The figure that slowly emerged from the black water looked around, then sank back down into the depths. A voice filled with bewilderment drifted up: "Perhaps I entered the wrong person's tomb. Let me come back in again..."
Moments later, he slowly surfaced once more, glanced left and right as before, and fell silent.
He had an ordinary appearance—ordinary eyes, a slightly flat nose, single eyelids, small eyes, rather thick lips, an unshaven chin with stray stubble, and messy sideburns.
Combined, these features gave his face a wooden, stiff quality, like a corpse's face devoid of expression.
His garments were nothing more than ordinary coarse cloth, making him look like a dull, simple, honest peasant.
He was Qiao Zizhong, Daoist moniker Qingshuang, an inconspicuous figure on Mount Emei. Though an ancestral patriarch, he was as low-key and reserved as his looks suggested. Even set among a gathering of ancestral patriarchs, he would draw no attention whatsoever.
"Where is my home?"
His corpse-like face showed no expression, but his trembling hands revealed that he was truly enraged. "I merely stepped out for a moment to harvest some ripe crops, and my home is gone? Leaving behind only a bed?"
Under his furious rage, the black water churned, and the interior of the mountain boomed with dull reverberations, though none of the disturbance escaped to the outside world.
"Who is so brazen as to dare rob a tomb of my Emei? Am I no longer an Emei patriarch! What on earth is Yan Kongcheng good for, letting my Emei become so weak that anyone can push us around!"
Above the black water, in front of the brocade coffin, Qiao Zizhong stood expressionless, grinding his teeth. The words forced their way through his clenched jaw. "I'd like to see who has eaten bear heart and leopard gall!"
He drifted out of the black water and circled the burial chamber, sweeping his gaze across every corner in an attempt to uncover any clue left by the grave robber. Yet the thief was clearly a seasoned master who had left behind not the slightest scrap of evidence, not even a footprint on the ground!
"Could a mortal enemy have tracked me down?"
His heart tightened. He immediately walked toward a side chamber in the tomb—a cenotaph he had designed within his own mausoleum!
The cenotaph showed no damage; no one had entered! He promptly opened another burial chamber, a decoy tomb he had laid out. Inside were a coffin, burial objects, and a skeleton whose identity could no longer be discerned.
Yet to his shock, no one had touched the decoy tomb either!
Qiao Zizhong opened yet another tomb within the tomb; this one, too, was untouched!
He opened a secret passage within the mountain rock and climbed upward. Above lay an even more ancient tomb. His mausoleum was laid out with a grave atop a grave: an old tomb rested on top, so even if grave robbers came, they would excavate the old tomb first. After unearthing an ancient grave, no one would suspect a newer tomb lay hidden beneath it!
Yet this ancient grave had not been disturbed in the slightest either!
Qiao Zizhong could not help drawing a sharp breath, whispering, "The outer perimeter of my mausoleum is riddled with mechanisms. I have a cenotaph, a decoy tomb, a tomb within a tomb, and a grave atop a grave. Within, every three steps brings a seal and a restriction, every ten steps a death trap, covered in lethal formations. It should be impossible for anyone to enter the burial chamber without alerting me... Someone has targeted me!"
His hands and feet turned icy cold. To breach his burial chamber and plunder every single one of his treasures without raising an alarm meant this enemy's strength had to be extraordinary. They were most likely an ancient powerhouse surviving from the antiquity, just like him!
"Leaving behind only the coffin—is this a provocation directed at me? Heh, with such an ostentatious personality, how could they have survived until now? In this world, only those who keep a low profile, only those who remain ordinary, can survive!"
Suddenly, his gaze froze. He flew before the burial chamber of Mad Martial Uncle and stared at the stone wall where only a gaping hole remained, struck speechless for a long time.
"And here I thought what marvelous methods he possessed. Turns out he came in from here."
He slowly rose into the air, keeping his feet off the ground, unwilling to leave behind even a single footprint as he drifted into Mad Martial Uncle's burial chamber.
"Little Madman, I took every precaution, yet I still failed to guard against you!"
