Day of Ascension

Baffled, Dazhong asked, “Ah Ying, Old Ancestor Zhou’s talent and wisdom indeed reach the heavens, and the scene before us is undeniably magnificent. Even so, what good will it do if he drags all the heavenly gods down to the mortal realm? The heavenly tribulation will remain."

Xu Ying replied, “The heavenly tribulation has sealed the return path for the heavenly gods.”

Dazhong tolled, looking dumbfounded.

Xu Ying added, “And now, all the heavenly gods are beneath the tribulation cloud, caught within the lightning tribulation. They have no choice but to resist the heavenly tribulation alongside Zhou Qiyun and ensure his success, as he is Their only hope of returning to the Heavenly Dao World.”

He paused for a moment and continued, “Master Zhong, do you still remember the Heavenly God Hall?”

Naturally, Dazhong wouldn’t forget it. The Heavenly God Hall was a place of ascension, where the barrier between the Heavenly Dao World and the mortal realm had become thin. These heavenly gods descended there to establish the Council of Heavenly Gods.

However, the Heavenly God Hall couldn't accommodate their true forms. Only their consciousness could descend into the triangular-headed stone statues.

That was because the Heavenly God Hall was too ancient. The traces left behind by an immortal's ascension had grown faint over the years, and the barrier between the two worlds had gradually thickened until their true forms could no longer descend.

Xu Ying explained, “Their only chance to return to the Heavenly Dao World lies in the rosy light of ascension that will appear when he ascends. When the rosy light descends, They can use it to return to the Heavenly Dao World.”

Dazhong came to a realization. “That’s why all the heavenly gods have to help him resist the heavenly tribulation, no matter what. It's Their only way back to the Heavenly Dao World! The might of the heavenly tribulation Zhou Qiyun has to face is undeniably terrifying, yet with so many heavenly gods helping him, he actually has a chance to ascend! His calculations are truly...”

Kidnapping three hundred sixty heavenly gods and forcing them to help him resist the heavenly tribulation. No one would even dare imagine such a plan.

Yet, Zhou Qiyun had conceived it and carried it out.

Xu Ying’s heart raced. This would be the first time an Exorcist Immortal ascended, bringing hope to countless people!

If Zhou Qiyun overcame his tribulation and became immortal, any schemes the Mud-Pill Palace Master had would be useless.

On Mount Jiuyi, the heavenly gods who had been enjoying the sacrifices raised their heads one after another to look at the tribulation cloud in the sky. They let out furious roars, yet the tribulation cloud showed no sign of retreating.

They would be forced to become a part of those facing the tribulation cloud in this heavenly tribulation!

They had no choice but to help Zhou Qiyun shoulder this great tribulation and risk their lives for him. Only if he survived could they return to the Heavenly Dao World!

In the distance, on Mount Jiuyi, lightning flashed.

The crowd on Mount Wu Wang watched as a heavenly lightning bolt, almost as thick as the main peak of Mount Jiuyi, struck down. In that instant, the burst of light cast sharp shadows of everyone onto the ground despite the thousand-li distance, and their shadows stretched rapidly across the earth.

When the light faded, they saw lightning flow down the main peak of Mount Jiuyi like a shimmering liquid. Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, it rippled outward in every direction, illuminating the surrounding peaks.

Old Ancestor Guo murmured, “That strike would've killed me.”

The old ancestors of the other noble clans thought the same.

The heavenly tribulation was too terrifying. It was so far beyond what they could survive that even being grazed by it could kill them.

They doubted even Zhou Qiyun could survive such a heavenly tribulation alone.

The sheer power made them feel that even a legendary immortal would be reduced to ashes by a single strike.

Such power couldn’t exist in the mortal realm!

In the next moment, they witnessed something bizarre. Some of the mountains surrounding Mount Jiuyi suddenly grew much taller, while others shrank by a lot.

One mountain doubled in height before shrinking to half its original size in the next instant. Another, which had been towering moments earlier, abruptly contracted to half its height before surging upward again.

It was as though an invisible force stretched and compressed the mountains at will.

“Spatial fluctuations!”

Dazhong recognized this phenomenon. “The energy within that heavenly lightning bolt is too terrifying. The moment it was released, it caused space itself to vibrate. When a mountain reaches the crest of the wave, it appears taller. When it reaches the trough, it appears shorter. There's no danger, though. We won't feel anything.”

