Chapter 867: Escape and Pursuit (3)
Chapter 867: Escape and Pursuit (3)
Although Tutu's powers weren't impressive overall, when it concerned only speed, there were truly very few people that could keep up with him.
Tutu was frantically flying through the air.
He had already been informed that it was an Earth Immortal chasing them, so he didn't slack in the slightest, moving almost as quickly as the Flame Celestial Sovereign's streak of flame.
But "almost as quickly" meant that he was still a little slower.
Even though it was rather dismaying, Tang Jie had to accept this fact: even Tutu, whose specialty was speed, couldn't escape the Flame Celestial Sovereign.
Though rather than the Flame Celestial Sovereign instantly catching up, Tang Jie could sit on the back of the rabbit and watch that flame draw closer and closer…
Shit!
But all the anger in the world couldn't get Tang Jie out of his current predicament. And he knew that Tutu was doing his best. After all, Tutu had just reached Divine Division, whereas the Flame Celestial Sovereign was a peak Earth Immortal. The gap between them was just too big.
Yes, peak Earth Immortal.
Tang Jie's attempts to stop him hadn't been a complete waste, allowing him to find out just how powerful the Flame Celestial Sovereign really was. As he had interacted with Yun Tianlan for a long period of time, Tang Jie was no stranger to this level of power. It was just that only interacting with Yun Tianlan meant he lacked reference points. This journey to the Court of Myriad Domains had let him see many more Immortal Platform experts and broadened his horizons, increasing his understanding of the Immortal Platform Realm even more. Just now, he had attacked several more times to continue his observations and confirm how strong this old bastard really was.
He had confirmed that this guy was on the verge of a breakthrough, already at the peak of Earth Immortal.
Just from how he was still giving chase, Tang Jie could tell that his reserves of Immortal energy were still healthy.
Still, the explosions of the three divine treasures had left this peak Earth Immortal with a disheveled appearance. It had failed to lessen the hatred in his eyes, and he pursued Tang Jie like he was an obsessed lover.
"Clingy bastard, you want to play? Fine, I'll play with you!" Standing on Tutu's back and staring at that approaching flame, Tang Jie suddenly stopped panicking.
He took out an item, holding it in hand as he waited for the Flame Celestial Sovereign to draw closer.
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Once they were close enough, Tang Jie threw it.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign howled, and his barrier of Immortal energy pulsed. Fwoom! That item exploded in a flame of light, but when it struck the barrier, it didn't even cause a ripple.
Startled, the Flame Celestial Sovereign realized that Tang Jie had only thrown an art relic.
This bastard had tricked him again!
But this sort of deception was useless. To save Immortal energy, the Flame Celestial Sovereign removed his barrier and continued the chase, but at this moment, several punches came flying out of the distance.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign hadn't expected this move from Tang Jie, and he took on the full force of the attack. Even though his Immortal body was tough, he still couldn't match that of a body cultivator and was sent tumbling backward.
"Tang Jie, you scoundrel!" the Flame Celestial Sovereign roared in anger.
Drawing back his fist, Tang Jie muttered, "It's been a while since someone made me act like a scoundrel."
Yes.
Ever since he had reached Violet Palace, his opponents had been few, and he had always been able to fight openly and honestly. It had been a long time since Tang Jie had had to be this lowly, so much so that people had forgotten that Tang Jie had gotten this far thanks to his schemes, plots, and tactics!
Fighting with you?
I'm no match.
But I can use all kinds of methods to weaken you, exhaust you, wear you out, numb you, until your edge is finally worn away! Then, we can fight to the death!
This was why Tang Jie hadn't used Reflections of Floating Life.
He wanted to fight against the Flame Celestial Sovereign and create the miracle of a Soul Projection cultivator beating an Immortal Platform cultivator.
In the past, no Soul Transformation cultivator had ever defeated a Violet Palace cultivator, but at least people had tried.
A Soul Projection cultivator beating an Immortal Platform cultivator was simply unimaginable. A normal Soul Projection cultivator wouldn't even be able to stand straight in front of an Earth Immortal, let alone fight them.
The realm separating them was an absolute wall that had existed for eons. Nobody could cross it!
But today, Tang Jie wanted to create this new miracle.
Of course, this miracle would not be established on fair combat.
Tang Jie wasn't arrogant enough to think that he could defeat an Earth Immortal in a fair duel, and he was also far from his peak form. He had just entered Soul Projection, and his body cultivator self was still in the middle phase of the Immortal Spirit Body. When he had defeated Jewel, both of his selves had been at Deification. Thus, to defeat an Immortal Platform expert, he had to be at peak Soul Projection and peak Immortal Spirit.
But just killing him didn't require as much.
He just needed to constantly wear down and weaken his opponent.
First pull your opponent down to your level, and then beat him with experience!
This was Tang Jie's plan.
After pushing back the Flame Celestial Sovereign, Tang Jie conjured up the Nine Heavens Calamity Blades.
Tang Jie seemed to want to reuse the strategy he had employed against the Wailing Baby.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign didn't know that Tang Jie was treating him like a fiend and trying to do some kiting, but he was also no Wailing Baby. The same methods weren't as effective on him. With a cold laugh, he said, "So even a firefly can give off a little light."
With a snap of his fingers, a sea of fire emerged, meeting that rain of blades in a fierce collision.
There was no doubt that Tang Jie suffered a terrible defeat.
