The Immortal Realm Is Inauspicious

"P-Put it down... How dare you?"

Meng Po thundered, "How could my soup possibly be diluted with water? Even immortals would become woozy after drinking it, forgetting their past and present lives. Clearly, you gave them too much, and they developed a taste for it."

At this point, she suddenly realized her mistake and hurriedly said, "Please forgive me, my lord. It's just that my soup is absolutely never diluted with water."

The man carried Meng Po's Soup and held the Green Paper Umbrella as he drifted away, gradually disappearing into the hazy mist.

In the ruined temple world, Xu Ying suddenly leaped down from Great Bell, landing on the immortal mountain below. The youth dashed through the mountain forest, evading the search of the four Stone Dragons in the sky. Great Bell followed closely behind him to the nearest altar.

Although the Stone Statue beside the altar had broken into several pieces, one could still make out its former proud bearing. It must once have been majestic, mighty, and awe-inspiring!

Strangely, the Stone Statue was still wrapped in dense Incense Qi, even more vigorous than City God Xue Lingfu's!

"The god is dead, but the Incense Qi hasn't dispersed. How strange." Xu Ying was puzzled.

After a god died, the Incense Qi on its body would disperse. That was common knowledge.

Xu Ying walked closer to inspect it. A burst of clamorous noise reached his ears—the lingering echoes of all living beings' prayers, left behind in the Incense Qi.

People prayed to gods for favorable weather, blessed descendants, lasting peace and stability, many children and grandchildren, and abundant harvests. These thoughts resembled the visualizations of Qi Refiners and Nu Masters. When combined with Incense Qi, they became Magic Power.

A god's Magic Power depended first on how long it had been worshipped—the longer, the stronger. Second, it depended on the number of worshippers—the more people who worshipped it, the stronger its Magic Power.

Xu Ying examined the breaks in the Stone Statue. The fractures were irregular, apparently caused by weathering over the years and a fall. But the damage at the crown of its head did not look like weathering.

The crown of the Stone Statue's head had split open, leaving the skull hollow inside. Judging from the traces, it seemed to have been shattered from within, forcing the crown outward until it burst apart!

"The god's head is hollow! But why is it hollow?" Xu Ying exclaimed.

There was no reason for a god's head to be hollow. It did not need a brain—its soul only had to enter the statue!

Xu Ying stuck half his body into the Stone Statue's head and discovered strange patterns on the inner wall. They resembled writing, yet were not quite writing. It was simply too dark to see clearly.

Xu Ying pulled himself out and said to Great Bell, "Master Zhong, make yourself smaller."

Great Bell shrank until it was about two feet tall.

Xu Ying grabbed the bell's knob, stuck half his body into the Stone Statue's head, and shook the bell hard. Great Bell understood at once. Strange patterns surfaced across its body, emitting a faint, ghostly glow.

By that light, Xu Ying could finally see the patterns and writing on the inside of the god's head.

He discovered that he could not recognize any of the writing.

Great Bell recognized it and said, "It's a soul-summoning sacrificial text, written in the script that Ancient Qi Refiners used for drawing talismans! Such texts are used to gather lonely souls and wandering ghosts. But the sacrificial text inside this head isn't of the righteous path. It resembles an evil method of summoning souls, using ghosts to refine magic treasures or divine pills. Several characters are even written incorrectly. Clearly, whoever wrote it wasn't an Ancient Qi Refiner."

"An ancient evil art?"

Holding the bell, Xu Ying pulled himself out and asked in confusion, "If this is the immortal realm, how can there be gods here? And why would there be a soul-summoning sacrificial text?"

Gods needed the Incense Qi of living beings. Surely no one in the immortal realm would worship gods, right?

Besides, what use was there in summoning ghosts and souls in the immortal realm? Were there ghosts in the immortal realm too?

"Then, is the one preaching the Dao in the great temple really an immortal?" Xu Ying raised his head and looked toward the great temple surrounded by five immortal mountains in the sky.

Suddenly, he froze. Looking toward the other immortal mountains, he said, "Master Zhong, look at the arrangement of these five immortal mountains. Doesn't it resemble the positions of the five organs in the Realm of Serenity?"

Hearing this, Great Bell laughed in disbelief. "The positions of the five organs in the Realm of Serenity? How could that be? This should be the immortal realm. There were even immortals preaching in that great temple just now..."

At that point, it suddenly stopped. Compared with the immortal realm and immortals preaching the Dao, the Realm of Serenity was clearly more credible. After all, even in its era—not to mention its master—no one had ever seen the immortal realm, much less an immortal.

Its bell rang out thunderously. Using the echoes among the mountains to investigate the surrounding terrain, it realized that Xu Ying was right. This place truly resembled the Realm of Serenity.

