On the God Bridge, the leaders of various sects looked toward Xu Fu, their faces filled with awe and reverence. Aside from their own sects' founding masters, they rarely respected others, let alone feared them. Yet Xu Fu was worthy of both their respect and their fear.
He had exposed the cannibalistic truth of the Nuo methods, unveiled the true faces of the Six Nuo Ancestors, and laid bare the reality behind ascension through Nuo cultivation.
Moreover, he was a peerless Qi Refiner who had defeated the Six Nuo Ancestors, refined one of them to death, and forced those anglers and leek-harvesters to retreat. He had shown the world the ultimate peak of a Qi Refiner—not a bit inferior to dual cultivators of Nuo and Qi, and perhaps even stronger! He had brought an end to the era of Nuo methods consuming human lives, restoring faith to all Qi Refiners. At this moment, he was the indisputable leader of Qi Refiners everywhere. As he stepped onto the God Bridge, the sect masters bowed their heads one after another in respect.
Xu Fu walked up to the edge of the Heavenly Dao domain and looked toward the man floating in the center. The man had thick eyebrows and large eyes, dressed in plain cloth, looking less like a Qi Refiner and more like a farmer accustomed to tilling the fields. That such a man could preserve his life while crossing a Heavenly Tribulation truly exceeded his expectations.
"Lord Xu, since the Other Shore was pioneered by man, the possibility of a trap exists," Xu Fu said placidly. "In the future, if this fellow Daoist with the thick brows and large eyes cannot transcend his Heavenly Tribulation, he too will think of devouring people just like the Six Nuo Ancestors. He too will lay down a domain, pass on his methods to disciples, and harvest them periodically."
Xu Ying brought out some Jade Pool water, fed it to the Great Emperor of the Martial Dao, and after a moment of thought, said with a smile, "What you say makes a great deal of sense. But there is one thing: the history of the Undying People predates the Six Nuo Ancestors by far. The Undying People practiced Nuo methods, yet they were never harvested."
Even after ingesting the Jade Pool immortal water, the Great Emperor of the Martial Dao remained unconscious.
Xu Ying examined him closely. His injuries from the Heavenly Tribulation were grave in the extreme; the Great Dao laws within his Primordial Spirit and physical body were severed, and his martial spirit had nearly been shattered by the heavenly thunder. That he had managed to survive until now was truly no small feat.
However, upon taking the Jade Pool water, the Dao injuries across his body began to mend.
The Jade Pool immortal water possessed a mysterious and formidable power capable of healing even Dao injuries inflicted by Heavenly Tribulation. Xu Ying marveled inwardly, *No wonder Mister Dongyue asked me to fetch a ladle of Jade Pool immortal water.*
He stepped out of the Heavenly Dao domain and said, "I believe that when the Nuo methods were first created, their purpose was longevity and the advancement of Qi refining. But Kunlun underwent a great upheaval—someone slaughtered the Undying People of Kunlun and destroyed everything here! Only then did the Six Nuo Ancestors seize the opportunity to steal the six Other Shores and carry out their harvest! Ah Fu, look at the ruins strewn across Kunlun today. Everything here was deliberately erased!"
Hearing him address Xu Fu as "Ah Fu," the crowd erupted in fury, berating him for his utter insolence. Xu Fu glanced back, and everyone immediately fell silent, not daring to utter another word.
Xu Fu raised his head, gazing at the immortal seal suspended in the sky.
That colossal immortal seal hung high like a mountain, motionless between the two realms, ancient and oppressively heavy. The massive seal blocked half the sky, yet through the gaps at its corners, glimpses of the Immortal Realm could be seen.
Xu Fu retracted his gaze and remarked leisurely, "What if the Undying People were also harvested? What if someone deliberately taught the Nuo methods to the Undying People in the hope that they would gather the immortal herbs of the Other Shore, all for the purpose of devouring them to achieve immortality?"
He continued indifferently, "Lord Xu, no matter how eloquently you speak, you cannot prove the Undying People were never harvested. Yet the harvesting of worldly cultivators by Nuo methods is plain for all to see. The Nuo methods have claimed countless lives over the past tens of thousands of years. They must be wiped away to restore the orthodox lineage of Qi Refiners!"
Xu Ying stepped forward and asked, "If a Nuo method could flawlessly refine the immortal herbs within the body, and if one's cave-heavens could never be severed, would that prove the Nuo methods were not a trap?"
Xu Fu looked at him deeply. "Miss Feng Yao is an Undying Person, and her cultivation technique comes from the Undying People, yet her Jade Pool cave-heaven was effortlessly severed by Nuo Lu with a single finger. The Undying People of Kunlun are nothing more than leeks to be reaped. Lord Xu..."