The sea of flames sought to burn away the heavens themselves, obliterating the blades before rushing toward Tang Jie.
An ethereal giant appeared behind Tang Jie, extending a hand to suppress the sea of flames—the Heavenly King Mara Incantation! This spell art that had once cost so much energy to cast was now nothing but a simple trick to Tang Jie, but it was a hundred times more powerful. With a sweep of this giant's arms, the sea of flames was pushed back.
In the past, the Flame Celestial Sovereign would have just needed to add a little extra energy to have the sea of flames roaring back to crush his opponent.
But they were now both moving at high speeds, so such opportunities were very brief. The ethereal giant only needed to push back the sea of fire for a moment so that Tutu could whisk Tang Jie away.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign turned into a fiery streak of light to give chase, but he was welcomed by another round of Nine Heavens Calamity Blades, and the same scene replayed itself.
The two fought and ran like this for a while, and the Flame Celestial Sovereign found that he actually couldn't do much to Tang Jie.
This was mostly because the rabbit was too fast, preventing him from attacking Tang Jie normally, with their clashes lasting for only a second before they broke away from each other. While Soul Projection cultivators were much weaker than Immortal Platform cultivators, they could still block one or two attacks. In addition, Tang Jie had grown accustomed to the pressure of Immortals through Yun Tianlan, so his mind couldn't be shaken.
As a result, while the Flame Celestial Sovereign could always beat down Tang Jie, the rabbit would always run fast enough that he couldn't exploit his advantage.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign actually had his own mount, but mounts normally had two functions: transportation and speed. If the mount wasn't as fast as the master, then its only use was to serve as a means of transport over long distances. It had basically no purpose in battle.
This was the case with the Flame Celestial Sovereign's mount. Although it wasn't exactly slow, it certainly wasn't as fast as Tutu, which meant that it was better to not use it.
The sight of Tang Jie being able to mess around with him thanks to his mount made the Flame Celestial Sovereign even more furious.
"Kid, you really think I can't do anything to you?" The Flame Celestial Sovereign took in a deep breath, sucking up his sea of flames. The Flame Celestial Sovereign grew larger and larger, eventually transforming into a giant that majestically towered over the world.
Looking at the fleeing Tang Jie, the Flame Celestial Sovereign said in a rumbling voice, "Evil creature, there's no escape!"
He raised a foot and stomped at Tang Jie.
This single step covered the world, seemingly ignoring all distance to appear directly over Tang Jie's head. As that massive mountain-sized foot descended on him, Tang Jie's eyes gleamed. "You think… you're the only one who knows how to turn big?"
He threw his head back and roared, raising his arms.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As he grew two heads and four arms, his body turned into that of a giant. Though it wasn't as imposing as the Flame Celestial Sovereign, it was also much more real and solid. Tang Jie raised all six of his arms upward, pressing up against the bottom of the Flame Celestial Sovereign's giant foot, the impact unleashing a powerful shockwave.
Tutu was unable to endure this terrifying force, jumping away with a scream. Tang Jie plummeted from the sky, his feet slamming into the ground. The impact had the earth rippling like it was the ocean, the dirt becoming soft and pliable.
Tang Jie's body sunk into the ground, but his arms remained held high, pushing back against the Flame Celestial Sovereign's foot and leaving its owner stunned.
Tang Jie pushed upward, throwing the Flame Celestial Sovereign into the air. Tang Jie used this moment to leap up, his six arms blurring as they drew out countless fantastical images as if he was the Thousand-Hand Guanyin. Ultimately, all of those countless illusory arms turned into a single arm.
One right arm!
And then it punched.
"Reincarnation Strike!"
As this berserk torrent of strength slammed into the Flame Celestial Sovereign, he unexpectedly found that he couldn't block it!
He, a mighty Earth Immortal, couldn't block a punch from this kid!
The heavenly wrath in this punch shattered his barrier of Immortal energy, blasted apart his Immortal body.
The Flame Celestial Sovereign's enormous body of flames shattered, sending a flame-colored plume of smoke rising into the air and waves of flame sweeping over the earth.
Tang Jie himself was dumbfounded by this sight.
He knew that the Reincarnation Strike was powerful, and he had also infused it with the power of the War God Mantra, but he still hadn't expected this strike to be that powerful.
After a momentary daze, he began to crazily laugh.
He had shattered an Immortal Platform body with just one punch!
What level of power was this!?
At that moment, Tang Jie got something, and he seemed to rediscover the meaning of body cultivation.
This one punch was enough to show that body cultivation wasn't trash!
The light of hope shone in his eyes.
But a moment later, the waves of flame came sweeping back, and Tang Jie saw the Flame Celestial Sovereign striding out of the destruction.
His face seethed with fury, and his eyes shone with disbelief.
An Immortal was undying and everlasting!
At this moment, Tang Jie finally understood the meaning of these words.
To reach Violet Palace was to cast with one's thoughts, which increased one's offensive capabilities by tens of thousands of times. To reach Immortal Platform was to be undying and everlasting, which increased one's survivability by tens of thousands of times!
This was the gap!
This was the difference!
"A good punch!" the Flame Celestial Sovereign said in a rare expression of praise.
No matter what, a punch that could destroy an Immortal was worthy of praise.
But then he scowled once more. "Alas, such a fine punch will cease to exist from this world.
"Now die!"
A giant hand of flames descended.