"The Son of Heaven of Zhou once told me that when they steered the Divine Boat of the Other Shore toward the other shore, they were attacked along the way by heavenly fiends. When I entered the Crimson Palace other shore back in Kunlun, I also encountered heavenly fiends. In that case, the fiends on the other shore must have slipped through from Weixu."
Xu Ying raised his head to look up, his mind churning with doubt.
The realms of the other shore were mysterious spaces opened by gas refiners—how could one appear near Weixu? Or rather, why had Weixu appeared near the other shore?
According to the information gathered by the Son of Heaven of Zhou, the Six Great Other Shores were interconnected. Once inside one, a person could sail a boat to any of the others, proving that all six worlds were actually situated in the same general expanse.
Weixu was built within an immense skull of a Supreme Sovereign. That meant a Supreme Sovereign skull was floating through the void near the other shore!
At regular intervals, the Supreme Sovereign skull and the Yellow Court other shore drifted close enough to one another for their geomagnetic origin forces to intertwine!
The six realms of the other shore harbored vastly different immortal medicine energies and occupied distinctly different environments. Some rested atop dark yellow qi; some lay nestled amidst an ocean of primal chaos; others drifted on the far banks of the Nether Sea.
Yet what they had seen within Weixu suggested that all these bizarre, incongruous regions were actually not far apart at all. Floating right alongside the Supreme Sovereign skull were the Sea of Primal Chaos, dark yellow qi, the Nether Sea, and other uncanny expanses. Furthermore, these domains had clearly been carved out by human hand!
Xu Ying steadied his thoughts. If his hidden treasures had not been destroyed, he could have entered those other shores to see what lay beyond them and why so many bizarre spectacles existed.
*And what is the story behind the Yellow Court Mansion inside Weixu?* Xu Ying wondered.
In his first lifetime, he had comprehended the Yellow Court Mansion of the Dark Yellow Realm in Weixu before constructing a Yellow Court Mansion on the Yellow Court other shore to gather the stray immortal medicine drifting through the Dark Yellow Realm. Drawing upon his earlier experiences, that mansion had to be linked to an ancient being of staggering cultivation. Why had such a figure appeared inside the Supreme Sovereign skull?
"Stop gawking! We need to move!" Hua Cuoying urged him. "While those heavenly fiends are drawn away by the other shore, let's cross this area as quickly as we can. Once I deliver you to the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain, I'm heading back!"
Xu Ying hurried after her, asking, "Why would the other shore appear near the Supreme Sovereign skull? Aren't you curious, Cuoying?"
"Curious? Not at all," Hua Cuoying said flatly. "Anyone in Weixu who was ever curious about that ended up dead long ago."
Xu Ying looked at her in confusion.
Hua Cuoying explained, "A space-time barrier separates the Supreme Sovereign skull from the outside world. It's almost impossible to cross unless you ride the geomagnetic tidal surges. But if you do that, you'll be sucked into the other shore right alongside those heavenly fiends, roasted by immortal fire, and almost certainly perish. Even if you survive, the fiends will seize your body, leaving you trapped there forever."
Xu Ying turned his gaze toward the Yellow Court other shore outside Weixu. Suddenly, high above it, the vague silhouette of a gargantuan mass glided past. Upside-down mountain ranges pressed down on the Yellow Court other shore, their peaks rippling like dragon scales, radiating an overwhelming pressure.
"Cuoying, what is that above the other shore?" he asked.
Hua Cuoying glanced over casually at first, but abruptly jolted in realization. Staring hard, she gasped, "What in the world is that?"
The two of them stood frozen, gazing at the immense landmass. It bristled with towering immortal peaks on a breathtaking scale, far outstripping the Yellow Court other shore. The geomagnetic tides it stirred even induced a sensation of weightlessness in everyone within Weixu!
Xu Ying strained to get a better look. "Have you never seen that behemoth before?"
Hua Cuoying shook her head in bewilderment. Such a massive landmass had never appeared before; for some inexplicable reason, it had drifted into view right outside the Supreme Sovereign skull.
Elsewhere in Weixu, Perfected Thousand Illusions and Perfected Jade Pot were locked in a frantic chase, blazing through the void like twin streaks of light. Their flight disturbed a slumbering horde of corpse immortals and corpse ghosts. These beings were already consumed by boundless rancor over dying wrongfully without proper burial, so being roused like this sent them into a frenzy. Just as they were about to swarm the two intruders, they all raised their heads toward the Supreme Sovereign skull's eye socket, their expressions turning blank. Seeing this, Perfected Thousand Illusions and Perfected Jade Pot followed their gazes and froze in equal bewilderment, staring at the inverted continent drifting slowly into view.
