Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang looked up. Nuo Yang, Nuo Lu, and the other four Nuo ancestors had no idea they were fully exposed above Mount Kunlun, nor did they realize their every move could be seen by the people below.
Even less did they know that every word they spoke fell with crystalline clarity upon the ears of those on the mountain!
Their actions left everyone baffled and horrified.
The voice of the youth in the yellow shirt drifted down, utterly bewildered. "Didn't those fifty-four immortals already ascend? Why have they halted halfway in the sky? What is that chasm? Why is there an abyss in the sky?"
"What is that gigantic eyeball?" The girl in purple was even more frantic, crying aloud, "Why is there an enormous eye inside the abyss?!"
Panic rippled through the crowd. Someone shouted, "What did Ancestor Nuo Yang mean by 'big fish' and 'immortal medicine'? Who is the fish, and who is the medicine?!"
"Aba, aba!" Pavilion Master Lin of Penglai Pavilion cried out in terror.
Before the sky-blotting eyeball, the voice of Nuo Ancestor Nuo Fan carried downward. "Back then, we obtained that man's cave-heavens of the six secrets, yet we could never successfully transplant them. Returning to Kunlun to serve as Nuo ancestors wasn't a bad alternative—a harvest once every three thousand years. Over forty thousand years, the immortal medicine we've harvested has accumulated enough for us to ascend."
Nuo Xiang sneered. "Ascend? How do we ascend? Who among us dares claim their current strength exceeds his back then? Nuo Peng, do you? Or do you, Nuo Li?"
The other Nuo ancestors fell silent.
Suddenly, Nuo Yang chuckled. "In these forty thousand years and more, we've harvested so much immortal medicine that even if we can't match him in his prime, we can't be far off. Especially in this current era, where Nuo methods are rampant and Nuo cultivators fill the world. The Nuo cultivators gathered in these three thousand years easily equal four or five past harvests!"
Nuo Peng sighed with emotion at those words. "Indeed. In the past, Nuo methods spread only on a small scale, passed along furtively. Qi Refiners transmitted them to their disciples to let them become Nuo immortals, then harvested those disciples themselves, plucking the great medicine from within their bodies to extend their own lives. After the great purge three thousand years ago, Nuo methods replaced Qi refinement, and Nuo cultivators sprang up everywhere. The scale is far grander than before."
Nuo Li could not help but sigh as well. "Some grew chives, while others angled like fishermen, harvesting batch after batch of Nuo immortals. Others took it even further, establishing sects or great clans specifically to reap them. In a mere few centuries, they could amass astronomical quantities of immortal medicine."
Nuo Xiang walked toward the man in the bamboo hat, preparing to harvest him, and remarked, "And big fish eat small fish. The immortal medicine gathered from the six great other shores grew ever more concentrated. After thousands of years of devouring one another, it inevitably concentrated into the most powerful anglers and chive harvesters."
Nuo Lu approached the Master of the Mud Pill Palace and smiled. "We harvest once every three thousand years, and each time, we reap only these anglers and chive harvesters, amassing staggering amounts of immortal medicine. Then, using that person's cave-heavens to refine it all, it is more than enough for us to ascend."
Nuo Yang stepped toward another ancient Qi Refiner and said, "The Qi Refiners and Nuo masters who came to Kunlun will carry the tale of fifty-four masters ascending to the heavens and myriad realms. By then, everyone across the cosmos will practice Nuo methods. Three thousand years from now, an unimaginable school of fish will surge toward Kunlun to contend for our immortal pills."
Nuo Fan strode toward Mount Fangzhang, chuckling. "Harvesting the heavens and myriad realms won't take long. In one or two cycles at most, we will surpass that person back then, ascend amid celestial radiance, and become true immortals!"
Nuo Lu laughed. "They get devoured by us, yet they still call us Nuo ancestors!"
Below, across Mount Kunlun, every Qi Refiner, Nuo master, and Nuo immortal stood dumbfounded, like ducks hoisted by their necks, craning their necks straight up toward the sky, their faces frozen in varied expressions. Some went mad; some were incredulous; some sank into despair.
Someone murmured, "This must be a lie... What's happening in the sky has to be a trick, right?"
"It has to be a mirage! Look, those ascended seniors aren't moving at all!"
Another screamed, "It's heavenly fiends! An illusion created by heavenly fiends! Fellow Daoists, do you remember when Ancestor Nuo Lu warned us that heavenly fiends had infiltrated our ranks? Kunlun has been invaded! They're casting illusions before our eyes to shake our faith in the path of cultivation!"
People instantly chimed in. "Right! It must be heavenly fiends!"
"Aba, aba!" Pavilion Master Lin of Penglai Pavilion shouted, filled with righteous indignation.
Yan Kongcheng looked toward Patriarch Qingshuang beside him and asked uneasily, "Patriarch, is that scene in the sky really an illusion cast by heavenly fiends?"
Qiao Zizhong kept his deadpan expression. "Keep watching."
He paused, then added, "There is indeed the aura of heavenly fiends, but not on Mount Kunlun—it is up in the sky."
