"Female Emperor, your opportunity for revival lies in this venture," Shenpo said to the Mysterious Maiden of Samsara atop the Penglai Immortal Mountain.
The Mysterious Maiden of Samsara bowed in sincere gratitude and walked forward beneath the moonlight.
Watching her depart into the distance, Shenpo instructed the immortals of Penglai, "Now has come the time for you to render meritorious service and make your names. Do well, and Immortal Master Xu will reward you according to your deeds—everyone will receive a magnificent immortal mountain, and opening grotto-heavens and blessed lands will be child's play! Do poorly, and your immortal mountains will shrink, and you will be relegated to serving tea and pouring water."
The immortals of Penglai were both surprised and overjoyed. Patriarch Yan Yu hastily asked, "Are we to slay the demon gods of the demonic realm, eradicate demons, defend the Dao, and purify the demonic realm?"
Shenpo trembled with anger from head to toe. She pointed at him, stammering, and only caught her breath after a long while before snapping, "No! Right now, the Little Celestial Venerable of the demonic realm has fallen into dire straits and faces a great tribulation; Immortal Kings are coming to kill him. We of Penglai shall act as his protectors!"
At these words, Patriarch Yan Yu was startled and blurted out, "Does that mean we're on the same side as the demons?"
The others looked at one another in bewilderment, unable to make sense of it.
Shenpo laughed. "In this day and age, demons are not demons, and the Dao is not the Dao. Just do as I command, and nothing will go wrong. Protecting the Little Celestial Venerable and saving him are major deeds—far greater in merit than those fellows running around hunting down the experts of the myriad worlds! If Immortal Master Xu is pleased, each and every one of you will be rewarded."
The crowd remained skeptical.
Patriarch Yan Yu declared resolutely, "Shenpo, you must have been parasitized or possessed by a demon god! We are immortals—how could we possibly help a demon god?"
"Indeed!"
Many more Penglai immortals stepped forward, looking up at Shenpo and chiming in:
"That Little Celestial Venerable is called a Celestial Venerable in name, but he's actually a Little Demon Venerable! We are immortals. If we don't eradicate demons and defend the Dao, what reason is there to aid demons and destroy the Dao?"
"Immortal Master Xu Ying would never permit you to do this!"
"Shenpo, I saw that something was off about you long ago! Reveal your true form!"
...Shenpo flew into a fury. "Shut up, all of you!"
Lightning and thunder crashed inside and outside the Penglai Immortal Realm, and the immortals obediently clamped their mouths shut.
Shenpo swept her gaze across them, sneering with mockery. "You're immortals? Immortals from where? Immortals of the Immortal Realm? Bullshit! You are immortals of Penglai! What bloody connection does the Immortal Realm have with you? If the Immortal Realm has nothing to do with you, then the demonic path has nothing to do with you either! If you have no connection to them, where do 'demons' come from?"
The immortals stared dumbfounded, their Dao hearts shaken.
They had always considered themselves immortals. Even if defective and incomplete, they were still immortals. Yet Shenpo's words struck straight at their souls and rattled their Dao hearts.
Were they, as immortals, the same kind of immortals as those in the Immortal Realm?
If not, what did the distinction between immortal and demon in the eyes of the Immortal Realm have to do with them?
"You've been corrupted by Meng Wuhuai!" Shenpo reprimanded them, frustrated by their ineptitude. "Meng Wuhuai stuffed your heads with notions of gods and demons, of superior and inferior! I went to great pains to help you get Immortal Master Xu instead and bring you a better future, yet your heads are still trapped in these rigid dogmas! Today, listen to me. Gather the strength of our Penglai to resist the invasion of Weixu, lend the Little Celestial Venerable a hand, and earn yourselves some merits."
Even so, the immortals still hesitated.
It was difficult for them to rashly alter perceptions ingrained over tens of thousands of years. After all, the Penglai Immortal Realm had resisted the Ancestral Court for all these years, and the invasion of the demonic realm was actually the Ancestral Court's Great Dao of Heaven and Earth encroaching into the myriad worlds.
