Day of Ascension

Jiang Qi stared at Xu Ying in astonishment. Xu Ying had stolen the words right out of his mouth, leaving him nearly choking on them.

In his memory, however, the Ageless Immortal had never been known for his physical prowess.

The battle on the Heavenly Path, however, was an exception. Jiang Qi had seen that battle from the perspective of experts from the myriad realms; he had repeatedly died at Xu Ying’s hands, each time more miserably than the last. But that had merely been a reenactment of time and space, born from Taiyi Little Profound Heaven’s obsession.

In true history, Xu Ying had been nothing more than a wretched captive, seized time and again. He possessed neither mystical power nor divine abilities, nor even the means to protect himself.

Like some rare beast or exotic treasure, he had been locked in a cage and sold. Sometimes they even fastened a chain around his neck as they led him into the mansions of princes and nobles and presented him as a treasure. Nobles and high officials would marvel at him as they might some exotic beast, exclaiming in wonder.

Long ago, they had cut him apart and studied him countless times. No one knew how many people had captured him and subjected him to horrific experiments.

Some had even cooked and eaten him.

After all, too many people sought immortality yet could never attain it, while this powerless youth somehow remained ageless and undying. How could that not provoke their greed?

Jiang Qi had never heard of the Ageless Immortal possessing any great combat strength. In his era, the Ageless Immortal had been nothing more than an ordinary man who neither aged nor died.

And now, Xu Ying was saying that he would fight in Jiang Qi’s place and face the Dragon Abyss heavenly god!

Jiang Qi had grievously wounded the heavenly god, but he was still far beyond anything Xu Ying could contend with.

Xu Ying gripped the Heaven Punishment Sword. “Grand Preceptor Jiang, you know many stories from my past, right?”

Jiang Qi nodded lightly. “I do. In my era, the stories of the Ageless Immortal were very famous. I heard countless tales and legends about you. While searching ancient texts for the reason no one could ascend, I repeatedly encountered records concerning you.”

Xu Ying visualized the Heaven Punishment runes in his mind, activated the sword, and smiled. “I’ve lost my memory, so I can’t recall the past. I don’t know what I once experienced. This time, I’ll face the heavenly god and escort you and these people back to the Divine Land.”

The Heaven Punishment Sword radiated the majesty of the Heavenly Dao, its brilliance illuminating the Fish Belly Realm.

The sword was supposed to be a weapon meant to condemn the world. Yet, in Xu Ying’s hands, it seemed to embody boundless compassion, a will to save the world. The contrast was striking.

“These people?” Jiang Qi cried.

He looked toward the terrified people within the Fish Belly Realm. Were they going to escort these mortals back to the Divine Land? Even Jiang Qi at his peak might not have been able to accomplish that under the heavenly god’s assault.

More importantly, these were merely mortals. They had no value whatsoever, hardly worth the lives of powerful Qi Cultivators.

Xu Ying smiled and said, “That’s right, them. Grand Preceptor Jiang, you’re endlessly resourceful. You are a great Qi Cultivator who can subdue a Heavenly Dao Divine Artifact and restore the spiritual root of heaven and earth. You must have a way to escort them back to the Divine Land. Leave the Dragon Abyss heavenly god to us.”

Jiang Qi fell silent for a moment before saying, “Senior Ah Ying, the stories I know about you may not be good ones. Perhaps after you learn of these stories and legends, you might regret your decision to save people.”

Xu Ying broke into a radiant smile. “In those stories, I’m a great fiend, the great evil, aren’t I? I firmly believe my heart is bright. I couldn’t be some utterly treacherous and wicked person.”

Jiang Qi looked at the innocent, sunlit smile on his face, and his heart suddenly ached. No. The words “Ageless Immortal” are more like a curse to you.

He recalled the Ageless Immortal’s fate as described in the stories. More often than not, Xu Ying had been treated as immortal flesh to be sold in the streets: a youth flayed, stripped of his tendons, caged, imprisoned, tortured, and sacrificed.

