Zhu Chanchan hopped in front of the bronze bell and gave it two punches, but it remained shriveled and dented. Zhu Chanchan said sheepishly, "I hauled Feilai Peak all the way here and even activated it once, so my magic power is drained dry. Give me two days to recover my cultivation, and I'll heal your injuries."
"By then, Ah Ying will already be cold," the bell muttered. It immediately pressed up against the back of Xu Ying's head and stammered, "Ah Ying, let me inside to take a few sips of blood and qi. That way, I can still protect you when we run for our lives in a moment."
Xu Ying's cultivation had grown, and he was no longer the youth of before. With the bell wounded, if Xu Ying sealed his Realm of Xiyi, the bell wouldn't be able to force its way in, leaving it no choice but to be a bit more humble.
Xu Ying nodded, and the bell hurriedly squeezed into his Realm of Xiyi. It took two gulps of blood and qi to stabilize its wounds. Only then did it breathe a sigh of relief, shouting, "Ah Ying, no time to lose—running is the best move!"
Puzzled, Zhu Chanchan asked, "Didn't you just say you were going to fight to the end?"
The bell replied as if it were obvious, "If you had healed me and Ah Ying had replenished enough of my vitality, of course we'd fight to the end. But now that you're useless, running is naturally the best move! Quick! Quick!"
Even as they spoke, the Golden Man had already hoisted Feilai Peak from atop his head and hurled it forward with immense force, smashing it right toward them!
Xu Ying hastily scooped up Zhu Chanchan and leapt aside. Feilai Peak was truly enormous; even though he dashed with all his might, the air blast kicked up by the peak still hurled him into midair.
Flames flared in the Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man's eyes once more. Seeing them turn crimson, Xu Ying immediately executed the Heaven-Soaring Cloud Ladder. Treading on cloud rungs, he soared through the air with Zhu Chanchan in his arms, dodging the fiery onslaught.
The Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man immediately pressed both hands against the ground, struggling to pull his legs out of the earth. Right at that moment, Xu Ying dropped down toward the back of his head!
Zhu Chanchan shrieked in terror, "Didn't we agree to run away?!"
At the same time, Yuan Qi woke up. Seeing the colossal Golden Man rising below, he couldn't help screeching.
"Lord Seventh, open your mouth wide!" Xu Ying shouted.
Yuan Qi had been coiled around his shoulder the whole time. Hearing this, he involuntarily gaped his jaws wide, his head ballooning like a small hill. Xu Ying shoved Zhu Chanchan back into the snake's mouth and barked, "Don't bite!"
Yuan Qi had instinctively wanted to clamp down, but hearing the warning, he hurriedly tucked away his fangs.
Xu Ying crashed down with a deafening boom, slamming onto the Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man's God Bridge. The God Bridge was forged entirely of dark gold, immensely solid, with the patterns of Dao images flowing across its surface. Even beneath Xu Ying's fall from high in the sky, it remained completely unscathed.
*Sure enough, the phenomena behind this Golden Man are all refined magical treasures, not a true Realm of Xiyi!*
Xu Ying snatched up the stone axe and drove the Taiyi Guiding Technique with all his might, mobilizing the power of his Mud Pill, Yellow Court, Crimson Palace, and Jade Pool. Silently chanting the Eight Sounds of Primordial Nurturing, the blood and qi inside him boiled and surged wildly!
The stone axe's murderous might was fully unleashed, conjuring a sea of blood behind him. Countless corpses rose within the sea of blood, as if seeking to relive their past lives!
*Boom!*
Xu Ying swung the massive axe down onto the God Bridge. Instantly, innumerable patterns laden with Dao images emerged upon the bridge, flowing with rosy light to block his blow.
Xu Ying's eyes gleamed. Driving his Heavenly Eye, he saw the patterns formed by these Dao images with absolute clarity, discerning their weak points. The stone axe hacked through them like cutting melons and chopping vegetables, cleaving apart every obstructing Dao image in its path!
When the stone axe finally struck the God Bridge itself, a terrifying counter-shock surged back. The ten fingers on both of Xu Ying's hands instantly shattered, snapping and bursting one after another. His arms were drenched in blood, flesh ripping away from the arm bones!
His arm bones cracked and fractured under the continuous blast.
