"This..."
The expressions of both the Holy Venerable and the Ancestral God changed. Not one of these Zang was weak in cultivation, and each had awakened their sentience—some had even recovered portions of their former memories!
In life, they had generally been beings of the Seventh Dao Realm—figures on the level of Daluo Golden Immortals in the Mortal Realm!
Thousands of Daluo Golden Immortals had gathered here silently, lurking right by their sides without even them noticing!
This showed that these Zang were bound to be proficient in the Emerald Rock Great Dao to blend so effortlessly into the dark Mortal Realm.
Naturally, the Ancestral God grasped the Heavenly Dao of the dark Mortal Realm and ought to have seen every move made by these Zang. Yet he was grievously wounded and his capabilities were heavily diminished; he had only sensed Creation Supreme when the latter drew near, let alone these Zang so adept at lying hidden in the darkness.
The Holy Venerable fixed his gaze on Old Zang Jingming and Ming Wangsun, thinking to himself, *These two old Zang are quite accomplished in the Emerald Rock Great Dao to be able to force back Creation Supreme. It seems I underestimated them.*
Bearing Xu Ying's letter, he had come to the Perfect Dao Sect in the dark Mortal Realm. After receiving the letter, Jingming and Ming Wangsun had treated him with utmost courtesy the entire time. Though he had sensed that the two Zangified experts were not weak, their cultivation had been eroded away, so he assumed they could not amount to much.
Who would have guessed that by joining forces, the two of them could actually contend with Creation Supreme!
Between the two of them and so many Zang, when had Xu Ying amassed such immense influence in the Mortal Realm?
If Xu Ying had chosen to return to the Mortal Realm back then instead of fighting a duel to the death against the Immortal Emperor, he could have led these Zang, borne that piece of Emerald Rock, and swept across the Earth Immortal Realm without an equal!
*Back then, he had no Three Realms Golden Ship to return with, and the Ancestral God was hunting me through the Mortal Realm, so he couldn't come back,*
the Holy Venerable mused. *This tribulation was his fated destiny. But if he had possessed a ship at the time and brought so many Zang back to the Earth Immortal Realm, he probably could have overthrown the dynasty!*
Xu Ying continued to cultivate the martial Dao. The Zang stood in deathly silence, only the branchlike markings unfurling from their bodies fluttering in the wind and releasing waves of Dao weeping.
These Zang had all been powerhouses of the Dragon Court era. Tens of millions of years ago, the Emerald Rock had invaded; unable to resist, they were Zangified one after another and died.
When Xu Ying came here, he deciphered the Emerald Rock Great Dao and imparted it to them, doing them a favor akin to rebirth.
Now, after six or seven years of cultivation, their sentience had gradually bloomed, and they slowly recalled fragments of their past lives. Yet their memory of their benefactor, Xu Ying, remained as fresh as ever.
Upon returning to the Mortal Realm this time, Xu Ying had disseminated the news through nearby Zang, directing them to notify Jingming, Ming Wangsun, and the others to come to his aid.
In just a brief moment, Xu Ying stepped into the Cave Abyss Realm and began cultivating his martial Dao cave abyss. The moment this cave abyss emerged, it proved exceedingly profound, with innate true qi flowing out of it in an endless stream.
Within the void of the cave abyss, as each of Xu Ying's martial Dao divine powers reached great completion, an imprint of a martial god materialized in the emptiness! With his cave abyss established, his aura grew steadily stronger, poised to transform the Golden Core and forge a martial Dao primordial spirit!
When Xu Ying practiced the Record of Heavenly Martial Dao Realization up to the Hidden Scenery Realm, it had already diverged greatly from the original text; now that he had reached the Cave Abyss Realm, the circulation of the technique was entirely different!
As his cultivation realm climbed higher, the Record of Heavenly Martial Dao Realization he channeled had become worlds apart from the original!
He was walking the New Dao's path of realizing the Dao through martial prowess!
