Chapter 377: Ascending by Riding the Dragon

When Xu Jia issued the Great Tribulation, suddenly, heavenly flowers fell in profusion, and a Heavenly Gate opened in the firmament.

Subsequently, a five-clawed golden dragon flew down, holding a Talisman Edict in its mouth; it spiraled in the air for a few turns and slowly descended upon Three Pure Ones Mountain.

This golden dragon was seventeen or eighteen zhang long, its thickness comparable to a century-old ancient tree, its scales extremely distinct, revealing dragon patterns; two dragon whiskers drifted in the air, and the breath exhaled from its nostrils, upon landing on the ground, turned the grass into Dragon Breath Grass, and the mountain rocks it touched became Dragon Claw Jade.

The surrounding ancient vines obtained the Qi and became Wood-Vine Flood Dragons, and the earthworms beneath the ground obtained the Dragon Qi and became Dragon Earthworms...

The golden dragon said: "I am a golden dragon under the seat of the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable. Having received the decree today, I am to guide the Immortal into the Formless Realm to cultivate. Your merit and practice in the Desire Realm are complete; you shall now verify your heart and ascend to heaven in one step."

"The Immortal need only ride upon my back. When we take flight, your clumsy physical body will fall from the air, and your Primordial Spirit will follow me to ascend into the Formless Realm heaven, sparing you the cultivation of the Form Realm; this is truly ascending to heaven in one step."

In Taoist mythology, there are several grades of ascension; the highest is 'ascending with one's entire household', and it is rumored that Xu Xun, the Huainan King, and the 'Zhang Bairen' Jade Emperor from certain folk legends all achieved this.

The second tier is 'ascending by riding a dragon', and it is rumored that the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan ascended in this manner.

Xu Jia's goal was to ascend with his entire household, but now it has changed to a collective ascension.

Of course, it is not that Xu Jia does not want to ascend, but the burden and shackles of his Great Vow are gradually locking him in, making it difficult to ascend so lightly anymore.

Of course, one could also say that Dizang Wang Pusa, or others, also made Great Vows, and it was never said that they were not allowed to ascend.

Now, with such a golden dragon appearing so spontaneously on such a festive day as the New Year to guide him to ascend, to be honest, Xu Jia was truly tempted for a moment.

However, Xu Jia had also experienced the Two Immortals Demon Trial; the two immortals from before, one being Green Child Immortal Lord and the other Mount Tai Prefecture Lord, were just that, but Xu Jia had torn up the scriptures and missed the opportunity.

Now, this golden dragon's guidance felt even more like a fishing-style Demon Examination than back then.

Yet a voice arose in his heart: "Usually, very reasonable things will become unreasonable, but once something is very absurd, it is actually somewhat likely to be true."

This golden dragon was not under the seat of the so-called "Lingbao Heavenly Venerable"; it said it was "under the seat of the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable."

That would naturally be a dragon of the "Yellow Heaven Sect."

Three Pure Ones Mountain was originally the southeast general altar of the Yellow Heaven Sect and the place where the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable descended; it held the treasure of the relic jade, which was obtained by Xu Jia. More importantly, Xu Jia had obtained one-eighth of the orthodoxy, and combined with the part of the orthodoxy from the Longevity Sect's Wanshou Emperor, generally speaking, half of the Yellow Heaven Sect's fortune had already been grafted onto Xu Jia.

Thus, triggering the guidance ritual of the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable was not impossible.

"If I seek fame and profit, can I stop now and follow it to the Formless Realm to cultivate?"

A seductive voice arose from his mind.

The thought manifested, and it was the Three Corpses Demon from before.

Xu Jia thought: "Weren't you all refined into my Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella?"

"After you made the Great Vow, we could return at any time. The Great Vow is the Great Resentment; this was your theory when you refined us. The ten thousand people's good thoughts supporting me, the vanity, the arrogance, the desire for fame and profit, the gratitude of all living beings... these are also Demonic Obstacles. When you indulge in them and feel proud of achieving such results, we naturally manifest again."

The Three Corpses Demon said: "We will not help you fall; we will only help you become better and better, helping you handle various wishes. But this is a chance to ascend in one step; we hope you don't miss it. If word gets out, it will just be that you died, your enterprise unfinished and collapsing halfway."

Hearing this, Xu Jia was stunned for a moment, then retorted: "If it were only for this, why did I make the vow in the first place? Could I not reach the God Immortal Realm on my own? Is that how you understand it?"

"As the saying goes, 'Heaven destroys those who do not look out for themselves.' You have sacrificed enough; why can't you consider yourself?"

