Young Master Ningqing was in a daze and had not followed along. Clearly, the revelation that the Immortal Realm and the myriad worlds were originally one was far too shocking for him to accept all at once.
A native of the Immortal Realm who had achieved immortality there, he held himself in exceptionally high regard. He had always looked down upon the mud-legged immortals who ascended from the lower realms, feeling superior to them just as he believed the Immortal Realm stood above all the worlds below.
To natives like Young Master Ningqing, it was an act of charity from the Immortal Realm that those wretched souls from below—who spent all their efforts braving deadly tribulations to squeeze into the Immortal Realm and become immortals—were allowed in at all.
Yet now, the appearance of this stone stele told him that the Immortal Realm was not superior in the least. The Immortal Realm and the myriad worlds had originally been one. Immortals were not superior beings, and natives of the Immortal Realm were nothing special either!
He drifted in a stupor, his spirit shaken to the core, overcome by a dread that his very heavens and earth were collapsing.
Xu Ying looked back the way they had come and murmured, "The Realm of the Grand Void... Could it refer to that bizarre void where Weixu lies? That void harbors the various other shores and Weixu itself. Just what kind of place is it? How can such things be there?"
The Qi of Xuanhuang, the Sea of Chaos, and the Undying Spiritual Light were all special regions within the Realm of the Grand Void.
Within that mysterious void were tower ships and continents older than the ancient eras themselves, and even countless massive black stone coffins.
Xu Ying had never explored the entirety of the Realm of the Grand Void. He had no idea how vast this mysterious expanse truly was, or what other bizarre secrets it concealed.
"If I want to return to the Realm of the Grand Void, can I just step through the Severed Sea from this boundary stele and enter Yingzhou?"
With that thought, he immediately walked toward the Severed Sea. He crossed through the waters, the space before him trembling, but he did not emerge on Yingzhou. Instead, he arrived at an unfamiliar expanse of ocean. In the distance lay an unfamiliar coastline, with fishing boats plying the waters nearby.
The fishermen spotted Xu Ying, looks of astonishment washing over their faces. One of them blurted out, "A living soul has come out of the Heavenly Sea!"
Xu Ying stepped back and returned before the boundary stele.
He tried several more times, only to find that he could no longer return to Yingzhou.
"Could it be that the only path into Yingzhou is through Weixu?"
Xu Ying shook his head. If Weixu was the only way, there was no telling how long it would be before Yingzhou generated another torrent of geomagnetic primal force with Weixu. Only then would entry be possible.
"No, I must have left behind other ways to enter Yingzhou!"
Xu Ying hesitated briefly, then chose not to linger at the boundary stele of the Earth Immortal Realm. Stepping into the Severed Sea once more, his figure vanished.
*Yingzhou can be considered my final stronghold. If I fail again in the future, I will still have Yingzhou to retreat to. Until I recover the strength of my first life, it is best that I do not remember how to enter Yingzhou!* he thought silently to himself.
Seeing him vanish, Buddhist Child Jijue hurried to drag the dazed and witless Young Master Ningqing along to catch up with him.
The fishermen on the boat were struck with sheer horror upon seeing two more people appear over the sea. Watching the trio walk toward the shore, one murmured, "That Heavenly Sea has swallowed who knows how many souls, and not one has ever walked out alive. Who would have thought three living people would emerge today..."
Xu Ying and his companions reached land and traveled through the air. Before long, they found a Qi Refiner. Upon asking, they learned this place was the Mirror Lake World.
Though the Mirror Lake World was not a major world, its heritage had remained unbroken for tens of thousands of years. It possessed many immortal sects and was rather prosperous.
"Have you come to our Mirror Lake World to undergo your tribulations?"
The Qi Refiner scrutinized the three of them. Seeing Xu Ying's youthful appearance, Jijue's delicate features, and Ningqing looking for all the world like a fool, he sneered, "You had best give up on that idea and head back early. As if outsiders like you could lay hands on the ascension spot of our Mirror Lake World!"
Xu Ying was surprised and asked, "Friend, what is this ascension spot you speak of?"
Seeing that Xu Ying did not appear to be feigning ignorance, the Qi Refiner said, "You aren't here to undergo tribulation and seize the ascension spot? I thought you came from other worlds to snatch it away! There is something you don't know: a Heavenly Venerable of the upper realm handed down a decree, granting our Mirror Lake World one ascension spot. As long as one can survive the heavenly tribulation, one can ascend and become an immortal."
