Day of Ascension

Inside Carefree Palace on Jiucailing Ridge, Li Xiaoke looked in the mirror, trimmed his eyebrows and beard with scissors, and adjusted his attire. Gradually, he fell into deep thought.

The reflection in the mirror was still young, looking exactly as he had three thousand years ago. Back then, he was confident and full of talent. Like many other Qi Cultivators, he had tried to decipher and restore ancient Qi cultivation techniques.

During the Great Zhou Dynasty, Qi Cultivators discovered the Other Shore. Many powerful beings crossed the void in search of immortality, leading to a widespread decline among Qi Cultivators.

Although profound cultivation techniques remained in circulation, deciphering them became incredibly difficult without their predecessors’ interpretations.

In fact, Qi Cultivators had already begun declining before the Great Zhou Dynasty. No one had successfully overcome the heavenly tribulation and ascended in tens of thousands of years.

Ascension-Stage Qi Cultivators still faced their tribulation, but only out of necessity. Being elderly cultivators nearing the end of their lifespans, they had no choice but to risk everything by undergoing their tribulation.

With no one ascending and death still awaiting those who cultivated Qi, their decline was inevitable. However, the discovery of the Other Shore accelerated it.

“For four thousand years, from the Great Zhou to the Great Han dynasties, no one could decipher the Dao runes that recorded immortal arts. Along with the Qi Cultivators of that era, I tried to restore fragmented cultivation techniques and uncover ancient secrets. We deciphered one ancient technique after another.”

Li Xiaoke murmured to his reflection in the bronze mirror, “My power is approaching that of the legendary Qi Cultivators from the ancient era. My fellow Daoist and I have contributed greatly to the revival of Qi Cultivators. It can be said that no one has achieved more than me!”

He flashed a bright smile and nodded encouragingly at his reflection in the mirror. “We are worthy of such glory!”

He continued muttering to himself, “We also uncovered some of the secrets of ancient Qi Cultivators: they discovered Exorcism art. They defiled the sacred master-disciple lineage, turning the passing of the mantle between master and disciple into a dirty system of exploitation! We were all furious when we talked about it.

“To find the orthodox path, we tried many things, only to discover a sad truth. With our cultivation realm, it’s already impossible for us to unlock our six secrets.”

His reflection in the mirror sighed. “We took the wrong path. If only we had practiced dual cultivation of Qi and Exorcism from the Qi Gathering Stage, using Qi cultivation as the foundation and exorcism techniques as support, we could have become the strongest Qi Cultivators.

“That would have given us a sliver of hope of overcoming our tribulation. Alas, it was already too late by the time we realized this.”

Li Xiaoke said, “But we are the chosen sons of Heaven, after all. We still have time to search for a remedy. Until one day, I spotted a strand of white hair at my temple.”

A look of panic crossed his face, but his reflection in the mirror remained completely calm.

Li Xiaoke remained silent, but another voice that sounded exactly like him echoed within Carefree Palace. It came from the bronze mirror.

“This strand of white hair made us realize we are neither ageless nor invincible. There’s one thing that can defeat us. Time.”

Li Xiaoke spoke up, continuing where the voice left off, “Time can defeat my invincibility, my talent, my aptitude, my comprehension ability. Sooner or later, I will be forced to draw upon a super heavenly tribulation like those aged Qi Cultivators and stake my life on it.”

His reflection looked solemn, its voice turning shrill as it cried out, “But there’s absolutely no way for us to overcome the heavenly tribulation! We’ll die like those old coots and turn into tribulation ash! We don’t want to die!”

Li Xiaoke plucked the extra strand of hair on his left eyebrow. “That’s right. We don’t want to die, and we don’t have to die. We can do what those old coots we despised did: select outstanding chives, plant them, and harvest them.”

His reflection’s eyes gleamed. “They are our elixir of immortality. When they mature, they’ll emit a mouth-watering fragrance.”

Li Xiaoke started trimming the hair on his temples. Carefully counting the number of hairs on each side, he said, “The first time I consumed the elixir, I found it disgusting. Like I was devouring a human. That even damaged my Dao heart, and it took me a long time to get over it.”

His reflection in the mirror smiled. “But the next time, we had adapted to it. We found it delicious!”

Li Xiaoke finished trimming his temples and adjusted his robes. “We transplanted the elixir’s Secret Troves and grotto heavens, and refined these delicious elixirs.”

His reflection was moving out of sync with him, trimming his mustache instead as he said, “Every harvest is a piece of art. We could try different harvesting methods. Depending on the method, the elixir’s emotion differed, and the taste changed along with it.”

Li Xiaoke let out a sigh of contentment. “I don’t know when it happened, but we fell in love with the hunt. The feeling of my heart throbbing with excitement is truly wonderful.”

He turned around and walked out of the hall.

