Xu Ying said warmly, "My master, King Tuyu, went to the Divine Realm to attend a banquet and isn't home. If you have any business, Brother Nalan, I can handle it on his behalf."
He had just spoken those words when a sudden gurgle rose from the sea. King Tuyu's mountain-like head bobbed to the surface, facing upward with wide, unblinking eyes, dead with grievances unresolved.
The youth in lavish attire, Nalan Du, blinked, looked at the giant head, and then glanced back at Xu Ying.
Xu Ying's expression remained unchanged. With a benign smile, he said, "My master, King Tuyu, suffered qi deviation during his cultivation, so he severed his own head to die in his own stead. His true body is unharmed. His cultivation is monstrously formidable; even if he lost a head, it will soon grow right back."
Whoosh. The seawater churned, and severed limbs belonging to King Tuyu floated to the surface one after another, followed closely by the rest of the demon god's colossal corpse.
The lavishly dressed youth Nalan Du's face changed instantly, and he began quietly backing away.
Xu Ying let out a sigh and said with a warm face, "If I said my master, King Tuyu, was cultivating the Heavenly Fiend Disintegration Technique, you wouldn't believe me, would you?"
Backing away stealthily, Nalan Du gave a strained chuckle. "Senior Brother Ying, I believe whatever you say! I still have business and need to report back to Master, so I won't disturb you any longer. Farewell, farewell!"
He whirled around abruptly, about to soar into the air!
Right at that moment, the heavenly and earthly Great Dao across hundreds of li suddenly reversed!
The demonic realm's Great Dao was originally different from that of ordinary worlds, belonging to an abnormal heavenly Dao where only demonic and immortal paths could function. Now that heaven and earth had inverted, the Dao fell into even greater chaos, rendering both the demonic and immortal paths sluggish and unresponsive!
This was none other than the divine power Xu Ying had created in his first life: Reversing Qiankun!
Nalan Du had been flying upward, trying to escape back into Weixu, but as the Great Dao twisted into chaos, he plummeted downward instead, straight toward a giant palm sweeping toward him from Xu Ying.
He hastily met the blow head-on. The instant their palms collided, a humming reverberation sounded, and four great cave-heavens manifested behind Xu Ying, illuminating the Heavenly Fiend Sea in an instant!
Just as Nalan Du braced himself for the clash, seeing the four great cave-heavens behind Xu Ying threw his mind into disarray. *Those are Nuo ancestor cave-heavens! He's Xu Ying, not Young Sect Master Ying! He's the one who killed King Tuyu!*
His panic mounted, and without a second thought, he unleashed the magic treasure bestowed upon him by the Ninth Immortal King. Only after activating this treasure did he recall his master's warning: if he ever encountered Xu Ying, under no circumstances should he invoke this treasure.
However, during his last expedition to hunt the Nuo ancestor Nuo Lu, he had infiltrated the Netherworld, found Nuo Lu, and fought fiercely, inflicting mutual injuries on each other; then he was ambushed by the master of the Mud Pill Palace, adding further injuries on top of existing ones. Even now, his injuries had not fully healed. In such a state, confronting Xu Ying, who wielded four Nuo ancestor cave-heavens, would surely bring swift death. Thus, he had no choice but to activate the treasure.
No matter what, surviving came first!
Behind him, a Jade Pool suddenly materialized, spanning ten thousand li of azure waves and rippling with immortal light. Exuding an aura of the immortal family, it caused his magic power to surge drastically—the magic treasure, the Immortal Dao Jade Pool!
The moment their palms clashed, Nalan Du sensed that Xu Ying's magic power could not match his own, and his heart eased slightly. *Right, among the six Nuo ancestor cave-heavens, the one that boosts magic power is the Jade Pool cave-heaven, which was taken by that girl of the Hua family. If he had obtained both the Jade Pool and Yellow Court cave-heavens to make up for his deficiencies in magic power and divine consciousness, I wouldn't last a single blow against him!*
Yet as their palm power clashed, Nalan Du's face twisted in shock as he felt the crushing force of pure physical might.
