Xu Fu sat kneeling there motionless, as if he had not heard his words.
Wind still howled through the heavens. The battle had ended, yet pieces of severed flesh and blood from the heavenly gods still hung suspended in the sky, with blood still dripping and flowing through midair.
Some of the gods' flesh and blood had fallen into the Kunlun Mountains. This gore possessed terrifying vitality and retained the attributes of Heavenly Dao; the moment it touched the ground, it transformed into bizarre Heavenly Dao creatures that scurried about slyly in all directions.
Lu Wu was thoroughly energized, bounding back and forth through the Kunlun Mountains. At times he reared upright like a human, brandishing sharp claws to strike at those Heavenly Dao creatures; at other times his nine tails whipped around, smashing them to pieces with resounding thuds.
The battle had ended before he could even fight to his heart's content.
He wished he could drag those heavenly gods back out for another round, but now he could only vent his itch on these Heavenly Dao creatures. "Just now, that was how I struck, taking on six of them all at once!..."
The wind blew like the passage of years, howling past.
"Four thousand years ago, Zulong conscripted the three thousand prominent sects. The Ascension-stage experts of those three thousand sects brought their sect-guarding immortal artifacts and gathered in Xianyang to pry open my skull."
Xu Ying sat beside Xu Fu, watching the clouds gather and disperse over the Kunlun Mountains. His mood drifted like those clouds, curling and unfurling. He tried his best to keep his expression calm as he recounted the history of the past. The deciphering method for the character 'Guo' that Xu Fu had given him had stirred up even more of his memories. The recollection of that lifetime—crossing the sea in search of the immortal mountain and the immortal medicine—grew clearer and clearer.
"Immortal radiance enveloped Xianyang, making the imperial capital resemble the Immortal Realm. Since ancient times, few emperors possessed such commanding authority, but Zulong achieved it. Three thousand sects exhausted all their wisdom and tried everything possible to probe the seals on my memories. Back then, I was merely Xu Ying, a shepherd boy from the northwest. I watched you all in terror, powerless to resist," Xu Ying said calmly.
The years were too distant; to him, memories from four thousand years ago were like gazing upon an ancient scroll.
Though Xu Ying knew he had suffered greatly throughout the bygone eras, he had never imagined that the suffering was so sinister and dreadful—to the point that even now, recalling that time sent a shiver through him.
The scene of three thousand sect-guarding immortal artifacts cracking the seals on his first life's memories had been sheer torture to him—a torment worse than death. Moreover, the torture had lasted so long that his spirit shattered and his personality collapsed. At long last, Zulong, Xu Fu, and the others managed to pry open a hairline sliver of the seal.
"A portion of my memories awakened. I didn't know whether I should hate you or thank you. Hate you for torturing me for your selfish desires, or thank you for helping me pry open a sliver of the seal. Heh... how dared you." A smile appeared on Xu Ying's face. "Yet I knew that with my strength back then, I could never confront the ones who sealed me. If they could plot against me at my peak and strike me down, defeating me as I was then would have been effortless. I had to prepare for the future."
He spoke as if recounting something unrelated to himself: "While crossing the sea, I finally figured it out. Zulong was using me. He wanted immortality for himself alone, to rule the world forever. He was a tyrant who would do anything for eternal life. If he obtained the immortal mountain and the immortal medicine, he would rule the world for eternity, and the ages to follow would be unimaginably dark. Therefore, neither the immortal medicine nor the immortal mountain could be entrusted to him.
"The young boys and girls of the three thousand sects were also using me, each harboring their own sinister motives. Some sought eternal life; some wanted to achieve immortality; some plotted to present my head to claim rewards and merit; others wanted to find the immortal mountain and keep the medicine for themselves. None of them were the right choice to possess the mountain and the medicine either. I calculated back and forth, and in the end, I decided to leave the immortal mountain and the immortal medicine to you—the most unsuitable person of all."
Xu Ying stood up and gazed into the distance. "You are cold and callous. You view human lives like insects, merely numbers. How many people are sacrificed, or who is sacrificed, matters not to you at all. As long as your goal is achieved, anything is worthwhile. If the immortal mountain and immortal medicine fell into the hands of someone like you, you would only bring about an even greater catastrophe."
Xu Fu sat there, vacant and dazed.
Xu Ying continued, "You are extraordinarily brilliant. When you see others' divine powers, you can learn them. When you see sect-guarding immortal artifacts, you can even deduce the meaning of the Immortal Dao runes upon them and craft replicas. Even my own divine powers—after watching them a few times, you could execute them passably well. With talent like yours, you were practically another me."
Xu Fu's eyes held no light whatsoever, only murky chaos.
"Yet you were also exceedingly dangerous. Aboard the grand ships, you could plot against anyone, treating them as sacrifices and tools. In your eyes, they weren't people at all; they were lower creatures whose only purpose in existing was to be sacrificed so we could survive."
Xu Ying said, "You could use and sacrifice even those closest to you; the girl who loved you was treated as a sacrifice as well. You had no friends, and you needed no friends. Yet you treated me as a friend—something that puzzled me and touched me alike. A person like you... I should have killed you."
