Xu Ying felt both horrified and amused. To think such a barbaric custom as scalping even existed in this world!
As for the victor's scalp, he had no desire for it whatsoever.
Yet the dragon immortal general quietly stepped back and walked toward the three outlanders, intending to help reserve the next scalp for him.
*The customs of these outlanders are truly savage. I must hurry and find the immortals who ascended from the Earth Immortal Realm and leave this place. Where are they being held?*
Xu Ying looked toward the Prisoner Immortal Battlefield, frowning slightly.
He had originally thought the Heavenly Immortal Realm would be completely deserted—an unowned wasteland—or perhaps like the Mortal Realm, where only mortals without cultivation had survived while the rest of the world was corrupted by Emerald Rocks.
Yet the reality was entirely different from what he had envisioned. The present Heavenly Immortal Realm was far from a peaceful haven, and the dragons here were nothing like the dragons of antiquity.
Most who ascended from the Earth Immortal Realm to the Heavenly Immortal Realm were likely captured as slaves and thrown into this Prisoner Immortal Battlefield to fight to the death.
Still, certain questions puzzled him deeply: how had these outlanders from the other shore gotten here in the first place?
Judging by his own two ascensions, the other shore did not know the coordinates of the Three Realms. That was why the Buddha Ancestor and the others had warned Xu Ying not to ascend.
The goal of the Buddha Ancestor and his peers was surely to keep their home universe hidden, preventing the other shore from discovering it.
If the other shore had not found the Three Realms, how could these outlanders have known the location of the Heavenly Immortal Realm and descended here to lord over it?
And if they had discovered the Heavenly Immortal Realm, the Earth Immortal Realm and Mortal Realm should have been discovered as well.
*The isolation of the Three Realms was likely caused by the catastrophe of the Emerald Rocks back then,* Xu Ying thought. *Originally, the Three Realms were interconnected. Moving between the Mortal Realm, the Earth Immortal Realm, and the Heavenly Immortal Realm was possible not only through ascension, but also via Three Realms Golden Ships and the River of Spiritual Light linking them together. But the Emerald Rocks destroyed the passages between the Three Realms, severing all contact.*
*On top of that,* Xu Ying mused, *the dragon race in today's Heavenly Immortal Realm is no longer the dragon race of antiquity. They have undergone total Zangification. They probably can't even read the ancient dragon script, let alone comprehend ancient dragon texts. Naturally, they have no idea that besides the Heavenly Immortal Realm, the Earth Immortal Realm and Mortal Realm exist. But the question remains: how did these outlanders from the other shore get in?*
He looked up at the Supreme cave abysses hanging in the sky. The corner of his eye twitched slightly as he involuntarily recalled what he had witnessed in the Taiyi Cave Abyss.
Back then, the good-for-nothing Qingxuan had told him that the original Qingxuan had left him in the Taiyi Cave Abyss to guard against whatever was inside escaping. Day after day, for six hundred thousand years, that good-for-nothing Qingxuan had stood watch on the other shore within the Taiyi Cave Abyss, slaying any ancient gods from the other shore who dared invade!
This meant a passage existed between a summoned Supreme cave abyss and the other shore!
The outlanders from the other shore had likely descended through such a passage!
*A Supreme cave abyss belongs to someone else after all. If you summon it for your own use, it wouldn't be difficult for them to leave a back door inside that they can open at any time,*
he thought silently. *True cultivation is by no means summoning a cave abyss, but refining one's own. To summon a cave abyss is to place yourself on the chopping block as meat for someone else's blade! Cultivating with a summoned cave abyss only fattens you up for slaughter.*
Suddenly, Yuan Weiyang pointed discreetly toward the Prisoner Immortal Battlefield below. Xu Ying gathered his focus and saw several portals appear on the ground, standing upright with nothing behind them.
When the portals opened, many more ascenders from the Earth Immortal Realm walked out.
These portals were spatial treasures connected to another dimension.