His palm gently pressed against Mad Martial Uncle's forehead. The corpse immediately emitted sharp, cracking bursts, crumbling in an instant into a puddle of bloody minced flesh! "You ruined my grand design." Qiao Zizhong paid no heed to the remains and continued drifting forward. If his feet touched the ground and left footprints, the grave robber might return to inspect the scene and trace his origins through them.
He wandered through Mad Martial Uncle's tomb for a full circle, his expression growing darker and darker.
The thief had left behind no useful clues here either—not even an excavation tunnel, not a trace of entering or leaving!
"So brilliant? Just how did he get in?"
After a moment of silence, he retreated to his own tomb, lay down inside the brocade coffin, and murmured to himself, "It was plundered shortly after I left, meaning someone had targeted me long ago. Otherwise, it couldn't have been such a coincidence. Who would suspect me, a dead man? Over these years, I have clearly kept an exceptionally low profile..."
He sat up abruptly and whispered, "The things he stole are my treasures, imprinted with my spiritual marks. I only need to sense them slightly, and my magic treasures will fly back!"
He focused his mind to establish a connection, but his heart sank deeper and deeper.
"Heh, what formidable means!"
He gave a cold sneer. "Stealing my precious treasures and immediately wiping clean my marks—to be prepared so thoroughly, they have indeed been watching me for a long time!"
In a flash, his figure reappeared above the pool of black water. Staring down at its surface, he muttered, "The only person to come to Mount Emei these past few days is Xu Ying. Could it be you? Ageless immortal?"
Xu Ying's figure slowly emerged upon the surface of the water.
In the reflection, Xu Ying was consulting Yan Kongcheng on Emei divine arts, practicing step by step with utmost diligence.
"He has been locked inside Emei's Golden Casket Hall these past few days. It is impossible for him to have slipped out, nor does he possess the ability to erase my spiritual imprints."
Just as this thought crossed Qiao Zizhong's mind, Xu Ying in the water's reflection suddenly looked up. Wearing a peculiar expression, his gaze met Qiao Zizhong's directly. Qiao Zizhong's heart gave a violent jolt. *He can sense me spying on him? He is only at the second Pass-Breaching stage...*
Right then, he saw Xu Ying in the reflection reveal an amused smile. Water splashed with a sudden roar, and from the black pool, a human figure fashioned entirely from water slowly stood up! Judging by its face and attire, it was none other than Xu Ying!
"What sacred being dares spy on Xu?"
A voice came from the water figure's mouth. Raising a finger, it said indifferently, "To peek without announcing yourself is dreadfully ill-mannered. Today, Xu shall teach you an unforgettable lesson!"
Qiao Zizhong's eyes widened. The watery Xu Ying actually pointed a finger straight at him, immortal light faintly glimmering at the fingertip as it manifested multiple bursts of finger force, some fast, some slow!
"My Emei's Immortal Slaying Finger!"
Qiao Zizhong laughed in sheer anger. "I had already mastered this divine art to perfection back when I was a mere disciple! I am an ancestral patriarch, and you dare use it against me?"
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*
Qiao Zizhong's figure flickered as several of water-Xu Ying's finger forces missed. Suddenly, one of the blasts shifted in an abnormal manner, piercing Qiao Zizhong's chest with a sharp hiss.
Qiao Zizhong was startled. With two more hissing sounds, another two finger forces struck his glabella and throat respectively!
He was both shocked and enraged.
He had assumed Xu Ying was using Emei's supreme art, the Immortal Slaying Finger, but Xu Ying's technique was not purely traditional—it incorporated shifts of the Heavenly Dao. Caught off guard, Qiao Zizhong had taken three hits in a row!
These three finger strikes caused him no injury whatsoever, yet the insult was immense!
It truly was an unforgettable lesson!
With a splash, the water figure formed from Xu Ying's magic power collapsed. A voice drifted away, growing fainter: "Don't go peeping around. I've poked you three times today; look again, and I'll gouge out your pair of eyes!"
Despite having a face stiff as a corpse, Qiao Zizhong turned red with fury, his hands trembling violently.
"In all my life, I have never seen anyone so arrogant! To possess so little skill and yet be this arrogant—you are the very first!"
