At Mount Song's Sima Cave-Heaven, the other prominent clans promptly caught wind of the imperial Li clan unearthing an immortal corpse, and clan elders led their entourages over in droves. No single clan possessed the strength to explore a grotto-heaven and blessed land alone; they had to join forces, and thus any spoils gained from within had to be shared equally.
"Not a single immortal corpse has ever been unearthed since the great upheaval of heaven and earth. The Li clan needn't dream of hogging it all this time!"
An elder of the Cui clan was thrilled, chuckling. "The Li clan wouldn't want to offend every last one of our clans, would they?"
An elder of the Zhao clan chuckled heartily. "Unless the Li clan no longer cares to sit securely upon the realm, they have no choice but to share."
Ever since the Netherworld's invasion, new territories had cropped up across the land, not merely in Yongzhou. The commanderies and prefectures that once governed their territories had lost contact with outlying towns and counties, and communication between the commanderies and Shendu had dwindled to a thread. Imperial authority had waned, powerless to rule the provinces. Local governments had fallen into dysfunction, incapable of governing their jurisdictions.
If the imperial Li clan wished to maintain its rule, it had to rely on the prominent clans.
Leading their entourages into the imperial Li clan's stronghold in Sima Cave-Heaven, the elders suddenly caught a pungent stench of blood. Ahead of them, the Li clan's Nuo masters lay sprawled across the ground in heaps.
At the center of the stronghold, a heavy coffin had already been prised open—completely empty.
"The imperial clan ran into an evil spirit! Fall back, quickly!"
Sensing catastrophe, the crowd spun around to flee, only to find a young man draped in immortal radiance blocking their path. His garments were exceptionally ancient, woven of feathers and golden thread in a style unseen in the present era. A turquoise necklace hung around his neck, and an archaic sheng ornament crowned his head.
A shaft of immortal light fell from the sky, bathing him in its glow, and waves of pure, refreshing fragrance drifted from the immortal brilliance.
He resembled an immortal who had strayed into the mortal dust, pristine and unstained by a single speck, the secular world nothing more than an encumbrance to him.
Yet the moment their eyes fell upon him, a chorus of whispering murmurs buzzed in their ears, as though something were boring into their brains to speak to them.
The feather-robed youth smiled faintly. He opened his mouth, and a tongue two to three zhang long shot out, licking across the face of a young woman from the Chai clan.
Petrified with terror, the woman froze. Before she could react, the nimble tongue wrapped around her neck and hoisted her high into the air.
The feather-robed youth tilted his head toward the sky and gaped wide, stuffing the Chai woman head-first into his maw!
Cries of horror erupted from the crowd. An onslaught of Nuo arts and divine powers took flight, surging toward the feather-robed youth like a dark cloud. Some even unleashed ancient Qi Refiner treasures unearthed from this very grotto-heaven, driving them ruthlessly toward the youth!
The feather-robed youth merely smiled. Moments later, all turmoil subsided. Dozens of fresh corpses lay strewn across the ground.
With great patience, the youth opened his mouth, cramming corpse after corpse inside. Only after finishing his meal did he stroll leisurely toward the highest peak of Mount Song, where Xu Ying and his companions were gathered.
Atop the highest peak, the bronze bell rotated quietly and soundlessly, shielding everyone beneath its rim. Neither Xu Ying, Zhu Chanchan, nor the white-robed old man, Beichenzi, had gone to sleep.
Only Yuan Qi lay flat on his back, neck stretched straight, snoring away in heavy puffs.
With every inhale, his tongue slipped inside; with every exhale, it drifted far out of his mouth, waving in the wind like a rippling banner.
*Seventh Master truly has a carefree heart,* the bronze bell mused in admiration.
Zhu Chanchan, on the other hand, was shivering with fright. Huddled behind Xu Ying, she poked her small head out from time to time to peer nervously about. Still in the midst of growing, she wore Guo Xiaodie's clothes, which hung far too loose and let in drafts from every angle. Whenever the mountain chill swept past, the girl's robes billowed; she clutched herself tightly, looking utterly pitiful.
Beichenzi had conjured a stone table from somewhere, set up a board, and sat playing chess against himself.
The old fellow had an eye for grand spectacle. Even deep in the night, a beam of sunlight fell from the heavens to bathe his form, casting a brilliant gleam over the board.
*Whatever else he may be, this old man certainly carries immense presence!* the bronze bell praised inwardly.
Taking advantage of Beichenzi's sunlight, Xu Ying thoroughly digested the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction recorded on the two golden leaves. At this critical juncture, he began attempting to cultivate the technique.
*Ah Ying is just as carefree, ignorant of how terrifying a heavenly fiend can be,* the bronze bell thought.
Yet even the bell knew little of a heavenly fiend's true might.
Back in the ancient well of the ruined temple on Stone Mountain, a heavenly god had been suppressed. Presumably, the strength of a heavenly god and a heavenly fiend differed little. But that god had been captured and subdued by the bell's former master, leaving the bell uncertain of their true combat prowess.
*Even if Beichenzi can't handle it, there's still me,* it thought reassuringly.
