Chapter 184 - If There Were Light

Xu Ying stopped and looked toward the corpse on the broken cliff. Heavenly Venerable Wu’s words held two meanings: the corpse possessed extraordinary strength, and it posed a direct threat to them both.

The corpse seemed to sense their gaze. Its eyes snapped open, and it stared back.

Heavenly Venerable Wu shifted his stance, blocking Xu Ying from view. Before Xu Ying’s eyes, immortal light blossomed. Jade palaces and jeweled towers swept into view. In an instant, the ghost realm vanished, replaced by the magnificent vistas of the Celestial Court.

He felt immortal qi lifting him. From his Gushing Spring to the crown of his head, every part of him felt at ease. He felt as though he had merged with the Dao, his Soul, divine sense, primordial qi, and fleshly body all free and unbound like the Dao.

So this is what it feels like to be an immortal?

The thought had barely formed when an earth-shaking roar exploded beside his ears. The roar shattered the illusory immortal realm, and he returned to the ghostly primordial battlefield once more.

Xu Ying’s vision cleared, revealing a terrifying sight. The corpse nailed to the cliff had a dark, shadowed face, and its hair grew wildly as sword wheels spun and flew toward them.

If Heavenly Venerable Wu had not been standing in front of Xu Ying, he would have fallen victim to it the moment he sank into the illusory realm.

The strands of hair hissed through the air, sharper than anything. They swept past a nearby divine weapon, slicing through the ancient, non-decaying metal the instant they brushed across it.

Xu Ying’s scalp prickled. Then a Twelve-Story Pagoda appeared behind Heavenly Venerable Wu, blazing with golden light. His Primordial Spirit and fleshly body merged into one, and he drove a punch straight into those all-piercing strands of hair.

The hair stabbed through his fist and burrowed into his flesh, yanking him upward and toward the cliff.

Heavenly Venerable Wu waved his hand and severed the hair. By then, he had already reached the corpse.

The corpse opened its mouth and roared. The force blew Heavenly Venerable Wu’s white hair and eyebrows back and made the skin on his face ripple.

Simultaneously, a blurry figure surged out from the corpse’s brow. Head, face, and torso emerged, lunging toward Heavenly Venerable Wu’s brow.

Looking for a substitute?

Xu Ying immediately recognized the attacker’s mystic arts. The roar disrupted the target's mind, letting the caster swap places with their victim while the victim's divine soul was dazed.

Yet the moment the blurry figure’s torso emerged, a fist with bulging knuckles and bursting veins slammed into its face.

Three heavy thuds rang out.

Xu Ying watched the white-haired old man punch again and again, smashing the corpse’s face with brutal force, flattening its head and smearing blood and gore across the broken cliff.

The spilled blood radiated immortal light, sprouting fragrant spirit grass wherever it hit the ground.

No matter how many punches Heavenly Venerable Wu landed, the corpse’s face always returned to its original state. It was as if endless vitality filled the corpse, allowing its fleshly body to regenerate.

Heavenly Venerable Wu’s fist sank into the corpse’s face. Wrenching it free, he seized the broken blade lodged in the corpse’s chest with both hands and drove it forward with all his strength.

Inch by inch, the broken blade sank deeper into the corpse’s chest.

The corpse opened its mouth and howled, wracked with unbearable pain. Beneath the broken blade, blurry figures surged one after another, seemingly on the verge of breaking free.

Heavenly Venerable Wu let go, leaped down from the cliff, and returned to Xu Ying’s side. Wiping the blood from his hands, he said, “This one really is strong. I can’t handle it.”

Xu Ying stared at him wide-eyed, incredulous.

Heavenly Venerable Wu looked puzzled.

“Heavenly Venerable Wu, that might be the corpse of an immortal!” Xu Ying blurted.

Heavenly Venerable Wu shook his head. “An immortal? Impossible!”

Xu Ying explained, “The immortals of the primordial era weren’t that strong. Back then, ascension was still simple. Even the greatest heavenly tribulation was only fifty li across, which is to say fifteen li in diameter. You could probably survive a tribulation like that right now.”

Heavenly Venerable Wu looked somewhat lost. “With cultivation like mine, I could have ascended and become an immortal back then? Why can’t I do it now?”

Xu Ying hesitated, unsure how to answer.

According to what he knew, in the primordial era, when people cultivated and underwent tribulation, heavenly tribulations were tailored to their personal destinies and allotted calamities, varying in scale.

