Ascension Day

Chapter 260: Chapter 123: The Ancestral Dragon’s 12 Golden Men

Haojing drew nearer.

For the past few days, a radiant glow had been surging from the ground, shooting straight up past the highest clouds. The sight was magnificent. Even from a great distance, Xu Ying and his companions could see the brilliant light, like a burning candle hidden among the clouds, overflowing with dazzling colors.

Moreover, they sensed a terrifying tremor. It felt like the overwhelming might of a Magical Treasure, or perhaps the world-suppressing aura of a peerless expert.

“It’s the Twelve Golden Men.”

Xu Fu sensed something and said, “One of the Golden Men has reawakened. The Twelve Golden Men are responsible for guarding the Ancestral Dragon’s tomb. It seems the Nuo Masters lured here are quite capable. They’ve already dug their way to the Ancestral Dragon’s mausoleum.”

Xu Ying asked, “Lord Qi, what are the Twelve Golden Men?”

Yuan Qi said, “I’ve only heard that the First Emperor scoured the world for weapons to forge the Twelve Golden Men, preventing anyone from being able to rebel. As for the specifics, the books I’ve read don’t elaborate.”

Xu Fu explained, “Back then, when Emperor Shi’s Ancestral Dragon unified the world, he gathered the finest Magical Treasures from the Qi Refiners of the six states. He used them to forge the Twelve Golden Men, which were meant to suppress the Qi Refiners’ destiny and prevent it from fading away. At that time, the Qi Refiners were already in decline, and Emperor Shi’s Ancestral Dragon hoped this method would extend their legacy. However, after his death, it all became an illusion, a fleeting dream. Even the Twelve Golden Men were buried along with him.”

Xu Ying said, “I’ve never heard of the dead being resurrected. If the Ancestral Dragon is already dead, how can they bring him back?”

As the Fangzhang Immortal Mountain flew toward Lishan, Xu Fu said, “The Ancestral Dragon might not be truly dead. A being of his stature craved Longevity. He likely used a secret art to seal his Physical Body and Primordial Spirit, placing himself in a state of suspended animation while awaiting revival.”

Lishan loomed before them, its peaks soaring into the clouds. It spanned several hundred li, many times larger than the original mountain.

From a distance, the mountain’s silhouette resembled the character for “gold”—a wide peak set firmly on a solid base, looking both majestic and solemn.

However, the entrance to the Lishan Mausoleum had already been found and breached. Outside, Xu Ying saw dozens of corpses scattered haphazardly. A fierce battle must have taken place for control over the mausoleum.

“I once traveled to the Underworld and searched for over two hundred years, trying to find where the Ancestral Dragon’s Ghost Soul had gone. But I could never find him.”

Xu Fu continued, “I also sought out Nuo Masters who could open the Spring Secret Treasury. They are experts at Summoning the Soul, and they used the Nuo Technique to call upon Ghost Souls. But even they said the Ancestral Dragon’s Ghost Soul was not in the Underworld.”

When they reached the entrance to the Lishan Mausoleum, Xu Ying saw dozens more corpses. Judging by their clothing, however, these were not Nuo Masters, but ordinary people.

Hua Xianchen stepped forward to examine the entrance. “There’s a restrictive seal on the tomb door,” she said. “Ghost Gods are hidden within it, making it extremely dangerous. To break the seal and open the door, those Nuo Masters sacrificed these ordinary people. They used their blood to defile the seal, luring out the Ghost Gods to be killed. Only then could they force their way inside.”

They entered the Lishan Mausoleum. Every few steps along the tomb passage lay another corpse, also dressed as an ordinary person.

“They were used as sacrifices.”

Hua Xianchen took out a Bright Mirror. It illuminated the surrounding tomb passage in perfect detail, and could even shine through the walls. Inside the walls, they could see the figures of Ghost Gods, all of them already dead!

These Ghost Gods were hidden within the seal, waiting for it to be triggered. Once activated, they would have flown out from the walls to kill!

It was a pity. Such an ingenious seal had been broken by the crude method of blood sacrifice.

“A brutish way to break a seal, just piling up human lives,” Xu Fu commented.

They pressed onward. The number of bodies along the path increased. Gradually, there were fewer Mortals and more Nuo Masters. There were even some Demon Gods with immense Physiques who had also been used as sacrifices to break the seals!

Xu Ying even recognized one of the faces. It was a Nuo Master from the Pei Family whom he had met once before. He, too, had been offered as a sacrifice to the Ghost Gods.

