The sorrowful old man and Zhu Chanchan floated before Xu Ying, Qi, and the bronze bell like a pair of walking corpses, their feet never touching the ground. The purple immortal plant drifted between the two of them, its roots waving wildly as it held them in its thrall.
"Aba aba!" the two babbled, their eyes rolling back as they addressed Xu Ying and the others.
It was a truly terrifying sight.
"Lord Bell is the only one who can counter this grave-mound grass, so why is he shivering along with Lord Seventh?" Xu Ying wondered, deeply perplexed.
The purple immortal plant could pierce a person's facial features, delve deep into their Realm of Xiyi, and suppress their Primordial Spirit. Even a ferocious bird like Jin Buyi could be brought under its control. The bronze bell, however, possessed none of these vulnerabilities, so the purple immortal plant had no power over it.
Although the purple immortal plant boasted formidable combat strength, it was still far inferior to the bell. If the two truly clashed, the bell would definitely hold the upper hand.
Xu Ying soon saw through it and thought, *Lord Bell is just generous, so he shivers along to keep him company.*
After an unknown amount of time had passed, the sorrowful old man slowly woke up. He could not sense his Primordial Spirit, nor could he sense his divine consciousness or primordial qi!
As for the cave-heavens he had transplanted from others, they were naturally beyond his perception as well!
Most horrifying of all, every single Qi Refiner realm and bodily pass he had ever opened within himself seemed to have slammed shut!
At present, he was nothing more than an ordinary old man.
The sorrowful old man pulled himself together. In all the time he had been tasked with monitoring Xu Ying, nothing like this had ever happened. In the past, even if Xu Ying cultivated, he would at most reach the level of a Grand Nuo before being discovered and forced to drink Meng Po soup.
Now, Xu Ying had actually turned the tables and made him a prisoner!
Even now, he still did not understand how he had been defeated!
The sorrowful old man looked around and found that he was not in a dungeon, but lying on a bed in a fairly tidy room.
He sat up and stepped outside. A clamor of human voices drifted from without as many people returned from hunting. Clad in simple clothes, they dragged massive game, straining forward step by step.
Their garments carried an archaic air, resembling the attire of people from the Great Shang era.
To the sorrowful old man's astonishment, many of these seemingly ordinary people were actually Qi Refiners who had also practiced Nuo methods, having opened one or two cave-heavens to varying degrees.
He looked into the distance. Before his eyes stretched boundless green hills and azure waters. The vast expanse of the lake seemed to conceal the blue sky beneath its surface, the water and sky merging into a single, flawless, jade-like clarity that refreshed the spirit.
*Yunmeng Marsh,* the old man thought.
Only then did he notice a Fusang Divine Tree behind him. A gigantic Golden Crow squatted on the divine tree, while several Shang folk helped smooth its feathers.
The Golden Crow was too ancient, nodding off in constant drowsiness.
"You're awake?"
Xu Ying's voice sounded. The sorrowful old man turned toward the sound and saw Xu Ying dressed in the garb of the Shang folk, teaching them Dao methods and expounding on the wonders of cultivation.
The Shang folk preferred garments woven from white silk, cut loose and flowing. Xu Ying was likewise dressed in white, appearing refined, elegant, and gentle.
The sorrowful old man walked over. Hearing Xu Ying explain the Eight Sounds of Primordial Nurturing, his heart gave a slight jolt.
This was an immortal art written in ancient Immortal Dao runes. Ancient Qi Refiners could not read it directly and could only cultivate it through annotated interpretations.
He had never expected Xu Ying to impart such a supreme art so casually.
Xu Ying left the Shang folk to comprehend the teachings on their own and turned to the sorrowful old man. "They are Shang folk who left Yuanshou during the Great Shang dynasty to flee war and corvée labor. They lived within the belly of a fish and were known as the fish-belly folk. However, the fish-belly world was destroyed, so I escorted them here to settle."
