The two traveled along the foot of the mountains. Xu Ying studied the map while observing the surrounding landscape. Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he pointed ahead with a laugh. "I've been here before! Keep going a bit further, and we'll reach Yuan Tiangang's dwelling!"
He glanced back. The small town and the bronze immortal palace within it had long since vanished beneath the dense green fog, leaving no trace behind.
"There must be many places like that on the Wangxiang Platform."
Xu Ying examined the map. On the map of the Wangxiang Platform drawn by the founding patriarch of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, there were numerous forbidden zones. What were those forbidden zones truly like?
Were they, like the bronze immortal palace, also tainted by the pollution of an Immortal Dao invasion?
"If so, then it is truly bizarre."
Xu Ying unfolded the map with both hands. Cinnabar circles dotted the map of the Wangxiang Platform in alarming numbers, shocking to behold!
If all those places were contaminated by Immortal Dao pollution, then there were simply far too many of them!
"Yuqing, make a copy of this map for me," Xu Ying said.
Shi Yuqing nodded. "Ah Ying..."
"Address me as Grand Supreme Martial Uncle Ah Ying."
Shi Yuqing rolled her eyes at him and chuckled. "Martial Uncle Ah Ying, who is this Yuan Tiangang? From the sound of it, you seem to hold him in high esteem."
Xu Ying said leisurely, "My first steps in swordsmanship began when I carried his sword casket on my back. Back then, he struck down the Dragon God with his sword—a scene I still find unforgettable to this day."
What Yuan Tiangang had slain was a divine dragon formed from a mountain range, a creature of formidable power.
Slaying the divine dragon and bathing in dragon blood was an indelible memory for Xu Ying.
Shi Yuqing asked in surprise, "Later generations had such Qi Refiners?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "He isn't a Qi Refiner, but a Nuo master—or rather, a sword immortal who cultivated swordsmanship."
A murderous glint surfaced on Shi Yuqing's face. "So he's a demonic disciple of the heterodox path!"
Xu Ying was startled and hurried to ask, "What do you mean, a demonic disciple of the heterodox path?"
"The so-called heterodox path is demonic heterodoxy—something anyone has the right to exterminate!"
A bright moon shone behind Shi Yuqing as she said coolly, "These demonic disciples of the heterodox path are wicked fiends. They existed as early as the Great Zhou period. Rather than comprehending the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth or delving into Dao methods, they rely solely on unlocking the secret depositories within their bodies and connecting to vile forces from beyond the realms to obtain supernatural powers.
"That is why they are called heterodox and deviant!"
She said with earnest gravity, "Martial Uncle Ah Ying, you are still young. You must never be deceived by the heterodox path and stray onto the wrong path in pursuit of power."
Xu Ying was left dumbfounded.
A cold gleam flashed in Shi Yuqing's eyes, brimming with chilling killing intent. "In the past, our Mount Shu Sword Sect had a dispute between the orthodox path and the heterodox path. That clash nearly brought about the destruction of our Mount Shu Sword Sect!"
Xu Ying was astonished. "Why do you say that?"
Shi Yuqing said, "Back when Nuo methods first grew popular, it coincided with an era when no one could survive tribulation and achieve ascension. Thus, those methods spread everywhere, bewitching people's minds with talk of creating an earthly immortal realm and attaining immortality. Many in our Sword Sect were taken in as well, and more and more people cultivated Nuo methods, creating a rift against the orthodox faction. The Nuo Immortal faction and the Orthodox faction frequently sparred, but over time, friendly sect sparring turned into lethal, cutthroat combat."
Xu Ying had only been a Grand Supreme Elder for two months, so naturally he had never heard these tales. Fascinated, he said, "The Orthodox faction definitely couldn't beat the Nuo Immortal faction."
"How did you know?"
Shi Yuqing looked at him in surprise. After a pause, she continued, "The Nuo Immortal faction was indeed formidable. They advanced by leaps and bounds with terrifying cultivation speed. Moreover, by practicing Nuo methods alongside Qi Refining techniques, the two complemented each other and progressed in tandem, dramatically boosting the speed of Qi Refining as well. Originally, for orthodox Qi Refining techniques, going from the Qi Harvesting stage to the Ascension stage required two to three thousand years."
