Feilai Peak stood tilted in the earth, emitting faint wisps of heat. All around was a deep, ancient forest, trees toppled in disarray. Not far off hung a great waterfall; the gale kicked up when Feilai Peak plunged had blown it askew, and now the flying spray was gradually settling back to its course.
Xu Ying looked toward Yuan Weiyang. Yuan Weiyang watched the swaying cascade in silence.
Too much had happened on this single day, and Xu Ying did not know whether she could bear such a heavy blow.
Yuan Qi kept quiet, anxiously watching the sky for fear that Yuan Wuji would pursue them. Zhu Chanchan was busy dismantling Feilai Peak, taking out artifacts large and small to scatter around, laying out formations to conceal their tracks. After a long while, Yuan Weiyang watched the turbulent waterfall return to its original flow, and her state of mind seemed to steady as well. She said to Xu Ying, "I must return to the capital. There are still a few clan members left at home. If I don't go back, the Yuan clan will suffer the same fate as the Zhou clan—devoured down to the bone."
Xu Ying looked at her. "Once you go, will you be Young Master Weiyang, or Yuan Rushi?"
Yuan Weiyang stared at him blankly. Suddenly, she unfastened her hair ribbon. Her black hair cascaded down like a waterfall. Stepping before him, she rose onto her tiptoes and lightly touched her lips to his.
She coiled her fine hair back up, tied the ribbon securely, and turned her head to look at Xu Ying. "Once I go, I will be the Patriarch of the Yuan clan, bearing the heavy burden of restoring our clan. Romantic sentiments must be set aside for now."
She strode outward and called, "Uncle Xiao, we are returning to Shendu!"
Uncle Xiao hesitated a moment, bowed slightly to Xu Ying, and hurried after her.
Xu Ying called out loudly, "How large a betrothal gift does it take to marry the Patriarch of the Yuan clan?"
Yuan Weiyang froze, then turned back to look at him, waved her hand, and vanished into the distance.
A faint melancholy rose in Xu Ying's heart, something he had never felt in the seven or eight years he could remember.
"Can an ageless immortal also be troubled by romance?" Zhu Chanchan teased.
Xu Ying composed his feelings. "I am merely a fourteen-year-old boy. Shouldn't I have the normal worries of an ordinary person?"
Not long ago, he had been a snake catcher, never knowing where his next meal would come from, constantly fearing that any moment he might die under a serpent's fangs. So much had happened over this past half year that it left him in a daze.
From slaying a god at Jiang Family Fields to the rerouting of the Nai River; from the invasion of the underworld to Zhou Qiyun's Heavenly Tribulation; from meeting Yuan Weiyang to the Yuan clan's cataclysm; from Xu Fu to the Mount Li Mausoleum.
He had also gone from a young snake catcher to an ageless immortal.
Yet in his memories, he remained that youth from Jiang Family Fields, unchanged.
Zhu Chanchan said, "We need to lay low for a bit. Truth be told, I saw Qi Refiners from the Great Zhou era inside the Mount Li Mausoleum. I suspect the Son of Heaven of Zhou might have returned from the other shore."
The young matriarch was deeply worried. "If he discovers that I cut corners while forging the Divine Boat of the Other Shore, he'll likely settle scores with me."
She truly was worried; after all, it was hard to say whether the Divine Boat of the Other Shore could hold together all the way to the other shore. Zhu Chanchan suspected the vessel might suffer some mishap halfway there.
A chill ran through Xu Ying's heart. He whispered to Yuan Qi, "Seventh Master, we can never go to her to forge artifacts in the future."
Yuan Qi nodded repeatedly and whispered, "Ah Ying, check me and see if she secretly left a brand on me. Lately, I keep suspecting she left her brand somewhere I can't see."
Hearing this, Zhu Chanchan quickly retorted, "Don't you make baseless slander! Even when the prison warden tortured me, I didn't confess!"
At those words, the bronze bell hurried to say to Xu Ying, "Ah Ying, take a look at me too."
