The Azure Dragon was taken aback. “How did you know?”

Tang Jie replied, “I guessed, but that’s not the only thing I can guess. I also guess that because of you, Lin Xin’s soul is still in this body and has yet to go to the Nether Domain.”

“What about it?” the Azure Dragon asked.

For some reason, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Tang Jie coolly said, “It’s nothing. I just think that it would be better to have a friend I know act as the Azure Dragon rather than you.”

“What?” The Azure Dragon was startled, and then he realized what Tang Jie was saying and roared, “You dare!”

Tang Jie suddenly thrust out his finger, striking that almost-vanished Azure Dragon birthmark.

This touch made the birthmark light up once more.

Tang Jie thrust a clawed hand at Lin Xin’s chest, his fingers glowing with black energy.

The distant Ye Xiao blurted out, “The Soul Migration spell!”

This was a ghost refining art that originated from the Ghost Classic. It was normally to help the newly dead possess someone else. Possession was normally only possible when one reached the Violet Palace Realm, whereupon the Divine Soul could freely leave the body. But the Soul Migration spell allowed someone who lacked the proper cultivation level to perform possession. Of course, the risks were greater. Even a substantialized Divine Soul faced the huge risk of backlash from the original body, let alone an unstrengthened soul. Googl search ovlꜰre.et

But things were different if the corpse had been prepared.

Yes, Tang Jie’s goal was to swap Lin Xin’s and the Azure Dragon’s souls!

Tang Jie had never cultivated this spell in the Rosecloud Domain. It was only in the Verdant Cloud Domain, where the Ghost Dao was not taboo, that he was able to truly grasp this spell, thanks to his conversations with Ye Xiao.

The Azure Dragon’s soul was forced back into the birthmark, and instead, Lin Xin’s face grimaced with pain.

Tang Jie knew that this was a sign that Lin Xin’s soul had regained control over the body, and he used this moment to grab Lin Xin and fly toward the Azure Dragon’s corpse.

Lin Xin’s soul was that of an ordinary person, so it couldn’t be exposed. This meant that he had to take her to the Azure Dragon’s corpse to complete the migration.

“You dare!” the Azure Dragon shouted, but the soul spoke directly this time instead of using Lin Xin’s mouth. His four claws flailed as he shouted, “Junior, you think this holy one would carry on with my resurrection without the slightest preparation? Someone like you dares to suppress this holy one and attempt to swap souls? Seeking death! Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation, activate! Spirits of the Five Elements, I summon you!”

As he roared, an immense power erupted from Lin Xin’s body, pushing Tang Jie back for the moment.

This immense energy lit up the world in a frightening crimson.

And then an enchanting five-colored light appeared in the air.

In this rainbow, five howling figures arrived in quick succession.

Aurora and Feng Wuxiang paled at the sound.

They were familiar with this howl. It was none other than the Archshadow they had encountered on the way here.

The dragon soul had summoned the Archshadow!

This was an order programmed long ago, branded in its foundation from the moment these spirits were born. This was their Fate, and they were powerless to resist!

The Spirits of the Five Elements responded to the Azure Dragon’s call, and through the power of the Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation, they were able to jump through space and appear at his side, surrounding him like bodyguards.

The azure-blue one was the Archshadow. Compared to when Aurora had last seen it, it had clearly grown much stronger, having devoured the Essences of Maternal Waters in the other passages.

There were four other monsters next to the Archshadow: the Spirit of Earth, the Spirit of Fire, the Spirit of Metal, and the Spirit of Wood.

With all Five Elements present, the Azure Dragon laughed and said, “The Immortal Emperor himself personally sowed the seeds of these Elemental Spirits, nurturing them within the Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation. Once an outsider enters, the Spirits of the Five Elements will be awakened and begin to come together, ultimately becoming the complete Spirits of the Five Elements, able to protect this holy one and ensure my smooth survival, after which they can provide their essences to my noble self, allowing me to overcome those innate shackles and overcome that most critical step, allowing me to become a Boundless Gold Immortal! A puny body cultivator like you dares to… eh?”

The Azure Dragon suddenly stopped and turned his head to the Water Spirit, the Earth Spirit, then the Metal Spirit. His heart trembled as he roared, “What’s going on? Why is some missing? Who? Who absorbed my Five Elements primordial energy? Give it back!”

The Azure Dragon seemed furious.

In normal circumstances, when the Azure Dragon awakened, the elements would begin to merge together into larger Elemental Spirits, and in their complete forms, they would be equivalent to a Deification cultivator (the second tier of Violet Palace, following Infant Tending). Five Deification-level monsters was a force basically unbeatable in the Verdant Cloud Domain.

But the Azure Dragon found that the Spirits of the Five Elements were missing primordial energy to varying degrees and were much weaker than they should be, none of them having reached Deification.

Worst of all was that this meant that the Azure Dragon’s dream of using this primordial energy to break his shackles was dead.

The Four Sacred Beasts had been famous in High Antiquity. They were born with powerful abilities, and upon maturity, they would be Supreme True Immortals. In that era of only five realms and fourteen tiers, they were basically gods.