Suddenly, the Zang encircling the World-Crossing Golden Ship rose to their feet one after another, confronting a figure in the void. A cold sneer from Dao Lord Yuanying echoed through the darkness: "What audacity! A mere few Zang dare bar my way? Courting death!"
Dao Lord Yuanying stood at the Wondrous Realm of Great Luo. The moment her Dao tree emerged with a Dao fruit hanging from its branches, ten thousand beams of rosy light shone out in all directions!
The woman let out a sharp cry. Her divine consciousness erupted, bearing torrential Dharmic power as she thrust forward with both palms. The space-time before her rumbled violently, and thousands of square li of void were overturned by her might!
Just then, over a hundred Zang descended with a whoosh, pressing down upon the overturned space. Each thrust their hands forward, unleashing Emerald Rock divine powers. In an instant, Dao weeping poured forth, and countless branchlike markings danced across the sky, actually suppressing Dao Lord Yuanying's palm force!
Dao Lord Yuanying let out a muffled grunt, only to see another hundred-odd Zang soar into the air behind the first group, each thrusting their hands forward with Emerald Rock divine powers as well!
She raised her hands to meet them, but immediately found herself unable to hold out. The Dao weeping breached her bodhimanda, and countless branchlike markings scraped past her. In an instant, her Dao tree withered, her Dao fruit dimmed, and her Dao flowers scattered.
Blood seeped from the corner of Dao Lord Yuanying's mouth as the third wave of Zang attacks arrived in succession. Dao Lord Yuanying braced herself to take the blow head-on, spewing a mouthful of blood. A thunderous roar sounded behind her as her Dao tree was torn out by its roots, its tendrils invaded by the Emerald Rock Great Dao!
Mustering a breath of qi, Dao Lord Yuanying flashed away before the Zang could encircle her.
Both shocked and furious, she thought, *Where did so many experts come from?*
The Holy Venerable and the Ancestral God exchanged a glance, both inwardly chilled. The Holy Venerable murmured, "Did Xu Ying really come to the Mortal Realm to help the Yuan girl cross her tribulation? Does helping her cross a tribulation require such an enormous spectacle? Could his true objective be to deal with Mingzun and the others?"
The Ancestral God remarked faintly, "Or perhaps he came to kill you? Holy Venerable, you were sent to the Mortal Realm by a mere few words from him. Your current condition is dire in the extreme. If Xu Ying moves against you right now, what chance do you have of surviving?"
The Holy Venerable's heart tightened. Stiffening his neck, he said, "Even if he wants to kill me, it won't be that simple. Wounded though I am, if I fight to the bitter end, I can take a few good friends along with me on the road."
The Ancestral God smiled faintly. "And if I join in?"
The Holy Venerable sneered. "You would be that good friend."
The Ancestral God suddenly shouted, "Xu Ying, why haven't you given the order yet?"
That bellow rolled like thunder, vibrating clearly across a thousand li.
Yet Xu Ying was so engrossed in his cultivation that he seemed not to hear a thing.
After a moment, the Ancestral God laughed heartily. "The Holy Venerable must have had quite a fright, eh?"
The Holy Venerable sneered in silence.
Finding him unamused, the Ancestral God trotted over to watch Yuan Weiyang comprehend the Heavenly Dao of darkness, occasionally offering guidance. A moment later, the Holy Venerable walked over as well, gently pointing out a few errors Yuan Weiyang had made regarding the Great Daos of Taiji, Wuji, and Taiying.
The cultivation of both men was fathomless and profound. The Holy Venerable's Dao techniques were all-encompassing, while the Ancestral God's Dao techniques comprised the Heavenly Dao of the Four Realms. Their tutelage overwhelmed Yuan Weiyang with gratitude, leaving her bewildered as to why they were treating her so kindly.
Yet the two old foxes each harbored their own calculations, thinking, *If I treat Yuan Weiyang this well, Xu Ying shouldn't make a vicious move against me, right?*
Even the Ancestral God felt a twinge of unease. He shared the bond of half a master with Xu Ying, but across his long life, he had witnessed far too many power struggles and betrayals. What if Xu Ying harbored wild ambitions and decided this was the prime opportunity to get rid of him?
