Xu Ying looked into his eyes and saw fire. Not the gentle flame of devotion, but the inferno of a man who would burn the world to light his path.
"Ascension is merely my personal wish," Xu Fu said. "My true goal is to restore what was lost — to set right what was made wrong. A restoration!" His voice rose, ringing across the mountain. "The restoration of cultivators!"
Xu Ying, the bell, and Yuan Qi stared at him.
"Three thousand years ago, a scholar named Dong suppressed the hundred schools and elevated nuo arts above all. He proposed the resonance between heaven and humanity, and in doing so, he buried us." Xu Fu placed both hands on Xu Ying's shoulders, his gaze burning with sincerity. "For three thousand years, nuo arts have ruled. But what are they? Three hundred years of life at best. They don't even outlive the dogs I keep!"
His voice thundered. "Nuo arts are a mistake! Three thousand years of darkness — and today, the dawn breaks. This is the moment cultivators rise again. Lord Xu, you are the Deathless Immortal!"
Xu Ying's mind reeled. "I'm the Deathless Immortal?" South of the Xiao River, by the Abyss of Cangwu, beneath Mount Jiuyi — the immortal who never ages. Was the girl in the coffin talking about him?
"Yes!" Xu Fu's eyes blazed. "You are the Deathless Immortal, the myth of eternal life! I traced your footsteps through ancient texts, followed your roots through legend. I know your past. You can help us restore the glory of cultivators!"
Xu Ying frowned at the hands on his shoulders. "I don't think cultivation methods are perfect."
Xu Fu laughed. "Exactly why we need the Deathless Immortal! To complete what is incomplete!"
He turned to the gathered crowd. "Lord Xu, if you agree, I will share this mountain with you. Disciples! Why do you not bow to the Deathless Immortal? He will be your immortal teacher of eternal life!"
The white-robed disciples fell to their knees, voices trembling with fervor. "We bow to the Deathless Immortal! We bow to Lord Xu Ying!"
Yuan Qi and the bell were shaken. Yuan Qi's blood surged. "Could the world truly see the return of the cultivator's golden age?"
Xu Fu laughed and steered Mount Fangzhang toward the great hall. "We cultivators have been silent for three thousand years. Three thousand years without light — and today, we finally see the sun!"
Xu Ying steadied himself. "Brother Xu, how do you restore cultivators? The heritage is broken. To rise again would mean rebuilding the entire system from nothing."
"The heritage was never broken!" Xu Fu's eyes shone. "When the Dong scholar suppressed the hundred schools, a group of young cultivators survived. When the great seal cleansed the world, they endured, preserving the flame. Not long after I returned from overseas, they found me. I'll take you to meet them!"
Mount Fangzhang flew out of the fissure and crossed the peaks. Soon it reached the seaside hall and descended.
Beams of light descended from the sky, resolving into men and women in ancient Qin and Han clothing.
A woman stepped forward. She wore only a simple dao robe, a single peach-wood hairpin in her hair, no other adornment. She bowed gracefully. "I am Hua Xianchen. Greetings, Deathless Immortal."
She looked at Xu Ying as if he were a treasure, her excitement barely contained.
Another approached. He wore rough cloth, with large hands and feet, his frame towering and powerful. He wanted to come closer but dared not, standing several zhang away, trembling with emotion. "I am Dong Meiqing, a cultivator from the era of Emperor Wu. Today I finally meet the Deathless Immortal!"
Xu Ying nodded, his heart strangely hollow. These people were calling to someone else. Someone who wasn't him.
Another approached, nearly fawning, bowing from afar. "A latecomer, Qi Qingzhou, greets the Deathless Immortal!"
Others wore splendid clothes, their features handsome, their Primordial Spirits fully formed. They too bowed, moved to tears. "The Deathless Immortal returns to the world! Our lineage finally sees light!"
Elderly men and women wept openly, unable to speak, nodding again and again. "Good! Good!"
"Heaven has eyes! The Deathless Immortal has descended to lead us out of this dark age, to make cultivation the supreme path again!"
Someone laughed, voice ringing with righteous fury. "Nuo arts are heresy! They stole our position, stole our world, poisoned the land for thousands of years! Heretical devils stole what belongs to us. Today, finally, we set things right!"
"Burn the heretics with our Samadhi True Fire!"
A familiar cry rang out. Xu Ying turned. Avia flew in, her small face flushed with excitement, shouting. "Burn them with Samadhi True Fire!"
"Yes, burn the nuo heretics!" More cultivators echoed her.
Xu Fu laughed, throwing his arm around Xu Ying's shoulders. "Lord Xu, do you see? Cultivators still exist. They never died!"
Xu Ying's gaze swept across the fervent faces, the burning eyes.
"Three thousand years of darkness covered the world, but light never left — only hidden. We've waited for an opportunity. You are that opportunity! Your return brings the light!"
