Day of Ascension

Xu Ying, Yuanqi, and Xue Ying’an finally landed. Yuanqi caught sight of a foot lying nearby and quickly cried out, “Ying’an, your foot!”

Standing on one leg, Xue Ying’an hopped over, picked up his foot, and scanned their surroundings. “This is the Land of Heavenly Retribution. There’s no food here, so don’t throw this severed foot away. If the hunger gets too much, we can eat it.”

Xu Ying felt deep admiration. “Ying’an is a fierce character. He even dares to eat his own foot.”

Yuanqi nodded repeatedly. “Ah Ying, should we tell him that I have thousands of jin of food stored inside me? It’s enough to last us two months.”

The snake had a huge appetite and could eat a lot; with rationing, the food could last them two months.

Xue Ying’an said seriously, “Two months won’t be enough. The Land of Heavenly Retribution is barren. We’ll starve to death after two months.”

Xu Ying took out a single bean and tossed it onto the ground. The bean rapidly took root, sprouted, grew branches, blossomed, and bore new beans. In the blink of an eye, the beanstalk matured and burst open. Over a hundred beans fell to the ground, instantly took root, sprouted, and grew, producing a new batch.

The new beanstalks matured, and their pods burst open once more, sending even more beans tumbling to the ground.

In mere moments, they found themselves standing in a bean field spanning a hundred mu. A sea of bean stalks stretched before them, constantly growing and bursting open as tens of thousands of beans scattered across the ground.

This time, however, the fallen beans did not take root or sprout. Instead, they transformed into fingertip-sized figures clad in golden armor. They rapidly grew in the wind, reaching a little over a chi in height in the blink of an eye.

This was the exorcism technique known as Scattered Bean Soldiers.

Xu Ying ordered, “Scout ahead!”

Tens of thousands of golden-armored figures bowed in unison, and their voices rang as one. “As you command!”

The massive army of golden-armored figures swept out.

Xue Ying’an stared at the scene, wide-eyed. Holding his foot, he wasn’t sure whether to throw it away or keep it as backup.

Moments ago, when the massive bean field appeared, he had felt an unbearable itch in his leg stump. A new foot had grown there. He knew that Xu Ying had used an exorcism technique to heal his injury.

With Xu Ying’s godly exorcism technique, there was no need to worry about stockpiling food.

As long as he followed Xu Ying, he would never starve to death!

Xu Ying smiled. “Ying’an, it’s still not too late if you want to learn exorcism techniques. But it’ll be too late once you refine your Primordial Spirit. Then, you’ll never be able to unlock the six secrets. Do you want to learn?”

Xue Ying’an was just about to denounce exorcism arts as heretical practices when he recalled Li Xiaoke’s deeds. He smiled. “Of course, I want to learn! Only a fool wouldn’t!”

As Xu Ying walked on, he taught Xue Ying’an the Dragon Tracking Techniques for the six secrets.

Xue Ying’an was remarkably intelligent and learned quickly. He soon mastered the Dragon Tracking Technique for the jade pool and located his Jade-Pool Secret Trove. He had already missed the optimal time to unlock his secret troves. So, trying now would be very difficult.

The optimal time to unlock one’s secret troves was during the Qi Gathering Stage.

Xue Ying’an had already reached the Transmutation Stage, having completed his Golden Core. No single Qi Cultivator was strong enough to open the Six Secrets. The artifacts he had forged himself also couldn’t unlock such a heavy secret trove and open the grotto heaven.

Xu Ying instructed, “Master Qi, take out an artifact for him to use.”

Yuanqi opened his mouth. “Pick one yourself.”

Xue Ying’an looked over and saw dozens of artifacts floating inside the giant snake’s gaping maw. Each artifact possessed astonishing power!

Though these artifacts were inferior to the Carefree Bell, they were all top-grade treasures!

Xue Ying’an chose a bronze bell and refined it repeatedly until he had mastered it. Only then did he activate the bronze bell to blast his Jade-Pool Secret Trove open, creating a grotto heaven.