After all, no tyrant ever wanted an Ancestral God looming over his head.
Under their guidance, Yuan Weiyang advanced by leaps and bounds. The Holy Venerable helped her refine the five Great Daos of Wuji, Taiji, Taicang, Taiying, and Taishang, while the Ancestral God taught her the dark Heavenly Dao and the Heavenly Dao of the Mortal Realm. The lessons they imparted went far deeper than what Xu Ying had explored!
Yuan Weiyang had assumed her various realms were already cultivated to perfection; only through their pointers did she realize how vast the gap still was, and she pressed on with her cultivation.
"Has her current level caught up to Xu Ying in those days?" the Holy Venerable inquired.
The Ancestral God shook his head. "Far from it. This girl's foundation is frail, particularly her primordial spirit, which is exceptionally weak—nowhere near Xu Ying's back then. I do not know why."
He did not know that Primordial Monarch Zitong, in order to deceive the Immortal Emperor, had severed herself to forge an external avatar, and to avoid arousing the Immortal Emperor's suspicion, she had left Yuan Weiyang with a primordial spirit that was terribly feeble, leaving Yuan Weiyang with an innate deficiency.
"She needs to cultivate under me for a period before she can reach Xu Ying's level back then," the Ancestral God said. "Given her natural talent and comprehension, half a year at minimum."
The Holy Venerable said impassively, "If she cultivates under me, it might take less than half a year to refine her primordial spirit into indestructible spiritual light."
The Ancestral God smiled faintly. "Your primordial spirit was learned from me as well."
Suddenly, both felt a tremor of perception. Halting their bickering, they turned together toward Xu Ying. There, Xu Ying stood in the void, the Primordial Spirit Realm manifesting behind him as the Twelve-Storyed Mansions became exceedingly distinct.
On the first level of the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, a Golden Core hovered like a rounded egg, surrounded by primordial chaos, radiating a heart-stopping palpitation.
The throbbing within the Golden Core grew ever stronger, leaving both the Ancestral God and the Holy Venerable bewildered. "This is..."
Crack!
The Golden Core suddenly shattered, and Xu Ying's primordial spirit broke free from its shell. Its billowing aura surged, splitting that chaos apart to form the two qi of Heaven and Earth.
Xu Ying's primordial spirit grew wildly from the two qi of Heaven and Earth, towering ever higher—propping up the heavens, treading the earth, its eyes blazing with indestructible spiritual light!
The Ancestral God and the Holy Venerable froze in disbelief. Xu Ying's primordial spirit had clearly been harvested, his Undying True Spirit stripped by the Immortal Emperor until only a tiny speck the size of a dust particle remained.
Yet by what method had Xu Ying regained an undying primordial spirit?
Moreover, this manner of forging a primordial spirit bore an uncanny resemblance to the process of the Ancestral God's own genesis!
The Ancestral God was born as indestructible spiritual light, a universal primordial spirit. The way Xu Ying's primordial spirit had hatched from that mass of chaos, propping up the two qi of Heaven and Earth, was strikingly similar to the birth of the Ancestral God!
To leap from having only a speck of spiritual light left after being harvested straight to attaining an Ancestral God primordial spirit—this breakthrough truly stunned the two of them!
The moment this primordial spirit emerged, Xu Ying pressed on without pause, surging straight toward the Nine Realms and cultivating his martial Dao cave abyss to the ninth tier. With every tier this martial Dao cave abyss advanced, the innate qi pouring from it doubled; by the time he reached the ninth tier, it was already two hundred and fifty-six times that of the first tier!
The boost that the martial Dao cave abyss provided to his cultivation was nothing short of monumental!
By the time Xu Ying cultivated to the Jade Pool Realm, the two Ginseng Dao fruits were mostly depleted. Upon reaching the Six Daos Realm, the two Ginseng Dao fruits were finally exhausted completely, ceasing to exist.