Xu Ying's strength was even more formidable than that of a demon god. Surging through their palms into Nalan Du's body, it shook his Realm of Xiyi: the Five Mountains tumbled out of place, the Heavenly River was severed, the yin and yang qi fell into disarray, and even his Primordial Spirit was nearly shaken apart!
Even his magic treasure, the Immortal Dao Jade Pool, was shaken until violent waves churned across its azure waters!
The unhealed old wounds inside him were instantly triggered by the strike, bursting open one after another!
Nalan Du's magic power also invaded Xu Ying's body at that instant, causing immense damage, yet a moment later it was healed by the vigorous vitality radiating from the Mud Pill Palace cave-heaven.
Spitting up a mouthful of blood with a muffled grunt, Nalan Du immediately borrowed the impact's momentum to vault into the air, fleeing desperately toward the heavens!
Xu Ying also felt Nalan Du's strength—he was definitely an expert on the level of an angler, and with a supreme treasure in hand, it would not be wise to clash head-on.
*Yet why does this supreme treasure of his seem connected to me by destiny?*
With a roar like rolling thunder, Xu Ying shifted his footing across the sea's surface. His sleeves swept and intertwined, channeling power into a circle before unleashing a violent jolt of technique. Instantly, the heavenly and earthly Great Dao across hundreds of li plunged into chaos once more! Whoosh—
Nalan Du, who had been shooting toward Weixu, suddenly found himself plunging down from above instead. Boom!
Their palms collided again. Xu Ying's eyes went wide as he let out a furious roar, their energies erupting. Nalan Du spat out another mouthful of blood, feeling Xu Ying's concussive force rattling the realms within his Realm of Xiyi to near collapse.
Even more terrifying, Xu Ying's power seeped into the Immortal Dao Jade Pool, causing the imprint within the treasure to fade continuously, and its power actually began resisting Nalan Du's control!
*This is the magic treasure Master bestowed upon me. How could it defy my control?*
Nalan Du felt a chill in his heart, recalling Master's instruction never to activate the Immortal Dao Jade Pool before Xu Ying. As it turned out, Master had foreseen this all along!
He gritted his teeth and soared skyward once more. *No matter what, I must get out of here! I cannot let the Immortal Dao Jade Pool fall into this scoundrel's hands!*
Yet the heavenly and earthly Great Dao warped once again; the sky turned into the sea, and he plummeted toward Xu Ying yet again.
Despair gripped Nalan Du's heart. *What kind of divine power is this? Master, Master—*
He cried aloud, but Xu Ying's palm was already before him. As they clashed once more, the realms within Nalan Du were jolted into disarray, his vital qi thrashing in wild conflict, and his Primordial Spirit was knocked from the God Bridge, leaving him nearly crippled!
Xu Ying was also subjected to the crushing weight of the opposing magic power, but relying on the vitality of the Mud Pill Palace cave-heaven, he was practically immortal and cared little for minor wounds.
Decisive as ever, he reached out toward the ten-thousand-li Jade Pool behind Nalan Du, his heart pounding wildly. *This is my Jade Pool! A magic treasure refined from the realm severed from my own body...*
He felt the vibration of the Jade Pool, an instinctual sensation of blood-and-flesh connection rising unbidden. Even the vast, fathomless magic power and Immortal Dao insights within it resonated with him!
Just as Xu Ying was about to seize the Jade Pool, Weixu in the sky split open, revealing a gigantic eye. Beaming a pillar of light with a resonant hum, it shone upon the Jade Pool!
The Jade Pool's power was instantly and completely activated. An incomparable force erupted, throwing Xu Ying's hand back and shaking him until he nearly spat blood.
Xu Ying immediately grabbed Nalan Du by the throat and flew backward, evading the giant eye in the sky.
The giant eye swept toward him, its massive light beam humming as though ready to vaporize him from existence. Xu Ying hoisted Nalan Du directly in front of him as a shield.
The pillar of light from the giant eye halted abruptly.
"Hahaha, Lord Xu, long time no see!"
