Chapter Thirteen: The World Beyond

Ying Xiantian’s blood was spilled, and one of his arms was shattered. At the wound, a divine radiance lingered, annihilating all vitality. He brushed away the divine light, and immediately, blood from the severed arm formed threads, shaping themselves into the outline of an arm. Flesh buds sprouted from the wound, growing like bamboo shoots after the rain, clinging to the blood...

Just as his arm was reconstituted, he saw a sun falling from space.

Boom!

A deafening crash!

It plummeted like a meteor.

It struck the ground heavily.

The earth cracked and collapsed, forming a deep pit with a diameter of ten thousand meters.

Ying Xiantian hastily rose.

He reached for the ground.

A mountain range was grasped in his hand, wielded as a long spear.

Sweeping the spear sideways.

The spear’s brilliance pierced through, shattering the sun, and the sun’s essence transformed into a flock of golden crows, flying toward the palace complex, perching atop the buildings, folding their feathers, and turning into countless small suns.

The sun in the sky was replaced by that spear’s radiance.

In the next moment, the spear’s brilliance was swallowed whole by a shadow.

The white serpent reverted to its true form—a body hundreds of miles long, its head more massive than any hill, towering upright, blotting out the sky and sun.

Compared to her true form, Ying Xiantian’s celestial manifestation was mere child’s play.

Behind him, Dao rhythm whirled, and spells burst forth from among the five celestial luminaries, while he himself wielded the long spear, striving to subdue the white serpent.

This strange exterior realm suppressed their cultivation, so at this moment, Ying Xiantian was overwhelmed by the white serpent.

Before they entered, the white serpent had been fiercely battling a City God.

After their arrival, the demon and deity set aside their grudges and turned their weapons.

Ying Xiantian unleashed spear shadows, casting spear light.

The spear’s brilliance suffused the space, dimming even the stars.

The colossal spear tore through the realm, space rippling and spreading, boundless power raging across the world.

Countless spear shadows became a fallen cosmic canopy.

Facing this spectacle, the white serpent gathered its power and spat.

A sea of flames surged from its mouth.

The fire enveloped all directions, morphing into a sky curtain.

This was no ordinary elemental fire. Ying Xiantian sensed the coexistence of yin-yang and five elements within it, which evolved into a great Dao, birthing endless runes, each rune containing a type of flame.

The flames devoured the spear’s brilliance, extinguished the spear shadows, and finally transformed into a giant palm.

The divine palm of fire descended from the heavens, carrying the power to obliterate all, suppressing the four corners of space.

Another vast, ancient will revived, blessing the white serpent.

For a moment, Ying Xiantian saw the white serpent break free from the seal within her body, manifesting world after world in her flesh.

He seized the five celestial luminaries within himself, unleashing divine light and drawing forth the power of the five elements.

His palm separated the five elements, fusing into thunder.

Thunder’s radiance congealed and sank, forming a marsh of lightning.

Ying Xiantian lifted the marsh with both hands, resisting the descending divine palm of fire.

Crack! Crack!

The marsh shattered, disintegrating into ashes.

Ying Xiantian’s expression changed, his body obliterated beneath the divine palm of fire.

From the void, he drew a spiritual light, reconstituting flesh elsewhere.

The power of the five elements suffused his palm.

“Heaven and Earth Furnace.”

He pressed downward with one hand,

His palm grew immeasurably large, stretching across heaven and earth, and the white serpent lay beneath it.

Drip, drip!

Space shattered, refined into liquid, the sky turned to emptiness.

This palm could even melt heaven and earth.

The realm was on the verge of collapse.

Yet the canopy trembled, suppressing the void.

Ying Xiantian thought one palm could subdue the white serpent, but at the moment his palm struck, he sensed the will within the white serpent erupt inside the realm.

The seal within her was broken; beneath her scales flowed pale golden torrents, like raging rivers.

The white serpent fell, transforming into a mountain range, lying across the exterior realm.

Those golden rivers compressed, becoming a divine egg.

The divine egg’s surface was inscribed with endless marks.

From the void, he sensed another will awakening.

“This realm—did you create it?” He finally realized something was amiss.

It wasn’t the white serpent’s domain alone—it was forged by her and others, and she had left something of herself within it, now reclaimed.

The next moment, a figure emerged from the divine egg, shattering the Heaven and Earth Furnace with a single finger.

Ying Xiantian’s entire arm exploded again, along with half his body.

“Three Lives Cause and Effect—such a spell truly exists in this world…” Ying Xiantian’s eyes nearly burst, his heart pounding wildly.

The so-called Three Lives are past, present, and future.

Three Lives Cause and Effect means severing all three—no past, no present, no future—escaping the constraints of the Dao, transcending the cycle of reincarnation, achieving eternal immortality.

His soul departed his body, then reformed flesh anew.

The white serpent had already approached him.

A single finger pressed between his brows.

In an instant, Ying Xiantian’s soul, essence, and magical power were blasted from his body, leaving behind an empty shell.

His soul merged with flesh, fleeing into the palace.

The white serpent gave chase.

