Sensing the terrifying aura of colliding divine abilities erupt behind him, Xu Ying paused slightly. Without lingering, he raised the Emerald Rock high and departed, accompanied by the crowd of Zang and white-bone skeletons.
In the darkness of the Mortal Realm, even when beings like the Immortal Emperor and Saint Luo crossed hands, the might of their divine abilities could hardly wield the influence they had in the Earth Immortal Realm.
The shockwaves of their powers could not travel far before being dismantled by the ubiquitous darkness and Dao weeping, rendered completely harmless.
The strange Dao of the Emerald Rock held far too immense an influence over the Mortal Realm.
This place was saturated with the Heavenly Dao of an alien realm—bizarre yet potent, a force with which not even the Ancestral God dared to act rashly.
The darkened Mortal Realm was far from peaceful. After Xu Ying carried off the Emerald Rock, several more battles erupted in the shadows. Dao Lord Jiugong encountered a formidable foe and clashed with a dark figure for hundreds of bouts, ending in mutual harm.
The dark figure retreated, and Dao Lord Jiugong coughed blood repeatedly, with branch-like patterns burgeoning within the coughed-up gore.
Horrified, Dao Lord Jiugong immediately withdrew from the darkness, slipping into the territory of the Heavenly Dao to hide himself.
"That dark figure must have been Daoist Yuji, the former Chief Craftsman expelled from the Immortal Court, known back then as the Illusory Heaven Wondrous Hand,"
Dao Lord Jiugong mused silently. "When the Heavenly Sea Ferry first surfaced, the Heavenly Crafts Department reported that someone had pieced together an intact golden ship from the materials of numerous golden ships. In hindsight, it must have been Daoist Yuji's doing. But back then, he was merely expelled from the Immortal Court, not exiled. How did he end up in this dark cosmic domain?"
Daoist Yuji had also been a capable lieutenant under Qingxuan, exceptionally skilled at forging divine weapons and sharp implements. Many Supreme magic treasures had come from his hands—designed and forged by him before being handed over to their masters for final refinement.
Daoist Yuji had failed to become a Supreme because he had already attained Daluo Golden Immortal in the ancient era, missing out on the new realm of Supreme.
"Did Fairy Qiongtai not kill him?"
Perplexed, Dao Lord Jiugong muttered under his breath, "Could there truly have been an affair between them? But Qiongtai ought to have been eliminated as well..."
Having obtained the primordial spirit fragments of the Far Ancestor, his cultivation and strength had grown substantially. Yet in this clash with Daoist Yuji in the dark, he had failed to win and instead walked away with mutual injuries, which left him quite dejected.
He had originally traveled alongside Daoist Taiyuan and Saint Luo, only to be separated inexplicably in the dark, leaving him unaware of their whereabouts. Thinking back now, Daoist Yuji had likely tampered with the path ahead of them.
With Daoist Yuji's mastery of heavenly craftsmanship, a mere handful of treasures could alter celestial phenomena and geography, leaving them utterly disoriented.
"Daoist Yuji only managed to fight me to a draw by relying on the Dao weeping to suppress me."
Finding a place of picturesque mountains and rivers, Dao Lord Jiugong laid down layer upon layer of seals to nurse his wounds in peace. He thought to himself, *Without the geographic advantage of the dark Dao weeping, he is far inferior to me. He exhausted all his tricks, whereas my Wondrous Realm treasures and Luotian bodhimanda were left behind in the Great Luo Heaven. Had I brought them along, eliminating him would not have been difficult. Still, to be safe, once my injuries heal, I must find Taiyuan and Saint Luo as soon as possible. Only by joining hands with them can I preserve my life.*
The purpose of their journey was to hunt down the fish that had slipped through the net of the ancient Great Purge. Yet he had never imagined the Mortal Realm would be far more perilous than he anticipated!
Before they could even locate any Supremes who might be hiding here, merely running into Daoist Yuji, the former head of the Heavenly Crafts Department, had nearly cost him dearly.
On the other side, Xu Ying had put a vast distance between himself and the Ancestral God. Bearing the Emerald Rock aloft, he walked for about half a month until he felt its influence on the Ancestral God should no longer be as strong. Only then did he find a place of clear waters and scenic mountains and set the stone down.
