Aloft Mount Jiuyi, two of the most terrifying figures in the world stood tall. One stood before the great hall of the Cangwu Sect, radiating imperial majesty and overbearing might; the other stood by the cliff's edge, serene and plain.
"Zhou Qiyun, it has always been you using and scheming against others. Who would have thought that today, you would be used and plotted against by someone else?"
Emperor Shengshen's aura grew increasingly powerful as he sneered, "Xu Ying used a single deciphered scripture to pin you here, leaving you no choice but to fight a decisive battle with Us. Yet you took the bait with relish, willing to be spun in circles by an inexperienced boy. You have truly disgraced your grand reputation as the White-Browed Patriarch!"
Zhou Qiyun's expression remained tranquil. "Your Majesty was sharp from childhood, harboring ambitions to scale the highest heavens and aspiring to surpass the Great Sages Wenwu and Zhidao, desiring to leave your name in the annals of history for ten thousand generations to revere. You possess extraordinary methods and brilliant wit, and to ascend the imperial throne, you had no choice but to lean on the two great clans of Li and Guo. Yet you sought to curb the regional powers and trim the strength of the prominent clans. Is that not searching for the donkey you are already riding? How could you ever trim them down? How could you manage it?"
The corners of Emperor Shengshen's eyes twitched. Zhou Qiyun's words had struck him right where it hurt most.
Yet Zhou Qiyun did not seize the chance to strike. Instead, he continued, "People call you a sovereign of restoration, but you merely refrained from making reckless messes. As for a true restoration—heh heh, what does that have to do with you? You had the ambition but nowhere to unleash it, the intent but no means to achieve it. You thought it was prominent clans like ours tripping your steps, but in truth, the one tripping you up was yourself. Your Majesty believed this old subject was thwarting you, so you turned to Qi Refinement and elixir alchemy. Yet your talent fell short, leaving your cultivation a chaotic mess and reducing yourself to a state neither human nor ghost."
Emperor Shengshen roared with laughter, his aura fluctuating wildly.
Even so, Zhou Qiyun did not attack. He remained completely composed and leisurely. "Your ambition towers above the heavens. You gathered vast amounts of incense and simultaneously unsealed two great secret depositories—the Jade Capital and the Crimson Palace—harboring the delusion of unlocking nine heavens in both before practicing Qi Refinement. By all rights, your cultivation and strength should far surpass mine, yet you have never surpassed me. Why is that? Your fate is thinner than paper, and your wisdom is deficient."
Emperor Shengshen's aura churned violently.
"Your Majesty claimed Xu Ying spun me in circles, yet from the moment he learned you were on Mount Jiuyi, he set his sights on you. He imparted the Sword Control Formula to the Guo clan, openly flaunted his Qi Refinement methods, and acted with utter brazenness—all just to throw bait before Your Majesty and see when you would bite," Zhou Qiyun said. "He needed a supreme expert to deal with me. The moment Your Majesty sought him out to decipher the Qi Refiner methods, you swallowed his hook. Yet Your Majesty believed yourself clever, thinking you held him in your grasp."
Emperor Shengshen laughed loudly. "Do you honestly think a mere rustic brat could possess such scheming? He dared plot against Us?"
"He catches snakes. A snake catcher must be meticulous, or he will not survive," Zhou Qiyun replied. "I too was a snake catcher. That I have lived from the era of Emperor Zhidao until today is because I, too, am meticulous enough. Your Majesty, I shall head to Wutong Palace now to claim Your Majesty's Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Mysterious Altar Technique."
He no longer looked at Emperor Shengshen, turning instead toward the parasol tree atop the peak of Mount Jiuyi. Unhurriedly, he added, "Your Majesty may venture into the Netherworld to hunt down Xu Ying. But once I obtain Your Majesty's Nine Heavens Yang Spirit and harmonize yin and yang, my cultivation will surge by leaps and bounds, completing the final link to my ascension. By then, in my eyes, Your Majesty will be nothing more than an insect in the palm of my hand."
Emperor Shengshen clenched his fists.
"Right now, my back is entirely turned to you, completely undefended. It is the best opportunity for Your Majesty to strike me down. But the moment Your Majesty acts, you will fall into my trap." Zhou Qiyun continued ascending the mountain, speaking calmly, "Your Majesty's mind has already been shaken by this old subject's words. With an unstable mind, acting rashly against me will only hasten your defeat. Your Majesty, what is your choice?"
Emperor Shengshen's expression turned overcast and turbulent. Seeing Zhou Qiyun on the verge of reaching the mountain summit, he could no longer hold back and pounced toward Zhou Qiyun's back!
The mountain summit suddenly fell silent for a fleeting breath. An instant later, a bizarre wave quietly erupted without a sound, yet distant mountain peaks detonated, sending shattered boulders drifting into the sky.
