Day of Ascension

Chapter 43 - Creature Underground, Massive Like a Mountain

“No matter what, there has to be a Mud-Pill Secret Trove inside Yuanqi!”

Xu Ying’s eyes swirled with divine sense as he ran over to Yuanqi in a hurry. “Xiao Qi, don’t heal your wounds just yet! Wait for me! What?! You’re already healed? No, you’re not!”

Puchi!

Xu Ying extended his finger from afar, sending a streak of sword qi into Qin Yan Cave, drawing blood from Yuanqi.

“You’re injured again. How careless of you. Xiao Qi, channel your divine sense and perceive that mysterious energy. That’ll help you find your Mud-Pill Secret Trove!”

Yuanqi finally stopped sobbing and followed Xu Ying’s instructions. He carefully sensed the mysterious energy flowing into him. Moments later, he cried out in shock, “I also have a Mud-Pill Secret Trove inside me! Could it be...”

He froze like a statue and murmured, “Am I actually human? One that transformed into a snake demon?”

Xu Ying mulled over it for a moment. He truly couldn’t follow Yuanqi’s thoughts, so he tested the waters. “Yuanqi, have you considered that demons might have Secret Troves too?”

Yuanqi understood immediately. He said solemnly, “You mean, this is all a conspiracy of the damned humans? During the pioneer era of our demon race, we led civilization and taught humans how to unlock their Secret Troves and cultivate.

“Later, the damned humans overthrew us through underhanded schemes and destroyed our civilization. They erased our history, sealed us away, and spread the lie that only humans have Secret Troves! Ah Ying, you’re talking about the demon race’s bloody history, right?”

Xu Ying thought for a moment, then shook his head. “There has to be a reason why the demon race doesn’t realize they have Secret Troves, but it definitely isn’t that. Xiao Qi, your family has lived in Qin Yan Cave for three centuries. Have you ever thought about where the mysterious energy that heals your injuries came from?”

Yuanqi had no idea.

Xu Ying smiled. “I’ll bring you to meet the senior who lives in the stone chamber. He is the source of that mysterious energy. Even the Zhou clan’s old ancestor learned the profundities of the Mud-Pill Secret Trove from him.”

He led Yuanqi back to the Mud-Pill Palace inside Qin Yan Cave. They arrived before the stone wall and opened it.

Yuanqi was baffled. He had lived in Qin Yan Cave for a hundred twenty years, yet he had never known this stone chamber existed.

Xu Ying said, “Finding this place is quite simple, actually. You just have to trace the mysterious energy back to its source. That senior’s remains are right here... eh? Where are the remains?”

His eyes went wide. He searched the stone chamber. The last time he came, the skeleton had been sitting there in a meditative posture. Now it had vanished without a trace.

Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He quickly thought of two possibilities, Either the Zhou clan’s old ancestor came here, or the skeleton walked away on its own!

Yuanqi smiled. “This is simple, Ah Ying. The cave’s mysterious energy is still present. That means the skeleton is still somewhere in the cave. We just need to trace the flow of energy back to its source.”

He looked at his wound. It had already closed. Then, he looked at Xu Ying’s thigh, tempted to return a strike. After deciding he had no chance of winning, he gritted his teeth and tore the newly healed wound open again.

Xu Ying had planned to strike Yuanqi again. Seeing him tear open his wound, he felt a wave of admiration. “Xiao Qi, why torture yourself like this? Let me help you.”

“You don’t know how to hold back. I’d rather do it myself. I feel safer that way.”

Immediately, Yuanqi channeled his divine sense and traced the mysterious energy back to its source. Dazhong floated beside him, supporting Yuanqi by stabilizing his divine sense with his chimes.

Soon, Yuanqi gasped, “Eh? I’m back here again. Strange, how strange! I thought I’d traversed boundless time and space and gone to some unknown world, but I ended up back here after all that!”

Xu Ying grew tense.

Yuanqi continued, “The source had returned to the water. I’m following it... The water’s very deep and cold. It’s still sinking... still sinking. There’s no light around me... It’s too deep. It’s still sinking—wait, I have reached the bottom! I think I hit something. It’s very smooth and big. Its edges are jagged, like a huge seashell...”

Xu Ying and Dazhong froze. What Yuanqi had felt with his divine sense was clearly not the white skeleton they had seen in the stone chamber.

Xu Ying thought, It’s huge and resembles a seashell. What could it be?

Just then, Yuanqi’s voice rang out. “This thing is larger than a table, about two or three zhang wide. Its jagged edges are very sharp... Wait, there’s something else like it below, partially stacked together. It’s also huge and smooth. Eh? There’s another one next to it...”

Xu Ying furrowed his brow slightly, wondering what it could be, when his gaze suddenly fell on Yuanqi.

He stared at Yuanqi’s scales. He was over ten zhang long, and each scale was as big as a bowl, layered upon one another, covering him. Only the dragon horns on his head weren’t covered in scales.

“What Yuanqi’s feeling is very similar to scales... It is scales!”

