"The natural enemy must have descended, forcing the Celestial Demons and Celestial Gods to join forces and eliminate the threat first," Zhou Qiyun said, then leaped into the jar.
He was cautious by nature. Though his injuries were not severe, he did not wish to sustain any wounds before his tribulation. If wounded, he needed to heal immediately.
After he left, the Holy Spirit Emperor approached the jar as well. "The imperial archives, the *Records of Gods and Demons*, state that Celestial Gods and Celestial Demons are natural enemies, yet evenly matched—neither able to overcome the other. But if the Phoenix were to grow, it might devour them both. Therefore, catastrophe often descends when the Phoenix is born, and few phoenix chicks survive."
He jumped into the jar, splashing water, and vanished.
Yuan Qi poked his head from Xu Ying's collar, yearning: "The imperial archives also contain books of the strange and fantastic? I would love to see them."
With the two great powerhouses departed, Xu Ying finally exhaled in relief. His back felt icy—though he had appeared composed before Zhou Qiyun and the Holy Spirit Emperor, cold sweat had long since soaked through his clothes.
The others exchanged glances, all shaken with lingering fear.
Xiao Bo worried: "Since the Emperor took the throne, he has repeatedly reduced the fiefs, attempting to weaken the great families. Each time, Old Ancestor Zhou blocked him. Their grudge runs deep and cannot be reconciled. If the Emperor remains in Yongzhou, I fear Old Ancestor Zhou won't be able to restrain himself from striking."
Xu Ying said, "If the Emperor dies, the world may not necessarily be worse off."
Xiao Bo, Yuan Weiyang, and Guo Xiaodie looked astonished. They couldn't understand how he could be so bold as to utter such treasonous words.
They were scions of noble families. Even Xiao Bo, a servant, served the Yuan family—a household that had never touched the lives of commoners.
Xu Ying, however, had grown up in the countryside of Lingling, Yongzhou, struggling in the mud since childhood. He had witnessed the deeds of officials and deities alike, and harbored no fondness for imperial authority or emperors.
Xu Ying looked up at the plaque above the True Worship of the Void Grotto-Heaven's Demon Suppression Hall and suddenly wondered: *What kind of place is this mountain?*
His spirit revived at once. He released Yuan Qi and laughed: "Let's go climb the mountain!"
Yuan Qi transformed into a colossal serpent over twenty zhang long, sporting white and black horns, scales gleaming with light, and a dragon's mane flowing behind his head. Guo Xiaodie's eyes lit up, and she scrambled onto Yuan Qi's head.
The group sat on Yuan Qi's forehead as the great serpent scaled the cliff, ascending toward the summit.
The Great Bell flew out from behind Xu Ying's head and said to Yuan Qi: "Master Seven, did you ever imagine such a day? You've become a mount!"
The great serpent remained calm. "If I carry them up the mountain and that makes me a mount, then doesn't A-Ying become my beast of burden every day when I ride on his neck?"
The Great Bell had no reply.
The mountain's grandeur rivaled even Mount Jiuyi. Yuan Qi carried them upward, taking a quarter of an hour to reach the summit. Xu Ying stood and gazed out, finally beholding the true face of this realm. His mind reeled: "This is..."
Xiao Bo had unconsciously walked ahead of him, his eyes vacant, murmuring: "What place is this?"
Guo Xiaodie, noticing the two men were not nearby, subtly lowered her bodice and leaned forward toward Yuan Weiyang. But Yuan Weiyang took no notice, merely turning her head to stare into the distance, lost in thought.
Guo Xiaodie flushed with embarrassment and frustration. She looked up—and froze.
Before them, a rising sun had just peeked above the horizon. Another sun already hung high. Overhead blazed a third, fiercer than fire. Behind them, a setting sun glowed red, about to sink.
In the distance, mountains and rivers trembled, sending boulders flying. The landscape was rising—a colossal beast slowly stood up from among the peaks. The trembling mountains were the bone plates along its back.
Those atop Yuan Qi's head felt dizzy. The serpent beneath them was enormous, yet compared to the beast among the mountains, it was a mere minnow beside a whale.
Suddenly, the mountain they stood on began to shake. The earth rumbled.
An immense body scraped against the mountain as it rose. It was a creature of staggering size, bovine in shape, its roar like a dragon's. Bone plates like scales covered its body, rough and craggy.
It seemed to be scratching an itch against the mountain, sending sparks flying, then slowly moved on.
*Whooosh—*
Its tail swept upward, a dark mass passing over the mountain peak, stirring a hot gale.
"This is no place in the Divine Land. What realm is this?" they murmured.
The Great Bell resonated, its tone clear and far-reaching: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Grotto-Heaven."
Xu Ying's realization struck: "This is the True Worship of the Void Grotto-Heaven!"
