Xu Ying Sends Off the Plague God

Suddenly, Xu Ying felt an itch all over and hurriedly scratched himself.

The flesh-colored tentacles in the sky continued splitting apart, unfurling downward from above. They sought out new plague victims, plunged into their bodies, and sucked away their life force.

Xu Ying's qi and blood were abundant, so the tentacles could not approach him for the moment.

The reason he felt itchy was that he was experiencing what the plague victims experienced.

He saw wisps of black energy filling the air. They entered the plague victims' bodies with every breath, invisibly corroding their qi and blood.

When those wisps of black energy entered his Realm of Serenity, the light from the flame given to him by the Maiden in the Coffin shone upon them, and they dissipated on their own without affecting him.

"What are these blood-colored tentacles, exactly?" Xu Ying muttered.

"The Plague God!"

After hearing his description, Great Bell spoke solemnly. "What you saw was the heavenly god who controls pestilence and calamity!"

"A heavenly god?"

Xu Ying shuddered. He had encountered many deities and had even killed several himself, but even the most powerful Xue Chenghuang was nowhere near comparable to the Plague God filling the sky!

"Heavenly gods dwell within the Heavenly Dao World. They command the Heavenly Dao and wield heavenly principles. They neither age, die, nor perish."

Great Bell said, "The Heavenly Dao World is lofty and unfathomable. Heavenly gods do not descend to the lower realm without reason. Why would the Plague God come down here? I see! The Maiden's accomplices must have offered a blood sacrifice to the Plague God to rescue her, causing countless deaths and diverting the Nai River, which brought about an Underworld Invasion!"

It sneered. "That Maiden truly has no good intentions!"

Xu Ying looked up at the sky. The enormous tentacles' true body was still in another world. Could that be the Heavenly Dao World Great Bell had mentioned?

The tower ship continued sailing forward. The half-hour deadline agreed upon with the Maiden in the Coffin was drawing closer and closer. Xu Ying looked toward the banks. Corpses were piled as high as mountains on both sides—plague victims' bodies. Some people had stacked firewood beneath the corpses and set them alight.

The flames rose thirty to fifty feet high, dazzling in the darkness.

Countless Ghost Fires floated beside the corpse mountains. When the sinister wind blew past, the Ghost Souls within them immediately suffered the agony of being torn apart. Their faces twisted viciously, their bodies contorted, and waves of wailing escaped them!

Some Ghost Souls struggled within the flames. It seemed that they could still feel their corpses burning, as if they had not truly died.

Xu Ying also saw figures that might have been human or ghost, hauling corpses away cart by cart and piling them beside the corpse mountains.

From the banks of the Nai River came the faint sound of chanting. Xu Ying followed the sound and saw several monks sitting upright beside the corpse mountains, striking wooden fish and quietly reciting the Rebirth Mantra.

Those monks were covered in rotting sores as well, with the Plague God's tentacles piercing their bodies.

Had this truly been done by the Maiden in the Coffin's accomplices?

Great Bell grew uneasy and urged him, "A Ying, the plague energy here is growing heavier and heavier. With your strength, it won't be long before it corrodes your qi-and-blood defenses, and the Plague God will suck you dry! We should leave as quickly as possible!"

Xu Ying shook his head. "No! A gentleman keeps his word. I gave someone my promise—how could I break it?"

Great Bell shouted angrily, "The people who summoned the Plague God are the Maiden's accomplices. Their purpose in summoning it is to divert the Nai River, crash it into Little Stone Mountain, and rescue the Maiden! Do you still think she's a good person?"

Its anger surged as it roared, "I, Master Zhong, am the good one! That night, you hid in my temple. When I saw the Nai River changing course and the few of you about to die in its waters, I protected you. If I hadn't been trying to preserve your lives, would the Maiden have been able to severely injure me? Would she have been able to escape?"

Xu Ying pondered for a moment before saying, "Master Zhong, you did me a favor, and I'll remember it forever. That's why I've let you steal my qi and blood to heal your injuries. I'm a country boy. I haven't read many books, but country folk value loyalty and gratitude. The Maiden in the Coffin said her purpose in coming here was to Send Off Deity. I don't think she means any harm."

Great Bell shouted, "That Maiden committed countless evils, which was why my master imprisoned her beneath Little Stone Mountain! Can't you see that she's using you? She hasn't even told you her name. It's obvious she intends to use you and throw you away once you've served your purpose!"

Xu Ying laughed loudly. "I, Xu, am utterly obscure and have no special abilities. What could possibly be worth using?"

He circulated his spiritual sense, sending it into the flame. He controlled the Pure Yang Strange Fire and sent it flying out of his Realm of Serenity, setting the tower ship ablaze.

The flames gradually grew, becoming more vigorous and brighter than the bonfires along the bank.

Xu Ying drew the Pure Yang Strange Fire back into his Realm of Serenity, leaped from the ship, landed on the bank, and removed the whip wrapped around his waist.

Great Bell said nervously, "A Ying, beware of falling into the Maiden's scheme and causing a catastrophe!"

