On Jade Void Peak of the sacred Mount Kunlun, the six other shores—including the Jade Void Palace—radiated potent immortal light amidst swirling immortal qi. The medicinal fragrances emanating from the five immortal blessed lands—the Yellow Court, Crimson Palace, Mud Pill Palace, Nether Sea, and Jade Capital—grew thicker by the moment. The other five shores were already packed with seas of people locked in mutual slaughter. Those with backing had all summoned their golden script immortal talismans to protect themselves from being struck down.
Xu Ying and the Son of Heaven of Zhou remained outside the Jade Void Palace, quietly watching this other shore. By now, the immortal fire had surged back in full force, once again submerging the immortals outside the palace.
Xu Ying said, "I can recognize the Heavenly Dao runes and understand their meaning at a glance. That is how I can manifest a Heavenly Dao domain and display a Heavenly Dao avatar."
Xu Ying reached out a palm and traced Tianshu runes in the air before him. "I can use countless eyes to observe your techniques and divine powers from every angle to search for flaws. In a brief moment, I can also learn your divine powers and use them to finish you off."
In the next moment, popping sounds echoed from the air around the Son of Heaven of Zhou. Eye after eye opened, gazing eerily upon Ji Man. The Son of Heaven of Zhou felt a jolt in his heart. Stared at like this, an intense unease crept over him, as though he had no secrets left.
*Pop, pop, pop!*
Strange noises rose within his City of Xiyi as well. In an instant, eyes sprouted across the sky of his Realm of Xiyi. Xu Ying had seized the opening to invade, using his Tianshu divine power to scrutinize the depths of his City of Xiyi.
Maintaining his composure, the Son of Heaven of Zhou summoned a blast of immortal fire that incinerated all the Heavenly Eyes into nothingness. "Enough," he said. "Brother Xu, please withdraw your divine power."
Having failed to uncover the full extent of his secrets, Xu Ying recalled the Tianshu divine power.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou said, "Brother Xu can decipher the meaning of Heavenly Dao runes, execute Heavenly Dao divine powers, and manifest a Heavenly Dao avatar. In other words, you can wield heavenly tribulation. I wonder, is my understanding correct?"
Xu Ying's heart jolted with shock. He hastily explained, "I possess no Heavenly Dao divine artifacts, and my understanding of Heavenly Dao runes is incomplete. I have only learned them from the stone remnants of the Hall of Heavenly Gods..."
The Son of Heaven of Zhou cut him off. "If you were allowed to see the Heavenly Dao runes across the bodies of all the heavenly gods, you would be able to master every Heavenly Dao rune, wouldn't you?"
Xu Ying considered it for a moment. "In theory, yes."
"Then you would be able to master heavenly tribulation!"
Excitement glittered in the eyes of the Son of Heaven of Zhou. He paced back and forth in agitation, then abruptly halted. "You could command heavenly tribulation. You would even be a heavenly god, a Heavenly Dao divine artifact! Right now, with your deep understanding of Tianshu, you are the mortal realm's heavenly god of Tianshu! If you master all Heavenly Dao runes, you will be the Heavenly Dao of the mortal realm!"
Xu Ying was startled. He had never considered it from this perspective.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou laughed heartily. "Where does heavenly tribulation come from? It is the calamity accumulated during cultivation. When a Qi Refiner ascends, they must sever those calamities before they can ascend. Thus, heavenly tribulation arises in response to the calamity. But what if a Qi Refiner does not need to cross the tribulation of the Heavenly Dao world? What if a Qi Refiner no longer has any calamity?"
Xu Ying's scalp went numb as he understood what the emperor was getting at.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou continued, "What if We were to endure the heavenly tribulation and sever the calamity before the moment of ascension? Would We still need to cross the tribulation a second time when ascending? Wouldn't We already be an immortal?"
He was inexplicably stirred and laughed aloud. "Even if We cannot ascend, We would still be an immortal—an immortal of the mortal realm!"
Xu Ying said, "I must see the Heavenly Dao runes in person to know whether they are correct or flawed. And Heavenly Dao runes are usually on the bodies of heavenly gods, while others are branded onto Heavenly Dao divine artifacts."
The Son of Heaven of Zhou's eyes flickered. "You need not trouble yourself with such matters. Leave it to me to draw the heavenly gods down to the mortal realm and have the Heavenly Dao divine artifacts descend to earth. You need only observe them and record their Heavenly Dao runes."
He exhaled a turbid breath and said, "Once you master the Heavenly Dao, you will master heavenly tribulation! And mastering heavenly tribulation means we can forge a legion of mortal immortals!"
