Xu Ying grunted, helpless against the two raving demons. The pair were actually trying to coax him into rebelling against the human race, overthrowing human rule, and establishing a demon kingdom on land!
"If you take the throne as our Great King, both of us brothers will gladly submit!" they clamored.
Demonic qi filled the cave in a foul, stifling haze, leaving Xu Ying no choice but to stand up and walk outside. Outside, darkness reigned supreme. The torrential downpour had ceased, though a light drizzle still drifted through the air, giving no sign of when the sky would truly clear.
Xu Ying stared into the distance, lost in thought.
Human Nuo masters traced dragons and pinpointed positions to find the Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body, unlocked those secret depositories, and harvested their power to cultivate a Hidden Scenery.
Qi Refiners, on the other hand, harvested qi and refined qi to storm the human body's mystic passes.
Evidently, these were two completely different cultivation systems, with not the slightest trace of common ground between them!
"If harvesting and refining qi is a human method, why does it share nothing in common with a Nuo master's Nuo arts?" he mused, deeply perplexed.
From inside the cave, the hushed murmuring of the two demons drifted out again. "Before humanity arose, our demon race must have had an ancestral civilization that forged a magnificent empire and even partitioned the realms of Yin and Yang! Later, those human scoundrels defeated us with deceit, and our civilization was lost."
"Those human scoundrels are too despicable!"
"But Great Demon King Xu will lead us to restore the glory of the demon race!"
"Long live Demon King Xu!"
...
Xu Ying rolled his eyes. Those two demons had even wilder imaginations than his own.
He moved his left shoulder. It still ached sharply, but the sword wound there was already much better.
When the giant deity's flying sword pierced his left hand and left chest, it had also skewered the scapula of his left shoulder, originally leaving his entire left arm completely immobile. Yet ever since achieving Five Qis Facing the Origin and refining the five qis into primordial qi, his regenerative capacity seemed far greater than before.
In the past, an injury like this to his left shoulder would have forced him to convalesce for half a year.
"Still, the regenerative power of the Zhou clan's Mud Pill secret depository is vastly more astonishing! No, it defies nature!"
Remembering Zhou Yihang's terrifying physical body, Xu Ying could not help but feel a pang of envy. Unlocking the Mud Pill secret depository truly granted mythical resilience—virtually undying and indestructible!
Even if one could not forge a body as durable as Zhou Yihang's, reaching a level like Ding Quan's was still extraordinary!
Xu Ying sighed softly. Regrettably, he still had no idea how to trace dragons and pinpoint positions to locate his own Mud Pill secret depository. And even if he could find it, without a Grand Nuo to assist in opening it, the effort would be futile.
More critically...
"Am I really a human or a demon?"
Xu Ying gazed toward the faintly brightening horizon and murmured under his breath, "I must be human. I have to be! My family lived in Xujiaping. I had a father and a mother, and both my parents were humans. My father's name was Xu Shaoping, and my mother was Miao Yuemei, from Miaotianpu. I still remember the roads to Xujiaping and Miaotianpu..."
Behind him, the snake demon Yuan Qi suddenly cut his revelry short, staring at Xu Ying's back with a puzzled expression.
The bear demon Xiong Qianli asked, "Brother Seven, what is it?"
Yuan Qi whispered, "Something's strange. I distinctly heard Ah Ying say before that his father was named Xu An and his mother was Tian Ruijun, and that they lived in Tianjiaping. Why has it suddenly changed to his father being Xu Shaoping and his mother Miao Yuemei? Even the place they lived is different..."
Xiong Qianli chuckled. "He must have bumped his head and scrambled his brains when he passed out just now! If his head isn't right, doesn't that mean the two of us can play the scheming ministers pulling the strings?"
The two demons exchanged a glance and cheered once more with carefree abandon.
At long last, the rain stopped, the sky cleared, and dawn began to break. Xu Ying suddenly grew alert and looked up into the distance. Shielded earlier by rain and darkness, his vision had been limited, preventing him from noticing that the Nai River lay just ahead.
This great river of the Underworld surged with roaring torrents, rushing from the direction of the rocky mountains and sweeping straight between Mount Xiao and Mount Wuwang!
The appearance of the Nai River indicated it was still night.
Yet now that it had altered its course, was it not returning to its old channel?
Puzzled, Xu Ying peered further out.
With the river's intrusion, will-o'-the-wisps drifted everywhere throughout the mountain forests. Farther off, a graveyard had also fallen under its influence. Lit up like day, skeletons crawled out from their burial mounds, hanging lanterns, draping banners, and setting lavish feasts in festive celebration.