After long deliberation, Xu Ying finally activated the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction. Running the mental method, he fished for the immortal medicine within the Black and Yellow qi of his Yellow Court cave-heaven.
As the technique circulated, his divine sense climbed steadily, and his perceptive acuity grew keener by the moment!
Strangely, Xu Ying did not experience that sensation of standing in pitch-black darkness, nor the eerie feeling of being watched. The Yuan Dao Heavens Induction was truly peculiar; upon circulating it, his perception seemed magnified countless times over, allowing him to effortlessly sense the myriad heavens concealed within the void!
*What an astonishing induction technique!* Xu Ying marveled.
His divine sense could even brush against these various heavens and perceive their distinct colors!
He could even touch ancient consciousnesses drifting through the void. Those formidable, archaic minds had almost ceased to turn; upon brushing against them, he could hear grand Dao sounds, like the sighs of monumental beings or hymns sung to the Dao, their meaning beyond comprehension.
Xu Ying felt like a tiny butterfly wandering into a magnificent garden of blooming flowers.
Now he finally understood why members of the Yuan clan always demanded self-restraint and propriety of themselves, suppressing their desires to maintain absolute rationality.
While cultivating the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction, failing to preserve inner tranquility and absolute reason meant one could easily be swayed by those ancient minds drifting through space!
Worse yet, the moment their divine sense made contact with the heavens, external evils and heresies might invade their minds!
Only by curbing desires and holding fast to reason could they preserve their lives during cultivation.
For that reason, the people of the Yuan clan struck others as cold and aloof, devoid of warmth.
*Many Yuan clan disciples probably met mysterious deaths while practicing this technique,* Xu Ying thought. *No wonder their clan has so few descendants.*
He circulated the Taiyi Guiding Technique, keeping his divine sense between presence and absence while anchoring himself firmly in Taiyi. Thus, he was immune to external evil. The Yuan clan had not been so fortunate.
However, the Yuan clan's plight was likely a curse brought upon them by the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction itself, unrelated to the Yellow Court secret depository or its immortal medicine. Had they used a different supreme technique for the Yellow Court secret depository, the disaster might have been averted.
*Can amplifying one's divine sense induction truly allow one to perceive the gods of another realm?*
Stirred by the thought, Xu Ying drew a deep breath. Running the Taiyi Guiding Technique, he simultaneously mobilized the power of all three cave-heavens: Mud Pill, Crimson Palace, and Yellow Court.
His physical vitality, bodily strength, and divine sense surged continuously.
Unleashing his divine sense to sharpen his induction, Xu Ying scoured the heavens, attempting to locate the realm Beichenzi had spoken of—Weixu.
Right then, he sensed an evil, immensely powerful mind advancing up the mountain!
The instant that mind brushed against his divine sense, Xu Ying felt his consciousness plunge into chaos. The world spun, and stray thoughts cascaded over him in torrents, conjuring bizarre and inconceivable visions before his eyes!
"A heavenly fiend!"
Xu Ying held fast to Taiyi, gathering his myriad strands of divine sense into one and reeling them back into his body.
*Oh? You are quite interesting as well, hardly inferior to the immortal medicine,* that mind exclaimed in surprise.
Xu Ying snapped his eyes open and said gravely, "Senior Beichenzi, the enemy has arrived!"
Beichenzi picked up a white stone between his index and middle fingers, placing it gently onto the board with a chuckle. "Let him come. I sensed him too."
As the stone clicked into place, the sky blazed with light. A white stone the size of a small mountain fell from the heavens, hurtling down the mountain enveloped in roaring flames!
At this display, both Xu Ying and the bronze bell could not help but marvel. *Worthy of an old monster who cultivates both Nuo and Qi—his divine powers are truly consummate!*
*Snap!*
The moment the stone struck the board, it shattered into pieces, jolting Beichenzi's fingers with a violent tremor.
Beichenzi's expression changed abruptly. He hurriedly pinched another white stone and set it down once more. This time, he put away his flippancy and went all out.
The stone carried immense power as it crashed into the valleys below, sending a world-shattering shockwave rippling through the mountains!
Yet as Beichenzi's stone clicked onto the board, it burst with another sharp *snap*, drawing blood from his two fingers.
"Little girl Chanchan," Beichenzi gasped in alarm, "just what kind of background does this enemy of yours have?"
Zhu Chanchan poked her head out from behind Xu Ying and whispered, "A heavenly fiend..."
"A heavenly fiend?!"
Beichenzi's face drained of color. *Disaster!* The shockwave rebounding from the climbing fiend nearly made him vomit blood. His face flushed beet-red, and daring not be careless any longer, he sprang to his feet. Circling the stone table and board, he rained stones down without a thought for strategy, grabbing white stones and slamming them onto the board in rapid succession!
He groaned inwardly. *Had I known this wretched girl's enemy was a heavenly fiend, I would never have tagged along to join the fun! I'm done for!*
Deafening rumbles echoed ceaselessly from below. In the sky, stone after stone fell from above only to shatter into dust, sending waves of terrifying shockwaves sweeping in all directions to batter the mountain forests!
Fortunately, this was the heart of Mount Song, vast and uninhabited, with no danger of harming ordinary mortals.
