Ascension Day

In the spot where the scale had vanished, a massive eye, more than ten times its size, was staring coldly at Yuan Qi's Divine Sense, as if observing what the little thing planned to do!

"Quick, let's go!"

Da Zhong pulled Yuan Qi's Divine Sense back, its chime vibrating as it shouted, "The huge creature at the bottom of the cave is awake!"

Yuan Qi's Divine Sense returned to his body. Still shaken from the shock, he quickly said, "I still have a huge collection of books at home..."

Da Zhong was the first to rush into the back of Xu Ying's head, shouting, "Your home is about to be destroyed, and you're still worried about books? Ying, run!"

Xu Ying immediately took a step and charged out of the Mud Pill Palace. Yuan Qi, casting aside all other concerns, followed him. As they passed the pool in front of the palace, they saw it suddenly rise, the water bulging into a massive dome as if some behemoth was pushing it up from below, about to surface!

By the time Xu Ying and Yuan Qi rushed past the pool, the water level had already surpassed the Mud Pill Palace and was about to hit the cave ceiling. The violent waves stirred up a gale that billowed out from behind them, and they felt a fierce wind chasing them forward.

Behind them, the Pavilion Bridge and the paths leading to it exploded one after another.

The giant creature was rising from the depths!

Xu Ying and Yuan Qi charged onto the stone bridge. A deep, long roar echoed from the water, its frequency so low it made their insides tremble.

They sprinted along the stone bridge, catching glimpses of a massive body swimming beneath it. It drew closer and closer, its form becoming clearer by the second.

"Jump!" Xu Ying roared.

The man and the snake leaped forward, diving into the water and swimming swiftly through the great fissure.

Behind them, a surge of water completely submerged the cave-within-a-cave of Qinyan Cave. Then, the large fissure behind them exploded. Wuyang Mountain began to tremble violently, as if the behemoth had unintentionally brushed against the mountain as it swam, shaking it to its foundation.

The minds of Xu Ying and Yuan Qi went blank. All they knew was to swim forward with all their might. Yuan Qi was a giant snake and incredibly fast in the water. Xu Ying, however, unleashed the Ba Snake Cultivator he had just learned, using a Divine Power to command the currents, his speed not the slightest bit slower than Yuan Qi's!

Yet, behind them, the water level in Qinyan Cave was rising drastically. A colossal creature shattered the stone wall and shot toward them, submerged beneath the waves!

Since the invasion of the Underworld, drastic changes had occurred everywhere. Wuyang Mountain had grown taller, and Qinyan Cave had become more spacious. But this behemoth was even larger than Qinyan Cave itself. It squeezed through, causing the cave to continuously rupture and widen, while the stalactites on the ceiling shattered and fell!

Inside Xu Ying's mind, Da Zhong shouted, 'The thing in the water is most likely the real Master of the Mud Pill Palace! That white skeleton was just a decoy to fool people! This creature is far, far larger than the big one I sealed in the well! Faster, it's catching up!'

At the foot of Wuyang Mountain, the sorrowful old man sighed and looked up at the peak.

"This time, even if I have to hold their nose and force it down their throat, they're going to drink these ten bowls of tea," he muttered.

Suddenly, a look of surprise crossed the old man's face as he gazed toward the other side of the mountain. There, the Governor of Yongzhou, Zhou Heng, was approaching, leading a group of individuals with extraordinary auras.

Zhou Heng held a noble status as a regional Jiedu Envoy, yet at this moment, he could only travel on foot.

He was large and fat, as wide as three men put together, with a great potbelly. Walking normally left him breathless, yet now he didn't dare to pant in the slightest. With a smile on his face, he cautiously led the way.

His Divine Powers were immense—he had even escaped the pursuit of the White-robed Nuo Immortal. With his abilities, he could fly through the sky and tunnel through the earth, but right now, he dared not use any Divine Power at all.

All of this was because *that person* was not riding a carriage nor flying with Divine Powers.

Not even the current Emperor could make him act with such caution. There was only one person who could command this level of deference from him: the Old Ancestor of the Zhou Family.

The Old Ancestor of the Zhou Family was a youth with black hair and white eyebrows. A heroic air still lingered about him; he didn't look three or four hundred years old in the slightest.

The sorrowful old man saw him from a distance and was immediately detected. Their eyes met. The old man's expression grew even more mournful, and he did not proceed toward Qinyan Cave.

A few moments later, the members of the Zhou Family arrived. In the distance, they saw a sorrowful old man sitting upright under a cliff of Wuyang Mountain. Before him were a table, two chairs, a pot of tea, and two cups.

Governor Zhou Heng was about to step forward and inquire when a gentle voice came from behind him. "Heng'er, stand down. He is an old acquaintance of mine."

A shiver went down Governor Zhou Heng's spine. 'An old acquaintance of the Old Ancestor?' he thought.

The white-browed youth said, "You all go to Qinyan Cave and invite Young Master Xu to come out of seclusion. I will meet with my old acquaintance."

The group acknowledged his order and continued toward Qinyan Cave without stopping.

Meanwhile, the white-browed youth walked over, sat down before the sorrowful old man, lifted the teapot, and opened the lid to peer inside. He then poured a cup for the old man, but not for himself.

"The teapot contains Meng Po's Soup. The world knows that I faced a great tribulation back then and nearly had to hide on the Wangxiang Platform to survive it. They believe I devised a clever solution and thus avoided the Wangxiang Platform. What they don't know is that, left with no choice, I did indeed go there."

The white-browed youth smiled faintly. "Back then, I comprehended the mysteries of life and death on the Wangxiang Platform, but I couldn't find a way out. It was only after I met you, Your Excellency, and followed in your footsteps that I was able to leave the Wangxiang Platform and avoid dying there."

The sorrowful old man's brows remained knitted in worry. "Young Friend Zhou, your fortune is profound, your concentration astonishing, and your Dao Heart lofty. You are one of the few who were not bewitched by Meng Po's Soup. You crossed the Naihe Bridge without taking a single sip."

The white-browed youth chuckled. "The last time I met Your Excellency, you were on the Naihe Bridge 'borrowing tea.' Now, meeting you again, your teapot is still filled with Meng Po's Soup. What matter could possibly compel Your Excellency to 'borrow tea' time and time again?"