Yuan Qi and the bell's hearts seized. The scar at the corner of Xu Fu's eye — A-Ying gave him that?
How much of the seal had broken back then?
They remembered the battle at Tongbai Mountain. Xu Ying had slaughtered the Heavenly Demon parasitizing an immortal corpse and wounded Beichenzi's trio. Back then, he'd been merely at the Gate-Breaking stage. A group of ascension-stage powerhouses had crumbled in moments. If not for them igniting incense to activate the paper seal, the next instant would have been annihilation.
From the look of Xu Fu's scar, the wound had reached bone — likely a brain-piercing injury. The Xu Ying of that era had struck to kill. Intent to take Xu Fu's life.
They should have been mortal enemies.
"Then why," Yuan Qi and the bell wondered, "does Xu Fu still invite A-Ying to restore cultivation? Good intentions, or something darker?"
Xu Ying turned his back on Xu Fu and faced Xiang Haikong and Chu Shisan Niang.
The pair retreated slowly. Xiang Haikong was cautious. "If Lord Xu presses this, I won't back down. I might injure the Deathless Immortal."
Chu Shisan Niang's eyes flickered. She shot into the air. "Young Master Xiang, you don't back down, but I do! The Deathless Immortal cannot be killed, cannot be struck. If you dare kill him, Old Ancestor Xu Fu will take your life! I'll go first!"
She moved with blinding speed, leaping through the air. She cultivated both qi and arts, her techniques exquisite. Each step summoned green lotus leaves beneath her feet, and she vanished into the sky.
"Wait until the Deathless Immortal cools down, then I'll return!"
Xu Ying started to pursue. Suddenly, Xiang Haikong snapped his folding fan open and thrust forward. Wind howled, invisible sword-qi clashing within like jade pendants striking, rushing toward Xu Ying.
The wind hadn't arrived when the ground around Xu Ying rang with metallic cries, invisible blades carving cracks into the stone.
Countless sword-qi spiraled around him, forming a tornado of blades that trapped him.
On the Nai River, Young Master Xiang had used a wind-lantern to pin Xu Ying's maple leaf boat, leaving him helpless. But that Xu Ying had been a mere Qi-Gathering stage cultivator, his knowledge pitiful.
Now, after everything he'd experienced, his insight surpassed that boy beyond measure.
Young Master Xiang's technique merged his fan's imprint with a partial dao manifestation — impressive to outsiders, thick with power, seemingly unstoppable.
But through Xu Ying's Heavenly Eye, he saw the truth: Xiang Haikong couldn't execute true arts at all. He needed a magical treasure just to manifest techniques.
Even so, the technique was half-baked, full of holes — like Xu Fu's disciples performing the Sword Control Art. Clever on the surface, riddled with flaws beneath.
Xiang Haikong didn't aim to kill. He wanted to buy time to escape.
He swung the fan and turned to run — but Xu Ying moved like a dragon-serpent, flashing through the sword-qi tornado without touching a single blade.
Xu Ying's hands struck forward, one yin and one yang, the space around him distorting, dragging the fleeing Xiang Haikong into the shifting scenery.
An Inner Realm manifested.
The Sun and Moon Dwelling of the Azure Sky Scripture.
Xu Ying's left fist drove forward. His qi turned scorching hot, friction igniting the air into blazing flames.
This fist erupted like a blazing sun, flames exploding inward with devastating force.
The fire in Xu Ying's palm wasn't ordinary flame. It was Pure Yang Fire — his entire body suffused with pure yang qi, visualizing flames that became devastating conflagrations.
Xiang Haikong's heart seized. He spun, raising his fan. The fan orbited him, invisible sword-qi filling the sky.
Xu Ying's punch shattered countless blades of qi. The fan tore apart in the raging wind, becoming a fireball in the air.
Xiang Haikong raised his hand to block, using the Minor Five Thunder Seal — a cultivator's hand technique. When their palms collided, the sun of Pure Yang Fire exploded outward.
