Beichenzi sneered, "Xu Ying, telling you how to retrieve the altar would violate my oath. I swore a lethal oath; I would certainly die. If I don't tell you, I will still die. Death either way makes no difference to me."
Fairy Yutang called out loudly, "Exactly! If we tell him, our deaths will be even more agonizing! If we keep silent, even if we die, those above will preserve our souls!"
Xu Ying raised a hand. Fairy Yutang flew into the air involuntarily, floating spread-eagled in midair.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of loud explosions rang out as Xu Ying forced every realm out of her body, destroying them one by one.
Fairy Yutang chuckled. "Xu, it's useless! Even if you kill us, grind our bones to dust, scatter our ashes, and shred our souls, the immortals can still bring us back to life!"
Beichenzi laughed heartily. "Well said! We may have fallen in this lifetime, but in our next life, through the arrangements of the immortals, we will rise to greatness and become immortals as well!"
The two spurred each other on. Fairy Yutang said, "Back then, our predecessors ascended and became immortals—we saw it with our own eyes!"
"The immortals will never abandon their loyal servants!" cried Beichenzi, blood staining his white hair.
Fairy Yutang exclaimed with excitement, "In our next life, we will ascend to immortality!"
Beichenzi shouted, "In our next life, we become immortals!"
The two grew increasingly fanatical, showing no fear of death at all. In fact, they wished Xu Ying would kill them right now so the immortals could salvage them and reincarnate them into future immortals!
Xu Ying said unhurriedly, "Your predecessors ascended into the abyss of Weixu to serve as fertilizer."
Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang turned deaf ears to him, continuing to yell and shout in fanatical fervor.
Xu Ying said, "So it was for Fu Yi's predecessor. Before he died, he was just as fanatical as you two."
Gradually, their cries grew quiet. Fairy Yutang asked hoarsely, "Fu Yi is dead?"
Xu Ying nodded gently. "When he tried to disclose the secret of the two demon-quelling runes, immortal insects devoured him clean. Nothing was left of him."
The corners of their eyes twitched. Fairy Yutang asked, "Immortal insects?"
Xu Ying said, "Extremely tiny insects whose bodies are structured from Immortal Dao runes, virtually invisible to the naked eye. When you took over the post of watchers all those years ago, you swore an oath before an immortal talisman from the Immortal Realm. As you took the oath, the talisman burned, and the drifting smoke burrowed into your bodies. That smoke was the insects."
Cold sweat beaded on Beichenzi's forehead. Xu Ying's description was so precise it was as if he had witnessed it firsthand.
That was precisely how they had taken over as watchers back then. The immortal talisman burned, and indeed, smoke had entered their nostrils as though it were alive!
"Your predecessors' ascension was not an ascension at all. They flew into Weixu and became fertilizer," Xu Ying continued.
In a weathered voice, Beichenzi said, "Impossible! I saw his ascension with my own eyes!"
Fairy Yutang added in haste, "That's right! My predecessor underwent the tribulation and ascended right in front of me! Her heavenly tribulation was exceptionally weak—she said it was a special privilege granted by the Immortal Realm!"
Xu Ying struck at their core. "We can go to the places where your predecessors ascended and find the ascension light. I can let you see for yourselves whether their ascension site was Weixu."
He wanted these two to die with absolute clarity, carrying the despair and resentment of having been deceived for over three thousand years!
Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang exchanged a glance.
Beichenzi said hoarsely, "The place where my predecessor ascended isn't far from here. He ascended in Lingxu Blessed Land."
Xu Ying smiled. "Then we shall go to Lingxu."
He drew in his Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground, keeping Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang imprisoned inside it. Just as Xu Ying was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a faint gleam showing where High God Tianji had died.
High God Tianji had died utterly. Xu Ying knew that heavenly gods possessed exceptionally resilient vitality; so long as their Heavenly Dao runes were not shattered, killing them was exceedingly difficult.
Therefore, his sword strike had destroyed all of High God Tianji's Heavenly Dao runes, leaving not a shred of life behind. Where, then, did this light come from?
Xu Ying stepped forward and raised his hand gently. From the god's flesh and blood, a strange jade immortal talisman floated up. The radiance was emanating from this very talisman.
Xu Ying wiped away the bloodstains on the talisman and examined it closely. Written on it in Dao script were the two characters "Yuanshou." The bird-and-worm seal script characters were marvelous, vaguely resonating with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth of the Yuanshou world.
"What is this?"
Xu Ying activated the immortal talisman. Suddenly, a beam of light shot straight into the firmament, piercing through the clouds and illuminating beyond the heavens.
He looked up and saw a vast river flowing across the opening, and behind the river seemed to lie another world entirely.
"This immortal talisman is rather interesting. I'll keep it for now. Once I settle my urgent business, if I find time, I can take a look beyond the heavens."