Suddenly, two fleshy arms burst out from beneath Xu Ying's armpits—the very physical transformation technique from the *Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Longevity Technique*!
His two newly grown arms gripped the stone axe and swung it down again, only to be blown apart by the shockwave an instant later. Yet in that very breath, fresh arms sprouted from his armpits once more, bringing the axe down yet again!
This was the first time he had ever drawn upon the immortal body of the Mud Pill secret depository, pitting his body's formidable regenerative power against the God Bridge!
In this manner, his arms were destroyed dozens of times in succession until, with a tremendous crash, the stone axe in his hands suddenly blew apart!
Although this stone axe had been repaired by Zhu Chanchan, it had once been used to suppress a female immortal and was far from what it used to be. It had already suffered damage when Xu Ying used it earlier to take on the Twelve Golden Men; now, after being wielded to strike dozens of heavy blows, it could no longer hold out and finally shattered!
"Lord Bell, get out here!"
Xu Ying roared, staring at the God Bridge before him. The bronze bell was hiding atop the Sea of Chaos in Xu Ying's mind, slipping into his cave-heavens to draw blood and qi. Hearing his roar, it couldn't help shivering and yelled, "I'm not coming out!"
Even so, it wobbled into the air and flew out anyway.
Between being full for one meal and being fed for every meal, it knew very well which mattered more.
Sure enough, the moment it flew out, Xu Ying—who still had four arms—grabbed it by its loop. The bronze bell squeaked, "Lord Ying, be gentle!"
*Clang!*
With rampant vitality, Xu Ying swung the bronze bell and slammed it brutally against the God Bridge ahead. The God Bridge had already been mostly severed by the stone axe; struck by the bronze bell now, it cracked with a sharp snap!
At the same time, the Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man had pulled both legs free. But with his head concealed inside his chest cavity, he couldn't see what was happening behind him.
Sensing trouble, he immediately reached behind him, sweeping his huge hands back and forth.
The bronze bell's hair stood on end. Watching that sky-blotting hand roar past overhead, it shrieked, "Lord Ying!"
Xu Ying ignored it completely and swung the bronze bell down again!
*Clang!*
"Lord Ying!"
*Clang!*
"Fuck your ancestors!"
*Clang!*
At last, the Golden Man pinpointed Xu Ying's position, his massive hand clutching toward him. But with a resonant toll of the bell, the God Bridge was snapped clean in two!
The Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man's aura plummeted, drastically weakened, and the power of the grabbing hand diminished dramatically. With a thunderous boom, Xu Ying dodged the crushing palm, but he couldn't evade the shockwave of its impact. Fortunately, the battered bronze bell was right there; seasoned by experience, he hid inside it to ride out the aftershocks. The bronze bell clattered under the blast, tumbling and rolling along the broken bridge, skipping like a flat stone across the surface of the Jade Pool. It crashed into the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, tumbling all the way down the twelve floors until it caught on the upturned eaves of the fourth floor.
Xu Ying slid out from inside the bell, choking back the urge to spit blood. He shouted, "Whoever is still alive, heed the ageless immortal's command! Attack this place! Smash all the pavilions and the Jade Pool in the Golden Man's Realm of Xiyi to pieces! Sever the Heavenly River, level the Heavenly Mountain, and shatter the mystic passes! Throw his Five Sacred Peaks out!"
In that brief exchange, more than half of Xiao Fengxian and Hua Xianchen's companions had been killed or wounded. Hearing his call, the surviving Qi Refiners rallied their spirits and flew into the Golden Man's Realm of Xiyi one by one.
They raised their respective magical treasures and bombarded the Heavenly River, Heavenly Mountain, Three Mystic Passes, and Five Sacred Peaks, wreaking havoc.
Xiao Fengxian in particular directly summoned her Phoenix Fire, boiling the waters of the Jade Pool dry first!
The Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man's magic power plummeted. His hands reaching behind him grew slower and weaker.
Yet he was so colossal that even the slightest brush of his body brought death or grave injury, even to Qi Refiners who had forged Golden Cores! Finally, the Heavenly River was severed, the Heavenly Mountain leveled, the Three Mystic Passes knocked down and pulverized, the five immortal peaks cleared away, and even the bottom of his crucible was punched through!
At last, the Golden Man slowly stopped moving, frozen in place.
