Outside Lingling City, a carriage surrounded by an escort of guards departed through the gates, heading toward Shuikou Temple. The carriage was extraordinarily lavish, crowned with a golden roof upon which perched a golden phoenix, with golden bells dangling from its four eaves corners.
Its body was painted in crimson lacquer traced with gold, and its shafts were nearly a chi thick. Four guards sat around the base of the carriage, watching their surroundings with sharp vigilance. Pulling the carriage were two demon kings with the heads of bulls and the bodies of men. Standing nearly two zhang tall, their sinewy frames appeared hideous and menacing, endowed with boundless strength. Billowing demonic gusts whipped up as they walked, and smoke snorted from their nostrils.
Barely a few li outside the city, the carriage suddenly halted. A guard bowed and said, "Lord Regional Inspector, famine victims from Lingling are blocking the road to present a petition."
Seated within the carriage was the Regional Inspector of Yongzhou, a man named Zhou Heng. He was in his late thirties or early forties, with a portly belly and two wisps of mustache drooping from the corners of his lips.
Regional Inspector Zhou Heng lifted the carriage curtain and peered out. Kneeling along the roadside for over ten li was a horde of sallow-faced famine victims, all crying out, "Lord Blue Sky!" like a flock of ducks crowding around their master.
Regional Inspector Zhou Heng asked, "What are they petitioning for? This official has always been clean and upright. If their request is not too excessive, I shall grant it."
The guard went to inquire and returned to report, "They say they cannot pay their taxes and have no food to eat. On top of that, the Nai River is wreaking havoc, the new land has encroached upon their fertile fields, and ghosts run rampant. They wish to beg your lordship to exempt them from this year's taxes."
"Rabble!"
Regional Inspector Zhou Heng flew into a rage, blue veins bulging on his forehead. Slapping his table, he barked, "What an utter pack of unruly rabble! They are farmers who grow grain for a living, yet they have the gall to claim they cannot afford food! It is nothing but an excuse to evade taxes! The Nai River invades and ghosts run rampant, but do ghosts eat grain? Utterly shameless!"
He rose to his feet and sneered, "Besides, if you have no money, wouldn't you have money if you rented out your properties in the busy downtown? Wouldn't you have money if you took your horse carriages out to work? These old peasants leave their downtown houses unrented and let their horses sit idle, only to kneel before an official's carriage to beg for food—what brazen audacity!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he grew. He fumed, "Today they dare block the road to demand tax exemptions; tomorrow they will dare demand that officials hand out money to them! Pass down my orders: if they obstruct my path any longer, confiscate all their family property and forfeit it to the public treasury!"
The guard hurried out in panic and ordered the other guards to drive the crowd away. A moment later, the ten li of famine victims had fled completely.
Regional Inspector Zhou Heng chuckled and said, "This official simply cannot stand the sight of poor people. Now things are crisp and clean. The moment these wretches heard of property confiscation, they scrambled away in a hurry. That proves they still have money at home. If they truly had no money, why would they run so fast?"
"Your lordship is truly wise!" the guards exclaimed in admiration.
The carriage set off once more, barreling ahead and kicking up billows of dust as it sped straight for Shuikou Temple.
***
Inside Shuikou Temple, Zhou Yihang threw his head back and laughed heartily. His voice boomed, rattling Xu Ying's qi and blood. "Send me on my way?"
Most of the other Nuo masters who had ventured into the new land were also shaken to the point of losing their footing. Several grew dizzy, took a misstep, and plummeted straight from the immortal mountain with prolonged, bloodcurdling screams.
Zhou Yihang paid them no heed. Before his laughter had faded, the old man arched his back and straightened up. His frame swelled dramatically as he activated the Vajra Indestructible Body, expanding into a sixteen-foot giant shrouded in brilliant golden light.
His Vajra Indestructible Body had been cultivated to the point of manifesting four arms, far surpassing Zhou Yang. Zhou Yang had never managed to produce four arms and had merely scratched the surface of the art, whereas Zhou Yihang had brought the Vajra Indestructible Body to full fruition!
What he unleashed was the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal; beneath his palm prints, blazing flames coursed like molten fire.
His mastery of the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal was likewise vastly superior to that of his son, Zhou Yang. Xu Ying had once witnessed him clash head-on with City God Xue Lingfu—in just a single strike, he had damaged City God Xue's golden body!
Back then, Zhou Yihang had fused soul and flesh into an unbroken unity, his physical body and spirit bonded so tightly that it had utterly stunned Xu Ying, giving him the impression of an invincible foe.