The Emerald Rock was evidently a sacred object to the Zang and white-bone skeletons; ordinarily, they could never touch it. Seeing Xu Ying set it down, they began to sing and dance around the sacred relic.
Their singing was the sound of Dao weeping, and their dancing was peculiar and bizarre. Xu Ying began singing and dancing along with them. Only when the ritual concluded did he realize something was terribly amiss.
*Oh no, my thoughts are becoming more and more aligned with the Zang!*
A wave of dread struck him, but he soon felt that a bit of singing and dancing was no great matter. Though his actions mirrored those of the Zang, he still preserved the mind of a human.
He took up residence upon the Emerald Rock to cultivate in peace.
Since what the Emerald Rock recorded was also a higher form of the Great Dao, if he thoroughly comprehended its principles and unlocked this Dao, he should be able to shake off the stone's influence and transform from a Zang back into a human.
Furthermore, he harbored a faint, extravagant hope: if he grasped the Dao of the dark world where the Emerald Rock originated, could he undergo tribulation within that dark world?
If he underwent tribulation in the dark world, could the Heavenly Daos of light and darkness be unified, allowing him to pass this Heavenly Tribulation of the Four Realms?
—The Mortal Realm was divided into the dark Heavenly Dao world and the luminous Heavenly Dao world, which, added to the Earth Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Immortal Realm, made four realms, did it not?
During this time, the Zang and white-bone skeletons did not leave. Instead, more and more Zang and skeletons gathered around. They seemed to hold Xu Ying in immense reverence, honoring him as the Zang King; whenever Xu Ying sat atop the Emerald Rock, they would sometimes kowtow to him.
Though Xu Ying was unaccustomed to it at first, he grew used to it over time.
He even began to feel that a few female Zang were quite delicate and pretty, and that several white-bone skeletons possessed remarkably shapely bone structures.
*I'm finished!*
Panic seized Xu Ying's heart. He tried to call for help from the Divine Mother and the others inside the Taiyi Cave Abyss, but the sounds that left his mouth were the wails of Dao weeping.
Fearing he might bring about their deaths, he dared not enter the Taiyi Cave Abyss either.
Inside the abyss, however, the Divine Mother and the rest kept close watch on his situation and knew his condition was turning dire.
"Today, the Immortal Master lifted a female Zang's chin with his index finger and stared into her eyes for two breaths. Extremely dangerous,"
Yuan Tiangang took out a notebook and recorded. "He also slapped another female Zang's backside today. Yesterday, he even attempted to wrap his arm around the waist of a female skeleton!"
He tilted his head, pondered a moment, and asked Gushe, "Does a spine count as a waist?"
The Divine Mother, Gushe, Yan Yu, and the others were rife with worry. Xu Ying's mental transformation into a Zang was evident. If this continued, their Immortal Master would likely adopt the mind of a Zang entirely, his words and deeds no different from theirs.
At that moment, Xu Ying sat cross-legged atop the Emerald Rock with a solemn expression, releasing bursts of Dao weeping from his mouth. Below, the Zang unexpectedly sat down one by one, quiet and orderly, appearing to listen to Xu Ying's sermon without making a sound.
Xu Ying proceeded at an unhurried pace, the Dao weeping from his lips shifting through myriad inflections, leaving the Zang utterly enraptured.
After a long time, having finished his discourse, he rose and began comprehending and cultivating on his own. The other Zang no longer pestered him; each was lost in deep, arduous thought over the teachings Xu Ying had imparted.
The Divine Mother suddenly had an epiphany. "The Immortal Master is preaching the Dharma! He is teaching these Zang how to cultivate! He has become a Zang Master!"
"What is he teaching?"
Hua Cuoying inquired. "Is it the Dao arts of the mortal realm?"
The Divine Mother shook her head. "The Dao arts of the mortal realm cannot be expressed through Dao weeping."
A chill ran through everyone's hearts. Xu Ying was teaching these Zang the Dao methods recorded on the Emerald Rock, instructing them in how to comprehend the Heavenly Dao of the dark world!
Some of the Zang gathered in small groups, while others furrowed their brows in deep thought, and some had already begun cultivating. As for those female Zang, they also threw themselves into practice, no longer lingering before Xu Ying.
Strangely enough, as Xu Ying preached and imparted the Dharma every few days, his transformation into a Zang began to abate. Perhaps because of his reduced contact with the female Zang, his Zangification gradually ceased and even began to reverse.