Xiang Haikong's Five Thunder Seal erupted, each finger representing a heavenly thunder. Each vibration unleashed thunder-force, hammering against Xu Ying's fist.
His five fingers quivered, thunder bursting. But as each finger extended, it snapped backward. Four fingers broke, leaving only the thumb standing stubbornly straight.
He endured the pain, raised a banner in the air, and tried to activate a magical treasure. At the same moment, Xu Ying's right hand — yin — struck forward, slapping the back of his left hand.
The scorching yang qi instantly inverted, becoming cool and bright as moonlight, radiating from his palm like a lunar glow.
This was the complete form of the Azure Sky Scripture's seventh technique: Sun and Moon Dwelling.
Yin and yang reversed in an instant. The technique's power doubled. Xiang Haikong hadn't even activated his banner when its fabric tore, its pole snapping.
Xiang Haikong grunted. Fingers twisted. Shoulder twisted. His whole body spun, contorting.
He couldn't stabilize himself. Xu Ying's shoulder shifted, and a blade of sword-qi arced from the sky like a rainbow, striking down. Xiang Haikong's golden crown flew off, its light blooming into a palace illusion — a celestial palace containing dao manifestations, no trivial matter.
But it too was half-learned.
Xu Ying's sword-qi split the palace in two. The crown broke, clanging to the ground.
Xiang Haikong, shocked and furious, whipped his head. His hairpin flew out, splitting into hundreds of silver needles that stabbed toward Xu Ying.
"Old Ancestor Xu Fu, I've rendered great service for the cultivator's restoration. Won't you save me? If you don't stop him, I'll truly strike to kill!"
He possessed countless magical treasures, but each was weak. He knew many techniques, but each was flawed.
This was an era where cultivation withered. That withering affected not just the mortal world, but the cultivators themselves.
Advanced arts hadn't been passed down. Even when they were, no one could comprehend them.
Every cultivator's understanding was half-baked, no better than nuo masters.
And Xu Ying practiced complete immortal methods while simultaneously studying nuo arts. The silver needles hadn't reached him when the Eight Yuan Tones resonated from his body, shattering them mid-flight.
Xiang Haikong, shocked and furious, roared. Suddenly a golden core leaped from his dantian, its light filling the sky, every mote of dust visible.
This was the cultivator's golden core.
Swallow one golden core, and one's fate is in one's own hands.
Forming a golden core greatly extended lifespan, connected heaven and humanity, revealing the marvels of creation.
Xiang Haikong raised his golden core like a mountain pressing down on Xu Ying, pinning him in place.
Seeing Xu Fu still hadn't stopped him, malice overcame caution. He activated the golden core. Deathless Immortal or not, he would kill him.
Xiang Haikong raised a flying dagger, preparing to sever Xu Ying's head — when a massive stone axe rose behind Xu Ying and fell, striking the golden core with a thunderous clang.
Xiang Haikong had just raised his dagger. He looked up and saw cracks webbing across the golden core.
Blood poured from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His body swayed. When the golden core shattered, he collapsed, dead.
On the mountain, cultivators everywhere watched, their faces pale.
Xu Fu's voice drifted, serene and terrible. "Do you see? This is the power of a true cultivator! The Deathless Immortal himself demonstrates the true power of the Gate-Breaking stage. Even a golden core is nothing before it!"
The cultivators erupted in cheers.
Xu Fu raised his arms. "The Deathless Immortal will teach us this power, let us cultivate without flaw, survive the tribulation, and ascend to immortality!"
More cheers, wild and frenzied.
Xu Ying retrieved the stone axe and returned to Xu Fu's side.
"Anger cooled?" Xu Fu smiled. "Lord Xu, stand beside me. Bask in their adoration."
Xu Ying shook his head and stood below Mount Fangzhang.
Xu Fu smiled, not pressing him. He stood alone on the immortal mountain, drinking in the cheers. "Back then, you always raged at me over the deaths of those children. You struck me again and again, and I never resisted. I let you beat me. This time, I've also followed your heart — letting you kill Young Master Xiang to vent your anger."
