Xu Ying sped forward, releasing his divine sense. Even from thirty li away, it had already revealed everything ahead in crystal clarity.
Sweeping outward, his divine sense found a wide, surging river at the foot of the mountain, where a young maiden was sailing a boat upriver against the current.
She looked about sixteen or seventeen, slender and graceful, with refined and handsome features. She stood at the bow, her long hair gathered behind her and tied simply with a single azure ribbon.
Her face was exceptionally clean, save for a sesame-seed-sized mole just to the left of her neck. Though small, set against her snow-white skin, it stood out with striking clarity.
Her attire was equally simple, devoid of ornate embroidery, designed as much as possible to leave no lasting impression on anyone.
Above the skiff, an azure qingluan circled, its eyes piercing, radiating the ferocious aura of a primordial beast.
Suddenly, the maiden sensed Xu Ying's divine sense. With a gentle wave of her hand, Xu Ying felt his divine sense thrown into violent turbulence and chaotic disarray.
By the time he stabilized it, all trace of the maiden had vanished.
In her place on the river, however, appeared another figure from the town of Xiadu—an old crone holding a mirror-like Heavenly Dao treasure, peering in every direction.
She, too, was sweeping out her divine sense, searching for the maiden's whereabouts.
Her divine sense clashed with Xu Ying's. In that contest of will, the crone held the upper hand. Her divine sense bore down along his, and a moment later, her cackling voice rang directly in his mind: "Heh heh! What wonderful luck the old woman has today—to find two of the Undying People!"
The moment she locked onto him, her divine sense divine ability invaded his mind, aiming to erect a Heavenly Dao domain within his consciousness. At the same time, her figure shot toward him at blistering speed.
"Heavenly Dao Primordial Spirit!"
With a shrill screech, the crone manifested her Primordial Spirit. It descended like a heavenly god from the skies, pressing down toward Xu Ying with vast, overwhelming heavenly might.
Various Heavenly Dao patterns surfaced across the Primordial Spirit's body, harboring the profound mysteries of the world's Great Dao and sweeping forth with a heavenly might that could drive ordinary men mad.
Vast and imposing, the Primordial Spirit thrust out a hand. Within its palm, a heaven and earth formed of their own accord, conjuring myriad stars within a single grasp.
Earlier, High God Lu Wu had slain over a dozen members of the Heavenly Dao Crowd in succession, which might have led one to think they were nothing special. But only when truly facing them did one realize their sheer power.
A Heavenly Dao Primordial Spirit, Heavenly Dao divine abilities, and Heavenly Dao treasures held an overwhelming, crushing advantage over ordinary Qi Refiners.
Confronted with such heavenly might, an ordinary Qi Refiner's consciousness would fall into chaos and madness, leaving them entirely unable to resist. Even if one could withstand the heavenly might, the interference of the Heavenly Dao would throw their own Dao image into disorder, rendering them helpless.
Furthermore, Heavenly Dao divine abilities were unfathomable and miraculous; an ordinary cultivator could not even begin to decipher them, let alone withstand them.
The might of a Heavenly Dao treasure was all the more earth-shattering and ghost-weeping. Thus, facing the Heavenly Dao Crowd, a Qi Refiner of the same realm was doomed to be butchered and harvested.
Yet with a single glance, Xu Ying saw through the numerous flaws in the crone's Heavenly Dao divine ability, Heavenly Dao Primordial Spirit, divine sense divine ability, and Heavenly Dao treasure. To him, her Heavenly Dao runes were fundamentally flawed, mere specious imitations rotten at the root. How could a Primordial Spirit, divine ability, and treasure derived from them amount to much?
The crone's divine sense divine ability had just formed a Heavenly Dao domain in his mind, and her manifested form had yet to even speak, when Xu Ying used his own divine sense to activate the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction, instantly establishing resonance with the Heavenly Dao domain.
The crone's divine sense immediately felt the domain change ownership. Before her manifested form could even utter a word, it was obliterated beneath the domain's power!
