"Wait for a chance to escape?"
Xu Jing wore a faint smile. Facing the Supreme, where could he possibly flee?
He had already stepped onto the board, caught deep within the Supreme's game. There was no way out, no escaping it.
"Ah Ying must have realized this when he arrived at the Immortal Court with that hairpin all those years ago and served obediently as a hunting hound. I cannot flee—at least, not right now."
He smiled, drawing his wife into his arms, thinking to himself, *Then I'll just be the Immortal Court's top hound. A father and son duo of heroes.*
***
At the mouth of the Nai River in the Netherworld.
The sky of the Netherworld suddenly shook violently. A brilliant radiance pierced down, followed by a detonation of light whose sheer majesty far exceeded the earlier descent of Immortal Kings and Monarchs like Liang Yue and Yin Yu!
The sky rippled violently like a curtain, the fabric of space continually rupturing as if it could hardly bear the weight of Ling Wuxin, son of the Primordial Monarch!
Thunderclaps erupted across the Netherworld, thunderfire tumbling endlessly across the sky before scattering outward in rolling detonations. Splendid immortal light spilled everywhere as a flawless, colossal face manifested across the firmament.
Then, the face slowly descended, gradually revealing a jade-white form.
That was Ling Wuxin's Primordial Spirit.
His Primordial Spirit was so domineering, its formidable Dao power making the surrounding space tremble and turn brittle.
After a moment, Ling Wuxin's boundlessly overpowering Primordial Spirit completed its descent from the Immortal Realm. As his majestic figure settled into place, the surrounding bodhimanda surged, thick Dao chains sprouting, crisscrossing, and gleaming with blinding brilliance.
At the foot of that towering Primordial Spirit grew a lush, thriving Dao tree.
Beneath the Dao tree sat a youth clad in white, smiling faintly as he held a scroll, quietly reading.
A gentle radiance suffused him, rendering his flawless face like fine jade and his eyes like the brightest stars in the mortal realm. His striking elegance was unforgettable.
"Is that the Primordial Monarch's prince, Ling Wuxin?"
One gaze after another turned toward Ling Wuxin. Even among those from the Immortal Realm, some had never seen the prince in person, though many had heard the rumors. The phrase "the Primordial Monarch's dimwitted son" had always referred to Prince Ling Wuxin.
Yet looking at him now, how did he look anything like a fool?
He was exceptionally handsome, possessed of a heart with seven apertures, and his mere entrance surpassed countless mortals in the realm below.
The Four Netherworld Emperors turned grave, inwardly sensing trouble.
Perfected Jade Pot had come to settle matters of life and death with them. They knew this confrontation would be perilous, but when had the Four Netherworld Emperors ever feared danger? What they hadn't expected was that a scheming scoundrel like Perfected Jade Pot would gather the very experts who had slain them in the past for a grand encirclement!
Even this unfathomable prince of the Primordial Monarch had been mobilized!
Ling Wuxin set down his scroll, wearing a faint smile as he spoke in a soft voice: "Four Uncles, you were resting peacefully in your respective tombs, perfectly lifelike and undisturbed. Why bother returning to life?"
He rose to his feet and looked toward the four titans of the Netherworld, smiling. "Doesn't this put your junior in a difficult position? Fortunately, Jade Pot discovered you in time. Otherwise, had my dear uncles brewed a catastrophic disaster, it would have put my mother in quite a bind."
With that same smile, he added, "After all, back then, you were beaten to death by these people on my mother's orders."
Dongyue, Cangwu, and the Northern Emperor all darkened, knowing this would not end peacefully. The Northern Emperor glanced toward the other five celestial palaces of the Nether Sea and saw that Prefect Sijin and the others had not yet slipped away, feeling slightly relieved: *Once the fighting starts, they should be able to flee. At least that will preserve some strength for the Nether Sea.*
Ling Wuxin's strength was staggering, his aura heavy and profound—easily on the level of an Immortal Monarch. His cultivation was far deeper than that of an ordinary Immortal Monarch, and his Primordial Spirit was especially terrifying, not in the least inferior to their own!