A few days later, the Divine Mother and the others noticed that Xu Ying looked more and more like a human.
Yet his attainments in the Great Dao of the Emerald Rock grew ever more profound, and his cultivation increased day by day—naturally, his cultivation in the dark world.
After ten or so days, as Xu Ying circulated the Taiyi Indestructible Scripture, the principles behind him grew increasingly radiant, already coalescing into Dao methods and divine abilities.
Yuan Tiangang, who had been observing Xu Ying throughout this period, could not help sighing with emotion at the sight. "Women only hinder my cultivation."
Fairy Gushe glared at him fiercely, and Yuan Tiangang dared not say another word.
He continued documenting Xu Ying's changes. After another ten-odd days, when Xu Ying circulated his art, the principles condensed into a dark space.
Just then, a voice carried from afar: "Having heard that a fellow Daoist is preaching the Dharma here, this old person of the past has come to pay respects."
Yuan Tiangang's spirits lifted. Gripping his brush, he said to the immortals, "Someone who speaks human language has arrived!"
The immortals flocked to the entrance of the Taiyi Cave Abyss and peered outward, only to see an elderly man strolling forward at a measured pace, surrounded by eight tiers of Dao realms of extraordinary subtlety.
"This person of the past is truly remarkable—an existence of the Eighth Dao Realm, a Supreme-level powerhouse!"
The immortals were stunned. Apart from the aged Zang who had fallen to the Immortal Emperor Supreme, who would have thought another Eighth Dao Realm Zang existed in the darkness?
This elder still maintained human form without turning into a Zang, proof of how terrifyingly profound his cultivation and strength had once been!
"The Mortal Realm hides crouched tigers and hidden dragons. Its foundation is truly staggering!" the Divine Mother murmured.
Xu Ying rose with a smile, bursts of Dao weeping emerging from his mouth as though offering greetings and inquiries.
The elder seemed able to understand the meaning behind the Dao weeping and said, "Tens of millions of years ago, my Daoist name was Jingming. Having been deceased for so long, I know not whether I may still use that name. I heard that the Ten Perfections Dao Ancestor is somehow unaffected by the Emerald Rock and has set up an altar to preach the Dao here, so I took the liberty of visiting."
Xu Ying gladly invited him over. The elder stood on no ceremony and stepped directly onto the Emerald Rock.
Two Zang sat across from each other on the ground. Though the elder, Jingming, maintained a human shape, at his core he remained a Zang. He uttered a brief burst of Dao weeping. Xu Ying pondered for a moment, then responded in kind. Upon answering, Xu Ying delivered a cry of Dao weeping of his own.
Elder Jingming sank into thought for a moment before replying with Dao weeping as well.
Beneath the Emerald Rock, rows of Zang sat upright with solemn faces, listening intently to the exchange between the two Zang.
"What are they doing?" Fairy Gushe leaned close to the edge of the Taiyi Cave Abyss and asked.
"Expounding the Dao and debating the Dharma,"
the Divine Mother said gravely. "The Immortal Master and that ancient Eighth Dao Realm Zang are testing their insights against one another to see whose comprehension of the Emerald Rock's Great Dao is more authentic!"
Master Fire Dragon immediately understood. "He's here to crash the place!"
The immortals realized the truth.
Hearing that Xu Ying was imparting the Dao and teaching the Zang how to cultivate, this ancient Zang, Jingming, had come to "exchange insights." In name, it was an exchange, but in truth, he had come to test Xu Ying's attainment.
If Xu Ying's cultivation proved insufficient to answer his questions, Xu Ying would be unable to maintain his footing here, and the Zang under his wing would likely defect to ancient Zang Jingming.
The debate between the two Zang, Xu Ying and Jingming, reached a critical juncture. When one posed a question, the other often required a long time before offering an answer.
Though this ancient Zang named Jingming had never learned Taiyi Enlightenment, he had languished in the dark world for tens of millions of years and possessed no shallow understanding of the principles recorded on the Emerald Rock. He was an evenly matched opponent for Xu Ying.
Had Xu Ying not learned Taiyi Enlightenment and acquired rubbings of the Emerald Rock inscriptions, he likely would have been rendered speechless in the very first round!