In the next instant, Xu Ying grabbed the bronze bell and met the charging Heavenly Dao Primordial Spirit head-on.
The bronze bell was already accustomed to being thrown out to intercept the fiercest attacks. With an earth-shaking boom, the heaven and earth within the Primordial Spirit's palm were completely annihilated, but the bell was also sent flying by the blow!
After all, the bronze bell was a top-tier heavy treasure, highly praised even by heirs of prestigious sects like Gu Feiyu. For this crone to swat it aside with a single strike showed the terrifying power of her Heavenly Dao Primordial Spirit.
Yet the moment she knocked the bell aside, Xu Ying's palms fell upon her. His ten fingers flew like lightning, tapping and thrusting as they danced swiftly across her Primordial Spirit's body.
In the blink of an eye, his fingers and palms completed a full circuit over the Primordial Spirit, brushing past this miniature heavenly god that radiated the aura of the Heavenly Dao.
The crone's Primordial Spirit spun around at once, preparing to unleash a Heavenly Dao divine ability to capture him. But the moment she mobilized her power, the Heavenly Dao runes all over her body fell into violent disarray, conflicting and jagged.
As she pushed her magic power, the runes across her entire body detonated, severely wounding her Primordial Spirit in an instant!
With a muffled grunt, blood leaking from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, the crone hurriedly summoned her Heavenly Dao treasure. The bright mirror soared into the air, blazing with dazzling brilliance.
"Lord Bell!" Xu Ying roared.
The bronze bell had already stabilized itself and charged boldly forward. Tolling thunderously, it collided head-on with the radiant mirror.
The bell vibrated with all its might, finally forcing the treasure's power back into the mirror itself. In a trembling voice, it called out, "Ah Ying, hurry! I'm wounded, I can't hold out much longer..."
Xu Ying flashed past, appearing behind the Heavenly Dao mirror. There, he spotted a bronze boss surrounded by eight engraved Heavenly Dao runes, currently glowing with light.
Condensing his qi into a blade, Xu Ying thrust repeatedly with swift hisses, piercing those eight runes and altering their directional strokes. The Heavenly Dao treasure's power diminished drastically.
The bronze bell swooped down to suppress it, and Yuan Qi darted over, opening his jaws to swallow the Heavenly Dao treasure whole.
Xu Ying dropped from midair, landing behind the crone. He looked toward the long river, only to find the boat and the maiden already gone.
Her divine sense battered, her Primordial Spirit grievously wounded by Xu Ying and the bell, and now her treasure stripped away, the crone lunged desperately at Xu Ying, hissing savagely, "The old woman has starved for far too long! I'll take down you Undying brat first!"
Her physical body remained extraordinarily formidable, radiating a torrential aura. Her physical might was by no means inferior to her treasure or her Primordial Spirit.
Yet at that very moment, a purple plant materialized on her shoulder unnoticed. In an instant, countless roots bored into her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
"Ah-ba." Her outstretched hand froze just behind Xu Ying's head, motionless.
Her battered Primordial Spirit flew out, shrieking, "You Undying People are bastard seeds who defy the Heavenly Dao! You deserve to die!"
What met her was a crisscrossing lattice of sword light.
Xu Ying spun around and swung his blade. Rays of sword light intertwined as the Sword Dao Return to Truth Art unleashed its fury, shredding her Primordial Spirit to pieces in the blink of an eye!
Sheathing his blade, Xu Ying turned around without sparing her another glance. He projected his divine sense outward, extending it into the mind of every living being within a hundred-li radius.
He kept his voice as gentle as possible: "Do not be afraid. I am also one of the Undying People. We are of the same kin."
The voice carried by his divine sense echoed in the minds of everyone across a hundred li, friend and foe alike, solely to find that girl.
Many experts were exploring the Kunlun Ruins, and quite a few were within those hundred li, all of whom heard Xu Ying's telepathic message.
Yet Xu Ying had given no name for the other Undying Person, nor had he even mentioned whether they were male or female.
He only wanted to dispel the maiden's misgivings, without bringing her any additional trouble.
