Yuan Weiyang was astonished. When the locust blossom entered her stomach, she felt a lovely warmth spread through her belly. Her yang qi shone bright as the sun, penetrating deep into her marrow!
The Yuan clan’s mastery of divine sense was unrivaled in the realm, complete with methods for using divine sense to temper the physical body. Yet those were the Yuan clan’s deepest esoteric arts; that a single locust flower could achieve the same effect left her marveling in wonder.
Not only that, eating a single blossom caused her primordial qi to stir and her cultivation to surge. Only now did she realize just how many benefits Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and the bell had reaped while fooling around these past few days!
The two youths and the serpent devoured the entire roasted branch in great mouthfuls. Soon, heat steamed from their skin. Fine beads of sweat dotted Yuan Weiyang’s forehead as yang qi coursed through her body, cleansing her marrow and refining her meridians.
Xu Ying stood up, circulating the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique to limber up, practicing the eight postures: Tai, Yin, Yuan, Yu, Yi, Yang, Yong, and Zhen.
The great serpent squirmed alongside him, seemingly cultivating the technique as well. It contorted its body into the shape of the character "Yi," shifted into a concave shape, and a moment later formed a convex one.
Seated nearby, Yuan Weiyang watched. She could faintly hear the flow of primordial qi and divine sense within Xu Ying and the serpent, the cryptic whispers of their souls, and the rustling chime rising from deep within their bones.
A light seemed to swell within them, gradually rising. As it circulated to their various acupoints, divine radiance seeped forth from each orifice.
The internal structures of each acupoint were projected into the air by the divine light, exquisitely detailed and crystal clear. To Yuan Weiyang’s astonishment, the internal architecture of these acupoints resembled natural cave-heavens or palatial pavilions!
*This technique is extraordinary. The longer one cultivates it, the more variations unfold. It truly surpasses Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture by far!*
Yuan Weiyang watched in silence. As she studied the projected acupoints, an epiphany struck. *From these projections, I can combine the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction with internal observation and visualization to create a Divine Reservoir technique! If a god is housed within every acupoint of the body, it will form three hundred and sixty-five divine reservoirs across the whole physique.*
At this thought, inspiration blazed within her. Suddenly, whether she could obtain the Taiyin Primordial Nurturing Technique no longer mattered.
*However, I will need clear structures of these acupoints to perfect the divine reservoirs,* she thought.
"My mouth feels a bit bland. Brother Yuan, let's go catch loaches!"
Xu Ying grabbed Yuan Weiyang’s hand and pulled her up, running toward the river flowing along the giant branch. Yuan Weiyang stumbled under his tug and hurried to keep pace.
"How could there be loaches here?" Yuan Weiyang asked, staring at the river in disbelief.
Xu Ying let go of her hand and called out, "Yuan Qi, go upstream and dam the water! We'll dig for loaches downstream and share a couple more with you later!"
Yuan Qi agreed and swam upstream, using his massive body to block the riverbed.
The current was not particularly swift, but due to the incline, a section of the river soon drained away, leaving only an ankle-deep layer of water.
The silt, however, was quite deep.
Xu Ying bent over, rolling up his trouser legs. "Brother Yuan, roll your pants up like this so you don't soil your clothes. Hey, your legs are really fair!"
Yuan Weiyang leaned down to roll up her trousers, revealing skin as fair and delicate as jade. Xu Ying could not resist brushing a hand across her calf, praising, "Smooth as silk."
His touch sent Yuan Weiyang’s heart into a flutter, but fortunately, Xu Ying had already pulled his hand back.
Xu Ying showed her how to roll up her sleeves so they would not slip down, then jumped into the riverbed. The silt reached right up to the back of his knees.
Seeing this, Yuan Weiyang felt reassured and stepped gingerly into the river. Watching Xu Ying thrust his hands into the mud to dig around, she wondered, "Are there really loaches here? Where we stand is higher than most mountains in the world. How could such a place have loaches?"
Xu Ying whispered, "There are. The loaches here are huge and delicious, impossible to find on the ground... I found one!"
He pulled his hands free, grabbed Yuan Weiyang's hands, and plunged them into the mud, smiling. "Feel around. Be gentle—don't startle it."
Yuan Weiyang bent low, cautiously probing beneath the mud. She smiled. "Where is it... Whoa, it's huge!"
She cried out, "It's so thick... and so slippery, I can't hold on!"
The harder she tried to grasp it, the more elusive it proved, slipping right through her fingers.
Suddenly, the mud churned. With a loud splash, a "loach" five to six feet long vaulted from the silt! It opened a bloody maw packed with spike-like teeth and lunged straight at Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang!
An ordinary loach grew no longer than a foot, with a tiny mouth and whiskers. But this "loach" was astonishingly massive, boasting a dragon-like snout, a dorsal fin, and long barbels trailing from the corners of its mouth—ferocious and menacing.
Yet facing two young masters like Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang, the creature never got the chance to bite. In an instant, it was knocked senseless, splattering both youths with mud in its thrashing.
"It looks like a dragon loach!"
