The Price of Ascension

1,249 words

The moment Li Sui recognized the man who had once fought her father, her body dropped low. Tentacles writhed across her form, and a guttural threat rolled from deep in her throat, aimed at the newcomer.

"The guest is here to be a guest. Sit."

Li Huowang pulled a bench from under the table and slid it toward the man.

"I dare not. Before the Great Elder, there is no place for Zu Yi." Zu Yi extended his hands—now charred black like charcoal—and set the bench aside.

"If you knew I was the Great Elder, why did you oppose me before?" Li Huowang asked.

"At the time, I owed a personal favor to the Long Princess. Even knowing the Great Elder's identity, I could not break my word. I could not let the Great Elder harm her."

"Oh? Then why did you switch sides afterward?"

"Since I used every method at my disposal and still could not stop the Great Elder, I had fulfilled my duty. That favor was repaid." Zu Yi said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"As a disciple of the Ao-Jing Sect, when the Great Elder is in trouble, I must help. Naturally, I came to aid the Great Elder against the Long Princess."

"You really keep your accounts straight. One thing at a time, is that it?" Li Huowang reached out and pressed a hand over Li Sui's growling mouth.

"In life, many say ignorance is bliss. But I find it's better to keep things clear."

"How did you recognize me as the Great Elder? I might not even be a member of the Ao-Jing Sect."

"Anyone who can survive the Intercalating the Five Phases ritual is unquestionably the Great Elder!" Zu Yi finished his proclamation and began to kowtow.

Li Huowang watched him for a long moment, a faint smile on his face. Then he spoke abruptly. "Do you want to keep making small talk? If you do, I can chat with you all night."

"What does the Great Elder mean by that?"

"What are you really here for today?" Li Huowang's voice sharpened.

Zu Yi deliberated for a moment, then prostrated himself solemnly before Li Huowang. "Zu Yi is willing to give everything in exchange for the Great Elder's method of Ascension!"

Li Huowang stared at the man, finally understanding why he had clung to him. He didn't refuse the question outright. Instead, he began to weigh whether this man could be useful against the Dice.

"The Zuowandao's Dice. Do you know him?"

Though puzzled by the sudden change of topic, Zu Yi answered immediately. "Naturally. The Dice's activities in the Capital were quite conspicuous recently."

"Then do you think there is anyone within the Ao-Jing Sect who can match the Dice?" Li Huowang leaned forward slightly.

Zu Yi thought for a moment before replying. "In terms of pure strength, the three Five-Calamity Great Elders would be sufficient."

"Five Calamities?" The moment Li Huowang voiced his confusion, Zu Yi answered.

"Each time an Ao-Jing initiate Ascends, they gain one more Calamity. After three, you earn the title of Great Elder. A Five-Calamity Great Elder has, naturally, Ascended five times."

Zu Yi looked up, a hint of confusion on his face. "Great Elder... do you not know these things?"

Li Huowang did not answer. He was still reeling from the explosive implication of the man's words. "The Dung-Beetle Ascension has effects? The more times you Ascend, the stronger you get? A five-time Ascension is stronger than the Dice?!"

"It is not unique to the Dung-Beetle Ascension. All Ascension methods have this effect. With each Ascension, we draw closer to Bashe, and the more we can use Its power as our own."

"What is the highest number of Calamities anyone in the Ao-Jing Sect has reached?"

"Legend speaks of one with ten."

"Ten? What is his name?"

"The Gu-Spirit."

"The Gu-Spirit dies not, and so it is called the Mystic Female. The Gate of the Mystic Female is the root of the clear heavens and the earth. Something was formed in chaos, born before heaven and earth."

Those words yanked Li Huowang back years, to the statue sitting cross-legged on the cross.

Based on what he had seen at the Cross Temple, the Gu-Spirit was the one mortal who had achieved bodily sainthood and forcibly seized a piece of the Way from Bashe.

Ten Calamities to achieve bodily sainthood? A fierce heat surged in Li Huowang's chest.

The Dung-Beetle Ascension was exactly what its name suggested—step by step, climbing higher and higher, and eventually, you could become a god. This was something Li Huowang had never known.

"Then what am I waiting for? If I Ascend a few more times, I can easily defeat the Dice! This whole mess is solved!"

But the moment he thought this, the memories of past Dung-Beetle Ascensions flooded his mind, each one a raw, searing torment.

"Mom! I can't tell! I really can't tell!!"

"No... impossible! I didn't kill these people! I didn't destroy this village!"

"Huowang… why?"

Last time it was Yang Na. Who would be next? His own mother? What unspeakable cruelty would he have to inflict on Sun Xiaoqin to reach the pinnacle of physical and spiritual agony? No!! No! I can't do it! She's not fake! She's my mother!

When he saw the space around Li Huowang beginning to warp and twist, Zu Yi was startled. He instinctively retreated into the courtyard.

"I'm fine... I'm fine." Li Huowang pressed a hand to half his face in pain.

"Brother Li, there has to be another way. Don't do this. The Dung-Beetle Ascension requires killing your own sons, slaying your own father, committing every evil. And each time is harder than the last. If you really go through with it, what difference would you have from scum like the Dice?!"

Urged by Zhuge Yuan's reasoning, Li Huowang gradually steadied himself. "Don't worry. I won't do it. I'll find another way."

He lifted his head toward Zu Yi, pretending to be calm. "It's nothing. Come back in. Let's keep talking."

The Great Elder's cultivation method must be a strange one. What kind of phenomenon was that? Zu Yi, curiosity stirring, walked back into the room.

