Xu Nüe chimed in, "I say this woman is an unpaid romantic debt from our first life!"
Xu Bao followed up, "The sins of our past have caught up to us—what are we supposed to do?"
Xu Li said, "That was the first life's romantic debt. What does it have to do with the me of today?"
Xu Huang was exceedingly prudent. "No matter who the first-life me slept with, I won't admit to it!"
...
Xu Ying suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Will all of you shut up!"
At these words, both Imperial Monarch Cangtian and Xiao Xixian were taken aback.
Only to see Xu Ying turn his back suspiciously and whisper, "Quiet down, all of you. I don't think this is necessarily some romantic debt; she might be here for vengeance... A sneak attack? Don't be in such a rush, let's ask about her origins first... I'm not going soft on her just because she's pretty... You're the one named Xu Yin!"
Imperial Monarch Cangtian sighed inwardly, 'His illness is acting up again. Well, it's more accurate to say he never recovered in the first place.'
Xiao Xixian said with a faint smile, "Celestial Venerable Xu is even better at playing dumb than before, pretending not to recognize me."
Having pacified the other six of himself, Xu Ying turned back around and smiled. "Young lady, we truly do not remember the past. You and I must have known each other in my first life, correct? Could you tell the story behind all this?"
Standing atop the immortal raft in leisurely composure, Xiao Xixian said unhurriedly, "What else is there to say? It is nothing more than a tale of love turning into hatred. However much respect Celestial Venerable Xu received back then was matched by just as much contempt later on; however much adoration you enjoyed was met with equal resentment afterward. Every bite and sup is preordained by karma. You must bear the consequences of the things you did!"
Though she was smiling, the hatred gleaming in her eyes sent chills down one's spine.
"To ensure I could kill you smoothly, I observed the methods of your divine abilities all along the way. And before that, I made a point of paying a visit to several of your old friends."
A weighty treasure suddenly materialized behind her—a black iron mystic pass standing between heaven and earth, archaic and towering.
The gate of the black iron mystic pass swung open, and the magnificent Heavenly River burst into view!
Xu Ying's heart thudded violently; an abrupt sensation of blood-linked kinship surged within him.
"This black iron mystic pass is..."
Xiao Xixian raised the treasure, and the mystic pass hovered behind her, transforming into the First Knocking on the Pass stage realm and rendering her foundation incomparably profound.
"Do you still remember this treasure? It originally grew upon your own body as your first mystic pass. Only by opening it could one truly step through the gate of Qi Refinement."
Xiao Xixian chuckled softly. "Back then, you descended through the Heavenly Passes seven times and shattered the Heavenly Road. When you were defeated and captured, the one who took your first mystic pass was Immortal King Xi Yuren. She refined your pass into an Immortal King magical treasure. Once opened, it can connect to the long-lost Heavenly River and draw upon its supreme might. I went in search of Immortal King Xi; she lived in seclusion within the Heavenly Abyss of the Mysterious Sea. Originally, I was no match for her, but fortunately, I possessed great patience. I waited and waited, until the moment she stepped out of the Heavenly Abyss, where I rammed her to death with my immortal raft and claimed this treasure."
A second treasure flew out from within her—another mystic pass, brass in color, heavy and majestic.
This pass likewise gave Xu Ying a familiar feeling.
"You ought to remember this treasure as well, don't you?"
Xiao Xixian raised her hand to caress the pass and said leisurely, "This treasure is your Second Knocking on the Pass realm. Your second pass fell into the hands of God King Xuanshu, refined by Him into a Heavenly Dao supreme treasure. God King Xuanshu was proficient in divine divination; if anyone harbored malice toward Him, He would divine it before they could even draw near. To obtain this treasure, I extracted all of my memories and refined them into the Guiyuan Mirror. I entered His divine mountain and finally approached Him. At that moment, I saw words inscribed on the mirror's surface instructing me to shatter it once near Xuanshu. I smashed the Guiyuan Mirror, grasped the full context of my purpose, and proceeded to slay God King Xuanshu and seize this pass."