*The destination of Weiyang's and my ascension was inside this city, so the destination of the other ascenders from the Earth Immortal Realm must be here as well. The place where they are imprisoned should be nearby.*
Xu Ying surveyed his surroundings. Suddenly, a thought struck him: *Right, Lu the Outlander said Daoist Wukong also came to the Heavenly Immortal Realm. Where is Daoist Wukong?*
Just then, a white-clad figure emerged from the portals onto the Prisoner Immortal Battlefield. Xu Ying raised his brows—the young man in white was none other than his disciple, the Little Celestial Venerable!
A smile crossed Xu Ying's face as he thought, *With the skills of my disciple, Xu Ergou, he'll definitely survive to the end. Then it will be my turn to harvest his scalp. Come to think of it, last time I even planned to peel off his face. We master and disciple truly share a deep affinity.*
The Little Celestial Venerable stood tall and imposing, poised proudly on the Prisoner Immortal Battlefield. Transcendent and refined, one look was enough to tell he was an extraordinary figure.
On the auspicious cloud across the way, the young outlander master who had harvested Bodhi's scalp noticed the Little Celestial Venerable emerging from the portal. He looked quite surprised and chuckled, "This man is powerful! He is bound to survive this bloodbath and take top honors!"
"Then Young Master Qi Xuan will have a new collectible," one of the outlander women said with a flattering smile.
Young Master Qi Xuan laughed. "A mere few scalps are only good for trading for some bounty money, hardly enough to tempt me. I simply want to carve off the scalps of these outstanding experts and hang them in my divine temple to admire."
At that moment, the dragon general who had previously stood by Xu Ying approached. Bowing and scraping before the two outlander women, he said with an ingratiating smile, "Young Master Qi Xuan, could you perhaps yield the scalp of the second round? There is a young master over there who has also arrived from the other shore and wishes to claim the scalp of this round's victor."
Qi Xuan was taken aback. "Another young master has arrived? Which one?"
The dragon general raised a hand and pointed at Xu Ying. "That young master is named Xu Ying, and the woman beside him is his wife."
Qi Xuan's gaze settled on Xu Ying, scanning him up and down several times. After a moment, he sneered, "A young master from the other shore? How utterly muddled you are!"
The expressions of the dragon immortals on the auspicious cloud shifted drastically. One by one, their eyes darted toward Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang.
The Last Lord of Ziwei noticed the shift. Leaning down, he whispered a few words into Yuan Weiyang's ear. Yuan Weiyang looked up, her gaze sweeping toward the auspicious cloud as she said, "Your Majesty, please remain calm. There is no need to rush. My ship is very fast and very heavy; it can arrive in an instant."
Over on the auspicious cloud, the dragon general went pale as ash and stammered in panic, "Young Master Qi Xuan, that Young Master Xu is not from the other shore? He clearly possesses an ancient god's body, his aura matches, and he's only slightly smaller in stature..."
Qi Xuan sneered, "That man is definitely no divine citizen of the other shore! You people are unfamiliar with ancient gods and assume his imitation is flawless, but in my eyes, he doesn't resemble a divine citizen in the slightest!"
The dragon general was so shocked and terrified that he was left speechless.
A look of perplexity crossed Qi Xuan's face as he pondered, *What is this person's background? How can he imitate a divine citizen of our other shore?*
The other two outlander women were equally astonished, their eyes fixed on Xu Ying.
Suddenly, one of the outlander women giggled, "Young Master Qi Xuan, I want his scalp!"
Qi Xuan chuckled, "Sweetheart, I would give you anyone else's scalp, but for someone this brazen, I must claim and keep it for myself!"
He felt an inexplicable thrill. "This is top-grade!"
The outlander woman pouted, looking unhappy. Then her eyes drifted to Yuan Weiyang, and a gleam surfaced in them. "What about the girl beside him?"
Qi Xuan laughed. "I want hers as well. However, I can let you have the scalp of that fellow holding an umbrella beside her for your collection."
The outlander woman looked toward the Last Lord of Ziwei. Seeing his extraordinary poise and transcendent bearing, her anger turned to delight.
An elderly dragon immortal rose to his feet, his expression grim. "This audacious pair of scoundrels must be from the Earth Immortal Realm, just like those ascended wretches. Young Master Qi Xuan need not trouble yourself; I shall order men to seize them at once!"
