“Father Niu, are you alright?” Shen Ying asked.

　　“Yeah,” Lonemoon nodded. “I won’t die.” His immortal bones had formed, but he exhausted all his Immortal Qi to defend himself against that 82nd divine lightning bolt. Now that things have settled down, he was a spent force. All he feared was his newly formed immortal bones would break. Yet, this realm did not have a single bit of Immortal Qi. He could not heal his bones even if he wanted to.

　　“Chef, do you have any idea?” Shen Ying turned to ask Yi Qing, who was standing behind her. She took one glance at Lonemoon and knew he was putting on a strong front.

　　Yi Qing nodded, “Let me heal his meridians first.”

　　He sat down behind Lonemoon and activated his Spirit Qi. Golden light emanated from Lonemoon. After a few minutes, the colour returned to Lonemoon’s face. He was indeed looking much better. The wounds that formed from the lightning tribulation slowly healed.

　　No matter what, however, Spirit Qi could not compare to Immortal Qi. Lonemoon’s wounds weer recovering extremely slowly. Shen Ying sat next to him for three full hours before Yi Qing finally opened his eyes. Lonemoon kept still and regulated his breathing.

　　“He’s alright now?”

　　Yi Qing shook his head, “I only managed to recover his superficial wounds. His internal wounds…” Spirit Qi was simply too weak to heal immortal bones. “He has to ascend quickly, otherwise…”

　　Yi Qing could not finish his sentence. It was obvious: If Lonemoon did not ascend, he would become a traveling immortal.

　　Shen Ying frowned and turned to open the door, “Little Green, bring that jerk who produced the lightning bolts over here.”

　　“Yes, Sect Master,” Si Yu responded. The loud punching noises outside finally stopped. Si Yu dragged a swollen immortal to the doorway and threw him into the room.

　　The immortal rolled two full rounds on the floor before he finally stopped.

　　Shen Ying picked up a fruit from the table and took a bite. A few seconds later, she said, “Begin.”

　　The immortal stiffened. Begin what? He raised his head and saw Shen Ying’s body trembling uncontrollably. Suddenly, the wounds all around his body hurt ten times more. He lost whatever backbone he had left, “I’ll talk… I’ll talk.”

　　He was an immortal after all. He rested for a while after Shen Ying stopped hurting him, and his wounds slowly healed. He took a deep breath and said, “I… I’m just an immortal door guard of the Qing Tong Immortal Abode. I… I never intended to break anyone’s immortal bones. I’m just following orders. I have no other option.”

　　“Following orders?” Yi Qing’s expression darkened. “We have never offended immortals from the Upper World. Whose orders are you on? Why did you do this?”

　　“I… I am following the orders of the abode master.” He barely raised his head to glance at Yi Qing and Shen Ying and fell silent. A few moments later, he continued, “My master is Stygian Immortal Xun Li. His orders were for me to stop people in this realm from ascending into immortality. I am just a lowly Earth Immortal – I cannot refuse his orders.”

　　“Why is he doing this?” Yi Qing asked.

　　The immortal hesitated and a look of panic flashed across his face. Immediately, he said, “I.. I don’t know either. This small world is all that my master has. I don’t know why he wants it to go to waste like this.”

　　“What do you mean this world is all he has?” Yi Qing raised his eyebrows. “What exactly does that mean?”

　　“My master created this world.” He glanced fearfully at the three of them once again and said, “You are probably unaware of this because you’re living in this world, but compared to the 3000 other planets, the Azure World is really small. Back then, the immortal god Ge You gave my master a meridian. My master used this meridian to create a realm and summoned hundreds of thousands of spirits into it. That was how the Azure World formed. This world thus originally… belonged to my master.”

　　All of them remained extremely still, in shock upon hearing this.

　　Never had they imagined that the Azure World was created by an immortal from the upper world.

　　“I think… you had better let me go,” the immortal tried his luck. “I’m a mere Earth Immortal, but my master is a Stygian immortal. He holds all the Azure World in the palm of his hand. If you anger him…”

　　“…” None of them said a word. They trained so hard to ascend to immortality. Now, this immortal was telling them that no matter how hard they tried, they would never ascend to immortality. Further, this entire world was randomly created by an immortal somewhere out there. How could they accept this?

