A Dead Xu Ying Is the Best Xu Ying

Sect Master He Ying noticed her and was just about to step forward to ask questions when the woman suddenly vanished without a trace. He Ying stood in bewildered suspicion, rushing forward to look, but how could there be any trace of the woman left? "That woman emerged from the Taiyi Cave Abyss. Could she be someone from the other shore? But why didn't anyone from the other shore notify me that someone was coming?" Confusion filled her heart. If this woman belonged to Grand Dao Lord Taiyi, he surely would have sent word before her arrival. If she wasn't one of Taiyi's people, then how could she have taken the path through the Taiyi Cave Abyss? A channel between two Taiyi Cave Abysses across two universes could never connect to any other cave abyss passage. That this woman had stepped out of the Taiyi Cave Abyss meant she had unquestionably entered the passage from Taiyi's own cave abyss. "This is too strange…" *** Meanwhile, Xu Ying arrived at an ancient mountain range. As he surveyed his surroundings, his mind stirred. He sensed that upon his Karma Golden Wheel, an unusually thick thread of karma had suddenly manifested. Ordinary people could not perceive karma threads, but to an existence like him, whose cultivation in the Grand Dao of Karma had reached the Immortal realm, every single thread stood out with crystalline clarity! "This karmic bond is quite heavy. It must be an external entanglement—an Immortal from the other shore has likely tracked me here." Xu Ying felt not the slightest surprise. He had long anticipated that powerful experts from the other shore would pursue him to this place. He murmured, "In that case, I'll follow this karma thread to see… just what sacred existence has come!" Just as he was about to extend his divine consciousness along the karma thread to investigate, another karma thread suddenly appeared upon the Karma Golden Wheel! This thread arrived completely out of the blue, twining itself around the Karma Golden Wheel, and it actually caused his attainment in karma to make a substantial leap! Xu Ying's heart jolted with solemn awe. His mastery of karma had already reached the Immortal realm. At this level, virtually no ordinary karmic bond could produce a palpable increase in his cultivation. Even when he helped Dao Lord Tongtian restore his slaughter Dao, offending Dao Lord Hua in the process and incurring considerable karma, Xu Ying had not felt much of a leap in his comprehension of the Grand Dao of Karma! This sudden karma thread was bound to be of extraordinary significance! His palm lightly brushed against the thread, and he hesitated. *If I follow this karma thread to investigate, I'm afraid the other party's background might be someone I cannot afford to provoke.* He shook his head, lowered his palm to the other karma thread, and sent his divine consciousness tracing along its path. *** At the frontier of the Jing Realm universe, atop the other shore shala tree, Daoist Taihua stepped down from the emerald rock multi-decked vessel. "So this Xu Ying came here to hide. Those True Kings and Dao Lords were blinded by their own arrogance, actually scheming to descend through sacrifices, completely oblivious to the fact that Xu Ying is utterly lawless and would never grant them a fair fight." He chuckled, his white hair swaying. "Serves them right to be trapped in the gelatinous substance—it only works to my advantage!" Behind him, the two scouts guarding the emerald rock vessel called out, "Lord Taihua, when you reap your rewards, you must not forget our share!" Daoist Taihua nodded and smiled. "Naturally, I won't overlook your benefits… Who's there?!" His expression shifted abruptly as he immediately felt a vast, unfathomable divine consciousness crash down from the depths of the Jing Realm universe. That divine consciousness was unimaginably mighty, freezing the surrounding space-time and even disturbing the Chaos Sea, stirring abrupt swells across its expanse. In the next instant, an enormous face surfaced upon the Chaos Sea, even more colossal than the shala tree, emerging from the waters draped in billowing currents of chaos qi! That face looked down, gazing at Daoist Taihua below as if looking at a mere ant! One of the scouts was also an eighth-fold Dao Scenery expert, yet under the sheer pressure of this face, he found it impossible to draw breath. His heart seized, and his mind went completely blank. The face opened its mouth, issuing a deafening Dao sound: "Old man, are you the one hunting me? I wonder if you have the means to pull it off?" Xu Ying's giant face laughed aloud. "Taihua, I can pass the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture to you. Come find me!" The massive face suddenly burst apart, and the chaos qi scattered in all directions, sinking back into the Chaos Sea. Xu Ying's divine consciousness shot out from the shattered face, speeding straight toward the location of his true body. Daoist Taihua's eyes gleamed with greed, and he promptly gave chase at top speed. *** Back in the ancient mountain range, having lured Daoist Taihua over, Xu Ying continued exploring the terrain. "It should be right here!" He searched for a long while. Seeing that this ancient mountain chain was utterly desolate, devoid of birds, beasts, or any spark of life, he raised a hand into the empty air. Immediately, vast tracts of earth around the mountains trembled, rising into the air like enormous feathers floating toward the sky. Beneath the surface were still mountains, but their stone was pitch-black, and around them lay an overwhelmingly thick blanket of Dao ash. With a thought from Xu Ying, countless layers of Dao ash rose into the air. The mountain bodies buried underneath were even more gigantic; what had been exposed on the surface was at most a