There Are No Ascenders in the Emergence Hall

The Ascension Hall.

Its doors were tightly shut.

Across the two immortal gates were carved countless scenes of ascension.

Some rode dragons into the sky.

Some mounted swords and climbed to the heavens.

Some shattered the void.

Some ascended amid clouds of auspicious light.

Every scene was filled with auspicious signs.

Compared to the rotting landscape outside the Immortal City, the Ascension Hall was clean to the point of seeming unreal.

There were no spores before the doors.

No flesh and blood.

Not even those immortal-gold bricks and stones that could open their eyes.

Even the air carried the faint fragrance of immortal herbs.

An Earth Immortal instinctively took a deep breath.

A look of intoxication appeared on his face.

“What rich immortal qi.”

Wang Hao turned his head.

“Breathe it out.”

The Earth Immortal froze.

“What?”

“The air you just inhaled.”

“Breathe it out.”

The Earth Immortal’s face darkened.

How was he supposed to breathe out air he had already inhaled?

Wang Hao did not explain.

He struck the man on the back with one palm.

Bang!

The Earth Immortal opened his mouth.

A stream of pure white air spurted out.

When it landed on the ground, it rapidly condensed into a wing-covered maggot.

The maggot raised its head.

It revealed a face exactly like that Earth Immortal’s.

“What rich immortal qi.”

The Earth Immortal’s scalp went numb.

He swung his foot backward.

The maggot was crushed into bloody pulp.

Wang Hao looked at everyone.

“There is no safe place here.”

“The cleaner it looks…”

“The more dangerous it is.”

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal walked up to the doors.

He did not touch them directly.

Instead, he condensed a giant hand of immortal power and slowly pushed against the doors.

The moment the giant hand touched the gates, the ascension scenes carved upon them came alive.

Tens of thousands of ascenders turned their heads at the same time.

They looked toward Taixuan Heavenly Immortal.

“Come in.”

“Hurry and come in.”

“There is eternal life inside.”

“There is no pain inside.”

The voices kept burrowing into his imperial soul.

The Northern Nether Immortal Domain behind Taixuan Heavenly Immortal shook violently.

Mouths began to grow across the surfaces of its frozen stars.

He immediately severed his connection with the giant hand of immortal power.

Yet the hand did not dissipate.

Instead, it grew facial features.

Then it turned around and looked at Taixuan Heavenly Immortal.

“Why did you abandon me?”

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal’s expression darkened.

He pointed a finger.

The giant hand of immortal power exploded with a thunderous boom.

Wang Hao dragged the Ascension Herald to the doors.

“Open them.”

The Ascension Herald shook its head.

“The Ascension Hall…”

“Only opens for ascenders.”

Wang Hao said:

“I am an ascender.”

“You rejected ascension.”

“That makes you a contaminant.”

“You cannot enter.”

Wang Hao nodded.

“Understood.”

A smile returned to the Ascension Herald’s face.

But in the next instant, Wang Hao seized it by the throat.

He pressed its body against the doors.

“I can’t get in.”

“You go in.”

Boom!

The Ascension Herald crashed into the doors.

All the ascension scenes carved upon them opened their mouths.

Countless arms reached out from within the paintings.

They grabbed hold of its body.

For the first time, the Ascension Herald began to struggle violently.

“Official of the Guiding Bureau!”

“Ascension is forbidden!”

“You are violating the laws of the Immortal Realm!”

Wang Hao pressed down on the back of its head.

He continued forcing it into the doors.

“You say that?”

“Or do the doors say it?”

More and more arms emerged from the doors.

They tore away the Ascension Herald’s flesh.

Its brow.

Its eyes.

Its nine flood dragons.

Even the small door on its chest.

All of them were slowly swallowed into the ascension paintings.

The Ascension Herald’s voice became incoherent.

“Error!”

“Error!”

“Cease immediately!”

The Eastern Extremity Welcoming Immortal Seal in Wang Hao’s hand lit up.