He raised a hand, checking Xu Ying's urge to argue further. "I did not come here to debate whether the Nuo methods are a trap. The world already knows the truth. Regardless of who wins our argument, it will not alter the grand scheme. The Nuo methods are destined to have no heirs."
A smile crossed his lips. "Lord Xu, do you remember when I said I had three matters to accomplish? The first was resurrecting Zulong; I achieved it. The second was the restoration of Qi Refiners; I achieved that as well. Now, I shall accomplish the third."
An ominous premonition stirred in Xu Ying's heart.
Xu Fu looked toward the Jade Capital across the bridge ahead, an unconcealable gleam of excitement in his eyes. "The third matter I must accomplish is to cross the tribulation and ascend!"
Xu Ying's throat grew slightly dry, and another figure flashed through his mind.
That person had also told him he had three things to do, and the third was to cross the tribulation and ascend.
That person had exhausted all his wits, abducting the three hundred and sixty Heavenly God Sovereigns of the Heavenly Dao world, successfully crossing the Heavenly Tribulation and astonishing the world. Yet he had failed to ascend.
During his period of weakness following the tribulation, he was devoured by the master of the Mud Pill Palace, leaving behind nothing but a human skin.
"You cannot survive the Heavenly Tribulation," Xu Ying said, steadying his composure. "The heavenly gods were abducted once by Zhou Qiyun. You will find it nearly impossible to use the same trick to lure them to the mortal realm. Those heavenly gods are no fools."
Xu Fu shook his head and laughed. "If I wish to earn Lord Xu's admiration, how could I resort to Zhou Qiyun's methods? I will not abduct any heavenly gods; I shall face the Heavenly Tribulation head-on. In ancient days, the Yellow Emperor ascended from the Jade Capital. I shall follow in the footsteps of the ancients and cross my tribulation there to ascend!"
Xu Ying hesitated before saying, "Why not wait a while? I have discussed with the Son of Heaven of Zhou to decipher the Heavenly Dao runes. If you wait a bit longer, we might decipher the Heavenly Tribulation itself."
"Rely on you to ascend? I refuse," Xu Fu replied. He raised the Crimson Palace cave-heaven that Nuo Fan had commanded and said, "Lord Xu, if I relied on you to ascend, how could I display my own extraordinary nature? Back then, we traveled in the same boat across the sea, and you surpassed me in every regard."
He activated the Crimson Palace cave-heaven. The ancient cave-heaven shone brilliantly, hanging ever farther in the sky and drawing steadily closer to the ethereal Jade Capital.
"You were powerful, clever, and full of wisdom, like a divine being descended from heaven. But I was different. By your side, I was sinister and cunning, carrying out the deeds you were unwilling to do. You imparted techniques and divine abilities to me, serving as both master and friend, a kindness I could never repay. So when you could not bear to kill the people aboard that ship, I killed them for you; when you could not bear to sacrifice them, I made the sacrifice in your stead. I committed all the evil."
Xu Fu stepped forward, smiling. "Yet four thousand years later, today, I have performed every good deed. The world will remember me, not you. I will ascend as a Qi Refiner. No matter what great accomplishments you achieve in the future, my place in the hearts of the common people will forever remain above yours!"
The Crimson Palace cave-heaven resonated with him, extending a bridge of immortal light that connected with the God Bridge beneath their feet!
Xu Fu's step landed squarely upon this bridge of immortal light. He chuckled. "I am powerful, clever, and full of wisdom—a divine being descended from heaven! You could not cross this void, not knowing where the bridge lay, yet I can connect to this God Bridge!"
Xu Ying's heart stirred, and he looked toward Yuan Weiyang, whose gaze met his at that exact moment. With their minds in sync, both understood the principle behind how Xu Fu had connected the God Bridge.
Yuan Weiyang whispered, "The Great Emperor of the Martial Dao arrived at the end of the God Bridge and struck into the void, opening the Other Shore. In other words, the God Bridge connects to the Other Shore, while cave-heavens serve as passageways to it."
Xu Ying nodded gently. Just earlier, Yuan Weiyang had expended great mental effort invoking the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction to establish a connection with the Other Shore of the Martial Dao, breaching the void between the Other Shore and the God Bridge to form a bridge. In truth, there was an even simpler method: open a Martial Dao cave-heaven and link it to the Other Shore of the Martial Dao, forming a God Bridge leading straight across. Xu Fu had merely used the same principle.
His method, however, relied on the Crimson Palace cave-heaven previously commanded by Nuo Fan. Through its resonance with the Crimson Palace, he formed a bridge connecting to the Jade Capital.
