Xu Ying stepped outside the temple gates and saw skies full of winter crows flapping their wings and taking flight, swiftly vanishing from sight. Sunlight spilled down from the Cangwu Abyss, miraculously bringing a touch of warmth to the Netherworld.
Li Xiaoke slowly pushed himself to his feet, his legs still trembling. Coming up behind Xu Ying, he said in a hoarse voice, "That person is excessively proud. Having failed in a single strike, he will not linger. But the factions backing the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court don't stop with him alone. Let's go, lest further complications arise!"
He had already been gravely injured to begin with, and straining with everything he had throughout the night had severely depleted his cultivation, making his injuries difficult to suppress.
Xu Ying asked in confusion, "Are you saying that the one who struck last night was human?"
Li Xiaoke hesitated for a moment, remaining silent.
Xu Ying pressed on, "The ones controlling the Netherworld are actually humans, not ghosts or gods? What kind of person could control the Netherworld?"
Li Xiaoke did not answer his question, saying instead, "Ageless immortal, this world holds many secrets, and you yourself are one of them. If no one can unravel your secret, how could anyone fathom the rest?"
He circulated the large and small cave-heavens behind him. Terribly battered, they were now straining under the burden until six cave-heavens could bear it no longer, bursting apart one after another with sharp pops and crumbling completely into nothingness.
Xu Ying's eyes flickered as he watched these cave-heavens.
Li Xiaoke's cave-heavens had been gouged out of Nuo immortals and transplanted directly into his own body; they were not opened by himself.
Had he opened them on his own, even if a cave-heaven was shattered, he could simply open another. But since they were transplanted, once broken they could not be reopened—each one destroyed was gone forever.
Strip away these cave-heavens, and he was merely an Ascension-stage Qi Refiner.
Behind Li Xiaoke, two more cave-heavens collapsed and dissolved. Even so, he still retained more than one hundred and thirty cave-heavens. If nothing else, the dharmic power of these fragmented cave-heavens alone was enough to look down on all rivals!
Not to mention, he was a supreme figure among Qi Refiners!
Xu Ying dispersed the killing intent in his heart, and Li Xiaoke quietly dissipated the sword qi swirling at his fingertips. The two exchanged a tacit smile of unspoken understanding, then traveled side by side, riding sword qi as they flew toward the Cangwu Abyss.
The Cangwu Abyss was colossal beyond measure, its length and depth unknown. Looking upward from below revealed wildly varying sights.
Here was a stretch of azure sky, there a roaring waterfall; here were rolling hills and wild country, there open expanses of water, alongside rushing rivers and surging lava.
Li Xiaoke took Xu Ying into a calm lake, swimming upward. Moments later, the two broke through the surface of the lake and looked up, only to see a colossal star hanging in the sky, blotting out half the heavens in deep crimson.
Suddenly, the star blinked! Concentric rings of qi within it focused and stared right down at them!
That star was actually an eye!
While Xu Ying was still in shock, Li Xiaoke grabbed him and dived back underwater, calling out in the water, "Not here!"
Xu Ying swam downward after him. Emerging from the Cangwu Abyss, the two flew into a pool of lava. No sooner had they flown out of the molten rock than they saw heavenly fire raging in every direction, like the hell of legends.
"Not here either."
Li Xiaoke plunged back into the lava. Xu Ying followed, passing through the lava to return once more to the Cangwu Abyss.
Li Xiaoke continued leading the search. Every time they passed through a different geographical terrain above the Cangwu Abyss, the destination they entered differed as well.
Seeing this, Xu Ying grew suspicious and asked, "Could this Cangwu Abyss connect to different worlds?"
Li Xiaoke shook his head. "I don't know whether the Cangwu Abyss connects to other worlds or just other parts of the Yuanshou world. The Yuanshou world is vast; there are many unknown places I've never set foot in."
He paused, then added, "After all, the Cangwu Abyss is the great rift valley of our world. If this rift tore into other worlds as well..."
