Day of Ascension

The villagers of Matoupo Village fell silent. They stood frozen where they were, not daring to move. Even the River God, who had dozens of wives, trembled and scarcely dared to breathe.

After Yuanqi questioned them, he was overjoyed and laughed. “Ah Ying is really here!”

Dazhong and Zhu Chanchan were both worried. Dazhong said, “These people are saying Ah Ying has lived here for seven years. That means Bei Chenzi and the others tampered with their memories. If they tampered with everyone else’s memories, they probably tampered with Ah Ying’s too.”

Yuanqi said, “Then we’ll just restore them!”

Zhu Chanchan shook her head. “That would be very difficult. Even if we rewrite their memories, they would still be false unless the seal is undone. But Xu Ying’s seal...”

She frowned slightly. Over the past several days, she had traveled busily with Dazhong and Yuanqi, gradually piecing together Xu Ying’s past. She suspected someone had sealed his memories long ago. The seal had endured for an unimaginably long time and had been reapplied countless times.

Each time the seal was applied, Xu Ying began a new life, living an entirely different lifetime. To remove the seal, they first had to capture Bei Chenzi and the other two. The odds of that were vanishingly small.

Even if they somehow succeeded, what then? Bei Chenzi and his companions were nothing more than watchdogs. Behind them lurked beings far more terrifying. Who were they? Zhu Chanchan did not even dare think about it.

“Chanchan, stay here and wait to see if Ah Ying comes back. Master Zhong and I will search the area,” Yuanqi suggested.

Zhu Chanchan agreed, and Dazhong and Yuanqi split up.

***

Xu Ying and Xu Jin looked around and were astonished to find an entirely different world hidden within the mountain. Fields and footpaths crisscrossed the land, houses stood in neat rows, and people bustled to and fro. Only their clothing marked them as belonging to a far older age.

The two looked around in wonder. The residents were just as surprised to see them and quickly gathered around, asking where they had come from. Xu Ying explained that they had been chasing a giant fish.

Xu Jin was extremely excited. “Is this the Peach Blossom Spring? Our ancestors told us that long ago, a fisherman wandered deep into the Wuling Mountains and discovered the Peach Blossom Spring. The people there had fled inside during the Ancestral Dragon’s era. Is this that place?”

The residents exchanged glances, then all shook their heads. “This is the underworld. We are ghosts.”

The two were startled, but the ghosts meant them no harm. One elderly ghost said, “The realms of yin and yang are connected, and the boundary between life and death has grown blurred. You likely entered through a rift linking the mortal world and the underworld. Just return the way you came.”

Xu Jin thanked them and was about to retrace his steps when a voice suddenly laughed. “You’re... Xu Ying!”

Xu Ying turned around and saw a ghost god walking toward them. The ghost god was towering, with the face of a horse and the body of a man. Incense qi coiled around him, while streams of fire burst from his nostrils.

Lowering his head, he scrutinized Xu Ying from head to toe before bursting into laughter. “It really is you! Xu Ying, the snake catcher of Lingling!”

The ghosts who had been speaking with them turned pale with terror. They immediately dropped to their knees. ”My lord!”

Xu Ying looked up and said, “I am Xu Ying, but I’m not the snake catcher of Lingling. I’m just a fisherman from Wuling. Do you know me?”

The horse-faced ghost god grabbed a ghost, tossed it into his mouth, and savored the taste. He laughed.

“You violated the Heavenly Laws and killed officials of the Underworld Court. The court issued a bounty for your capture long ago. Your portrait has been distributed to ghost gods across the divine land. How could I possibly not recognize you?”

Xu Jin hurried forward and forced a smile. “My lord, you’ve mistaken him for someone else. I picked up Ah Ying while fishing seven years ago. He’s never even been outside Wuling. How could he have gone to Lingling?”

The horse-faced ghost god’s gaze turned sinister. “He rebelled and stirred up chaos. Who knows how many ghost gods he killed? Did he think hiding in Wuling would erase everything he’d done?”