He said calmly:

“The Welcoming Envoy has voluntarily agreed to undergo ascension.”

“I have approved it.”

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal’s eyelids twitched.

Who would have thought the word “voluntarily” could be used that way?

Half of the Ascension Herald’s body had already been swallowed by the doors.

At last, a crack appeared between the two ascension gates.

Wang Hao suddenly lifted his foot.

He kicked the Ascension Herald in the back.

Bang!

The Ascension Herald was completely wedged into the gap.

The doors opened to either side.

A surge of rich immortal qi rushed toward them.

The Immortal-Plague Isolation Talisman began burning violently.

Large cracks instantly spread across the surface of the protective barrier.

The talisman could hold out for only two more hours.

Wang Hao looked into the hall.

Deep within the great hall, countless meditation cushions were arranged in neat rows.

A single ascender sat upon each cushion.

They wore clothing from different eras and different worlds.

Some had already become skeletons.

Some still possessed fresh flesh.

Others retained the appearance they had had at the moment of their ascension.

At a rough estimate, there were at least tens of thousands of them.

Yet the intelligence reports had made it perfectly clear:

There were no living beings in the Ascension City.

Wang Hao raised the immortal seal.

Under his control, one hundred golden-armored immortal soldiers entered the great hall.

The golden-armored immortal soldiers were not attacked.

Nor did they immediately become corrupted.

They walked up to the nearest ascender.

An immortal halberd lightly touched him.

The ascender opened his eyes.

“At last…”

“Someone has come.”

The hearts of all the immortals jolted.

The ascender slowly stood up.

There appeared to be nothing abnormal about his body.

He looked toward Wang Hao and the others.

Two streams of bloody tears ran down his face.

“Do not trust the Guiding Bureau.”

“The Immortal Realm is already finished.”

“We must leave.”

The Longevity Earth Immortal could not help asking:

“Who are you?”

The ascender spoke.

“This seat…”

“Comes from the Profound Yellow Great World.”

“I ascended to the Immortal Realm seventy thousand years ago.”

“My name is Lihuo Immortal Venerable.”

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal’s pupils contracted.

“Lihuo Immortal Venerable?”

“You are Lihuo Dao Ancestor?”

The ascender looked at him.

“You know this seat?”

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal spoke in a low voice.

“The founding ancestor of the Lihuo Immortal Sect in the cultivation world.”

“You ascended seventy-three thousand years ago.”

“According to the legends, you attained the Golden Immortal realm in the Immortal Realm.”

A bitter smile appeared on Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s face.

“A Golden Immortal?”

“There have been no Golden Immortals in the Immortal Realm for a long time.”

“There are no Immortal Kings either.”

“Everyone is dead.”

“All that remains is a group of corpses that believe themselves to be alive.”

He slowly walked toward them.

“Take me away.”

“I know a safe passage.”

“It can lead us to the western reaches of the Immortal Realm.”

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal looked at Wang Hao.

“His information…”

“Matches the records in the cultivation world.”

Wang Hao did not answer.

The intelligence obtained from the daily sign-in clearly stated that the Ascension Hall stored thirty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-one ascension Dao fruits.

Three of them had not yet completely decayed.

They were not ascenders.

They were ascension Dao fruits.

Wang Hao looked beneath Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s feet.

After he had stood up, another person remained seated on the meditation cushion.

It looked exactly like him.

Only, that person had no skin.

Every muscle and blood vessel across its body was completely exposed.

Lihuo Immortal Venerable followed Wang Hao’s gaze.

Slowly, he lowered his head.

When he saw the version of himself seated on the cushion, the smile on his face froze.

“What is that?”

Wang Hao said:

“You.”

“Nonsense!”

“I’m right here!”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable suddenly became agitated.

“It is the fake one!”

“It’s a strange entity!”

The skinless figure on the cushion slowly opened its eyes.

There were no eyeballs in its sockets.

Only two flames danced within them.