hundredth of their true scale. The sections drowned under the Dao ash plunged nearly a thousand li deep. This mountain was grander even than Mount Sumeru. Once Xu Ying cleared away the surrounding Dao ash, the sheer magnificence of the peak was revealed. Xu Ying floated forward, drifting between the peaks. There were still traces left behind by the past: ancient cities of distinct exotic character perched upon the mountain, built upon a civilization completely different from the coarse style of the other shore. The architectural styles, the decorative patterns on the walls, the structural layouts, and the winding flow of the streets all showcased the distinct allure of a mature, separate civilization. Xu Ying drifted along these ancient mountain cities, surveying the surroundings. In the primeval era of the Jing Realm universe, they had built a remarkably glorious and powerful civilization here. Of this civilization, none of the former prosperity remained visible today; only these cities submerged beneath Dao ash were left behind. Here, the skeletons of the ancient people had long since petrified into stone, yet they still preserved their myriad postures from the moments of their deaths. The bones were far too numerous to count. Among them were many powerful practitioners who, in their final moments, had used their own Grand Daos to hold open a patch of world amidst the Dao ash. Even now, the fossils retained the Dao traces they had etched behind. Xu Ying examined these Dao traces. They differed from the Dao patterns of the Three Realms, the Yuan Realm, the Spirit Realm, and the Celestial Realm; this was an entirely novel architecture of Grand Daos. Even though those who had mastered this Grand Dao architecture were long dead, one could still reconstruct some of the Dao patterns from these fossils. Xu Ying took flight again, circling the mountain. At that moment, a figure flitted across his field of vision. Xu Ying paused, startled. *That seems to be the woman I encountered in the gelatinous substance! She managed to get out too?* Back then, when Xu Ying saw her trapped, he had walked right past her without the slightest intention of lending a helping hand. Yet by his estimation, it should have taken her at least a century or more to step out of that gelatinous zone. The woman vanished in a flash, leaving no trace, so Xu Ying did not pursue her. After searching for a long while, he finally found what he was looking for and was just about to walk forward. Suddenly, Daoist Taihua's voice rang out: "Xu Ying, I have arrived. Why haven't you shown yourself?" Xu Ying tilted his head upward, retracted his divine consciousness, and smiled. "Taihua, I am right here." Daoist Taihua came whistling through the air, landing before him. He looked around in astonishment. "Xu Ying, what did you do in the past? This place is so concealed, yet you managed to find it—and dug so deep!" He inspected the surroundings. A thousand li into the earth had been excavated clean by Xu Ying, leaving him marveling in wonder. Xu Ying chuckled. "In the past, because my cultivation was low, people were constantly harvesting me like leeks. So I engaged in humble work, digging up graves and unearthing tombs everywhere to explore primeval relics." "So that's how it is." Daoist Taihua laughed boisterously. "Grave-robbing is grave-robbing; why dress it up in such refined words? Very well, now that I am here, hand over the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture!" Xu Ying replied, "No rush. I am looking for the key that triggered the cataclysm here, and I've already found it. Let's take a look first. You can rest assured—to me, the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture isn't especially precious. Since I promised to pass it to you, I won't go back on my word." Daoist Taihua kept pace beside him, smiling. "Even if you break your word, it matters not. I have my own methods to make you speak." Xu Ying smiled faintly and came to the foot of that magnificent sacred mountain. There, a sloping tunnel carved through the rock, forming a diagonal line that completely pierced the sacred mountain. Xu Ying followed the direction of the diagonal passage. After a moment, he located an Emerald Rock submerged under Dao ash. "Is this what you were looking for?" Daoist Taihua laughed in disbelief. "You went through all this trouble just to find this thing?" Xu Ying nodded gently. "Long ago, Emerald Rocks also plummeted from the sky to strike my Three Realms. One landed in the Heavenly Immortal Realm, causing the extinction of the dragon race and the destruction of the Dragon Court. "Another landed in the Earth Immortal Realm, shattering it into pieces and fracturing it into the all heavens and myriad realms. "Yet another landed in the Mortal Realm, plunging it into darkness and turning countless living beings into piles of bleached bones. "So I wondered if the same had happened to the Jing Realm. And thus, I came searching." Daoist Taihua's eyes brightened, and he laughed. "The whereabouts of the Three Realms remains an enigma to this day. Dao Lord Tongtian certainly will not disclose the location of the Three Realms, nor does anyone dare force him to confess. Rebels like Imperial Void will naturally never volunteer it either. You also hail from the Three Realms, so you know their location." Xu Ying continued speaking to himself, "Before I came to the Jing Realm, I kept wondering: the people of the Jing Realm suffered such a catastrophe, and their ancestors perished in countless numbers. "Their civilization was obliterated, and even now they are enslaved and plundered. Yet why do they not dare resist? Have they forgotten that slaughter?" Daoist Taihua asked, "So you wanted to dig up the evidence of that slaughter and lay it before their eyes to make them rebel