Provoking the Authorities

City God Xue Lingfu and Zhou Yihang each gave a cold snort, tightening their auras to bind Xu Ying even tighter. The pressure radiating from both men grew steadily stronger, clashing head-on! Xue Lingfu's eyes flickered, and he chuckled. "Master Zhou, frank people do not mince words. Is the Zhou clan so eager to get him because of his annotations on the Daoyin technique?" Zhou Yihang raised his brows slightly. The ground beneath his feet crackled with spiderwebbing fractures as the bluestone slabs splintered under the crush of his aura. He chuckled. "It seems the City God is quite well-informed. That is right. I couldn't care less that Xu Ying killed Squire Jiang or slew a few gods. But since he can annotate a Daoyin technique, this old man cannot ignore him. That the City God has mobilized in person—could it be that Xu Ying has piqued the interest of the Nether Court as well?" Their overwhelming auras sent the surrounding crowd scattering in haste, fleeing far from the temple in the center of town. Even Squire Huang Sanduo, who had just entered the statue to become a god, hurriedly hopped down from the shrine and hid behind the temple. City God Xue Lingfu laughed heartily, his robes billowing and swaying without any wind. "Your Zhou clan has been excavating ancient cave estates everywhere, delving into the mysteries of antiquity. How could the Nether Court watch on and be blind to it? To be frank, the Nether Court has also acquired many ancient secrets over the years, and we need someone to decipher them!" Divine might radiated from him as incense qi condensed behind his back, forming a towering divine shrine that intensified his majesty by the moment! The mysterious voice resonated in Xu Ying's mind: "Had I not been injured, a single wisp of my aura would dispose of them. But right now, I am hurt. Still, no need to fret. From the sound of it, you are very important to them. In that case, let them abduct you first. Give me just a few days to borrow your vitality and recover a fraction of my strength. Even if I can only employ a sliver of my methods, it will suffice to wipe them out!" Hearing this, Xu Ying felt greatly heartened, though a trace of doubt surfaced in his mind: *Borrow my vitality to recover? Then could this senior be...* A strange energy flowed over Zhou Yihang, resisting the City God's swelling divine might. His eyes glinted, and he gave a faint smile. "However, my Zhou clan has no desire to share ancient secrets with others. If we cannot have Xu Ying..." He sighed and said, "Then it would be best for Xu Ying to become a dead Xu Ying. Having his soul scattered and wiped out entirely is the best end for him." City God Xue Lingfu smiled as well. "The Nether Court shares that sentiment. If I cannot take Xu Ying away today, I must kill him. He cannot be left to the mortal world!" Xu Ying's expression changed abruptly, and he let out a stifled grunt. Inside his mind, the bronze bell also gave a bewildered *dang*, clearly caught completely off guard by this twist. "Still, Master Zhou, I have one advantage," City God Xue Lingfu chuckled. "Even if you kill him, you would still need to strike again to destroy his soul. That gives me an opening. If I cannot take his physical body, taking his soul works just as well." Zhou Yihang's aura climbed to its peak. Even with the City God conjuring a divine shrine, his aura was not suppressed in the slightest. He said indifferently, "You need not worry. If I strike, a single blow will obliterate Xu Ying's form and spirit together. He could not be deader!" Xu Ying let out another stifled grunt. By now, the street was entirely deserted; only the three of them remained. The blaring horns, suonas, and bass drums from moments ago had vanished without a trace, leaving sacrificial offerings, gold paper ingots, and candles strewn across the ground. A breeze picked up, stirring the drifting joss paper. Somewhere in the wind, a solitary calf let out a lonesome moo. Standing in the biting chill of the wind, Xu Ying cut a rather pathetic figure. He thought to himself, *Yuan Qi is still waiting for me to buy medicine and go back...* Suddenly, City God Xue Lingfu made the first move! The divine shrine formed of incense qi behind him radiated myriad beams of light. As he flipped his hand into a seal, the chant of ten thousand worshippers burst forth from the shrine, muddling the mind and making it difficult to maintain focus! At the same time, brilliant golden light emanated from inside Xue Lingfu to the outside—the golden body of a god! A deity absorbed incense, cultivating magic power over a century and tempering a golden body over three centuries. City God Xue Lingfu had enjoyed incense offerings for five hundred years; his golden body was rock-solid and extraordinary! He flipped his hand to form a seal, striking out with world-shaking thunder. Hearing that thunderclap, Xu Ying felt his soul shudder violently, and the next moment, he found himself flying upward! Looking down, he saw another version of himself still standing in place, only then realizing that the City God's seal strike had knocked his soul right out of his physical body! Not only that, but in his spectral state, he saw things invisible to the naked eye: clusters of floating flames churning beneath City God Xue Lingfu's palm seal! The flames under Xue Lingfu's palm gave him a sensation of utter destruction and sheer horror, as though the slightest brush against a soul would subject it to agonizing torment, or even ignite the soul and scatter it to nothingness! Yet City God Xue Lingfu's seal was not directed at Xu Ying, but at Zhou Yihang. Xu Ying had his soul jolted out of his body merely by hearing the thunder of the palm strike; one could easily imagine the crushing pressure Zhou Yihang faced meeting the attack head-on! *Dang!