The sorrowful old man remarked, "No wonder they revere you so deeply. Ever since Yunmeng Marsh surfaced, you began slipping from our control. Back then, when you passed through Stone City to reach the heavenly road, your move caught us completely off guard. By the time we tracked you down, you were already reorganizing your own Dao methods and divine powers."
A trace of regret colored his tone. Had they found Xu Ying just a little earlier, perhaps things would not have ended like this today.
Xu Ying walked shoulder to shoulder with him, taking in the newly built cities and towns of the Shang folk, and asked unhurriedly, "When did you take charge of my affairs?"
Knowing his life hung in Xu Ying's hands, the sorrowful old man answered decisively, "In the six hundred and fortieth year of Zulong. Back then, I was a Qi Refiner of Mount Emei. When Zulong sacrificed to Heaven, a massive upheaval erupted, and countless people died. My predecessor sought me out after that and put me in charge of your affairs."
Curious, Xu Ying asked, "What happened when Zulong sacrificed to Heaven?"
The sorrowful old man glanced at him. "You don't know?"
Xu Ying laughed. "How would I know?"
The sorrowful old man replied, "I don't know the exact details either. I only heard that during the sacrifice to Heaven back then, you were one of the sacrificial offerings."
Xu Ying's face darkened. *He was a sacrificial offering?*
The sorrowful old man continued, "At that time, I was cultivating on Mount Emei, already an Ascension-stage Qi Refiner. But I also knew I had reached the end of my road in this life, without the slightest hope of ascending."
He sighed. "Even if I had two or three thousand years left to live, it would only be whiling away the years. In truth, it was the same for all Qi Refiners. Which of those who cultivated to the Ascension stage wasn't an extraordinary genius endowed with supreme talent? Yet every single one of them was suffocated by the heavenly tribulation, feeling that ascension was utterly hopeless."
Though he spoke casually, Xu Ying could sense the profound despair.
The path of ascension had been barred to everyone; even a peerless genius had no hope of ascending!
"Until that day, when my predecessor came to the Golden Summit of Mount Emei and found me,"
the sorrowful old man said. "He told me that his merits were complete and he was about to ascend to the Immortal Realm, so he needed to find a successor. He laid out the successor's duties to me, leaving me dumbfounded, unable to recover my senses for a long time. He told me that as long as I performed this duty well, once my own merits were complete in the future, I could ascend and become an immortal just like him."
Xu Ying shook his head with a faint smile. "And you believed him?"
"Of course I didn't believe him at first," the sorrowful old man said. "But he underwent his tribulation right before my eyes. The orthodox gods of the Zhou Heavenly realm in the Heavenly Dao world appeared one after another, yet the heavenly tribulation merely dropped a few symbolic bolts of lightning. How could I not believe it after seeing that?"
Xu Ying lost his composure. "You mean to say he truly ascended?"
"Beyond a shadow of a doubt," the old man replied.
Xu Ying pressed further, "He survived the heavenly tribulation?"
"With absolute ease," the old man said. "His tribulation covered a radius of merely a few li. Let alone an Ascension-stage Qi Refiner like him, even a cultivator who had just formed their Primordial Spirit could have survived it."
"You watched him ascend with your own eyes?" Xu Ying asked.
The sorrowful old man nodded.
Xu Ying was filled with shock. The intensity of the heavenly tribulation could actually be controlled by someone?
He could not help but say, "If the heavenly tribulation is controlled by mortals or deities, it means the tribulation is entirely unjust! Those seated on high can manipulate its strength, choosing whomever they wish to ascend! Why not resist? Why not overthrow this injustice?"
He raised his voice. "Fu Yi, you shouldn't direct your hatred at the last person who ascended! You should hate those who control the heavenly tribulation—they are the ones preventing all of you from ascending!"
The sorrowful old man stared at him with an odd expression. Once Xu Ying finished, he gave a cold sneer. "You want to rebel?"
Taken aback, Xu Ying murmured, "Shouldn't you?"