In the Realm of Serenity, the five organs hung upside down in the sky like mountains. Here, too, the five immortal mountains had their bases pointing skyward and their peaks pointing down. They had originally been buried underground in this very position. After rising into the sky, they revolved around the temple, but their overall posture had not changed.

The five immortal mountains varied in height and were arranged according to the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys. Their shapes also resembled those of the five organs.

More importantly, huge stones had fallen from the five immortal mountains, and hair-like things were mixed into the gaps. If they were truly immortal mountains, such things absolutely should not exist.

These five immortal mountains seemed to be in a state of petrification. After being invaded by an external evil, they had developed mold and pathological mutations!

After Great Bell's peal rang out, Xu Ying hurriedly concealed himself and left with it.

Not long after they departed, two Stone Dragons stepped on clouds of smoke and arrived together. They failed to find Xu Ying and frowned.

"If only we'd brought a few Earth Gods," one Stone Dragon sighed.

Xu Ying brought Great Bell toward the second Stone Statue. Suddenly, someone screamed in the sky. Xu Ying hurriedly looked up and saw the gods of the Yin Court clashing with the officials under the Cishi. The two sides were fighting fiercely atop a floating enormous rock, magical arts colliding as the battle plunged heaven and earth into chaos.

The one who had cried out was an official who had obtained the Zhou Family's inheritance. He had suffered severe injuries and immediately activated the Ni Wan Secret Treasury, rousing the vitality within it to heal his wounds. Unexpectedly, the vitality inside him suddenly flowed out of his control, drawn away by the enormous rock beneath his feet!

The enormous rock was covered in hair. Once it came into contact with his secret-treasury vitality, the hairs began to writhe wildly. Hiss, hiss, hiss—countless strands pierced into the official's body and squirmed as though drinking water.

The official felt his secret-treasury vitality pouring away at tremendous speed. Terrified, he opened his mouth and let out a shrill scream. As he screamed, his whole body withered. Soon, he had become a dried skeleton.

He had originally been a seven-foot-tall man. After turning into a skeleton, he was thin and tiny, only two or three feet tall. Even the vitality in his bones had been drained completely.

After the official died, the enormous rock began to take on the color of flesh and blood, bright red and glistening with bloodwater. Countless hairs waved in the air like tentacles, seizing several officials and gods who failed to dodge in time. The hairs hissed as they pierced into their bodies!

The gods were one thing. After all, gods created through worship were not flesh and blood—only gods born from the Demon Race possessed fleshly bodies. But the officials and guards were all human. They were disciples or descendants of the Zhou Family, and after opening their Ni Wan Secret Treasuries, the vitality within them was astonishing.

Their vitality rapidly drained away. In the blink of an eye, four or five more people had been sucked dry.

Everyone who had been fighting was stunned.

After swallowing the vitality of these people, the enormous rock's hairs regained their elasticity. They were actually unevenly thick blood vessels extending from the flesh.

The blood vessels varied in length. They waved in every direction, seized another enormous rock, and attached themselves to it, transferring some of their vitality across.

That enormous rock immediately began to sprout waving hair as well. It seized a Demon God who was fighting and began to "eat."

Xu Ying raised his head and saw complete chaos in the sky. One enormous "rock" after another swam through the air, hair waving as they caught people and sucked them dry in their embrace.

Some were even forced to leap, attempting to land on the immortal mountains. But their legs lacked the strength. They screamed as they fell from the sky.

"This immortal realm is inauspicious!" Xu Ying watched in horror.

Great Bell was worried. "A lot of people have already entered the great temple to listen to the immortal preach the Dao. It seems Yuan Qi went there too."

Xu Ying frowned slightly and arrived at the second altar. This altar was relatively intact. It stood at the junction of two mountain paths, atop a platform jutting out over a cliff below. Everything was extremely orderly.

The Stone Statue stood beside the altar. Four arms rested on the altar's edges, while its head bowed toward the center, as though something there had attracted its gaze.

This Stone Statue had four arms, a crown of burning flames, a blue face and fangs, a pair of wings on its back, and a Green Dragon coiled around its body.

The stone of its body had turned golden, shining brilliantly, as though it had been forged entirely from gold!

"This god has refined a golden body. It's even stronger than the City God!"

Xu Ying's heart shook violently. He had seen City God Xue Lingfu of Lingling fight Zhou Yihang. When City God Xue Lingfu used his Magic Power, the shrine floated in the air while countless people chanted his name, giving Xu Ying an immense sense of shock and oppression!

But this god's Stone Statue gave him an even stronger feeling of oppression!

Its cultivation was likely deeper than Xue Lingfu's, and its golden body was a level above!

From far away, one could hear the chanting of thousands of people coming from it, the sound drifting near and far!

Xu Ying approached to inspect it. Suddenly, a dragon's roar rang out in the sky. A Stone Dragon four or five zhang long stepped on azure clouds and charged down, landing between Xu Ying and the altar!

