Xu Ying urged the chaos lotus forward, approaching that figure. When he was still several dozen yards away, he stopped to observe.
Trapped within the gelatinous substance was a woman, her long hair drifting through the gel as though floating in water.
She was a sweet-looking maiden with a round face, fair and tinged with pink, and watery eyes. Frozen as if within time and space, a faint smile still lingered on her face.
Xu Ying looked her over for a moment, then said, "Let's keep going."
The big bell and the chaos lotus stared blankly. Master Bell asked in confusion, "Ah Ying, aren't we going to save her?"
"No," Xu Ying said, shaking his head. "For her to make it this far means her cultivation and strength are extraordinary. She doesn't need my rescue. I don't know whether she is good or evil, and I might not even be a match for her. Why look for unnecessary trouble?"
***
The Jing Realm, Taiyi Dao Sect.
In the universe of the Jing Realm, summoning the Taiyi Cave Abyss and cultivating the Grand Dao of Taiyi was a prominent school of learning. However, cultivating the Grand Dao of Taiyi required exceptional aptitude and comprehension, making it very difficult to achieve. Consequently, while the Taiyi Dao Sect was not the largest in size, it was exceptionally affluent.
At this moment, Sect Master He Ying of the Jing Realm's Taiyi Dao Sect knitted her brows slightly and said, "Sacrifice the Liuyi Huanyue as well."
"You cannot!"
The disciples and elders of the Taiyi Dao Sect turned pale with fright and voiced their desperate protests. "Sect Master, you must not! The Liuyi Huanyue is our sect-guarding supreme treasure! Once sacrificed, it will be gone forever!"
A supreme elder stepped forward shakily, his aged voice croaking, "Sect Master, sacrifice me instead. I have lived long enough. Sacrificing me will help that noble guest from the other shore travel a little faster."
Right at that moment, the Taiyi Cave Abyss shook violently. Sect Master He Ying and the crowd hurried to look up, only to see a vast and profound aura billowing from the Taiyi Cave Abyss. A youth of sixteen or seventeen appeared at the entrance of the cave abyss, looking down upon them.
"He Ying of the Jing Realm's Taiyi Dao Sect, leading the disciples and elders of Taiyi, pays respects to Young Master!" Sect Master He Ying hurriedly bowed low.
The other supreme elders, elders, and disciples all bowed in succession.
Xu Ying stepped out of the Taiyi Cave Abyss and turned his gaze upon them. These disciples of Taiyi were dressed in tattered, threadbare rags, their faces sallow and gaunt. Even chives harvested down to the roots would not appear this wretched.
Taking in his surroundings, he couldn't help but frown. The terrain here was barren and unforgiving. Though the mountains were towering and rolling, not a single immortal peak or spiritual spring was to be seen. Immortal palaces and magical treasures were nowhere in sight.
*The Taiyi Dao Sect in the Jing Realm is far too destitute,* Xu Ying thought.
"My name is Xu Ying. Rise and speak," Xu Ying said with a smile.
Sect Master He Ying hurriedly stood up and said, "Young Master Xu, this way please. Our Jing Realm's Taiyi Dao Sect has prepared food and wine; please honor us with your presence at the banquet."
Xu Ying looked closely at her. This sect master of the Jing Realm appeared in her thirties, delicate in feature and elegant in bearing. Her cultivation was also remarkable—she had actually reached the Immortal realm.
Xu Ying smiled and asked, "Sect Master He Ying, from what I see, your cultivation has reached the Immortal realm. Why is the Taiyi Dao Sect so impoverished?"
Sect Master He Ying forced a smile and said, "Please forgive our shameful state, Young Master Xu."
At that point, an elder could not hold back: "To welcome Young Master Xu, our Taiyi Dao Sect sacrificed all the wealth accumulated by our sect, our immortal spiritual energy, magical treasures, and even our immortal peaks! Even the treasures on our persons were all sacrificed. We are lucky to have enough cloth left to cover our shame!"
"Feng Dun, shut your mouth!"
Sect Master He Ying snapped with a face as cold as frost. Turning back to Xu Ying with an apologetic tone, she said, "Young Master Xu, we base folk from such remote, barren lands lack manners. Please forgive his insolence."
Moved, Xu Ying said apologetically, "I had no idea my arrival would cost you so many treasures. I cannot thank you enough for your assistance! I will surely compensate you!"
Sect Master He Ying hosted a banquet to welcome him and wash away the dust of travel. Having undergone such weariness on the journey, Xu Ying wished to rest once the banquet concluded.
Sect Master He Ying summoned a female disciple to escort him to Xiuhua Tower to rest. Upon entering the room, the female disciple closed the door behind them and stayed to undress him.
Startled, Xu Ying hurriedly shooed her out.
After a moment, a knock sounded at the door. When Xu Ying opened it, he found Sect Master He Ying standing outside, half shy and half aggrieved. She said softly, "Yan'er failed to serve you well, so I will attend to you tonight. I still possess some modest charm; I hope Young Master will not despise me."
She was voluptuous and fair, dressed in flimsy gauze that left her silhouette partially exposed in the moonlight.
