This made Cui Jiuyang hold something back. With that final blow of the Ghost-Driving Mallet, he had deliberately struck a little off-center rather than hitting the Baihui Point.
Thus, the elderly Great-Grandfather's Divine Soul suffered a grievous injury but did not disperse completely.
The Drought Ghost broke free and regained its freedom. Realizing it had fallen into the occultist's trap, it erupted with ghostly energy and lunged straight at the young Cui Chengshou.
Chapter 11: Ascension
The young Cui Chengshou's face turned vicious. Lightning spilled between his fingers, dancing like silver snakes and forcing the Drought Ghost back. He threw his head back and laughed. "Hahahaha! I planned for everything, yet you, brat, brought it all to ruin at the final hurdle!"
"Jiuyang, oh, Jiuyang. If you had obediently taken in the Drought Ghost as I instructed, would I really have harmed you?"
"Now my merit cannot be perfected, and my opportunity is shattered. This Drought Ghost is useless."
"But... flowers carefully planted refuse to bloom, while a willow casually stuck in the soil grows into shade."
His gaze shifted to the elderly Great-Grandfather's Divine Soul, which was beginning to take visible form nearby.
The elderly Great-Grandfather had already been possessing Cui Jiuyang. After most of the Drought Ghost's power entered the seal, the awakened Drought Ghost had drawn its entire ghostly body back out.
The pure, chilling yin power left inside Cui Jiuyang was precisely what a Divine Soul needed for nourishment.
The elderly Great-Grandfather absorbed that power and actually condensed a usable body. Amid the spreading yin energy, his figure gradually became clear.
With a body came the seven apertures. The elderly Great-Grandfather's occult arts resonated with heaven and earth, and his cultivation rapidly recovered.
Cui Chengshou smiled and shook his head. "Old age brings muddled wits. I never imagined I would suffer that fate myself. How could this shriveled old man, dim-eyed and softhearted, possibly deserve the cultivation that lets me follow my every desire today?"
The elderly Great-Grandfather finished taking form and stood beside the exhausted Cui Jiuyang. He reached out to support his great-grandson and said, "I was young once. You have never been old. You don't understand."
Driven back by a bolt of lightning, the Drought Ghost shook its head and prepared to charge again.
Even at its peak, it had been unable to hurt Cui Chengshou, much less now that it had lost most of its power.
The two Great-Grandfathers, young and old, waved their hands simultaneously. Twelve bolts of heavenly lightning crashed down in succession, annihilating the Drought Ghost's soul on the spot. Even its condensed resentment was jointly refined away by the two men.
The young Cui Chengshou and the old Cui Chengshou stood facing each other like opposing mountain peaks. Together, they waved Cui Jiuyang farther away.
Cui Jiuyang struggled over to a small earthen rise nearby and watched from a distance as the two Great-Grandfathers faced off with swords drawn and bows bent.
The younger Great-Grandfather twisted his hands together, rubbing them continuously. Excitement filled his face. "I can sense it. You once... reached the Eight Extremes."
The older Great-Grandfather looked unruffled. Mentioning the realm that made ascension possible seemed no different from discussing that morning's breakfast. "Yes. On this very day back then, my merit reached perfection, and I attained the Eight Extremes. But afterward, a Ghost Immortal shattered that realm."
"A Ghost Immortal?... You were actually careless enough to let that Drought Ghost enter the Heavenly Gate?"
"You were the careless one. You not only killed Jiuyang, but also let the Drought Ghost enter the Heavenly Gate ahead of you."
"Haha! So you actually killed Jiuyang. No wonder you insist on stopping my ascension today."
"No. I merely came to correct a mistake."
The younger Great-Grandfather spread his arms, and runes grew over them like vines. "No, there is no mistake today. You came at exactly the right time! You once reached the Eight Extremes, so as long as I refine this body of your Divine Soul, I can follow its former pathways and enter the Eight Extremes myself."
He stressed every word. "I. Can. Still. Ascend!"
The old Great-Grandfather shook his head and sighed. His sleeves billowed, and the hands held behind his back opened, already covered in runes. "I don't remember being this mad when I was young..."