The spatial fluctuations traveled incredibly fast, reaching them in the blink of an eye.

They seemed to hear a strange, mournful howl, yet nothing around them changed. The world remained the same. Only their souls suffered a violent jolt.

Xu Ying found the sensation eerily familiar. It felt much like entering the dilapidated world at the Water Entrance Temple. It felt like passing through a dense space.

As the fluctuation swept past, they heard a second sound, a shrill whistle, followed by the sensation of their souls crossing an invisible boundary.

A second bolt and a third bolt of heavenly lightning erupted one after another. Mount Jiuyi's main peak seemed uniquely favored by the lightning, continually drawing the terrifying thunderclouds' power toward itself.

As the light flickered, the crowd on Mount Wu Wang saw the heavenly gods on the other eight peaks of Mount Jiuyi leap skyward.

With each flash, the heavenly gods’ figures shifted, making various postures. Three hundred sixty heavenly gods made up three hundred sixty different stances.

Their stances were profound, ancient, vigorous, and powerful, creating an immense visual impact.

When the next lightning flashed, their postures shifted once more, and there still wasn’t a single overlapping stance.

They were helping Zhou Qiyun overcome his tribulation!

“Do heavenly gods take bribes?” Old Ancestor Guo murmured, “Can They be bought?”

Imperial Uncle Li shook his head. “No, this is kidnapping. He abducted the heavenly gods and brought them onto his war chariot, forcing Them to risk Their lives for him.”

Old Ancestor Shi said, “Living in the same era as him is our misfortune. Fortunately, he’s about to ascend.”

On Mount Wu Wang, a huge snake’s tongue vibrated like a wave as he shrieked, “Dao avatar! It’s the heavenly gods’ Manifestations of the Great Dao! Quickly memorize them! Every Dao avatar could be transformed into incredible divine arts to be passed down through the generations!”

At Yuanqi's reminder, everyone from the noble clans, whether old ancestors, younger descendants, or even their mounts, frantically committed the scene to memory.

They didn’t know what Manifestation of the Great Dao meant, but they knew of Radiant Vestige. To them, the heavenly gods’ Dao avatars were Radiant Vestiges that could be transformed into formidable exorcism techniques or divine abilities. If they possessed greater talent, they might even comprehend an extraordinary exorcism art.

However, they were too far away, and there were too many heavenly god Dao avatars. On top of that, the lightning tribulation struck far too quickly. The heavenly gods' Dao avatars shifted constantly, preventing anyone from grasping their essence.

Unless they could approach the gods and observe closely, they couldn’t capture the essence and Dao resonance of their Dao avatars.

They couldn’t bear to give up this opportunity and instead memorized them forcibly. However, heavenly gods were born from the Heavenly Dao itself. The profound mysteries they embodied were simply too immense.

Forcing oneself to memorize and comprehend them placed an enormous burden on the mind. Before long, the donkey spewed large mouthfuls of blood and collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

A moment later, Niu Zhen and Niu Qian also spewed blood from their mouths. Guo Xiaodie let out a groan as blood seeped out from her seven orifices. As for those with slightly lower cultivation levels, each of them coughed up large mouthfuls of blood. In the blink of an eye, Mount Wu Wang was drenched in blood.

Even Guo Xiaodie’s second aunt, Li Yingzhu, suffered damage to her mind and fell to the ground unconscious.

Why didn’t Master Qi cough up blood?

The bull demon brothers lay sprawled on the ground with their auras in disarray. Yet Yuanqi remained wide-eyed, staring at the tribulation. His aura was steady, and his mind remained completely unaffected by the heavenly god Dao avatars. They couldn't help but feel awestruck.

As expected of someone even our master calls Master Qi. I didn’t expect his foundation to be so profound. We'll never catch up to him.

Staring at the heavenly gods’ Dao avatars, Yuanqi’s eyelids fluttered. I... don’t understand anything! Ah Ying can surely understand it, right? I’ll have him explain it to me later. Forget it. I’ll watch for a little longer, or Ah Ying will say I can't stay focused.

Xu Ying also couldn't comprehend the heavenly gods’ Dao avatars in such a short time. So, he focused on the heavenly tribulation.

