The battle was over.
The Hemos had retreated in defeat. As the price for defeat, the Hemos had paid in the lives of 328 cultivators, including two Violet Palace cultivators: Li Xiao and Old Donkey He.
The Blood Queen was the only survivor, fleeing after being heavily injured by Liu Nanshan’s Verdant Essence Palm.
But Liu Nanshan wasn’t happy in the slightest—the matter had gotten serious.
Killing a few members of the hunting squad would only incur the revenge of the hunting squad, but the death of two Violet Palace cultivators was enough to start a war between the humans and Hemos.
Worst of all was that he had been the one to instigate it. It was completely unrealistic to use Tang Chong as a scapegoat now—a single Heart Demon cultivator couldn’t bear such a heavy responsibility.
Liu Nanshan could already imagine how the other human cultivators would look at him.
He was a brainless warrior who only had guts and no regard for the overall situation, and so on. Any cultivator who didn’t want to see the extermination of humanity would pile the slander on him, while he himself had nowhere to vent.
How had things gotten to this point?
This was all that Tang Chong’s fault!
The thought made Liu Nanshan furious, and he turned and asked, “Where is Tang Chong?”
Su Cang replied, “He disappeared right after the battle started. Hmph, he was talking so much about courage, but when the battle starts, he vanishes completely.”
He spoke in an angry tone, taking Tang Jie for a coward.
Liu Nanshan was stunned.
Su Hongmei was walking over at this time and happened to hear her brother’s words. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “Who said Big Brother Tang vanished? In the battle earlier, I felt his energy in the area. And those Hemos! Brother, didn’t you notice how they were suppressed in the middle of battle? Wasn’t this exactly what Big Brother Tang did before? I’m sure he was always around.”
“Then where did he go?”
Su Hongmei looked around but failed to find Tang Jie.
At this moment, a cultivator came over and said to Liu Nanshan, “Alliance Lord, a senior called Tang Chong asked me to convey a message to you.”
“‘Tang Chong’?” Liu Nanshan said in surprise, while the Su siblings rejoiced.
“What message?” Liu Nanshan asked, vaguely suspecting that it wasn’t anything good.
The cultivator replied, “Tang Chong said that now that the Hemos have invaded, humanity should unite against their common foe, and that for the sake of humanity’s longevity, you must desist from Red Leaf’s secret plot. He also said that he was willing to be the vanguard for humanity and slay the Hemos. Thus, he wouldn’t stay long here and hopes that Alliance Lord will not miss him.”
Su Hongmei said in confusion, “What ‘Red Leaf secret plot’?”
But Liu Nanshan was ashen, realizing that Tang Chong had known about the plan they had made yesterday. How had he realized? With his Heart Demon cultivation, it should have been impossible for him to eavesdrop.
While he was shocked and enraged, there was nothing he could do, and he grimly stalked away. Su Cang realized that his master’s mood wasn’t right, so he pulled at his sister so that she wouldn’t ask any questions.
In a sour mood, Su Hongmei sulked, “What a pity! I was going to share my joy of ascending to Celestial Heart with Big Brother Tang, but now he’s gone. Where did he go? How is he going to slay the Hemos? How many can he kill when he’s all alone? I hope he’s careful and doesn’t get himself surrounded.”
Su Hongmei had no idea when she said this how big of a mess Tang Jie was about to get himself in.
Tang Jie really had left, right after leaving behind that message.
But rather than heading toward the Hemos, he flew deeper into human territory.
After flying around five hundred kilometers, Tang Jie reached a mountain range.
It was a vast range of steep-sided mountains that had half their bodies hidden in the clouds. These mountains were shaped like humans, while the clouds were like bands of cloth, so from a distance, it seemed like a woman ascending to the heavens.
These were the Soaring Immortal Mountains.
Tang Jie began to search for the valley Tao Tiande had spoken of, but he found nothing.
Realizing that it had probably been hidden by a secret art or formation, he activated his Celestial Eye.
The vertical eye on the center of his forehead opened, and a ray of divine light scanned his surroundings. As an Earth Immortal, he could see all the land around with a single glance. As expected, in the depths of the mountains, he found a place concealed by a formation. Through the clouds, he could vaguely make out a valley, most likely the one Tao Tiande had spoken of.
Tang Jie laughed and flew toward the valley.
As he got closer, Tang Jie found that not only was this place concealed and sealed off by a formation, it also had many cultivator guards, and he could even detect the energy signature of a Violet Palace cultivator among them.
