Xu Ying waited for a long time, but seeing no movement, he walked up to a nearby hill. Raising his hand, he sliced through the air. A streak of sword qi cleaved the peak apart, parting the rock to the left and right.
Gathering qi into a sword, Xu Ying carved a line of Immortal Dao runes onto each face of the cleft rock. He then went to another hill and repeated the process, leaving behind another set of Immortal Dao runes.
He did this again and again until he had prepared eight rock faces. The cliffs stood a hundred li apart from each other, forming a circle centered on the place where the outer god Tianshu had met his demise.
Yuan Qi and the bronze bell examined the Immortal Dao runes on the stone walls. These runes were characters formed from Xu Ying's comprehension of the Sword Dao; they contained the essence of the Sword Dao Return to Truth Art, yet were not entirely identical to it.
"Lord Bell, do you think the Sword Dao Return to Truth Art on the Sword Immortal Precipice might have been runes left behind by an ancient sword immortal to suppress a demon?" Yuan Qi caught up with Xu Ying, looking thoughtful. "Then, after the demon died, the runes left by the sword immortal remained. The founding patriarch of the Sword Sect arrived there, discovered the runes, comprehended the Sword Dao, and achieved immortality. Do you suppose someone in the future will stand before the stone walls Ah Ying left behind and comprehend the Sword Dao from them?"
The bronze bell laughed. "Lord Qi, aren't you overthinking this? The Sword Dao Return to Truth Art was definitely carved there by a peerless sword immortal to pass on to someone fated. Who knows—the sword immortal might have pinched his fingers and deduced that the founding patriarch would be his successor!"
Yuan Qi chuckled. "Where would you find someone so formidable? If he could calculate the arrival of the Sword Sect's first patriarch, could he have calculated Ah Ying?"
The bronze bell replied, "Who knows, maybe Ah Ying was within his calculations all along."
Three days after Xu Ying and his companions departed, the ground suddenly loosened. Crimson tentacles reached out from beneath the earth, wriggling up and bearing chunks of flesh to the surface.
The mass of flesh shook, taking the form of the outer god Tianshu. He muttered in a low voice, "My heavy wounds had yet to heal, so he took advantage of me. If I do not avenge this, I am unworthy of being a heavenly god! But to restore my peak strength, I must devour the entirety of Shenzhou."
In the battle at the Palace of Heavenly Gods, he had been gravely injured and forced to flee deep into the Hundred Thousand Mountains to devour living beings and heaven-and-earth yuan qi to recover his power.
When Xu Ying tracked him down, he had nearly obliterated him with an immortal sword art. Fortunately, possessing the physical vessel of Tianshu had allowed him to sever a portion of his body from the main form and narrowly escape death.
*In that case, I might as well devour the entire Yuanshou world!*
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he looked up and saw a mountain precipice, Xu Ying's handwriting greeting his eyes. Suddenly, a beam of sword light flew from the cliff face, piercing clean through his forehead with a sharp hiss!
His eyes went blank and lifeless, and his body collapsed into a heap of dead flesh. "A mere mortal dares try to seal me? What insolence!"
The earth abruptly churned. Countless tentacles of flesh and blood flew through the air as duplicate bodies of the outer god Tianshu burst from beneath the soil, whistling as they fled outward in every direction.
Within the area spanned by the eight rock faces—several hundred li across—sword light crisscrossed and wove together like a dense, inescapable net!
Sharp hisses rang out incessantly before everything abruptly fell silent. All that remained were statuesque duplicates of the outer god Tianshu frozen in place.
*Crash!*
Hundreds of Tianshu's avatars collapsed into mounds of rotting meat, piling upon the earth. A long time passed, and not a single tremor stirred the land.
Several days later, a bird flew across the sky above this territory. Suddenly, a crimson tentacle shot out from the soil like a frog's tongue, latching onto the bird to drag it underground.
*Clang!*
A beam of sword light shot from one of the stone walls, severing the tentacle. The bird struggled free and flew off, while the severed remnant shrank back into the earth.
A few days after that, several hunters passed through the area. As the lead hunter stepped into the valley, he suddenly found he could not lift his feet. Pulling with all his might, he discovered countless tiny, sinewy sprouts of flesh that had pierced his boots and burrowed into his body without him noticing.
The other hunters rushed forward to save him, only to watch his flesh and blood melt away in the blink of an eye. Nothing was left but a skeleton entwined with squirming tentacles of flesh!
Another beam of sword light flashed, slicing the tentacles off the bones.
Terrified out of their wits, the surviving hunters scrambled away in utter horror, daring not take another step into the valley.
Once they reached a safe distance, the sky suddenly turned overcast. Dark clouds gathered above the valley, churning until a violent thunderstorm erupted.
Countless lightning bolts crashed into the valley like pouring rain, battering the ground into ruin. The flesh of the outer god Tianshu hidden beneath the valley floor was blasted out of the earth by the relentless lightning.
At the same time, the Sword Dao runes on the eight cliffs blazed to life, transforming the entire valley into an ocean of swords! Behind the dark clouds in the sky, the faces of several heavenly gods appeared, flickering indistinctly.