But at some unknown point, the Heavenly Dao began scaling each tribulation to the strength of the previous ascender. To survive, every new contender had to surpass the last.

Generation after generation, ascenders drove the heavenly tribulations to monstrous heights, until super tribulations flared hundreds, even thousands, of times stronger than the originals.

After the final ascender departed, the path to ascension closed forever.

“The final ascender crushed everyone else and also caused the decline of Qi Cultivators and the rise of Exorcist Masters.”

Xu Ying gave a rough account of what he knew, then voiced his own guess. “Later, some Qi Cultivators turned to crooked methods. They corrupted the exorcism arts, trapping and consuming people to bolster their strength and extend their lives. Now, whether they are Qi Cultivators or Exorcist Masters, no one is safe.”

Heavenly Venerable Wu kept walking forward. “Unfortunately, my lifespan is insufficient. I cannot go to that world you spoke of. I would very much like to spread the teachings of the Martial Dao there and pass on the spirit of martial valor. If one presses forward with determination, then even without ascension, one can still live a splendid life.”

His vital energy showed faint signs of decline, startling Xu Ying. As a Martial Dao powerhouse who had forged a Primordial Spirit, Heavenly Venerable Wu was essentially a god, capable of controlling every acupoint to lock in his essence and maintain peak condition.

Yet his vital energy had begun to decline, meaning his control over his own body had already started to falter.

His fleshly body had grown old.

Heavenly Venerable Wu smiled. “I would love to visit your world and crush the heads of those anglers with my fists. But time waits for no one. If only I had come here twenty years earlier...”

The light in his eyes dimmed. Though he refused to accept old age and refused to admit defeat, his body had, in the end, grown old.

“This primeval battlefield holds a tremendous secret. It has prevented the people of the Primordial Beginning Realm from cultivating.”

Heavenly Venerable Wu walked ahead, his powerful Martial Dao Spirit radiating outward, manifesting as distinct figures that swept across the surrounding land. “It forced us to survive without any primordial qi or spirit force, relying only on our own fleshly bodies, our own fists, and our own spirit. I am not an omnipotent Heavenly Venerable...”

His vital energy was waning. Xu Ying watched it drift behind him like fine sand, scattering in the wind.

“I cannot raise the Martial Dao to its ultimate height. I cannot flatten the darkness, nor can I stop the underworld's invasion. I cannot even uncover the truth of this primeval battlefield or solve the lack of primordial qi.”

Heavenly Venerable Wu’s voice remained resonant, and his steps remained steady. His spirit burned like fire, sweeping away the gloom and monsters around them. Yet, behind him, the loss of vital energy steadily accelerated.

Xu Ying caught up to him. “Heavenly Venerable Wu, I can perform Dragon Tracking for you and help you locate the Six Secret Troves. As long as you can open the Mud-Pill Secret Trove among them, you can cultivate immortal herbs!”

Heavenly Venerable Wu continued forward, his voice carrying back. “Fellow Daoist Xu, for a martial artist, spirit, vital energy, soul, and body are one and inseparable. The moment you saw my vital energy draining away, it meant my soul was aging and my fleshly body dying. The Six Secret Troves likely cannot halt my decline.”

His pace quickened as if chasing time itself, striving to press farther and carve out a safe path for those who followed. He had already reached the pinnacle of the Martial Dao. He hoped to use his remaining time to do more.

Xu Ying activated the Extreme Intent Freedom Art and finally caught up. Then he leaped up, plunged into Heavenly Venerable Wu’s realm of ethereal void, and roamed through his body, searching for the Mud-Pill Secret Trove among the Six Secret Troves.

Inside Heavenly Venerable Wu, vital energy burned like a scorching sun, its heat nearly unbearable. Xu Ying felt as if he were traveling through raging flames. He flew up from the Twelve-Story Pagoda, crossed the sealed Jasper Pool and Divine Bridge, and flew past the sun and moon.

At last, he found the sea of primordial chaos.

Heavenly Venerable Wu’s sea of primordial chaos was the most terrifying Xu Ying had ever seen. Waves surged ten thousand zhang high, and the destructive primordial chaos qi threatened to tear everything apart.

The Mud-Pill Palace had become a celestial sphere that suppressed the sea of primordial chaos. As it turned, the sea of primordial chaos was also drawn into motion, revolving around this celestial sphere of primordial chaos.