Xu Jia slashed these three demons with a sword. The Unfinished Immortal Sword was enshrined on Three Pure Ones Mountain, and the sheath transformed from the Witch Poison Wood Core sealed it, but that did not affect its ability to ring out.

Xu Jia unleashed his killing intent, and he transformed into a light—it was the Wisdom Light and the Compassionate Heart. Wielding this Three Talents Killing Sword with a Wisdom Heart and Compassionate Heart, he pointed the sword at the suffering of all living beings; killing to achieve benevolence.

The three demons were slashed, but they manifested again: "Aren't you always worrying and anxious? Can you really do it? You are only imitating, and you haven't even reached the essence. Can you really solve the problems? Or are you just doing whatever comes to mind? Can your heart replace the heart of Heaven? How can you learn to respect the fate of all living beings? Heaven's path has its constants, yet all things are impermanent; have you truly realized this?"

"Do you want to preserve your reputation, or do you want to persist, only to be burned by fire and smashed to pieces?"

"Kill!"

The Unfinished Immortal Sword continued to slash the three demons.

The three demons still manifested: "Now my power no longer comes only from you; it also comes from the Great Vow you made. The Great Vow is the Great Desire. Since the desires of all living beings have not been extinguished, how can you extinguish me? Do you know the Evil Sword Immortal? I have probably reached his state."

"I am you, parasitic within the laws of the philosophy you promote. I am not Womb Birth, not Egg Birth, nor Moisture Birth; I am Transformation Birth. As long as people with this idea are still following you, I will always exist. You can control people's actions, but can you control their thoughts?"

"Even if some people don't do it for themselves, don't they have descendants? Don't they have partners? Don't they have useless relatives?"

Xu Jia still struck with his sword; the more the sword slashed, the brighter it became, and the weaker the demons became.

"I will not be timid because of worries about the future, nor will I doubt those around me. Those who achieve great things embrace all rivers."

"Some things are better done than not done. Being firm is better than being timid. Rather than worrying about future problems, it is better to start solving current ones."

After the final sword strike, the three demons did not manifest again.

But the golden dragon was still truly and undeniably before Xu Jia. It looked at Xu Jia with interest: "Your sword is a scrap of the Innate Spiritual Treasure killing sword refined by the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable back then. When it was in the Galaxy Washing Furnace, the bottom of the Heavenly River couldn't hold it, so it fell into the world and was obtained by you. You actually refined it into an Innate Killing Sword. It's a pity that this is merely an Innate Dharma Artifact, not even an Innate Dharma Treasure. It might be able to commit evil in the Desire Realm, but once you reach the Form Realm, it will be considered ordinary. As for the Formless Realm, unless you refine it into a formless and massless sword Qi, I'm afraid you won't be able to take it with you to ascend; you can only leave it for future generations."

"The teaching method you practice was once practiced by our Holy Venerable; it was called the Three Realms Republic... anyway, it was very grand, but not many worlds succeeded. Most worlds do not possess the foundation for a republic. Coupled with some struggles between Divine Path factions, many things had to be forced to stop."

Hearing the gimmick of the 'Three Realms Republic', Xu Jia was startled. He felt that this Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable might be a fellow countryman like himself, or perhaps the Blue Star multiverse produces an especially large number of transmigrators... acting as the protagonist in various worlds.

But the point was not actually this; it was that most worlds failed and only a few succeeded. So, in terms of the proportion in the Three Realms, it should generally be considered a failure.

"Our Holy Venerable served as the Heavenly Emperor for 10,005 years before transcending and achieving the Great Luo Hunyuan Dao Fruit. Unfortunately, ten thousand years is still too short. If there had been another ten thousand years, the Three Realms Republic would definitely have been achievable."

The golden dragon was somewhat distressed: "But this is not friendly to our Dragon Race. Sigh, in many worlds, the Dragon Race has become a display animal. The phoenixes and qilin are the same; they only have symbolic significance and are caught for people to visit in zoos." It spoke more and more absurdly, and Xu Jia only felt that it had already voiced the complaints he wanted to make himself.

Suddenly, Xu Jia slashed out with his sword, and the five-clawed golden dragon slapped its claw down to press it: "Why are you hitting me too? Are you crazy? I am the guiding divine dragon; don't you want to ascend?"

Xu Jia did not speak and struck with his sword again.

The dragon then used its tail to flick Xu Jia away, but there was no injury.

Xu Jia then wielded his sword again, just as when his practice reached the point of "Dragon-Subduing Tiger-Taming"—our old Xu family has a special attack against dragons.

