Only with the two golden-winged celestial pengs drawing the imperial carriage did the treasure truly reveal its wondrous nature. Tens of thousands of li of flowing light unfurled across the sky like an arched rainbow, radiant clouds and mist shimmering around the vehicle.
Pulled by the celestial pengs, the carriage traveled like lightning, yet inside one could not feel the slightest breeze nor hear the howling wind. It was as serene as a warm spring morning.
Seated within the carriage, Xu Ying instructed Little Celestial Venerable in his cultivation. Little Celestial Venerable had originally been a disciple left largely to his own devices; throughout Xu Ying's entire first life, he had spent no more than a few days formally teaching him. Everything the disciple had achieved was the result of his own tireless cultivation.
Along this journey, Little Celestial Venerable truly experienced Xu Ying's meticulous dedication. Xu Ying pointed out the shortcomings in his cultivation down to the finest detail, compelling him to personally correct even the subtlest flaws in his Dao images.
"The Immortal Monarchs and Heavenly Monarchs of the Immortal Realm did not earn their reputations on empty praise," Xu Ying taught earnestly. "Any flaw of yours—even a slight defect in the Dao image you visualize during qi refinement—will be detected by them in battle. They will seize upon it as a breakthrough point to shatter your divine abilities and dismantle your Dao techniques."
Dao images were the foundation that constituted Immortal Dao runes, and Immortal Dao runes formed Dao rules and Dao chains. Immortal Monarchs and Heavenly Monarchs constructed divine abilities from Dao chains, meaning Dao images were the very bedrock of those abilities.
If a crack appeared in even one such cornerstone, an Immortal Monarch or Heavenly Monarch would see it as a fatal weakness. Once an enemy seized upon that weakness, death would not be far behind.
Lately, Xu Ying had clashed with more than a few masters of the Immortal Dao. As his battles multiplied, his perspective and discernment had grown sharper.
The instability in Little Celestial Venerable's foundations was all the more glaring in his eyes, so he took this opportunity to help him correct it.
The future was fraught with peril, and Xu Ying could barely guarantee his own survival. He had no wish to see the disciple who inherited the aspirations of his first life perish in the coming storms.
Up ahead, the Boundless Sea of Fire came into view. The two celestial pengs gradually slowed their pace. The flames within the sea were Tushita immortal flames; with the strength of the pengs, the slightest carelessness would see them roasted alive the moment they brushed against the fire.
Xu Ying lowered the imperial carriage, and Little Celestial Venerable released the two celestial pengs, allowing them to roam freely.
Master and disciple walked into the sea of fire.
As they advanced, fiery wings erupted from the sea below from time to time, like marvelous divine blades of peerless sharpness, surging with boundless vigor.
Soon after, colossal fire phoenixes, fire dragons, and fire elephants burst from the flames, radiating extraordinary power.
Further in the depths of the sea of fire, towering waves suddenly surged like mountains, and all manner of Dao images twisted together as they soared toward the heavens!
The Boundless Sea of Fire had grown far more turbulent and treacherous than before. The flames spewing from the sea were natural images of the Great Dao, harboring terrifying might. Encountering an onslaught of such Dao images was akin to facing the divine ability of a great master head-on.
Perhaps influenced by the tides, or perhaps because the entity suppressed beneath the immortal tomb was on the verge of breaking free, the Boundless Sea of Fire had entered a period of violent frenzy. The power of the Dao images was many times greater than in the past, and at times exceedingly terrifying grand Dao images would erupt. Crossing the sea demanded utmost caution!
Both Xu Ying and Little Celestial Venerable were formidable masters; ordinary Dao images from the fire sea could no longer harm them, but when confronted with grand Dao images, even they had to evade.
"The Boundless Sea of Fire has indeed undergone massive changes!"
Xu Ying's expression grew solemn. Could such startling upheaval truly be caused by that terrifying entity suppressed beneath True Lord Erlang's immortal tomb?
*If this commotion was stirred up by whatever lies beneath the tomb, its strength must be extraordinary!* he thought to himself.
True Lord Erlang had existed six hundred thousand years ago, which meant the entity beneath the tomb had been suppressed for at least six hundred thousand years. Even the Taiqing Dao Ancestor's Eight Trigrams Pill Furnace had failed to refine it to death after all that time. One could only imagine how formidable its power must be.
The two traveled for a long while, finally bypassing layer upon layer of danger to arrive where the immortal tomb lay.
True Lord Erlang's immortal tomb warped the surrounding spacetime. The blazing Tushita immortal flames flowed into the tomb like an inverted waterfall. Any vessel passing through this area would be sucked into the immortal flames and tumble into the tomb if it was not careful.
Only the ferry of the fire sea demon god could break through the immortal tomb's engulfing pull.
Xu Ying looked ahead and spotted the demon god's ferry. The boat was already battered and drifting in the sea of fire, but the demon god who poled it was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Ying raised an eyebrow and boarded the wreckage alongside Little Celestial Venerable.
"Master, a battle took place here."
