Ascension Day

Li Yingzhu urged, "This is an emergency! Quick, everyone, light incense and kowtow to the Ancestor!"

On the incense altar, sticks of sandalwood as thick as a person's arm were lit. The members of the Guo Family all kowtowed, silently chanting the name of the Guo Family Ancestor.

Suddenly, the incense and candles spouted countless sparks. The sparks swarmed together, forming a gateway.

Aromatic incense smoke qi billowed from the gateway, stretching out to open another fantastical world!

The group guarded Xu Ying in their midst as they filed through.

Guo Xiaodie walked shoulder-to-shoulder with him, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered, "The gods of Lingyan Pavilion are the true masters there. The Ancestor became a god in life, so he can channel the Incense and Candlelight to send us into the Second Divine Capital."

Xu Ying followed Guo Xiaodie, but his foot suddenly found no purchase. Wind whistled past his ears as he plummeted through the air. He was just about to activate his Sword Control Technique when, with a jolt, his feet landed on solid ground.

The ground was formed from Incense Smoke Qi. It was soft underfoot, yet he couldn't step through it.

He looked around. It was nighttime in the world outside, but this place was radiant with light. The Incense Smoke Qi had formed long streets, towering buildings, Treasure Towers, and pavilions.

In the sky, orbs like bright pearls served as suns, dotting the expanse with a gentle, non-glaring light.

Divine Spirits a thousand feet tall stood one after another between the towers and buildings. They were solemn and majestic, with wide ribbons of Incense Smoke Qi drifting behind them.

They were the sacred beings enshrined in Lingyan Pavilion!

They were towering and martial, holding various treasures like golden maces and Treasure Towers. Some had a third eye on their brow, some grew three heads, and others had multiple arms. There were also those who stood on Divine Dragons, trod upon Xiangyun, or were entwined with Dragon Pythons.

The Incense Smoke Qi enveloping them was incredibly dense. They were the very embodiment of a Dynasty's history, and their Divine Power was immense!

Their Incense Smoke Qi had been forged into another Divine Capital, one even larger than the true Divine Capital. It overlapped with the Mortal World, yet the two existed without interfering with one another!

Around them stood Divine Spirits of all sizes, likely the deified descendants of the various Noble Families. Their achievements were far inferior, so they were unworthy of being enshrined in Lingyan Pavilion to receive offerings. As a result, their Incense and Candlelight was not as abundant.

Still, many of these lesser Divine Spirits had already forged a Golden Body, a clear sign that they had been worshipped for a very long time.

Xu Ying couldn't help but marvel. 'No wonder when the Supreme Daoist Saint descended upon the Yin Court all those years ago, the Yin Court Emperor had no choice but to agree to the unification of imperial and divine authority! Besides the fact that the Saint was powerful enough to force the issue, the other reason was that if the Yin Court Emperor had refused, the Saint would have simply abolished the Yin Court and established an Underworld Celestial Court of his own.'

'With this Divine Capital alone, the Supreme Daoist Saint had the resources to completely upend the Yin Court and establish a new order!'

'The Great Saints of Lingyan Pavilion are the very soul of a dynasty. No wonder they could form a Second Divine Capital!'

As Xu Ying walked the streets of the Second Divine Capital, he gazed up at the Divine Spirits and suddenly said, "Lord Qi, the Great Saints of Lingyan Pavilion have become Dao Images. If we study them, we might be able to comprehend a new set of Divine Powers. Paired with the Mud Ball Secret Treasury, it wouldn't be any worse than the Zhou Family's Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Hidden Scenery Technique!"

Yuan Qi gazed at the Great Saints of Lingyan Pavilion and whispered, "Lord Zhong, is what Ying says true?"

Da Zhong replied, "Of course it's true. It just requires a brain."

"In that case, forget it."

Suddenly, the sound of wind and thunder echoed. Xu Ying looked toward the source of the sound. From his position, he could faintly see the world outside, and could even make out powerful cultivators clashing.

The two Divine Capitals were superimposed on one another but did not interfere. The battle in the other world could not breach this space, so there was no need to fear injury.

However, since they were two separate worlds, Xu Ying could only faintly make out the silhouettes of these powerful figures and couldn't hear what they were saying.

'That silhouette... it looks familiar.'

Xu Ying arrived before the gates of the Guo Mansion. He looked at the old man dressed in white, a seed of doubt in his mind. 'He looks like that kind-faced old man from Wuyang Mountain, the one who was with the sorrowful elder.'

Outside the Guo Mansion's main gate, an old man in a conical hat walked toward the mansion, braving a torrential downpour. Lightning CRACKED, illuminating his straw raincoat.

The old man was about to barge into the Guo Mansion when suddenly, the lightning froze mid-strike, and the myriad raindrops halted in midair.

The old man's pupils contracted. He pushed his conical hat up slightly and saw that a table and two chairs had appeared before the Guo Mansion gate. An old man in white sat at the table, upon which was a chessboard.

The old man in white held a white stone, playing chess amidst the rain.

Strangely, though it was a stormy night, a single, conspicuous beam of sunlight was shining down on the old man.

The man in the conical hat stepped forward and sat opposite the man in white. He picked up a black stone, his gaze sweeping across the board as he spoke coolly, "I have heard that there is a woman, Hongyi, and an old man in white who play chess in the Mortal World. To watch them play is to see a hundred years pass in a blink. People assume that these two must be Immortals amusing themselves among mortals."

He placed the black stone on the board and continued nonchalantly, "But not long ago, on Wuyang Mountain, I saw this very Elder Immortal get thrashed by a girl carrying a Black Coffin. Thrashed so badly he coughed up blood."

The white-robed old man's hand, holding a white stone, trembled slightly.

A smile touched the lips of the man under the conical hat. "Then, I heard another rumor. That the two Immortals who play games in the Mortal World were beaten by Zhou Qiyun."

The white stone in the white-robed old man's hand shattered with a POP, turning to dust.

"Cui Zhiyuan, you think that by mentioning those two incidents, I'll reveal an opening for you to exploit, don't you? And yet, you still haven't found any opportunity to strike. You are not Qing Bi. And you are not Zhou Qiyun."

The white-robed old man picked up another white stone and said nonchalantly, "Back when Wang Mang tried to devour him, I tossed a single white stone, and an army of hundreds of thousands of Nuo Masters was annihilated, turned to dust and smoke. Later generations thought a meteor fell from the sky, but it was nothing more than a piece from my chessboard."