Condemning the Heart

Xu Ying's heart sank further and further. Just now, each of the Four Sages of the Ancestral Court had been even more formidable than Yuan Gongtong, Sect Master of the Linglong Heavenly Sect, yet facing the Little Celestial Venerable, they had still been defeated in a single move. And that was with the four of them joining forces. Joining forces to simulate the combat strength of an Immortal King, they had still lost—and lost even faster! Just how powerful was the Little Celestial Venerable? Xu Ying pondered for a moment, then said, "Just now, we were discussing whether it was a betrayal. I cannot answer that question for you." Sensing the killing intent emanating from the Little Celestial Venerable, he turned around to face him directly. "The person whom you believe betrayed you has had his memories sealed all along. He has undergone ten thousand cycles of reincarnation and suffered ten thousand seals; to this day, he cannot recall what happened back then." The Little Celestial Venerable remained silent. Xu Ying said, "Little Celestial Venerable, would you truly feel the thrill of vengeance by killing someone completely in the dark? I believe that only by awakening his memories, making him remember the wrongs he committed in the past, and only then striking him dead can it count as true retribution." The Little Celestial Venerable was silent for a moment before saying, "Kill the person, condemn the heart." Xu Ying smiled. "What fun is there in killing someone without condemning their heart? On the immortal artifacts suppressing the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth in the Dao Revelation Ground, I saw the four-character seal you left behind. Over all these years, you must have studied those four characters deeply. I imagine your pondering of them was meant to break the four-character seal." The four characters he referred to were ling, yu, you, and yu. The Little Celestial Venerable had used those four characters to seal the one thousand three hundred immortal artifacts in an attempt to restore the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth in the Dao Revelation Ground. However, because he had not grasped their true profound mysteries, the immortal artifacts continued to suppress the Grand Dao. It was not until Xu Ying completed the four characters that the immortal artifacts were suppressed, allowing the Dao Revelation Ground to revive. "Your purpose in unraveling the seal was likely to unseal that person's memories as well, so he could die understanding why, wasn't it?" Xu Ying probed. At this moment, Hu Zhuojun felt he looked just like an accomplished male fox spirit, swishing his tail to beguile the enemy. The Little Celestial Venerable gave him a profound look. Suddenly swishing his sleeves, he walked forward and said, "Follow me." Xu Ying let out a silent breath of relief and matched his pace, thinking inwardly, Just as I suspected, the Little Celestial Venerable truly has studied those four characters in depth! He felt a stir of excitement. If the Little Celestial Venerable wanted to kill him, he had to help him regain his memories. And to help him regain his memories, he had to help him break the seal! Evidently, the Little Celestial Venerable believed that killing Xu Ying only after restoring his memories would be far more satisfying! If Xu Ying remained muddle-headed and ignorant of what he had done in the past, how would killing him differ from slaughtering a chicken? After doing so, recalling it would only bring regret, making one wish to dig him out of his grave just to kill him a few more times! "As long as he hasn't helped me break the seal, he won't kill me. If he can't break it in his entire lifetime, then he won't kill me for the rest of his life!" Xu Ying put his mind at ease. Having an Immortal King-level figure help me unravel the seal is certainly a good thing. With his wisdom, he probably won't be able to unravel it completely. What sealed Xu Ying was not four runes, but twenty-four runes! What was more, if the Little Celestial Venerable truly broke the seal entirely and the memories of Xu Ying's first life returned, by then his strength would probably be far beyond anything the Little Celestial Venerable could control! Thus, no matter how one looked at it, Xu Ying came out ahead! Hu Zhuojun followed behind the two of them, feeling rather perplexed. This master and disciple pair was far too strange. Talking in riddles as they did gave her a deeply unsettled feeling. She couldn't shake the