Day of Ascension

Xu Ying looked up at the sky in confusion. Earlier, when he looked down at the Crescent Spring, strangely, he felt that the back of the head reflected in the water was his own. But why would that appear in the Crescent Spring?

He looked down at the water again. Once more, the water showed the back of a head. He looked up at the sky, but there was still nothing unusual. There wasn’t an eye in the heavens watching him.

Meanwhile, Yuanqi also arrived at the edge of the Crescent Spring and stared at the water. He didn’t see his own reflection. Instead, he saw Xu Ying!

When Xu Ying looked down, Yuanqi saw the back of Xu Ying’s head in the water. When Xu Ying looked up, Yuanqi saw Xu Ying’s puzzled face in the water.

Startled, the giant snake felt as if an explosion went off in his mind. Is Ah Ying that great fiend, that great evil?

He looked at Xu Ying and saw the side of his face. The youth’s eyes looked somewhat dim, with a hint of confusion.

Xu Ying muttered under his breath, “I thought I was one of these brave warriors, but to think I stand on the opposite side.”

Yuanqi said, “Ah Ying, no matter which side you stand on, I’ll always stand by your side.”

Xu Ying smiled, his spirits lifted, and laughed. “You’re right, Master Qi! The me in the past belongs to the past! Even if the past me stood against the whole world, he didn’t have a friend like Seventh Master Niu! But I do!”

Xue Ying’an finished reading the contents on the stone monument and walked over with a smile. “It’s been so long; even a Qi Cultivator like Tianqingzi has died of old age. That fiend must be long dead too, right? Brother Xu Ying, where do you think the immortal Dao spiritual root would be hiding?”

Suddenly, the white-browed ancient corpse sitting motionless behind Xu Ying and Yuanqi, seemingly dead for a long time, moved and stood up straight.

Xue Ying’an instantly paled. He quickly cried out, “Watch out! Tianqingzi has been reanimated!”

Xu Ying turned around, only to see the white-browed, white-haired ancient corpse standing right in front of him. The corpse was extremely tall and stared down at him.

His eyes had long since dried up, and his skin was dehydrated and withered, shriveled like firewood. Yet despite his ancient, desiccated appearance, the corpse radiated an overwhelming killing intent!

Tianqingzi had not fallen in battle. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have possessed such killing intent. He had died of old age here, spending countless days and nights gazing through the Crescent Spring at the great fiend imprisoned within. As the years passed, his hatred and resentment grew without end.

“I’ve preserved this useful body just for today!”

His intense obsession erupted. An ethereal void manifested behind him. The vast inner world unfolded, instantly drawing Xue Ying’an into the ethereal void!

While his ethereal void remained intact, after the passage of countless years, the waters of his Jasper Pool had dried up considerably.

However, the moment his obsession erupted, a spiritual root took root inside the Jasper Pool. It sprouted and rapidly grew branches, revealing another immortal herb. It resembled a miniature red bean tree. Its branches were covered in clusters of plump red beans, bending low beneath their weight.

Those red beans were incredibly fresh and tender. They burst open one after another; in the blink of an eye, the juice of the red bean immortal herb transformed into a fierce torrent of mystical power and filled the Jasper Pool.

The surging primordial qi flowed out in all directions.

It spilled from the Jasper Pool and surged under the Divine Bridge, lighting up the extinguished sun and moon!

Startled, Xu Ying quickly retreated. It turned out the immortal Dao spiritual root was hidden within his ethereal void. No wonder we couldn’t find it!

Tianqingzi’s eyes instantly lit up. His Twelve-Story Pagoda opened in succession. Vast primordial qi descended from the sky, bringing life back to the Heavenly River, cleansing the Heavenly Mountain, and flowing through the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains, making them radiate vigor again!

Tianqingzi roared as if he had come back to life. Vital energy surged through his body, and his white hair drifted in the air as he shouted, “Sinner! I’ve waited for this day! Finally, I can take my revenge!”

Xu Ying had long since retreated with Yuanqi. He flew across the sky above the Crescent Spring. “Master Zhong!”

Depressed, Dazhong hid inside the sea of the netherworld in Xu Ying’s ethereal void and did not reply.

Suddenly, the calm surface of the Crescent Spring beneath Xu Ying’s feet rippled. More than five hundred enormous eyes emerged across its surface, their pupils packed tightly together.

All at once, the eyes rolled in unison and fixed themselves on Xu Ying.

These eyes were the eyes of immortals!

At the same time, the immortal corpses standing along the edge of the Crescent Spring turned their heads. Their eyeless faces looked over in unison.

A chill ran down Yuanqi’s spine. He wanted to scream, but he didn’t dare to make a sound.

Tianqingzi threw a roaring punch, causing the sky to shake violently for a moment. Xu Ying found himself falling toward that fist involuntarily, unable to dodge it.

