The aged golden crow wailed bitterly, and soon a blazing sea of fire surged, submerging Xu Ying and the others.
Yuan Qi's flesh sizzled from the heat, and he caught a faint whiff of roasted meat. His heart leaped into his throat, and he hurried to say, "Ah Ying, urge him to stop crying! It's too tragic."
It was hard to tell whether he was talking about Jin Buyi or himself.
Pained by what Jin Buyi had suffered, Xu Ying stepped forward to console him. "I recognized you long ago, but you are advanced in years, and I wanted you to stay on the Fusang tree to live out your days in peace. Why did you run out again?"
Jin Buyi choked with sobs. In his old age, his memory had deteriorated, making him somewhat rambly. At times, he would bring up the same matter repeatedly, telling it over and over.
Yet in everything he said, he blamed only his own forgetfulness, never Xu Ying.
He reproached himself for promising Xu Ying that he would never leave or forsake him, yet he had forgotten Xu Ying—forgotten him for over four thousand years.
Had Xu Ying not left behind Primordial Dao Essence within him this time, instructed the fish-belly folk to cultivate both Qi and Nuo, and provided him with immortal medicine, he never would have remembered any of this.
He rambled on, saying he had been living in a daze in his old age, always forgetting things.
He still remembered the last time he saw Xu Ying: Xu Ying had been captured, confined in a prisoner's cart, and escorted toward Xianyang. Jin Buyi had flown over the cart and seen the youth below look up at him, yet he had indifferently flapped his wings and flown away.
"From then on, I didn't remember you anymore!" He wailed loudly, the flames catching Xu Ying's clothes on fire.
Xu Ying hastily comforted him, and Yuan Qi endured the burning pain to offer comfort as well: "It's not your fault. You're hurt, so hurry and tend to your wounds..."
Jin Buyi raised a wing to wipe away his fiery tears, looked at the blood on his feathers, and said, "It's not mine. It splattered on me when I hacked those people. You smell so delicious..."
Yuan Qi timidly replied, "I'm probably about cooked through. Please stop crying."
Calming down, Jin Buyi lifted one claw and asked Xu Ying, "Is this bell yours?"
During the battle against Fairy Qingbi and the Heavenly Dragon, the bronze bell had already been battered full of holes. Then Li Xiaoke had unleashed it to battle Jin Buyi to the death, leaving it even more gravely damaged.
Though Jin Buyi was muddled with age, he was, after all, an entity who had accompanied Xu Ying through tribulation after slaughterous tribulation—including more than thirty battles against heavenly gods! What was more, he had even taken part in resisting mysterious beings who descended from above, figures to whom even heavenly gods paid humble deference!
This fierce battle against Li Xiaoke was merely a negligible scuffle in his long life. Though he was old, he was not about to fall at Li Xiaoke's hands.
He had seen the bronze bell before and possessed a vague impression of it, so he had not thrown it away. Clutching it like a small handbell, he asked Xu Ying.
"It might be Lord Bell!" Yuan Qi said in surprise and delight after scrutinizing it.
Only the eight Immortal Dao runes remained on the bronze bell, while most of its body was broken through. It seemed to have fallen unconscious, though whether it was severely injured by Jin Buyi or Fairy Qingbi was uncertain.
Jin Buyi lifted the bronze bell and shook it. Wind leaked from holes all around. "This bell is probably ruined."
He intended to hang the bell around Xu Ying's neck, but it was too big. So he spat out a plume of flame, refined it into a cord of fire, and hung it around Yuan Qi's neck.
Yuan Qi dared not move a muscle, terrified that the fiery cord would cleanly sear right through his neck, causing his head and the bronze bell to tumble off together!
Fortunately, nothing of the sort occurred.
Before long, however, he sensed his vitality quietly draining away, which put his mind somewhat at ease: "Lord Bell is still here. He's siphoning my qi and blood to heal his injuries. But this time, I'm afraid it won't be easy for him to recover."
Jin Buyi raised another bird claw and asked Xu Ying, "Did you drop this sword?"
Xu Ying caught sight of the eight-sided sword and was both surprised and overjoyed. He quickly replied, "It could be mine!"
The sword clutched in Jin Buyi's claw was precisely Li Xiaoke's eight-sided Han sword, one of the two paramount sect-guarding treasures of Jiulong Mountain's Jiucai Ridge!