"I swear I never tampered with Master Bell!" the girl avowed solemnly, thumping her chest with trembling force.
Xu Ying inspected the bronze bell and Yuan Qi thoroughly, finding nothing amiss, yet the bronze bell and Yuan Qi remained uneasy.
Zhu Chanchan laughed. "If this ancestor laid a brand, of course you wouldn't be able to detect it. Not that I ever did, of course."
Suddenly, her expression shifted slightly. "Don't speak," she whispered.
Xu Ying, the bronze bell, and Yuan Qi immediately held their breath and focused their senses. At that moment, a colossal shadow swept across the sky—an unknown entity radiating an overwhelming aura of oppression.
Yuan Qi was about to speak when suddenly a voice echoed out of nowhere, ringing directly in their hearts: "Ageless immortal, the matter has settled. Please release my daughter."
This voice belonged to Madam Yuan!
Xu Ying, Zhu Chanchan, and Yuan Qi widened their eyes, not daring to utter a word.
Madam Yuan's voice echoed in their minds again, gentle and coaxing: "Weiyang, Mother is here. You can come out now. Mother won't make you dress as a man anymore, nor force you to disguise yourself as Young Master Weiyang. Mother was wrong. You were born a girl and should never have borne such a crushing burden. Come out..."
After a moment, Madam Yuan's voice rang out again, filled with joyful surprise: "Old Matriarch, you're alive! That's wonderful!"
Old Matriarch Yuan's voice also came through, somewhat frail, wheezing and gasping for breath: "This old woman was ambushed by that monster and faked my death to escape. Good, good, you made it out as well. Where is Weiyang? Uncle Xiao, why haven't you come out yet?"
Xu Ying and the others remained completely still, without making a sound.
A moment later, Yuan Weiyang's voice rang out: "Demon King Xu, we're safe. You can come out now."
Then Xu Ying's voice echoed in their minds as well, calling: "Seventh Master, I've been separated from you! Where are you?"
Xu Ying and the others exchanged glances, terror seizing their hearts.
A thousand li away, atop a mountain peak, a figure stood firm in the howling winds, sleeves fluttering in the gusts.
His divine sense was vast, spreading out in all directions with the mountain as its center, extending a thousand li outward.
He was patient. After waiting a long time without receiving any response, he remarked, "So cautious? It seems I underestimated him... Wait, those lingering spirits have been drawn here by the call of my divine sense!"
He shifted his body and vanished without a trace.
Beichenzi, Fairy Yutang, and the sorrowful old man arrived at the peak, trailed by a short Earth God who looked displeased and thoroughly impatient with the three.
They landed on the summit and looked around in all directions, but found no trace of Xu Ying, Madam Yuan, or anyone else. With a sorrowful face, the old man stamped his foot. "Beichen, didn't I tell you to keep a close watch? How did you lose him?"
Beichenzi said hastily, "After calling for reinforcements, we headed to the Mount Li Mausoleum. But Zulong was revived and led the Mausoleum Golden Statues to beat Xu Fu senseless. Fairy Yutang and I saw a chance to take advantage of the situation and went to launch a sneak attack on Xu Fu."
The bruises on his face had yet to fade completely, and Fairy Yutang bore multiple wounds as well.
Beichenzi stammered, "Xu Fu had already been injured by Zulong. In theory, we should have been able to seize the advantage. We were just one move short—we didn't get the advantage, and got beaten up instead..."
Fairy Yutang explained, "Xu Fu possesses a golden book inscribed with demon-quelling runes. We thought if we eliminated Xu Fu and seized the golden book, wouldn't our troubles be solved? That's why we didn't keep Xu Ying under surveillance, and we never expected we wouldn't be able to find him."
The sorrowful old man stamped his foot. "How muddle-headed of you!"
The two looked ashamed.
The Earth God spoke with pompous self-importance: "Enough! Did this official come here to watch the three of you shirk responsibility? Ordinarily you never even offer me a single stick of incense, yet the moment trouble arises, you drag me in to wipe your behinds!"
