The reason the glow from the other shore came to receive Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang was that they had cultivated the Great Dao of the Emerald Rock and had successfully crossed their heavenly tribulations.
However, cultivators like Little Celestial Venerable, Nan Ziyan, and others who ascended through the New Dao had no means to comprehend the Great Dao of the Emerald Rock, leaving them with no choice but to ascend to the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
"Where did these two ascension glows come from?" the Last Lord of Ziwei asked in astonishment.
Xu Ying replied, "From the other shore. Twice I ascended toward the Heavenly Immortal Realm, and both times I was hijacked by the other shore and ended up there."
"You ascended to the other shore?"
The Last Lord of Ziwei was profoundly shocked. The big bell and Big Dragon hurriedly gathered close as well. The other shore had always been the most enigmatic place: the Emerald Rocks had originated there, the cave abysses had originated there, and it was the very destination sought by the Buddha Ancestor, Dao Ancestors, and the rest.
The Great Dao there was also of an even higher order, possessing an advanced Li framework and flawless fiendgods.
The Last Lord of Ziwei collected himself and inquired, "Back then, Taiqing Dao Ancestor, Yuqing Dao Ancestor, and the others pursued the Emerald Rock to journey to the other shore. Since you ascended there, did you happen to see them?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "I only saw the Buddha Ancestor. However, his circumstances didn't seem very good."
He recounted the sights he had witnessed on the other shore during his first ascension, including the peerless giant swinging a massive hammer down toward the Buddha Ancestor. He added, "The Buddha Ancestor warned: do not ascend."
The Last Lord of Ziwei stood dumbfounded, shocked by the image of a giant striking at the Buddha Ancestor with a colossal hammer, unable to regain his composure for a long time.
He had always brooded over ascending to the other shore. Back then, after the various Dao Ancestors departed in pursuit of the Earth Immortal Realm's Emerald Rock, he had deeply regretted his hesitation, lamenting that he had failed to cast off the shackles of power and ambition to ascend alongside them.
He had harbored all manner of wondrous fantasies about the other shore.
Now, hearing Xu Ying's description, he felt as if those illusions had been utterly shattered.
"Could it be that not pursuing the Emerald Rock with the Dao Ancestors was actually the right choice?" the Last Lord of Ziwei said with a wry chuckle.
Xu Ying offered a gentle reminder: "Has Your Majesty forgotten? After the Emerald Rock flew away, the Dao weeping erupted, followed by Qingxuan's uprising. You were defeated, deposed, and became the Last Lord, only to be killed later on. Your fate might actually be worse than if you had followed the Emerald Rock to the other shore. After all, the Buddha Ancestor and the others are at least still alive, whereas Your Majesty is a corpse..."
Yuan Weiyang secretly tugged at his robe, gesturing for him to stop.
Frost covered the Last Lord of Ziwei's face. "I am going out for a walk."
He walked off into the distance, pulled out his little notebook, and with a trembling hand, drew dozens of 'zheng' tally marks behind Xu Ying's name.
Yuan Weiyang whispered, "Ah Ying, you speak far too bluntly. You've upset Emperor Ai to this degree."
Xu Ying smiled. "Then do you prefer a hypocritical me, or a straightforward me?"
Yuan Weiyang smiled back. "I love every side of you."
Hearing this, the big bell clanged repeatedly against the skull of the white-bone divine dragon.
Towed by the two ascension glows, the World-Crossing Golden Ship flew along the dragon skeleton, drawing closer and closer to the Heavenly Immortal Realm. By this point, virtually no stowaways remained; the gelatinous substance was simply too dense, and without an ascension glow, penetrating such a massive barrier was nearly impossible.
Xu Ying could not help but recall the sight of Monk Jijue frozen in the darkness. He thought to himself, *I wonder if Jijue has cultivated the New Dao? If he did, he would probably ascend to the Heavenly Immortal Realm as well. But what does this Heavenly Immortal Realm actually look like?*
According to Qin Daoquan's notes, three Emerald Rocks had struck the Three Realms back then, falling respectively into the Heavenly, Earth, and Mortal Realms.