"Let me ask you this. You've never seen the Dice yourself. How can you be sure a Five-Calamity Elder can beat him? I've tried the Dung-Beetle Ascension myself. All it gave me was a higher sensitivity to pain and slightly better healing. Nothing else."

Having calmed down, Li Huowang began to instinctively doubt the truth of the man's words. After all, it was all just talk. No one could tell fact from fiction.

"Great Elder, there is no need for doubt. A being who has passed five Calamities is no longer mortal. And the Zuowandao are not known for direct combat. A Five-Calamity Elder is more than sufficient."

"But the Dice is the leader of the Zuowandao. His greatest skill is deception. If he truly wants to hide, even if all the Elders went looking for him, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. That's also why the sect has searched for so long without finding him."

"You're all looking for the Dice, too? Why?" As soon as the question left his mouth, Li Huowang arrived at the answer himself.

"Right. The Ao-Jing Sect is considered a righteous orthodox sect. Of course the Supervisory Heavenly Office would have come looking for you."

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Reading Guide Decoding

The Calamity Ladder: Power, Pain, and the Refusal to Ascend

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

The Dung-Beetle Ascension (苍蜣登阶) and the "Calamity" (劫) System
This chapter gives us our clearest look yet at how the Ao-Jing Sect's power system works. In standard xianxia, "Tribulations" (天劫) are heavenly lightning strikes that test a cultivator's Dao heart—you pass, you level up; you fail, you're dust. The Ao-Jing version twists this into something far more visceral. Each "Calamity" here isn't a punishment from heaven; it's a self-inflicted wound, a step deeper into the suffering-worship of their god Bashe. The fact that ten Calamities equals bodily sainthood is a direct inversion of the usual "ascend to heaven and become an immortal" trope. Here, sainthood is achieved by descending deeper into agony, not rising above it.

The Gu-Spirit (牯神) and the "Mystic Female" Verse
When Li Huowang recalls the line "The Gu-Spirit dies not, and so it is called the Mystic Female," he's quoting the Dao De Jing (Chapter 6). In the original, Laozi uses the "Mystic Female" (玄牝) as a metaphor for the Dao's endless, generative power—the origin of all things. But in this twisted world, that same verse describes a mortal who stole part of that power from a god. The poem's original meaning is still intact, but the context is pure body horror: the "gate of the mystic female" is the threshold of a suffering-god's domain, and the Gu-Spirit is the one who crawled through it intact.

The Logic of "Payback" (还人情) in Jianghu Culture
Zu Yi's behavior—first opposing Li Huowang because he owed a debt, then immediately switching sides when the debt was paid—is a perfect example of jianghu (rivers and lakes, the underworld) ethics. In this culture, personal loyalty and face (面子) often override institutional loyalty. A favor is a currency. Once it's spent, the relationship resets. It's not hypocrisy; it's a kind of rigid honor code. Zu Yi is being completely honest, which makes him both reliable and deeply unsettling.

Chapter Overview

Buckle up, fellow Daoists—this chapter is a psychological minefield. Li Huowang finally gets a clear, terrifying answer about the Ao-Jing Sect's power structure: the Dung-Beetle Ascension isn't just a one-time torture session, but a ladder. Each rung puts you closer to the primordial god Bashe, and the big prize at the top (ten Calamities) is nothing less than bodily sainthood. The man kneeling before him, Zu Yi, has already gone through this grinder and is begging for the method. But instead of a triumphant power-up, this revelation nearly shatters Li Huowang. Because he knows exactly what the next step on that ladder would cost him—and the price is written in the faces of everyone he loves.

Key Plot Points

Zu Yi identifies Li Huowang as the Great Elder by the fact that he survived the Intercalating the Five Phases ritual, a badge that no imposter could fake.
The Ao-Jing Sect's hierarchical structure is laid bare: each Ascension adds one "Calamity" (劫); three Calamities earn the title of Great Elder; five Calamities are enough to match the Zuowandao's top leader, the Dice.
The legendary figure of the Gu-Spirit (牯神) is confirmed as an Ao-Jing initiate who achieved ten Calamities and seized a fragment of the Way from Bashe itself, achieving bodily sainthood.
Li Huowang's initial, manic excitement at this shortcut to power is violently interrupted by the memory of his past Ascensions—the unbearable agony, the innocent blood, and the looming threat that the next victim would be his own mother.
Zhuge Yuan's voice of reason pulls him back from the brink, and Li Huowang resolves to find another way, vowing not to become the same kind of monster as the Dice.
A critical piece of intel emerges: the Ao-Jing Sect is also hunting the Dice, which means the Supervisory Heavenly Office has them on its list as well—an alliance of sorts is possible.

Reading Guide

This chapter is a masterclass in emotional whiplash. It starts as a dry, tactical info-dump about power levels—the kind of conversation that would normally have a xianxia protagonist rubbing his hands together. But the moment Li Huowang starts to calculate his next Ascension, the narrative pulls the rug out. The memory of his past pain isn't just a flashback; it's a full-on psychological assault. The way the text shifts from strategic thinking to screaming "Mom! I can't tell!" is the novel's core horror engine at work. This isn't a hero who hesitates because he's weak. He hesitates because he's already seen what the "power-up" does to the people around him, and the cost is no longer theoretical. Pay close attention to the line "Last time it was Yang Na. Who would be next?"—that's not a rhetorical question. It's a prophecy. The chapter's real victory isn't learning about the ten-Calamity god; it's Li Huowang's decision to refuse the easy path, even when every logical cell in his brain is screaming at him to take it.