Ascension Day

Yuan Qi looked around and said, "That seems to be the direction of the Water Gate Temple."

His body was enormous, and he moved with incredible speed. He called out, "Get on my back, I’ll carry you over!"

Xu Ying tapped his foot lightly and landed on the giant snake’s back. Da Zhong followed close behind Xu Ying, but it was too slow to keep up with the serpent, so it simply burrowed into Xu Ying’s mind.

Zhou Yihang, City God Xue, and the others were currently ascending the mountain when they, too, noticed the world-shaking changes and were stunned.

City God Xue immediately said, "Capturing Xu Ying is secondary. This great sun and this Immortal Mountain are more important! I expect that brat Xu Ying will head over there as well. We might as well capture him there!"

Zhou Yihang looked up and saw the half-acre field of light also in the sky, heading straight down the mountain in the direction of the Water Gate Temple.

"The Water Gate Temple is just a dilapidated temple. How could a sun and an Immortal Mountain emerge from there?"

He was bewildered, but he immediately changed direction and rushed ahead toward the Water Gate Temple. He thought, ’Xu Ying is heading there too. I’ll get there first and wait for him to walk right into my trap!’

The Water Gate Temple was originally at the foot of Wu Wang Mountain. But since the Underworld invasion began, the earth had been constantly shaking, and the distance between the two locations had grown larger and larger. Now, the Water Gate Temple was more than three miles away.

Yuan Qi carried Xu Ying forward, his speed not much slower than Xu Ying’s full-out sprint. Many wild beasts and Great Demons were fleeing in their direction; only the two of them were going against the tide.

From the sky, a rock the size of a small building plummeted down. Yuan Qi hastily dodged it as the rock smashed into the ground, gouging out a huge crater!

Xu Ying was also startled. He looked up to see the shadow of a colossal mountain obscuring the sky. Suddenly, a bright light appeared—it was a sun, moving out from behind the mountain, its rays illuminating the ancient, majestic mountain body!

In the air, massive boulders continuously broke off the mountain, falling like raindrops and filling the sky.

The boulders that were merely floating in the air were one thing, but the ones that were actually falling were terrifying. If one was careless enough to be hit, the result would be getting smashed to a pulp!

Another, even larger boulder fell from the sky, landing in front of them and causing Yuan Qi to shriek in terror.

Xu Ying leaped down and approached the large boulder that had just fallen. He examined it closely and whispered, "Strange, this rock is actually growing hair. Lord Zhong, have you ever seen anything like this?"

This large boulder that fell from the sky had things growing on it that resembled both hair and tentacles. They looked like countless strands of hair matted together, twisted into ropes, yet still in a chaotic mess.

The four sides of the rock were covered in this stuff. Some of it grew from cracks in the stone, while other parts covered the stone walls like moss.

Da Zhong flew out and examined it carefully with its Divine Sense. "Strange," it said. "This rock seems to be rock, yet it is not. It seems to be hair, yet it is not. It seems to be flesh, yet it is not. What on earth is this thing?"

Despite its vast knowledge and experience, it had never seen such a bizarre rock.

Yuan Qi had read the most books, but even he didn’t recognize this type of stone.

Suddenly, the earth shook violently again. Over three miles away, another majestic mountain peak erupted from the ground and gradually rose into the air!

This mountain was suspended upside down, and the commotion it caused was even greater than the previous one. As it rose from the depths of the earth, fiery light and rosy glows burst forth from its body, dazzling the eye!

At the same time, strange hissing sounds, like bowstrings snapping, came from underground. But these sounds were much louder; being amidst them felt as if one’s entire body was about to be torn in half!

Xu Ying suddenly sensed a peculiar Sword Qi coming from underground. His expression changed drastically, and he leaped away, shouting, "Yuan Qi, get over here!"

Yuan Qi hurriedly slithered to his side. The ground beneath their feet suddenly split open. From the fissure, a strange current of air erupted, as if Sword Qi was spewing from the earth toward the sky, forming a wall of Sword Qi tens of miles long!

