Can He Still Be Saved?

The row of characters written on that green jade slip was the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique. Apart from that, there was only a single line of small script, and nothing more. Xu Ying walked toward the green jade slip, intending to take a closer look, but was stopped by the old servant, Zhou Buyi. "Young Master Xu, to decipher the green jade slip, one must first delve into Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture. Otherwise, you will not understand what is written upon it." Zhou Buyi wore a faint, mocking smile. "Those who are permitted to contemplate the green jade slip here are all elders of the Zhou clan. Their cultivation is profound and their learning reaches the heavens. Only after studying Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture for decades have they managed to barely decipher a fraction of the green jade slip's contents. Young Master Xu has only just arrived, yet you wish to examine the green jade slip right away. Is that not overestimating yourself?" Xu Ying smiled. "Buyi, since when were you qualified to lecture me on what I should and shouldn't read? If you had any ability, Zhou Qiyun would have asked you to decipher the immortal scripture. If you don't, step aside and don't meddle with those who do." Flushed with shame and anger, yet not daring to lash out, Zhou Buyi could only step aside. He thought to himself, 'Wild country brat, he knows nothing of worldly manners.' Xu Ying stepped forward. At that moment, the bronze bell's voice spoke in his mind, "Ah Ying, this thing is called a jade slip, made from a special kind of jade bamboo. In the most ancient eras, Qi Refiners used this jade-like bamboo to record their insights, which is why it is also known as a jade slip Daoist scripture. However, jade bamboo is exceedingly rare and priceless, not something ordinary Qi Refiners could get their hands on. The contents recorded here might be far more precious than Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture!" Xu Ying was puzzled. "Jade bamboo? Bamboo can be made of jade? Jade can grow from the soil?" The great bronze bell replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "Jade growing from the ground is strange, but wood growing from the ground isn't? In the bodies of certain creatures, gold and iron can even grow, purer than anything you could ever smelt!" Xu Ying gave it some thought and decided that jade growing from the earth suddenly sounded quite reasonable. He came to the side of the jade slip Daoist scripture and looked up, scrutinizing the small characters. There were eight characters in total, also in bird-and-worm seal script, yet their strokes differed from the bird-and-worm seal script he had seen before, as though countless wondrous meanings were hidden within each stroke. The moment he clearly saw the first character, he grasped its meaning. Yet, the instant he recognized it, he lost the ability to convey its meaning through words. He could not describe or express the character's meaning in any language known to him. If he were forced to express it, he could barely approximate it with the word "Tai." Just as he comprehended the character "Tai," strange sounds echoed beside his ears, compelling his body to involuntarily assume a corresponding posture! He stood firmly. With one palm to the left and one to the right, he bent his two middle fingers and twisted his upper body backward, twisting his waist nearly in a full circle until his bones popped and cracked! Once he completed the movement, Xu Ying felt the primordial qi and Heavenly River waters within him surging along his spine, steaming into rain that washed through the Realm of Xiyi and cleansed his five viscera and six bowels! He looked at the second character. If he had to express it in known words, it could be called "Yin." The strange sounds in his ears shifted abruptly, sounding like someone chanting mystical scriptures, causing a rustling resonance to ripple through his bone marrow. Unable to control himself, Xu Ying squatted with bent knees, one palm extended forward and the other held behind, guiding his neck forward. Immediately, cool currents circulated through his bone marrow, which sloshed and rustled throughout his entire body. In the end, all of his strength gathered at the black iron mystic pass of the Weilu, settling into the Weilu mystic pass! He looked at the third character, "Yuan." The voice by his ears shifted once more, and Xu Ying followed by assuming the third posture: one foot forward, one foot back, hands pressed against the ground, straining his neck to tilt his head backward as far as possible. Within him, water arose from the heavens and fire sprang from the earth; water and fire conjoined in refinement, smelting every acupoint throughout his entire body! Ultimately, water and fire converged near his dantian! There were eight characters on the jade slip Daoist scripture. Xu Ying read from start to finish. With each character he looked upon, he heard a different Dao sound. By the time he finished all eight characters, miraculous changes had occurred both inside and out—across his five viscera, Weilu, dantian, Jiaji, throat, beneath his tongue, his tongue, and the space between his brows! Xu Ying felt cleansed from inside out, an experience even more comfortable and soothing than Great Sun body tempering or Thunder Sound body tempering! The meanings of the eight bird-and-worm seal characters on the jade slip Daoist scripture could be expressed with eight words: Tai, Yin, Yuan, Yu, Yi, Yang, Yong, and Zhen. Yet its true subtleties could only be comprehended if one heard the Dao sound manifested from the characters' meaning at the very moment one understood them. What was even stranger was that the eight characters on the jade slip Daoist scripture vaguely corresponded to eight cultivation realms: Qi Gathering, Knocking on the Pass, Conjoined Refinement, Second Knocking on the Pass, Tiered Pavilion, Jade Pool, Divine Bridge, and Ascension! After cultivating it once, Xu Ying felt complete ease throughout his physical body, soul, divine sense, primordial qi, and bloodline. Every thought in his mind became round and glossy as jade beads, distinct and luminous, no longer chaotic as before. Even the Dao images within his Realm of Xiyi were far more stable than before! 