White vapor billowed from the crown of Beichenzi's head, and nine great cave-heavens manifested behind him amid surging purple mist, pushing both his Qi Refinement and Nuo cultivation to their absolute limits.
He no longer cared whether he placed the stones correctly, nor whether they were black or white. Grabbing them indiscriminately, he slammed them down with desperate ferocity.
Yet judging from where the stones fell in the valleys, he had failed to halt his foe; the figure continued climbing toward the summit!
Before long, Beichenzi's hands were bathed in blood, nearly all ten fingers severely injured, and blood began to trickle continuously from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Seeing this, Xu Ying took fright and called out hurriedly, "Lord Bell!"
The bronze bell caught on immediately. Ceasing to shield the group, it whistled through the air as it shrank down to the size of a chess piece, dropping into the stone bowl. Beichenzi's blood-soaked fingers pinched the miniature bell, attempting to cast a divine power, but the bell's might was so overwhelming that his arts could barely command it.
Spitting blood, Beichenzi let out an enraged roar. His Primordial Spirit manifested behind him, also extending two fingers to grip the shrunken bell and cast the spell in unison!
At last, he lifted the bell. As he raised it, his arms trembled violently under what seemed like unfathomable weight—as though he were lifting all three thousand peaks of Mount Song!
Thunder rumbled in the heavens, lightning darting across the sky to illuminate the looming, suffocating shadow.
Xu Ying and Zhu Chanchan tilted their heads upward to see clouds churning wildly. The lightning illuminated a colossal, archaic bell.
Churning the wind and clouds, the bell crowded the sky with lightning, descending toward the peak at a pace that seemed slow yet struck with terrifying speed!
*Clang!*
A resounding, muffled boom reverberated across the heavens. Xu Ying and Zhu Chanchan watched the space beneath the bell's mouth heave violently, pressing downward in a crushing descent!
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The bell chimes shook the very earth, forcing the highest peak to sink over a hundred feet with a thunderous roar, and then another hundred feet!
Yet the figure walking up the mountain still did not fall. Immortal light surged upward, clashing head-on with the bronze bell.
Beams of immortal radiance flared, preventing the bell from descending any further.
Blood was no longer merely trickling from Beichenzi's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth—it was spraying out. He bellowed with all his might, straining to press the bell down onto the board, yet every fraction of an inch proved excruciatingly difficult!
His white garments were soaked through with crimson. The skin of his right arm tore open, and beneath the flesh, blue veins throbbed wildly, snapping crisply like overstretched bowstrings.
"Aaargh—!"
Beichenzi screamed, thrusting out his other hand to pin down his right arm, driving it toward the board with every ounce of strength he possessed!
*Clang!*
With one final chime, he at last forced the bell down. The gargantuan bell in the sky crashed down in tandem, smashing the entire mountain peak a thousand feet into the earth with a resounding boom! The violent tremor sent the surrounding ranges reeling and tilting!
The howling tempest stirred by this grand divine power swept through the mountains in an instant, flattening countless clouds. Even a great river flowing down the slopes was hurled straight into the sky by the chime, flying a hundred li through the air before finally crashing back to earth!
Beichenzi sprayed a mouthful of blood and collapsed backward, falling unconscious.
Before slipping into darkness, only a single thought lingered in his mind: *I'm finished. But so be it. Death settles all accounts. Once the heavenly fiend catches this boy and devours him, everything will be over...*
The bronze bell landed on the board and expanded, its old injuries aggravated by the impact as cracks spread across its walls. It cried out, "Ah Ying, my strength is exhausted!"
From behind Xu Ying, Zhu Chanchan suddenly leaped forward, banging her fists against the bell with a series of *thumps*. "You can still hold on!"
The bell cried, "It's my qi and blood that are spent!"
Xu Ying mobilized his own qi and blood. Turning his hands into seals, he struck palm after palm onto the bronze bell, and the colossal bell pinned atop the mountain gradually grew translucent!
Summoning all his strength, Xu Ying poured down the entirety of his cultivation until the giant bell vanished completely, only then drawing back his hands!
"He's still not dead!" Zhu Chanchan shrieked in sheer terror.
Xu Ying looked down. Mount Song's highest peak had been reduced to its lowest. Near the summit, a figure lay face-down inside a massive crater, a mangled heap of flesh and blood.
Yet the flesh and blood on his body were writhing ceaselessly, restructuring and reconstituting his form!
Xu Ying's heart leaped into his throat. He kicked Yuan Qi, barking, "Seventh Master, wake up!"
Yuan Qi roused from his slumber, groggily asking, "Ah Ying, what's going on?"
Xu Ying scooped up Zhu Chanchan, tossed her onto the snake's head, and grabbed the bronze bell. Zhu Chanchan shouted, "Don't leave that little white-haired old man behind! We'll need him to save our lives next time!"
Reaching down, Xu Ying tucked the unconscious Beichenzi beneath his arm and sprinted up to Yuan Qi's head. "Go, quickly!"
"I'm not fully awake yet..."
"Run for our lives!"
"Right!" Yuan Qi snapped fully awake and slithered away like the wind.
Chapter 110