Yet now, as Xu Ying watched Zhou Yihang deploy the Vajra Indestructible Body and the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal once more, a different impression arose within him: *He doesn't seem quite as formidable as I remembered.*
He channeled the Heavenly Eye bestowed upon him by the maiden in the coffin, inspecting Zhou Yihang's physical body, the forms of the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal, and even Zhou Yihang's Hidden Scenery, which lay laid out before him with crystalline clarity!
Within Zhou Yihang's body, a four-armed vajra adhered closely to him as if they were one. That four-armed vajra was his Hidden Scenery, brought into being through visualization by drawing upon the power of his Mud Pill secret depository.
Under the scrutiny of the Heavenly Eye, Xu Ying could spot every flaw in Zhou Yihang's stance.
Zhou Yihang took a step forward and thrust his four palms outward in rapid succession. His palm force was accompanied by clouds and fire that fluttered like banners—nimble and fluid, yet harboring colossal might.
He was like a four-armed sun god driving forth clouds and fire!
This move was Cloud Banners Meander from the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal.
In an instant, Xu Ying pushed his Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist to its utmost limit. Behind him, Pure Yang primordial qi condensed into an Elephant King divine body. As he drove his fist forward with a thunderous roar, he struck straight at the flaw in his opponent's technique!
At the same time, Yuan Qi formed a fist with the tip of his tail. Executing White Elephant Swings Trunk, his colossal frame whipped across like a sky-propping pillar whistling through the air.
*Thud! Thud!*
Dull, violent impacts rang out. Xu Ying collided with Zhou Yihang, and the Elephant King divine body behind him took a staggering blow; buffeted by fierce gales, its qi and blood scattered backward like dust and sand!
The Elephant King divine body was formed of qi and blood, composed of primordial qi and vaporized blood mist. The dispersion of qi and blood like dust was the omen of the divine body shattering.
Xu Ying let out a muffled grunt. Every bone and sinew in his body shook, his qi and blood churning relentlessly like boiling water in a cauldron, and he stumbled back several steps.
Yuan Qi's cultivation was still inferior to Xu Ying's; the Elephant King divine body behind him shattered outright!
The giant serpent's skeleton rattled loudly, and the dragon mane along his back swayed like waves. The power packed within Zhou Yihang's blow had nearly shaken his entire body apart!
With his qi and blood disrupted by Xu Ying, Zhou Yihang found it impossible to sustain the momentum of Cloud Banners Meander. His qi and blood surged for an instant before he firmly suppressed it.
Seeing this, Xu Ying immediately understood why their Elephant King divine bodies had been broken: *His martial arts are far more advanced than ours! His technique incorporates a Hidden Scenery, and when he strikes, it coordinates with the Hidden Scenery of a four-armed heavenly god! But the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist that Yuan Qi and I cultivate lacks the backing of a Hidden Scenery!*
A Hidden Scenery was an image of the Great Dao. If a martial arts technique could be paired with its corresponding Hidden Scenery, it could unleash unfathomable power. With the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist, for instance, if one could comprehend an elephant god as a Hidden Scenery, the power of that martial arts style would be elevated to a far higher realm.
Without an equivalent technique, even if Xu Ying could identify his opponent's flaws, it remained exceedingly difficult to inflict real harm.
*I may lack a Hidden Scenery, but I have just refined an image of the Great Dao!*
Xu Ying stumbled back several paces, then abruptly halted and jerked his shoulders upward. A beam of sword qi shot forth from behind him, cleaving downward toward Zhou Yihang!
This strike was like a flying rainbow from beyond the heavens, arriving so suddenly that it was nearly impossible to guard against. Its sword qi and sword intent assailed Zhou Yihang's consciousness!
Without hesitation, Zhou Yihang clapped two palms together to clamp down on the sword qi, while his other two palms continued their strike toward Xu Ying.
Yet the instant his hands clamped around the sword qi, he felt the power within it swell explosively. Unable to spare the attention to strike Xu Ying down, he hurriedly brought his other two palms together as well, using all four hands to trap the blade of sword qi.
Xu Ying lunged forward with massive strides. Seizing the opening in his opponent's exposed midsection, he thrust a finger against Zhou Yihang's chest, and sword qi erupted!
*Squelch!*
A beam of sword qi pierced through the Vajra Indestructible Body like a steel nail driving into his heart!
Fortunately for Zhou Yihang, the sword qi at Xu Ying's fingertip was nowhere near as terrifying as the image of the Great Dao. It penetrated only three inches into his flesh before being halted by the Vajra Indestructible Body.
Yet in the very next instant, Xu Ying's ten fingers danced like a violent squall buffeting pear blossoms, pressing in succession against acupoints across Zhou Yihang's body!
