Xu Ying raised his hand and gently caressed the surging immortal fire. The flames coiled between his fingers like spiritual serpents.
From afar, this cave-heaven resembled a crescent moon furnace; stepping inside, the other shore revealed the Crimson Palace, brimming with immortal fire.
The Crimson Palace cave-heaven seemed to breathe in unison with his soul and share flesh and blood with his physical body. It gave him the distinct impression of being an extension of himself!
As he breathed, the Crimson Palace cave-heaven breathed as well!
This was his cave-heaven!
All these days, the Crimson Palace cave-heaven had been left cast aside here. Feng Xian'er had not taken it, nor had Xu Ying inquired about it. As for anyone else, they were even less likely to take it away.
The reputation of the Nuo method was already thoroughly ruined. Even the Crimson Palace cave-heaven once possessed by Nuo Fan could no longer arouse anyone's interest.
Now that Nuo Fan was dead and Xu Fu's soul remained broken and incomplete, this cave-heaven had no master. Or rather, it should be said that this cave-heaven had returned to its original owner!
The moment Xu Ying arrived and touched it, the cave-heaven reconnected with his bloodline!
"Why did Nuo Fan possess my cave-heaven?"
Xu Ying felt somewhat bewildered. From which lifetime of his physical body had Nuo Fan severed this Crimson Palace cave-heaven?
He suddenly recalled what he had witnessed in the Taiyi Minor Mystic Heaven.
When he was trapped in the Taiyi Minor Mystic Heaven, he had encountered its violent upheaval, which reenacted that ancient battle where Xu Ying destroyed the heaven-and-earth spirit root and slaughtered the strongest Qi Refiners of the myriad heavens and myriad realms.
That night, Lord Bell, Yuan Qi, Jiang Qi, and the others had entered the perspective of the Qi Refiners who had been slain by Xu Ying, whereas Xu Ying had entered the perspective of his past self.
Back then, Xu Ying had slaughtered in all directions, and he had seen six cave-heavens floating behind him, corresponding to the Mud Pill, Jade Capital, Jade Pool, Crimson Palace, Yellow Court, and Bubbling Spring!
In that battle, Xu Ying had exhausted his strength and plummeted into the Yuanshou world.
Could it be that back then, someone had severed his Crimson Palace cave-heaven?
Was his past self from that battle his very first lifetime?
"If Nuo Fan's Crimson Palace is mine, then what about Nuo Lu's Jade Pool? And Nuo Yang, Nuo Peng, Nuo Xiang, and Nuo Di—are their Mud Pill, Yellow Court, Bubbling Spring, and Jade Capital cave-heavens also mine?"
Xu Ying thought quietly to himself, *The Queen Mother of the West said my physical body is incomplete. Could she have been referring to the fact that my six secret cave-heavens were severed and taken from me?*
Before him, the immortal fire within the Crimson Palace surged forth, blazing fiercely, turning Jade Capital City into a sea of fire in an instant.
Bathed in the roaring immortal fire, Xu Ying remained entirely unharmed. As if tainted by his fury, the immortal fire grew frenzied and surged with destructive power capable of annihilating everything.
His six secret depositories had been severed, his memories sealed away, and his physical body, magic power, divine consciousness, and other accomplishments had all been sealed and suppressed.
Beyond that, they had dispatched Qi Refiners to monitor him, govern his destiny, and feed him the Soup of Meng Po every ten or so years to cleanse his memories. Then they would deliver him to a new location, instill him with new memories, and begin a new life.
For more than forty thousand years, he had spent his days in this muddled, ignorant state!
He clenched his fists tightly.
The immortal fire of the Crimson Palace swelled even more fiercely with his wrath. Wave after wave of flames surged and howled, and from within the sea of fire, a towering flame giant gradually rose, with four faces and eight arms, like an enraged god king!
Lu Wu was waiting for Xu Ying on the Divine Bridge. Bored to distraction, He suddenly saw the sea of fire roaring within Jade Capital City and His heart leapt. "What is this?"