When they died in the past, their Primordial Spirits had survived because their ancestral sacrifices had not ceased and incense offerings remained.
Yet after more than sixty thousand years, mortals had long since forgotten them. If they died this time, their Primordial Spirits would likely be eradicated as well, leaving no hope of revival!
Ling Wuxin smiled. "Four Uncles, my mother in—in—in—"
His eyes suddenly froze, staring blankly at the surface of the Nai River, completely at a loss for words.
Everyone followed his gaze and saw a youth and a lovely, charming maiden standing upon the water. The maiden wore palace robes, looking refined, sweet, and graceful, possessing both the solemnity of a divine being and the ethereal elegance of an immortal. It was impossible not to be charmed by her.
As for the youth, his expression was somewhat dark. With such a girl beside him, who would bother looking at his face?
Ling Wuxin's eyes suddenly went crooked and his mouth twisted, drool spilling from the corner of his lips. In an instant, he turned into the very spitting image of the Primordial Monarch's dimwitted son, giggling foolishly, "L-Little Dad, what are you doing here?"
Only then did the crowd shift their focus to Xu Ying, their faces changing drastically.
"Little Dad?"
Xu Ying blinked, completely bewildered.
"Little Dad, are you protecting these four?"
Ling Wuxin wore a sycophantic expression, completely devoid of his earlier refinement and transcendent aura. The gentle glow around him had vanished, replaced by a lively yellow light.
"If Little Dad wants to protect them, your adopted son naturally can't lay a hand on them, can he? I have to give Little Dad some face..."
At this point, reason abruptly overcame fear. The head he had lowered slowly rose, regaining his prior grace and composure. A faint smile graced his lips as he spoke leisurely, "I just remembered. Xu Ying, you are no longer the Xu Ying of old. You are no longer the Immortal Court's top enforcer. Celestial Venerable Xu, you are completely ruined!"
His previously hunched back gradually straightened, once again radiating an imposing, heroic air.
He threw his head back and laughed, his voice brimming with vindictive delight as his gaze locked onto Xu Ying. "Xu Ying, all those years ago, you barged into the Primordial Monarch's manor and beat me half to death right in front of my mother! I harbored burning hatred in my heart, yet under your tyrannical might, I had to play dumb! Afterward, you repeatedly came to my home, having private trysts with my mother, and even forced me to call you Little Dad! You didn't actually think you beat me stupid, did you?"
The moment these words fell, pairs of eyes swiveled in unison toward Xu Ying.
Chu Xiangxiang blinked her wide eyes at Xu Ying, whispering, "You beat him stupid and had private trysts with his mother?"
Xu Ying smiled. "All slander. Don't worry, Xiangxiang. Whenever I visited the Primordial Monarch's manor, it was definitely on official business. I just... don't remember."
Chu Xiangxiang blinked.
That sounded an awful lot like an excuse.
Ling Wuxin sneered. "Celestial Venerable Xu, Perfected Xu, True Monarch Xu! Thanks to you, I couldn't hold my head high in the Immortal Realm for tens of thousands of years! To think you would show up here today. Heaven has truly granted my wish, sending you to your death so I can avenge my bitter hatred!"
Xu Ying wore a faint smile and replied leisurely, "My fine son, how do you know I haven't recovered my memories and strength from my first life?"
Ling Wuxin's face instantly shifted back to a simpering, idiot grin. Clapping his hands, he beamed, "Little Dad's injuries are healed? Little Dad's memories and strength are back? That's great, that's so great!"
Xu Ying said, "Not at all."
Ling Wuxin's expression instantly darkened. He straightened his posture, his foolish demeanor vanishing without a trace as he said coldly, "It seems I won't even be able to leave you an intact corpse! Men, take..."
