"A natural predator must have descended into the world, forcing heavenly fiends and heavenly gods to join hands and eliminate it first." Having said that, Zhou Qiyun leaped into the vat.
He was cautious by nature. Though his injuries this time were not severe, he refused to bear any wounds before undergoing his tribulation. If he was injured, he had to heal immediately!
After he departed, Emperor Shengshen approached the rim of the vat. "The imperial library's *Chronicle of Gods and Fiends* records that heavenly gods and heavenly fiends are natural enemies. Yet they are equally matched, and neither can usually vanquish the other. But if a phoenix matures, it possesses the power to devour them both. Thus, when a phoenix is born, cataclysms inevitably descend, and fledgling phoenixes rarely survive such tribulations."
He leaped into the vat, sending up a splash of water, and vanished from sight.
Yuan Qi poked his head out from Xu Ying's collar, gazing wistfully. "Even the imperial library collects tales of the strange? I'd really love to see them."
With those two supreme masters gone, Xu Ying finally let out a long breath of relief. Only then did he feel the chill soaking his back. Though he had appeared calm and composed before Zhou Qiyun and Emperor Shengshen, cold sweat had long since drenched his clothes.
The others exchanged glances, all feeling lingering dread.
Uncle Xiao said worriedly, "Ever since the emperor ascended the throne, he has moved several times to strip the vassals of power and weaken the aristocratic clans, but Old Ancestor Zhou has blocked him at every turn. Their enmity runs deep and can never be resolved. If the emperor remains in Yongzhou, I fear Old Ancestor Zhou won't be able to hold back from striking him dead."
Xu Ying remarked, "If the emperor dies, the world might not necessarily be any worse off."
Uncle Xiao, Yuan Weiyang, and Guo Xiaodie looked at him in astonished disbelief, unable to fathom why he was so audacious as to voice such treasonous words.
They were scions of great clans. Even Uncle Xiao, though a servant, served an elite clan like the Yuan family; none of them had ever truly brushed against the lives of commoners at the bottom.
Xu Ying, however, had lived in the rural countryside of Lingling in Yongzhou, struggling through the mud ever since childhood. Having witnessed all too much of what magistrates, officials, and gods did, he harbored no goodwill toward imperial power or emperors.
Xu Ying tilted his head to look up at the plaque reading 'Subduing Fiends Hall of Chaozhen Taixu Cave-Heaven,' and a thought suddenly struck him. *Where is this mountain?*
His spirits lifted immediately. Releasing Yuan Qi, he grinned and said, "Let's go climb the mountain!"
Yuan Qi swelled into a giant serpent over twenty zhang long, black and white horns sprouting from his head, his scales gleaming all over, and a dragon mane fluttering behind his head. Guo Xiaodie's eyes sparkled, and she hurriedly scrambled onto Yuan Qi's crown.
With everyone seated on Yuan Qi's forehead, the great serpent slithered upward along the rock face toward the summit.
The bronze bell flew out from behind Xu Ying's head and taunted Yuan Qi, "Did Seventh Master ever imagine such a day? You've been reduced to a mount!"
The great serpent remained placid and unruffled. "If carrying them up a mountain makes me a mount, then I ride on Ah Ying's neck every day—does that make Ah Ying my beast of burden?"
The bronze bell was struck speechless.
This mountain was no less majestic than Mount Jiuyi. Yuan Qi carried them upward, and it took nearly half an hour before they reached the summit. Xu Ying stood up and gazed into the distance. Finally beholding the true face of this realm, his heart trembled violently. "This place is..."
Uncle Xiao had walked ahead of him without realizing it, eyes dazed as he murmured, "Where is this?"
Seeing the two of them looking away, Guo Xiaodie surreptitiously tugged down her chemise, leaning forward to display her chest toward Yuan Weiyang. Yet Yuan Weiyang failed to notice entirely, merely turning his head to stare into the distance as if his soul had wandered away.
Flustered and piqued, Guo Xiaodie snapped her head up to look as well, only to freeze in place.