His reflection in the mirror watched him walk out of Carefree Palace and chuckled from behind. “It makes us feel as if we’ve returned to our youth.”

“That’s right.” Li Xiaoke waved his sleeve and closed the Carefree Palace’s door. He took down the bronze bell hanging from the eaves and smiled. “Today, you’ll come with me on a hunt. This hunt will surely be very interesting.”

Dazhong vibrated violently, yet he could not break free from Li Xiaoke’s control.

Li Xiaoke walked outside, slipping away from Jiucailing Ridge unnoticed. He chuckled. “I forged you. Your spirit was born because of me. Your imprints and Qi-gathering techniques are all mine, yet you’re loyal to someone else. You even turned against me!”

He said leisurely, “So, it’ll be very interesting to have him die by your hands!”

He flew out of Jiucailing Ridge, descended upon the barren, eerie Land of Heavenly Retribution, and laughed.

“Let the hunt begin!”

Not long after Li Xiaoke had left, the Carefree Palace’s doors suddenly creaked open. Footsteps rang out.

Tap, tap.

They were very light, yet very clear. No one other than Li Xiaoke dared to enter the Carefree Palace.

The Li Xiaoke in the mirror looked up and chuckled. “You’re back so soon? Was this hunt too easy? You—”

His face froze, then twisted in fear. “You. How did you find this place? You couldn’t have possibly found this place!”

The rattling sound of chains echoed as a maiden was reflected in the bronze mirror. A pitch-black coffin followed her, dragging long chains with it. She looked beautiful, with a graceful figure. She was Fairy Qingbi, whom Li Xiaoke had suppressed within the coffin in the Little Rocky Mountain’s well!

Qingbi approached the bronze mirror. The expression of Li Xiaoke inside the mirror returned to normal, and he laughed out loud. “So what if you found this place? You can’t do anything to me! I’m in the mirror, in a different world from you—”

The maiden extended her fair hand and reached into the bronze mirror. In the next moment, she grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out of the mirror world!

The reflection panicked and struggled relentlessly, yet he could not escape her grip. He cried out, “You can’t kill me! Your reputation is already ruined; you’re a wanton woman who sleeps with anyone. There’s no saving it!

“But my reputation is still clean! It is better to resolve enmities than to deepen them. Let go of your hatred and begin a new life happily! In this era, no one knows about the rumors I spread about you!”

Qingpie observed him with a strange look in her eyes. “Li Xiaoke separated you from his body. Why?”

The reflection quickly replied, “He felt guilty when he consumed the elixir, which endangered his Dao heart. So, he simply separated me, his negative consciousness. That way, he could keep his Dao heart clear.”

He chuckled. “From then on, whenever his Dao heart faced an obstruction, he would sever his negative consciousness, and I gradually grew stronger. Hehe, the more he does that, the stronger I get. I am the second strongest on Jiucailing Ridge, second only to him! When he is away, I would pretend to be him. No one knows better.

Qingbi couldn’t help but ask, “Since you’re just like him and no one can tell the difference, what’s the use in him cutting you out?”

The Li Xiaoke from the mirror chuckled. “He’s probably seeking comfort in his heart, thinking that I was the one responsible for everything bad, and he has nothing to do with any of it.”

Qingbi nodded lightly. “He’s indeed trash like that. Where is he now?”

The reflection answered, “He went to the Land of Heavenly Retribution to hunt down the Ageless Immortal! He wants to devour the Origin Dao Essence within the Ageless Immortal to refine his six secret immortal herbs.”

Qingbi let go of the Li Xiaoke from the mirror and turned to leave the palace.

The reflection admired her graceful figure from behind and chuckled. “You’re still as beautiful as ever... But you cannot defeat him! He’s gathered the power of the six secrets and transplanted dozens of Exorcist Immortals’ grotto heavens. His mystical power is countless times stronger now! He’s now the strongest Qi Cultivator...”

Qingbi stopped in her tracks and flicked her finger. The reflection flew backward involuntarily and crashed into the bronze mirror.

With her back to him, Qingbi raised her right hand and slowly clenched it into a fist.

Behind her, the bronze mirror began to twist, crushed into a ball. The space in the mirror was annihilated and shattered. The Li Xiaoke in the mirror screamed in agony as he too was twisted, his limbs destroyed!

“Even a glimpse of you disgusts me!”

Qingbi opened her palm. The bronze mirror was crushed into scrap bronze.

She stepped out of the Carefree Palace. Finally, the golden bell hovering over Jiucailing Ridge’s peak noticed her. Startled, he was just about to toll as an alarm when the space around him suddenly folded over itself, preventing the tolls from reaching the outside world!

“You ambushed me back then and cast me into Little Rocky Mountain’s dry well. You sealed me away along with the heavenly god.”

