Day of Ascension

By now, many people within the stone city had received Xu Ying’s warning and were rushing out.

Just as they stepped out of the city, they saw the dragon-headed divine being pulling the massive city. It soared amid lightning and thunder, tilted sideways, and followed that gigantic figure into the depths of darkness with a roar.

The crowd that had escaped the stone city could not help but be horrified. Most were Exorcists of the Guo clan, with only a handful from the other noble clans. The entire clan had placed absolute trust in Xu Ying. That was why so many of them had escaped.

However, Guo Xiaodie, Guo Yue, Li Yingzhu, and others had failed to seize the opportunity to escape.

Chaos had engulfed the stone city. Everyone had been affected by the killing intent. Friend or foe, they struck with lethal ferocity, unleashing all manner of divine abilities, artifacts, and exorcism techniques against anyone nearby.

Having practiced the Grand Unity Guiding Method for years, Xu Ying had a pure mind. Moreover, he had learned the Heart-Returning Mantra from Pei Du, which kept the killing intent from affecting him. Enveloped in Xu Ying’s aura, Yuanqi remained unaffected as well.

In the next instant, fierce sword aura flashed before Xu Ying. Its radiance split into countless points of light, filling his entire field of vision.

That was the eight-facet sword Xue Ying’an had activated. Amidst the chaos, he thrust it straight at Xu Ying.

Xu Ying had never seen such sword techniques before! He had grasped the basics of swordsmanship from Yuan Tiangang’s sword case and comprehended the Realm Breaker from the fissure filled with sword qi at the Water Entrance Temple.

Compared with the swordsmanship Xue Ying’an had learned from Li Xiaoke, Xu Ying’s own techniques were still far too shallow.

Yet swordsmanship was not Xu Ying’s only strength. He retreated and unleashed an exorcism technique, using the sixth technique of the Ode of the Azure Skies, Radiant Star Shine, to face Xue Ying’an’s eight-facet sword.

His surroundings plunged into darkness. Stars gathered and surged like a river, following the force of his palm as it collided with the countless points of sword light filling his vision.

In terms of cultivation, Xu Ying had unlocked all six secrets. His primordial qi, divine sense, strength, and physique far surpassed other Qi Cultivators!

Yet, as he unleashed this strike, his heart involuntarily skipped a beat. The dots of sword light suddenly surged in power as they met the starlight. Three to four layers of power were hidden within the sword light, each layer several times more powerful than the one before it.

The Realm Breaker sword qi Xu Ying had comprehended grew stronger as it met resistance. After the first burst of power, a second, even more domineering sword qi followed, with the momentum to shatter any resistance.

However, it was only a single move.

Xue Ying’an’s swordsmanship, on the other hand, was far more exquisite than Xu Ying’s Realm Breaker sword qi. In terms of technique, it even surpassed the Ode of the Azure Skies.

In addition, Xue Ying’an’s eight-facet sword was also a remarkable treasure. Xu Ying immediately saw the stars shatter before his eyes. Realizing his technique had been broken, he immediately retreated backward.

Behind him was a stone building. Its layout was quite different from normal buildings, possessing an exotic flair. A staircase spiraled along the walls like a coiling dragon, while the rooms were built into the four walls as individual stone chambers.

Just as Xu Ying retreated into the building, sword light flooded the room as Xue Ying’an charged in.

Xu Ying quickly retreated up the stairs, only to see Xue Ying’an’s sword light surge from the floor like steam. It roared upward like a colossal pillar of sword qi, spinning as it shredded everything in its path.

This sword technique is not bad at all! Xu Ying praised inwardly. He flicked away several incoming streaks of sword qi. Before their second or third burst of power could erupt, his majestic mystical power shattered them outright.

Unfortunately, the sword qi he had shattered was merely a drop in the ocean. The pillar of sword qi rose from the floor, already more than twenty zhang tall, and continued to grow stronger.

His sword qi is too powerful. It’s already gained too much momentum, forcing me to retreat. Otherwise, I’ll have to risk my life. What a sword divine ability, as expected of the teachings of Master Zhong’s master!

Xu Ying quickly darted into a stone chamber and jumped out of the window. He vaulted nimbly upward and landed on the building’s roof.

Boom!

