Hitting It Off

Hearing this, Tong Hao could not help looking pleased. Seeing his reaction, the crane propped its long beak to one side and whispered, "Then I am one step closer to becoming the acting Dao Ancestor." Xu Ying arrived at the boundary between light and darkness. Knowing he possessed a Dao body, he had to suppress his Heavenly Dao aura before he could enter; otherwise, the Zang would obstruct him. He circulated the Leakless Golden Body. Not only was his Heavenly Dao aura prevented from leaking out, but even the decaying qi of the darkness could hardly penetrate his frame! The Leakless Golden Body was divided into an inner lock and an outer lock. The inner lock sealed oneself away, ensuring that nothing—not even one's life force—could leak out, leaving one immune to aging and death. The outer lock established a barrier against the outside, preventing external forces from intruding, rendering one invulnerable to all dharmas! It was precisely because Daoist Wukong had created this technique that he had been able to preserve himself before the great fissure of the Taishang Cave Abyss, sitting in meditation for six to seven hundred thousand years without perishing. Although Xu Ying's mastery could not yet match Daoist Wukong's, after enduring so many beatings and the tempering of the Purple Firmament tribulation lightning, his attainments in the Leakless Golden Body were swiftly catching up to what Daoist Wukong had achieved before entering the Taishang Cave Abyss. He stepped into the darkness without alerting anyone, passing through with ease like an incorporeal phantom. The moment he entered the gloom, he felt a bizarre power sweeping toward him, attempting to bore into his body through his hundred and eight thousand pores and rot his Dao methods. Faint sounds of Dao weeping drifted through the air, their source indiscernible amid the vast darkness. The massive mountains in the distance could only barely be made out in outline, and there seemed to be someone perched upon one. As Xu Ying drew closer, he saw that the figure on the mountain was colossal and tattered, crouched atop the peak and glaring down at him in the posture of a monstrous bird. It was a Zang. Countless branch-like protrusions sprouted from its body, interlocking like a pair of wings riddled with gaping holes. One could still vaguely tell it had been human in life, but the Emerald Rock had exerted a profound influence on it, even altering its anatomy! Having lived in darkness year after year, its eyes appeared unusually large, staring fixedly at Xu Ying as he approached. It watched Xu Ying with a hint of bewilderment, seemingly trying to figure out what kind of creature he was—bolstered by the Leakless Golden Body, Xu Ying emitted no aura whatsoever, looking to the monster like an ambulatory stone in the shape of a man. Suddenly, layer upon layer of Dao domains unfolded around it, unleashing a surging, baleful aura. In an instant, six layers of Dao domains blanketed the mountain, directly drawing Xu Ying inside! Its Dao domains were pitch-black and echoed with shrill Dao weeping. Suddenly, an enormous face broke through the gloom, appearing right before Xu Ying! Surrounding the face were slender, feather-like branches drifting about. It opened its maw wide, revealing squirming, razor-sharp teeth, and let out a piercing, ear-splitting howl of Dao weeping! The sound sought to drill into Xu Ying's physical body through the surface of his skin and corrode his flesh. However, Xu Ying had long sealed himself off inside and out; the Dao weeping could only depress tiny pits into his skin's surface, unable to enter his body at all! The Zang howled for a while, then closed its mouth. The massive face protruding from the darkness circled Xu Ying, staring with disproportionately large eyes as it scrutinized his every move. *The Zang possess intelligence!* Xu Ying was startled as he met the creature's gaze. In its massive eyes, he saw that this bizarre creature was thinking! *It's intelligent, but not very,* Xu Ying thought. The Zang sensed that Xu Ying was rather strange—he resembled a living being, yet did not feel like one. Losing interest in Xu Ying, it contracted its Dao domains and returned to the mountaintop. Xu Ying rose and continued forward. Suddenly, the Zang swooped down from the mountain peak like a wraith, lunging with its bony hand at Xu Ying as countless branches across its body snapped open! Xu Ying surged with martial divine powers and unleashed the ninth form of the Eight Methods of the God of War, Heaven Breaker, to meet the strike. In the darkness, only the most fundamental forms of attack like the martial path could be employed; aside from the Taiyi Golden Bridge, few other divine powers retained any potency! The Leakless Golden Body also belonged to the martial path, making it one of the rare techniques that could be wielded in the darkness. He did not possess cultivation as profound as Ten Useless Heavenly Monarch Liu Guanyi. Liu Guanyi could withstand the oppression of the darkness, whereas Xu Ying could only rely on martial divine powers to resist the gloom and confront strange beings like the Zang! *Dong!