Day of Ascension

One of the Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s heads plunged into the gaseous planet, and his blood poured down. Xu Ying rode his sword below, and he, Yuanqi, and Dazhong were all drenched in divine blood. That blood contained an indescribable power. It seeped into them, sending their vital energy surging and raging.

Yuanqi had already assembled the Golden Statue’s ethereal void, but he had no idea how to activate this artifact. Just as he was at a loss, heavenly god blood poured down from the sky. In moments, heavenly god blood filled the Jasper Pool, and the Heavenly River became a river of blood.

The Heavenly River linked the various realms, broke through the three passes of Jade Capital, Central Ridge, and Tailbone, and connected the Divine Bridge, Jasper Pool, Pagoda, Transmutation, and Vitality realms with the Five Viscera Immortal Mountains.

Overwhelming mystical power surged in with a howl and, in the blink of an eye, flooded Yuanqi’s entire body.

The great snake felt his mystical power rise to an unimaginable height. A violent torrent of mystical power filled his sole remaining limb.

Even the ancient ancestor, the yuan-serpent, had never been stronger than this at his peak.

Yuanqi could not contain his delight. He burst into laughter, his voice rolling like heavenly thunder, and he cried, “Today I drink a heavenly god’s blood! Until my great ambition is fulfilled, I swear I will not rest! I, Master Qi, bear the ethereal void on my back and fight for all living beings. Today, I will test myself against a heavenly god!”

Wielding that immense mystical power, he soared into the air, spewing poisonous smoke and stirring up wind and waves as he charged toward one of the Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s heads, ready to fight.

Dazhong was startled by the sight. “When did that coward become so brave?”

Yuanqi rushed forward, only to be beaten back. He tumbled end over end before returning in miserable condition.

At best, he could contend with a single head of the heavenly god. But the heavenly god had hundreds of heads. How could Yuanqi possibly stand against him?

“Ah Ying, use this ethereal void!”

The great snake returned and hurriedly set up the ethereal void behind Xu Ying. At once, he felt an immense surge of mystical power pour from the Golden Statue’s ethereal void, as though it had pierced directly through his cultivation realms.

Whether it was the second Gate-Knocking Stage, the Pagoda, the Jasper Pool, the Divine Bridge, or the third Gate-Knocking Stage, all these realms opened at once. This allowed him to possess cultivation comparable to an Ascension Stage cultivator.

This was the crystallization of the Great Qin dynasty’s wisdom.

Even Zhu Chanchan had praised this artifact. The master craftsmen of that era had created an artifact that could simulate every Qi cultivation realm so well that even a mortal could possess power comparable to an Ascension Stage Qi Cultivator.

Xu Ying gripped his sword and raised his head toward the dense mass of divine dragon heads before him.

Behind those divine dragon heads was the enormous Dragon Abyss heavenly god, like an ancient continent. Xu Ying had severed one of the heads, and the pain made his other heads cry out repeatedly, their roars shaking space itself.

The Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s body was problematically huge. Though he had an immense number of heads, Xu Ying and the others were so tiny that they were difficult to see, which was why the heavenly god had suffered such a great loss.

Now, after driving Yuanqi back, his heads opened their eyes wide, searching for Xu Ying. At last, he found him.

To the heavenly god, Xu Ying was no larger than a speck of dust. Fortunately, he had enough eyes. As his multidimensional vision unfolded, he could take in Xu Ying’s every movement from every angle: front, back, left, and right.

“Xu Ying, you rebel!”

The Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s voice rumbled, shaking heaven and earth. “Back then, you severed my head, leaving me incomplete and preventing me from returning to the Heavenly Dao World. Because of that, I was condemned to wander the myriad realms!”

Above his shoulders was a maple-leaf-shaped radiance. His true head should have been there.

The divine dragons emerging from the canyon of flesh and blood split across his back were not his true heads; they were his limbs.

He was named the Dragon Abyss heavenly god precisely because a great abyss had split open across his back, and many divine dragons would crawl out from within it.

Xu Ying had severed and destroyed his head in the battle of Taiyi Little Profound Heaven. He had survived by sheer luck, but his mutilation prevented him from returning to the Heavenly Dao World. The Heavenly Dao abandoned him in the mortal realm.

“I hate you!”

The divine dragons that had emerged from his back were beside themselves with grief and rage. They opened their mouths in succession and roared, “I hate you! And I also hate that you made me relive the moment you beheaded me in Taiyi Little Profound Heaven!”

One of the heads snapped at Xu Ying, while his remaining heads wore expressions of utter anguish and cried, “Not once, but more than a hundred times!”

Dazhong expanded with a shriek. Bell tolls surged as he collided with that dragon head and knocked it back. But more dragon heads charged in, their sharp horns slamming into Dazhong and sending him flying.

“I once stood high above all, worshiped by countless worlds!”

Before Dazhong could recover, more dragon heads smashed into him from different directions, batting him back and forth without allowing him to retaliate.

“I knew no birth, age, sickness, or death. My lifespan was equal to the heavens! Even immortals did not live as freely as I did!”

