Returning from the Immortal World

The cruel war was already approaching its climax. The continent that was the homeland of the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect had already been smashed into pieces and was drifting within the vast void like debris. About one hundred planets nearby to the continent had become implicated because of the battle between the two sides and exploded in succession.

These starry skies were chaos incarnate right now with a large number of corpses drifting within the void that reeked with the dense stench of blood.

“Kill them!”

A murderous aura shrouded Tang Xiu as his divine sword transformed into a sea of swords and attacked the remnant members of the three elite sects that were putting up a final resistance. Great Emperor Danqing and Zither Demon Jiuyao, especially, received the most care as most of the Supremes focused on exchanging greetings with them. Thus, their injuries which were already pretty grave worsened abysmally.

“Star Cultivation Great Emperor, for the sake of our past friendship, leave out a route of survival for us. I, Zither Demon Jiuyao, promise you that I will never appear in the Immortal World for the rest of my life!” Zither Demon Jiuyao’s face was pale already and he was forced to make such a shocking proclamation after he spewed out a mouthful of blood because of an attack on his back from a 9th-grade immortal artifact.

Tang Xiu narrowed his eyes and a ruthless glimmer flashed through his eyes as he withdrew fifty kilometers instantaneously. He looked at Zither Demon Jiuyao who was on the verge of collapsing icily and sneered. “Past friendship? What a great joke. Why didn’t you recall that past friendship when you attacked me at my weakest moment while I was crossing my tribulation? In the past thousand years, you have massacred a large number of my clansmen along with millions of the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect’s disciples, but did you ever recall this past friendship you just mentioned?”

Zither Demon Jiuyao smiled bitterly. “I thought my heart was callous, but I never thought yours would be even more so than mine. How vexing this is! We should have been more prudent back then, or else that strand of your soul would have never escaped, and the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect would have never had the chance to reverse the odds.”

Tang Xiu’s eyes filled with killing intent as he laughed out loud. “History is written by the victors. Since you forgot our friendship and slew me, you should have prepared for the same to happen to you someday. Hahaha… Didn’t you want to obtain the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis and comprehend a higher-leveled cultivation art to try and pass the trial of divine tribulation? Let me tell you this, I cultivated the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis after reincarnating. Did you know this? The requirement for cultivating the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis is to cripple your cultivation and start anew again. I would have never realized this requirement to cultivate the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis and learned the strongest cultivation art if you hadn’t slain me.”

Zither Demon Jiuyao thundered. “That’s impossible. You must have understood the secret of the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis already and intentionally concealed it from us. How could we ever forgive such a selfish person like you so easily? The reason we slew you back then was because you never considered us as your brothers.”

Tang Xiu snorted coldly. “Zither Demon Jiuyao, do you think I have any need to deceive you at this point in time? Even though I studied the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis for quite a long time back then, I never really figured out the way to cultivate it and didn’t even have a single clue about where to begin. In fact, the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis is the cultivation art of the Demon God, so it conflicts greatly with the immortal spirit force within the bodies of us immortals. So, it’s simply impossible for an immortal to cultivate it. You were the ones who suspected me because of your envy and harbored hatred for it. However, did you forget that I already passed the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis to you both? The two of you also studied it, so why couldn’t you cultivate it in the end?”

Zither Demon Jiuyao turned silent. They had indeed believed that Tang Xiu had intentionally hidden things from them and given them a fake version of the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis, but, after hearing Tang Xiu’s words, he finally realized that Tang Xiu’s words probably rang true.

There was no need for him to continue deceiving them now.

Great Emperor Danqing also felt some regret, but now that things had already come to this, he could only force himself to press on. Thus, he said indifferently, “Star Cultivation Great Emperor, what’s done is done, we can only blame fate since you obtained the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis back then. You’re right about the fact that history is written by victors, so let’s stop with the needless talks. If you wish to kill us, we’ll make sure you pay a bitter price for it.”

Tang Xiu took a deep breath and ordered, “All Supremes of the Great Tang Empire, Vermillion Bird Holy Sect, Four Sacred Palaces, and Missing Star Empire, as well as the Perfected Golden Immortals. I still have one hundred drops of god blood left in my hands. You know its value very well, so, eliminate the enemies before your eyes, and those hundred drops of god blood shall belong to you. Furthermore, all Supremes will obtain a Divinity Attainment Pill each as a reward.”

God blood?

Divinity Attainment Pill?

As the old adage went—Generous rewards often gave rise to heroes.

