The skeleton in the temple doorway stretched out its hand in welcome. The bone fingers moved like living flesh, beckoning them inside.
Su Yan felt a chill crawl up his spine. Yuan Qi coiled tighter, his scales bristling.
A strange breath flowed from the dark entrance — not foul, but wrong. It carried the scent of Dao, yet existed outside the Heavenly Dao's order.
Su Yan narrowed his eyes. "That's no ordinary temple."
He had sensed the same wrongness when he fought the flesh-tower. Those creatures were not born of the Heavenly Dao.
Xue Ying'an stirred awake. His eyes widened at the sight of the bone puppet. "A heretic temple?"
He had been meditating, focused entirely on opening his Mud Pill grotto-heaven. Now that he succeeded, the world outside had turned into a nightmare.
"You know this place?" Su Yan asked.
Xue Ying'an steadied his breath. "This world we stand in — it's a heretic world. It exists beyond the Ten Thousand Worlds. The creatures here worship heretic gods. Their shrines are called heretic temples."
Yuan Qi tilted his head. "What's a heretic?"
"Cultivators learn techniques by comprehending Dao manifestations," Xue Ying'an explained. "These manifestations are expressions of the Dao. Your serpent form is one such manifestation. All of them belong to the Heavenly Dao. Anything outside it — that's heresy. You've heard the phrase 'evil gods and heretic ways.' The heretic part refers to this."
Su Yan studied the plaque above the door. "So this place worships an evil god?"
Xue Ying'an nodded, his face grave. "The god inside is putting on a show to lure us in. Once we step through that door, we're dead."
Su Yan laughed. "I'm young and full of vigor. Why would a heretic god greet me as a skeleton instead of a beautiful woman?"
The moment the words left his lips, the skeleton transformed. A young woman stood in its place, dressed in bright silks, her eyes full of tender longing. She looked exactly like Yuan Rusi.
"Husband," she cooed through the doorway, "how long will you make me wait?"
Su Yan's Dao heart held firm. He smiled. "But we have a serpent here. He might prefer something else."
The woman melted into a serpent — female, with twin horns on her head. She batted her eyelashes at Yuan Qi. "Husband, our kind is nearly extinct. Time is short. Come in and pair with me."
Yuan Qi started forward. Su Yan blocked him.
"A-Ying, I'm going extinct!" Yuan Qi fumed. "You see women every day. I haven't even met a female serpent!"
Su Yan activated the Heart-Setting Seal. Yuan Qi shuddered and came to his senses.
"That heretic god read me like a book," he whispered, horror-struck.
"It's just a parlor trick," Su Yan said. "It can't truly sway your mind unless your Dao heart is weak. Look at Ying'an — he's far more composed."
Before he finished speaking, the female serpent in the doorway shifted again. Now it wore Li Xiaoke's face, his voice gentle and warm.
"Ying'an, do you remember your first day on the mountain? I wish we could go back to that moment. Let us begin anew."
"Master!" Tears streamed down Xue Ying'an's face. He stumbled toward the door.
Yuan Qi lashed his tail around the boy's waist and dragged him back.
Su Yan pressed the seal against his forehead. "Breathe."
Xue Ying'an kept sobbing. "I'm a native of this land. When my family died, Master took me in."
Once the boy calmed, Su Yan turned to the murals inside. "If this is a heretic temple, why does the door bear a seal?"
Xue Ying'an wiped his eyes. "There's an old story. Our ancestors were sent here to suppress the heretic god. They brought immortal seals from the upper realm to keep it imprisoned forever. But over time, the god corrupted them. Slowly, they became its worshippers instead of the Heavenly Dao's servants."
He stared at the dark well in the center of the altar. "The heretic god has been breaking free. The flesh you saw covering this land — that's its body. It's trying to recover its full power and escape."
Su Yan examined the plaque more closely. "The seal on this door was carved by an immortal?"
He shook his head. "An illiterate immortal, apparently."
He summoned his Heaven-Slaying sword qi and carved the characters into their proper form, matching the seal script on Big Bell.
The moment he finished, the Li Xiaoke illusion inside the temple screamed. Its face twisted, shifting from woman to serpent to maiden and finally dissolving into smoke.
Su Yan stepped inside. "I killed a flesh-tower earlier. That was the heretic god's flesh. My nuo arts did nothing against it. Only the Heaven-Slaying sword qi could pierce its heart."
Xue Ying'an followed, trembling. Yuan Qi hesitated, then slithered in.
"A-Ying, Li Xiaoke is still hunting us," Yuan Qi said. "What if he finds us here?"
Su Yan scanned the interior. "This temple sits on an ancient beast's back. The beast is fleeing the flesh-towers. Even if Li Xiaoke is a master strategist, he'd never think to look inside a moving temple on a running beast."
Yuan Qi had to admit the logic was sound.
The temple interior was intact. Incense still burned on the ancient altar, threads of smoke rising as if someone had worshipped here only moments ago.
"Did someone visit recently?" Su Yan checked the incense, puzzled.
At the altar's center stood a deep well. Its cover had been removed. Heavy chains disappeared into the darkness below.
Su Yan passed the altar and studied the murals. They depicted ancient history — a group of primordial people building this temple to seal the heretic god.
The figures in the paintings were powerful cultivators, floating in the air. Swords, spears, towers, and platforms shone with endless power as they pressed the colossal heretic god into the well.