Curiously, however, a tiny sapling had appeared within Xu Ying's martial Dao cave abyss, transformed from one of the Ginseng Dao fruits.
"I no longer cultivate the Old Dao, so whence comes a Dao tree?"
Xu Ying was astonished. He scrutinized the tiny sapling; it looked like nothing more than an ordinary seedling, a tender sprout bearing two or three leaves, with fresh foliage budding at its tip.
"Let's see how it grows."
Xu Ying withdrew his divine consciousness and stepped down from the sky, murmuring, "If only I had more Ginseng Dao fruits, I could elevate my martial Dao to the level of a bodhimanda or even a Dao Scenery! A pity there were only these two..."
He walked over to Yuan Weiyang and asked, "Weiyang, how much longer until you can face your tribulation?"
Yuan Weiyang glanced at the Ancestral God and smiled. "At least half a year."
"Good."
Xu Ying gave a faint smile. Taking the golden key from her, he suddenly projected his voice: "Ming Wangsun, Jingming, where is the Emerald Rock?"
Old Zang Jingming hastily barked an order. A dozen-odd Zang leaped into the air bearing the boat-shaped Emerald Rock and landed upon the World-Crossing Golden Ship.
They set down the Emerald Rock and retreated with deep deference.
Old Zang Jingming and Ming Wangsun both took flight, alighting before the Emerald Rock, and bowed. "Master, please take your seat."
With a rustle of his robes, Xu Ying stepped onto the Emerald Rock and sat down cross-legged. "All of you, come aboard."
Those thousands of Zang took flight in succession, landing before the Emerald Rock. Each sat cross-legged in orderly ranks, not uttering a single word; only their auras released waves of Dao weeping into the air.
Xu Ying surveyed them, his tone grave. "Your master suffered a great grievance in the Earth Immortal Realm, ambushed by despicable scoundrels and severely wounded. Now that these vile figures have come to the Mortal Realm, it is time to give them a little Mortal shock!"
He channeled the golden key, and the colossal World-Crossing Golden Ship surged to life, cruising through the Mortal Realm's skies with overwhelming intimidation.
"Find them, and wipe them out!"
Xu Ying's voice rang out with heavy resolve. "Holy Venerable, if you would be so kind as to release your aura and draw them in!"
The Holy Venerable frowned slightly, thinking, *You're using me as bait?*
He was thoroughly displeased, yet Xu Ying's momentum right now was simply too formidable. If he refused, Xu Ying would threaten him in the exact same manner he had once threatened Xu Ying.
He released his aura, letting it flicker into perception. When the members of the Three Supremes and Six Wondrous caught wind of it, they would come to claim his life.
Far in the distance, Creation Supreme sensed the Holy Venerable's aura, and his face instantly darkened. "Holy Venerable, a wretch like you has stooped to laying traps as well? To think you're still hailed as a 'Holy' Venerable—you're nothing but a deceitful petty villain!"
He let out a muffled groan. The Emerald Rock Great Dao contained in the palms Jingming and Ming Wangsun had struck him with was flaring up again. Last time, Xu Ying had helped him disperse the branchlike markings accumulated over six hundred thousand years, but there was no chance Xu Ying would help him now!
Suppressing his injuries, Creation Supreme quietly pursued the direction of the Holy Venerable's aura.
Before he could draw close, terrifying shockwaves rippled forth—the unmistakable commotion of a Supreme-level combatant taking action. Yet this was a land shrouded by the Heavenly Dao of darkness, thick with Dao weeping; even when a Supreme-level being intervened, the might of their divine powers or treasures could not carry far before being corroded by the Dao weeping.
"It's Fairy Huoling of the Twelve Wondrous!"
Creation Supreme peered into the distance. A string of fiery bells, as massive as stars and moons, hung suspended in the sky, chiming shrilly as they assaulted the World-Crossing Golden Ship.
