Day of Ascension

Not long after Xu Ying and the others left, the mass of mangled flesh reassembled into a human form. Even his tattered clothes and the Sheng accessory on his head were restored.

Heavenly demons retained a perfect imprint of their bodies. Even if their flesh were utterly destroyed, they could reconstruct themselves exactly as they had been.

He headed toward the nearly flattened mountaintop. After only a few steps, he stumbled and almost fell. Looking down, the feather-robed youth realized he was missing a leg.

To restore his clothes and accessories, he had expended too much of his cultivation base, and his leg had not recovered.

Black qi surged around him, and his other leg split in two, forming a new pair. Although they were much thinner than before, he paid them no mind and continued toward the summit.

He drew a deep breath through his nose. Zhu Chanchan's scent still lingered there. The fragrance of an immortal herb irresistibly attracted him, compelling him to hunt it down.

Meanwhile, a ray of sunlight fell across Bei Chenzi’s eyes. He opened his eyes weakly and saw Xu Ying, Zhu Chanchan, and Dazhong looking at him with concern. Only after they saw him wake did they breathe a sigh of relief.

“Old Master Bei Chen is fine!” Xu Ying laughed. “I told you heaven blessed the old man. And sure enough, he is.”

Zhu Chanchan flattered him, "Old Master Bei Chen's stand against the heavenly demon was an unparalleled display of courage. Your loyalty and honor will be remembered through the ages. Anyone who hears of your deeds can't help but admire you."

Bei Chenzi struggled upright, gasping for breath. “I must be getting old. When I fought that heavenly demon, his vital energy struck my Primordial Spirit. My divine sense went haywire, and I blacked out...”

He suddenly shoved Xu Ying and Zhu Chanchan aside, knocked Dazhong away, and leaped down from Yuanqi’s head, shouting, “You guys are a bunch of rascals, making this old man fight to the death for you. I’m done!”

A dull thud echoed below.

Yuanqi, who had been hurrying along, immediately called out, "What happened? Ah Ying, what's going on?"

Xu Ying gripped the giant snake’s black horn and looked down. “The old man jumped off your head. I only treated the injuries to his internal organs. His Primordial Spirit, ethereal void, and Radiant Vestige Land of sublimation were all badly damaged. He couldn’t use his mystical powers, and without them... he couldn’t fly.”

Yuanqi was startled and quickly stopped. “Which way did he jump? The left or the right? The Abyss is on my right...”

“The right.”

Xu Ying strained to peer into the abyss. At last, he spotted Bei Chenzi. The white-haired old man had fallen about a hundred zhang before crashing onto a rocky outcrop jutting from the cliff. Fortunately, he had not plunged into the abyss itself.

Had he fallen into the abyss, not even the gods could have saved him. Xu Ying would simply have had to find another "enthusiastic" Dao Protector.

Bei Chenzi was dazed from the fall. From the depths of the abyss came a chaotic chorus, as though countless imprisoned demon kings were whispering into his ears. Their voices tangled his thoughts and shattered his concentration.

Terrified, he tried to gather mystical power, but he couldn’t raise even a shred of cultivation. Panic-stricken, he shouted, “Xu Ying... save me!”

Suddenly, the rock loosened and slid down.

Bei Chenzi screamed in alarm and barely managed to activate his Primordial Spirit. One hand seized the cliff while the other caught his arm, barely keeping him from plunging into the abyss.

But he slid several dozen zhang farther down. The voices swelled, battering his mind until controlling his Primordial Spirit became increasingly difficult.

The huge rock smashed against the cliff face and ricocheted several times before eventually disappearing into the abyss.

Just as Bei Chenzi’s grip began to fail, Dazhong wobbled down with his mouth facing upward. The bell caught him inside and slowly floated back out of the abyss.

Dazhong landed atop Yuanqi’s head, and Bei Chenzi rolled out. He went limp as he lay there, gasping for breath. Moments earlier, he had accepted that he was doomed to fall into the abyss. Now that he had survived, tears nearly welled up in his eyes.

He harbored a deep-seated fear of the abyss. When he was young, he had seen many powerful Qi Cultivators attempt to explore it, only to vanish without a trace. The abyss had haunted his nightmares ever since.

Xu Ying commended him, “Old Master, you’re loyal and honorable. You were worried that we’d lose our lives, so after jumping into the abyss, you came right back up.”

Bei Chenzi snorted. “Loyal and honorable my ass! I couldn’t get away even if I wanted to. If I could’ve escaped, I would’ve ditched you, rotten bastards, long ago!”

With nothing left to lose, he dropped all pretense. Forgetting all courtesy, he launched into a relentless stream of curses at Xu Ying. The composed bearing of a venerable master was nowhere to be seen.

Dazhong said to Zhu Chanchan, “He’s delirious.”

Zhu Chanchan nodded. “He’s completely lost it.”

Xu Ying tried to reassure him. "Old Master, focus on recovering from your injuries. That heavenly demon is still alive and coming after us. We'll be counting on you to return to your former glory and stand against it."