Xu Ying had seen Zhu Chanchan’s sea of primordial chaos before. She had forcibly suppressed her cultivation at the Gate-Knocking Stage, and her primordial chaos Mud Pill had been so dense that even Flying Peak could barely pierce it.

Heavenly Venerable Wu’s Mud-Pill Palace was easily a hundred times more formidable.

The Martial Dao was powerful, but it couldn't use artifacts the way a Qi Cultivator could. That meant Heavenly Venerable Wu’s Mud-Pill Palace could not be opened.

Xu Ying steadied himself, took out his treasured jade bottle, and poured some Origin Dao Essence into Heavenly Venerable Wu’s realm of ethereal void. The Origin Dao Essence spread, and the fragrance of a heavenly and earthly spirit root emanated from Heavenly Venerable Wu.

He flew out of Heavenly Venerable Wu’s ethereal void and secretly sent some immortal herbs of longevity gathered from his Mud-Pill Grotto Heaven to Heavenly Venerable Wu. Heavenly Venerable Wu’s complexion improved considerably.

Color returned to his face, and his voice grew resonant. He laughed and said, “Fellow Daoist Xu, you really do have a miraculous supply of immortal herbs.”

Xu Ying looked at the vital energy still drifting away behind him, and his heart sank. Heavenly Venerable Wu’s physical body and Primordial Spirit were failing in tandem, and at an ever-accelerating rate. Neither the Origin Dao Essence nor the immortal longevity herbs could save him.

“That senior who created the Eight Arts of the Combat God likely went farther than I have on this path.”

Heavenly Venerable Wu looked into the distance and said with a smile, “I’ve heard the old legends. He was younger and stronger. He must have walked out of this place. He must have.”

Xu Ying sensed that the essence of his Primordial Spirit had also begun to dissipate, so he hurriedly mobilized the soul-nourishing immortal herbs gathered from the Gushing-Spring Secret Trove and sent them to Heavenly Venerable Wu.

Yet Heavenly Venerable Wu’s Martial Dao divine sense and strength continued to wane, immune to restraint. In desperation, Xu Ying harvested every immortal herb from his Jade Pool, Yellow Court, and Crimson Palace, funneling them into the dying warrior all at once.

It only bought borrowed time. Heavenly Venerable Wu’s decline was accelerating; soon, his vital energy would bleed faster than any supply of herbs could restore.

Recognizing the urgency, Heavenly Venerable Wu scooped up Xu Ying, accelerated, and charged ahead. Any demons crossing his path were shattered instantly.

He rushed ahead, sweeping away everything before him, crushing all obstacles and proving invincible wherever he went.

It was the ultimate expression of the martial arts—the most exhilarating, fierce battle of his life. Every realization, every technique he had ever mastered transformed into sharp sword aura.

With his limbs as his brush and his vital energy as ink, he poured out a lifetime of insight in one wild, glorious flourish.

He would use his final moments to carve a bold, indelible mark upon the world.

Ahead, immortal light surged, dazzling in its brilliance, sweeping away the gloom of the underworld and the primeval battlefield.

Xu Ying followed Heavenly Venerable Wu and charged toward it. They arrived at an ancient mountain covered in dazzling five-color stones. The mountain was truly immense, its circumference seemingly impossible to measure.

A sinister gale howled down its slopes, forming a wall of wind that dissolved flesh and obliterated souls. Surrounding the barrier lay endless white bones, the remains of mighty entities who had fallen to its fury.

On the mountain, corpses floated quietly in the sky, radiating hazy immortal light. They were incomparably holy, making that place as beautiful as an immortal realm.

“Fellow Daoist Xu, look over there!”

Heavenly Venerable Wu smiled and raised his hand, pointing toward the other side of the mountain.

Following his finger, Xu Ying spotted drifting ghosts. High above them, a heavenly abyss opened in the sky, shedding brilliant light.

Joy rose in Xu Ying’s heart, and he said at once, “Abyss of Cangwu! Heavenly Venerable Wu, it’s the Abyss of Cangwu!”

Beside him, the smile on Heavenly Venerable Wu’s face froze. His vital energy suddenly collapsed and scattered like a receding tide, forming a sheet of scarlet behind him that drifted backward like a crimson cloak.

“I shall sleep here forever and show all of you the way.”

He breathed out his last breath. The Martial Dao Spirit within him burst out through the crown of his head, forming a bright light in midair.