He did not know how many times he had drawn his sword, but the golden dragon looked depressed: "I'm tired, let's just destroy everything!"

It immediately transformed into ten thousand rays of golden mist, and at the same time, clusters of fog scattered, revealing the true scene; one could see a Dragon-Shaped Kunlun Jade floating in the air.

"Wasn't this thing left by me in Luzon to serve as the founding treasure of the Luzon Circuit Dao Kingdom?"

Xu Jia thought about it; perhaps the aura of this treasure had already merged with his own, so it would not be strange for it to traverse the Dharma Realm instantly.

Or perhaps there really was a golden dragon that used the Dragon-Shaped Imperial Jade to descend with a Dharma body.

Or perhaps this was a new test.

Xu Jia did not know if he had passed the test; after all, no answer had been filled in, no exam paper had been handed in, and he had only attacked the invigilator.

However, he did not regret it.

"Master Xu?" Hu Jinhua's trembling voice came: "What just happened to you? Why did you suddenly release killing intent?"

Xu Jia withdrew his thoughts and became calm. The Wisdom Light and the Merit Dharma Image continued to manifest in the Dharma Realm behind his head. He said softly: "It is nothing. I was just speaking of the tribulation, and when my thoughts moved, I do not know which demon king I attracted to descend and test me, creating an illusion for me."

Xu Jia did not speak the holy name of the Yellow Heaven Holy Venerable; for Hu Jinhua and the others, this was not necessarily a good thing, and furthermore, whether it was true or an illusion was not clear.

"You also have a Demon Examination; did you pass it? Did you ascend in Immortal rank?"

"That is not important; what is important is that one's thoughts are unobstructed." Xu Jia stroked his fur and said softly: "Go down the mountain. When the people from Mount Tai come, they will naturally set an examination for you. Just proceed with your cultivation as you do on ordinary days."

Hu Jinhua nodded, turned, and went down the mountain; his crimson fur was very vivid against the snow.

Xu Jia reached out a hand and plucked the Dragon-Shaped Imperial Jade from where it floated in the void. The thing transformed quite intelligently into a seal knob, inscribed with: "Having received the mandate from Heaven, may one exist forever and prosper."

Xu Jia looked at it and did not see the missing corner patched with gold.

He chanted: "You had better change back."

The Imperial Jade then transformed back into the appearance of a Jade Ring, only there were some colors on its body; looking closely, they were precisely dragon scales—Five Virtues Dragon Scales.

Gripping the Dragon Jade tightly, Xu Jia thought to himself: "Perhaps it is precisely these virtues that are needed for everyone to be like a dragon, rather than so-called cultivation, power, Daoist Practice, or Divine Ability..."

Xu Jia then put himself in another's shoes and thought: if he were not in the God Immortal Realm, but just a mortal, could he make a vow, and could he accomplish things?

The answer is yes.

To make a vow with one heart, and to persist constantly without fear.

Since a mortal can, why can I not?

Why need five hundred years? Why need ten thousand years?

It is too long; it is not the strength of one person alone, but requires integrating the strength of the myriad sentient beings.

The Imperial Jade suddenly ignited with flames, transforming into red dragon scales.

This, however, had no strange phenomena.

It was merely an enlightenment; one does not ascend the Heavenly Gate in a single step.

Xu Jia drew his sword; this time he cut himself, cutting away his shackles.

And so, his mood was at ease.

Not long after, Ao Jin returned, but he was not followed by anyone. His expression was not very good; it was mostly a look of unease, as if he had not done his job well.

"Master, I went to Mount Tai this time and did not meet anyone. Not a single person saw me. Dai Yu did not see me. I went to pay respects at the temples, but the Prefecture Lord and the Origin Lord did not manifest. Even the Ghost Lord of Haoli Mountain ignored me. I was shut out."

Xu Jia stroked his head: "This is not your fault. They all know, but they simply do not come forward. Not coming forward is a good thing; it means they are not interfering. We are also a link in the Heavenly Dao and have not defied the Heavenly Dao. They neither support nor oppose; they simply let things take their natural course."

"Ah? Is that what it means?"

"You should prepare well and go back to train more shrimp soldiers and crab generals. We are heading south. Min, Yue, and Zhe—all the coastal regions—must be taken. We shall strike down altars and destroy temples; where there are mountains, we shall open paths, and where there are waters, we shall build bridges. We are going to do this for real."

"So fast?"

"Dragging it out any longer is meaningless. The common people are all looking forward to it, waiting for us to rescue them from the depths of suffering."

(End of chapter)