sensation that there was a hidden story behind all this. After a long while, they finally arrived at the Lihen Plains. Suddenly, someone cried out in shock, "The Purple-Robed Divine Marquis, Chu Tiandu! Divine Marquis Chu Tiandu has appeared!" Xu Ying instinctively touched his face and said in surprise, "I've been recognized so quickly?" A throng of demon Qi Refiners swarmed forward, rushing past them. Hearing Xu Ying's words, someone looked over and sneered, "There's another fake over here! Quite a convincing act!" Hu Zhuojun was infuriated. "Are you blind? This is the true Purple-Robed Divine Marquis, Chu Tiandu! And the white-robed scholar beside him is the Little Celestial Venerable!" "You even dare to impersonate the Little Celestial Venerable? You're like the God of Longevity hanging himself—tired of living!" The crowd sneered in mockery. "Over the past few days, there have been at least eighty, if not a hundred, people pretending to be Divine Marquis Chu Tiandu in the city. Nothing surprising about that. But the Chu Tiandu who appeared this time is the genuine Purple-Robed Divine Marquis! Because he can execute the divine power uncomprehended by anyone for forty thousand years—the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace!" "The Purple-Robed Divine Marquis is a master of the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace. In the Dao Revelation Ground, he took on three great experts from the myriad worlds of the heavens and defeated them in a single move! Plenty of people have impersonated him lately, but anyone who can't cast the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace is a fake!" "Not only did these three bastards impersonate the Divine Marquis, they even dared to impersonate the Little Celestial Venerable! I ought to teach them a lesson! Hey, you in white, step forward!" "Hurry, hurry! Don't look for trouble! Divine Marquis Chu Tiandu has accepted the challenge from the Weixu expert Nalan Du. Let's get over there!" "You in white, consider yourselves lucky. I'll spare your lives!" Hu Zhuojun and Xu Ying were utterly dumbfounded as the Qi Refiners surged past, leaving them and the Little Celestial Venerable stranded in place. The corner of the Little Celestial Venerable's mouth twitched, but he said nothing. Hu Zhuojun fumed, "Who is so brazen as to dare impersonate the Divine Marquis?" Xu Ying blinked, thinking, I've become the body double? If this Divine Marquis can cast the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace, could it be Chu Tiandu himself? He had imparted the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace to Chu Tiandu before departing the Lihen Plains; during this period, Chu Tiandu must have comprehended this divine power! Chu Tiandu was proud and arrogant—after all, he was an expert who stood tall over the Ancestral Court and had defeated countless peers. He would never allow Xu Ying to fight in his place. This time, he was bound to confront the disciple of Weixu in person! Suddenly, the sky turned blindingly bright. Xu Ying looked up to see an immeasurable sea of fire hanging inverted—it was none other than his divine power, the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace! Chu Tiandu's talent is remarkably high to have comprehended my divine power in such a short time! Xu Ying silently praised him. Chu Tiandu truly was the foremost talent of the Ancestral Court's younger generation! He hasn't grasped the true profound mysteries of my divine power yet, only replicating its form, but even that is extraordinary. Xu Ying nodded slightly with deep appreciation. Seeing this, Hu Zhuojun was dumbstruck. She looked up at the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace in the sky, then down at Xu Ying beside her, thoroughly bewildered. Plucking up her courage, the young girl stepped before Xu Ying and lifted the mask from his face. Indeed, beneath the mask was that familiar face. With trembling hands, she pinched Xu Ying's cheeks, pulled them outward, and squished them back together. Indeed, it was genuine flesh and blood, not a human-skin disguise. The girl's mind was as muddled as paste. Releasing Xu Ying's face, she put the mask back on him. "Then who is that Purple-Robed Divine Marquis Chu Tiandu in the sky? Which one is the real Purple-Robed Divine Marquis?" Suddenly, inspiration struck her, and she blurted out, "I get it! The Purple-Robed Divine Marquis is actually two people!" Xu Ying said, "Little Celestial Venerable, the duel between the Purple-Robed Divine Marquis and