Day of Ascension

Bei Chenzi and Fairy Yutang were furious. They had clearly seen the words in Xu Fu's golden book. They matched the contents of the talisman on the altar that sealed Xu Ying.

This was absolutely unacceptable!

If this Qi Cultivator, who had appeared out of nowhere, deciphered the talisman's contents and freed Xu Ying, all three of them would face the Heavenly Dao's judgment and be condemned to eternal damnation.

Moreover, Xu Ying would tear them to pieces before the Heavenly Dao could even punish them!

The veins on Bei Chenzi’s forehead throbbed as he muttered, “Who is that scar-faced man? How did he get his hands on the Demon-Suppressing Runes? They've almost never been shown to outsiders!”

Fairy Yutang gritted her teeth so hard that they clicked. “We’ve only just recovered from our injuries after half a year, and now another crisis has appeared. Bei Chen, should we test him first?”

Bei Chenzi hesitated for a moment. “Anyone who possesses the Demon-Suppressing Runes can't be ordinary. Let's wait for reinforcements.”

The corner of his eye twitched as he grew much more cautious.

He had learned that lesson the hard way. His carelessness had gotten him beaten by Zhou Qiyun once, the heavenly demon after Zhu Chanchan another time, and nearly killed by Xu Ying after some of the memories were unsealed.

Only after enough beatings did someone learn to be careful.

Xu Fu's scarred face gave him the air of a courteous scholar, nothing like Zhou Qiyun's violent temperament. Even so, appearances meant little. Bei Chenzi would rather err on the side of caution.

On Fangzhang Immortal Mountain, Xu Ying cast a glance at Xu Fu and fell deep into thought.

By order of Heaven, eternally suppressed in this lifetime, locked in a prison, sealed within these bounds.

Those words were exactly what had appeared in the golden book. Xu Fu had revealed them for only an instant, yet Xu Ying had memorized their meaning.

He remembered what the characters meant but couldn't recall their forms. Whenever he tried to recall their shapes, a mass of incense qi seeped through his mind, blurring his memories until the characters became impossible to make out.

Why did I hand the Demon-Suppressing Runes to Xu Fu? How did I know these runes?

Xu Ying stepped away from Fangzhang Immortal Mountain and went to Xiao Fengxian’s side. She stood on the back of a roc, occasionally opening her mouth to spit out a string of sparks.

When she noticed him approaching, anxiety flickered across her face. She seemed torn between repaying the kindness he had shown her and upholding the greater good.

Xu Ying summoned Yuanqi and Dazhong and recounted everything he had witnessed. “Master Qi, you possess vast knowledge. Do you know the meaning of these phrases?”

Yuanqi replied, “‘By order of Heaven’ means acting according to Heaven's will to uphold justice. ‘Eternally suppressed in this lifetime' means the vile fiend has committed unforgivable crimes and must remain sealed forever.”

Displeased, Dazhong said, “How could Ah Ying merely be a vile fiend? You’re underestimating him too much, Master Qi.”

Xu Ying cleared his throat. “Master Zhong, I’m still here.”

Yuanqi added, “The first six characters of ‘locked in a prison, sealed within these bounds' all convey confinement: sealing, imprisonment, constructing a cage, and enclosing someone. The final two refer to trapping a wild beast and penning livestock. Together, all eight characters carry the meaning of confinement.”

He paused for a moment and continued, “I might be clueless when it comes to the bird-worm seal script that explains the Great Dao, but when it comes to the common script, I am far above Ah Ying.”

Xu Ying said, “Save me some face, Master Qi.”

Yuanqi voiced his compliance, but whispered to Xiao Fengxian, “He’s far beneath me.”

Xu Ying pretended not to hear him. “I can only grasp the principles behind these sixteen characters by seeing the golden book myself. Only then can I figure out how to break the seal. The problem is that Xu Fu has the book. How do we steal it?”

Xiao Fengxian’s face grew solemn. “I heard that!”

Xu Ying said, “Feng Xian’er, think of how I saved your life.”

Once again, Xiao Fengxian found herself torn between repaying his kindness and protecting the greater good. She couldn't decide whether to report Xu Ying.

Yuanqi said, “That golden book is likely hidden within his ethereal void. It won’t be easy to steal. But since he intends to decipher its contents, he'll eventually take it out. If we strike at that moment and move quickly enough, we can snatch it.”

Dazhong chimed in, “Whoever steals the golden book has to be incredibly fast. They can't let Xu Fu catch them. His methods are terrifying. I think he's even stronger than Zhou Qiyun at his peak.”

He had crossed paths with Xu Fu once before and failed to budge him in the slightest. Instead, Xu Fu had caught his loop, leaving him completely helpless.

