Ascension Day

After Xu Ying left, the supreme will of the Heavenly Dao Cosmos manifested as rolling Thunder Sound above the Celestial God Hall. "Can his background be traced?"

"No records of this person exist."

"Find his place of birth."

"No records of this place exist."

"Find his father and mother."

"The quantity is too great. The search cannot be performed."

The supreme will fell silent. After a long while, the will of a Celestial God inquired, "My Lord, should we report this?"

"Hold the report for now. We can't risk offending someone... Suppress it."

The supreme will erupted into a blast of Thunder Sound, its voice rumbling. "Treat today's events as if they never occurred. Erase all records on the Celestial Dao Divine Artifacts. Plague God, you are forbidden from seeking revenge."

"As you command."

Outside the Celestial God Hall, both Yuan Qi and Yuan Weiyang were in disbelief. Yuan Qi, in particular, found it hard to swallow. He had been an accomplice in some of Xu Ying's crimes. How could it be that he had done nothing wrong?

'Could it be? Was the case with Lord Niu Qi erased as well?'

"I'm truly innocent—purer than I've ever been."

Xu Ying explained to them, "The Lord Celestial Gods in the Celestial God Hall pulled up my records. They investigated my past three lives and found them completely clean, with no criminal history whatsoever. If you don't believe me, you can ask Lord Zhong!"

"You're lying!"

Zhou Qiyun desperately wanted to point a finger in Xu Ying's face and berate him for spouting nonsense, but he held back.

Even he could not hope to confront the tens of thousands of gods in the Celestial God Hall and survive. The Celestial Gods of the Celestial God Hall controlled an entire arsenal of Celestial Dao Divine Artifacts—Tian Gang, the Celestial Rules, the Celestial Principle, Celestial Punishment, and more—and possessed world-shaking power.

The third task on his agenda was also related to the Heavenly Dao World; he understood its power all too well.

'If the Celestial God Hall declares you guilty, even crushing an ant becomes a capital offense!'

'To the Celestial God Hall, everyone is born sinful. How hard could it be to condemn them?'

'Because They wield supreme, absolute power, They can pass judgment on anything!'

'Xu Ying was no saint, either. On this journey alone, he had slain gods and killed officials. His evil deeds were too numerous to count. At Huaihua Palace, over a dozen disciples of the Zhou Clan had died at his hands!'

But the sight of Xu Ying walking out of the Celestial God Hall completely unscathed had truly terrified him, so much so that he no longer dared to face Xu Ying with his former arrogance.

"Celestial Gods cannot leave the Ascension Lands. Their power is too immense to be tolerated by the Mortal World."

Zhou Qiyun composed himself. Instead of pressing Xu Ying about how he had emerged from the Celestial God Hall, he answered Xu Ying's earlier question. "For a Celestial God to descend, there must be sufficient offerings sacrificed to the heavens. Only then can a Celestial God come down through the created channel. The Celestial Gods within the Celestial God Hall cannot leave it. As for whether the Ascension Lands can be corrupted... I've never heard of such a thing."

Xu Ying asked humbly, "Elder Zhou, can Celestial Gods descend completely from the Heavenly Dao World into the Mortal World?"

Zhou Qiyun shook his head. "I've never heard of it."

Xu Ying asked Yuan Weiyang, but she also shook her head. "I've never heard of it either. However, my Yuan Family has an extensive library. There might be records of Celestial Gods descending into the mortal world among our books."

Xu Ying looked to Yuan Qi. The little snake shook his head. "My family's collection has no such records, either."

'This puzzled Xu Ying. In the Stone Mountain Well, besides the girl in the coffin, Da Zhong had also been suppressing a behemoth. Da Zhong had said it was a Celestial God!'

'That means Celestial Gods actually can descend completely.'

'But why aren't there any records of it? And why would Da Zhong suppress a Celestial God? Or more accurately, why would Da Zhong's *master* want to suppress a Celestial God?'

'Now that this Celestial God has escaped, there's no telling what kind of trouble it will cause.'

Xu Ying glanced at Zhou Qiyun, thinking, 'Lord Zhong suppressed both the girl in the coffin and a Celestial God simultaneously. How incredibly powerful must he have been in his prime? He must have been at least on par with Zhou Qiyun. It's a shame Lord Zhong has mellowed out so much.'

Ahead lay the Underworld Celestial Court. Only now did Xu Ying have a chance to observe this massive organization that ruled the Underworld. From a distance, he saw one unimaginably majestic Divine Statue after another, standing amidst vast mountains and rivers. Floating between these Divine Statues were Hidden Lands shimmering with brilliant colors.

Those Divine Statues were taller and more majestic than the mountains and rivers, so colossal that the surrounding mountain ranges only reached Their waists.

Incredibly dense Incense Smoke Qi coiled around Their bodies, forming streamers that transformed into thick layers of clouds, upon which floated magnificent buildings.

Those buildings were the Hidden Lands, each one an Immortal Realm.

These Immortal Realms formed the main body of the Yin Court.

Long streets connected the various Immortal Realms. Buildings of staggered heights lined both sides of these streets, sprouting out at all angles. After all, this was the Underworld, it was floating in the sky, and its residents were ghosts. The houses didn't need to be right-side up; upside-down was perfectly acceptable.

Some Yin Spirits had opened shops here, and there were stores of every kind.

The Yin Court, whose full name was the Underworld Celestial Court. Xu Ying had expected it to be a gloomy place, heavy with ghostly energy. He never imagined it would be so rich in color because of the Hidden Lands. Even in the Mortal World, one could not find such a magnificent vista.

Xu Ying and the others followed Zhou Qiyun onto a street in the Yin Court, where the air was thick with the scent of incense and candlelight.

Suddenly, something bumped into Xu Ying's calf. He looked down to see a great many short, stout Earth Gods dashing through the streets carrying letters, all of them shouting, "We're late, we're late!"

One of the Earth Gods shouted, "My business is the most urgent! Make way, make way! The notorious bandit from Lingling, Zhou Qiyun, has entered the Yin Court! The notorious bandit Zhou Qiyun has thrown himself into the net! Slay him to demonstrate heaven's might!"

The other Earth Gods scrambled to get out of the way, letting the little Earth God zip to the front of the pack.

Zhou Qiyun remarked calmly, "The *Emperor's Chronicles* say that these Earth Gods are responsible for relaying messages. They must deliver news of daily events from every region to the Yin Court. In the Yin Court, Deities who specialize in information will process and summarize this news. As a result, nothing that happens in the Yin and Yang Two Realms can escape the notice of the Yin Court."