Nalan Du was pushed forward by you. The Four Sages of the Ancestral Court and Yuan Gongtong were right—you wanted to take this chance to see the gap between yourself and an Immortal King. Little Celestial Venerable, you truly intend to make a move against Weixu!" The Little Celestial Venerable's white robes fluttered as he said, "Weixu and Penglai are both enemies of my Ancestral Court. Meng Wuhuai, the Immortal Master of Penglai, has already pledged allegiance to me. Without Penglai acting as a check, only the Ancestral Court and Weixu remain. Rather than waiting for Weixu to annex the Ancestral Court, it is better to take the initiative." A chill ran through Xu Ying's heart. That day, he and the Immortal Master of Penglai had plotted against one another, and in the end Xu Ying's skill had proven superior, heavily injuring him. Who would have thought the Immortal Master of Penglai would flee into the Ancestral Court and submit to the Little Celestial Venerable! "Once I annex Penglai and Weixu, there will no longer be any rival against me in the myriad worlds of the heavens," the Little Celestial Venerable said. "The Ancestral Court can then leisurely recover its lost territory and restore the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth throughout the myriad worlds of the heavens to how it once was." Xu Ying chuckled. "Meng Wuhuai was once an Immortal King of the Immortal Realm; his dispute with the Immortal Kings of Weixu was merely over an uneven division of spoils. If you join hands with him, I fear you will be sold out without even realizing it. Why not hand him over to me? I can help you eliminate him." Nalan Du had already risen into the air, a ten-thousand-li Jade Pool unfolding behind him as he confronted Chu Tiandu. Two youths—one was the prized disciple of Weixu's Ninth Immortal King, raised from childhood in Weixu, personally tutored by an Immortal King, possessing outstanding prowess; the other was the favored disciple of the Ancestral Court's Little Celestial Venerable, the foremost expert among the demonic realm's younger generation, having vanquished countless powerhouses from the myriad worlds of the heavens and shocking the world by comprehending the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace! Today, they would finally decide victory and defeat here! Around the perimeter of the Lihen Plains, divine demons made their moves one after another, blanketing the entire plains with vast divine power so the aftershocks of the two young experts' divine powers would not crash into the city. Suddenly, Chu Tiandu took the initiative, bringing the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace crashing down directly upon Nalan Du. Divine light circulated within the furnace and fiery might surged to the heavens, sweeping Nalan Du inside! Nalan Du plummeted into the furnace against his will. Despite his astonishing footwork, he had no way of escape! This Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace originated from the alchemy furnace of Tushita Palace crashing into the mortal world to form the boundless sea of fire; across tens of thousands of years, Xu Ying was the only one who had observed that fire sea, transformed the Tushita Palace alchemy furnace into a Dao image, and comprehended the divine power. Chu Tiandu's Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace had been personally imparted by Xu Ying, but he could still be counted as the second person to master it. With this strike, he dragged Nalan Du straight into the furnace, intending to drive the transformations of Fire and Water to incinerate him into ash! Yet the moment Nalan Du dropped into the furnace, immortal light steamed across the ten-thousand-li Jade Pool, roaring in violent surges as his magic power spiked dramatically! Boom! With surging magic power, he thrust both palms out and managed to hold off the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace! His magic power surpassed that of gods and demons; even those old monsters who had cultivated for tens of thousands of years admitted their inferiority. As Nalan Du's magic power pressed down, a series of humming sounds echoed behind Chu Tiandu. One cave-heaven after another rotated into view, hanging in the sky behind him and shining in mutual radiance! Bolstered by the magic power of the six cave-heavens, Chu Tiandu forcefully held off the crushing weight of the Immortal Dao Jade Pool. Not only did he withstand it, but driving his six cave-heavens to the utmost limit, he even began to press