His magic power had two sources: one was the incense smoke qi from his shrine, and the other was his Realm of Xiyi, which provided the bulk of his power. Earlier, Xu Ying had used the giant's own strength to destroy the shrine's incense smoke qi; now that his Realm of Xiyi had been dismantled, he had lost his source of power entirely.
With a shove of Zhu Chanchan's hand, Yuan Qi's jaws opened involuntarily, his head swelling to a massive size. Standing inside the great snake's mouth, the young woman looked at the broken magical treasures, her eyes shining bright. She promptly tapped Yuan Qi's tongue.
Yuan Qi slithered down from Xu Ying's shoulder against his own will, revealed his true form, and involuntarily activated the True Cultivation of the Ba Snake, turning into a hundred-zhang-long serpent.
He slithered forward, gulping down the broken mystic passes, God Bridge, mansions, and other remnants one by one.
Xu Ying had also been busily destroying things a moment ago. Now he could finally heave a sigh of relief, feeling as though he had barely survived a calamity.
Under Zhu Chanchan's control, Yuan Qi swallowed debris at every step, growing so bloated that he couldn't even coil his body up.
Seeing him slither over, Xu Ying quickly took several steps back, thinking, *If he coils around my neck like this, I'll probably be crushed to death.*
He leapt up, landing in the palm of the Imperial Mausoleum Golden Man's hand, and looked toward the seven pillars of ascension rosy glow. The other Golden Men and the Nuo immortals had already fought their way there, locked in vicious combat within the glowing haze. Xu Ying looked higher and saw that above the rosy glow, Mount Fangzhang had shrunk to a tiny speck, barely discernible to the naked eye.
Near Mount Fangzhang was an altar countless times larger than the immortal mountain itself. Xu Fu stood on the immortal mountain outside the altar performing his rites, pacing across the compact summit in profound footwork. But from such a great distance, Xu Ying couldn't tell what he was trying to do.
Suddenly, Xu Fu came to a halt and pointed toward the altar.
Xu Ying saw the space in the center of the altar suddenly tremble. An invisible force surged outward in all directions with that tremor!
Xu Ying's expression changed abruptly, and he roared, "Everyone, get out of here right now!"
Before his voice had even faded, plumes of blood qi drifted up near the ascension rosy glow. Some Nuo masters were fleeing in this direction, but as they ran, blood qi began seeping from their cave-heavens. Their bodies withered rapidly, soon shriveling like dry firewood!
After taking just a few more steps, a Nuo master's cave-heavens burst apart, reducing him to a pile of brittle bones that crumbled to dust mid-stride!
Not just ordinary Nuo masters—even the Grand Nuo found their vitality bleeding away, the immortal medicine in their bodies draining alongside it!
Even the Nuo immortals battling the Imperial Mausoleum Golden Men struggled to control the outflow of immortal medicine from their bodies! Add to that their struggle against the Golden Men, and resisting the influence of the great sacrifice became nearly impossible!
Xu Fu's great sacrificial rite of resurrection was truly savage to the extreme!
He intended to wipe out everyone who had opened a secret depository in one fell swoop, whether they identified as Nuo or Qi Refiner!
Among the Qi Refiners he had brought along, some had also opened secret depositories and practiced Nuo methods; they, too, fell into the ranks of sacrificial offerings!
Even Xu Ying felt the four secret depositories he had unlocked stirring uncontrollably within him, on the verge of being ripped out of his body by this grand sacrifice!
In particular, because he lacked the cultivation technique for the Jade Pool and had mobilized the power of the Jade Pool cave-heaven, he felt the unrefined primordial qi and immortal medicine threatening to burst out of him!
Qi Refiners who had never opened secret depositories, however, had no such worries; they remained entirely unaffected.
Xu Ying drove his sword qi, flying upon it and charging outward with all his might as he shouted, "Lord Seventh, run!"
Yuan Qi wriggled his massive body in a frenzy, glancing back in haste. Behind the Grand Nuo charging this way, cave-heavens were already breaking apart and collapsing!
Yuan Qi was terrified. He had also opened several cave-heavens, and now they were showing signs of unraveling as well. Hurriedly channeling his sword qi, he took flight and followed blindly after Xu Ying.
Zhu Chanchan, still hiding inside Yuan Qi's mouth, was in the same predicament. She felt the immortal medicine she had accumulated over six thousand years stirring violently, on the verge of flying out!