The second mystic pass soared up and settled behind her, turning into her second external realm and causing her aura to surge drastically!
Previously, her inherent reserves could not hold too much magic power, but now, with the first and second mystic passes, her cultivation and magic power were climbing relentlessly!
A Qi Refiner's initial realms were like a building's foundation; only with a broader base could the structure above be built larger and taller.
Deploying the first and second passes widened her foundation, allowing her other realms to accommodate vastly more cultivation.
Yet another God Bridge flew forth from her Realm of Xiyi.
"After your death, your God Bridge realm fell into the hands of Immortal King Yue Honglei. Carrying the first and second mystic passes, I tracked her down and cut her down."
Xiao Xixian summoned a Yujing City and said casually, "Only Immortal King Yuan Chengtian, who possessed your Ascension realm, was extraordinarily formidable. He refined Yujing City into an immortal artifact and deployed it in the void. Yujing City formed a world of its own, like a miniature Immortal Realm, where he ruled as an Immortal King. Bearing the three supreme treasures, I stormed Yujing and fought a grueling battle against him for seven days and seven nights before finally wearing him out to death."
The instant the God Bridge flew out, it exuded the aura of suppressing every Yaochi under heaven. And when Yujing City appeared, it carried the sensation of rising upon rosy clouds of ascension—that entering the city was stepping onto the other shore!
Imperial Monarch Cangtian had been listening in silence all along. Only at this point did he glance at Xu Ying, thinking quietly, 'Fellow Daoist Xu was dismembered back then. The Immortal Kings and God Kings of the Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Dao world devoured him like a flock of vultures.'
He glanced at Xiao Xixian and thought, 'This woman went through immense hardships, exhausted every scheme, and risked her life to recover these four realms. She must share profound feelings with Fellow Daoist Xu. It would not be right for me to intervene in this matter.'
Xu Ying, however, was filled with both shock and delight. These four treasures were the very four realms he had lost in his first life: the First Mystic Pass, the Second Mystic Pass, the God Bridge, and Ascension!
Back then, he had carved his way across the Heavenly Road, only to suffer defeat in the Yuanshou world. One realm after another had been cleaved away by the Imperial Monarch's Purple Nether Saber and divided among his enemies.
The six Nuo ancestors obtained his six great cave-heavens, thus becoming the Nuo ancestors dwelling in Kunlun; the Five Absolutes and the Ninth each claimed his Twelve-Storyed Mansions and Yaochi to preside over Weixu. God King Xuankong obtained his Intertwined Refining stage and refined it into the Heavenly Dao supreme treasure, the Water-Fire Huntian Cauldron; Xuantian obtained his Five Sacred Mountains; and Meng Wuhuai, the Immortal Master of Penglai, obtained his Third Heavenly Pass.
As for the other four realms, Xu Ying had never encountered them and had no idea where they were.
Who would have thought these four realms had long been retrieved by this girl in red!
"Young lady, that you found four of my realms fills me with gratitude..."
Xu Ying had only said this much when Xiao Xixian abruptly struck at him!
The immortal raft swooped in recklessly to crush him. Xiao Xixian, standing atop the craft, let out a sharp cry, her red skirts billowing heroically as she thrust her sword fingers straight forward!
At that moment, surging sword qi rushed toward his face, the churning energy whipping Xu Ying's sleeves and robes backward.
A sash brushed across his face, briefly obscuring his sight. When the girl atop the immortal raft came back into view, a faint image surfaced in his memory: a girl likewise clad in red, yet devoid of this intense hatred and far younger, only about thirteen or fourteen years old.
The girl in red had trailed behind him, braving the blowing wind and snow, trudging through waist-deep drifts to keep pace with his footsteps, pressing forward with difficulty.
'I know her,' Xu Ying thought. 'She shouldn't be a bad person.'
