Chapter 429 – Surviving, the Loli Girl Tang Yiyi

A vassal?

Su Xing was stunned for a moment. He was all too familiar with this word.

In each of his simulations, under the lesser demon disguise, he had commanded countless vassals.

From Sage-stage aliens to third-tier deities, all had been willing to serve Su Xing, an unprecedented lesser demon deity.

But shouldn’t alien vassals all be aliens?

To resolve his doubts, Su Xing chuckled lightly and said:

“Oh? Become your vassal… what’s in it for me?”

Hearing Su Xing’s words, the alien deity was instead the one confused, and replied:

“Being able to survive—isn’t that the greatest benefit of all?”

“Are you new to the upper three heavens?”

“Your human race can’t hold out much longer… once the chief gods break through the Ninth Heaven, that will be the moment of your human race’s annihilation!”

“By becoming vassals of our alien race, you can preserve your lives…”

“If you render meritorious service, you might even get an audience with the Mother Goddess and become one of our alien race… at which point you’ll possess even greater power!”

The alien deity had only said a few sentences, yet Su Xing extracted a great deal of information from them.

The chief gods freeing up their hands?

This at the very least indicated that within the Nine Heavens Domain, there was more than one chief god—equivalent to a Great Firmament Golden Immortal!

As for the Mother Goddess that this Shadow Deity spoke of, Su Xing had already seen it… that massive mass of flesh and blood capable of bestowing power upon the alien race!

But hearing this now, that mass of flesh could not only grant power to the alien race, but could also convert humans into part of the alien race?

Several more thoughts rose in Su Xing’s mind.

“The main battlefield where the human race resists the alien race isn’t just the Three Thousand Worlds, but also this Nine Heavens Domain!?”

“No… more precisely, it’s the upper three heavens!”

Su Xing recalled that the White Emperor had also mentioned before that the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master was in the upper three heavens.

So the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master wasn’t unwilling to go to the lower realm for rescue…

Rather, she couldn’t free her hands!

There were even more powerful enemies here?

Su Xing kept pondering, but with the intelligence he had on hand, he could only speculate.

To learn the actual situation, he would need more information.

But for now, Su Xing was certainly unwilling to become this Shadow Deity’s vassal.

If he wanted to investigate and gather intelligence, he could simply transform into an alien deity!

Therefore, Su Xing refused outright:

“Heh, survive?”

“That depends on whether you have the ability to back it up!”

Su Xing raised the Blackice sword in his hand, and in an instant, several more powerful streams of sword qi surged forth.

The two continued their fierce battle.

After several hundred more exchanges, the Shadow Deity seemed to lose patience.

An impatient expression appeared on its face as it spoke cruelly:

“Since that’s the case, then just die!”

With that, the Shadow Deity made a move that Su Xing hadn’t anticipated.

Its three-inch-long claws were actually pulled off one by one.

Blood flowed continuously down its arms.

Seeing this scene, Su Xing suddenly thought of something…

Sure enough, in the next second, a strange fluctuation emanated from the Shadow Deity’s hands.

After a flash of black light, the ten sharp claws transformed in the Shadow Deity’s hands into a black dagger roughly a foot long.

Su Xing fell silent for a moment at the sight, then couldn’t help but grumble:

“Do all alien deities have these damn self-mutilating techniques or what?”

Back then, the Six-Winged Deity had torn off its own wings…

This Shadow Deity was even more extreme, actually pulling out its own fingernails one by one.

Damn it, don’t you know about the saying that the fingers are connected to the heart?

How much must that hurt?!

Before Su Xing could finish his complaints, the Shadow Deity before him launched a ferocious assault.

With the black dagger in hand, the Shadow Deity’s speed had more than doubled, and even its strength had increased manifold!

Its figure flickered, and the Shadow Deity appeared right in front of Su Xing.

A flash of black light, and the dagger slashed directly toward Su Xing’s neck.

Su Xing reacted swiftly, raising the Blackice sword to block.

Crack—

The next second, Su Xing’s expression changed.

Under the strike of the black dagger, the Blackice sword had actually gained a thumb-sized notch.

Su Xing seemed to hear the Blackice sword’s mournful wailing.

“This is… the how-many-th time now… the Blackice sword really is too weak after all!”

Su Xing took a deep breath.

If he remembered correctly, this was the third time the Blackice sword had been destroyed!

The Six-Winged Deity’s bone sword, Red Moon’s eerie power, and now this Shadow Deity’s dagger—all possessed the might to destroy a supreme post-celestial treasure!

“If this keeps up… things aren’t looking good!”

“Finding a new weapon has to be moved up on the agenda…”

Su Xing helplessly stowed away his Blackice sword. With his weapon suppressed, he could only fight using supernatural arts and physical strength!

But with this shift, Su Xing quickly fell into a disadvantage…

The Sword Dao was inherently one of Su Xing’s strongest offensive methods.

Now with the Blackice sword destroyed, Su Xing was like a warrior who had lost an arm—how could he possibly fight a half-step first-tier deity Shadow Deity?