That move was called Hand of Heaven and Earth. It truly gave off the feeling of having the world in his grasp!

Even if he faced Xu Fu again, he was not confident that he could escape.

Yuanqi said, “Dazhong isn’t fast, while both Ah Ying and I are lagging in cultivation and cannot escape. That leaves the fastest among us, and the one with the best chance of escaping Xu Fu's grasp...”

Xiao Fengxian grew alert. She saw Xu Ying and that giant snake staring at her. As for that great bell, although he didn’t have eyes, she could still feel its gaze fixed on her.

Xiao Fengxian mumbled, “I w-won’t bet-betray Old Ancestor Xu Fu...”

Yuanqi urged, “Think about how Ah Ying saved your life.”

Xiao Fengxian’s face turned miserable.

Dazhong said, “We’re all on the same side here. Think of how Ah Ying saved you, and think of how you repaid him.”

Xu Ying thought for a moment. He actually couldn’t remember how he had saved her.

So, he said, “Think about it.”

Xiao Fengxian stamped her foot. “Fine! I’ll help you!”

Xu Ying let out a sigh of relief. He exchanged a glance with Yuanqi, and the two shared a knowing smile.

However, over the next few days, Xu Fu never took out the golden book. So, she never found an opportunity.

The Qi Cultivators following Xu Fu brought various scriptures and came to seek guidance from Xu Ying. He never turned anyone away. Whether it was cultivation techniques, divine abilities, formation techniques, pill refinement, seal techniques, or finger techniques, he answered all their questions and even helped fix their flaws!

While they certainly gained a lot, Xu Ying also accumulated countless closely guarded secrets of Qi Cultivators, and his cultivation improved significantly!

Haojing drew closer and closer.

For the past few days, rosy light had erupted from beneath the earth, soaring into the clouds in dazzling displays. Even from far away, Xu Ying and the others could see the brilliant radiance. It was like a candle burning within the clouds, casting a kaleidoscope of colors across the sky.

They also sensed a terrifying tremor. It felt like the overwhelming might emanating from an artifact or the world-crushing aura of a peerless expert.

“It’s the Twelve Golden Statues.” Xu Fu said, sensing something. “One of the golden statues has awakened. They are responsible for guarding the Ancestral Dragon’s mausoleum. It seems the Exorcists who were drawn here are quite capable if they've already uncovered it.”

Xu Ying asked, “Master Qi, what are the Twelve Golden Statues?”

Yuanqi replied, “I’ve only heard that the Twelve Golden Statues were forged under the First Emperor’s orders by gathering all the weapons in the world, making it impossible for the people to rebel. The books never explained them in detail.”

Xu Fu explained, “Back then, the First Emperor Ancestral Dragon unified the world. He collected the finest artifacts from the Qi Cultivators of the six nations and forged the Twelve Golden Statues to anchor the destiny of Qi Cultivators, preventing it from dissipating.

“By then, Qi Cultivators were already in decline. This was his attempt to prolong their era. Yet after his death, everything came to nothing. Even the Twelve Golden Statues were buried with him.”

Xu Ying said, “I’ve never heard of anyone returning from the dead. If the Ancestral Dragon has already died, how could he be resurrected?”

As Fangzhang Immortal Mountain flew toward Mount Li, Xu Fu said, “Ancestral Dragon may not truly have perished. A figure of his stature yearns for eternal life. He might have used secret techniques to seal his body and Primordial Spirit to keep himself in a state of suspended animation, waiting to be resurrected.”

Mount Li appeared ahead, towering into the clouds. It spanned hundreds of li around, making it many times larger than the original Mount Li.

From a distance, its silhouette resembled the character for jin (金), pressed firmly against the earth with an air of solemn majesty.

However, the entrance to the grand tomb in Mount Li had already been found and breached. Dozens of corpses lay scattered outside. Judging by the scene, a brutal battle had been fought over possession of the tomb.

Xu Fu said, “I once searched the underworld for more than two centuries, trying to find Ancestral Dragon's soul, but I never managed to find him. Later, I found Exorcists who had unlocked their Gushing-Spring. They specialized in summoning souls through exorcism arts. Even they said the Ancestral Dragon's soul was not in the underworld.”

They arrived at the entrance of the grand tomb of Mount Li. Xu Ying saw dozens more corpses. However, judging by their attire, these people weren’t Exorcists but ordinary people.

Hua Xianchen stepped forward for a closer look. “There are seals on the tomb gate, and hidden within those seals are ghost gods. It’s extremely dangerous.

“To open the gate and break the seals, those Exorcists sacrificed these commoners, using their blood to stain the seals and lure out the ghost gods before killing them. Only then could they force the entrance open.”

Every few steps, another corpse lay in the passageway. Like those outside, they were all dressed as ordinary people.