That land resembled an upside-down Immortal Realm, suffused with pure immortal spirit qi, overflowing with sacred immortal peaks and divine sanctuaries!
"What is that?" The two cultivators were struck dumb. Perfected Thousand Illusions cried out, "How could an Immortal Realm exist in the lower realm?"
The Ninth Immortal King and the Five Extremes Immortal King had slipped into the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain one after the other, pursuing the duo. At that moment, they too noticed the staggering spectacle beyond the sky. Even two exalted Immortal Kings were rendered speechless.
The Ninth Immortal King muttered, "Back then, we tried so many times to eliminate Meng Wuhuai, even joining forces with the Little Celestial Venerable, just to seize the Penglai Immortal Mountain. Only by claiming Penglai could we escape being subject to others. But though Penglai is vast, compared to that landmass out there, it's a puddle next to an ocean!"
The Five Extremes Immortal King spoke grimly. "Brother Nine, back in those days, the Great Villain carried off three immortal mountains from the Immortal Realm: the first was Fangzhang, the second was Penglai, and the third was Yingzhou. Penglai and Fangzhang have both resurfaced. Could that landmass be..."
The Ninth Immortal King waved his hands in immediate denial. "Fellow Daoist, that is an entire continent, not a mountain! Have you ever seen an immortal mountain multiple times larger than an entire other shore? There is no way that's the third mountain!"
The Five Extremes Immortal King also felt his theory was a bit too wild, laughing self-deprecatingly. "My mind was wandering. A continent of such staggering size—how could the Great Villain have possibly transported it from the Immortal Realm down to the lower realm?"
"It would be impossible to lift! Besides, the immortals guarding the Immortal Realm aren't blind. If someone actually carved out such a gargantuan chunk of the Immortal Realm and hauled it below, wouldn't everyone have noticed immediately?" He burst into hearty laughter.
The Ninth Immortal King joined in his laughter.
After a few moments, both Immortal Kings went quiet simultaneously. They looked at each other, their thoughts instantly aligning as they blurted out in unison: "Could that immortal continent really be Yingzhou?"
The Ninth Immortal King stared up at the miniature Immortal Realm drifting beyond the sky, his expression shifting erratically. "We searched for Yingzhou for tens of thousands of years, scouring high and low, never imagining it had been hanging right over our heads the entire time..."
"That man is vile beyond measure—calling him the Great Villain is entirely justified!" the Five Extremes Immortal King cursed.
At almost the exact same moment, deep within the Corpse Ghost Immortal Domain, an ancient corpse stirred awake. Dense mist rolled in every direction, filling the void with drifting, thread-like tentacles that spanned the sky. A pair of eyes pierced through the gloom, looking toward the continent that looked just like the Immortal Realm.
A booming voice echoed from the mist: "A fragment of the Immortal Realm... Who could be so audacious as to cleave off such an immense piece of it..."
Suddenly, an immortal sword streaked through the air. Sword light surged outward like a golden river, coiling about the mist. A cold snort resonated from the vapor. As the Jinhe sword qi lightly brushed against the thread-like tentacles, several were severed by the Jinhe Sword. The weathered voice within the mist spoke: "Sword Monarch, after retrieving your immortal sword, your mastery of the sword has deepened once more. Yet like me, you are nothing more than a beast caged in this place..."
The golden river of sword qi snapped back instantly, the surging torrent tumbling downward into a scabbard.
Behind the scabbard sat a man in brocade robes. He appeared quite young, perhaps in his twenties or thirties, with a resolute face as still and untroubled as an ancient well, completely unmoved by the voice in the mist.
"Sword Monarch, do you see that immortal continent out there? If you go there, you will once again be a carefree Immortal Monarch." A laugh echoed from the mist. "You remain here, ostensibly suppressing and imprisoning me. But in truth, are you not a prisoner yourself, pinned down and locked away in this very spot?"
The man in brocade was Sword Monarch Jinhe. Hearing those words, he replied coolly, "The world is a cage, and I am a prisoner. Imprisoned here or imprisoned in the world beyond—what difference does it make?"
"Fool!" an angry snort rumbled through the mist.