Immortal Master Meng Wuhuai had repeatedly led them to counter the demonic realm's incursions and refine the demonic Dao, both sides fighting earth-shattering battles. Now, being asked to help the demonic realm's Little Celestial Venerable survive this deadly tribulation, they naturally felt internal resistance.
Knowing it would be difficult to change these stubborn fools' minds in a short time, Shenpo rolled her eyes and shifted the topic. "Weixu has repeatedly joined hands with the demonic realm in an attempt to slaughter us and annex Penglai. Now, my Penglai will stand against Weixu—surely none of you have any objection to that?"
When she put it like that, the immortals felt much better.
Patriarch Yan Yu nodded. "Confronting Weixu is our bounden duty; we will not shirk it."
Shenpo breathed a sigh of relief.
Fairy Gushe circulated the karmic laws to inspect karma, and her brows knitted tightly. She said to Yuan Tiangang, "The karma tangled around the immortals of our Penglai meets its retribution here. I fear that this time, Penglai will face a tremendous catastrophe—perhaps even total annihilation."
Yuan Tiangang cast a divination himself and said, "My reading still shows turning misfortune into good fortune."
Fairy Gushe smiled. "Then we can use this very occasion to verify whether your fortune-telling is superior or my karmic arts are!"
Yuan Tiangang nodded repeatedly, brimming with confidence.
Outside the Ziwei Remnant Realm, a beautiful figure sped past, suddenly swooping downward to plunge into a zone of Immortal Dao abnormality.
The abnormal zone emanated immortal light, within which lurked great terror. Wherever the light tainted, vegetation twisted like snakes, and flowers and fruits grew human faces that babbled and gibbered in human speech—a truly horrifying sight.
Suddenly, demonic clouds billowed across the sky and halted above. From within the clouds shot two pillars of light over a hundred zhang thick. The two divine beams swept across the wasteland, searching in all directions.
After a moment, the divine light retracted. A colossal body slithered within the demonic clouds, revealing enormous scales gleaming like mirrors.
"Not here. Let's go!"
A voice came from the clouds, and the demonic clouds billowed away.
Moments later, a somewhat bedraggled young maiden in palace robes stepped out from the zone of Immortal Dao abnormality below—it was Hua Cuoying. Pursued by her old foe in the demonic clouds, she had fled here in panic, forced to hide within the abnormal zone.
"Finally gone."
Hua Cuoying wiped away the trace of blood at the corner of her lips. Her vital qi was in turmoil, and some of it had transformed into sword qi, churning like stormy seas within her Realm of Xiyi. Far from easing, her injuries were growing progressively worse.
Right then, from the sky behind her, an enormous snake head noiselessly extended downward. Its body was covered in colorless scales that shimmered with iridescent hues only when catching the sunlight.
From the back of the great serpent's head grew two long horns—one black, one white—between which yin and yang qi formed a Taiji diagram.
At this moment, the Taiji diagram spun silently, quietly hovering over Hua Cuoying's head.
At the same time, a big bell radiating immortal light flew soundlessly from behind the serpent's head, positioning itself above the Taiji diagram!
The corner of Hua Cuoying's eye twitched. Though heavily wounded by Xu Ying's Zhuxian sword qi and deafened by damaged ears, her senses remained razor-sharp, and she instantly detected that something was amiss.
Whoosh—!
The Taiji diagram pressed down. The very instant it moved, the Twelve-Storyed Mansions soared into the air. Straining every ounce of her strength, Hua Cuoying raised this Immortal Dao structure. Having been refined by the Five Extremes Immortal King, its power was truly extraordinary; its resplendent immortal light blasted through the Taiji diagram's suppression in one blow!
Yet at that exact instant, the bell tolled. The big bell vibrated with all its might, and in a flash, the three thousand Heavenly Dao runes on its inner wall whirled and shrieked. The runes shone brightly and transformed, establishing a Heavenly Dao domain that clamped downward!
The big bell hung high, like a supreme divine artifact governing the Heavenly Dao. Its tolling reverberated with boundless heavenly might to suppress Hua Cuoying!