He was filled with shock and bewilderment. Controlled by Xu Ying's wrath, the immortal fire from the Crimson Palace cave-heaven had condensed into an enraged god king formed of immortal flame. Such a phenomenon was something He had never witnessed before!
Xu Ying turned around and strode out of Jade Capital City, heading toward Him.
Behind the youth, the sea of fire swept forward, shifting alongside his movements. The roaring immortal fire continuously flowed into that cave-heaven, and even the enraged god king of immortal flame was sucked into the cave-heaven in a flash.
Lu Wu looked closely and saw that the enraged god king had not dissipated; rather, it stood firmly amidst the immortal fire.
*Without even realizing it, the lad of the Xu family has refined the cave-heaven's immortal fire into his own incarnation of wrath,* Lu Wu thought in astonishment. *Even Ascension stage Qi Refiners cannot achieve this! Perhaps only someone as powerful as I could reach such a step. When the lad of the Xu family escaped Kunlun, he must have been a feeble child. What happened after he fled?*
Restraining his roaring fury, Xu Ying concealed it within the Crimson Palace cave-heaven and strode toward Lu Wu, speaking in a low voice: "The enmity of being suppressed for over forty thousand years, the hatred of my home being destroyed—if I do not avenge this, I swear I am no man!"
Behind him, the massive Crimson Palace cave-heaven shifted in tandem with his movements, letting out a heavy rumble. Roaring immortal fire swirled like a crescent moon furnace, the flames emitting wondrous whistles akin to immortal whispers.
This cave-heaven was the one Xu Ying had opened back then using the ancestral method, refining nine into one to reach the utmost extreme; opening the cave-heaven allowed one to see the Crimson Palace.
Back then on Mount Kunlun, when Nuo Fan activated this cave-heaven, every Nuo cultivator who laid eyes upon it knelt in worship, calling him the Nuo ancestor!
One could well imagine just how shocking this Crimson Palace cave-heaven was!
At this moment, the resonance between Xu Ying and the Crimson Palace cave-heaven grew increasingly intimate, increasingly tight-knit, their bloodlines intertwined and their auras linked.
Suddenly, a buzzing hum rang out as one Crimson Palace cave-heaven after another flew out from behind Xu Ying, bright cave-heavens hanging against the celestial canopy.
These four cave-heavens were the Crimson Palace cave-heavens he had opened in this lifetime. Originally, Xu Ying had believed the cave-heavens he opened were already consummate, yet compared to the Crimson Palace from that lifetime, they were still vastly inferior.
*Whoosh—*
The four Crimson Palaces orbited the gigantic cave-heaven, then suddenly merged into the colossal cave-heaven one after another.
By the time Xu Ying walked up before Lu Wu, the five cave-heavens had already combined and fused into one, and the remaining cave-heaven shone with even greater brilliance.
With a slight thought from Xu Ying, the Realm of Xiyi emerged behind him. The massive Crimson Palace cave-heaven rotated and merged into the Realm of Xiyi, hanging behind the heart chamber immortal mountain, bright as a crescent moon furnace. It was as if the heart chamber immortal mountain rested right within the furnace.
He felt his heart beating with ever greater vigor, growing stronger and stronger.
The heart power immortal medicine surged like rolling billows from this cave-heaven, continuously smelted by the cave-heaven and refined into his qi and blood!
As his qi and blood circulated, he felt his strength climbing steadily. With merely a slight operation of the Crimson Palace cave-heaven, his strength skyrocketed by dozens or even a hundred times!
Only when the Crimson Palace ceased operating did this surging strength gradually recede.
At this moment, even without consuming primordial Dao essence, he could fully refine the harvested heart power immortal medicine relying solely on the Crimson Palace!
"Lu Wu, take me back to Yuzhu Peak. I wish to bid farewell to the Queen Mother of the West," Xu Ying said.
Hearing this, Lu Wu was startled. "You are leaving? Where will you go? You are an Undying Person of Kunlun, a lad of the Xu family from Yuxu Peak. This is your home; why do you wish to leave?"
"I want revenge," Xu Ying said indifferently, his tone light.
He wanted revenge.