The ancient corpse awoke. His white hair, several zhang long, danced wildly in the air. His ancient divine sense surged, taking the form of a voice and booming, “I will avenge my comrades-in-arms!”

Xue Ying’an had already charged into the Jasper Pool within the ancient corpse’s ethereal void. He grabbed the red bean immortal root and yanked it free, laughing heartily. “My immortal affinity, I got it!”

Meanwhile, Xu Ying fell helplessly toward Tianqingzi’s fist. Ignoring the difference in their cultivation, Xu Ying activated the broken saber and chopped down with a furious roar.

Suddenly, Tianqingzi’s earth-shaking aura rapidly waned. His incomparably bright eyes dimmed in an instant, and his rejuvenated skin also rapidly withered.

His dancing white hair fell. His aura plummeted to the freezing point as he let out a final wail, “I hate this! I cannot accept thiiiis!”

Chi!

Xu Ying’s saber light fell and beheaded him.

Tianqingzi’s head rolled into the Crescent Spring, his eyes wide open, unable to die in peace.

Xu Ying landed heavily before Tianqingzi. The broken saber slipped off and slid away to the side.

The youth picked up the broken saber, all of his muscles twitching violently.

Tianqingzi’s headless corpse knelt before Xu Ying with a thud. It swayed for a moment, then collapsed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He had planted the immortal Dao spiritual root inside the Jasper Pool within his ethereal void, anticipating that the great evil might one day return to investigate the evil deeds he had committed here in the past.

When the time came, once the Crescent Spring was activated, Tianqingzi would use the immortal Dao spiritual root to trigger his final obsession and use this broken body to bring down the great evil with him!

Alas, he never anticipated that Xue Ying’an would stand behind him and pull out the immortal Dao spiritual root just as he was about to kill the great evil.

Xu Ying’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, and the hand gripping the broken saber was still trembling. He had truly thought it was all over.

On the other side of the Crescent Spring, Yuanqi was also trembling in fear. Faced with Tianqingzi’s strike, anyone would have been overcome by despair.

Xue Ying’an grabbed onto the red bean immortal root with a blank look on his face. He had no idea pulling it out would cause all this.

Xu Ying stepped forward and bowed deeply to the ground. “Thank you for saving me, Brother Xue!”

Xue Ying’an clutched the immortal root, at a loss for what to do. It thrashed violently in his hands like a fish caught by the tail, desperately trying to escape.

“When you saved my life previously, you said that you had your reasons for saving me. Me saving your life was also unintentional.”

Xue Ying’an showed no intention of claiming credit. He sandwiched the immortal root under his arm and helped Xu Ying up. He chuckled. “Let’s consider ourselves even. Right, does this mean we’re life-and-death friends now?”

Deeply moved inside, Xu Ying said, “We are!”

Xue Ying’an laughed. He was a simple and honest young man, and the thought of gaining such a friend filled him with joy.

The sky gradually turned bright. Xu Ying looked up and saw light beams descending from the heavens and illuminating the distant horizon.

A thought crossed his mind. He said, “Ying’an, is that immortal Dao spiritual root the spiritual root of the Taiyi Little Profound Heaven?”

Xue Ying’an lifted the immortal root’s branches and leaves as though he were holding a clump of hair. Its countless tendrils writhed like limbs, crawling across his face and probing into his nostrils and eyes.

As he struggled with the red bean immortal root, he strained to say, “No! The great fiend severed the Taiyi Little Profound Heaven’s spiritual root. This red bean immortal herb is probably only a small section transformed from the original immortal root!”

He finally pulled the tendrils off and stuffed the immortal root into his ethereal void.

However, the immortal root refused to stay inside the ethereal void of a mere Transmutation Stage Qi Cultivator like him. It immediately leaped upward and reached the area where the sun and moon floated within his ethereal void.

Countless tendrils burrowed out of Xue Ying’an’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, writhing endlessly.

The youth cried out and hurriedly activated his Golden Core to deal with the troublesome immortal root.

Xu Ying exchanged a glance with Yuanqi. Understanding his intent, Yuanqi swept his thick tail across the stone monument recording the great fiend and shattered it.

Forcing Xue Ying’an’s face to the ground, the immortal root’s tendrils clung to the earth and hurried forward. Looking over, Xu Ying saw Xue Ying’an sprawled on the ground, like a salted fish being dragged along, racing across the desert.

Xu Ying’s eyes flickered. He brought out the Pure Yang Spirit Flame and blew it gently, setting the Crescent Spring on fire.

Within the Crescent Spring, the countless pairs of eyes screeched in agony as they burned. They leaped out of the spring and scattered across the ground.

The immortal corpses surrounding the Crescent Spring also screamed miserably. They ran around chaotically with their arms extended, as if they had caught on fire as well.

