If There Be Light

Xu Ying came to a halt and looked toward the corpse pinned to the sheer cliff. There were two meanings behind Wu Tianzun's words. First, the corpse possessed extraordinary power. Second, it posed a threat to them. As if sensing their gazes, the corpse on the cliff suddenly opened its eyes and looked down at them. Wu Tianzun shifted his stance, stepping directly in front of Xu Ying. Immortal light erupted before Xu Ying's eyes, and jade mansions and jasper pavilions rushed toward him. In an instant, it was as if he had transitioned from a realm of ghosts straight into the Heavenly Court, surrounded on all sides by scenes of magnificent grandeur! He felt an immortal aura drifting about him, bringing complete and utter ease from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. He felt as though he had become the Dao itself—his soul, divine sense, vital qi, and physical body dwelling in untrammeled freedom just like the Great Dao. *Is this an immortal?* Just as the thought crossed his mind, an earth-shattering roar exploded by his ears. The celestial paradise collapsed with the roar, plunging them back into the ghost-haunted primordial battlefield! Xu Ying's vision cleared, only for a horrifying spectacle to appear before him. The corpse pinned to the cliff was draped in sinister shadows, its hair growing wildly as wheels of flying swords swirled out, stabbing straight toward them! If Wu Tianzun had not shielded Xu Ying, the boy would have succumbed to the art the moment he fell into the illusion! *Chi! Chi! Chi!* Each strand of hair was incomparably sharp. Sweeping across an ancient divine weapon lying nearby that had withstood the ages without decaying, the strands sheared it cleanly in half! The sight made Xu Ying's scalp tingle. Suddenly, the Twelve-Storyed Mansions manifested behind Wu Tianzun, blazing with golden radiance. Merging his Primordial Spirit and physical body into one, the old man drove his fist straight toward the indestructible hair! The strands pierced his fist and burrowed into his flesh, violently lifting him off the ground and yanking him toward the cliff! Wu Tianzun swept his hand out, severing the strands of hair, his form already arriving before the corpse. The corpse opened its mouth and bellowed, the force of the blast sending Wu Tianzun's white hair and white eyebrows flying backward and rippling the skin of his face into folds. At the same time, a hazy silhouette flew out from between the corpse's brows, exposing a head and upper torso as it lunged toward his forehead! *Looking for a substitute?* Xu Ying recognized the spell immediately. The roar had been meant to disrupt the mind; now, capitalizing on a destabilized soul, it sought to trade places with its victim. Yet the moment that hazy figure thrust its upper body out, a fist bulging with knuckles and crisscrossed by veins slammed into its face! *Boom! Boom! Boom!* Xu Ying watched the white-haired elder throw punch after punch, relentlessly hammering into the corpse's face until its skull was battered flat and its blood splattered across the cliff face. That blood actually radiated immortal light. Where it splashed onto the ground, lingzhi mushrooms sprouted, wafting a delicate fragrance. Yet no matter how many brutal blows Wu Tianzun landed, the corpse's face continuously restored itself to its original shape. It was as though inexhaustible vitality dwelled within, spontaneously regenerating its physical form! Wu Tianzun's fist sank deep into the mangled face. He wrenched it free, seized the broken blade embedded in the corpse's chest with both hands, and shoved it forward with all his might! The broken blade sank deeper into the corpse's heart, driving in further and further. The corpse shrieked in excruciating agony. Beneath the broken blade, several hazy silhouettes emerged, looking as though they were about to tear free from the flesh and flee. Wu Tianzun let go, leaped down from the cliff, and returned to Xu Ying's side. Wiping the blood from his hands, he said, "This one truly is strong. I can't finish it off." Xu Ying stared wide-eyed, looking at him in utter disbelief. Wu Tianzun looked puzzled. "Wu Tianzun, that might be the corpse of an immortal!" Xu Ying blurted out. Wu Tianzun shook his head. "An immortal? Impossible!" Xu Ying explained, "The immortals of the primordial era weren't that powerful. In those days, ascending was still relatively simple. Even the largest Heavenly Tribulation covered only fifty li around, meaning a diameter of just fifteen li. A tribulation of that scale is something even you could likely cross right now." Wu Tianzun seemed at a loss. "Back then, cultivation like mine would have been enough to ascend and become an immortal? Why is it not possible now?" Xu Ying did not know how to answer. From what Xu Ying currently knew, when people cultivated and crossed tribulations in the primordial era, the