Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 986: Old Donkey He

The peerless sword intent combined with the Verdant Wood Formation to unleash a terrifying attack that even an Infant Tending True Lord didn't dare to confront.

Li Xiao had no choice but to evade.

By evading, he doomed the Hemos cultivators behind him, the wave of sword energy sweeping through and reaping the lives of several dozen of them.

Su Hongmei rejoiced at her successful strike. With her current cultivation, this one strike should have been her limit, but then she felt a warm current flowing within her body, replenishing her lost energy, so she swung her sword again.

Every time she attacked, the other sword energies would gather around, and Su Hongmei ended up guiding the entire Verdant Wood Formation, unleashing one mountain-cleaving blow after another. Having learned her lesson, she decided to ignore Li Xiao and focus on the other cultivators of the hunting squad. As waves of sword energy rampaged across the heavens, the Hemos tumbled from the sky.

The Hemos quailed at her might and began to withdraw, which allowed Su Hongmei to run rampant. Wherever her sword pointed, nobody dared to contend against it. Suddenly, Su Hongmei began to let out a dazzling pillar of light.

Those with sharp eyes instantly recognized what had happened, shouting in alarm, "Advanced! She advanced! She advanced to Celestial Heart in the middle of battle!"

It was not unheard of to advance in battle, but like the natural treasures spoken of in legend, such things could only be encountered and never sought. Nobody had expected to experience such a thing today.

Su Hongmei didn't expect to advance in the middle of battle. She felt like there was an infinite well of energy in her body that never ran out no matter how much she swung her sword. On the contrary, she only grew stronger and stronger, and she felt like she had ascended to the heavens.

Following the feeling inside her, Su Hongmei cleared her meridians and opened her Spirit Ring. As her Spirit Will expanded, she felt like the world had opened a gate for her.

Raising high her sword, she swung it down, unleashing an even sharper sword intent at Li Xiao.

"Die!"

Li Xiao knew this was trouble, but there was no time to dodge. The sword energy cut through him, cleaving him in two.

But he was at Infant Tending and possessed formidable strength, so he survived and used spell arts to pull his body back together. Just as he was about to cast more spells, his Divine Soul was shaken, and he was no longer able to use the power of the world. An immense will had descended upon him, suppressing all his strength!

This terrifying supreme will stripped Li Xiao of his will to resist, and he felt like an ant gazing up at the high heavens.

Despair!

Endless despair!

At that moment, Li Xiao finally understood what was happening.

An Immortal!

There was a human Immortal intervening from the shadows!

Li Xiao was filled with regret, remorse, and despair. He wanted to shout a warning to his companions, but in the end, he couldn't say a thing.

His strength was fading away, and he couldn't even move a finger. In a flash of light, Su Hongmei swung her sword again. The light once more cleaved into his body, the immense energy contained within instantly obliterating all his life force.

Li Xiao's vision went dark as he plunged into an endless abyss.

Dead in body and soul.

Li Xiao's death caused mass panic among the Hemos and energized the human cultivators.

"Wonderful!" the human cultivators cheered.

That sensation of endless energy still empowered Su Hongmei, and she turned her sword on Old Donkey He. So long as she defeated him, the defeat of the Hemos was certain. Old Donkey He was currently being beaten back by the three human Infant Tending cultivators, and it was only thanks to his Deification cultivation that he was still alive. Presumably, he was in the weakest group of Deification cultivators.

Su Hongmei swung, and Old Donkey He was cut through, unable to dodge. Everyone was delighted to see the blow strike true, but then that donkey suddenly brayed and charged out, spitting a white pearl at Luo Xiangran.

Luo Xiangran paid it no mind, throwing out a scented handkerchief to block it. While this handkerchief was no divine treasure, it was a decent defensive art relic that she considered enough to block the attack from this donkey. But to her surprise, the white pearl simply tore a hole through the handkerchief as if it wasn't there and continued to fly toward her. Grimacing, she immediately thoughtcast a barrier for herself. But the white pearl blasted through the barrier as if it were made of decayed wood, leaving Luo Xiangran aghast. Too late to dodge, she thrust her palms out, and the white pearl pierced through her palms and dug into Luo Xiangran's chest.

Her body swayed and began to give off a frosty energy, after which it exploded into countless shards.

A Violet Palace cultivator had been slain in a single blow.

"What's going on?" the human cultivators said in shock.

The donkey made a very human expression, chuckling as it shook its head. The white pearl flew out from Luo Xiangran's remains and then flew at Mo Wuxin. Having seen what happened to Luo Xiangran, Mo Wuxin used everything he had to defend himself. There was a blinding burst of light, and then Mo Wuxin tumbled from the sky with a yelp. His full-throated defense had been unable to block the entirety of the strike, and he had been heavily injured.