Hearing that, Xu Ying shook his head too. "That's too hard to believe."
Li Xiaoke nodded.
The two swam through another lake. Sunlight poured down, dazzlingly bright. Xu Ying shielded his eyes, and only after a while did his vision recover.
Looking around, he breathed a sigh of relief. Eight wondrous peaks encircled the mountain beside them, steep, elegant, and majestic—it was Mount Jiuyi.
Remembering the events that had transpired here on Mount Jiuyi between himself, Zhou Qiyun, Yuan Weiyang, and the others, Xu Ying sighed with emotion.
Li Xiaoke said, "Mount Jiuyi isn't too far from Jiulong Mountain in Daozhou. My eight-sided sword is still there. We might as well retrieve it first."
Xu Ying felt a chill in his heart.
He had entrusted the eight-sided sword to Xue Ying'an. Xue Ying'an was obviously no match for Li Xiaoke; if Li Xiaoke headed to Jiulong Mountain, Xue Ying'an would surely die!
Suddenly, Li Xiaoke's expression changed drastically. He hastily grabbed Xu Ying, plunged into the lake, and swam back toward the Netherworld.
A strange noise suddenly reached Xu Ying's ears, sounding like the chanting of all living beings, yet there was something familiar about it.
*It's that refined and easygoing Heavenly Dragon by Miss Qingbi's side!*
Xu Ying was overjoyed. The Heavenly Dragon's body had been shattered by Li Xiaoke using the bronze bell, and it was Xu Ying who had repaired its physical body and casually corrected the erroneous Heavenly Dao runes on its body!
The reason Xu Ying found it familiar was precisely because of those modified Heavenly Dao runes!
Now that the Heavenly Dragon was flying here, didn't that mean Fairy Qingbi was not far away?
*With Li Xiaoke's current state, he probably wouldn't even survive a single move against Qingbi!* Xu Ying's eyes gleamed.
The two swam from the lake into the Cangwu Abyss and entered the Netherworld, Li Xiaoke speeding away with Xu Ying.
A moment later, a Heavenly Dragon descended gracefully from above, plunging through the green lake into the Cangwu Abyss. Looking around, it said, "Qingbi, Li Xiaoke's aura appeared right near here!"
Qingbi stepped out from the lake water, a black coffin trailing behind her. "Li Xiaoke and the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court are birds of a feather. He will surely go seek refuge with him. Let's go check there!"
Carrying her, the Heavenly Dragon was about to head toward the Nether Court when the Heavenly Dao runes across its body suddenly lit up. It said in confusion, "Look, look! The Heavenly Dao runes on me are glowing!"
Qingbi's heart stirred, and she realized at once, "The runes on you were modified by Xu Ying, which means Xu Ying is nearby! Heavenly Dragon, sense Xu Ying's location immediately!"
Her mind was quick, and she added at once, "Xu Ying is nearby, and Li Xiaoke is nearby. That means Xu Ying must have fallen into Li Xiaoke's hands—otherwise, he wouldn't be stimulating the Heavenly Dao runes on you!"
The Heavenly Dragon agreed and focused on sensing Xu Ying's position. Finally catching Xu Ying's aura, it grinned. "Follow me!"
It immediately gave chase in the direction Xu Ying and Li Xiaoke had fled, but suddenly remembered something: *Xu Ying left Heavenly Dao runes on my body. He can stimulate these runes to make them light up. So can he activate the runes? And if he can activate the runes, can he wield me like... Damn it, I've been turned into a magic treasure!*
The Heavenly Dragon flew into a rage, smoke billowing from its nostrils. *My master finally died, and I barely got a few years of freedom, only to be schemed against by him!*
Qingbi had no idea what had set it off and paid it no mind.
Li Xiaoke rushed to the banks of the Nai River with Xu Ying, yet no matter what he did, he could not shake Qingbi and the Heavenly Dragon, leaving him increasingly anxious.