* Man and Zang each grunted. The Zang's momentum was arrested, and it was knocked backward, tumbling back onto the mountain peak. Meanwhile, Xu Ying was pushed back by the tremendous force of the strike, sliding backward for over ten li before coming to a stop. The Zang's power surged through his body, battering his hundred and eight thousand pores. Some of the pores could not hold, hissing as they vented the excess vital energy and blood. Xu Ying hurriedly circulated the Leakless Golden Body, sealing every acupuncture point and refining the power that the Zang had forced into his body. Once his vital energy and blood settled, a rustling noise suddenly rose from all around. Xu Ying looked about, only to see Zang appearing nearby one after another at some unknown moment. Pairs of scrutinizing, oversized eyes stared at him, resembling human-like owls, only far larger than ordinary ones. The structures of these Zang varied as well. Some grew branch-like protrusions like the previous one, while others sprouted blood-vessel-like tendrils like the Zang in the mausoleum. Xu Ying even saw a Zang whose body sprouted countless threads that linked behind it to form a giant puppet. Others grew weapons from their bodies, curved sabers flanking both left and right. Still others had a long bone spear jutting from each vertebra of their spines, fanning out on either side like the theatrical battle flags pinned behind a veteran general. These Zang scrutinized him. Moments ago, they had sensed Xu Ying's vital energy and blood, but now that vitality had abruptly vanished, leaving only this man-shaped thing standing there without the slightest sign of life. Xu Ying quietly took a step forward, attempting to pass between two of the Zang. The Zang were very curious about him, yet did not attack directly, allowing him to pass through. Suddenly, a Zang tentatively swatted at Xu Ying. Xu Ying darted aside to dodge the strike, but that single movement was like igniting a cauldron of burning oil. A ceaseless buzzing arose, and in an instant, all the Zang surrounding Xu Ying unfolded their Dao domains! Those rotting Dao domains were utterly pitch-black, the eerie and sinister Dao weeping relentlessly agitating the surface of Xu Ying's skin, trying to drill through his Leakless Golden Body! Xu Ying mentally counted himself fortunate. Had he not spent the past two months using the might of the Purple Firmament tribulation lightning to temper his Leakless Golden Body, these Zang likely would have breached his golden body right now, costing him his life! In the darkness, a Zang attacked. Without a second thought, Xu Ying drifted upward to dodge its palm strike, but in the next instant, the Zang's barbed tail swept across, its razor hook stabbing down toward his flesh! Unable to dodge, Xu Ying immediately mobilized a Dao hammer to clash head-on with the barbed hook. He was blasted back more than ten li by the impact, yet he still could not break free of the Zang's Dao domains. Xu Ying circulated the Leakless Golden Body, doing his utmost to refine the alien power within him, his heart sinking. Logically, flying back so far should have carried him beyond the Zang's Dao domains, yet he remained enveloped within them. This meant that as he was thrown back, the Zang were moving with him, keeping him trapped inside their Dao domains the entire time! *No wonder Brother Liu said these Zang are extremely troublesome and that he barely escaped with his life!* The moment Xu Ying stabilized himself, the attacks of the other Zang followed in rapid succession. Xu Ying activated the Eight Methods of the God of War, defending front and back, left and right, as if he had grown seven or eight arms to withstand their onslaught! The Leakless Golden Body had a corresponding martial divine power known as the Victorious Fighting Method, which was Daoist Wukong's combat technique. However, Daoist Wukong had only taught Xu Ying the Leakless Golden Body, never imparting the combat technique to him. Emperor Wu Shen Luo's Eight Methods of the God of War was naturally more than enough against Qi Refiners and held its own against ordinary immortals, but against bizarre creatures like the Zang, it was stretched far too thin. Clashing head-on with the throng of Zang, Xu Ying soon took several hits. His body surged with turbulent power that his Leakless Golden Body could not immediately refine. *Bang! Bang! Bang!* He took more and more blows in rapid succession, his body swelling like an inflated balloon, puffing up larger and taller. Suddenly, Xu Ying's hundred and eight thousand pores began to hiss and vent air, expelling the excess power in his body as vital energy and blood. The Zang besieging Xu Ying froze for an instant, then went wild, furiously attacking him! Xu Ying swelled up once more, his pores hissing continuously as they vented. He was thoroughly infuriated and fought back furiously, but with little effect, getting beaten black and blue by the Zang. The fiercer his resistance, the harder the beating he took. Yet his Leakless Golden Body was exceedingly resilient. Even with all the Zang joining forces and combining their Dao domains to suppress him, they still failed to breach it. Xu Ying fought with all his might, trying to break out of the encirclement, but after battling for three days and three nights, he still could not force his way through. The Zang swarmed around him and pummeled him for three days and three nights, yet they could not break his Leakless Golden Body either. After a long while more, one of the Zang suddenly turned and left, vanishing into the depths of darkness. Seeing this, the other Zang hesitated briefly, then abandoned Xu Ying and scattered into the distance one after another. "Come back and fight!" Xu Ying shouted, giving chase after one of the Zang. The Zang could not get away from him fast enough, fleeing repeatedly. In the darkness, several white-bone skeletons stared blankly at this sight from afar. Moments later, Xu Ying came charging back, lunging toward these skeletons. Further