The Supremes who had obtained god blood from Tang Xiu were able to remain calm, but the other Supremes as well as the nearly two hundred Perfected Golden Immortals revealed excited expressions and attacked with their all in the next moment.

“I… don’t accept this!”

Zither Demon Jiuyao’s injuries had reached an extremely grave state because of the continuous attacks and this had already begun to influence his battle potential. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to escape today. Hence, a decisive expression appeared on his face as he ignored the ten immortal artifacts charging at him and rushed toward the eight foes closest to him.

“Boom!”

A terrifying wave of explosion extended in all directions momentarily. The force behind the detonation of the immortal soul of a late-stage Supreme like him was more dreadful than the concurrent detonation of ten planets.

However, the eight Supremes fished their immortal defensive artifacts in tandem, and by the moment Zither Demon Jiuyao had detonated his soul, they had already formed a multilayered defensive shield. The force of the explosion sent all of them flying while coughing blood and their top-grade artifacts were also destroyed within the explosion.

The eight Supremes fell back thousands of kilometers and barely managed to stop themselves, their bodies riddled with grievous injuries. A small portion of the Perfected Golden Immortals nearby had perished in the explosion while the others had also suffered heavy injuries. Fortunately, the souls of the Perfected Golden Immortals had managed to escape and were received into the Heavenly Abode by Tang Xiu instantly.

Great Emperor Danqing’s heart filled with distress. He gave Tang Xiu a profound look and shouted at him, “Star Cultivation Great Emperor, you know my cultivation art very well. You’re aware that I have two more clones. Even if you kill this emperor today, my clones will continue existing, so you better let us leave unless you want to wait for my clones’ revenge in the future.”

Tang Xiu sneered. “If you surrender, I may actually leave you alive. If not, we will chase you to the ends of the world even if you still have two additional clones. Don’t you worry, we will be able to find you no matter where you go because I believe no one in the Immortal World or the other realms will dare to provide you asylum. More importantly, I have around one hundred drops of god blood in my hands, so how long do you think you will be able to survive if I offer just a single drop of it as a reward for killing you in all the realms?”

“You…”

Great Emperor Danqing’s heart filled with despair as he knew Tang Xiu’s words were right. The enticement of god blood was too hard to ignore even for the Supreme powerhouses and would undoubtedly prompt them to hunt him with their all. He would land in a truly hopeless situation if that were to happen.

“Haahh…”

Great Emperor Danqing took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, “Star Cultivation Great Emperor, you better keep your promise. Tell your men to stand back, we will surrender.”

Tang Xiu raised his hand slightly and the numerous Supremes as well as Perfected Golden Immortals stopped attacking one after the other and withdrew a few kilometers away. However, they still encircled Great Emperor Danqing and his followers to prevent them from escaping.

“Surrender your weapons and items. Also, I need you all to seal your cultivation,” Tang Xiu said deeply.

Great Emperor Danqing remained silent for a long while before nodding bitterly. He severed the link between him and his innate natal immortal artifact, which caused him to spew out a mouthful of blood, and handed it over to the ordinary Immortal that had arrived before him along with his interspatial ring.

The other Perfected Golden Immortals also gave up their final resistance when they saw that even Great Emperor Danqing had surrendered and handed over their innate natal immortal artifacts and their treasures within their interspatial rings.

“Seal your cultivations,” Tang Xiu said deeply.

Great Emperor Danqing and the Perfected Golden Immortals hesitated for a while and sealed their cultivations following a long sigh from Great Emperor Danqing.

Tang Xiu smiled coldly and sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

“What’s going on?”

No matter whether it was Tang Xiu’s subordinates or the members of the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect, Four Sacred Palaces, and Missing Star Empire, all revealed puzzled expressions. Even Great Emperor Danqing and the Perfected Golden Immortals on his side were confused by his actions, utterly clueless about his intentions.

Time fleeted by, and two days had passed by within such an impasse. Supreme Star Soul, the Sect Master of the Vermillion Bird Holy Sect, finally couldn’t help but arrive before Tang Xiu, and ask via voice transmission, “Xiu’er, what are you planning to do?”

Tang Xiu opened his eyes and emotions filled them immediately as he greeted back via voice transmission, “Father, Xiu’er missed you a lot.”

Supreme Star Soul also felt equally emotional, but he was, after all, a sect master, so he knew this wasn’t the time for them father-and-son to catch up. He proceeded to ask, “Your mother and I also missed you a lot. However, you still haven’t explained why you have taken such a weird action.”

Tang Xiu said, “Father, don’t worry. Just wait for a while longer and you’ll know the reason for it. I need to end the future trouble of this battle once and for all.”