Xu Ying understood immediately. *After the battles at Kunlun and the ancient Nether Sea, the Thunder Capital Office and Myriad Gods Thunder Office under the Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department were nearly wiped out, leaving many vacancies in the Immortal Realm. The Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department still nominally governs the Heavenly Dao world, so he wants to seize this opportunity to promote some Qi Refiners from the lower realms to immortals to fill the ranks of the Thunder Department.*
He was still somewhat puzzled, however. With so many immortals in the Immortal Realm, why didn't the Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department promote other immortals into the Thunder Department, choosing instead to recruit from the myriad worlds?
At that moment, Young Master Ningqing's voice drifted over. "In the Immortal Realm, every turnip has its pit. If the old turnip hasn't been pulled out, no one else can dream of getting into that pit, no matter how capable they are. If the Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department promotes other immortals into the Thunder Department and then promotes Qi Refiners from the myriad worlds to ascend, both groups will remember his favor and consider themselves his protégés! That way, he gets twice as many turnips!"
He had recovered from the shock of learning that the Immortal Realm and the lower realms were one, regaining his former poise.
Hearing this, Xu Ying nodded slightly. The annihilation of the Myriad Gods Thunder Office and the Thunder Capital Office, along with the deaths of the Immortal Kings of both offices in the lower realm, was originally a disaster for the Heavenly Venerable of the Thunder Department.
Yet by doing this, he had turned misfortune into fortune. Not only did he replenish the personnel of both offices, but he also vastly expanded his own direct faction, killing two birds with one stone.
Young Master Ningqing said, "He is a wily old fox. In the struggle between him and the Imperial Monarch, it remains to be seen whose hand the prize will fall to. Brother Xu, you and I have never truly had an all-out duel, which I deeply regret. This time, I shall return to the Immortal Realm. When we meet next, let us fight to determine who is superior! I hope that by then, you will have broken free of your seals and can face me at your very peak!"
Xu Ying took on a solemn expression and said, "In our next duel, I will hold nothing back!"
Young Master Ningqing put away the Returning Dao Jade Platter and asked, "Are you truly not tempted by this supreme treasure? You really don't plan to take it?"
Xu Ying shook his head.
Young Master Ningqing could not help shaking his head as well, murmuring, "What an eccentric. Before I leave, there is one piece of advice I wish to offer Brother Xu."
Pausing briefly, he continued, "Sometimes indulgence is merely a way of luring a snake from its hole. From what I know, the Imperial Monarch is just such a person. He is accustomed to indulging his rivals, letting them run rampant and grow reckless to draw them out. Once more of his opponents have shown themselves, he reels in the net to crush them all in one fell swoop."
He looked into Xu Ying's eyes and said, "You have been living free and easy in the lower realms—reviving the Queen Mother of the West, reorganizing Kunlun, resurrecting the Four Emperors of the Netherworld, aiding Little Celestial Venerable in the Ancestral Court, befriending heroic figures, restoring Lihen Heaven, and expelling the Immortal Realm's anomalous regions. At Wangxiang Platform, you even committed that shocking deed that provoked heaven's wrath and man's resentment: reviving the Void Sovereign. All these deeds of yours seem glorious on the surface, but in truth, you have merely helped the Imperial Monarch draw out countless hidden adversaries, handing him the opportunity to wipe them all out at once."
Xu Ying's heart stirred. Young Master Ningqing knew his background and deeds in surprising detail!
He had thought Ningqing was merely a spoiled scion descended from the Immortal Realm, never imagining he possessed such keen perception.
Young Master Ningqing went on, "The Imperial Monarch has always preferred to conceal his true strength. Even my father holds him in deep dread, once saying that the Imperial Monarch is fully capable of matching him or perhaps even surpassing him. You must never underestimate him."
Xu Ying smiled. "Why is Young Master Ningqing telling me all this?"
Young Master Ningqing chuckled. "Because I don't want the Imperial Monarch to win. If he wins, he will climb over my father's head and have a shot at supreme supremacy. Climbing over my father's head means climbing over mine. If I can use your hand to eliminate a rival, why shouldn't I?"