The mere trace of the ghost god’s aura filled Xu Jin with terror. His heart pounded, his mouth went dry, and he instinctively stepped in front of Xu Ying while forcing a placating smile. ”My lord, you’ve truly mistaken him for someone else...”

The horse-faced ghost god’s hand shot out and seized Xu Jin, sneering. “Enough! I am not after you, yet you keep interfering. Do you really think I wouldn’t dare eat a human?”

Xu Jin struggled frantically, but the iron grip wouldn’t budge. His face flushed deep red as the air was crushed from his lungs. He rasped, “Ah Ying, run...”

His eyes bulged, and he could no longer force out a single word. The horse-faced ghost god opened his enormous jaws and lifted Xu Jin toward his mouth. “Every so often, I leave the underworld to feast on the living. You’ve whetted my appetite. A soul filled with a father’s love is the sweetest delicacy of all...”

A clear elephant’s cry rang out. The horse-faced ghost god instantly felt a tremendous force slam into his waist, knocking his massive body backward.

Startled, he saw Xu Ying spring into the air and whip out a kick at the arm gripping Xu Jin. Vital energy erupted from the young man’s body like boiling water, surging behind him to form an Elephant King God more than two zhang tall.

The divine elephant swung its trunk in perfect sync with Xu Ying’s kick. With a sharp crack, the blow numbed the horse-faced ghost god’s arm, forcing him to release Xu Jin.

In that instant, the horse-faced ghost god noticed something at Xu Ying’s brow: a streak of light. It resembled a bolt of lightning carved across the sky, branded into Xu Ying’s brow as it slowly emerged from beneath his skin.

Xu Ying landed, grabbed the bewildered Xu Jin by the hand, and took off running. “Dad, hurry!”

The two fled for their lives toward the fissure in the mountain. Behind them, the horse-faced ghost god leaped into the air. Watching them flee, he let out a cold laugh. The incense qi swirling around him condensed into a storm of flying swords that screamed through the air toward the fleeing pair.

“By order of the Underworld Court Emperor: Capture Xu Ying! Dead or alive!”

The horse-faced ghost god roared with laughter. “Then I’ll devour your body and take your soul back to the court!”

Those streaks of sword qi were incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, they were at Xu Ying’s back. The vital energy inside Xu Ying circulated along an inexplicable path, and he unconsciously unleashed the forms of the Elephant-Bull Demon Fist. His strikes collided with the sword qi.

The sword qi surged against him, driving him backward. He skidded for over a dozen zhang before finally coming to a stop, yet he had blocked every strike.

Xu Jin stared at him in disbelief. “Ah Ying, how do you know these moves?”

Xu Ying froze as well. “Yeah. How do I know these moves?”

The incense flying swords attacked again with increased tenacity. They weren’t only directed at him, but also at Xu Jin! The horse-faced ghost god had noticed Xu Ying’s determination to protect Xu Jin and immediately recognized it as his greatest weakness.

Xu Ying reacted on pure instinct. Sword qi burst from his fingertips before he even realized what he was doing. Several brilliant streaks slashed through the air, shattering the incoming incense flying swords.

“How do I know flying-sword techniques?”

Xu Ying stared blankly. Then he saw his sword qi spring to life, darting to and fro with the speed of lightning. As he reached out to touch it, the sword qi dispersed into wisps of vital energy that flowed back into him before disappearing without a trace.

The horse-faced ghost god flew into a rage and charged over quickly, shouting, “Trying to escape? It won’t be that easy!”

He drew upon his cultivation, and eerie incense qi swelled around him. Two more arms emerged from his back, giving him four in total. Each hand gripped a saber forged from incense qi, the blades nearly two zhang long.

The horse-faced god shifted his footing, his four arms becoming a blur. The sabers carved gleaming arcs through the air, swirling like a tempest as they howled toward Xu Ying.