To seek revenge against the beings who had suppressed and imprisoned him in a dream, against those who orchestrated his fate, against those who severed his physical body to plunder his secret depositories, and against those lofty gods of the Heavenly Dao!
Remaining in Kunlun would only grant him the protection of the Queen Mother of the West; it could never wipe clean his hatred and enact his vengeance!
Carrying him, Lu Wu transformed into a streak of sunset radiance and headed straight for Yuzhu Peak.
At the Jade Pool of Yuzhu Peak, Xu Ying met with the Queen Mother of the West. When this divine mother made contact with his divine consciousness, She knew his will was unyielding and that once his mind was made up, it could not be swayed. Thus She said, "The Immortal Realm will move against Kunlun once again. I need to borrow the immortal maiden's power to relocate Kunlun to another world to evade the Immortal Realm's pursuit. She cannot accompany you to Yuanshou."
Xu Ying felt a pang of loss. "Is the immortal maiden still Yuan Weiyang?"
The Queen Mother of the West spoke with profound meaning: "Her situation differs from yours. You have never died in this lifetime; the you from forty-eight thousand years ago is still the you of today. She is different. Yuan Weiyang is her, but she is not merely Yuan Weiyang."
Xu Ying inquired, "With parting imminent, may I see her one more time?"
The Queen Mother of the West nodded.
Xu Ying saw Yuan Weiyang once more. The female immortal's power was already no less than that of the Queen Mother of the West. Immortal Dao talismans swirled around her, chiming like pendant jade ornaments.
Immortal radiance overflowed from her body, entwined with immortal qi.
Her divine consciousness connected to the myriad heavens and myriad realms, and behind her, a seated Primordial Spirit rested—boundlessly vast, resembling a jade-carved deity.
Her eyes were half-open and half-closed, harboring immortal radiance within.
The cave-heaven seal connecting Kunlun to the Immortal Realm had already been opened by her. The female immortal was bathed in the Immortal Realm's energy, immensely powerful, as pure as the Dao itself, seemingly devoid of human emotion.
Seeing this immortal maiden, Xu Ying knew the Queen Mother of the West had spoken the truth. This immortal maiden was not merely Yuan Weiyang. She was also Feng Xue'er, and she was also Yan Bao'er.
Likewise, she was countless other reincarnations.
She was an immortal maiden residing high in the Immortal Realm, unstained by the mortal dust, her Dao heart pristine and free of any encumbrance.
Could such a being still possess mortal emotions?
Xu Ying hesitated for a moment, then turned and departed.
Yuan Weiyang opened her eyes and parted her lips as if to speak, yet she held her words back after all, merely watching in silence as he descended the mountain.
*I have already recalled the past, yet he has not remembered it yet,* she thought quietly to herself.
Xu Ying called upon Yuan Qi and the big bell and arrived at Tianyong City on Yuzhu Peak. This was the divine city sheltered by the Pearl Tree, situated on the opposite cliff, originally the dwelling place of the feathered people.
However, the feathered people were already extinct, and now it was completely vacant.
The purple immortal plant was hung upside down outside the city. From time to time, a whip phantom would lash out from nowhere and strike the purple immortal plant with a sharp crack, making the grave-mound weed twitch.
Xu Ying bowed and said, "Brother Pearl Tree, could you grant me a bit of face?"
The Pearl Tree paused, then released the purple immortal plant.
The purple immortal plant floated over, hobbling along, and collapsed onto the big snake's forehead, lying motionless.
It had finally grown much better behaved.
Xu Ying led them down the mountain, walking toward the exit of the Kunlun Ruins. Just as they reached the foot of the mountain, a familiar voice called out, "Grand Elder, you truly are still in Kunlun."
Xu Ying followed the sound and saw a young girl standing in the distance, graceful and pretty, a golden bell hanging at her wrist, waving toward them.
A bright moon hovered behind the girl's head, with a sword gate within the moon.
Xu Ying stepped forward and said in surprise, "Sect Master Shi, you haven't left yet?"
Shi Yuqing smiled and said, "Quite a few people haven't left. Kunlun rarely reemerges; even if one cannot find an immortal opportunity, it is still wonderful to gather some immortal herbs and immortal plants. These days in the mountains, I discovered some precious materials for artifact refining, and thinking that you lacked a flying sword, I planned to forge a fine flying sword for you."
