Let's Debate!

The Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirits of Daoist Taiqing, Daoist Yuxu, Daoist Yuqing, and the other Dao Ancestors indeed wore grim expressions. The new path Xu Ying was preaching was flawed from the very foundations of the Dao. Although its opening chapter also began with Qi Gathering and Qi Refining, it deviated right at the second realm, and as Xu Ying delved deeper into his exposition, it grew more and more astray! This new path actually dismantled the nine traditional realms of Qi Refinement, using traditional Qi Refinement merely as an auxiliary tool specifically to cultivate his new path! What a monstrous insult! As Xu Ying lectured, Wondrous Realm treasures such as the Eight Trigrams Alchemy Furnace, the Yuxu Whisk, the Taiji Diagram, and the Wuji Diagram quietly emerged. This was no child's play; this was a war of orthodoxy, and the outcome of such a war was the total extinction of the loser's legacy! "Hold on a moment," Daoist Taiqing hesitated, saying to the assembly of Daoists. "What he just spoke of was somewhat intriguing. Refining the cave abyss internally does possess a degree of ingenuity. Let us see what he says next. If there is some sense to it, it won't be too late for us to go and debate him. If it makes no sense, it won't be too late to resort to force." Daoist Yuxu, Daoist Yuqing, and the others already held Xu Ying in high regard. Hearing this, they nodded one after another. "Let us listen a while longer and see what ivory he can produce." Xu Ying using the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains as a foundation to internally refine a cave abyss was truly a breath of fresh air to them. The Five Sacred Immortal Mountains were originally the wellspring of Qi Gathering and Qi Refining; from the start, a Qi Refiner had to gather the qi of the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains, uniting the five qi toward the origin to refine true qi. Xu Ying had seized upon this exact point, opening a cave abyss with the Five Sacred Immortal Mountains as its base. The five sacred mountains thus became immortal mountains inside the cave abyss, creating the possibility of internal cave abyss refinement. The subsequent nine realms of opening cave abysses, as well as the Six Paths Ascension, were likewise refreshing and novel to them. When Xu Ying reached the immortal's Six Domains Realm, however, everyone's expressions turned sour. Daoist Taiqing's beard twitched slightly; after trembling for a moment, he snorted in fury: "An outrage against orthodoxy!" The other Dao Ancestors felt the same. Earlier, Xu Ying had merely borrowed the old path's nine realms of Qi Refinement to cultivate the new path, but at the immortal's Six Domains Realm, he showed his true colors. The Six Domains Realm required refining Dao imagery into Dao principles. As for Dao principles, the new path used immortal Dao runes, while the old path used immortal Dao patterns. Yet Xu Ying had actually used both immortal Dao runes and immortal Dao patterns indiscriminately! Not only did he treat the two as interchangeable, he had even incorporated the bizarre patterns of the Dao weeping! Previously, Xu Ying had merely taken advantage of the old path; now, he was blurring the line between orthodox and wicked—a heinous crime! "Fellow Daoist Taiqing, shall we debate him, or resort to force?" Daoist Yuqing asked. Daoist Taiqing hesitated. Xu Ying was, after all, an exceptional master nurtured by their ancestral courts. If they rashly resorted to violence, their years of cordial relations would be ruined. Daoist Taiqing said, "Wait until he finishes. First we shall debate him; if words fail to persuade him, then we resort to force." Xu Ying finished explaining the Bodhimanda Realm, then expounded on the Dao Scenery Realm. Having concluded the Dao Scenery Realm, he said, "After the Dao Scenery comes the Supreme realm. As I have yet to set foot in that realm, I have no way of speaking on it." His exposition of the new path's fourteen realms held the crowd spellbound. Though there had been skepticism before, as he led them from the simple to the profound, doubt had gradually faded away. Just then, a voice rang out: "Your new path's realms are wrong! Even counting the Supreme realm, you have only fourteen realms, whereas the orthodox realms of the Ancestral Court total seventeen! Even the Immortal Court's new path has sixteen realms! How could there be fewer and fewer?" The crowd turned toward the voice and saw that the speaker was Lord Heisha of the Four Saints of the North. He was an apex figure of the old path, a