Xu Ying covered Xu Jin’s retreat to the mouth of the fissure. Realizing he could no longer hold the ghost god back, he bent forward instinctively. He twisted like a dragon-snake as a mysterious sound echoed through his mind, profound beyond comprehension, drawing out his vital energy.

Whoosh!

He thrust both palms forward. A dragon-snake writhed through the air, its power increased severalfold in an instant. The enormous phantom coiled around the horse-faced ghost god, lifted him off the ground, and hurled him more than one hundred zhang away. He slammed into the cliff face, exploding into a mangled pulp.

Xu Ying froze, staring at his own hands in disbelief.

Xu Jin stood behind him, bewildered. He murmured, “Ah Ying, what exactly are you?”

The lightning-shaped mark on Xu Ying’s forehead gradually dimmed. He quickly said, “Dad, we need to get out of here, now...”

Boom!

A violent tremor came from the mountain behind them. Xu Ying hurriedly turned to find the mountain sealing itself shut, the fissure vanishing. A blast of air sent both of them flying.

“Our boat!”

Still airborne, Xu Ying hurriedly caught Xu Jin. Then he remembered the fishing boat and the giant fish still trapped inside the mountain fissure. His heart sank. ”We’re done for... What are we going to eat from now on?”

Xu Ying set Xu Jin down gently. Suddenly sensing something behind him, he hastily turned around, only to find more than a hundred towering gods had appeared behind them without their noticing.

Some resembled the city god enshrined in city-god temples, while others resembled fierce gods from temples. They varied in size and appearance, each unique.

At their head stood a god over three zhang tall. His aura eclipsed every other deity present. Golden light radiated from his body as dense incense qi coiled around him. Countless prayers from devoted worshippers echoed ceaselessly in the air.

“Xu Ying, fugitive of the Underworld Court. I never expected you to be hiding here.”

The golden-bodied god burst into laughter. ”I’ve searched high and low without success, only for you to fall right into my hands! Heaven itself has bestowed this merit upon me!”

That golden-bodied god was none other than the Controller General of Wuling Commandery, a high-ranking regional official of the Underworld Court. His incense qi was rich and dense, and he possessed a thousand years of cultivation.

The moment he learned Xu Ying had appeared in Wuling, he had led his forces there at once. Now, before Xu Ying could escape the underworld, he had cut off every route of retreat.

Xu Jin dropped to his knees and repeatedly kowtowed to the Controller General of Wuling and the other ghost gods, bashing his head until blood flowed. He cried out, “My lords, please let us go! I’m kowtowing to you!”

“If kowtowing worked, what would we need the Heavenly Laws for?”

The Controller General of Wuling did not even look at him. With a wave of his hand, he said, “Seize Xu Ying and escort him to the Underworld Court to claim the reward!”

Behind him, a string of ghost gods rushed out, pouncing toward Xu Ying and Xu Jin.

Xu Ying clenched his fists as he watched one mighty ghost god after another charge toward him. Unable to contain his fury, he shouted, “What did I do wrong?”

“Ah!”

Power flowed from every part of his body. He threw back his head and shouted. His five organs resonated, his ethereal void opened wide, and the Black-Iron Pass thundered open as the waters of the Heavenly River poured in.

Xu Ying met a charging city god head-on and unleashed a punch. Along with that blow, Dao sound resonated like a grand bell, sending the power of his technique soaring. It was the Eight Sounds of Primordial Nurturing exploding forth, stirring every part of his flesh and soul, drawing out an incomparable might.

With a single punch, he shattered the city god’s arm, tearing it clean off. The city god’s golden body was breached, and nearly half of his accumulated incense qi was destroyed.

The remaining ghost gods charged in, attacking from every direction. Behind Xu Ying, the Azure Sky revolved as the Nine Heavens Circular Expanded, drawing the power of every ghost god into the divine ability of his exorcism technique.

In the next instant, he shifted into the Bright Mirror Form. He became as insubstantial as the void, and every attack was effortlessly nullified.

Without warning, the skies of the underworld erupted with thunder and lightning. As Xu Ying brought down a seal with his hand, heavenly tribulation descended from above, smashing a city god to pieces.