He looked down at the mountains below and felt a stirring in his heart. This cliff face seemed to be the other half of the Cangwu Abyss!
When he had been fished out of the Cangwu Abyss, he had looked around and seen that one side of the great rift was Mount Jiuyi. But the other cliff of the Abyss had been unknown—until now.
Seeing this cliff, he understood at once: this was the other side.
This cliff and Mount Jiuyi were one and the same—only the Cangwu Abyss divided them.
The Great Bell's voice grew excited: "A-Ying, do you see that beam of celestial light falling from the sky? That is the Ascension Radiance left behind when an immortal ascended."
Xu Ying looked. A hundred li distant, a beam of eternal radiance hung inverted from the heavens, descending upon the mountains.
The colors of that radiance surpassed even the Domain of the Ineffable—richer, clearer, unforgettable.
This was the True Worship of the Void Grotto-Heaven, where an immortal had once ascended.
It was also a site of ascension!
Because an immortal had ascended here, the barrier between this realm and the Celestial Realm had grown thin, allowing far more celestial essence to flow in.
Cultivating here would yield twice the result with half the effort!
Xu Ying's heart surged with excitement. Then he saw, beneath the Ascension Radiance, a lightning-crater stretching dozens of li across.
His excitement turned to ice.
That must be the scar left by the heavenly tribulation when the ancient Qi Refiner ascended. Seeing this massive crater, one could imagine the terrifying spectacle of that tribulation.
Then he spotted a second crater, this one covering a hundred li, its rim so ancient that trees had grown over it. But the trees within were stunted compared to the surrounding forest—the outline revealed the tribulation's scale.
Then a third crater, more recent and not yet fully overgrown. A fourth. A fifth...
Throughout the True Worship of the Void Grotto-Heaven lay craters of all sizes—remnants of the heavenly tribulations endured by ancient Qi Refiners who had found this place.
In mere moments, Xu Ying counted seventeen craters. Some overlapped, others had been buried by time, their outlines barely visible.
The largest was the very cliff they stood upon—it too was a crater, and the biggest of them all.
From its heights, Xu Ying could see a crater stretching roughly five hundred li in diameter.
This was the tribulation that Qi Refiners had to face in order to ascend?
Could anyone truly withstand such power and ascend to the Immortal Realm?
His gaze swept the Grotto-Heaven. Apart from the single Ascension Radiance, there was no second. In other words, every other ancient Qi Refiner who had attempted tribulation here had failed—slain by the lightning.
That Ascension Radiance remained as an eternal imprint upon the land.
"Though none but that one immortal ascended, this is still a blessed site, rich in celestial essence and ideal for cultivation."
Standing beneath the four suns, Xu Ying activated the Primordial Unity Guiding Art. The sky blazed brilliant as solar essence gathered in abundance, forming several mu of Dao Field overhead.
His recent exchanges with Yuan Weiyang had advanced his spirit sense, vital essence, and soul immensely.
Now, as he channeled the Primordial Unity Guiding Art, Dao Seeds rained from the Field, drifting down and entering his body.
Xu Ying's black hair streamed in the wind, his presence swallowing the air like a tiger. Guo Xiaodie stared, momentarily captivated.
*No wonder everyone calls him Demon King Xu. He may not be as handsome as Weiyang, but he has a charm that Weiyang lacks.*
Her heart raced. She glanced between Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang, still finding Yuan Weiyang more beautiful. But the wild, untamed appeal Xu Ying exuded was powerfully attractive—she couldn't choose.
Yuan Weiyang rose to her feet, standing shoulder to shoulder with Xu Ying, and activated the Yuan Dao Celestial Sense. Her body gleamed like jade as from each of her apertures, 365 celestial deities emerged—small and large, enthroned within the palaces, mansions, and grottos formed by her acupoints. Though these deities were still faint, mere phantoms, their collective presence surrounded Yuan Weiyang with divine radiance, giving her the bearing of a sovereign of gods.
Xiao Bo felt a tremor in his heart. *The Young Master modified the Yuan family's ancestral technique on her own—that is the height of irreverence. But the result...*
His expression grew peculiar. After Yuan Weiyang's modifications, her Yuan Dao Celestial Sense had surpassed the original by an immeasurable degree!
Guo Xiaodie kept glancing left and right. Both of these young people were outstanding—equally matched, each with their own strengths. She couldn't decide.
Suddenly, Xu Ying let out a long cry and activated the first form of the *Azure Sky Scripture*: Wind and Rain like Darkness!
His palm struck forward. Behind him, blue sky and white clouds appeared—then dark clouds rolled in, thunder crackled, and wind and rain howled like the onset of night.
*Whoooosh—*
A gale surged before Xu Ying as his palm force howled outward. He felt his heart-force surge through his entire body. Physical power erupted, and where his palm struck, wind and storm coalesced into the manifestation of darkness and tempest—its power startling even Xu Ying himself.
