The tension between the two grew steadily thicker.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou slowly raised his aura and said, "Few dare refuse Us to our face. Brother Xu, calling Us a tyrant is one thing, but why claim that my entire court of civil and military officials are tyrants as well?" An anger showed upon his face.
As an emperor who had unified the realm, he possessed a natural majesty without even needing to show wrath.
In those ancient years, he had united Shenzhou and even toured Kunlun. Few ancient sovereigns had ever achieved such feats! His majesty was something no one dared offend!
Xu Ying's aura rose imperceptibly to meet the oppressive force of his presence. He replied, "Your court of civil and military officials is nothing more than aristocratic clans and noble houses. When was an ordinary person ever counted among them? When did your Haojing ever have a patch of ground where a commoner could stand?"
Hearing this, the Son of Heaven of Zhou chuckled and said, "Could Brother Xu's vision be for every single person to ascend? Everyone ascending is nothing more than the fantasy of the ignorant. Most people in this world are dull-witted; it is impossible for everyone to ascend. Those who can ascend in this world are, after all, only a select few."
As he spoke, his momentum surged to its absolute peak.
Behind him, cave-heavens manifested from the Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body lit up one after another. They drifted behind him in what seemed like an erratic pattern, yet beneath it lay a wondrous, subtle order.
Xu Ying shook his head. "Universal ascension is indeed mere fantasy. What I hope for is that those in power act with fairness—that all mortals may fully realize their talents, that all things may be put to proper use, that the talented may display their abilities and ascend, and that those without great gifts may still have the chance to make the most of what they have."
Behind him, cave-heavens of the six secret depositories also emerged one by one, resisting the oppressive aura of the Son of Heaven of Zhou.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou summoned his Golden Core and shook his head. "Childish talk. Since antiquity, order has governed elder and youth, and distinction has separated high and low. Some are born into imperial households, while others are born in thatched shacks. Allowing a child of a thatched shack to ascend alongside the son of an emperor would hardly be fair to the emperor's son."
Not long had passed since his return from the other shore. His former cultivation had been incinerated by the immortal fire, leaving him no choice upon returning to Shenzhou but to begin anew. Yet this had granted him the opportunity to open the human body's secret depositories and dual-cultivate both Nuo and Qi. Disguising himself as an heir of a prestigious sect, he had mingled among the crowd and come to Kunlun. His realm of cultivation sat at the second Pass-Breaching stage, his Primordial Spirit not yet formed. Even so, his breath ran exceptionally long and his cultivation was profoundly dense—far deeper than that of any true disciple of a prestigious sect. His Golden Core was extraordinary as well: a purple Golden Core, trailing wafts of purple Qi that drifted and danced behind his back.
Xu Ying summoned his own Golden Core. Boundless and borderless, it linked with heaven and earth, radiating an aura not a whit weaker than his opponent's. As he stood there, he felt like empty space itself, leaving the Son of Heaven of Zhou unable to lock onto him with divine sense or divine abilities.
"This is where we can never see eye to eye," Xu Ying said, recalling what he had seen in Haojing. "I have been to the Haojing built by Heavenly Artisan Zhu. Every single manor within Haojing was a residence for nobles with famous names. Not a single house belonged to commoners or the poor. Your court-wide ascension is merely carrying a flock of aristocratic clans to heaven. In that, you are no different from the tyrant of Xianyang."
All around them, disciples from prestigious sects who had come to Kunlun turned to look their way, faces filled with shock and uncertainty. These two were simply too formidable!
Two experts at the second Pass-Breaching stage were displaying cultivation and prowess far beyond ordinary beings, radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
With his hands behind his back, the Son of Heaven of Zhou looked toward the Jade Void Palace and said, "If the child of a poor commoner could climb to great heights and become one of those in power, Our Haojing would have a place for him as well."
Xu Ying looked toward the Jade Void Palace and asked, "Then is that even possible?"
The Son of Heaven of Zhou pondered for a moment before replying, "A child of poverty exhausts all his strength just scratching food from the soil, barely filling his belly. Where would he find the leisure to study Qi refinement and Nuo arts? Even if he had the time, where would he find the opportunity? And even with the opportunity, he would have no wealth to afford it. Therefore, it is hardly possible. Yet once every thousand years or so, an outlier emerges. Brother Xu, We offer this chance to you—you shall be that outlier of a thousand years!"
Xu Ying chuckled. "I have no need of it. I can ascend on my own strength. Why should I borrow your hand?"
The pupils of the Son of Heaven of Zhou shrank slightly, and he burst into laughter. "The ageless immortal has wasted away through who knows how many lifetimes, yet has he ever dawdled his way to ascension? Stop deceiving yourself. Those peasant tricks of yours crumble at the first blow before true nobility."