After merely a few hundred exchanges.

Dense wounds had appeared all over Su Xing’s body.

These wounds were like knife cuts, each one carving away Su Xing’s flesh, deep enough to expose bone.

What gave Su Xing the biggest headache was that his recovery ability seemed to be suppressed by that black dagger.

Not only had his healing speed slowed by more than a hundredfold, but the wounds had also become several times more painful than usual.

The piercing agony caused Su Xing to fall further and further behind in the battle.

After fighting like this for half a day.

Su Xing’s stamina was gradually giving out.

Though his primordial energy and mana were still abundant, he was still… too severely wounded!

“This won’t do. If this continues… I’m going to die here!”

Su Xing took a deep breath, no longer intending to fight this Shadow Deity.

“As long as the green hills last, there’s no fear of running out of firewood. Time to bail…”

…

Seeing the situation turning dire, Su Xing tore open a spatial passage, stepped through in a single stride, and appeared several hundred thousand li away.

In the Seventh Heaven, space was extremely stable, and even the distance Su Xing could traverse through spatial travel had greatly diminished.

However, after fleeing several hundred thousand li, Su Xing hadn’t even had time to catch his breath.

The next second, a spatial fluctuation rippled from behind him.

A short black figure squeezed out of a spatial rift.

The Shadow Deity!

“You really won’t stop until one of us is dead, will you…”

Su Xing gritted his teeth, knowing full well he was no match for this Shadow Deity.

So he deployed the power of space once more.

In mere moments, Su Xing had used the power of space dozens of times, shifting and warping through who knows how many spaces.

The distance covered was likely enough to traverse an entire Medium Chiliocosm.

But the Shadow Deity’s comprehension of the spatial Dao was clearly superior to Su Xing’s!

After dozens of consecutive spatial jumps, Su Xing was running low on both mana and spatial dao essence.

Yet the Shadow Deity behind him still pursued relentlessly.

“This level of spatial mastery… it’s probably approaching the sixth realm Major Mastery…”

Su Xing was instantly at a loss for words.

Having his strongest suit—the spatial Dao—utterly crushed by his enemy was a truly unpleasant feeling.

But it wasn’t that Su Xing’s cultivation was lacking.

After all, this Shadow Deity’s mastery over the power of space was likely beyond even many Supreme Unity Golden Immortals!

“This level of strength… isn’t far off from Fairy Ziling herself…”

Su Xing estimated that even the one ranked second on the Earth Ranking would find it extremely difficult to defeat this Shadow Deity in battle.

After who knows how long, Su Xing was utterly exhausted.

Less than a third of his mana remained, and his spatial dao essence was in much the same state.

Yet the Shadow Deity’s pursuit showed no signs of stopping.

“If this keeps going, it’ll just be a slow death!”

“I have to take a gamble!”

With that thought, Su Xing hesitated no longer. He stopped in his tracks, took out a bottle of immortal liquid, downed it in one gulp, and his mana rapidly recovered.

But his spatial dao essence couldn’t be restored in a short time.

Su Xing had barely adjusted for a few dozen breaths before the Shadow Deity caught up.

“Running? Why aren’t you running anymore! Heh heh heh~”

The Shadow Deity let out a laugh that sent chills down Su Xing’s spine.

Su Xing wasted no words and said directly:

“Whether I live or die is still undecided… even if I die, I’ll take a piece of you with me!”

With that, Su Xing channeled his mana and charged at the Shadow Deity once more.

The two clashed for another several hundred rounds.

Su Xing’s injuries accumulated further.

As for the Shadow Deity, having chased Su Xing for so long, it wasn’t without its own expenditure.

Su Xing could sense that its speed when shifting between the shadow realm and the Real World had slowed considerably.

Even so, Su Xing’s strength had been diminished even more severely, and he still was no match for the Shadow Deity.

…

Finally, after the Shadow Deity’s dagger pierced his heart once more, Su Xing collapsed powerlessly.

The strange energy within the dagger prevented Su Xing from healing.

“Is this where it ends…”

Su Xing was unwilling to accept it.

He had finally made it to the Seventh Heaven, only to have explored nothing before dying at the hands of these aliens.

However, just as Su Xing was helplessly preparing to end the simulation.

Suddenly, a fluctuation of mana rippled through the air.

The Shadow Deity, about to finish Su Xing off, had a drastic change in expression. It spun around and dove into the shadow realm, cursing as it went:

“That crazy woman… she’s really so damn annoying!”

“I’m not in my best shape today. I’ll come take your life next time…”

With his fading consciousness, Su Xing saw a golden arrow shoot from the distant reaches of space, striking the Shadow Deity in the abdomen and piercing clean through.

The Shadow Deity let out a muffled grunt, its aura clearly weakening drastically, yet it still gritted its teeth and dove into the shadow realm, attempting to flee.

Just as Su Xing thought the Shadow Deity was about to escape successfully.

