Ascension Day

Chapter 261: Chapter 124: Trouble on the Other Shore

Xu Ying gazed up at the Golden Man, his mind reeling with shock. The statue truly bore a striking resemblance to him!

‘Could it be that four thousand years ago, in that ancient era, besides crossing the sea in search of the Immortal Mountains, I did something else? Something that led to the Twelve Golden Men being cast in my likeness?’

Xu Fu was also somewhat surprised. It seemed he hadn’t expected the Ancestral Dragon to hold Xu Ying in such high regard as to cast the Golden Man in his likeness.

The Golden Man’s aura grew increasingly powerful. In the Abnormal Phenomenon behind it, the Celestial River, which had stopped flowing, was now slowly beginning to move again!

Water and fire began to circulate, radiant light steamed from the Furnace Cauldron, a dragon lay coiled on the Divine Bridge, ripples formed on the Jasper Pool, and the three Profound Gates opened in succession!

Even the Incense Smoke Qi around the Golden Man gradually grew thicker, instantly filling everyone’s minds with countless noises—the chanting of multitudes!

This was a sign that the Golden Man was about to awaken!

Everyone felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy. Suddenly, Xu Fu, stepping on his Fangzhang Immortal Mountain, flew forward and lightly pressed his palm. Within the Palm Seal, the character for “imprison” appeared in bird-and-worm seal script, and he stamped it onto the Golden Man’s brow.

The Golden Man let out a loud DONG. Instantly, the Celestial River ceased its flow, the water and fire no longer inter-refined, the radiant light retracted into the Furnace Cauldron, and the three Profound Gates closed in succession.

The Mercury River flowed onward with a gentle murmur, carrying this Golden Man away.

Everyone’s hearts had been in their throats. Only when the Golden Man was far in the distance did they finally relax.

Xu Ying raised an eyebrow. ‘From the sixteen characters in that Golden Book, Xu Fu has comprehended many useful Divine Powers. That “imprison” character just now was from the Golden Book!’

Da Zhong whispered, “Ying, he’s holding on to the Golden Book and not giving it to you. I’m afraid it’s so he can thoroughly master its contents and then use it to threaten you. He wants you to escape the suppression of the Demon Suppression Rune only to fall right into his control!”

Xu Ying nodded silently. He had suspected as much.

‘At that point, I would truly become a shadow, forced to obey Xu Fu’s every command!’

“The Twelve Golden Men are scattered throughout the Mercury River that winds through these mountains. Now that this one has passed, the next won’t be far behind. We move out immediately!”

At Xu Fu’s command, everyone leaped up and used their own abilities to land on the river. Some summoned small boats, some rode on leaves, some stood on lotuses, and some balanced on bamboo staves.

Xu Ying wanted to toss Da Zhong into the Mercury River to use as a vessel, but the bell refused for dear life, saying, “I’ve already been a wok, I’m not being a boat, too!”

Xu Ying glanced over and saw Little Fengxian toss out a Phoenix Feather. When it landed on the Mercury River, it grew larger and larger until it was thirty to forty feet long, big enough to hold several people. He shamelessly made his way over.

Little Fengxian shot him a glance but said nothing.

Xu Ying stood beside her and said awkwardly, “This is a nice boat. It’s very soft.”

Little Fengxian let out a faint sigh, her expression mournful. She was clearly still agonizing over whether to snatch the Golden Book from Xu Fu.

A young Qi Refiner asked, “Why don’t we just fly over using Sword Control?”

The Skinny Bamboo Elder chuckled, took out a copper coin, and said with a grin, “Watch this!”

He tossed the copper coin into the air. It grew larger and larger, spinning with a whistle until it was over ten feet in diameter as it flew toward the mountains. Suddenly, a flash of lightning split the air and thunder cracked. In an instant, the coin was riddled with holes!

Everyone was horrified.

The Skinny Bamboo Elder chuckled and said, “See? The seals and restrictions in the Lishan Mausoleum are numerous enough to make your skin crawl! If you want to fly through here unscathed, you’d have to be an Immortal.”

He was just about to retrieve the copper coin when suddenly, water and fire erupted from the mountains. The water was Taiyin Divine Water and the fire was Sun Divine Fire. The two elements assailed the coin, refining it into a pile of copper slag!

The Skinny Bamboo Elder was both shocked and furious. He could feel that his own spiritual imprint on the Magical Treasure had also been refined to slag, and he felt a sharp pang of loss.

Just then, a sharp claw descended from the sky, striking the copper slag with a BOOM! The slag was obliterated, vanishing without a trace.

The Skinny Bamboo Elder shuddered. The copper coin was a Magical Treasure he had personally refined. Back in his prime, the coin was naturally weaker than him, but now that his Flesh Body had aged, the coin was actually a bit stronger.

‘If it had been him who entered the mountains, he would have likely met the same fate!’

‘Thankfully, I’m old enough to have accumulated many Magical Treasures, so I won’t be bankrupted by a single loss,’ he thought to himself.

The Mercury River flowed on, carrying them into the mountain range. Everyone looked around, finding the layout of the peaks to be somewhat familiar.

“That’s Yandang! But it’s the Yandang from four thousand years ago, before the world was sealed!”

“Look over there! That’s the Kunlun Ruins! The Kunlun Ruins of today haven’t fully emerged yet!”

“That’s Wangwu Mountain! The very mountain that the Qi Refiner named Yu Gong summoned a Celestial God to carry away!”

…

The lay of the mountains and rivers here, their very shapes and forms, were identical to those of the Divine Land before the world was sealed!

It was as if the Ancestral Dragon had shrunk all the mountains and rivers of the world countless times over and hidden them here.

Now, the New Land was emerging, and this New Land was simply the mountains and rivers from the time before the world was sealed. It’s just that the New Land was still continuously expanding, as the sealed world of the past had not yet been fully released.

These people were all long-lived Qi Refiners, but only Xu Fu had seen the world before the Great Seal. The others, including Dong Meiqing, had never seen the true Divine Land.

In Dong Meiqing’s era, the sealing of the world had already begun.

Riding their various river-crossing vessels, they gradually sailed deeper into the mountains. Everyone gazed around, unable to help but marvel at the magnificent landscape. They were so captivated they wanted to linger, yet at the same time, they eagerly anticipated even more dazzling scenery ahead, because often, a mythical mountain would appear around the very next bend.

The Kunlun Main Peak, Ling Mountain, Feng Mountain where the Nine Gods Bell was hung, the fractured Buzhou Mountain, and the legendary Yingzhou Continent, Penglai, and Fangzhang Immortal Mountain.

Judging by the Fangzhang Immortal Mountain here, however, Emperor Shi’s Ancestral Dragon had probably never seen the real one, as this version was much larger than the one beneath Xu Fu’s feet.