Ascension Day

Streams of Primordial Qi flowed through the air, streaking across the vast sky like colorful rainbows. Suspended high above, his heart and lungs resembled inverted mountains. The Five Qi cascaded down from them like waterfalls, fluttering down to converge and form Primordial Qi.

The Primordial Qi billowed like steam. When it met with thunder, it transformed into rain. At other times, it would gather into a mass, becoming a scorching sun that traveled between the mountains and rivers, illuminating his Five Viscera.

Xu Ying felt his mind expand with blissful tranquility. His Divine Sense rode the streams of Primordial Qi, roaming through his inner heaven and earth as he used the energy to heal his internal injuries.

Within the clouds, bolt after bolt of lightning was incredibly clear and dazzling. He could even see every detail of the flashes, brimming with sharp, formidable power!

’Da Zhong said I only focused on Qi Collection and knew nothing of Inner Observation and Contemplation. Now that I’ve learned Inner Observation, what exactly is Contemplation?’ Xu Ying wondered.

To save his life, Da Zhong had fought against the City God and Zhou Yihang, exhausting the last of its power. It was still dormant, and Xu Ying was unable to contact it. As for what Contemplation was, he naturally had no way of knowing.

Xu Ying roamed the Mysterious Domain for a long time. Suddenly, illuminated by the flashes of light from the lightning Body Tempering, he noticed many dark regions within his body that he had never seen before!

’What are those places?’

By the light of the lightning, he vaguely saw a majestic mountain range in the darkness. It undulated like a great dragon, its origin a mystery. When he followed the range with his eyes, using the flashes of lightning for light, he saw that it seemed to descend from the sky above!

Xu Ying was filled with shock and doubt. Then he saw a torrential river surging forth, seemingly from the horizon, threatening to drown the mountains!

Next to that mountain range, there seemed to be an inverted Celestial River!

The light from the lightning vanished in a flash, and the giant mountain range and the surging Long River disappeared into the darkness once more.

Xu Ying steadied his mind. The lightning within his body flared again. Amidst the flashes and rumbles, he vaguely saw a monumental gate standing between the mountain range and the great river. It spanned the space between heaven and earth, severing the mountains from the Celestial River!

In the lightning’s glow, the gate shone with the luster of black iron!

After the lightning passed, the gate with the black iron luster vanished back into the darkness.

’That gate...’

Xu Ying’s Heart Spirit was violently shaken. His Divine Sense took flight, attempting to get a closer look. But just as he reached the edge of the darkness, his ’vision’ suddenly blurred, and his Divine Sense showed signs of disintegrating.

He hesitated for a moment before pressing forward again. His Divine Sense grew dazed and unstable, then suddenly collapsed and disintegrated.

Xu Ying awoke from his Inner Observation. Just as he was about to get up, the world suddenly spun around him. With a THUD, he collapsed to the ground and passed out.

While unconscious, Xu Ying felt as if his head were splitting open. His mind was muddled and groggy, plagued by one terrifying nightmare after another. The dreams were incredibly bizarre and horrific, like an invasion of a Heart Demon.

By the time he gradually regained consciousness, he couldn’t remember a single dream.

Xu Ying slowly opened his eyes, an excruciating pain still throbbing inside his head. It felt as if an axe had been lodged in the left side of his skull and never pulled out.

His vision gradually cleared, revealing the faces of Snake Demon Yuan Qi and Xiong Qianli. The two Great Demons were watching him with concern. Seeing that he was awake, they both sighed in relief.

"You suddenly passed out! You scared us to death!" Snake Demon Yuan Qi exclaimed.

Seeing Xu Ying’s confusion, he quickly explained, "While you were unconscious, Qianli and I had a great chat and became sworn brothers. I’m the elder brother."

"And I’m the younger!" Xiong Qianli added excitedly. "We discovered we have so much in common, if we didn’t become sworn brothers, our only other option was to get married!"

That night, once the Bear Demon and Snake Demon started talking about Xu Ying, they found they had endless things to say.

