"A natural enemy has descended," Zhou Qiyun said. "That is why demons and gods ally—to eliminate the threat before it grows."
He leaped into the vat without another word. The splash vanished instantly. Zhou Qiyun was cautious by nature. Any wound before his tribulation was unacceptable, and any wound had to be healed immediately.
The Emperor walked to the vat's edge. "The imperial archives record that gods and demons are natural enemies, evenly matched, neither able to destroy the other. But a mature phoenix devours both. That is why tribulations descend upon young phoenixes. Few survive."
He jumped in. Water splashed. Then silence.
Yuan Qi poked his head from Su Yan's collar, wistful. "The imperial collection has monster records too? I want to read them."
With the two titans gone, Su Yan finally exhaled. His back was soaked with cold sweat. He had appeared calm before the Emperor and Zhou Qiyun, but every nerve in his body had screamed danger.
The others looked at each other, equally shaken.
Elder Xiao sighed. "The Emperor has tried to weaken the great clans several times since taking the throne. Zhou Qiyun blocked him each time. Their grudge runs deep. If the Emperor remains in Yongzhou, I fear the old patriarch will not resist the temptation."
Su Yan said, "If the Emperor dies, the world might not get worse."
Elder Xiao, Veyon, and Guo Xiaodie stared at him. They were born to noble houses. Even Elder Xiao, a servant, served a great clan. They had never known life at the bottom.
Su Yan had grown up in the mud of Lingling County, scraping by while officials and gods took what they pleased. He owed the throne nothing.
He looked up at the plaque above the hall. True Void Cave Heaven Demon Suppression Hall. Then he grinned.
"Let's climb the mountain!"
Yuan Qi expanded into a twenty-zhang serpent, black-and-white horns gleaming, scales rippling with light. Guo Xiaodie squealed and scrambled onto his head.
They rode up the cliff face. The great bell orbited Su Yan's head, clanging at Yuan Qi. "Ever think you'd become a mount, Seventh Lord?"
The snake was unbothered. "I carry them up the mountain, so I'm a mount. But I ride A-Yan's neck every day. Does that make him my beast of burden?"
The bell had no response.
Half an hour later, they reached the summit. Su Yan stood, and his breath caught.
On the far side of the mountain, one sun had just crested the horizon. Another hung at midday. A third blazed overhead. Behind them, a fourth sun bled red, sinking toward night.
In the distance, mountains shook. Boulders flew. An impossible beast rose from the peaks—the trembling ridges were merely bone plates on its back.
The serpent beneath them was already enormous. Against that creature, he was a worm.
Then their own mountain shook.
Something vast scraped against the cliffside. A body like an ox's, horned and scaled, rubbed against the stone until sparks showered down. Its tail swept over the peak, casting shadow enough to swallow the sky.
"This isn't the mortal realm," someone whispered.
The bell tolled, its voice ringing clear. "This, my friends, is a cave heaven."
Su Yan's eyes blazed. "The True Void Cave Heaven!"
He looked down at the cliff beneath them. It was the other side of the Abyss of Cangwu.
The bell's voice turned excited. "A-Yan, see that light descending from the sky? That's ascension light—a cultivator's path to immortality, frozen forever."
Su Yan followed its gaze. Miles away, a column of eternal radiance poured from the heavens. Its colors were richer and more vivid than anything in the Xiyi Domain.
A cave heaven where a cultivator had ascended. A place where the barrier between mortal and immortal realms grew thin, rich with world-essence.
Cultivation here would yield ten times the results.
Beneath that light, Su Yan saw a lightning-scarred crater miles across. His excitement chilled.
That was the mark of a tribulation. And it was not the only one. He counted seventeen craters of varying sizes, overlapping, weathered, fresh. Every one represented a cultivator who had tried to ascend—and failed.
Only one had succeeded. Only one column of light remained.
"Even if no one else ascended," Su Yan said, "the qi here is thick. We cultivate."
He summoned the Grand Unity Daoyin Art. Sun-essence poured down. Acres of light fields bloomed above him, seeds raining into his body.
Guo Xiaodie watched, transfixed. "No wonder they call him the Demon King. He isn't as pretty as Brother Weiyang, but he's got something else. Something wild."
Her heart raced. She glanced at Veyon, then back at Su Yan, unable to decide.
Veyon stepped beside Su Yan and activated her Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing. Her body glowed like jade, three hundred and sixty-five divine spirits shining from her acupoints like stars in palaces. Though faint, their radiance gave her the bearing of a monarch among gods.
Elder Xiao's heart stirred. The young master had modified the Yuan family's sacred art without permission—a crime. But the modification was far superior to the original.
Guo Xiaodie looked from one to the other, unable to choose.
Su Yan roared and unleashed the Azure Sky Scripture's first form: Storms and Darkness.
His palm strike summoned clear skies—then blackened them. Thunder cracked. Rain lashed. Wind howled. The force shocked even him.
Guo Xiaodie's eyes bulged. He had executed the first form perfectly.
The Azure Sky Scripture required opening the Crimson Palace Secret. No outsider could do that. Yet Su Yan had.
One by one, he demonstrated the forms. Radiant Mirror. Stars Parting the Azure. Nine Fields Unfolding. Constellations Shining. Sun and Moon Dwelling Together.
Guo Xiaodie held her breath. "If he masters the eighth form too, his talent is monstrous. Even our ancestors couldn't learn all eight in one sitting."
Su Yan leaped. A ladder of clouds formed beneath his feet. He pushed off—and crashed face-first onto Yuan Qi's head.
Guo Xiaodie exhaled. "Not quite a monster yet."
Su Yan's heart spasmed. The bell warned, "Don't use the eighth form casually. It drains heart-force beyond anything a cultivator can sustain. I underestimated nuo arts. You're strong as an ox, or you'd be dead."
Su Yan sat up, pale. "How do I learn your family's dragon-seeking art and open the Crimson Palace Secret?"
"Become my family's live-in son-in-law!" Guo Xiaodie's eyes sparkled. "I have an older sister, two hundred pounds of pure virtue. Gentle, kind, excellent temper. Mostly. Want to meet her?"
Su Yan's face lit up. He actually thought about it.
He was poor. In the villages around Yongzhou, boys and girls were sold to the cities all the time. The unlucky ones ended up in brothels. The luckier ones became servants in rich households. Some boys were bought by wealthy women and kept like pets until they were used up.
A live-in son-in-law of the Guo family would live better than any of them.
Veyon's voice cut through his thoughts. "Will the Demon King Xu bow to others his whole life?"
Su Yan stiffened. The fire returned to his eyes.
Gods block me, I topple gods. Officials block me, I cut them down. Earth blocks me, I shatter it. Heaven blocks me, I pierce the sky.
"Even Zhou Qiyun," he muttered, "I'll take him down one day."
* * *
An old man with a walking staff approached as the fourth sun touched the horizon.
"Children, the suns are setting. Why aren't you running?"
Su Yan bowed. "Elder, why must we run?"
The old man tapped his staff. "When the suns set, the netherworld swallows this place. The vengeful ghosts of cultivators who died in tribulations will rise. I warn you out of kindness. Go!"
They looked at the sky. Another sun had fallen. The last one bled on the mountaintop.
They scrambled down, reached the Demon Suppression Hall, and leaped into the vat.
Su Yan was last. As he jumped, something flashed past his forehead—a spot of blood no larger than a mosquito's bite. He checked himself but found nothing wrong.
Behind him, the old man appeared in the hall and stamped his foot.
"Gone already! Not even a snack for me. No matter—they tasted the cave heaven's benefits. They'll be back."