Across one reincarnated lifetime after another, that youth had endured far more loneliness, abandonment, exploitation, and betrayal than love.

He had witnessed humanity’s ugliest sides and walked through the filthiest corners of the human heart.

Had Jiang Qi himself suffered all this and learned the truth, he feared not even a trace of light would remain within him. Only darkness, despair, and destruction would be left.

Because to the Ageless Immortal, this world was unworthy of praise, and these people were unworthy of saving.

Yet after experiencing all of this, why did light remain in Xu Ying’s heart?

Jiang Qi steadied himself, struggled to bow, and said solemnly, “If Senior Ah Ying insists that I save them, then I will do everything in my power, even at the cost of my life. I dare not refuse.”

He had once dared impersonate the Heavenly Dao, threatened the myriad realms, and then annihilated all living beings in an entire heavenly domain without a shred of mercy. Yet before Xu Ying, he bowed and acted like a servant.

Such was the bearing of the worthy men of antiquity, a sight rarely seen in the present age. Xu Ying returned the salute, then said to Dazhong and Yuanqi, “Master Zhong, Master Qi, come with me. Let’s pay a visit to the Dragon Abyss heavenly god.”

Dazhong said lazily, “Ah Ying, even with the Heaven Punishment Sword and the Heavenly Dao under your control, you still can’t possibly be a match for the heavenly god.

“He is far more formidable than the one that useless master of mine suppressed back then! Fortunately, I have experience suppressing heavenly gods. In this battle, you’ll still have to rely on me!”

Yuanqi leaped onto Xu Ying’s shoulder and praised Dazhong without pause. “Master Zhong is awe-inspiring in all directions. After this battle, Ah Ying and I will build a shrine to worship you, so you can be enshrined as a god after you die!”

Pah, pah!

Dazhong snapped, “Innocent words bear no malice; boundless luck and prosperity! Even if you two bastards became gods, I still wouldn’t become one! Master Zhong is destined to beat Carefree Bell to a pulp and suppress Fairy Qingbi. I won’t just die a heroic death!”

Xu Ying activated the sword, and its qi coiled around him. Jiang Qi hurriedly called out, “Senior Ah Ying, one more thing! This heavenly god has no head above his neck. If you attack, don’t strike at that maple-leaf-shaped radiance. I attacked that maple leaf, lost the initiative, and gave him the chance to injure me severely.”

He thanked Jiang Qi and waved. “Grand Preceptor Jiang, escort them away. I’ll catch up with you. If I return to the Divine Land, the Heaven Punishment Sword will fly back to your side on its own.”

Jiang Qi bowed as he saw him off. “I await good news.”

The sword shot upward with a whistle, carrying Xu Ying out of the Fish Belly Realm. The sword could take the form of a dragon-headed, human-bodied god and manifest strange phenomena, but it could also be used as an immortal sword. He wielded the sword like an ordinary immortal sword and drew forth the Heavenly Dao might within it.

With a sharp whistle, the sword qi carried him through a fissure in the Fish Belly Realm and into the atmosphere of that gaseous planet. A thick stench pervaded the air, laced with potent poison. It had to be purified through the great fish’s breathing before ordinary people could breathe it. Xu Ying and Yuanqi, however, both had massive ethereal voids and needed no outside air.

Xu Ying rode the sword and broke through the sky. He saw enormous great fish scattered throughout the air, many of them already hacked to pieces, with countless others lying dead. Only the vast atmosphere of such a gaseous planet could sustain fish of such immense size. Yet now, those great fish were being slaughtered.

Many other great fish were counterattacking in rage, charging toward the same place. There, Heavenly Dao radiance blazed brilliantly around a towering heavenly god. He had only one arm, and above his shoulders was maple-leaf-shaped radiance so dazzling it drew the eye.

It was the Dragon Abyss heavenly god, locked in battle with those great fish, trying to slaughter them all.

