Aspiring to the Immortal Path Chapter 1058: Problem Solving

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The blue-faced Ghost King felt like the finger was some primordial behemoth, and he was utterly paralyzed before its intimidating grandeur. A moment later, he was engulfed by this peerless aura…

In the view of other ghosts, the bald youth simply thrust out a finger, upon which the blue-faced Ghost King was pulverized on the spot.

With this one-finger obliteration, Tang Chuan began to exude an even more intimidating aura. He couldn't casually use his abilities for fear of exposing his identity as a Hunter Ghost, but his Emperor aura alone was enough to strike fear in the hearts of countless ghosts. All of them prostrated before this peerless aura, and even the human cultivators on other parts of the battlefield felt his power.

One human cultivator stammered, "Emperor level… Has a Nether Emperor finally entered the fray? I knew it! I knew that this wasn't your normal ghost disaster."

Despair filled his eyes.

Once the Nether Domain invasion hit the Emperor level, the Flame Yang Domain could no longer resist. This was because there were simply too many high-level ghosts in the Nether Domain. So long as the Nether Domain was willing, it could even send large groups of Nether Emperors, which wasn't something the one or two Titans of the Flame Yang Domain could fight against.

The Nether Domain had always relied on sheer numbers to overwhelm its foes. This was true when it came to human cultivators of the Ghost Dao as well as for the Nether Domain itself.

Quantity was their advantage, the endless ghosts creating an ocean that flooded over the vast majority of the world. Even though the humans had cultivators of higher realms, if they couldn't hold the advantage in numbers, they would still be callously engulfed.

Even a Deification True Lord like Flying Swallow, several tiers higher than the Celestial Heart Ghost Kings, had still been drowned under a hundred times her number in foes.

Now that a Nether Emperor had appeared, the thought of hundreds of Nether Emperors following made the human cultivators fall into despair. Even an Earth Immortal couldn't stop this disaster!

But a moment later, that aura in the distance disappeared as if it had never existed, leaving as mysteriously as it had arrived.

At first, they thought the Nether Emperor was coming their way, and oblivion would be coming down on their heads at any moment, but even after a long wait, nothing happened. On the contrary, the ghosts over where the Nether Emperor had appeared seemed to fall into greater disarray.

Everyone was so confused that they even thought that a powerhouse from their side had arrived.

Suddenly, there was an immense explosion.

Thankfully, the human cultivators were far enough from the blast that they suffered no casualties, but they were able to witness a little less than half of the mountain range being instantly flattened, with nothing surviving.

The cultivators stared with jaws agape at the flattened ground before them, the endless army of ghosts having been annihilated. Only the ghosts at the very front were still alive, but they no longer presented a serious threat.

A cultivator came to his senses and shouted, "What are you standing around for? Attack!!!"

The cultivators charged at the ghosts.

This was the first victory the Flame Yang Domain had obtained in its resistance against the Nether Domain. Although it had been a rather mysterious victory, it still raised the morale of humanity.

As for the actual perpetrators of the incident, Tang Jie and his son had already silently departed on their Ghost March Ship.

Seated on his bone throne, Tang Jie listened to Saros's account.

After Tang Jie left, it had followed Tang Jie's orders and led the ghost ship around, gathering ghosts and protecting humans. But such traitorous conduct soon earned them unwelcome attention.

The one that had taken note of them was that blue-faced Ghost King. Fortunately, as the Nether Domain had always been a chaotic place and because the ghost eagle had always claimed personal profit as its justification, the Ghost King had only given them a harsh scolding rather than exterminating them. But he had also forcibly recruited them into his army to do battle against the humans. The Ghost March Ship ended up fighting quite a few battles against the humans in the army of the blue-faced Ghost King, until Tang Jie had finally ended their servitude in these mountains.

"I see. So you're saying that you should have a good idea of the current situation?" Tang Jie said. "Tell me, then: how are things going?"

The ghost eagle replied, "The Flame Yang Domain is in complete retreat. It has already given up on the entire north and is retreating toward the Great Sun Sect."

Tang Jie nodded. "Nothing wrong with trading space for time."

The Yellow Spring passage wasn't permanent, and from a certain perspective, the Nether Domain invasion wasn't much different from the Primordial Fog invasion. They were both external invaders that had to eventually leave. The only real difference was the scale.

This was why trading space for time and conserving one's power was the correct strategy.

This wasn't because the Titans of the Flame Yang Domain were masters of military strategy, but because this was a strategy that had been used for ages, particularly by the weak. Both the invader and the invaded had settled into their respective strategies, and everyone was used to it.

In comparison, the Rosecloud Domain's invasion of the Blood River Domain, threatening to swallow up the other domain whole, was far more merciless.

This was a difference between internal wars and external wars. Internal wars were normally on the ruler level, and the common people were less affected. External invaders were more prone to slaughter and plundering, which threatened the lower classes more than the ruler class.