Xu Ying's eyes gleamed. "But I know the one who ordered him to blood-sacrifice the heavenly god was you. The one who spread plague and diverted the Nai River was also you."
Xu Fu smiled. "You have a woman's compassion. You pity the weak. I don't. I've been cold since birth."
He turned. Mount Fangzhang carried him toward the great hall. Xu Ying followed unhurriedly.
"I was born unable to feel human emotion," Xu Fu said. "I came from the Xu family of the Eastern Sea. As a child, I studied cultivation. People praised my intelligence. My father hired teachers of poetry and ritual to train me. I treated everyone appropriately, never overstepping boundaries. Others rejoiced, I rejoiced with them. Others grieved, I grieved with them."
His face was calm, as if speaking of a stranger. "One day my grandmother died. I stood before her coffin, hearing my relatives weep, but felt no sorrow. I couldn't cry. Couldn't share their pain."
Xu Fu smiled. "On my wedding day, I felt no joy. I was a man separated from all emotion, following rules because they were rules. Others laughed, I laughed. Others cried, I cried. Until I met Lord Xu — and discovered the meaning of my life."
His eyes burned. "I was born to help Lord Xu complete an unparalleled伟业! Only then did I feel emotion, did I know joy and sorrow, anger and delight!"
Xu Ying frowned.
"Lord Xu is kind and soft-hearted. I am ruthless. Lord Xu doesn't know the treachery of human hearts. I am cunning and resourceful. Lord Xu shines bright. I am shadow."
Xu Fu laughed. "When sacrifice was needed, you wouldn't kill the children. I killed them for you. When danger came, you couldn't bear to see companions die. I forced them to die so we could escape. When all hope seemed lost, you wanted to save everyone, while I killed them for food. When we found the immortal mountain, you couldn't bear to silence everyone. But I could!"
Yuan Qi and the bell listened, hearts pounding. From his words, they pieced together the truth of that sea voyage.
Xu Ying, Xu Fu, and three thousand youths had been teenagers, bearing the mission to seek immortal mountains across the sea. They were companions and competitors. The ocean surged with demons and dangers.
It was a terrible story. Many died to various dangers. But more were deliberately sacrificed, abandoned, or eaten by Xu Fu's design — all so that Xu Ying could find the mountain and claim it.
Many were sacrificed, discarded, consumed. Those who harbored ill will toward Xu Ying were secretly eliminated by Xu Fu, his shadow.
He removed every obstacle for Xu Ying.
They were friends. They were enemies.
"I'm like your shadow," Xu Fu said, "living in darkness, doing what you cannot."
He swept his sleeve. The hall doors groaned shut, leaving only the two of them.
He stepped down from Mount Fangzhang. "Back then, I helped you kill those children. Now I help you blood-sacrifice the Plague God and spread plague, divert the Nai River and let the underworld invade. I help you open the broken world! What have you given me?"
His feet left Mount Fangzhang and touched the ground. "This scar."
The instant his foot landed, the wound at his eye corner began to collapse, sinking inward.
His brain split open — a hole passing clear through, front to back. Inside, his brain had shriveled, twisted together.
Xu Fu aged with terrifying speed. White hair sprouted. His body withered. Breath faded. He staggered, wheezing, laughing.
"You gave me this."
His breath grew thread-thin. He stumbled back to Mount Fangzhang. His breathing slowly recovered. The hole in his head gradually closed, becoming once more just a centipede-shaped scar.
He grew young again, still a young man. "You left me on the mountain. You didn't kill me. You told me you were imprisoning me, that I could never leave Mount Fangzhang. But I knew I would return!"
He stood, looking down from above. "When I returned, I expected to find you still rolling in the mud, bullied, foolish. Once again, I would pull you out. But this time — this time will be different."
He smiled with fierce pride. "Lord Xu, you will become my shadow. You will help me complete a restoration!"