"Master and disciple are plotting against me!"
Nuo Yang was both shocked and enraged. Mobilizing his ancestral cave-heaven, he pushed his divine consciousness to the limit in an attempt to seal shut Weixu in the sky.
He had just finished off three anglers when Hua Cuoying ambushed him with the Twelve-Storyed Mansions. Just as he suppressed her, Weixu was opened, dragging out that monstrous abyssal eye.
He could not help suspecting that Hua Cuoying and her master were secretly conniving against him.
Hua Cuoying's Twelve-Storyed Mansions were currently pinned down inside his Yellow Court cave-heaven, poised at every moment to break free. Unable to drive this cave-heaven with full force or marshal all his divine consciousness to contend with the Weixu abyss in the sky, he was thrown into a frenzy.
On the other side, Xu Ying's expression was grave. This surge of divine consciousness was astoundingly potent, actually tugging at the abyss in the sky and trying to force it closed!
What was more, the abyss was truly closing!
"Just as I intended to shatter the Dao hearts of Beichenzi and Yutang so they would help me retrieve the altar and shrine, someone opposes me and tries to prevent me from opening the abyss! A lackey of the Immortal Realm!" Anger flared in Xu Ying's heart. He activated the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction, linking his divine consciousness to the myriad worlds of the heavens to contend against Nuo Yang's divine consciousness, forcefully keeping the abyss from shutting.
"No matter how overbearing your divine consciousness is, I am not helpless to resist!" Seeing that he was on the verge of closing the abyss, Nuo Yang suddenly felt another torrent of divine consciousness surge forth to oppose him. He laughed in sheer fury. "That master and disciple targeted me and even laid an ambush, arranging another master of divine consciousness to strike at me from the dark! But when it comes to divine consciousness, no one can rival me!"
His divine consciousness was indeed immensely formidable. At that moment, he marshaled all of it to compress the Weixu abyss while simultaneously confronting Xu Ying and suppressing Hua Cuoying and the Twelve-Storyed Mansions.
Hua Cuoying let out a muffled groan. With the Twelve-Storyed Mansions suppressed by Nuo Yang, even hiding within the divine tower offered her little safety.
Xu Ying also groaned. The instant his divine consciousness clashed with Nuo Yang's, he realized just how terrifyingly profound his opponent's power was.
He decisively withdrew his divine consciousness. Nuo Yang's divine consciousness immediately pulled the abyss in the sky shut. Nuo Yang thought to himself, *I'll find out who was plotting against me in a moment!*
Relieved, he was just about to close the Weixu abyss entirely when the bizarre eye within it suddenly focused its gaze squarely upon him.
The corner of Nuo Yang's eye twitched. His body went rigid, and he floated into the air against his will.
Under that eye's gaze, his limbs hung limp, as though he were a drowned man who had lost all control over his physical flesh.
Terror seized Nuo Yang's heart. Crying out, he activated his Yellow Court cave-heaven without a second thought.
Xuanhuang immortal fire surged within the cave-heaven. Driving the fire with his divine consciousness, Nuo Yang sent it blazing toward the monstrous eye in the sky.
The immortal fire gushing from the Yellow Court cave-heaven was about to pour into the abyss when the immortal corpses floating within the eye swept downward through the air. The immortal fire was instantly suppressed and extinguished.
Overwhelmed with terror, Nuo Yang pushed his cultivation madly in an effort to fight the bizarre eye of Weixu. Yet the descending immortal corpses gathered around him like celestial maidens taking flight, ushering him up into the abyss.
Nuo Yang's shrill screams echoed from the sky. "We are all colleagues! Why press each other so hard?!"
A moment later, his figure vanished into the abyss.
In the Lingxu Blessed Land, Xu Ying, Beichenzi, and Fairy Yutang watched the spectacle in the sky, chilled to the bone. Just then, the monstrous eye in the abyss rolled and swept its gaze in their direction.
The eye seemed to be searching for the person who had awakened it.
Xu Ying grabbed Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang and leapt into the air, stowing both of them inside his Realm of Xiyi before streaking away like a beam of rainbow light!
He pushed the Extreme Intent Freedom Technique to its absolute limit. In terms of movement arts, no divine ability under heaven could match this technique!
Xu Ying covered thousands of li in an instant, crossing mountain ranges and leaving a long rainbow trail in the air.
Yet a moment later, the monstrous eye in the sky shifted slightly, its gaze locking onto him once more. Xu Ying felt his primordial qi abruptly fall dead and silent, and his body rose uncontrollably, floating toward the monstrous eye above.
Behind Xu Ying, a lotus flower suddenly emerged. With a gentle tremble, it blossomed in midair, turning into a lotus-shaped cave-heaven. Xu Ying's floating body dropped straight into it.
Enraged, the monstrous eye in the sky sent immortal corpses plummeting from above, pouncing in his direction.