Some skeletons were clad in silks and satins with their robes left untied, dancing bare-chested atop graves to liven the festivities.
Suddenly, a rumbling roar echoed as the earth shook violently, rattling the cave Xu Ying and the demons occupied.
Yuan Qi and Xiong Qianli rushed out from the cave in a panic. Xu Ying murmured to himself, "Could the Nai River be returning to its old course?"
The youth and the two demons looked toward the source of the sound, and their faces turned pale. The riverbanks of the Nai River, previously intangible and ethereal, were now solidifying into physical reality!
The banks of the Nai River grew clearer and more real by the second, encroaching upon the mortal world from another unfathomable realm!
Along its shores, mountains and rivers of all sizes materialized out of thin air, pressing against Lingling's original peaks and shaking the earth in a persistent, rumbling shudder!
It was a truly terrifying spectacle. Ridge after ridge emerged along both banks of the Nai River, relentlessly shoving the original mountains backward. Even Mount Xiao beneath their feet trembled incessantly!
Mount Xiao had originally stood mere li from Mount Wuwang, where Qinyan Cave lay. Now, it had likely been pushed back by more than thirty li!
And across those thirty-odd li, several Underworld mountains and riverbanks had sprung into existence!
"The Underworld is invading, and no one is doing anything about it?" Yuan Qi cried in grief and outrage. "Humankind has so many capable figures and so many Nuo masters—why aren't they putting a stop to this? Is there no law left?"
Helplessness crept into his voice as he wailed, "My Qinyan Cave got shoved away! When will I ever get back home?"
Qinyan Cave on Mount Wuwang had once been only four or five li away, but now it would require trekking over thirty li more—and crossing the Nai River as well as those Underworld mountains!
Xu Ying felt a twinge of dread in his heart. The mountains of the mortal realm were home to demons and mountain gods; who knew what horrors lurked in the mountains of the Underworld?
If he tried to force his way through blindly, even someone who had cultivated to become a demon king would likely face near-certain doom!
Just then, beams of light shone from the foot of the mountain—the eyes of deities gleaming faintly in the darkness, their light capable of piercing over a dozen paces ahead.
Xu Ying's heart sank. The rain had barely stopped and the sky had yet to fully brighten, yet these deities were already scouring the mountain!
"Yuan Qi, it's time to go!" Xu Ying called out.
The eastern sky gradually paled as the sun prepared to rise. Mist drifted through the air. The Underworld continued its intrusion into the mortal world, triggering thunderous booms and spatial instability wherever the two collided.
However, as the morning sun climbed, the Nai River gradually faded, and everything seemed to return to normal—save for the mountains on both banks, which did not recede into the Underworld.
While the Nai River slowly waned and dim shadows still blanketed the mountain, a deity spread both hands wide, using them to illuminate the surroundings.
In the palms of its hands grew eyes the size of an ordinary fist, projecting divine light that searched every corner.
The whistle of wind came from above. It was the deity of Yong'an Town, possessing a human body with bird wings, flapping its plumage in flight. Its gaze burned like torches, casting down two pillars of light.
Suddenly, a shadow flashed by without a sound, appearing right before the hand-eyed deity.
It was a youth, casually balancing an oversized bronze bell as tall as a man with effortless grace.
The hand-eyed deity had no eyes on its head, only in its palms. Yet it remained alert; sensing danger, it immediately turned both hands to shine their light forward.
It was too late!
The youth's other hand drove out in a punch. His fist bore a muffled roll of thunder, striking the deity square in the chest.
This blow was extraordinarily heavy. The instant the impact threw the deity backward, the immense force bored straight through its torso, reducing everything in its path to dust!
Moreover, the burst of thunder within the punch slammed directly into the deity's body. The spirit's divine soul scattered instantly; before it even hit the ground, its soul essence had completely unraveled!
The one who had felled the hand-eyed deity with a single strike was none other than Xu Ying. His strength was considerably greater than during his battle with the giant deity yesterday, though his left arm still felt somewhat stiff.
To keep the bronze bell from dragging along the ground and giving away his position with its clanging, he had no choice but to carry it on his left hand.
Fortunately, he cultivated the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist and possessed monstrous strength, making holding up this bell no trouble at all.
Without breaking stride, Xu Ying leaped forward, planted a heavy kick against a tree trunk, and pivoted in midair, rocketing straight toward the airborne deity of Yong'an Town.
As a patron deity of a town equipped with wings, this spirit commanded aerial superiority. If Xu Ying failed to bring it down immediately, escaping the encirclement would still leave him pursued relentlessly!