Yuan Weiyang examined it closely and gasped, "It really is a dragon loach! I read about them in the Yuan clan records. A dragon loach has four barbels on each side of its mouth, the head of a dragon and the body of a loach, impossibly slippery to grasp. It's an exceptionally rare exotic beast! The Record of a Thousand Prescriptions, Chronicles of the Supreme Dao Emperors, and Annals of the Martial Sage all mention it!"
Xu Ying tossed the dragon loach onto the bank, his eyes gleaming. "Do the books say how to eat it?"
Yuan Weiyang was struck dumb. Stuttering, she replied, "N-no, they don't."
Xu Ying shook his head. "The books you read must not be proper books. Any proper book would explain whether it's edible and how to cook it."
Yuan Weiyang fumed, "What kind of logic is that?!"
Xu Ying felt a bit guilty and quickly changed the subject. "Brother Yuan, when you feel around, keep an eye out for breathing holes in the mud. Don't reach into a hole—the dragon loach’s head is underneath, and you'll get bitten. The slight depressions are where its tail is."
He gave her a hands-on demonstration, catching another dragon loach, before letting Yuan Weiyang search on her own.
Yuan Weiyang's heart thumped wildly. Though she was far stronger than any dragon loach, the thrill, nervousness, and suspense of digging in the mud was an exhilarating adventure she had never experienced before.
The two worked along a stretch of the riverbed and caught seven dragon loaches. Upstream, the pooled water grew heavier, pressing against Yuan Qi’s body. As the water level rose, the serpent struggled to hold it back, so Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang hurried ashore.
Yuan Qi released the barrier, and the river rushed back through.
Xu Ying glanced down at the mud covering his body and grinned. "Brother Yuan, let's jump in and wash off!"
Yuan Weiyang jumped in fright, blurting out, "Wash? Wash what? How?"
Xu Ying asked in confusion, "Strip naked and jump in to wash off the mud, of course. How else would you wash? You city folk are truly bizarre. In a moment, I'll turn my back so you can scrub it, and once you're done, you turn your back and I'll scrub yours."
He swiftly stripped off his upper garments and moved to pull down his trousers.
Yuan Weiyang’s face flushed crimson. When Xu Ying was down to just his undergarments, he showed no sign of stopping and peeled them off too.
Yuan Weiyang cried out in panic, stammering, "How can you take everything off?!"
Xu Ying looked down at himself, somewhat exasperated. "Another one grew!" With that, he plucked it hard.
Yuan Weiyang's eyes went wide. Before she could cover them, the great monster king Xu Ying dashed naked as a wild animal, bounding gleefully before leaping into the river with a resounding splash!
The scene was so shocking that she remained in a daze for a long time!
Xu Ying plunged into the deep current until the water reached his neck. Splashing and bouncing, he called out toward Yuan Weiyang with a laugh, "Brother Yuan, come down and play!"
Her face burning red, Yuan Weiyang lowered her head and walked upstream, calling out, "I'll wash up over there! I'm not used to bathing with others..."
Her steps quickened, breaking into a trot as she fled upstream.
"City folk and their weird rules. Back in the countryside, we all bathed together," Xu Ying muttered, shaking his head.
Yuan Weiyang walked several li until she nearly reached the headwaters before finally stopping. She looked around, sweeping the area with her divine sense to confirm no one was nearby, and only then began to undress.
Remembering how casually Xu Ying had stripped, heat rushed to her cheeks.
Recalling him sprinting bare-bottomed into the river made her face burn even hotter.
She slipped out of her final garment, folding each piece with neat, meticulous precision. Standing carefully and wrapping her arms over her chest, she was suddenly seized by an odd impulse. She looked down at herself, pinched a stray hair between two fingers, gave it a sharp pluck, and burst into giggles.
Just like Xu Ying, she ran wildly toward the river, letting out gleeful shouts before leaping in with a loud splash, sending water spraying in every direction!
In the water, the young girl splashed vigorously, spinning around as she threw up waves, laughing aloud, "How wonderfully free!"
Only after a long while did she remember to scrub away the mud. She rubbed her skin clean, washing over herself several times. Wading into the shallows, she summoned four bright mirrors to circle her body, inspecting every inch to ensure she was thoroughly clean.
She gently scrubbed beneath her breasts, behind her knees, and between her toes, checking beneath her nails with great care before finally climbing onto the bank to dress, layer by layer.
Facing the mirror, she arranged her hair and makeup. Moments later, the young girl had transformed once more into an elegant young nobleman.
Yuan Weiyang retraced her steps to where Xu Ying had been bathing. Neither Xu Ying nor the great serpent was there, but a rich, savory aroma wafted from a distance, making her mouth water.
Following the scent, she found Xu Ying and the serpent propping up the bronze bell, using it as a cooking cauldron! The bell was filled with water, and the dragon loaches were already simmering inside.
The bell was shouting, "He who eats another's food must hold his tongue; he who uses another's favors is beholden! Not a word of today's business is to leave this tree, or Lord Bell will crush your skulls!"
Yuan Weiyang hurried over, feeling both shocked and amused.
