"I need someone like him. Only someone like him can upend these heavens," the Queen Mother of the West thought to herself.
Kunlun was far too weak.
To this day, she had still not regained her peak state. To return to her peak, she had to command the incense and offerings of all the heavens and myriad worlds and rebuild the system of heavenly gods. But now, the living beings across the myriad worlds only knew of the Heavenly Dao world and revered its heavenly gods, ignorant of Kunlun!
Those illiterate heavenly gods occupying high seats were an utter disgrace to ancient deities of the Kunlun Realm like them!
And to command the incense of the myriad worlds, the present Heavenly Dao world had to be overthrown. Thus, the Queen Mother of the West and Xu Ying shared the same goal.
Xu Ying finished offering sacrifices to his kinsmen of Xujiaping and rose to his feet. The gods of Kunlun had already swept across the battlefield to clean it up.
In the sky, the Immortal Realm gradually faded, vanishing from sight.
"The Thunder Department has one mansion, two courts, and three offices. The obliteration of the Thunder Capital Office—one of the three offices—is no small matter," the Queen Mother of the West said with deep concern to Xu Ying and the female immortal. "If the Thunder Department is enraged, the Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department will descend, reenacting the scene of Kunlun's downfall from years ago."
The female immortal said, "Nowadays, there are far too many immortals in the Immortal Realm, redundant and idle. Even with the Thunder Capital Office destroyed, it can soon be rebuilt. The Thunder Department's strength will not diminish in the slightest. However, it is inevitable that the Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department will fly into a rage and lead a personal expedition with the one mansion, two courts, and three offices. Our only viable plan now is to avoid them."
"How can we avoid them?" the Queen Mother of the West asked.
Xu Ying's heart stirred, and he inquired, "Can Kunlun go to the Ancestral Court?"
The Queen Mother of the West hesitated slightly before replying, "Kunlun was originally part of the Ancestral Court, so returning there is naturally possible. It's just that Kunlun is the sole conduit connecting the myriad worlds to the Ancestral Court. If Kunlun returns to the Ancestral Court, I fear it will sever the path for the people of the myriad worlds to seek their roots."
Xu Ying said, "Kunlun is not the only path leading to the demonic realm. In the Yuanchu Great World, I passed through the Boundless Sea of Fire and entered the Ancestral Court."
The Queen Mother of the West looked puzzled. "That can't be right. The Yuanchu Great World disappeared long ago, so how could it reappear? Moreover, how could Yuanchu be connected to the Ancestral Court? Strange..."
Xu Ying was taken aback, then smiled. "Why is it strange for the Yuanchu world to be connected to the Ancestral Court?"
The Queen Mother of the West said, "The only path to the Ancestral Court should be Kunlun; otherwise, why would this place be called the ancestral land? Furthermore, the Yuanchu Great World vanished from the myriad worlds long ago—it has been gone for more than a hundred thousand years. Its sudden emergence now must have a cause."
Xu Ying's heart stirred, and he said, "In the Yuanchu Great World, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth from the ancient era began reviving, a phenomenon Meng Wuhuai, the Immortal Master of Penglai, called an invasion of the demonic realm. Could that be related to the Yuanchu Great World connecting to the Ancestral Court? Furthermore, four thousand years ago, the Ancestral Court might already have been connected to the Yuanshou world! Four thousand years ago, I took a ship out to sea, entered the Ancestral Court, and found the Fangzhang immortal mountain there!"
That seafaring venture four thousand years ago had been his voyage into the demonic realm with Xu Fu.
The Queen Mother of the West was even more astonished. "There are so many paths into the Ancestral Court? Impossible! And the revival of the ancient era's Great Dao of Heaven and Earth is even more impossible!"
Xu Ying asked, "Fellow Daoist, do you know why the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth fell silent in the ancient era?"
The Queen Mother of the West shook her head. "I am not too clear on that either. I only heard people say it might be related to the withering of the Dao caused by the tides."
"Tides? Withering of the Dao?" Xu Ying wondered aloud. "Could it be the Three Realms Tides?"