On the other side of the mountain, a newly risen sun had just crested the horizon, while another sun already hung high in the sky. Directly above their heads burned yet another sun, blazing like a furnace.
Behind them, a setting sun glowed crimson, on the verge of sinking below the peaks.
Far off, mountain ranges shuddered, shaking loose flying boulders. That stretch of peaks slowly rose into the sky, and an unimaginable behemoth gradually stood up among the mountains. The shuddering ridges were merely the bony plates lining its back!
The group atop Yuan Qi's head felt dizzy. The great serpent beneath them was already colossal, but compared to the behemoth among the mountains, he was like a petty sorcerer in the presence of a great wizard.
Suddenly, the great mountain beneath their feet began to tremble as well, the ground swaying violently.
A monstrously immense body grazed the mountain as it steadily rose. It was a creature of unfathomable size, resembling an ox, its roar like a dragon's, its body covered in plate-like scales that were coarse and craggy with nodules.
It seemed to be scratching an itch against the mountain, scattering showers of sparks as it rubbed, before ambling away sluggishly.
*Whoosh—*
Its tail swung up like a dark canopy, sweeping across the mountain peak and kicking up a blistering gale.
"This is definitely not Shenzhou. Where on earth are we?" they murmured.
The bronze bell chimed softly, its tone melodious. "Everyone, this is a cave-heaven."
Xu Ying had a sudden realization. "This is Chaozhen Taixu Cave-Heaven!"
He looked down at the cliffs beneath his feet, his mind stirring. This cliff looked just like the other half of Cangwu Abyss!
When he had been reeled out from Cangwu Abyss, he had surveyed his surroundings and discovered that the cliff on one side of the abyss was Mount Jiuyi, but no one knew where the opposite cliff lay.
Seeing this cliff now, it dawned on him—this precipice was the other side of the abyss!
This cliff and Mount Jiuyi were originally one, separated only by Cangwu Abyss!
The bronze bell's voice grew excited as well. "Ah Ying, do you see the heavenly glow cascading from the sky? That is the ascension radiance left behind when an immortal ascended!"
Xu Ying looked across. A hundred li away, an eternal, unfading light hung inverted from the heavens, spilling into the mountain valleys.
The colors of that radiance were richer and more vivid than even the Realm of Xiyi, leaving an indelible impression!
This was Chaozhen Taixu Cave-Heaven, a place where an immortal had once ascended.
It was an ascension site!
Because an immortal had ascended here, the boundary between heaven and earth dividing this place from the Immortal Realm had grown far thinner, blessing it with an abundance of world essence.
Cultivating here would yield twice the results with half the effort!
Xu Ying's heart surged with emotion, but beneath the ascension radiance lay a lightning strike crater spanning dozens of li.
His burning excitement instantly turned cold.
That was likely a crater left behind by Heavenly Tribulation when an ancient Qi Refiner crossed his tribulation. Just looking at this colossal pit was enough to imagine the horrifying spectacle of that Qi Refiner facing his ordeal!
Then he spotted a second lightning strike crater. This one was even larger, spanning a hundred li. Because the tribulation had taken place in the distant past, it was already overgrown with trees.
Yet the trees within the crater were shorter than those outside, their outline preserving the terrifying grandeur of that ancient tribulation!
Next, Xu Ying saw a third crater, relatively fresh and not yet overgrown with vegetation. Then a fourth crater, a fifth...
Scattered across Chaozhen Taixu Cave-Heaven were craters of varying sizes—remnants left behind by ancient Qi Refiners who had found this place to undergo their tribulations!
In just a brief moment, Xu Ying counted seventeen lightning strike craters. Some overlapped, while others were half-buried by the sands of time, their contours barely discernible.
The most colossal of all was the very cliff they stood upon; it too was part of a crater, and the largest one at that!
The cliff stood high. Standing on its edge and looking into the distance, Xu Ying could see a massive crater spanning some five hundred li!
Was this the Heavenly Tribulation a Qi Refiner had to face to ascend?
Could anyone truly withstand a tribulation of such power and ascend to the Immortal Realm?
