Call of the Distant Ancestor

"Imperial Monarch, shouldn't we be leaving?" an immortal asked, his voice trembling as he watched the twisted figure within the dragon fiend. The other immortals, seeing the grotesque figure gradually grow a tail, were equally chilled. "Imperial Monarch Xiao, that thing is definitely no benevolent entity! Let us depart at once!" Imperial Monarch Xiao's heart sank, and he barked in a low voice, "We leave!" Just as his words fell, the dragon fiend swelled and contracted once before being drawn wholly into the dragon-headed monster's body. Imperial Monarch Xiao's heart pounded in terror, and he hurriedly led his entourage away at top speed. This dragon fiend was no trivial matter—even a Heavenly Monarch like him dared not absorb and refine it into his body. The monster within the dragon fiend had to be exceptionally formidable and terrifying! He was the Imperial Monarch in charge of music in the Immortal Court. When the Immortal Emperor Supreme and Great Luo Immortals entertained distinguished guests and wished to hear music, he was responsible for arranging it. He held no real power and was ranked below Imperial Monarch Zhou Wu. Facing a dragon immortal that had survived from primordial antiquity, he felt that he himself stood very little chance of surviving! In his haste, he glanced back and saw that the dragon fiend had completely vanished, leaving only a tall, dragon-headed, human-bodied freak standing there. The garments on its body seemed somewhat familiar. "Khehehe!" The dragon-headed freak cocked its dragon tail and laughed, "For some reason, now that this tail has sprouted, I actually feel that having a tail is perfectly natural... Wait, I sense a bloodline call from the distant ancestor..." He shook his head. "No, why would I feel the call of the distant ancestor? Whatever, who cares!" *Whoosh—* The dragon-headed freak leaped forward, immediately stirring up wind and thunder. Imperial Monarch Xiao's eyelids twitched violently as he saw the dragon-headed freak riding the billowing wind and thunder straight toward them! "Khehehe, there are some humans here! Let me eat a few to taste something fresh. I haven't eaten..." The freak paused. "Wait a second, aren't I a human? Whatever, who cares!" The dragon-headed freak swooped down. Imperial Monarch Xiao felt a foul gale hit his face, accompanied by an oppressive aura far more intense than any foe he had ever encountered. Even Xu Ying had never brought him such overwhelming pressure! In particular, the dragon fiend qi emanating from this monstrosity caused his own vitality and blood to churn restlessly, showing signs of being assimilated! With a shout, Imperial Monarch Xiao sent countless musical instruments fluttering around him: zithers, reeds, zheng, drums, bells, hammered lutes, sounding stones, vertical and transverse flutes, bamboo pipes, and conches—large and small, square and round—circling all around him. As the notes sounded, they laid out an Immortal Music Bodhimanda. Within the bodhimanda, the Great Dao served as the melody, performing an extraordinary movement. From these instruments, beneath the strumming strings and echoing flutes, bright musical notes flowed forth and turned into Dao chains that danced and intertwined in midair, forming a Dao tree of splendid movement. Entering the Dao through musical tones, taking musical theory as principle—it was a breathtaking display! In terms of musical attainment, Imperial Monarch Xiao was indeed unmatched under heaven! Yet in the next moment, Imperial Monarch Xiao's bodhimanda was smashed open by the dragon-headed freak. Tens of thousands of musical notes slammed into the monster, only to be deflected by its dragon scales. Even the strikes from his Dao tree of splendid movement merely shook the freak's posture. The dragon-headed freak neither dodged nor deflected any attack, taking them all head-on. Charging before him, it swung a dragon claw like a palm strike! *Boom!