Day of Ascension

Both Xue Lingfu and Zhou Yihang snorted coldly. They tightened their auras, binding him even more tightly. The intensity of their auras surged, standing toe-to-toe.

Xue Lingfu’s gaze flickered as he chuckled. “Master Zhou, let’s not beat around the bush. Does your Zhou clan want him because of his insights into the guiding methods?”

Zhou Yihang raised his brow slightly. The bluestone slabs under his feet suddenly cracked and shattered under the weight of his aura. He chuckled. “It seems you are well-informed. That’s right. I don’t care about Xu Ying killing Chief Jiang and several gods, but I cannot ignore his ability to interpret cultivation techniques. You’ve stepped in personally. Has he also drawn the Underworld Court’s interest?”

The overwhelming pressure emanating from them forced the crowd to quickly retreat even further, moving far away from the temple.

Even Huang Sanduo, the newly ordained god, hurriedly jumped off his shrine and hid behind the temple.

Xue Lingfu laughed out loud. Despite the lack of wind, his robes fluttered as he said, “Your clan has been excavating ancient grotto residences and probing the mysteries of the ancient era. The court sees it all. How could we not know? Truth be told, we have also uncovered many ancient secrets in recent years, and we need someone to decipher them!”

His divine might spread outward. Incense qi condensed behind him, forming a towering shrine as his divine might grew increasingly stronger.

The mysterious voice rang out in Xu Ying’s mind. “If I weren’t injured, a single wisp of my aura would suffice to deal with them. But I am. You don’t have to worry, though.

“From what they said, you’re valuable. Let them capture you first. In a few days, I’ll recover a bit using your vital energy. Even a fraction of my power will be enough to kill them.”

Xu Ying felt a flicker of relief, followed by confusion. “Recover using my vital energy? Then, Senior, could it be that you...”

A strange energy surged inside Zhou Yihang, opposing the city god’s growing divine might. His gaze flickered, and he smiled faintly. “Unfortunately for you, my clan has no desire to share ancient secrets with others. If we can’t have Xu Ying...”

He sighed. “Then he should just die. Let his soul scatter and his spirit disintegrate. That is the best outcome.”

Xue Lingfu revealed a smile. “The court concurs. If I can’t take him with me today, I must kill him. He can not remain in the mortal realm!”

Xu Ying’s expression darkened, and he let out a groan.

In his mind, the great bell also clanged in surprise. Evidently, this turn of events had left it baffled.

Xue Lingfu chuckled. “But Master Zhou, I hold an advantage here. Even if you kill him, you’ll need another strike to destroy his spirit and soul. And that gives me an opportunity. If I can’t take his body, his soul will do.”

The pressure radiating from Zhou Yihang peaked. Even if the city god manifested his shrine, he couldn’t suppress Zhou Yihang’s pressure. He said calmly, “Rest assured. If I strike, Xu Ying will be erased, body and soul. No trace left behind.”

Xu Ying let out another muffled groan.

The streets had emptied. Only the three of them were left.

The sound of trumpets, suonas, and drums had all vanished. Offerings, joss paper ingots, and candles lay scattered across the ground.

Wind stirred, lifting the joss money into the air. A calf let out a lonely moo in the wind.

Xu Ying stood in the biting chill of the wind, looking somewhat desolate. Yuanqi is still waiting for me to return with herbs...

Suddenly, Xue Lingfu struck!

The shrine formed from incense qi behind him radiated brilliant light. As he formed a seal with his hand, the sound of people chanting erupted from the shrine. The chants could disturb one’s mental state and cause one’s focus to falter.

Dazzling golden light radiated from within Xue Lingfu: the golden body of a god!

Gods absorbed incense smoke. A century of cultivation granted them mystical power; three centuries, a golden body. Xue Lingfu had received offerings for five centuries; His golden body was solid and extraordinary.

He formed a seal with a flip of his palm and unleashed an astonishing thunderclap. Xu Ying felt his soul shaken, and he found himself rising into the air!

He looked down and saw himself standing there. Only then did he realize that the city god’s seal had jolted his soul out of his body.

In his soul form, he could see things invisible to the naked eye, like the small flames floating underneath Xue Lingfu’s palm seal.

Those flames filled Xu Ying with a sense of great destruction and terror. He felt that if his soul even touched them, he would feel agonizing pain. It might even ignite his soul and disintegrate him.