The first time he heard of tides had been from Yuan Tiangang, who spoke of the Three Realms Tides. Yuan Tiangang had said that when great tides arose between the Immortal Realm, the Netherworld, and the myriad worlds, immortal opportunities would appear. He wondered whether the tides the Queen Mother of the West mentioned were related to that.
The Queen Mother of the West shook her head. "It shouldn't be. The Three Realms Tides are the effects caused when the Immortal Realm, Netherworld, and myriad worlds are at their closest proximity. The tides of the ancient era were vastly more powerful." As for what specifically caused those tides and the withering of the Dao, she did not know either.
Xu Ying fell into deep thought. The revival of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth in the Taishi Great World had been due to Xuankong unearthing the ancient Buddha's seal. Yuanzheng also showed signs of revival. The seas of the Yuanshou world connected to the seas of the Ancestral Court, and the long-vanished Yuanchu Great World bordered the Ancestral Court directly. All of these matters were quite bizarre.
Pressing these doubts down into his heart, he said, "Queen Mother of the West, since there are other paths leading to the Ancestral Court, Kunlun can enter the Ancestral Court to take refuge. I have a modest presence in the Ancestral Court, and the people there give me a bit of face. Why not settle on it: Kunlun shall relocate to the Ancestral Court."
The Queen Mother of the West agreed and smiled. "Son of the Xu family, leave the relocation to me and the female immortal. As for your trip to the Jade Void Palace, I have made all the preparations as well. Why don't I send you into the Jade Void Palace first?"
Xu Ying quickly expressed his gratitude.
The Queen Mother of the West went with him to the summit of Jade Void Peak. This had once been the traveling palace of the Yellow Emperor, but now only ruins remained.
The two ascended the Divine Bridge together. The Divine Bridge was broken here, making it impossible to reach the Jade Capital directly; one had to rely on a cave-heaven refined through the Xu family's Nuo master ancestral method to link with the Jade Capital.
Last time, when Xu Ying and the others came here, Xu Fu had relied on Nuofan's Nuo ancestor cave-heaven to bridge to the Jade Capital City, entering the Jade Capital to cross his heavenly tribulation and ascend.
"Throughout history, the great emperors who unified the world were always received by the clan head of Xujiaping upon reaching Kunlun. The clan head would lead them to the Divine Bridge and use a Nuo master cave-heaven to bridge the final stretch of the Divine Bridge, connecting to the Jade Capital," the Queen Mother of the West remarked with emotion. "However, no one has used this tradition for a very long time."
Ever since that battle forty-eight thousand years ago, no kinsman of the Xu clan had been here to guide anyone across.
Xu Ying mobilized his Immortal Realm cave-heaven. Immortal light flew from the cave-heaven and transformed into a divine bridge, connecting with the Divine Bridge under their feet and paving a way straight to the Jade Capital City suspended in the void.
The Queen Mother of the West entered the Jade Capital alongside him, arriving at the altar where generations of emperors had offered sacrifices to Heaven.
Generations of emperors had offered sacrifices to Heaven here, and it was here that they had ascended.
Sacrificing to Heaven was offering sacrifices to the Ancestral Court to which they could not return.
Ascending was ascending to the Immortal Realm!
The Queen Mother of the West said, "The Jade Void Palace sits right above the Jade Capital City."
Xu Ying looked up, but he saw nothing at all.
The Jade Capital was like an other shore resting in the void—not even within the myriad worlds, neither in the mortal realm nor in the Netherworld, nor in the Immortal Realm!
Looking outward, he could see neither Kunlun nor any other world; all he could see was a solitary divine bridge floating in the void, connected to the Jade Capital City, with a mass of radiant light at the bridge's far end.
The Queen Mother of the West said, "Kunlun is also known as the Kunlun Realm or the Kunlun Ruins, and half the reason is the Jade Void Palace. Opening the Jade Void Palace is no easy feat, so even I needed several days to prepare."
Her figure moved as she rearranged the altar at the center of the Jade Capital City, reordering the stone tablets, huabiao pillars, and grand cauldrons. She also produced banners and pennants and planted them around the altar. On them were painted bizarre patterns that resembled Immortal Dao runes yet were not, and somewhat resembled Dao patterns yet differed as well.
