Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 874: Seizing the Crown

Once the Heaven's Equal Sect had disappeared into the vortex, the Flame Celestial Sovereign got up and spat on the ground, privately thinking, I hope you all die in the mouth of that fiend!

As someone who had lived for ages and traveled the myriad domains, he would only grovel and let himself be stepped on if he was facing an existence stronger than him, and he certainly wouldn't be happy about it. But this was reality. No matter how old and powerful one was, when facing apex existences, one would have to grovel all the same.

Unbeknownst to the Flame Celestial Sovereign, far off in the distance, a person who had coldly watched all this transpire drew this conclusion.

It was Tang Jie's original body.

He had been watching the Flame Celestial Sovereign all this time, and this experience had left an extremely deep impression.

Cultivating the path of Immortality only had meaning when one reached the apex!

Otherwise, no matter how profound one's cultivation was, one would still be dirt under the foot of another.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign had just finished spitting on the ground when another group flew over. When these cultivators spotted the Flame Celestial Sovereign, they shouted, "Hey, cultivator over there, do you know what's up ahead?"

The Flame Celestial Sovereign was furious. I just ran into the Heaven's Equal Sect, so this can't be the Stellar Net Gate, right? But having already learned his lesson, he didn't act too arrogant, simply shooting them a cold glance before ignoring them.

One of them said, "I'll teach him a lesson."

He threw a net at the Flame Celestial Sovereign.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign angrily thought, I didn't even provoke you. Just when he was about to shoot away, he noticed that the net looked rather familiar. Wasn't this the Godcatcher Net the Stellar Net Gate was so famous for?

Alarmed, he dropped all idea of resistance and let the net catch him.

In truth, resistance would have been hard anyway. The moment the net was thrown, it seemed to cover the entire world, countless secrets woven into its threads and knots. Even if the Flame Celestial Sovereign had used that movement technique of his, he probably would have failed. From a distance, Tang Jie could clearly see that this net had the properties of a formation, seeming like a formation diagram in net form.

The net descended, capturing the Flame Celestial Sovereign.

The cultivator laughed. "You had some spine before, so why did it disappear after you saw the net?"

And then he said in realization, "Right, right, it must be some cultivator from a random corner of the universe who doesn't know the uniform of my Stellar Net Gate, so you ignored us. But when you saw the Godcatcher Net, you figured out who we were, which made you so scared that you didn't dare to move."

That person's guess was right on the mark, and everyone laughed. The Flame Celestial Sovereign could only bow his head in embarrassment.

The Stellar Net Gate group questioned the Flame Celestial Sovereign, and the Flame Celestial Sovereign told them everything.

When they heard that the Heaven's Equal Sect had already gone in, the cultivators of the Stellar Net Gate grunted, "They managed to get in ahead of us."

Tossing the Flame Celestial Sovereign out of the net, they flew into the vortex.

Neither the Heaven's Equal Sect nor the Stellar Net Gate had ever thought about killing the Flame Celestial Sovereign, not because they were merciful, but because they just didn't care. Of course, things might have been different if they knew about his crown. If they were stealing his treasure, they were naturally going to kill the owner.

There was a moment when Tang Jie had wanted to shout.

But in the end, he gave up on the idea.

This was because he wasn't sure that the two sects wouldn't kill him as well. Moreover, he wanted to kill the Flame Celestial Sovereign himself.

Once the Stellar Net Gate had gone into the vortex, the Flame Celestial Sovereign sighed in relief.

At this moment, another person appeared in the distance: a handsome scholar with a horse.

Looking at the vortex, he smiled and nodded. "This should be the place."

He flew toward the vortex.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign knew how to act this time, standing to the side and not daring to disturb him.

But to his surprise, that scholar stopped midway and glanced at the Flame Celestial Sovereign. "You're giving me a very rude look."

Aghast, the Flame Celestial Sovereign was about to withdraw when an immense energy suddenly descended and pushed him to the ground.

The scholar nodded. "That's the right position."

He continued to fly toward the vortex, but before going, he glanced at Tang Jie and smiled, which made Tang Jie's blood run cold. Although that scholar had only given him a glance, it had put Tang Jie under huge pressure. Most terrifying of all was that the scholar clearly wasn't using his full strength.

Without getting serious, he was still able to render an Earth Immortal immobile. Just how strong did he have to be to do this? Tang Jie was in shock.

Meanwhile, the Flame Celestial Sovereign was inwardly cursing at the scholar. He didn't know that this was a demon who acted according to his emotions, and that the Flame Celestial Sovereign had actually gotten off lightly.

Three incidents in a row had heavily damaged the Flame Celestial Sovereign's confidence.

Once that pressure finally disappeared, the Flame Celestial Sovereign stood up, upon which he saw a yellow-robed cultivator flying over.

This man spotted the Flame Celestial Sovereign and flew over. "My fellow Immortal, might I ask where the place up ahead leads to?"

The Flame Celestial Sovereign immediately kneeled and said, "This lowly one pays his respects! Ask me anything, and I will tell anything I know."

He once more explained the situation.

The yellow-robed cultivator curiously said, "Fellow Immortal, is there a need to be so polite when we're just talking? We're both Earth Immortals, so there's no need for all that courtesy."

What?

The Flame Celestial Sovereign stared at him in shock.

The man chuckled and flew upward.