However, Xue Lingfu’s palm seal was aimed at Zhou Yihang, not Xu Ying. The mere thunderclap from it had forced Xu Ying’s soul out of his body. One could only imagine how much pressure Zhou Yihang endured as he faced the attack!

Clang!

A bell chime rang in Xu Ying’s ears. He felt as if his physical body had turned into a huge vortex, pulling his soul down. In the next moment, he had returned to his body.

Xu Ying was just starting to regain his wits when he saw that Zhou Yihang still had his hands behind his back, looking unperturbed.

Two more arms burst from beneath the elder’s armpits to meet Xue Lingfu’s seal. He was going to clash head-on with Xue Lingfu, who had attained a golden body!

The city god possessed extraordinary strength and robust mystical power, far surpassing that of the giant god Xu Ying had fought before. Moreover, his seal technique targeted the soul. How could one meet it head-on?

Yet the moment Zhou Yihang extended his palm, his frame expanded. Bones lengthened, while tendons and flesh surged. In the blink of an eye, the once-lean elder became a giant as tall as the city god.

His muscles coiled like dragons, making him seem like a god.

Xu Ying’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He had planned to study Zhou Yihang’s moves during the fight and compare them to the Mud-Pill Radiant Vestige Cultivation Method to comprehend the Zhou clan’s secret techniques. However, his attack didn’t match the cultivation techniqueat all! Not one bit!

Ding Quan was an Exorcist nurtured by the Zhou clan and served under Magistrate Zhou. He possessed considerable strength. Xu Ying had assumed the method that Ding Quan guarded so fiercely—going as far as to murder his savior—would have some value, even if it wasn’t a rare cultivation technique. Now it was obvious he had overestimated the Zhou clan’s generosity.

The Mud-Pill Radiant Vestige Cultivation Method was likely meant for servants. The true clan members practiced another technique, or even an entirely different cultivation system!

Low-ranking Exorcists like Ding Quan wouldn’t receive their true teachings even if they sold their lives!

Zhou Yihang’s body transformation alone rivaled the city god’s golden body, perhaps even surpassing it. With four arms, he resembled a physical god.

Boom!

Their palm seals collided, producing a heavy, shocking boom. At the center of their clash, the shock made Xu Ying bleed from his seven orifices.

Both Xue Lingfu and Zhou Yihang groaned as the shock rippled through them. Zhou Yihang had believed his soul had fused with his body, unshakable, yet the strike had nearly shattered it!

On the other hand, Xue Lingfu trusted his golden body, confident that it was far stronger than any Zhou clan physique gained by cultivating until they had harnessed more of their Mud-Pill Secret Trove’s power. Nevertheless, a crack spread across his golden body on contact.

They locked gazes as the same thought surfaced in their minds.

Even if I killed him, my golden body would shatter by the inch!

Even if I killed him, my soul would shatter by the inch!

Xue Lingfu and Zhou Yihang were on the same page. They broke eye contact and looked at Xu Ying.

They thought in unison, Since I can’t take him without risking everything, my only choice is to eliminate him and leave nothing for the other guy.

Xue Lingfu and Zhou Yihang attacked Xu Ying simultaneously.

Beneath Xue Lingfu’s palm seal were the Demon-Subduing Yin Flames that could annihilate all divine souls!

Zhou Yihang’s fist seal was as mighty as a mountain, possessing the properties of extreme Yang and firmness. It was the supreme exorcism technique passed down by the Zhou clan’s ancestor—the Sun-Lord World-Quelling Seal!

This fist seal would surely annihilate Xu Ying’s body and soul!

Just then, a great bell slightly taller than an adult appeared and covered Xu Ying. Xue Lingfu’s Demon-Subduing Yin Flames and Zhou Yihang’s Sun-Lord World-Quelling Seal struck it at the same time.

Clang!

The great bell rang loudly from their attacks. Xue Lingfu paled in shock as cracks spread across his golden body. The tremendous force hurled him backward, smashing him through an old willow tree by the street.

On the other side, the skin of Zhou Yihang’s thick arm burst apart. The imposing muscles twisted and crumbled to dust. A chain of cracks followed as the bones shattered.

Zhou Yihang vomited blood. He flew backward, slammed into the temple, and tumbled inside.

Under the great bell, Xu Ying stood frozen in shock and delight. Shocked at the abrupt appearance of the bell that had extorted him, and delighted that it had saved him from certain death.

