Nalan Du sat up abruptly and let out an involuntary groan. Every inch of his body ached, but the pain in one particular place was excruciating beyond bearance.
He vaguely recalled standing within the Immortal Dao Jade Pool, exerting every ounce of its power to hold off the boundless swarm of insects. Just as his strength ran dry and he could resist no longer, the insects vanished into thin air.
He had only just breathed a sigh of relief when that girl from the Hua family—who also hailed from Weixu—came charging at him, babbling incoherently.
A tearing agony had followed, and he had blacked out on the spot.
With trembling heart and hands, Nalan Du gingerly hitched up his robes and trousers to peer downward. A piercing shriek tore from his throat, and he nearly fainted once more.
Shuddering, he crept down from the sickbed and limped out of the room. The sun shone bright outside, yet he felt not a sliver of warmth; the breeze blew gently, yet it chilled him to the bone.
Many Penglai immortals were busy repairing the palaces and mending the huabiao pillars. Penglai was scarred by war, but even the destruction wreaked by the immortal corpses fell short of the devastation left by the insect swarm.
Dazzled and light-headed under the sunlight, he stood in a muddled stupor for a while before his thoughts finally steadied. *This wound is merely damage to flesh and blood; it doesn't matter. As long as I find someone proficient in the six secret depositories, it can be cured. When that snake fought me, six cave-heavens appeared behind him—he should have been able to heal my bodily mutilation. But he hates me, so he chose not to save me.*
Yuan Qi and the big bell had unleashed the immortal insects, nearly bringing about an apocalypse.
Nalan Du had been the root cause of this swarm disaster; Yuan Qi and the big bell had only released the immortal insects to deal with him in the first place. That was why Yuan Qi had hypocritically told him, *You're already a girl now.*
Suddenly, Nalan Du caught sight of the Hua girl, Hua Cuoying, not far away. Fear seized his heart; he still remembered that it was she who had battered him into this wretched state.
Seeing him, Hua Cuoying’s eyes brightened, and she hurried toward him.
Nalan Du tried to steer clear of her, but with his legs impaired, he could not move quickly and was soon overtaken.
Hua Cuoying had been controlled by Lord Grass at the time, her Primordial Spirit helpless, so she naturally had no recollection of what had transpired. Approaching Nalan Du, she whispered, "Brother Nalan."
"Stay back!" Nalan Du cried in horror.
Taken aback, Hua Cuoying said hastily, "Now that Weixu has suffered defeat, both of us have become prisoners. We must work together in earnest if we want to escape this place."
On the verge of tears, Nalan Du sobbed, "Stand back and speak from over there! Don't come near me!"
Hua Cuoying stared at him, dumbfounded, but curbed her temper and continued, "Your Jade Pool was seized, and my father's Twelve-Storyed Mansions was snatched away as well. Right now, we still have a chance to redeem ourselves by performing a merit: reclaim the Jade Pool and the Twelve-Storyed Mansions, then return to Weixu. That way, we won't face severe punishment..."
Nalan Du grew so overwrought that he fainted dead away.
Hua Cuoying scratched her head, thoroughly perplexed by his reaction. *Why is this elder brother so terrified of me? It’s not like I eat people.*
In the battle three days prior, the Five Extremes Immortal King had suffered grievous wounds, and the Twelve-Storyed Mansions had spun out of control, ultimately swept away by Demon God Pan's Chaos Heaven Treasure Umbrella.
Nalan Du had slipped up and been captured, while his Immortal Dao Jade Pool had been seized by Lord Grass.
Now that Xu Ying had awakened from his heavy injuries, a crowd of people had hurried to Hunyuan Palace to check on him, which inadvertently gave Hua Cuoying an opportunity to steal the treasures and flee.
Seeing that Nalan Du was useless, Hua Cuoying paid him no more heed. *I’ll steal the treasures myself and get both the Twelve-Storyed Mansions and the Jade Pool. With these two treasures in hand, why would I even need to return to Weixu? I can find any heavens I please, become an immortal patriarch, and live however I want!*
The two treasures were kept at Mituo Temple. Seeing that the Penglai immortals were busy, Hua Cuoying stole inside and indeed discovered the Twelve-Storyed Mansions glowing radiantly, surrounded by shifting Immortal Dao chains weaving in and out.