The waters of the ten-thousand-li Jade Pool stirred, suddenly surging up to form the shape of a middle-aged man with a chest-length beard. Stroking his whiskers, he chuckled, "Parted for forty-eight thousand years, and Lord Xu has actually made progress—you know how to threaten me with my worthless disciple's life."
Beneath Xu Ying's feet, the guiding runes of the Penglai Fairy Realm lit up below the surface of the sea, quietly activating. His body shifted in the direction of the guidance as he laughed, "You all resort to every dirty trick against me, so why should I bother playing by the rules with you?"
A wave crashed over them. Xu Ying gripped Nalan Du's neck and passed straight through the wave. When the spray cleared, he found himself in another world.
He had comprehended Perfected Yuhu's Gourd Heaven Dao-Attainment Scripture, and this sea connected the myriad heavens and realms. Before his eyes, the waters of those myriad worlds unfolded in vivid detail.
The runes beneath his feet danced continually, automatically adjusting and calibrating their bearing, making his heart stir. *The Penglai Fairy Realm is in constant motion!*
Right then, the sky above this world's ocean also split open, revealing the abyssal giant eye. The ten-thousand-li Jade Pool hovered beneath that eye, and the middle-aged Immortal King formed from its waters walked across the pool with his hands behind his back, smiling. "Xu Ying, do you truly think you can escape the palm of my hand?"
Xu Ying paused in step as the Penglai Fairy Realm guided him across the oceans of world after world. Yet with every ocean he crossed, the abyssal giant eye appeared in the sky above! The middle-aged Immortal King formed from the Jade Pool's waters gradually stepped beyond the pool itself, drawing closer and closer to him!
"Xu Ying, you cannot escape the palm of my hand. Just as you failed to escape my grasp all those years ago."
The runes beneath Xu Ying's feet shifted rapidly as he traversed one world after another, yet the abyssal giant eye seemed affixed to the sky of every single world, impossible to shake off!
The middle-aged Immortal King drew ever nearer, laughing. "Back then, it was I who led the effort to strip away your cultivation realms, who severed your six cave-heavens and reduced you from an unrivaled powerhouse into a mortal. I took the Jade Pool for myself, smug in thinking I had secured the finest prize, never realizing the Jade Pool was not the best—the six cave-heavens were."
His figure manifested upon the sea, only a few steps away from Xu Ying.
"Those six old monsters have remained stationed at Kunlun, joining forces against me. Constrained by circumstances, I couldn't easily move against them, but now my chance has finally arrived. You brought four cave-heavens right to my doorstep!"
The middle-aged Immortal King's eyes shone with mounting brilliance as he extended his hand. An unimaginable magic power bore down like the weight of an entire ocean crushing Xu Ying, causing all of his cave-heavens to grind sluggishly!
Xu Ying's physical body creaked under the strain as he struggled to hold his ground, while Nalan Du was crushed unconscious.
"This is the magic power of your Jade Pool stage. Well? Does it not stand unrivaled in the world?"
The middle-aged Immortal King brought his hand before Xu Ying, shaping it into a blade to cleave into his Mud Pill Palace cave-heaven.
"Boom!"
From the heavens, a colossal, rounded foot stamped down, smashing the middle-aged Immortal King deep into the sea.
Startled and enraged, the middle-aged Immortal King surged out of the depths into the sky, but no sooner had he reached midair than another massive foot stomped him back beneath the water.
He surged up once more, only to see an enormous Xuanwu divine beast, dragon-headed and turtle-bodied. It was this colossal monstrosity that had just trampled him!
Just as he was about to vent his fury, he noticed heavy chains wound around the turtle shell, pulled taut as they dragged something behind.
The middle-aged Immortal King whipped his head around to look, only to see the Xuanwu pulling an unimaginably vast immortal mountain that slammed head-on right into him!
The middle-aged Immortal King's vision spun as he was sent flying backward; even his monstrous magic power could not withstand the impact!
Standing off to the side, Xu Ying was also stunned motionless.
At that moment, near the edge of the immortal mountain, an immortal robed in white extended a hand to him, smiling. "Fellow Daoist Xu, welcome to Penglai."
Chapter 317