Floating away, he added meaningfully, "Seeing that boundary stele of the Earth Immortal Realm suddenly reminded me of the Three Realms Tide. Since the Immortal Realm and the myriad worlds belong to the very same realm, when the Three Realms Tide arrives, could all three realms merge into one?
"If so, that will be the moment the Imperial Monarch strikes to sweep away all his enemies! Take care of yourself!"
Xu Ying watched him recede into the distance.
Draw out all his enemies and wipe them out in one stroke... Did the Imperial Monarch truly possess the confidence to eradicate all his rivals at once?
When the Three Realms Tide reached its peak, the Netherworld, the Mortal Realm, and the Immortal Realm would merge into a single unimaginably colossal world: the Earth Immortal Realm.
At that time, there would no longer be any barrier keeping immortals from descending to the lower realms!
That would be the greatest peril facing Kunlun, the Netherworld, and the Ancestral Court!
Buddhist Child Jijue quietly added another ring of Buddhist light behind Xu Ying's head to help suppress the Six-Syllable Great Curse. Xu Ying smiled and asked, "What are your plans, Buddhist Child?"
Buddhist Child Jijue beamed. "To follow you, subdue demons, vanquish fiends, and propagate the Buddha Dharma."
Hearing this, Xu Ying could not help but laugh. "How can you subdue demons and vanquish fiends by following me?"
Jijue looked at him with benevolent warmth, as if gazing upon a boundless reservoir of karmic merit. In his eyes, subduing Xu Ying's demonic nature was an immense merit in itself.
Suddenly, tribulation clouds roiled in the distance—someone was undergoing heavenly tribulation.
Xu Ying was in no hurry to leave, so he decided to go watch.
The Qi Refiner undergoing tribulation was an Ascension stage elder from an immortal sect. Already an old man with thinning white hair, his vital Qi and blood were depleted, leaving him ill-equipped to face such a heavenly tribulation.
Yet the sky suddenly split open, revealing an immortal mansion. An immortal appeared within, activating an immortal artifact across the Immortal Realm to help the old man resist the heavenly tribulation!
Meanwhile, heavenly tribulations were brewing in other places as well. Xu Ying cast his gaze across the horizon and saw numerous manifestations of the Immortal Realm in the sky. Immortals sat within their immortal domains, raising immortal artifacts to fend off the tribulations on behalf of their respective Ascension stage Qi Refiners.
"This is allowed?!"
Witnessing this, Xu Ying flew into a rage and shouted, "This is cheating on an exam! Where are the heavenly gods of the Heavenly Dao world? Are they all dead?! Can't they see people taking the test for them?!"
His booming voice echoed all the way into the Heavenly Dao world. Immediately, several heavenly gods poked their faces through the sky, their searching gazes sweeping across the land to find the speaker.
One heavenly god shouted, "Who speaks there?! How dare you question the impartiality of the Heavenly Dao! You deserve ten thousand deaths!"
Xu Ying was beside himself with fury. "Instead of solving the problem, you solve the person who raised it! A Heavenly Dao like this has no reason to exist!"
The moment those heavenly gods laid eyes on Xu Ying, they fell as quiet as cicadas in winter and hastily withdrew their faces, crying out, "The God of Calamity is here! Quick, notify the God Kings and activate the Heavenly Dao divine artifacts!"
Xu Ying snorted coldly, raising his palm and wiping it across the firmament with a mocking sneer. "You dare call yourselves the Heavenly Dao? You dare call yourselves heavenly gods? You aren't worthy to oversee this Heavenly Dao! Let me—"
As his palm swept past, three thousand Heavenly Dao runes manifested across the sky of the Mirror Lake World, thoroughly sealing off every single passage between the Mirror Lake World and the Immortal Realm!
"Now this is fair! If you were allowed to rely on connections to pass your tribulations, how unjustly would all those Qi Refiners have died under heavenly tribulations over these past forty-eight thousand years?!"
Xu Ying hovered in midair, his Heavenly Dao incarnation gazing down upon the entire Mirror Lake World. Across dozens of tribulation grounds large and small, the cultivators were now thrown into utter panic, scrambling desperately to withstand the heavenly tribulation on their own.
Within moments, more than a dozen perished under the lightning!
Just then, the heavens violently churned as four newly created God Kings of the Heavenly Dao world descended one after another, floating in midair with their Heavenly Dao cloaks billowing behind them.
Behind them, three hundred and sixty heavenly gods emerged, each raising a Heavenly Dao divine artifact, brimming with boundless divine might and murderous intent.