This Jade-Pool grotto heaven was barely forced open.

Xue Ying’an composed himself and performed Dragon Tracking again. He found his sea of primordial chaos and the primordial chaos Mud Pill and was horrified.

The sea of primordial chaos raged fiercely. His Mud Pill was like a gigantic ball. Whether the bronze bell could force it open remained uncertain.

Xue Ying’an returned the bronze bell to Yuanqi, then chose a bronze sword. “This bell definitely can’t open the Mud Pill. There might be a chance by using this sword!”

He worked hard to refine the bronze sword. Meanwhile, Xu Ying and Yuanqi hurried forward, following the golden-armored figures.

Since this place is called the Land of Heavenly Retribution, there must be something supernatural about it. Xu Ying’s heart stirred slightly. He looked up. Jiucailing Ridge stabbed upside down into the sky.

On Jiucailing Ridge, the Carefree Bell unleashed his powers and activated his imprints continuously, as though guarding against an outside evil. So, what exactly was he guarding against?

To make even the golden bell this anxious, the dangers hidden within the Land of Heavenly Retribution had to be extraordinary!

With the golden-armored figures scouting ahead, Xu Ying didn’t have to put himself into danger. This let them avoid many hidden perils and press forward at full speed.

Xu Ying found it strange. As they traveled, he noticed the world around Jiucailing Ridge resembled sugarcane dregs someone had chewed and spat out on the ground, then picked up to chew again. The primordial qi of heaven and earth had been completely squeezed dry.

They looked out as far as the eye could see. Withered, dead trees and dried-up rivers were everywhere. Even the lakes had dried up, revealing their bottoms. The lake beds were littered with the skeletons of dead fish. The whole place was barren.

A massive skeleton soon appeared ahead. It was likely the remains of an archaic beast. No one could identify its species, but its enormous skeleton was as large as a mountain.

The group passed through the giant beast’s ribs. Above them, countless golden-armored figures chattered noisily as they climbed and leaped across the massive bones, swiftly racing toward the distance.

Xu Ying looked up at the setting sun, watching it drop behind the mountains as he felt a growing suspicion.

This world had two suns. One shone dimly and was devoid of sunlight essence, while the other’s rays contained a considerable amount of sunlight essence.

Logically, this world should have been capable of producing primordial qi of heaven and earth and sustaining all forms of life. Yet this place was utterly barren.

Suddenly, Yuanqi cried out, “Ah Ying, look ahead!”

Xu Ying looked over and saw a massive red expanse of flesh in the distance, covering the earth and the mountains. It spanned hundreds of li wide, sprawled across the ground, constantly writhing forward.

It had already swallowed a towering mountain, leaving only its highest peak exposed. An exotic treasure rested atop the peak, repeatedly erupting with dazzling light and forcing the flesh back.

Xu Ying quickly activated his Third Eye and looked at the peak. At the summit stood a temple. The light came from a glowing pearl held in the hand of a motionless corpse seated inside the temple. The pearl radiated blinding light and contained extraordinary power.

Suddenly, countless tentacles shot out from the mass of flesh and violently wrapped around the pearl. Then, the flesh swarmed over it like a cloud of blood, swallowing the temple.

The pearl struggled within the flesh. It broke through the tentacles multiple times, only to be seized again. It gradually dimmed and was finally swallowed by the flesh, its power extinguished.

Crack!

The glowing pearl exploded, destroyed.

Xu Ying retracted his gaze and sighed inwardly. That mountain peak must have been the cultivation grounds of an extraordinary Qi Cultivator. That cultivator died, but the artifact couldn’t bear to leave and stayed by its master’s corpse to protect them. In the end, it still couldn’t escape its tragic fate.

The mass of flesh writhed forward relentlessly. After swallowing that towering mountain, it spat it out shortly afterward. Every trace of vitality had been drained from the mountain.

