Great Emperor Jin Shi, despite his regrets, knew that the Tiangui wouldn't be so easily duped.

After all, having survived from the First Era until now, his instinct for danger was unparalleled; otherwise, he would have perished long ago.

"Wait for the day you leave the Heavenly Court."

Tian Gui Yuan Yin laughed, a bashful scholar's smile on his face, speaking as if this were not a matter of life and death but a rendezvous with an old friend.

Jin Shi pursed her lips.

What she needed now was time.

If she had enough time, she could become the strongest among the Venerate Great Emperors, and perhaps then she could wrestle with the Tiangui.

Yet.

This Power of Incense Fire was not pure.

Jin Shi was merely borrowing Xu Qingfeng's incense veneration, which was neither lasting nor far-reaching and came with unbearable severe backlash.

But as long as she could kill the Tiangui, everything would be worth it.

Since boarding the 'pirate ship' of the Heavenly Court, Jin Shi had no retreat.

"I look forward to that day's arrival."

Jin Shi said lightly before returning to the Incense Fire Hall to resume absorbing the incense.

The Tiangui gazed toward the South Heavenly Gate, and only after a long time did he avert his gaze, murmuring, "Ying Zhu, where do you think Ruan Tang will reach?"

The Ying Zhu Sword looked.

On that long Immortal Path, hundreds and thousands of figures were climbing, yet they hadn't gone far, mostly within the first hundred or two stairs.

Among them was the Quasi-Emperor Realm Nine-headed Lion.

He hadn't gone beyond one hundred and twenty stairs, his lifespan draining quickly, leaving this Quasi-Emperor with despair in his heart.

What is this Immortal Path?

This is clearly a blood-soaked path made up of mountains of corpses!

"Old Nine, do you still want to pursue cultivation in your next life?"

Beside the Nine-headed Lion stood a white-haired old woman, coughing blood constantly with eyes full of bitterness.

She, like the Nine-headed Lion, had reached her limit here and had no strength left to continue further.

The old woman knew.

This was her final resting place.

"Cultivate!"

The Nine-headed Lion gritted his teeth, unwillingly saying, "The Quasi-Emperor's lifespan is only two hundred thousand years, just two hundred thousand years! I want to become an Emperor, suppress an era, and glimpse the path to immortality!"

The white-haired old woman didn't respond.

The Emperor Realm can suppress an era, but it cannot freely roam between heaven and earth, and as for immortality...

Hum.

Is there truly a being that can transcend?

"If there is a next life, I wouldn't want to walk this path again. Being an ordinary person would be so much better."

The old woman mused to herself, a smile of a naive youth appearing in her murky eyes.

If she hadn't stubbornly left her hometown back then, and instead accompanied him for a hundred years and buried together, would the outcome have been better?

It probably would have been better.

But there's no next life.

The white-haired old woman closed her eyes, her body exploded into a blood mist, merging into the White Jade Stairway.

The Nine-headed Lion roared angrily, stubbornly moving forward, pushing himself past three more stairs before likewise turning into dust and vanishing.

Scenes like this continued to unfold, with an increasing number of fallen cultivators.

In less than twenty breaths, aside from Ruan Tang at the very top, all the other cultivators had turned into nourishment for the Immortal Path.

"Still one hundred and twenty stairs left."

Ruan Tang's face had aged beyond recognition, her steps shaky, her body weak as if she could collapse at any moment.

Upon seeing this, Tian Gui Yuan Yin felt relieved, knowing that Ruan Tang wouldn't reach the remaining one hundred and twenty stairs.

"Let's go, back to the Red Sail Star System to properly host our guests."

Tian Gui said calmly, "If I recall correctly, that old Taotie and Xu Qingfeng's partner have also gone."

Two Nine Heavens of the Quasi-Emperor are enough to restore much of Tian Gui's vitality, this would be a grand feast.

Yet, within his Divine Sense Perception, Tian Gui furrowed his brow slightly, unable to sense those two in the Red Sail Star System.