* His entire Immortal Music Bodhimanda shuddered and shifted backward as though the surrounding space had been sliced through, hurtling rearward. Imperial Monarch Xiao's face rippled violently, crinkling into deep folds. Summoning all his power, he raised both hands and gathered his most powerful divine ability to meet the blow! Before and behind him, countless instruments burst with sound: *gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu*—the five tones and twelve pitch pipes came alive, converging into a torrent of musical laws and Dao principles! The next moment, all musical laws and Dao principles shattered. Imperial Monarch Xiao grunted as his bones, flesh, sinews, and membranes ruptured, and he went flying straight back. The dragon-headed freak was extraordinarily fast, catching up to him in an instant. Reaching out, it seized his skull, hoisted him up, and opened a bloody maw, about to stuff him whole into its mouth! "My life is forfeit!" Imperial Monarch Xiao was struck with despair. Right at that moment, the dragon-headed freak seemed to recall something. An expression of fright appeared on its face, and it tossed Imperial Monarch Xiao aside and whistled away. Its voice drifted back from afar: "What's wrong with me? How could I eat him? I should wait until he seizes treasures from the Dragon Court, snatch them from his hands, and *then* eat him!" Imperial Monarch Xiao crashed to the ground, his soul barely settled from fright, watching the dragon-headed freak vanish into the distance. Meanwhile, within the Yingzhou cave abyss, Shenpo, Fairy Gushe, and the immortals of Penglai exchanged baffled glances, buzzing with discussion. "No matter." Shenpo raised her hand to quiet the Penglai immortals. "I just cast a divination. Immortal Master Xu has only been bewitched by dragon qi and malevolence. Once he refines the dragon qi after some time, all will be well. This journey will turn peril to auspiciousness—great fortune lies ahead!" Only then did everyone relax. Secretly, however, Shenpo was fretting. Xu Ying's Dao attainment was exceedingly high, reaching a level beyond her ability to divine accurately. When she calculated the fortunes of Imperial Monarchs or Heavenly Venerables, she was often inaccurate, failing six or seven times out of ten. But calculating Xu Ying was much the same: four or five errors out of ten. She had not divined the auspiciousness or misfortune of this journey at all just now; she had only said it to comfort everyone and prevent them from falling into panic. *I wonder what condition the Immortal Master is in? If the Leakless Golden Body can refine the dragon qi and malevolence, he can still return to normal. But if he cannot...* No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she saw Xu Ying, in his dragon-headed freak form, running the golden body to refine dragon qi and malevolent qi on one hand, while continuously absorbing more dragon qi and malevolent qi from the surroundings on the other. Shenpo's face turned as black as charcoal. *He's beyond saving!* However, the immortals in Yingzhou were never assimilated by the dragon qi or malevolent qi, indicating that Xu Ying was still secretly protecting them, controlling Yingzhou to repel the dragon qi and malevolent qi. Judging from these actions, Xu Ying had not completely lost his mind either. Xu Ying himself felt more invigorated than ever. Running as fast as flight, he followed the call of the distant ancestor toward the depths of the Dragon Court. The bizarre call from deep within the Dragon Court grew clearer and clearer, making him itch to rush over. *Still, this primordial summons seems to stem from a call within the bloodline. Something isn't right.* As he sprinted along, Xu Ying thought, *The Dragon Court fell before the Monster Court, so the era of the Dragon Court must be exceedingly ancient—millions or tens of millions of years ago. It is impossible for anyone to have survived! Then what on earth is this call of the Dragon Court's distant ancestor... Whatever, who cares!* Although he still retained some reason, he was also heavily affected by the dragon qi and malevolence; his judgment was far worse than before. Xu Ying knew this was very wrong. He continuously circulated the Leakless Golden Body, refining the dragon qi and malevolence, striving to throw off the influence. Yet bizarrely, dragon qi and malevolent qi still flooded into his body without pause. *Something is wrong with me!* Xu Ying felt a chill. The call of the distant ancestor was acting upon the residual dragon qi inside him and had already begun affecting his control over his body! *What is affecting my judgment actually comes from the distant ancestor! There is definitely something strange going on!