Ascension Day

As if by some strange impulse, he puffed up his cheeks and blew another breath at the maple leaf in the basin. Sure enough, a fierce wind kicked up again, propelling the large maple leaf on the Naihe River. It shot upstream against the current, racing back the way it had come with lightning speed!

Xu Ying exclaimed in amazement, "I never imagined such Magic existed in the world. It’s truly miraculous!"

Da Zhong flew out from behind his head and said disdainfully, "It’s just folding space. Nothing worth mentioning."

Xu Ying reached out a finger, about to poke the leaf in the basin. Da Zhong said frantically, "Ying, don’t mess around!"

Suddenly, thunder boomed in the sky above them. Xu Ying looked up to see the heavens crack open. An incomparably massive finger, wreathed in roiling Thunder Fire from grinding against the air, descended from beyond the sky, pressing down toward the Maple Leaf Boat!

Xu Ying quickly froze his finger, and the giant finger from beyond the heavens also stopped in its tracks.

Xu Ying retracted his finger, and the pillar-like finger that held up the sky also retreated back beyond the heavens, eventually vanishing from sight.

Xu Ying broke out in a cold sweat.

Da Zhong heaved a sigh of relief. "Spatial Magic isn’t something to be played with carelessly. Be careful, or you’ll get yourself killed. Just behave!"

Xu Ying sat obediently before the basin of water. Whenever the Maple Leaf Boat slowed down, he would blow a breath of air to speed it up.

However, with his youthful mindset, he couldn’t resist quietly extending a finger into the basin. The finger from beyond the heavens reappeared, probing into the Azure Vault of Heaven.

"My finger... it’s huge!" Xu Ying exclaimed in awe.

He adjusted its position, making the celestial finger avoid the river’s surface as he leisurely admired his own massive digit. Suddenly, with a thunderous BOOM, the finger collided with a mountaintop. Xu Ying’s own finger throbbed with pain, and he hastily pulled it back, only to see the tip was scraped and bleeding.

Meanwhile, on the left bank of the Naihe River, a mountaintop exploded, sending shattered rocks flying for dozens of miles.

Xu Ying was startled and didn’t dare to play around anymore.

Seeing him get his comeuppance, Da Zhong couldn’t help but roar with laughter, its body ringing with CLANGS.

The Maple Leaf Boat traveled east for over a thousand miles, arriving in a desolate land of steep mountains and turbulent waters. The boat reached a bend in the Naihe River where the current slowed. Suddenly, a bright light appeared up ahead. It was a painted pleasure boat, brightly lit, sailing upon the Naihe River.

At the river bend, the water was as wide as an ocean. A massive moon hung over West Mountain, making the mountain peaks seem small in comparison.

’The scenery of the Underworld has a unique kind of beauty,’ Xu Ying praised inwardly.

"Ying, not just any boat can sail on the Naihe River."

Da Zhong whispered, "I’m afraid this pleasure boat bodes ill."

Suddenly, a voice came from the pleasure boat, "Nai Yue, the wind on the river is getting strong. Hang up the Windproof Lantern."

A woman’s voice replied, "Yes, Young Master Xiang."

Xu Ying looked over and saw a woman with a graceful figure walk out from the boat, lantern in hand. She stood on her tiptoes to hang the lantern under the eaves.

As soon as the lantern was hung, the strong wind suddenly died down. The Maple Leaf Boat slowly came to a halt, drifting on the water’s surface.

Xu Ying raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Just then, the so-called "Young Master Xiang" walked out of the pleasure boat. He looked at Xu Ying from afar and said in surprise, "The being from Zu Du Country who flogged the Plague God and drove him back to the Heavenly Dao World is just some young brat."

Another pleasure boat sailed over. A beautiful woman on board burst out laughing. "Young Master Xiang, he’s completely at a loss just because your Windproof Lantern stopped the wind. He’s clearly a novice. You went to all this trouble and even asked me to help just to deal with a junior like this?"

Xu Ying’s heart sank. ’This is bad! It seems there’s more than one person behind the Plague God’s descent. Someone lured the girl in the coffin away, while others are here to block me on the river.’

Xu Ying coughed, plucking up his courage. "Who are you people? How dare you block my path? What audacity! How do you compare to that Plague God?"

The beautiful woman and Young Master Xiang exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Xu Ying said coldly, "I could beat the Plague God, so you think I can’t beat you? Scram now, and I won’t lower myself to dealing with you two juniors."