This bronze bell possessed independent consciousness, could cultivate, and could converse with others—it was unmistakably a supreme treasure among magic treasures!
To think Xu Ying and his companion were using it as a cooking pot to boil loaches, and far from feeling disgraced, the bell merely threatened to kill anyone who revealed the secret.
Such shameless conduct was truly beyond expectation.
"Are Lord Bell's injuries healed?" Yuan Weiyang asked.
The bronze bell praised, "Little Brother Yuan is the sensible one. Unlike these two, who wanted to eat the moment they returned without even asking after me. My external damage has healed, but my internal injuries remain. That demoness is formidable; to erase the mark she left behind, I still need to purloin more vital blood. Yes, and cultivate diligently."
"It's stealing vital blood," Yuan Qi said indignantly.
The bronze bell flared in outrage, chiming loudly. "Purloining is not stealing! Purloining, heh..."
The dragon loach soup was brimming with savory richness. Swallowing it down, they felt primordial qi burrowing through their bodies like loaches, clearing their meridians with immense comfort. The loach meat was extraordinarily tender and delicious.
Xu Ying plucked broad leaves to serve as bowls and leaf stems as chopsticks. Yuan Weiyang had never imagined she could eat so much; she felt as though she had consumed more food and broth in this single meal than in the past fifteen years of her life!
Stuffed and content, the two youths and the serpent sprawled out on the ground, limbs splayed, unwilling to budge.
The bronze bell clamored for them to get up and scrub it clean, but they were so bloated they could not be bothered to lift a single finger, let alone tackle the chore of washing a cauldron.
Cursing under its breath, the bronze bell flew down to the river to scrub itself.
After a while, Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and Yuan Weiyang leaped to their feet and began cultivating in unison.
The bell rattled with fury, unleashing a barrage of curses, unaware that the three had eaten so much dragon loach that boundless energy was trapped inside them with no outlet. Bloated and bursting, they had scrambled up to cultivate out of sheer necessity, not sudden diligence.
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi circulated their guiding techniques while assuming bizarre postures, the two methods flowing in perfect harmony without interference. Beside them, Yuan Weiyang practiced the Yuan Dao Heavens Induction while observing the projections of Xu Ying’s acupoints, comparing them against her art. Gradually, the seed of a new technique took root in her mind.
By the time the dragon loach soup’s energy was completely digested, Xu Ying’s soul and divine sense soared upward, stepping into the first of the heavens beyond the mystic pass in the Realm of Xiyi!
Standing upon the First Heaven, looking up to the sky and down upon the earth, heroic ambition surged within his chest. *As turmoil rises across the world today, will there be a place for me, a humble snake catcher of Yongzhou?*
They tossed the locust branches and loach bones into the fire pit, destroying all evidence and tidying the hollow before descending the tree.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang leaped downward, tapping the tree bark lightly every dozen yards to arrest their momentum before dropping again, nimble as spirit foxes and graceful as a pair of fluttering butterflies.
Yuan Qi slithered swiftly through the crevices in the bark, suddenly calling out, "Ah Ying, I ate too many good things—I think I'm about to knock on the pass! Trouble is, I might have to shed my skin too!"
Xu Ying stopped and looked back. "The last time you molted, it took several days. If you have to knock on the pass and molt at the same time, it will probably take quite a while. Stay up in the tree for now. Lord Bell will guard you, and you can come find me once you've finished."
The bronze bell flew out from behind Xu Ying's head, coming to Yuan Qi's side.
Xu Ying turned and bounded downward, picking up speed to catch up with Yuan Weiyang.
"Brother Yuan, the Zhou clan ancestor is no benevolent soul. If the chance arises, you and Uncle Xiao must flee without delay," Xu Ying warned in a low voice.
Yuan Weiyang’s heart jolted, and she looked at him in surprise.
Xu Ying recounted his discovery of the stone chamber in Qinyan Cave, adding, "Every scripture he couldn't take with him, he burned to ash. If he treats sacred texts that way, how do you think he'll treat people? Once we finish deciphering Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture, we will simply be scriptures he cannot take with him."
Yuan Weiyang understood immediately. "To him, sparing our lives would be no different from leaving those scriptures behind in Qinyan Cave back then. For the very same reason he burned the books, he will kill us."
They reached the base of the giant locust tree, only to find the green-robed old servant, Uncle Xiao, standing there with a stern expression, having waited for quite some time.
Seeing Uncle Xiao, Yuan Weiyang concealed her girlish demeanor the moment her feet touched the ground, resuming the guise of an elegant young nobleman. She walked toward the old servant and spoke gently, "Uncle Xiao, have you been waiting long?"
She turned back and offered Xu Ying a faint smile. "Monster King Xu, until we meet again. I look forward to comparing notes with you."
Xu Ying bowed slightly, and Yuan Weiyang inclined her head in return.
Uncle Xiao cast a ferocious glare at Xu Ying before following Yuan Weiyang away. Yet he did not know that once a true nature imprisoned for so long is finally set free, how could any cage ever hold it again?
Chapter 52