Xu Ying shook his head, then patted it forcefully, but the migraine persisted. The two Great Demons looked concerned, yet their eyes held a hint of morbid anticipation, as if they were afraid he might pat his own head hard enough to make it explode.

After a moment, Xu Ying felt a little better. He stared into space for a while, then said in a hoarse voice, "Just now, in the Mysterious Domain, I think I saw the Profound Gate leading from the Qi Collection Stage to the next Realm."

Snake Demon Yuan Qi froze, and Bear Demon Xiong Qianli’s body shuddered.

The two demons exchanged a look. Yuan Qi’s voice trembled as he asked, "Ying, what did you just say?"

Xu Ying thought for a moment, certain he hadn’t been mistaken. "I practice the Taiyi Guiding Skill," he said, "and I’ve long felt my Cultivation had reached its peak. My Qi Blood had the momentum to break through, but there was no gate to assail, no path forward. But just now, during my Inner Observation, I saw it—the Profound Gate. It’s a pitch-black gateway, hidden in the darkness! I have a feeling that if I can just break through it, a whole new world will open up!"

Snake Demon Yuan Qi was overcome with excitement. In a trembling voice, he asked, "You really saw the Profound Gate? There’s really a path beyond it?"

Xiong Qianli couldn’t suppress his excitement either. He stared at Xu Ying with wide eyes, awaiting his answer.

Xu Ying nodded emphatically. "There’s absolutely a path!"

Yuan Qi stood frozen as if he were made of wood. Suddenly, tears streamed down his face as he murmured, "There really is a path... There really is a path... HAHAHA! This is wonderful! There’s really a path! Ying, you’re the great hero of the Demon Race!"

He was ecstatic, overcome with emotion, and cheered endlessly.

Tears of joy welled up in Xiong Qianli’s eyes. He hugged the Snake Demon, jumping up and down and laughing uncontrollably.

For the Demon Race, their Cultivation path ended at the Qi Collection Stage. The highest they could reach was the level of a Demon King, with no way to advance further. Essentially, any Great Demon who reached the peak of the Qi Collection Stage would feel their Qi Blood surging, ready to break through a barrier, but there was no barrier to be found. It was impossible for them to enter the next Realm!

If Xu Ying had truly found the gateway to the next Realm, it would be an earth-shattering cause for celebration for the entire Demon Race!

"The Demon Race will rise!" Xiong Qianli yelled, clenching his fist and raising it high.

"Overthrow the tyranny of the Human Race!" Snake Demon Yuan Qi shrieked, delirious with excitement.

The two demons looked at each other and declared in unison, "The Divine Land may belong to the Human Race now, but it will ultimately be ours!"

Xu Ying sat up, not joining in the two demons’ frenzied celebration. He murmured, "But don’t you find it strange? Neither of you has managed to achieve Inner Observation or enter the Mysterious Domain, yet I, a human, accomplished it first. Could this mean that the so-called Demon Clan Technique might not actually be from the Demon Race?"

He recalled Da Zhong saying that Demon Techniques were actually Qi Refining Skills. "I think," he said, "that Demon Techniques might not be for demons at all. Perhaps they’re Cultivation Techniques of the Human Race, the skills practiced by human Qi Refiners. But for some reason, they were lost..."

"Why must they be human Qi Refiners? Why can’t there be demon Qi Refiners?"

Bear Demon Xiong Qianli threw an arm around his shoulder and said excitedly, "Brother Qi and I discussed it all night and came to an important conclusion. You must be a demon that just looks like a human! A rare, humanoid variant among our kind!"

Snake Demon Yuan Qi sidled up on his other side, draping an arm over his other shoulder. He chuckled, "Ying, you’ll show your true form sooner or later!"

——The lockdown in Suzhou has been going on for four months. Being cooped up this long, I (Zhai Zhu) am starting to worry about my mental health; I feel like I’m not in a good place. For the past few days, I’ve had this constant urge to escape Suzhou. But I can’t. The city’s sealed again. My wife went out to buy groceries, and the shelves were already empty, except for the old-school pickled cabbage instant noodles, which are still going strong.