Xu Ying felt a twinge of disappointment. He had assumed the mysterious voice was speaking of a Nuo master's Nuo arts, which had stirred a bit of excitement in him, only to find it was nothing of the sort.
"What is a Qi Refiner anyway? Isn't what I cultivate a demonic art?"
Puzzled, he asked, "Senior, can you help me open the Mud Pill secret depository and teach me Nuo arts?"
The voice turned irritable: "What you cultivate is clearly a Qi Refiner's cultivation technique—it has nothing to do with demonic arts! As for Nuo arts, what kind of rubbish is that? Enough nonsense. I'll teach you how to perform internal observation. Keep your eyes half-closed, leaving only a sliver of light before them. Gaze at the wings of your nose and hold a single thought in your heart. This single thought is your consciousness. Follow my command: let the eyes be the sun and moon, the hair the stars, the brows the canopy, and the head Mount Kunlun! Array the palaces and halls, and settle your spirit! Settle your spirit between your eyes, transform it into a single thought, and temper that thought into divine sense!"
Xu Ying's eyes remained half-open and half-closed, with only a sliver of light entering his vision. He gazed toward the wings of his nose, yet what met his eyes was not his nose at all, but that very sliver of light.
His consciousness converged upon this sliver of light, holding that single thought and dwelling on nothing else.
The voice boomed deafeningly in his mind once more: "Once you temper your consciousness into divine sense, you will see this light before you as a gateway. Push the doors open and enter, and you will arrive at the Realm of Xiyi within your body! However, tempering consciousness into divine sense takes several days. Call me once you have formed divine sen—huh?"
Between Xu Ying's half-closed lids, a faint divine light flickered, nestled between his eyes!
It was divine sense!
The voice let out a startled gasp, nearly leaping out of the back of Xu Ying's head.
The one speaking was none other than the great bronze bell concealed in the back of Xu Ying's head. The previous night, this bell had gone on a rampage over the Nai River, slaying six or seven formidable foes, only for the young maiden in the coffin to break free and deal it a grievous blow.
It had fled for its life, crashing into Mount Jian and tumbling down the slopes until it landed beside a mountain stream. It had tried to heal its wounds, but they were too severe to mend on its own.
Just then, Xu Ying had happened by, intending to pat its "head." Sensing that Xu Ying was a Qi Refiner, it had seized the chance to stage an extortion scheme.
Concealed within Xu Ying's mind, the great bronze bell had been siphoning his qi and blood to nurse its wounds. Yet the fact that Xu Ying was clearly a Qi Refiner who knew nothing about how to cultivate had infuriated it to no end, prompting it to offer guidance.
As the saying went, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Or as another saying went, you can't catch the rogue without risking the bride. And if you want the horse to run fast, you must feed it well. If Xu Ying's cultivation progressed faster, it could siphon even more qi and blood, and its injuries would mend all the sooner.
Still, guidance was one thing; it had never believed Xu Ying could master internal observation in such a short time. What it never expected was that the moment it finished explaining how to temper a single thought into divine sense, Xu Ying had actually done it!
Such speed genuinely frightened it!
The great bronze bell was worldly and well-traveled. In its era, when men of the Dao practiced internal observation and visualization, divine light would ebb and surge in their eyes, waxing and waning in length!
That divine light was divine sense.
Though no divine light overflowed from Xu Ying's eyes, the divine glow harbored within them was undeniably a sign of divine sense having been forged!
It was just far too fast!
Little did it know that the technique Xu Ying cultivated was called the Taiyi Guiding Technique. Practicing this method required reigning in the monkey mind and restive thoughts, preserving only a single thought.
That single thought was Taiyi—the Great Unity.
Though Taiyi was his thought, that thought was empty, capable of holding his entire spirit.
Xu Ying had anchored his consciousness to Taiyi for seven full years, laying an incomparably solid foundation. Now, with the great bronze bell's pointers, transforming his spirit into a single thought and tempering that thought into divine sense was as natural as water flowing into a channel, utterly effortless.
The great bronze bell thought to itself, *Merely forming divine sense isn't enough. He'll still need several days of cultivation to see that gateway. And even if he can see it, he'll need a few more days to hone his divine sense before he can push the doors open and enter the Realm of Xiyi...*
The thought had barely crossed its mind when the divine glow in Xu Ying's eyes misted and swelled. In that fleeting instant, the boy had actually spotted the gateway, and his divine sense pushed open the doors and stepped inside!
*This kid is a great talent!*
The great bronze bell was profoundly shaken. *Only one stroke away from a genius! Aptitude like this might even rival Master's... well, still a tiny bit shy of Master.*
Gazing inward at the divine glow before him, Xu Ying could faintly make out a white jade gateway standing amidst the light, and nothing else.
He "walked" forward. The gateway grew taller and broader. Pushing the doors open, he stepped inside, and suddenly a fantastical world unfolded before his eyes—the Realm of Xiyi spoken of by the great bronze bell, the mystical, dreamlike world within his own body!
