Ascension Day

Da Zhong whispered, "Ying, don't trust someone so eager to help for no reason. He's either a thief or a scoundrel. This old man is with that sorrowful old man who fed you Meng Po's Soup. We even saw them together in the Second Divine Capital..."

Xu Ying smiled, his voice seeping through clenched teeth. "Don't tip him off. Let's see what he's planning first."

Da Zhong understood and quickly told Yuan Qi. Yuan Qi caught on as well and did not expose the white-robed old man.

Xu Ying bowed to the white-robed old man and said politely, "This is the second time we've met, sir, but I haven't had the chance to ask for your name."

The white-robed old man chuckled. "I am Beichen. Those who know of me call me Beichenzi."

He looked at Zhu Chanchan, his appetite stirring. He was both astonished and uncertain. 'This girl smells so fragrant,' he thought. 'How did she cultivate herself into such a delectable form? Truly rare!'

Xu Ying asked humbly, "Sir, do you know the origin of this Diqiu?"

Beichenzi steadied his Dao Heart. His white beard twitched as he chuckled. "I have heard some things about Diqiu. Legend has it this is the tomb of the ancient Emperor Zhuanxu. The city of Diqiu was a place where the Tomb Guardians lived, and over time, it was built into this Stone City. As for why Diqiu vanished, that I do not know."

They quickly walked to the other end of Stone City, which had just emerged from the mist outside its walls. When Xu Ying stepped out of the city, he found himself at the edge of a bottomless abyss. He had been walking so quickly that he nearly stepped into the void and plunged down.

The group halted and looked toward the other side, but a thick mist shrouded the far bank of the abyss, obscuring whatever lay there.

Suddenly, a series of dull roars echoed up from the abyss. Xu Ying faintly saw something poking its head out from the depths, its countless thick tentacles thrashing as it struggled to climb out.

Even when he activated his Celestial Eye, he could not see it clearly.

Just then, the crisp sound of a whip cracking echoed out. A long whip shot out from the mist, striking the behemoth in the abyss with a loud CRACK.

The whip was slender when it first flew out, but it immediately swelled, growing thicker and longer. It moved like a dragon or a python, its sinuous body coiling as it struck down into the abyss, its true length impossible to determine.

The behemoth in the abyss roared like thunder from the blow, a sound both dull and terrifying. Suddenly, one of its massive tentacles whipped upward, flinging a majestic mountain out of the abyss to land on the opposite bank.

The scene was so astonishing that even Zhu Chanchan was startled.

Xu Ying was profoundly shaken. While the sight of a mountain flying out of the abyss was certainly terrifying, what truly shocked him was the whip.

He recognized that kind of whip. He had once owned one just like it—the very whip the young woman in the coffin, Qing Bi, had given him to flog the Plague God.

The two whips were nearly identical!

Xu Ying asked, "Chanchan, can you see what's in the abyss?"

Zhu Chanchan replied, "I can if I use my Celestial Eye. But I've never seen that... ghostly thing in the abyss before. It's truly bizarre."

Xu Ying turned to Beichenzi and asked, "Sir, do you have any idea what that thing in the abyss is?"

Beichenzi was also filled with astonishment and doubt. He craned his neck to peer down, saying, "I don't know. Things like that already existed back when I was born. In those days, we called the people who wielded those whips 'Abyssal Watchers.' They live in seclusion within the mist of the abyss, and if any Abyssal Demons try to climb out, they whip them back down."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Back then, many people tried to explore the abyss. But anyone who jumped in would become dizzy and disoriented, never to return. The abyss... is terrifyingly dangerous."

Xu Ying gazed toward the opposite bank. The mist had not dispersed. It was a strange fog that not even his Celestial Eye could pierce, leaving him unable to see what the whip-wielders looked like.

The Abyssal Watcher continued to crack their whip into the abyss, and the roars from within its depths were incessant.

After a few moments, the thing in the abyss retreated, and the whip also retracted back into the clouds and mist, vanishing without a trace.

Xu Ying was filled with doubt. 'Qing Bi, the young woman from the coffin, also has an identical whip. Does that mean she is one of the Abyssal Watchers? Or did she steal the whip from one of them?'

'This Stone City must have been released from the abyss as well.'

Xu Ying was suddenly reminded of the Cangwu Abyss. 'Could the Cangwu Abyss and this abyss be one and the same?' he wondered. 'And what is the origin of these Abyssal Watchers?'

By evening, Xu Ying and Zhu Chanchan had worked together to butcher and clean the Beast King God. "I'll go find a pot!" Zhu Chanchan said.

"No need!" Da Zhong flew up, growing larger and larger, its mouth facing the sky.

Xu Ying filled the bell with water and placed the Beast King God inside. He then walked into Yuan Qi's belly and retrieved salt and various seasonings, which he sprinkled into the bell.

Yuan Qi spat out a plume of Celestial Fire and placed it under the bell to heat it like a cauldron.

Zhu Chanchan and Beichenzi stared, dumbfounded. As for Da Zhong, it was already used to this sort of thing.

Beside the Celestial Fire, Xu Ying leafed through the two pages of gold paper Yuan Weiyang had given him, quietly waiting for the meat to cook. The contents of the gold paper were the Dragon Seeking Positioning for the Yellow Court Secret Treasury, as well as the opening to the Yuan Family's secret art, the Primordial Dao All Heavens Sensing.

For him, there was no need to obtain the complete Primordial Dao All Heavens Sensing cultivation technique; he only needed the magic skill for operating it within a Grotto Heaven.

'I wonder if the Taiyi Guiding Skill can mobilize the Mud Pill, Jiang Palace, and Yellow Court—all three great Secret Treasuries—at the same time?'

Xu Ying held his breath and focused his mind, executing the Dragon-Seeking Positioning Technique to search for the location of his own Yellow Court. According to the Primordial Dao All Heavens Sensing, the Yellow Court Secret Treasury was hidden in the spleen, serving as the chamber of the soul and the source of consciousness.

He opened the Yellow Court Secret Treasury and saw that its Grotto Heaven was shaped like an earthen pot, extending into a vast expanse of Profound Yellow Qi. Instantly, his Divine Sense surged, and he could faintly make out a golden grand hall being carried within the Profound Yellow Qi—an incredibly striking sight!