Meanwhile, Xu Ying activated the broken saber and split the burning eyes one after another with one stroke each.

These immortal corpses halted in place and “looked” around, seemingly listening to the movements in their surroundings.

Xu Ying caught up to the last eye and split it in half, then put the broken saber away. He called for Yuanqi and strode toward the area where the light beams had fallen.

Ahead, Xue Ying’an was still being dragged along the ground. He couldn’t bear to hurt the immortal root nor bite off the immortal root’s tendrils. He was stuck in a passive situation.

Yuanqi called out loud, reminding him, “Young Master Xue, if you drag on any longer, your skin will be scraped clean from your face! Plant it! I saw Tianqingzi’s corpse; he planted it in his Jasper Pool!”

Xue Ying’an immediately understood. He summoned his cauldron and placed the red bean immortal root inside it first. However, the red bean immortal root clung to his face and refused to fall into the cauldron, twisting his face.

After using some methods, he finally pulled the red bean immortal root into his cauldron and suppressed it. He carefully sent the root to his Jasper Pool and planted it there.

After taking root in his Jasper Pool, the red bean immortal root indeed became much more subdued.

Just as Xue Ying’an breathed a sigh of relief, the immortal root escaped again and slipped behind his eyes. It raised a tendril and knocked against his eyeball, thumping loudly.

Xue Ying’an’s right eye twitched wildly, nearing popping out of its socket.

Yuanqi chuckled. “Ah Ying developed a method to refine immortal roots. Ask him to teach you. Once you refine it, you can harness the immortal root’s power. Ah Ying said that this thing is definitely a living artifact. It’s enough to kill with envy!”

Xue Ying’an looked toward Xu Ying, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to speak. He did not dare ask Xu Ying to teach him.

After all, such techniques were closely guarded secrets and were often viewed as treasures not to be shared.

Xu Ying smiled. “I just developed the refining method casually. It’s nothing worth mentioning. I’ll just teach it to you.”

With that, he explained the refining method he had developed in the small village outside the stone city.

Although Xue Ying’an had little experience in the Jianghu, he was highly talented. He quickly learned the method and refined the immortal Dao spiritual root.

Before long, the immortal root settled down and stopped causing trouble.

Xue Ying’an planted the immortal root in his Jasper Pool. Immediately, he felt his cultivation rise endlessly. Its power constantly tempered his physique, Golden Core, primordial qi, and divine sense. Overjoyed, he thanked Xu Ying and Yuanqi profusely.

Unable to resist the temptation, he summoned the red bean immortal root. It floated in the air, radiating dazzling spiritual light. With a gentle sweep, it shattered the remnants of the concealed divine abilities ahead.

Ecstatic, Xue Ying’an withdrew the immortal root back into his ethereal void.

While he wasn’t paying attention, the red bean immortal root slipped out of Xue Ying’an’s ethereal void. Waving its spiritual light, it lashed out at Yuanqi furiously, beating him blue and purple in mere moments.

Yuanqi activated the bronze weapons to clash with the immortal root, but was quickly defeated and beaten up even more badly. “Ah Ying taught your master the refining method, so why are you beating me up instead of him?”

The red bean immortal root immediately changed direction and waved its spiritual light to lash at Xu Ying.

His physical body was sent flying, leaving his soul standing on the spot. The soul was composed of Eternal True Spirit, with its own spiritual light enveloping it. When the immortal root’s spiritual light struck, it only wavered slightly.

Meanwhile, the red bean immortal root’s spiritual light shattered into pieces on the ground.

The immortal root tried to reconnect its tendrils, but no matter how hard it tried, it could not pick up the scattered fragments. Enraged, it charged toward Yuanqi and beat him again.

Xu Ying picked up his physical body and thought, I must also find an immortal root. This kind of treasure is greatly beneficial to the physical body; my physique is too weak.

Compared to his soul, his physique was indeed far weaker.

Finally, they arrived at the place where the beams of light had descended from the sky. Rings of charred glaze lay in the desert, looking like a formation.

Xu Ying looked up at the sky. The streaks of light gradually faded, dimmed, and vanished. It was unclear where the light came from, which made it even stranger.

Yuanqi pointed ahead with his tail and cried out excitedly, “Ah Ying, look over there!”

Xu Ying looked up and saw a jade mountain in the distance, with a palace on its summit. Because the jade mountain was nearly transparent from afar, the palace was especially eye-catching, as if it were floating in the sky.

“That must be where the ancient immortals stayed.”

He surveyed the surroundings and speculated, “When immortals ascend, this is their first stop. They settle here and consume the Origin Dao Essence of the immortal Dao spiritual root. After replenishing their strength, they proceed to their second ascension.”

He looked toward the mountaintop. Spiritual light gathered there and rippled occasionally. The shattered immortal Dao spiritual root of Taiyi Little Profound Heaven must have gathered on this mountain.