Xu Ying smiled and replied, "Sect Master He Ying, I harbor no such desires; you need not trouble yourself. I came here merely to take refuge. I am already deeply grateful for your hospitality."
Hearing this and seeing that he truly had no such intention, Sect Master He Ying felt both ashamed and embarrassed. She hastily begged his pardon, turned, and left.
Watching her supple figure depart, Xu Ying felt a momentary stir of attraction and almost raised a hand to call her back, but let his arm fall again. He tossed and turned in bed, taking half the night before finally falling asleep.
The next morning, when Sect Master He Ying woke, she found the spiritual mountain where the Taiyi Dao Sect resided floating with immortal peaks suspended upside down, forming cave abysses large and small. The immortal spiritual energy was unimaginably abundant—spiritual energy had gathered into waterfalls cascading down the cliffs.
Looking upward, she saw colossal cave abysses hanging in the sky, their scale staggering, rivaling the Taiyi Cave Abyss she had summoned.
She hurried outside and made her way quickly to Xiuhua Tower, where she saw Xu Ying standing atop the tower. Cave abyss after cave abyss flew out from within him to hang suspended in the sky, spiritual energy pouring down in torrential torrents.
There were fully two to three hundred cave abysses. Spiritual energy condensed into clouds in an instant, falling like gentle spring rain that washed clean the entire spiritual mountain!
"For treating our Jing Realm's Taiyi Dao Sect with such generosity, He Ying shall never forget it for the rest of her days!" Sect Master He Ying hurried forward to bow in gratitude.
Xu Ying smiled. "Why be so formal, Sect Master? If not for your sacrifices, I couldn't have arrived in the Jing Realm so swiftly. You gave up so many heavenly materials and earthly treasures, yet I can only offer this modest compensation. I feel quite guilty about it."
Hearing this, Sect Master He Ying felt uneasy inside: *Why is this member of the sacred clan so agreeable? Could he have come to harvest us?*
Xu Ying strolled leisurely among the spiritual peaks, taking in the sights of this alien realm, and asked, "Does my master, Grand Dao Lord Taiyi, harvest you? How does he harvest you?"
Sect Master He Ying felt a chill in her heart: *Here it comes! He wouldn't take the bait before; now he wants to take a vicious bite!*
She dared not conceal anything, answering, "Old Master Taiyi is relatively benevolent. He only asks us to aid him in comprehension. When he encounters things he cannot understand or work through, he has us help him comprehend them."
Xu Ying looked puzzled.
Sect Master He Ying quickly added, "Also, if Old Master encounters a formidable enemy, he will draw upon our cultivation to bolster himself in battle. Even so, our Taiyi Dao Sect has it vastly better than other sects. Other sects are sometimes inexplicably harvested, losing several elders or the like. Furthermore, when the sacred clan descends, they seize physical bodies or demand tribute in resources, treasures, and women. Some are even taken to patch their Dao."
Hearing this, Xu Ying took to the air, rising high into the sky. Looking across the vast Jing Realm, he saw hardly any immortal mountains; only cave abysses floated like colossal smokestacks above sacred ground after sacred ground.
As for Dao scenery, it was rarer still.
He flew up into the starry sky, and He Ying hurried to keep pace with him.
Even stars and starry rivers were scarce. Walking leisurely toward an area where stars remained, he arrived to find several formidable experts of the seventh and eighth Dao Realms encircling a sun, refining it repeatedly.
Xu Ying looked across the cosmos; there was little Dao scenery here either. Their primordial spirits were immense, many times larger than the sun itself. The sun was refined smaller and smaller until it turned into a bead. The experts stored away the sun bead and set off elsewhere to refine more suns.
"They are refining star sand," Sect Master He Ying said. "The other shore requires vast quantities of star sand; people use star sand to forge magical treasures."
Xu Ying recalled Dao Lord Hongxi, whom he had sacrificed; Hongxi possessed a Zhoutian Sand Gathering Pagoda in which each grain of star sand was a sun, and countless grains of star sand formed starry rivers within the pagoda.
"But once these suns are refined and sent to the other shore, your Jing Realm has none left," Xu Ying couldn't help saying. "At night, you might not even be able to see stars!"
Sect Master He Ying said, "As long as it doesn't hinder our survival, it's fine."
Xu Ying raised an eyebrow and said, "Have you never thought of resisting? Have you never thought of rejecting principle script, refusing the cultivation arts of the other shore, and escaping their harvest? You could stand as equals against them!"
Sect Master He Ying's expression changed abruptly. She said in a rush, "We wouldn't dare! Why would Young Master utter such rebellious words? The arts of the other shore are sacred arts, and the people of the other shore are the sacred clan. What virtue or capability do we have to stand as equals against the sacred clan? That is a capital crime punishable by extermination!"
Hearing her response, Xu Ying shook his head and turned to return to the spiritual mountain.
Far beyond the spiritual mountain lay a mineral vein—an exceptionally rare Five Elements mineral vein producing Five Elements Mysterious Gold, a superb artifact-refining material for those who cultivated the Grand Dao of the Five Elements. However, such veins were exceedingly scarce, formed only where innate Daos were dense. Containing the evolving transformations of the Five Elements, mining inside was fraught with peril.
