Day of Ascension

Celestial Lord Yang’s fury ignited. He let out a cold sneer. “Born free? In life, the mortal realm’s emperor lords over you. In death, the underworld governs you. Where is this ‘freedom’ you speak of? Such treason deserves a thousand deaths! I was thinking of leaving your corpse intact. Not anymore!”

He charged forward. He was massive, yet incredibly agile. In his grasp, a razor-sharp sword forged from condensed incense qi flickered like living light. With the poise of a seasoned master, he unleashed a flawless strike toward Xu Ying.

Xu Ying roared and met the blade with his right hand.

Meanwhile, the elephant-headed avatar behind him thrust its palm forward. The dense, fiendish qi collided with the sharp sword, producing piercing sounds like metal grinding against gravel.

Sparks burst where flesh met blade. The sharp sword pierced the dense, fiendish qi but lost its force. It only left a shallow wound on Xu Ying’s palm, and he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The giant god’s arm trembled slightly from the impact that transmitted through the sword. He praised inwardly, Such immense strength this rebel has!

However, while Xu Ying could block the sharp sword with his palm, he couldn’t do the same with the rest of his body.

The giant god brandished His sword. Stab. Flick. Parry. Slash. Cleave. Each technique flowed into the next without pattern but with great agility, forcing Xu Ying into constant retreat.

Then, while the giant god was withdrawing His sword, Xu Ying seized the opportunity to slam his palm into the flat of the blade. The strength of an elephant erupted, shattering the sharp sword!

Clang!

Xu Ying stepped forward and threw a punch. The elephant god fiend behind him roared furiously and mirrored his attack, its fist overlapping with Xu Ying’s.

A violent gust carved out a vacuum in the wake of the strike, dragging grass and gravel forward.

The grass and gravel seemed to follow Xu Ying’s punch. They flew toward the giant god, adding a touch of majesty to the attack.

The giant god cracked a smile and threw a punch to meet it. Green qi coiled around His arm, hardening flesh into stone. His fist met Xu Ying’s head-on.

Boom!

The air between their fists exploded deafeningly. Shockwaves blasted outward, whipping through the forest and sending trees into a violent sway.

Xu Ying took a step back. His heart sank.

The giant god also staggered three steps backward before dispersing the remaining force. He praised, “Not bad, rebel!”

Xu Ying clenched his fists. My greatest ability is brute force, yet even there I hold no clear edge. Meanwhile, beyond raw strength, He has also mastered incense qi and uses it as mystical power to execute mystic arts. The situation is against me!

Ever since leaving Mount Jian, his vital energy has been slipping away for no clear reason. Nearly half of it was already gone.

Xu Ying had received guidance from the “mysterious voice.” Thanks to that, he had managed to develop his divine sense, unlock the ethereal void, achieve Five-Qi Origin Convergence, and refine his five qi into primordial qi. Yet, he couldn’t contain his vital energy!

If he were in peak condition, he would have felt confident in defeating the giant god. But now, he truly wasn’t confident.

The giant god chuckled in admiration. “Not bad. You do indeed possess the strength to fight the Rocky Mountain God and the warden head-on. Your physique alone makes you on par with the gods. You’re worthy of my full power.”

His incense qi coalesced into another sword, over a zhang in length, in His grasp.

Immediately afterward, a second sword took shape. A shorter blade, seven chi long, appeared in His other hand.

Then, a third and a fourth sword materialized. Those were even shorter, only four chi long. They floated in the air and moved slowly.

These two swords were part of His mystic art.

He had nailed Yuanqi, but the snake still paid attention to the fight. Yuanqi cried out, “It’s the flying sword technique! According to my family’s collection of books, gods can nurture and refine incense qi into flying swords that strike from dozens of li away. They are silent and unpredictable! Impossible to defend against!”

Xu Ying stared fixedly at the two swords. Cold sweat formed on his forehead. Short as they may be, they were the most threatening!

Yuanqi continued, “They may not reach far, but without needing hands, their variations increase by dozens or even hundreds of times! Treat them like ordinary swords, and you’re dead!”

Those comments further fueled the giant god’s anger. With a wave of His hand, incense qi condensed into three arrows, tore through the air, and pierced Yuanqi.

Coughing blood, Yuanqi cried out, “I won’t die yet... He still hasn’t attained a golden body. Kill him for me!”

Xu Ying’s eyes flickered as he stared at the two hovering swords intently. “I have to get close, punch through him, and shatter his body. I can’t let him use those swords!”