peerless individual among Heavenly Monarchs. The moment he spoke, he pointed straight at the flaw in Xu Ying's new path. Many in the crowd nodded. Earlier, they had been so enthralled that they hadn't thought carefully; now that they considered it, Xu Ying's system indeed had three fewer realms than the norm. Xu Ying smiled. "Though my new path has only fourteen nominal realms, concealed within them are four stages: the three Pass-Knocking stages and the God Bridge stage. If you count these four, the new path actually has eighteen realms—one more than the old path, and two more than the Immortal Court's new path." Heavenly Lord Pingnan said, "Celestial Venerable Xu, piling on minor stages is pointless. Reaching Supreme in a mere fourteen realms under your new path makes a Supreme far too cheap, far too simple!" Xu Ying replied solemnly, "The new path's Six Domains Realm corresponds to the old path's Immortal Monarch, the Bodhimanda Realm corresponds to Heavenly Monarch, and the Dao Scenery Realm corresponds to Great Luo Golden Immortal. As for the Supreme realm, it corresponds to the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo and the Inextinguishable Realm. If one can master supreme methods, why care if it is simple or cheap?" Heavenly Lord Pingnan said, "Talk is cheap!" Xu Ying tilted his head and shot a sideways glance. Lou Mingyu understood immediately and said, "Brother Daoist, allow me to demonstrate for him!" Xu Ying gave a slight nod. "I leave it to you, Fellow Daoist." Lou Mingyu leaped into the air and declared in a ringing voice, "I severed my own cultivation and restarted upon the new path. Today I have attained the Ascension Realm, which corresponds to the old path's Heavenly Immortal Realm. Which Heavenly Immortal would like to duel me?" An Ascension Realm against a Heavenly Immortal Realm meant a gap of three full realms. Suddenly, Daoist Wuliu rose and said in a heavy voice, "I will!" Though he was in the Heavenly Immortal Realm, he had once set half a foot into Yujing and had cultivated diligently for over forty thousand years; his cultivation and power had long since surpassed ordinary Heavenly Immortals. His current strength was already sufficient to defeat many Immortal Kings. The two suddenly vaulted into the air and traded a single palm strike from afar. Daoist Wuliu's body swayed slightly. "Impressive," he said, before sinking back into his seat. Lou Mingyu smiled faintly. "A generous concession." In that clash of palms with Daoist Wuliu, neither had used divine abilities; they had competed purely on magic power, yet Lou Mingyu had still held the upper hand. Lou Mingyu had mastered far too many Grand Daos. He had labored tremendously in the Six Paths Realm. While Xu Ying had only cultivated twelve Grand Daos in the Six Paths Realm, Lou Mingyu had gone all out and cultivated a hundred and eight Grand Daos, refining a hundred and eight cave abysses! Had he not worried about biting off more than he could chew—unable to achieve the unification of the six domains in the Six Domains Realm after achieving immortality—he surely would have produced ten thousand Daos and ten thousand cave abysses! Those one hundred and eight Grand Dao cave abysses made his magic power far more profound and vigorous than that of normal practitioners, which was why he could suppress Daoist Wuliu's magic power. Xu Ying said, "Does anyone have any further doubts regarding the new path?" Seeing that the new path was this formidable even at the Ascension stage, the crowd was thoroughly convinced. Right then, Daoist Taiqing strode forward holding the Eight Trigrams Alchemy Furnace in his palm, laughing heartily. "Hold on, Fellow Daoist Xu! This old daoist would also like to have a debate with you!" Xu Ying assumed a solemn expression and stood up hurriedly. "I wouldn't dare. You are half a master to me..." Lou Mingyu cleared his throat hastily, terrified that Xu Ying would lower his own seniority. Xu Ying continued, "...How would I dare debate you, Brother Daoist?" Daoist Taiqing chuckled. "Let us debate it out. If you win, you will be the Dao Ancestor of the new path. If you lose, pack away your new path and obediently cultivate the orthodox system!" Xu Ying laughed aloud. "And how shall we debate?" With a whoosh, the Eight Trigrams Alchemy Furnace in Daoist Taiqing's hand soared into the air, flipping upside down to cover him. All eight trigrams swung wide open, unleashing an incomparable glare of flames that illuminated the world! Daoist Taiqing charged forward, shouting, "Your path is neither new nor old, yet riddled with Dao weeping! Just what kind