Everyone was fleeing outward, except for the Nuo immortals, who abruptly abandoned the Imperial Mausoleum Golden Men. Instead of retreating, they surged forward, charging toward the altar above.
Yet the closer they drew to the altar, the faster the "immortal medicine" in their bodies bled away. Even so, they charged bravely ahead, fighting their way onto Mount Fangzhang!
Atop Mount Fangzhang, Xu Fu showed no fear whatsoever. Wearing a faint, detached smile, he said, "Gentlemen, rather than becoming food in someone else's mouth, why not contribute your strength to my grand endeavor?"
An elderly, white-haired Nuo immortal from the Cui clan charged forward with his Hidden Scenery. That Hidden Scenery was an expanse of rosy clouds, like a flying immortal dwelling within the mist, sweeping down toward Xu Fu!
Xu Fu smiled faintly and raised a hand to meet the rosy clouds.
A subtle ripple passed through the air. The Nuo immortal's Hidden Scenery seemed to strike an invisible wall, collapsing and shattering instantly. The immortal medicine that composed it howled as it drained away, pouring into the golden coffin amid the ascension rosy glow!
The other Nuo immortals arrived, but in the next instant, each was wounded, coughing up blood!
Right then, a tall man dressed in archaic attire thrust a sword-finger toward the center of Xu Fu's palm! Xu Fu's aura shuddered. A look of surprise crossed his face, and he chuckled. "So you're the Qi Refiner from the Great Zhou era? You must be the one who kills with a suspended bronze sword. You do have some skill!"
The tall man was inwardly shocked. Even though his sword-finger had been an ambush coordinated with the siege of the Nuo immortals, it had still failed to pierce Xu Fu's palm!
Xu Fu said, "You still have unrefined immortal medicine inside you, sir. You had best stay behind!"
Forming the Fist Mother Seal with his hands, he struck out with a fist. Taking the blow directly, the Great Zhou Qi Refiner spat blood, terror in his eyes. "You're an immortal?!"
Wounded, the immortal medicine in his body was stirred by the blood sacrifice and began draining away, even faster than from the other Nuo immortals!
Just then, a voice drifted over, cool and indifferent: "Standing on the immortal mountain, he is. Off it, he isn't worth a fart!"
Xu Fu felt a terrifying force surge toward him. Hurriedly flipping his hand, he slapped backward to intercept it.
His body swayed, and he was forced two steps forward before he could disperse the force delivered by the blow.
Xu Fu turned around in surprise to see a refined, handsome old man approaching. His clothes were immaculate and neat, his hair, beard, and eyebrows groomed to perfection, without a single speck of dirt even on his shoes.
It was none other than Yuan Wuji of the Yuan clan.
Puzzled, Xu Fu asked, "You are a Nuo immortal. Why is there no immortal medicine in your body?"
"Guess!" Yuan Wuji gave a faint smile and launched an attack, shouting to the others, "Destroy the altar first!"
Xu Ying and his companions had already reached the mercury river. The farther they got from the altar, the weaker its influence became. However, the power of this grand sacrifice was growing steadily stronger; Xu Ying estimated that before he could even reach the entrance of the Mount Li grand tomb, the four secret depositories in his body would be destroyed!
Xu Ying looked back. Above the golden coffin of First Emperor Zulong, the sky had turned completely crimson, a torrential deluge pouring into the casket!
Right at that moment, the altar suddenly shattered, and the chilling dread brought by the blood sacrifice finally vanished.
Xu Ying was filled with shock and suspicion. *What happened? Did Xu Fu meet his match? No, that can't be. He possesses an immortal's physique and strength, and he even cultivated immortal fire. How could anyone be a match for him?*
Suddenly, a heavy *thud* resonated from within Zulong's golden coffin, like a war drum pounding against their hearts, shocking them so violently their hearts felt ready to burst.
*Thud!*
A second tremor rang out, even louder than the first.
Xu Ying grunted, charging outward with Yuan Qi. Then, a deep and strangely familiar voice echoed across the air:
"I trod Shenzhou beneath my feet, held the altars of state in my grip, swept away the six kingdoms, and reigned supreme over all under heaven. Here I lay in slumber. Who... has awakened me?"
Chapter 127