Above Yunmeng Marsh, Xu Ying looked back into the distance. The Fusang tree stood like a distant mountain ridge, growing smaller as they drew farther away.
"With the fish-belly folk venerating it, it will gradually recover," he thought to himself.
"Ying'an, you returned to Yunmeng Marsh a step ahead of us. What happened after that?" Xu Ying asked.
Xue Ying'an recounted his experiences. On that day, when Stone City erupted with light and departed Taiyi Minor Mystic Heaven to return to Yunmeng Marsh, many people from Nuo master clans such as the Guos and Cuis returned as well. The young lady of the Guo clan had waited there for several days, but when Xu Ying failed to appear, she finally departed in dejection.
"I also waited for a few days, hoping to invite you along to Jiulong Mountain," Xue Ying'an said. "But what you told me made me impatient to return and verify the truth. Unable to wait any longer, I went back to Jiulong Mountain and returned to Jiucai Ridge."
He had told Li Xiaoke that he obtained an Immortal Dao spiritual root. Li Xiaoke was genuinely thrilled for him, asked him to recount everything that had happened during this period, and told him that the ageless immortal had once been his old friend.
Yet Xue Ying'an had remained on edge. When night fell, he did not dare sleep, lying in bed with eyes wide open as he waited for Li Xiaoke to murder him and seize the spiritual root.
Yet nothing happened that night. Nor did anything happen the following night.
For more than ten consecutive days, nothing occurred.
Only then did Xue Ying'an finally set aside his suspicions toward Li Xiaoke.
Not long ago, Li Xiaoke told him that the ageless immortal was not dead and had returned from Taiyi Minor Mystic Heaven, resting beneath the Fusang tree in Yunmeng Marsh over recent days, so he sent Xue Ying'an to extend an invitation.
That was how Xue Ying'an came to make this journey.
Hearing this, Yuan Qi said to Xu Ying, "Ah Ying, Grand Preceptor Jiang broadcast his voice across the myriad heavens and worlds, demanding that everyone surrender any hidden Immortal Dao spiritual roots or face heavenly punishment. He even annihilated an entire world over it. Do you think that might be how Li Xiaoke figured out Xue Ying'an was lying?"
Xu Ying was taken aback, then pondered and said, "Li Xiaoke knows Xue Ying'an is a kind-hearted person. If keeping the spiritual root would bring about the destruction of the entire world, he naturally wouldn't have kept it! Lord Qi, how did your head suddenly get so sharp?"
Yuan Qi froze as well and exclaimed, "That's right! I've been in a muddle lately and losing my memory from time to time, so why has my brain suddenly gotten so sharp?"
The bronze bell guessed, "It might be because you read too many books before, taking up all the space in your brain. Your brain wasn't large to begin with, so now that you lose your memory occasionally, it actually freed up some room, making you a lot smarter."
Yuan Qi realized what it meant and sneered, "You're saying I have a pea brain, aren't you? Old Bell, don't forget you're the one who put me in this state—you have to take responsibility! Ow, my head hurts!"
The bronze bell hurriedly stepped forward to soothe him, though internally shaken: this dumb snake had actually gotten smarter!
"Ah Ying, hurry up and undo the seal for him so Lord Qi can become dumber again," the bronze bell urged Xu Ying anxiously.
"Working on it, working on it!" Xu Ying felt the urgency as well. As he traveled, he studied and decoded the Immortal Dao runes.
Still, he felt Lord Niu Qi was quite fine as he was right now; although he suffered occasional bouts of memory loss, he had indeed become much sharper, so Xu Ying was in no great hurry to undo the seal.
He was attempting to crack the "Cage" Dao rune that sealed himself. Guided by that golden Immortal Dao rune obtained from Jin Buyi's memories, he could already see the countless versions of himself imprisoned within the Dao rune.
Along the way, he attempted to rescue these selves one by one, just as he had rescued Yuan Qi.