These great fish were ten thousand li long, colossal beasts that had existed since the immemorial age and possessed tremendous strength. Yet before a heavenly god, even such creatures were insignificant.

One great fish after another lunged forward, only to be slain by the heavenly god, their blood dyeing the gaseous planet red.

Some great fish opened their mouths and unleashed visible sound waves, blasting the sky apart repeatedly. The waves struck the heavenly god and drove him back again and again.

Other great fish rammed him with their heads, like the mythical Gonggong smashing his head against Mount Buzhou.[1] The impact seemed to tilt the heavens and throw the earth askew, as though the sky itself were collapsing and the earth splitting apart.

Forced back time and again, he was struck by a sweeping fish’s tail and sent flying tens of thousands of li.

The heavenly god flew into a rage and laughed loudly. “You lowly creatures rely solely on brute strength and know nothing of heavenly might! Today, I’ll show you the true form of a heavenly god!”

He swelled, growing larger, taller, and more imposing until he gradually surpassed the gaseous planet itself. His back split open like a vast canyon. From that unfathomable abyss emerged hundreds of divine dragons, each still attached to his flesh, their heads hideously savage.

Sharp horns grew all around those dragon heads. Bony protrusions covered them, their tips incredibly sharp. Strange markings covered the horns, seemingly Heavenly Dao runes.

The dragons opened their mouths and roared, unleashing waves of dragon cries. Their teeth, however, were jagged and uneven, as though the Creator had carved mountains and rivers of varying heights and planted them inside their jaws.

One divine dragon after another opened its bloody maw. Working in pairs or threes, they clamped down on the charging great fish, tearing through their flesh and biting them cleanly in half.

Xu Ying had never seen anything like it, nor had he even heard of such a thing. When Dazhong saw it, he started in fright, too. He murmured, “Compared to this one, the heavenly god I suppressed may not even have been fully grown.”

The Dragon Abyss heavenly god had taken part in the Heavenly Path battle. His strength was terrifying, far beyond anything an ordinary heavenly god could match.

Xu Ying paid him no mind. Riding his sword through the air, he wove between the giant fish and slashed toward one of the dragon heads. Dazhong also gradually roused his power, ready to erupt at any moment.

Yuanqi, meanwhile, spat out all kinds of artifacts from his stomach. He took out the ones he had received from the imperial mausoleum’s Golden Statues, and quickly began assembling a realm of ethereal void. I may not be able to help much, but my reputation for diligence and love of learning wasn’t earned for nothing!

Dazhong was a damaged bell, but Yuanqi was different. He had studied for a time under Zhu Chanchan. He understood how to use the Golden Statues’ artifacts to construct an ethereal void and increase mystical power.

The Twelve Golden Statues relied on an artificial ethereal void, with incense qi serving as its driving force, allowing them to slaughter in every direction. As long as Yuanqi could use the artifacts to build the ethereal void, he too could mobilize the same terrifying mystical power as the statues.

Xu Ying silently recited the Dao sound of the Dao of Heaven Punishment. The Heaven Punishment runes he formed through Visualization shot into the Heaven Punishment Sword, stirring its power to life.

In that instant, a murderous aura surged up. The heaven-punishing, earth-annihilating murderous aura that permeated the gaseous planet condensed into an incredibly sharp sword aura that slashed down at the neck of one of the divine dragons.

Jiang Qi, who had been looking up all along, saw Xu Ying draw in the murderous aura between heaven and earth. He knew the opportunity had come. Hurriedly, he summoned his battered Primordial Spirit before the anxious people of that world. It towered and loomed, like an ancient god.

His Primordial Spirit let out an earth-shaking shout in a deep voice, “I am the heroic spirit of your ancestors. All of you, heed my command: proceed at once to the vessel of migration and prepare to leave!”

He knew the situation was critical. If merely manifesting his Primordial Spirit were not enough to make everyone believe him, then he would borrow the name of the Fish Belly Realm’s ancestors to issue the order.