The Sword Qi grazed the tip of Yuan Qi’s serpentine tail. He felt a sharp pain and looked back to see that his tail had been sharpened considerably. Tears of pain immediately streamed down his face as he thought, ’The tip of my tail was a bit blunt to make it easier to use the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist. Now that it’s been sharpened, I’m afraid the power of my Fist Technique will be greatly reduced.’

This wall of Sword Qi grew wider and taller, almost reaching the same height as the two mountains in the sky.

Only after the Sword Qi within the fissure was completely released did the wall of Sword Qi gradually disappear.

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi were both shocked and uncertain. Looking along the great fissure, they saw that it was perfectly flat, a perfectly straight line. The cross-section of the fissure was as smooth as a mirror!

It was as if a peerless giant, wielding a Heaven-Supporting Sword, had split the earth in two!

"This world," Yuan Qi muttered, "has probably gone mad."

Xu Ying walked to the edge of the fissure and looked down, only to see that its depth was impossible to gauge.

"This fissure sealed the Sword Qi of a supreme master of the Sword Dao. It was buried deep underground for many years, accumulating without release. If not for this Underworld invasion, where the lands of the Underworld and the Mortal World collided, this fissure would never have been shaken open."

Xu Ying sensed the Sword Qi hidden deep within the earth. He could still feel fragmented wisps of Sword Qi thousands of feet deep in the fissure, leaping about and clashing against one another. "Unfortunately," he said, "the Sword Qi contained in the fissure has already dissipated completely. It’s impossible to study the profound Sword Technique hidden within it."

Yuan Qi was also deeply shaken. "This single sword strike," he said, "is even stronger than the Swordsmanship of Yuan Tiangang from the Wangxiang Platform!"

Xu Ying tried to sense the Sword Intent, but unfortunately, the era when that peerless master unleashed this strike was too long ago. Moreover, as the Sword Qi from the great fissure dissipated, the Sword Intent hidden within had become extremely faint.

Suddenly, he felt the Sword Box on his back vibrating gently, as if a living creature were joyfully leaping about inside it.

Not only that, but a faint trace of Sword Qi and Sword Intent seeped out from the Sword Box, connecting with his Divine Sense!

He was overjoyed. This Sword Box was Yuan Tiangang’s Sword Box, and it contained Yuan Tiangang’s Sword Qi, which had been refined into a treasure over a long period of time.

Xu Ying had always carried the Sword Box, but it had never connected with him before. He never expected that today the Sword Box would show a glimmer of sentience, sensing the peerless Sword Qi that had erupted from the earth and actively creating a sympathetic resonance with him to help him comprehend the Sword Intent and Sword Qi hidden in the great fissure!

Da Zhong also sensed the Sword Qi and Sword Intent in the Sword Box. It let out a soft "hmph" and said, "This junior has a limitless future. It’s about to awaken its own intelligence, just like me! Not bad, not bad!"

Its tone was proud, clearly believing its own achievements were far superior to the Sword Box’s, and it considered itself a senior.

While carefully sensing the Sword Intent in the great fissure, Xu Ying walked along its edge toward the Water Gate Temple. The closer he got, the stronger the Sword Intent hidden in the fissure became, causing the Sword Qi in his Sword Box to thrum with excitement!

"Hurry to the Water Gate Temple!"

Xu Ying saw several well-dressed Officials with Gourds on their backs sprinting along the great fissure in the distance. One of them shouted to the others, "This sun and the two Immortal Mountains, they erupted from that dilapidated temple at the Water Gate Temple!"

"Has the Governor been notified?"

"He has. But the Governor must have already seen the Abnormal Phenomenon at the Water Gate Temple!"

Hearing this, Xu Ying was greatly shaken. ’The sun and the Immortal Mountains erupted from a dilapidated temple? What’s going on?’

He had been to the Water Gate Temple before. It was famous for a large temple by the water, but it had fallen into disrepair over the years. With no Divine Spirit in residence, the Incense and Candlelight had long since died out, and the temple had become derelict.

He had even been inside the ruined temple. It looked no different from any ordinary temple, just a place where common folk once worshipped a Divine Spirit to pray for blessings. After falling into ruin, it had become a den for creatures like wild foxes and weasels.

’This ruined temple could spew out an Immortal Mountain and a sun?’