As the mass of flesh approached, a cacophony of whispers suddenly rang in Xu Ying’s ears, as though countless voices were murmuring directly inside his mind.

Xu Ying cried out in shock, “Wait, that thing’s a heavenly god’s flesh and blood!”

Just as he was about to step forward, he saw the expanse of flesh that spanned hundreds of li soar into the sky. Like a colossal manta ray, it swam across the sky, searching for a new place to swallow!

That mass of flesh was too fast. Xu Ying couldn’t catch up, so he had no choice but to give up.

They had not traveled far when they encountered another expanse of flesh. It, too, writhed forward, greedily absorbing every trace of nourishment from the earth.

At the edge of this mass of flesh stood a strange, tower-like object. More than twenty zhang tall, it resembled a tower erected directly on the ground. What made it strange was that the entire tower was covered in flesh. Yet, a heart still beat within its highest level.

Each of the dozens of levels in that flesh tower had a massive eyeball stuffed into it!

At that moment, these eyeballs were rolling up and down, left and right, watching the bean figures running everywhere.

Xu Ying exclaimed in shock, “What is that thing?”

Suddenly, that tower of flesh rose from the ground. Eight incredibly thick legs grew out from its base. Those massive legs had no skin, only flesh.

The tower began to move, rumbling forward. The strange eyes within the tower suddenly shot out divine light. Wherever the beams struck, the golden-armored figures were reduced to ashes!

The flesh tower had thirty-three levels in total. All floors except the top one had eyes. They unleashed light beams in all directions, soon wiping out the tens of thousands of golden-armored figures.

Xu Ying and Yuanqi hurriedly turned and fled. Behind them, beams of light capable of destroying everything tore through the air.

Xu Ying asked, shouting, “Master Qi, Where’s Xue Ying’an?”

Yuanqi’s mind went blank. “Weren’t you the one bringing him along?”

Xu Ying looked back, only to find Xue Ying’an standing there cluelessly, as if oblivious to what was happening around him. He was still refining the bronze sword, trying to unlock his Mud-Pill Secret Trove.

Xu Ying gritted his teeth and shouted, “Master Qi, keep running!”

Meanwhile, he abruptly turned around and charged backward. He reached his hand out from afar to channel an exorcism technique to strip the tower of flesh of all vitality and vigor!

Yet, the Mud Pill exorcism technique, which had never failed him before, was actually ineffective this time!

Xu Ying was stunned. “It’s not a normal creature under the Heavenly Dao! No normal creature can resist my exorcism technique! It’s a creature of a foreign Dao!”

A creature beyond the scope of the Heavenly Dao!

One after another, the strange eyes within the flesh tower shot out divine light beams, shattering the formless exorcism technique. The divine light swept forward, destroying everything in its path.

Xu Ying leaped into the air and flew close to the ground, avoiding the beams as he closed in on Xue Ying’an rapidly.

Xu Ying moved with incredible agility, weaving through the divine light as he drew closer and closer to Xue Ying’an.

Suddenly, one of the strange eyes within the tower spotted Xue Ying’an and attacked him!

With a ferocious roar, Xu Ying’s speed surged. His figure flashed and stood in front of Xue Ying’an. The divine light shone and struck Xu Ying directly!

The beam of divine light forced him backward, causing a searing, fiery pain!

Recently, he had comprehended the method to break the “imprison” character Dao rune, and unlocked lifetime after lifetime of physique cultivation. By now, he had already unlocked the physical bodies of a hundred lifetimes.

Although only a few of those physical bodies had achieved much in cultivation, their strength had accumulated over time. His physical cultivation was now vastly greater than before, several times stronger than it had been.

Yet, the beams were extremely powerful. They were still capable of wounding him!

Suddenly, the other eyeballs looked over together. Thirty-two beams of divine light overlapped and shone on Xu Ying in unison!

If they struck him directly, it would not matter how formidable his physique was. He would be reduced to ashes!