* This distant ancestor was an ancestor from the distant past, but it was an ancestor of the dragon race. As Xu Ying sprinted toward the Dragon Court, dragon-shaped creatures gradually appeared around him. These dragon-shaped creatures were other people affected by the dragon qi and malevolence, who had also been drawn along by the call of the distant ancestor. Only, those people had little self-awareness left; muddled and confused, they acted solely on instinct, which was vastly different from Xu Ying. "Lord Bell!" Xu Ying called out. The big bell suddenly flew out. "Lord Bell is here!" As the bell chimed, the reverberations suppressed nearly half of the foreign dragon qi and malevolence within Xu Ying's body. Xu Ying breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally control his physical body and resist that strange call of the distant ancestor, while circulating the Leakless Golden Body to accelerate the refining of dragon qi and malevolence. However, it took both him and the big bell working together to resist the call. That call continued to affect Xu Ying's physical body at every moment, leaving him occasionally unable to act of his own free will. Whenever that happened, he would absorb a large amount of dragon qi and malevolence once again. By now, he had reached the Dragon Court. Looking around, enormous palaces stretched as far as the eye could see, looking like the dwellings of giants like Xing Daoyuan, the Master of Mud Pill Palace—towering and magnificent. "Hidden Dragon Hall!" Xu Ying looked up. From the threshold to the lintel of Hidden Dragon Hall was a full thousand feet high! Although Xu Ying had dragonized, he was only thirty to fifty feet tall, far from matching the height of the giants this Hidden Dragon Hall was built for. *Were the giants of the dragon race this massive? Could this Hidden Dragon Hall be where the dragon immortals resided?* Xu Ying walked inside. The Hidden Dragon Hall was cavernously deep. Someone had evidently already entered before him; several corpses lay prone on the ground along the way. He glanced to both sides and saw statues of ancient divine dragons flanking the great hall, towering, solemn, and majestic. Sitting within shrines were giants with dragon heads and human bodies, radiating immortal qi and immortal power with solemn dignity. Some of the dragon-headed giants had flowing beards and eyebrows that fluttered with vivid lifelikeness, as though they were still alive. Behind them were things resembling bodhimandas, forming disc shapes with intricate and profound dragon-patterned markings inside. However, there were no Dao trees within these disc-like structures, so they were probably not bodhimandas. The cultivation system of the dragon race was likely different from that of later generations. *These dragon immortals have all passed away.* Xu Ying continued walking forward, looking left and right. There was an immense number of dead dragon immortals in Hidden Dragon Hall. When he reached the depths of the hall, he saw over two thousand corpses of dragon immortals, a sight that made one's scalp tingle. If they were ordinary dragon immortals, it would be one thing, but the residual aura of these dragon immortal corpses sitting in the shrines even made Xu Ying feel oppressed! *In life, these dragon immortals must have all been beings comparable to Heavenly Monarchs!* Xu Ying composed himself. As he ventured deeper, he found the call of the distant ancestor increasingly difficult to suppress. Likely, the malevolence in Hidden Dragon Hall was too heavy and the dragon qi too dense, making it harder for him to resist the call. Just as he planned to retrace his steps, he suddenly spotted a corpse lying faceup in the hall. His heart gave a jolt. *The Third Sage among the Three Sages of the North Sea! Why did he die here?