However, the lotus petals folded inward in overlapping layers, snapping shut from a full blossom back into a bud. The bud then shrank into the void and vanished without a trace.
The swarm of immortal corpses grabbed only empty air.
The bizarre abyssal eye rolled, searching in all directions, yet failed to find any trace of Xu Ying. Bathed in immortal radiance, the corpses rose slowly and returned to the abyssal eye.
*He slips away fast...*
The abyss in the sky gradually drew shut like an eyelid, hiding within the clouds before disappearing completely.
A single lotus leaf drifted down from the sky, settling gently upon the waters of Shifeng Stream. The leaf expanded rapidly, growing to the size of a mat in the blink of an eye. After a moment, a lotus flower rose from beneath the water, its layered petals spinning open in all directions.
*Buzz—*
The moment the lotus spun open, Nether fire erupted from within. Out walked a tall youth clad in black with a red sash, flames still rippling over his body before gradually fading away.
The lotus flower rose on its own, turning into an ancient cave-heaven floating behind him.
"Li Xiaoke's clothes really are top quality."
Xu Ying patted away the Nether fire clinging to him. He had asked Li Xiaoke for this set of clothes, and it fit him perfectly.
He looked up. The sky was serene and calm, showing no trace of the abyss or the monstrous eye.
*What kind of place is Weixu, exactly?*
Xu Ying pondered. *And the person swallowed by Weixu looked somewhat like Nuo Yang, one of the six Nuo Ancestors. How could he have appeared nearby? Could it be that the person clashing with my divine consciousness just now was him?*
Many doubts lingered in his mind, especially regarding Weixu.
On Mount Fengdu in the Nether Sea, when Great Emperor Beiyin helped him unseal his past memories, Xu Ying had witnessed the emergence of Weixu six thousand years ago, swallowing the Qi Refiners of the world.
It had been an extermination aimed at Qi Refiners under the pretext that the Son of Heaven of Zhou had built the Divine Boat of the Other Shore to steal the immortal medicine!
Countless Qi Refiners had floated into the sky against their will, drifting toward the abyssal eye above like drowned corpses!
*The shadow of the Immortal Realm was behind that great purge. The Immortal Realm issued the golden decree ordering the purge, and only then did Weixu erupt to wipe out the Qi Refiners,* Xu Ying thought.
That purge had sent Qi Refiners into a steep decline, leaving only a fraction of surviving strength within the various immortal sects. So much so that three thousand years later, Li Xiaoke and others had run themselves ragged trying to reconstruct ancient magical techniques and divine abilities.
During the era of Heaven-Human Induction, another purge occurred. The Qi Refiners of the world vanished, leaving behind only solitary disciples in the immortal sects burdened with reviving their traditions. Shi Yuqing and Yan Kongcheng were among those who followed.
Clearly, Weixu was deeply tied to the Immortal Realm.
Xu Ying involuntarily thought of Xu Fu. *Foolish Ah Fu orchestrated the unsealing of the great seal of heaven and earth, drawing out those anglers and the Kunlun Nuo Ancestors. Does he know about Weixu? Knowing his nature, he will definitely make contact with it.*
Inside his Hidden Scenery land, Beichenzi and Fairy Yutang sat on the ground, completely distraught. The sight just now had terrified them down to their cores.
Their Dao hearts, their beliefs, and their perseverance had all shattered into dust.
"Hehe, serving as dogs for three thousand years, and they wouldn't even throw us scraps... Hahaha!" Beichenzi burst into wild laughter, manic and filled with desolate grief. He yelled, "Not even a single mouthful of scraps!"
Fairy Yutang sat foolishly on the ground, her hair disheveled, murmuring, "They didn't ascend. They went to become fertilizer... But maybe I'm an exception? I'm so beautiful. An immortal might favor my beauty and let me ascend..."
She staggered to her feet, her voice shrill and mournful. "Yet my prime has long passed. Now I'm withered and old..."
Beichenzi snickered at her. "Ha! Ascension is a lie!"
Fairy Yutang giggled hysterically. "I abandoned my family, my friends, broke ties with my husband, and said farewell forever to my children—just to become fertilizer?!"
Xu Ying stepped forward, appearing before them.
Beichenzi scrambled over, grasping Xu Ying's wrist while laughing madly. "No one ascends! No one has ever ascended since ancient times! All ascensions are lies! Xu Ying, didn't you want to know how to retrieve that altar? I'll tell you..."
Xu Ying's expression shifted slightly. "Don't say it yet!"
Crazed and manic, Beichenzi shouted, "Why shouldn't I say it?! It's just death either way—"
The moment the words left his mouth, gray smoke poured from his lips. The immortal talisman he had sworn upon now turned into a death sentence.
Countless immortal insects dormant inside his body awakened with the breach of the oath, madly gnawing his flesh and Primordial Spirit from the inside out. Before Beichenzi could even make a sound, he was completely submerged by the swarm!