She bent her fingers one by one as she counted. "When a Qi Refiner cultivates, they need to search for ascension sites, gather spiritual herbs, concoct great medicines to break through realm boundaries, seek all sorts of lucky encounters, and mend their soul. At each and every barrier and bottleneck, whether one can break through relies entirely on luck."
Xu Ying said, "The Nuo Immortal faction didn't need to do any of that. They had the immortal medicines of the six secret depositories within their bodies, so they had no need to search for those opportunities."
Shi Yuqing shot him a suspicious glance.
Xu Ying hastened to say, "I am an orthodox Qi Refiner. I have nothing to do with the heterodox path."
Shi Yuqing continued, "While it took a Qi Refiner two to three thousand years to reach the Ascension stage, the Nuo Immortal faction could reach it in two to three hundred years. The Orthodox faction initially held the upper hand, but later fell behind. In just two hundred years, the Nuo Immortal faction could produce a supreme master of the Ascension stage—a so-called undying and indestructible Nuo immortal! In a matter of a few centuries, they surpassed the accumulated heritage of the Orthodox faction spanning millennia! Within our Sword Sect, the conflict between Nuo and Qi grew increasingly fierce. Both sides clashed in bloody battles, suffering heavy casualties, and the Orthodox faction was battered until severely crippled. Just when it seemed our entire Sword Sect would fall and turn entirely to cultivating Nuo methods, a bizarre incident occurred."
Puzzled, Xu Ying asked, "What bizarre incident?"
A look of terror crept onto Shi Yuqing's face, her voice growing raspy. "Overnight, every single member of the Nuo Immortal faction died!"
Xu Ying froze.
"They all died in a single night, reduced to empty human skins. Not a drop of flesh or blood remained inside them, no Primordial Spirit, and even their Realms of Xiyi were completely hollow."
Shi Yuqing's dread deepened. "They simply hovered in the sky, drifting there in silence, a thin slit of light shining at the back of their heads. It was as if they had been eaten clean by something... eaten down to nothing..."
A few violent shudders ran through her, and she mumbled, "I still remember the horror on the faces of my senior brothers and sisters when I got up to cultivate that morning. Those peerless masters of boundless power had all turned into human skins. Across the seventy-two peaks of the Sword Sect, every single summit had rings of human skins belonging to our martial uncles floating above it. Bathed in the morning sunlight, the green mountains looked as if they were hung with floating human-skin lanterns..."
Picturing that scene, Xu Ying felt his scalp tingle.
Cultivating Nuo methods had caused the Mount Shu Sword Sect's strength to surge, yet they had ultimately been harvested like leeks, nearly wiping out the entire sect!
*That ancient leek harvester was far too ruthless,* Xu Ying thought. *They even dug up the leek roots!*
"The surviving masters of the Sword Sect immediately issued an execution decree: whoever dared to cultivate Nuo methods within the sect would be purged, their body and spirit obliterated! The sect declared that those people had fallen into the demonic path, treating themselves as meat on someone else's chopping board all for the sake of quick results!"
Shi Yuqing cast a glance at Xu Ying, an unreadable glimmer flickering in her eyes. "Martial Uncle Ah Ying hasn't cultivated Nuo methods, have you?"
"Never!" Xu Ying said decisively.
Shi Yuqing beamed with joy and laughed. "I knew Martial Uncle Ah Ying was an upright gentleman who would never cultivate heterodox techniques."
Xu Ying burst out laughing and suggested, "Let's take a detour around this area and avoid seeing Yuan Tiangang. I'm not really that close with him..."
Before his words could finish echoing, a familiar voice called out, "Is that little friend Xu? We haven't met in so many years, yet how is it you still look just as you did before?"
Xu Ying followed the sound and saw a burly, bearded man standing before a cluster of wooden houses, carrying a bundle on his back. It was none other than Yuan Tiangang.
Bracing himself, Xu Ying said, "So it is Mr. Yuan. Where might Mr. Yuan be heading?"
Yuan Tiangang approached with a smile. "Before entering the Wangxiang Platform, I calculated that the world was bound to change and that an opportunity for immortality would emerge six hundred years later. Thus, before my lifespan ran out, I entered the Wangxiang Platform to take refuge and await the proper time. Now that six hundred years have passed, the opportunity for immortality has finally arrived, so I am leaving the mountain to seek the method of eternal life."
