Outside Haojing, Xu Ying spotted Zhu Chanchan from afar, having grown into a fine young woman, running toward him in excitement. His heart surged with emotion, and he couldn't help letting out a hearty laugh. Leaping down from Yuan Qi's head, he spread his arms wide and waited.
Whoosh!
Zhu Chanchan tore past him like a whirlwind and threw a solid punch—thump!—straightening out the delighted giant serpent.
The giant serpent had been holding his head high, but taking that blow forced his body straight, his chin smacking the ground.
Zhu Chanchan raised a hand, lifted the serpent's snout, and strolled right inside. An instant later, a triumphant cheer echoed from within: "They're still here! My treasures are all still here!"
The muffled voice resonated through Yuan Qi's nostrils: "Nobody even think of snatching my treasures... Huh? There are even more treasures now!"
Xu Ying waited a moment until Zhu Chanchan pushed open the serpent's mouth and stepped out, beaming from ear to ear.
She looked Yuan Qi up and down, then drove two more punches into him—thump, thump! Yuan Qi immediately felt clear-headed and full of vitality. In amazement, he clicked his tongue. "Ancestor Chanchan's fist techniques are getting more formidable by the day. Somehow, taking a couple of punches from you makes me feel like my cultivation has risen quite a bit."
Zhu Chanchan stole a covert glance at his backside. Seeing that her brand was still there, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Catching sight of Jin Buyi, her eyes lit up at once. She leaped forward and threw two punches—thump, thump!—only to burst into tears with a wail. How formidable was Jin Buyi? Though old and frail, his divine strength was still peerless under heaven. How could she possibly shake him? Her two hands were nearly fractured by the recoil.
Xu Ying took the bronze bell down from Yuan Qi's neck and said, "Chanchan, Lord Bell was injured. I must trouble you to patch him up. The artifacts in Seventh Master's belly are my collection from recent days. Use whatever materials you need—don't hold back."
Zhu Chanchan took the bronze bell and saw that its wall was already battered and deformed, with only the portions bearing the eight Immortal Dao runes relatively intact. Ordinarily speaking, it wouldn't even be worth repairing.
"Can I use the artifacts in Yuan Qi's belly however I want?" Her bright eyes sparkled as she stared directly at Xu Ying.
Xu Ying smiled. "As long as you can restore Lord Bell, use as much as you like!"
Zhu Chanchan cheered.
Noticing she was thinner than before, Xu Ying asked, "What have you been doing lately, Chanchan? You haven't shown yourself for two whole years."
Zhu Chanchan replied, "The Son of Heaven of Zhou asked me to help him rebuild Haojing and entrusted me with great responsibility. As his former subject, how could I refuse?"
In the distance, a Great Zhou Qi Refiner cracked a whip and barked, "Heavenly Artisan Zhu, don't chat for too long. Get back to work!"
Zhu Chanchan turned her head and shouted back, "My friends are here!"
"If you don't get to work, there's no dinner tonight!"
"Coming, coming!"
Brushing him off, Zhu Chanchan turned back to Xu Ying with a grin. "My status in Haojing is very high. They can't do without me for even a moment. Come dinner, I'll have the cook ladle out extra portions to leave for you. As for repairing Lord Bell, I'll do it once I'm off shift—"
Xu Ying watched the girl scurry away. Yuan Qi whispered, "Ah Ying, it looks like Ancestor Chanchan hasn't had it easy."
Farther off, a Great Zhou Qi Refiner tossed over a pair of leg irons. "Put them on yourself."
Zhu Chanchan fastened the leg irons and went to supervise the labor.
At that moment, Jiang Qi's voice came from nearby: "It is already an act of extraordinary mercy that Heavenly Artisan Zhu was not executed. Under the laws of Great Zhou, she should have suffered the supreme penalty."
Xu Ying bowed in greeting and smiled. "Grand Preceptor Jiang, we meet again."
Jiang Qi returned the courtesy, looking at Jin Buyi with surprise. Suddenly his expression shifted slightly, as if recalling something, and he hurriedly instructed the Great Zhou Qi Refiners flanking him, "Do not show the slightest slight toward this Golden Crow."
When Xu Ying explained why they had come, Jiang Qi smiled and said, "So that is why. Since it is the friend of Senior Ah Ying who is injured, how could we delay? Men, summon Heavenly Artisan Zhu here."
Moments later, Zhu Chanchan was brought over once again. Jiang Qi said, "Heavenly Artisan Zhu, since Senior Ah Ying's friend is injured, you may take a few days off from work to heal Lord Bell. Do not be negligent."
