Day of Ascension

Xu Ying had long since stopped caring. Kowtowing to the green-robed god was already a gesture of worship in his eyes. As for offering incense, candles, and fruits?

Don’t even think about it.

He didn’t even have enough food for himself, let alone offering to the god.

The two other villagers the god had called out by name, on the other hand, turned deathly pale.

Jiang Lu was only in his forties, yet he looked like he was already in his eighties. His face was full of wrinkles, and he had a hunchback.

Trembling, he said, “Lord, I cannot even feed myself. Last night, I only ate some tree bark, and then the constables came demanding taxes. What more could I possibly have to offer...”

The green-robed god shot him a glance and sneered, “You gave offerings to the constables but not me? You think I’m less than them?”

Jiang Lu didn’t dare say another word.

The green-robed god’s eyes darted around. “Don’t you have a daughter? Offer her to me. I’ll be your son-in-law, and I’ll guarantee you a lifetime of fine clothes and full meals!”

Jiang Lu’s legs gave out, making him fall to his knees. “Lord, I couldn’t pay the constables. They took my daughter away, saying that they would waive my taxes in exchange—”

The green-robed god snorted coldly. His fist, as big as a wine jar, came crashing down as he bellowed, “Don’t you have two daughters? Are you still trying to hide the other?”

The punch sent Jiang Lu flying several zhang[1]. He crashed into the opposite wall, and one of his broken ribs pierced his chest, the jagged bone jutting out into the open as blood bubbled from his mouth.

The villagers in the ancestral hall trembled in fear, too afraid to show anger or speak.

Xu Ying clenched his fists tightly, pretending not to see any of this.

Such was the fearsome majesty of a god. In the face of one, ordinary people wouldn’t dare think of defiance. Even Xu Ying, who had practiced the Grand-Unity Guiding Method since he was young, could only tremble in fear before the green-robed god.

Moreover, his adoptive father and grandfather had taught him from a young age never to go against the officials or the gods. Snake catchers risked their lives to catch venomous snakes for one reason: to survive. Defying the officials or the gods was an act no different from courting death!

Jiang Lu tried to get back to his feet, but he just could not.

The green-robed god bellowed, “Where’s your other daughter? Hand her over. I’m going to consummate my marriage with her today! Don’t push your luck!”

Chief Jiang, the landlord of Jiangjiatian, smiled ingratiatingly. “Lord, I apologize for not informing You. I knew that Jiang Lu’s lass had caught Your eye, so I bought her with the intent to offer her to You today. Men, bring the bride here!”

“Chief Jiang, you are a sensible man.” Thrilled, the green-robed god laughed. He then turned to the other villagers and sneered, “You people offer no sacrifices, yet you expect my protection? Those who brought no offerings today shall receive only three fingers’ worth of rain for your family’s farmland. Those who didn’t even bring incense and candles won’t receive even a hao[2] of rain. You bastards deserve to die of thirst! And you!”

The green-robed god pointed at Jiang Lu.

“I intended to make you my father-in-law and give you some benefits, but Chief Jiang has offered your daughter to me already; she no longer has anything to do with you! Since you came empty-handed, your family’s farmland will receive not even a hao of rainwater this year!”

Jiang Lu sat blankly against the wall, looking as withered as a dead tree. He had not even the slightest hint of rosiness on his face.

Without rain on his farmland, there would be no harvest.

How am I supposed to live? he thought in despair.

Meanwhile, the green-robed god laughed heartily, embracing his bride. “Why wait? Let’s consummate our marriage right now! No need to wait until nightfall!”

Chief Jiang hurriedly smiled fawningly. “A fine hour and auspicious day indeed!”

Xu Ying turned around silently and followed the people out of the ancestral hall. He’d never seen a god taking a bride before, but he’d heard of it.

Other villages and towns also worshipped gods. Some villagers who couldn’t make ends meet offered their daughters as brides to their god. Xu Ying had heard that the Water God of Xiao River had taken more than a hundred women as brides, all offered to him by the nearby villages and towns.

Seeing Jiang Lu stand up unsteadily, Xu Ying walked over to help him.

The two were on fairly good terms. He still vividly remembered Jiang Lu giving him a steamed corn bun when his grandfather had first brought him to Jiangjiatian after rescuing him from the fire. His grandfather also told him to call Jiang Lu uncle.

He said, “Uncle, I’ll walk you home—”

At that moment, Jiang Lu charged into the wall.

Thud!

Blood splattered all over Xu Ying’s face. A few drops entered his eyes, blurring his vision.

Through the haze, he saw the old man slamming his head viciously against the wall. His blood stained the white wall like plum blossoms in the snowy winter.

Xu Ying’s ears buzzed as he blanked out.