The donkey raised its head and brayed, upon which a rainbow beam shot out from its head toward Wang Zhanshan, and it was clear that it far outmatched him. Thankfully, Su Hongmei, empowered by the formation, was able to intervene, sending a wave of sword energy that slammed into the rainbow beam. But the combined power of a thousand cultivators was not only unable to suppress the rainbow light, the rainbow light was able to strike back, its backlash injuring all of them at once and causing them to weep blood.

A majestic will filled the world!

"Soul Projection! You're at Soul Projection!" Su Hongmei, Wang Zhanshan, and Mo Wuxin all shouted in shock.

They could clearly sense that this immense power was something only a Soul Projection cultivator could possess.

But why was it this donkey that had unleashed this attack?

The disdain and mockery on the old black donkey's face thickened.

As Su Hongmei gazed at the donkey's face, the truth dawned on her, and she blurted out, "Old Donkey He! You're the actual Old Donkey He!"

"Heehaw! Heehaw!" the donkey laughed.

As it laughed, the white-haired elder who Su Hongmei had cleaved in two stood back up. There was no blood coming from his body, which turned out to be practically mummified, the flesh shriveled and the bones hardened. This was clearly a corpse that had been dead for many years.

"Old Donkey He" didn't refer to this old man, but to the donkey behind him.

Old Donkey He originally had the name "He Changsheng", and he had been an ordinary cultivator. But when he suffered a cultivation mishap and was on the verge of death, he happened to spot a donkey passing by. He cultivated a secret soul transfer art, so he attempted to possess the donkey. Miraculously, he succeeded. After overcoming numerous trials, he succeeded in converting from a human to a fiend.

As he continued cultivating, he managed to reach higher heights than he had ever reached as a human, the peak of Violet Palace. As for the old man, that was his original body. After becoming a fiend, he had refined the corpse into a zombie, which he controlled through a secret art. Ignorant outsiders took the old man to be Old Donkey He, not even considering that he could be the donkey. The old man was nothing more than a puppet of flesh and blood, akin to the Mother Cloud combat puppet.

Perhaps because he was once a human, Old Donkey He was rather obsessed with his original body, and through great cost and effort, he managed to bring this flesh puppet to the initial phase of Deification. As a result, his overall strength fell, but perhaps this was the only way Old Donkey He could restore some of his lost humanity.

Since then, for every battle, Old Donkey He would send his original body to go and fight, which reinforced the impression that this puppet was Old Donkey He, merely an average Deification cultivator, hiding that the real deal was at Soul Projection.

A Soul Projection cultivator making a surprise attack was not something an Infant Tending cultivator could handle, which was why one strike had been enough to kill Luo Xiangran and heavily injure Mo Wuxin.

Old Donkey He let out an eerie laugh. "It seems that you lot have some skill."

The humans paled while the Hemos cheered.

At this moment, someone charged out and shouted, "Is Soul Projection that amazing?"

It was Tao Tiande.

After instigating the battle, he had been engaged in the battle with the Hemos. Logically, he should have died, but Tang Jie refused to let him die, controlling him like a puppet around the battlefield.

At the same time, Tang Jie was gathering energy within Tao Tiande, which seethed and churned within him. However, Tang Jie refused to let it dissipate, concentrating more and more energy until he was on the verge of exploding. Whenever he was about to reach his limit, a power would appear that compressed the spiritual energy inside him until it was as small as a needle.

By repeating this cycle, a terrifying amount of energy was gathered within Tao Tiande.

Old Donkey He happened to flex his power at this time, so Tang Jie had Tao Tiande lunge at the donkey.

Tang Jie had long ago recognized the real power of the donkey. And while a Divine Division fiend was nothing to Tang Jie, taking care of him without causing a stir was somewhat troublesome. If he wanted to use the hands of another against the donkey, he would just barely be able to pull it off, but the person he used had barely any chance of surviving.

So Tang Jie had left Tao Tiande alive for this moment.

Under Tang Jie's control, Tao Tiande charged out. Old Donkey He was unaware of the actual situation and took him for a simple Spirit Ring cultivator, so he simply spat out a cloud to sweep him away. To his shock, Tao Tiande scattered the cloud with a powerful blast of energy and then hugged the donkey, crying out, "Let's die together!"

His body erupted with light.

The old donkey finally realized that something was wrong, but it was too late to dodge. Tao Tiande exploded, and spiritual energy engulfed the donkey like tens of thousands of sharp knives.

This was an explosive Tang Jie had personally created, and he could guarantee its power. The donkey screamed as blood erupted from all the countless new holes in his body.

Even so, the old donkey was still alive. After all, he was a Divine Division fiend, and even the weakest Divine Division fiend wasn't that easy to kill. But a moment later, a cold and brilliant wave of sword energy swept toward him. Shamelessly, it was even more powerful than before, more appropriate for a Violet Palace expert than a Spirit Ring cultivator.

Old Donkey He finally couldn't take it anymore…