"There is a flaw in the Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Mysterious Altar Technique. Because he cannot unify the two secret depositories of the Crimson Palace and the Jade Capital, his magic power fails to reach the ninth heaven when running his cultivation."
Having deciphered the *Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Mysterious Altar Technique*, Xu Ying was intimately familiar with it. He said rapidly, "Deducing from his technique, his fourth heaven is hollow—all outward appearance and no substance. One only needs to strike into the fourth heaven and stand firm there to break his technique."
Guo Xiaodie had been urging him to leave at once. Hearing this, she froze. "Really?"
She looked up toward the heavens. Thunderclouds gathered densely, vaguely outlining nine layers of heaven formed from heavy, dark clouds. Amid the mists, true dragons seemed to swim, and a pillar of fire appeared hidden deep within the thick cloud cover, flaring intermittently alongside the flashes of lightning.
Old Ancestor Guo, his hair and beard snow-white, was fighting desperately toward that very place, yet was driven back time and again!
Xu Ying hesitated briefly, then added, "I deciphered his technique. If he is clever, he would definitely cultivate it this way to unify the Crimson Palace and Jade Capital secret depositories. If he were a bit stupider, he probably wouldn't have reached this step..."
Guo Xiaodie beamed with joy. "The Old Ancestor told us the Emperor has been clever since childhood!"
She hastily called out, "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Uncle! Your divine sense is powerful—go tell the Old Ancestor that the fourth heaven is fake and to stand there to chop down the Emperor!"
Hearing her call, Guo Yue hurried off.
Guo Xiaodie said briskly, "Even if the Old Ancestor cuts down the Emperor, it still won't do—we still have to run! Once the Old Ancestor is done fighting the Emperor, he won't have any strength left! In his peak years, he could fight ten rounds without pausing to catch his breath."
Such was the sorrow of a Nuo immortal: once the physical body aged, blood and qi fell far from their prime. Back in the day, Old Ancestor Guo had been the sole figure capable of suppressing Zhou Qiyun, yet in his twilight years, he could no longer hold him down.
Just then, the two saw lightning and thunder intertwine across the sky. Old Ancestor Guo's Green Dragon Halberd cleaved through the heavy curtain of thunderclouds, and he charged into the fourth heaven. Standing firm there, he swung the Green Dragon Halberd to hack toward the center!
The pillar of fire collapsed, and a burst of bloody light erupted. That fiery pillar was the Mysterious Altar of the Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Mysterious Altar Technique, the very foundation of the method. Had the nine heavens been intact, it would have been impossible to sever.
Even power akin to an immortal's would lose all its might upon striking the ninth heaven at the core, but as luck would have it, the fatal flaw lay in the emptiness of the fourth heaven.
In the sky, bloody light poured down like a deluge, dyeing the clouds crimson.
Guo Xiaodie wiped her face, only to find her hand smeared with blood. Shocked, she blurted out, "It's over... Did the Old Ancestor really kill the Emperor? Xu Monster King, what kind of loophole did you point out?!"
Xu Ying scratched his head.
Suddenly, with a thunderous roar, the white-haired elder plummeted from the sky. He seized Xu Ying by the scruff of the neck, hoisted him into the air, and roared in absolute fury, "What kind of goddamn loophole did you tell me about?!"
This elder was none other than Old Ancestor Guo. Beside himself with exasperation, he fumed, "I used the damn loophole you spoke of, and I might have just killed the Emperor!"
Xu Ying did not struggle in the least. He calmly replied, "Naturally, it was a loophole in the technique. You broke his cultivation."
Old Ancestor Guo set him down, his expression shifting between dark and uncertain. "I struck with that halberd, and he tried to block it. Of course he couldn't block it—I hacked off half his torso! If that old brat Zhou Qiyun were still alive, he could naturally be saved, but he just had to go and die. And the Zhou clan members have almost all been slaughtered by the Emperor..."
Trouble etched across his face, he shook his head and walked off, muttering, "I have spent my whole life loyal to the imperial court. Am I to kill the Emperor in my old age and replace him with another? How would I be any different from a treacherous official?"
Muttering and grumbling, he walked away.
Guo Xiaodie called out after him, "Old Ancestor, I see your heroic vigor remains intact! You could still fight three or five more Nuo immortals—do we still need to send the Xu Monster King away?"
"Nonsense!"
Old Ancestor Guo snapped irritably, "I'm already running on fumes! Fight another, and you can go dig my ancestral grave! This kid is an eyesore—hurry up and send him away!"
Suddenly, his expression changed, and his tone turned solemn. "I fear there isn't enough time. Another Nuo immortal has arrived. Suppressing his presence so low... heh, that old monster of the Cui clan, is it? Coming to reap the spoils."