Yet Xu Ying saw many practitioners of the fourth and fifth Dao Realms entering the vein to mine. These people possessed remarkable cultivation and strength, yet they labored here as miners.
"They cultivate the Grand Dao of the Five Elements. If they unearth Five Elements Mysterious Gold, they can receive divine arts and Dao methods bestowed by the other shore. Some can even go to the other shore to study!"
Speaking of this, Sect Master He Ying could not help revealing a look of envy...
Xu Ying looked away. Grand Dao Lord Taiyi also exploited the disciples of the Jing Realm's Taiyi Dao Sect, yet among these plunderers, Taiyi was considered a more merciful one.
*This will be the future of the Three Realms. If we do not resist, if we lack sufficient strength, this is what the Three Realms will become!*
Xu Ying's heart pounded violently. The Three Realms had to grow strong and prosperous; it could never be reduced to another Jing Realm.
*The other shore plunders countless universes, seizing their various Dao sceneries, innate treasures, mineral veins, diverse resources, and even their talented people. How can such a behemoth ever be defeated?*
He thought to himself silently, *A world enslaved by them like the Jing Realm doesn't even have the resolve to resist, let alone the power.*
He could not help shaking his head.
While he was in the other shore, he had not seen its true might. Only upon arriving in the Jing Realm did he realize how powerful and invincible the other shore truly was.
"Sect Master He, if I were to tell you that cave abysses can be cultivated by oneself, would you believe me?" Xu Ying asked.
Without thinking, Sect Master He Ying nodded. "I believe you!"
The moment the words left her mouth, she felt a pang of regret. She shouldn't have spoken those words before Xu Ying. After all, Xu Ying had been sent by Grand Dao Lord Taiyi and was undoubtedly a trusted confidant. If he returned and reported this to Taiyi, she feared her life would be forfeit.
She was an Immortal realm expert, after all. Although many backdoors were concealed in her cultivation technique, someone who could cultivate to such a realm was no fool; naturally, she could see many of the profound mysteries of cave abysses.
Xu Ying continued, "I can teach you the cultivation technique for cave abysses, enabling you to form cave abysses on your own without having to summon another's."
Sect Master He Ying probed cautiously, "Does Young Master Xu intend to establish your own faction and spread another harvesting method in our Jing Realm? Have you reached a bottleneck in your cultivation and come to preach your Dao?"
Thinking she had guessed Xu Ying's thoughts, she smiled and said, "I can make arrangements for you, Young Master. We have done this sort of thing many times. Noble young masters and ladies from the other shore often descend and have us help spread their techniques to find disciples suitable for harvesting."
Xu Ying shook his head and walked back toward Xiuhua Tower. "What I wish to impart is the true method, not a harvesting technique. If you wish to learn, come see me."
He stayed within Xiuhua Tower and settled down. For the period that followed, he dutifully remained there, focusing intently on cultivation as he attempted to deduce the singular Dao patterns for the Grand Daos of Taiyi, Chaos, Primordial Beginning, Karma, and Slaughter.
It took him three years in total to reduce the Taiyi Dao patterns to fewer than ten. This meant his mastery in these Grand Daos had all reached the Immortal realm; whenever he wished, he could achieve a second attainment, as the others—Chaos, Karma, Slaughter, and Primordial Beginning—had also been deduced to fewer than ten!
However, whether out of distrust or fear of the other shore, Sect Master He Ying never came to see him. With He Ying absent, though Xu Ying lamented the Jing Realm's misfortune, he would not take it upon himself to force them to free themselves from it.
"Sect Master He, the Taiyi Dao Sect has been flourishing splendidly lately!" Peng Wu, the sect master of the Hunyuan Dao Sect, came to pay a visit. Taking in the grandeur of the Taiyi Dao Sect, he could not help but feel profound envy as he said with a laugh, "The Taiyi Dao Sect is even more prosperous than before. A hearty congratulations! Might I ask where your sect acquired so much immortal spiritual energy?"
Sect Master He Ying smiled and replied, "An elder in our sect has attained the Immortal realm, granting us an additional Immortal-grade cave abyss. That is why the spiritual energy is so abundant."
Peng Wu gave an "mm" of acknowledgment and offered repeated congratulations.
Not long after, Peng Wu took his leave and hurried back to the Hunyuan Dao Sect. Burning incense and offering prayers toward the Chaos Cave Abyss, he reported, "Your disciple Peng Wu submits to Dao Lord Hunyuan: Xu Ying is very likely hiding in the Jing Realm's Taiyi Dao Sect! We await Dao Lord's decree!"
After a moment, Dao Lord Hunyuan's voice echoed from within the cave abyss: "Prepare a dharma body to receive my descent!"
Peng Wu assented. He summoned a disciple of the fifth Dao Realm, had him stand beneath the Chaos Cave Abyss, and bowed low. "May Dao Lord descend!"
At that moment, a vast consciousness descended, seizing the disciple's primordial spirit in one fell swoop before taking over his physical body. Stepping forward, he said in a deep voice, "I shall go see for myself whether it truly is Xu Ying!"
Chapter 775