Ascension Day

’Wouldn’t that make me an Immortal?’

The inheritance of the Master of the Mud Pill Palace... ’it doesn’t sound so bad after all.’

"So, how does one cultivate the Hidden Scenery?" Xu Ying asked, suppressing his excitement.

The young woman seemed a little displeased. "We are both cultivators," she said coolly. "Your inheritance is no weaker than mine. Why bother learning the Hidden Scene Transformation?"

Xu Ying was dumbfounded. It took him a long moment to recover. "Is my inheritance really that strong? Wait a minute, what inheritance? The Taiyi Guiding Skill?"

He was confused. The Taiyi Guiding Skill was only a guiding skill for the Qi Collection Stage; it didn’t have any subsequent magic skills.

The Tower Ship continued west, and as the night wore on, its speed gradually slowed. Xu Ying had lost track of how far they had traveled along the Naihe River, but he figured it had to be at least two or three thousand li.

’Is this Huaihua or Tongren?’ he wondered. ’No, Huaihua is just west of Yongzhou, and Tongren is only a few hundred li from there.’

He had no idea where the Tower Ship had brought them. He was just a boy from the countryside; the farthest places he knew of were the prefectures near Yongzhou.

Xu Ying looked ahead. The Naihe River suddenly split, forming countless tributaries that fanned out like the veins of a leaf, flowing into the vast darkness.

The banks of the tributaries were dotted with Ghost Fire. From a distance, they stretched for a hundred li in every direction, scattered like stars on a chessboard, resembling a world of ghouls.

Legend said the Naihe River guided Ghost Souls into the Underworld, sparing them the torment of wind and sun.

When a person dies, their soul leaves the body and becomes a Ghost Soul. The slightest breeze can tear it apart, and a sliver of sunlight can cause it to dissipate completely. Even the Yang Qi from a living Mortal’s body can be a shock to a Ghost Soul.

Only in the Underworld were the Ghost Souls truly safe.

Xu Ying peered into the distance, but it was the middle of the night, and he couldn’t see very far. All he could make out was an endless expanse of Ghost Fire.

"Why is there so much Ghost Fire here?" he whispered.

The Tower Ship slowed, entering the main channel among the Naihe River’s hundreds of tributaries. Eerie Ghost Fire flickered on both banks, and through the gloom, he could vaguely make out villages and walled towns.

Perhaps because it was nighttime, there were no signs of life.

The young woman opened the upright Black Coffin, lifted the lid, and fumbled inside for a moment. She took out a whip that was twenty or thirty feet long and handed it to Xu Ying. "Stay on the ship," she said. "When the Tower Ship stops, set it on fire. Once it’s burning, take this whip and crack it at the sky until you collapse from exhaustion."

Xu Ying examined the whip. It looked ordinary enough, woven from fine hemp rope. A tuft of golden-yellow hair, taken from the tail of some unknown animal, was attached to the tip.

"And this will send away the Divine Spirit?" Xu Ying asked, bewildered.

The young woman smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons. It was an alluring sight. "Of course," she said.

Xu Ying let out a long sigh of relief and smiled. "Leave it to me. You can count on it."

But the young woman didn’t seem convinced. "I refined this ship three thousand years ago," she said. "Ordinary fire can’t ignite it. I’ll give you a flame."

Behind her, the young woman’s Primordial Spirit extended its right hand. It touched its thumb and ring finger together, and a faint flame appeared at their tip. The Primordial Spirit presented it to Xu Ying.

Xu Ying didn’t know how he was supposed to take the flame, but the Primordial Spirit’s right hand reached into his Mysterious Domain. It separated its thumb and ring finger, and the wisp of fire floated there quietly.

"This is a Pure Yang Anomalous Fire I found. It was formed by the heavens and the earth, and it can aid your cultivation."

The young woman disembarked, floating away gracefully. Her clear voice drifted back from the distance, "You just need to channel your Divine Sense into the flame to control its movements. After you set the ship on fire, refine this flame. Use the True Yang within it to temper your flesh body and soul. It will help you cultivate a Pure Yang Body."

Her figure quickly vanished into the darkness, and her voice grew fainter. "Wait for an hour, then set the fire and crack the whip. After that, you can leave. This place is dangerous, so don’t linger. Once I’ve handled my business, I will find you and send you back to Wuyang Mountain!"