Heavenly Tribulation struck according to each individual's tribulation fortune and karma, ranging from small to large. Yet at some unknown point, the Heavenly Dao began setting the intensity of a Heavenly Tribulation based on the strength of the preceding ascendant. As a result, anyone seeking to cross a tribulation had to be stronger than the generation before them to stand a chance of surviving. In this way, generation after generation of ascendants drove the tribulation's power higher and higher, eventually giving rise to super heavenly tribulations hundreds and thousands of times more terrifying than normal ones! Once the final ascendant departed, no one else could ever ascend. "The final ascendant out-competed everyone to death, leading to the decline of Qi Refiners and the rise of Nuo Masters." Xu Ying gave a broad overview of what he knew and offered his conjecture, adding, "Later on, some Qi Refiners turned to crooked methods, distorting the Nuo arts to fish and prey on people, relying on that to boost their power and prolong their lives. Now, Qi Refiners and Nuo Masters alike live in constant fear." Wu Tianzun continued walking forward, saying, "A pity my lifespan is running out; I cannot travel to the world you speak of. I truly wished to spread the Martial Dao there, to pass on the spirit of valuing martial strength. If one presses forward with unrelenting drive, even if one cannot ascend, it doesn't mean one cannot live a magnificent life." His vital blood showed faint signs of decline, giving Xu Ying a jolt of concern. As a martial powerhouse who had cultivated a Primordial Spirit, he was a deity unto himself. He could control every acupoint in his body and seal himself shut so his essence and qi would not leak or scatter, keeping him perpetually at his peak! Yet the waning of Wu Tianzun's vital blood indicated that his control over his own physical body was beginning to slip. His body had grown old. Wu Tianzun chuckled. "I'd love to go to that world you mentioned and smash the heads of those fishermen with my fists. It's just that time waits for no man. If only I were twenty years younger, how wonderful that would be." The light in his eyes grew dim. Unwilling though he was to yield to age or admit defeat, this mortal vessel was old after all. "This primordial battlefield holds a great secret—it prevents the people of the Taichu World from cultivating." Wu Tianzun walked ahead, his formidable martial spirit radiating outward and manifesting into silhouetted figures that swept forward. "It forced us to survive purely on our own bodies, our own fists, and our own spirits without any heaven-and-earth yuan qi or spiritual power. I am no omnipotent heavenly lord..." His vital blood had begun to decline. Behind him, Xu Ying could see drifting wisps of vital blood, scattering in the wind like grains of sand. "I cannot raise the Martial Dao to its absolute pinnacle, nor can I level the darkness or halt the invasion of the Netherworld. I cannot even uncover the truth of this primordial battlefield, nor can I resolve the plight of living without heaven-and-earth yuan qi." Wu Tianzun's voice remained resonant, his stride steady. His spirit blazed like fire, sweeping away the surrounding gloom and demonic abominations. Yet the loss of vital blood behind him was gradually speeding up! Xu Ying caught up with him and said, "Wu Tianzun, perhaps I can divine the dragon veins within you and help you locate the Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body. As long as you can open the Mud Pill secret depository among them, you can harvest immortal medicines!" Wu Tianzun continued forward, his voice drifting back: "Friend Xu, for a martial artist, spirit, vital blood, soul, and body are united as one, indivisible. The moment you see my vital blood scattering, it means my soul is aging and my body is dying as well. The Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body likely cannot halt my demise." His pace quickened, as if he were trying to race against time, striving to venture farther and carve out a path that might offer some measure of safety for those who came after. He was already the supreme master of the Martial Dao; he wished to use his final moments to achieve all that he could! Circulating the Extreme Intent Freedom Technique, Xu Ying finally drew level with him. With a sudden leap, he slipped into Wu Tianzun's Realm of Xiyi, roaming through his body in search of the Mud Pill secret depository. Inside Wu Tianzun, vital blood raged like a scorching sun, searing and overwhelming. Xu Ying felt as if he were traversing a sea of fire. Soaring up from the elder's Twelve-Storyed Mansions, he crossed the sealed Jade Pool and God Bridge, flying past the sun and the moon. At last, he found the Sea of Chaos. Wu Tianzun's Sea of Chaos was the most terrifying Xu Ying had ever seen. Waves surged tens of thousands of feet high, and