He laughed heartily. "I hid here for six hundred years, and even the anglers didn't dare enter this place to fish for me, allowing me to live an extra six hundred years!"
Xu Ying was moved and said, "Your foresight is truly miraculous, sir!"
The timing of Yuan Tiangang's departure from the Wangxiang Platform was exquisitely chosen, coinciding precisely with the grand integration of Nuo methods and Qi Refining.
He had originally been a Nuo immortal, trapped in the snare of the Nuo immortals as meat upon an angler's chopping board. Yet, he had fled into the Wangxiang Platform to evade that fatal calamity. Waiting quietly here for six hundred years, he now only needed to cultivate Qi Refining techniques upon leaving the Wangxiang Platform to extend his lifespan by three thousand years!
Though adding three thousand years of life was not true immortality, it opened up countless possibilities!
That was why Xu Ying praised his foresight.
Yuan Tiangang chuckled. "I am a Nuo immortal by trade, skilled in numerology, and know a thing or two about deduction."
Hearing the words 'Nuo immortal,' Shi Yuqing could not help but feel hostile. She said coldly, "Mr. Yuan, you may hide for a time, but you cannot hide for a lifetime. Why not cripple your current cultivation and turn to the orthodox path?"
Yuan Tiangang took no offense and said with a smile, "Nowadays, dual cultivating Nuo and Qi is the true orthodox path to ascension. I observed the celestial phenomena and deduced that in the next century or so, the Immortal Realm, the mortal realm, the Heavenly Realm, and the Netherworld will be at their closest proximity, triggering tides across the realms. This is an era of monumental change, where Nuo immortals and Qi Refiners must coexist and vie to cross the sea of tribulations. If one clings stubbornly to the old ways, no matter how glorious their ancestors once were, they will be defeated in this tide, swept away and buried beneath the waves."
Shi Yuqing caught the hidden mockery in his words and snapped, "Nuo methods are heterodox, merely slaving to enrich others! Those who cultivate Nuo methods die without even knowing how they died! If your physical body doesn't even survive, what crossing of tribulations is there to speak of?"
Yuan Tiangang replied, "The past tens of thousands of years have already proven that pure Qi Refiners are unviable. Young lady, as a revivalist who survived only through the combined efforts of your ancestors from an ancient, prestigious sect, if your head is made of stubborn stone and cannot adapt to an era of great change, I believe your sect patriarchs would have been better off sealing an actual rock. Even a rock would look more distinguished than someone with a stone sitting atop their neck."
Shi Yuqing was enraged. She summoned the Bright Moon Wheel, and sword energy surged forth from it, unleashing a colossal sword beam that swept across everything! Even Xu Ying felt his hair stand on end at the sheer force of that sword energy.
Yuan Tiangang laughed heartily, leapt into the air, and soared into the azure skies.
Shi Yuqing formed a sword seal with her fingers and pointed upward. The bright moon rose into the sky, sweeping across the firmament as thick, brilliant beams of sword energy slashed the azure clouds to ribbons!
Yuan Tiangang's body swirled with spinning, erupting sword energy that clashed against the grand sword energy of the Bright Moon Wheel. Suddenly, his sword energy breached the defenses of the wheel, and he plunged directly inside it.
"No wonder! After six hundred years of comprehension, the profound subtleties of the Sword Dao still eluded me. So that was how it was!"
The bearded man circled through the Bright Moon Wheel, observing every Dao image within it. Then he flew out of the wheel, shot into the sky, and laughed aloud. "Six hundred years of silence, and my luck has truly turned! Many thanks for the lesson, young lady!"
His figure transformed into a streak of sword light, pierced through the heavy thunderclouds, and vanished. His voice drifted back from afar:
"If you wish to dual cultivate Nuo and Qi, young lady, you might as well consult the grandmaster of Nuo methods standing right beside you.
"He possesses the method to evade the anglers!"
Shi Yuqing recalled the Bright Moon Wheel, her eyes filled with suspicion. "The grandmaster of Nuo methods beside me? Could it be..."
She looked toward Xu Ying. Xu Ying maintained a calm expression and defended himself, "Yuqing, this was just your first time meeting him. You don't know him at all. How could you listen to his wild nonsense?"
Shi Yuqing smiled sweetly. "You were the one who said his foresight was miraculous!"