* A bell chimed abruptly in Xu Ying's ears, and his physical body felt like a massive vortex pulling his soul downward. The very next moment, he plunged back into his flesh. His wits barely restored, Xu Ying looked over to see Zhou Yihang still standing with hands clasped behind his back, exuding utter composure before the incoming seal strike. In the next instant, two more arms sprouted beneath the old man's armpits, hands overturning to meet City God Xue Lingfu's seal technique. He was actually going head-to-head against Xue Lingfu and his golden body! A City God with a cultivated golden body possessed transcendent power and boundless incense magic, vastly superior to the giant god Xu Ying had encountered before. Moreover, his seal technique targeted the soul—how could anyone meet it with brute force? Yet the moment Zhou Yihang reached out his palms, the gaunt elder's bones surged furiously, muscles bulging across his entire frame. In the blink of an eye, he transformed from a frail, thin figure into a giant nearly as tall as the City God! His flesh and muscles twisted like coiling dragons, making him look like a god in mortal form! Xu Ying's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He had originally planned to observe the elder's moves while Zhou Yihang clashed with the City God, comparing them against the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique obtained from Ding Quan to decipher the Zhou clan's supreme arts. Yet Zhou Yihang's techniques bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique! Not in the slightest! Ding Quan was a Nuo master nurtured by the Zhou clan who served under County Magistrate Zhou Yang and possessed considerable strength. Xu Ying had thought that the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique—a manual Ding Quan treasured so much he had killed a colleague for it—even if not an exceptionally rare technique, could not be too shabby. Now it seemed he had thought far too kindly of the Zhou clan. The Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique was likely just a manual the Zhou clan gave to their servants. True members of the Zhou clan practiced an entirely different manual, or perhaps an entirely different system of cultivation! Low-ranking Nuo masters like Ding Quan risked their lives without ever obtaining the true legacy! Just Zhou Yihang's bodily transformation alone was enough to rival the City God's golden body—or even surpass it! Coupled with his four arms, Zhou Yihang was practically a being who had achieved divinity through the physical body! *Bang!* Their palms collided, letting out a dull, thunderous detonation. Caught at the epicenter of their clash, Xu Ying was shaken so severely that blood seeped from his eyes, ears, and nose. The City God and Zhou Yihang each grunted as their bodies shuddered violently. Zhou Yihang had believed his soul was steadfast, forged into unity with his physical body, yet that seal strike nearly tore his soul apart! Meanwhile, City God Xue Lingfu had prided himself on his mighty golden body, believing the physical flesh tempered by the Zhou clan's Mud Pill secret depository could never compare to it. Yet at the very first contact, a fissure cracked open across his golden body! *By the time I strike him down, my golden body (my soul) will have fractured into pieces!* The same thought flashed through both their minds as their gazes crossed. In tacit mutual understanding, their eyes shifted away from each other the very next moment, landing squarely on Xu Ying. *Since a fight to the death means neither of us can secure Xu Ying, the only remaining path is to destroy him so the other cannot have him either!* they thought simultaneously. In the next breath, City God Xue Lingfu and Zhou Yihang struck at Xu Ying at the same time! Beneath City God Xue Lingfu's palm seal blazed the Demon-Subduing Yin Fire that obliterated all spirits and souls! Zhou Yihang's fist seal was heavy as a mountain, supremely yang and unyielding—the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal, a supreme Nuo technique passed down by the Zhou clan's ancestor! This punch was destined to shatter Xu Ying's physical body and soul into dust! Right at that moment, a bronze bell taller than a man suddenly materialized, dropping upside down over Xu Ying! City God Xue Lingfu's Demon-Subduing Yin Fire and Zhou Yihang's Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal slammed into the bronze bell together! *Dang——* The bronze bell rang under their joint blows. City God Xue Lingfu's face twisted in horror as cracks spiderwebbed across his golden body with a staccato of snaps. Hurled backward by the titanic rebound, he crashed through an old willow tree at the end of the street, snapping it in two! On the other side, the thick arm Zhou Yihang had struck the bell with suddenly split open at the skin. Its massive muscles twisted and disintegrated into powder, followed by the rapid cracking and shattering of his arm bones. Spitting blood, Zhou Yihang tumbled backward through the air, collapsing the temple behind him as he crashed inside. Under the bronze bell, Xu Ying stood stunned, shocked yet overjoyed—shocked that the bronze bell that had freeloaded on him had suddenly appeared, and overjoyed that it had shielded him from this catastrophe! With a sudden loud clang, the bronze bell dropped to the ground and rolled behind his rear for several turns. The mysterious voice rang out in Xu Ying's mind: "I've spent the last of my strength. You're on your own now. I'm going to sleep." *The bronze bell was the senior guiding me all along!