Obsideum Immortal Father’s face turned ashen. The immortal shield he had taken out ended up exploding, and the aftershocks churned his insides. Although he had given it his all, the shield was only able to block one arrow, and the explosion from the Thunder Pellet that followed caused him to cough up a mouthful of blood. He was blown several tens of kilometers back instantly, but thanks to his six Perfected Golden Immortals’ assistance, all the arrows, and the Thunder Pellets were somehow blocked.

“Another volley?”

The expressions of Obsideum Immortal Father and the six Perfected Golden Immortals changed drastically. They had never imagined that the Great Tang Empire had such a terrifying amount of wealth. This war was nothing more than a spendthrift one. The arrows and Thunder Pellets were both of the immortal-grade, and with their keen gazes, they had already determined that each arrow was worth at least one immortal crystal. The first volley had one hundred and twenty thousand arrows, and with the second volley, this number had basically doubled. This was akin to crushing opponents through money!

Obsideum Immortal Father screamed out, “Retreat at this very instant and make sure to block these arrows. Let’s see how many immortal crystals his Great Tang Empire has left to squander!”

Whoosh…

As his final words fell into everyone’s ears, the third volley of arrows followed up from the opposite side, covering the view of the entire sky.

Obsideum Immortal Father felt distressed. As an apex expert at the Supremacy Stage, he had participated in countless battles. However, he had never encountered such a horrifying collective attack. He had once faced several tens of thousands of enemies alone, and that was already the highest number of enemies he had ever encountered.

Moreover, with his strength, these arrows didn’t pose much harm to him at all, but each arrow had a Thunder Pellet attached to it, and those did pose some threat to him.

After a total of ten volleys of arrows, casualties had already begun appearing under the Immortals of Obsideum Immortal Father. Their entire group was in a huge mess right now.

“Attack!”

A roar surged out from the battle formation of the Great Tang Empire, and immediately afterward, the ten units of well-ordered soldiers charged towards Obsideum Immortal Father and his subordinates while letting out battle cries.

It was a scene of mayhem and carnage, explosions afoot everywhere, blood splashing all around.

It just took a burning incense stick’s worth of time for Obsideum Immortal Father’s subordinates to suffer disastrous losses. Still, neither Obsideum Immortal Father nor his six Perfected Golden Immortals had the leeway to take the situation into consideration.

Sablefiend Scorpio, Celestial Litho Monstrum, Flaming Demon Feline, Golden-eyed Great Peng, Lupus Chimaera Monstrum, and Nethersea Whale King, the six Perfected Golden Immortal Stage experts were attacking Obsideum Immortal Father from all sides right now. Although Obsideum Immortal Father was a Supremacy Stage expert, he had prior injuries that inhibited his battle strength by a considerable margin. Therefore, Sablefiend Scorpio and the other five Perfected Golden Immortals were able to deliver heavy blows to Obsideum Immortal Father at the same time. On the other hand, he had no means to kill these six people within the short term.

As for the six subordinates of Obsideum Immortal Father, they were currently being besieged by three thousand Golden Immortal Stage experts under the lead of ten Perfected Golden Immortal Stage Immortal Monsters. With just a little effort, they had delivered a considerable amount of injuries to the six Perfected Golden Immortals. On the other hand, Obsideum Immortal Father’s forces of hundred thousand subordinates were under attack by three Perfected Golden Immortals that were leading ten thousand Golden Immortals as well as three million immortal soldiers. As a result, Obsideum Immortal Father’s forces had suffered a disastrous number of casualties.

Whoosh…

A vague form suddenly appeared beside Tang Xiu, following which, a powerful aura swept across the entire battlefield. Obsideum Immortal Father’s expression changed drastically. He was gradually taking the upper hand in his fight against the six Perfected Golden Immortals attacking him. He just needed a wee bit more time to gain the confidence to kill these six opponents.

However, the aura which swept across Obsideum Immortal Father made him roar out sharply, “You win, Great Tang Heavenly Emperor! I surrender, so make your legion withdraw. Don’t kill any more of my subordinates.”

Tang Xiu smiled faintly, and then, he turned his head and nodded towards Chen Shaohua. A strange voice echoed once again. Immediately afterward, the soldiers of the Great Tang Empire attacking Obsideum Immortal Father’s subordinates stopped and began retreating in an orderly fashion. The Perfected Golden Immortal, War Fanatic, rejoiced at this as he almost died under the attacks of two Perfect Golden Immortals. He let out a deep breath with a fearful and bitter expression on his face as he saw the powerful enemies retreat.

Tang Xiu watched as Obsideum Immortal Father and his six Perfected Golden Immortals congregated and then smiled at them calmly. “Submit to me, and prosper, or oppose me, and perish. Obsideum Immortal Father, we had already investigated about your hidden ace before the battle began. Therefore, even if you had double the amount of Perfected Golden Immortals, or weren’t injured, you would have lost all the same in the end. There’s a well-known adage in my hometown, it goes this way, ‘Know thyself and thy enemy, and thy shall win every battle.’ Your defeat was justified.”

A complicated expression flashed through Obsideum Immortal Father’s eyes. Through this short battle, he had realized that Tang Xiu’s words rang true. The number of enemies was really too big. There were at least twenty Perfected Golden Immortals, and the number of Golden Immortals was in the tens of thousands. Hence, his forces had ended up with heavy losses.

Moreover, there was also a Supreme who hadn’t joined the battle.