back against Nalan Du! Xu Ying glanced at the Little Celestial Venerable beside him and remarked, "The Nuo ancestor cave-heavens are the unshared secret of the Kunlun Xu Clan. For you to cultivate them, I must have been the one to teach you, right?" Hu Zhuojun blinked, stuck her little finger into her ear to scratch it, and pricked up her ears to listen. The generational order is completely scrambled! The Little Celestial Venerable's six secret depositories were taught by his disciple Chu Tiandu. And there's another Chu Tiandu up in the sky... The Little Celestial Venerable said, "Indeed, you taught me. If you wish to learn them, I can teach you." Hu Zhuojun felt the world spin. Her mind was in total chaos as she tried to make sense of the relationship between them: The Little Celestial Venerable is Chu Tiandu's master, Chu Tiandu is the Little Celestial Venerable's disciple, Chu Tiandu taught the Little Celestial Venerable the six secret depositories, and now the Little Celestial Venerable wants to teach Chu Tiandu the six secret depositories... No, this world is way too complicated! Xu Ying laughed. "I'll learn them. But aren't you afraid that after I master them, you will be in danger?" The Little Celestial Venerable remained composed. "Killing prey that can fight back is the only way to feel the thrill of vengeance." Suddenly, sensing something, he looked up toward another part of the sky. Xu Ying felt a slight stir and followed his gaze, only to see clouds linking into a single line at the horizon, stretching from east to west for unknown tens of thousands of li. Xu Ying said faintly, "You are observing the Ninth Immortal King's techniques and divine powers, but is the Ninth Immortal King not doing the exact same thing to yours?" The Little Celestial Venerable remained silent. Hu Zhuojun looked in that direction too, but saw nothing amiss. Just as she was wondering, she nearly cried out in alarm: beneath the clouds on that distant horizon lay an abyss, and within that abyss was an immense eye! Concealed beneath the horizon, unnoticed by anyone, it was staring fixedly at the battle between Chu Tiandu and Nalan Du! Without looking carefully, you wouldn't notice an eye there at all! No, even if you looked carefully, you still wouldn't see it! Her heart pounded wildly. Far too many bizarre things had happened today, exceeding the limits of what her brain could handle. She felt on the verge of a breakdown. Xu Ying gazed up at the battle in the air and said, "Yet neither of you will be able to glean anything, because Chu Tiandu's divine power was taught by me." In the sky, Chu Tiandu suddenly drew the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Furnace into his single palm, shifting from a divine power into a seal art—this was precisely the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Seal Xu Ying had used to defeat him! Now, he had replicated it convincingly and unleashed it against Nalan Du! Nalan Du could no longer withstand the blow. Struck by the Eight Desolations Sun Refining Seal, he was sent flying backward, his internal yuan qi thrown into disarray. Chu Tiandu stepped forward, cupping his hands loosely in an embrace. A Linglong Pagoda descended from the heavens, crashing down onto Nalan Du and slamming him out of the sky! Nalan Du struggled with all his might to break through the Linglong Pagoda. But the moment he burst free, Chu Tiandu's palm met his forehead, halting abruptly before striking. "I concede," Nalan Du said with a dejected expression. Chu Tiandu dispersed his divine power. The Little Celestial Venerable frowned; this was not what he had envisioned. Xu Ying said, "You envisioned that when Chu Tiandu and Nalan Du clashed, Chu Tiandu would use your divine powers and Dao methods while Nalan Du would use the Ninth Immortal King's, and through their showdown you could gauge the gap between yourself and the Ninth Immortal King." The Little Celestial Venerable's brow furrowed even tighter. Xu Ying stretched lazily and chuckled. "What you didn't expect was that Chu Tiandu used my divine powers. Little Celestial Venerable, what you saw was the gap between the Ninth Immortal King and me, not the gap between him and you. If you unseal my memories, you will regret it. What do you think?" Hu Zhuojun blinked, looking back and forth between them. Her brain had completely given up on thinking. The Little Celestial Venerable turned and walked away, saying, "Keep up with me. I will help you undo your seal!" Xu Ying smiled faintly and strode after him.