One could only imagine the terrifying struggle and slaughter that had taken place here.

Deeper within Lishan, the view suddenly opened up. A vast, thousand-li mountain world unfolded before their eyes. Dozens upon dozens of Immortal Mountains floated in the sky. From a distance, they could see a brilliant radiance washing down from between the peaks, shimmering with the light of Immortals, an exceptionally dazzling and colorful spectacle.

“This is an Ascension Land?”

Xu Ying was stunned. The Lishan Mausoleum was actually an Ascension Land!

Moreover, more than one Immortal had ascended here. Judging by the number of patches of Ascension Radiance, seven Immortals had once ascended from this very spot!

‘Could this be a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land?’

The moment he thought this, he realized something was wrong. ‘This isn’t an original Ascension Land. Someone cut this piece out of a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land and moved it here!’

The severed edges of space shimmered with the color of Glazed Glass. As he shifted his gaze, he could see a kaleidoscope of colors reflecting from the spatial cross-sections!

Xu Fu pointed into the distance. “The First Emperor transplanted seven Ascension Lands here,” he said. “He used the residual radiance from the Immortals’ Ascensions to suspend his sarcophagus, hoping to be closer to the Immortal Realm. Can you see his sarcophagus?”

Everyone strained their eyes to the limit, but few could make out what lay within the Ascension Radiance. Xu Ying activated his Celestial Eye and was just barely able to see a Golden Coffin floating amidst the glow, rotating slowly.

‘Could that be the First Emperor’s Golden Coffin?’

There were mountains on the ground and mountains in the sky. The celestial peaks hung inverted, tinged with a bloody red.

Blood-red dragons coiled around some of the mountains. From a distance, one could see their crimson scales slithering, though it was impossible to tell if it was real or an illusion.

“That was the work of Emperor Shi’s Ancestral Dragon. He slew peerless experts and used their Mysterious Domains—their Five Peaks Immortal Mountains—to create this restrictive seal. Getting past it is extremely difficult.”

The Skinny Bamboo Elder, a man so old he had shrunk to only three or four feet tall, caught his breath and said, “The Nuo Masters who came before us must have crossed the river’s surface to get into those mountains.”

Below them was a silvery-white Long River, its surface about a hundred zhang wide. The great river flowed steadily—it was a Mercury River, its waters made of incredibly heavy quicksilver.

The Mercury River wound through the mountains, flowing between the peaks. Following the river’s course, it seemed to lead toward the Golden Coffin of Emperor Shi’s Ancestral Dragon!

Just as Xu Fu was about to cross the river, he suddenly stopped. Xu Ying’s heart went cold as he, too, felt an incomparably tyrannical aura approaching.

Everyone looked in the direction of the aura. An altar, fourteen or fifteen zhang in both length and width, was drifting toward them on the river’s surface. Only about a foot of it was visible above the mercury; there was no telling how deep it went.

On the altar stood a Golden Man over twenty zhang tall. Its entire body shone with a brilliant golden light. It held a Bronze Sword, wore Golden Armor, and was wreathed in an incredibly dense cloud of Incense Smoke Qi. It also radiated the earth-shattering aura of a Magical Treasure!

Behind it, there was even a Shen Kan. In addition to the Shen Kan, there was an Abnormal Phenomenon: a floating Five Peaks Immortal Mountain, an inverted Celestial River, a Celestial Mountain descending from the heavens, and clear representations of Profound Gates like the Tailbone, Jiaji, and Jade Capital.

A Furnace Cauldron for Water and Fire Inter-refining, a glittering golden Twelve-Storey Tower, a Jade Pool Divine Bridge—it had everything!

Da Zhong chimed, its tone somewhat muted. “Ying, is that a Golden Man? It seems absurdly powerful. I might not be the strongest Magical Treasure anymore…”

Suddenly, someone shouted, “Look at the Golden Man’s face! It’s the Immortal!”

Everyone looked, stunned. They turned their heads to look at Xu Ying, then back at the Golden Man on the altar.

The Golden Man’s face was a perfect match for Xu Ying’s!

“Emperor Shi’s Ancestral Dragon modeled the Twelve Golden Men after the Immortal!”

Yuan Qi stared, his eyes wide, and murmured, “Ying, the Lishan Mausoleum is filled with legends about you.”

—-A shout-out to the struggling author Zhai Zhu’s novel, *Diving*. I thought it was decent enough to pass the time.