He stowed the mortal-descending immortal talisman and set out for Lingxu Blessed Land.
Xu Ying had just departed when he suddenly sensed something. Looking toward the East Sea, he felt a strange tremor pulsing across the waters.
The tremor felt familiar to him.
After a brief hesitation, he continued on toward Lingxu Blessed Land.
Over the East Sea, Nuo Ancestor Nuo Yang had just slaughtered several anglers. He was about to put away his Yellow Court cave-heaven when a sudden sense of alarm seized him. He thrust an upturned palm skyward and barked, "Who's there?"
Boom!
A Twelve-Storyed Mansions crashed down upon him, ablaze with divine radiance. The imprints of the Twelve Signs of the Primordial Spirit emerged from within the structure, each sign embodying an ultimate realm of the Primordial Spirit Great Dao incomprehensible to ordinary men!
Nuo Yang possessed peerlessly powerful divine consciousness and immense magical power; otherwise, he could never have killed three anglers whose cultivation and strength had reached the pinnacle.
Yet the instant his divine power clashed with the pavilions, it was immediately crushed. Nuo Yang's white hair flew in the wind, and an azure immortal snake beneath his feet soared into the air, bracing against the Twelve-Storyed Mansions!
Under the crushing weight, the azure immortal snake shuddered violently and shrank inward, but it still managed to hold back the divine building.
A soft murmur of surprise came from above, followed by a woman's laughter: "The Nuo Ancestor's cultivation is formidable indeed, able to catch even my master's supreme treasure. Truly impressive."
A woman in court dress stood on the top floor of the Twelve-Storyed Mansions. Pushing open the lattice window, she looked down at Nuo Yang with amusement in her eyes.
Nuo Yang's heart pounded in terror. He immediately recognized the origins of this building. Resisting its crushing force with all his might, he shouted, "Young lady, your master and I hailed from the same immortal sect and served as officials in the same court back then! How dare you strike at me? There must be a misunderstanding!"
The woman in court attire was none other than Hua Cuoying. She had been tracking Xu Ying and Chu Xiangxiang, but having failed to find either of them, she had caught wind of strange fluctuations over the East Sea and hurried here.
Upon arriving, she saw Nuo Ancestor Nuo Yang killing people, so she unleashed the Twelve-Storyed Mansions to strike him down.
"You think yourself worthy of sharing a sect with my master?"
Hua Cuoying sneered with a laugh, "My master said that the six of you back then were nothing more than shameless cowards and deserters who didn't even dare set foot on the battlefield, cowering in the rear. It was my master and his peers who charged to the front lines, trading life and death with the enemy. Yet when the spoils were divided later, all six of you jumped out to snatch the six Nuo Ancestor cave-heavens!"
She scoffed, "Master also said that after snatching the six Nuo Ancestor cave-heavens, you six banded together against him, or else he would have reclaimed them long ago. You have kept the Nuo Ancestor cave-heavens for so long—now it is time to return them to Master!"
Nuo Yang snorted coldly. Back then, the six immortals had been frightened out of their wits by the Great Villain and had not charged into the fray. Because of that, they survived, which allowed them to claim a share when the spoils were divided.
Yet for Hua Cuoying to mock them over this was impudent.
Those who survived back then were not the strongest, but those who hid best—and that included Hua Cuoying's master!
None of the survivors had charged to the forefront. Everyone at the very front had died!
'You underestimate me!'
Nuo Yang's wrath flared. 'That entity in Weixu didn't even come in person, sending only a disciple—he looks down on me! Ah, that's right, he doesn't dare leave Weixu because he doesn't possess a Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven and cannot refine immortal medicine to prolong his life as we do! If he leaves Weixu, he will age and die!'
Reassured, his gaze settled on the Twelve-Storyed Mansions.
'These Twelve-Storyed Mansions must be the Great Villain's pavilions—the realm we excised from his body and refined into a treasure! Sending your disciple with this treasure to confront me, aren't you simply delivering it into my hands?'
Behind Nuo Yang, the Yellow Court cave-heaven shone with blinding brilliance, brighter than the sun, and his divine consciousness instantly swelled to terrifying proportions!
Through the visualization of divine consciousness, one could coalesce Dao images and even manifest the myriad things of heaven and earth!
Such was the power of the Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven in his grasp. Even ordinary immortals fell far short of his divine consciousness!
This time, rather than visualizing divine powers and Dao images, he intended to rely on raw divine consciousness to disperse Hua Cuoying's consciousness, extinguishing her thoughts and awareness entirely!
When that happened, wouldn't this building naturally fall into his hands?
Sensing that world-shaking divine consciousness, Hua Cuoying was filled with dread. She immediately unleashed her lethal technique: on every floor of the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, the imprints of Xu Ying opened their eyes together, divine light radiating outward to meet the surging divine consciousness!