Hua Cuoying grunted, nearly suffering the destruction of her soul and perishing on the spot. In haste, she pushed the Twelve-Storyed Mansions to their absolute limit!
All the doors of the Twelve-Storyed Mansions flew open. Within each and every level sat a figure of Xu Ying, unmoving, eyes closed in concentration!
Twelve Great Dao imprints of Xu Ying!
Hua Cuoying bellowed a shout. The twelve imprints of Xu Ying abruptly snapped their eyes open, unleashing beams of Dao light in all directions!
The Heavenly Dao domain established by the big bell emitted a deafening crash and was slashed to pieces in the next instant!
Yuan Qi shifted his body repeatedly, dancing like a soaring snake to evade the razor-sharp Dao light. He snapped his maw wide open and yelled, "Little lady, behold the universe within your Lord Niu Qi's belly!"
He inhaled with all his might. The world spun violently for Hua Cuoying; unable to stabilize herself, she tumbled toward his mouth.
Once Yuan Qi sucked her into his stomach, he slammed his jaws shut, severing her connection to the Twelve-Storyed Mansions.
The big bell had shielded Yuan Qi, deflecting the onslaught of Dao light from the eyes of Xu Ying's imprints in the Twelve-Storyed Mansions. It was hammered with ringing clangs, barely able to maintain its footing. Only when Yuan Qi swallowed Hua Cuoying and severed the connection did the Dao light in the eyes of the twelve imprints gradually fade, their eyes closing once more as they sat in motionless meditation.
Terrified, the big bell hastily asked, "Seventh Master, quickly check if I've been pierced through!"
Yuan Qi hurried to look. Deep gouges marked the bell's surface, nearly having punched through. Strangely, however, the bell wall seemed alive—resembling both flesh and liquid—and was actually healing on its own.
"What kind of trick did Ancestor Chanchan work on Lord Bell for it to heal itself?" Yuan Qi was filled with wonder and bewilderment.
Hua Cuoying tumbled through dizzying chaos and crashed hard against the ground. Rolling several times, she sprang to her feet and looked around, startled. "Where is this?"
She found herself inside an elongated, oval-shaped world resembling a barrel universe, only many times longer than an ordinary barrel.
Looking upward, the sky was studded with roughly three thousand stars.
Suspended among the stars were gigantic treasures; though not as formidable as immortal artifacts, they were still remarkable.
This place was like a miniature, exquisite Heavenly Dao world!
"Am I in that snake's belly?"
Just as the thought crossed Hua Cuoying's mind, countless stars blazed with brilliant light. The Heavenly Dao coalesced divine power to form an incomparably majestic deity—a peerless serpent that lunged toward her!
In an instant, the sky was covered in eyes watching her every move, while heavenly light and heavenly consciousness laid bare all her divine powers!
Gritting her teeth, Hua Cuoying summoned the colossal Yellow Court Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven behind her, bracing for a fight to the death.
Seeing Yuan Qi keeping his mouth clamped shut without saying a word, the big bell asked with concern, "Seventh Master, how is it going? Has that little lady yielded?"
Yuan Qi dared not speak. Right at that moment, the Twelve-Storyed Mansions suddenly turned into a beam of light and shot away through the air.
Seeing this, the big bell hurriedly took flight to pursue the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, only to be knocked backward by a wisp of Dao might emanating from the structure.
The big bell reverberated continuously, tolling in an unbroken clang as its Heavenly Dao might struck out, finally refining away the lingering force. It couldn't help but feel unnerved.
That wisp of Dao might was something Hua Cuoying could never have mobilized; though merely a wisp, it gave the bell an extremely dangerous feeling!
"I fear that divine mansion has been recalled by that old monster from Weixu! Seventh Master, open your mouth. I'll go inside to lend you a hand and suppress that little lady!"
Just as the big bell spoke, blood seeped from the corner of Yuan Qi's mouth. Looking dispirited, his eyes rolled back, his mouth twisted uncontrollably, and his jaws fell open.