"Rebel Xu Ying, you still dare to show your face!"
God King Xuanxing, who led them, bellowed, "Today we execute you! Slay him!"
The three hundred and sixty heavenly gods brought forth their Heavenly Dao divine artifacts. In an instant, heavenly might suppressed all the Great Daos of heaven and earth, and artifacts hurled toward Xu Ying in a relentless onslaught!
Xu Ying summoned the Water-Fire Huntian Cauldron. The massive cauldron floated into the air and inverted itself. With flashes of light, the myriad Heavenly Dao divine artifacts vanished into the cauldron one after another, like clay oxen plunging into the sea!
Shocked, the four God Kings immediately led the charge. Xuanxing was the first to strike, shouting, "This villain is a major rebel wanted by the Immortal Realm's Imperial Monarch! Capture him, and the Imperial Monarch will reward you handsomely!"
Xu Ying met the sky-covering hand with his palm. God King Xuanxing's expression warped in horror as the hundreds and thousands of Heavenly Dao runes within his body spun out of control!
His divine body convulsed violently, flesh bursting open in a series of detonations until hundreds of bloody holes perforated his form in an instant!
Without a second thought, God King Xuanxing whipped his Heavenly Dao cloak forward like a razor blade aimed at Xu Ying's throat. Xu Ying simply raised a hand, and the cloak ground to an abrupt halt before him. The thousands of Heavenly Dao runes woven across the cloak flickered erratically, constantly morphing.
God King Xuanxing felt his connection to the cloak sever almost instantly as it became Xu Ying's. In terror, he spun around to flee.
*Chii—*
The Heavenly Dao cloak swept past from behind him like a scythe, cleaving through his thick neck!
God King Xuanxing's colossal head tumbled downward, crashing into the mortal soil and transforming into a mountain peak.
The Heavenly Dao cloak fluttered back with a sharp rustle, fastening itself behind Xu Ying. Runes of every kind lit up across the fabric, rapidly increasing from one thousand to three thousand!
The other newly elevated God Kings charged forward. God King Xuanyou had just unleashed his first divine art of the Heavenly Dao when Xu Ying shattered it with a single palm strike. The blow blasted a bloody tunnel right through Xuanyou's stout arm, punching straight through to his back.
Xu Ying flicked a finger, piercing God King Xuanyou's forehead.
God King Xuanming hid within the void, raising the Heavenly Dao Blade and stabbing it viciously toward the back of Xu Ying's heart. But the blade shattered with a cascade of sharp cracks, exploding all the way down to the hilt!
God King Xuanming recoiled in terror and tried to meld into the void, only for Xu Ying to reach out and yank him straight from the emptiness.
*Boom!*
His head exploded, and blood flowed like a river.
Xu Ying withdrew his fist, only to see divine eyes filling the sky. Each colossal eye was as large as a mountain, humming as they gathered the divine power of the Heavenly Dao. Countless beams of divine light shot toward him.
Xu Ying snorted coldly and reached up to grasp the firmament, dragging the entire canopy of the sky downward!
Three thousand Heavenly Dao runes had been imprinted onto that celestial canopy, and countless Heavenly Eyes were hung upon it; now, those eyes were forcibly ripped down along with the sky! God King Xuanxiao screamed in agony, clutching his face with both hands as copious black blood poured between his fingers.
Xu Ying slashed with a sword light, bringing about Xuanxiao's complete demise. His Dao was extinguished, and he perished on the spot.
Seeing this, the remaining heavenly gods scattered with howling cries, none daring to stay a second longer.
In that brief span, the heavenly tribulations dispersed. Not a single one of the Ascension stage Qi Refiners had survived; every last one had been struck dead by heavenly lightning!
A reckless resolve surged in Xu Ying's heart. He turned to Jijue and said, "I have a rune of the lower realm that allows entry into the Heavenly Dao world. Why don't you and I head straight there and nail the rules of heavenly tribulation into stone? We'll ensure not a single person trying to cheat their way through ever passes!"
Jijue hurried to follow him, his heart filled with trepidation. *Benefactor Ah Ying's demonic nature is so intense... Could my Buddhist divine arts have failed? That shouldn't be possible—I just blessed him a moment ago! Where did this demonic nature come from? Could it be inborn?*
Chapter 440