The Mortal Realm.
Blood seeped from the Ancestral God's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, quickly dyeing his robes crimson. During the first clash, the wounds he had only just healed had burst open once more. Refusing to believe he could be bested and assuming it was merely a lapse in vigilance, he gathered his power and clashed a second time against that force lurking in the dark.
Upon that second collision, the Ancestral God keenly sensed his opponent's immense might, and his injuries worsened.
Yet he remained unwilling to yield. Thus came the third collision. This time, the Ancestral God's vitality suffered a catastrophic blow; his form aged from that of a youth to a middle-aged man, and began shifting into an elder.
Both Big Dragon and the big bell trembled with dread.
"The Ancestral God's condition looks terrible," the big bell said, quivering. "Does the old fellow have any inheritance left? Let us two brothers divide it up and go our separate ways!"
Big Dragon hesitated, then said, "Wouldn't doing that seem a bit disloyal?"
"We must preserve our useful lives so we can avenge him in the future!"
"Agreed!"
Though they said as much, the Dragon Bell showed no intention of actually departing. Instead, it hovered above the Ancestral God's head, helping him withstand the immense pressure bearing down from the darkness.
The big bell called this act doing what was humanly possible before sending the old brother on his final journey.
That pressure was exceedingly fierce and overbearing. The moment they came into contact with it, both the big bell and Big Dragon sensed that things were dire.
The power emanating from the dark seemed far higher in caliber than their own. Whether Dao power was higher or lower in rank was difficult to describe, but an analogy could be drawn. For instance, among the divine flames that Qi Refiners often invoked, ordinary flames could not compare to heavenly fire; heavenly fire could not compare to immortal fire; and ordinary immortal fire could not compare to Tushita immortal fire.
Such was the power within the dark. It stood on a higher tier than their own; one unit of its force could suppress two of theirs. Confronting greater strength with less energy was in itself the hallmark of a higher order.
Whether it was the Ancestral God, Big Dragon, or the big bell, the Dao powers they employed were exceptionally profound. The Ancestral God possessed the majestic might of the Heavenly Dao; the big bell had been refined into Indestructible Spiritual Light; and Big Dragon was an immortal dragon of the Ninth Dao Realm, one of the greatest and most formidable beings throughout all eternity.
In this world, there should have been no Dao power higher than theirs, yet the power of the Great Dao they cultivated was undeniably inferior to the force within the darkness!
Both the Ancestral God and Big Dragon were filled with shock and fury.
Big Dragon pushed the power of his primordial spirit's head to the utmost, and a resonant dragon's roar erupted from the mouth of the bell. Yet facing such overwhelming oppression, they still could not hold their ground.
His injuries had not fully healed, and under this renewed, crushing weight, he showed faint signs of fracturing and collapsing. He hurriedly cried, "Lord Bell, we've done all that's humanly possible! Isn't it time to send the old brother on his way? If we don't leave now, I'm going to split apart!"
The big bell hesitated, then said, "Hold on a little longer! Let's see the Ancestral God just a bit further along!"
It was nearing its breaking point as well.
Yet back when it used to talk about abandoning Xu Ying to divide his belongings, it had always fought alongside him to the bloody end and had never truly left him behind. Now that it had spent so much time with the Ancestral God, it similarly found itself unable to forsake him.
*If I save the Ancestral God, I wonder if the old man would be willing to let me absorb a breath or two of his vitality?* the big bell thought to itself.
The Ancestral God was likewise worried that these two would be crushed to pieces, so he had no choice but to abandon the idea of clashing head-on to the bitter end against that force in the darkness, gradually shrinking the domain of the Heavenly Dao.
The pressure inflicted by that Dao power surging from the dark was utterly terrifying. Yet by reducing the Heavenly Dao's territory, the Ancestral God could concentrate his strength to oppose it, causing their burden to lighten considerably.
Both sides vied with one another, searching for a delicate equilibrium that both could accept, reaching a point of mutual non-aggression.