Little Celestial Venerable examined the severed edges of the ferry, his expression grave. "These are traces left by Immortal Dao divine abilities. The ferry demon god must have met with misfortune."
With a sullen face, Xu Ying walked toward the immortal tomb and said, "Let us go inside."
Little Celestial Venerable followed, pondering aloud, "What are the people from the Immortal Realm here for? Have they also noticed that the entity suppressed beneath the tomb is about to break the seal? Or was the upheaval in the sea of fire caused by them in the first place?"
Their feet landed on the inverted cascade of fire formed by the immortal tomb. Immediately caught by the tomb's geomagnetic primordial force, they plunged toward the depths.
Following the flow of the fire waterfall, they reached the entrance of the immortal tomb, only to discover that the tomb's seals had already been broken—and by exceptionally brutal methods.
A Dragon Severing Stone had guarded the entrance, yet the perpetrator had actually dragged a divine dragon here, decapitated it, and used a secret art to break the stone.
The carcass of that divine dragon lay discarded at the entrance of the tomb.
There were other seals along the perimeter of the tomb. To bypass them, the intruders had resorted to every conceivable method, even heaping human lives upon them. Xu Ying spotted more than a dozen charred corpses near a single restriction.
"When there are too many immortals, their lives cease to matter," Xu Ying remarked inwardly as he looked upon the blackened remains.
Master and disciple stepped into the tomb's corridor. After only a few paces, they came upon another corpse that had perished within the restrictions.
Walking along the path, they encountered no danger whatsoever as they made their way deep into the tomb. Yet the gruesome deaths of the various immortals strewn along the way were truly shocking to behold.
"To the mighty figures of the Immortal Realm, these people are merely consumables."
The two reached the end of the corridor, where the view suddenly opened up. Blazing immortal fire from the boundless sea poured down from above, flowing into a landscape of verdant mountains and emerald waters.
The area resembled an immortal realm, surrounded by rolling peaks and circling green waters, with several immortal mountains drifting in the sky.
At this moment, however, the paradise was in complete chaos as a battle raged within. Xu Ying narrowed his eyes and looked forward. A towering deity stood between heaven and earth, his physique imposing, enveloped in rolling, dense incense smoke qi that suggested he had once enjoyed a flourishing cult of worship.
He resembled an elderly general clad in chainmail, five command banners planted behind his back, gripping a horse lance in a magnificent display of martial valor.
Those floating immortal mountains drifted around this white-haired old general.
Half-immortal and half-god, though he had been dead for untold ages, his divine power remained astonishing. He had thrown the invading throng of immortals and gods into utter disarray!
*Could this man be True Lord Erlang?* Xu Ying wondered.
Yet he dismissed the thought immediately. Although this white-haired veteran was exceptionally powerful, his strength fell short of the commanding presence required to oversee the immortal tomb and suppress all beneath it.
Xu Ying could tell that the veteran was already dead, yet his obsession remained unextinguished and his bodhimanda still stood. The corpse guarded the bodhimanda and patrolled the immortal tomb solely to safeguard its sanctity!
Xu Ying could not tell which faction from the Immortal Realm was laying siege to the general. Their leader had not made a move, standing instead beneath a pair of golden banners. The two golden banners each possessed nine tiers, each held upright by an Immortal King stalwart who channeled power to unfold the nine heavens.
Two palace maidens held handheld fans over a zhang wide, woven from the plumage of phoenixes, luan, and other divine birds, fanning a breeze for the monarch beneath the golden banners.
*A display like this is fit for an Imperial Monarch!* Xu Ying observed from afar, thinking, *I wonder which Imperial Monarch of the Immortal Realm this is?*
There were quite a few Immortal Monarchs and Heavenly Monarchs in the Immortal Realm who bore the title of Imperial Monarch—more than twenty in all.
These figures possessed formidable strength and often had backgrounds in the Immortal Realm, though not overwhelmingly prominent ones. To win them over, they were conferred the title of Imperial Monarch and inducted into the Immortal Court, but without real authority.
Xu Ying only recognized Imperial Monarch Zhou Wu and knew little about the others.
Nevertheless, this Imperial Monarch had numerous experts under his command, with several Immortal Kings and Immortal Monarchs joining the siege against the white-haired general. Beside these Immortal Kings and Immortal Monarchs were many Heavenly Immortals, Earth Immortals, and Human Immortals.
*An Imperial Monarch may lack real authority, but his forces are far from small,* Little Celestial Venerable thought, inwardly alarmed.
"This man is one of the Seven Brothers of Plum Mountain. True Lord Erlang leads the Seven Brothers of Plum Mountain, followed by the four grand commandants Kang, Zhang, Yao, and Li, and Generals Guo and Zhi,"
a voice spoke from beneath the golden banners. "Since he is positioned on the perimeter, he should be General Guo or General Zhi."
Another dignified voice resonated from beneath the banners: "He is General Zhi. I met him once long ago, back when I was still a Qi Refiner. I never expected that when we met again, he would already be a corpse. Do not delay any longer; dispose of him quickly."