Xu Ying’s hair stood on end. He shouted urgently, “Master Zhong, quickly pull Yuanqi’s divine sense back! A massive creature is lurking at the bottom of Qin Yan Cave!”

Dazhong promptly tolled. The sound reached the bottom of the cave in an instant, catching up to Yuanqi’s divine sense and bringing him back.

Just as the bell’s sound waves reached Yuanqi’s divine sense, it also touched something else. Using the echo, Dazhong made out the silhouette of that thing.

They were massive, with overlapping scales stacked in an orderly manner. Their edges were jagged and extremely sharp, and the scales were about twenty-seven chi wide. Then, at one point, the scales suddenly became smaller.

Beyond them was an eye. The eye was more than ten times the size of the scales. It stared silently at Yuanqi’s divine sense, as though watching this tiny intruder curiously.

“Run!”

Dazhong pulled Yuanqi’s divine sense back. Immediately, he cried out as the bell tolled, “The massive guy at the bottom of the cave has woken up!”

Yuanqi’s divine sense returned to his body, his heart pounding in terror. “I still have a lot of books at home...”

Taking the lead, Dazhong rushed into the back of Xu Ying’s head and cried out, “You’re about to lose your home, and you still care about books? Ah Ying, run!”

Xu Ying immediately got moving and burst out of the Mud-Pill Palace. Yuanqi didn’t waste any time either and followed him. As they passed by the pond in front of the palace, they saw the water bulging upward. It rose as though some enormous creature beneath the surface was lifting the entire pool and preparing to emerge.

As Xu Ying and Yuanqi rushed past the pond, the water had already risen past the height of the Mud-Pill Palace and was about to reach the cave’s ceiling. Fierce winds swept out from the surging waters behind them. The howling gale seemed to shove them forward.

Behind them, the vaulted bridge and the winding pathways exploded one after another.

The massive creature was rising from the depths of the water!

As Xu Ying and Yuanqi charged onto the stone bridge, they heard a deep, low-frequency roar echoing from the depths, yet it shook their internal organs.

They sprinted along the stone bridge as a massive figure swam below them. It was getting closer. Its outline became clearer with every passing moment.

Xu Ying shouted, “Jump!”

The man and snake jumped forward and plunged into the water, then swiftly swam through the huge fissures.

Behind them, the surging flood swallowed the entire cavern within Qin Yan Cave. Then, the huge fissures behind them exploded, causing Mount Wu Wang to tremble violently. It was as if the massive creature had unintentionally bumped into the mountain while swimming, shaking it.

Xu Ying and Yuanqi’s minds went blank, and they swam as if their life depended on it. Yuanqi, being a huge snake, could swim extremely fast. Meanwhile, Xu Ying unleashed the True Cultivation of Ba Snake he had just learned, using his divine ability to manipulate the currents to catch up to Yuanqi.

Behind them, Qin Yan Cave’s water level rose rapidly. A massive creature smashed through the stone walls and was quickly closing in under the water.

Ever since the invasion of the underworld, drastic changes had occurred across the lands. Mount Wu Wang grew taller, and Qin Yan Cave had also become more spacious.

However, that massive creature was even larger than Qin Yan Cave. As it forced its way forward, tunnels burst wider around it. Stalactites shattered one after another beneath its passage.

In Xu Ying’s mind, Dazhong cried out, “The creature at the bottom is most likely the true owner of the Mud-Pill Palace, and that white skeleton was only a decoy to mislead people! He’s much larger than the big guy I suppressed in the well! Run faster, he’s about to catch up!”

***

At the foot of Mount Wu Wang, a frowning old man sighed and looked up the mountain.

He murmured, “This time, even if I have to pinch his nose and force it, I must pour these ten bowls of tea down his throat.”

Suddenly, the old man's expression turned to shock, and he shifted his gaze to the other side of the mountain. There, the prefect of Yongzhou, Zhou Heng, was approaching, leading a group of people with extraordinary auras.

Zhou Heng held the noble status of a regional military governor overseeing a prefect, yet he was currently traveling on foot.

He was fat and broad, with a belly as wide as three men standing side by side. He grew winded after only a few steps. Yet, at this moment, he didn’t dare to breathe loudly. A smile plastered on his face, he led the way with extreme caution.

He possessed immense power and managed to evade Chen Mianzhu's pursuit. If he unleashed his divine abilities, he could do anything. Yet now, he dared not use even a trace of them.

The reason was simple. The person behind him was neither riding in a carriage nor flying with divine abilities.

Even the current emperor could not make Zhou Heng behave so carefully. Only one person could: the Zhou clan’s old ancestor.

He had the appearance of a young man with black hair and white brows. He had a sharp, heroic look, and didn’t seem to be three or four hundred years old at all.

The frowning old man spotted the old ancestor from afar, and the old ancestor also immediately noticed him. Their gazes met. The old man frowned even deeper and halted his advance toward Qin Yan Cave.

A moment later, the Zhou clan’s people approached. From afar, they saw a frowning old man sitting upright beneath Mount Wu Wang’s cliff. Before him stood a table with two chairs, a teapot, and two teacups.