Xu Ying repeated, "I should have killed you. When my finger pierced your forehead, I suddenly hesitated. I fed you the immortal medicine and gave you Mount Fangzhang. You asked me why I tried to kill you, and back then, I gave no answer. Now, I answer you: for all that you have done, you deserved to die."
Xu Fu remained seated like withered wood.
"Why save you then, and let you live? Probably because I truly needed you."
Xu Ying sighed with melancholy. "I needed someone to stay far away from the Yuanshou continent and survive the Great Purge. I needed this person to carry the golden book and help me decipher the words upon it. And I needed this person to return to Yuanshou at the right time carrying the golden book. Whether he came to seek vengeance or to aid me, he would use the golden book, and he would grant me hope. This person's intellect had to be exceptionally high."
Back then, he had left Xu Fu overseas and returned to Shenzhou alone. The moment his feet touched the Yuanshou continent, he was met with suppression and sealing by the immortals and gods. Yet hope had already been planted.
Two thousand years later, Xu Fu ended his two millennia of wandering at sea and returned with the golden book and the immortal mountain. Finally, one day, having made ample preparations, he decided to seek vengeance against Xu Ying.
He wanted to turn Xu Ying into his shadow, into another version of himself! He wanted to prove through his actions that Xu Ying had been wrong and he had been right!
He would accomplish a grand feat that even Xu Ying could not achieve: restore the Qi Refiners, revive their glory, and recreate the prosperous era of old!
He had planned for two thousand years, until one day he slaughtered the people of Zhudu, using their corpses to sacrifice to the Plague God, summoning him to bring down catastrophe and triggering the great plague of the Kingdom of Zhudu.
The Nai River of the Netherworld was diverted because of this, setting off the collision between the realms of Yin and Yang. Yet from the moment he produced the golden book in an attempt to manipulate Xu Ying, matters gradually drifted back onto the track Xu Ying had laid down four thousand years ago.
"Four thousand years ago, I used one finger to pierce your forehead, leaving a wound that would not heal for four thousand years. That finger tormented you for four thousand years."
Xu Ying walked toward the outskirts of the Jade Capital, his voice drifting farther and growing fainter. "You used the Jade Pool immortal water to heal your Dao wound, but that finger strike had already been branded into your mind. When the Immortal Seal destroyed everything of yours, the divine power of that finger strike preserved a sliver of your remnant soul.
"Ah Fu, you lost."
Standing upon the God Bridge, Xu Ying waved from afar. "I played the fool for four thousand years, but you still lost."
On the ruins of the Altar of Heaven in the Jade Capital, Xu Fu knelt upon the ground, two streams of tears rolling from his eyes.
Feng Xian'er stood beside him, at a loss at the sight. Suddenly, she realized something. Surprised and overjoyed, she looked toward Xu Fu. A massive hole still gaped in Xu Fu's head, completely empty inside save for a cluster of radiance, yet it seemed to gradually harbor a sliver of life.
Feng Xian'er took him away from Kunlun, returning to the parasol tree on Mount Jiuyi to settle down.
Beneath the parasol tree lay a desolate grave. No one knew who was buried within, and no one ever came to pay respects.
Feng Xian'er lived in the palace within the parasol tree. Birds and beasts from the surrounding mountains came to pay homage, and Qi Refiners also came seeking instruction. Feng Xian'er taught them cultivation techniques and awakened the power of primordial bloodlines within the beasts, gradually taking root on Mount Jiuyi. The young man beside her, whose head held only a cluster of radiance, was called Foolish Ah Fu by the beasts and Qi Refiners near Mount Jiuyi.
Foolish Ah Fu often went to sit beside the desolate grave beneath the tree, sitting there for entire days. He did not cultivate, nor did he listen to the lectures.
"...passably well. With talent like yours, you were practically another me." Xu Fu's eyes had held no radiance, only murky chaos. "Yet you were also exceedingly dangerous. Aboard the grand ships, you could plot against anyone, treating them as sacrifices and tools. In your eyes, they weren't people at all; they were lower creatures whose only purpose in existing was to be sacrificed so we could survive."
Xu Ying had said, "You could use and sacrifice even those closest to you; the girl who loved you was treated as a sacrifice as well. You had no friends, and you needed no friends. Yet you treated me as a friend—something that puzzled me and touched me alike. A person like you... I should have killed you."
Xu Ying had repeated, "I should have killed you. When my finger pierced your forehead, I suddenly hesitated. I fed you the immortal medicine and gave you Mount Fangzhang. You asked me why I tried to kill you, and back then, I gave no answer. Now, I answer you: for all that you have done, you deserved to die."
Xu Fu had remained seated like withered wood.
"Why save you then, and let you live? Probably because I truly needed you."
Xu Ying had sighed with melancholy. "I needed someone to stay far away from the Yuanshou continent and survive the Great Purge. I needed this person to carry the golden book and help me decipher the words upon it. And I needed this person to return to Yuanshou at the right time carrying the golden book. Whether he came to seek vengeance or to aid me, he would use the golden book, and he would grant me hope. This person's intellect had to be exceptionally, exceptionally high."
