Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 835: Metamorphosis

As Yuan Chenfei fell into the abyss, he was full of anger, pain, and despair.

It turned out that all of his convictions had been wrong!

Kindness and chivalry was all fake! Only acting for one's own sake was the truth. The only outcome of being a good person was to be eaten up by others, without even a bone remaining.

Regret and despair filled his chest, and Yuan Chenfei wanted to shout, but he couldn't make a single noise.

Surging black fog rushed at his body, forming a vortex.

Suddenly, something in Yuan Chenfei seemed to awaken, and a red light burst out from his body.

Boom! The demonic tide retreated.

Yuan Chenfei's downward momentum was halted.

He floated in the air, floated in that crevice between the positive and negative planes.

He floated there for some time before the chicken fiend finally flapped his wings and shouted, "What happened? What happened? Somebody, come and save me!"

He stood on Yuan Chenfei's body, looking up at the sky and down at the abyss, so frantic that he was on the verge of tears.

With his cultivation sealed, would he have to spend the rest of his life imprisoned in this place that was neither sky nor earth?

"Save me! Save me!" the chicken fiend shouted.

His shouts truly did manage to stir a reaction.

The chicken fiend saw countless pairs of sinister lights appear on the surrounding walls.

Initially, the chicken fiend didn't realize what they were, but as he looked closer, he realized that these were all the eyes of pitch-black scaly creatures. Black fog radiated from their bodies, and crimson tongues issued from their mouths. Their four clawed feet were attached to the wall, allowing them to traverse it like flat ground, and they were in the middle of gathering.

They looked at the chicken fiend like it was a delicious roast chicken on their dining table.

"It's over," the chicken fiend wailed in despair.

He jumped on Yuan Chenfei's body and shouted, "Get down there! Hurry up!"

He would rather die from falling than being devoured by these creatures.

One of these demonic creatures had already gotten close. It shot out its tongue, which flew at the chicken fiend like an arrow. The chicken fiend ducked to evade and jumped off Yuan Chenfei's body without hesitation.

But as he jumped off, Yuan Chenfei's hand moved.

It grabbed the chicken fiend.

"Eh?" the chicken fiend said in shock.

Yuan Chenfei's eyes opened.

Those eyes made the chicken fiend shudder.

These were terrifying eyes, those of someone who had just crawled out of hell, burning with a desire to kill and slaughter.

Just one glance had the chicken fiend feeling like he had fallen into hell and his soul had left his body.

"So hungry…" a rumbling voice came from Yuan Chenfei's mouth.

The chicken fiend swore that this wasn't Yuan Chenfei's voice.

At this moment, one of the demonic creatures came over, spitting out its rock-piercing tongue.

Yuan Chenfei did nothing except raise his hand, grabbing the tongue and pulling its owner over.

And then…

He opened his mouth and swallowed it down.

The chicken fiend was dumbfounded.

Yuan Chenfei shook his head. "Still hungry."

He looked around.

Those demonic creatures were still emerging from the black fog, gathering around.

Yuan Chenfei shook his head, and then he shook his body, upon which countless spikes made of flesh shot out, just like the tongues of those creatures. Plush! Plush! Plush! Each spike stabbed through one of those creatures and then brought them back to him.

And then those creatures vanished into Yuan Chenfei's body.

The remaining demonic creatures wailed in terror and began to retreat into the black fog.

Yuan Chenfei rumbled, "I still need more."

More flesh spikes shot into the darkness, bringing back more creatures.

In the depths of the Demon Abyss, a shocking extinction event was taking place. In the blink of an eye, all the demonic creatures in this region were devoured.

The only witness, the chicken fiend, was so frightened that he couldn't move.

Yuan Chenfei's gaze paused on the chicken fiend.

The chicken fiend said in a trembling voice, "You, are you Yuan Chenfei?"

"'Yuan Chenfei'?" Yuan Chenfei considered the question, and then he chuckled. "You could say that I am, but you could also say that I'm not. Yuan Chenfei is simply the shell that this old man has been dormant in. After ten thousand years of waiting, the day of awakening has finally come. The Immortal Emperor's calculations were flawless, and all has been prearranged. Under Fate, everything in existence has its meaning. This Demon Abyss exists to awaken me, and as for you…"

He looked at the chicken fiend and laughed. "Your use was to lure over enough food. Heheheheh, every action is preordained!"

"'Imm… Immortal Emperor'… " the chicken fiend stammered out.

"Yes!" Yuan Chenfei proudly replied. "This one is the mount of the Sage Lord of Cosmic Origin, one of the Four Sages under the Immortal Emperor—the Lithos Dragon. On the Immortal Emperor's orders, I lay in slumber for ten thousand years so that I could rise again!"

The chicken fiend was scared silly, his eyes looking around as he flapped his wings. "Then… then I've fulfilled my use, so… so can I go now?"

The Lithos Dragon looked at the chicken fiend and smiled. "Of course."

The chicken fiend was delighted, thinking that he was going to escape, but then the Lithos Dragon closed his hand, squishing the life out of the fiend and throwing him into his mouth.