He tried his utmost to suppress his rage. Xu Ying had used the connection of his gaze to manifest a water clone, casting a spell to punish a peeping tom. While such methods appeared impressive, the person using them was absurdly mismatched!
Xu Ying had only just reached the second Pass-Breaching stage, merely attaining great completion of the Golden Core, whereas Qiao Zizhong, the one he had just humiliated, had become an Emei ancestral patriarch ages ago!
Qiao Zizhong had long perfected his Primordial Spirit. Were it not for the super heavenly tribulation barring his way, he would have ascended to become an immortal and patriarch long ago!
Yet Xu Ying had put on such an enormous front before him, infuriating him to no end.
"If your ability surpassed mine, that would be one thing. But your cultivation realm is so low that you couldn't even break my skin..."
Qiao Zizhong took a long breath to stabilize his state of mind, whispering, "A person so flashy and boastful certainly couldn't be the one who stole my magic treasures. Besides, he lacks the strength. If not him, who is watching me?"
Composing himself, he said, "I'll teach him a lesson first, lest this boy look down on everyone."
Just as he was about to act, he suddenly stopped. The figure of another person appeared upon the surface of the black water.
The person wore black robes with a red sash. The garments were not from the Han era, but from the Qin dynasty, the patterns embroidered upon the red sash distinct from those of the Han.
Standing atop a square rock, the person was drifting toward Mount Emei. As if also sensing his gaze, the newcomer looked up, meeting his eyes across the vast distance.
Ripples stirred across the black pool. Qiao Zizhong took fright and quickly averted his gaze, breaking contact with the person's eyes!
"Xu Fu!"
Qiao Zizhong's expression turned solemn as he abandoned the thought of teaching Xu Ying a lesson. *Why has he come?* he thought.
Having cast his technique to punish the gaze spying on him, Xu Ying dispersed his magic power. Yan Kongcheng hurriedly asked, "Brother Xu, what happened?"
Xu Ying said casually, "Someone was peeping in secret, so I taught him a lesson. Now he probably knows there is always someone better beyond him, and heavens beyond the heavens."
Yan Kongcheng felt deeply envious. "Why doesn't anyone spy on me so I can show off too? At any rate, I am the current sect master of Emei."
Xu Ying looked serious. "Ah Cheng, do not underestimate that person just now. He was quite formidable. When I used the Immortal Slaying Finger I just learned, I couldn't take him down; it was only by blending in the Heavenly Dao Finger that I managed to poke him three times."
Xu Ying had been following Yan Kongcheng to study Emei's Dao methods and divine arts, practicing with great earnestness and reaping immense rewards.
Yan Kongcheng was the reviver chosen by Emei's immortals. His cultivation was vast and profound, his foundation rock-solid, and he executed various Emei divine arts with exquisite mastery.
By learning from him, Xu Ying worked tirelessly to patch up the shortcomings in his own foundation.
Yan Kongcheng was also learning the application of Nuo arts from Xu Ying. However, as they practiced, Yan Kongcheng discovered that Xu Ying was merely half-baked when it came to Nuo arts, his foundation far from solid.
It could not be helped; Xu Ying had mostly figured out Nuo arts by fumbling through on his own.
He had truly begun to grasp Nuo arts only after Zhou Qiyun handed over the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Longevity Art before dying. Only then did Xu Ying begin to understand Nuo arts through that longevity art.
Later, whenever he opened other secret depositories, they had all been through fragmented methods lacking the corresponding Nuo arts, forcing him to pick up a spadeful here and a hoe-stroke there. Nuo arts were typically kept within the grasp of the Nuo Master aristocratic families, and within those families, only core disciples were taught the full systems. Though the great aristocratic families had all wanted to win Xu Ying over, none would pass their family's innermost core techniques to him.
Having realized his shortcomings in the Land of Heaven's Scourge, Xu Ying had reflected deeply on the painful lesson and turned toward comprehending the Martial Dao.
The Martial Dao was the origin of all divine arts and Dao methods. He had tempered his Martial Dao first precisely to polish his foundation and make up for his flaws. Now that Emei's Yan Kongcheng had broken his seal and emerged into the world, Xu Ying naturally seized this opportunity to squeeze every bit of knowledge out of him.