"Did they flee after witnessing Emperor Bahuang's demise?" Ying Zhu Sword hesitated.

"Impossible."

Tian Gui paused near the Immortal Path: "Descendants of Qing Emperor have Emperor Artifacts, which can contend with me to some extent, why would they abandon the Heavenly Court's millions of Heavenly Soldiers and Generals to flee, unless..."

"Unless something more important arose!"

Tian Gui stated word by word: "Immortal Fruit, Xu Qingfeng!"

These five words were said with gritted teeth, rage surging within Yuan Yin.

He couldn't comprehend why these ants would resist, wouldn't it be better to obediently become offerings and collapse alongside the Immortal Domain?

One fool named Xu Qingfeng wasn't enough; now there were Li Bahuang and Jin Shi, even Jiu Feng and Dongfang Youming's second incarnations wanted to oppose him.

Immortality, becoming an Immortal!

Clearly, no Emperor Realm can resist such a temptation, why can't these fools join forces with him?

The longer Tian Gui dwelled on it, the more anger surged within him, emotions violently fluctuating as the remnants of the Emperor Realm offspring parasitic in his body sensed this and tried once more to seize control.

"Get back!!!"

Tian Gui gestured fiercely, suppressing once more the unrest of the 'parasites', though his complexion became increasingly pale.

"Great Emperor, she... she has crossed into the final hundreds within the stairs!" Ying Zhu Sword's voice trembled with tension.

"What!?"

Tian Gui Yuan Yin looked with shock.

Ruan Tang, no one knew when she had stepped into the final hundred stairs of the Immortal Path, even though her body teetered and her lifespan was nearing its end, yet she was still advancing.

"Impossible."

Tian Gui's face soured, uneasy in his seat.

He had schemed tirelessly for an entire cycle to achieve immortality, to transcend, to reach the Immortal Realm of the Other Shore, not hesitating to destroy the entire Immortal Domain.

No need to wait longer than six months.

The hidden moves he buried in the Four Immortal Domains would sequentially activate, destroying half the Immortal Domain, shattering much of the Immortal Path.

Yet variables appeared.

This variable was Ruan Lan!

If Xu Qingfeng hadn't discovered the Blue Giant Jellyfish beneath the Boundless Sea of the Southern Immortal Domain, he wouldn't have abandoned this trump card.

The Nine Kings' Palace wouldn't become a ruin, Ji Chengtian, Chen Chi, Xiao Yan, and others wouldn't have died.

With the Nine Kings' Palace distracting Li Bahuang and Jin Shi, he wouldn't be injured, and Xu Qingfeng wouldn't have died under the Karmic Tribulation.

All of this began because of Ruan Lan!

To this day, Tian Gui couldn't figure out where the flaw was that led Xu Qingfeng to have Ruan Lan ambush him early at Peach Blossom Star.

The final chain reaction was Xu Qingfeng, initially uninterested in the Immortal Fruit, now needing the Immortal Fruit to resurrect.

"Great Emperor, she has ninety stairs left, what should we do..."

Ying Zhu Sword's Artifact Spirit voice was faintly panicked within.

As Tian Gui Yuan Yin's only trusted existence, Ying Zhu Sword knew that even a Great Emperor couldn't forcefully traverse over five hundred White Jade staircases.

"We also ascend the Immortal Path."

Tian Gui exhaled a heavy breath, unwilling to gamble that Ruan Tang would perish in the last ninety stairs, thus he could only personally ascend to kill her.

"Bang!"

Yuan Yin stomped fiercely, a blood-red ominous rune spreading beneath his feet, his voice hoarse: "Blood Bond!"

At the same time.

Red Sail Star System.

The Tiangui Tribe Cultivators, surrounded by numerous Heavenly Soldiers and Generals and Immortal Domain Cultivators, suddenly withered, becoming wrinkled human skins.

Their blood energy and lifespan had completely vanished!

"This..."

The First Divine General Taotie's pupils trembled with shock, never having witnessed such a brutal and sanguinary scene.