Xu Ying surged with primordial qi, swung the whip, and gave it a fierce snap. Following the Maiden in the Coffin's instructions, he lashed it toward the sky!

Crack!

The long whip in his hand lashed out. Suddenly, it lengthened in the wind, growing longer and thicker!

The whip had originally looked utterly ordinary, but as it thickened and lengthened, countless details that had previously been invisible emerged.

What had once looked like braided hemp rope now revealed countless scales, as though innumerable headless, tailless dragons and pythons were coiled together!

In an instant, the whip stretched three or four miles. Xu Ying gripped its handle and felt it pulsing. It was as though he were clutching the sinews of countless dragons, while divine dragons leaped endlessly at the other ends!

Crack!

The whip struck the Plague God in the sky with tremendous force, tearing its flesh and splitting its hide!

The sky exploded. Flesh flew in all directions, and huge chunks of the Plague God's body fell from above!

Xu Ying stood stunned.

Great Bell also let out a clang, shuddering once as its toll grew hoarse.

Xu Ying's heart stopped. The Maiden in the Coffin had told him to lash the whip toward the sky. He had assumed he merely needed to whip the air a few times, perhaps with some meaning related to Sending Off Deity. After all, folk customs like this existed: when pestilence broke out, people beat gongs and drums and set boats ablaze, hoping to frighten the Plague God away.

He had never expected the whip's force to swell and truly strike at the boundless Plague God!

The whip's crack came with howling winds. The wind fed the flames, causing the tower ship's fire to grow fiercer and fiercer until it set the hull ablaze!

Amid the howling gale, the burning tower ship lifted from the river!

Xu Ying had previously been too occupied to examine the ship. Only now did he have the chance to see its details clearly.

The tower ship had vermilion-red gunwales and a golden hull. Ancient divine images were painted across all four sides.

The images on both sides depicted phoenixes carrying wood, building nests, lighting fires, and being reborn through nirvana.

The image at the front of the wooden ship was a Vermilion Bird surrounded by raging flames.

The image at the rear was Zhurong, a hideous, savage-looking god standing in the center of a sea of fire.

As the tower ship rode the gale into the sky, it grew larger and larger, while the flames aboard it blazed more fiercely!

The tower ship continued expanding and rising higher with the wind, its raging fire scorching the heavens.

Suddenly, the phoenix on the ship's walls took flight, the Vermilion Bird spread its wings, and Zhurong commanded the flames. The fire engulfed the ship and burned the sky crimson!

The Plague God's tentacles sizzled and dripped with oil beneath the flames. Those vast, writhing tentacles twisted and trembled in the fire.

Xu Ying's eyelid twitched. He had not only whipped the Plague God—he had also set it ablaze and roasted it.

"The Maiden in the Coffin told me to keep whipping until I have no strength left. Do I continue?"

With that thought, Xu Ying steeled his heart and pulled the long whip backward. The divine lord says I violated the Heavenly Law, while the officials say I broke the king's law. Whether in the Underworld or the Mortal Realm, there's no place left for me to live! Today, I'm whipping a heavenly god. At worst, there'll simply be no place for me in the heavens! What do I, Xu, have to fear?

The youth drew back the whip, a heroic spirit filling his heart and guts. Then he swung it toward the Plague God in the heavens. "If this great plague can be dispelled, then what harm is there in lashing the Plague God? Plague God, I'll send you on your way!"

He pulled hard on the whip. The whip, which had stretched three or four miles, rapidly shrank. By the time it returned to him, it was only three or four yards long. Yet when he swung it again, it once more became immensely thick, countless dragon sinews surging and leaving his arm numb!

Crack!

Thunder boomed across the sky. The whip was thicker and longer than before. The dragon sinews twisted and leaped, carrying supreme might as they lashed one Plague God tentacle after another, sending flesh flying!

Chunks of flesh as large as hills fell from the sky like raindrops. The heavenly god's blood poured down like waterfalls, becoming a torrential blood rain that dyed heaven and earth red!

This country was called Judu. When the plague erupted, nine out of ten households were emptied, corpses lay everywhere, and no one remained to bury them.

Countless Nu Masters of the Country of Judu were scattered across the land. At this moment, they all raised their heads toward the sky, each revealing a look of terror.

They saw a fire ship sailing through the gale overhead, its flames roaring. Around it appeared the phantasmal manifestations of the Vermilion Bird, Zhurong, the phoenix, and other Gods and Devils, further feeding the blaze!

Even the sky was ignited by the strange flames aboard the fire ship, crackling and burning in midair!

Suddenly, a flaming whip ten miles long lashed over. It looked as though countless dragons and snakes had locked their heads and tails together. When it struck the sky, the heavens seemed to split apart, and huge fragments fell down!

Blood plasma even streamed from the cracks in the sky like waterfalls!

The Nu Masters of the Country of Judu were filled with shock and uncertainty. There were many legends of the sky bleeding, recorded in ancient texts or passed down by word of mouth, but this was the first time they had witnessed it with their own eyes!

