Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Upon walking out from the coffin, the golden-armored Corpse King that Mei Huaping was possessing said in a rumbling voice, “King River Cross stopped me, and I could not see His Majesty the Nether God.”

A Nether Emperor that was wrapped in black energy from which putrid drops of liquid dripped said, “King River Cross, this bastard, is abusing his status as captain of the Nirvana Palace guards to keep the palace on a lockdown and prevent the other ghosts from having an audience. But just him shouldn’t be enough to resist the pressure from an emperor.”

“That’s right!” Another Nether Emperor, a silver-horned bull fiend ghost, sternly said, “King River Cross is only the obstacle in the open. His Majesty the God King has never relied on him, but on that old ghost. Corpse King, did you sense that old scoundrel’s energy?”

The Corpse King shook his head. “The Gold Extinction Nether Emperor? I am far weaker than him, so even if he was nearby, unless he was willing, I would never be able to sense his existence. But while I couldn’t get past King River Cross, I did manage to gather some information.”

“What?” the three Nether Emperors asked in unison.

“The gates of Gold Extinction City are shut, and the Gold Extinction Nether Emperor refuses to come out.”

The three Nether Emperors looked at each other and erupted in laughter.

The Preta Nether Emperor said, “If Gold Extinction isn’t coming out, it must be because he’s gone to protect the Nether God’s palace. In other words, it’s true that His Majesty the God King has fallen into a deep slumber from his heavy injuries.”

“In addition, his trusted subordinate Zoros has yet to return. It’s clear that the God King’s plan failed,” the putrid liquid Nether Emperor said.

All fell silent.

For a Nether Emperor to ascend to Nether God was too difficult, so difficult that many Nether Emperors grew impatient and sought shortcuts.

Killing a Nether God and gaining their essence was a successful shortcut, one unique to the Nether Domain.

Thus, when a Nether God was injured, a path to becoming a Nether God was opened up for many Nether Emperors. It was such a brilliant and dazzling path that countless experts would rush to seize it for themselves.

It was clear that many Nether Emperors were tempted by the prospect of a Nether God that had fallen into slumber from his injuries.

And the first to be tempted were his former subordinates. Even though the Nirvana God King had done his best to keep it a secret, his rather disloyal Nether Emperors had already heard the rumors and come to see things for themselves.

The golden-armored Corpse King’s probe hadn’t been very effective, failing to force out the Gold Extinction Nether Emperor, but he was smarter than expected, using the Nether Emperor’s actions to speculate on what had happened in the palace.

The three Nether Emperors were even more confident that the Nether God was injured.

But they were still uneasy, for none of them could be sure that this wasn’t one of the Nirvana God King’s fishing expeditions.

This was why the bull Nether Emperor’s words received no reply.

The Corpse King’s information wasn’t enough to determine whether this was a trap or not.

A few moments later, the Preta Nether Emperor spoke up. “Even if it’s not a trap, it’ll still be tough with the five of them there. Moreover, we still haven’t determined just how serious the God King’s injuries really are.”

The putrid Nether Emperor added, “This isn’t as big of a problem as you think. Other than Gold Extinction, I don’t believe that those other four would be willing to give up their lives for Nirvana. As for the injuries, so long as they’re real, then they have to be serious, or else Nirvana would never have moved his palace out of the Death Plane. It’s only in this place that his palace can work at full power and hasten his healing process.”

“And what if it’s all a trap?” the bull Nether Emperor asked.

There was another long silence.

After a while, the Preta Nether Emperor said, “Then we will cease to exist.”

“So we have to be careful and find a way to further verify our conjectures,” the putrid Nether Emperor said.

Tang Jie chuckled.

This was a piece of unexpected good news, that there were others besides him looking to take down the Nether God. This gave him room to maneuver, and if he did things properly, he would reap a great profit.

His first priority was to get the three Nether Emperors to confirm that Nirvana was injured, which would make them more confident.

Of course, he couldn’t just tell them. Nothing good would happen if he came out and declared, “It was I who injured your Nether God, so go out there and kill him! Be my cannon fodder!”

Fortunately, Tang Jie already had a plan, and it was perfect for the occasion.

Chuckling to himself, he stealthily departed.

Tang Jie took up residence in Shadowhowl City and quietly waited.

He waited almost an entire month.

Today, as ever, Tang Jie was slumbering in his grave, cultivating while faking death. As he was circulating his energy, he heard Tang Chuan call out, “Father!”