The Jade Pool was likewise shooting immortal radiance straight into the clouds, collecting immortal dew. In the pool, carp transformed into dragons, lotus blossoms formed thrones, and lotus seeds rose like pearls amidst drifting trails of auspicious mist.
No guards stood watch nearby; only a cluster of immortal plants sat breathing and respiring beside the Jade Pool.
These immortal plants sat cross-legged just like humans, their breathing giving rise to various miraculous phenomena.
Hua Cuoying glanced over and noticed a purple immortal plant with seven leaves pinned beneath the rest, pressed flat against the ground and unable to budge.
Whenever the purple plant tried to struggle, the other immortal plants whipped it with their rootlets until it shivered.
*That immortal plant looks familiar...*
Hua Cuoying had no time to ponder. Darting between the immortal plants, she reached out and snatched the Twelve-Storyed Mansions.
With the Twelve-Storyed Mansions in her grasp, wild joy surged through her heart.
Suddenly, every immortal plant halted its breathing and turned in unison to 'stare' at her!
With the Twelve-Storyed Mansions in hand, Hua Cuoying's courage swelled considerably. Noticing the plants 'looking' at her, she sneered, "A bunch of immortal plants, nothing to worry about. Even with my Primordial Spirit suppressed by that broken bell, handling the likes of you is child's play. In fact, since I'm injured, I might as well harvest some immortal plants to heal myself."
Pinned under the plants' rumps, Lord Grass heard her words and felt a surge of despair on her behalf.
It had crept over intending to launch a sneak attack on a few immortal plants and absorb their medicinal efficacy, only to discover that every single one of them had trained into an absolute brute—bullies among flora, each and every one—and had pinned it down in the blink of an eye.
Disturbed by her intrusion, the immortal plants unfurled their roots and leaves, rose from their meditative postures, and hovered in midair, surrounding Hua Cuoying.
Hua Cuoying reached toward the Jade Pool, giggling, "Today your granny will turn Penglai upside down!"
A short while later, the girl was bruised, swollen, and beaten into unconsciousness, pinned flat on the ground alongside the purple immortal plant.
The immortal plants sat back down atop them and resumed their cultivation.
A long time passed before Hua Cuoying groggily came to, completely oblivious to what had just happened.
Inside Hunyuan Palace, Xu Ying woke up feeling thoroughly hollowed out. He mustered enough energy to answer the inquiries of those who had come to check on him, exchanging a few jokes with the crowd.
Once Chu Xiangxiang, Fairy Gushe, Yuan Tiangang, the Seven Immortals of Penglai, and the rest departed, Yuan Qi and the big bell also slipped away. Xu Ying rested for a moment, gathered his mental focus, and examined his Realm of Xiyi.
His Realm of Xiyi was crystal clear, washed as pure as an azure sky.
His cultivation realms had indeed been thoroughly cleansed. The heavenly passes he had previously forced open had closed once again, and the realms he had forged were gone without a trace.
Now, the realms within his Realm of Xiyi were as good as brand new!
Xu Ying's brow furrowed deeply. Checking his six secret depositories, he found that the six depositories remained, though the cave-heavens were badly damaged.
His Hidden Scenery latent transformation ground, however, had vanished completely, and the divine abilities and Dao phenomena he had previously comprehended were entirely wiped away!
Xu Ying checked his Primordial Spirit and breathed a sigh of relief. It was still there, trapped inside the Twelve-Storyed Mansions.
The Little Celestial Venerable’s voice drifted over: "Xu Ying, your injuries were so severe that your six secret depositories could not operate, and the immortal insects gnawed at your flesh. This triggered your Indestructible True Spirit to repair your body, causing some of the realms within you to be reborn anew."
Xu Ying snorted, sat up from the sickbed, and said, "Call me Master!"
With a sullen face, the Little Celestial Venerable walked in from outside, tilted his head up, and retorted, "You are my captive."