Hua Cuoying flew out of his mouth. The big bell inverted itself, preparing to trap her, but the Yellow Court Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven suddenly surged. Hua Cuoying channeled her divine sense and slammed it toward the bell.
The vast impact of her divine sense left the big bell's true spirit dizzy and dazed, unable to hinder her any longer.
Overjoyed, Hua Cuoying was about to fly away when she noticed a stalk of purple grass resting on her shoulder.
Countless roots drilled into her ears, then bored into her nostrils and eyes, and even forced their way into her mouth!
Hua Cuoying immediately reached to pull it out, but at that moment, her consciousness grew muddled, her Primordial Spirit fell dormant, and even the Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven behind her slowly ceased functioning.
Seeing this, the big bell and Yuan Qi rushed over, preparing to strike the killing blow. Hua Cuoying managed to scrape together a shred of consciousness and pleaded, "Spare my life..."
The big bell halted and said, "Open your Realm of Xiyi. If I suppress your Primordial Spirit, I won't kill you!"
Controlled by the grave grass, Hua Cuoying could not move. The grave grass manipulated her body to open her Realm of Xiyi.
The big bell flew inside and saw that Hua Cuoying's Primordial Spirit was also under the grave grass's control. It inwardly praised Lord Grass's remarkable skill.
With a chime, it suppressed Hua Cuoying's Primordial Spirit within its Heavenly Dao domain before telling the purple immortal plant to release her.
The purple immortal plant, however, did not leave the palace-robed maiden. It took root atop her head, adding several purple leaves to her coiffure.
Even if Hua Cuoying broke free of the big bell's suppression, the plant would directly seize control of her again, leaving no worry that she could escape.
Yuan Qi asked, "Young lady, what was with the Twelve-Storyed Mansions flying away just now?"
Hua Cuoying dared not conceal the truth and said, "The Twelve-Storyed Mansions are an Immortal King treasure refined by my father, which he normally uses to manifest an avatar. When it fell into my hands earlier, I had a method to shield his perception, preventing him from recalling it. But when you seized the treasure just now without masking his connection, he snatched the Twelve-Storyed Mansions back."
She paused, then added, "My father must know the Little Celestial Venerable has been critically wounded, and taking back this treasure means he intends to avenge the humiliation he suffered..."
Yuan Qi inquired, "Your father is?"
"The Five Extremes Immortal King of Weixu!"
Yuan Qi called the big bell and Hua Cuoying over to discuss: "We didn't secure full credit. We were supposed to retrieve the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, along with the Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven and this young lady—that would have been three major achievements. Now only two remain. Why don't we escort this young lady to Hunyuan Palace first to secure our merit?"
The big bell said, "Seventh Master is right. We'll do as Seventh Master says."
Hua Cuoying blinked, puzzled. Why include me in the discussion? This big snake behaves so strangely!
Atop her head, the purple immortal plant nodded its leaves twice, indicating agreement with Seventh Master.
At Hunyuan Palace, Xu Ying suppressed his sorrow and said, "Yashu, don't look."
Zhou Yashu turned around and closed his eyes. Just then, a bright moon rose, gradually ascending into the sky above Hunyuan Palace.
From outside the palace came a voice: "Fellow Daoist Xu, the Mysterious Maiden of Samsara from the Netherworld seeks an audience, wishing to forge a karmic bond with you."
Bathed in moonlight, a dreamlike woman walked upon the lunar rays. Her shadow carried supreme nobility, and she wore a phoenix crown, resembling a monarch who ruled over countless souls of the dead as she came into Xu Ying's view.
Her deep, quiet gaze fell upon Xu Ying's hands. She saw Xu Ying gathering qi into a sword, gripping the blade with one hand while pinching the facial skin of the Little Celestial Venerable with the other, just about to carefully carve off the Little Celestial Venerable's face to refine it into a Nuo master magic treasure.
The Mysterious Maiden of Samsara froze in astonishment. "He can still be saved—Fellow Daoist Xu, what are you doing?"
Pinching the Little Celestial Venerable's facial skin, Xu Ying stood at a complete loss.
Chapter 362