Three hundred sixty heavenly gods joined forces with Zhou Qiyun to resist the heavenly tribulation, creating countless unfathomable variations. If I use the Guo clan's Ode of the Azure Skies as the foundation and compare its moves to the heavenly tribulation, I should be able to derive a divine ability from it.

He silently circulated the Ode of the Azure Skies and channeled his heart energy in accordance with its method. Behind him, an azure sky gradually manifested and transformed into thunderclouds.

The coffin girl watched from beside him, astonishment flashing across her face. Her eyes flickered as she silently studied the heavenly tribulation phenomenon taking shape behind him.

Old Ancestor Guo sensed something and turned his head back. Looking up, he discovered thunderclouds gradually forming behind Xu Ying on the shattered cliff. His heart skipped a beat.

Deriving a ninth move from my clan’s Ode of the Azure Skies?

He looked back at the heavenly tribulation a thousand li away, his eyes flickering. Everyone else is trying to comprehend the heavenly gods’ Dao avatars, yet he's trying to wield the heavenly tribulation! This kid is truly extraordinary. The more I look at him, the more he seems like my clan's future son-in-law.

Overjoyed inside, he thought, Xiaodie still has a two-hundred-jin older sister. She has a gentle temperament, she's pure and beautiful, and she's still unmarried. I should have him marry into the clan as a live-in son-in-law.

The tribulation cloud behind Xu Ying continued to expand, soon covering more than several mu. Now that the phenomenon had taken shape, it already possessed the power of a divine ability.

Old Ancestor Guo was delighted. His talent surpasses even mine. He’s becoming more pleasant to the eyes the more I look at him.

However, things started going sideways. The tribulation cloud continued expanding at an alarming rate, quickly spreading across more than a hundred mu.

Old Ancestor Guo was very satisfied with him. With such talent, it wouldn’t hurt even if I married both Xiaodie and her sister to him.

Next to Xu Ying, the coffin maiden immediately noticed something amiss. She instinctively stepped back to put some distance between them, then suddenly came to her senses.

Why did I step back on my own? Right. I sensed the will of the heavenly tribulation and subconsciously tried to avoid it.

Dazhong quickly also flew out from the back of Xu Ying’s head. Ignoring his feud with the maiden, he hurriedly asked, “Miss Qingbi, did you sense something?”

Qingbi said with a grave expression, “Tribulation destiny! What is going on?”

Dazhong speculated, “Ah Ying fell into Dao immersion observing the heavenly tribulation, and his consciousness has connected with it. When he observed Mount Jiuyi’s Dao avatars, his consciousness connected to the mountains.”

The maiden was startled. She looked up at the other tribulation cloud in the sky and asked, “You’re saying that his consciousness is within the tribulation cloud at this moment? Then why is the tribulation cloud behind him still expanding?”

The tribulation cloud floating behind Xu Ying had already expanded to a thousand mu. Deep rumbles of thunder rolled through the dark clouds.

Below, on Mount Wu Wang, the crowd of Exorcist Immortals frowned as they looked in his direction. An inexplicable sense of dread welled up within them, as though a great calamity was about to descend.

Dazhong had never encountered such a situation before and didn’t know its cause.

Three figures suddenly flashed over and appeared beside Xu Ying: the frowning old man, the red-robed woman, and the white-robed elder. Grim-faced, they simultaneously extended a finger and tapped toward different acupoints on Xu Ying.

Qingbi furrowed her brow and swept her sleeve. At once, the frowning old man's finger struck the white-robed elder's glabella, the red-robed woman's pierced his chest, and the elder's own finger stabbed into his throat.

The white-robed elder coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground.

Dazhong jumped in fright. A top expert had been gravely injured and brought to the brink of death in a single exchange.

The frowning old man and the red-robed woman were startled and hurriedly cried out, “Stop! We’re trying to help sever his connection with the heavenly tribulation! If not, he’ll drag us all into eternal damnation!”

During that brief exchange, the heavenly tribulation divine ability Xu Ying had derived had already expanded to the edge of Zhou Qiyun's heavenly tribulation.

Two tribulation clouds, one big and one small, were showing signs of merging. Violent energy flowed from the edge of the larger cloud, transforming into thunder that poured into the smaller one.

Xu Ying’s smaller tribulation cloud seemed like it was about to ignite. Thunderclaps erupted continuously within the clouds, each one more violent than the last.