Xu Ying shook his head and said, "I likely have no use for a flying sword. No sword can withstand the strength of my physical body."
These words were no jest. Having reclaimed his Crimson Palace cave-heaven, merely activating the Crimson Palace caused power comparable to that of a primordial behemoth to surge within him!
In his hands, an ordinary flying sword would shatter to pieces under the slightest exertion of force!
Shi Yuqing frowned slightly and said, "You are the Grand Elder of our Mount Shu Sword Sect. How could you lack a handy sword?"
The two conversed as they walked outward.
On Yuzhu Peak of Mount Kunlun, the immortal maiden's vast Primordial Spirit quietly watched them, gazing as they drifted farther and farther away.
Suddenly feeling a stirring in his heart, Xu Ying turned back to look. He saw the Kunlun mountains pristine as though washed clean, beneath a clear, radiant sky, while the myriad heavens and myriad realms drew ever closer to Kunlun, displaying bizarre and vibrant colors.
He withdrew his gaze and headed toward the exit of the Kunlun Ruins alongside Shi Yuqing.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, Sect Master Shi!"
When they reached the Great Snow Mountain, a voice suddenly called out. Xu Ying and Shi Yuqing looked over and saw a black-robed youth hurrying toward them.
Shi Yuqing said, "It is Sect Master Luo of the Taiyin Sect."
The black-robed youth smiled and said, "I am Luo Xinghe. Are you two returning to the Sword Sect? We happen to be traveling the same way. Why not go together?"
Xu Ying took a deep look at him and said, "I was wondering why Sect Master Luo looked so familiar; it turns out I beat you once."
Luo Xinghe said awkwardly, "No friendship without a fight. Back on the Divine Bridge, I was only focused on seeking immortal opportunities and didn't realize I had provoked Brother Xu."
Xu Ying said, "Ignorance brings no blame. Since our paths align, let us walk together."
Shi Yuqing suggested, "It is quite a long journey to the Sword Sect. Why not fly back on our swords?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "Let us walk instead. Constantly flying through the sky makes it easy to overlook the scenery on the ground."
Shi Yuqing looked at him in surprise. Walking on foot was much slower, and navigating through the mountains made it easy to lose one's way. However, since Xu Ying suggested it, she naturally would not object.
Xu Ying walked at the front. Although his steps did not look fast, he utilized his magic power to shrink the earth into inches, making his pace remarkably swift. At first, Shi Yuqing could keep up, but as Xu Ying began opening his stride, she gradually fell behind.
Yuan Qi, on the other hand, had consumed the immortal medicine bestowed by the Queen Mother of the West, greatly advancing his cultivation and magic power, and was actually able to keep pace with Xu Ying.
Shi Yuqing was shocked inwardly: *How did their strength rise so rapidly? Wait, Sect Master Luo's strength is astonishingly high as well, able to keep up with the Grand Elder!*
Left behind and falling farther from Xu Ying and the others, she had no choice but to take to the air, transforming into a streak of sword qi to chase after them.
After pursuing for a moment, she caught up with Yuan Qi, only to see that Yuan Qi had also been left behind. She felt an inexplicable shock: *The Grand Elder is a youth like a divine dragon, so it is fine that his speed is so great. But Sect Master Luo was someone defeated by the Grand Elder in a single strike—how can he keep up with him? Could he have encountered some wondrous opportunity?*
Luo Xinghe steadily followed right behind Xu Ying. Hearing that Xu Ying's breathing remained measured without the slightest panting, he felt deep admiration for his profound cultivation.
Xu Ying's voice came, calm and unhurried: "The old sect master possesses thousands of transformations and took advantage of Kunlun's reemergence to enter Kunlun as well. Kunlun is filled with young men and women who have formed Golden Cores—all precious gems and fine talents, perfect for you to possess."
Luo Xinghe said in surprise, "What is Brother Xu talking about? Why can't I understand?"