The Emerald Rock in the Mortal Realm had nearly wiped it out entirely, creating the Dark Mortal Realm. The one in the Earth Immortal Realm had been less destructive, merely shattering the realm into fragments that formed the myriad worlds of the heavens.
What about the Heavenly Immortal Realm, then?
What kind of impact had the Emerald Rock crashing into it produced?
The Heavenly Immortal Realm was supposed to be the seat of the Dragon Court before it relocated to the Earth Immortal Realm and was eventually buried in the Heavenly Sea of the Yuanshou world. Back then, the Heavenly Immortal Realm must have teemed with dragon immortals. How had they survived amid such an upheaval?
At last, carrying them forward, the World-Crossing Golden Ship arrived before the massive breach in the Heavenly Immortal Realm. Back then, when the Emerald Rock punched through the realm, it had plunged through this very gap all the way down to the Mortal Realm, leaving immense devastation in its wake.
During Xu Ying's previous two ascensions, it was after reaching this place that he was hijacked by the ascension glow from the other shore.
Towed by the two ascension glows, the World-Crossing Golden Ship flew steadily through the breach at an unhurried pace, finally entering the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
What greeted their eyes were endless swathes of giant dragon corpses and bones, piled high as mountains. Jagged, protruding skeletons even scraped against the World-Crossing Golden Ship.
There were so many skeletal remains, and the atmosphere was so suffocatingly grim, that everyone on board held their breath in complete silence.
Xu Ying looked around. Was this the horrific aftermath left behind by the cataclysm that destroyed the Dragon Court era?
Massive flakes of ash drifted through the air, carrying the foul stench of decay. The limb bones of colossal dragons rolled across the terrain without end. The World-Crossing Golden Ship rose slowly from among the bones, gliding through the cranial cavity of a massive dragon skeleton and exiting through its eye socket.
Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang, the Last Lord of Ziwei, and the others stood at the bow, staring blankly ahead. Across the boundless wasteland, giant dragon skeletons lay strewn everywhere.
In the sky, countless dragons frozen mid-flight seemed suspended in time, having gradually rotted away until only their skeletons remained.
They were coiled around one another, their sharp claws dug into the decaying void to anchor their bodies, spiraling upward like an unclimbable tower.
Looking up from below, this void tower constructed of dragon bones spiraled upward, thrusting diagonally into the sky, extending beyond the Heavenly Immortal Realm, piercing through layer upon layer of the heavens, and reaching straight into the depths of the cosmos.
Its tragic grandeur filled onlookers with both awe and dread.
Beneath this void tower, countless dragon immortal skeletons spread far and wide, piling into a vast wasteland. Their remains were arranged in an orderly pattern, resembling a formation.
The ashes of their flesh and blood still drifted in the air, swirling with the slow currents of wind.
Some dragon immortals had been so overwhelmingly powerful in life that they had not completely decayed; dragon scales peeled from their faces, their edges turning to ash that fluttered gently in the breeze.
"Why... why is it like this?" Big Dragon murmured as he took in the sight.
Beside him, the white-bone divine dragon let out a low whimper.
The scene before them was desolation incarnate. The most tragic casualty of the Dragon Court era had not been the Mortal Realm that sank into darkness, nor the Earth Immortal Realm that was smashed to pieces; it was the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
The Heavenly Immortal Realm had been the first to bear the brunt of the Emerald Rock's strike, suffering the most grievous damage. The Emerald Rock destined for the Mortal Realm had even punched straight through the Heavenly Immortal Realm, leaving behind that colossal breach.
As the Far Ancestor of the dragon race, Big Dragon felt both shaken and ashamed. He had never imagined the dragons had met such a horrific end during that catastrophe.
These dragon warriors had stepped forward wave upon wave, defying death to form a void tower against extinction, while he had been fast asleep in the Abyss Sea.
"Is this a dragon graveyard?" A voice suddenly sounded from the bow. It was the Jiuyou Emperor, who had regained consciousness at some unknown point and spoke while holding back his pain.
"No. This was likely the very first site in the Heavenly Immortal Realm struck by the Emerald Rock."