At the same time, Immortal Emperor Supreme retreated again and again, remaining right on the boundary line where the Emerald Rock could pose a sufficient threat to him. One step forward, and the Dao weeping would disrupt his Great Dao divine powers.
His gaze never wavered from Xu Ying, who had transformed into a Zang—or perhaps he should now be called Xu Zangying.
At this moment, Xu Zangying had already climbed onto the Emerald Rock, the Taiyi Cave Abyss still hanging behind his head, shining with dazzling brilliance.
"With Xu Ying dead, I am now short four great Dao landscapes: Life and Death, Dao Power, Void, and Hunyuan."
Immortal Emperor Supreme's expression darkened, and he murmured in a low voice, "Even if I harvest Junior Brother Wei Xu, I will only be able to patch up the two Dao landscapes of Life and Death and Dao Power, leaving me with no more than eight. Master Qingxuan possessed ten Dao landscapes and still died; what chance do I have with only six? And Wei Xu is my junior brother, after all..."
Xu Ying's attainment of the Ten Scenes of Luotian had truly brought him boundless joy. Sixty myriad years of painstakingly selecting seeds, breeding them, planting, and cultivating—how much blood and sweat had he poured into that endeavor?
Just as harvest drew near, the boy had suddenly perished without leaving so much as a seed behind. The anguish in his heart could well be imagined.
"Fortunately, the Taiyi Cave Abyss remains."
Immortal Emperor Supreme let out a sigh of relief. This was the silver lining in an otherwise disastrous outcome.
Atop the Emerald Rock, Xu Zangying crouched down. He raised his right leg, cocked his head to the side, and scratched at the branch-like patterns sprouting from the back of his skull.
These patterns grew ever more numerous, forming structures resembling feathers and twigs. Having abruptly transformed into a Zang, these strange growths made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Immortal Emperor Supreme watched this, his heart bleeding. *Sixty myriad years of effort, destroyed in an instant...*
The next moment, Xu Zangying stuck out his tongue and licked the branch-like patterns burgeoning from his hand.
A sharper ache twisted Immortal Emperor Supreme's chest, and he nearly yelled out, *Pull your tongue back in!*
*He is someone I nurtured, after all. I should send him on his way.*
At present, the most rational course of action was naturally to claim the Taiyi Cave Abyss and minimize his losses.
With the Taiyi Cave Abyss in hand, he would have some measure of confidence in freeing himself from the fate of being manipulated. That outcome would not be entirely intolerable.
The Ancestral God and the Emerald Rock had clashed for a third time. Following that impact, the Ancestral God's power swiftly contracted, and the force of the Emerald Rock diminished accordingly.
Immortal Emperor Supreme maintained a steady pace, moving in tandem with the receding power of the Emerald Rock. He remained balanced right on the boundary line, ensuring that the Dao weeping could never affect him.
Soon, the Emerald Rock's contraction reached its limit, stabilizing and falling still.
The light of the Heavenly Dao and the darkness of the Emerald Rock stood in stark opposition, like yin and yang. However, the region covered by the Heavenly Dao under the Ancestral God's control was smaller, occupying only a third of the Mortal Realm, while the darkness cast by the Emerald Rock was larger, claiming the remaining two-thirds.
Even so, the expanse encompassed by the Heavenly Dao was countless times greater than before, testifying to the Ancestral God's extraordinary might.
Immortal Emperor Supreme finally took another step forward.
The Ancestral God bore the desire of the Heavenly Dao to shelter all living beings, and thus his reach was vast. Immortal Emperor Supreme, however, needed only to protect himself. Having taken this step, he did not pause, continuing onward.
Suddenly, he halted. Before him, amid the ruins of that ancient sect, an elderly Zang stood tall and motionless, exuding an immense pressure that weighed upon him.
"You are already dead, and your entire cultivation has been dissolved," Immortal Emperor Supreme said indifferently. "You are no match for me. It would be best if you did not act rashly."