He vented his anger on Dazhong. Head after head slammed into the bell, making all kinds of light ripple across Dazhong, only for that light to shatter at once, unable to take shape.

More than a hundred divine dragon heads crowded the sky and looked down, their voices merging into one. “I was once a noble heavenly god, in command of the Heavenly Dao, rewarding and punishing all living beings! Yet because of you, I became one of those filthy, lowly living beings!”

Dazhong flew into a rage and unleashed his full power. Bell tolls thundered. The bell’s mouth trembled, releasing a force that could destroy heaven and earth and crush the surrounding space. With a resonant clang, the force surged toward one of the dragon heads.

The heavenly god did not care at all. Thirteen other dragon heads gathered together, opened their mouths, and roared, meeting Dazhong head-on.

The sky between the bell and the fourteen dragon heads shattered. The void itself was annihilated.

In this clash, Dazhong suffered a crushing defeat. The roar from the thirteen heads sent him drifting like a fallen leaf in the wind. His heart turned to ashes. “I’m probably a useless bell. I’m not even as good as that stupid snake. At least the stupid snake can trade a few blows with the heavenly god, even without legs.”

Dazhong could still contend with a single dragon head, but against so many, he was hopelessly outmatched.

Xu Ying beckoned. Dazhong flew over unsteadily and said in dejection, “Ah Ying, this fellow controls the Heavenly Dao. He’s far too strong. I’m no match for the Heavenly Dao.”

Xu Ying said calmly, “Master Zhong, you don’t need to attack. You only need to protect me. I’ll fight this battle alone.”

Dazhong trembled inwardly. That confidence... Could Master Ying have returned?

The remaining great fish joined the fray. The heavenly god tore and bit them apart with his heads, killing more than ten. The remaining great fish were finally terrified by the slaughter and no longer dared avenge their kin. One after another, they dived into the ocean of the gaseous planet and hid.

The Dragon Abyss heavenly god was too strong. Although he had been expelled from the Heavenly Dao World, his strength was still extraordinary. In the mortal realm, his power could be called overwhelming. Even Jiang Qi, wielding the Heaven Punishment Sword, had not been his match.

More than a hundred of the heavenly god’s heads stared at Xu Ying. His voice sank, filled with melancholy. “Do you know? Though I received the worship of the ignorant people of Yuanding Realm in the lower world, I was not happy. I no longer had a head. I could only wear a leaf there. Do you understand? I could only wear a single leaf!”

Those divine dragons were overcome with grief and indignation. “If my former colleagues learned that I had put a leaf where my head should be, they would never stop mocking me!”

Xu Ying laughed loudly, his voice as resonant as a great bell. “Would they mock you like this? By laughing like me?”

The Dragon Abyss heavenly god flew into a towering rage.

Xu Ying swung his sword in a level slash. The sword light seemed to enter the netherworld, silent and soundless. The sword aura of the Heaven Punishment Sword vanished.

In the next moment, the maple-leaf-shaped radiance above the Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s neck snapped and was cut down by a streak of sword light.

“Was this the move I used to cut off your head?” Xu Ying asked with a smile.

A chill ran through the heavenly god. This was the very move Xu Ying had used to behead him. Seeing Xu Ying perform it again plunged him into deep terror.

Yuanqi’s scalp went numb, and he trembled. Dazhong likewise felt as though electricity were coursing through him, leaving him tingling.

Has Master Ying awakened?

The bell and the snake thought, Is Ah Ying still Ah Ying, or did the Heaven Punishment Sword or Taiyi Little Profound Heaven’s illusory realm awaken Master Ying?

The heavenly god abruptly grew furious and roared, “I have spent every moment since then thinking about revenge! I know you fell, were sealed away, and suffered a fate worse than death, but that is not enough!”

Those dragon heads cried in unison, “That is far from enough! Only killing you with my own hands can be called revenge! Only then will I be satisfied!”

Xu Ying’s eyes shone brightly, and the sword in his hand shone even brighter.

Backed by the ethereal void constructed from the imperial mausoleum’s Golden Statues, and with Dazhong protecting him, he had the strength to fight!

Meanwhile, the Fusang Tree, carrying the people of the Fish Belly Realm, flew out from the belly of a great fish and soared beyond the heavens. Jiang Qi’s Primordial Spirit stood upon the Fusang Tree, urging the treasured tree onward as they left the gaseous planet.

More than ten divine dragons lunged at Jiang Qi and shouted, “You impersonated the Heavenly Dao and severed one of my arms. You think you can leave too?”

Xu Ying finally found his chance to strike. He whistled through the air as the Heaven Punishment Sword unleashed its power. Sword light swelled and shot straight for the neck of one of the divine dragons.

The heavenly god ignored it. More than enough divine dragons were growing from his back; even if Xu Ying cut one off, another would grow back. He was willing to sacrifice a divine dragon if it meant killing Jiang Qi.

