The Master of Mud Pill Palace's gaze swept past Fairy Qingbi and settled on Xu Ying's face. "Ageless immortal, I have cracked your lethal gambit. Not only that, but I also fulfilled the wish you sought to achieve—ridding the world of all the anglers. Now, you can rest easy without worrying about anglers bringing calamity upon the mortal realm."
Xu Ying let out an "Mm," stepped forward to stand beside Fairy Qingbi, and asked with a smile, "How did you crack it?"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace turned and led the way ahead. "When I heard you were spreading the ancestral method far and wide, I knew trouble was brewing, so I snatched a copy to study thoroughly. I found no trap concealed within. Your open scheme was designed to drive all of us anglers to our deaths. Had I cultivated the ancestral method, trap or not, I would have died—either at your hands, or harvested by other anglers."
Xu Ying and Fairy Qingbi followed him.
Fairy Qingbi was naturally no stranger to this place, but it was Xu Ying's first time here. He observed that the layout of the Gourd Heaven Sect was exceedingly elegant and understated. This sect must have had few members, most of them women, and the Dao imagery branded upon the palaces possessed a delicate grace.
Yet such a vast place was devoid of people, completely deserted. In all likelihood, even three thousand years ago there had not been many here, just Qingbi and her master. After Qingbi's master passed away, only this woman had remained.
*No wonder she used to head down the mountain all the time back then.*
Xu Ying glanced at Qingbi and thought, *Living alone on the mountain must have been terribly lonely for her.*
The Master of Mud Pill Palace guided them to a viewing platform. Standing upon it, the space below hung suspended in emptiness with nothing to anchor it; Mount Jiuyi was nowhere to be seen beneath them.
Below the platform, ethereal mist drifted, while above, both the sun and the moon seemed remarkably close, as though within arm's reach.
This was a spatial divine ability, drawing the distance between the viewing platform and the celestial bodies incredibly close.
*The fool who created the Gourd Heaven Dao Verification Scripture was truly formidable,* Xu Ying thought in surprise.
The Master of Mud Pill Palace continued, "The ageless immortal's plan was exceptionally formidable. If I did not cultivate the ancestral method, countless Qi Refiners well-versed in it would emerge in the future, severing my cave-heavens with ease, and I would still die. Caught in a dilemma, I racked my brains in thought. At last, an idea came to me. Cultivating the ancestral method you passed down requires crippling one's own cultivation first. At that moment, you could harvest me, and other anglers who had not crippled their cultivation could harvest me as well. But why couldn't I do the exact opposite?" He smiled faintly, his voice rumbling like thunder. "Why couldn't I become that harvester?
"If I gather the immortal herbs of all the Nuo Immortals across forty-eight thousand years, and gather their cave-heavens, why would I ever need to cultivate any ancestral method? What reason would I have to fear the heavenly tribulation?"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace said, "By that point, my cultivation would be epoch-making, surpassing everyone past and present. Even in the distant future, no existence could possibly rival my cultivation. A mere heavenly tribulation could be crossed with a flick of a finger."
Fairy Qingbi's expression dimmed.
The mentor and dear friend of the past no longer existed. Standing before her now was only a terrifying monster consumed with surviving, harvesting others, and ascending.
That righteous leader had fallen completely from grace.
Her heart ached with grief.
After her master died, she had intended to live out her days among the green mountains until her end. But the Master of Mud Pill Palace had warmly invited her out into the world, allowing her to join the heroes of that era in striving to revive Qi Refinement.
They were the most brilliant minds of that age, unearthing ancient truths while restoring Dao methods and divine abilities, deciphering lost, peerless arts.
Hard work paid off, and as they deciphered those ancient Dao methods and divine abilities, they attained extraordinary achievements.
Qingbi had always deeply respected the Master of Mud Pill Palace; after her master passed away, he had been the lofty mountain in her heart.
Now, that mountain had collapsed.
Xu Ying remained somewhat puzzled and asked, "Then how did you know the tracks and whereabouts of every angler? Each of them concealed themselves with utmost caution, doing everything they could to avoid others and never revealing their true identities. Finding them should have been nearly impossible."
The Master of Mud Pill Palace explained, "When they harvested Nuo Immortals or their own kind, I would occasionally cross paths with them during their reaping. I committed each person's aura to memory. Over time, I memorized everyone's auras. What is more, that was not all I had."
Behind him, a brilliant halo slowly emerged, its brightness outshining even the sun and moon in the sky. It was none other than the Nuo ancestor cave-heaven Xu Ying had long searched for in vain:
The Jade Pool cave-heaven!
The Jade Pool cave-heaven connected to Yuxu Palace; it was the cave-heaven controlled by Nuo ancestor Nuo Lu.
Xu Ying felt a slight jolt in his heart. While he, the Son of Heaven of Zhou, and the others were searching for heavenly gods across the myriad worlds, the Master of Mud Pill Palace had evidently not been idle either.