Xu Ying consoled him, "Brother Xiaoke, hiding won't solve anything. Why not stop, rest up just like last night, and fight them to the death?"
Li Xiaoke gave a muffled grunt. The ruler of the Netherworld hadn't launched a second attack after missing once, lest he lose face, but Qingbi and the Heavenly Dragon would definitely kill him!
Xu Ying clearly harbored ill intentions.
*Qingbi and that stupid dragon keep tracking me down. Could he be playing tricks behind my back?*
Li Xiaoke cast a sidelong glance at Xu Ying. Although he guessed Xu Ying might be responsible, he had no proof.
*Still, if he thinks this will drive me to the end of my rope, he underestimates me.*
Li Xiaoke took Xu Ying all the way downstream along the Nai River, crossing mountains and ridges until they reached a place of verdant, elegant peaks. Leading Xu Ying deep into the mountains, twisting and turning through the terrain, they came to a murmuring mountain brook.
He lightly slashed his hand through the air. Ahead of them, light gleamed in the empty space, as if a slit had been sliced open in reality.
Li Xiaoke pulled open this spatial rift and led Xu Ying inside, then closed the rift behind them.
Bright light filled Xu Ying's vision. Before him lay a Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground. There were no Five Sacred Peaks immortal mountains here, only pristine mountains, waters, and a winding river. Before the landscape stood a thatched cottage, behind which hung a crimson sun.
A woman stepped out of the thatched cottage. Seeing Li Xiaoke, a smile graced her face, and she nodded gently. "You're here?"
Xu Ying looked closely. She was a female Nuo immortal, cultivating purely Nuo methods without the slightest trace of Qi Refining.
Li Xiaoke gave an "Mm" and walked forward without exchanging many pleasantries with the female Nuo immortal. Instead, he tensely approached a water well before the cottage and looked down into it.
Xu Ying's gaze remained fixed on the female Nuo immortal, who smiled and nodded warmly at him.
*This is a Nuo immortal's Hidden Scenery ground, so this female Nuo immortal must be its master.*
Xu Ying's eyes flickered, pity welling up within him. *For Li Xiaoke to find this place so easily suggests she is likely his disciple, already devoured by him until only human skin remains.*
Yet the woman was remarkably kind, lacking the malevolent hostility seen in other Nuo immortals eaten down to mere human skins. Gentle and considerate, she invited Xu Ying to sit and asked, "What kind of tea do you prefer? I'll brew some for you."
"Just give him a bowl of plain boiled water!" Li Xiaoke barked without looking back. "Don't be so polite to him—he's my prisoner!"
Even so, the woman went indoors to boil water for tea. Moments later, she brought out a teapot and teacups, poured tea for Xu Ying, and smiled. "He doesn't look like a bad person to me."
Xu Ying glanced at Li Xiaoke and smiled. "Bad people never write 'I am a villain' on their foreheads."
The woman chuckled. "Then are you a villain?"
Xu Ying laughed heartily. "I am not."
Li Xiaoke snorted, pushed himself up from beside the well, and sat down near Xu Ying.
Holding his teacup, Xu Ying walked over to the well and peered inside. Reflected in the water was the scene outside the Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground.
Carrying Qingbi, the Heavenly Dragon had pursued them to the vicinity and searched all around, but finding nothing, it finally soared away into the sky.
Xu Ying sipped his tea, a little disappointed.
The Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground had severed his connection to the runes on the Heavenly Dragon.
He turned around and saw Li Xiaoke speaking softly with the woman. Suspicion stirred in Xu Ying's heart. He quietly drifted behind her, closely inspecting her neck for any slender slit or incision. He found none.
Noticing his gaze, the woman turned back to look at him with a warm, infectious smile.
Xu Ying returned the smile, but his heart went cold.
The moment she turned her head, he caught sight of a faint trace of light extending downward from the back of her head.
*She is dead. Why is there no resentment or malice in her at all?* Xu Ying thought silently.