Nuo Yang's divine consciousness crashed forward. In the next instant, beams of divine light pierced through the impossibly dense consciousness, striking Nuo Yang's body.
Nuo Yang grunted in pain. As his horrific divine consciousness slammed into the divine building, Hua Cuoying slammed the lattice windows shut, locking the wave of consciousness outside.
Even so, how overwhelming was Nuo Yang's divine consciousness?
Even with the windows and doors shut, his divine consciousness pressed inward. Hua Cuoying grew anxious. Suddenly, the divine building shook violently. Nuo Yang had swept the entire structure into his Yellow Court cave-heaven, intending to use the Xuanhuang immortal fire within to burn away the imprints inside the divine building!
Only now did she realize just how terrifying a Nuo Ancestor truly was. Reaping the realm's pinnacle experts for over forty thousand years, how boundless was the magical power and cultivation he had accumulated!
'No wonder Master only told me to deal with wounded Nuo Ancestors and warned me not to provoke the uninjured ones,' she thought to herself.
After suppressing Hua Cuoying along with the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, Nuo Yang suddenly trembled. Wound after wound split open across his body, piercing through his physical flesh, his Primordial Spirit, and even tearing through his Realm of Xiyi!
The strike Hua Cuoying had executed by activating the imprints in the Twelve-Storyed Mansions had dealt him a grievous blow after all!
Suppressing his injuries, Nuo Yang vanished in an instant, thinking, 'The disturbance I caused here is too great; it might draw other masters. If I am cornered here, I will die in vain.'
His heart burned with excitement: 'My fortune rivals heaven! A blessing in disguise—to actually obtain these Twelve-Storyed Mansions! Once I refine this girl to death and make the Twelve-Storyed Mansions my own, no one beneath the heavens will be my match!'
Just then, the sky split open. The vault of heaven was torn apart, and an unimaginably colossal abyss materialized in the sky!
The abyss tore apart to both sides, widening further and further like a gaping maw.
Hum!
A gigantic eye that filled heaven and earth rolled around, focusing directly on Nuo Yang!
Nuo Yang's scalp tingled, his heart fluttering in panic. 'Not good! Have I been plotted against? Could it be that little girl in the building? But old bastard, don't think you can step out of the abyss!'
His divine consciousness erupted. Terrifying divine consciousness surged skyward toward the colossal eye in the abyss, attempting to force the Heavenly Abyss shut!
Lingxu was merely a modest blessed land with only two rays of ascension light, one of which had been left behind when Beichenzi's predecessor ascended.
Xu Ying arrived, tossed Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang onto the ground, and without a word initiated the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction. His powerful divine consciousness followed the ascension light and probed into the void.
Connecting with the heavens of myriad worlds, his divine consciousness drew upon their power and exerted immense force. The void violently shuddered, and with the ascension light as its epicenter, the sky was ripped wide open!
Lightning flashed and thunder roared across the sky as a colossal abyss opened overhead, fathomless and terrifying!
Familiar with the process, Xu Ying tore open the gory truth of this world and laid it bare before Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang, sneering, "Beichenzi, look up! This great abyss is the Immortal Realm your predecessor ascended to!"
Ash-faced, Beichenzi looked up toward the abyss in the sky.
Manipulated by Xu Ying's immense divine consciousness, the abyss twisted and parted like eyelids peeling open!
Rumble!
Within the abyss spanning the sky, a colossal entity suddenly rolled into motion. Then, a massive eye filled the abyss, appearing before them!
Within that gigantic abyssal eye, corpses of immortals floated motionless like drowned victims.
Xu Ying grabbed Beichenzi and hoisted him high, sneering, "Open your dog eyes and look! Are your predecessor and your predecessor's predecessor among those corpses?"
He laughed heartily. "You Qi Refiners are nothing more than useless tools exploited by immortals! You fancied yourselves breaking out of your chrysalises and ascending to the Immortal Realm to become immortals like them, when in truth, after devouring you clean, they even turn your corpses into fertilizer!"
He slammed Beichenzi to the ground and lifted Fairy Yutang up. "Look, look! Can you spot your predecessor? Floating there like a dead fish?"
Fairy Yutang and Beichenzi's three millennia of conviction collapsed into dust in an instant.
Their faith and obsessions were like cakes fallen to the ground, trampled underfoot by countless passersby until crushed into foul mud.
Just then, a terrifying surge of divine consciousness surged into the sky, attempting to pull the two edges of the abyss together and shut the gigantic eye inside.
Xu Ying, still berating the two, was taken aback by the sight.
'Strange. Is there another person nearby with such powerful divine consciousness besides me? This divine consciousness is even more formidable than mine.'
Chapter 283