Suddenly, Xu Ying felt an itch across his skin and hurriedly scratched at it.
In the sky above, the flesh-colored tentacles continued to divide, stretching and descending from the heavens to seek out new plague victims, driving into their flesh and siphoning their life force.
Xu Ying's vitality and blood were abundant, keeping the tentacles from drawing near for the moment.
His itch was born of empathy.
He watched wisps and threads of black qi permeate the air, slipping into the plague victims' bodies with every breath they drew, silently eroding their vitality and blood.
As those faint wisps of black qi entered his Realm of Xiyi, the light from the wisp of flame the maiden in the coffin had given him shone upon them, dispersing them instantly without affecting him in the least.
"What on earth are these crimson tentacles?" Xu Ying murmured.
"The Plague God!"
Hearing his description, the bronze bell sounded solemn as it said, "What you are seeing is a heavenly god that commands pestilence and natural calamity!"
"A heavenly god?"
Xu Ying shuddered. He had encountered quite a few gods and had even slain several himself, yet even the mighty City God Xue fell far short of comparison with the Plague God that blanketed the heavens!
"Heavenly gods dwell within the Heavenly Dao world. They wield the Heavenly Dao, hold fast to heavenly principle, and are ageless, deathless, and indestructible," the bronze bell said. "The Heavenly Dao world is lofty and unfathomable; heavenly gods do not descend to the mortal realm on a whim. Why would the Plague God have come running down here? That's it—it must be the demonic girl's accomplices! In order to rescue her, they offered blood sacrifices to the Plague God, causing catastrophic slaughter that diverted the Nai River and brought on the Netherworld's invasion!"
It sneered coldly. "That demonic girl harbored evil intentions after all!"
Xu Ying looked up at the sky. The true body belonging to those massive tentacles still lingered in another world. Was that realm the Heavenly Dao world the bronze bell spoke of?
The multideck boat continued sailing forward, drawing ever closer to the end of the half-hour pact Xu Ying had made with the maiden in the coffin. Looking toward the riverbanks, Xu Ying saw corpses piled high like mountains—the remains of plague victims. People were stacking firewood beneath the bodies, setting them ablaze.
The flames reached five or six zhang high, burning with blinding intensity in the dark night.
Innumerable ghost fires drifted beside the mountain of corpses. Whenever the yin wind blew past, the spirits trapped within the fires were seized by tearing agony, their faces twisting in fury, their forms warping as whimpers and wails rose in waves!
Other spirits struggled amidst the flames, as though burning their mortal remains inflicted pain upon their souls as well, as if they had not fully died.
Xu Ying also spotted figures—whether living humans or ghosts, he could not tell—hauling cartload after cartload of corpses out to dump beside the mountain of dead.
Faint chanting drifted from the banks of the Nai River. Xu Ying followed the sound and saw several monks sitting upright beside the mountain of corpses, tapping their wooden fish and chanting the Rebirth Mantra in low voices.
Those monks were also covered in festering sores, their bodies bristling with the Plague God's tentacles.
Was this truly the doing of the coffin maiden's accomplices?
The bronze bell grew uneasy and urged, "Ah Ying, the pestilential qi here is growing thicker and thicker. At your level of strength, it won't be long before it corrodes your vital blood defense, and the Plague God will siphon you dry! We should leave this place at once!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "No! A gentleman keeps his word. I gave someone my promise; how can I go back on it?"
The bronze bell snapped angrily, "The person who summoned the Plague God is that demonic girl's accomplice! Their goal in summoning the Plague God was to divert the Nai River, blast Little Stone Mountain, and break her free! Do you honestly still think she's a good person?"
Its fury surged as it barked, "Lord Bell is the good person here! That night when you hid in my temple, I saw the Nai River divert and realized you creatures were about to perish in its waters, so I stepped forward to protect you. If not to save your lives, would I have been grievously wounded by that demonic girl? Would I have let her escape?"
Xu Ying pondered for a moment before replying, "Lord Bell, you showed me kindness, and I keep it engraved on my heart. That is why I let you siphon my vitality and blood to heal your injuries. I am a country boy. I may not have read many books, but we country folk value honor and gratitude. The maiden in the coffin said the purpose of her journey was to send off the god. I do not believe she bears any malice."
The bronze bell roared, "That demonic girl committed countless atrocities, which is why my master bound and suppressed her beneath Little Stone Mountain! Can't you see she is using you? She hasn't even told you her name! She clearly intends to use you and throw you away!"
Xu Ying laughed aloud. "I am a penniless nobody with no special talents. What could I possibly possess that is worth using?"
He channeled his divine sense into the wisp of flame, guiding the Pure Yang anomalous fire out of his Realm of Xiyi to set the boat's pavilion ablaze.
The flames steadily swelled, burning brighter and fiercer than the bonfires on the shore.
Xu Ying retrieved the Pure Yang anomalous fire into his Realm of Xiyi, vaulted from the boat, and landed on the bank, untying the whip coiled around his waist.