Just then, a flash of light shone from Xu Ying’s glabella. With a thunderous clang, countless dazzling Dao avatar imprints vibrated and flew outward, forming a wall of light shaped like a massive bell and blocking all thirty-two beams of divine light.

“Master Zhong...” Xu Ying muttered in astonishment. This was an imprint Dazhong had left in his glabella at some point. It would automatically erupt when he was in danger to save his life.

A warmth filled Xu Ying’s heart. Performing Inner Vision and Visualization, strange patterns appeared on his right arm as he pointed at the tower of flesh!

Whoosh!

With this strike, heavenly lightning roared and heavenly might surged as the power of Heavenly Dao erupted. The immense finger force pushed through the thirty-two beams of divine light and pierced through the tower of flesh’s heart!

The heart exploded, and the tower of flesh’s eight legs swayed unsteadily. Finally, they could no longer support its body and crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar.

This strike was the Heavenly Dao divine ability he had comprehended from the Heavenly Dao rune on Dragon Abyss heavenly god’s arm—the Heavenly Dao Finger!

This was actually the first time Xu Ying tried using this divine ability. To his surprise, it proved effective with a single strike!

After killing the tower of flesh with a single strike, Xu Ying immediately grabbed Xue Ying’an, who was still in the middle of opening his Mud Pill, and visualized a Ba snake. A massive Ba snake materialized behind him and coiled up the dead tower of flesh with a sweep of its tail.

Xu Ying took off running at full speed, chasing after Yuanqi. From afar, he shouted, “Master Qi, open your mouth!”

Behind him, the expanse of flesh that covered the earth seemed to have flown into a violent rage because of the tower of flesh’s death. With a whoosh, it soared into the air. The flesh writhed like clouds hanging from the sky, chasing after them!

That expanse of flesh spanned hundreds of li. Wherever it flew, towers of flesh plummeted from it. When they hit the ground, eight thick legs sprouted from the towers and strode forward with terrifying speed in pursuit of Xu Ying!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Behind Xu Ying, beams of light shot out, leveling everything in their path!

Yuanqi was racing ahead and heard Xu Ying’s call. He turned his head around and opened his mouth wide, only to see Xu Ying stuff a tower of flesh into his mouth!

Startled, Yuanqi cried out, “Ah Ying, you can’t just stuff anything into my mouth!”

Xu Ying caught up in a flash and dispelled his Ba snake divine ability. “Master Qi, get on my shoulder; I’m faster!”

Yuanqi immediately shrank and leaped onto Xu Ying’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Xu Ying scooped up Xue Ying’an with one hand, and with a fierce shout, sword qi erupted violently around him!

What he had summoned was the Heavenly Punishment sword qi!

Whoosh!

The sword qi wrapped around him as he transformed into a stream of light and tore through the air, moving so fast that he left those pursuing towers in his dust!

The expanse of flesh vibrated and soared through the air at breakneck speed, producing a fierce howl as it chased after Xu Ying.

Xu Ying unleashed a streak of Heavenly Punishment sword qi behind him. The Heavenly Punishment sword qi he had visualized was even purer than the Heavenly Dao Divine Artifact in Grand Preceptor Jiang’s possession!

The Heavenly Dao runes on the real sword were riddled with errors, and although the Heavenly Punishment Sword in Xu Ying’s hand was only sword qi he had materialized through Inner Vision and Visualization, the runes within were flawless.

He was only limited by his cultivation. If he possessed profound cultivation, the Heavenly Dao might contained within his sword qi could surpass the Heavenly Punishment Sword!

That sword strike cleaved more than ten zhang open in that mass of flesh and stopped it for a moment. Even while carrying a man and a snake, Xu Ying continued moving like a streak of light. He had already flown too far ahead for the flesh to catch him.

The mass of flesh stopped its pursuit and slowly drifted back down.

Wherever Xu Ying flew past, patches of flesh covering the earth split open one after another, revealing massive eyes that stared at him eerily. Ancient consciousnesses rippled, communicating with one another.

“Strange, he carries the aura of the Heavenly Dao...”