The Last Lord of Ziwei surveyed their surroundings, gazing at the dragon skeletons suspended in the air. With a solemn expression, he said, "Look closely. Most of those dragon skeletons in the sky were pierced by an object of identical size. I suspect that when the Emerald Rock descended back then, the dragon immortals of the Heavenly Immortal Realm spotted it and resolved to use their own lives to block its descent."
It was an act of throwing eggs against a boulder.
The dragon race's proud magic power, divine abilities, and Dao methods were completely useless against the Emerald Rock. The very foundation of their Great Dao was directly supplanted by the Emerald Rock—transformed from a dragon pattern framework into a Li framework—causing their entire reservoir of magic power, divine abilities, and Dao methods to collapse completely.
They had no choice but to use their physical bodies to resist this world-destroying Emerald Rock.
They clambered over one another, forming a void tower of flesh and blood that reached into the sky, hurling their bodies and heads against the Emerald Rock in hopes of halting this apocalyptic catastrophe!
Yet it had all been in vain.
Yuan Weiyang gradually slowed the World-Crossing Golden Ship to a stop beneath the void tower. Xu Ying looked up, observing the through-and-through wounds the Emerald Rock had gouged into these giant dragons.
The Emerald Rock had pierced through every dragon in its path with virtually no resistance, slaughtering the dragon immortals that formed the void tower,
utterly ignoring the countless layers of formations laid down by the dragon immortals below!
It had smashed right through those formations, slammed into the earth of the Heavenly Immortal Realm, obliterated every dragon immortal daring to stand in its way, and punched clean through the realm before hurtling toward the Mortal Realm!
"This Emerald Rock is the very one in the Mortal Realm," Xu Ying murmured.
Not long ago, that Emerald Rock had been brought aboard the World-Crossing Golden Ship. However, because Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang had to undergo their tribulations to ascend, they couldn't take Jingming, Ming Wangsun, and the others with them, so they had left the Emerald Rock behind under Jingming and the others' guard.
The Emerald Rock had become the sacred artifact of the Perfect Dao Sect, but it was also undeniably the murder weapon that had eradicated the Dragon Court era.
Pulled by the two ascension glows, the World-Crossing Golden Ship continued flying forward. Yuan Weiyang stopped manipulating the golden key, allowing the two glows to tow the golden ship away from the void tower.
The ascension glow was meant to carry them up to the Heavenly Immortal Realm, but at this moment, no one on board felt the slightest joy.
The Heavenly Immortal Realm had already been destroyed, and the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth here seemed devoid of any ripple. Even if one ascended here, what purpose would it serve?
Towed by the glow, the World-Crossing Golden Ship flew out of this land of buried bones. At that moment, another void tower came into view.
That void tower was even taller, composed of even more dragon immortals, each of them far more powerful!
Beneath the dragon tower, countless dragon bones rolled across the land like mountain ranges, and the dragon formations they formed were far more intricate, presumably possessing even greater might.
Yet that too was a land of death.
Having already undergone the Ten Thousand Dragon Banner's Primordial Spirit Preservation Project and the World-Crossing Golden Ship's Stealing Heaven Project, the Dragon Court no longer possessed enough strength to withstand the incoming Emerald Rocks.
At that time, the powerhouses of the Dragon Court had their primordial spirits entrusted to the Ten Thousand Dragon Banner. Another group of mighty beings, such as Prime Minister Bi Yanhai and his peers, had piloted the World-Crossing Golden Ships out of the cosmos in search of the other shore.
Those left behind in the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Dragon Court were mostly the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, or dragons of lower cultivation, strength, and status.
For them to stand against the Emerald Rock was undeniably throwing eggs against a stone.
"The dragon race had true heroes. Truly admirable," the Last Lord of Ziwei said with profound respect.
As the two ascension glows pulled them farther along, Yuan Weiyang suddenly realized something and said, "There is ascension glow here, which means the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth in this realm was not destroyed! Dao still exists here!"
The Jiuyou Emperor's voice drifted back from ahead, shouting, "Of course Dao exists here! Not only does Dao exist, but there is also boundless wealth left behind from the primeval Dragon Court era—countless Daluo Heavens, and innumerable Dao Eight and Dao Nine magic treasures!"
Suddenly breaking free from the golden ship, he turned into a plume of green smoke and zoomed away, exclaiming excitedly, "Everything here belongs to me!"
