Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Now that the dragon and phoenix were free, Tang Jie knew he was in trouble.

These were Void Returning great fiends! If they were allowed to use their full strength, Tang Jie would find it hard to deal with them.

At that moment, Tang Jie shouted, "Miaoran, Vermillion Bird, Yiyi!"

The three of them appeared the moment he called out.

Tang Jie pointed a finger at the Myriad Immortals Cauldron, upon which two rays of dark energy shot out of the cauldron and landed on Xu Miaoran and Yiyi. This was Tang Jie passing control over the Myriad Immortals Cauldron to them. "The two of you, hold down the dragon while the Vermillion Bird and I take down the bird!"

"Understood," the two women replied, taking control of the Myriad Immortals Cauldron and using it to suppress the dragon. One of them alone would have a rather hard time operating the cauldron, so two of them were needed.

Tang Jie and the Vermillion Bird charged at the phoenix.

The phoenix spat a gout of searing flame, its intense heat a true manifestation of a Void Returning fiend's power. Alas, its poor luck meant it had run into its bane.

One of its opponents had an Immortal Spirit Body protected by Immortal energy and had also entered the Dao of Fire, which granted him a strong resistance to fire. The other was born having entered the Dao of Fire and had no fear of it. As a result, they charged right over without a care.

This terrifying power unleashed by the punch made the phoenix shriek. In response, the phoenix slashed a claw at Tang Jie and unleashed a massive cloud of fire, which flowed out of its mouth like lava and flooded over its surroundings.

Even Tang Jie with his tough body and the Contraflame Mantra would have a hard time resisting this lava-like flame.

At this moment, the Vermillion Bird let out a brilliant cry and began to suck in that flame. She then smacked her lips and brightly said, "Delicious! All of the Immortal energy within is great for me. Tang Jie, I want this bird. I might be able to use it to reach Immortality!"

The Vermillion Bird was a peak Divine Division fiend, but had been constantly restricted by the hidden realm and unable to break through. Now that she was free and the restriction had disappeared, she could finally advance, though she hadn't expected the opportunity to come in her first battle.

Of course, actually breaking through wasn't easy, and even devouring a Void Returning fiend bones and all might not be enough. All it did was increase her chances.

Tang Jie sighed. "Fine; it's yours."

The Vermillion Bird angrily said, "What's the sigh for? Are you not willing to give it to me?"

Tang Jie helplessly said, "My dear, I was simply sighing for the Myriad Immortals Cauldron. Because of the Imperial Sky Stamp, I've never had the opportunity to use it. Now that I'm stuck at a threshold and can't really use the Imperial Sky Stamp to grow stronger, I currently don't need to refine fiends, and there just so happen to be fiends here that I can use to fill the Myriad Immortals Cauldron. But now you're asking for one, so I can only lament the fate of this poor cauldron."

The Vermillion Bird smiled. "Mm, that's good."

As they were speaking, Tang Jie had unleashed the eighteen strikes of the Combat Emperor Catalog on the phoenix.

The poor phoenix, though not weak at all, was clearly no match for this pairing. Its powerful flames were suppressed by the Vermillion Bird, and its strength was being countered by the barbaric power of Tang Jie's original body.

Not only that, while the original body barraged the phoenix with punches, Tang Jie had his avatar take the Sovereign Blade and chop at the phoenix's head.

With one slice, the phoenix was beheaded, but it still lived, the head transforming into flames and returning to the body.

Tang Jie didn't find this strange. Not even considering that Void Returning was the equivalent of Earth Immortal for fiends and allowed the reforging of the Immortal body, the phoenix would have been hard to kill regardless. After all, this was a famous undying phoenix, capable of being reborn from the flames.

Unfortunately, the Vermillion Bird countered this ability too, opening up her mouth and consuming the flames of the head before they could return. The phoenix, unable to recover its head, let out a screech, and a gusher of lava erupted from its neck and formed into a new head.

Alas, the moment it grew back, Tang Jie chopped off its head once more, and the Vermillion Bird sucked up the resulting flames. The phoenix grew frantic and attempted to escape, but the original body held it fast. Again and again, it was beheaded, and the Vermillion Bird sucked up its flames in an attempt to break through.

The phoenix wailed and shrieked, finally knowing fear, but it was too late. The two ignored its feelings and continued to torture it to death.

As Tang Jie chopped again and again, its massive body grew smaller and smaller. Gradually, its body grew so unstable that it began to turn into flickering flames.

The Vermillion Bird shouted, "Tang Jie, hurry and let out the Pale Cloud Flame and Deicide Flame!"

Tang Jie didn't know what she was going to do with them, but he still released the two flames.

The Vermillion Bird opened her mouth and consumed the rest of the phoenix together with the Pale Cloud Flame and Deicide Flame.

Her body erupted with crimson light, and flames blazed to life as her body melted away.

Tang Jie knew that this was the Vermillion Bird's rebirth.

The moment of her rebirth was the moment she achieved Void Returning.

This was thanks to the fact that she was the descendant of a Sacred Beast, her bloodline naturally containing a Void Returning foundation. Any other fiend would have encountered just as many problems as Tang Jie.

As the flames burned, a new Vermillion Bird was being born within them. Her body soon formed, bursting with energy and majesty.

"Success?" Tang Jie asked in joy.

"Failure," the Vermillion Bird replied from within the flames. "I only managed to reforge my body. My fiend soul failed to enter Void Returning. I suppose you could call me a half-Immortal."

"Doesn't failure to ascend mean death?" Tang Jie said in surprise.

"Indeed." The Vermillion Bird nodded. "But as the Vermillion Bird, I'm the exception. Any bird that dares to play with fire has a few lives. It's fine if I fail this time. At least I succeeded with half of it, so I can just do the other half next time. No amount of difficulty can knock me down."

"You call that 'difficulty'?" Tang Jie smirked.

She could ascend faster than anyone else, and she could retry if she failed. Any human cultivator that could do this would be over the moon with happiness.

Of course, they had their own restrictions. Once they reached the limits of their bloodlines, any further advancement would be excruciatingly difficult, just like with the Azure Dragon.

At this moment, with a loud roar, the ice dragon knocked aside the Myriad Immortals Cauldron and flew into the distance.

In the end, Xu Miaoran and Yiyi couldn't suppress it, and it had found an opportunity to escape.

Tang Jie was about to give chase when he suddenly stopped.

There was a flash of light in the air, and Tang Jie knew that someone had found the passage and was coming out from the Yellow Court World.