At that moment, the gates of the Jade Void Palace swung wide open. The immortal fire outside the palace receded inward like flowing water. Everyone grew tense, staring unblinkingly at the palace entrance.
Immortal light blossomed within the palace—fine rays an inch long, golden and segmented, blooming outward from the interior across three inner layers, three middle layers, and three outer layers. As the immortal light shone, one could see straight through the palace walls to an immortal furnace refining elixir inside! Those nine layers of fine rays were seeping through the furnace's very walls!
"The Ascension Immortal Medicine!"
The crowd erupted in excitement, voices boiling over as though everyone had gone mad, surging forward like a tide. To draw nearer to the palace, some struck ruthlessly at those beside them, throwing the crowd into instant chaos.
Something was rising within the furnace. The fine rays moved with it, flickering between bright and dim.
When the objects flew free of the immortal furnace, nine dazzling golden immortal pills were seen hovering in midair. Each radiated a brilliant immortal radiance, accompanied by the faint, mysterious resonance of immortal Dao sounds! The melodies drifting from the pills intoxicated the spirit and shook the mind. Suddenly, one golden pill after another flew out from the Jade Void Palace, shooting outward. As the nine immortal pills burst forth, they prepared to scatter in all directions.
Right then, a peerless giant serpent flew out from the Jade Void Palace, coiling and dancing around it, using its sky-blotting body to force the nine pills back. Nuo Ancestor Nuo Lu stepped out from the Jade Void Palace, his immortal Dao manifesting as the red-spotted great serpent that drove the nine immortal pills to flee outward. Radiating fine beams of light, the pills flew out from the other shore and arrived upon Kunlun.
As the immortal pills swept through the air, lingzhi grasses sprouted everywhere beneath their path, filling the air with fragrance, while barren ridges turned lush and green in an instant.
Certain Qi Refiners tormented by illness were illuminated by the pills' light, and their ailments vanished on the spot. Severed limbs regrew, and some even slipped inexplicably into states of enlightenment.
Suddenly, the nine immortal pills diverged, streaking away in all directions!
"Seize the immortal pills!"
The crowd surged in a frenzy. Figures leaped into the air, chasing after the paths of the nine immortal pills. Even mid-flight, they struck at one another, activating divine abilities and summoning magical treasures in bids to knock others down and eliminate competition.
One of the immortal pills curved through the air, dodging past Qi Refiners and Nuo immortals, flying directly toward Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou. Its bright rays illuminated their bodies down to the finest detail.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou raised his hand, and purple Qi sliced across the sky—not to grab the immortal pill, but to strike at Xu Ying!
"Brother Xu, since We cannot convince you with words, We shall convince you with Our fists!"
As he struck, purple Qi filled the sky. In an instant, it coalesced into his Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground—a Haojing that Zhu Chanchan had never managed to finish refining! It was the immortal artifact Haojing that the Son of Heaven of Zhou had intended to forge with the power of a mortal by pouring the resources of an entire nation into it! Yet Haojing was also his Hidden Scenery.
His court-wide ascension was meant to merge his Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground with Haojing itself. The civil and military officials, the patriarchs of great houses, the generals commanding the realm's armies, the feudal lords enfeoffed across the lands—their Hidden Sceneries and their Great Daos would all become part of Haojing!
In this way, gathering the combined might of Great Zhou's strongest into an immortal realm made it possible to resist the Heavenly Tribulation and ascend to the Immortal Realm! The officials of his court would be the immortals under his command, and he would be the master of all immortals, the king of all immortals! Such was his grand design for ascension.
Though he stood within a Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground rather than the true Haojing, the Realm of the Six Immortals was no trivial matter. Five immortal mountains floated inverted behind him, and cave-heavens shone with blinding brilliance, rooted firmly in the sky of his immortal domain!
What he cultivated was the orthodox Nuo method, not the piecemeal arts Xu Ying had scraped together from scattered sources! This blow of his was not that of a youthful immortal, but that of the king of all immortals. In his eyes, Xu Ying was merely a monkey beneath his palm.
"Yield!"
His voice echoed like an immortal king's, descending from beyond the nine heavens.
Xu Ying's body sank slightly. Lacking a Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground of his own, he was suppressed in raw magic power for the very first time. One had to understand that while rising talents from three thousand years ago—such as Mount Emei's stubborn Sect Master Yan Kongcheng and Sword Sect's Sect Master Shi Yuqing—could outmatch Xu Ying in the variations of divine abilities, not a single one had ever surpassed him in pure magic power!