The majestic sword qi bore boundless killing intent as it stabbed toward Xu Ying. Yet within this sword technique, it felt as though an ambitious youth was dancing with a sword in a world of ice and snow, swearing a grand vow to use this sword to pacify the realm and level all injustices under heaven!
Seeing this sword strike, Xu Ying suddenly felt his blood boil. He could actually sense the fervent heart he had once possessed when creating this sword Dao divine ability!
The Zhuxian Sword was a blade of slaughter, bearing the heaviest killing intent and baleful aura. Yet back then, filled with burning passion, what he had comprehended from the Zhuxian Sword was not slaughter, but leveling all injustices of the world and reshaping this era!
In this lifetime, Xu Ying's comprehension of the Zhuxian Sword was deeper and stronger than in his first, yet that broad-mindedness, that sentiment, and that soaring, impassioned blood were gone.
Xu Ying took a step back and thrust his sword fingers forward. The Zhuxian sword qi he had comprehended in this life met Xiao Xixian's divine ability, Sword Leveling the Unlevel. The instant their sword qi clashed, the hilt of Xiao Xixian's Zhuxian sword shattered with a loud crack.
With the blessing of the four supreme treasures transformed into four realms hanging behind her, Xiao Xixian's cultivation was immensely vast, far exceeding Xu Ying's.
Moreover, this strike had caught Xu Ying at a moment of emotional vulnerability and used his own swordsmanship against him. Yet she still failed to kill him with a single blow.
She had believed this strike would succeed without fail, unaware that although Xu Ying was rattled, the six others inside him were not. Directed by them to unleash the Zhuxian sword qi, his reaction was not slow in the least.
Furthermore, Xu Ying had grasped the true essence of the Zhuxian Sword in this life, realizing the principle that an imperfect Zhuxian Sword was actually stronger. Thus, he used weakness to overcome strength, breaking Xiao Xixian's Sword Leveling the Unlevel.
After the hilt of Xiao Xixian's Zhuxian sword exploded, the broken blade shape left behind was identical to Xu Ying's own Zhuxian sword qi.
Yet Xu Ying felt no joy whatsoever, only a faint sorrow.
It was no longer possible for him to recapture the passion and sentiment of his first life.
Over forty thousand years of torment seemed to have robbed him of something precious, leaving him melancholy.
Buzz, buzz, buzz—
Behind Xiao Xixian, brilliantly radiant cave-heavens suddenly spun open, brighter than the sun, illuminating the skies of the Ancestral Court!
They were the six great cave-heavens opened through the ancestral method of the six secrets!
'Who on earth is she? Why has she even learned the six secret depositories passed down in my Xu family?' Xu Ying wondered silently.
Xiao Xixian's ancestral method of the six secrets was genuinely inherited, far superior to ordinary methods, and its boost to her cultivation and strength was incomparable!
She was already at the Heavenly Immortal realm to begin with. Bolstered by Xu Ying's four realms and the ancestral method of the six secrets, her combat strength was terrifyingly vast, far eclipsing even top-tier experts among Immortal Kings like Ding Simu and Hao Kaiyang!
Behind her, a resplendent, seven-colored divine tree abruptly manifested. Sun, moon, and clusters of stars sank beneath the tree!
This move was another of Xu Ying's divine abilities!
Xu Ying retreated at high speed and activated the Nine Heavens Dao King Seal. Like a Lord of the Great Dao standing atop the Nine Heavens, he pressed down with his palm print to meet the seven-colored divine tree!
The branches and roots of that divine tree were like strands of Great Daos, and its massive trunk possessed boundless might. When it collided with the Nine Heavens Dao King Seal, the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths shattered!
Xu Ying retreated once more and sought help from Imperial Monarch Cangtian. Stealing a glance, he discovered that Imperial Monarch Cangtian had vanished into thin air!