However, there were simply too many imprisoned selves. He had no idea how many times he would need to crack the "Cage" Dao rune before he could fully liberate himself.
Meanwhile, in Stone City, the white-robed old man Beichenzi looked at the "Cage" Dao rune flickering incessantly upon the demon-quelling runes, cold sweat rolling down his forehead. "There's no time, there's no time..." he muttered.
Though he did not know what that Dao rune meant, its light was gradually fading, which indicated that the seal's efficacy was weakening!
Once the light of the Dao rune was completely extinguished, it would mean the seal was undone!
He had never encountered such a situation before and had no idea how to handle it!
Moreover, he did not know what would happen once the Dao rune seal was broken, but no matter what came to pass, it boded nothing good for him!
"The Earth God of Shenzhou went to the Palace of Heavenly Gods and should have arrived by now. I wonder what the outcome of his visit will be?" Beichenzi could not help but worry.
The Palace of Heavenly Gods.
The Earth God of Shenzhou, squat and stout of stature, stood upon the long bridge at the center of the grand palace. On either side lay a boundless abyss, where countless skeletal remains crawled about, struggling to climb up onto the bridge.
Those bones knew not that they were dead, struggling in vain.
"Gentlemen, I am a heavenly god as well! Give me some face, if you would!" the Earth God of Shenzhou shouted, looking up.
He raised his head to gaze upward. Countless ancient trees stood grim and erect, towering and expansive. Stone statues of heavenly gods, with stony human bodies and triangular heads—ferocious and malevolent—sat perched upon the trees.
Each statue stood thousands of fathoms tall, their eyes beaming divine radiance that focused down upon the Earth God of Shenzhou.
The consciousnesses of the gods rippled back and forth across this vast expanse, like heavenly gods whispering among themselves.
"He says he is a heavenly god, just like us."
"He is raving in his dreams. Does he truly believe that overseeing the land of a single province puts him on par with the deities of the Heavenly Dao?"
"We are heavenly gods overseeing the myriad heavens and worlds; he is an earthly god presiding over a single province. Deities like him exist by the handful in every world."
"What falls to the earth is a chicken, not an eagle."
"Hush! Say no more—look, his face has turned purple."
"Let him go back and wait for the procedure to run its course."
The consciousnesses of the gods exchanged thoughts with amusement, the whispering growing louder and louder. His face flushed purple with rage, the Earth God of Shenzhou roared abruptly, "Enough! We're on the same side—do we really need to go through standard procedure?"
A majestic voice drifted down from the heavens: "Official matters must be handled strictly by the rules; even our own are no exception. Furthermore, Earth God of Shenzhou, you have skipped proper channels. You should return to your own Earth God temple, submit a memorial to the Heavenly Dao world to file a report, and then let the procedure take its course."
The murmurs vanished; evidently, the speaker held extraordinary rank.
Furious beyond measure, the Earth God of Shenzhou shouted, "That Xu Ying is trying to crack the demon-quelling runes all on his own! Do you know what that means? It means he's staging a jailbreak for himself! He's cutting a key to unlock the prison door himself! He's going to tear down the prison himself!"
The majestic voice replied, "Across ten thousand lifetimes, he has attempted to cut keys more than once. Did he ever succeed? Earth God of Shenzhou, there is no need to be so anxious..."
"Anxious, my ass!"
The Earth God of Shenzhou jumped up in blazing fury, yelling, "I remember you never used to drag your feet like this! I remember you used to handle things swiftly! Are you afraid of taking responsibility? Are you worried about losing your rice bowls? If that brat surnamed Xu breaks his seals and slaughters his way up here, he won't just smash your rice bowls—he'll flip your cooking pots and scatter your ashes! None of us will keep our rice bowls!"
The gods flew into a rage. The Palace of Heavenly Gods plunged into darkness, the faces of the heavenly gods twisting into hideous grimaces as a terrifying Heavenly Dao aura bore down!
