Day of Ascension

In the sky, two sword qi shuttles weaved between the mountains and rivers of the new lands, shimmering brilliantly whenever they caught the sunlight. One soared upward, traced an elegant arc through the air, and landed on Yuanqi’s huge head.

The sword qi immediately dissipated.

Yuan Weiyang stood there, heaving, her face flushed from the excitement. She was a little short of breath. After all, this was her first time flying with sword kinesis, and the consumption of energy was immense. Even with her extraordinary cultivation, she was exhausted.

Yuan Weiyang excelled in divine sense, but her primordial qi wasn’t as robust as Xu Ying’s. She could control swords with her divine sense and perform more complicated and varied sword techniques, but her primordial qi wouldn’t last long.

Xu Ying, by contrast, possessed stronger primordial qi but a weaker divine sense. Just as he intended to stop, the sword case he carried with him moved on its own. The sword qi within let out a low hum in delight, as though leaping with joy and eager to fly free.

Xu Ying’s heart stirred slightly. He recalled comprehending the Water Entrance Temple’s sword intent alongside the sword qi and immediately extended his divine sense to connect with the case’s sword qi.

As soon as his divine sense made contact, the sword qi leaped out through his divine sense. In the next moment, the sword qi swirling around him surged violently.

Swoosh!

His vision went black. The sudden acceleration forced the blood from his head to his feet, depriving his brain of oxygen.

Xu Ying hurriedly channeled his vital energy, restoring his vision. Then, his scalp went numb. In the brief instant he had lost sight, he had flown seven or eight li and was hurtling straight toward a huge mountain.

He was moving about four to five times faster than before. The sword qi tore through the air, leaving a trail of snow-white clouds.

Behind, Yuan Weiyang and Yuanqi shrieked in horror. They watched the sword qi surrounding Xu Ying surge violently, producing sonic booms and trailing a streak of light as it charged toward the mountain peak.

Xu Ying tried his hardest to control the sword qi with his divine sense to steer himself away, yet he only narrowly missed the mountain peak.

The sword qi enveloping Xu Ying sliced across the side of the mountain peak, sending boulders flying and producing a series of piercing noises.

Krrr! Krrr! Krrr!

Despite remaining unscathed, Xu Ying’s heart had nearly leaped up to his throat when he had grazed the mountain peak. He couldn’t help but feel shocked and delighted.

Senior Yuan Tiangang’s sword case is indeed formidable!

The faster he moved, the quicker his primordial qi burned away, vanishing at an increasingly alarming rate.

He hurriedly cried out, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”

He strained to control the case’s sword qi. The restless sword qi trembled nonstop, but he gradually stabilized it. Xu Ying finally gained a measure of control and slowed down.

However, the sword qi remained restless, occasionally surging violently. He still needed more practice before he could command it like an extension of his arm.

Before long, Yuanqi saw a mass of sword qi, about a zhang wide, fly toward him. His hair stood up on end as he cried out, “Ah Ying, be careful not to cut a big hole in my forehead!”

Xu Ying spread his arms wide, surrounded by swirling sword qi as he slowly landed.

The sword qi withdrew abruptly. With a whoosh, it flowed like water back into the sword case on his back and vanished from sight.

What a great sword! Xu Ying praised inwardly, Senior Yuan Tiangang is such a nice person, but why is the sword qi he nurtured this violent? Did he refine his temper into the sword qi to keep himself calm?

Unable to see his own forehead, Yuanqi cried out, “How’s my head? Is it still there? Master Zhong, Master Zhong, knock my head once and let me hear a... Alright, stop knocking! I’m getting dizzy!”

Full of excitement, Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang sat down and immersed themselves in discussion. They analyzed the difficulties they had encountered while flying and refined the sword-kinesis mantra they had created.

Before they knew it, the sun had begun setting. The dragon carriage had yet to leave the new lands. They had not seen Yongzhou City, much less Lingling City. Even Zhou Qiyun seemed to have lost his way.

The four divine dragons were exhausted from pulling the carriage. So, Zhou Qiyun stopped the carriage to let them rest.

Yuanqi could also finally come out of the dragon carriage to get some fresh air and was overjoyed.

They rested by a vast lake, surrounded by clear, shallow marshes, their bed visible. Yuanqi swam in the waters, creating ripples on the surface and startling the large fish, which leaped repeatedly from the water.

Seizing the opportunity, the huge snake had his fill.