This difference manifested itself when comparing the domain merger war to the Nether Domain invasion. Yun Tianlan chose to protect the lower classes more in the domain merger war, while the strongest resistance came from the Blood River Lord and company. Meanwhile, in the Flame Yang Domain war, the strongest had yet to intervene while the lower classes had already bled rivers of blood. Although Yuan Tianzhong had his reasons for not intervening, it was also true that this was linked to the nature of the war. Which factor played the greater role was unclear, and probably not even Yuan Tianzhong was sure.

Anyway, trading space for time to deal with the Nether Domain invasion was a common strategy. In addition, the Great Sun Sect was located where the fire veins were the strongest, which had a certain suppressive effect on the ghost fog. Yuan Tianzhong had also laid down a Flame Yang Formation centered on the Great Sun Sect that further halted the intrusion of the ghost fog.

Humans and ghosts battled on the periphery of the black fog.

Although the human cultivators were outnumbered by the ghosts, they had the defensive position, and they would retreat out of the black fog whenever the battle turned against them. Ghosts were greatly weakened when fighting in sunlight, which was why the humans were just barely able to hold on.

"In other words, the war has entered a stalemate, with the Flame Yang Formation playing a decisive role?" Tang Jie asked.

"Yes, the Flame Yang Formation draws on the power of the sun to drive away the ghost fog. Without the protection of the ghost fog, we ghosts are weakened by the sunlight and finding it difficult to advance."

"But you're still advancing, yes?" Tang Jie casually asked.

"Yes!" the ghost eagle answered, bowing its head.

The Flame Yang Formation was powerful, but in the end, it was no match for the power of the Yellow Springs. It could only delay and stall the expansion of the ghost fog until the Yellow Spring geyser finally subsided.

For the Flame Yang Domain, this was never a problem of not being able to defend, only a problem of how many losses they would suffer.

If their luck was bad, the black fog would cover the entire domain, and when the ghosts retreated, there might be no humans left.

Tang Jie raised the jade cup, pouring some wine into it and taking a sip. "Saros, how far do you think the Nether Domain invasion will get?"

Saros hesitated before saying, "Although this Nine Nethers Feast has only Kings in attendance, the scale is larger than normal, so if nothing unexpected happens, all of the Flame Yang Domain will be conquered."

Tang Jie then asked, "If a Violet Palace expert appeared on the human side, would that be enough to turn the tides?"

Saros shook his head.

It didn't say anything, but it was obvious that a single Nether Emperor in Tang Chuan wasn't enough to deal with thousands of King-level ghosts.

Tang Jie softly sighed. Indeed, even killing more than a hundred Ghost Kings and advancing Little Three to Nether Emperor was still not enough to push back the ghost tide.

He couldn't help but glance at Flying Swallow.

After this mighty Deification cultivator had been taken captive, she had been treated like some ordinary ghost and tossed to the side, her aura weak and her complexion haggard.

When she noticed Tang Jie's gaze, she seemed to realize something, and her heart began to wildly beat.

As expected, after Tang Jie had stared at her for quite a while, he said, "You've seen the current situation for yourself."

Flying Swallow took in a deep breath and answered, "Of course, and I understand what you want. As an inheritor of the Ghost Dao, I can enslave ghosts to serve me, and in this sort of war against the Nether Domain, I can maximize my powers. I know that you have also learned the arts of the Ghost Dao, but you can control three Ghost Kings at most, while my limit is two hundred Ghost Kings! Here, I have an endless amount of resources. If you are willing to release me, I will swear a Heavenly Dao Oath to fight to the death to protect humankind."

Tang Jie nodded. "I don't doubt your abilities, nor even your resolve. To be honest, even if you didn't swear an oath, it's impossible for you to become friends with the ghosts. Just as you said, you're an inheritor of the Ghost Dao, and the ghosts of the Nether Domain are a resource for you. If you were given freedom, there's no way you would let them be. You would do the same even if it were only for yourself. But just as you can kill ghosts, you can also kill people. I presume that you no longer have any sort of morals or restraints, no?"

Flying Swallow grimaced.

Tang Jie continued, "Thus, I don't need you to swear an oath to kill something, but to not kill something… I want you to swear on the Heavenly Dao that except when protecting yourself, you cannot kill a single human, and cannot recklessly harm the innocent."

Flying Swallow glared at him, her chest heaving up and down in hesitation. Finally, she said, "Fine, I agree!"

She swore the Heavenly Dao Oath.

At her current strength, she still couldn't easily defy the Heavenly Dao Oath, so this oath resolved this particular problem for Tang Jie.

Her restraints were undone, and she was given her freedom.

Flying Swallow couldn't help but sigh over how quickly she had gone from being a prisoner to being free.

As she cast a complicated gaze at Tang Jie, she suddenly realized something and laughed. "I swore not to take the lives of humans, but I don't have the same restrictions when it comes to ghosts. So if I were to kill all the ghosts on this ship, including your ghost son that just became an Emperor, that wouldn't be breaking the Heavenly Dao Oath, right?"