Yuan Qi had not even managed to settle his scattered qi and blood when he saw this scene, and he felt as though every bone in his body had gone limp.
What Xu Ying was executing was the bone-disjointing technique of a snake catcher. It was precisely through having all the bones in his body disjointed by Xu Ying that he had been captured in the first place.
To Zhou Yihang, each thrust of Xu Ying's fingers felt like a steel spike driven into his flesh, severing the flow of his qi and blood.
Terror seized his heart: *What kind of technique is this? How can he perceive the circulation pathways of my arts?!*
With his qi and blood severed, the strength in his four arms diminished drastically. The sword qi above his head broke through the pincer grip of his four palms, pressing down his four arms and cleaving squarely into his crown!
This was precisely the image of the Great Dao of the sword that Xu Ying had comprehended before the ruined temple gates!
The massive chasm harbored the sword qi and sword intent of a peerless master of the sword. Though Xu Ying had never seen such an expert strike, he had grasped the essence of that rainbow-like sword from the lingering sword intent.
This strike grew stronger when meeting resistance; had there been nothing in its path, it never would have possessed such astonishing might.
To unleash the full power of this sword stroke, an obstruction was required.
It was precisely because a colossal mountain of the Netherworld had stood in its path that the peerless swordsman's intent had grown stronger against the resistance, splitting the mountain and transcending his own limits the moment he severed the mountain's roots!
It was the same for Xu Ying against Zhou Yihang. The moment the sword qi encountered the resistance of Zhou Yihang's four arms, its power surged explosively, utterly overwhelming Zhou Yihang's strength and slashing straight into his brow!
At that exact moment, Yuan Qi whipped his tail once more. The tip of his tail surpassed the speed of sound, surging with all his qi and blood to deliver his mightiest blow. With a sharp crack, it lashed viciously across Zhou Yihang's frame!
*Smack!*
The old man's garments blew apart, his Vajra Indestructible Body battered until blood flew, while the sword drove deep through his crown, slicing straight down to the space between his brows!
With his brain damaged, Zhou Yihang's eyes grew turbid, his consciousness shattered into a dazed stupor.
Xu Ying exerted his strength to press the strike further, yet the sword qi met tremendous resistance and could not advance another fraction of an inch.
Suddenly, he sensed the sword qi in his grip vibrate violently, tearing open the web of his hand between thumb and forefinger. He hastily let go and sprang backward.
The sword qi embedded in Zhou Yihang's head detonated with a sharp pop, followed by the rapid-fire bursting of the nails of sword qi Xu Ying had driven into his body.
Xu Ying's heart sank. Though he had vastly outmatched Zhou Yihang in technique, the gulf between their cultivations was simply too vast. Even with the upper hand in forms, he still could not put Zhou Yihang to death.
Letting out a fierce roar, Xu Ying mobilized the Taiyi Guiding Technique.
Sensing his intent, the bronze bell urgently warned, "Ah Ying, knocking on the pass requires the aid of great medicine, otherwise your qi and blood won't be powerful enough to breach it! Don't do anything reckless!"
Before its words had even settled, the sky abruptly blazed with light. Countless motes of radiance from the sunlight of this ruined temple world swarmed inward, their density more than tenfold that of the outside world!
In a breath, the motes formed a half-mu light field, shining with a brilliance ten times greater than under normal skies!
Beneath the light field, Xu Ying's qi and blood surged exponentially. The bronze bell was struck with utter astonishment; it was as if Xu Ying had ingested a great medicine for knocking on the pass, his qi and blood surging with roaring momentum toward the black iron gate within his Realm of Xiyi!
*The solar essence here is so dense, more than tenfold that of the outside world... Could this truly be the Immortal Realm?* the bronze bell wondered.
With solar essence concentrated to such a degree, whether one had great medicine for knocking on the pass no longer mattered.
"Ah Ying, what is called knocking on the pass hinges on the word 'knocking'—knocking upon the mystic pass and comprehending the mystic root of heaven and earth before it can be opened!" the bronze bell called out swiftly. "As the poem says:
'Innate primordial qi knocks at the Pass of Origin,
In deep obscurity the great medicine abides.
Inverting Qian and Kun forms the Tai hexagram,
Traversing Li and Kan establishes the mystic root.'
This is not how a proper Qi Refiner breaches a pass... Huh?"
Inside Xu Ying, qi and blood howled and surged like a torrent. Under the relentless battering, the black iron gate shuddered and shook, its two leaves groaning as they began to part!
He had not bothered to contemplate the Tai hexagram of Qian and Kun, let alone the mystic root of Li and Kan—he was relying on pure brute force to batter through the Weilu mystic pass!