* Xu Ying looked back to find the bronze bell lying on its side. Its handle pointed at his rear while the mouth faced outward, looking like an oversized trumpet horn. When he turned around, the bronze bell clattered in a half-circle, staying stubbornly right behind his buttocks. This was likely the bell's way of protecting itself; though it had fallen into a deep slumber, it remained locked onto Xu Ying's form, sticking to him through thick and thin! *Which means, if I try to run away now, this bronze bell will trail behind me clattering and clanging like a marching band...* Xu Ying blinked, feeling a touch of despair. How was he supposed to make an escape like this? "Cough, cough, cough..." A fit of coughing suddenly sounded from behind the temple. Xu Ying turned around to see the giant Zhou Yihang, a mangled mess of flesh and blood, slowly pulling himself up against a wall, coughing blood as he glared at him. The old man's sinewy form was grotesque, largely ruined by the reverberations of the chime. Yet the Mud Pill secret depository harbored boundless vitality, preserving his mortal life! However, the chime had also injured the soul tightly bonded to his body, leaving his senses dazed and muddied, with seventy to eighty percent of his strength wiped out. Even with seventy to eighty percent gone, he still had more than enough power to decide Xu Ying's life or death! "To think you had a magic artifact protecting you. I was careless." Zhou Yihang swayed on his feet, chunks of flesh sloughing off with wet splatters, only for fresh flesh to knit together on his frame, crack open, and fall away again. His injuries were severe beyond Xu Ying's imagination! Yet the Zhou clan's cultivation method for the Mud Pill secret depository was truly miraculous; even mangled like this, he still clung to life. Zhou Yihang stared at the bronze bell behind Xu Ying and remarked with astonishment, "For this magic artifact to withstand the full-power strike of both the City God and myself, it is certainly not half-bad. But now its power is spent, and it has become useless scrap. It can no longer protect you." His gaze drifted past Xu Ying toward the City God. Xue Lingfu's colossal body had its head buried inside a household wall, pinned beneath the fallen willow, his fate unknown. "Heh heh, turns out my strength is still slightly greater than the City God's." Staggering, Zhou Yihang shambled toward Xu Ying, flesh continually peeling from his bones and dropping away. A strange glint appeared in his eyes as he reached out toward Xu Ying, chuckling. "Xu Ying, you will be the treasure that fuels the rise of our Zhou clan..." Before his words had even finished, Xu Ying suddenly spun around. By the time Zhou Yihang heard the clattering sound, it was already too late. Behind Xu Ying's rear, the bronze bell—which was still as tall as a man even lying on its side—came sweeping around with a roar the moment Xu Ying turned, slamming violently into him with a series of deafening clatters! Crushed beneath the bronze bell's sweep, Zhou Yihang was batted straight into the air! Midair, his mind was still in a daze: *What just happened?* *Bang!* He smashed through the wall on the other side of the temple, tumbling and rolling tens of zhang away, only coming to a halt when he crashed into a stone wall. Zhou Yihang struggled to stand, but his legs snapped and popped—the sound of his shins fracturing! Zhou Yihang took fright, not daring to move another muscle. Being slammed by the bronze bell had cracked his tibia; if he moved rashly, the bones in both legs might snap clean through! He jerked his head up and saw Xu Ying leaping into the air, fury surging through his heart: *This brat didn't run away, but actually dares to charge at me? Courting death!* Midair, Xu Ying whipped a kick toward his face—a move from the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist. To Zhou Yihang, this move was crude beyond measure. However, accompanying that kick was an enormous bronze bell swinging over with an almighty whoosh! *Dang!* The bronze bell struck Zhou Yihang squarely, snapping his legs completely and swatting him back into the temple. Groggy and disoriented, Zhou Yihang had barely managed to prop himself up when he saw Xu Ying arrive before him, leap straight up with his back turned, and drop down. The bronze bell slammed directly onto Zhou Yihang's forehead, hammering the elder halfway into the dirt. Xu Ying jumped and dropped again and again—*dang, dang, dang*—more than a dozen times in a row, pounding a huge crater into the temple floor. Xu Ying glanced down into the pit; Zhou Yihang was still not dead. Frowning as coughing sounds drifted from City God Xue Lingfu in the distance, Xu Ying paid no further heed and bolted out of the temple: *I can't let the City God catch his breath either—gotta give him a couple of whacks too!* The street was far from clean. As the bronze bell slammed against the gravel on the ground, grinding the stones into dust, plumes of powder puffed out from its open mouth like smoke. Wherever Xu Ying ran, the bronze bell behind him puffed smoke the entire way. "Desperado! Insolent knave!" Both of Zhou Yihang's legs were broken, but he pulled himself out of the pit with his arms. Staring after Xu Ying's retreating figure, he ground his teeth in rage. "Running for your life with smoke puffing from your backside! You are blatantly provoking the Lingling authorities!"