The Queen Mother of the West stood upon the altar and mobilized her divine power. Her Dharmic power was as profound as an endless ocean, and the ancient designs on the surrounding stone tablets, huabiao pillars, grand cauldrons, banners, and pennants lit up one after another.
Then, a beam of light pierced the void. Rather than tearing the void apart, this light seemed to illuminate something concealed within it.
Xu Ying craned his head and looked up. Sure enough, where the light illuminated, he faintly saw a realm of heaven and earth, incomparably sacred.
That place was likely the Jade Void Palace.
Yet this scene bore some resemblance to the vision he had witnessed on Mount Sumeru.
At the Great Thunder Sound Temple, he had seen that Mount Sumeru of the ancient era contained another realm of spacetime entirely, where all the Buddhas sat in state.
And now, Mount Kunlun also contained an independent realm of spacetime, bearing a clear resemblance.
Xu Ying bowed slightly to the Queen Mother of the West, then sprang into the air, plunging into the light above the altar.
The instant his body entered the light, the illumination before his eyes shifted dramatically, whirling endlessly like a kaleidoscope.
He felt as though he had stepped into a channel of swift-flowing currents, swept along helplessly toward an unknown destination!
*Swoosh!*
Within the pillar of light, Xu Ying's figure vanished. The pillar of light dimmed and finally settled back onto the altar. The ever-shifting designs on the surrounding stone tablets, huabiao pillars, banners, and pennants faded, each returning to their original state.
The Queen Mother of the West looked outside the Jade Capital City. The female immortal had already arrived on the Divine Bridge. The Queen Mother of the West said to her, "Fellow Daoist, let us open the path to the Ancestral Court right here and relocate Kunlun there!"
The female immortal sat cross-legged, her Primordial Spirit manifesting behind her. The Queen Mother of the West also sat cross-legged, and facing each other, they cast their spells in unison.
*Boom!*
The void shook violently as clouds and mists suddenly surged and rolled, and countless spaces rushed past in a blur. After a long while, the Great Dao of an alien heaven and earth suddenly surged forward.
The lands of the Ancestral Court appeared on the other shore of the void.
The female immortal's formidable divine consciousness erupted, linking to the Ancestral Court. Instantly, the colossal Kunlun Sacred Mountain flickered between light and shadow, plunging toward the Ancestral Court!
In the westernmost regions of the Ancestral Court, a herd of ancient behemoths, Mangtian Azure Bulls, was grazing on dragonblood clover amid the vast forest plains. Each of these behemoths was as large as a mountain, and the forest of dragonblood clover stretched for tens of thousands of li.
Just then, thunder rumbled across heaven and earth. The Mangtian Azure Bulls raised their heads one after another, lifting their massive horns as they surveyed their surroundings alertly.
They heard the thunder, yet could not see where it came from. The pastoralists living on the backs of the Mangtian Azure Bulls looked all around in bewilderment as well.
On the back of each Mangtian Azure Bull was typically a small village. There weren't many people—just a few dozen, making a living by herding.
Whenever two Mangtian Azure Bulls met on the forest plains, the herders of the two villages would visit each other and trade goods; this was called a bull fair.
Today happened to be a grand fair seen once every few decades. The herd had gathered, and herders came and went in a bustling crowd.
Suddenly, brilliant light erupted from the depths of space. Heaven and earth trembled violently, and ancient sacred mountain after ancient sacred mountain surged forth from spacetime!
It looked as if those sacred mountains had been there all along, merely folded away by spacetime, and were now simply being released from it.
It was like a flat sheet of paper folded twice in the middle, joining two spaces originally tens of thousands of li apart while concealing the tens of thousands of li between them.
Now that the paper was unfolded, the hidden tens of thousands of li instantly appeared!
The herd of Mangtian Azure Bulls had gathered with great difficulty for the bull fair, only to find that after the flash of light, the fair was split into two separate markets on the left and right. Between them lay the Kunlun Ruins—not particularly far, just tens of thousands of li apart.
"The Ancestral Court—we're finally back!" Joy flooded the Queen Mother of the West's heart.
Just then, a Black Tortoise divine turtle many times larger than a Mangtian Azure Bull came into her view, bearing a mountain range on its back. The mountain range connected upward to the Immortal Realm, bathed in immortal light descending from above, looking extraordinary.