Just then, a calm, clear voice echoed from afar: "Emei's Sect Master Yan, Xu Fu of Mount Huotong has come to pay a visit."
Yan Kongcheng was delighted. Turning to Xu Ying, he said, "Brother Xu, Xu Fu has arrived. Come with me to meet him!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "I have past grievances with him. He once abducted me to unseal the Mount Li Mausoleum, so I will not meet him. Xu Fu is dead set on restoring the Qi Refiners, acting with secretive and deep-seated cunning. Do not get too deeply entangled with him."
Yan Kongcheng acknowledged this and said, "If there are grievances between you, you should leave first. I will stall him."
Xu Ying summoned the bronze bell and quietly descended the mountain.
Yan Kongcheng went to the Golden Summit of Emei to receive Xu Fu personally, greeting him with a smile. "Mister Xu has finally arrived."
Xu Fu looked around and saw many freshly initiated Qi Refiners on the mountain. Pleased, he said, "Emei is gradually stepping onto the right track. Truly worthy of celebration. Sect Master Yan will surely restore Emei, revive the past glory of the immortal masters, and restore the lineage of the Qi Refiners!"
Yan Kongcheng smiled. "Mister Xu, I fear I cannot fulfill your wish to be a pure Qi Refiner. Some days ago, I met the ageless immortal Xu Ying. After sparring with him, I found Nuo techniques and divine arts to be extraordinary. Therefore, I am practicing dual cultivation of Qi and Nuo, and I intend for all disciples who join Emei in the future to cultivate both Qi and Nuo as well."
Xu Fu's expression shifted slightly. "Sect Master Yan does not wish to restore Emei's orthodox tradition?"
Yan Kongcheng said sincerely, "Mister Xu, my Emei's heritage runs deep, and our Dao scriptures are as vast as an ocean. I shoulder the heavy responsibility of reviving Emei. Generation after generation of Emei ancestral patriarchs clung to the Qi Refiner orthodoxy right up until the great upheaval of heaven and earth, nearly facing total annihilation. Since they chose me to carry on Emei's heritage, I cannot repeat their mistakes. Emei must change; without change, it cannot stand in this world!"
Xu Fu fell silent for a moment before saying, "Xu Ying defeated you and made you change your mind, didn't he?"
Yan Kongcheng replied, "This matter has nothing to do with Brother Xu. If Nuo methods are good, why not embrace both?"
Xu Fu said flatly, "You are the orthodox heir of Emei, yet you refuse to uphold the orthodoxy. You have failed the past ancestral patriarchs of Emei, and you have failed my expectations of you."
Yan Kongcheng was surprised, not understanding why he would speak like this.
Devoid of human emotion, Xu Fu's eyes hardened as he prepared to strike. But his gaze inadvertently caught sight of an ordinary-looking man in ordinary clothes, possessing a corpse-like face. His heart skipped a beat, and his killing intent vanished at once.
Yan Kongcheng followed his gaze and saw the ordinary man as well, lost in thought.
Xu Fu promptly took his leave from Yan Kongcheng. As Yan Kongcheng saw him off, Xu Fu said, "Sect Master Yan, I will not stop your dual cultivation of Qi and Nuo, but you must look clearly into the hidden perils of Nuo Immortals. On no account should you stray down a crooked path or bring ruin upon your own life! Take care of yourself!"
Treading upon Mount Fangzhang, he drifted away into the distance.
Yan Kongcheng watched him depart, then immediately turned back and walked up to the ordinary man, halting before him. This man had recently joined Mount Emei as an ordinary registered disciple, calling himself Shen Ziqiao.
"Who exactly are you?" Yan Kongcheng asked.
The ordinary-looking man straightened his back. For a fleeting instant, an aura capable of sweeping across heaven and earth and dominating the contemporary age flared and vanished. He said indifferently, "The thirty-fourth ancestral patriarch of Emei, Qiao Zizhong."
Yan Kongcheng's mind was violently shaken, and he blurted out in shock, "You are an ancestral patriarch from the Great Shang era? You... you are nearly twenty thousand years old! How have you lived until now?"
Chapter 204