Zhou Heng was just about to approach the old man to ask him something when a gentle voice came from behind. “Stand down, Heng’er. He’s an old acquaintance of mine.”

Zhou Heng paused. An old acquaintance of the old ancestor?

The white-browed youth said, “Head over to Qin Yan Cave and invite Young Master Xu out. I’ll meet my old acquaintance.”

The group acknowledged his order and made their way toward Qin Yan Cave without stopping.

Meanwhile, the white-browed youth stepped forward and sat down in front of the frowning old man. He picked up the teapot, uncovered its lid, and peered inside. Then, he poured a cup for the old man, but not for himself.

The white-browed youth smiled faintly. “The teapot contains the Meng Po Soup. The world believes that I faced a great calamity back then and nearly went into hiding at Homeward Pavilion to avoid it.

“Later, they thought I relied on my wits to overcome it and never entered in the first place. What they didn’t know was that I truly was driven into a corner and ended up at Homeward Pavilion.

“At that time, I figured out the profound mysteries of life and death at Homeward Pavilion, but I couldn’t find a way out. It was only after I met you and followed in your footsteps that I finally made it out and avoided dying in there.”

The old man frowned deeply and said, “Young Friend Zhou, you possess incredible luck, astonishing willpower, and a lofty Dao heart. Few people can remain clear-minded after encountering Meng Po Soup. Fewer still can cross the Bridge of Oblivion without drinking it.”

The white-browed youth smiled. “The last time I met you, you were borrowing tea on the Bridge of Oblivion. This time, your teapot still contains Meng Po Soup. Just what is it that compels you to go borrow tea time and again?”

The old man said, “It’s just a trivial matter. Young Friend Zhou, what brings you here to the new lands with such great fanfare?”

The white-browed youth smiled. “Just a trivial matter.”

The old man sighed. “It can’t be trivial, can it? Your lifespan is nearly exhausted. How could this visit be for something trivial?”

The two looked at each other.

Inside Qin Yan Cave, the Zhou clan’s Exorcist, scouting the way ahead, cried out, “Your Excellency, Criminal Xu Ying and a huge snake are charging straight in our direction!”

Zhou Heng chuckled. “Capturing a greenhorn like him is a piece of cake. Step aside, I’ll capture him myself!”

Behind him, the Zhou clan’s experts scattered.

Zhou Heng held his breath and focused. Sure enough, he saw Xu Ying and Yuanqi sprinting his way. His spirits surged; just as he was about to strike, he saw the surging torrents filling the entire Qin Yan Cave.

It seemed like some massive creature lurked within the waters. It slammed repeatedly into the mountain, causing the cave to collapse around it.

Even Zhou Heng, a Great Exorcist, felt a chill run through him.

The massive creature inside the water was much bigger than Qin Yan Cave. Its collisions shook the mountain, cracking it. The creature also radiated an aura that instantly crushed Zhou Heng’s spirits and filled him with terror, as though Mount Tai were collapsing onto him and shattering his Dao heart.

Zhou Heng promptly turned tail and ran. No one could have imagined the massive prefect could actually run this fast.

The next moment, every member of the Zhou clan followed him in a frantic retreat.

Just as the white-browed youth and the frowning old man were staring at each other, they heard an earth-shaking roar. They shifted their gazes, only to see Qin Yan Cave explode, and Mount Wu Wang shook violently. Several figures burst out from the cave, thrown into the air by the shockwaves.

As the mountain split open, a torrent of water surged forth. A thunderous roar that pierced the heavens rang out, and a mountain peak grew out of Qin Yan Cave’s entrance.

Xu Ying, Zhou Heng, and the others landed and continued fleeing in panic. Looking back, they saw a mountain peak crushing down on them. The creature was burrowing through the earth, and the mountain peak was likely his dorsal fin!

The corner of the white-browed youth’s eye twitched. He leaped up and landed behind the crowd, standing in between them and the dorsal fin. He called out loudly, “Granny Yu, escort Young Master Xu out of here. I’ll face this massive creature!”

Among the crowd fleeing for their lives was an elderly woman, hunched over and decrepit. She chuckled and leaped into the air, chasing after Xu Ying.

She laughed. “Young Master Xu, our Zhou clan bears no ill will!”

She pulled a silk handkerchief from her sleeve and tossed it out with a flick of her wrist. It flew straight toward Xu Ying, growing increasingly larger and wider. In the blink of an eye, it covered a hundred mu of mountain forest.

Xu Ying sprinted wildly beneath the handkerchief. As he ran, he saw the trees and boulders rapidly enlarge.

He immediately realized that it wasn’t the trees and boulders that were growing larger, but that he was shrinking!

The Zhou clan’s exorcism technique, Scattered Bean Soldiers, is simply a reverse application of this mystic art! This granny from the Zhou clan is very strong!

Xu Ying shrank rapidly to the size of a soybean. The boulders he could have crossed in a single stride now seemed like towering peaks, and the bushes he could easily pass became enormous trees from the legends.

Looking at the approaching peak, the white-browed youth smiled faintly. “I should call you Master, shouldn’t I? When I entered the stone chamber back then, I even kowtowed to your withered skeleton.”