　　“What is a ‘Day of Re-Harvest’?” Shen Ying suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

　　The colour drained out from the immortal’s face. He had not expected her to ask this question. His eyes reflected pure panic. “This… Heavy…” he stuttered for a long time but did not complete his sentence.

　　Shen Ying shot him a death glare. She put down the half-eaten fruit and said, “If your master is so incredible, why doesn’t he let everyone ascend to immortality? Why does he need you to guard the Heavenly Gate? What exactly is he afraid of?”

　　“Nonsense!” He appeared like he had just been slapped. “Why would Master need to be afraid of this small little world?”

　　“If he’s not afraid, why are you panicking?” Shen Ying tilted her head and continued, “Let me guess. Your master ascended into immortality a long time ago, right? He’s worried that if these people ascended to immortality, at least one or two immortals would be as strong as – if not stronger than – him. He’s afraid that these people would then begin to question their origins and challenge his authority, and that he would have nothing to say when that time comes.So he’s doing everything he can to prevent people in this world from ascending into immortality, so that this world would belong to him forever. Is that right?”

　　“You… you…” the immortal’s eyes widened, and he looked even more flustered than before. He had no idea how to respond to Shen Ying. A few moments later, he said, “Don’t spout nonsense. My master is not that intolerant.”

　　“He’s tolerant… that’s worse,” Shen Ying’s eyes narrowed. “If it’s not that, what is his motive?”

　　“…”

　　“Talk! What is ‘Day of Re-Harvest’?” she stood up.

　　The immortal was now completely pale. His eyes were filled with guilt, yet he had no answer for her. He looked as if he was fearing something.

　　Shen Ying frowned. She did not want to continue with this back and forth any further. “Little Green, continue.”

　　“Yes, Sect Master!” Si Yu immediately stepped forward and grabbed the immortal by his collar.

　　“What… what do you want?” The immortal’s eyes widened, as he frantically scanned the room for a place to hide. Suddenly, he realised he was surrounded by over ten girls. “I’m warning you, I’m… I’m an immortal… No… Stop!”

　　Si Yu just dragged the immortal out when a bright golden light flashed in the sky, illuminating all the Upper Azure World. A voice sounded from the heavens. It was not loud, but it rang in every single person’s ears.

　　A huge, overwhelming aura was headed straight for them. Everyone in the house was on their toes. Their breathing quickened.

　　“They’re here!” The immortal’s expression of fear was gone. He broke into a grin, “Hahaha… The ‘Day of Re-Harvest’ is beginning. That’s great! It’s finally beginning.”

　　Shen Ying frowned and led the group out of the house. The entire sky seemed to be filled with a golden sunshine. It was no longer blue as before. Everything on the ground seemed to reflect a multitude of colours. As the light continued to shine upon them, the plants grew at a rapid speed, as if something suddenly nourished them. Even the spirit herbs in Invincible Sect sprouted fresh, red flowers.

　　“Little Big Sister…” Radish suddenly came bounding up the hill, holding a huge bouquet of dandelions in his hand. “This light is so strange. Radish feels like the Spirit Qi filling my body.”

　　Shen Ying did not respond. She looked up toward the sky and saw over ten figures flying out from the light. They were headed for different parts of the Azure World.

　　“Hahaha… the immortals who have been waiting to clean this place have finally arrived. Meet your death!” announced the immortal who was still caught in Su Yu’s grip. He had a smug expression on his face.

　　“Clean?” Yi Qing’s expression darkened. “Clean what? Those were immortals too?”

　　“That’s right, they have come to send you to Samsara,” he laughed coldly. “This world is going to be purged completely.”

　　All of their eyes widened in shock. They want to… destroy the world?

　　The immortal laughed maniacally and scanned the crowd, appearing delighted with himself. “You are all a mere bunch of mortals. Don’t even think about escaping. You all will…”

　　Before he could finish, Shen Ying kicked him unconscious. “I hate it when people blind me…”