Against all odds, the mystic pass showed signs of being forced open.
The bronze bell was left dumbfounded. Rumbles of thunder echoed from within Xu Ying's body, and bursts of fine radiance about an inch long blossomed outward through his flesh.
One could even see within him a great dragon shimmering with fine light, drawing in power like a dragon drinking water as it surged downward from above, assaulting the Weilu at the very base of his spine in an attempt to conquer the mystic pass!
That mystic pass was situated right at the tailbone of the human body, known as the Weilu!
Once this pass opened, it bridged life and death, illuminated yin and yang, opened the Heavenly River to receive the jade dew of the Heavenly Court, and cleared the path to the heavenly mountains within the body!
Each layer of heavenly mountains was another heaven, laying down a true path for cultivation from that day forth!
The bronze bell gave a start, thinking, *If I hadn't siphoned off half his qi and blood to heal my injuries, he probably would have blasted this mystic pass open in a single go! This was my fault; I must make amends.*
It promptly mobilized its own respiration method. Expanding and contracting with every breath, the bronze bell caused the half-mu light field in the sky to instantly swell to the span of a full mu!
Xu Ying's qi and blood skyrocketed in response. With a resounding boom, the Pure Yang primordial qi finally smashed the black iron mystic pass wide open!
The surging waters of the Heavenly River rolled eastward!
Within the Realm of Xiyi, the waters of the Heavenly River descending from the ninth heaven rushed forth through the mystic pass, rolling grandly into the Realm of Xiyi. They flowed across the continent below, traversed mountains and rivers, formed cascading waterfalls across high plateaus, and pooled into lakes across the plains, instantly rendering the Realm of Xiyi unimaginably vivid and colorful!
Nourished by the Heavenly River, Xu Ying felt primordial qi flourishing within his five viscera and six bowels. The previous boundaries of his cultivation vanished without a trace!
His cultivation soared at blinding speed, his qi and blood far thicker and purer than ever before!
Bolstered by this ever-strengthening qi and blood, the rainbow-like sword qi in his Realm of Xiyi grew increasingly vivid and clear.
Xu Ying checked his backward momentum and raised his head to look at Zhou Yihang, whose wounds were steadily mending. Looking at him as though eyeing a pig or dog waiting for slaughter, he was eager to test his strength. "Lord Bell, let me face him in my peak state."
The bronze bell hesitated for an instant, then said, "Be careful."
Xu Ying immediately felt his qi and blood continuing to rise. Ever since encountering the bronze bell, this was the first time his qi and blood had truly returned to their absolute pinnacle!
Suddenly, a voice drifted over from the distance. "Yihang, why are you in such a pathetic state?"
A fifth immortal mountain was rising slowly, floating in the distance. The carriage of Regional Inspector Zhou Heng sat halted at the foot of the mountain. With the carriage curtains parted and the side windows removed, the portly Zhou Heng sat inside, chuckling. "Is this the demon person Xu Ying? The one who can decipher the cultivation arts of the demon race?"
Many bystanders had already gathered to watch the battle; upon hearing those words, they turned their gazes toward Xu Ying, their eyes carrying peculiar expressions.
Catching sight of Regional Inspector Zhou Heng, Zhou Yihang felt a jolt in his heart. Fearing the inspector might stop him from killing Xu Ying to avenge Zhou Yang, he let out a furious roar, pushing the Vajra Indestructible Body and the Dongjun Heaven-Leveling Seal to their absolute limit as he charged toward Xu Ying!
He meant to achieve complete victory in one stroke, slaughtering Xu Ying and offering his severed head as a sacrifice to Zhou Yang!
Suddenly, a dazzling streak of snowy sword qi illuminated the sky, shining so brilliantly that the shadows of the surrounding trees ceased to exist!
The sword qi ripped through the vast sky with a piercing shriek, flashing once before vanishing without a trace!
In the nearby mountain forests, countless leaves hung suspended in midair.
All at once, those leaves split cleanly down the center, as if an invisible sword qi had sliced them neatly in two!
Every single leaf was severed precisely down the middle, without the slightest deviation!
The leaves fluttered in the wind and drifted to the ground.
A cool breeze drifted past. Several onlookers even felt a bone-chilling cold, as if an incomparably sharp blade were pointed straight at them, on the verge of piercing their skin!
Beside someone's cheek, strands of hair lifted by the wind split silently down the middle, severed as though by an invisible sword.
A youth stood amidst the swirling fallen leaves. In front of him, Zhou Yihang's god-and-demon-like frame split cleanly down its midline, slowly toppling to either side!
Chapter 31