The elderly Zang unfurled his Eightfold Dao Realm. Bizarre branch-like patterns spread through the realm, showing not the slightest hint of retreat. A raspy voice issued from his mouth: "I only wish to leave behind a trace of hope for my lineage."
Immortal Emperor Supreme spoke no more.
Since both had resolved their Dao hearts, further words were pointless; language was the weakest of weapons and could never sway their resolve. For experts of their caliber, only martial force could alter the other's convictions!
He strode forward, his aura surging to its pinnacle as he stepped directly into the elderly Zang's Dao realm. Thick darkness enveloped him, obscuring all figures from view. Dao weeping assailed him from the gloom, and accompanying the wailing came countless branch-like patterns, taking root in his skin, his pores, his pupils, his nostrils, and his mouth!
The Dao weeping invaded, penetrating even into his Realm of Xiyi and his bodhimanda. Wherever it reached, the branch-like patterns sprouted maniacally.
Yet in the next breath, every single branch-like pattern shattered simultaneously, dispersing like smoke.
Immortal Emperor Supreme pressed forward continuously, the darkness and the branch-like patterns drifting like fog across his vision.
Abruptly, the elderly Zang struck from the shadows. Here was a grandmaster of the primordial past; the moment he unleashed his move, Immortal Emperor Supreme felt the magnificent grandeur of the divine powers from the Dragon Court era!
Though divine powers of the present day were far more diverse than those of old, most arts from the Dragon Court era were grounded in the visualization of dragons as the image of the Great Dao. Their foundation had been extraordinarily lofty, deriving all manner of divine powers and Dao methods from that dragon image.
Claw techniques were invariably dragon claws. Lightning arts manifested as streaking dragon-patterned bolts. Sword techniques bore dragon scales along their surfaces. In this manner, they were dazzling, domineering, and brimming with endless variations.
Immortal Emperor Supreme met the elderly Zang's techniques head-on. After a brief clash, six images of the Great Dao abruptly manifested behind Immortal Emperor Supreme, his cultivation and magic power surging exponentially.
The two traded three heavy blows in rapid succession. The elderly Zang grunted, and the dense, boundless darkness receded, gathering entirely back into his body.
He returned to his sect and sat down cross-legged, gazing at the desolate, abandoned grounds. "It should have been like this long ago," he whispered softly. "Then I would not have had to endure tens of millions of years of loneliness."
His head drooped, all breath extinguished.
Immortal Emperor Supreme looked upon the scene and murmured, "Lacking a primordial spirit and with magic power far beneath what it once was, he still managed to force me to use my full strength. A truly commendable opponent."
Suddenly, his right hand trembled violently. Numerous branch-like patterns burst through his skin, growing with frantic speed.
"This is..."
Immortal Emperor Supreme parted his lips, but an involuntary cry of Dao weeping spilled from his mouth.
A jolt went through him. He realized that while he had indeed snuffed out the elderly Zang's life force during that exchange, his opponent had been no easy mark; the elder had used his own Great Dao to invade his flesh, subtly altering his physical structure!
He retreated at once, pulling back beyond the boundary line of the Emerald Rock's influence. Instantly circulating his cultivation art, his body gave a shudder, and his flesh and primordial spirit separated!
His primordial spirit was composed entirely of Indestructible Spiritual Light, radiant and magnificent. Faint traces of Indestructible Spiritual Light could also be glimpsed within his physical form. His surrounding bodhimanda was like a Realm of the Great Void, boundless and unfathomable, far more expansive than the Great Luo Heaven!
The Chaos Sea, the Xuanhuang Twin Qi, the Lapis Lazuli Pure Void, the Indestructible Spiritual Light, the Yujing Immortal City, and the Taiji Immortal Realm floated within his bodhimanda, their Dao landscapes incomparably deep, pure, and limpid!
Yet at this very moment, Dao weeping raged through his bodhimanda, buffeting his primordial spirit and his body!
Only after a long while did Immortal Emperor Supreme finally grind away the Dao weeping within him, lingering dread clinging to his heart.