“Uncle...”

He reached out, only to see Jiang Lu’s corpse slowly sliding down. It knelt before the wall, serving as the tree trunk of the plum blossom tree on the white canvas. The painting was complete.

A commotion erupted within the ancestral hall. The people scattered in panic, shrieking one after another. The young bride, Jiang Lu’s daughter, wailed so hard that she lost her breath.

The green-robed god embraced his bride and smiled. “Chief, clean up the corpse and paint the walls. Don’t ruin my mood.”

Chief Jiang hurriedly nodded and strode over to Xu Ying, shoving him hard to wake him up from his stupor. He harshly instructed, “Ah Ying, quickly carry the corpse out. Our Lord is about to consummate His marriage!”

Xu Ying’s mind buzzed. He trembled as he clenched his fists tightly.

Chief Jiang chided him, “Are you defying our Lord—”

Thunk!

Xu Ying swung his fist, smashing Chief Jiang’s face. His skull caved in, and the back of his head exploded. The corpse swayed and collapsed onto the floor.

“Murder! Ah Ying killed the chief!” Chief Jiang’s servants fled in panic.

Xu Ying was still trembling, and his mind was blank. He didn’t know why he blew apart Chief Jiang’s head with a punch, or why he suddenly lost control of his temper!

“I killed someone. I’ve killed... I didn’t mean to...”

His hands shook. The blood stains on his face were still wet. Trembling, he slowly lifted his head. The one he’d wanted to kill wasn’t Chief Jiang.

His gaze fell on his true target: the green-robed god.

“I don’t know why, but I just can’t control my hand. I just want to kill you!” Xu Ying panted heavily like a wild beast. He roared at Chief Jiang’s fallen corpse, “You’re too noisy! Stop talking! Don’t rush me—I said don’t rush me! I’ll kill Him right now!”

Chief Jiang naturally could not say anything in response. After all, his head had splattered all over the place.

Nevertheless, a chaotic swarm of voices filled Xu Ying’s mind, buzzing and urging him to beat the god to death.

The green-robed god’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Xu Ying.

With the familiar fear in the young boy’s eyes now gone, the god felt his chest burn with rage.

Fear was the expression he knew best. It was what mortals ought to feel toward gods!

In the past, he always saw that fear in Xu Ying’s gaze—the fear of an insect toward a giant. Now, not only had it disappeared, but blasphemous anger and killing intent had also replaced it!

In the youth’s eyes, all he saw was the raw, undisguised intent to kill him!

And to his own shock, he realized that the gaze instilled fear even in him!

The green-robed god flew into a rage. “Outrageous! Who do you think you’re looking at like that?!”

He flung his bride aside, raised his wine-jar-sized fist, and swung viciously at Xu Ying’s face.

Xu Ying raised his tiny arms to defend himself, but the moment the punch hit him, he felt as if a bull weighing thousands of jin[3] had slammed into him. He flew backward, smashing into a wall of the ancestral hall so hard that he blasted right through and continued flying.

The green-robed god strode forth, stepping over the collapsed wall with a cold sneer. “Mere mortals should only accept the fate that the gods have decided for them. They are not allowed to resist! Xu Ying, I saw evil thoughts of blasphemy against the gods in your eyes! I shall erase your sins!”

Meanwhile, Xu Ying landed on his feet and slid a little over a zhang backward. Finally, he steadied himself.

“You’re... ” He shook his hands and raised his head, revealing a strange glint in his eyes. “... not as strong as I imagined.”

“What?” The green-robed god’s rage deepened. “How dare a mere mortal like you comment on my divine might! You should be sent to the Hell of Tongue Ripping[4]!”

He raised his leg, which was the size of a massive pillar, and kicked Xu Ying so fast that it whistled through the air! The attack truly seemed capable of sending Xu Ying straight to hell and dooming him to eternal damnation!

Xu Ying did his best to summon all of his vital energy, then threw a punch at the god’s sweeping kick!

At that moment, he remembered the scripture that he had read just recently. With the circulation routes of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist flooding his mind, he instinctively channeled his vital energy along that pathway.

His vital energy surged inside him at breakneck speed, shaking his internal organs and grinding through muscle and tendons. A deafening elephant’s trumpet rang out from his chest!

Xu Ying poured all this berserk energy into his right arm, causing it to swell to twice its normal size. The punch he threw caused a fierce wind howl, just like the god’s kick!

Elephant-Bull Demon Fist First Technique: Mountain-Splitting Horn!

Xu Ying’s full-power punch collided with the green-robed god’s kick. With a loud boom, he blew apart the leg!

Simultaneously, a rapid series of crackling pops erupted from within him. The strange noise seemed to come from his vital energy trying to break through a barrier!