At the mural's edge, an old man wrote in bird-and-insect script. The immortal, presumably.
"This must be my ancestors suppressing the heretic god," Xue Ying'an said, voice shaking with pride. "Go back far enough, every family has heroes. Too bad they fell later, corrupted by the god."
Su Yan leaned closer. "Their clothing is from the Shang Dynasty. Ying'an, your ancestors were Shang-era cultivators."
Xue Ying'an straightened, chest swelling.
They moved to the next mural.
Su Yan froze.
This painting showed the heretic god as a vast meat-pie covering the sky, raining heavenly tribulation upon the land. Below, the ancient people endured floods, earthquakes, and beast hordes.
"Evil god," Xue Ying'an said. "This shows what happened after it broke free — it cursed my ancestors."
The next mural stopped Su Yan cold.
It showed the ancient people in chains. Powerful cultivators had their Xiyi Domains pierced, their Primordial Spirits nailed through, their powers sealed. They struggled in agony.
"The order is wrong," Xue Ying'an said, scratching his head. "Shouldn't this come before the sealing?"
The following painting showed ancient ships sailing through starry void, approaching an unknown world.
On the decks stood chained prisoners, their cultivation sealed, their Primordial Spirits bound. Their clothes were rags.
Behind the ships, a vast silhouette stood against the stars — the heretic god's true form, barely visible.
This was no suppression mission. This was a prisoner transport.
"The paintings are upside down," Xue Ying'an insisted. "The heretic god painted these to slander my ancestors."
The next mural showed a battlefield. Shang-era cultivators fought enemies wrapped in blinding light, beings so powerful they could match the combined assault of dozens.
Among the Shang fighters, a three-legged golden crow spread its wings of flame, battling heaven and earth.
On the crow's back stood a young man. His face was familiar.
Beside him sat a girl, fighting at his side through life and death.
Su Yan went very still.
"If that's Jin Buyi," he whispered, "then the girl is..."
A familiar bell-tone rang outside.
Li Xiaoke's voice drifted through the temple doors. "Honored God, your humble servant Li Xiaoke pays his respects. I need to borrow your eyes to find two people."
Su Yan's heart hammered. He grabbed Xue Ying'an and Yuan Qi and dove behind the main hall, holding his breath.
The ancient beast still thundered beneath them, carrying the temple across the wasteland.
Wind howled outside.
Li Xiaoke strode in, the great bell floating above his head. He glanced at the burning incense and smiled. "The incense from my last offering still burns. My devotion, like this flame, never ends."
He turned to the well. "Three thousand years ago, I cultivated the Heavenly Sensing Art. My consciousness connected to the heavens and touched yours. Only then did I understand — the Heavenly Dao is merciless."
He sighed. "You enforced the heavens' will, escorting criminals to this Land of Heavenly Punishment, making them and their descendants atone for eternity. Yet they abused your mercy and turned on you, sealing you instead."
Xue Ying'an went rigid. *The stories were lies. My ancestors were the prisoners, not the heroes.*
"I helped you break part of the seal," Li Xiaoke continued, his voice warm with pride. "I killed their descendants, devoured their treasures, removed every obstacle. Your vengeance is nearly complete."
Xue Ying'an's nails dug into his palms until blood flowed.
"Only the temple seal remains. But I have found the key." Li Xiaoke raised the great bell. Its tone rang out, ancient and clear. "This bell carries the immortal runes we need."
The well shook. Chains rattled violently.
"Your freedom approaches. But what I seek — the longevity you promised — where is it?"
A vast consciousness rose from the well, shaking the temple. The voice was too immense to understand, vibrating through Su Yan's bones.
*It's not fully sealed. It can still use its consciousness.*
Sweat beaded on Su Yan's forehead. A slender sword qi flickered from his fingertip. He shaved off one eyebrow, then half his head, then put his clothes on backward, then kicked off his left shoe. He twisted his Mud Pill vitality until one eye swelled larger than the other.
The moment he finished, Li Xiaoke spoke again. "Thank you for the guidance."
He appeared before them in the next instant. His aura pinned Su Yan, Yuan Qi, and Xue Ying'an to the floor. Their golden cores had barely risen before the pressure locked them in place.
Li Xiaoke laughed. "I searched heaven and earth — and here you are. You... you!"
His eyes locked on Su Yan's lopsided face, his missing eyebrow, his backward clothes. For one heartbeat, his perfect symmetry shattered. His aura flickered.
Su Yan roared and broke free. He thrust his hand into Yuan Qi's mouth.
A torrent of Heavenly Dao breath erupted. A severed arm shot out, covered in celestial runes — the Dragon Abyss Celestial God's arm, which Su Yan had hidden inside Yuan Qi all this time.
The arm's Heavenly Dao aura disrupted Li Xiaoke's consciousness. At the same instant, Su Yan's fingers became a sword. Heaven-Slaying sword qi flashed from his fingertips and pierced Li Xiaoke's brow.
"Bell Lord!" Su Yan shouted.
The great bell above Li Xiaoke's head blazed with light. It poured every ounce of its power downward.
The sonic blast drove Li Xiaoke straight into the floor.
Su Yan grabbed the bell's nose and channeled every drop of his power through it, shattering the Heaven-Slaying sword qi directly into Li Xiaoke's forehead.
Big Bell screamed, "I never knew a man could be this rotten! Su Yan, kill him!"