Fierce winds suddenly rose overhead. Black clouds gathered from every direction, and in the blink of an eye, blazing sunshine gave way to a heavy, overcast sky.
Cui Jiuyang sat slumped on the distant rise, hearing ghosts wail and wolves howl in the mountains beyond. He understood that the duel between these two peerless occultists had frightened even ghosts and spirits into crying out.
He reached down and untied the Locust-Tree Belt around his waist. Sure enough, once he removed it, he could no longer hear the ghosts' cries.
In the distance, the two Great-Grandfathers had already begun fighting.
Heaven and earth responded. Rain poured down in curtains, and with nowhere to hide, Cui Jiuyang could only sit in the downpour and watch his Great-Grandfathers battle with their arts.
The older Great-Grandfather moved slowly, but his realm was genuinely a level above the younger man's.
Whether lightning, fire, or golden light shot from the younger Great-Grandfather's hands, he dispelled it calmly.
Although the younger Great-Grandfather had attained only the Seven Extremes, he was young and ruthless. Instead, he took the offensive and held the upper hand over the older man.
Their battle changed the colors of heaven and earth, yet neither could gain a decisive victory.
The younger Great-Grandfather produced a roll of silk from somewhere. With a wave of his hand, it flew into the air and unfurled against the lightning overhead.
Even from a distance, Cui Jiuyang could see it clearly. The silk grew longer and longer as it unrolled, seemingly without end, and was covered with countless bizarre demons, monsters, and ghosts.
The younger Great-Grandfather pointed into the air, and every demon, monster, and ghost painted on the silk came alive!
Each looked ferocious and fiendish as they swooped through the air toward the older Great-Grandfather.
"Hah! Open your damned eyes, you vile creatures!" The older Great-Grandfather showed neither shock nor fear. Instead, he raised his brows, glared, and barked at the demons and ghosts.
Demons and ghosts recognized people by their aura, not their appearance. At his rebuke, they stopped in midair and sensed him carefully.
The instant they did, every demon overhead froze.
Why were there two ancestral masters here?
Then which one were we supposed to kill?
The younger Great-Grandfather silently cursed his own muddleheadedness. There was no time to recall the Five Warlords troops he had collected over years of subduing demons and capturing monsters.
He formed a hand seal and charged the older Great-Grandfather again.
The older Great-Grandfather's Divine Soul was incomplete, after all, and his body had only just condensed. Under the fiercer attacks, lightning occasionally grazed him, or some unknown golden light brushed against him.
As they fought, lightning, fire, and golden light scattered everywhere, burning straight through the middle of the Five Warlords Register in the sky.
Watching from the side, Cui Jiuyang's heart twisted with anxiety. Did the younger Great-Grandfather have any humanity at all? He was this vicious even when beating himself?
The Five Warlords troops saw that the register binding their souls had burned away. The two ancestral masters were locked in combat and had no time to bother with them. Startled and delighted, they scattered like birds and beasts.
As luck would have it, a Bloodsucking Sickle fled straight toward the little hill where Cui Jiuyang sat.
A Bloodsucking Sickle was born from the union of a bat and the bloodline of an ancient extraordinary beast. Just which ancient beast that bloodline belonged to, no one knew anymore.
But any monster with even the slightest connection to ancient times was no easy creature to deal with.
This Bloodsucking Sickle had once terrorized an entire region. After Cui Chengshou subdued it and bound it within the Five Warlords Register, it had gone years without tasting flesh and blood.
Cui Jiuyang had grown up without lifting a finger or knowing one grain from another, and the fragrance of his flesh wafted richly from his body.
The Bloodsucking Sickle's vicious instincts flared. No matter how the two ancestral masters behind it fought until heaven collapsed and earth split, it had to take a bite and satisfy its craving first.
The older Great-Grandfather kept Jiuyang in his heart. Sensing the Bloodsucking Sickle rushing at his precious great-grandson, he flung a Fire Talisman toward it.
The younger Great-Grandfather seized that opening. A small wooden sword barely three fingers long slipped from his sleeve. Dark and heavy, it was made from some unknown wood. It flew out soundlessly, yet faster than the lightning overhead.