'Could the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique really just be these eight characters?' Xu Ying wondered, thinking, 'Isn't this technique a little too simple?' Compared to the eight characters of the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique, Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture was far, far more voluminous. Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture was the ancient Qi Refiner Granny Tuo's exposition on the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique. It was divided into eight realms, each accompanied by lengthy, exhaustive annotations. In those annotations, many complex terms were used, and to explain those complex terms, even more complex terms were required! Yet in the final analysis, Granny Tuo's annotations and the annotations on her annotations were simply her personal insights into those eight characters, containing her own comprehension of the Dao. For that reason, they were obscure and abstruse, baffling the favored geniuses of the Zhou clan. To Xu Ying, however, the meaning Granny Tuo sought to express never exceeded those eight characters of the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique. 'Moreover, Senior Granny Tuo's understanding seems a bit flawed. She grasped the essence of characters like Tai, Yin, Yuan, and Yu, but her comprehension of Yi, Yang, Yong, and Zhen fell short,' Xu Ying thought. 'Perhaps that is why cultivating Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture turns a person into a woman.' Standing before thirteen white-haired Zhou clan elders who were poring over the texts, he practiced the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique again and again. His bizarre postures drew the glances of the Zhou clan geniuses gathered in the hall. "Who is that?" a young, white-haired disciple of the Zhou clan asked the old servant Zhou Buyi. Zhou Buyi bowed hurriedly and smiled. "Young Master Youyou, this is a young genius from the countryside. Does Young Master Youyou recall that Xu Ying who caused such a huge stir not long ago?" The white-haired youth, Zhou Youyou, was surprised. "The criminal who cultivates demonic arts? I heard quite a few people died trying to capture him." Zhou Buyi nodded with a chuckle. "He looked down on Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture and insists on deciphering the jade slip." Zhou Youyou shook his head. "Nonsense. Country bumpkins truly have no perspective, blowing a fraud up into some miraculous figure." Suddenly, a voice boomed from outside, "Which one is Xu Ying?" The voice was deafening, rattling the eardrums of everyone in the hall. Xu Ying turned to look outside and saw several young men and women striding in aggressively. The leading man was dressed in red-and-white robes, rushing forward in a fiery temper. The moment he entered the great hall, he called out loudly, "I heard the ancestor captured the criminal Xu Ying and brought him here to decipher the immortal scripture. Which one is Xu Ying? Step forward at once!" Xu Ying walked up and said, "I am Xu Ying." The man in red and white looked him up and down and sneered, "So it was you who killed Second Brother Zhou and Uncle Zhou Yihang?" The old servant Zhou Buyi stepped forward and gave a light cough. "Young Master Fan, Young Master Xu was invited by the ancestor to decipher the heavenly scripture. Young master, please do not cause trouble." The man was Zhou Fan of the Zhou clan's inner manor. He sneered, "Uncle Yi, do you know how many of our Zhou clan he has killed? In the entire Lingling County, the Nuo masters were wiped out! Second Brother Zhou Yang and Uncle Yihang both died at his hands! The elites of Yongzhou Prefecture suffered heavy casualties, and so many people died because of him! Even Zhou Zheng was killed!" Zhou Buyi said, "Forgive me, Young Master Fan, but the ancestor instructed me to look after Young Master Xu. This old man cannot let you kill Young Master Xu to vent your rage." Zhou Fan laughed in anger. "I never said I would kill him, only teach him a lesson! Uncle Yi, you won't even allow that?" Zhou Buyi turned to Xu Ying and sighed. "Young Master Xu, you see how it is. It is not that this old man does not look out for you, but public fury cannot be quelled so easily. Just bear a bit of a loss, Young Master Xu, and let them vent their anger. With me here, your life will not be in danger—at most, you'll suffer some injuries." A smile creased his wrinkled face. "Fortunately, if nothing else, our Zhou clan is indisputably number one in the world when it comes to treating injuries. As long as you aren't dead, you can be saved." Zhou Fan strode toward Xu Ying. Before even closing the distance, his right hand was already raised, swinging fiercely toward Xu Ying's face as he barked, "I'm slapping you across the face for Second Brother Yang—that's not crossing the line, is it?" Xu Ying hitched his shoulders and swung his hand. In an instant, blood surged into his palm until it swelled as large as a cattail-leaf fan. A slap struck with the crack of thunder, moving second yet hitting first, smacking brutally across Zhou Fan's face! Smack! A sonic boom erupted as blood splattered. The slap twisted Zhou Fan's head more than halfway around. In that split second, Zhou Fan caught sight of his own rear end before his body spun through the air with a whistle, tumbling violently until he slammed with a resounding crash into a pillar forty feet away, then dropped limp to the floor. Yet Zhou Fan was no slouch either; he leaped to his feet, still