Xu Ying arrived at Hunyuan Palace. After these days of weary rushing, he had finally settled down and could take a brief rest.
Hearing of his arrival, Little Celestial Venerable rushed in from outside to pay his respects. Though Xu Ying remembered little of their past together, he remained exceptionally caring toward this disciple of his, repeatedly helping him through difficult crises.
When Xu Ying saw Little Celestial Venerable, he hesitated for a moment, regretting that he had not taken one more ginseng Dao fruit.
His remaining five ginseng Dao fruits were already spoken for: the big bell, Yuan Qi, Lord Jin, and his parents each had one, leaving Little Celestial Venerable the only one forgotten.
He felt a profound guilt toward this disciple, though it stemmed not from this lifetime, but from the memories of his first life.
It was precisely those scattered memories from his first life that had driven Xu Ying to risk his life to help Little Celestial Venerable survive the calamity of Weixu and complete the Heaven Mending Plan left unfinished for tens of thousands of years, thus resolving the knot between master and disciple.
He had also resolved the grievances with his first life's followers—Mister Wuliu, Xuan Yazi, Demon God Pan, the Four Evils of the Ling Family, and others—allowing them to let go of their resentment toward Xu Ying and help Little Celestial Venerable build the Ancestral Court.
Furthermore, he had helped Little Celestial Venerable gather numerous allies, giving his all. Many saw only the advantages he had inherited from his first life, yet those advantages were meager; what he had truly inherited were responsibilities and heavy burdens.
"It would have been wonderful if I had asked for one more ginseng Dao fruit," he thought with regret, not realizing the quiet hold his first life still had on him.
Still, he did not give the fruit to Little Celestial Venerable, determined to save them for the big bell, Yuan Qi, Jin Buyi, and his parents.
Noticing his hesitation, the big bell said, "Ah Ying, I'm just a magical artifact. Eating a ginseng Dao fruit won't do me any good. Just give mine to Little Celestial Venerable."
Xu Ying shook his head and turned to Little Celestial Venerable. "How is your cultivation progressing?"
Little Celestial Venerable bowed with disciple etiquette and replied, "Your disciple has now reached the Heavenly Immortal realm and attained the Eighth Turn of the profound art."
Xu Ying said, "Demonstrate it for me to see."
Little Celestial Venerable assented, stepped outside, and activated his Heavenly Immortal bodhimanda, circulating his profound art. His physical body and Primordial Spirit merged into one, expanding and shrinking in an instant. Circulating it eight times, his physical attainment had reached the level of an Immortal Monarch!
His physical body had always been formidable; achieving the Seventh Turn had previously allowed him to surpass ordinary Immortal Kings even while at the Half-Immortal realm. Now that he had crossed the boundary separating immortal from mortal, cultivating through Human Immortal, Earth Immortal, and Heavenly Immortal, such progress was only natural.
Yet once Little Celestial Venerable reached the Heavenly Immortal realm, making further progress became exceedingly difficult. Advancing from Heavenly Immortal to Immortal King could not be accomplished merely by accumulating celestial spiritual energy; one had to possess an Immortal King-level cave abyss.
Xu Ying had slain Ling Wuxin and seized numerous cave abysses, so he selected an Immortal Monarch-level cave abyss and gave it to him, saying, "Use this cave abyss for now. While it falls short of my Yingzhou Cave Abyss, it is still no small matter—more than enough to nourish eight to ten thousand immortals. As for your bodhimanda, I have seen it, and it is merely mediocre."
Rather unconvinced, Little Celestial Venerable struck a stance within his bodhimanda and said, "Teacher, please instruct me."
The big bell said to the strange Heavenly River flower it was suppressing, "Ergou means: Teacher, please beat me."
The strange Heavenly River flower had long been pinned beneath the bell, thrashing left and right, yet entirely unable to escape.
During his visit to Wuzhuang Temple, Xu Ying had studied its Heavenly Immortal bodhimanda and had become a true master in this regard. The Heavenly Immortal bodhimanda of Wuzhuang Temple contained six kinds of wondrous Dao truths—still four fewer than his own.
Little Celestial Venerable also cultivated six kinds of wondrous Dao truths and integrated them into his bodhimanda, but the fusion was far from perfect.
Xu Ying did not mince courtesies. Activating his Ruyi Great Luo Bodhimanda, the Great Luo Ten Sceneries manifested and bore down upon Little Celestial Venerable's Heavenly Immortal bodhimanda.
With a muffled grunt from Little Celestial Venerable, his bodhimanda stalled. The Ten Sceneries weighed down, pinning him motionless as his bones cracked under the strain, on the verge of fracturing.
Xu Ying said, "When your profound art reaches the Eighth Turn, its flaws become obvious. As for your bodhimanda, it is utterly frail."
"Teacher, save me!" Little Celestial Venerable cried out, unable to hold on.
Xu Ying ceased circulating the Great Luo Ten Sceneries and said, "These Ten Sceneries are my wondrous Dao truths. Comprehend six of them carefully. As for the remaining four—Life and Death, Dao Power, Void, and Hunyuan—do not attempt them yet. You wouldn't be able to grasp them anyway."