These heavenly gods watched the flesh of the outer god Tianshu struggle amid the ocean of sword light until the very last strand of flesh was severed, extinguishing him in both form and spirit. Only then did they reveal satisfied smiles before gradually fading away.
"The debt from the Palace of Heavenly Gods is finally repaid," a faint voice echoed from the sky.
The hunters watched this scene in utter terror, scrambling back to their village to recount the bizarre tale to the other villagers.
The story gradually spread to various regions, and the Eight-Faced Cliffs became a local legend. Yet the strange characters carved upon them never burst with sword light again, as though they had returned to ordinary stone.
High in the sky, a giant snake two to three hundred zhang long glided forward, surrounded by whirling bursts of sword qi. Two horns grew atop its head—one black, one white, each split into forks.
Between the two horns, yin and yang qi circulated, steadily increasing its speed. Xu Ying stood between the horns, looking ahead.
They had journeyed westward on their quest to find the divine Mount Kunlun. Traveling a hundred thousand li every seven days, they had flown continuously for more than ten days without catching sight of the sacred mountain.
Below them lay uninhabited territory stretching for tens of thousands of li—a vast wilderness inhabited by colossal beasts.
Yuan Qi's ancient primordial beast bloodline was so potent that herds of massive beasts on the plains stampeded away from his oppressive aura, kicking up thick billows of dust that trailed behind them like clouds.
Xu Ying peered into the distance. Mountain ranges rolled on in ancient majesty, and upon the peaks, one could see enormous temples enshrining unimaginably ancient deities.
*There are deities here! If there are deities, there must be people!*
Surprised, he had Yuan Qi slow down to glide past one of the divine mountains so he could closely observe the god within the mountaintop temple.
The deity residing here possessed a golden body with three faces and four arms. Emitting an immensely powerful aura, it stood in the temple and watched them pass.
Magnificent streamers of incense smoke drifted around its body, forming a halo behind its head. Within that halo hung a great bell condensed from the divine power of incense.
The bell appeared ancient and unadorned, inscribed with bizarre characters that differed from bird-and-worm seal script, resembling instead Heavenly Dao runes.
"Is that great bell condensed from incense smoke qi a Heavenly Dao divine artifact?"
Xu Ying was filled with wonder and uncertainty. This deity was simply too ancient. Its incense smoke qi could actually condense into a magical artifact, far surpassing any god he had ever seen before!
"The incense smoke qi on its body has likely been accumulating for tens of thousands of years!" Xu Ying murmured. "With several tens of thousands of years of cultivation, its power probably rivals that of a Qi Refiner in the Ascension stage, right?"
The Son of Heaven of the Nether Court also commanded dense incense smoke qi, yet it had never reached the point of condensing into a magical artifact. He had become the ruler of the Nether Court three thousand years ago, receiving offerings from common mortals.
During festivals like the Qingming Festival and the Ghost Festival, when people burned paper money for their deceased kin, a portion of that incense smoke qi was offered up to the magistrates and ghost kings of the various prefectures. The ghost kings and magistrates kept a share and offered the rest to the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court.
Because of this, the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court had accumulated immense incense smoke qi, allowing him to contend with someone like Li Xiaoke. Even so, he was incapable of condensing it into a magical artifact.
Xu Ying had Yuan Qi slow down and shrink his size before landing gently on the divine mountain. The bronze bell floated above Xu Ying's head, accompanying him to the front of the magnificent temple.
Xu Ying knocked on the temple gate. The doors creaked open, and the youth led the giant snake inside.
As they approached the towering deity, they could hear a clamor of sacrificial chants and prayers from the common folk—voices so overwhelming they threatened to disrupt a person's consciousness and plunge them into madness!
This deity already bore some of the demeanor of a god of the Heavenly Dao!
Recognizing that Xu Ying was extraordinary, the three-faced, four-armed god received him in person and invited him into the hall. Xu Ying asked, "Fellow Daoist, how long have you enjoyed sacrifices upon this divine mountain?"
The god's three faces represented joy, wrath, and equanimity. The face of equanimity replied, "It has been over forty thousand years. I am so ancient that I can no longer remember whose soul I was, nor why I was conferred as a god to guard this mountain. This mountain is named Mount Xiangwu, so people call me the Xiangwu Mountain God."
"Over forty thousand years old! Ah Ying, he's even older than you!" Yuan Qi and the bronze bell gasped in awe.
Xu Ying asked, "Fellow Daoist, I see no human habitation in the surrounding lands. Who is offering you sacrifices?"
The Xiangwu Mountain God replied, "Humans are not the only beings in heaven and earth possessing spirit. The spirits of nearby flowers, grass, and trees, the birds and beasts of the forests, the giant beasts that walk the grasslands—they can all worship me. Are you Qi Refiners seeking Kunlun?"
Xu Ying confirmed that they were.
The Xiangwu Mountain God said, "I have met Qi Refiners like you before; they too were seeking the divine Mount Kunlun. They went that way."