away, several Zang paused and looked back, casting sympathetic gazes at the skeletons tangled in a brawl with Xu Ying. The white-bone skeletons were primeval powerhouses who had failed to survive the catastrophe. These skeletons held a lowly status in the darkness; they possessed neither Dao domains nor Dao cultivation, able only to emit Dao weeping and fight with their pathetic bones. Before long, Xu Ying gave the skeletons a thorough thrashing, then sprang up to charge at the Zang who had beaten him for three days and three nights. Seeing him coming, those Zang had already slipped away without a trace. In the darkness, a dark, humanoid figure followed Xu Ying without a sound, watching the scene with curiosity. "What is this kid doing?" he murmured. Among those exiled to this cosmic Dark Domain, who wasn't plagued by endless headaches over the Zang? Who would dare provoke them on purpose? Yet Xu Ying not only took the beating in stride, he actively hunted down the Zang, leaving even this figure dumbfounded. "No wonder that vixen Qiongtai took a liking to him." The dark figure shadowed Xu Ying soundlessly. "This kid really does have something extraordinary about him. That vixen Qiongtai always likes pretty boys like this!" Xu Ying gave chase for a long while and ran into other Zang. Seeing how insolent this kid was, they swarmed him once more. A few days later, all the nearby Zang knew that a new species had arrived in the dark lands: one that swelled and deflated when beaten, couldn't be killed no matter how hard they struck, and relentlessly pursued them with clingy obstinacy. He was best left alone. Xu Ying hung around the darkness for over a dozen days. Gradually, neither the Zang nor the skeletons came looking for trouble with him. Even when they crossed paths with Xu Ying, they gave him a wide berth. Xu Ying roamed the darkness, observing the lifestyle of the Zang and the skeletons. He discovered that the skeletons made up the bottom rung of this rudimentary society, possessing the least status. The Zang, on the other hand, were the petty lords of this society, each possessing their own territory. When other Zang encroached upon their domain, they would go to war. The victor stayed behind to become the master of the house, while the loser was driven away. Xu Ying stepped into the territory of a Zang, intending to study it closely. The Zang flew into a rage and fought him for four days and four nights, before finally, with deep reluctance, acknowledging Xu Ying's household status as head of the family. Watching from afar, the dark figure thought, *What is he doing now? This kid is always impossible to read. That vixen Qiongtai just loves these unpredictable pretty boys!* Xu Ying observed every action of this Zang, studying it thoroughly. *Creatures like the Zang truly possess intelligence,* he thought. *It seems a different set of Great Dao laws governing heaven and earth is indeed operating in the darkness.* When he left this "home," the abandoned Zang watched him depart with mournful resentment, letting out bursts of short, plaintive Dao weeping. "There is a worldly Great Dao here. The presence of a worldly Great Dao proves that the Heavenly Dao is being suppressed—it is truly a clash of Daos." Xu Ying's eyes gleamed. After groping in the dark for so long, he could finally confirm that an alternative Heavenly Dao operated within the darkness. Unlike the Heavenly Dao of the Mortal Realm, this Heavenly Dao was exceedingly tyrannical, altering the fundamental laws of heaven and earth and causing the Dao weeping. "Those powerhouses who did not die outright in the catastrophe were eroded by this anomalous Heavenly Dao, gradually assimilated until they turned into creatures like the Zang," Xu Ying murmured, "and the source of this anomalous Heavenly Dao is the Emerald Rock!" The Emerald Rock in the Earth Immortal Realm recorded cultivation techniques, whereas the Emerald Rock in the Mortal Realm recorded the Great Dao! The two Emerald Rocks served different purposes. *Could the cultivation techniques from the Emerald Rock in the Earth Immortal Realm be meant to be cultivated in tandem with the Great Dao from the Mortal Realm's Emerald Rock?* The thought suddenly struck Xu Ying. Could this be the truth of the Emerald Rocks? Coincidentally, the Demon Ancestor had gifted him the *Emerald Rock Inscriptions*, and the Last Lord of Ziwei had passed down *Taiyi Enlightenment*, deciphered by Emperor Haotian! *Taiyi Enlightenment* was Emperor Haotian's decipherment of the Emerald Rock inscriptions; though he had only deciphered a fraction, it was already a technique capable of cultivating one to the Wondrous Realm! *If I can obtain the Great Dao of the Mortal Realm's Emerald Rock, wouldn't I be able to fully decipher the Emerald Rock inscriptions?* Xu Ying stood frozen in place. A moment later, he let out a jubilant shout and sprinted into the distance. "Does that vixen Qiongtai really like crazy pretty boys like this?" The dark figure revealed his outline and muttered as he looked in the direction Xu Ying had run. Suddenly, sensing something, he turned his gaze toward the Mortal Realm Ferry. "Other people have entered the Dark Domain!" At the Mortal Realm Ferry, the Ancestral God hauled himself onto the shore with great effort. He collapsed onto his back, panting heavily, still clutching a dragon bell in his hand. After struggling through the River of Spiritual Light for nearly three months, they had finally reached the Mortal Realm alive. Even for the Ancestral God, a sense of relief at surviving a calamity welled up within him.