Hearing Qingbi’s voice, the Carefree Bell panicked. He rammed around wildly, trying to break through her spatial seal.

Qingbi raised her right hand, formed a series of peculiar seals, and unleashed them lightly.

Her seal technique appeared harmless; inside the seal, the Carefree Bell was struck heavily. Deep palm prints appeared one after another on his golden surface.

These palm prints were incredibly terrifying. They actually punched through his wall, shattered the imprints, and wiped away his power one by one!

The Carefree Bell was overcome with terror. “You actually mastered the Gourd Universe Seeking Immortality Scripture[1]! However, if I hadn’t been severely wounded by that wretched bell and hadn’t recovered yet, you might not necessarily have been able to do anything to me—”

Qingbi’s right hand shifted rapidly, crumpling the golden bell in the blink of an eye.

Utterly horrified, the Carefree Bell begged, “Don’t kill me! I can help you deal with him! He’s incredibly powerful now. He’s the strongest Qi Cultivator in history. You can’t possibly be his match!”

Qingbi’s expression didn’t change at all, like an ancient well. “Do you think I came here alone to deal with him?”

With a loud clang, the golden bell lost all its powers and plummeted.

From the perspective of the countless disciples across Mount Jiulong, however, the golden bell had been floating there the entire time. Then, without warning, it twisted into a mass of scrap bronze and lost all its power.

The disciples rushed over in a panic, only to find the bell crippled and stripped of its power.

Clang!

The bell crashed to the ground. The artifact’s spirit had been annihilated, erased from existence!

Taking advantage of the chaos engulfing the disciples on the mountain, Qingbi silently slipped through them. With a light tap of her toe, the black coffin soared into the air. A dark cloud, also emerging from the mountains of Jiucailing Ridge, soared alongside her.

Thunder rumbled within that dark cloud. Through the flashes of lightning, a massive body could be vaguely seen swimming through the storm.

Amidst the roaring thunder, a voice spoke. “Qingbi, after we avenge you, you and I will settle our karma once and for all! Eh? This place is a little strange!”

In the Land of Heavenly Retribution, Xu Ying channeled the Heavenly Punishment sword qi. Moving at lightning speed, he swept across the barren wasteland.

To his shock, this entire place was covered in that bizarre flesh. It clung to the mountains and rivers, licking non-stop to plunder the primordial qi of heaven and earth.

No plants or living creatures could survive underneath this flesh.

Even the Qi Cultivators who had once lived in this world had left nothing behind. Their grotto residences and the artifacts they had left behind could not escape its grasp. The flesh often devoured their very essence completely.

What in the world happened to this place? Xu Ying suddenly saw dust and smoke rising from the wilderness ahead. He flew over and saw forty to fifty massive archaic beasts stampeding wildly.

They were fleeing from the flesh clinging to the earth behind them. Each beast ran at incredible speed, causing the peaks on its back to sway.

Huge boulders were constantly being flung from the beasts’ backs, crashing into the ground with loud, terrifying rumbles.

Xu Ying slowed his pace and subdued his sword qi and sword light, flying behind the archaic beasts and steadily drawing nearer.

Whoosh!

He controlled his sword qi to weave through the peaks on an archaic beast’s back. These peaks were not large. Their surfaces were stone, but several had cracked open, revealing interiors made entirely of bones.

Suddenly, Xu Ying spotted an ancient temple nestled among the mountain peaks below. As the giant beasts stampeded and the ground shook violently, the temple remained utterly still.

Xu Ying even saw a huge boulder fall. Just as it was about to smash into the ancient temple, a gentle force deflected it away!

There must be a treasure here!

His eyes lit up. He landed outside the ancient temple and set Xue Ying’an down. Yuanqi poked his head out curiously to examine the ancient temple on the giant beast’s back.

There were characters written on the plaque above the temple door. After studying them for a moment, Yuanqi remarked, “The calligraphy is not bad. Ah Ying, come take a look!”

The characters on the plaque were written in the bird-worm seal script. Xu Ying took a closer look. “It reads ‘seal’ and ‘forbidden.’ It’s almost identical to the two characters I engraved on Master Zhong.”

Yuanqi went berserk and snapped, “They’re clearly not the same! I copied the eight characters on Master Zhong’s butt long ago; they don’t match at all! Ah Ying, could it be that you actually don’t recognize them and are just messing with me?”

Xu Ying scrutinized the two characters and guessed, “The one who wrote the characters likely lacked understanding of the immortal Dao in the two characters. That’s why it’s only superficially similar, but is actually wrong.”

Just then, the temple door suddenly creaked open. A white skeleton stood behind the door and made an inviting gesture, as if inviting them inside.

1. Reference to the Chinese folklore of Hu Gong, an immortal who sells medicine in the market from his gourd that contained a miniature universe inside. ☜