Of course, Tang Jie didn’t care about some True Lord. Transforming into an eagle, he flew into the valley.
The transformation powers of the Reflections of Floating Life were so formidable that even Immortals found it difficult to see through, so Tang Jie easily infiltrated the valley. As Tao Tiande had described, there were many spirit plants growing here, many of them quite rare. While they were limited in terms of age, they still had some value, at least for Tang Jie.
But he was in no rush to gather them, flying deeper into the valley until he reached a glossy cliff face.
The cliff face was like a shattered mirror, the once-smooth surface now covered in cracks that were thick with the marks of spell arts. Tang Jie identified several hundred, all of them intended to repair the cliff face. This was likely the location Tao Tiande was referring to.
The cliff face had been completely repaired such that there were no obvious weak points. But when he stood in front of the wall, Tang Jie felt an inexplicable pressure. He could sense that there was an existence possessing immense energy behind this cliff face.
However, as the wall was now sealed, Tang Jie had no way of getting in.
He attempted to use an earth movement art to travel through the wall, but the moment he entered, a powerful energy forced him back. For this to happen to an Earth Immortal left Tang Jie stunned.
He closely inspected the surroundings and found that there was another formation laid down in this valley, clearly an Immortal-level formation.
Tang Jie was surprised at this level of defense. This meant that he couldn’t rely purely on his cultivation level to force his way through, which meant that the danger within was most likely more than he had expected.
Since he couldn’t travel through the wall, he had to find the proper entrance.
Tang Jie activated his Celestial Eye and began to look around.
He quickly discovered that there was a thicket of vines nearby, under which was a small cave. At the entrance of the cave, a Soul Transformation expert was keeping watch.
Smiling, Tang Jie transformed into a breeze and entered the cave, completely undetected by that cultivator.
The moment he entered the cave, he felt a heavy energy beginning to burn in his body and spill out.
This was the sensation of the Blueheart Flame burning up his organs.
It was an unremarkable energy at first, but the farther he traveled, the stronger it became, and even as an Earth Immortal, Tang Jie found the power threatening to break free. It was no wonder that Soul Transformation cultivator only dared to keep watch outside.
After traveling for some time, he suddenly heard a rustling sound.
Turning to the sound, he found a fiery red ant crawling over.
The ant was the size of a human head, with a bright red carapace and blade-like mandibles. Sensing something, it raised its feelers toward Tang Jie and threateningly hissed.
Tang Jie was surprised. From the color, appearance, and mandibles, he recognized this as a Bloodscythe Ant of the Blood River Domain, but he had never seen one so big before.
While he was processing this, the ant rushed at him, its mandibles closing with great force. Tang Jie used a Spirit Platform Realm barrier to test the ant, and the barrier broke apart on contact. Tang Jie needed to reinforce the barrier three times before it was finally able to stop the ant.
Seeing as the Bloodscythe Ant was still crazily charging at him like a madman, Tang Jie somewhat understood what had happened to it.
The unique environment of the cave had caused the ant to mutate.
Crushing the ant, Tang Jie continued on his way while feeling out the cave’s environment.
Rather than growing humid, the air became even drier. There was a charred odor to the air, and a strange energy suffused his surroundings.
The light of the Blueheart Flame began to pulse within the cave, flashing with the aura unique to exotic flames.
The path continued down, with the occasional Bloodscythe Ant popping up.
More and more ants appeared as he delved deeper, eventually appearing in large groups that forced Tang Jie to flex his power again and again.
After traveling a thousand meters, he reached the nest, whereupon he slaughtered all the ants and finally brought an end to their assaults. He left one queen ant alive, which he threw into the Yellow Court World to add some variety.
But things did not end here.
After the Bloodscythe Ants, Tang Jie soon encountered a pack of Firebats.
The Firebats were stronger than the ants, and they could fly. They came in a great cloud, spitting out blue flames that engulfed the entirety of the cave. Alas, it was no use against Tang Jie, who easily wiped them out.
After the Firebats were pangolins.
These Blueflame Pangolins, like their predecessors, had been empowered by the special environment of the cave. Their armor was tough, their claws were sharp, and they could even travel through the earth. Their strength approached that of the average Celestial Heart cultivator.
Tang Jie dismantled these pangolins and stowed them away as materials.
Once this was done, obstacles finally stopped appearing, and Tang Jie made his way down the path until it opened up into a vast subterranean world.