He stomped hard. The ground collapsed beneath his foot, caving into a pit.

The nearby rocks were thrown into the air by the impact. Hundreds of pebbles, stones, and even hundred-jin boulders rose into the air, propelled by his berserk vital energy.

Simultaneously, he punched. The wind from his fist screamed forward, dragging the rocks with it as they shot toward the giant god.

At the third level of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist, one could project their force a zhang outward. Xu Ying had already reached the sixth level, so his vital energy could do much more.

The punch, along with the stones, formed a fist seal four chi wide. It carried astonishing might, spanning several zhang outward without losing any force!

Xu Ying strode forward. As his foot hit the ground for the second time, the ground sank again, sending more rocks flying into the air.

He unleashed another punch. The wind carried the rocks, forming a second fist seal and blasting toward the giant god.

His third step landed, and a third palm seal erupted.

Thump!

The giant god grinned. Wielding his swords, he met the three fist seals. Steel and stone collided in a storm of sparks and cracking explosions. Two swords danced around him, slicing apart whatever slipped through His guard.

In an instant, he broke the three fist seals.

He turned the rocks to dust that flew everywhere, obstructing the giant god’s vision. Through the haze, Xu Ying surged forward—fourth punch already unleashed.

This one would decide it.

As his punch tore through the dust cloud, he heard the flying swords whizzing through the air.

Xu Ying roared furiously and drove his punch with all his might. Meanwhile, the two flying swords pierced through the dust cloud: one shot straight for his head, while the other sliced past him in a lethal sweep.

He raised his left hand to defend himself. The elephant-headed avatar did the same, a massive palm of fiendish qi forming to intercept.

The sword pierced through the fiendish qi palm with a hiss. Then, it pierced through the vital energy around Xu Ying’s left palm, followed by his flesh.

It drove into his palm, punched through his chest, and tore out from his shoulder blade.

At the same time, Xu Ying swung his right fist and struck the giant god. His vital energy surged and erupted.

Boom!

Both of them were blasted backward.

The momentum of the flying sword lifted Xu Ying into the air and nailed him to a tree six to seven zhang away at the entrance of the village. Then, the flying sword dissipated into smoke, and he slid down.

Xu Ying tried to lift his left hand, but it was limp and weak. He couldn’t muster any strength in that arm.

His arm hung uselessly. His chest and shoulder had been pierced clean through. He had nothing left to fight with.

“He should be dead, right?”

Xu Ying lifted his head and looked into the distance. Dust still hung in the air, yet to settle. He didn’t know if that giant god was still alive.

A flying sword suddenly hummed and drifted out of the dust cloud.

Xu Ying’s eyes narrowed as a towering shadow gradually emerged from the dust and smoke.

The attack had severed most of the ribbons coiled around that towering shadow and destroyed a third of the wheel at the back of His head.

His ribs had a hole the size of a fist seal. Xu Ying’s punch had pierced through him!

Yet he was still alive!

“You would have killed me if I were flesh and blood.”

The towering shadow was out of the dust and smoke. He chuckled. “But I am a god. Xu Ying, your martial art is useless against me.”

That god raised His hand and waved forcefully, dissipating the dust and smoke in one go and revealing His majestic figure.

Standing under the tree, Xu Ying pressed against the wound on his left chest, his heart filled with despair.

He didn’t have much vital energy left. Even if he wanted to flee, he couldn’t.

“A fight to the death, then!”

Xu Ying gritted his teeth as he summoned his remaining vital energy, preparing for a final, desperate struggle.

Just then, the familiar voice rang in his mind. “Young man, do you know how to shed the fiend and transform into the primordial?”

Xu Ying hurriedly asked, “Senior, what does that even mean?”

The giant god was approaching. Noticing Xu Ying talking to the air, he quickly stopped and cautiously surveyed the surroundings, then sneered coldly. “You have a helper?”

Yuanqi was also stunned. Did someone talk? Why didn’t I hear anything? Was it that bell? Did it mess with Ah Ying’s mind?

The bell instructed, “You have achieved Five-Qi Origin Convergence, and transformed the five qi into primordial qi. Yet, you’re still getting bullied by that good-for-nothing because you don’t understand how to shed the fiend and transform into the primordial. Fiend refers to the fiendish qi inside you, that murky vital energy. In your practice of martial arts, you first manifest a fiendish body. So, you need to shed the fiend and transform into the primordial to progress further.”