Massive boulders flew through the air; clearly moving with immense speed, they gave the uncanny impression of slowness, as though they would drift languidly for ages before crashing to the earth.
Then came the second shockwave, sweeping along the ground and surging downward like a tidal wave. It swept through everything in its path, uprooting trees halfway down the mountain and turning them into a rolling torrent of timber!
Numerous Jinwu Guards gathered below were scared out of their wits. Scrambling to flee, some leaped down the cliffs and narrowly escaped, while others were swallowed by the rolling deluge of timber, their fates unknown!
When the third wave rippled outward, all the clouds and mists throughout the mountain range were swept clean away. The sky above the mountains turned unimaginably clear!
The clear sky was crystal, the horizon a deep, pure azure, fathomless like an abyss of heaven.
Only after a long moment did the dull, heavy thuds of colliding divine powers finally echo down from the summit of Mount Jiuyi.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes...
Every sound felt as though it struck straight at the heart, pounding against the soul, shaking the Jinwu Guards and the Guo clan experts alike until they fell prostrate on the ground, dry-heaving violently.
Suddenly, an auspicious cloud drifted down. It was battered and riddled with gaping holes. Beneath it, Emperor Shengshen's robes were in disarray and his complexion looked sickly. He descended swiftly, landing inside the Cangwu Sect's grand hall.
"Where is Eunuch Chen?"
"This servant is here!" Covered in blood, the purple-robed Eunuch Chen rushed frantically into the Cangwu Sect hall, trembling with shock and dread.
"Prepare the carriage at once! We return to the capital!"
"This servant obeys!"
Moments later, the imperial carriage set out, escorted on all sides by Jinwu Guards and Guo clan experts. The heavy curtains of the Emperor's palanquin were drawn tightly shut, leaving not a sliver of space. Inside the carriage, Emperor Shengshen coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood, his aura completely withered.
At the summit of Mount Jiuyi, atop the parasol tree, a white-browed youth pushed open the doors of Wutong Palace. Finding the scripture scroll left behind by Xu Ying, he sat down quietly.
He skimmed through it roughly. It was indeed the complete Nine Heavens Yang Spirit Mysterious Altar Technique, and at critical junctures, Xu Ying had even made notes in red ink pointing out how these passages resolved the flaws in Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture.
Zhou Qiyun studied the text carefully, finding that it truly mended the deficiencies of the Immortal Scripture.
"Wishing the White-Browed Patriarch robust health and success in his tribulation transcendence," Xu Ying had written on the final page.
"This fellow..."
A slight smile appeared on Zhou Qiyun's face. Starting from the beginning, he thought, 'For the sake of these words, I will give him a bit more time to run.'
This time, he read with exquisite care, comprehending each phrase bit by bit. By the time he finished reading the scripture, the next day had already arrived.
"If I go after him now, I suppose I won't be able to find him, will I?"
Zhou Qiyun straightened his posture. Hearing clamor rising from below, he walked over to the window of Wutong Palace and pushed open the lattice. Thousands of Nuo masters from the Zhou clan had already arrived at the foot of the mountain.
These Nuo masters were transporting various materials and treasures, preparing to construct an altar to worship heaven at the summit.
This would be the place where he, Zhou Qiyun, would transcend his tribulation!
'Where could the other snake catcher have fled to?' Zhou Qiyun wondered silently as he looked down at the busy figures below.
"Lord Qi, Lord Bell, Brother Yuan wants to introduce his sister to me. Brother Yuan is so handsome, so his sister definitely won't be bad."
Xu Ying was in high spirits. "Perhaps I can even save on the betrothal gift."
The giant snake Yuan Qi had revealed his true form, carrying the youth as he glided through the mountains toward their next destination. He chuckled, "Guo Xiaodie is pretty enough, yet doesn't she have an older sister who weighs two hundred jin? If she were truly pretty, would it ever be your turn? Ah Ying, I think you should prepare for either outcome."
The bronze bell hovered in the air, circling around Xu Ying as it chimed in, "Yuan Weiyang is fifteen, a year older than Ah Ying. His sister is either the same age as Ah Ying or even younger—a scrawny yellow-haired slip of a girl. Even if she looks decent, she's still just a little girl. Besides, the Yuan clan is a prominent aristocratic house; their betrothal demands will only be steeper."
Xu Ying thought it over and asked, "What if I don't give a betrothal gift and just abduct his sister?"
"Yuan Weiyang will kill you!"
Xu Ying burst into laughter. Standing between the serpent's black-and-white horns, he looked out across the boundless mountain ranges of the new territory and called out, "Let's go! We're off to find our hometown!"
"Ah Ying, can we really find Xujiaping?"
"We definitely will!"