Inside the building, the sword qi pillar’s power erupted. Sword light instantly gushed out from the windows of every stone chamber but failed to destroy the building.

This stone city had been forged by the strongest Qi Cultivators of the myriad heavens to face their formidable foe. Even though Xue Ying’an’s sword technique was brilliant, he couldn’t destroy the building.

Xu Ying had apparently anticipated this. He stood on the roof and watched as the sword qi gradually exhausted itself.

Xue Ying’an flew out of a window and hovered in the air, standing on sword light. He looked around, searching for Xu Ying.

Although this Sword Kinesis Mantra is inferior to the one Yuan Weiyang and I have restored, it’s still an extremely rare technique. Xu Ying praised inwardly.

He could tell that Xue Ying’an’s Sword Kinesis Mantra wasn’t orthodox. Li Xiaoke had likely only obtained an incomplete technique and developed a new Sword Kinesis Technique based on that fragment.

Xu Ying casually threw a rock which bounced off Xue Ying’an’s forehead.

Xue Ying’an felt a chill in his heart. He hurriedly looked up. If that had been a flying sword or divine ability instead of a rock...

He hesitated for a moment, then flew up using the Sword Kinesis Technique and landed on the roof of the stone building. He stood next to Xu Ying and pointed his sword at him. “We are strangers. I shouldn’t be fighting you, but you slandered my master, claiming that he devoured people. To protect his honor, I have no choice but to fight you!”

He channeled his true primordial. “I ambushed you earlier and seized the initiative. For the sake of fairness, you make the first move this time!”

Yuanqi was taken aback. “Ah Ying, this kid really hasn’t spent much time in Jianghu. He’s so innocent. A few more years and he will turn into a wandering spirit, dancing on his own grave every day.”

Xu Ying smiled. “Xue Ying’an, look outside.”

Xue Ying’an shouted, “I won’t fall for your trick! If I look outside, you’ll use the opportunity to ambush me, and I’ll be dead.”

Despite saying that, he could not resist sneaking a glance outside. What he saw left him utterly stunned. His face went blank as he stared at the scene beyond the city.

Yuanqi muttered under his breath, “Foolish boy.”

However, the sight outside the city was indeed astonishing. The stone city they were in was currently flying past a massive planet. The planet was made of gas, forming a sea of clouds on its surface that glowed yellow, red, and white.

The planet was so enormous that it completely blocked their view. Then it swept overhead and disappeared.

They could even hear the planet’s low hums. Within that sea of clouds, colossal fish that were tens of thousands of li long swam through the atmosphere, commanding wind and lightning as they chased after the stone city.

Meanwhile, in front of the stone city, wind and thunder roared. The immense dragon-headed figure, transformed from a Heavenly Dao Divine Artifact, bathed in the storm as it pulled the stone city forward with all its might.

Even the colossal fish on that massive planet could not catch up. The stone city gradually pulled farther and farther away.

Meanwhile, in the starry sky beside this massive gaseous planet, an enormous vortex formed, as if born of converging lightning and thunder.

The stone city was being pulled forward, heading straight toward that vortex!

Xue Ying’an was stunned by this sight. He felt a sharp jolt of alarm, and without a second thought, he activated his protective little bell. A surge of mystical power as vast as the sea transformed into a palm seal and appeared before him. ℯℯ𝘭.

The protective little bell was a replica of the Carefree Bell. Brilliant light radiated from its surface, forming a massive bell that enveloped him. Yet in the next moment, that palm force crushed through the wall of light. The barrier trembled and blurred, on the verge of shattering.

Clang!

In his terror, Xue Ying’an activated the protective little bell to its limit. Yet, he still felt an unstoppable wave of mystical power crushing down on him, sending him flying uncontrollably as he tumbled down the stone building.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

He plummeted and crashed into the ground with a loud boom. The impact created a huge pit, burying both him and the bell deep within it.

Xu Ying withdrew his palm and said to Yuanqi, “Look, Master Qi. From now on, he won’t be gullible enough to actually look.”

Yuanqi praised, “Ah Ying, you’re so kind! You’re as compassionate as a Bodhisattva!”

Furious, Xue Ying’an was just about to climb out when Xu Ying pushed him back down with a palm strike. Xue Ying’an was prepared for this and immediately activated his eight-facet sword and erupted with his sword technique!