He planted his Green Dragon Halberd, standing in the rain as he gazed from afar toward the main gates of the Guo manor.
Xu Ying said hastily, "Senior, there is no need to exhaust your own life for my sake..."
Old Ancestor Guo abruptly relaxed. Lifting his Green Dragon Halberd, he turned to leave and said, "You're right. I'm going to sleep."
Xu Ying and Guo Xiaodie were dumbfounded.
Old Ancestor Guo's voice drifted back: "Tonight, life and death hang in the balance. Xiaodie, take him to the other Shendu. Whether you can survive or not, we will talk after tonight!"
"The other Shendu?" Xu Ying was startled.
Could there be another Shendu in the world besides this one?
Guo Xiaodie pulled him forward, smiling. "The Old Ancestor has lived from the era of Emperor Zhidao Dasheng until now, helping emperors like Zhidao Dasheng, Wenming Wude Dasheng, Ruiwen Xiaowu, and Shenwu Xiaowen pacify turmoil across the realm, holding up the divine dynasty so it would not fall. While still alive, the Old Ancestor was already enshrined in the Lingyan Pavilion, receiving the incense offerings of the common people. He is a living god."
Guo Yue and his wife, Li Yingzhu, led a dozen or so youths of the Guo family to join them, heading together to the Guo manor's Wugong Hall. Husband and wife, along with the Guo family disciples, set up an incense altar and lit candle after candle and stick after stick of incense.
Yang Shenxuan whispered softly, "The reason Shendu is called Shendu, the Divine Capital, is because incense here is so dense that its incense smoke qi forms a world overlapping with Shendu. It is a realm unto itself, governed neither by the mortal world nor by the Netherworld; hence, it is called the Second Shendu. Not only did you not know of the Second Shendu, but even many prominent clans are unaware that another Shendu exists within Shendu!"
Li Yingzhu urged, "The situation is dire! Quick, everyone offer incense and kowtow to the Old Ancestor!"
Upon the incense altar, sticks of sandalwood thick as human arms were ignited. The Guo family disciples knelt and bowed repeatedly, silently chanting the name of Old Ancestor Guo.
Suddenly, countless sparks burst from the incense and candles. The sparks swarmed together, forming a gateway.
Fragrant incense smoke curled and extended from within the gateway, opening up a wondrous, fantastical world!
Guarding Xu Ying in their midst, the group filed inside one after another.
Guo Xiaodie walked shoulder to shoulder with him, leaning her head close to his ear. "The various gods of the Lingyan Pavilion are the true rulers there. The Old Ancestor became a god in life, so he can mobilize the incense smoke to transport us into the Second Shendu."
Xu Ying followed closely behind Guo Xiaodie. Suddenly, his foot stepped into empty air, and wind roared in his ears as he tumbled from the sky. Just as he was about to activate the Sword Control Formula, his feet halted abruptly; he had already touched down.
The ground was composed of incense smoke qi. Stepping on it felt soft and yielding, yet it did not give way.
He looked all around. Outside, it had been night, but here, brilliance illuminated everything. Incense smoke qi formed long streets, towering pavilions, pagodas, and terraces.
In the sky, multiple suns hung like radiant pearls, their light gentle rather than blinding, embellishing the world.
Hundred-zhang-tall gods towered between pavilions and pagodas, solemn and majestic, wide swathes of incense smoke qi drifting behind them.
They were the holy figures enshrined within the Lingyan Pavilion!
They were imposing and martially divine, clasping golden maces, pagodas, and various other treasures. Some bore a third eye between their brows, some possessed three heads, and some wielded multiple arms; there were those treading upon divine dragons, those riding auspicious clouds, and those coiled by serpentine drakes.
The incense smoke qi upon their bodies was immensely thick. They were beings that bore the history of an entire dynasty, possessing formidable divine might!
Their incense smoke qi had been crafted into another Shendu, even more vast than the real Shendu, overlapping with the mortal world.
Beside them stood other deities of varying sizes, likely the ancestors and descendants of various great clans whose achievements fell far short of entering the Lingyan Pavilion to receive imperial sacrifice, so their incense was less prosperous.
Yet many of these larger and smaller deities had already tempered golden bodies, showing they had been worshipped for no short time.
Xu Ying could not help but marvel inwardly, *No wonder when Emperor Zhidao Dasheng descended to the Nether Court back then, the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court had to agree to unifying imperial and divine authority! Aside from his iron fists, another reason was that if the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court refused, he would simply abolish the Nether Court and establish an alternative Nether Heavenly Court!*
With this Shendu alone, Emperor Zhidao Dasheng possessed the capital to replace the dynasty of the Nether Court!
"The sages of the Lingyan Pavilion embody the spirit of a dynasty—no wonder they could give rise to a Second Shendu!"