His aura surged around him, causing his clothes to flutter wildly.

Beneath the cloud, the crowd on Mount Wu Wang instantly felt an overwhelming sense of oppression. They all had the same terrifying realization: once the two tribulation clouds merged, none of them would escape.

Old Ancestor Guo flung his sleeve. “We can’t stay here! Leave quickly!”

He swept up Guo Xiaodie and sped off with a thunderous roar.

The old ancestors of the various noble clans and the mysterious experts could no longer hold out. Suppressing the fear rising from the depths of their souls, they gathered their descendants and disciples and fled as fast as they could, not daring to linger.

“Hee-haw, hee-haw!” The donkey brought by Old Ancestor Zhu panicked, crying out loud as he ran, “Wait for me! Hee-haw[1]!”

“Old Ancestor, let’s return and eat some donkey meat!”

“Mhm, let’s go back and eat!”

The smaller tribulation cloud in the sky had already expanded to a hundred li wide, drawing even more power from the larger cloud.

Rumble!

Muffled thunder rumbled within the thundercloud deafeningly.

Qingbi was also terrified. Her cultivation had already reached the Ascension Stage, yet she didn’t dare to attempt ascension herself and was also hiding from the heavenly tribulation. Now, her tribulation destiny stirred restlessly, as though it were about to trigger her own heavenly tribulation.

Filled with fear and uncertainty, she stopped blocking the frowning old man.

The frowning old man shouted, “If we don’t seal him now, everyone will die! Do it!”

He and the red-robed woman steeled themselves, fully channeling their Primordial Spirits as they tapped Xu Ying's acupoints one after another.

Despite having three holes pierced through him and being severely wounded, the white-robed elder’s will was as firm as ever. He struggled to his feet, drenched in blood, and channeled his Primordial Spirit before repeatedly tapping Xu Ying's acupoints in perfect coordination with the other two.

As their fingers struck, the two tribulation clouds gradually drifted apart. The tribulation cloud above Mount Wu Wang slowly shrank until it returned to normal.

The surging aura around Xu Ying also gradually calmed, no longer as terrifying as before.

The sense of doom weighing on everyone also gradually faded. The fleeing crowd was bewildered, feeling as though they had narrowly escaped disaster.

The Underworld Court Emperor gasped softly and looked toward Xu Ying, muttering under his breath, “How could he possibly mobilize the power of the heavenly tribulation? Who exactly is he? Is he really just a snake catcher? And those people by his side...”

He shifted his gaze onto the frowning old man and the others, his heart filled with astonishment.

He had never seen them before, but he couldn’t discern their strength!

The frowning old man immediately sensed trouble and whispered, “We've attracted too much notice. Let's leave before trouble finds us.”

He and the red-robed woman supported the white-robed elder and leaped into the azure sky, vanishing without a trace.

Dazhong hurriedly asked, “Qingbi, do you know their origins? Qingbi?”

Qingbi had also disappeared at some point. Even the black coffin that suppressed her had vanished along with her.

The Underworld Court Emperor immediately called out in a lowered voice, “Set off, return to the underworld!”

A group of Ghost Kings lifted the coffin, placed it within the imperial carriage, and descended the mountain. Upon reaching the bank of the Hell River, they boarded the towered ship and sailed off, disappearing into the mist over the river.

Xu Ying’s aura finally steadied, and he said to Dazhong, “Master Zhong, I felt like I had merged with the heavenly tribulation earlier and reached the center of it, as if I had become the heavenly tribulation itself.”

He said excitedly, “I saw Zhou Qiyun and the three hundred sixty heavenly gods facing the tribulation. I could sense everyone’s tribulation destiny, and I even felt like I could descend tribulation upon them. It’s like I became the Heavenly Dao.”

Dazhong stared blankly, fear lingering inside him.

“Just as I was about to give it a try, a force pulled me back.”

Feeling a pang of regret, Xu Ying looked toward Mount Wu Wang and asked in confusion, “Eh? Where is everyone?”

Mount Wu Wang was in complete disarray. Only Yuanqi and the bull demon brothers remained. Everyone else had disappeared.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qiyun’s heavenly tribulation was gradually nearing its end.

1. An impossible pun to translate here, the words used can mean he’s calling out “my son” ☜