“They were sacrifices.”

Hua Xianchen produced a bright mirror whose light flooded the passageway and even penetrated the stone walls. Within them, countless slain ghost gods became visible. The ghost gods had been sealed inside the walls, waiting for the seals to be triggered before bursting out to kill any intruders.

Unfortunately, such exquisite seals were broken by blood sacrifices.

“A method to break seals by throwing human lives at it; how crude.” Xu Fu remarked.

As they pressed deeper, more corpses lined the path. The corpses of ordinary people gradually gave way to those of Exorcists. Even towering demon gods had been sacrificed to break the seals.

Xu Ying even saw a familiar face among them. It belonged to an Exorcist from the Pei clan whom he had met once before. They, too, had been offered as a sacrifice to the ghost gods.

The battle that had taken place here must have been unimaginably brutal.

As they ventured deeper into Mount Li, the path opened up. A vast expanse that spanned a thousand li within the mountain came into view. Over a hundred immortal mountains floated in the air.

From a distance, they could see a bright, rosy light cascading down between the mountains, shining with an immortal glow and looking exceptionally dazzling and colorful.

“This is a place of ascension?”

Xu Ying was utterly shocked. The grand tomb of Mount Li was actually an ascension site!

Moreover, it was not just a single immortal who had ascended here. Judging from the lingering rosy light, seven immortals had once ascended here.

Could this be a spiritual sanctuary? Xu Ying sensed something amiss as soon as he thought of this. This place shouldn’t be an ascension site. Instead, someone had severed the ascension site in a spiritual sanctuary and moved it here!

This was because the severed edges of space gleamed like glaze. As he looked around, he could see a spectrum of colors reflecting out from the cut edges of the space!

Xu Fu pointed into the distance and said, “The First Emperor moved seven ascension sites here. He used the rosy light left behind by the ascension of immortals to suspend his coffin, bringing him closer to the Immortal Realm. Do you see his coffin?”

Everyone strained their eyes to the limit, but very few could make out what was hidden inside the rosy light of ascension. Xu Ying activated his Third Eye and barely made out a golden coffin floating within the rosy light of ascension, spinning slowly.

Could that be the First Emperor’s golden coffin?

There were mountains on the ground and mountains in the sky. The immortal mountains hung upside down, glowing with a bloody color.

Blood dragons coiled around some of the peaks. From afar, their crimson scales seemed to ripple with life. One couldn't tell whether it was an illusion or whether the dragons were truly moving.

“That is a seal set up using the five immortal mountains in the ethereal voids of peerless experts the First Emperor Ancestral Dragon had slain. It is extremely difficult to get through.”

The elder known as Elder Withered Bamboo, who had grown so old he had shrunk to three- or four-chi tall, caught his breath and said, “Those Exorcists likely crossed over the river to enter the mountain range.”

Beneath their feet was a silver-white river, about a hundred zhang wide. Mercury flowed steadily through its channel, each drop incomparably heavy.

The great river cut through the mountain range and wound between the valleys. Judging by its course, it passed close to the First Emperor Ancestral Dragon's golden coffin.

Just as Xu Fu was about to cross the river, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Xu Ying also felt a chill run down his spine, sensing an incredibly powerful aura closing in.

The group looked in the direction of the aura. They saw an altar about fourteen- to fifteen-zhang wide floating on the river’s surface. The altar only stuck out of the mercury river by a little over a chi, though it was unclear how deep it went beneath the surface.

On the altar stood a golden statue more than twenty zhang tall, glowing with brilliant golden light. It held a bronze sword in hand and was clad in golden armor. It was surrounded by incomparably dense incense qi and carried the earth-shaking aura of an artifact!

Behind it stood a shrine, accompanied by the phenomenon of five immortal mountains suspended in the air, the Heavenly River hanging upside down, and Heavenly Mountain descending from the sky. The Tailbone, Central Ridge, and Jade Capital Passes were all clearly visible.

The Cauldron for cross-refining water and fire, the golden Twelve-Story Pagoda, Jasper Pool, and Divine Bridge were all present!

Dazhong tolled once, sounding somewhat dull, as he said, “Ah Ying, so this is a golden statue? It seems ridiculously powerful. I might not be the most powerful artifact anymore...”

Suddenly, someone cried out, “Look at the golden statue’s face! Ageless Immortal!”

The crowd looked over and was completely shocked. Then, they turned to look at Xu Ying, then turned back to look at the golden statue on the altar.

The golden statue was the spitting image of him.

“The First Emperor Ancestral Dragon’s Twelve Golden Statues were all forged in the image of the Ageless Immortal!”

Yuanqi was also dumbfounded. He murmured, “Ah Ying, your legends are everywhere in the grand tomb of Mount Li.”