The three hurried to offer placating smiles. Holding up a stick of incense, Beichenzi said, "Venerable Elder, you are the Earth God of Shenzhou; no matter where Xu Ying hides, he cannot escape your senses. Please lend us a hand!"
Having received a stick of incense offered by this Great Qi Refiner of the Ascension stage, the Earth God finally let it go. "I will locate Xu Ying for you. Keep a good eye on him and send him off to some godforsaken corner where nobody ever goes, lest he gets abducted again!"
The three agreed repeatedly.
Just as the Earth God was about to cast his spell, his heart stirred. *Someone is coming! Incredibly fast! And they mean trouble!*
He laughed out of fury. "I am the Earth God of Shenzhou! What exalted being dares clash with me?"
At that moment, a deeply majestic voice boomed like thunder: "Earth God of Shenzhou? We tread upon Shenzhou and hold dominion over the nation and its people. You dare style yourself a god before Us?"
The Earth God looked up and saw the Nine Cauldrons transforming into the Nine Provinces, descending from the sky to suppress him!
"Zulong!"
The Earth God's face twisted in horror. In the sky far away, a man clad in a golden cloak strode toward them, his cloak pulled taut by the wind.
"Where have you hidden Our ageless immortal? Hand him over to Us!"
A long time later.
Beichenzi and the others carried the crippled, battered Earth God and fled tens of thousands of li. The Earth God cried out, "Stop! Stop! Any further and we'll be out of Shenzhou! Beyond it, I have no incense offerings, and I'll die!"
The three quickly halted.
The Earth God caught his breath. "Zulong possesses the Nine Cauldrons, commands ten Golden Statues, and wields Tai'e. None of us are a match for him. Take me back to my temple first. I will report upward and have a Heavenly Dao divine artifact bestowed to execute Zulong and Xu Fu and sweep away the obstacles!"
The three were overjoyed and hastily carried him to the Earth God Temple.
Upon reaching the Earth God Temple, the Earth God struggled to his feet, entered the temple's ascension site, and respectfully burned incense in prayer to submit his report.
A moment later, the Earth God emerged from the temple looking dejected, his face flushed the color of pig liver. Beichenzi and the others rushed up to inquire, "What did the higher-ups say?"
The Earth God said unhappily, "The higher-ups sent me a reply on yellow ritual paper saying, 'Noted, processing through the system, please wait.'"
The three stared at each other in dismay.
The sorrowful old man stamped his foot. "How long is that going to take—until the year of the monkey? By the time a result comes out, Zulong will have torn the temple down!"
Xu Ying and the others laid low for a few days without any further disturbance, taking the opportunity to heal their injuries. Only then did Zhu Chanchan remove the artifacts, restoring Feilai Peak to its true form.
"Ah Ying, I'm going to look for that Great Zhou Qi Refiner," Zhu Chanchan said. "His sudden appearance makes me vaguely uneasy. I'll scout around first! Seventh Master, open your mouth!"
Yuan Qi opened his mouth involuntarily. Zhu Chanchan dismantled half of Feilai Peak, stuffing various bronze cauldrons, bronze swords, pillars, and other pieces into his mouth.
When they wouldn't fit, she shoved them in with force and kicked them a few times until they finally went down.
Dusting off her hands, Zhu Chanchan said, "Now I can sacrifice and command what's left of Feilai Peak. Don't worry about me; I will definitely find you!"
She activated the remaining half of Feilai Peak, standing atop the truncated mountain. "Ah Ying, hurry up and find the Dragon-Seeking Locating Arts for the Bubbling Spring and Jade Pool secret depositories! When I get back, I can gnaw away at learning them!"
*Whoosh!* Feilai Peak shot through the air.
Having been hammered and repaired by Zhu Chanchan over the past few days, the bronze bell had fully healed. After siphoning qi and blood from Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and Zhu Chanchan, its strength had recovered to eighty or ninety percent. "Ah Ying, where should we head now?"