Even if his words invited danger, that trouble would seek him out, leaving the girl uninvolved.
A hundred li away, the skiff drifted into a tributary fed by the snow mountains. The maiden heard Xu Ying's divine sense message as well. Knitting her delicate brows, she murmured, "So reckless... How did you ever survive?"
Annoyance crept into her voice. "If you want to die, I certainly don't. Qingluan, don't you agree?"
In the sky above, the azure qingluan flew alongside her, sending down a telepathic message in a woman's voice: "Indeed. Back then, many of the Undying People escaped Kunlun, but barely any survived. Those who were rash all perished in the long river of history, without raising so much as a ripple. Now only you and I have each other to rely on. Young Mistress, you must remain cautious and not repeat past mistakes."
The maiden nodded in agreement and rowed on.
"Young Mistress, let us make haste. I sense that those old monsters are about to awaken. Young Mistress?"
As if drawn by some uncanny impulse, the skiff returned to where it had started. The maiden's divine sense reached Xu Ying's mind with crisp clarity: "Go to Yuzhu Peak. We will meet in the rice fields."
The azure qingluan descended from the sky, landing on the boat and transforming into a young woman in green robes. She scolded indignantly, "Young Mistress, how could you reveal our whereabouts to someone else?"
The maiden she had become wore two braided pigtails draped over her chest, her cheeks puffed in annoyance.
The other girl quickly smiled and said, "Yuzhu Peak lies just in front of Yuxu Peak. Once at Yuzhu Peak, Yuxu Peak is not far. If he can survive long enough to reach it, it proves he has the skill to protect himself. If he cannot make it, he naturally won't drag us down."
The Qingluan maiden grumbled, "Next time you make a decision like this, Young Mistress, you must consult me first! No acting on your own!"
The girl readily agreed, laughing, "Whatever you say!"
Back by the riverbank, Xu Ying broke into a joyful smile upon hearing her words. "The rice fields of Yuzhu Peak? With a specific location, it will be much easier to find her."
Behind him, the crone's corpse slowly collapsed, rapidly aging until it turned into a pile of ashes. She ought to have died long ago, surviving until now only by engraving Heavenly Dao runes onto her flesh, cultivating the Heavenly Dao, and feeding on the flesh and blood of the Undying People.
Now, with her runes broken, her Primordial Spirit severed, and her physical form and soul reduced to ashes, she was utterly destroyed.
The bronze bell spoke: "Ah Ying, I sense many powerful auras rushing this way. They must be with this crone—the people from Xiadu!"
Calm and composed, Xu Ying said leisurely, "Lord Bell, please call me Lord Ying. With High God Lu Wu here, there is nothing to fear. We can take this chance to wipe out these Heavenly Dao zealots in one fell swoop and avenge the Undying People!"
As silhouettes closed in from all directions, Xu Ying called out in a deep voice, "High God Lu Wu!"
The sky remained dead silent.
Xu Ying frowned slightly. Not far away, Heavenly Dao auras were already surging, signaling that the Heavenly Dao Crowd were preparing their divine abilities. Heavenly Dao light rose around them as they manifested their treasures, ready to deploy a Heavenly Dao domain to seal off the area.
Feeling a twinge of unease, Xu Ying called out louder, "High God Lu Wu!"
Still, the sky was completely quiet, offering no response.
Panic began to set in. Xu Ying shouted at the top of his lungs, "High God Lu Wu! Where are you, Lu Wu?! Lu Wu! Lu Wu! Damn you, Lu Wu!"
At that moment, within the bronze temple nestled in the snow mountains, Lu Wu lay asleep amid flames. As if hearing Xu Ying's calls and curses, he lifted his head, glanced down toward the foot of the mountain, and then settled back down to sleep comfortably.
Xu Ying sprang into the air, fuming, "Lu Wu is completely unreliable! Lord Bell, we'll have to rely on you to break out of this! Seventh Master, wrap around my neck and get your poison ready! Lord Grass, seize any chance to take control of them!"
Chapter 231