The sorrowful old man sneered, "Of course not! Do you know what lies above? The Immortal Realm! Rebel against the Immortal Realm? An immortal could crush you with a single finger! Besides, the immortals possess such boundless power—what is wrong with them opening a back door for a junior? For everyone else, isn't the gate still closed? How is that unjust? If anyone is to blame, blame that super-ascender!"
He snarled viciously, "He was the one who pushed the heavenly tribulation to an impossible height that no one could survive! He crushed everyone in an unwinnable race, and he ruined Qi Refinement! He was also the one who brought about the tragedy of consuming Nuo immortals!"
Brimming with hostility, he shouted angrily, "Do you think I wanted to eat Nuo immortals? Do you think those Qi Refiners wanted to eat Nuo immortals? Weren't we all driven to it by that super-ascender? Without him, none of these atrocities would have happened!"
Xu Ying was left increasingly bewildered.
The sorrowful old man caught his breath and went on, "After witnessing my predecessor's ascension, I was ecstatic. I realized that this was my only chance to leap out of the Qi Refiner stratum and enter the ranks of the immortals! I want to ascend! I want to become an immortal! I refuse to rot away in the mortal world with the rest of the Qi Refiners!"
His expression turned venomous and savage. "I refuse to live like a maggot like them! I will stand above all men, I will become an immortal! I want even this Heavenly Dao to bow before me!"
And so he had become the successor, taking charge of the matters concerning the ageless immortal.
As for Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang, they had joined only later.
Xu Ying could not help interrupting him. "Fu Yi, the heavenly road was severed. How did your predecessor ascend?"
"What heavenly road?" The sorrowful old man had no idea what he was talking about.
Xu Ying explained, "The heavenly road is the path that ascenders travel during ascension. It is formed by the heaven-and-earth spiritual roots, with heavenly waystations along the path. The first waystation is the Taiyi Lesser Mysterious Heaven. Immortals ascending from the myriad worlds arrive there to ingest primordial Dao essence and purge the mortal impurities from their bodies. However, this heavenly road has already been broken!"
The sorrowful old man froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Utter nonsense! When one undergoes tribulation and ascends, why would they need to take a heavenly road? Naturally, one ascends straight to the Immortal Realm!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "You watched Zhou Qiyun undergo tribulation, so you ought to know that between the mortal world and the Immortal Realm lies the Heavenly Dao world. Clearly, ascension is not achieved in a single leap straight to the Immortal Realm. There must be transit points along the way!"
The sorrowful old man faltered, then chuckled. "What the hell do you know? You've never ascended! I saw it with my own eyes—could that be fake?"
Even so, his confidence had clearly wavered.
Xu Ying smiled. "Naturally, I haven't ascended, but I have visited the heavenly road—the one Little Stone City took me to. On that heavenly road, I saw immortal palaces where many immortals who passed through left behind their calligraphy and ink."
The sorrowful old man laughed heartily and shook his head. "There must be more than one path to ascension; there have to be other ways. We work for the powers above, so they will certainly open a back door for us! We are not like those miserable wretches who have to endure the full tribulation to ascend!"
Xu Ying remained skeptical. He called over Qi and said, "Lord Seventh, you and Lord Bell get ready. We're heading to the Golden Summit of Mount Emei."
He turned back to the sorrowful old man. "Fu Yi, since your predecessor ascended, the site of his ascension must still be there. Let us go have a look."
The sorrowful old man was likewise eager to return to Mount Emei immediately, and nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.
Xu Ying called out to Zhu Chanchan, "Chanchan, do you want to come along to the Golden Summit of Mount Emei?"
Zhu Chanchan turned her head stiffly and said to him, "Aba aba."
Behind the girl's head, purple grass leaves swayed.
Xu Ying sighed helplessly. "Do as you wish. Just don't break her."
"Aba aba."
Xu Ying picked up the sorrowful old man and leaped onto the brow of Qi's true form. The great serpent stretched over three hundred zhang long. Though still an adolescent, he radiated the formidable aura of a primordial behemoth.