Back then, he had left Xu Fu overseas and returned to Shenzhou alone. The moment his feet touched the Yuanshou continent, he was met with suppression and sealing by the immortals and gods. Yet hope had already been planted.
Two thousand years later, Xu Fu had ended his two millennia of wandering at sea and returned with the golden book and the immortal mountain. Finally, one day, having made ample preparations, he decided to seek vengeance against Xu Ying.
He wanted to turn Xu Ying into his shadow, into another version of himself! He wanted to prove through his actions that Xu Ying had been wrong and he had been right! He would accomplish a grand feat that even Xu Ying could not achieve: restore the Qi Refiners, revive their glory, and recreate the prosperous era of old!
"Since you were only using me, why did you leave behind a divine finger strike to preserve my life?" With a stalk of foxtail grass dangling from his mouth, Ah Fu lay on his back atop the grave mound, resting his hands behind his head. Silently, he thought in his heart, "Did you... consider me a friend...?"
On Yuzhu Peak of Kunlun, broken bricks and shattered tiles hovered in midair, layering and fusing together. Under the intervention of vast divine power, the ancient temples in the ruins seemed to experience time flowing in reverse, allowing the once-glorious architecture to manifest its bygone splendor anew.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang arrived at Yuzhu Peak just in time to witness white jade forming steps and jade stones paving a pathway, clattering and stacking continuously before them. As they ascended the mountain, the jade pathway paved itself all the way up.
Lu Wu followed behind them, scampering back and forth and whooping constantly as he eliminated every danger in the mountains one by one. At times he dragged a frozen ancient corpse from a mountain stream; at other times he blasted apart the skull of a heavenly god.
The closer they drew to the summit, the more diligently he worked.
Yuan Qi and the big bell also hurried over, joining him in working tirelessly to clear away the dangers on the mountain.
"Seventh Master, aren't we being a bit too obvious with our fawning? Won't people laugh at us for stooping so low, sucking up to the Queen Mother of the West just to coax out a few treasures?" the big bell asked uneasily.
Yuan Qi replied, "No matter how low we stoop, can we be any lower than Lu Wu? He grew nine tails just so he could wag them all! Lord Bell, let's just keep currying favor. If the Queen Mother of the West bestows even a bit of treasure, it'll last us a lifetime!"
Hearing this, the big bell said, "Let the Queen Mother of the West see how hard we work and how we risk our lives, so she'll bestow even more treasures! By the way, Seventh Master, bite your tongue and spit some blood on me so it looks like I fought a bloody battle... Wait, don't bite your tongue with your fangs! Seventh Master! Wake up, Seventh Master?!"
The purple immortal plant scurried around Yuan Weiyang, sizing up the young maiden with deep suspicion. It gestured toward Xu Ying as if asking: *Why does the girl beside you look different from the girl who used to be by your side?*
Xu Ying's face darkened, and he made a throat-slashing gesture.
The purple immortal plant sat on Yuan Weiyang's shoulder, waving its roots in an unspoken threat: *If you slit my throat, I'll control this girl and slit hers.*
Xu Ying reached out to grab it, but the immortal plant hastily slipped away.
As they passed the paddy field, the purple immortal plant spotted the stalk of rice and grew immensely excited. Flailing its roots, it immediately pounced over, intending to absorb the immortal rice to nourish itself!
In the next moment, the immortal plant was pinned to the ground and beaten senseless by the immortal rice stalk. It fled back in panic and hid behind Xu Ying.
The immortal rice had uprooted itself, its roots dancing as it charged over aggressively like a glittering golden god of slaughter.
"Brother Rice, give me some face, give me some face!" Xu Ying bowed repeatedly. Recognizing him, the immortal rice let the matter drop.
Halfway up the mountain, the purple immortal plant noticed the Pearl Tree across the cliff and was overjoyed, pouncing straight toward it.
A moment later, the immortal plant was strung up outside the city wall by the Pearl Tree, being whipped stroke after stroke.
Xu Ying pretended not to see, pulling Yuan Weiyang along as he hurried up the mountain.
Yuan Weiyang kept glancing back. "Ah Ying, are we leaving it be?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "That immortal tree whips even Feng Yao and the Qingluan without hesitation; ordinary immortals probably wouldn't stand a chance against it either. Even if we gang up on it, we wouldn't beat it. We'd probably end up strung up outside the walls getting our bottoms spanked alongside Lord Grass."
They finally arrived at the mountain summit. The Jade Pool had taken on an entirely new look, though the cave-heaven connecting to the Immortal Realm remained sealed.
As Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang reached the edge of the Jade Pool, a majestic female voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"Scion of the Xu family, have you been well?"
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang turned their heads to see a peerlessly noble goddess walking out from layers of divine light.
As she emerged from the divine light, the radiance paved the ground in exquisite magnificence, like the hem of her gown, while more divine light drifted upward into splendid sashes, encircling layer upon layer and fluttering beyond Yuzhu Peak.
She was the God of Kunlun, the Mother of All Gods:
The Queen Mother of the West.
Chapter 262