Xu Ying added, "However, my current strength might not be much weaker than it was back then."
Ling Wuxin's face twisted again into a foolish chuckle. "Little Dad is teasing his adopted son again, right? Little Dad, you love joking just like before. Little Dad, since you say you're so strong, could you let your adopted son see?"
Xu Ying surged his cultivation, invoking his nine great treasures and mobilizing his seven great cave-heavens.
Ling Wuxin's face fell, slowly straightening his posture as he scoffed, "Just this? Old dog Xu, you truly are far inferior to your former self. Back then, you were like a celestial being. Proud as I was, standing before you made me feel so ashamed I wished the ground would swallow me whole. When you defeated me, I couldn't even summon the will to challenge you again and had to resort to playing dumb. But your present self is far worse than your first life! Today, I'll ensure you die without a burial place!"
Xu Ying had originally wanted to see the disparity between himself and his first life. Hearing this, he activated the Ruyi Great Luo Heaven, suspending it above his head, and smiled. "And now?"
Ling Wuxin glanced at his Great Luo bodhimanda, a look of disappointment surfacing on his face as he shook his head. "Xu Ying, what are you doing? Flaunting magic treasures? Your bodhimanda isn't your own, and your realms are strung outside like targets for others to strike. Xu Ying, you aren't the Xu Ying of old."
He clasped his hands behind his back and stood proudly, remarking indifferently, "The Xu Ying of old, even with bare hands, carried himself as if he held the most precious treasures under heaven. His very being was the most magnificent treasure in the world. He was full of confidence, high-spirited, powerful, and decisive, exuding an air of absolute omnipotence. If he were in your place, he would never rely on such magic treasures to sustain his realms, because he held such tricks in contempt."
He shook his head and said, "I could bow and scrape before him, call him Little Dad, and even tolerate him flirting with my mother, because he utterly conquered me and left me terrified of resisting. Deep down, I even genuinely wished he was my father. But you are not him."
Disappointment filled his face. "You are merely someone who looks like Xu Ying and shares his name. After his death, I often sighed in lamentation. Such a figure should never have existed in this world, yet he did, dealing a crushing blow to countless heroes of the Immortal Realm. But precisely because such a figure could not be allowed to exist, he was doomed to an early demise. Xu Ying, you are not that Xu Ying. You only look like him."
Xu Ying's expression shifted slightly, but he soon beamed into a bright smile. "I also feel I am not him. But I will walk further than he ever did."
Ling Wuxin sneered, "Walk further? The only reason you have lived until now is the Imperial Monarch's indulgence and the Heavenly Venerable's inaction. Those two exalted beings have their own schemes. But I am different. I will sever their plots and use your head to claim unmatched military merit!"
He let out a long roar. The towering Primordial Spirit behind him rose up, one hand forming a palm and the other a fist, colliding forcefully before his chest as he bellowed, "Slaughter every deity in this place!"
As the fist and palm slammed together, his bodhimanda expanded violently, engulfing Xu Ying above the Nai River in an instant!
Thick, massive Dao chains whipped around Xu Ying, radiating perilous light.
Xu Ying thrust a palm forward, shoving Chu Xiangxiang out of range just before the bodhimanda closed in.
A massive Dao chain grazed past Chu Xiangxiang, nearly claiming her life.
Xu Ying brought two fingers together, holding his hand upright before his nose, and shouted, "Ruyi Luo Heaven, open!"
*Whoosh!*
The Ruyi Great Luo Heaven expanded abruptly, crashing directly into Ling Wuxin's bodhimanda.
Ling Wuxin's bodhimanda was tempered through countless trials. Though he appeared to be a young youth, he was far older than Xu Ying. He had attained the Immortal Monarch realm tens of thousands of years ago, and through tens of thousands of years of polishing, his bodhimanda was extraordinarily condensed and thick.