Obsideum Immortal Father looked at the old man beside Tang Xiu and asked in a deep voice, “Just who are you? I’m well aware of all the Supremes of the Immortal World and know most of them. It’s my first time seeing you.”

Old Sycamore glanced at Tang Xiu, and when his nod, he smiled faintly and explained, “I broke through to the Supremacy Stage just recently, so it’s normal for Obsideum Immortal Father to not know about me. I’m just a minor subordinate of the Great Tang Heavenly Emperor. You may call me Old Sycamore.”

Obsideum Immortal Father gave Old Sycamore a profound look. He then spoke to Tang Xiu immediately afterward, “The victor gets the spoils. Since we have lost this fight, I’m willing to hand over the Obsideum Immortal Domain to you. As long as you agree to it, I’ll immediately leave along with my subordinates.”

Tang Xiu waved his hand and smiled. “There’s no need to worry, Obsideum Immortal Father. Since we happened to meet each other today, it means there is some karma between us. There are too few experts in my Great Tang Empire, and I also cherish people like you. Why don’t you and your men pay allegiance to me? You will become the people of my Great Tang Empire then and accompany me to conquer territories and obtain the accomplishment of a lifetime. How about it?”

Obsideum Immortal Father sneered. “Great Tang Heavenly Emperor, you actually want a Supreme to serve you? Don’t tell me…”

Tang Xiu interrupted Obsideum Immortal Father’s words and said faintly, “Even Supremes of the Immortal World are nothing but ants before the Heavenly Dao laws before attaining Godhood. I have Supremes under me, and not just one of them. I’m inviting you to follow me because I believe you are someone worth cultivating. If you follow me, I can actually explain some of the Supreme Grand Dao to you before you face your Divinity Tribulation. I can also tell you about how the tribulation works.”

“What did you say?”

Obsideum Immortal Father’s expression changed drastically, and disbelief filled his eyes. He had already determined from Tang Xiu’s aura that he was neither a Supreme nor a God.

Tang Xiu smiled faintly. “Don’t think I’m cheating you as there’s no need for me to make you stay behind at all. Obsideum Immortal Father, the injury you received in the endless abyss four millenniums ago granted you the chance to break through into the Supremacy Stage. However, making progress gets harder the more you cultivate in the Supremacy Stage. Unless you have had a fortuitous encounter, surviving the Divinity Tribulation is but a pipe dream. Am I wrong?”

Obsideum Immortal Father’s pupils contracted, and his heart filled with utter shock. Only a few people knew what happened to him in the endless abyss back then, and those who were aware of his body’s circumstances were even fewer. Hence, he felt shocked that the Great Tang Heavenly Emperor was aware of it even though he had never seen him before.

The smile on Tang Xiu’s face turned brighter as he sent him a voice transmission, “It’s hard to go against an Immortal Oath. You feel regret in your heart, and this obstructs you from making further progress in your cultivation of the Supremacy Stage. Did I get it right?”

“Just who are you?”

Obsideum Immortal Father sent back a voice transmission.

Tang Xiu smiled faintly. “You don’t really need to know who I am. All you need to remember is that you owe him a favor, and you can pay it back to me. When you learn my real identity in the future, the barrier in your heart will disappear, and you will attain the state of perfection. You can then prepare to face your Divinity Tribulation.”

When Tang Xiu mentioned the favor, Obsideum Immortal Father immediately realized that the Great Tang Heavenly Emperor had a deep link to the Star Cultivation Great Emperor and that they might have been on closer terms with each other.

It was a very enticing offer that swayed Obsideum Immortal Father’s mind. He had faintly realized that as long as he was willing to serve the Great Tang Heavenly Emperor, he might have a chance to achieve a breakthrough and become a late-stage Supreme. It was even possible that he might cross his Divinity Tribulation successfully and take the last step as an Immortal.

However, as Obsideum Immortal Father didn’t know much about either the Great Tang Empire or the Great Tang Heavenly Emperor, he couldn’t decide whether to believe in him. He felt that there was a chance that the Great Tang Heavenly Emperor might just send him to his death in the future.

Tang Xiu seemed to have seen through Obsideum Immortal Father’s thoughts, so he said faintly, “I won’t place any restrictions on you as long as you decide to follow me. I’ll even provide you with all the resources you need for cultivation. All I need is for you to obey my orders unconditionally when the Great Tang Empire is battling other Immortal Sects, and charge at the enemies alongside my Great Tang Empire’s soldiers. Of course, if you wish to serve me, you’ll need to first complete a mission.”

Obsideum Immortal Father asked with a frown, “What mission?”

Tang Xiu said faintly, “Bring me the heads of five Perfected Golden Immortals.”

Obsideum Immortal Father’s expression turned excited as he inquired, “Which ones?”

Tang Xiu answered calmly, “I need you to answer me first. If you’re willing to serve me, you’ll naturally know who those five are. If you’re unwilling, just forget about it.”

After a moment of silence, Obsideum Immortal Father asked calmly, “Are there really no restrictions after joining the Great Tang Empire?”

Tang Xiu said, “As long as you don’t invite disaster to the Great Tang Empire, you won’t receive any kind of restrictions. I hope you will cultivate on the Misty Spring Island temporarily and wait for the Great Tang Empire to conquer all of Obsideum, Aeterneum, and Chalcedoneum. Once the empire is done linking them with the Immortal Lyceum to form a true super-empire, you are free to test your mettle in the outside world or tour it if you wish to do so. If you run into trouble in the outside world, you can even send back a distress signal, and the experts of the Great Tang Empire will rush over to aid you.”