His "vision" expanded and brightened, as a riot of dazzling colors flooded his sight!
These colors were so vivid and clear that nature itself held no counterpart to them!
Yet this was not the vision of his physical eyes, but the vision of his divine sense!
The moment he pushed the doors open and entered, his divine sense had undergone a wondrous transformation, granting him the ability to look within himself!
He felt as though his divine sense possessed the power of flight, drifting through a vast expanse of sky, weaving alongside visible currents of airflow.
Clouds and mists swirled all around.
Those currents and mists were the qi within his body!
High in the heavens, towering mountains hung inverted—those were his heart, lungs, and internal organs!
He could even see the wounds upon his viscera, the internal injuries sustained along his journey!
Xu Ying saw streams of qi vaporize into rain. The moment a thunderstorm gathered, thunder boomed and rumbled through the storm clouds, bursting with brilliant lightning that illuminated the cloud-strewn sky and the inverted mountains and earth below!
*So this is Thunder Sound body tempering!*
Xu Ying suddenly understood the true nature of Thunder Sound body tempering, and a wave of immense joy washed over his heart.
Suddenly, a brilliant radiance shone forth. Xu Ying looked over to find streams of qi converging into a ball of blazing fiery light. Like a great sun, it rose from within his body, traversing among his gargantuan internal organs.
As the great sun shone upon his liver, it cast an azure light; upon his lungs, a white light; upon his heart, a crimson light; upon his kidneys, a black light; upon his spleen, a yellow light!
This was Great Sun body tempering!
Such a magnificent, boundless spectacle left his mind and spirit enchanted!
His body seemed to contain boundless space!
This was internal observation!
Xu Ying looked back to see "himself" floating before a white jade gateway.
Just moments ago, he had pushed open these doors, unlocking a mystical, dreamlike world within his flesh!
This bodily world was the Realm of Xiyi spoken of by the great bronze bell!
The great bronze bell said, "Your aptitude is passable. Since you've opened the Realm of Xiyi, I shall teach you how to achieve Five Qis Facing the Origin. Let divine sense be the intent, drawing forth the qi of the Five Peaks."
Following its instructions, Xu Ying guided with his divine sense. From the five viscera hanging like mountains in the sky, streams of mysterious qi surged forward, converging toward him.
The qi of the five viscera—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—bore five distinct hues: crimson, azure, yellow, white, and black. Guided by his divine sense, the five qis faced the origin and fused into one!
As the five-colored currents merged, brilliant divine light flared, casting ten thousand beams of golden radiance as origin qi formed!
This was truly Five Qis Facing the Origin!
Xu Ying felt an indescribable power surging through his body, vast and mighty, far purer and more vigorous than his former qi and blood!
Wherever this wondrous origin qi flowed, even the internal injuries upon his organs quietly healed by a noticeable degree!
The great bronze bell was equally dumbfounded. It had assumed Xu Ying would need quite some time before achieving Five Qis Facing the Origin and refining the five qis born of his viscera into origin qi. Yet unexpectedly, Xu Ying had pulled it off as easily as lifting a finger, directly drawing the five qis to face the origin!
*This great talent can barely be granted that extra stroke now,* the great bronze bell thought. *Of course, he's still a tiny bit shy of my master! Mhm, just a tiny bit...*
Harboring the five qis within, with Five Qis Facing the Origin transformed into origin qi, Xu Ying felt his vitality burgeoning with new life. His muscles and bones chimed in unison, and his organs seemed to resonate with the roars of dragons and tigers, bringing absolute ease to his body and mind.
Yuan Qi was startled, sensing that in a mere span of time, Xu Ying's breath had become unbroken and prolonged, his qi and blood immensely robust.
*What's happening to Ah Ying?*
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Xu Ying's qi and blood rapidly withered away, looking as though he had been drained for another three hundred rounds by a female ghost.
*That looks much more normal... Wait, no, that's completely abnormal! That bell is definitely up to no good!*
Yuan Qi's serpentine face flickered with conflicting emotions. Tossing and turning within, he thought, *Xu Ying is my brother. I cannot sit by and watch him get drained dry by this bell demon!*
Plucking up his courage, he was just about to speak when a bell chimed abruptly in his mind. Yuan Qi's courage vanished on the spot. *Well, getting drained a few times won't kill him anyway. Let it be.*
In the village at the foot of Mount Jian, villagers stopped their chores one after another and looked toward the village entrance. There, a fourteen-foot-tall giant walked into the hamlet.
The giant was bare-chested, wrapped in azure streamers, and carried a round wheel shaped like a ship's rudder behind his head. Barefoot and wearing only a pair of short breeches, his muscles were chiselled as though hewn by knives and axes, jagged and distinct like rock.
Azure smoke and fumes of offerings drifted around him—incense smoke offered up by mortals.
The wisps of incense qi darted around his body like supple, nimble serpents.