But the world was always changing, and as the puny humans cultivated and grew stronger, they gradually surpassed the Sacred Beasts of High Antiquity. Through their own efforts, they broke through the shackles and pioneered new frontiers. From then on, what should have been the highest realm, True Immortal, for which they were called Supreme, was no longer, replaced by Boundless Gold Immortals and Dao-Proving Saint Immortals.

From that moment, the aloof Sacred Beasts were no longer so beloved by the world, and their status began to fall. The new master of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm was the Court of Myriad Domains, headed by a Saint Immortal, the Immortal Emperor, not these mere True Immortals.

The Azure Dragon tried hard to break through and become a Gold Immortal, but the innate bloodline he was so proud of now became his chains, preventing him from advancing.

For thousands of years, as a Dao Controller of Fate, the proud Azure Dragon could only watch as these human cultivators stood atop his head, speaking to him like they were old friends and calling him a brother. Some of them were even weaker than him, but they used the status of the Immortal Emperor to look down on him. All of this left him fuming.

But as a Controller of Fate, the Azure Dragon was different from others. He still had the chance to change his Fate.

Of course, breaking the shackles of his lineage came at a high price.

Thus, he cautiously played with Fate, and after long waiting, he finally got the moment he was looking for.

For the sake of suppressing Immortal Ji Yao, the Immortal Emperor had agreed to the Azure Dragon’s conditions, personally laying down the Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation and altering the fortune, legacy, and bloodline of the Verdant Cloud Domain. The Azure Dragon used his life to suppress Immortal Ji Yao for ten thousand years, but the formation preserved his soul, allowing him to find a host and wait for the day of his rebirth.

The moment of his rebirth was when the Five Elements primordial energy was done maturing.

At that time, his Azure Dragon body would simply need to absorb this primordial energy, and then his soul would take possession of his body, after which the chances were extremely high that he could overcome the limits of his bloodline and become a Gold Immortal.

But now, someone had absorbed some of the primordial energy. How could the Azure Dragon not be panicked and enraged?

He crazily roared, “Who was it? Who absorbed my Five Elements primordial energy?”

A moment later, the Archshadow hissed at Tang Jie like a snake. It could sense a sliver of Water primordial energy flowing within Tang Jie’s body.

The other four Elemental Spirits also hissed and roared at Tang Jie, each of them sensing power that should have been theirs within him.

“It’s you!” The Azure Dragon understood, glaring at Tang Jie.

This damned human! Not only was he audacious enough to attempt soul swapping, he had even stolen his most precious Five Elements primordial energy!

He cried out, “Kill him! Take back the primordial energy!”

The Spirits of the Five Elements were still powerful, even though they had lost some of the primordial energy. The Archshadow had already been able to fight evenly with Aurora, and it was several times stronger now, and there were five such existences. Any one of them could sweep through everyone present.

This was why the Azure Dragon was so confident.

As the Elemental Spirits were about to charge out, Tang Jie slapped his chest and threw up blood. His body then split into two Tang Jies.

Their hands began to swing through the air, threads of spiritual energy mixing with his blood and weaving together into strange patterns.

As these patterns appeared, the Elemental Spirits yelped in fright and stopped cold.

“This is…” The Azure Dragon was startled. As Tang Jie drew out those enigmatic patterns, the Azure Dragon somehow found them to be familiar.

Tang Jie continued to draw in the air.

He was drawing all the formation patterns he had found in the passages—five different kinds of formation patterns, each stroke brimming with grandeur.

He cultivated the Parting Classic, which involved countless natural treasures, so his own blood could serve as a formation material. And even though this was his first time drawing a formation in the air, he did it all smoothly without the slightest sense of awkwardness.

But there was something strange. The formation lines in the passage had been long and winding like snakes, and each formation pattern had been its own independent existence.

But as Tang Jie drew all of them at once, these formation lines gradually came together into a giant circle, the five formation patterns linking together, each line and node having its own proper place in the circle. Although Tang Jie had never seen this image before, he instinctively felt that this was how the formation diagram should be drawn.

The more he drew, the more brightly the formation shone, and the more terrifying it became to the Five Elemental Spirits.

Tang Jie was completely immersed in drawing the formation, and as he recalled each formation line, he was able to find its proper place in the diagram.

Finally, Tang Jie withdrew his hand, having completed the giant formation diagram with his blood.

From a distance, this diagram appeared like a cultivator, standing upright and tall, a book in one hand and the other held behind their back, their body exuding a majestic aura. Its face was obscured, but one could see that this cultivator was standing on something.

A giant Azure Dragon!

“Immortal Emperor!” the Azure Dragon cried out.

A moment later, that formation made from Tang Jie’s blood erupted with light that made the Elemental Spirits howl in pain.

“The Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation!” the Azure Dragon roared.

He finally recognized this formation. It was none other than the Grand Heaven Five Elements Formation! To be more precise, it was the central control component. Through it, one could use the power of the entire formation, and since the Elemental Spirits had been born from the formation, they could naturally be controlled as well.

The Azure Dragon finally understood what had happened, and he wailed in grief, “Yu Cheng, you tricked me!!!”