Xu Ying pondered for a moment. Though it sounded incredible, if he could truly master all the Heavenly Dao runes, the Son of Heaven of Zhou's vision could indeed become reality! If even those illiterate heavenly gods, manipulating half-true, half-false Heavenly Dao runes, could control heavenly tribulations, how much more so for someone like him who possessed the flawless runes?
"We can cooperate," the Son of Heaven of Zhou urged, eyes burning with fervor.
Xu Ying steadied his mind and, as if possessed, nodded. He truly wished to master heavenly tribulation. Becoming a member of the Heavenly Dao Crowd was nothing grand; becoming the Heavenly Dao itself was his true dream.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou laughed heartily. "On this expedition to Kunlun, not even obtaining the Ascension Immortal Elixir could bring a genuine smile to my face. Only gaining Lord Xu has truly brought joy to my heart. Lord Xu is my Ascension Immortal Elixir!"
Xu Ying said indifferently, "Brother Ji, do not forget that I am not your subject. Furthermore, what did you mean earlier when you said you sensed heavenly fiends across the six other shores? Why would heavenly fiends be in the six shores?"
"That is precisely what puzzles me as well," the Son of Heaven of Zhou replied. He looked toward the Jade Void Palace. In front of the palace, the Nuo Ancestor, Nuoxi, had already vanished without a trace.
"Back then, we boarded the Divine Boat of the Other Shore, weathered countless perils, and sailed into the other shore. As the boat traveled through the immortal fire, we feared we would be burned and end up like those Qi Refiners of the Great Shang era. Therefore, some of us disembarked to harvest immortal herbs, while others remained aboard to mount rescues at any moment."
The Son of Heaven of Zhou continued, "To leave the ship, one had to seal every acupoint and lose all sensory perception, which risked leaving us unable to return. Keeping a group aboard ensured someone could pull us back. Once back, we would stay on the boat while they went down to harvest the herbs. Previously, doing this had never caused any trouble. Until our cultivation was severely depleted by the immortal fire and our realms fell, that was when problems arose. Heavenly fiends attacked and devoured many of our people.
"Only by joining hands did we force the heavenly fiends back," the Son of Heaven of Zhou said. "Yet the heavenly fiends seemed to fixate on us. They would hunt us down the moment our divine boat sailed out of the other shore, but as long as we stayed in the immortal fire, they would leave us alone."
Xu Ying thought for a moment and said, "Do the heavenly fiends fear the immortal fire?"
"We thought so at first, which is why we collected immortal fire, and I even refined six types of it," the Son of Heaven of Zhou said. "Later, outside the fifth shore, the heavenly fiends invaded once more and inflicted terrible casualties upon us. Even the immortal fire we had collected could not repel them. In the end, we could only rely on the Divine Boat of the Other Shore crafted by Heavenly Artisan Zhu to ram the heavenly fiends and force them back."
Xu Ying was taken aback and blurted, "How dared you use a boat built by Zhu Chanchan to ram heavenly fiends? Weren't you afraid the boat would fall apart?"
The Son of Heaven of Zhou sighed. "Heavenly Artisan Zhu may have character flaws, but the treasures she crafts have never failed in a critical moment. One can hardly bear to execute such talent."
Xu Ying felt deeply the same.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou said, "After ramming the heavenly fiends back, we steered the divine boat and escaped their pursuit. At that time, Grand Preceptor Jiang suddenly said that the heavenly fiends did not fear the immortal fire—they were driving us into it."
Xu Ying raised his brows. Jiang Qi was the Grand Preceptor to the Son of Heaven of Zhou, a man of extraordinary wisdom. If he came to such a conclusion, there had to be good reason behind it. "What was their purpose in driving you into the immortal fire?"
Xu Ying pondered, thinking back to those Qi Refiners of Great Shang who had burned to ashes. Something felt terribly wrong.
Whenever Qi Refiners entered the other shore, the burning immortal fire forced them to seal all senses and acupoints, concentrating purely on gathering herbs. As they harvested, massive amounts of immortal medicine accumulated in their bodies, yet their cultivation was dissolved away by the immortal fire. At that point, they were no different from mortals. And once burned down to mere mortals, their deaths were not far off. They would be reduced to ashes by the immortal fire.
Xu Ying looked toward the immortal fire outside the Jade Void Palace. Right now, there were still many Qi Refiners from the Great Zhou period within the flames who had arrived not by the Divine Boat of the Other Shore, but by other means.
They had journeyed here alone to gather herbs, hoping to attain longevity. Some stood, some sat, bathed in the immortal fire without moving a muscle.