A gleam of hope surfaced in Yan Kongcheng's eyes, and he muttered, "So it really is an illusion forged by heavenly fiends in the sky, meant to deceive the world and disturb our Dao hearts!"
Zulong looked up, then withdrew his gaze and resumed measuring Kunlun, murmuring under his breath, "It's time for Xu Fu to act."
The Son of Heaven of Zhou gazed into the sky. "There must be something wrong with the recipe for the immortal pill. The other fifty-three ascenders swallowed it and fell into a stupor. But Xu Fu has seen the recipe, so he must have taken precautions. It's time for him to make his move."
"It's time for Xu Fu to act," Feng Yao said softly, watching the sky.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang also looked skyward. The scene stirred memories of what they had sensed in the great tomb of Mount Li. Back then, there had also been such an eye, with corpses of immortals floating within it. Were those corpses powerful figures consumed by the six Nuo ancestors in the past, or did they come from another source?
"Xu Fu should be making his move," Xu Ying suddenly said.
Right at that moment, Xu Fu sprang into action atop the immortal mountain.
Rather than attacking Nuo Ancestor Nuo Fan, he channeled a divine power, summoning a massive bronze bell. Bell bosses shaped like bronze mountain peaks studded the outer surface, each engraved with magnificent Dao images. Xu Fu struck with his palm, and a resounding clang rang out—deafeningly clear even from beyond the heavens!
The toll of the bell made the giant eye stream with tears, and it abruptly snapped shut.
Nuo Fan cried out in shock, "He was faking unconsciousness!"
As the chime swept past, everyone on Mount Kunlun felt a Dao resonance flood their ears and pierce through their spirits. Their souls, Primordial Spirits, and Golden Cores felt as though cleansed by sweet celestial dew, becoming extraordinarily clear and translucent!
Nuo Fan lunged at Xu Fu at once. The other five Nuo ancestors, alarmed and infuriated, attacked simultaneously.
Xu Fu raised a hand to parry while striking the bell again. The chime rang out a second time.
With that sound, the shut giant eye retreated rapidly, leaving only the abyss behind. Yet how terrifying was Nuo Fan's strike?
As the palm came crashing down, Xu Fu met it head-on, coughing up blood from the impact and slamming violently against the bell. Nuo Ancestor Nuo Yang struck next; Xu Fu took another palm strike, suffering even graver wounds, yet he struck the bell once more.
The bell chimed again, jolting the fifty-three ascenders awake from their stupor!
At the same time, the sky's abyss shattered under the bell's reverberations, unveiling another world—a realm where countless masses of flesh and blood clung to the mountain ranges, squirming and crawling!
This world seemed the complete antithesis of the Heavenly Dao world, devoid of earthly beauty, holding only ugliness and malice.
With the third chime of the bell, countless beings within the chasm were startled awake. Human figures clinging to the cliff walls of the abyss unleashed blood-curdling screeches, clawing frantically toward the rim.
Only then did the people on Mount Kunlun notice that lining both sides of the abyss were countless human beings whose lower bodies had degenerated into bloody flesh clinging to the precipices, writhing and crawling! Trapped in the abyss for who knew how long, they were struggling desperately to climb out.
This horrific sight resembled hell—more wretched and terrifying than any hell imaginable!
The attacks of Nuo Peng, Nuo Li, Nuo Lu, and Nuo Xiang converged at once. Two fists could hardly ward off four hands, let alone six Nuo ancestors besieging a single man. Caught in their combined assault, Xu Fu parried twice before coughing up blood, toppling over, and breathing his last.
Even the incredible giant bronze bell behind him crumbled to pieces, vanishing from sight.
The six Nuo ancestors had just struck Xu Fu dead when they turned to find themselves surrounded by the fifty-three ascenders. A bloody battle was inevitable.
"Xu Fu is dead?" Xu Ying was utterly dumbfounded, an expression of disbelief on his face.
Xu Fu had clearly cooperated with anglers and chive harvesters like the Master of the Mud Pill Palace. It might even have been Xu Fu who sought them out and convinced them to unseal their respective domains, leading to the resurgence of Mount Wuwang, Jiulong Ridge, the Yunmeng Marsh, and other regions.
Li Xiaoke of Jiulong Mountain had returned to Shenzhou and Jiulong Ridge because of Xu Fu. After plotting and scheming for so long, how could Xu Fu simply die like this?
Yet, besieged by six Nuo ancestors, falling in battle seemed only natural, leaving no room for suspicion.
Zulong's frame shuddered in disbelief. He looked up toward the sky, baffled, and murmured, "Impossible. That man could never die. When Zhen commanded him to lead three thousand boys and girls across the seas in search of immortal mountains, he survived perils far worse than this—how could he die now?"
In the sky before the giant eye, the fifty-three ancient figures finally clashed with the six Nuo ancestors.
The people on Mount Kunlun witnessed a scene of staggering carnage. These fifty-three ancient beings were immensely powerful; their strength stood at the pinnacle of the mortal world, deeper even than the immortals of legend, their accumulated dharmic power having reached an unimaginable scale!