Bei Chenzi was still fuming, cursing as he ranted, “Stand against it, my ass! I, Bei Chenzi, have stood at the height of glory for three thousand years! I’ve watched the world change time and again, seen dynasties rise and fall. Countless sagas have drifted past my eyes like passing clouds. Yet today, I ended up in the hands of you little brats!”

Zhu Chanchan kindly reminded him, “Old Master, I’m afraid the only ones here younger than you are Ah Ying and Master Qi. As for who the real little brat is... who can say?”

Bei Chenzi’s heart skipped a beat. That stinking snake is definitely younger than me, but Xu Ying, that bastard, is surely far older than me.

Then he thought of how he had spent all these years running around the mortal realm, working himself to the bone, worrying himself sick, and performing countless meritorious deeds. He had believed the hard years were finally behind him and that peaceful days awaited. Instead, he had ended up as prey for a heavenly demon.

Whatever shred of dignity he still possessed crumbled away as he launched into another torrent of curses.

Xu Ying waited until he had cursed himself hoarse, then said, “Old Master, you should focus on your recovery. Also, do you have any spirit elixirs for healing injuries? I remember some Qi Cultivator techniques include pill formulas for refining spirit elixirs to treat injuries.”

“What’s the point of doing all that? We can’t beat that heavenly demon,” Bei Chenzi grumbled. Still, he took out several jade bottles from his ethereal void, poured out some spirit elixirs, and swallowed them.

Closing his eyes, he circulated his cultivation method to refine the medicinal power, healing the damage to his Primordial Spirit, divine sense, and other injuries.

Unfortunately, the heavenly demon had possessed an immortal’s corpse, making it terrifyingly powerful. The injuries it had inflicted went far beyond those wounds. Even his Manifestation of the Great Dao and Radiant Vestige Land of Sublimation had suffered damage.

Spirit elixirs couldn’t heal such injuries. He would have to enter secluded cultivation, repeatedly perform Visualization, and, if the damage proved severe, seek out Dao avatars to study before he could fully recover.

But where would he find such an opportunity now? He sighed, his spirits sinking, and said to Xu Ying, “If that heavenly demon catches up to us, we’re dead for sure. I’m definitely done for. At best, I can withstand another two or three blows before it devours me. This great bell won’t be of much use either.”

Xu Ying looked at Dazhong. Zhu Chanchan had already repaired Dazhong, but his strength had yet to recover, so he couldn’t display much of his former power.

Bei Chenzi said, “At this point, I’m helpless too. Either you throw this little girl into the abyss, or we all die together.”

His eyes flickered as he looked at Zhu Chanchan. “Maybe she could let me take a bite. Just one bite...”

Zhu Chanchan hurriedly hid behind Xu Ying and poked her head out to glare at Bei Chen fiercely.

Xu Ying smiled. “Old Master, you must still have another way, right? Let me think of one for you...”

He walked back and forth on Yuanqi’s head. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “Old Master, you’ve lived from the Martial Emperor’s time until now. You must have a lot of friends, right?”

Bei Chenzi laughed in exasperation. He said furiously, “You want me to sell out my own friends? Let me make this clear: people in my line of work don’t have friends. Even if I wanted to sell someone out, there’d be no one to sell out!”

Xu Ying’s gaze sharpened. “Old Master, do you know of any dangerous places capable of restraining a heavenly demon?”

Bei Chenzi shook his head. “Those places? Even at my peak, entering one would mean certain death. If I went now, I'd only die sooner.”

Xu Ying thought for a moment. “Then is there somewhere we can hide from the heavenly demon’s senses?”

Bei Chenzi’s heart stirred. “There is indeed one place...”

He lowered his voice. “It’s an Earth God Temple... Where are we right now?”

Xu Ying didn’t recognize the surroundings, so he had Yuanqi carry them up into the sky. Bei Chenzi looked around and said in despair, “We’re too far from the temple. It’s in Daozhou, and there’s no way we can make it in time.”

Suddenly, a parasol tree atop a strangely shaped peak came into view.

Bei Chenzi was overjoyed and pointed at the mountain peak, shouting, “That’s Mount Tongbai! There’s a bronze divine tree on the mountain! Maybe Feng Xian’er is hiding there!”

Xu Ying, Zhu Chanchan, and the others all breathed a sigh of relief. Yuanqi descended from the sky and headed for Mount Tongbai. For a creature his size, flying with Sword Kinesis consumed too much mystical power. Crawling was more efficient, and hardly any slower.

They soon arrived at Mount Tongbai, climbed the peak, and came beneath the bronze divine tree.

The parasol blossoms on the tree had long since withered, leaving many green fruits hanging from the branches. Xu Ying’s divine sense surged and quickly swept across the divine tree, but he didn’t find any trace of Feng Xian’er’s aura.

He refused to give up. He circled the bronze divine tree using Sword Kinesis, constantly knocking on the trunk to see whether it concealed a hidden dimension.