However, Xu Ying’s palm strike was a divine ability he had comprehended by observing Zhou Qiyun facing the heavenly tribulation. He had developed it upon the foundation of the Ode of the Azure Skies, Descent of Tribulation.

Every Qi Cultivator had to face the heavenly tribulation. As the palm strike came down, Xue Ying’an’s heart was gripped by terror. He met it with a palm strike of his own, but Xu Ying’s palm force crushed him back into the pit.

Inside, the little bell clanged non-stop, furiously dissipating the force of that strike.

I’m finished! Xue Ying’an fell into despair. The first opponent he faced after descending the mountains seemed ridiculously powerful. Once he found the opportunity, he would pin him down and beat him half to death!

If he remained trapped in this huge pit, his opponent would definitely beat him to death!

However, after Xu Ying’s strike fell, he didn’t continue.

Shocked and confused, Xue Ying’an struggled to his feet. What does he mean by this?

Inside the stone city, the fighting had stopped at some point. The ghosts of the warriors from various realms stood solemnly, looking up like an army with strict discipline.

However, in just that short period of chaos, corpses now lay strewn within the stone city. Only thirty to forty percent of the Exorcists who entered the city survived; the rest had perished at the hands of others.

The survivors could spare no thought about saving the injured. They all looked up in terror as the stone city approached the lightning vortex in the starry night.

Many had noticed the clash between Xue Ying’an and Xu Ying, and each of them let out a sigh of relief.

Zhu Zhongquan’s eyes flickered. I thought this Qi Cultivator was an expert, but he couldn’t even withstand a single palm strike from Demon King Xu, surprisingly. He’s nothing special.

Gao Xingqian put his guqin[1] away. He used that artifact brilliantly, but he just isn’t strong enough. Demon King Xu vanished for two years and has already fallen behind the times, yet he still lost to Demon King Xu. Indeed, these Qi Cultivators are nothing much. They’re far inferior to the brilliance of the major noble clans’ dual cultivation.

The young experts of the Chai and Zhao clans also exchanged glances, reassured after judging Xue Ying’an’s strength by the way he had been beaten.

They had not witnessed the terrifying might of Xue Ying’an’s sword qi inside the stone building. They had merely seen Xu Ying overwhelming him, so they assumed that this young Qi Cultivator was nothing special.

Accompanied by the deafening roar of thunder, the stone city plunged into that terrifying lightning vortex. Light and darkness alternated across the city, giving everyone the sensation of passing through the barrier between time and space.

The feeling resembled Zhou Qiyun undergoing his tribulation. The ripples of spacetime warping passing through the human body also resembled the situation at the Water Entrance Temple, when one entered the Exorcist Immortal’s Radiant Vestige land of sublimation from the outside world.

However, crossing this barrier took an incredibly long time.

The crowd became weightless and floated in the air, their forms stretched out by spacetime. At times, they became old and white-haired; other times, they became babies. Then they would suddenly transform into other species—bulls, horses, enormous fish, even insects. The sight was utterly bizarre.

They couldn’t use their divine sense, mystical power, Golden Core, artifacts, or divine abilities. They could only float along.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the sensation of passing through the barrier of spacetime gradually faded. The crowd immediately felt their mystical powers return, regained control of their bodies, and plummeted from the sky one after another.

An ancient continent loomed ahead. A vast, endless desert filled their vision as the stone city crashed down. It skidded across the desert, kicking up a massive cloud of sand that filled the sky.

“Charge!”

The battle cries of the ancient warriors’ ghosts in the stone city shook the heavens as they charged into the desert. Many Exorcists were swept along and charged into the desert, and they soon vanished from sight.

Only thirty-some people remained in the stone city, unaffected by the ghosts’ murderous aura.

They stared blankly at the scene outside. The stone city had finally come to a halt after sliding across the desert, stopping before a massive stone monument.

The stone monument was a mountain split in half, with words inscribed in blood.

Xu Ying looked up and read aloud, “Taiyi Little Profound Heaven Desolate Realm!”

Several smaller lines were written beneath it.

The First Pass of the Heavenly Path. Warriors of the myriad realms suppressed the fiend here, activating six Heavenly Dao Divine Artifacts in battle, and lost sixteen hundred men. This monument is erected in their memory.