Behind some of them hung sixty-three cave-heavens; behind others, only six or seven. And behind a few, the sky was densely packed with cave-heavens of all sizes, numbering in the tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand!
The sky grew blindingly bright, as though illuminated by a million suns!
That was the radiance cast by countless cave-heavens shining together! As the fifty-three peerless masters fought the six Nuo ancestors, cave-heavens flew wildly in all directions the very next moment, severed one after another by the six ancestors.
The strikes of the six ancestors were like wisdom swords sundering the Great Daos of heaven and earth. With a flick of a finger, they could sever the cave-heavens of an apparently invincible master, cutting off their surging dharmic power.
Innumerable cave-heavens whistled and spun as they tumbled from the abyss, crashing across various parts of Kunlun, while even more plunged into the chasm, illuminating its depths.
This sight frightened countless Nuo masters, Nuo immortals, and Qi Refiners cultivating Nuo methods to tears.
The so-called Nuo methods, cave-heavens, and orthodox ways of the Nuo immortals were utterly vulnerable before the six Nuo ancestors. With a casual point of a finger, no matter how many cave-heavens one possessed, all were stripped from the body!
Yet the strength of those fifty-three supreme masters remained staggering. Having harvested living beings and accumulated immense amounts of the six secrets' immortal medicine over vast spans of time, they had refined that medicine into their own dharmic power, fortifying their divine sense, primordial qi, heart power, physical bodies, souls, and the dual energies of yin and yang!
Every one of them was equivalent to an immortal who had long traversed the Realm of the Six Immortals. Besieging the six Nuo ancestors, they inflicted wound after wound even on those ancient beings!
Yet the Nuo ancestors were extraordinary. Even under siege, their combat prowess remained unmatched!
Suddenly, Nuo Yang cleaved a man apart, thrust his hand into the angler's chest, ripped out his ribs, tore out his flesh, and stuffed it into his mouth. He sneered, "You harvest the common people, and we harvest you. Big fish eat small fish—is this not the Heavenly Dao? Is this not the law of heaven and earth?"
Squelch!
A sword-light pierced straight through his heart from behind. The horde of masters surged forward, their eyes blood-red with murderous fury. The man in the bamboo hat snarled, "We spread false Nuo methods and toiled to harvest the world for the sake of longevity and ascension, not to fatten you old monsters!"
Another expert roared, "Kill these six old bastards, and we will stay in Kunlun as the Nuo ancestors!"
Blood quickly stained the abyss red. There was the blood of the six Nuo ancestors, the blood of the fifty-three supreme experts, and the blood of the people clinging to the cliff walls who were pulverized by the shockwaves of their divine powers.
A torrential rain of blood poured from the sky, drenching Kunlun.
The bloody rain did not merely wash over Kunlun; it drenched the people who had gathered there, pouring straight into their hearts and chilling them to the bone.
The scam of the Nuo methods had been torn open in all its gore and laid bare before their eyes!
The revered seniors, the legacy of the Nuo methods, the dual cultivation of Nuo and qi—all of it was nothing more than a harvesting scheme devised to reap immortal medicine. The Nuo ancestors were merely swindlers reaping the anglers and chive harvesters. There were no Nuo ancestors, no immortal medicine, no immortal pills, and no ascension.
Standing in the rain of blood, Xu Ying looked down at the mountain. The disciples from every sect and the Nuo masters and immortals from the great clans, having witnessed this scene, would surely lose all faith in Nuo methods.
"Xu Fu has thoroughly destroyed the Nuo methods."
Xu Ying raised his head to look at the radiant sky, where countless cave-heavens hung haphazardly across the firmament of Kunlun while the rain of blood cascaded like a waterfall. In this moment, Xu Fu's restoration of the Qi Refiners was undeniably a total triumph.
He could already envision the fate of the Nuo legacy: it would be spurned by all, practiced by none. "Yet the Nuo methods were good; it was only human hearts that were wicked," he thought silently.
He looked up toward the abyss in the sky. An immortal mountain drifted there, and Xu Fu's corpse lay upon it, a jade bottle having appeared in his hand at some point. The "corpse" was quietly bringing the jade bottle to his lips, drinking the contents within.
Xu Ying narrowed his eyes. Inside that bottle was Jade Pool immortal water, capable of healing all Dao wounds, mending souls, cleansing the Primordial Spirit, and patching any flaws in the physical body and the Primordial Spirit.
*If I were Xu Fu, what would I have done?*
Xu Ying had asked himself that question more than once. Now, he had a definitive answer.
Xu Fu would rip open the truth in all its gore, display it before the world, and completely destroy the legacy of the Nuo methods!
At the same time, he would emerge like a heroic savior of the world. In the identity of a Qi Refiner, using pure Qi refinement methods and divine powers, he would defeat the six Nuo ancestors, the anglers, and the chive harvesters.
Here, he would declare to the world that Qi refinement was the supreme, invincible path of cultivation!
This was the ultimate restoration of the Qi Refiners!
Chapter 252