Zhu Chanchan looked at Xu Ying in astonishment, clearly at a loss as to when Xu Ying had gained such immense sway that even Jiang Qi would intercede on his behalf. She was the heavenly artisan in charge of the reconstruction of all of Haojing; if she ceased work for several days, the entire reconstruction of Haojing would have to halt and wait for her!
If Xu Ying were merely an ageless immortal who had lived long enough, would Jiang Qi really pay such a steep price just to curry favor with him?
Xu Ying handed the bronze bell to her and smiled. "Heavenly Artisan Zhu, I leave Lord Bell to you."
Zhu Chanchan lifted the bronze bell and called Yuan Qi over. "I still need the strongest flame!"
Jin Buyi poked his head over and smiled. "How about me?"
Zhu Chanchan led them away.
Jiang Qi looked at Xu Ying and remarked with a smile, "I see that Senior Ah Ying's brow is furrowed. May I ask what troubles you?"
Xu Ying exhaled a long breath and laid bare his worries. "Having met peerless Qi Refiners and unmatched Nuo immortals, I have come to realize how lacking I truly am. I wish to take another step forward, yet now I do not know where to begin."
Jiang Qi pondered for a moment, then replied, "I am not the strongest in Great Zhou; my strength cannot even make the top ten in Great Zhou. In the future, Great Zhou's Qi Refiners will surely pursue dual cultivation of Nuo and Qi, and my cultivation and strength will be ranked even lower. I fear I cannot answer Senior Ah Ying's dilemma."
Xu Ying said seriously, "If you also take the path of dual cultivation of Nuo and Qi, you can enter the top ten of Great Zhou. I believe even securing the top spot is entirely within reach."
Jiang Qi shook his head. "I am the strategist of Great Zhou. There is no need for me to pursue supreme martial might; an adequate level of force suffices. To me, wisdom is sometimes a hundred times more potent than martial might."
He had had the opportunity to practice dual cultivation of Nuo and Qi, but back then, he needed to cultivate to the peak realm in the shortest possible time and master the Tianzhu Sword so he could carry out subsequent plans to protect the Son of Heaven of Zhou.
Therefore, he had had no choice but to forgo that opportunity.
Jiang Qi continued, "The vast majority of people merely study ancestral techniques and divine powers. Cultivating a technique to the Ascension stage over a lifetime is already enough to be acclaimed by everyone as a genius. Yet in truth, the vast majority are nothing more than mediocre talents. If someone can create one or two divine powers of their own, they are hailed as a grandmaster. Senior Ah Ying, you have fathomed the Eight Sounds of Primordial Nurturing, observed Heavenly Dao runes, comprehended Heavenly Dao divine powers, and studied Immortal Dao runes. You have long since surpassed the vast majority."
Xu Ying's expression dimmed. "Yet those were all things the past me had achieved and comprehended. I still cannot be called a master."
Jiang Qi sighed. "And yet, what you have comprehended are accomplishments that countless people cannot achieve in an entire lifetime."
He shook his head, summoned a Great Zhou Qi Refiner to arrange Xu Ying's temporary stay in Haojing, and turned to leave.
Xu Ying settled in. With attendants arranging his daily food and lodgings without needing to lift a finger, life was rather comfortable.
Unable to sit idle, he rested briefly before going to help Zhu Chanchan repair the bronze bell.
"Chanchan, you built Haojing?"
Xu Ying had realized that Haojing was a magical artifact of colossal proportions—every street, every alley, every building and pavilion, every bridge and river was composed of various classes of magical artifacts. His heart was filled with indescribable astonishment.
Zhu Chanchan's expression saddened, and she shook her head. "My master designed it, but he failed to finish it. Later, I helped him complete it."
She took numerous artifact fragments from Yuan Qi's mouth, had Jin Buyi breathe fire to melt them down and extract their precious ores, and calmly recounted the story of her master.
"Haojing was the capital of the Son of Heaven of Zhou. Back then, the Son of Heaven had the ambition to ascend with the entire nation to the Immortal Realm. To ascend with an entire nation required an extraordinarily massive city capable of carrying everyone in ascension."
The firelight played over Zhu Chanchan's face, shifting between light and shadow.
Forging such a supreme creation required an individual of transcendent wisdom—someone possessing boundless experience in artifact refinement, mastery over the casting of diverse artifacts and the imprinting of runes, as well as an immense command of space.
"Those who wielded such ability were called heavenly artisans in that era. My master and I were the greatest heavenly artisans!"
This task was assigned to Zhu Chanchan and her master. Her master told the Son of Heaven of Zhou that even exhausting all the precious ore in Shenzhou, it would still be impossible for Haojing to protect him through the Heavenly Tribulation.