dreadful chaotic qi tore through everything, thick with an aura of ruin. Meanwhile, the Mud Pill Palace had become a celestial sphere pinning down the Sea of Chaos. As it turned, the Sea of Chaos churned along with it, swirling around this chaotic heavenly orb! Xu Ying had seen Zhu Chanchan's Sea of Chaos before. She had forcibly suppressed her cultivation to the Pass-Breaching stage, making her chaotic Mud Pill so formidable that even the Feilai Peak could barely breach it! Opening Wu Tianzun's Mud Pill Palace would be dozens, perhaps a hundred times more difficult than Zhu Chanchan's! The Martial Dao was indeed mighty, but martial artists could not wield magical treasures like Qi Refiners could. That meant Wu Tianzun's Mud Pill Palace could not be unsealed! Xu Ying steadied his mind, drew out the jade bottle he treasured, and poured out a measure of Yuandao Essence into the Realm of Xiyi. The Yuandao Essence dispersed, causing the fragrance of a heaven-and-earth spiritual root to waft through Wu Tianzun's body. Xu Ying flew out from his Realm of Xiyi and quietly channeled some of the longevity immortal medicine harvested from his own Mud Pill cave-heaven into Wu Tianzun. The old man's complexion improved considerably. Color returned to his cheeks, and with a booming voice, he laughed. "Friend Xu truly has wondrous immortal medicine." Looking at the vital blood still drifting behind him, Xu Ying's heart sank. Wu Tianzun's physical body and Primordial Spirit were decaying simultaneously, and the process was only accelerating. Neither the Yuandao Essence nor the longevity immortal medicine could save his life! "When that senior who created the Eight Methods of the God of War set foot upon this path, he must have walked farther than I have," Wu Tianzun said, looking into the distance with a smile. "Old legends tell that he was younger, stronger. He was surely able to walk out of this place. Surely." Sensing that Wu Tianzun's Primordial Spirit essence was also beginning to bleed away, Xu Ying hurriedly mobilized the soul immortal medicine gathered from the Bubbling Spring secret depository and channeled it into him. Even so, Wu Tianzun's martial divine sense and physical strength were waning, nearly impossible to stem. Throwing caution to the wind, Xu Ying mobilized the immortal medicines from the Jade Pool, Yellow Court, and Crimson Palace all at once, pouring them into the elder's body. Yet this merely bought a fleeting respite. The pace of Wu Tianzun's decay was accelerating; before long, it would outstrip the rate at which Xu Ying could supply immortal medicine! Aware of the urgency, Wu Tianzun surged forward at far greater speed, carrying Xu Ying along as they broke through the wasteland, pulverizing every demonic monstrosity in their path! He charged ahead, sweeping everything aside in an unstoppable, crushing advance. He brought the quintessential spirit of the Martial Dao to its absolute peak. This was his most exhilarating battle, and the mightiest battle of his entire life. He forged all he had learned and comprehended into the edges of blades and the gleam of swords! Using his fists and feet as brushes and his vital blood as ink, he splashed his realizations across the world in wild, unrestrained strokes! With his very life, he would leave a brilliant, indelible mark upon this world! Ahead, immortal light churned with dazzling brilliance, tearing away the gloom of the Netherworld and the primordial battlefield. Xu Ying charged alongside Wu Tianzun toward the radiance. They arrived before an ancient mountain, its slopes covered in five-colored stones that sparkled with brilliant light. The mountain was colossally vast, its perimeter impossible to measure. An eerie, sinister wind blew down from the peaks, forming a wall of gale that encircled the great mountain, scouring flesh and destroying souls. Around the wind wall lay countless bleached bones—the remains of powerhouses who had perished within it. Yet upon the mountain itself, corpses floated silently in the sky, radiating a hazy, sacred immortal light that made the heights as breathtakingly beautiful as a celestial paradise. "Friend Xu, look over there!" Wu Tianzun smiled and raised a hand, pointing toward the other side of the mountain. Xu Ying followed the direction of his finger and saw drifting ghosts! Beyond those ghosts, in the sky behind them, a heavenly chasm emerged, with bright light shining down from above! Overjoyed, Xu Ying exclaimed, "The Cangwu Abyss! Wu Tianzun, it's the Cangwu Abyss!" Beside him, the smile on Wu Tianzun's face froze. His vital blood collapsed like an ebbing tide, drifting behind him in a cloud of crimson that billowed like a scarlet cape. "Here shall I sleep eternally, to light the way for you all." With his final breath, the martial spirit within him surged from the crown of his head, coalescing into a brilliant, shining light high in the air.