Xu Ying's expression remained tranquil as he said, "Old Sect Master Tao originally planned to harvest the Sword Sect once more, but now you have changed your mind and decided to harvest the Taiyin Sect instead. Yet you shouldn't have appeared before me. Tao Danyang, you were struck by my supreme sword Dao, and the sword qi I left in your body remains unrefined. From the moment you drew near me, I knew it was you."
Tao Danyang fell silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled. "Last time at the Sword Sect, you held the advantage of heaven, earth, and men, and you had the immortal sword Siwuxie at your side, forcing me to retreat. This time, what do you have?"
Xu Ying smiled and said, "You occupied Luo Xinghe's body and refined him into your second Primordial Spirit and external avatar. Yet Luo Xinghe is merely at the Intersection-Refinement stage and has yet to cultivate a Primordial Spirit. You should not have come to see me in this state. You should have brought your other avatars and faced me in your strongest form."
Tao Danyang laughed heartily. "Thanks to you, out of my seventeen thousand cave-heavens, only nine thousand remain. But nine thousand cave-heavens are more than enough. Moreover, how do you know I did not bring my other avatars?"
Xu Ying came to a sudden halt, spun around, and unleashed a punch!
Tao Danyang roared furiously as nine thousand cave-heavens materialized behind him in an instant, their radiant halos crowding the sky behind him in a flash!
Right at this moment, rumbles and tremors echoed behind Xu Ying, and a massive Crimson Palace cave-heaven emerged, causing the nine thousand cave-heavens to lose all their luster!
Activating the Crimson Palace cave-heaven, a thought sprang into Xu Ying's mind: *Just how powerful is the ultimate cave-heaven opened by the ancestral method?*
*Boom!*
An unimaginable force surged through his entire body in an instant. Xu Ying's strength skyrocketed; every blood vessel, every muscle, every sinew was inundated with wild, pure power!
His heartbeat thundered like a thunder god beating a war drum. His qi and blood billowed, linking with the cave-heaven's immortal fire. As his fist struck out, the space for dozens of li ahead was blasted into a vacuum, jet-black and desolate, as if even the light had been hammered solid!
Tao Danyang's expression altered drastically as he felt an indescribable destructive force sweeping toward him. With his current body, there was no way he could withstand it!
He hastily mobilized the external avatars and second Primordial Spirits concealed within his Realm of Xiyi. Dozens of figures—men, women, the elderly, and the young—flew out from his Realm of Xiyi one after another!
These were his external avatars, each containing a second Primordial Spirit. The cultivation of these bodies was exceptionally high; every single one was a great master at the Ascension stage!
As long as he activated these avatars, slaying Xu Ying would be effortless, wouldn't it?
Behind them, Shi Yuqing and Yuan Qi flew forward on their swords when a mushroom cloud suddenly surged into the air ahead. Subsequently, a violent blast wave struck out in all directions, turning into roaring flames that melted rocks and vaporized rivers!
Filled with shock and bewilderment, they hastily dodged this terrifying impact. Once the aura had settled slightly, Shi Yuqing was the first to rush forward.
Below, a colossal crater spanning more than ten li met her eyes, strewn with corpses lying scattered in disarray.
Across the sky and earth, over nine thousand cave-heavens lay scattered in shambles, embedded everywhere.
Many cave-heavens were still whistling and rotating, evidently still in an active state moments ago.
Xu Ying stood in the center of the crater, blood still dripping from his fist with pattering sounds.
Shi Yuqing hurriedly landed beside him and asked, "Grand Elder, what happened? Where is Sect Master Luo Xinghe?"
Xu Ying said, "Luo Xinghe was already dead back in Kunlun. Your master, Tao Danyang, possessed him and refined him into a second Primordial Spirit and external avatar. I saw through his identity and lured him here for a decisive battle."
Shi Yuqing was startled. "Where is that old villain?"
Xu Ying wiped the blood from his hand and said indifferently, "Shattered all over the place."
His figure drifted into the air, his voice floating down from above: "He underestimated his enemy and came to meet me with Luo Xinghe's avatar. He lost by a single move."
Losing by a single move meant death.
Chapter 265