Xu Ying said solemnly, "He cultivates the heterodox path of Nuo methods, so his foresight is bound to be flawed. If someone cultivates a heterodox path, they will surely end up as a human skin. Sect Master, you must not harbor crooked thoughts that violate ancestral teachings!"
Shi Yuqing's eyes flickered as she countered, "Yet the heterodox Nuo path doesn't seem all that wretched. That Yuan Tiangang just now possessed remarkable swordsmanship, no worse than mine. Moreover, his cultivation was extraordinarily profound—he even suppressed the Bright Moon Wheel..."
Xu Ying's voice grew stern and harsh. "Sect Master Shi, have you forgotten the tragic massacre from the conflict between Nuo and Qi in our Sword Sect? Have you forgotten the painful lessons written in the blood and tears of our martial uncles? Have you forgotten those human-skin lanterns? How will you face our ancestors?"
Shi Yuqing grew panicked and fearful, stammering, "I-I'm not trying to betray our ancestral teachings! I just thought Yuan Tiangang had a point. If one could avoid the anglers and not get eaten, I suppose Nuo methods wouldn't be entirely out of the question..."
Xu Ying snapped, "You still dare to think about it? You aren't even permitted to entertain the thought!"
"Yuqing knows her mistake... Wait a moment!"
Shi Yuqing snapped back to reality. Her face darkened with anger, and she gave a cold sneer. "Something seems off here. Just now, I was the one interrogating you! Why did he call you a grandmaster of Nuo methods? How did it turn into you lecturing me? Have you been secretly cultivating the heterodox Nuo methods all along?"
"Absolutely not!"
Xu Ying shook his head adamantly, softening his expression. "Stop letting your imagination run wild. As a Grand Supreme Elder, how could I possibly cultivate heterodox Nuo methods?"
Shi Yuqing remained half-convinced and said, "Back during the conflict between Nuo and Qi, I was on the mountain too. I saw those martial uncles who cultivated Nuo methods heal themselves even after suffering grave injuries. When you saved me, did you use that same trick?"
Xu Ying shook his head. "I treated your injuries with secret, refined spirit pills."
Shi Yuqing pressed, "Your Dharmic power is extraordinarily dense, enough to summon twenty-four Mountain-River Bright Moon Pearls at once. If it were me, I wouldn't have been able to summon them all. Why is your Dharmic power so vast?"
Xu Ying said, "My Dharmic power is vast because my natural aptitude and talent are better than yours."
Shi Yuqing felt displeased. "Your divine sense is stronger than mine as well."
Xu Ying said, "My natural aptitude and talent are better than yours, so naturally it is stronger."
Refusing to concede, Shi Yuqing said, "Your physical body is also stronger than mine."
Xu Ying said, "That, too, is because my natural aptitude and talent are better than yours."
Shi Yuqing grew even more obstinate, thinking to herself, *If I had learned Nuo methods as well, I definitely wouldn't be weaker than him in the slightest—I would only be stronger!*
Suddenly, she felt a chill run through her, and she was seized by utter terror. *What is wrong with me? Didn't I despise Nuo methods to the very marrow of my bones? Why did I suddenly want to cultivate Nuo methods? Someone has corrupted my thinking!*
She looked at Xu Ying's back, trembling from head to toe. *He imperceptibly swayed my thoughts... Wait, he didn't even urge me to cultivate Nuo methods... That's it, he manipulated my mind! Nuo methods truly are a heterodox path, truly demonic!*
One after the other, the two finally arrived at the edge of the Wangxiang Platform, catching sight of the Nai River and the Nai River Bridge.
Countless ghosts stood upon the bridge, queuing numbly and shuffling forward.
Xu Ying joined the line, following the procession step by step. Shi Yuqing followed closely behind him, preoccupied with her thoughts and saying nothing.
"Ah Ying, Ah Ying!"
Shouts echoed from beneath the bridge. Xu Ying poked his head over the edge to look down and saw Jin Buyi tied up securely, swaying back and forth as he dangled.
"Ah Ying, be careful!"
The bronze bell's voice rang out. "The old hag is terrifying!"
Yuan Qi shouted, "Avenge us... Ah-ba, ah-ba!"
After a long while, Xu Ying finally stood before Granny Meng. Rather than drinking any tea, he bowed respectfully and said, "Senior, this junior has come seeking a favor."
Chapter 211