They could not see the Plague God in the air. They could only see the fire ship and the flaming whip, which was why they mistook what they saw for the sky being ignited, shattered, and bleeding.

However, the Country of Judu was a great nation, and it was home to no shortage of reclusive experts. Some could see the phenomena in the sky, yet the clearer their vision, the more horrified they became.

That long whip lashed at the Plague God again and again, sending lightning racing chaotically across the sky and making the Plague God twitch without pause!

The Pure Yang Strange Fire filling the heavens burned the Plague God until it dripped with oil and twisted. Together with the repeated lashes, it forced the Plague God's tentacles to contract and squeeze back toward the Heavenly Dao World.

The Plague God's boundless body in the sky was actually shrinking little by little.

This all-powerful heavenly god was actually about to be driven back into the Heavenly Dao World by the fire ship and the flaming whip!

The Maiden in the Coffin stood quietly atop a mountain not far from the Nai River. Her dress fluttered lightly in the wind, and she appeared as ethereal as an immortal flying away on the breeze.

The Maiden was gentle and serene, but she occasionally glanced toward the sky, her heart far from calm.

At last, the fire ship rose into the air, setting the heavens ablaze. Then the long whip rose from the ground like a soaring dragon and lashed toward the Plague God in the sky!

A smile appeared on the Maiden's lips.

However, after that lash, nothing happened. The second lash was late in coming.

The light in the Maiden's eyes dimmed, and she murmured, "You can't blame him. Anyone who saw such a horrifying sight would find it difficult to continue..."

Just as she thought this, a second lash suddenly shot into the heavens. The divine whip, wrapped in blazing Pure Yang Strange Fire, once again struck the Plague God with brutal force, tearing open its tentacles and sending flesh flying!

The divine whip raised a gale that sent the tower ship surging, its flames reaching the sky and burning countless Plague God tentacles until they squealed and sizzled!

The Maiden smiled and said softly, "To defy the greatest taboo beneath heaven, and still dare to become a Qi Refiner in this age when Qi Refiners have declined and vanished—isn't he just as recklessly bold as I am!"

Her eyes shone as she watched the sky. In a low voice, she said, "Summoning the Plague God comes at no small price. If it were me, I would never allow anyone to send the Plague God back to the Heavenly Dao World. I would certainly strike and eliminate the person sending it away! I want to see who you are!"

Her gaze flickered. These people had allowed the Plague God to slaughter, diverted the Nai River, attacked Little Stone Mountain, and rescued her from the bottom of the well. Afterward, they had vanished without a trace.

She knew there had to be a scheme behind this!

"We Qi Refiners cultivate against heaven. We dare even defy heaven itself—how could we possibly be manipulated by petty villains like you?"

She stared into the sky, then suddenly brightened. Beneath the sea of fire, she saw a figure flying swiftly toward the direction where the flaming whip was being raised!

That was precisely where Xu Ying was lashing the whip!

"I've found you!"

Behind the Maiden, the Black Coffin shot into the sky. Chains whipped through the air as it rushed toward the figure!

"Stay right there!"

Beneath the sea of fire, a radiance brighter than the sun erupted!

Xu Ying continued swinging the long whip. It grew longer and longer, its might increasing with every lash, striking blood from the sky like rain. The tower ship had also transformed into a roaring mass of flames, setting the Plague God's limbs ablaze one after another!

The Plague God's tentacles were continually withdrawing into the Heavenly Dao World. It was about to return completely when the sky split apart. An enormously thick tentacle descended from above, crushing downward from the direction where the long whip had risen, toward the place where Xu Ying stood!

The tentacle resembled a massive finger. It was as if the Plague God had truly flown into a rage and intended to press the person who dared whip and burn it to death on the spot!

The long whip in Xu Ying's hand had been ignited by the flames and was nearly burning to the handle. His heart had been pounding with fear. When his Heaven's Eye saw the tentacle descending from the sky, he could no longer worry about anything else. He immediately threw away the flaming whip and ran for his life, shouting, "Master Zhong, run!"

Great Bell was injured and could not move as swiftly. Xu Ying immediately turned back, grabbed its nose, and dashed away at full speed!

Above them, space continued exploding. The Plague God's tentacle compressed the surrounding shattered space, sending thunder and fire surging in every direction.

Boom!

An utterly terrifying shock wave arrived, raising a hurricane that tore everything from the ground by its roots. Trees, houses, rocks—everything was sent flying into the air!

Within the hurricane, a Great Bronze Bell tumbled and rolled, crashing into everything around it. Sometimes it struck a tree, sometimes a boulder, and no one knew where it would be flung next.

Inside the bell, a youth hid while bracing all four limbs against its walls to keep from falling.

The sky links the Five Ridges; silver hoes fall. The earth shakes, and the Three Rivers' iron arms sway. I ask the Plague Lord: where are you bound? A paper boat and bright candles burn, lighting the heavens! Excerpt from Chairman Mao's "Send Off the Plague God." May the nation enjoy peace and prosperity, and may the Plague God never return~