Yet the Son of Heaven of Zhou had accomplished it.
His magic power was unfathomably dense, purple Qi flooding the sky to form a crushing advantage against Xu Ying!
Against this strike, neither Emei's Golden Core Dao nor the Sword Sect's Sword Dao Return to Truth Art could break through! Xu Ying let out a long roar and unleashed the tenth method of the Eight Methods of the God of War: the Other Shore Seal Method. He drove his fist forward, transforming into the Dao through martial arts to recreate the other shore! If there was no road to ascension in this world, he would carve one out; if there was no Immortal Realm, he would forge another shore anew!
Their techniques collided. Terrifying power erupted between fist and palm, the force hissing like paper-thin blade Qi shooting from their hands. Even the golden light radiating from the immortal pill was sliced apart by their clashes, nearly damaging the pill itself!
Just then, the immortal pill drifted between them, passing right before their brows. Its presence instantly healed the injuries they had sustained from that exchange, restoring both of them to their absolute peak in a breath! Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou moved at the exact same moment, lunging for the pill while striking at each other.
Suddenly, another figure leapt in. A radiant Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground sliced between them, drawing both of them and the immortal pill inside. Within this Hidden Scenery, a towering figure rose gracefully, shrouded in immortal light and dense immortal mist—a Nuo immortal who dual-cultivated both Nuo and Qi.
Delight showed on the Nuo immortal's face as he reached for the pill. Yet with a thunderous boom, the colliding fists and palms of the two youths trapped inside released an aftershock that tore his Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground apart!
"You two juniors, do you have any idea how much a cultivation realm can crush you?"
The Nuo immortal sneered. A Golden Core rose behind him as he swung a palm toward Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou, barking, "I am a Nuo immortal who has refined a Golden Core! Within my Hidden Scenery, I am an Earthly Immortal!"
Without averting their gazes, Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou kept their eyes locked on each other. Their bodies moved at blinding speed, and both raised a hand together to take the Nuo immortal's blow head-on. The Nuo immortal grunted as a torrential surge of magic power crushed down, shattering his own.
His massive form was blasted backward with a howl, hurtling straight out of his own Hidden Scenery and tearing a gaping hole through it.
Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou remained locked in combat, their silhouettes flickering as they traded over a dozen moves in an instant. The golden pill wove between them, shooting out of the damaged latent transformation ground. With two sharp cracks, Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou broke through the Nuo immortal's domain and burst out right behind it.
Spitting blood, the Nuo immortal scrambled back into his Hidden Scenery in terror, horrified. *Where did those two monsters come from? Wait... that youth looks like Xu the Demon King. Isn't he dead yet?!*
The Son of Heaven of Zhou snorted and pointed a finger. Thousands of streaks of purple Qi hissed through the air, slashing toward Xu Ying.
Xu Ying channeled the eleventh method of the Eight Methods of the God of War: the Ascension Seal Method. Treating the purple Qi as the lightning of Heavenly Tribulation, he charged straight into the danger to meet the purple Qi head-on, intent on shattering the Son of Heaven of Zhou like the tribulation itself!
As the battle grew fierce, a hearty laugh rang out. "Two blockheads, knowing only how to brawl blindly! With an immortal pill right before you, you don't even know to take it—what a bargain for my Tianqi Sect!"
Sect Master Tianqi was a youth of astonishing strength. Sweeping in, he had just snatched the immortal pill when he was met directly by the combined palm force of Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou.
"Bring it on!"
Sect Master Tianqi roared, pushing his cultivation and magic power to their utmost limit to withstand both palm strikes. Blood suddenly sprayed from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. His bones cracked and shattered across his entire body, and his Golden Core snapped with hairline fractures, on the verge of destruction!
A Golden Script Immortal Talisman flew from between his brows, erupting with brilliant immortal light that shielded him, saving him from instant death. As it protected him, the talisman prepared to unleash its immortal might to slay both attackers.
Xu Ying's eyes turned ferocious, and twenty-four bright moons rose behind him with a roar. The Son of Heaven of Zhou sneered, the purple Qi behind him churning as a terrifying aura seeped forth.
Both shocked and furious, Sect Master Tianqi realized that if he did not drop the immortal pill, even the ancestral talisman might fail to protect him. Making a swift decision, he suppressed the talisman's movement and cast the pill aside. Xu Ying recalled his bright moons and the Son of Heaven of Zhou withdrew his purple Qi. Following the immortal pill, the two resumed their life-and-death clash and sped away, leaving Sect Master Tianqi staring after their retreating backs in shock and dismay.
Chapter 246