Xu Ying gave a half-smile. "Don't you remember your dying words? Let me jog your memory."
He suddenly seized the Little Celestial Venerable's hand, his voice trailing like a wisp of smoke: "*I was too foolish... what you taught me in the past, I could never comprehend. I hated you deeply, but the moment I saw you, the hatred vanished...*"
Startled and furious, the Little Celestial Venerable hastily tore his hand away.
"*Master, you raised me and taught me divine abilities hand in hand. I couldn't do it! Master, cut off my face, wear my mask...*"
Xu Ying mimicked him with uncanny precision. The scholar in white turned into a red-faced scholar in white, hanging his head in speechless mortification.
Speaking so many words left Xu Ying panting with exhaustion, so he refrained from teasing him further. With a hearty laugh, he made his way outside Hunyuan Palace.
The Little Celestial Venerable followed beside him, striving to reclaim the initiative: "Those were the words of a dying man speaking with kindness. They don't count! My hatred for you hasn't lessened in the slightest. Once you recover your memories, I will still..."
Xu Ying smiled. "Still kill me, right? Silly child, are you still as naive as before?"
The Little Celestial Venerable opened his mouth, entirely at a loss for words.
He knew Xu Ying had certainly not awakened the memories of his first life, yet that single "silly child" struck right at his heart.
Despite the battle, Hunyuan Palace had sustained little damage. The air outside was fresh, and winter plum blossoms were in bloom, wafting a delicate fragrance.
Watching Xu Ying stretch his body with considerable effort, the Little Celestial Venerable decided not to dwell on the previous topic and asked, "Then after I died, did Master truly intend to flay my face and refine it into a Nuo master treasure?"
"No," Xu Ying said solemnly.
A warm feeling stirred in the Little Celestial Venerable's heart. "Master should have cut it off..."
"I'm lying to you," Xu Ying laughed. "I was just about to cut when the Reincarnation Mysterious Maiden arrived and said you could still be saved, so I didn't. If she had been half a step later, I would have sliced your face right off."
The Little Celestial Venerable smiled. "I knew Master would do that."
Even as he said it, a twinge of sorrow touched his heart.
Still stretching his limbs, Xu Ying said casually, "If the Reincarnation Mysterious Maiden hadn't arrived, I would have cut off your face and refined your essence, qi, and spirit into it to forge the Little Celestial Venerable mask. From then on, there would be no Xu Ying, only the Little Celestial Venerable. I would have made you live on forever as the invincible Little Celestial Venerable. No one would ever know you had died; they would only know that someone named Xu Ying had perished."
The Little Celestial Venerable was shaken to his core. His eyes reddened, and he turned his face away.
Xu Ying chuckled. "Fortunately, the Reincarnation Mysterious Maiden arrived and said you could be saved."
Noticing that the Little Celestial Venerable looked on the verge of tears, Xu Ying quickly changed the subject: "Strangely enough, why are several of my realms like new, as though they were never opened at all?"
Steadying his Dao heart, the Little Celestial Venerable replied, "You were nearly eaten clean by the insects. Fortunately, there was plenty of Jade Pool immortal water in your Jade Pool, which saved your life and restored your realms. Those immortal insects were terrifyingly ferocious; if I hadn't awakened from reincarnation in time, the Ancestral Court might have been devoured down to the bedrock."
The Little Celestial Venerable brought out the sealed immortal insects and returned them to Xu Ying.
With a glance, Xu Ying recognized that the Little Celestial Venerable had employed the four-character seal of Ling-Yu-You-Yu to suppress the insects.
The Little Celestial Venerable had already unraveled Xu Ying's own Ling-Yu-You-Yu seal, which had also taught Xu Ying the method to undo the seal on the insects, though he made no move to break it.
He inspected the immortal insects inside the seal. They looked largely the same as before, only much larger and far more vicious.
"Who released Lord Insect?" Xu Ying asked curiously.
The Little Celestial Venerable said, "Lord Niu Qi. He said when he fought Nalan Du, he was outmatched, and under Lord Bell's instigation, he let Lord Insect loose."