"An immortal mountain? Could it be..."
Her heart stirred. Then, she saw an unrivaled giant serpent rise from that immortal mountain, soaring straight into the azure skies and swimming toward her.
"That looks like the big serpent beside the son of the Xu family. His build is even more massive than before! What is that gleaming loop around his tail?"
The Queen Mother of the West scrutinized it. As Yuan Qi flew closer, she recognized the Diamond Bangle on his tail and thought to herself, *So it truly is a snare.*
Yuan Qi flew over Kunlun and swiftly descended, climbing the mountain to pay respects to the Queen Mother of the West. "The Divine Mother foresaw that Kunlun was about to arrive, so she had Penglai Immortal Mountain set out early to welcome the Queen Mother of the West here."
The Queen Mother of the West was surprised. "The Divine Mother? Who is she?"
Yuan Qi replied, "I don't know her origins either. I only know that she can only stay on Penglai Immortal Mountain and cannot step foot off it. If the Queen Mother of the West doesn't mind, you can go to Penglai Immortal Mountain to meet her."
The Queen Mother of the West's heart stirred. "She is someone who once died and was brought back to life after consuming the immortal medicine, which is why she cannot leave the mountain! I will go see her!"
Yuan Qi led the way, and the Queen Mother of the West followed him toward Penglai. Before long, they flew into the Penglai Immortal Realm and arrived at Mituo Temple.
Upon seeing the Divine Mother, the Queen Mother of the West was stunned. Then she smiled and said, "I was wondering who this divinely prescient Divine Mother was, but it turns out to be you, Fellow Daoist. How did you escape?"
The Divine Mother chuckled. "The son of the Xu family brought me out of the Immortal Realm."
The Queen Mother of the West glanced at the giant serpent, who had shrunk in size and curled up to the side hoping to eavesdrop, and said, "Xu Ying is also in Kunlun, meditating in the Jade Void Palace."
Yuan Qi was both surprised and delighted. Hastily excusing himself, he shouted, "Master Bell, Ah Ying is in Kunlun! Let's go find him!"
Beneath the eaves of Mituo Temple, an unassuming big bell hastily unhooked itself and grumbled, "I was planning to hear a few stories, but you just had to blurt it out."
Its plain exterior fell away, radiating brilliant immortal light as it set off with Yuan Qi toward Jade Void Peak on Mount Kunlun.
Last time, it and Yuan Qi had moved like ghosts through the Ancestral Court, haunting forbidden zones and ransacking Immortal Dao anomalous zones and immortal tombs far and wide. Having acquired a wealth of treasures, they had been eager to flaunt them before Xu Ying, only to find he had left the Ancestral Court.
The bell and snake flew to Jade Void Peak, but having no way into the Jade Void Palace, they had no choice but to wait on the Divine Bridge.
Xu Ying stood in an ancient realm of heaven and earth. Looking down, he could see Kunlun and the myriad worlds, and even the Ancestral Court lay completely in view.
"So this is the true Kunlun Realm," he murmured with feeling.
Looking ahead, he saw a vast, boundless expanse, a desolate and dead silence. The boundaries between heaven, earth, and the Netherworld were indistinct, as if veiled behind a shroud of gray mist.
Everywhere lay scenes of ruin—broken mountains and shattered rivers, a broken sun and a shattered moon!
Before him was a fractured cliff. The precipice was steep and precarious, its summit still intact, but its mountainside had been battered until only a needle-thin stalk remained connected to the mountain body below!
And atop this cliff sat an expanse of ruined palace halls.
Xu Ying soared into the air and landed upon that cliff, stepping into the ruins.
Before the palace stood an irregular boulder inscribed with golden characters:
"Kunlun Realm — Qilin Cliff!"
Xu Ying withdrew his gaze and arrived before the shattered palace. Only a gateway remained standing; the golden halls behind it were entirely crushed to dust.
Upon the pillars flanking the gateway hung a couplet:
"Gazing out where Kunlun towers, half of vast heaven and earth it upholds.
Swelling the chest to match the ocean's breadth, boundless winds and moonlight rest on storied towers."
Chapter 396