against the other shore?" Xu Ying nodded in all seriousness. Daoist Taihua sneered, "The rumors outside are indeed true—Grand Dao Lord Taiyi's entire faction is full of rebels! Do they dare resist? If they dare resist, they will face total annihilation in the very next breath!" Xu Ying looked at Taihua. "However, I offered to teach them how to cultivate cave abysses so that they wouldn't need to summon cave abysses or cultivate the other shore's techniques that carry backdoors. I could even help them wipe out the cave abysses they summoned, and chop down the shala tree to sever the link between the other shore and the Jing Realm. That way, the other shore wouldn't be able to find the Jing Realm." Daoist Taihua's killing intent flared, and he barked, "You truly are a rebel!" Xu Ying said, perplexed, "Yet why do they still dare not resist? Why do they not even dare learn the methods to cultivate their own cave abysses? It is as though they have forgotten the hatred of racial annihilation, forgotten the hatred of their civilization's extinction, forgotten that they are being enslaved, and forgotten that their universe is marching toward death. They cultivate the other shore's flawed techniques, speak the other shore's language, and willingly submit to being harvested. Why is this?" Daoist Taihua snapped impatiently, "Because the civilization of the other shore is superior, the techniques of the other shore are mightier, and the bloodline of the other shore is nobler! Xu Ying, are you done talking? Hurry and hand over the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture!" Xu Ying asked, "Taihua, are you of the pure sacred race of the other shore, or did you come from another universe?" Daoist Taihua bristled with vigilance. "What nonsense are you babbling? Let me tell you: no matter which universe you hail from, no matter how lowly or humble your former race was, once you reach the other shore, you are of the sacred race, of pure blood!" Xu Ying said, "I am not questioning your lineage. I only wish to ask: the other shore extinguished your universe's civilization and slaughtered countless of your ancestors. Do you truly feel not a shred of hatred toward the other shore?" Daoist Taihua sneered, "I am of the sacred race of the other shore." Xu Ying pondered this for a moment. He finally understood, yet at the same time found it even more incomprehensible. However, he had no desire to press the matter further. "Since I promised you, I will not break my word." He retrieved a stone slab upon which he had long since carved the Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture. Both surprised and delighted, Daoist Taihua rushed to the slab and read the scripture carved upon it, instantly captivated by its profound and wondrous text. Though this scripture had been created by Dao Lord Xuanhuang of the Celestial Realm, the civilization of the other shore descended directly from the Celestial Realm's civilization. Sharing the same lineage, he experienced no obstacles in comprehending it. As Taihua read on, murderous intent stirred in his heart, and he sighed with emotion. "The Xuanhuang Dao Realm Scripture is truly worthy of being a Dao Lord-level technique—so unfathomably profound! Now that I possess this scripture, my cultivation and strength will surely make immense strides. But what a pity that this technique cannot belong to me alone." Hearing this, Xu Ying smiled. "I know this technique, and Taiyi knows it as well." A sinister glint surfaced in Daoist Taihua's eyes. "Indeed. But Taiyi would never leak this scripture, whereas you might spread it far and wide." Xu Ying asked, "And so?" Daoist Taihua smiled faintly. "And so, only a dead Xu Ying is the best Xu Ying!" As he spoke, he pushed his Taihua Dao to its utmost limit. Behind him fell an expanse of total darkness, within which multiple cave abysses rotated, instantly supplying him with peerless, unmatchable magic power! Daoist Taihua stepped forward and shouted, "Xu Ying, do not resist me, and you may die a swifter death!" His Dao matched his form; his every gesture embodied Dao arts and divine powers. The moment Daoist Taihua raised his hand, the firmament tilted, the starry sky slumped sideways, and Immortal Dao power erupted! Xu Ying flipped his palm and unleashed the Chaos All-Heaven Hand. In an instant, space-time dissolved into chaos and the Grand Daos turned vast and indistinct; the Taihua Dao was suppressed in a flash, its might severely diminished! The two clashed in a single collision. Daoist Taihua grunted in pain and drifted backward. Xu Ying bowed from the waist, and immediately the Firmament of Divine Powers took shape—ten thousand divine powers coalesced into one, blasting forward! Daoist Taihua met the strike head-on, driving the various cave abysses before him to their absolute limits, yet Emperor Haotian's supreme art still blasted his physical body to pieces! "Not good!" Seeing that disaster had struck, his primordial spirit had already flown out from his body, plunging toward one of the cave abysses in the darkness behind him to flee into another universe. As long as he escaped into another universe and possessed one of his disciples there, he could still make a comeback! However, just as he flew into one of the cave abysses, Xu Ying spun around and summoned the big bell, slamming his palm against its bronze wall. The big bell accelerated drastically, hurtling straight toward Taihua's bursting physical body and tearing through the mist of blood! *Claaang—!* The bell tolled, and a chaotic Dao chime reverberated, slamming squarely into his primordial spirit. Daoist Taihua's primordial spirit plummeted at breakneck speed. By the time it crossed the gelatinous zone and tumbled into the other universe, it burst with a loud bang, dissolving into a puff of chaos qi.