Guo Xiaodie's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. Xu Ying had executed the first form of the Azure Sky Scripture perfectly!
To master the Azure Sky Scripture, one first had to open the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury. Without the Guo bloodline, who could open the Crimson Palace?
Even with it open, one first had to comprehend the Azure Sky and its myriad celestial phenomena—clear skies, storms, thunder and lightning. Each phenomenon required close observation before one could grasp the Great Dao's manifestations and forge Hidden Vision.
Only with Hidden Vision could the Azure Sky Scripture be wielded with true power.
*Gaze inward at the Azure Sky, see its vastness; visualize the blue heavens, attain freedom.*
Without reaching this stage, how could one master the Azure Sky Scripture?
Xu Ying was both surprised and delighted. He had assumed the Azure Sky Scripture Guo Xiaodie gave him was merely an ordinary technique of the Guo family. He never expected it to be this powerful!
The Great Bell's voice came through: "A-Ying, this girl is worth knowing! What she gave you is absolutely a top-tier Nuo art of the Guo family!"
Xu Ying felt a twinge of guilt: *I traded her the Sword-Flying Art for a top-tier Nuo art, and she hasn't even managed to learn the art yet. I've taken far too much advantage of her. If she has any questions later, I'll do my best to guide her.*
In the moments that followed, he executed the Azure Sky Scripture's second form—Thunder and Lightning in Concert, the third—Body like a Luminous Mirror, the fourth—Stars Opening the Azure Sky, the fifth—Nine Wildernesses Unfurling, the sixth—Stars and Constellations in Radiance, and the seventh—Sun and Moon in Their Places.
*In motion: wind and rain like darkness, thunder and lightning in concert.* *At rest: body like a luminous mirror, stars opening the Azure Sky.*
Each move and stance was executed with near perfection, as if a great Guo family Nuo master were personally guiding his hand.
Guo Xiaodie grew tense, staring fixedly at Xu Ying. *If he comprehends the eighth form—Cloud Ladder Skyward—as well, his talent truly defies heaven! Even my Guo family's ancestral founder couldn't master all eight forms at once!*
Xu Ying leaped into the air. A cloud ladder appeared beneath his feet. He stepped onto it and launched himself upward—then *smack*, he crashed down onto Yuan Qi's forehead.
Guo Xiaodie exhaled in relief: "He's still a notch below the ancestral founder."
Xu Ying's heart convulsed violently. The Great Bell quickly warned: "A-Ying, never use the last form lightly—it drains heart-force far too much! I underestimated Nuo sorcery. I thought a Qi Refiner's heart-force could sustain the Azure Sky Scripture, but this art demands far more than a Qi Refiner can bear! Good thing you're strong as an ox and didn't die."
Xu Ying took a moment to recover, his heart still trembling with lingering fear.
The Azure Sky Scripture's eighth form—Cloud Ladder Skyward—was something he had already fully comprehended. He had intended to launch skyward in a single bound, but the drain on his heart-force was catastrophic, sending him crashing back down.
*Without opening the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury, the Azure Sky Scripture can never be wielded freely!*
He sat up, color slowly returning to his face, and asked Guo Xiaodie: "Miss Xiaodie, how might I learn your Guo family's Dragon-Seeking and Position-Finding technique to locate the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury?"
"Become a son-in-law of the Guo family!"
Guo Xiaodie's eyes sparkled as she smiled: "I have an older sister weighing two hundred jin, still unwed. She's virtuous and gentle, though her temper is rather poor. Shall I introduce you?"
Xu Ying's heart jumped with excitement. He hesitated: "Let me think about it."
Guo Xiaodie blinked, unsure whether he was genuinely considering it or merely humoring her.
What she didn't know was that Xu Ying was truly considering it. He had been born into poverty. In the nearby villages, boys and girls that families couldn't afford to raise were often sold to the cities. The unlucky ones ended up in brothels. The luckier ones became household servants in wealthy estates. Some boys were purchased by noble ladies, given fine clothes and food—something he had envied to no end.
If he could become the Guo family's son-in-law, his lot would surely be better than those village boys who were sold off. At the very least, he would be a true husband-in-law. Those boys bought by noble ladies were nothing but playthings—discarded once drained dry.
Yuan Weiyang's voice came softly: "Does the Demon King Xu intend to remain beneath others his entire life?"
Xu Ying snapped to attention, casting aside the son-in-law fantasy. He thought: *If the gods won't tolerate me, I'll overthrow them. If the officials won't tolerate me, I'll cut them down. If the earth won't tolerate me, I'll overturn it. If heaven won't tolerate me, I'll pierce through it. A real man stands tall—why should he grovel under another's roof?*
*Even if it's Zhou Qiyun, I'll bring him down!*