Xu Ying called out loudly, "Fellow Daoist Jiuyou, be careful! This place is extraordinarily perilous!"
"Xu Ying, spare me your hypocrisy!"
The Jiuyou Emperor's voice echoed from the distance with a sneer. "Once this lord obtains the dragon race's supreme treasures and cultivates their peerless arts, you will be the first one I execute!"
Yuan Weiyang fumed, "Next time, we'll just ram you to death!"
The ascension glows carried them away from this Emerald Rock impact zone. Once past this area, unburdened by the oppressive influence of countless dragon corpses and bones, Xu Ying and the others felt the pressure lift. Gradually, they sensed the aura of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.
The surrounding landscape became picturesque with lush mountains and clear waters. Immortal mountains floated in the sky, scattering immortal spiritual qi. Far in the distance, dazzlingly bright cave abysses rotated in quiet majesty.
Their eyes widened as they stared at the scene before them in disbelief!
Earlier, within the impact zone of the Emerald Rock, it had been a scene of absolute apocalypse. Yet stepping out of that impact zone revealed an exalted immortal realm that even the Earth Immortal Realm could not hold a candle to!
"Hahahaha!"
The Jiuyou Emperor's laughter drifted over from the distance. "I'm rich!"
"The Great Dao of Heaven and Earth here wasn't destroyed by the Emerald Rock!"
Xu Ying was astonished. He had originally thought the third Emerald Rock falling upon the Heavenly Immortal Realm would have ruined its Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. But having arrived here, every one of them could feel the vibrant, surging aura of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!
Xu Ying had crossed the heavenly tribulations of the Three Realms, so he was no stranger to the aura of the Heavenly Immortal Realm's Heavenly Dao; Yuan Weiyang had crossed the tribulation of the Three Realms once as well, so both of them could sense it.
The Great Dao of Heaven and Earth here was exceptionally lively, showing not the slightest hint of an apocalypse, and was even more robust than in the Earth Immortal Realm or the Mortal Realm!
Moreover, the immortal mountains in the sky were extraordinarily magnificent, and so numerous as to dazzle the eyes!
"Are those Supreme cave abysses?"
The Last Lord of Ziwei could barely believe his eyes and muttered, "That's impossible, isn't it? How could the Heavenly Immortal Realm possess so many Supreme cave abysses? Wasn't this world destroyed?"
"Could it be that the third Emerald Rock never destroyed the Heavenly Immortal Realm back then?"
Xu Ying asked, puzzled. "If so, why has the Heavenly Immortal Realm remained secluded from the mortal world, having had no contact with the Earth Immortal Realm all these years?"
The Last Lord of Ziwei pointed and shouted, "Look over there, quickly! There's a golden ship over there as well! Just like ours!"
Everyone looked in the direction of his finger. In the distance lay a massive World-Crossing Golden Ship. One end was plunged into the earth while the other was tilted upward toward the sky, having rested there for who knew how long.
Yuan Weiyang activated the golden key, steering their golden ship toward the other World-Crossing Golden Ship. The two ascension glows pulled frantically from behind, but were utterly unable to halt the ship.
Once they arrived beside the other World-Crossing Golden Ship, Yuan Weiyang brought their vessel to a halt, and everyone leapt over to land on the weathered ship.
Rust coated the hull, which was riddled with holes from severe corrosion. It looked as though it had traversed endless space and time, or passed through the digestive tract of some unknown cosmic leviathan, to have ended up in such a battered state.
"Wait, weren't the World-Crossing Golden Ships supposed to fly in different directions across the cosmos to escape this universe?" Xu Ying was utterly perplexed.
Big Dragon flew around, exploring the secluded corners of the ship. After a moment, he returned to the deck and said, "Perhaps they did escape this universe. I think this ship reached the other shore. It must have stayed there for a period of time and suffered corrosion from the Li framework to have ended up like this!"
Everyone's eyes widened. A ship that had reached the other shore... and returned?
The big bell murmured, "Could it be that the people who departed on the ship back then... came back?"
The Last Lord of Ziwei asked grimly, "And who was it that returned? The dragon immortals, or the outsiders of the other shore?"
Chapter 644