With a muffled grunt, the Earth God of Shenzhou was crushed flat against the ground by their combined auras, unable to move a muscle.
His entire body popped and snapped; to say nothing of his physical flesh, even his divine soul felt on the verge of shattering!
The majestic voice said, "If you crush him, who will do the work? None of you do any real work—he is the only one who actually gets things done."
The gods thereupon reined in their auras.
Scrambling to his feet, the Earth God of Shenzhou showed far more deference and asked, "Exalted Gods, could you grant some leeway?"
The majestic voice replied, "First return to your temple, submit a memorial..."
The Earth God of Shenzhou could not restrain his anger again and shouted, "How many times must I say it? My temple was demolished by Zulong! I submitted memorials requesting you bestow a Heavenly Dao divine artifact, but did any of you pay attention? It's been two years—have any of you given me the time of day?"
The majestic voice fell silent for a moment, likely consulting the archives. After a long pause, it said slowly, "Your memorial failed to meet specifications and was returned for a rewrite."
Trembling with rage, the Earth God of Shenzhou spoke with a shaking voice, "How is it that I never received word of this?"
"It was sent back to your temple."
"My temple was demolished by Zulong!"
"Then nothing can be done. Why didn't you submit a memorial from an Earth God temple in another continent?"
"To submit from another continent's temple, don't I first need to obtain a certificate proving that I am the Earth God of Shenzhou? Where am I supposed to get that certificate issued?"
The voice said, "First submit a memorial to the Heavenly Dao world, and we will issue the certificate for you."
"I have no way to submit a memorial to the Heavenly Dao world, which is why I need to borrow another Earth God's temple to submit it!"
The voice fell silent for a moment, then said, "Then nothing can be done. Think of some other way."
The Earth God of Shenzhou stamped his feet in fury: "Why should it be on me to figure out a way?"
"We are not the ones in a hurry to get things done."
...
Foam spilled from the Earth God of Shenzhou's mouth as he collapsed backward onto the ground, twitching uncontrollably.
After another moment, that majestic heavenly god said, "You ought to do something about that fiery temper of yours. Requesting a Heavenly Dao divine artifact would do no good anyway; a Heavenly Dao divine artifact holds no authority to punish him. Nor do you need to worry—our Palace of Heavenly Gods exists to serve you lower-realm deities, and we will not make things difficult for you. I have a strategy that can temporarily resolve this crisis."
The Earth God of Shenzhou lay on the floor, foam oozing from his mouth, twitching every now and then.
The majestic voice continued unperturbed: "This method is to have a heavenly god of the Palace of Heavenly Gods project down to the mortal realm."
He sighed and added, "It is not that our Palace of Heavenly Gods desires to intervene in the secular realm, but that our hand has been forced."
The Earth God of Shenzhou leaped up and beamed, "My thanks to the Exalted God for granting this!"
The gods watched him depart the Palace of Heavenly Gods. After a moment, a voice spoke: "My Lord, are we truly to meddle in this matter?"
"A Heavenly Dao divine artifact lacks the authority to deliver punishment; only a heavenly god may take action."
The majestic voice chuckled, "Forty-eight thousand years ago, the Heavenly Dao world underwent a great reshuffling. The old powers fell, and new gods rose. Yet the old gods of the past wielded immense authority; after they fell, though the new gods arose, they failed to inherit the old gods' powers. We have no authority to actively wield Heavenly Dao divine artifacts, nor authority to interfere in the mortal realm. But this time may present an opportunity to intervene in the mortal realm."
The gods fell silent, yet a surge of stirring emotion rippled through the Palace of Heavenly Gods. Evidently, even heavenly gods found it difficult to steady their Dao hearts.
A voice asked, "My Lord, if this intervention in the mortal realm fails and punishment comes down from above..."
The majestic voice laughed, "Don't we have a scapegoat? We will insist firmly that the blame lies on the Earth God of Shenzhou. He has only one mouth; can he out-argue all of us? When many voices speak as one, the blame will be pinned tight, leaving him no room to dispute it."