Li Xiaoke had forged the eight-sided Han sword and the Xiaoyao Bell; the Xiaoyao Bell had been wrecked by Fairy Qingbi, but this precious sword retained its full might, making it an absolute top-tier magic treasure!
Jin Buyi said apologetically, "The imprint inside the sword was burned away by me."
"Even better!" Xu Ying took the precious sword excitedly.
Xue Ying'an looked on with immense envy.
Seeing Xu Ying happy, Jin Buyi was delighted as well. He prepared to take flight and perch on Xu Ying's shoulder, just as he had when he was young.
Xu Ying immediately felt like a needle point on the ground supporting a mountain-sized giant bird atop it. Moving forward with great difficulty, he felt the burden upon his shoulders grow significantly heavier.
"Let us first head to Jiulong Mountain to tend to our wounds; this place is unsafe," Fairy Qingbi told Xu Ying.
She acutely sensed an abnormal presence in the world, and her instincts churned, warning her that it was best to depart as quickly as possible.
The Land of Heaven's Scourge was utterly desolate. The ancient behemoth that bore the sealed ancient temple lay dead upon the barren wilderness, while the other behemoths fled in all directions.
This ancient behemoth had perished in the clash between Li Xiaoke and Fairy Qingbi. In the battle, neither had been able to restrain their might—nor had they tried—resulting in the behemoth's tragic death.
Though the behemoth was dead, a solitary gateway still stood erect upon its back, the writing on the lintel flickering erratically.
At that moment, massive slabs of flesh resembling manta rays soared through the air and plunged down one after another, burrowing into the deep well behind the gateway.
Beneath the manta-ray-like masses of flesh, upon the desolate plain, towers of flesh came racing toward the site in frantic succession!
"Not enough! Still not enough!" A colossal consciousness surged within the well. "I need more limbs, more energy, to undo the Immortal Dao seal! Limbs scattered across the world, return at once and break through the seal!"
This was an opportunity not seen in ten thousand years. Li Xiaoke was overwhelmingly powerful, but also exceedingly cunning; he had dangled the promise of undoing the seal to keep it on the hook, demanding heterodox arts from it and attempting to squeeze it dry of knowledge. Back then, it had harbored the intention of getting something for nothing as well, tempting Li Xiaoke into Heaven-Human Induction to fold space and time, folding a portion of the mountains and rivers of the land of Shenzhou into the sky of the Land of Heaven's Scourge for it to consume.
It had devoured millions of people, emptying that fragment of Shenzhou and plundering the world's yuan qi, until a portion of its body could finally break free from the seal.
With that portion of its body, it took revenge, devouring the Land of Heaven's Scourge and consuming the descendants of its enemies, sucking this world dry. But Li Xiaoke had not continued to supply it or bring more lands to feed it.
Clearly, Li Xiaoke was also playing a con, hoping to extract even more from it.
"Even so, I am finally about to break free!" The deep well trembled incessantly.
Perched on Xu Ying's shoulder, Jin Buyi felt unsteady as well, so he had no choice but to hop down.
The three-legged golden crow trailed behind Xu Ying like a great bald vulture, hopping along on his three feet.
He was excited, worried he might become estranged from his former master, so he was constantly making small talk. Yet with his poor memory, he kept forgetting things, and he especially loved scavenging items.
"Ah Ying, did you drop this bug?" Curious, he picked up Yuan Qi by the head in his beak, held him before Xu Ying, and asked.
"No."
"Then I'll eat it."
"Don't—! Lord Qi, wake up! Hurry and wake up... That's right, you weren't eaten. Right as you reached his throat, he spat you back out. It's not dirty, not dirty," Xu Ying comforted the giant snake.
A moment later, Jin Buyi came to ask Xu Ying again, "Ah Ying, did you drop this youth?"
With his head in the golden crow's beak, Xue Ying'an wore a look of utter despair, dangling lifelessly below the bird's beak without daring to struggle.
"No, but don't eat him! He's a good friend." With a thumping heart, Xu Ying rescued Xue Ying'an.
Jin Buyi set Xue Ying'an down, patted the youth's head in consolation, and said, "I don't eat people."
After a brief moment, he picked Xue Ying'an up in his beak again and asked Xu Ying, "Ah Ying, did you drop this?"