of Dao are you cultivating? To my eyes, it is demonic heresy!" A wisp of pure qi flew out from the crown of His head, and three Daoist Taiqings charged forth side by side, their might exploding! The onlookers watched with dropped jaws, gasping in horror, "This is what they call a debate?!" Little Heavenly Venerable said, "Traditional debates are always like this. Words carry little weight; real truth is proven with hands and fists. Naturally, a debate means exchanging blows!" Chu Tiandu inquired, "Master, if a debate means exchanging blows, what does resorting to force mean?" Little Heavenly Venerable said, "Resorting to force means a gang beating." Chu Tiandu jumped in fright and looked toward Daoist Yuqing, Daoist Yuxu, Grand Dao Lord Xuhuang, and the others, thinking, *Good thing it's just a debate. If they actually resorted to force, Grandmaster would be in dire straits.* Xu Ying stamped his foot. With a resonant hum, his Taiyi cave abyss unfurled, his bodhimanda and cave abyss merging into a unified whole as a sea of primal chaos blocked Daoist Taiqing's advance. Daoist Taiqing crossed the sea of primal chaos, only to encounter Xuanhuang Dual Qi. By the time he suppressed the surging dual qi and crossed them, he came upon the River of Indeterminacy. By then, Xu Ying had already beaten back the Eight Trigrams Alchemy Furnace. Daoist Taiqing felt a chill in his heart. Then Xu Ying's voice drifted down from the upstream of the River of Indeterminacy: "The new path is my dao; the old path is my dao; even outer daos are my dao." Daoist Taiqing and the Three Pure Ones manifested from the single qi charged forward together. After several exchanges, another Xu Ying's voice sounded: "Your so-called old path was built on nothing more than the foundation of demon clan techniques, complemented by Emperor Haotian learning outer daos from the emerald rock. That was how the so-called old path came to be." Daoist Taiqing and the three manifestations looked over, only to see another Xu Ying charging at them from within the Immortal City of Yujing. At that moment, yet another Xu Ying burst forth from another Dao scenery, the Taiji Immortal Domain, laughing, "Your origins were never pure to begin with, so whence comes this talk of orthodox and evil?" Daoist Taiqing choked with anger. Suddenly, out from the God Bridge, from within the indestructible spiritual light, from inside the void flames, from within the Taiyi cave abyss, atop the emerald rock, amidst the Heavenly Dao, and from the primordial origin, a Xu Ying leaped forth from each! Thirteen Xu Yings encircled the four Daoist Taiqings in fierce combat. Daoist Taiqing took countless heavy blows until the three manifestations collapsed back into azure, yellow, and white qi, retreating into his body as he rushed outward. The throng of Xu Yings pursued him, only for the Taiji Diagram to suddenly sweep in before them. Daoist Yuqing hoisted the Taiji Diagram, immobilizing Xu Ying's thirteen Dao sceneries, and chuckled, "Hold, Fellow Daoist Xu! Your new path is wonderful, yet it is nothing more than flowers in a mirror, the moon reflected in water—an illusion in the end!" What He had invoked was not just the Taiji Diagram; the Wuji Diagram was concealed in the sky above as well. Daoist Yuqing stamped his foot, and a golden bridge manifested between the two Wondrous Realm treasures of Taiji and Wuji. Standing upon the bridge, Daoist Yuqing engaged the thirteen Xu Yings charging at him. In an instant, He slew all thirteen Xu Yings, their corpses tumbling below the bridge one after another. Right then, Xu Ying's true body appeared. Stepping onto the golden bridge, he smiled. "Brother Daoist, you too are half a master to me. Why remain obstinately blind? You learned your golden bridge from me in the first place. Displaying it before me, are you not afraid these two Wondrous Realm treasures might cease to belong to you?" Daoist Yuqing urged the Wuji Diagram and Taiji Diagram to suppress him, but Xu Ying stamped his foot. His Taiyi cave abyss instantly unified the thirteen Dao sceneries and turned into a golden bridge that spanned across the two Wondrous Realm treasures, pinning down Daoist Yuqing's golden bridge. Daoist Yuqing secretly cried foul, only to see a strand of qi burst from Xu Ying's crown, manifesting as three Xu Yings. In just a few bounds, they knocked Him off the bridge. Daoist Yuqing fell into the Taiji Diagram. Knowing He had been bested, He leapt out of the diagram. There, Xu Ying had already retrieved the Wuji Diagram, holding it in both hands and reverently offering it back. Daoist Yuqing reached