“Kill me…”

“Kill me quickly…”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s expression twisted into something savage.

He suddenly lunged at the skinless figure.

Both hands plunged into its chest.

He seized a crimson Dao fruit.

“This is mine!”

“Give it back to me!”

The Lihuo Dao fruit struggled violently.

The skinless figure let out a scream of pain.

But Lihuo Immortal Venerable opened his mouth.

He swallowed the entire Dao fruit.

Boom!

A powerful aura erupted.

Seventh layer of the Earth Immortal realm.

Eighth layer.

Ninth layer!

Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s power surged wildly.

In the blink of an eye, it reached the peak of the Earth Immortal realm.

A layer of brand-new skin began to grow across his body.

It looked no different from normal human skin.

Even the Immortal Realm Guide Tablet did not indicate any contamination.

“Do you see now?”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable spread his arms wide.

His expression was one of intoxication.

“This is the real me!”

“The Immortal Realm has not decayed!”

“We are merely evolving!”

“Cast aside this useless flesh.”

“Cast aside this fragile soul.”

“Cast aside this false self.”

“We can become more perfect immortals!”

As his voice rang out,

inside the Ascension Hall,

tens of thousands of ascenders opened their eyes at once.

Smiles spread across their faces.

Slowly, they rose to their feet.

Yet on every meditation cushion,

another body remained seated.

Some had been reduced to bones.

Some had only their internal organs left.

Some were nothing more than a sheet of skin.

On even more cushions,

rotting Dao fruits had been laid out.

The tens of thousands of ascenders

had long since been completely separated

from their flesh,

their souls,

and their Dao fruits.

So-called ascension

was nothing more than taking a complete living being,

tearing it into countless parts,

and then making each part believe that it alone was the true original self.

The Longevity Earth Immortal murmured:

“This isn’t ascension.”

“It’s dismemberment.”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable suddenly turned his head.

His gaze was vicious.

“Blasphemy!”

“Ascension is the supreme creation of the Immortal Realm!”

“Only by abandoning the past”

“can one obtain eternal life!”

Wang Hao asked:

“You’ve been here for seventy thousand years?”

“That’s right.”

“In all these seventy thousand years,”

“what have you done?”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable opened and closed his mouth.

A look of confusion appeared on his face.

“I…”

“I’ve been waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“For people to come.”

“And after they came?”

“To lead them through ascension.”

The confusion on Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s face swiftly vanished.

A gentle smile returned to his lips.

“Everyone,”

“please, take your seats.”

“After ascending,”

“you will obtain eternal life.”

Tens of thousands of ascenders spoke at the same time.

“Please, take your seats.”

“After ascending,”

“you will obtain eternal life.”

The doors of the Ascension Hall slammed shut.

The shattered body of the Ascension Herald

was caught in the gap between the doors.

The same smile appeared on his face once more.

“The ascenders have arrived.”

“Begin the ascension.”

Rumble!

More than thirty thousand meditation cushions

simultaneously extended tendrils of flesh.

The tendrils pierced through the golden-armored immortal soldiers

and dragged their bodies onto the cushions.

The moment an immortal soldier sat down,

his body was instantly disassembled.

Skin.

Flesh.

Bones.

Internal organs.

Soul.

Each part was placed into a different cushion.

Yet every part was still struggling,

and each still believed itself to be alive.

Lihuo Immortal Venerable looked toward Wang Hao.

“Sit down.”

“You will become the most perfect immortal here.”

Wang Hao looked around.

“Who told you”

“that I want to become an immortal?”

Behind Wang Hao,

the River of Imperial Dao rose with a thunderous roar.

The willpower of nearly a billion subjects of Great Xia

condensed into the towering phantom of an emperor.

Majestic imperial might

pressed down upon the entire Ascension Hall.

“The Immortal Realm is already rotten to the core,”

“and you still use immortality to deceive people?”

Wang Hao raised his right hand.