Hearing faint murmurs and whispers, the villagers shuddered in dread. Elders quietly drove their livestock to hide behind the village, women hurriedly gathered their children into their arms, and pretty young maidens and newlywed wives reached beneath cooking cauldrons to smear handfuls of soot across their faces.
The giant god surveyed the village as he walked. Halting abruptly, he grabbed an old man and said in a muffled, booming voice, "Five chickens, two jars of wine. Boil the chickens in plain water with only some salt and star anise. Take them out after a quarter of an hour and chill them in cold water."
The old man wept, "Lord God, my family only has two old hens, and we need their eggs to scrape together money at the Huangtianpu Town market. As for wine, I've never even tasted it, so I don't know what it's like..."
The giant god tossed him to the ground and sneered, "Do you want me to eat humans instead? Hurry up and scour the village!"
Scrambling and tumbling, the old man rushed through the village, begging everyone he met until he managed to procure several chickens.
Trembling in fear, the villagers prepared the boiled chickens, gathered two jars of weak wine, strained out the muddy dregs, and presented them to the giant god.
Pouring the wine, the old man asked shakily, "Where does the Lord God hail from?"
The giant god wolfed down the chicken and gulped down the wine by the bowlful. "I have enjoyed incense offerings in Yangzitang Town for two hundred and thirty-four years without interruption. The townsfolk of Yangzitang Town call me Immortal Lord Yang. By order of the City God, I am here to apprehend the fugitive Xu Ying. Do you have a daughter? Bring her here to sing songs while I drink."
The old man cried, "I couldn't even afford to take a wife, so where would I get a daughter?"
The giant god glanced toward the neighboring house, spotted a young girl, and had her brought over to sing and liven the mood. He inquired, "How old is she?"
"Twelve years old."
"Twelve is still young. When she reaches fourteen or fifteen, don't marry her off. I will favor her and take her as my wedded wife; I won't dishonor you."
The giant god tossed a chicken leg to the girl. Sallow-faced and famished, she hurriedly gnawed on it with tears of gratitude, leaving the old man beside them swallowing hard in envy.
Just then, sensing something, the giant god looked toward the village entrance. A somewhat lean youth came walking in.
The youth was only fourteen or fifteen, yet tall and broad-boned, with large hands and feet. Though his clothes were tattered, his bearing was noble and imposing, with a hint of untamed defiance hidden between his brows.
The boy looked haggard, with dark rings beneath his sunken eyes, his qi and blood visibly depleted.
Behind him slithered a massive snake, striped in black and white and dozens of feet long, exuding an innate aura of demonhood.
"Xu Ying, the Godslayer!"
The giant god laughed heartily and rose to his feet, his voice ringing like a bronze bell: "The other gods all hurried northwest, thinking they could cut you off there. But I am clever; I knew you might do the exact opposite. So I waited right here, and sure enough, here you are!"
The youth was indeed Xu Ying, and he showed no panic upon hearing this.
The snake demon Yuan Qi barked, "Since you know a godslayer has arrived, why aren't you scrambling out of here? Lingling's Judicial Assistant Ding Quan and Warden Wei Chu both died at Young Master Xu's hands, and their corpses on the stone mountain prove it! Huang Siping, the Stone Mountain God, had his leg severed by Young Master Xu and fled in disgrace! If you have any sense, get lost right now, and Lord Xu and Lord Niu might just spare your life!"
The giant god was surprised, then chuckled. "Xu Ying, the Stone Mountain God is a demon king, while the warden and judicial assistant were Nuo masters. Since they fell by your hand, it seems you truly have some skill. But what makes you so sure I am weaker than them?"
He strode forward and flicked his finger. A streak of incense qi shot out like lightning, transforming midair into a sharp arrow that pierced clean through the caught-off-guard snake demon Yuan Qi, pinning him to the ground!
Tears streamed from Yuan Qi's eyes in agony. Knowing he had run into a tough customer, he wailed, "You're hunting the fugitive Xu Ying, so what does that have to do with me, Niu Yuan Qi? Why hurt me?"
Ignoring him, the giant lightly brushed his palm. Incense qi coalesced in his hand into a sharp sword over ten feet long. Flicking the blade to let out a crisp ringing sound, he said leisurely, "Kneel, Xu Ying. Do not resist me. Let me lop off your head so I can report back to the City God!"
"Kneel?"
Xu Ying clenched his fists, glancing down at his scarred knuckles. His lips twisted in stubborn disdain. "When I beat the god of Jiangjiatian to death, I swore a silent oath to myself: never again will I kneel to gods carved of wood or sculpted of clay."
The boy's qi and blood boiled, manifesting behind him a ten-foot-tall, elephant-headed, human-bodied deity that roared proudly at the giant god—an earth-shattering bellow.
Xu Ying lifted his head, his eyes shining like stars in the dark of night: "I was born a free man! Whoever dares ride upon my head, whoever dares call me a slave or tell me to kneel—I'll beat the motherfucking bastard to death!"
Chapter 11