out, took the Wuji Diagram, let out a sigh, and turned to leave. Xu Ying turned around, only to see Daoist Yuxu's horsetail whisk transform into tens of thousands of mortal dust filaments, thrusting at him like fine, tempered swords! Xu Ying circulated the Leakless Golden Body. The myriad whisk strands stabbed into his body without finding a single opening. Suddenly, countless threads twisted into a single cord and were gathered in Daoist Yuxu's hand. The Daoist thrust one hand toward the heavens with a loud shout, and the Kunlun Realm bodhimanda actually inverted and slammed down, colliding with Xu Ying's Taiyi cave abyss bodhimanda in a contest of strength. Daoist Yuxu charged forward with his whisk, but after only a few rounds of battle, his Kunlun Realm bodhimanda failed to suppress Xu Ying's bodhimanda. Daoist Yuxu withdrew his whisk and smiled. "Dao Ancestor Xu indeed possesses some skill." Xu Ying hesitated, then bowed. Dao Ancestor Yuxu had been the mentor of Xu Ying's ancestor, and Daoist Yuxu had raised no objection when that ancestor threw his lot in with Qingxuan, letting nature take its course. Now that Xu Ying had handed Daoist Yuxu a defeat, he felt somewhat remorseful. Daoist Yuxu departed. At this moment, Grand Dao Lord Xuhuang walked over, and Xu Ying felt his heart tense. Among the Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirits of the various Dao Ancestors, Xuhuang was the mightiest—the only entity so formidable that Lord Dijun had to suppress him with the Purple Nether Saber to prevent his resurrection. Leaning on the Primordial Banner, Xuhuang praised, "Dao Ancestor Xu's techniques and divine abilities are truly peerless. Let me try my hand as well." Xu Ying discreetly produced the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler and said solemnly, "Why must you employ a Wondrous Realm treasure, Brother Daoist? Put the treasure down so we don't harm our harmony." Without a word, Xuhuang hoisted the Primordial Banner and charged in to attack. Xu Ying raised the Landscape Heaven-Measuring Ruler without another thought, and in an instant, landscape scrolls blanketed the bodhimanda! Boom! The two collided once. Purple light flooded Xu Ying's vision; his breath churned violently, his footing gave way, and he stumbled backward. By the time his vision cleared, Xuhuang had already departed his Taiyi cave abyss bodhimanda at some unknown moment. This Grand Dao Lord's Heaven and Earth Primordial Spirit was formidable indeed; Xu Ying had nearly failed to hold his ground. Xu Ying looked around. Grand Dao Lord Xuhuang, Daoist Taiqing, Daoist Yuqing, and Daoist Yuxu encircled his Taiyi bodhimanda. A Primordial Banner stood behind one; an alchemy furnace floated behind another; Daoist Yuqing's robe bore the mark of the Wuji Diagram while he held the Taiji Diagram in his palm, and Daoist Yuxu rested his whisk in the crook of his elbow. Xiao Xixian felt a chill in her heart and hurriedly asked Little Heavenly Venerable, "They just had their debate; are they going to resort to force now?" Little Heavenly Venerable was exceedingly tense as well. One-on-one, Xu Ying had nothing to fear from the four Daoists, but if all four attacked together, they could likely slay Xu Ying in just a few moves. Behind Grand Dao Lord Xuhuang, tens of thousands of purple qi wisps coiled into the heavens as He praised, "Praise be to Dao Ancestor Xu, Xu Ying the Great Heavenly Venerable!" Flames blazed fiercely behind Daoist Taiqing as He praised, "The sacred road reforms anew; the Dao prospers and flourishes!" Daoist Yuqing hoisted the Wuji Diagram, forming a circular halo boundless and infinite, and praised, "The new path generates transformation, enduring and ceaseless!" Daoist Yuxu emanated an ethereal immortal presence, praising, "Homage to the Lord of the New Path! Subtle is the heart of the Dao, illuminating the primal sage! May the flame of the Dao be passed on, inextinguishable through all eternity!" Xu Ying looked upon them, an indescribable warmth surging through him. His new path was to be built upon the corpse of the old path; the old path would wither and slowly die because of it. Yet the four Daoists were able to cast aside prejudice and, in the manner of passing the flame of the Dao, allow him to take the torch from the old path and march forward. Such magnanimity was something he had never witnessed, nor ever possessed. He parted his lips, hot blood surging within his chest. "I..." Just then, the voice of the Immortal Emperor Supreme echoed: "Xu Ying as Dao Ancestor of the new path—have you asked the Immortal Emperor of the new path first?"