His gaze swept across the cave-heaven. Aside from that single pillar of ascension radiance, there was no other. In other words, every other ancient Qi Refiner who had undergone tribulation here had failed, slain under the lightning strikes!
That solitary ascension radiance remained an eternal brand upon this world.
*Even if no one else ascended aside from that immortal, this is still a grotto-heaven and blessed land. World essence is abundant here, making it perfect for cultivation.*
Standing beneath the light of four suns, Xu Ying circulated the Taiyi Guiding Technique. The sky instantly flared with brilliant light as solar essence surged toward him from all directions, forming several mu of Dao fields in the air.
Over the past few days, his exchanges with Yuan Weiyang had brought substantial progress to his divine sense, vital qi, and soul.
As he drove the Taiyi Guiding Technique, Dao seeds rained down from the Dao field in a fluttering shower, sinking into his body!
With his dark hair fluttering in the wind and an aura as fierce as a tiger, Xu Ying left Guo Xiaodie momentarily transfixed.
*No wonder everyone calls him Demon King Xu! Though he isn't as pretty as Brother Weiyang, he has a wild charm that Brother Weiyang lacks.*
Her heart beat faster. She looked at Xu Ying, then glanced at Yuan Weiyang, still feeling Yuan Weiyang was better looking. Yet the feral allure radiating from Xu Ying genuinely captivated her, leaving her torn for a moment.
Yuan Weiyang rose to stand beside Xu Ying and channeled the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction. Her physique became crystalline like jade, and from each of her acupoints shone three hundred and sixty-five heavenly gods!
Gods of various sizes presided over palaces, mansions, and cave-heavens formed from her acupoints. Though these deities were still hazy phantom projections, their flanking presence cast divine radiance all around Yuan Weiyang, lending her the majestic aura of a king of gods!
Uncle Xiao felt a tremor in his heart. *The young master took it upon herself to alter the Yuan clan's ancestral art—pure heresy! But what she altered... what she changed...*
His expression turned peculiar. After Yuan Weiyang's improvements, the current Yuan Dao Heavens Induction was vastly superior to the original!
Guo Xiaodie looked left and right, finding both of them so exceptionally brilliant that neither conceded an inch to the other. With each having their own strengths, she found it truly impossible to choose.
Suddenly, Xu Ying gave a long cry and unleashed the first stance of the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens*: Wind and Rain as Gloomy as Night!
With a thrust of his palm, clear blue skies and white clouds appeared behind him, immaculate as washed jade. But in the next instant, dark clouds rolled in, thunder crackled, and wind and rain turned gloomy as night!
*Whoosh—*
Before Xu Ying, gale-force palm winds howled. He felt his heart power surging through every corner of his body. His physical might erupted; wherever his palm force reached, it battered the wind and clouds, manifesting an anomaly of wind and rain as gloomy as night. The sheer power startled even Xu Ying himself!
Guo Xiaodie's eyes widened until they nearly popped out. Xu Ying had actually performed the first stance of the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens* in its entirety!
To master the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens*, one first had to open the Crimson Palace secret depository. Outside the Guo clan, who could open the Crimson Palace secret depository?
Even if one opened it, one still had to comprehend the azure heavens and various celestial phenomena. Celestial phenomena were diverse—clear skies spanning ten thousand li, howling wind and driving rain, crisscrossing thunder and lightning—all required close observation to capture the image of the Great Dao and refine a Hidden Scenery.
Only after forging a Hidden Scenery would the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens* carry true power.
As the saying went: *Look inward upon the azure sky to witness its vastness; visualize the blue heavens to attain boundless freedom.*
Without taking this step, how could one possibly master the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens*?
Xu Ying was equally surprised and delighted. He had thought the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens* Guo Xiaodie gave him was merely an ordinary technique of the Guo clan, never expecting it to be so formidable!
In his mind, the bronze bell couldn't help praising, "Ah Ying, this girl is a keeper! What she gave you is definitely the Guo clan's top-tier Nuo technique!"