"'Exhausting all the copper of Shenzhou, can it withstand the Heavenly Tribulation? The city falls and lives perish, merely adding to the dead. Exhausting all the people under heaven, can it withstand the Heavenly Tribulation? The realm falls and the people perish, merely adding to a tyrant's name.'"
When her master uttered those words, the Son of Heaven flew into a rage and ordered his execution, exterminating her master's clan; many heads rolled.
Before her master died, he told her that she must never allow the Son of Heaven of Zhou to entertain any notion of ascending with the entire nation.
"'He cannot face the Heavenly Tribulation on his own, so he seeks to hold all living beings of Shenzhou hostage to cross the tribulation together, betting that the Heavenly Dao would not dare annihilate all the common folk of Shenzhou.'
"Her master told her, 'Yet the Heavenly Dao is merciless; it will never spare a thought for living beings. If an entire nation attempts to ascend, it will surely end in the destruction of the realm and the death of its people.'
"After my master died, the refining of Haojing fell into my hands."
Her eyes gleamed in the firelight. Suddenly, a tear rolled down her cheek, and the girl said, "From that moment on, no matter how much precious ore the Son of Heaven of Zhou hauled in, it could never fill the bottomless pit that was Haojing. With me as the heavenly artisan, he would never be able to finish forging Haojing."
Xu Ying asked, "So later, having no other choice, he settled for second best and forged the Divine Boat of the Other Shore to carry his civil and military officials to the other shore, right?"
Zhu Chanchan chuckled. "He barely even managed to forge the Divine Boat of the Other Shore. Even though he knew I was embezzling immense amounts of material, he simply didn't dare kill me. If he killed me, no one else could forge the Divine Boat of the Other Shore for him."
Yuan Qi asked in confusion, "Ancestor Chanchan, why didn't you board the Divine Boat of the Other Shore?"
Zhu Chanchan replied calmly, "The disciple of a guilty minister has no right to board the boat. Those permitted aboard were all nobility. In name, I was a heavenly artisan, but to the Son of Heaven of Zhou, a heavenly artisan was no different from a sericulturist tending silkworms or a fisherman catching fish."
Yuan Qi muttered, "Those who didn't build the boat could board in comfort and head to the other shore, while the one who built it wasn't even qualified to board. What kind of logic is that?"
Jin Buyi was dozing off while breathing roaring solar divine fire, but suddenly he seemed to wake, opening his dim, aged eyes. "Since ancient times, that is how the world works. Look at the mud-legged laborers who build houses for others—which of them can afford to live in one?"
Xu Ying exhaled a breath of turbid air and cautioned, "But the Son of Heaven of Zhou is returning soon. Your Feilai Peak is even larger than the Divine Boat of the Other Shore. That crime alone is enough to send you to join your master."
Zhu Chanchan smiled. "Don't worry. I definitely have a way to escape."
The bronze bell had originally been forged from ordinary brass; having been battered into scrap this time, Zhu Chanchan could take this chance to reforge its body.
Xu Ying had acquired many artifact fragments in Taiyi Lesser Mysterious Heaven. Those fragments had belonged to artifacts of the strongest Qi Refiners from the myriad heavens and worlds, containing countless treasures within them!
Refining these treasures took Zhu Chanchan immense effort, and even after more than ten days, the work was still not complete.
Although Jiang Qi had permitted her to repair the bronze bell for Xu Ying first, seeing the delay drag on so long made even him anxious, prompting him to come urge her several times.
Xu Ying returned to his quarters and continued to ponder deeply, searching for his own path of cultivation.
On this day, an epiphany suddenly struck his heart:
"What is Nuo? What are divine powers? What is the Martial Dao? What was the purpose behind their creation?"
He grew excited.
"It is resistance!
"When the fierce gale comes to destroy our homes, we resist the gale!
"When floods come to swallow our lives, we resist the flood!
"When savage beasts come to devour our lives, we resist the beasts!
"When tyrannical power gives us no way to live, we resist tyranny!
"When this Heavenly Dao tramples upon us, we resist the Heavenly Dao!"
He leaped up, laughing heartily. "When we of the human race were weak, we had no sharp claws like beasts, no legions like tyrannical rulers, no force like hurricanes, no fury like raging floods, no majesty like the Heavenly Dao. When we first began to resist, all we could use were these two fists!
"Our ancestors used their own mortal bodies to contend against floods and beasts, to resist the Heavenly Dao and tyrannical power. Nuo techniques, divine powers—when everything began, it all began with the Martial Dao!"
He no longer bothered with the circulation routes of techniques, no longer dwelled on Nuo methods and divine powers. Centering his mind in internal observation and visualization, he surged his vital qi and blood; the Golden Core rose from the elixir cauldron, radiating across his entire being!
"Let us begin with the Martial Dao!"
Chapter 175