The gods were thoroughly convinced and filled with admiration.
The Earth God of Shenzhou returned to Stone City, sought out Beichenzi, and informed him of the matter. Beichenzi pondered for a moment before saying, "Brother Daoist, having a heavenly god project onto a statue to actively descend to the mortal realm is fine and well. However, this stirs up quite a commotion. If punishment descends from above..."
The Earth God of Shenzhou laughed and said, "The two of us are mere nobodies. The moment a heavenly god descends to the mortal realm, the responsibility is no longer on our heads. If anyone is to be punished, it will be the boss of the Palace of Heavenly Gods."
Realization dawned on Beichenzi, and he praised him repeatedly. "I received word on Xu Ying—he has headed toward Jiulong Mountain."
His spirits lifted, the Earth God of Shenzhou declared, "We set out for Jiulong Mountain at once!"
Xu Ying was still engrossed in breaking the "Cage" Dao rune. Along the way, he had already undone the physical seals of more than thirty lifetimes, and he gradually noticed a peculiar phenomenon.
With each physical seal he broke, he could feel his physical body growing stronger and more solid by a fraction.
This was remarkably peculiar.
The "Cage" Dao rune sealed the physical body. In each lifetime, Beichenzi and his cohorts would seal Xu Ying's physical body down to the level of an ordinary mortal without any cultivation background, then cast him among mortals.
This meant that his physical achievements from every single lifetime remained trapped under seal, rather than erased!
Now, every time Xu Ying unraveled a seal, the physical achievements of that lifetime would return to him!
Although what Xu Ying truly sought was the return of his memories, the return of his physical achievements was better than nothing.
"My physical achievements in each of those prior lifetimes don't seem to have been very high."
Xu Ying examined them. In all thirty-three of these lifetimes, he had merely cultivated the Taiyi Guiding Technique to the great perfection of the Qi Harvesting stage—how formidable could that possibly be?
When Xu Ying cracked through to the forty-fifth lifetime, he encountered a relatively powerful version of himself, one who had cultivated his physical body to a degree comparable to his present self!
Xu Ying could not help but wonder curiously, "Going back forty-five lifetimes, what kind of person was I back then? How could his body be so strong? Considering how formidable I am, he actually managed to stand neck and neck with me!"
When he unsealed that physical body, he discovered that his past self had been a Grand Nuo who cultivated a Nuo technique of the Crimson Palace secret depository.
"Turns out I was a chive back then. Before anyone could even harvest me, Beichenzi and the others probably wiped my memories, sealed me up, and tossed me into some remote mountain ravine," Xu Ying thought.
Right then, Xue Ying'an's voice interrupted his contemplation: "Brother Xu, Brother Xu! My master is over there!"
Snapped from his thoughts, Xu Ying hurriedly looked ahead. Without realizing it, they had arrived deep within Jiulong Mountain.
Jiulong Mountain was majestic and sprawling, shaped like nine dragons coiled together with heads turned inward, jointly hoisting a solitary immortal peak.
That peak hoisted by nine dragons was Jiucai Ridge.
Upon the terraced slopes of the mountain grew lush, vibrant green chives flourishing delightfully. Someone was tending the fields, swinging a sickle and cutting chives.
Xu Ying looked around, asking in confusion, "Ying'an, which one is your master?"
Xue Ying'an pointed toward the man harvesting chives in the field and smiled. "That's my master!"
Even as he spoke, Li Xiaoke straightened his back. Dressed in the coarse garb of an old farmer, sickle in one hand and a freshly cut bunch of chives dangling from the other, he smiled broadly and looked toward Xu Ying, chuckling heartily: "An old friend reunites with me, so this humble one thought to cut some side dishes to go with our wine first! Ageless immortal, I haven't reaped enough yet—care to join me?"
Chapter 162