Ascension Day

Suddenly, Xu Ying saw the distant mountains tremble. A terrifying shockwave followed, instantly wiping the clouds from the sky wherever it passed.

"Damn it!"

Xu Ying's expression changed drastically. He quickly shouted, "Lord Zhong, come out and save me!"

Da Zhong flew out from the back of his head, instantly bursting the basket. Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and the strings of Golden Armor Bean Soldiers clutching Xu Ying's ankles all tumbled into the great bell.

Da Zhong was a Magical Treasure forged by an Ancient Qi Refiner and was hidden in Xu Ying's mind. Granny Zhou Yu's Nuo Art couldn't shrink it, so it remained in its original form.

The moment the basket burst, Granny Zhou Yu immediately noticed. The old woman was alarmed and hurriedly reached out to grab Da Zhong, saying, "Young Master Xu, don't resist me. I mean you no har—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the incredibly terrifying shockwave struck. The Golden-winged Roc Nuo Technique behind Granny Zhou Yu instantly shattered. The fearsome impact slammed into the old woman, who coughed up blood and was sent flying on the spot!

"CLANG!"

The destructive wave collided with Da Zhong. The great bell rang out as various Runes on its Bell Wall lit up, humming and spinning to form an incredibly thick wall of light that shielded it from the outside!

However, there was a giant Palm Seal on the wall of light—the very wound left on Da Zhong by the girl in the coffin. It had become a breach in the Bell Wall's defense!

The next moment, the thick wall of light was torn apart. Da Zhong went CLANGING as it was sent spinning and flying away.

'It's over!'

Da Zhong's heart was filled with despair. 'All this time, I've worked so hard to pilfer some Qi Blood and heal my injuries just a little. Now, all that effort will probably go to waste!'

Inside Da Zhong, Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and hundreds of Golden Armor Bean Soldiers were tossed about violently, crashing into one another. One of the Bean Soldiers cried out, "I'm being crushed! I'm going to die!"

With that, it was squashed into a bean cake and met an untimely demise.

After a moment, the violent impacts outside finally subsided. Da Zhong fell from the sky, crashed into the mountain forest, and went CLANGING as it rolled for three or four li before coming to a stop.

Xu Ying struggled to climb out of the bell's mouth and sat on its rim, his legs trembling and his body still shaking uncontrollably. After a moment, he recovered enough to set Yuan Qi's dislocated bones.

The ride had been so turbulent that all of Yuan Qi's bones had been jostled out of place. Fortunately, Xu Ying was a Snake Catcher, so setting his bones was no trouble at all.

Yuan Qi came to Xu Ying's side and looked at the distant Wuyang Mountain, which had been broken in two. On the verge of tears, he murmured, "My home is gone..."

Behind them, the surviving Golden Armor Bean Soldiers knelt, wailing and mourning over the bodies of their comrades. The recent shockwave from the Divine Power had crushed many Bean Soldiers into bean cakes, killing them tragically. However, more than half had survived, a total of three to four hundred of them.

Suddenly, a Bean Soldier stood up and kicked one of his still-sobbing comrades. "A true man's place is on the battlefield, achieving glory! Why are you crying like children? Get up, all of you! Have you forgotten the arduous training our Dangtian Heavenly Lord put us through?"

The other Bean Soldiers seemed to get a shot of adrenaline, each one now filled with the vigor of a dragon and the ferocity of a tiger.

Xu Ying looked them over in surprise. For these Bean Soldiers to have survived such a terrifying impact meant they weren't as weak as he had imagined.

On the contrary, every single one of these Bean Soldiers was powerful, possessing considerable strength!

'After Granny Zhou Yu turned them into Bean Soldiers, she must have tempered them repeatedly to increase their combat prowess,' Xu Ying thought.

"Lord Zhong, are you all right?"

Xu Ying called out a couple of times. Da Zhong's weak voice replied, "Ying, my injuries have worsened. I need to hide in your Mud Pill Grotto Heaven to recuperate."

It staggered into the air, shrinking smaller and smaller, and in a flash, it drilled into the back of Xu Ying's head and vanished.

The next moment, Da Zhong wobbled its way into Xu Ying's Mud Pill Secret Treasury and floated within the Mud Pill Grotto Heaven.

'Lord Zhong is injured, so we can only rely on ourselves now. Strange... who on earth is fighting? A Divine Power so formidable that its mere aftershock could worsen Lord Zhong's injuries!'

Xu Ying composed himself. The might of this Divine Power far surpassed that of the White-robed Nuo Immortal; it was truly formidable.

He knew of few experts capable of clashing head-on with the great being underground. Judging by the White-robed Nuo Immortal's performance, he was likely no match for it. The Copper Bell at its peak certainly could, as could the girl in the coffin, of course.

That perpetually frowning old man could probably do it too.

As for anyone else, they wouldn't have that kind of ability.

'A lot of people from the Zhou Family came this time. The one in charge is Governor Zhou Heng, and there's also this old woman called Granny Zhou Yu, another Zhou Family expert. Could the Zhou Family's ancestor be making a move, fighting the great being from underground?'