Still stubborn, Little Celestial Venerable fell back into his 'Teacher, please instruct me' mindset and set off to comprehend those four wondrous Dao truths.
Xu Ying planned to rest in Hunyuan Palace for a few days, so he let him be, leaving the Great Luo Heaven Bodhimanda for him to study while he himself began refining the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler inside the palace.
The Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler was a Supreme magical artifact. Leaving even a single brand upon it was exceptionally difficult, let alone refining it to obey every whim of his will.
Fortunately, Xu Ying had cultivated the Taiyi Cave Abyss, and his divine consciousness had attained wondrous Dao subtleties, making it extraordinarily powerful. Through repeated branding, he finally inscribed his own mark onto the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler.
"Just having a brand is still not enough!"
Xu Ying suddenly recalled his experience upon acquiring the Returning Dao Jade Platter. Only after tumbling into its deepest recesses had he seen its origin: a mass of the Qi of Creation.
"Since both are Supreme artifacts, there must be something similar inside the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler."
With that thought, Xu Ying stirred. He raised the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler, leaped up, and plunged straight into the landscape within.
The internal space of the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler was boundless. Xu Ying flew past soaring mountains and precipitous ridges; beneath his feet ran mountain ridges resembling fishbacks and dragon spines, through which broad rivers wound, veiled in curling mists.
Passing from one stretch of mountains and rivers into the next, he found the geography transformed entirely—vast golden deserts where tornadoes moved like pillars of smoke across the sands.
Crossing the desert, he came upon towering mountains where a great river plummeted from the peaks like a waterfall.
He traversed one landscape after another, moving faster and faster, yet every vista that met his eyes was distinctly different, without a single repetition!
"If the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler were refined to its absolute peak, it could probably blanket all the starry skies across the myriad heavens and worlds, submerging them entirely!"
Xu Ying marveled inwardly. If pushed to that extreme, measuring the heavens and surveying the earth, a single strike of the ruler could annihilate myriad realms!
Only an artifact like this truly deserved the title of Supreme!
"Still, how do I find this treasure's origin?"
Continuing forward, he thought, "My refinement of this treasure, much like the Eastern King's refinement of the Returning Dao Jade Platter, merely scratches the surface. In that case, the power the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler can unleash is trivial, far from blanketing the myriad worlds."
After journeying through countless landscapes, the vistas within the ruler remained limitless. Eventually, Xu Ying's patience ran out, and he turned to retrace his steps.
The moment he turned around, the corner of his eye caught a sudden shift in the scenery behind him.
Vaguely, he seemed to glimpse a surging, tempestuous river. On the opposite bank, a fair maiden in white stood beside the water.
Xu Ying spun back around to look behind him. Before him stretched the same unending landscape with no end in sight—no roaring river, and no fair maiden across the water.
He turned his head slowly, keeping watch through his peripheral vision. Once again, he saw the great river and the white-clad woman on the far bank.
Though it was merely a fleeting glimpse, that woman's peerless beauty and breathtaking grace sent ripples through Xu Ying's Dao heart.
"What is going on?"
Startled, Xu Ying steadied himself and pondered, "This must be happening because I, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, and that maiden across the water are in different spacetimes."
His gaze flickered. This phenomenon resembled the way the Wangxiang Platform allowed one to look back upon one's homeland—a curvature of spacetime, akin to the overlapping of Yin and Yang, an overlap in spatial dimensions.
"There is only one way to deal with this!"
With his back turned toward the great river and the maiden on the opposite bank, Xu Ying's thoughts stirred. The Taiyi Divine Bridge flew forth, spanning across the river and bridging spacetime!
On both sides of the divine bridge, heaven and earth took on the colors of dark and yellow. Countless mountains and rivers flowed beneath the bridge like water, transforming into the dual Qi of Xuanhuang!
Xu Ying turned. The countless mountains and rivers within the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler had now entirely dissolved into the dual Qi of Xuanhuang, forming a surging, torrential river of Xuanhuang that thundered endlessly beneath the bridge!
The river was magnificent, its waters roaring deafeningly below. Spray thrown into the air coalesced into breathtaking panoramas of landscape, which collapsed back into surging currents upon falling.
Stepping onto the Taiyi Divine Bridge, Xu Ying felt a surge of excitement. He had finally found the origin of the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler!
This raging river formed of the dual Qi of Xuanhuang was the artifact's true source—all its countless mountains and rivers were born of it!
"Yet what about the woman on the other side?"
Xu Ying looked across the river, but the opposite bank was completely deserted.
Puzzled, Xu Ying withdrew his gaze and concentrated on refining the Xuanhuang river. The dual Qi of Xuanhuang was already part of his Great Luo Ten Sceneries, and his comprehension of the Dao of Xuanhuang was profoundly deep.