He sped toward the scene. In the next instant, he saw the string of fiery bells battered every which way. A youthful maiden coughed blood, the light veil over her face shattered to reveal her lovely countenance—none other than Fairy Huoling, ranked ninth among the Twelve Wondrous!
Her cultivation was far inferior to Creation Supreme's, and she possessed no Supreme cave abyss. From the very first clash, her Wondrous Realm treasure, the Fiery Bells, was held aloft by the Dharmic power of Jingming and Ming Wangsun, unable to descend.
She was then besieged by thousands of Zang acting in concert. She naturally had no fear of these Zang one-on-one, but their numbers were simply overwhelming, leaving her severely wounded in mere moments.
Creation Supreme flew in, instantly noticed by Old Zang Jingming. The two exchanged a distant palm strike, and Ming Wangsun's offensive followed immediately behind. Creation Supreme spat blood and channeled the Creation Wheel behind his head. The Qi of Creation instantly billowed out, affecting the skeletons aboard the World-Crossing Golden Ship!
Flesh and blood sprouted over countless skeletons, and they began to rise to their feet!
Old Zang Jingming halted his advance, whirling back to Xu Ying's side to guard against the skeletons sprouting flesh.
Creation Supreme looked toward Xu Ying, only to find him seated atop the Emerald Rock, watching him with an icy expression.
Creation Supreme's heart gave a jolt. Seizing the opportunity, he fled in disarray with Fairy Huoling, steering far clear of the ship.
Fairy Huoling was critically wounded—her Dao tree snapped and her Dao fruit mutating—while Creation Supreme had compounded his own injuries. He thought, *We must return to the Heavenly Dao of the Mortal Realm as fast as possible! The Zang dare not cross into that place!*
After two or three days, he finally reached the territory of the Mortal Realm's Heavenly Dao, where all around was bright, with verdant hills and clear waters.
He had just set Fairy Huoling down, preparing to treat her wounds, when another figure came coughing blood, the Great Dao within their body Zangifying into clouds of gray mist as they fled from the dark Heavenly Dao into the Mortal Realm's Heavenly Dao.
Creation Supreme met that person's eyes, inwardly startled. *Daoist Boshan, ranked third among the Twelve Wondrous—he fell for it too!*
Seeing Creation Supreme and Fairy Huoling, Daoist Boshan hesitated for a moment before struggling toward them. Just then, another figure crashed into the Mortal Realm's Heavenly Dao, covered in wounds. Various parts of his body were continuously Zangifying, and the Great Dao he cultivated was similarly Zangifying and collapsing—he was clearly gravely injured!
"Master Dongshi!"
The three of them were astonished. "Even you are injured?"
Master Dongshi's aura was scattered. His injuries suddenly flared out of control; unable to steady his body, he tumbled from the sky and slammed into the earth in a wretched heap.
At that moment, Dan Xuanzi's feeble voice drifted over: "Brother Creation, how did you get injured as well?"
The four looked over to see Dan Xuanzi's vital essence withered, gray mist coiling around his body, his cultivation continuously Zangifying—his situation was exceedingly bleak.
Dao Lord Yuanying coughed blood as she hurried over, her voice hoarse: "That ship is a trap!"
The six gathered together, their faces pale and despondent. Among the Three Supremes and Six Wondrous who had entered the Mortal Realm, more than half were now grievously wounded!
Creation Supreme said, "Do not panic, everyone. This is the Mortal Realm's Heavenly Dao. If those Zang enter the territory of the Mortal Realm's Heavenly Dao, their cultivation and strength will be heavily diminished. They dare not pursue us here!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a tide of darkness surged from the horizon. Black mist rolled relentlessly forward, and from within the murk, a titanic vessel was bearing down upon them—none other than the World-Crossing Golden Ship!
Aboard the golden ship, the Emerald Rock tainted the Heavenly Dao of the Mortal Realm, churning up a monstrous darkness that surged straight toward Creation Supreme and the others.
Chapter 637