Ascension Day

Guo Xiaodie beamed and said, "My Guo Family are rare Martial Nuo practitioners, but quite a few of us also practice the sword. Naturally, I’m an expert. However, my Guo Family’s Cloud Ladder Celestial Soaring requires cultivating the Bi Luo Poem first. And cultivating the Bi Luo Poem requires you to first use Dragon Seeking Positioning to open the Jiang Palace Secret Treasury and develop the power within it. Do you still want to trade?"

Xu Ying answered without hesitation, "I’ll trade!"

Guo Xiaodie took out a thick volume of scriptures and slapped it right into Xu Ying’s hands, laughing. "I’m not taking advantage of you. This is the Bi Luo Poem. It contains a Martial Arts Technique, and the eighth form is Cloud Ladder Celestial Soaring. If you can master it, I’ll be impressed."

Xu Ying took out a crumpled piece of paper. It had just over two hundred characters on it. "This is the Sword Control Technique. If you don’t understand something, you can ask me."

Each got what they wanted, and both were overjoyed.

Yuan Weiyang watched one of them slap their ancestral ultimate skill into the other’s hands while the other unhesitatingly produced the Sword Control Technique. Her heart sank. ’If I didn’t have the burden of the Yuan Family, I could be as carefree as them.’

Xu Ying flipped through the thick volume of the *Bi Luo Poem*. After a few pages, he couldn’t help but frown. Every step of cultivating the Bi Luo Poem required mobilizing Heart Power from the Jiang Palace Secret Treasury.

Without powerful Heart Power, cultivating the Bi Luo Poem would lead to the exhaustion of one’s Heart Power, and eventually, death!

When he fought Guo Xiaodie, he had sensed that the power in her flesh body was ridiculously strong. That must have been the effect of the Jiang Palace Secret Treasury.

Seeing him frown, Guo Xiaodie couldn’t help but look smug. She laughed and said, "The Jiang Palace is located in the Heart Chamber, hidden within the atrium. The heart is the source of qi and strength, so the Jiang Palace contains Heart Power. The reason my Guo Family has produced so many brave and intelligent generals is that our Heart Power is extraordinary. Since you haven’t opened your Jiang Palace Secret Treasury, you won’t be able to cultivate this technique even if you have my family’s Bi Luo Poem!"

She started laughing. "And I got a Sword Control Technique for free!"

She looked down to study the two-hundred-character Sword Control Technique. She stared at it blankly for a long time until her face flushed with frustration. Angrily, she exclaimed, "Was this scripture written for humans? I can’t understand a single thing!"

A smile touched Yuan Weiyang’s lips as she thought, ’Xu Demon King and I wrote those scriptures together. We strove to make them concise and precise, with every character containing the mysteries of swordsmanship, bordering on the Dao itself. Without the right kind of insight, it would be a miracle if she could understand it.’

Xu Ying continued to read the *Bi Luo Poem*. He saw that its Heart Method first refined the heart, using it as a source. The heart was refined like a pill, the Heart Chamber acting like a Furnace Cauldron. The heart grew six apertures, which served as six vents for the furnace, allowing one to erupt with the greatest possible physical power!

The purity of this physical power was countless times more profound than the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist, and even more advanced than that of a Ba Snake Cultivator. The Zhou Family’s Vajra Indestructible Body was likely far inferior as well. This was a superior Physical Body Skill!

As for the techniques of the Bi Luo Poem, they involved Contemplation of the azure sky, borrowing the Dao Images from the changes of the sun, moon, stars, wind, and clouds to cultivate a Hidden Scenery, thereby gaining immense power.

In addition to the cultivation Heart Method, there were also eight extremely exquisite martial arts techniques. The eighth was Cloud Ladder Celestial Soaring, which required mastering the first seven techniques to be cultivated.

But without opening the Jiang Palace Secret Treasury, forcefully cultivating it was simply seeking death.

"The Bi Luo Poem isn’t hard to cultivate, but forcing it without Heart Power carries enormous risks." Xu Ying closed the *Bi Luo Poem*, intending to return the scriptures to Guo Xiaodie.

Da Zhong’s voice came through, "Ying, you are now a Gate-Opening Stage Qi Refiner and have ascended to the First Heaven. Your Heart Power is strong enough. Even without opening the Jiang Palace Secret Treasury, you should be able to cultivate this technique without major issues."

Xu Ying’s interest was piqued, and he began to flip through the *Bi Luo Poem* again.