He raised a hand and pointed in the direction of the sacred mountain.
Xu Ying voiced his gratitude and prepared to leave. Just then, he noticed an extraordinary rune on the god's body. It appeared naturally formed, almost identical to a Heavenly Dao rune. Pausing, Xu Ying asked, "Fellow Daoist, can a god also ascend to become a heavenly god?"
The Xiangwu Mountain God replied, "Why not? I often sense the signs of ascension, feeling the Heavenly Dao calling to me from high above, bidding me to go."
Xu Ying smiled. "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist." Enlightenment struck him.
Previously, he had not known where heavenly gods came from, but the Xiangwu Mountain God had answered his question. As gods received offerings from living beings over long periods, they aligned with heaven and earth, naturally forming Heavenly Dao runes upon their bodies.
When such deities ascended to the Heavenly Dao world, they became the heavenly gods residing there.
The Xiangwu Mountain God shook his head. "I do not wish to ascend. On one hand, I cannot bear to leave these green hills and the subjects who worship me. On the other, I feel great dread toward ascension. I once saw several seniors even older than myself develop runes condensed from the Great Dao of heaven and earth, forge magical artifacts, and ascend to that other world—only to be murdered."
Xu Ying froze. "Murdered?"
The Xiangwu Mountain God said, "A group of false gods occupies the world we are meant to ascend to. If we resonate with heaven and earth and show signs of ascension, we cannot escape their vicious hands. That is why I have walked on thin ice all these years, constantly shielding my connection to that world."
He paused, then added, "I once met Qi Refiners among your human kind who were in the Ascension stage and possessed power no weaker than mine, yet they did not dare ascend either. Could their reasons be the same as mine?"
Yuan Qi blurted out, "Our dreams of undergoing tribulation and ascending were shattered by the super heavenly tribulation, not by heavenly gods murdering us!"
The Xiangwu Mountain God laughed. "Is it not the same thing? The immortals who ascended earlier do not want newcomers coming up to seize their resources, so they block the path of ascension to protect their own interests."
Xu Ying was filled with admiration and smiled. "Fellow Daoist, you see things with remarkable clarity."
He bid farewell to the Xiangwu Mountain God and departed with Yuan Qi and the bronze bell.
Yuan Qi asked, "Ah Ying, that bell of the Xiangwu Mountain God was extraordinarily formidable, carrying even a bit of the Heavenly Dao's might. Could it be a Heavenly Dao divine artifact?"
Xu Ying deduced, "Not yet. If he were to ascend to the heavenly realm, that Xiangwu bell could likely evolve into a Heavenly Dao divine artifact. But without ascension, it can never truly become part of the Heavenly Dao."
The Xiangwu Mountain God bore many primordial Heavenly Dao runes that were still in the process of forming. Clearly, completing them would require a major opportunity.
And the only thing capable of bringing about that transformation was ascension!
"Still, something is very strange. Judging by the runes forming on the Xiangwu Mountain God, they should be the correct Heavenly Dao runes."
Xu Ying looked up at the sky and murmured, "If one becomes a god through normal worship, the runes on the heavenly gods of the Heavenly Dao world should also be correct. Why, then, do their runes have so many flaws and errors?"
"They must be man-made creations, not heavenly gods born from resonating with the Great Dao of heaven and earth," the bronze bell said.
Xu Ying nodded gently. "Then where did the heavenly gods born from the Great Dao of heaven and earth go?"
Even the bronze bell had no answer to this.
At that moment, Yuan Qi opened his mouth: "Aba, aba aba!"
The bronze bell was left utterly bewildered.
Xu Ying, however, seemed to understand. "Do you mean to say Granny Meng is a primordial heavenly god?"
The purple leaves on Yuan Qi's head fluttered as he said, "Aba aba, aba!"
Xu Ying frowned. "Dongyue might be a primordial heavenly god too?"
Yuan Qi nodded. "Aba aba."
Xu Ying thought it over and had to concede. "Lord Grass makes a lot of sense. Primordial heavenly gods resonate with the Great Dao of heaven and earth; they obey the Heavenly Dao, not the commands of immortals. They likely lost the struggle, were driven out of the Heavenly Dao world by the immortals, and were replaced by more obedient substitutes. If the primordial gods won't obey, manufacture a batch of false gods. If the primordial gods want to ascend, eliminate them."
The purple immortal plant looked thoroughly pleased with itself. "Aba aba."
The bronze bell chuckled. "I understood that one—it means 'a teachable student.'"
Xu Ying snorted softly, thinking to himself, *Mister Dongyue asked me to go to Kunlun and fetch him a ladle of Jade Pool immortal water. What does he really intend to do?*
They flew westward for several more days before finally encountering other Qi Refiners and Nuo masters. Xu Ying looked up, only to see a stretch of pure white mist and clouds obscuring their vision.
After a moment, he noticed something amiss.
That was no sky-blanketing cloud cover—it was a snow mountain. An indescribable sense of immense oppression bore down upon them.
The Kunlun Ruins had finally arrived.
Chapter 224