"How much they resemble humanoid immortal herbs..." Xu Ying murmured under his breath.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou shuddered.
Xu Ying recalled Zhu Chanchan and said, "Back when we rescued Zhu Chanchan, she was equally on edge, claiming heavenly fiends would smell her fragrance and come to devour her, and that only finding a phoenix could save her life."
Reflecting on this once more, Xu Ying felt he had seized upon a vital clue, yet he could not piece it together just yet. Why did Zhu Chanchan say heavenly fiends would come to eat her? Why did no heavenly fiends attack while the Son of Heaven of Zhou and his companions were inside the immortal fire? Why did heavenly fiends come to claim their lives only after they left the flames?
"Could these herb-gathering Qi Refiners... actually be crops planted by heavenly fiends?" he muttered to himself.
Right then, a voice rang out with a chuckle. "Whether the herb-gathering Qi Refiners are medicine planted by heavenly fiends can be made crystal clear with a single action."
Hearing that voice, Xu Ying's heart skipped a beat.
The Son of Heaven of Zhou looked back to see phoenixes flying over: one a polychrome phoenix with seven-colored plumage, the other a Qingluan, an azure phoenix.
Between the polychrome phoenix and the Qingluan floated an immortal mountain. Standing upon the one-zhang mountain were two young men: one was the "Xianyang Tyrant" he despised, and the other was a youth with a blood-centipede scar across his face.
Beside them stood a delicate and pretty young maiden. She was an acquaintance of the Son of Heaven of Zhou, having served in ancient times as the Minister of Justice of the Autumn Office in charge of penal law, named Feng Yao.
Xu Ying was startled. *Why did they arrive together?*
With his memories awakened up to four thousand years ago, he naturally remembered that the youth named Zhao Zheng was none other than Emperor Zulong! The other person on the immortal mountain was, of course, Xu Fu—the one who had just spoken.
As the immortal mountain drifted closer, Xu Fu smiled and said, "The way to verify it is to enter the Jade Void Palace and see the elixir-refining furnace with your own eyes!"
The Son of Heaven of Zhou did not recognize him. Frowning slightly, he asked, "The Jade Void Palace is already sealed. Without a Nuo ancestor making a move, who can open it?"
"Him."
Xu Fu raised a finger and pointed, instantly drawing every gaze onto Xu Ying.
Xu Ying was slightly taken aback and asked dubiously, "I can open the Jade Void Palace?"
Xu Fu nodded gently. "Only you can open the Jade Void Palace and lead us inside to uncover the truth of the immortal medicine."
No sooner had his words landed than the Jade Void Palace shuddered violently. Layers of immortal light retracted, and it vanished from Kunlun!
Zulong Zhao Zheng knitted his brows slightly and said, "The Nuo Ancestor, Nuoxi, has already closed the Jade Void Palace. Therefore, we must find a Nuo immortal who has opened the ninth cave-heaven of the Jade Pool in order to enter."
Feng Yao said softly, "That would be me."
Behind her, six exceptionally bright halos of light manifested—the six secret cave-heavens. Her cave-heavens had already merged nine into one, refining the sixty-three cave-heavens of the six secrets into six halos.
Among them, the Bubbling Spring secret depository had left and right sides, and the opened Lotus cave-heavens were likewise divided into left and right, totaling eighteen cave-heavens, which she had fused into a single cave-heaven.
Xu Fu smiled. "I need to enter the Jade Void Palace to witness the truth. Lord Xu needs to go and open it. Feng Xian'er and Qingluan are needed to repel the heavenly fiends. But we still need one supreme expert to remain behind and protect Lady Feng Yao."
Zulong Zhao Zheng said flatly, "With Us here, no one can lay a hand on her."
The Son of Heaven of Zhou frowned slightly, coughed once, and said, "I will accompany Brother Xu into the Jade Void Palace."
Xu Fu beamed. "If the Son of Heaven of Zhou is willing to go along, that is naturally splendid. Then We entrust this place to Your Majesty."
Zulong Zhao Zheng said, "Xu Fu, if you are trifling with Us, We will not let you die easily. You know Our methods."
The Son of Heaven of Zhou sneered, "So you are Zulong—the tyrant who built his tomb beside my Haojing."
Zulong Zhao Zheng countered, "And you are the Son of Heaven of Zhou who led your civil and military officials to the other shore, burying Great Zhou and the Qi Refiners?"
Xu Ying was rather displeased with Zulong Zhao Zheng as well, and deeply wary of Xu Fu.
Watching this motley crew, Feng Yao could not help but knit her brows.
Chapter 248