Xu Ying, Fairy Qingbi, Xue Ying'an, and the others returned to Jiucai Ridge to nurse their wounds. Atop Jiucai Ridge, the disciples under Li Xiaoke were suspicious and unnerved.
"This place bodes ill," Fairy Qingbi said, standing on Jiucai Ridge and gazing down at the Land of Heaven's Scourge with a sense of dread. She told Xue Ying'an, "There must be a peerless monstrosity lurking between heaven and earth here, waiting for a chance to break free. We can only linger briefly to treat our injuries slightly, or we will surely fall victim to it! You must have your fellow disciples leave as soon as possible!"
Yuan Qi asked in confusion, "Why don't we hunt down Li Xiaoke? Li Xiaoke's injuries are definitely severe, or he wouldn't have fled. Now is the best time to kill him!"
Fairy Qingbi shook her head. "If we leave, once that peerless monstrosity emerges, it can follow this mountain straight into Shenzhou. With its might, it could easily destroy a world, and Shenzhou cannot withstand its devastation. Once my injuries mend, I will transport this mountain back to Shenzhou and sever the connection between the two realms. As for Li Xiaoke..." She shook her head. "He is a stray dog, utterly vulnerable. It won't be too late to kill him after we deal with the matters here."
Xu Ying praised her inwardly: 'This woman truly possesses a chivalrous heart.'
Shaking off his dejection from being rescued from the bird's beak, Xue Ying'an said, "Tend to your wounds; I'll go urge my fellow disciples to leave!" He bustled off with urgency.
Xu Ying watched him go, thinking to himself, 'In the eyes of the Jiulong Mountain disciples, Xue Ying'an is a traitor colluding with outsiders. Will they listen to his words?'
Just as the thought crossed his mind, sword qi surged violently. Over a dozen Jiulong Mountain disciples activated their sword caskets and small bells, charging fiercely at Xue Ying'an while shouting:
"Traitor Xue, today we execute you as a sacrifice to the heavens!"
"Get rid of that dog Xue!"
"Kill the dog Xue to avenge Master!"
Even as he fended off the disciples' assault, Xue Ying'an shouted loudly, "The evil god of the heterodox Dao suppressed here is about to break free! If you don't leave now, we will all die here!"
Having no magic treasures, he could rely only on sword qi to confront his martial brothers' sword caskets and small bells. Yet when his sword qi swept forth, flying swords snapped in half one after another, and even the small bells renowned for their formidable defense could not withstand the might of a single sword strike!
Xue Ying'an was taken aback. 'How did my cultivation improve so rapidly?'
Over this period, he had opened three cave-heavens, and with the Primordial Dao Essence inside him, his cultivation and strength had unknowingly surpassed all his martial brothers and sisters of Jiulong Mountain!
As his martial brothers and sisters swarmed forward, Xue Ying'an effortlessly routed brother after brother with gestures of his hands, knocking down sister after sister. Sweeping across the field, he found no equal on the entire mountain!
After a long while, having heavily wounded his martial brothers and sisters and knocked them to the ground, Xue Ying'an hauled them up and carried them out of Jiucai Ridge. He was both astonished and thrilled: 'Even after fighting this long, my yuan qi is still at its peak, my wounds are healing rapidly, and my body feels no fatigue at all. Cultivating both Nuo and Qi is truly incredible!'
Xu Ying, Fairy Qingbi, and the others temporarily settled in, nursing their wounds while keeping watch over changes in the Land of Heaven's Scourge. Seizing the opportunity during Xue Ying'an's clash with his fellow disciples, Xu Ying covertly learned the sword techniques of the Jiulong Mountain lineage.
Jiulong Mountain was renowned for its Dual Perfection of Bell and Sword. Li Xiaoke was a peerless master of the Han era, and the sword techniques and divine powers he taught his disciples were consummate arts.
Though Li Xiaoke's attainment in the Sword Dao might not have been peerless beneath the heavens, he was nonetheless a supreme sovereign of the sword among the Qi Refiners of the Han dynasty. Xu Ying's initiation into the Sword Dao had originated from him, but his skills had made no progress since.
Now, observing the battle between Xue Ying'an and the Jiulong Mountain disciples, Xu Ying's own sword attainments advanced by leaps and bounds, ascending to a new height.
The wounds on Fairy Qingbi were mostly inflicted by Li Xiaoke's divine powers. Lingering remnants of divine powers clung to her wounds, the hardest to erase, requiring Qingbi to channel her own cultivation and divine powers to purge them bit by bit; no one else could assist.