* The Three Sages of the North Sea were Head Sage Zhou Ziyu, Second Sage Sun Yujiang, and Third Sage Guan Fei. The three were Immortal Monarchs conferred as Holy Monarchs of the North Sea by the Immortal Court, hence their title as the Three Sages. These three Immortal Monarchs possessed extraordinary methods. They had once joined hands with the Six Perfected of the Dao Sea and the Twelve Perfected of Heavenly Sage Mountain to besiege Xu Ying for three days and three nights, helping Xu Ying advance his cultivation by a substantial leap. Thus, Xu Ying had a very deep impression of them. He approached cautiously. Third Sage Guan Fei's eyes were wide and bulging; he had died with his eyes open. Xu Ying noticed something unusual. He raised a hand in a lifting motion; while still more than ten feet away from Guan Fei, the corpse floated up, slowly turning in midair. "Empty!" Xu Ying was astonished to find Guan Fei's corpse was hollowed out—there was no flesh or bone inside! Yet there were no wounds on Guan Fei's corpse. Xu Ying made the corpse float horizontally in the air, only to see a bowl-sized hole torn open at the Baihui point atop Guan Fei's head. It was as if Guan Fei's flesh and bones had found staying in this skin uninteresting, lifted open the scalp, and shed their shell to crawl out from within! Xu Ying frowned slightly and looked around. Beside Guan Fei lay several more corpses. Judging by their attire, they should be Qi Refiners. Like Guan Fei, the tops of their heads were cracked open, completely devoid of flesh and blood within. *Could they be Qi Refiners from the Longxing Great World? Did Guan Fei use Qi Refiners of the Longxing Great World to harvest the treasures here and suffer a backlash?* No sooner had the thought occurred to him than he saw several more corpses ahead. He walked over. One of the corpses was none other than Head Sage Zhou Ziyu. His manner of death was identical to Guan Fei's: the scalp opened and the flesh and bones gone. However, Zhou Ziyu had been stronger and left behind a few subtle clues. Xu Ying examined his corpse closely, his brow furrowed. It looked as though a dragon had lived inside Zhou Ziyu, burst through his crown, and crawled out from within him! The big bell cried, "Ah Ying, we can't go any further! The dragon qi here is too malevolent—I'm starting to grow dragon scales!" Xu Ying looked up and saw that several scales had indeed sprouted on the outer wall of Lord Bell. "No need to worry, Lord Bell. You are a magic treasure; nothing will go wrong with you," Xu Ying comforted it. Walking further forward, he indeed found the corpse of Second Sage Sun Yujiang! Sun Yujiang's corpse was just like those of the Head Sage and Third Sage: the scalp peeled back, the bones and flesh having crawled out, casting the discarded skin upon the ground! *Without karmic luck, one cannot take the treasures of the Dragon Court... Is it truly this terrifying?* Xu Ying was just thinking this when he suddenly felt something. *There is someone ahead!* He drifted forward soundlessly. Before he knew it, he had reached the deepest part of Hidden Dragon Hall. Several dozen dragon-headed, human-bodied freaks were kneeling on the ground, drenched in blood, muttering incantations, and kowtowing toward a banner-shaped magic treasure. The banner-shaped magic treasure floated in the air, constantly rolling. One side was white, but within it were countless strands of black qi, resembling dragons and flood dragons, fluttering across the banner's surface in great numbers. "Ah Ying, I don't think I can hold on!" the big bell sent via divine sense. Just as Xu Ying was about to retreat, the big bell suddenly rang with a clang. Dragon scales sprouted all over its surface, its mouth turned into a dragon's maw full of sharp teeth, its body took the shape of a dragon's head, and even the bell knob transformed into a small hornless dragon! "Khehehe! Ah Ying, I feel fantastic right now!" The big bell was inexplicably excited and said, "I hear the call of my ancient ancestor, telling me to go over!" Xu Ying hastily transmitted via divine sense, "Lord Bell, calm down! You're a bell, where would you get an ancestor?" Suddenly, the dragon-headed freaks kowtowing to the banner-shaped treasure turned their heads in unison—twisting their heads from front to back—and stared straight at them! Xu Ying's heart leaped into his throat. *If I can survive this beating, I'll definitely be able to ascend. But I'm afraid I won't survive...* These dragon-headed freaks were simply too powerful, making him worry that his current Leakless Golden Body would not be able to defend against their combined onslaught! At that moment, one of the dragon-headed freaks stood up and asked, "Fellow Daoist, did you also succeed in possessing a body?"