Distracted, the older Great-Grandfather was pierced through the chest by the flying sword.
The younger Great-Grandfather pressed his advantage, unleashing Thunder Technique and golden light without pause until the older man could no longer resist. Like a wooden target battered to pieces, he lay on the ground without another sound.
The Fire Talisman scared the Bloodsucking Sickle away. When the terrified Cui Jiuyang looked back toward the battle, the older Great-Grandfather was already on the ground.
The younger Great-Grandfather smiled. "Today, I shall ascend!"
Chapter 12: Eight Extremes
But in the next instant, his smile froze on his face.
An equally silent little wooden sword flew from somewhere and pierced his dantian.
"So your Divine Soul brought a sword with it..." The younger Great-Grandfather watched the frostlike Sword Qi spill from the wound in his dantian and smiled with considerable interest.
"It seems the Sword Within the Soul I envisioned really can be cultivated. Taking this strike was not in vain." Before his words had fully faded, the younger Great-Grandfather toppled stiffly into the muddy water.
The clouds cleared, the rain stopped, and wind and thunder dispersed. In an instant, the sky was boundlessly clear once more.
Two figures, one old and one young, lay in the mud. Stripped of their ghost-and-godlike might and majesty, they looked instead like two farmers collapsed from exhaustion in the fields.
Cui Jiuyang staggered to his feet and ran to the older Great-Grandfather first. The old man lay facing the sky with his eyes open, the washed-blue heavens reflected in his pupils. He shifted his eyes toward Cui Jiuyang's face and smiled in relief. "Jiuyang is alive... Great-Grandfather's efforts weren't wasted. But..."
Before the old man could finish that "but," someone interrupted him.
The younger Great-Grandfather stirred. He remained facedown in the muddy water without lifting his head, but his voice carried clearly. "Old man, what other arts I'm contemplating now did you manage to cultivate later?"
The old man winked slyly at Jiuyang, his expression saying, Watch me trick him for fun. "Quite a few, actually. Unfortunately, you'll never get to see them..."
The younger Great-Grandfather struggled mightily to roll over until he too faced the sky. With difficulty, he managed a mocking tone. "Who are you trying to scare? You know perfectly well that if I die, yin and yang will reverse. You and Jiuyang will both vanish into cause and effect!"
"So only I can die." The older Great-Grandfather pulled on Jiuyang for support and sat up, muddy water cascading from his sleeves.
The younger Great-Grandfather braced both hands against the ground and also struggled upright. "I'm afraid you're not the only one who has to die. I won't be far behind."
He pointed at his dantian. "The Soul Sword shattered my dantian. Not only is all my cultivation dispersed, but my soul is nearly ruined too. Have you never used that strike since mastering it?"
At those words, a trace of wild arrogance actually appeared on the older Great-Grandfather's face-the sort Cui Jiuyang had previously seen only on the younger man.
The older Great-Grandfather laughed. "By the time I mastered it, no one under heaven was worthy of receiving that strike."
The younger Great-Grandfather clapped and laughed loudly. "Of course!"
After their laughter, both fell silent again.
Wind passed over the treetops. After a long while, they exchanged a glance.
Without consulting each other, both shakily rose to their feet and approached. Finally, they sat facing one another with all four palms pressed together.
They spoke in unison.
"Today's birth is as today's death."
"All that has passed is but smoke and clouds before the eyes."
"Why strive so tirelessly for all the future promises?"
"Even knowing yin and yang, one cannot see through every mystery of heaven."
The older Great-Grandfather declared clearly, "I have not truly died."
The younger Great-Grandfather answered, "Nor am I truly alive."
The older Great-Grandfather's figure slowly faded, finally turning into a wisp of blue smoke that returned to the younger man's dantian.
When the younger Great-Grandfather opened his eyes again, Cui Jiuyang found that his gaze had become more like the older man's: gentle and kindly, rather than the look of the ruthless occultist from before.
Cui Jiuyang helped him stand. He said nothing, merely pointed toward home, and the two slowly made their way back.
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