Li Xiaoke settled down here and was in no rush to leave. Rarely had he been so relaxed, his guard finally let down.
His relationship with that woman was not like master and disciple, but rather like husband and wife. They often stayed close together, looking remarkably sweet and tender.
In his leisure moments, Li Xiaoke would ask Xu Ying for instruction.
Xu Ying taught him the Thirteen Heavenly Sword Forms. Li Xiaoke was a genius of the sword dao, so grasping the sword techniques was not difficult for him. What proved difficult was the Heavenly Dao contained within the Thirteen Heavenly Sword Forms.
The Taichu World expert who created this supreme art had communed with the heart of heaven and earth to comprehend the sword dao, weaving his own understanding of the Heavenly Dao into it!
Xu Ying, proficient in the Heavenly Dao, had synthesized and perfected these thirteen forms, making them surpass the original thirteen techniques!
After studying for more than ten days, Li Xiaoke had still failed to master all thirteen sword forms. He couldn't help frowning, his temper gradually growing irritable.
One day, seeing him practicing swordplay, the woman quietly approached Xu Ying and said, "Observing your words and deeds over these past few days, you are no bad person. Leave early; I will let you out."
Xu Ying looked at her in surprise.
The woman smiled and said, "Though my husband has a foul temper, he is not an evil person. He is simply obsessed with studying the dao, which is why he abducted you. Please do not blame him."
Leading the way forward, she said, "This is my Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground. If I let you out, it will not disturb him."
Xu Ying's mind buzzed. He stammered, "You're Li Xiaoke's wife? You..."
The sound of Li Xiaoke coughing drifted over, and Xu Ying stopped short.
The woman cracked open a sliver in the Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground. Xu Ying stepped outside, and the smiling woman waved goodbye to him before closing the Hidden Scenery, vanishing from view.
Xu Ying was still somewhat bewildered.
*Li Xiaoke definitely wouldn't let me leave. He'll give chase. I must get away from here as fast as possible!*
Xu Ying sped outward, soon arriving at the banks of the Nai River.
Just then, a skiff came drifting slowly from upstream on the Nai River. A man wearing a bamboo conical hat sat aboard, fishing with a pole.
Seeing this, Xu Ying felt suspicious: *Are there even fish in the Nai River?*
Anxious to evade Li Xiaoke, he hurried along. Glancing back inadvertently, he saw the hat-wearing man moor the boat at the riverbank and step ashore.
Puzzled, Xu Ying didn't stop, dashing downstream along the Nai River at extreme speed.
Before long, another boat came drifting over the waters of the Nai River. Aboard was that very same hat-wearing man, only now he held no fishing rod, standing with hands clasped behind his back at the bow. As the small boat drew near, the man gently lifted the brim of his bamboo hat and looked toward Xu Ying.
When Xu Ying's eyes met his, his heart jolted violently. An intense sense of familiarity surged within him, followed by a chill that welled up from the depths of his soul and enveloped his entire body.
These eyes, he had seen them before; this aura, he had committed it to memory!
When he had opened the Jade Pool secret depository, he had seen those eyes and sensed that very aura!
Xu Ying came to a halt. Cutting through the waves, the small boat glided downstream.
The figure of the hat-wearing man faded along with the disappearing boat. Xu Ying hesitated, then turned around and retraced his steps.
After a long while, he returned to the mountain brook. Calming his nerves, he took out that broken wooden door and set it up nearby. Xu Ying pushed open the wooden door and stepped inside; behind the wooden door was the woman's Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground.
Seeing him return, the woman showed a surprised expression and smiled serenely at him. "Why did you come back? My husband is still practicing swordplay. He is very diligent."
Xu Ying looked toward Li Xiaoke. Li Xiaoke was indeed still practicing his swordplay there, only behind him lay a pool of blood.
At the back of his head, a slender cut had appeared, with faint light gleaming from within.
Li Xiaoke turned his head to look at him, a smile hanging on his face.
Chapter 192