The same was true for the Heavenly Dragon. However, as a creature of the Heavenly Dao, its vitality was countless times greater than that of an ordinary mortal; even though everything below its head had been pulverized by the bronze bell, it had not died. Still, its wounds were the most severe, leaving it on the verge of death.
Once Qingbi's injuries improved slightly, she first helped it refine away the lingering remnants of divine powers from its wounds. Xu Ying immediately took over, channeling the elixir of longevity from his Mud Pill secret depository to help it regenerate its physical body.
"I recognize you," the Heavenly Dragon said. Slender limbs gradually grew out below its neck, and its vital energy ceased to drain away. However, its newly grown limbs were rather spindly, only a dozen or so chi in length—frail and weak, completely unable to support its mountain-sized head.
"Back when my master was alive, I joined him in besieging you." The Heavenly Dragon sized up Xu Ying and said, "And then my master died. My master said you were a rebel!"
Curious, Jin Buyi picked the dragon up in his beak and raised his neck, attempting to swallow it down.
The Heavenly Dragon hurriedly spread its limbs, trying desperately to brace against the bird's beak so it wouldn't slip into his stomach, crying out, "Stop! Stop! We were enemies in the past, but now we're on the same side!"
Jin Buyi spat it out reluctantly, stroking its massive head with his feathers.
"Don't do that, we're on the same side, the same side," the Heavenly Dragon said softly. "This little dragon has defected."
Just then, the celestial signs in the Land of Heaven's Scourge changed drastically. The earth shook violently, and even the sky began to tremble.
Xu Ying stood up and activated his Heavenly Eye to peer toward the source of the tremor. He saw the earth cracking open there, with subterranean qi erupting outward and billowing in clouds of white vapor.
Standing behind him, Jin Buyi spoke in an aged, resonant voice: "The people-hacking sabers Master forged for me—I don't remember where I left them. Let me sense for them."
He spread his wings and mobilized his ancient divine sense. Sun Divine Fire spread across his body, transforming him into a blazing sun that illuminated the Land of Heaven's Scourge.
Rumble!
The Land of Heaven's Scourge shuddered violently. The split earth formed a chasm from which countless masses of flesh and blood surged skyward, adhering to the sky of this world and spreading outward.
More and more flesh and blood gushed from that bloody chasm, gradually carpeting the sky of the entire world.
Pillars of flesh plunged from the sky one after another with loud slaps, unfurling thick tentacles that enveloped the ancient behemoths fleeing below and devoured them on the spot!
When those fleshy pillars retracted, only the white bones of the ancient behemoths remained upon the ground, stripped of every trace of flesh and blood! In the sky, the suns' brilliance was blotted out as well, as if even the two suns had been swallowed by the flesh.
The sole light left was the blazing fire radiating from Jin Buyi atop Jiucai Ridge on Jiulong Mountain!
Xu Ying turned his head and shouted, "Qingbi, how much of your cultivation have you recovered?"
Qingbi hesitated, then summoned the black coffin. Her cultivation was not yet sufficient to transport Jiucai Ridge back to Shenzhou, but if she grafted the cave-heavens stored within the coffin, her cultivation would surge drastically, enabling her to execute the divine power to relocate Jiucai Ridge!
Just as she was about to make her move, the whitened feathers on Jin Buyi's face rippled like rolling wheat, and he smiled. "I sense my sabers! They're coming!"
Crack!
The sky behind them split open. Two blinding beams of light sliced through the heavens and descended upon Jiucai Ridge, standing behind Jin Buyi and Xu Ying like two radiant monuments, reflecting thousands upon thousands of razor-sharp blade edges.
Agitated by the saber light, the endless onslaught of flesh and blood surging from all directions fell in great sheets!
Xu Ying looked back to see that the two long sabers were dazzlingly radiant; one's gaze could hardly settle upon them, as their surfaces were too sleek to focus upon.
These two divine sabers were taller even than Jin Buyi. The twin sabers stood planted to the left and right of Jin Buyi's wings. Xu Ying looked at the eight-sided sword, then looked at the two divine sabers, looking somewhat dazed. "Did I forge these?"
He casually handed the eight-sided sword to Xue Ying'an and muttered, "Ying'an, you keep this sword. I feel certain I must have left something even better for myself."
Chapter 172