Xu Ying walked down the streets of the Second Shendu, gazing up at the statuesque deities. He suddenly whispered, "Lord Qi, the sages of the Lingyan Pavilion have already manifested Dao images. Just by contemplating them, we might be able to comprehend a set of divine abilities. Paired with the Mud Pill secret depository, it wouldn't be inferior to the Zhou clan's Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits Hidden Scenery Technique!"
Yuan Qi looked up at the sages of the Lingyan Pavilion and whispered, "Lord Bell, is what Ah Ying said true?"
The bronze bell answered, "Naturally it's true, but it requires brains."
"Forget it, then."
Suddenly, the sound of wind and thunder carried over. Xu Ying followed the noise, discovering that standing here, he could faintly see the outside world and even make out experts clashing.
The two Shendus overlapped yet did not interfere with one another; battles in the other world could not breach this place, so there was no need to worry about being injured.
Still, they were two distinct worlds after all. Xu Ying could only barely make out the silhouettes of the experts, unable to hear their words clearly.
*That figure looks somewhat familiar.*
Xu Ying arrived before the gate of the Guo manor and looked at an elder in white, puzzled. *He seems like that kindly-looking old gentleman who was together with the sorrowful old man on Mount Wuwang.*
Outside the main gates of the Guo manor, an elder wearing a bamboo hat trudged through the torrential downpour toward the estate. Thunder cracked and crashed, illuminating his coir raincoat.
Just as the elder was about to barge into the manor, the lightning froze midair, and countless raindrops suspended motionlessly in the sky.
The elder's pupils shrank slightly. He pushed up his bamboo hat, only to find a table and two chairs set before the gates of the Guo manor. A white-robed elder sat before the table, upon which rested a Go board.
Holding a white stone, the white-robed elder was playing chess in the rain.
Strangely enough, though it was clearly night and pouring torrentially, a striking beam of sunlight shone directly down upon the elder.
The bamboo-hatted elder walked forward, took a seat across from him, picked up a black stone, and swept his gaze over the game. He said flatly, "I have heard that in the mortal realm, a woman in red and an elder in white play Go together. Those who watch them play will never lose their way home, seeing a hundred years pass in the blink of an eye. People assumed the two must be immortals roaming the mortal world."
He placed a black stone and continued coldly, "Yet not long ago on Mount Wuwang, this old man saw that old immortal beaten by a girl carrying a black coffin—beaten until he coughed up blood."
The white-robed elder's hand holding the white stone trembled slightly.
Beneath the bamboo hat, a faint smile appeared on the elder's face. "Later, I heard another rumor: these two immortals roaming the mortal world were beaten by Zhou Qiyun."
With a sharp crack, the white stone in the white-robed elder's hand shattered into dust.
"Cui Zhiyuan, you think that by bringing up these two matters, I will reveal a flaw for you to exploit? Yet you still haven't found a single opportunity to strike. You are neither Qing nor Zhou Qiyun."
The white-robed elder pinched up another white stone and said calmly, "Back when Wang Mang sought to devour him, I hurled a single white stone across the heavens, and an army of several hundred thousand Nuo masters was blasted into ash. Later generations believed a meteorite had fallen from the heavens, yet it was merely a single stone from my board."
The bamboo-hatted elder's face changed drastically. He sprang into the air, leaping backward!
*Boom!*
A gigantic white stone plummeted from the sky, crashing down upon him and leaving him no room to evade.
The bamboo-hatted elder roared fiercely. The Phoenix Terrace manifested behind him—it was precisely his Hidden Scenery. Pushing his cultivation to the absolute peak, he swung a brush, conjuring the roaming phoenix upon the Phoenix Terrace. A fiery phoenix spread its wings and soared forth to intercept the falling white stone!
The white-robed elder pinched another stone and placed it down. His expression darkened as he muttered to himself, "Back then, an evil thought stirred in my mind. I wanted to see if that great meteorite of mine could smash him to death as well! If it killed him, we would be freed... I am a dignified Qi Refiner, a brilliant, dazzling chosen one of the heavens! I didn't want to spend my whole life trapped in this kind of—"
*Clack!*
"—thing!"
This stone slammed heavily down onto the board. In the sky, the second falling stone shook the bamboo-hatted elder so violently that his aura fell into disarray, and the bamboo hat upon his head shattered into pieces!
"I smashed down so heavily!"
A vicious, ferocious look surfaced on the white-robed elder's face, his features turning savage as he pinched up a third white stone and slammed it down onto the board. "And what do you think happened?! An army of several hundred thousand Nuo masters was blasted to ash, not even bones left behind! And when my stone struck his body, it hit him right on the forehead—do you know that?!"
Chapter 100