The bronze bell warned nervously, "Ah Ying, beware falling into that demonic girl's trap and brewing a catastrophe of epic proportions!"
Xu Ying surged his primordial qi, swung the whip, and snapped it fiercely into the sky, just as the maiden in the coffin had instructed!
*Crack!*
The moment he lashed out, the long whip grew with the wind, stretching longer and thicker by the moment!
It had looked like an ordinary whip at first, but as it lengthened and swelled, countless previously invisible details came to light.
What had resembled woven hemp now revealed countless shimmering scales, as though countless headless, tailless dragon serpents were intertwined as one!
In the blink of an eye, the whip measured three to four li in length. Grasping the handle, Xu Ying felt the whip thrumming with life—a sensation as though he were gripping the sinews of countless dragons, with divine dragons leaping and writhing at the far end!
*Crack!*
The lash struck squarely against the Plague God in the sky, tearing open flesh and rending skin!
The sky burst apart as gore splattered in all directions, and massive chunks of the Plague God's flesh tumbled down!
Xu Ying froze.
The bronze bell also let out a dull, muffled *clang*, twitching once in shock.
Xu Ying's heart missed a beat. When the maiden in the coffin told him to lash the sky, he had originally assumed it meant cracking the whip a few times simply as a symbolic send-off of the god. After all, similar customs existed among commoners: when plagues struck, people would beat gongs, play drums, and burn paper boats in hopes of frightening the Plague God away.
He had never imagined that the whip's reach would explode so violently, striking directly at the boundless Plague God itself!
Following that whip crack came a howling gale. Wind fueled fire, and the flames engulfing the multideck boat roared with escalating fury, swallowing the hull entirely!
Amidst the howling gale, the blazing vessel lifted from the river surface and drifted into the air!
Xu Ying had not paid close attention to the ship before, but only now did he have time to take in its intricate details.
The vessel possessed vermilion gunwales and a golden hull, its outer walls painted with ancient, sacred motifs.
The motifs along its flanks depicted phoenixes carrying twigs to build nests and ignite pyres, rising reborn from the ashes.
The prow was emblazoned with the Vermilion Bird amidst roaring fire.
The stern bore the likeness of Zhurong, a ferocious, grotesque god standing amidst an ocean of flames.
As the multideck boat soared into the sky against the gale, it grew larger and larger, and the fire aboard raged with ever-greater fury!
Expanding continuously, it climbed higher with the wind, incinerating the sky.
Suddenly, the phoenixes took flight from the ship's walls, the Vermilion Bird spread its wings, and Zhurong commanded the flames. The conflagration aboard swept outward, scorching the sky crimson!
Up in the heavens, the Plague God's tentacles sizzled as grease bubbled across them. Those colossal, squirming appendages twisted and shuddered in the fire.
Xu Ying's eyelid twitched. Not only had he whipped the Plague God, but he was also roasting the god with fire.
*The maiden in the coffin told me to keep whipping until I had no strength left. Do I keep going?*
At this thought, Xu Ying steeled his heart and yanked the long whip back, thinking, *The deity lords say I violated heavenly laws, and the official lords say I broke royal statutes. Neither the Netherworld nor the mortal realm has left me a way to live! Whipping a heavenly god today merely adds the heavenly realm to the list of places where I have no refuge! What does Xu Ying have to fear?*
The youth reeled in the whip, his chest swelling with bold defiance as he lashed toward the Plague God once more. "If this can dispel this great epidemic, what harm is there in scourging the Plague God? Plague God, let me send you on your way!"
He pulled back with all his might, and the three-to-four-li whip shrank rapidly, dwindling to only three or four zhang by the time it returned to his side. Yet as he lashed out again, the whip expanded into colossal proportions once more, its countless dragon sinews thrashing with such force that his arms went numb!
*Crack!*
Thunder clattered through the sky. The whip grew thicker and longer than before, its dragon sinews twisting and surging with supreme power as it smashed into the Plague God's tentacles, sending flesh and blood flying!
Chunks of flesh the size of small hills rained down from the sky. The heavenly god's blood poured like a waterfall, turning into a torrential downpour of gore that dyed heaven and earth crimson!
This realm was known as Zhudu. The plague had ravaged it until nine out of ten houses stood empty, corpses littering the land with no one left to bury them.
Across the realm of Zhudu, tens of thousands of Nuo masters looked up toward the sky, expressions of utter shock spreading across their faces.
A flaming boat sailed through the howling wind, burning furiously. Surrounding it were the wondrous apparitions of gods and demons—the Vermilion Bird, Zhurong, and phoenixes—stoking the flames ever higher!
Even the sky was ignited by the strange flames blazing from the burning ship, sizzling as it burned in empty air!
Suddenly, a flaming whip stretching ten li lashed out. Resembling countless dragons and serpents biting tail to head, it struck the firmament, cracking the sky as colossal fragments tumbled downward!