Another clang rang out. The bell dropped and rolled behind him.

The mysterious voice telepathically told him, “I’ve used up the last of my powers. Best of luck. I’m falling into slumber.”

The great bell is the senior who instructed me!

Xu Ying looked back. The bell lay on the ground, crown toward him, opening outward like a massive trumpet.

He turned around. The bell rolled half a circle with a clang and stopped right behind him.

This could be the bell’s way of protecting itself. Though unconscious, it remained fixed on him, never leaving his side.

So, if I flee now, the great bell will follow right behind me, making noise all the way...

Xu Ying blinked rapidly in despair. How was he supposed to escape like this?

Coughing came from behind the temple.

Xu Ying turned around and saw Zhou Yihang in his giant form. He was a bloody mess, slowly rising to his feet as he pushed himself up against the wall.

The elder was a horrifying sight to behold. The bell’s toll had destroyed more than half his giant body, yet the Mud-Pill Secret Trove kept him alive with its boundless vitality!

However, the bell’s toll had also wounded his soul, tightly bound to his physical body. His mind was dull, his strength reduced by seventy to eighty percent.

Still, he was strong enough to control Xu Ying’s fate!

“To think you have an artifact for protection. I was careless.”

Zhou Yihang swayed forward. Flesh sloughed off him in chunks. New flesh grew on him, only to crack open and fall off again.

The severity of his injuries surpassed Xu Ying’s imagination.

However, the Zhou clan’s Mud-Pill Secret Trove cultivation technique was truly wondrous. Despite such heavy injuries, he still survived.

Zhou Yihang stared at the great bell behind Xu Ying and exclaimed in shock, “It blocked the full-powered strikes from the city god and me. Impressive. But its power is spent, making it useless. It can’t protect you now.”

He glanced past Xu Ying toward the city god. Xue Lingfu had crashed through the wall of a nearby house and lay buried beneath a fallen willow tree, unmoving.

“Hehe, so I’m a little stronger than the city god.”

Zhou Yihang staggered toward Xu Ying as flesh continued to peel from his bones. A strange gleam shone in his eyes as he reached for Xu Ying with a smile.

“Xu Ying, you will be the key to my clan’s rise—”

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Ying quickly turned around and fled. By the time the clanging started, it was already too late.

Taller than an adult, the great bell swept toward Zhou Yihang the moment Xu Ying turned around. It slammed into him violently with a clang.

Struck by the bell, Zhou Yihang was sent flying through the air.

Mid-flight, he was still in a daze. What just happened?

Bang!

He tore through the temple’s far wall, flew dozens of zhang, and smashed into a stone wall before stopping.

Zhou Yihang struggled to his feet, only to hear his shin bones crack.

Startled, he didn’t dare move again. That hit from the great bell had damaged his shins. If he tried to move recklessly, his tibia would likely shatter.

Looking up, he saw Xu Ying leap into the air toward him. He was furious. That brat isn’t running away; he’s charging toward me instead. He’s asking to die!

In midair, Xu Ying swept his leg toward Zhou Yihang’s face. It was a technique from the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist.

From Zhou Yihang’s perspective, this technique was crude beyond words. However, the bronze bell spun with the kick, rushing in alongside it.

Clang!

The bronze bell struck him, breaking Zhou Yihang’s legs and sending him flying back into the temple.

Zhou Yihang was still in a daze. Just as he struggled to his feet, Xu Ying had already closed in again. With his back facing Zhou Yihang, Xu Ying jumped straight up and slammed down.

The great bell smashed into Zhou Yihang’s head, driving half of him into the ground. Xu Ying jumped up and down more than ten times in succession, creating a huge crater in the temple floor.

Clang, clang, clang!

Xu Ying looked into the crater, finding Zhou Yihang still alive. He furrowed his brow. Xue Lingfu’s coughs echoed from the distance. Without hesitation, he charged out of the temple.

I can’t let the city god catch a breath. I need to give him a few hits too!

The pavement wasn’t clean. The bell struck stones as it followed behind Xu Ying, grinding them into dust. Smoke trailed behind it as if the bell itself were smoking.

With both legs broken, Zhou Yihang crawled out of the crater with his arms. Staring at Xu Ying’s back, he ground his teeth in anger. “You outlaw, how arrogant of you! You’re running for your life, yet you’re leaving a trail of smoke behind you! You’re provoking the authorities of Lingling County!”