As soon as he spoke, the immortals besieging the white-haired general invoked their treasures. With a resounding roar, thousands of treasures formed a formation that transformed into four great immortal arrays, enveloping the veteran general.
The white-haired general shook his body, and the five banners behind him flew out to pierce into the immortal arrays, while a massive banner blotted out the sky, undulating like ocean waves.
Using the banner's cover, the veteran general unleashed a slaughter, instantly striking down dozens of immortals.
"Useless fools!"
A jade-like hand suddenly reached out from beneath the golden banners, holding a golden bell that jingled crisply. The white-haired general was merely a corpse driven by lingering obsession; the chime of the golden bell specifically targeted obsessions, and with a gentle ring, it scattered his obsession to the winds.
In a daze, he attempted to gather his obsession once more, but the surrounding Immortal Kings and Immortal Monarchs seized the opening to close in. The immortal arrays activated, severing his head and hacking off his limbs.
The severed head roared repeatedly as flesh and blood sprouted from the wound. At the stumps of his four limbs, countless sinews and flesh churned, buds of flesh surging forward like waves, trying to reconnect with his body!
"An imperishable body is truly extraordinary!" the dignified voice praised from beneath the golden banners. "Seal his head and limbs!"
The immortals immediately invoked sealing runes, sealing the white-haired general's head, limbs, and torso separately, finally subduing him.
"A truly valiant general. Leave him here to rot slowly. Let us go and find the place of suppression!"
Flanked by the golden banners and feathered fans, the assembly of immortals swiftly departed.
Xu Ying and Little Celestial Venerable walked up to the severed head of the white-haired general. Even under the seal, the head continued to spew curses, shouting, "Rebels and traitors, sooner or later you will bring about a catastrophe!"
Xu Ying asked, "Brother, do you know what demon is suppressed here?"
The head rolled its eyes toward Xu Ying's face. Suddenly, its hair bristled with rage and its eyes widened in fury as it roared, "You little thief! You scoundrel! You'd better pray I never get out!"
Xu Ying turned to Little Celestial Venerable. "Did we cross paths with him the last time we came here?"
Seeing that his master had yet to recover his memories, Little Celestial Venerable quickly answered, "Master, have you forgotten? Last time, I stood guard outside while you went in alone. I have no idea what happened inside."
Just as Xu Ying was about to speak, a deep, seasoned voice called out from the depths of the immortal tomb: "Heh heh, the trustworthy man actually has the gall to return?"
Xu Ying instantly grew alert. "Who's there? Come out!"
"Come out? Come out to settle an old score from fifty thousand years ago?"
The voice was elusive and tinged with resentment. "Xu, you swindled me into waiting here for fifty thousand years! You bastard, you've finally shown up! I'll deal with these intruders first, then settle the score with you!"
Hearing the voice, Xu Ying sprinted forward, leaping through the immortal fire waterfall, but found no trace of the speaker.
Little Celestial Venerable rushed over, only to find Xu Ying looking around in doubt and suspicion.
"Little Celestial Venerable, was I really alone when I came here last time?" Xu Ying asked.
Little Celestial Venerable replied, "You were alone. You entered the tomb by yourself, Master, and upon emerging, you never spoke a word of what transpired inside, only mentioning that you had found a cultivation method."
"Keep pretending! Go on, keep acting!" the voice sneered, sounding as though it came from another spacetime. "Now you're playing the amnesia card? If I ever believe you again, I'm a dog!"
Xu Ying listened intently. Suddenly taking Little Celestial Venerable's hand, he plunged into the immortal fire waterfall, descending alongside the torrent.
The next instant, they flew out from the waterfall to find themselves in a different bodhimanda. This bodhimanda was in utter ruins, strewn with the corpses of many immortals—evidently, the Imperial Monarch and his followers had passed through here moments ago!
"Xu, I'll deal with these intruders first, then come deal with you... Damn those bastards, Grand Commandant Kang has been taken down too! Looks like I'll have to take the field myself!"
Xu Ying's eyes flickered. Tracing the sound, he leaped repeatedly with Little Celestial Venerable in tow, pursuing the voice while sending a divine transmission: "Brother, I believe there must be a misunderstanding between us..."
"Now you're calling me brother? How shameless!" the voice retorted. "Back then, you clearly called me Big Brother and insisted on swearing brotherhood with me!"
Xu Ying charged forward toward the sound, traversing the bodhimanda. Shifting his form unpredictably, he closed in on the source of the voice. Just as the voice uttered the word "brotherhood," Xu Ying took a step and emerged in the very same space as the speaker!
"Found you!" Xu Ying shouted. "Since you're my sworn b-b-b—"
His jaw dropped, and he stammered, struck utterly speechless.
A large black dog with glossy black fur, a slender waist, and long legs was stealthily stalking the Imperial Monarch of the golden banners!
Spotting Xu Ying hot on its heels, the big black dog was equally astounded. It looked at Xu Ying, then at Little Celestial Venerable, and said, "Worthy Brother, could this be that nephew Ergou you mentioned?"
Chapter 530