His bodhimanda was rife with deadly intent. An Immortal Monarch possessing such a bodhimanda was something Xu Ying had only ever seen in Sword Monarch Jinhe.
Ling Wuxin's bodhimanda was barely inferior to Jinhe's!
As for Xu Ying, this was his first time fully melting his Dao attainment into the bodhimanda. Although this bodhimanda had not been forged by his own cultivation reaching the Heavenly Immortal realm, but rather borrowed,
his Dao attainment was simply too profound. Taiqing, Yuxu, Void Sovereign, Nether Sea, Xuanhuang, Primordial Chaos, Life and Death—every single one of these paths, when refined into a bodhimanda, was of the highest order. Blending so many profound attainments together through the Innate Great Luo Heaven made it even more extraordinary.
Though he had possessed the Ruyi Great Luo Heaven for merely a few months, he did not yield a single inch against Ling Wuxin's bodhimanda.
Ling Wuxin's colossal Primordial Spirit suddenly drove forward with all its might, squeezing into his small physical body. Ling Wuxin roared violently, looking as if he might burst from the sheer pressure of his Primordial Spirit.
The immense power of his Primordial Spirit was pulled entirely into his physical frame. His sinews and muscles bulged, transforming his slender body into something savage and ferocious!
This was his path of cultivation. His Primordial Spirit was too strong—so powerful that his flesh could not withstand it normally. Thus, he had to keep it outside to avoid tearing his own body apart.
Only in battle would he retract it into his flesh!
"Xu Ying!"
The instant their bodhimandas clashed, Ling Wuxin moved like lightning, lunging sideways and crashing forward like a toppling golden mountain or collapsing jade pillar, roaring, "After more than forty thousand years, take my Thirty-Three Heavens Sun-Exchanging Hand once more!"
Xu Ying spread his stance, calm as a drifting cloud. Raising a hand, he casually executed a divine ability, meeting Ling Wuxin's thunderous onslaught head-on!
*Boom!*
Their forces erupted. Xu Ying stood motionless where he was, while Ling Wuxin bounced backward. Immediately, phantoms of the Thirty-Three Heavens materialized before and behind him. Following Ling Wuxin's strikes, an image of Ling Wuxin appeared within each of the Thirty-Three Heavens, launching a torrential storm of attacks at Xu Ying from all directions!
His strikes were exceedingly crafty, every move aimed directly at the nine great treasures behind Xu Ying in an attempt to strip them away and cause Xu Ying's realm to plummet.
If that happened, Xu Ying would fall back to being a mere Jade Pool stage Qi Refiner, entirely unworthy of being his opponent!
Xu Ying remained firmly rooted to the spot. Suddenly, his figure blurred, and afterimages of him flickered everywhere before and behind, dazzling the eyes.
Every single one of Ling Wuxin's attacks was parried cleanly. When the Thirty-Three Heavens dissipated, the string of Xu Yings overlapped once more, returning into one.
In the past, Xu Ying possessed the Dao attainment of a Heavenly Monarch but lacked the means to unleash it. Now, testing his skills for the first time, he could effortlessly dismantle any move or divine ability Ling Wuxin threw at him!
Ling Wuxin bellowed repeatedly, attacking Xu Ying with frenzy, when suddenly his flesh ruptured and blood sprayed out.
The youth roared in fury, pressing his offensive faster and tighter. In contrast, Xu Ying's palms grew slower, his moves more deliberate, yet every strike carried terrifying weight!
Each blow Ling Wuxin took rattled him to the brink of exploding, tearing his skin and flesh even wider.
Abruptly, Ling Wuxin coughed up a mouthful of blood. His physical body could no longer endure the Primordial Spirit's strain, and he vaulted backward, leaping into the immortal light to retreat back into the Immortal Realm.
Standing before the rift to the Immortal Realm, he sneered, "Xu, even if you defeated me, you are still not Xu Ying! You only look like him!"
Chapter 489