Though he had practiced the Grand-Unity Guiding Method bitterly for seven years, he had never practiced any martial arts. Hence, he didn’t know how powerful he had truly become. Now, his first contact with martial arts had allowed him to unleash all of the strength that he had accumulated over those years.

The Grand-Unity Guiding Method tempered one’s vital energy—that was cultivation. Meanwhile, martial arts were the methods to unleash the power of one’s cultivation!

He’d sharpened his sword for seven whole years, yet all this time, its cold edge had remained untested.

The moment to put that frosted edge to the test had finally come!

Back at Xu Ying’s place, the snake demon had finally shifted the rest of his bones back into position and was trying to flee the village when he heard the strange bursts of sound. Startled, he stopped and turned toward the source.

“He jumped straight to the fourth level of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist in an instant! That damn brat, is he human or a demon? How could he progress so quickly?”

Meanwhile, Xu Ying channeled his vital energy, producing an elephant’s deep and resonant trumpet from his chest. He shook the sixty-seven houses in Jiangjiatian, making their windows sway violently!

The soundwave made the water in basins, vats, sewers, and even the pond ripple!

The snake demon felt as though his mind had been blown.

Reaching the fourth level of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist was already shocking enough, but Xu Ying had just gone a step further and broken through to the fifth level!

The snake demon carefully scrutinized Xu Ying, only to see the youth’s vital energy being circulated in a frenzy and even seeping out of his pores!

The leaking vital energy gathered behind him and formed a towering phantom: a godly being with an elephant’s head and a human body.

The manifestation was translucent—almost transparent—and was seventeen or eighteen cun taller than Xu Ying. Moreover, it followed his every move!

This manifestation only appeared once the practitioner had reached the martial art’s fifth level!

The Elephant-Bull Demon Fist had a total of seven levels. At the first level, blood surged throughout the whole body, and the skeleton was infused with energy. Vital energy doubled at the second, and at the third, the practitioner gained the ability to project force a zhang outward.

They gained the strength of a divine elephant at the fourth. At the fifth, an elephant god manifested. Upon reaching the next level, a vital energy fiend is conjured. Finally, at the seventh, an elephant king’s divine body is summoned!

Demon practitioners of a martial art could be called Demon Kings and ordained as mountain gods or water gods once they had reached the seventh level. At the fifth level, they were called Great Demons. In other words, Xu Ying could already be called a Great Demon!

The snake demon murmured in bewilderment, “But that kid is clearly human...”

Xu Ying had no time to ponder these matters, however. He immediately used the second technique of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist: White Elephant’s Trunk Sweep!

He spun sideways, tearing through the air with a right kick like an elephant sweeping its trunk. The attack produced a sharp whistle!

Behind him, the elephant-headed phantom turned with him and launched a kick at the same instant, its leg overlapping with Xu Ying’s. It struck the green-robed god’s waist with a crisp smack, nearly folding him in half and sending him staggering.

The green-robed god was both shocked and furious. He took several steps back, making sure Xu Ying’s next strike couldn’t hit him. Then, he forcefully ripped off a wall from the side of a house, lifted it high up, and brought it down on Xu Ying, trying to crush him under the wall like swatting a fly!

The wall shattered with a loud bang as Xu Ying punched through it, sending bricks flying everywhere. Some of the bricks hit the god squarely in the face.

The green-robed god covered his face with one hand and threw out a punch with the other. His fist collided with Xu Ying’s oncoming fist, only to be broken with a loud, crisp snap!

The green-robed god was truly terrified now. When his eyes met Xu Ying’s, the primal fear that mortals felt toward gods seized him once more!

Before Xu Ying, who seemed like a god deciding his fate, the green-robed god felt fear like a mortal!

He struggled to fend off the blows until he finally lost his footing. Stumbling back, he saw Xu Ying’s fist becoming larger and larger as it flew at him.

He hurriedly cried out, “I’m a god ordained by the city god! My name is registered in both the Underworld Court and the Imperial Court. Killing me would be violating the laws of Heav—”

Xu Ying punched the god in the face, piercing straight through the back of his skull and blasting a hole clean through his head.

The green-robed god froze. His corpse swayed for a moment before collapsing to the ground. His essence dissipated, and he turned back into a block of wood.

A short distance away, the snake demon’s mouth widened in shock. He shrieked, “Aaaaah!”

1. Traditional unit of measurement now standardized to 3.33m. ☜

2. A traditional unit of measurement, approximately 0.033mm in modern standardized units. ☜

3. A traditional unit of measurement now standardized to 500g. ☜

4. The first level of hell’s eighteen levels in Chinese belief. ☜