Inside the Taiyi Cave Abyss, the Divine Mother, Yuan Tiangang, and the others were on pins and needles, knowing the contest was nearing its conclusion. Xu Ying, speaking with slight hesitation, answered ancient Zang Jingming's question through Dao weeping, followed by a succinct burst of Dao weeping in return.
Ancient Zang Jingming froze, racking his mind. After a moment, the old Zang rose and paced back and forth, visibly plagued by distress, unable to answer Xu Ying's question.
After a long while, ancient Zang Jingming slumped dejectedly, bowed, and said, "I cannot answer. I am willing to take you as my master."
Xu Ying hurriedly rose, waved his hands, and produced Dao weeping.
Ancient Zang Jingming shook his head. "Since ancient times, the accomplished are the teachers. Though my former cultivation was high and exceeded yours, the Heavenly Dao is vastly different today. My tens of millions of years of cultivation in this Dao fall short of yours; what face do I have to address you as a fellow Daoist?"
Xu Ying moved to decline again, but ancient Zang Jingming abruptly pinned him in place with his eight tiers of Dao realms, leaving him frozen where he stood. He then dropped to his knees and prostrated himself, his forehead striking the rock with resounding thuds as he performed the grand ceremony of discipleship.
Only after the ceremony ended could Xu Ying move again. He stomped his feet a few times and uttered several bursts of Dao weeping whose meaning was lost on Yuan Tiangang and the rest, effectively accepting ancient Zang Jingming as his indoor disciple.
Xu Ying's comprehension of the Emerald Rock's Great Dao was indeed faster than that of ancient Zang Jingming. A few days later, ancient Zang Jingming noticed that Xu Ying's cultivation had advanced considerably once more.
Had he debated the Dao with Xu Ying today, he likely would have been left speechless and defeated within a few words!
*Master progresses far too rapidly! In just a few days, he has reached such a level. In half a year at most, Master will fully comprehend the Heavenly Dao of the dark mortal realm and ascend through tribulation!*
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a resounding voice rang out from the distance: "I have heard that a young fellow Daoist from outside has occupied the sacred Emerald Rock and is preaching the Dao here. I, Ming Wangsun, Great Zang of the monster race, have come to pay a visit."
Ancient Zang Jingming showed a look of surprise and turned toward the voice, only to see a Great Zang with a bird's head and a human body gliding gracefully forward. He carried an air of nobility, flanked by a throng of attending Zang.
"Ming Wangsun of the Heavenly Monster Clan, the old fellow who rivaled me in the mortal realm back then—he has rushed over as well?"
Ancient Zang Jingming felt a secret thrill. *This fellow clashed with me during life, repeatedly lodging complaints against me to the Dragon Court. I can't be a disciple for nothing—you come accompany me as well!*
Seeing Jingming, the Great Zang Ming Wangsun was startled. *Why is he here too?*
Xu Ying extended a hand in invitation.
The Great Zang Ming Wangsun hesitated, thinking, *Could that old fellow Jingming have failed in the debate and become his disciple? I cannot afford to lose that kind of face...*
Just as he was about to back down, ancient Zang Jingming chuckled. "Neither advancing nor retreating—Ming Wangsun, you are just as pathetic after death as you were in life. Far inferior to me."
Hearing this, Ming Wangsun thought, *I've already died once, what do I have to fear?!*
He ascended the Emerald Rock and sat across from Xu Ying on the ground.
Xu Ying opened his mouth and uttered a sharp question in Dao weeping. Ming Wangsun was left dumbstruck, staring blankly with his mouth agape, unable to utter a single word for half an eternity. Seeing this, the numerous Zang who had just escorted him immediately shifted allegiances and changed banners, seating themselves beneath the Emerald Rock to pledge their loyalty to Xu Ying.
Ancient Zang Jingming was overjoyed, thinking, *Ming Wangsun came too late. Even if he enters Master's tutelage, he can only rank second and call me Eldest Senior Brother! But then again, Master's attainments are growing deeper by the day. Perhaps he won't even need half a year to ascend through tribulation. When that time comes, I shall be the Dao Ancestor of the Ten Perfections Dao Sect! After all, I am the Eldest Senior Brother!*
Delight bloomed within his heart. When that day arrived, no matter how reluctant Ming Wangsun might be, he would still have to address him as Dao Ancestor!
A moment later, Ming Wangsun tearfully conceded defeat, knelt, and bowed to become Xu Zangying's second disciple.
Chapter 577