He looked toward the mountain peak. Xu Zangying remained standing atop the Emerald Rock, balanced on one leg in a bizarre stance, his other leg tucked away as though concealed within feathers.
The branch-like patterns behind him grew increasingly bright, and a peculiar fluctuation radiated from his body, as if resonating with the aura cast off by the Emerald Rock.
Strangely enough, there were also branch-like patterns upon the Emerald Rock itself, resembling those behind Zangying.
*I must claim the Taiyi Cave Abyss.*
Immortal Emperor Supreme drew a long breath. The commotion generated by his earlier clash with the elderly Zang—two supreme beings trading blows—was simply too massive. It was bound to draw the attention of many "observers."
He was not the only one who had descended into the Mortal Realm; Dao Lord Jiugong, Daoist Taiyuan, Saint Luo, and the Ancestral God were here as well.
Yet beyond these figures, Immortal Emperor Supreme had also sensed other gazes falling upon him from the shadows. Those gazes were extraordinarily potent, putting him on high alert.
The experts exiled here in those distant years were not limited to the Ten Useless Heavenly Monarch, Liu Guanyi; there were certainly others.
What was more, aside from this elderly Zang, there might be other Eighth Dao Realm Zang within the Mortal Realm. If their strength rivaled that of the elderly Zang, it would take no more than two of them to make him perish here in regret.
Immortal Emperor Supreme hastened his pace up the mountain. Just then, a familiar voice drifted from behind him: "The Taiyi Cave Abyss?"
The corners of Immortal Emperor Supreme's eyes twitched violently, and his face instantly darkened with murderous intent.
Saint Luo's voice came chuckling from behind: "Well, well. Who would have thought the Taiyi Cave Abyss could be found here? When we plotted against the Late Sovereign back then, none of us could attain the Supreme realm or Great Luo without a cave abyss. Finding the highest-grade cave abysses was our foremost priority. We searched every major Dao sect for them, while also attempting to locate Taihao, Shaohao, Haoying, and Haohong. Yet Emperor Haotian's Taiyi Cave Abyss was the one we could never find. How did this cave abyss end up here, Mingzun?"
A flicker of killing intent crossed Immortal Emperor Supreme's eyes. He turned around, looked at Saint Luo, and smiled. "This junior has no idea why the Taiyi Cave Abyss is here either."
Saint Luo chuckled heartily as he strode over, his round belly jiggling. "You don't know? You've been scheming for sixty myriad years—how could you possibly not know? Back then, Qingxuan left ten grotto-heavens in Kunlun connecting to the Immortal Realm and made a pact with the Xu family descendant of the Yuxu lineage to guard Kunlun. Later, didn't you impart your cultivation art to him? An art from the Haotian lineage, wasn't it?"
He gave a low laugh. "Don't blame your uncle for prying. Your uncle has always loved peeking into other people's secrets. When you acted with such secrecy, how could I not look into what tricks you were playing?"
His gaze fell upon Xu Zangying, and he murmured softly, "You've been setting this up for sixty myriad years, haven't you? Quite a long time. Your patience is truly commendable, but mine isn't bad either. This is Xu Ying, correct?"
Saint Luo smiled and continued, "Forty-eight thousand years ago, you had the Heavenly Venerable destroy Kunlun. What was your aim? You are skilled in divine divination; you must have calculated that this great fortune—the Taiyi Cave Abyss—would fall upon the Xu family boy, Xu Ying, at that time, didn't you?"
Immortal Emperor Supreme's expression shifted slightly, though he maintained his smile. "Uncle Luo, I don't understand what you are talking about."
Saint Luo paid no heed and continued on his own: "You understand perfectly well. Back then, you allowed the young Xu brat to ascend to the Immortal Realm and secretly promoted him, enabling him to cultivate to Immortal Monarch in just three hundred years, becoming one of the Three Perfected of the Dou Department and taking charge of it. The brat rose meteorically through the ranks; which of us old fellows wouldn't take notice of him?"