Xu Ying's heart raced. 'The being from underground might be the Master of the Mud Pill Palace, while the Zhou Family ancestor could be the Snake Catcher who entered the stone chamber over three hundred years ago—the heir of the Master of the Mud Pill Palace. How spectacular would their battle be?'

He wished he could return to Wuyang Mountain immediately to watch the fight, but a single aftershock from the Divine Power had nearly killed them. How could they possibly get closer to observe?

'This is no place to linger. The Zhou Family will probably find us soon!'

Xu Ying looked around, only to see that they were surrounded by unbelievably tall trees. The mountains were so massive they defied description, impossible to climb!

"You can't leave!"

The Golden Armor Bean Soldiers blocked Xu Ying and Yuan Qi. Their leader said, "The Dangtian Heavenly Lord has ordered you to stay here and wait for her!"

Suddenly, a Bean Soldier pointed at the sky and shrieked, "The two-legged giants are here!"

Xu Ying looked up and saw a flock of unknown blue birds that had spotted them and were flying their way. These blue birds were a strange species of fowl from the Underworld. As a Snake Catcher, Xu Ying had seen all sorts of birds and beasts, but he had never encountered this kind of strange blue bird before.

With a WHOOSH, the flock landed and charged toward them. These strange birds were like Deities from the legends of the Primordial Chaos, clad in colorful wings, with Copper Sinews and Iron Bones, and a Physique thousands of times greater than that of Xu Ying and the others!

With every footstep, the ground shook and the mountains trembled. With every flap of their wings, a fierce gale erupted!

They pecked down, and one by one, the Bean Soldiers were powerless to resist. Their bones snapped and sinews tore as they were swallowed in a single gulp, their lives extinguished!

All around Xu Ying, Bean Soldiers fled in a panic, their cries filling the air as if the apocalypse had arrived.

A strange bird pecked down, splitting a Bean Soldier beside Xu Ying in two. It was an incredibly gruesome death; the bird swallowed one half of its body while the other half continued to scream.

Some Bean Soldiers rallied their spirits, raising their Cyan Swords to fight the strange birds. But these were no ordinary creatures; they were a bizarre species from the great mountains of the Underworld, impervious to blades. They simply pecked the resisting Bean Soldiers to death, one by one.

Xu Ying finally snapped out of it and shouted, "Xiaoqi, run!"

In all his life, Yuan Qi had never encountered such a terrifying scene. He let out a cry of alarm and hurried after Xu Ying!

From behind, a strange bird swooped down with a screech, grabbed Yuan Qi's tail in its beak, and lifted him into the air. Xu Ying let out a great shout, leaped up, landed on the bird's head, and swept his leg out in a kick.

Behind him, an Elephant King Divine Body as tall as two beans appeared and mirrored his sweeping kick.

"SMACK!"

The bird's beak was knocked askew by the kick, and it flung Yuan Qi away. However, the immense recoil shattered the Elephant King Divine Body behind Xu Ying, which dissipated into a mist of blood.

Xu Ying was both shocked and enraged. As he landed, he saw the strange bird's sharp talons reaching for him. He immediately executed a "Giant Python Overturns," and a finger-thick Ba Snake coiled around his body, then shot out—FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH—and wrapped around the bird's legs!

"Fall!" Xu Ying roared.

The strange bird flexed its legs, and the Ba Snake formed from his Qi Blood snapped!

Xu Ying was stunned.

His Ba Snake was a Dao Image he had comprehended by studying the Ba Snake Dao Image Map from the "Ba Snake Cultivator" manual. And it had just been broken by some unknown bird!

Just as he was about to be pecked to death, Yuan Qi shot in from the side, wrapped his tail around Xu Ying, and whisked him away, dodging the bird's deadly beak!

"Cover Young Master Xu's escape!" a Bean Soldier shouted.

Dozens, then hundreds of Golden Armor Bean Soldiers surged forward, throwing themselves recklessly at the blue birds pursuing Xu Ying, each one fighting for their lives.

The blue birds went on a killing spree. Limbs of Bean Soldiers flew everywhere, turning the scene into a Purgatory-like battlefield!

"Escort Young Master Xu!"

The Golden Armor Bean Soldiers swarmed forward, brandishing their Cyan Swords and fighting the giant birds to the death, falling one after another.

Xu Ying froze for a moment. The scene actually moved him.

"Xiaoqi, put me down," he said softly.

Hearing this, Yuan Qi unfurled his tail and set him down.

Xu Ying stopped and did not continue to flee. Yuan Qi urged him, "Ying, what are you standing there for? Let's go!"

Xu Ying shook his head and said in a low voice, "I've opened my Mud Pill Secret Treasury. I'm a Nuo Master now. I want to try and reverse-engineer the 'Scattering Beans into Soldiers' Nuo Art. I can't let these Bean Soldiers sacrifice themselves for us for nothing!"

Abruptly, he activated his Mud Pill Grotto Heaven. A Chaotic Space materialized behind his head. He parted the Chaos Clouds and Mist, revealing the Mud Pill Grotto Heaven within.