Xu Ying watched her disappear, a pleasant warmth spreading through him. The Pure Yang Anomalous Fire in his Mysterious Domain radiated waves of Yang Qi. To his surprise, it had an effect similar to the Thunder Sound Body Tempering and Great Sun Body Tempering techniques—it could actually temper his flesh body!

What surprised him even more was that when his Primordial Qi passed through the flame, it became increasingly pure!

’It can even refine Primordial Qi!’

Xu Ying was astonished. He tried refining his Divine Sense. To his shock and delight, his Divine Sense was also strengthened, becoming more resilient and pure!

’If I can use this fire to refine my flesh body, Divine Sense, and Primordial Qi, my power will definitely soar!’ Xu Ying stood at the bow, facing the gloomy winds of the Naihe River, filled with ambition.

Da Zhong flew out from behind his head and said ominously, "Ying, what are you two going to name your child?"

Xu Ying was baffled. "Child? What child?"

Da Zhong sneered. "You and that Demoness were getting so cozy. You haven’t thought about having a child with her?"

Xu Ying’s face turned beet red. "How can you say such things? Besides... how are children made, anyway?"

"Well, you use your—Hold on!" Da Zhong caught itself and quickly shut its... mouth.

Just then, Xu Ying saw something on the left bank of the Naihe River. A man in rags, his face a sickly, sallow color, emerged from the woods, leaning heavily on a wooden staff.

Behind the ragged man, the undergrowth rustled, and several more elderly people and women in tattered clothes emerged, also leaning on staffs and struggling forward.

More and more people emerged from the woods—men and women, young and old, entire families supporting one another as they trudged forward in silence.

By the light of the Ghost Fire from the Naihe River, he could see shocking pustules on their skin where their clothes were torn, attracting swarms of buzzing flies.

Xu Ying followed their trail with his eyes and saw that the vast stream of refugees looked like a black dragon snaking for several li.

"They are..." Xu Ying murmured.

Da Zhong’s voice was grave. "They are plague victims. They’ve been infected with a pestilence."

Xu Ying looked farther into the distance, toward the land shrouded in Ghost Fire for a hundred li. The plague victims must have come from there.

"Where they’re from, there was likely a flood, war, or famine," Da Zhong said, its voice low. "I’ve hung alone on Stone Mountain for three thousand years. I’ve seen this sort of thing many times."

It had hung in the Stone Mountain Deserted Temple, and for millennia, it had witnessed countless floods, wars, and famines. Corpses would litter the fields, unburied, and pestilence would inevitably follow.

The Tower Ship continued to drift forward at a leisurely pace. More and more plague victims appeared on both banks of the Naihe River. They were everywhere—in mountain villages, in walled towns.

The plague victims struggled onward, following the riverbank to some unknown destination.

People constantly collapsed, their bodies twitching a few times before going still forever.

But the others seemed not to notice, simply continuing their own trudge forward. Their eyes were vacant, as if they were a procession of walking corpses.

"Ying, this must be the source of the Naihe River’s diversion."

Da Zhong said gravely, "Someone went on a killing spree here to rescue that Demoness, manufacturing a plague. Ying, that Demoness asking for your help... she’s definitely up to no good. She must be plotting something!"

Xu Ying remained at the bow, staring blankly at the plague victims.

He had cultivated the Celestial Eye, and when he used it to look at the world, everything was different.

In the sky, thick, flesh-red tentacles floated, descending in silence.

These flesh-colored tentacles were unnervingly agile, as if reaching out from the depths of another dimension, their source invisible.

They reached the plague victims from behind, split into countless finer tendrils, and inserted themselves into the pustules on the sallow-faced people, wriggling and sucking slowly.

Xu Ying looked into the distance. The Ghost Fire stretched across the land, and in the sky above, countless more tentacles emerged from another dimension, descending from on high and plunging into the darkness below.

Countless flesh-red tentacles came from another world, crisscrossing to fill the dim sky and obscure the stars. They split into even more tendrils, constantly pulsing—swelling and shrinking, swelling and shrinking—as they siphoned the Life Force from the plague victims.

The scene was both horrifyingly real and profoundly unreal.

This was the sight his Celestial Eye revealed!

Xu Ying struggled to tear his gaze away, his throat tight. "My god..."

As far as his eye could see, the entire dim sky was completely covered in ceaselessly writhing red flesh, with no end in sight.

An unbelievable creature shrouded the sky, lowering countless flesh-colored tentacles toward the people of this western land.