Xu Fu laughed. "Only cultivation is the true path. Heretical devils don't deserve to live! When you return, the first thing we'll do is revive the First Emperor!"
Xu Ying's heart seized. "Revive the First Emperor?"
"Yes!" Xu Fu's eyes danced with manic light. "The Dong scholar suppressed the hundred schools and poisoned the world. Only the First Emperor's iron fist can set things right! He will burn books and bury nuo masters again — more thoroughly than before! This world, these New Territories, will be cleanshed with nuo master blood!"
Xu Ying steadied himself. Though he couldn't even remember this lifetime, something felt wrong. Nuo arts had flaws, but they complemented cultivation methods.
"I should tell them," he thought, "that cultivation alone cannot grant immortality."
Then he saw two familiar figures. His body went rigid.
Xu Fu noticed his stiffness and followed his gaze. A dashing young gentleman and a beautiful woman stood among the crowd. "Lord Xu recognizes Young Master Xiang and Shisan Niang?"
Xu Ying nodded, his voice cold. "Naturally."
Xu Fu waved them over. They hurried forward. Young Master Xiang knelt first, smiling. "Junior Xiang Haikong greets the Deathless Immortal! Lord Xu, I was blind to Mount Tai. I offended you on the Nai River. Please forgive my ignorance!"
Shisan Niang also knelt, delicate and pitiful. "Chu Shisan Niang offended you on the Nai River. I would never dare again. Punish me however you wish — I will obey."
She peeked upward, studying his expression. Xu Ying's face was a still pond.
Xu Fu smiled. "So that's what happened. No wonder Lord Xu knows you. You've committed a grave offense. I cannot overlook it, but we need every hand. Your punishment is postponed."
Xiang Haikong and Chu Shisan Niang looked up in relief.
"Lord Xu," Xu Fu said, "consider them wind and let them pass."
He waved dismissively. "Wait."
Xu Ying's voice was soft. "Wind can blow freely. People cannot."
Xu Fu turned, surprised. "Does Lord Xu remain angry? Young Master Xiang, Shisan Niang — Lord Xu is displeased. You know what to do."
Xiang Haikong hesitated, then drew a sword and plunged it into his thigh. Chu Shisan Niang followed, driving a flying dagger into her stomach.
Xu Fu sighed. "Why torment yourselves? Lord Xu, see?"
Xu Ying studied them. "I settled my score with them on the Nai River. Beat them until bones broke. I keep them here not for vengeance." The pair relaxed, smiling. "Lord Xu is magnanimous."
"You cannot leave," Xu Ying said.
They stopped.
"I want to know — did you summon the Plague God?"
He remembered that night on the Nai River, the piles of corpses burning, the families destroyed by the ghost invasion. He remembered the river changing course, the villages drowned. He sought truth not for himself, but for the dead.
Xiang Haikong and Chu Shisan Niang's faces changed. They looked at Xu Fu.
Xu Fu smiled gently. "That was nothing. Young Master Xiang, Shisan Niang — if you did it, admit it."
Chu Shisan Niang giggled. "The Plague God sacrifice was our doing. The Nai River diversion too. How else would the Plague God descend without deaths to feed him? How else would the river change course?"
Young Master Xiang added quickly, "After the river changed, it flooded Little Stone Mountain and broke the ruined temple, freeing the cultivator sealed in the well!"
The bell roared with fury. "So the night the Nai River changed, you were attacking Little Stone Mountain! You destroyed three thousand years of my work! I sealed a heavenly god in that well!"
"That woman was ungrateful," Chu Shisan Niang said quickly. "We saved her, and she repaid us by injuring the bell and leaving!"
Xu Fu coughed. Xiang Haikong fell silent.
"This was a small matter," Xu Fu said. "For the great cause of cultivation's restoration, some things must be sacrificed. Those lives, traded for our rise — I believe it was worth it."
"Did you ask those who were sacrificed?" Xu Ying asked. "Did you ask if their deaths were worth it?"
Xu Fu frowned. "Lord Xu, four thousand years, and you're still this stubborn. You've lived four thousand years as a mortal, taken countless beatings from life — and your edges still aren't worn smooth?"
Fury blazed in Xu Ying's chest. "Brother Xu," he said, his voice like winter iron, "do not make an enemy of me."
He walked toward Young Master Xiang. "Today, I kill two people."
Suddenly Xu Fu laughed. His hand shot out from behind, gripping Xu Ying's shoulder. "That was all a misunderstanding."
Xu Ying couldn't move. He turned, meeting Xu Fu's gaze. "And if it wasn't?"
Xu Fu's scar reddened. His eyes cooled. He released Xu Ying's shoulder and smiled. "Four thousand years, and you haven't changed. On the sea, you had that same look. The scar you gave me — it still hasn't healed."