With a slight shift of his feet, eight layers of Dao realms manifested behind him. Layer upon layer ran deep and dark like demonic realms, filled with crisscrossing branch-like patterns fluttering about to form the phantoms of ancient god-fiends, radiating a chilling Dao might!
Qi Xuan chuckled. "Elder Long Dai, I would actually prefer to take the field myself, defeat him, and carve off his scalp with my own hands. Only in doing so does it bring a sense of achievement."
Hearing this, Elder Long Dai was struck with deep respect. "With the other shore valuing martial prowess to such a degree, how could it not flourish?"
The other dragon powerhouses chimed in with praise: "Truly worthy of being a young master from the other shore!" "We have been enlightened!" "Listening to your words surpasses a thousand years of my father's teachings!"
Young Master Qi Xuan let out a hearty laugh. He abruptly sprang up, transforming into a streak of gray light, and landed squarely in the Prisoner Immortal Battlefield the very next moment. His gaze swept toward Xu Ying, and he called out loudly, "Xu Ying, do you dare come down and fight me?"
Xu Ying sat upon his cushion, his expression calm as still water, offering no response.
"Xu Ying?"
The Little Celestial Venerable, Bodhi, and the other ascenders from the Earth Immortal Realm were all startled. Looking up one after another toward the sky, the Little Celestial Venerable grew exceptionally emotional, tears welling in his fierce eyes as he thought, *Master is still alive! Master is still in the world!*
His heart swelled with profound gratitude: *Master must have heard news of my capture here and braved danger to come rescue me!*
Two streams of tears flowed down his cheeks. Finally, he spotted Xu Ying's figure, sitting upon a cushion on the viewing terrace, floating in midair.
The Little Celestial Venerable felt all the more touched: *A master for a lifetime!*
Xu Ying remained seated, motionless; only Yuan Weiyang looked around left and right.
Young Master Qi Xuan laughed loudly. His voice was sonorous and laced with the sound of the Dao, but in the ears of the Earth Immortal Realm ascenders, it was like the weeping of the Dao itself!
"Xu Ying, you were bold enough to sneak into the Heavenly Immortal Realm, yet you dare not fight me?"
Qi Xuan said leisurely, "You came for these people, didn't you? You want to rescue them? As long as you defeat me, I will let you take them."
Xu Ying still did not reply.
Qi Xuan's brows furrowed slightly.
At that moment, powerful waves of aura surged behind Xu Ying. Elder Long Dai led numerous dragon experts, their faces dark and menacing, as they approached Xu Ying from behind.
The other dragon immortals on the viewing terrace slowly stood up as well, each releasing the Great Dao of the Emerald Rock. For a time, all manner of branch-like patterns danced across the air.
In the sky above, numerous colossal phantoms of ancient gods materialized—as massive as stars and moons, their visages solemn, suppressing heaven and earth! The Last Lord of Ziwei's expression shifted slightly. This was merely an immortal city of the dragons; he had not expected such tremendous power to be hidden here!
One to two thousand dragon experts surrounded Xu Ying and his companions, the atmosphere suffocating.
Elder Long Dai stepped forward and said indifferently, "Xu Ying, Young Master Qi Xuan is asking you a question, yet you refuse to answer? Do you truly expect this old master to force your hand?"
Xu Ying glanced at him, but before he could speak, Big Dragon could no longer contain his fury. Leaping out from the big bell, he manifested the original head form of the Far Ancestor's primordial spirit. Towering and immense, he bellowed, "You are children of the dragon race! How can you be so utterly spineless? Where is the dragon race's culture? Where is the dragon race's heritage?"
Elder Long Dai looked up, eyeing him coldly. When he replied in the dragon tongue, his words were halting and far from fluent: "What kind of thing are you?"
Big Dragon was beside himself with rage: "I am the Far Ancestor of your dragon race, your forefather! You returned from the other shore so long ago, yet instead of offering sacrifices to me and summoning me, you worship aberrant gods from the other shore...!"
"Insolence!"