Xu Ying shook his head. "Those two nearly caused a catastrophe. No wonder they slipped away right after checking on me—they were worried I'd settle scores with them."
He dared not leave the immortal insects in Yuan Qi's care any longer, so he stored them away inside his Realm of Xiyi.
The Little Celestial Venerable hesitated briefly before plucking up his courage: "Teacher, in the future, could you stop swearing brotherhood at every turn? R-repent!"
Xu Ying gave a reluctant nod.
The Little Celestial Venerable examined his condition. Though Xu Ying was free of Dao wounds, all manner of minor injuries riddled his body, and the damage to the six secret depositories was particularly troublesome; there was simply no telling how to restore them.
Frowning deeply, the Little Celestial Venerable pondered remedies. After turning it over in his mind, he gritted his teeth and said, "Teacher, if repairing your current body is too troublesome, you could directly sever this physical form, forge another, and cultivate again from scratch. It might actually be simpler."
Xu Ying shook his head and laughed. "I'm not a leek—cut one crop and another sprouts up!"
The Little Celestial Venerable was silent for a moment before testing the waters: "Maybe it really can grow back. Why not give it a try?"
There was something he had left unsaid: he had personally witnessed a Xu Ying grow out of the Indestructible True Spirit.
Xu Ying laughed. "My Primordial Spirit is intact. Re-cultivating a few realms is simple enough."
He tried to circulate his vital qi, but it would not budge. It was as though those realms had never been cultivated at all—locked tight, no longer connected.
Xu Ying let out a soft exclamation of surprise. He could sense his Primordial Spirit, yet he could not mobilize it.
Drawing upon the power of the six secret depositories had also become extraordinarily difficult; the six cave-heavens were too severely damaged to operate.
The Little Celestial Venerable's eyes flickered. "Master, this disciple can preserve your memories. Why not cut off your current body..."
Xu Ying scolded in mock anger, "You vile disciple, you clearly just want to murder your master!"
The Little Celestial Venerable mumbled sheepishly, "It'll grow back anyway..."
Xu Ying took a long, deep breath and activated the Eight Methods of the God of War, marshaling his martial blood and qi. Steam rose from his body as he used martial vital qi to batter against the barriers.
At first, his physical form possessed little strength. But as he cultivated, his punches and kicks began to stir the wind, growing ever more ferocious.
After practicing over a dozen cycles, the vital qi within Xu Ying gradually swelled. The Five Qis Gathered at the Origin within him, churning with surging vital qi to burst through the Tail Gate, climb the Heavenly Mountain, and arrive at the Heavenly River, ascending higher and higher, one Heavenly Mountain after another!
After practicing over a hundred cycles, Xu Ying's blood and qi had become immensely robust. Smelting water and fire, he cast the tripod and formed the Core!
His fists and kicks grew increasingly powerful, his blood and qi hanging between heaven and earth like a waterfall, reflecting against the purple qi of the broken realm of Ziwei!
By the time the Core was formed and broke through the Spinal Gate, Xu Ying was drenched in sweat.
Beyond the Spinal Gate lay the Twelve-Story Pavilion stage, which was Xu Ying's realm prior to his injuries. Yet he came to a halt before this threshold; he still could not sense the slightest sign of recovery from the six secret cave-heavens.
If the six secret depositories could not be restored, his only recourse would be to sever the six secret cave-heavens and cultivate the ancestral method of the six secret depositories anew from the very beginning.
However, doing so required that he not form a Primordial Spirit.
If he broke through to the Twelve-Story Pavilion stage, his martial Golden Core would likely merge with his Primordial Spirit, and opening the six secret cave-heavens after that would become as difficult as scaling the heavens.
Xu Ying frowned slightly. If he re-cultivated the ancestral method of the six secret depositories, he was confident his results would not be lacking, but the re-cultivated cave-heavens would certainly not match the sheer power of the four cave-heavens left behind from his first life!
To attain that level, he would likely have to cultivate all the way to the realm of his first life before he could manage it.
Yet if he did not re-cultivate, how was he to repair the six secret cave-heavens?
Chapter 369