But the sword aura at the tip of the Heaven Punishment Sword trembled lightly and transformed into countless motes of sword aura. The sword aura split apart and instantly covered heaven and earth.

The Heaven Punishment Sword seemed to multiply from one sword into a hundred enormous beams of sword light, each striking simultaneously at the necks of the Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s divine dragons.

If Xue Ying’an had been here and seen this move, he would have leaped up in shock. It was none other than his master Li Xiaoke’s consummate technique: A Single Strike, Stars Fall into the Milky Way!

The name of this move was filled with poetic imagery. Once the sword technique was unleashed, its sword aura split apart like scattered stars falling into the Milky Way, transforming into sword qi that filled the sky.

Li Xiaoke’s secret art, never passed to outsiders, had actually reappeared in Xu Ying’s hands!

When Xu Ying executed this move, his mastery of the technique was in no way inferior to Xue Ying’an’s. He had merely seen Xue Ying’an perform it once in Stone City, yet he had grasped its essence and comprehended Li Xiaoke’s ultimate technique.

Had Xu Ying been wielding an ordinary divine weapon forged by a Qi Cultivator, the heavenly god would not have bothered to dodge. But Xu Ying held the Heaven Punishment Sword. He had no choice but to evade.

He shifted, avoiding Xu Ying’s sword technique. But his colossal size made him slow and unwieldy, and Xu Ying’s sword light still severed several divine dragon necks.

One enormous dragon head after another shrieked as it tumbled like falling stars into the gaseous planet’s atmosphere, trailing flames toward the ocean below.

Elsewhere, the Dragon Abyss heavenly god swung his sole arm and threw a punch. With a deafening clang, Xu Ying and Dazhong were blasted tens of thousands of li away together.

Layer after layer of light barriers surrounding Dazhong shattered and reformed as he desperately resisted the punch and shielded Xu Ying. But this blow far surpassed the divine dragons’ attacks, warping the bell’s mouth under force.

Dazhong endured the blow head-on, using the vibration of his bell toll to dissipate the force of the punch. “Master Ying, don’t worry about me! I can take it!”

Xu Ying gave a long howl and sent the Heaven Punishment Sword flying up. Sword light coiled around him, transforming into an incomparably thick pillar of sword qi that swept across the battlefield and severed the necks of the divine dragons charging toward him one after another.

Heavenly gods were said to be incarnations of the Heavenly Dao. They were covered in Heavenly Dao runes, indestructible, and no artifact of the mortal world could injure them.

Yet although the Dragon Abyss heavenly god was covered from head to toe in Heavenly Dao runes, Xu Ying could see flaws everywhere.

Wherever the Heaven Punishment Sword in his hand passed, the heavenly god lost a few heads. The heavenly god roared helplessly, and from the flesh-and-blood abyss split open on his back, even more divine dragons crawled out and lunged at Xu Ying.

The divine dragons roared, sending an annihilating force surging toward him. Dazhong vibrated with all his might, contending against the roar.

At the same time, the heavenly god punched again and shouted furiously, “How long can one broken bell protect you?”

Dazhong took the punch head-on. The mouth of the bell was crushed flat, and cracks appeared across his walls. Still, he did not retreat, stubbornly guarding Xu Ying’s head.

The heavenly god threw another punch and roared, “You worthless piece of junk, getting in my way!”

A sword flew in. Its sword light flicked upward and severed his arm at the shoulder.

Xu Ying swung his sword and laughed. “If Grand Preceptor Jiang can sever your arm, why can’t I?”

The Dragon Abyss heavenly god froze for a moment. Then one divine dragon after another opened its mouth and roared.

Amid the roar, Dazhong was blasted away, and the artifacts behind Xu Ying that formed the ethereal void shattered one after another.

Without Dazhong’s protection, without the artifacts forming the ethereal void, Xu Ying was now like an egg in an overturned nest, at risk of being blasted to pieces at any moment. Then a root tendril shot toward him from afar, wrapped around him, and whipped back, saving him at the critical moment.

The heavenly god had no head and no arms, only divine dragons burrowing out from his back. At this crucial moment, he couldn’t stop Jiang Qi from rescuing Xu Ying. He flew into a rage and charged after the Fusang Tree.

On the Fusang Tree, a root tendril swept over and gently set the badly wounded Xu Ying down. Blood flowed from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and he had fallen unconscious.

Jiang Qi picked up the Heaven Punishment Sword and whispered, “Let me do it. After this battle, perhaps I won’t be able to repay the emperor of Zhou for recognizing and valuing me...”

Then a bloody hand seized his wrist with tremendous strength.

Startled, Jiang Qi looked at Xu Ying. The youth who had just been unconscious had opened his eyes. His gaze was bright, and his voice had lost its former boyishness, becoming deeper and more resonant.

“I’ll do it!”

He took the Heaven Punishment Sword back from Jiang Qi and slowly stood.

Jiang Qi noticed that at some point, the badly wounded youth’s forehead had been struck, and a thunderbolt-shaped wound had appeared there. Within that wound, electric light crackled and sparked.