Xu Ying felt a prick of shame. *I only traded the Sword Control Formula for a top-tier Nuo art, and she hasn't even learned the formula yet. I really took too much advantage of her. Later, if she has any questions, I must spare no effort to guide her diligently.*
In that brief span, he displayed the second stance, Thunder and Lightning Arise Together; the third stance, Form and Likeness Clear as a Mirror; the fourth stance, Stars Part the Azure Sky; the fifth stance, Ninefold Wilds Unfurl Around; the sixth stance, Heavenly Bodies Shine Resplendent; and the seventh stance, Sun and Moon Dwell in State!
*In motion, wind and rain turn gloomy as night, thunder and lightning arise together;*
*In stillness, form and likeness are clear as a mirror, stars part the azure sky.*
Every stance and strike flowed as if guided hand-in-hand by a Grand Nuo of the Guo clan, executed near perfection!
Guo Xiaodie grew tense, staring fixedly at Xu Ying's figure. *If he has even comprehended the eighth stance, Heaven-Soaring Cloud Ladder, his talent would truly be defying the heavens! Not even my Guo clan's old ancestor learned all eight stances of the Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens in one go!*
Xu Ying leaped into the air, floating aloft as a cloud ladder materialized beneath his feet. Stepping onto the cloud ladder, he sprang upward—only to plunge straight down with a smack, landing flat on his belly atop Yuan Qi's forehead.
Guo Xiaodie let out a sigh of relief. "He's still a bit short of our old ancestor."
Xu Ying's heart spasmed violently. The bronze bell warned hurriedly, "Ah Ying, don't use that last stance lightly! It drains far too much heart power! I underestimated Nuo arts, thinking a Qi Refiner's heart power could sustain the *Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens*. Who would have thought this Nuo art demands so much heart power, far beyond what a Qi Refiner can endure! It's fortunate you're as sturdy as an ox, or you'd be dead."
It took Xu Ying several moments to catch his breath, lingering fear clutching his chest.
He had thoroughly comprehended the eighth stance, Heaven-Soaring Cloud Ladder, and intended to soar into the sky, never expecting his heart power to drain so drastically that he fell.
*Without opening the Crimson Palace secret depository, one cannot execute the Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens as one pleases!*
Xu Ying sat up, his complexion recovering slightly. He asked Guo Xiaodie, "Miss Xiaodie, how can one learn your Guo clan's art of seeking the dragon and fixing the position to locate the Crimson Palace secret depository?"
"By marrying into my Guo clan as a matrilocal son-in-law!"
Guo Xiaodie's eyes shone brightly as she giggled. "I have an elder sister weighing two hundred jin, unmarried, gentle, and virtuous—though her temper is just a little fiery. Shall I introduce you two?"
Xu Ying felt a surge of joy, yet hesitated. "Let me think it over."
Guo Xiaodie was startled, wondering whether he was actually considering it or just brushing her off.
Little did she know, Xu Ying was genuinely weighing it. Born into poverty, he had seen boys and girls in neighboring villages sold off to the cities because their families couldn't afford to feed them. The unfortunate ended up in brothels and pleasure houses, while the fortunate became bedchamber maids in noble estates. Some boys were bought and kept by wealthy ladies to live in luxury, which had once filled him with immense envy.
If he could become a matrilocal son-in-law for the Guo clan, his fortunes would surely surpass those sold-off village boys. At the very least, he would be a legitimate married-in husband. Those boys bought away were merely playthings and human dregs for wealthy matrons, tossed aside once drained dry.
Yuan Weiyang's voice cut in: "Could it be that Demon King Xu is willing to bow beneath another for the rest of his life?"
Xu Ying snapped awake at once, utterly banishing any thought of marrying in. *If gods will not tolerate me, I shall topple those gods! If officials will not tolerate me, I shall strike down those officials! If the earth will not tolerate me, I shall overturn the earth; if heaven will not tolerate me, I shall pierce the sky! An honorable man stands tall and upright—why must I live under another's roof?*
*Even Zhou Qiyun—I'm going to take him down!*
Chapter 71