A voice reached his ears—a girl’s voice, pleasant as silver bells:

“Gen to the northwest, Dui to the southeast… mountain and lake share their breath. Arrow of Yin and Yang, go!”

As the words fell, Su Xing saw an arrow.

An arrow hidden between yin and yang, as if radiating dazzling brilliance yet also suffused with an aura of decay.

This arrow pierced straight through space and plunged into the shadow realm.

Then, Su Xing seemed to hear the Shadow Deity’s feeble groan as its life force rapidly diminished until it was completely extinguished…

Before losing consciousness, Su Xing heard a voice:

“Are you alright, fellow cultivator?”

“What do you think? Do I look like I’m alright to you?”

Su Xing wanted to retort, but he couldn’t muster the strength to make a sound, and his entire being plunged into darkness.

…

When Su Xing opened his eyes again, his first reaction was to observe his surroundings.

“I’m not in the spirit field grotto-heaven… so I didn’t die?”

Su Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

But the girl’s bell-like voice reached his ears:

“Hey, how come you came to the Seventh Heaven all alone? Your cultivation doesn’t seem that high either! Who’s your master?”

The girl carried a blazing red longbow on her back and wore a form-fitting scarlet dress.

Her features were as delicate as a porcelain doll’s, she stood about one meter sixty, and looked to be only eighteen or nineteen years old.

“That’s right, it was this girl who killed the Shadow Deity and saved me…”

Memories rapidly came flooding back, and Su Xing said in a feeble voice:

“I’m from the Celestial Secrets Pavilion. I’m an Elder of the Celestial Secrets Pavilion… I came here naturally because I’d heard of the Nine Heavens Domain’s reputation and wanted to come take a look…”

“But why are there aliens here? And who are you?”

Su Xing quickly voiced the doubts in his heart.

He was eager to know what exactly had happened in the upper three levels of the Nine Heavens Domain and what the situation was like!

Upon hearing that Su Xing was from the Celestial Secrets Pavilion, the girl’s interest was instantly piqued, and she exclaimed:

“You’re a Celestial Secrets Pavilion Elder? Looks like you were newly appointed within the last ten thousand years?”

“What’s the situation like in the lower realm? Do you know Uncle White Emperor?”

“Oh right, my name is Tang Yiyi. You should have heard of me—”

Tang Yiyi…

What a familiar name.

Su Xing suddenly recalled something and widened his eyes:

“You’re Tang Yiyi, the sole direct disciple of the current Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master?”

“The one ranked second on the Earth Ranking!? No wonder… there’s been no news of you in the last ten thousand years… so you’ve been in the Nine Heavens Domain all along!”

Su Xing blurted out.

Information about Tang Yiyi rapidly surfaced in his mind.

A Peak Golden Immortal cultivator, proficient in the Dao of Divination and archery!

Her signature technique was the fusion of archery and divination—a supremely terrifying supernatural art ranked in the top three of the Heavenly Spirit supernatural art rankings!

Tens of thousands of years ago, she had already been the second-ranked on the Prodigy List, second only to Fairy Ziling.

“No wonder… I was being completely suppressed by that Shadow Deity the entire time, yet this Tang Yiyi killed it with just two arrows!”

Su Xing thought to himself.

Though part of the reason was that he had fought the Shadow Deity for a long time, greatly diminishing its strength.

But judging from the result, this Tang Yiyi was considerably stronger than him!

When she heard Su Xing mention she was ranked second on the Earth Ranking, Tang Yiyi visibly wrinkled her little nose and huffed:

“That was ten thousand years ago!”

“Ziling is ten thousand years older than me! Now she might not be my match…”

“Hmph, once I find a way back, I’m going to reclaim the first place on the Earth Ranking, and then go see my master!”

Hearing this, Su Xing immediately asked:

“The Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master isn’t with you?”

“I heard she also came to the Nine Heavens Domain!”

Tang Yiyi’s spirits visibly deflated, and she said:

“Master… she’s naturally in the Eighth Heaven…”

“My current strength is too low. I can’t go there yet…”

Hearing this, Su Xing looked up at the sky.

The sky of the Seventh Heaven was so clear it was like glass, transparent enough to see straight through.

And above that lofty sky, there was still the Eighth Heaven!

“So why didn’t your master take you with her to the Eighth Heaven? With her strength, she should be able to, right?”

Su Xing voiced his doubt, which was also an indirect way of asking why human cultivators hadn’t come to the upper three heavens to establish a cultivation civilization.

Hearing Su Xing’s words, Tang Yiyi shook her head and said:

“It’s because my current strength… isn’t enough yet…”

…

The twenty-year immersive simulation soon ended, and Su Xing returned to the Real World.

And now, Su Xing finally had a much more comprehensive understanding of the situation in the upper three heavens, the human race, and the alien race.

Rubbing the space between his brows, Su Xing digested the memories in his mind and murmured:

“So that’s how it is…”

“No wonder there’s been no news from the Celestial Secrets Pavilion Master for so long…”