Waves of grand, solemn aura came from the jade mountain’s summit. It was likely the aura of an ancient immortal.

As they walked forward, they noticed several corpses of Exorcists on the ground, not yet completely swallowed by the desert.

Xu Ying halted. His gaze fell upon one of the corpses, and he was surprised. It belonged to someone young, yet they weren’t an Exorcist.

This person was two to three chi taller than the average person and had four arms. However, he couldn’t sense any traces of Mud Pill exorcism techniques being used.

“Strange. Could someone be born like that?” Xu Ying remarked. He looked toward the jade mountain with a strange gaze. “Or is it that we weren’t the only ones who entered the Taiyi Little Profound Heaven?”

Xue Ying’an rushed ahead and called out loudly, “Hurry up and keep pace! The people ahead have cleared the dangers along the way! Many people must have already ascended the mountain. Let’s hurry, or we’ll lose the chance to obtain immortal affinity!”

Xu Ying hurried to keep up. Not long after, he saw numerous wooden stakes driven into the desert. Their ends were carved very sharp, and the heads of Exorcists were impaled on them.

The enemy had used a bizarre mystic art to fuse the wooden stake and Exorcist into one, so these heads were still alive.

However, the desert was barren and had no water. Left under the burning sun like this, the wooden stakes and Exorcists faced a slow death.

Xu Ying’s group walked past. Those Exorcists struggled to move their eyes to look at them.

“That’s strange. No matter if it’s Qi Cultivators or Exorcists, there doesn’t seem to be such a custom in all of the Divine Land.”

Xu Ying examined the wooden stake and scraped off a tiny piece of the bark, only to see blood flow out of it. The mystic art was very strange; it somewhat resembled the mystic arts used at the Homeward Pavilion.

This type of mystic art altered the structure of the physical body, fusing a person and a wooden stake into one. It was fundamentally different from the Zhou clan’s exorcism techniques. Their exorcism techniques visualized changes to the physique’s structure, stimulating various lifeforms with vigor and transforming them into divine abilities.

However, Xu Ying had never seen a mystic art that could fuse different species like this.

Yuanqi examined it and noticed something. “Ah Ying, this power is similar to the metamorphic energy I experienced when I molted and transformed. However, it’s even more powerful than metamorphic energy. It can actually change one’s species.”

A thought crossed Xu Ying’s mind. He murmured, “Creation.”

Yuanqi was taken aback for a moment. “What?”

Xu Ying explained, “It’s a creation technique. The person who killed them used creation techniques to fuse a different species with them. This is a display of might, to show that they aren’t to be provoked!”

Yuanqi asked in confusion, “Could it be that one of the noble clans who entered this place has practiced creation techniques? But there isn’t a creation Secret Trove among the six secrets.”

Xu Ying looked up at the jade mountain and speculated, “Perhaps they aren’t from our world. After all, though the Heavenly Path is broken, we came to this Little Profound Heaven. It proves that the road here isn’t completely broken.”

He walked deeper into the mountain. “Maybe another heavenly domain has found the path to Little Profound Heaven.”

Yuanqi shuddered upon hearing this. “If they discovered the stone city, it means that they discovered the path to the Divine Land! Since these people love impaling others’ heads...”

Suddenly, Xue Ying’an’s startled cry rang out from ahead.

Xu Ying rushed forward and saw Xue Ying’an being sent flying by a four-armed woman’s punch before slamming heavily into the cliff face.

The woman wore long plumes in her hair, and her face was quite pretty, yet her demeanor was unusually fierce. A four-armed heavenly demon manifested behind her, radiating extraordinary majesty.

Her ethereal void was opened up to the second pass, the Central Ridge Pass. Her Golden Core illuminated the pass, hovering above the thirteenth Heavenly Mountain.

The gap in cultivation between Xue Ying’an and her was simply too great. A single strike left him coughing blood.

The woman immediately flew over, grabbed Xue Ying’an’s head with one hand, pinned down his arms with another two, and drew a curved blade with her last, about to chop off his head!

Xu Ying let out a cold snort, spread his hand wide, and strode over.

The woman’s expression immediately darkened as she realized her arms were rapidly withering; her smooth skin wrinkled, her tenderness faded, and her vigor drained away!

“Activate!” The curved blade in her hand flew out with a whistle and slashed toward Xu Ying’s neck as it spun. His broken saber flew out in response and severed the curved blade with a clang.

The woman didn’t dare to linger around and frantically leaped away. She summoned her Golden Core to suppress the surging Mud Pill exorcism technique from behind and charged up the jade mountain.

Xu Ying channeled his exorcism technique to strike at her Golden Core to destroy it, but a strange energy within blocked his attack, surprising him.

“It’s indeed not mystic arts and divine abilities from our world!”