Xu Ying understood instantly, shocked and delighted. He smiled. “I see! Thank you for your guidance, Senior!”

The giant god looked around but still found no signs of anyone. He sneered coldly. “You brat, quit bluffing. You think I can’t tell you’re alone?”

Xu Ying endured the pain and circulated his vital energy, repeatedly channeling the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist.

Baroo—

An elephant’s trumpet rang out from his chest, shaking the mountains. The vital energy in his five viscera and six bowels surged violently. He expelled the murky vital energy from the pores in his skin like waste gas.

The blood in the gas soon stained his tattered clothes crimson. Blood drops even dripped from the hem.

As Xu Ying circulated his vital energy, the qi coursing within him grew increasingly pure while the impure vital energy diminished.

Brilliant light radiated from him. As he refined away the fiendish qi, the elephant god fiend gradually shed its murky appearance, transforming into the primordial. It was like a real elephant god stood behind him!

He had achieved the final level of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist, materializing the divine avatar of an elephant king!

His presence was overwhelming, radiating a domineering majesty, as if all Great Demons could do nothing but bow in submission before him.

Xu Ying had mastered the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist to a realm attainable only by Demon Kings.

Yuanqi couldn’t help but stare in awe. “Xu Ying has broken through again. He’s really become a Great Demon King...”

Then it hit him. Even if Xu Ying were a demon, he had only practiced the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist for two days. Yet in that time, he had reached the level of a Demon King.

Did that make any sense?

Yuanqi thought, But if he’s broken through, it means I’m not far from breaking through myself.

In any case, he would practice as a smart person would. That couldn’t go wrong. Even if something did go wrong, it would be the smart person’s mistake.

Nailed to the ground, the snake thought, Sometimes, it’s quite nice to just lie flat like this.

In Xu Ying’s mind, the great bell thought shamefully, I siphoned away too much of his vital energy, preventing him from fully displaying his strength and nearly getting him killed. Fortunately, this kid is smart enough to comprehend shedding the fiend and transform into the primordial quickly. If it were someone stupider, like that snake demon, he’d already be dead.

The giant god was astonished to see the transformation in Xu Ying’s avatar. He charged forth with reckless abandon.

He had absolute confidence in himself.

“I am Yangzitang Town’s god and have received offerings for two hundred thirty-four years. I have robust mystical power! Could I possibly lose to a brat still wet behind the ears? So what if you’ve broken through!”

His flying sword shot ahead, aiming straight for Xu Ying’s face.

With his left arm disabled, Xu Ying could only block this strike with his right hand. He quickly raised his right hand and threw a punch at the flying sword.

Behind him, the elephant-headed avatar grew larger and mirrored the punch.

The god smiled coldly. This strike would surely pierce through Xu Ying’s right arm and nail him to the tree behind him.

However, as Xu Ying unleashed this punch, a large vacuum pocket formed behind him. The large tree at the village entrance nearly tore from the ground. Its crown tilted forward, and its leaves rustled, swept up by the violent wind.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

The flying sword collided with Xu Ying’s punch and exploded. It reverted to its true form, becoming a mass of incense qi before dissipating.

Without losing any momentum, Xu Ying’s punch met the twin swords descending from the god’s hands. The elephant avatar and the youth’s fists overlapped.

A fierce wind stirred the instant the swords and fists collided. Countless leaves fluttered in the wind and scattered to the sides.

Yuanqi watched blankly as the scene unfolded, panicking inside. Who won? Who lost?

The leaves drifted down, revealing the giant god and Xu Ying.

The god’s long and short swords had shattered. The attack had pierced the protective incense qi around him and left a large gaping hole in His chest.

At the edges of the gaping hole, rocks cracked and shattered bit by bit.

Fear finally appeared in the god’s eyes. Looking at the much smaller youth, he said with a trembling voice, “Your power is far purer than mine...

“How dare you kill a god! You’ve violated the laws of heaven. No place in this world is safe for you!”

Xu Ying looked up at him. He slowly retracted his fist, curled his lips, and said, “Since my lord wouldn’t give me a way out, why do I still have to revere you as a god?”

He went around the god and walked toward Yuanqi. “After slaying a god for the first time, in my eyes, the gods are no different from the straw dogs[1] placed in front of altar tables. I’ll be even more experienced the next time I kill a god.”

“The Underworld Court won’t spare you...”

The giant god collapsed, shattering into pieces.

1. They are ceremonial objects made of straw and treated with great respect during a ritual, but discarded once the ritual is over. ☜