May the past never be forgotten, and serve as a lesson for generations to come! Here, Tianqingzi guards the graves of sixteen hundred warriors, monitors the fiend, and leaves these words!

Xu Ying’s heart surged with admiration. He muttered under his breath, “This person possesses a fierce, heroic spirit, guarding the warriors’ graves and suppressing the fiend. He’s a true hero!”

Yuanqi was also filled with admiration. “Ah Ying, I think you were also such a hero in the past.”

Xu Ying was fascinated by the thought.

Suddenly, the Zhu clan’s old immortal who had been suppressed within the prisoner’s carriage burst out laughing. “My good disciple, this is the first stop of the Yunmeng Marsh’s ancient battlefield! Hurry up and carry me on your back!”

The cage had shattered during the chaotic fight. The old immortal was covered in blood; several divine abilities had likely hit him. Hooks and chains covered him, sealing off even his ethereal void, leaving him powerless to fight back. Thus, he had suffered heavy injuries in that battle.

Yet, he was in high spirits. He laughed. “There are supreme immortal plants here, treasures bestowed by the Heavenly Dao to help the warriors eliminate the fiend! Hurry, carry me forth to find the immortal plants!”

Zhu Zhongquan rushed forward in a hurry and knelt to greet him. The old immortal mounted his back, then he took off and ran into the vast desert.

The old immortal’s voice rang out from afar, “Time is of the essence! We don’t have long. We have to find the immortal herb before the stone city returns, or great terror will befall us! Go, go!”

The crowd looked over and saw the old immortal swing his chains to lash at Zhu Zhongquan’s butt as if he were riding a horse, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.

The surviving Exorcists of the Zhu clan hurried to follow and charged into the vast desert.

Inside the city, members of the various clans rushed into the desert upon seeing this, searching for immortal plants.

Guo Xiaodie ordered one of the Guo clan Exorcists to stay behind. “Unleash a divine ability into the sky every quarter of an hour for us to serve as our beacon.”

That Exorcist voiced their compliance.

She looked at Xu Ying; after a moment’s hesitation, she decided against inviting Xu Ying to enter the desert together. After all, he wasn’t part of the Guo clan. If they found an immortal plant, they’d have to give him a share.

Li Yingzhu noticed the girl’s dilemma and said casually, “We wouldn’t have to share the loot if Demon King Xu were willing to marry into our clan.”

Guo Xiaodie sighed. “He wouldn’t agree to it.”

Li Yingzhu said excitedly, “Then do it by force! Knock him unconscious, take off his pants, and take him by force! I can hold his arms down for you!”

Guo Yue glanced at his wife, hesitated for a moment, but kept silent.

Inside the stone city, Xue Ying’an looked at Xu Ying. He didn’t continue entangling with him. He activated his eight-facet sword and flew off into the sky on it.

Yuanqi looked up and asked, “Ah Ying, no one else dares to fly, but Xue Ying’an is the only one clueless enough to dare to fly over on his sword. Will he get into trouble?”

He had barely finished speaking when Xue Ying’an suddenly slammed into an invisible barrier. It was a defensive divine ability forged from a fragment of an ancient artifact. The instant he struck it, the fragment’s remaining power erupted!

Xu Ying and Yuanqi craned their necks to watch. The artifact’s residual power unleashed several hundred bolts of lightning and struck Xue Ying’an. The youth plummeted from the sky, stiff as a board. Only then did the two of them exhale in relief.

Yuanqi said, taking delight in his misfortune, “As expected, he got into trouble.”

Xu Ying was also very satisfied and started walking out of the city.

In the distance, Xue Ying’an was fried crisp on the outside, but he was still alive. This time, the youth grew much more cautious. He gave up on flying on his sword and chose to walk instead.

Not long after, Xu Ying, who trailed far behind him, saw a sandstorm erupt ahead, engulfing the young Qi Cultivator. That was the ethereal void of an ancient Great Qi Cultivator, now in a state of ruin. Xue Ying’an had failed to notice it and fell straight into it.

Peering ahead, Yuanqi said, “Ah Ying, he might not live past today.”

1. A plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument traditionally favored by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement often used as a weapon in martial arts fantasy. Check this out. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/ZhongNiShi.jpg/960px-ZhongNiShi.jpg ☜