From the fissures torn across the heavens, blood cascaded down like a waterfall!
The Nuo masters of Zhudu were overcome with disbelief and alarm. Stories of the sky bleeding had long existed in legends, recorded in ancient texts or passed down through word of mouth, yet this was the very first time anyone had witnessed it with their own eyes!
Unable to see the Plague God in the sky, they saw only the burning ship and the whip of fire, which made it appear as though the heavens themselves had been set ablaze, shattered, and bled.
Even so, Zhudu was a great realm, home to no shortage of hidden masters who could perceive the anomaly in the sky. Yet the more clearly they could see, the more terror gripped their hearts.
That immense whip struck down again and again, lashing the Plague God ruthlessly, sending stray bolts of lightning darting across the sky and causing the god to convulse without end!
The Pure Yang anomalous fire permeating the heavens roasted the Plague God until fat dripped from its flesh and its form twisted. Coupled with the relentless lashings, the tentacles recoiled, forcing themselves back toward the Heavenly Dao world.
In the sky, the Plague God's boundless body was actually shrinking bit by bit.
This arrogant, overbearing heavenly god was being driven back into the Heavenly Dao world by that flaming ship and whip!
Not far from the Nai River, the maiden in the coffin stood quietly atop a hill. Her robes drifted gently in the breeze, lending her the air of an immortal maiden ready to take flight on the wind.
She looked gentle and serene, but the glances she cast toward the sky betrayed the turbulence in her heart.
At last, the burning ship took to the air, igniting the sky, and the long whip rose from the ground like a surging dragon, striking the Plague God overhead!
A faint smile touched the girl's lips.
Yet after that first strike, silence fell, and the second lash failed to follow.
The light in her eyes dimmed, and she murmured, "I cannot blame him. Anyone who witnessed such a terrifying sight would find it hard to press on..."
Just as the thought crossed her mind, a second strike soared into the heavens. Shrouded in blazing Pure Yang anomalous fire, the divine whip slammed mercilessly into the Plague God once more, rending its tentacles and sending gore flying!
The divine whip whipped up a ferocious gale that drove the burning boat forward, spreading the flames across the sky and roasting the god's countless tentacles until they squealed and popped!
A radiant smile broke across the maiden's face. "To defy the world and dare to become a Qi Refiner even today, when Qi Refinement has withered into extinction—he truly is just as reckless as I am!"
Her eyes shone brightly as she watched the sky, whispering, "Summoning the Plague God comes at no small price. Were it me, I would never allow someone to drive the god back into the Heavenly Dao world. I would certainly strike to eliminate the one sending the god off! I want to see who you people really are!"
Her eyes gleamed. These people had allowed the Plague God to slaughter the populace, diverted the Nai River, besieged Little Stone Mountain, and rescued her from the bottom of the well, only to vanish without a trace afterward.
She knew there had to be a conspiracy at work!
"We Qi Refiners cultivate against the will of heaven. If we dare defy heaven itself, how could we ever be manipulated by petty scoundrels like you?"
She scanned the sky, her eyes suddenly lighting up. Beneath the sea of fire, a figure was flying at high speed, heading straight for the source of the whip!
That was precisely where Xu Ying stood!
"Found you!"
Behind the maiden, a black coffin soared into the air, its chains thrashing as it surged toward the figure!
"Stay right where you are!"
Beneath the sea of fire, a burst of multicolored radiance erupted, shining brighter than the sun!
Xu Ying was still swinging the whip. The weapon grew longer and more formidable by the second, lashing the sky until blood poured like rain, while the burning boat turned into a raging inferno that set the Plague God's limbs ablaze one after another!
The Plague God's tentacles retracted steadily toward the Heavenly Dao world, on the verge of returning completely. Just then, the sky split open, and a colossal tentacle descended from above, crushing downward toward the place where the whip rose—where Xu Ying stood!
That tentacle descended like a massive finger. It was as though the Plague God had been driven to true fury and intended to squash the person who dared scourge and burn him into paste right where he stood!
The long whip in Xu Ying's hand had already caught fire, the flames creeping close to the handle, keeping his heart pounding in terror. Seeing that tentacle plunge from the heavens with his Heavenly Eye, he discarded the flaming whip without hesitation and sprinted away, shouting, "Lord Bell, run!"
The bronze bell was injured and could not move as swiftly. Xu Ying immediately pivoted, seized the bell's suspension loop, and bolted at breakneck speed!
Above them, space continually shattered. The Plague God's tentacle compressed the fractured void, sending thunder and fire churning and spilling in every direction.
*Boom!*
A terrifying shockwave swept outward, whipping up a hurricane that uprooted everything on the ground—trees, houses, boulders—hurling them all into the air!
Within the gale, a great bronze bell tumbled and rolled, ricocheting wildly, smashing against trees and boulders as it was hurled toward parts unknown.
Inside that bronze bell, a youth braced his limbs against the inner walls to keep from falling out.
Chapter 26