Xu Ying scanned the area. Mountains surrounded them on three sides. A lone hill stood at the center, separated from the surrounding ridges.

The hill was only thirty to forty zhang tall and not particularly wide. Yet many ancient trees grew on it, their bark shaped like dragon scales. Some trees seemed to be over ten thousand years old.

Xu Ying walked to the base of the hill and saw stone statues perched among the trees. None was large. The biggest were only the size of an adult, while the smallest were no larger than a fist.

He made his way around the base of the hill and found the terrain blanketed with stone statues. Judging by their sheer density, their number likely exceeded tens of thousands.

He raised his foot, intending to ascend the hill to take a closer look. Strange sounds reached his ears. It felt as though countless voices were whispering beside him.

Dazhong immediately grew tense and let out a deafening clang, refining away the noise in Xu Ying’s mind. He shouted, “Ah Ying, don’t move! Do you still remember that big guy I suppressed under the well? There’s something like that here!”

Xu Ying immediately recalled what had happened on Little Rocky Mountain. The Hell River had invaded while he was being pursued and was trapped in the abandoned mountain temple. He spotted chains by the well and peered inside, where he saw a giant eye.

At that time, he had heard the same strange whispers attempting to bewitch him.

Terrified to his core, Dazhong murmured, “It’s not just one big guy here! I sensed thousands of them... How could there be this many? Even at my peak, I wouldn’t be able to suppress them all...”

Xu Ying immediately used his divine sense as a mirror and looked toward the hill.

The Third Eye mirror in his ethereal void abruptly shattered with a crash. An unknown power invaded his ethereal void. It was evil yet holy, ancient yet powerful, and utterly foreign. It sought to erase his divine sense.

This power was different from that of a ghost, a god, or an Exorcist. It was not an earthly power, as if it came from another world.

In an instant, Xu Ying’s Third Eye shattered, and his divine sense nearly disintegrated.

At that critical moment, Dazhong descended from Xu Ying’s mind into his ethereal void, clanging loudly as he tried to block the invading evil power.

Within his ethereal void, the spark of Pure Yang Spirit Flame suddenly surged. Blazing fire engulfed the sky and burned the invading force away with a sizzling hiss.

Dazhong tolled continuously as he flew from Xu Ying’s eyes, crossed the divine bridge, past the jasper pool, and down the twelve-level pagoda, echoing back and forth.

Then, he flew to Xu Ying’s five viscera immortal mountains and refined away the unusual force that had invaded his organs.

The Pure Yang Spirit Flame also blazed through the air, refining the invading force that had come from the mountain ranges.

Xu Ying was still in a daze, with nearly half his divine sense shattered. Noticing that his complexion was off, Yuan Weiyang extended a finger and placed it on Xu Ying’s glabella.

Feeling a cool sensation between his brows, Xu Ying’s chaotic divine sense gradually pulled back together and stabilized. He thanked Yuan Weiyang.

Puzzled, Yuan Weiyang asked, “Demon King Xu, why did your divine sense suddenly collapse?”

Dazhong said gravely, “That’s not all that happened. He would have lost his life if it weren’t for me and the spirit flame inside him! Ah Ying, what exactly did you see to draw upon the invasion of that unusual force?”

Looking at the hill ahead, deeply unnerved, Xu Ying said, “I just saw a swathe of divine light. It came from these tiny stone statues. Each streak of divine light shot up to the heavens, as if connecting to another space-time. Then...”

He shook his head and murmured, “Then, I saw Them looking at me from another world...”

“Them?” Confused, Yuan Weiyang pressed on, “Who are Them?”

Xu Ying shook his head again. He asked, “Master Zhong, aside from the coffin maiden, what is that other massive creature you were suppressing in the well on the Little Rocky Mountain?”

Dazhong fell silent for a moment, then answered, “A heavenly god who descended to the mortal realm to do evil. Since I was severely injured and could no longer suppress the ancient well, that heavenly god must have escaped just like the demoness. Once I’m recovered, I will capture Him and the demoness and stuff them back into the well!”

Xu Ying fell silent. Heavenly gods were the gods of the Heavenly Dao World.

The Plague God, whom he had driven away with a whip, was also a heavenly god.

Yet when he had used the Third Eye to examine the stone statues, something had observed him in return. In that instant, thousands of eyes had locked onto him. Otherwise, his divine sense would not have shattered so completely.

Though, where did so many heavenly gods come from? And what connection did they have with the stone statues on the hill?