Having cultivated the True Cultivation of the Ba Snake, Yuan Qi's body had grown increasingly massive, and his slithering speed across mountains and rivers was far faster than an ordinary Nuo master sprinting at full power.
Carrying Xu Ying, he searched the way. From time to time, Xu Ying would fly into the sky on his sword to survey the terrain, searching for familiar landmarks.
Traveling and stopping like this, having covered an unknown distance and searched through countless mountains and valleys, he still failed to locate the place from his memories.
The mountains and rivers of the new territory were vastly different from before, and many terrifying creatures roamed the wilderness. When night fell, the Netherworld invaded, turning the mortal realm into a bizarre, grotesque expanse.
Xu Ying even sensed deities of the Nether Court shadowing them from behind, monitoring his movements.
"Ah Ying, the Nether Court hasn't given up on capturing you," the bronze bell said worriedly. "When Zhou Qiyun was around, they didn't dare make a move. Now that he isn't here, I'm afraid the Nether Court will assemble City Gods and judges to hunt you down once more."
After more than ten days had passed, they spotted a county town standing in the midst of the new territory, remarkably undamaged by the Netherworld's incursions. Drawing closer, they discovered it was Qiyang County, a rare paradise still remaining in the mortal realm.
Qiyang County had been completely cut off from the outside world. When the residents saw Xu Ying, they were astonished and came out in droves to watch him.
At a roadside stall, Xu Ying devoured several large bowls of rice noodles, sweating profusely from the spice while shouting with delight. On Mount Jiuyi, he had eaten meals prepared by the imperial kitchen every day and had long grown sick of them; tasting local Yongzhou rice noodles again made him feel truly back in the mortal world.
"Lord Bell, Lord Qi, when I was in the air just now, I saw familiar mountains and rivers east of Qiyang," Xu Ying said excitedly after paying for his meal. "Let's head east of the county town to check it out in a bit."
Leaving Qiyang County and heading east, the bronze bell and Yuan Qi looked out over the strange, towering peaks and roaring rivers, both filled with doubt.
"Lord Qi, your ancestors lived in Yongzhou for three hundred years. Have you ever seen these ancient peaks east of Qiyang?" the bronze bell whispered.
Yuan Qi shook his head. "Apart from the county town being Qiyang, nowhere else around here is Qiyang at all!"
The bronze bell remarked, "Then that's bizarre. Ah Ying says this looks just like what he remembers, yet this is the new territory! Is the Xujiaping in Ah Ying's memories really Xujiaping?"
Yuan Qi could not help but feel anxious as well.
Yet Xu Ying was thrilled, continually pointing at nearby peaks and mighty rivers, declaring that they matched his memories perfectly.
"What if the Xujiaping in his memories isn't the one from seven years ago?" the bronze bell asked quietly. "What if it's the Xujiaping from twenty years ago?"
"Here, right here!" Xu Ying cried excitedly. "I remember this place! There's a village just ahead, with a small river at the village entrance, and right across the river is our Xujiaping!"
He leaped down from Yuan Qi's head and strode forward quickly.
Yuan Qi hurriedly shrank down into a tiny snake and hopped onto Xu Ying's shoulder, while the bronze bell hurried after them, slipping into the back of Xu Ying's head.
Ahead, there was indeed a small river, as well as a village. It was modest, rustic, and weathered, consisting of low houses with curls of cooking smoke rising above them.
Incredibly, people still lived here, lighting fires and preparing meals.
They were likely local residents of the Qiyang area who had been cut off by the emergence of the new territory, losing all contact with the outside world.
Xu Ying walked swiftly up to the river and gazed across to the other side. There, only a desolate wasteland stretched out—nothing remained, and there were no traces of any past blaze.
Several elderly men were sitting under a tree at the village entrance to enjoy the shade. Gathering his composure, Xu Ying stepped forward and asked, "Elders, may I ask if there used to be a village across the river called Xujiaping?"
"Xujiaping?"
Hearing the name, the old men shook their heads one after another. "There has never been a place called Xujiaping around here."
Xu Ying shook his head, feeling a wave of dizziness.
No such place?
"Indeed, our families have lived around here for generations, and we've never heard of Xujiaping. Young man, who are you?"
"Who am I?"
A roar echoed through Xu Ying's mind as countless fragmented memories surged in. He murmured, "Who am I? That's right... who in the world am I...?"
"I've seen you before!"
One elderly man, his eyes dim with age, peered repeatedly at Xu Ying's face. Finally seeing him clearly, he gasped in terror, "I saw you when I was a child! You looked just like this! That's right, it was you!"
He grew so agitated he nearly fainted, crying out, "Ghosts, it's a ghost! I saw you when I was barely ten years old, and now I'm seventy-six, yet you haven't changed at all!"
Chapter 80