Under the bronze divine tree, Yuanqi suddenly said, “I know another way to survive. But this matter will require the old master’s cooperation.”

Bei Chenzi frowned. “What could a little snake demon like you possibly come up with?”

Yuanqi said, “Ah Ying must have a seal inside him. Every so often, it loosens, letting fragments of his memories resurface. Whenever that happens, he does things no one expects. I was thinking...”

Bei Chenzi immediately said, “Impossible! Don’t even think about it!”

Yuanqi said, “If we don’t take this path, we’ll all die here. Bei Chenzi, what is the one thing you’ve wanted most in your life? Is it spending eternity watching over the ageless youth because circumstances forced you to? Haven't you ever wanted to live for yourself?”

That ageless youth? Zhu Chanchan suddenly seemed to remember something. Her expression changed slightly, and she quickly looked up at Xu Ying. Could that legend actually be true?

A look of disbelief crossed her face.

Bei Chenzi’s expression shifted unpredictably as he also looked up at Xu Ying. He was still riding his sword qi around the bronze divine tree, repeatedly attacking it without the slightest intention of giving up.

Yuanqi said, “If you don’t help him break the seal now, we’ll all die here. You’ll never accomplish the one thing you’ve wanted most in your life. Help him break the seal, get rid of the heavenly demon, and if necessary, we can seal him again afterward.”

The giant snake slowly circled Bei Chen, never taking its eyes off him. Its voice drifted from one side to the other, sometimes before him, sometimes behind him, soft and persuasive.

“This is the only way we can escape. Do you really want your final moments to be spent as a jailer, guarding a prisoner? When you look back on your life, do you want your greatest achievement to be nothing more than keeping watch over someone else?”

The coils wound tighter around him as the snake's voice became increasingly distant and ethereal.

“Maybe, just maybe, the battle with the heavenly demon will be the defining battle of your life. Maybe helping Ah Ying break the seal will be the boldest decision of your life.”

“Enough!” Bei Chenzi roared, his face darkening. “You insignificant snake demon, do you really think you can sway me? Do you think my Dao Heart, tempered over three thousand years of cultivation, can be shaken by a few words?”

The giant snake looked as though it had been struck over the head. Its coiled body went limp and collapsed into a heap.

Bei Chenzi stood tall, sleeves fluttering in the wind. Then he glanced over his shoulder, his expression shifting repeatedly.

Zhu Chanchan said tremulously, “The heavenly demon is already nearby and coming for us! What do we do?”

Bei Chenzi’s expression changed drastically. He took a yellow robe out of his ethereal void and gave it a fierce shake. The robe shot into the sky as though an invisible person had put it on, its sleeves and hem snapping loudly as it sped away.

After sending the yellow robe away, Bei Chenzi took out an altar. On top of the altar sat a shrine. The old man took out a peachwood sword and stepped onto the altar.

The shrine contained no divine statue. Instead, it held a paper talisman. Gold bird-worm seal script covered the talisman. The inscriptions were far more intricate than any Xu Ying had ever seen, naturally radiating an incomparably profound Dao Resonance.

In front of the talisman, a stick of incense as thick as an arm burned. Wisps of fragrance curled upward, flowing directly into the talisman and disappearing within it. At its current rate, the incense could burn for another year and a half.

Sword in hand, Bei Chenzi ascended the altar and began performing a ritual. He worshipped Heaven, honored Earth, and muttered prayers beneath his breath.

At that moment, a young man wearing a Sheng accessory and a golden-thread feather robe stepped onto Mount Tongbai and appeared before everyone.

Dazhong shielded Zhu Chanchan as they retreated. “Ah Ying! Hurry up and come down!”

Yuanqi shouted, “Bei Chenzi, what are you waiting for? Make your move!”

Bei Chenzi clenched his teeth. With a whoosh, he thrust the peachwood sword forward, slicing off the burning tip of the incense!

The glowing ember rested on the sword's point. With a slight flick, Bei Chenzi extinguished it. The incense on the shrine stopped producing smoke, and no further wisps drifted toward the paper talisman.

Heaven and earth suddenly fell utterly silent.

Then a breeze began to rise, growing stronger and stronger, making every plant and tree rustle loudly. Thick black clouds rolled across the sky in an instant, gathering from nowhere. The world darkened, and the fierce wind made even the bronze divine tree sway wildly!

Crack!

An unimaginably vast lightning bolt tore through the heavens and struck the bronze divine tree, splitting it cleanly in two.

With a thunderous crash, the divine tree fell. A figure fell with it, slamming heavily into the ground amid the raging lightning. He landed in a low crouch, hunched, then slowly lifted his head.

It was Xu Ying. The lightning seemed to have left a crackling pattern across his forehead, flickering erratically.

He slowly stood up. Above him, storm clouds spanning ten thousand li churned into a colossal vortex, with Xu Ying standing at its very center.

“Bei Chenzi, how dare you?” He turned to Bei Chenzi. His face held an unsettling blend of excitement, mockery, contempt, and unrestrained joy.