The Master of Mud Pill Palace chuckled. "I found Nuo Lu healing his wounds in the Netherworld. As luck would have it, an expert from Weixu had severely wounded him. Both of them were gravely injured, and I reaped the spoils. Possessing this cave-heaven, I am a Nuo ancestor myself. No one who enters the other shore to steal immortal fire can escape my eyes and ears."
Xu Ying praised, "You are truly meticulous. The woman with the tear mole was merely a small fry to you, hardly worth harvesting, yet you still harvested him. This means you had already finished harvesting all the other anglers; even the smallest fry could not be spared."
"Woman with the tear mole?"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace paused, then suddenly realized. "Could the 'woman with the tear mole' you speak of be Cao Yu? He has a tear mole beneath his eye. Fellow Daoist Cao was my guide; he was already planting and harvesting crops before my time. I once despised his conduct and severed ties with him. Only later did I understand why he became a leek harvester."
Qingbi said with bitter disappointment and sarcasm, "Because you became that kind of person as well."
The Master of Mud Pill Palace shook his head. "Fellow Daoist Qingbi, you misunderstand me. I understand why he became such a person, but I did not become him."
Qingbi declared adamantly, "You are far more terrifying than he is! If it were me, I would rather return to Mount Jiuyi, keep company with my master's neglected grave, and grow old alone, than ever eat human beings!"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace shook his head. "'Vast is the universe within a sleeve, long are the days and months within a gourd.' Qingbi, once your lineage achieves great mastery in cultivation, you form a world of your own and enjoy a vast lifespan. How could you be like us? Time moves swiftly and age cannot be sealed away; one quickly feels themselves growing old. What is more, I do not eat people for my own sake."
His towering figure gazed into the distance, his eyes somber and profound. "Do we cultivators not strive for longevity, for true freedom? Yet why must we meet such an end—fratricidal slaughter, devouring our own kind? Qingbi, ageless immortal, I have pondered deeply on what is the ultimate source of tragedy for generation after generation of us."
He turned his head to look at the two of them and said in a heavy voice, "It is not the great villain who shattered the Heavenly Path, nor the archdemon who left behind the super heavenly tribulation. It is the Heavenly Dao that created these rules, and the Immortal Realm that uses these rules of the Heavenly Dao to bind mortals like us!"
The chains wrapped around his body clattered loudly, reflecting the turmoil within his heart.
"Why are some people driven to eat their fellow humans? Why are some forced to strike against their fellow disciples and their juniors? Why do these tragedies unfold one after another?"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace shook his head. "I have never taken pride in devouring people; on the contrary, I feel immense shame. Because I know what I am doing is wrong and unfit to be seen by others. In my heart, the righteous path still lives; I still know what justice is."
Fairy Qingbi sneered, "The righteous path? Where is your righteous path? How many people have you killed, how many have you devoured? Is this your righteous path?"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace pointed toward the sky, his voice booming with thunderous power: "My righteous path lies in the Immortal Realm!
"Only by crossing the heavenly tribulation, ascending to immortality, and entering the Immortal Realm can this man-eating world be changed! I want to cross the tribulation! I want to ascend!
"The guilt does not lie with me!
"The guilt lies with the Immortal Realm!"
His voice blasted like thunder. "Fellow Daoist Qingbi, ageless immortal, so long as we remain in the lower realm, in this mortal mud pit, no matter how much we struggle, roll, or crawl, we cannot change a single thing! Without ascending to the Immortal Realm, we can only waste away in internal strife in the mortal realm! Without ascending to the Immortal Realm, we can only devour people, fish for victims, and harvest others like leeks! Only ascension!"
He drew a ragged breath, his voice deafening. "Only by becoming an immortal can one change all this, change this unjust world, and return fairness to all Qi Refiners! I must ascend!"
His tone softened. "Three thousand years ago, the world underwent a dramatic upheaval. Weixu appeared in the sky—twisted, magnificent, bizarre. A golden roll flew out from the Immortal Realm, and a voice resonated from within, proclaiming the sins of all living beings in our Yuanshou world. Countless Qi Refiners were swallowed by Weixu over these laughable sins. The sight of them being sucked into Weixu, like countless drowning souls, remains etched in my memory to this day."
Xu Ying felt a stir in his heart.
When he had unlocked his memories from six thousand years ago, he had witnessed a similar scene.
Back then, Chongxu had appeared in the sky alongside a golden roll, proclaiming the sins of the Son of Heaven of Zhou and others for stealing immortal herbs from the other shore in pursuit of longevity, and purging those sins.
Zhu Chanchan's junior brother, Fu Hui, had his mind warped by that great purge, turning into an angler.
The Master of Mud Pill Palace was no different.
Only his transformation had stemmed from the great purge three thousand years ago.
"I watched my former Daoist companions, powerless as drowning men, pulled into the sky and swallowed by Weixu. Rage burned in my chest, yet I felt utterly powerless. From that moment on, I knew I had to fall from grace, plunge into darkness, and devour human beings!"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace looked up at the sky, as if speaking to them, or perhaps murmuring to himself, dissecting his own soul.