This aura jolted Jin Buyi awake from his slumber, and the crow wiped the drool from the corner of its beak.
Terrified of drawing its attention, Qi hastily channeled his sword qi, his body rising into the air as sword qi swirled around him before tearing through the sky.
Although he had awakened the bloodline of a primordial behemoth, he was still a demon Qi Refiner and Nuo master. His vitality was truly immense, already comparable to that of a fully grown behemoth.
He was exceptionally outstanding; it was only because the bronze bell, Jin Buyi, and the purple immortal plant were so terrifyingly powerful that he was overshadowed.
Qi flew for a long time before finally arriving at Mount Emei, now unsealed. The peaks here were even grander than Mount Jiuyi, with majestic, towering mountains everywhere. Above some peaks, rays of ascension twilight even cascaded down!
Unlike other grotto-heavens and blessed lands, the ascension sites here were often exposed to the open air!
Every place where ascension twilight fell was a Golden Summit, crowned with resplendent, magnificent palaces. In their heyday, countless Qi Refiners had cultivated there!
Even now, Xu Ying could see figures of Qi Refiners flying among the mountain ranges; evidently, many Qi Refiners had taken shelter here in this era.
The sorrowful old man looked around, searching for a moment before pointing toward one of the Golden Summits. "My predecessor ascended right there!"
Qi flew over and landed atop the Golden Summit of that mountain.
A grand palace stood there, housing several young Qi Refiners. Seeing the massive serpent descend, they all gathered to watch.
Someone recognized Xu Ying and cried out in delight, "It's Young Master Xu! It's the ageless immortal!"
Xu Ying glanced over; they appeared to be disciples of Xu Fu, though he could not recall their names.
The sorrowful old man hurried over to the ascension twilight on the Golden Summit and said, "My predecessor ascended right here! Xu Ying, it was in this very place that he ascended to the Immortal Realm!"
Xu Ying looked up. With a subtle thought, countless eyes of various sizes popped into existence in the air around the twilight, observing the ascension light from every angle.
These were the Eyes of Heaven, the Heavenly Dao divine power that Tianshu had used to discern the flaws in Xu Ying's Eight Forms of the God of War.
Xu Ying observed for a long time, then suddenly activated the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction. Countless powerful strands of divine consciousness penetrated deep into the twilight, boring into the depths of the void along the origin of the light.
*Rumble!*
Lightning flashed and thunder roared across the sky, growing increasingly violent as crackling bolts struck all around them.
Xu Ying pushed the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction to its limit, thinking, *If only Weiyang were here to join hands with me, I wouldn't have to strain myself like this. By the way, I wonder if there is new rouge in the city...*
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the sky suddenly trembled with a deafening boom! A colossal abyss was dragged out of the void by his divine consciousness!
That abyss spanned heaven and earth, hovering deep and bottomless in the sky!
Because the peaks of Mount Emei were so high, the abyss seemed to hang directly over their heads, exerting immense pressure!
"Don't come over!" From within the abyss, writhing flesh appeared; its upper body was human, frantically waving its arms at them.
Xu Ying's divine consciousness was violently shaken, preventing him from locking onto the abyss. Immediately afterward, the terrifying chasm was slowly swallowed by the sky and gradually disappeared!
Severing his divine consciousness, Xu Ying grabbed the sorrowful old man by the collar and hoisted him up, sneering, "Your predecessor didn't ascend to the Immortal Realm. He ascended straight into an abyss!"
The terror had not yet faded from the sorrowful old man's face. Just moments ago, he had seen corpses of immortals floating in the deepest reaches of the abyss, just like drowned bodies drifting on the water's surface!
His face turned ashen, all his hopes crushed to dust. After a long pause, he said, "Xu Ying, what is it you want to know?"
Xu Ying hesitated for a moment, then said, "Xujiaping."
Chapter 198