"Raaaa!" He let out a mighty roar, and his body turned into an extremely long dragon that took to the skies.

"Ten thousand years of slumber was for the sake of a single day. The Myriad Court's return is imminent, the Immortal Realm's emergence nigh. Anyone who refuses to obey will be executed! But before then, this one has something else he must do, which is to properly thank the Herding Yang Sect. Du Tiande, thank you for framing me and having me thrown into the Demon Abyss. As thanks, I will offer you all to my body so that I might recover my strength, hahahaha!"

————————————

Tang Jie flew in the direction Yuan Chenfei had indicated, and after around a day, he saw a massive city.

As he was thinking about flying over, Ice Phoenix abruptly said, "I'm a little tired after flying for a whole day. Let's go down and rest."

Tang Jie glanced at her. He knew that with Ice Phoenix's cultivation, she could fly for three to five days without feeling tired, so such an excuse was obviously fake. But rather than exposing her, after some thought, he agreed.

He still felt ashamed over how he had treated Ice Phoenix, so as long as the conditions were suitable, he would satisfy her requests, even if he was aware that she was up to something.

Moreover, this was his first time in the Vast Wilderness World, and Tang Jie was essentially going in blind.

Taking the time to understand the situation was better.

The three of them landed far off from the city and walked toward it.

As they got closer, they saw that the words "Guanshan City" had been written above the gate.

The city was thronging with people and seemed very lively.

Tang Jie spotted someone who appeared to be a very experienced and erudite scholar, so he went up and asked, "Sir, might I ask what sort of place is this Guanshan City?"

The scholar gave Tang Jie a strange look. "Guanshan City is one of the twenty-six cities under the Daye Prefecture of the country of Xing. How do you not know of it?"

From this, Tang Jie learned that after flying for a day, he hadn't even left the Daye Prefecture, so he couldn't help but grumble about the size of the Vast Wilderness.

He hastily said, "This is my first time here, so I don't know anything. Sir, please instruct me."

He took out a few silver ingots and stuffed them into the scholar's hand.

He didn't normally bring silver with him, and these had been created on the spot.

The scholar was delighted. Putting the silver away, he smiled and said, "There's no problem with asking. This one will tell you everything he knows. It just happens that I am familiar with Guanshan City. We can talk as we walk."

Tang Jie agreed, and the four headed to the city together.

In their talk, Tang Jie gradually learned more about the Vast Wilderness Continent.

The Vast Wilderness Continent was divided into north and south by the Demon Abyss, each half consisting of 36 states.

Each state was overseen by a True Immortal.

Every state had numerous countries, and while the number of countries varied by state, every country had at least one Earth Immortal, so it was said that a place without an Immortal could not be called a country.

The scholar didn't know how many Earth Immortals the Vast Wilderness Continent had in total, but everyone knew the two strongest sects: the south's Heaven's Equal Sect and the north's Stellar Net Gate.

These two sects were the leaders of the south and north respectively, and it was said that they were home to Boundless Gold Immortals.

As for divisions under countries, they were prefectures, cities, and counties. Under the rules established by the two major sects, Soul Projection cultivators could establish prefectures, Deification cultivators could establish cities, and Infant Tending cultivators could establish counties. Those at Celestial Heart or under were not permitted to establish sects, and the best they could do was flaunt their power in towns.

Tang Jie sighed. It appeared that the six Earth Immortals of the Rosecloud Domain could lead small countries at best in the Vast Wilderness Continent. Once Yun Tianlan broke his shackles and reached True Immortal, the entire Rosecloud Domain could be considered a state.

The Primordial Fog had 99 Demon Lords and the Vast Wilderness Continent had 72 True Immortals, so it was no wonder it was said that the Vast Wilderness World was the primary resistance against the Primordial Fog invasion.

After understanding all this, Tang Jie thanked the scholar and bid him farewell.

Guanshan City was huge, comparable to the capital of a country in another domain. The level of prosperity had a "countryside hick" like Tang Jie clicking his tongue in praise.

Yiyi was also very curious about the Vast Wilderness Continent. Whenever she saw something new and fun, she ran over to take a look, asking Tang Jie what it was. Alas, Tang Jie's knowledge was limited, and he mostly wasn't able to answer. Fortunately, the sellers found Yiyi cute and were usually willing to answer her questions, and Tang Jie managed to learn a lot about the local customs as a result.

On this subject, the Vast Wilderness Continent was truly rich in resources, with many spirit plants that didn't exist in the Rosecloud Domain being commonplace here. And there were also many wondrous Immortal birds and beasts he had never seen before.

Tang Jie saw a person selling a pair of Immortal cranes.

These cranes had red heads, could understand human language, and knew how to sing and dance, but they weren't fiends and had simply been born this way. In the Rosecloud Domain, they would have been extremely valuable, but here, they were just being sold on the street like ordinary goods.

"Big Brother, Big Brother, look over there." Yiyi pointed at a two-headed parrot in the distance and pulled Tang Jie over to take a look, and Tang Jie excitedly followed. As they were looking around at all these interesting things, Ice Phoenix blinked her eyes, a cunning gleam within them.