Amid the flashing lightning and rolling thunder, a streak of sword light shot forth, piercing the horse-faced god between the brows. The sword then swept downward, its radiance surging in an instant as it cleaved another ghost god cleanly in two from head to toe.

Xu Ying’s small figure darted through the lightning. Dragons and snakes coiled and danced around him as one golden-bodied god after another was sent reeling by his blows.

Whoosh!

The lightning-shaped mark at his brow grew even brighter. Behind his head, a sea of chaos appeared, followed by one revolving grotto heaven after another.

The wounds on his body healed at terrifying speed. He raised another hand seal to meet another ghost god’s divine ability. Within his palm seal appeared the Dao avatar of Myriad Mountains Bow to Jiuyi. He blasted that ghost god and its divine ability alike into ash.

Ghost gods’ blood poured down in torrents, spraying in every direction. Blood rained from the sky as severed limbs flew through the air.

Boom!

Xu Ying’s palm met the palm of the Controller General of Wuling, and the impact sent him stumbling backward. The Controller General of Wuling shouted repeatedly, unleashing the full power of his thousand years of incense qi. Each palm strike descended like a mountain, forcing Xu Ying to give ground.

The lightning-shaped mark on Xu Ying’s forehead blazed even brighter. Then, with another thunderous boom, a sea of fire appeared behind him. The Crimson-Palace Secret Trove opened, and two Crescent Furnace Grotto Heavens ignited his inner fire.

Xu Ying’s aura surged, and he forcibly withstood the Controller General’s assault.

Crack!

A lightning bolt split the sky, flooding the battlefield with stark white light. Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood stretched in every direction. The colossal corpses of fallen gods lay scattered across the earth.

Xu Ying and the Controller General locked palms, each pushing their cultivation to the limit.

Then the lightning-shaped mark gradually dimmed; as it faded, a mass of cosmic qi flew out from behind him, and another Yellow Court grotto heaven opened.

Divine Light shimmered in Xu Ying’s eyes. His divine sense was awakening.

The Controller General of Wuling immediately realized the situation had turned against him. Cold sweat rolled down his forehead as two more arms, formed entirely from incense qi, burst from beneath his shoulders. With two crushing punches, he blasted Xu Ying away.

Instead of pressing his advantage, he turned and rushed to Xu Jin, reaching out to seize him. I’ll take him hostage first...

Just then, a bright flash of an ax flared.

The Controller General turned his head and saw Xu Ying soaring through the air, both hands gripping a massive stone ax as its gleaming blade came crashing from above.

With a single swing of the ax, the Controller General was split cleanly in two.

Xu Ying landed, stone ax in hand, and slowly straightened. The sky gradually brightened once more.

Only then did Xu Jin realize he was kneeling in a pool of blood. Severed limbs carpeted the ground around him. The scattered hands and feet were about the same size as him.

“Ah Ying, are you really my Ah Ying?” Xu Jin murmured.

“I don’t know.”

Xu Ying looked lost. He tucked the stone ax into his waistband.

He supported Xu Jin and walked toward the mountain wall. When they reached it, he pulled out the stone ax and brought it down. The wall split open.

The two blood-soaked men stepped through the opening.

Outside, the fishing boat had already been smashed to splinters, and the enormous fish had been reduced to a mangled pulp.

They waded through the water. It gradually rose to their chests, but they eventually emerged from the fissure.

Sunlight streamed down from above. Xu Ying felt a slight stir in his heart. He lifted Xu Jin, primordial qi circulating beneath his feet, and the two of them gradually rose to the surface and stood on the water.

Supporting Xu Jin, Xu Ying walked onward until they reached the peach grove.

“Ah Ying, do you recognize me?”

A familiar voice came from behind him. Xu Ying turned and saw a great snake lifting its head from among the peach trees, looking very familiar.

A name flashed through Xu Ying’s mind. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked, “Are you... Master Qi?”