The beautiful woman giggled. "This little brat is still trying to act tough in front of us. We can see the level of your Cultivation at a glance. Young Master Xiang, will you be the one to deal with him, or shall I?"

Young Master Xiang held a folding fan, which he snapped open with a flourish. Fanning it gently, he looked suave and dashing as he smiled. "Thirteenth Lady, capturing the one who sent the Plague God packing is a great merit. I’ll let you have this honor."

The beautiful woman looked at Xu Ying, and a thought suddenly crossed her mind. ’In past years, I’ve always taken handsome, fair-skinned young men. I’ve never tasted a dark-skinned one before...’

Xu Ying was both shocked and furious. ’She wants to eat me!’

The beautiful woman giggled, and suddenly two streams of Red Silk flew from her boat. They danced over the river’s surface and abruptly transformed into two red dragons, their heads as large as small mountains, their ferocious auras blotting out the sky!

The lead red dragon let out a roar that echoed through the mountains and lunged toward the Maple Leaf Boat.

Without a second thought, Xu Ying pressed a finger into the Copper Basin before him. Instantly, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the sky. A massive, flesh-colored pillar wreathed in roiling Thunder Fire descended from the heavens. It pressed down on the red dragon as if squashing an earthworm, forcing it from the surface all the way to the bottom of the Naihe River!

The water’s surface exploded, creating towering waves that tossed both pleasure boats and the Maple Leaf Boat into the air.

Young Master Xiang and the beautiful woman paled in shock. They scrambled to steady themselves as the beautiful woman screamed, "He was pretending to be weak! He’s a treacherous bastard, and we underestimated him!"

Xu Ying curled his middle finger and thumb together, then flicked.

In the sky, a giant thumb descended and pressed against a middle finger. The middle finger flicked forward. The other red dragon spewed blood as it was sent flying by the flick, crashing into a nearby mountain in the Underworld. Its Five Viscera ruptured and its bones shattered; it was clearly not going to survive.

As for the red dragon he had pinned to the riverbed, its internal organs were completely crushed. Its flesh was corroded away by the Naihe River, leaving only a pile of dry bones.

Xu Ying was both surprised and delighted. ’This Copper Basin has this kind of power, too?’

The beautiful woman was both shocked and enraged. With a sharp cry, layers of Grotto Heavens materialized behind her—large Grotto Heavens encompassing smaller ones. Beyond them, the Abnormal Phenomenon of a Long River appeared, and the rhythm of the Dao boomed!

Just as she was about to strike, Xu Ying quickly placed his hand in the Copper Basin and flicked his finger again. The giant middle finger instantly broke through her layers of Nuwa Divine Power. All of her Nuwa Divine Powers were annihilated as the incomparably thick finger flicked directly onto the beautiful woman.

Her pleasure boat exploded. The woman was sent flying, coughing up blood with her hair in disarray. She flew back several miles before crashing violently into a large mountain.

Meanwhile, Young Master Xiang was just about to brandish his fan and attack when he suddenly felt a shadow fall over him as if dark clouds were gathering overhead. He hastily looked up, his eyes nearly splitting at their corners in shock.

He saw a sky-blotting hand, wreathed in endless flames, descending from the heavens right toward him!

He couldn’t care about anything else. He immediately soared into the air, treading on the Void as he desperately fled for his life.

The giant hand formed a fist, chased him for a hundred miles or so, and then threw a punch from afar, smashing into his body.

Young Master Xiang plummeted into the wilderness below, his fate unknown.

The beautiful woman blasted apart the rocks burying her with a CRASH and flew up with startling grace. She cried out, "Thirteenth Lady was blind! I have offended you, dark-faced senior! Please forgive me!"

"Dark-faced?"

Xu Ying was unable to contain his rage. He stabbed his index finger into the Copper Basin several times, finally striking the beautiful woman. He hit her so hard her bones broke and tendons snapped, and she fell to the ground, spitting blood.

Behind Xu Ying, Da Zhong was utterly dumbfounded by the sight.

’It seems that over all these years, I’m the only one who hasn’t improved.’

It thought to itself, ’The Demoness was suppressed by me for three thousand years. Her Cultivation didn’t advance, but her Divine Powers are truly earth-shattering. Even if no one had come to her rescue, she would have defeated me and broken free on her own in a few more years!’

It had hung in the Stone Mountain Deserted Temple, slumbering for several thousand years, wasting its time. Meanwhile, the girl in the coffin was still improving. As she grew stronger, it grew weaker. It realized it could no longer comprehend the depths of the girl’s Divine Powers.