The Thunder Abyss Suppression Demon Tower shot straight toward the ceiling of the hall.

The gate to the ninth level

slowly opened.

Roar!

The first purple thunder dragon burst out.

Its immense body stretched across the Ascension Hall.

Violent lightning shattered thousands of meditation cushions.

The bodies of thousands of ascenders

were reduced to charred corpses amid the thunderbolts.

The next instant,

a second purple thunder dragon burst forth.

The two thunder dragons intertwined and spiraled,

tearing a massive rift through the immortal qi within the hall.

Tens of thousands of ascenders roared as one.

Their bodies began to warp into bizarre forms.

A person’s chest split open to reveal an immortal gate.

Another sprouted thousands of arms from his back.

Someone’s head transformed into a Dao fruit.

And another’s shadow rose to its feet,

then turned around and put on its master’s skin.

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal unfurled the Northern Abyss Immortal Domain.

“All of you, form the formation!”

The Withered-and-Blooming Heavenly Immortal clasped his palms together.

Two immortal trees—one withered, one flourishing—

rose from either side of the Ascension Hall.

The Star-Fishing Heavenly Immortal cast out his line once more.

Countless phantom stars appeared behind it.

The Crimson Mother Heavenly Immortal’s mountain of flesh rolled and writhed,

as tens of thousands of infant arms reached toward the ascenders.

The Faceless Heavenly Immortal tore open his own face.

A pale, gaping maw let out a soundless shriek.

Forty-one Earth Immortals who showed no obvious signs of corruption

simultaneously raised barriers of immortal power.

The corrupted immortals stood at the very front.

All eighty-seven immortals

attacked at this moment.

Wang Hao gripped the New Heavenly Son Sword.

The silver-haired youth within the sword laughed excitedly.

“Master!”

“Can I finally eat them this time?”

Wang Hao looked at the hordes of half-corrupted ascenders filling the sky.

The corners of his mouth slowly curved upward.

“Pick the ones without fur.”

“Before eating them,”

“give them a sniff first.”

The silver-haired youth nodded vigorously.

“Understood!”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable roared and charged forward.

The power of an Earth Immortal at the peak

transformed into a vast sea of Lihuo

that burned across heaven and earth.

Wang Hao took one step forward.

He raised his left hand.

A golden palmprint swept across the entire hall.

“Heaven-Imprisoning Earth-Covering Palm.”

“First Palm!”

The sea of Lihuo exploded down the middle.

“Second Palm!”

Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s chest caved in.

Dozens of ribs pierced through his skin.

“Third Palm!”

Three thousand meditation cushions shattered with a thunderous crash.

“Fourth Palm!”

Hundreds of half-corrupted Earth Immortals

were slammed into the floor of the hall.

Wang Hao continued forward,

one step at a time.

Each time his foot touched the ground,

the Ascension Hall trembled.

“Fifth Palm!”

Both of Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s arms exploded.

“Sixth Palm!”

The Lihuo Dao fruit he had just swallowed

was violently shaken out of his body.

Terror appeared on Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s face.

“You’re only a first-level Earth Immortal!”

“How can you possess such power?”

Wang Hao gripped the sword in his right hand.

The Immaculate Kindling illuminated half the hall.

“Because my first-level Earth Immortal realm”

“is not the same as yours.”

“Seventh Palm!”

Boom!

Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s legs were crushed.

His entire body fell to his knees before Wang Hao.

He raised his head.

The skin on his face continued to slough away,

revealing countless densely packed mouths beneath.

“I am the perfect immortal!”

“I am eternal!”

Wang Hao’s gaze was cold.

“You don’t even know who you are.”

“And you still dare speak of eternal life?”

“Eighth Palm!”

The golden palmprint descended.

Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s physical body collapsed completely.

Hundreds of “selves” hidden deep within his flesh

screamed at the same time.

One claimed to be Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s memories.

Another claimed to be his soul.

And yet another insisted

that it was the true immortal who had ascended seventy thousand years ago.