Xu Ying pondered briefly. "I still have two disciples at Mount Wuwang. We should bring them out first so they don't fall into enemy hands. Then we will search for Nuo immortal Hidden Scenery realms to find those Nuo immortals who withdrew into seclusion."
His eyes flickered with resolve. "What Zhou Qiyun did in the past, I will do again. In the three thousand years since the Heaven and Man era ended, many Nuo immortals surely retired from the world, only to be invaded by evil and meet the same fate as Zhou Qiyun and Yuan Wuji."
He stepped forward. "Those Nuo immortals must have cultivated the Bubbling Spring and Jade Pool. Going after them will be far easier than charging into the imperial palace."
Yuan Qi and the bronze bell hurried to follow him toward Mount Wuwang.
Atop Mount Wuwang, demonic aura hung thick. Monsters of all sizes had staked their claims, led by three chieftains: the first king Niu Zhen, the second king Niu Gan, and the third king Xiong Qianli. They broadly accepted disciples, teaching Qi Refinement methods and Nuo arts, assisting others in Dragon-Seeking Locating to open secret depositories, making the place bustling with activity. These three mountain kings possessed extraordinary abilities, all being great demons cultivated to the Pass-Breaching stage. Nearby demon kings had flocked to join them one after another, soon gathering tens of thousands of demons on the mountain.
Furthermore, the mountain held grotto-heavens and blessed lands suffused with ascension glows, nurturing numerous demonic masters.
However, this undertaking interfered with the Nether Court's business. The Nether Court sought to subjugate demon kings into mountain gods to rule over the mortal realm. With the nearby demon kings gathered under the trio's banner, the Nether Court dispatched neighboring City Gods and Ghost Kings on a punitive expedition, commanding thousands of lesser ghosts and deities from the surrounding villages and strongholds. The two sides had been clashing at Mount Wuwang for days, beating war drums daily to storm the mountain, yet the defenses held firm.
On this day, Xu Ying arrived at Mount Wuwang, quietly sneaking up the peaks to see Niu Gan and Niu Zhen. When the two bull brothers and Xiong Qianli saw Xu Ying, they immediately came forward to pay homage.
Xu Ying said, "If you wish to be demon kings and carve out a path of survival for the demon race, I will not stop you. Today, your master is embarking on a long journey away from Mount Wuwang, with no telling when I shall return. I will impart the Eight Sounds of Primordial Nurturing to you. If fortune favors you in the future, your accomplishments will naturally be extraordinary."
He transmitted Tai, Yin, Yuan, Yu, Yi, Yang, Yong, and Zhen to the three demons, then drifted away. The three demons bowed in reverence; when they looked up again, Xu Ying was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Ying returned to Yuan Qi's side and said, "Seventh Master, let us seek out the Nuo immortal Hidden Scenery realms."
Yuan Qi asked, perplexed, "Ah Ying, those Nuo immortals concealed their forms and melted away, hiding their Hidden Scenery realms invisibly between heaven and earth. How can we possibly find them?"
"It's simple. Heaven-Human Induction."
Standing atop the giant serpent's head, Xu Ying wore a calm, unhurried expression. "After my journey into the abyss, my Heaven-Human Induction is by no means inferior to the Nuo masters and Qi Refiners of Emperor Wu of Han's era. If there are any Nuo immortal Hidden Scenery realms nearby, they will not escape my perception."
The bronze bell said excitedly, "Should we do as Zhou Qiyun did—snatching mud from a swallow's beak, scraping iron from the tip of a needle, plucking feathers from every passing bird—and strip those Hidden Scenery realms completely bare?"
Xu Ying shook his head with a chuckle. "That's the work of Gold-Touching Captains. We are Mound-Stripping Generals; we only take what we need and leave the rest alone."
In the distance, Xu Fu stood atop Mount Fangzhang floating in the sky, gazing from afar. He murmured in a low voice, "Zulong has revived; he must have gone to Shendu to look for you, hasn't he? And you, Lord Xu, will follow the path I have paved for you, gradually becoming another me."
Chapter 132