In the Heavenly Fiend Immortal Domain, the Supreme Sovereign, Imperial Monarch, Primordial Monarch, and the others craned their necks to watch. The Supreme Sovereign asked, "Did he steal that down from above?"
The Imperial Monarch nodded. "He stole it."
The Heavenly Venerable murmured, "How did he manage to cut away something so huge?"
The Imperial Monarch shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure."
The Primordial Monarch asked curiously, "How did he carry something that large down to the lower realm? Where could he possibly stuff it without being noticed? It wouldn't fit anywhere."
The Imperial Monarch shook his head again. "I don't know that either."
The Supreme Sovereign remarked, "Can something this huge even be called an immortal mountain?"
The Imperial Monarch said, "Indeed. That is why it's named Yingzhou Immortal Mountain—it has 'continent' right in its name."
The Heavenly Venerable mused, "To bring a place as vast as Yingzhou down to the lower realm, he must have had accomplices, right?"
The Supreme Sovereign looked puzzled. "Yingzhou should have remained hanging high above the other shore and Weixu. Why would it suddenly reveal itself now? Could it be the influence of the Three Realms tides, drawing Yingzhou much closer to both the other shore and Weixu?"
Xu Ying turned to Hua Cuoying. "Sister Cuoying, do you think that could be the Immortal Realm? I've heard people say the Three Realms tides are approaching, which will draw the Three Realms very, very close to each other. Could the Immortal Realm have arrived right next to the other shore and Weixu?"
Hua Cuoying's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "How could I possibly know that? Besides, what's out there might not be the Immortal Realm at all."
Xu Ying chuckled despite himself. "If it isn't the Immortal Realm, what else could it be? Could a place so immense possibly be an immortal mountain? How could the lower realm have an immortal mountain of that scale?"
He shook his head with a smile. Suddenly, Young Master Ningqing's voice drifted over: "That's right, it is an immortal mountain—an immortal mountain named Yingzhou, one of the three immortal mountains you stole away back then!"
Xu Ying looked toward the voice to see Young Master Ningqing and his entourage approaching. When Nalan Du spotted Xu Ying, he offered a slight nod. Unfamiliar with the local terrain, they normally wouldn't have caught up so quickly, but Yingzhou's emergence had captivated the attention of the formidable corpse immortals and corpse ghosts, sparing them countless perils.
Xu Ying was utterly stunned. He looked back up at Yingzhou floating above the Yellow Court other shore and murmured, "That is the immortal mountain I brought to the lower realm? Can something that vast even be called an immortal mountain?"
Young Master Ningqing walked up near Xu Ying and said with a smile, "Xu Ying, I heard my father speak of your past deeds. In your first lifetime, after ascending to the Immortal Realm for the first time, you severed your own cultivation and voluntarily descended to start from scratch. In just four hundred years, you ascended seven times in succession. My father said that by your seventh ascension, your cultivation strength had reached a level that even the Imperial Monarch deeply feared. You were the figure he admired most. Sadly, before he had the chance to exchange blows with you, you perished."
A fervent light burned in his eyes as he continued, "My father deeply regretted your demise, lamenting that he never experienced your Taiyi Inborn Technique. I have cultivated my father's Supreme Profound Origin Jade Hall Great Method, and I would love nothing more than to ask for your guidance! Have you recalled your Taiyi Inborn Technique yet?"
Xu Ying paused, tilting his head in thought. "Who is your father?"
"Heavenly Venerable Ning Zhong," Ningqing replied.
Xu Ying nodded. "Since he is a Heavenly Venerable, his techniques and divine powers must be formidable. I haven't fully recovered my memories from that first lifetime, nor have I completely recalled the Taiyi Inborn Technique. However, the techniques and divine powers of this lifetime are not necessarily inferior to those of my first. I would gladly see where I stand against the techniques of a Heavenly Venerable."
A smile crossed Young Master Ningqing's face. "Then I shall fight you on my father's behalf!"
Xu Ying gave a slight nod.
The two strode forward side by side. Hua Cuoying tactfully slowed her pace. Seeing this, Nalan Du, Hua Jingjing, and the others took the hint and held back as well.
Not far ahead, a bloodcurdling roar ripped through the air as an overwhelming wave of corpse qi crashed over them. The dense corpse qi coalesced into a terrifying, battered immortal bodhimanda. Immortal corpses drifted within it, and in its center stood an imposing golden coffin.