alive and kicking. The moment he sprang up, however, a beam of sword light was pointed directly between his eyebrows, pinning him against the pillar. All across the great hall, the disciples of the Zhou clan surged forward, shouting in outrage, "Insolence!" "Scoundrel!" "Lower that sword at once!" Forty feet away, behind the beam of sword light, Xu Ying stood calmly. "Whether something is crossing the line depends on strength," he said impassively. "Before me, do you have the strength to cross the line?" He swept his gaze across the hall, taking in the expressions of everyone from the Zhou clan. Looking mild-tempered, he said, "In the past, I never understood. Master Zhou Yang was already the county magistrate, the highest official in our parts. He had whatever he wanted—more than a dozen pretty wives, thousands of qing of fertile fields, endless gold and silver, and feasts he could never finish. When he went out, he was carried in an eight-man sedan chair; when he came home, lovely concubines awaited him. Meanwhile, people like us who farmed the land or sold vegetables had nothing. Many couldn't afford wives and died without heirs; many couldn't afford houses and slept in dirt pits or straw huts. We were dirt-poor, never knowing where our next meal would come from. Why was Master Zhou still so greedy for wealth, still extorting us paupers? When we couldn't even afford food, why did he still scrape away our last grains?" He smiled. "Now that I see you, I understand. It turns out he needed to feed all of you. You dress in brocades and dine on delicacies, without a single worry for food or clothing. You ride magnificent horses in fine silk, flattered and pampered by countless servants like stars revolving around the moon—all because behind you, magistrate after magistrate from the Zhou clan has been sustaining you like gods!" Yuan Qi slapped his tail against the floor and praised, "'Big rat, big rat, do not eat my millet!' It's talking about a bunch of fat rats just like you! Ah Ying, am I right?" Xu Ying clapped his hands in approval. "The Old Niu family truly is a scholarly clan. That line shows great erudition." Yuan Qi laughed heartily. "You finally admit my learning is better than yours!" The Zhou clan members turned ashen. The old servant Zhou Buyi trembled with rage, pointing at Xu Ying as he yelled, "Slander! All of this is slander against my Zhou clan! If you dare utter such words today, I dare not even imagine what you will do tomorrow!" Yuan Qi exclaimed in surprise, "You're just a servant of the Zhou clan, so why do you speak as if you're the master? What we experienced with our own eyes became slander in your mouth—do you carry heavenly decrees in your mouth and make law with every word?" Zhou Buyi's hands shook violently as he raged, "Vile little snake demon, how dare you spout such insolence! Everything my Zhou clan executes is the imperial decree, and everything we carry out is imperial grace! Questioning the Zhou clan is questioning the Emperor and questioning the imperial decree! You want to rebel!" Yuan Qi flared back, "You're allowed to act like local emperors, but I'm not allowed to rebel?" Xu Ying cleared his throat to interrupt them. The beam of sword light lightly patted Zhou Fan's cheek with crisp slaps. "I'll spare you this once," Xu Ying said. "There won't be a second time. If you want to spar with me, you are welcome anytime. If you want to avenge Zhou Yang and his son, then we will settle it according to the rules of vengeance." He dispersed the sword light, his gaze chilling. "Just remember this clearly: the feud between me and the father and son of Zhou Yang is a blood debt as deep as the sea. If you want to avenge them, wager your life!" Zhou Fan had been staring at the tip of the sword light. The instant it dispersed, he let out a fierce roar as explosive pops echoed within his flesh. The muscles of his right arm burgeoned wildly, and as he raised and brought down his arm, a fleshy wing forty to fifty feet long took shape! The muscle on the fleshy wing was as angular and defined as rock, brimming with unimaginable explosive power! As he swung his arm, blazing gold feathers burst out from within the fleshy wing, growing rampantly and covering every inch in an instant! Those golden feathers were incomparably sharp, looking as though master craftsmen had forged and polished them from the finest steel piece by piece—exquisite, detailing every barb and vane! This was a Nuo technique conceived through contemplation of an image of the Great Dao! Zhou Fan raised his arm and brought it down; his arm transforming into a golden-feathered fleshy blade dozens of feet long had happened in a mere fraction of a second! The moment his arm descended, the golden-feathered fleshy blade was already bearing down upon Xu Ying's head as Zhou Fan roared, "Even if I avenge Second Brother Yang, what can you do? This is the Zhou clan!" From Xu Ying's shoulder, a snow-bright sword qi met the tip of the golden-feathered fleshy blade and sliced straight ahead with unstoppable momentum. Tracing a brilliant arc of sword light, it split through from the blade tip to the space between Zhou Fan's eyebrows in an instant, piercing clean through his body with a sharp clang before striking the pillar behind him. Carved with dragons and phoenixes, the bronze pillar was exceedingly ancient, gleaming with a patina of azure. Now, a thin line of blood appeared across the pillar. Xu Ying was slightly surprised that his Realm Breaker strike had not damaged this bronze pillar in the slightest. The Huaihua Palace was indeed an extraordinary place. "The Zhou clan is number one in the world at treating injuries. Can he still be saved?" Xu Ying turned his head and asked the old servant, Zhou Buyi. Before the bronze pillar, a line of blood ran down the center of Zhou Fan's brow. That Realm Breaker strike had cleaved his brain in two and split his Mud Pill secret depository in a single blow.