However, by the time Xu Ying struck down the hand-eyed deity, the deity of Yong'an Town had already noticed the commotion. It swept its gaze over at once, fixing the divine light of its eyes upon Xu Ying!
Xu Ying was still suspended in midair, several paces away, and his upward momentum was already spent. Posing no immediate threat, he drew a relieved scoff from the deity, who sneered, "Little brat, carrying such an oversized horn..."
At that exact instant, a slender form whipped through the air—a massive snake launched itself from below, positioning its back directly beneath Xu Ying's feet.
Xu Ying stepped firmly onto the great serpent's back to spring upward once more, hurtling forward with his fist poised.
The deity of Yong'an Town had enjoyed two centuries of incense offerings. Although its abilities fell short of the giant deity's, they were by no means negligible. Transforming its incense qi into a flying sword, it beat its wings and retreated simultaneously!
With wings at its disposal, it was nimble and agile, whereas Xu Ying had nothing to push off from in midair. As long as it dodged this strike, it could slaughter Xu Ying at its leisure!
Yet when Xu Ying's punch blasted forth, the divine phenomenon of the Elephant King's Divine Body manifested behind him, blazing with divine brilliance as it threw an identical punch alongside him. The surrounding air was instantly sucked into a vacuum, leaving the deity of Yong'an Town unable to gain purchase no matter how furiously it flapped its wings, entirely trapped!
*Boom!*
A thunderous detonation shook the sky. Xu Ying's punch obliterated the flying sword formed of incense qi, piercing clean through the magical power forged from two hundred years of worship as though it were nothing!
The deity's head burst apart into countless wooden splinters that showered outward in all directions. Its headless body continued to flap its wings erratically for a few strokes before plummeting diagonally from the sky.
Xu Ying stepped onto the headless corpse to slide down. From afar, the cries of other deities rang out: "Xu Ying is over there!"
Xu Ying dropped into the forest, rolling several times across the ground to bleed off the momentum of his fall, then bounced back up and sprinted downhill.
Not far off, the snake demon Yuan Qi slithered swiftly alongside him, providing flanking support.
Whenever the youth and snake encountered deities attempting to intercept them, they lunged forward without hesitation, eliminating their opponents in the shortest possible time!
Even Yuan Qi had reached the peak of the fifth level in the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist. He excelled most at the move White Elephant Swings Trunk; when executed with his tail, the tip could break the sound barrier, often deciding a battle in a single strike!
Of course, if a single strike failed to decide the fight, Yuan Qi would be in danger. As a snake demon without limbs, he could not execute every technique of the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist the way Xu Ying could.
Fortunately, with Xu Ying covering him, whenever his strike missed, Xu Ying's attack would land in immediate succession, helping him dispose of their foes.
As the sun rose and the Nai River fully receded, the black bear stood at the cave entrance, gazing into the distance. All through the forest, the silhouettes of gods rose and fell, pursuing in a single direction.
In that direction, solar essence surged aberrantly; wherever the sunlight touched that area, it grew intensely concentrated. Seen from afar, the motes of light formed two swirling vortexes, one large and one small!
There, Xu Ying and Yuan Qi were sprinting, battling, and circulating their breathing all at once, refining away bodily impurities and invigorating their qi and blood to accelerate their physical recovery!
Xiong Qianli murmured, "Demon King Xu, Brother Seven... may you both have a safe journey!"
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi bolted for over ten li, cutting deep into the left bank of the Nai River and entering the mountains of the Underworld.
Those ten li had been a running battle from start to finish, but they had finally shaken off their pursuers!
With several fresh wounds on their bodies, Xu Ying and Yuan Qi ceased cultivating their guiding technique. Upon arriving here, even the sunlight had turned chillingly cold, offering virtually no warmth.
Activating the guiding technique at this moment drew in only bone-chilling frigidity, threatening to freeze their very blood. Such chaotic energy would not enhance their cultivation; on the contrary, it would inflict severe harm upon their bodies!
The mountains of the Underworld were bleak and terrifying. The peaks were pitch-black, and down certain cliffs dripped a thick, black sludge of unknown origin.
Hoisting the bronze bell in his right hand, Xu Ying walked forward. Below that cliff lay a road paved with piles of bleached bones. Following the bone road with his eyes, he saw a lone household standing at its end.
The dwelling was built with white bones for walls, bricks, and tiles. A banner made of human skin hung outside, and human skulls served as carved ornamental decorations.
A sinister wind fluttered the human-skin banner, revealing characters inscribed upon it: *Tavern*.
Chapter 17