"So long as I am in the lower realm, nothing I do has any effect; I cannot change a thing. Even if my intellect reaches to the heavens, even if I can restore ancient immortal arts, even if I have countless like-minded companions, even if the path I uphold is the righteous path!"
Pain and ferocity flashed through his eyes, and his voice turned hoarse. "It is still completely useless—not the slightest bit of use."
After that great purge by Weixu, he had undergone an agonizing struggle before ultimately deciding to plunge into darkness—to use his darkest self to gamble for a bright and just future.
He had become a person just like Cao Yu. He too set traps, arranging a grotto-heaven and blessed land so someone like Zhou Qiyun would stumble in by mistake and obtain his legacy.
Once that person became a Nuo Immortal and entered a Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground to spend their remaining years, he would slip inside and devour them. "Devouring" simply meant consuming the immortal herbs within their bodies.
A Qi Refiner like him could not open cave-heavens to gather immortal herbs; he had to rely on others.
People like Zhou Qiyun were crops he had sown; the aristocratic family Zhou Qiyun founded was a field filled with crops. He needed only to harvest again and again as the crops ripened, steadily enhancing his cultivation and prolonging his life.
During this process, he encountered many people just like him.
Like him, they were diligent and capable, yet also silent, keeping their peace and avoiding contact with outsiders as much as possible—especially their own kind.
They too planted crops and harvested them, but he discovered they did not merely harvest crops—they harvested each other.
The moment someone was wounded, they were like sharks catching the scent of blood, trailing close behind and waiting for an opportunity to devour them.
Step by step, the Master of Mud Pill Palace had become a leek farmer, and then transitioned from a leek farmer into an angler.
Though the time he spent planting crops and harvesting his kind was relatively short—only three thousand years—his talent was extraordinary, and his progress swift. He had harvested several anglers who had survived since the Shang dynasty era, vaulting directly to the peak among all anglers.
His comprehension was extraordinarily sharp. The three millennia of accumulation had allowed him to comprehend even greater immortal divine abilities.
"If immortal arts, if the righteous path, if upright and honorable conduct cannot achieve ascension, then let me fall from grace! Let me become a demon and commit the foulest atrocities to bring about justice!"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace calmed down. Turning to Xu Ying and Fairy Qingbi, he said, "Fellow Daoist Qingbi, ageless immortal, I hope the two of you can grant me a chance."
Fairy Qingbi looked at him quietly. "Brother Daoist, what chance do you want us to give you?"
The Master of Mud Pill Palace said solemnly, "A chance at ascension. I want to ascend to the Immortal Realm, change the destiny of all living beings in the lower realm, alter this Heavenly Dao, and rewrite the rules of heavenly tribulation!"
Fairy Qingbi shook her head. "You cannot ascend. You have seen Xu Fu; even after crossing the heavenly tribulation, he could not ascend."
The Master of Mud Pill Palace replied, "I can. While searching for the Nuo ancestors, I encountered a heavenly god and obtained something from him."
He brought out a medallion bearing the characters "Hongjia."
The Master of Mud Pill Palace said, "This is an immortal descent talisman from the Heavenly Dao world. With this treasure, I can ascend to the Heavenly Dao world and enter the Immortal Realm through it!"
Seeing the talisman, Xu Ying felt a slight stir in his heart—he possessed one as well.
Fairy Qingbi hesitated a moment and looked toward Xu Ying.
The Master of Mud Pill Palace was the person she admired most in her life. She viewed him as an elder brother, a helpful friend, and a revered mentor.
She bore no hatred toward him; she only sought the truth of the past. She wanted to know whether that incomparably brilliant Master of Mud Pill Palace from back then still existed.
The words of the Master of Mud Pill Palace allowed her to see once more that towering giant of old, that leader of the righteous path, in whose heart a breath of defiance had never dissipated and a flame had never died out.
Only, she did not know what Xu Ying would decide—fight the Master of Mud Pill Palace to the bitter end, or spare him?
The Master of Mud Pill Palace's gaze settled upon Xu Ying. "What does the ageless immortal think?"
Xu Ying stepped forward, his eyes filled with mixed emotions. "I would love to give you a chance to ascend and enter the Immortal Realm. I'd love to see what kind of havoc a ruthless and calculating person like you could wreak upon the Immortal Realm... But I buried a human skin on Mount Jiuyi, and I told him I would avenge him."
The Master of Mud Pill Palace asked, "What was his name?"
"Zhou Qiyun."
With a gentle wave of Xu Ying's hand, the halos of cave-heavens behind the Master of Mud Pill Palace suddenly drifted downward like falling leaves.
Xu Ying paused slightly in surprise. The Master of Mud Pill Palace had not resisted at all, letting him sever his four great cave-heavens.
Xu Ying hesitated and did not strike again.
The Master of Mud Pill Palace pleaded earnestly, "Ageless immortal, give me a chance! I bear the immortal herbs harvested by all who practiced Nuo methods over the past forty-eight thousand years. Let me try to ascend! Give me a chance to try changing this world!"
Xu Ying raised his hand, his expression shifting unpredictably. Then he suddenly withdrew his palm, turned around, and walked away.
Chapter 311