Because Xu Ying had destroyed his cultivation realms, the swarm consumed him even faster. Fu Yi had managed to hold out against the insects for a brief moment, but Beichenzi stood no chance at all.
Xu Ying stepped back. He watched as Beichenzi's flesh and Primordial Spirit were eaten clean. Like plumes of smoke, the two swarms converged and rushed toward the realms Xu Ying had stripped away!
Beichenzi's Five Peaks, Weilu, Crucible, Jiaji, Mansions, Jade Pool, God Bridge, and Jade Capital Pass were devoured clean by the swarm!
Xu Ying gave chase, a chill settling in his heart.
Beichenzi had been pushed past his breaking point. In his madness, he had transgressed the forbidden zone of his oath and died far too quickly, leaving no time to retrieve the altar and shrine enshrining the demon-suppressing runes within the Jade Capital!
The swarm swirled, devouring everything belonging to Beichenzi until it formed a dark cloud of insects, poised to cross to the other shore and charge into the Jade Capital!
Right then, a crimson figure shot into the air and arrived at Xu Ying's side. It was Fairy Yutang's Primordial Spirit.
Muttering incantations under her breath, she caused an altar hidden in the Jade Capital across the other shore to drift toward them.
Xu Ying was startled. Suddenly, another swarm of insects erupted from Fairy Yutang's Primordial Spirit, like an army of ants riddling her with holes in an instant!
"If you are ruthless, don't blame me for being unmerciful!"
Insects poured from Fairy Yutang's physical body as well, gnawing away madly. The woman screamed in agony even as she laughed wildly. "The very person you fear most—I am going to set him free!"
She was picked clean down to bare bone. With a clatter, the skeleton collapsed, and even the bones were devoured entirely!
Before Xu Ying, insects burrowed out of Fairy Yutang's Primordial Spirit. Yet the woman still reached out her arm, her insect-covered hand straining toward the drifting altar. The altar wobbled, flying out of the Jade Capital toward Xu Ying!
However, its momentum slowed until it could no longer reach him.
Fairy Yutang's Primordial Spirit was already an empty husk, and the swarm was now devouring the outer shell.
She was no longer able to deliver the altar into Xu Ying's hands.
The insect swarm surged in a vast wave toward the Jade Capital on the other shore.
On the other side, the insects that had finished consuming Fairy Yutang also converged. Having devoured each of her stripped realms, they joined the swarm in front of Xu Ying.
The two swarms merged into a dark cloud, circling the altar. Abruptly, the insects coalesced into a human shape and landed atop the altar. The figure gradually sharpened from a blur until eyes, ears, mouth, and nose became distinct.
"Fellow Daoist Xu."
The insect man gave a faint smile and said to Xu Ying, "I trust you have been well? You didn't truly believe that retrieving the altar and the demon-suppressing runes would allow you to break the seal, did you?"
Xu Ying's expression darkened. The altar carried the insect man closer and closer toward him.
Stopping before the shrine, the insect man smiled and sighed. "Even if you obtain the altar and the demon-suppressing runes, you will never be able to undo them."
The insect man extended a hand and pinched out the burning tip of the incense stick. The incense was broken.
The incense smoke qi sustaining the two demon-suppressing runes on the shrine vanished instantly. Joy surged in Xu Ying's heart, yet his seal remained unbroken.
Across from them, another altar surfaced within the Jade Capital, bearing a shrine and thick burning incense candles before it.
"Do you still not understand? What seals you is not the demon-suppressing runes. It is me."
The insect man wore an amused smile as he looked at him, speaking leisurely. "Because I can write thirty-two runes to paste onto this altar, or three hundred and twenty runes to paste onto other altars. You will never escape my control..."
Xu Ying raised a hand, seized him by the throat, and lifted him up without expression.
The insect man burst into laughter, sneering, "You court death!"
His body shifted violently, turning back into a swarm of insects that crawled onto Xu Ying's palm, biting frantically.
Yet meeting them was the prison rune. An exceptionally dense cage locked down the swarm crawling up Xu Ying's arm.
Not only did the prison rune confine the swarm, it also sealed the insect man within the cage!
Furious, the insect man attempted to break through, only to find that he could not breach the cage no matter what he did!
Xu Ying withdrew his hand from the cage, saying flatly, "You wrote this prison rune. Do you not know how to break it? No matter. I will unravel these rune seals one by one. When I storm the Immortal Realm, I will find you and drag you out of your rat hole."
His face grew colder and darker. The cage shrank tighter and tighter, crushing the insect man's body until it twisted and deformed.
The insect man roared and struggled, but while he knew how to write the prison rune, he had no idea how to break it!
"I will stuff insects down your throat, seal you tightly with these very runes, and let you taste agony a hundredfold!"
Xu Ying clenched his hand tightly. The cage crushed the insect man, collapsing inward to the absolute limit!
Chapter 284