After a momentary daze, when he realized that he had prostrated to an Earth Immortal, he grew so embarrassed that he threw up blood.

He was an Earth Immortal who had traveled the cosmos, but this was a particularly unfortunate moment, these three consecutive humiliations followed by his self-debasement leaving him so agitated that even his Divine Soul was damaged. It wasn't just his heart bleeding at this point, but his soul, divinity, the foundation of his cultivation!

When he threw up this blood, he immediately knew that this was bad news. He needed immediate treatment, or else the damage to his foundation would doom any chances of further advancement.

He quickly sat down.

But right after he sat down, another group arrived.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign had been taught this lesson multiple times, so he quietly meditated, prepared to reply if the other party asked any question, remaining polite while also not being so skittish as to immediately prostrate.

As that group looked over, they all shouted, "He's the one!"

"Go!"

Countless attacks barraged the Flame Celestial Sovereign, causing him to jump up in fright. "Sirs, there must be some mistake. This one has no grudge with you—"

"No mistakes here. You're the one we want to beat up!" a rather crude-looking man shouted, unleashing a massive beam of sword energy infused with the will of a Dao—a sign that his sword was a Dao armament.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign raved, These people are getting more and more excessive. I've already yielded as much as I can, but they still won't let me go! It's only a few Violet Palace experts, yet they dare to act so arrogantly! I might as well kill them and take their treasures. Moreover, for some reason, that Dao armament in their leader's hand seems rather familiar.

As he thought this, he turned his Origin Flame into a giant hand and reached for that weapon.

But the moment he attacked, the elder at the back of the group suddenly reacted.

Raising a white eyebrow, he snorted, "So bold!"

This voice shook the Flame Celestial Sovereign down to his soul.

A True Immortal!

With one shout, he was paralyzed.

At this moment, the wave of sword energy crashed into him, obliterating half of his body. Fortunately, the Flame Celestial Sovereign's Earth Immortal cultivation meant that his body was everlasting, and as his body was destroyed, he was reborn in a burst of flame.

But the attack had done more damage to the Flame Celestial Sovereign's spirit than his body. This intense Dao Will was so familiar that he pointed at it and shouted, "The Yin Yang Division Sword? How? You! You! You!"

He repeated himself three times, unable to say any more.

The man laughed. "Yes, it's the Yin Yang Division Sword! I already said that there was no mistake. You're the one we're looking for, Flame Celestial Sovereign!"

The mention of his name exploded in his ears like a clap of thunder.

The Flame Celestial Sovereign finally realized that these people weren't just passing through.

This group was none other than Yun Tianlan's group. When he sensed that Tang Jie was in danger, they rushed to his rescue and had finally arrived.

Xiao Biehan's Sky-Parting Sword contained the sword spirit of the Yin Yang Division Sword, which was why it felt familiar to the Flame Celestial Sovereign.

After learning that this was the Yin Yang Division Sword, the Flame Celestial Sovereign knew where these people had come from and what a bad situation he was in.

At the same time, Tang Jie's original body flew out from the distance, shouting, "Martial Ancestor, Seniors, be careful! This guy has the Deicide Flame which can burn all things, a crown that provides an impregnable defense, and an extremely fast flame movement art. But the most troublesome thing about him is his thick skin. There's simply no fathoming how shameless and thick-skinned he can be…"

He divulged all of the Flame Celestial Sovereign's secrets as he flew over.

In truth, Tang Jie had informed Yun Tianlan about all these things long before their arrival, and besides, Yun Tianlan was a True Immortal and would never fall for the Flame Celestial Sovereign's tricks. Tang Jie was saying all this mainly to provoke him.

As expected, the Flame Celestial Sovereign could tell from the last few words that Tang Jie had seen everything that transpired, and his shame made him throw up more blood. Realizing that he had once again damaged his foundation, he immediately turned and ran, not daring to linger.

"Hmph, you think you can escape?" Yun Tianlan sneered, reaching for the Flame Celestial Sovereign.

This time, the Flame Celestial Sovereign didn't sit idle. As Yun Tianlan attacked, he put on his crown, its dazzling light protecting him and blocking Yun Tianlan's hand.

With a howl, the Flame Celestial Sovereign disappeared in a streak of flame.

Yun Tianlan angrily growled, "You're not going anywhere!"

He once more grabbed, this time using all of his strength.

The full strength of a True Immortal was truly terrifying.

At that moment, the Flame Celestial Sovereign felt a mountain-toppling strength crashing down on him, and even with his crown, he still felt a vast pressure.

If he put all his power into the crown, the Dao armament would definitely be able to block Yun Tianlan's attack. But this would put them in a stalemate, and he wouldn't be able to escape.

For this reason, the Flame Celestial Sovereign stopped putting energy into the crown, instead extracting some of the crown's energy and using it on himself.

He instantly accelerated to maximum speed, and the crown let out an explosion of light and broke away from the Flame Celestial Sovereign, shooting into the sky. The Flame Celestial Sovereign instantly ran off without looking back.

Stunned, Yun Tianlan instinctively grabbed the crown, but by the time he turned his attention back to the Flame Celestial Sovereign, he was already gone. And he had used some method that prevented even a True Immortal from locking onto his position.

Yun Tianlan ruefully said, "I let him escape."

Tang Jie's original body flew over and smiled. "He can't run. We have the crown, so he'll come back to get it eventually."