He shook his head. "Later, you manufactured a pretext to force him to rebel against the Immortal Court. You had the Imperial Monarch deal with him, yet wouldn't let the Imperial Monarch finish him off. You had the Imperial Monarch torment and make a fool of him, yet left him opportunities to turn the tables. Watching you do all this only made me all the more curious—what on earth were you tossing and turning for? It wasn't until now that I finally understood: you were after the Taiyi Cave Abyss all along."
He smiled faintly, his eyes settling upon the dazzling halo of light behind Xu Ying's head. "Worthy nephew, the Taiyi Cave Abyss is far too precious; you won't be able to handle it. You had best hand it over to your Uncle Luo."
Immortal Emperor Supreme suddenly looked as though a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders, having seemingly made up his mind. He smiled and said, "Uncle Luo, did you think I was unaware of the tampering you did to the Supreme Cave Abyss you gave me? My desire for the Taiyi Cave Abyss is solely to free myself from your control."
Saint Luo expressed surprise. "Since you knew the Supreme Cave Abyss was tampered with, you ought to understand that cultivating with it inevitably leaves flaws in your arts and Dao methods. With your flaws held firmly in our grasp, do you truly dare turn against us?"
Immortal Emperor Supreme smiled. "Do not forget, Uncle, that I am a master of divine divination. Could I fail to calculate the tampering you wrought? My Dao methods and cultivation arts have long since been purged of all flaws!"
Saint Luo said coolly, "If there are no flaws, why are you so anxious to obtain the Taiyi Cave Abyss? Nephew, do not do anything foolish. The title of Mingzun was bestowed upon you by us, meaning you are to serve as the Supreme on the surface. Do not fail to appreciate our favor. We had the power to raise you into the open, and we can just as easily destroy you."
Murderous intent flared within Immortal Emperor Supreme. With a sudden shift of his feet, he lunged at Saint Luo!
*They're fighting again!*
Atop the Emerald Rock, Xu Zangying circulated the Taiyi Indestructible Scripture to comprehend the Great Dao of the Emerald Rock while glancing downward, feeling anxious in secret.
When the Ancestral God was mending the heavens and the Emerald Rock erupted, Xu Ying had been at a critical juncture in comprehending the stone's Great Dao. Seeing that he could not withstand the force, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he took the initiative to transform into a Zang.
Becoming a Zang was fraught with mortal peril. Under normal circumstances, his cultivation would never have been sufficient to sustain the transformation, and he would not have even managed to turn into a white-bone skeleton. Fortunately, the elderly Zang had imparted his tens of millions of years of insight into the Emerald Rock's Great Dao to him. Xu Ying had used that as an entry point, employing the Taiyi Indestructible Scripture to contemplate the stone and gleaning even deeper comprehension.
Only because of this was he able to actively turn himself into a Zang at that critical juncture, thereby preserving his life.
Earlier, his mind had been somewhat muddled, dominated by the primal instincts of a Zang. But as the Emerald Rock's influence gradually receded, his intellect slowly returned.
He had only witnessed Immortal Emperor Supreme locked in mortal combat with the elderly Zang; he had not seen that the elder had died to protect him. Thus, while he felt a twinge of sorrow over the elderly Zang's passing, it did not move him profoundly.
To him, the elderly Zang was merely a well-meaning stranger. Yet to the elderly Zang, Xu Ying was his legacy and his hope, worth throwing away his life to preserve and carry forward.
In just a brief moment, Immortal Emperor Supreme and Saint Luo traded dozens of blows, each privately astounded by the other's prowess.
Just as both were about to unleash their killing arts, their peripheral vision caught sight of the peak where Xu Zangying had been perched, and both froze in shock.
Upon that mountaintop, not only had Xu Zangying vanished without a trace, but even the massive Emerald Rock was nowhere to be seen!
*Fight all you want, my life comes first!*
Through the darkness, Xu Zangying hoisted the Emerald Rock overhead with both hands and bolted at full tilt, the branch-like patterns fluttering behind him, growing ever more lush and magnificent like a pair of wings.
Chapter 575