Xu Ying cast a glance at Zhou Qiyun, who was resting with his eyes closed. Since Old Ancestor Zhou came all the way here to rest, he must have done it for a reason. Could this place be connected to the Underworld Court?

Not long after, the sun set, and darkness fell.

Yet this desolate hill gradually lit up, growing increasingly bright. It resembled candlelight, yet it pierced through the clouds as though illuminating another world.

Yuan Weiyang, Uncle Xiao, and Yuanqi had never witnessed such a spectacle before and looked up in succession. Yet, the sight Xu Ying saw with the Third Eye was a thousand times more magnificent!

“In the imperial annals of Zhidao Dasheng Daming Xiao, it was written that the emperor, accompanied by a few servants, journeyed to Cangwu. He passed through the Ghost Cub Hill to enter the underworld.”

Xu Ying turned his head around, only to see that Zhou Qiyun had risen to his feet at some point and arrived behind them. He was also looking up at the desolate hill. Yet, at that moment, the hill faintly grew to an immense size, far surpassing the nearby peaks!

Zhou Qiyun strode toward the hill. “It was from here that Zhidao Dasheng entered the underworld, found his way to the Underworld Court, and conversed with its emperor to form an agreement to unify the divine and imperial authorities in the mortal realm.

“However, in his later years, Zhidao Dasheng brought the prosperous era to ruin with his incompetence. The Underworld Court took advantage of this to break the agreement and stretched its hands into the mortal realm.

“Today, I shall emulate Zhidao Dasheng and pay a visit to the Underworld Court. You may come with me.”

Following closely behind him, Xu Ying asked, “Are you doing that to form another agreement with the emperor of the Underworld Court to unify the divine and imperial authorities?”

Zhou Qiyun answered casually, “If I were the emperor, I would march into the underworld to renew the agreement for the sake of the people and the state, but I am not. His Majesty, Emperor Shengshen Zhangwu, is still alive. As his subject, how could I overstep my authority? That would be treason.”

After a momentary pause, he continued, “I came here solely for myself.”

He did not attempt to conceal his self-interest.

Xu Ying pondered the matter, unsure whether Zhou Qiyun had come to the Underworld Court to ensure it would not interfere when he usurped the throne, or to drive back the underworld to protect Yongzhou.

Zhou Qiyun led them deeper into the increasingly majestic hill. The candlelight in the sky grew even brighter. As they ascended it step by step, boundless divine light poured down from the sky.

At that moment, Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang felt a powerful will and an unusual force from another world descending, stream after stream, pouring into the stone statues scattered throughout the hill.

With a rumble, the stone statues grew taller and larger, reaching a towering height. Bathed in divine light, they sat among ancient trees as massive as the great locust tree.

The stone statues perched on the branches of ancient trees like birds. Their gazes lacked any emotion as they observed Xu Ying and the others.

Gazing upward, Xu Ying saw that divine light had illuminated the sky. Thousands of streaks of divine light formed the roof of a hall so massive it was unimaginable and unbelievable.

“These are the projections of heavenly gods!” Dazhong tolled lightly. Clearly, this incredible scene had stunned him as well. He said softly, “In my master’s era, I never heard of such a place.

“What happened in the Divine Land over these three thousand years? Why have Qi Cultivators gone extinct, and why have so many heavenly gods gathered here to form a palace hall?”

He had hung on the Little Rocky Mountain for too long, oblivious to the affairs of the world. He realized that he had lived three thousand years in vain.

Walking ahead, Zhou Qiyun said, “According to the imperial annals, this place is called the Heavenly God Hall, the path to the Underworld Court. Ordinary people cannot set foot here. The heavenly gods’ majesty would affect them, driving them to madness until they kill one another. With me protecting you, their influence cannot harm you.”

His cultivation was unfathomably deep, resisting the will of thousands of heavenly gods at the same time.

Yuan Weiyang whispered, “I’m afraid he’s even stronger than Zhidao Dasheng of the past. In the records, the Emperor wasn’t described as being this powerful.”

Following Zhou Qiyun, Xu Ying saw cliffs on both sides of the path. Below were countless writhing skeletons, affected by the heavenly gods’ will. They were still crawling upward, unaware that they had already died a very long time ago!

He shuddered as he suddenly recalled a matter. A bead of cold sweat gradually broke out from his forehead.

Since this is the Heavenly God Hall, is there Plague God here? Does He still remember that I had whipped him before?

Just then, a heavenly god stone statue perched on a tree gradually turned its head and looked at him.