Guo Xiaodie put away the Sword Control Technique and laughed. "Stop looking. You won’t be able to learn it anyway. Let’s jump into the lake and see where this flesh and blood is coming from!"

She leaped into the lake, following the trail of flesh downward.

The lake seemed deep, but it was actually just a shallow layer. The next moment, they passed through the water and fell toward a terrifyingly large fissure.

The fissure’s length was unknown, its bottom glowing with red light. It was unfathomably deep—it was the Cangwu Abyss!

Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang also jumped in. Yuan Weiyang used her Divine Sense to leap, using Contemplation to create a foothold in the Void. She stood above the Cangwu Abyss, not falling.

Xu Ying activated his Sword Qi. Swirls of it flew around him, keeping him afloat in the air, while Guo Xiaodie stood on her Cloud Ladder.

Uncle Xiao also jumped into the water and followed them. ’Nothing can happen to these three young masters!’ he thought.

They looked up and saw that the flesh resembled a giant, blood-red, fleshy fan. It extended out from the lake water above them, growing along the underside of the lake.

Beneath the lake, there were also many flesh-colored textures that looked like nerve clusters.

With a light leap, Guo Xiaodie covered a distance of thousands of feet, following the fleshy fan.

Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang hurried to follow. They saw that the fleshy fan at the bottom of the lake extended forward along the Cangwu Abyss. They traveled for over ten li like this, but there was still no end in sight.

After traveling another ten-plus li, they saw the fleshy fan at the bottom of the lake turn upward.

Xu Ying looked up and saw a lake, its surface shimmering with light.

Guo Xiaodie took the lead, leaping out first. Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang also jumped upward, breaking through the surface of the lake.

The three of them landed and each cried out in astonishment.

Hearing their cries, Uncle Xiao hastily leaped through the water, landing with a SPLASH.

He didn’t bother to shake the water from his clothes. He immediately flared his cultivation, fully opening his Five-layered Yellow Court Cave Heaven, and stood on high alert to protect Yuan Weiyang.

But when he saw his surroundings clearly, he too couldn’t help but exclaim in shock.

Behind him was a large water vat. They had just leaped out of this very vat!

And in front of them was a great hall embedded in the mountainside, with vermilion pillars, cyan-tiled eaves, and a jade-green gate.

Tendrils of flesh snaked out of the water vat like tentacles, crawling across the ground and extending toward the great hall. Many of these fleshy tentacles lay on the door and the threshold, looking like dried-up earthworms, completely devoid of activity.

Guo Xiaodie gathered her courage and walked toward the hall. Xu Ying whispered, "Lord Zhong, is there any danger?"

Da Zhong’s voice was grave. "Yes. I sense two experts in this hall... No, three!"

Guo Xiaodie’s voice came from ahead. "Your Majesty, what are you doing here? And who is this white-browed youth?"

Startled by her words, Xu Ying walked forward. Inside the hall, he saw a middle-aged man with a gloomy and irritable expression, and on the other side, a white-browed youth.

Both of them were standing before the Divine Statue enshrined in the hall, not speaking or moving.

"He’s the middle-aged man who was eating Spirit Pills like they were candy!" Xu Ying recognized him.

A thick Incense Smoke Qi swirled around the middle-aged man. Qingyun clouds steamed above his head, and he had a grand presence. His bearing was majestic, like a striding tiger or a soaring dragon. He was none other than the current ruler of the Divine Land, the Holy God Emperor Zhang Wu!

The Holy God Emperor glanced at Xu Ying, then suddenly froze and let out a cold snort, clearly recognizing him.

The snort wasn’t loud, but it exploded in Xu Ying’s mind like a bolt from the blue. At the same time, Da Zhong vibrated, shattering the force of the snort.

’Trying to mess with my meal ticket?’

Da Zhong was furious. ’That old man, the Emperor, is no good!’

Xu Ying looked toward the enshrined Divine Statue and was stunned. He stammered, "Is that a Divine Spirit in a flesh body?"

The Divine Statue enshrined in the hall was of an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. He held a Floating Dust whisk, sat cross-legged on the Shen Kan, and smiled down at them, exuding a sense of great compassion. He was made of flesh and blood, not a wood or clay statue!

The earthworm-like fleshy tentacles were crawling out from between his eyebrows.

The fleshy tentacles that had attacked the Phoenix came from his body!

And on the walls all around this man were endless drawings of various Talismans, and the floor beneath his feet was also covered in dense patterns of them.

His body, too, was covered in paper Talismans!

"Your Majesty, this is a long-dead Ancient Qi Refiner," the white-browed youth, Zhou Qiyun, said coolly.