*Creak.*
The golden coffin opened, and out vaulted an Immortal King corpse well over a hundred feet tall!
The back of the corpse bristled with more than a hundred arrows; it had evidently died under a barrage of archery, and the immortal arrows remained lodged in its flesh to this day.
Xu Ying and Young Master Ningqing stepped straight into the Immortal King corpse's bodhimanda, completely ignoring its threatening roars.
Young Master Ningqing said, "Your cultivation strength has yet to recover, and I have no desire to take unfair advantage of you. I am already a Heavenly Immortal. Immortals are divided into Human Immortals, Earth Immortals, and Heavenly Immortals. A Human Immortal cultivates the Domain of Six Immortals; an Earth Immortal refines the Domain of Six Immortals into a single unified whole called a Dao domain. A Heavenly Immortal transforms that Dao domain into a bodhimanda."
As he spoke, he released his cultivation. By the time he mentioned transforming a Dao domain into a bodhimanda, his own bodhimanda flared into existence.
It was known as the Profound Origin Jade Hall bodhimanda. Within it, Dao manifestations were refined into Dao rules—Great Dao principles whose decrees were absolute, endowed with supreme power!
As the Profound Origin Jade Hall bodhimanda expanded, the Immortal King corpse's battered bodhimanda was suppressed instantly, grinding toward a halt!
The Immortal King corpse roared repeatedly, straining to drive its Dao techniques, yet its bodhimanda could barely function. It was merely a corpse that had achieved corpse immortality through an unyielding obsession; its strength was far diminished from what it had possessed in life. Pitted against a Heavenly Immortal like Ningqing, it was sorely outmatched.
Ningqing ignored the corpse, continuing to walk forward as he spoke: "Among you gas refiners, some cultivate the Nuo method. If one cultivates all six secrets and reaches the Ascension stage, that is equivalent to the Earth Immortal realm. Even if you were in the Ascension stage with all six secrets mastered, you would still only be an Earth Immortal, and my realm would remain above yours. Xu Ying, what stage are you in?"
Xu Ying matched him stride for stride. Even while walking within the Heavenly Immortal's bodhimanda, he felt not the slightest discomfort. Smiling faintly, he said, "The Mansions stage."
Ningqing's expression darkened. "The Mansions stage? You have only just formed your primordial spirit? Do you have any idea how many realms separate us?"
His Profound Origin Jade Hall bodhimanda grew even more potent; with just a slight flex of its power, it could crush this gas refiner to dust, wiping out his primordial spirit entirely!
Xu Ying smiled. "Seven realms separate us. But I can make up for those seven realms."
Even as he spoke, the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains vaulted into view behind him. The five peaks were shrouded in dense, fragrant incense smoke qi and bathed in immortal light and qi, resembling divine artifacts of the Heavenly Dao and treasured relics of the immortal sect all at once, each radiating tremendous power! Immediately after, the Water-Fire Huntian Cauldron leaped out, floating above the mountains. That supreme treasure of the Heavenly Dao carried an immense, imposing weight, possessing the might to govern the Heavenly Dao of all worlds.
The Twelve-Storyed Mansions, the Immortal Dao Jade Pool, and the Third Heavenly Pass all emerged one after another, immortal power surging around them!
In the blink of an eye, it was as if Xu Ying had gained five entire realms!
Xu Ying walked forward with steady, measured steps. The space behind him surged, and Immortal Realm cave-heavens descended from the void, connecting to the four hidden treasures of his Bubbling Spring, Jade Pool, Jade Capital, and Crimson Palace.
His aura erupted with a thunderous roar as his Domain of Four Immortals unfolded. His momentum skyrocketed, cleaving the Immortal King corpse's bodhimanda to either side in an instant, matching Young Master Ningqing's Profound Origin Jade Hall bodhimanda on equal terms!
Though he lacked the two immortal domains of physical vitality and divine sense, in raw momentum, he yielded not an inch to Ningqing!
The Immortal King corpse abruptly reeled in its bodhimanda, retreated into the golden coffin, and slammed the lid shut with a resounding bang. The other corpses tumbled back down one by one, burrowing into the earth and vanishing without a trace.
Xu Ying and Ningqing stopped in their tracks at almost the exact same instant, the atmosphere thick with suffocating tension.
Suddenly, the golden coffin shot into the air with a loud whoosh and streaked into the distance. A furious wave of divine sense echoed from within:
"If you two want to fight, leave me out of it!"
Chapter 421