Ying Xiantian stumbled through the palace complex, like a headless fly, colliding aimlessly.

His soul and flesh exuded the fragrance of Dao rhythm, attracting the spirits within the palace.

The earth shook, countless green vines slapped the ground, used by spirits as leverage, and the ground collapsed, revealing a colossal creature emerging.

It was a giant stitched heart, covered in messy needlework, clearly the owner’s embroidery skills were lacking.

The heart beat, faces appeared on its surface like masks.

Each mask smiled.

A frenzied smile.

So much so that Ying Xiantian felt the heart itself was grinning.

The heart pulsed, vines flailed.

The vines absorbed blood, turning crimson like human veins.

Now, the veins detached, forming demons on the ground.

These demons had bodies of white bone like bronze, magical power swirling, towering figures all. They reached out, plucked masks from the heart, donned them, bones gained faces, twisted grins broke free, tongues trailing from mouths, their tongues covered in countless mouths, shouting and howling, surging toward Ying Xiantian.

His soul and flesh condensed, he raised his hand for a palm strike.

Majestic, vigorous, Dao rhythm restrained within.

Each white bone giant fell to the earth under his palm.

But upon falling, they grew again.

At this moment, Ying Xiantian discovered the whole ground was seeping blood, turning into a sea of blood, above which a towering deity was brewing its aura, condensing flesh—a figure he could not contend with.

Ying Xiantian’s eyes nearly burst. How many monsters are hidden in this realm?

Anxious, he sought a way out.

But the celestial signs were obscured, fate in chaos; he could divine nothing.

Just then, his peripheral vision caught Xu Zhong and You Sujue hiding in the palace.

All the power in Ying Xiantian’s body was summoned, space quaked, a mountain dropped from his palm, magnificent and ancient, pressed down upon the blood river, sinking it three feet.

The heart spirit’s pulse halted for a moment.

And in that instant, Ying Xiantian seized the chance, slipping into the palace.

Inside, You Sujue was discussing the realm with Xu Zhong.

“To preserve true unity is to commune with the divine!”

You Sujue returned Xu Zhong’s earlier words.

“The word ‘divine’ refers to the soul.”

“Upon preserving truth, the three souls and seven spirits merge into the divine soul, which governs thoughts and wisdom, harmonizing with heaven and earth.”

“Even without a body, as long as the divine soul exists, it’s not death.”

This is the Realm of Attuning.

“The exterior realm is where cultivators of the Realm of Attuning anchor their Dao and life,” You Sujue mused. “It’s said that those who refine the exterior realm return from acquired to innate; as long as the realm remains, even if the soul is scattered, one can be reborn within it.”

“This realm is so miraculous?” Xu Zhong thought. “If one reaches the exterior realm, does that mean death is impossible?”

“In principle, yes!” You Sujue paused, evidently searching ancestral memories. “But the exterior realm can also be destroyed. Some spells can pierce the flesh, seize the connection between soul and realm, erasing both.”

The exterior realm transcends attuning.

Attuning governs all things; the realm transcends life and death.

“Si Tu Nan said this is not a cave-heaven, but an exterior realm of cultivators!”

“Exterior realm?” You Sujue stared blankly at the outside.

Just then, she saw a stumbling figure rush over, followed by a surging blood river.

The blood river roared, countless towering bone giants wearing human-skin masks smiled as they floated up and down within.

Those smiles made You Sujue’s scalp tingle, her whole body chill.

“Xiao Zhong, quickly shut the door!”

You Sujue’s tail swept Xu Zhong’s shoulder, then she leapt first.

Xu Zhong turned, only then seeing the blood river.

He hurried to the door to close it.

“Don’t shut the door, let me in first,” Ying Xiantian called urgently, seeing the pair about to close the door.

“Xiao Zhong, shut the door!” You Sujue heard Ying Xiantian and urged Xu Zhong even more: “This place is strange, who knows if it’s a person or something else, absolutely do not let him in.”

Xu Zhong pushed with all his might.

The door slowly closed.

Ying Xiantian’s innards burned, even risking his soul.

Finally, just as the door closed, he slipped inside.

The door shut.

He was let in.

You Sujue shook her rattle, Xu Zhong unleashed sword aura.

The instant Ying Xiantian’s soul was fixed, the sword light was enough to consume it.

His already weakened soul was struck, specks of light scattered through heaven and earth.

Ying Xiantian reached out, seized You Sujue with one hand, his thumb sealed her Purple Palace, preventing her from using her demon core.

With the other, he grasped Xu Zhong, pressing his five fingers to seal Xu Zhong’s five luminaries.

Ying Xiantian gasped, looking at Xu Zhong and You Sujue: “I am not a villain, I won’t harm you, so you need not panic.”

The two were immobilized, their dark eyes darting about, expressing their emotions.

Ying Xiantian searched them for many spiritual pills, sorted their effects, and swallowed them whole: “Don’t worry, I’ll return them to you.”

Once he’d recovered, he released Xu Zhong and You Sujue.

He was about to thank them when his face suddenly changed.

His soul was being sealed; stone had already spread from his ankle into his exterior realm.