Xu Ying could even envision that in ancient times, the Undying People must have raised their respective cave-heavens to construct this final God Bridge, allowing the sovereigns who arrived here to ascend toward the Jade Capital and conduct grand sacrificial ceremonies.
Xu Ying maintained the Heavenly Dao domain, leading the Great Emperor of the Martial Dao within it as he followed Xu Fu.
He had to sustain the domain at all times; otherwise, the Great Emperor's tribulation fortune would return, and in his current state, he could never survive the Heavenly Tribulation.
"Ah Fu, you once said you were a wise man unaffected by emotion, but right now, you are growing carried away," Xu Ying said. "Crossing a tribulation is not that simple. Zhou Qiyun spent two to three centuries robbing tombs and amassing all kinds of treasures before he had any confidence in surviving his tribulation. You cannot simply cross it like this."
Walking ahead, Xu Fu laughed. "Lord Xu, since returning from overseas, I have prepared for over two thousand years. My preparations are far more thorough than Zhou Qiyun's ever were. If he could survive the Heavenly Tribulation by abducting heavenly gods, it poses even less of a problem for me."
Xu Ying frowned. Xu Fu had always devised strategies and secretly orchestrated every upheaval and trend in Shenzhou—from the Nai River invasion to the Netherworld invasion, from the unsealing of heaven and earth to the reemergence of the various sects, and up to the revival of Qi Refiners. Even the reappearance of Kunlun and the search for immortal encounters were connected to his secret plots. Everything he did was for the renaissance of Qi Refiners. His meticulous planning was breathtaking to behold. Therefore, his tribulation and ascension must also have been prepared with absolute thoroughness, leaving no room for the slightest mishap.
The crowd ascended the God Bridge one after another, following behind the two as they advanced toward the Jade Capital.
The Jade Capital was a celestial palace of legend. Among the Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body lay the Jade Capital secret depository, located an inch inside the center of the forehead, corresponding to the Jade Pillow Heavenly Pass. When a Qi Refiner's Primordial Spirit was baptized by the Jade Pool, ascended the God Bridge, and blasted through the third barrier—the Jade Pillow Heavenly Pass—they could behold the Jade Capital within their body.
Becoming an immortal was the process of a Qi Refiner's Primordial Spirit entering the Jade Capital, known as the Ascension stage. At this phase, however, one had to cross the Heavenly Tribulation before the Primordial Spirit could enter the Jade Capital. Yet atop Mount Kunlun, Xu Ying and the others needed only reach the end of the God Bridge to step into the legendary Kunlun Jade Capital.
The city of the Jade Capital was an earthly paradise, an ethereal miniature Immortal Realm.
The ancestors of Shenzhou had ascended here, offered sacrifices to the early peoples here, and passed down the will of their bloodlines here. As Xu Ying stepped into the Jade Capital, tall stone tablets erected by successive great emperors lined both sides of the road, recording ancient history. Yet the characters carved upon these tablets had all been erased.
Xu Ying looked up at the sky. The immortal seal hung motionless, the city of the Jade Capital sitting directly beneath it. It felt as though the seal might crash down at any moment, obliterating the Jade Capital!
A thought stirred in his mind, and he said, "Xu Fu, the reason Kunlun was destroyed is most likely that the Immortal Realm did not wish to see mortal Qi Refiners grasp the power of the Other Shore, nor did they wish to see mortal Qi Refiners attain longevity. Could you postpone your tribulation and wait until the Queen Mother of the West awakens, so we can uncover the truth behind Kunlun's downfall?"
Xu Fu shook his head. "I have made complete preparations, far sounder than Zhou Qiyun's. Why should I wait for the Queen Mother of the West to awaken?"
Xu Ying looked up at the towering immortal seal suspended in the sky, an unsettling foreboding rising within him.
Suddenly, behind the immortal seal, dazzling immortal light surged forth, pouring down toward the mortal realm and gradually turning into sweet dew, falling like rain.
A Golden Script Immortal Talisman descended from the heavens. Amidst the brilliant immortal rain, the talisman unfurled, hanging suspended above the city of the Jade Capital.
Characters were inscribed upon the immortal talisman, reading:
"The Immortal Dao bestows its blessing; one person ascends."
Seeing this Golden Script Immortal Talisman, Xu Fu burst into hearty laughter and spread his arms wide to welcome the immortal rain. He chuckled, "Lord Xu, do you see? This is an auspicious omen. The Immortal Realm has already decreed it: today, I shall surely cross my tribulation and ascend!"
Chapter 256