upon which the umbrella turned back into a saber, this time imbued with a black flame. Tang Jie chopped it at the remaining half of the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s body, and the power of Destruction of the Ten Extinctions Blade obliterated it. The remaining half was unable to live on its own and swiftly dissipated.
Another death.
When the Flame Celestial Sovereign was reborn, he immediately shouted, “Fifteen hundred years! I agree!”
But Tang Jie casually replied, “It’s two thousand years.”
“What?” The Flame Celestial Sovereign shivered. “Why did it increase by an extra five hundred?”
Tang Jie explained, “The power of Destruction obliterates all life, and this kill consumed enough Immortal energy to have revived you twice, which you must know yourself. Also, you used up so much energy that you don’t even have ten lives. You must have used up at least half of it, right? Thus, if you want to be my slave, you need to hand over your Divine Soul Origin as well.”
The Flame Celestial Sovereign almost threw up blood.
It seemed from Tang Jie’s tone that he would have to practically beg to be his slave.
To be honest, even if the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s Returned Remnants nourished the Yellow Court World, it wouldn’t compare to the benefits that came from an Earth Immortal slave. After all, nourishing a world was simply increasing a world’s abilities while an Earth Immortal subordinate was a real manifestation of power. Ṙ
It was just that Tang Jie was at a crucial point of his ascension to Immortal Platform, and nothing was more important than that, so he was willing to take even a 1% greater chance of success. He was attempting an unprecedented Heaven–Man Union region, three times larger than the standard, and this required that he establish his Dao in the Yellow Court. Thus, every Earth Immortal was an important resource.
This was why he really didn’t care for the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s servitude, just like he had rarely collected fiends in the Myriad Immortals Cauldron. His desire to advance was just that much stronger.
This was also why Tang Jie was raising the price as the Flame Celestial Sovereign died, not caring at all if the Flame Celestial Sovereign hesitated or refused, even hoping for it.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign had finally realized this. As Tang Jie gained better control of the situation, his desire for a dead sovereign over a living sovereign became more apparent.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign blurted, “I agree! I agree! I’ll hand over my Divine Soul Origin and be your slave for two thousand years!”
Tang Jie had just used Nearby Horizon to reach his foe, which would have been followed by Law Speaking to paralyze his foe, a Split-Second Youth to slow his flow of time, and then a Skyrend Swordfall to cut the slowed Flame Celestial Sovereign into ten thousand pieces. Finally, he would use the power of Destruction to finish the job.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign’s surrender ended up throwing his plans into disarray. He failed to voice his Law Speaking, which caused him to force back the energy he was about to unleash. He needed a moment to calm back down, after which he asked, “You agree?”
“Yes, I agree, I surrender!” the Flame Celestial Sovereign helplessly said. In a flash of light, his Divine Soul appeared behind him, upon which the Flame Celestial Sovereign reached behind him, tore off a chunk of his soul, and handed it to Tang Jie.
Tang Jie hadn’t expected this old man to concede so swiftly, and he was at a loss for words. Rather than pride, there was only displeasure, as if he was saying, “How could you agree? How could you surrender? How could you accept conditions like these? You’re an Immortal Platform expert, for heaven’s sake, a supreme Titan! What about your dignity, your resolve to face death…” and so on.
In short, Tang Jie wasn’t elated at all to take on such a powerful slave, so much so that the Flame Celestial Sovereign actually had to stuff his Divine Soul Origin into Tang Jie’s hand. He then bowed and said, “Although I am an Earth Immortal, undying and everlasting, it is precisely because I am undying that I value my life. To be a slave is better than death. Master’s Dao Arts are far more profound than mine, so it is only natural that I take you as my master.”
This matter seemed comical, but the Flame Celestial Sovereign wasn’t joking in the slightest. Tang Jie needed some time for his mind to process what had just happened.
What was done was done, and Tang Jie couldn’t bring himself to go back on his word, so he put away the Divine Soul Origin. With it, Tang Jie controlled the Flame Celestial Sovereign’s life and could kill him with a single thought.
Although he was still rather sore that he couldn’t turn the Flame Celestial Sovereign into fertilizer, Tang Jie had ultimately chosen to accept this reality. While there were few Earth Immortal slaves in the universe, they weren’t completely unheard of. But Tang Jie was perhaps the only one who was so miserable about it.
With the Flame Celestial Sovereign now his slave, Tang Jie said, “Go and help Yiyi and the others take down Mou Siming. I’ll go and deal with Flowing Wind.”
He immediately began to fly toward Flowing Wind.