Tang Jie mentally replied, “How did it go?”

“Mission complete.”

Tang Jie chuckled.

He knew that the moment he was waiting for had finally arrived.

Another three days passed.

Shadowhowl City was as peaceful as usual.

The ghost soldiers mechanically stood at the city gate, gazing into the distance.

A giant wave of darkness appeared, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an army of countless ghosts, marching across the wilderness.

After a moment of utter shock, the ghost soldiers finally raised the alarm.

Blaring whistles shrieked, and numerous ghost generals and Ghost Kings flew out. Then there were numerous howls as these high-tier ghosts summoned the lesser ghosts. Countless mindless ghosts crawled out from rivers, coffins, and graves, moving in the direction of their masters’ calls.

Tang Jie also received an order.

This was an order received by all armored corpses. They were to immediately head toward the western side of Shadowhowl City to follow the commands of a gold-armored Corpse King.

Tang Jie feigned acceptance of this order, staggering out of his grave and plodding along like a real armored corpse, joining the rest in moving west.

Many armored corpses had already gathered here, organized into ranks by some high-tier silver-armored corpses. Tang Jie was pretending to be an iron-armored corpse, which was one of the stronger kinds, but because he was still “dumb”, he was still treated like cannon fodder and placed at the very front. Far behind him was the gold-armored Corpse King Mei Huaping was possessing, along with four others.

Only now did Tang Jie see the situation outside the city.

Tens of millions of ghosts were threatening to engulf Shadowhowl City.

In this ghost army were numerous high-tier Ghost Kings, and even a Nether Emperor.

Tang Jie wasn’t surprised, for it was Tang Chuan that had lured this ghost army over.

They belonged to another Nether God, and the only reason they had appeared was to see if the Nirvana God King was really injured or not—a Nether God’s essence wasn’t just useful to Nether Emperors. Other Nether Gods also found it highly attractive.

The arrival of this ghost army signaled the beginning of a Nether Domain siege battle.

The five gold-armored Corpse Kings, representatives of the most tenacious of the ghosts of the Nether Domain, let out a roar, and the armored corpses stomped forward, serving as meat shields for the front lines.

Tang Jie was naturally among them.

As the cannon fodder, the meat shield, the vanguard, he had the duty of fighting at the front until he died. Waiting for him was a storm of ghost spells.

The tough flesh of the armored corpses was as fragile as tofu under these spell arts, but as they collapsed, the troops behind them stomped over their shattered bodies.

The vicious and fearless nature of ghost armies was on full display here. Those with intelligence commanded the battle, while the mindless could only take orders and execute them.

It was a grandiose yet robotic battle, great formations moving here and there, but without any sort of clamor or uproar, the only sounds being the howling of the wind and the explosions of spell arts.

Occasionally, some ghost would let out a shriek signifying that they had advanced, that they had gained enough energy from battle and could grow stronger.

Yes, in battles between ghost armies, it wasn’t strange for soldiers on both sides to seize energy from each other and grow stronger, particularly in a battle as large-scale as this, with such abundant levels of energy.

Ghosts evolving on the Nether Domain battlefield were a common sight.

This was why every ghost that could survive a battle was lucky. Not only did they survive, they gained greater power. Such was the law of nature in the Nether Domain, cruel and heartless, favoring the survivor.

Tang Jie was one of the “lucky” ones.

This clumsy armored corpse “luckily” survived the death charge, joining a minority of the armored corpses in clashing with the enemy vanguard.

It swung its arms and claws with great force, tearing open chest cavities, all the while avoiding various lethal attacks.

For example, when some ghost general blew a fatal gust of wind at it, another armored corpse would somehow barge into the path of the attack. And when some ghost claw sought to tear off its head, this armored corpse would trip and fall, causing the attack to barely miss. Through various coincidences, all the attacks aimed at it inexplicably missed.

Such oddities drew no attention.

The battlefield was constantly changing, and there were too many such coincidences to pay attention to a single ordinary iron-armored corpse.

Thus, while acting as an iron-armored corpse, Tang Jie easily survived, even “luckily” killing ten-some enemies.

When he finally killed a ghost general “by chance”, his body flashed with a silver light.

This glow stood out in the land of black and yellow.

But nobody found it strange.

This was a sign of an iron-armored corpse evolving.

Tang Jie had become a silver-armored corpse general.

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