As for how the forebears of this world had crossed the starry sky and come here from the Divine Land, he did not know. But he assumed they must have possessed some means of crossing the stars, most likely something like a ship.

Then Jiang Qi noticed people rushing toward an ancient tree in the Fish Belly Realm. He was stunned.

Ashamed, he thought, I assumed their ancestors relied on something like a ship to cross the starry sky and escape disaster. I never imagined they relied on this divine tree.

He also limped toward that divine tree.

It was the Fusang Tree. Its leaves resembled mulberry leaves but were many times larger. The tree stood several thousand zhang tall and spread across hundreds of li, its trunk rising straight into the clouds. Its branches were like mountain slopes, broad enough for several horse-drawn carriages to race side by side.

Yet it was still young.

Their ancestors had likely been extraordinary Qi Cultivators to possess such a marvelous tree.

The people who reached it came with their families in tow and began climbing. Jiang Qi blended into the crowd. When someone saw that he was injured and lame, they supported him and helped him hurry toward the Fusang Tree.

Jiang Qi was slightly stunned, and a complicated feeling stirred in his heart.

He had burned in the immortal fire of the Other Shore, refining away all his previous cultivation. Even his Primordial Spirit had been refined away. The immortal fire had burned away every stray thought and trivial notion within his Dao heart.

Aside from his loyalty to Emperor Zhou and his obsession with the ascension of the entire court, he had no other thoughts.

As the Grand Preceptor, he had to maintain rationality. He could neither rejoice in external things nor grieve for himself. His Dao heart had to remain as clear as a bright mirror, without the slightest ripple.

Yet now, ripples stirred in his heart once more. An indescribable emotion welled within him. Though unfamiliar, it warmed his heart. These weak humans are actually supporting a powerful being like me...

He suddenly understood a little why sunlight still shone in Xu Ying’s heart and why he had not fallen into darkness. Perhaps the compassion of the weak had moved the Ageless Immortal.

Perhaps after dwelling in high office for so long, I gradually lost my human heart. Jiang Qi rediscovered his long-lost capacity to be moved.

“Uncle, you look like our ancestors,” said a girl fleeing the disaster after studying his face.

His Primordial Spirit floated above the Fusang Tree, battered and ragged, riddled with wounds. Divine Light streamed downward like the countless threads of a tattered garment trailing to the ground.

It looked utterly ruined and weathered. Yet its face was identical to Jiang Qi’s.

He smiled at the girl. “The spirits of our ancestors in Heaven will protect us as we leave this desperate place and return to our homeland.”

His battered Primordial Spirit ignored its own injuries and stirred the remnants of its mystical power, raising the Fusang Tree. The Fish Belly Realm was collapsing. The sky was falling, and the poisonous gases outside began seeping into the Fish Belly Realm.

The tree branches danced; under his control, branch after branch lowered to the ground, letting the people climb onto the mulberry leaves. Once everyone had brought their families, cattle, horses, other livestock, and grain onto the leaves, the mulberry branches slowly rose and returned to their original positions.

Jiang Qi also climbed onto the Fusang Tree. His Primordial Spirit raised the towering mulberry tree, and the tree tore itself up by the roots, waving its root tendrils as it flew out toward the shattered sky. Outside, Xu Ying’s sword light shone like a rainbow.

He drew upon the murderous aura of every living being on this planet, unleashing as much of the Heaven Punishment Sword’s power as he could.

A startling arc of sword light cut off one of the Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s heads.

The heavenly god’s blood poured down like a waterfall, dyeing the gaseous planet red. Jiang Qi stirred his true primordial qi and led everyone flying out of the gaseous planet. Senior Ah Ying, I will not fail this mission. I will not fail the trust you placed in me!

1. Gonggong, the Chinese water god, fought the fire god Zhurong for the throne of heaven. Gonggong lost the war. In a fit of rage and shame, he smashed his head against Mount Buzhou, a mythical pillar supporting the sky. This catastrophic act collapsed the pillar, tilting the heavens and causing massive floods and earthquakes. ☜