Without Imperial Monarch Cangtian, he could not deploy the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Extermination Immortal Array or the Purple Nether Saber. Without hesitation, Xu Ying immediately summoned the Buddha's prayer beads!
Hum—
Pushing the Buddha's beads to their utmost limit, each bead turned into a towering Great Buddha swirling around his palm, crashing into the seven-colored divine tree!
The divine tree burst apart with a deafening roar.
Xiao Xixian instantly altered her technique, deploying another of Xu Ying's divine abilities: Reversing the Universe. In an instant, heaven and earth inverted, plunging the Dao manifestations within Xu Ying's palm into chaos.
Even though Xu Ying had invented this divine ability, its current power far surpassed his own, primarily because Xiao Xixian's cultivation was vastly deeper, allowing the divine ability to unleash astounding force.
Reversing the Universe nearly turned every Dao art inside Xu Ying upside down.
Xu Ying immediately flipped upside down, heels over head, and likewise mobilized Reversing the Universe to invert heaven and earth once more. However, the immortal raft was too swift and slammed violently into his body!
Standing at the prow, Xiao Xixian raised her right arm and chopped downward. A Great Abyss of Buried Dao tore through the spacetime of the Ancestral Court. Xu Ying's body appeared directly in the middle of this massive rift, his physical body and primordial spirit nearly shredded apart!
The Great Abyss of Buried Dao dragged at him, pulling him down into the boundless darkness.
Xu Ying urged the Buddha's prayer beads into motion. One hundred and eight Great Buddhas spun and danced around him, their Buddhist light blazing as he flew outward from the abyss.
Xiao Xixian raised her hand and struck with the Buzhou Mountain Seal. A majestic mountain descended from the sky, hurtling down to crush Xu Ying!
In this moment of dire peril, a familiar name suddenly flashed across Xu Ying's mind. He cried out in haste, "Xiyue! I remember your name! You're called Xiyue!"
Xiao Xixian had been determined to finish him with this blow, but upon hearing those words, her mind fell into utter turmoil. Involuntarily, she remembered standing lost and bewildered amidst flames and corpses back then, wailing her heart out.
A slender figure had stepped over the flames and walked toward her, crouching down before her. He was a youth not many years older than she was.
"Little sister, what's your name?" the youth asked.
She did not answer.
The youth smiled. "Since you're crying so bitterly, why don't I call you Xiyue—Joy?"
He stood up straight and looked into the distance. "Come. Lead the way; I'll avenge you."
She had led that youth to the bandit stronghold. The youth took her inside, and moments later, left behind a ground littered with corpses.
The youth bid her farewell and walked off into the heavy snow. Yet she followed him, trudging through waist-deep snowdrifts, tailing him without uttering a single word.
The youth looked back at her and did not chase her away.
And so she followed him, all the way until his fame echoed throughout the world.
Her robes had been soaked in the blood of her kin, dyeing them crimson; from then on, she had always loved wearing red.
Xiyue—Joy—had merely been a name the youth casually gave her, wishing she would weep no more, hoping she could step out of sorrow, longing for her to find joy.
Now, just as Xiao Xixian was on the verge of obliterating Xu Ying, he had suddenly cried out this name. How could it not shake her to the very core?
Her seal could no longer descend. Xu Ying seized the opening to leap out of the Great Abyss of Buried Dao. A plume of clear qi soared into the heavens from his crown—One Qi into Three Purities! Three Xu Yings charged simultaneously toward Xiao Xixian!
These three Xu Yings were none other than Li, Bao, and Nüe. With three successive palm strikes, they beat Xiao Xixian until blood leaked from the corner of her lips, finally snapping her out of her memories.
Gritting her teeth and seeing the three Xu Yings lunging to sever the four supreme treasures behind her, which were now teetering unstably, the woman immediately spurred the immortal raft to tear through the sky and flee, crying in fury, "Old scoundrel Xu Ying, next time I definitely will not hold back! I swear I'll kill you—!"
Chapter 454