Elder Long Dai barked, speaking with self-righteous conviction, "Only the ancient gods of the other shore are true gods. An ancestor is merely an ancestor, not a true god. You are the aberrant god! In deference to your status as an ancestor, I shall spare you this once. Dare insult the true gods again, and I will shatter your soul!"
Big Dragon was so furious his primordial spirit nearly burst apart. Right at that moment, Yuan Weiyang suddenly shouted, "Jump!"
Before Big Dragon could even process the command, Xu Ying, the big bell, the white-bone divine dragon, and the Last Lord of Ziwei leapt into the air.
*Rumble...*
A colossal golden ship smashed directly through the immortal city's gates and gatehouse, flattening towering buildings in its path. Bearing supreme might, it swept across the area. Wherever the hull passed, formidable dragon immortals suffered broken bones and snapped tendons, spitting mouthfuls of fresh blood!
Some dragon immortals were pulverized outright, their primordial spirits failing to escape before being crushed into dust!
Elder Long Dai, worthy of being an Eighth Realm Dao expert, reacted instantly. With a dragon roar, he thrust both hands forward against the advancing World-Crossing Golden Ship. Inside his eightfold Dao realm, the phantoms of ancient gods roared furiously as various Great Dao powers surged out to halt the crushing momentum of the vessel!
He underwent full Zangification, his body transforming into a towering dragon-headed behemoth. The branch-like patterns across his frame coalesced into skeletal spurs and wing-like structures, making him resemble an ancient god incarnate!
*Boom!*
When his power collided with the golden ship, the force caused even the massive vessel to shudder, yet he was still pushed backward by its overwhelming inertia.
This golden ship was simply too immense, too heavy, and far too durable!
Behind him, more dragon powerhouses underwent Zangification, shifting into towering dragon-zang forms. Reaching out with their palms, they joined forces to resist the World-Crossing Golden Ship, seemingly on the verge of halting its momentum!
Yuan Weiyang was alarmed and was about to ask the Last Lord of Ziwei to intervene when the Far Ancestor Big Dragon let out an earth-shattering roar. The violent sound waves sent Elder Long Dai flying. Consumed by rage, Big Dragon lunged forward: "Refusing to acknowledge your ancestor, are you? If you won't acknowledge me, your ancestor won't acknowledge you either!"
The massive primordial spirit head, composed entirely of indestructible spiritual light, slammed forward, pinning Elder Long Dai and crashing directly into the dragon city. Wherever it passed, countless structures collapsed into rubble!
Seizing the opening, Yuan Weiyang pointed a finger. Her body twirled in midair, and the golden key at her fingertip rotated along with her.
The immense World-Crossing Golden Ship immediately began to pivot, howling as it swept around in a full circle, virtually demolishing the entire viewing terrace!
Dragon powerhouses were thrown back, spitting blood. As the two outlander women charged forward, one was struck by the hull; she let out a muffled groan and nearly vomited out her internal organs.
The other outlander woman leapt into the air to dodge the golden ship and pounced toward Yuan Weiyang, intent on delivering a lethal blow. Suddenly, a slender ray of light struck her forehead. With a crisp *chhh*, it peeled away her skull and severed half her brain.
The Last Lord of Ziwei pushed forward with his massive right hand, and the Great Azure Cave Truth Glazed Lamp rose slowly into the air. From its flame shot beam after beam of fine light, slicing repeatedly through the sky.
Regardless of where the dragon powerhouses flew in from, all were sliced in two by those fine rays. Even Emerald Rock divine abilities and outlander treasures were cleanly cleaved apart, swept away like chaff!
Such was the majestic bearing of a Great Emperor who had once suppressed an entire era—one who, even when debilitated by the Dao weeping and suffering an immense loss of cultivation, had still forced the likes of Qingxuan, the Holy Venerable, and Zaohua to join forces against him.
Young Master Qi Xuan's face drained of color. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and Xu Ying descended from the sky, landing before him with a heavy *thud*.
"You want to challenge me?" Xu Ying looked down at him, a fierce glint in his eyes.
A suffocating, savage aura surged forward like a tidal wave, drowning him completely.
Chapter 646