Refining the river proved far easier than expected. After a long while, having gained some ground and feeling he could make no immediate further progress, Xu Ying rose from the Taiyi Divine Bridge and walked down.
The instant he turned, he once again hazily glimpsed the white-clad woman on the opposite bank, slender and graceful across the water, as though waiting for a traveler's return, or perhaps gazing into the distance.
When he turned his head directly toward her, the sight vanished once more.
"Strange."
Xu Ying stepped off the bridge and dispersed it. The river of Xuanhuang Qi instantly resolved back into countless mountains and rivers, scattering and disappearing into the depths of spacetime.
Just as Xu Ying was about to leave, a flash of inspiration struck his mind. He spun around and blurted, "I understand! There are three layers of spacetime here! My Taiyi Divine Bridge was only anchored across the second layer!"
He invoked the divine ability of the Taiyi Divine Bridge once more. Countless mountains and rivers came rushing back, turning into the Xuanhuang river, with the bridge spanning across it.
Leaping up, Xu Ying landed on the bridge and manifested a second divine bridge!
The Taiyi Divine Bridge was a divine ability he had comprehended from the Yellow Court Scripture and the Shangqing Grand Cavern True Scripture. However, this ability required linking Taiji and Wuji, creating a rainbow bridge between the two extremes, demanding a staggering amount of magic power!
Standing on the first Taiyi Divine Bridge and driving the second, Xu Ying felt strained even after mobilizing nine major magical artifacts.
As the second bridge arched out, Xu Ying looked toward its far end. Sure enough, another vast river appeared, the Taiyi Divine Bridge spanning across it, flickering under the scouring of fierce astral winds.
And on the river's opposite bank stood a fair maiden across the water.
Xu Ying called out loudly, "Lady, do you see my bridge? I will ferry you across!"
On the other side, the woman seemed to hear something. She raised her head, her willow brows like mist, her eyes conveying both tender affection and cool detachment, seeming both near and infinitely far away.
She looked in his direction, but Xu Ying's voice reached her only as a faint, indistinct murmur.
Xu Ying shouted, "Jump onto the bridge! I'll ferry you across!"
The woman looked out and seemed to see Xu Ying's Taiyi Divine Bridge. Just as she moved to leap forward, a sudden blast of astral wind swept over the river, shattering the Taiyi Divine Bridge to pieces!
Xu Ying grunted, his blood and Qi recoiling so violently that he nearly spat blood.
He circulated the Taiyi Indestructible Scripture to suppress his roiling blood and Qi and steady his vital essence and divine consciousness. Inwardly, he was shaken: "What kind of river is that? How can the astral winds above it be so terrifying?"
His Taiyi Divine Bridge was a divine ability bordering on the Supreme realm. It had matched the Eastern King and clashed with the Imperial Monarch's avatar; all who had witnessed it praised its might.
Yet the mere wind skimming that river had shattered it into nothingness, leaving him utterly astonished.
"My cultivation is still lacking. I should wait until I reach the Third Knocking-on-the-Pass Stage and open the Yujing Heavenly Pass; then I ought to have enough magic power," Xu Ying thought.
Across the river, the woman blinked, looking toward the empty space above the water where the bridge had vanished without a trace.
Surprised, she murmured softly, "What was that just now? Could someone truly cross the River of Time to come here and save me?"
That surging river was the River of Time, condensed from endless ages. She was trapped on the other side of time, forever unable to set foot in the real world.
"Alas, his divine ability was still too weak to withstand the scour of time," she said quietly.
Time was like wind, and the years were like blades; even the Taiyi Divine Bridge could not endure long over that river.
She waited quietly. She knew that since the person who had attempted to save her had acted once, he would surely act a second time!
Xu Ying flew out of the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler and recounted the incident to the big bell. The big bell asked in surprise, "Who in the world is that woman? Why would she appear within the spacetime of the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler? And why is she separated by three layers of spacetime?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "I don't know either."
The big bell suddenly said, "Ah Ying, do you think it's possible that this woman is the original master of the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler?"
Xu Ying froze, then chuckled. "Master Bell, if she were the ruler's original master, she would be a Supreme-level existence. How could she be sealed inside her own Supreme artifact? Impossible!"
The big bell also felt its guess was preposterous. "True. If a Supreme being were sealed inside their own artifact, just how terrifying would the one who sealed her have to be? No one could be that formidable. Besides, Ah Ying, what should we do about this strange Heavenly River flower?"
It had been suppressing the strange Heavenly River flower for a long time. The strange flower thrashed against it from time to time, making the task quite exhausting.
Xu Ying's gaze fell upon the flower. When he had consumed the ginseng Dao fruit, this strange flower had actually tried to devour his Ten Sceneries Dao Flower. Fortunately, the big bell had noticed and knocked it away.
By now, Xu Ying had also realized that something was amiss with this strange flower.
"Hold our ground for now. Don't startle the snake in the grass,"
Xu Ying sent via voice transmission. "Master Bell, continue suppressing it. I'll have Little Celestial Venerable send people to search for Daoist Wukong!"
Chapter 528