When the Stone Dragon landed, Incense Qi swirled around its body. Its form actually changed, transforming from a dragon into a man—a Dragon-headed Humanoid over ten feet tall, with a faint golden sheen across his body.

The sound of reading drifted faintly from his body. It was the thoughts of all living beings, though far weaker than those emanating from the god's Stone Statue.

"Xu Ying. I am Stone Dragon Son of Ningyuan Confucian Temple. By the City God's command, I have come to take you back!"

The Dragon God Stone Dragon Son condensed Incense Qi into a flying sword and floated it before him. He said coldly, "You'd better not resist. The City God ordered us to kill you if necessary and take your soul back."

Xu Ying was about to speak when two more dragon roars rang out. Two more Stone Dragons descended from the sky, transforming into tall, lean Dragon-headed Humanoids. One stood behind Xu Ying to the left, the other to the right.

The two Dragon Gods condensed Qi into swords. Without saying a word, they formed a three-way standoff with Stone Dragon Son.

Xu Ying looked up. Another Stone Dragon remained in the sky, treading azure clouds and circling uncertainly, cutting off his escape upward.

Xu Ying recognized these four Stone Dragons. They were the Stone Dragons carved onto the pillars of Ningyuan Confucian Temple. The temple had several enormous stone pillars, each dozens of feet tall, with Stone Dragons coiled around them. Scholars would go there to burn incense and pray for a good official career, so the Incense Qi on the Stone Dragons carried the sound of reading.

Xu Ying had visited the temple too, but he truly had no talent for studying, so he had never burned incense.

"I killed Zhou Yihang and Zhou Yang using swordsmanship."

Xu Ying gathered Qi into a sword, Sword Qi swirling around him, and said indifferently, "The four of you have never done evil and enjoy a fine reputation among scholars. Don't force me."

The four Stone Dragons were inwardly alarmed. Zhou Yang's cultivation and strength were not far below theirs. Since Xu Ying had killed Zhou Yang, his strength was certainly enough to kill any one of them.

But Xu Ying's killing of Zhou Yihang meant that he stood at the City God's level!

The City God had refined a golden body and enjoyed five hundred years of Incense Qi. His Magic Power was extraordinary!

Even if the four dragons joined forces, they might not win!

Xu Ying felt uneasy. His cultivation had yet to recover. Great Bell had carried him during their earlier flight, and it had needed to steal his Primordial Qi to maintain that flight, so his cultivation had fallen rather than risen.

If the four dragons attacked, he would probably be finished.

Suddenly, Stone Dragon Son dropped to his knees with a thump. Wearing a strange smile, he repeatedly kowtowed to the four-armed Stone Statue, muttering bizarre prayers.

The expressions of the two Stone Dragons behind Xu Ying changed drastically. They shouted in unison, "Xu Ying, what did you do to our fourth brother?"

Xu Ying secretly gathered a breath of Primordial Qi and shook his head. "I didn't do anything!"

One of the Stone Dragons guarded against Xu Ying while moving carefully toward Stone Dragon Son. He called out, "Fourth Brother, what's wrong? Who ambushed you..."

He was just about to pull Stone Dragon Son up when a strange smile also appeared on his face. With a thump, he knelt and frantically kowtowed to the four-armed Stone Statue, chanting the same prayers as Stone Dragon Son.

"A Ying, there's something strange about this Stone Statue and altar!" Great Bell whispered.

Xu Ying was likewise horrified.

Gods gathered faith and Incense Qi to obtain divine powers. Only then could they be called gods. Stone Dragon Son of Ningyuan Confucian Temple had enjoyed four hundred years of flourishing worship, and his Incense Qi was powerful. How could he suddenly worship another god and become a believer of this soulless Stone Statue?

The two Stone Dragons knelt there, chanting faster and faster. The smiles on their faces twisted more and more grotesquely. Suddenly, with two bangs, the heads of Stone Dragon Son and the other Stone Dragon burst outward from within!

Xu Ying hurriedly used his divine sense as a mirror and opened his Celestial Eye. He saw the souls of the two Stone Dragons fly from their shattered heads toward the altar held in the four-armed Stone Statue's embrace!

The altar was extremely tall, blocking it from his ordinary sight. But under his Celestial Eye, every detail of the altar was perfectly clear!

The center of the altar was shaped like a furnace. A bead floated in the middle, rotating up and down.

The souls of the two Stone Dragons arrived at the center of the altar and suddenly shattered, their souls scattering completely. Only a trace of undying Primordial Spirits remained, flying into the bead!

"A Ying, even if there's an immortal in this Realm of Serenity, it's an Evil Sword Immortal!"

Great Bell cried, "He's using the undying Primordial Spirits of human souls to refine the Myriad Spirit Pill and repair his Primordial Spirit!"