Emperor Shengshen stood quite far from Zhou Qiyun. Though his demeanor betrayed restless agitation, his tone remained aloof. "An ancient Qi Refiner? Merely a demon cultivator, not the orthodox path. My dear Zhou, Nuo techniques are the righteous way. Do not go astray."
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang felt their hearts thump. They exchanged a glance. *From his tone, the emperor and Zhou Qiyun don't seem to get along.*
Zhou Qiyun stared at the Qi Refiner's corpse inside the shrine, raised his white eyebrows, and asked, "Has Your Majesty's wound not healed yet?"
Emperor Shengshen said blandly, "We rule the realm, and all hearts turn to Us. Who could injure Us? Who would dare?"
Zhou Qiyun knitted his brows, then smoothed them out. "It is good that Your Majesty took no hurt. This old subject had thought the wound I gave Your Majesty back then was still troubling Your Majesty. It seems I overthought it."
The incense smoke qi swirling around Emperor Shengshen roiled, and in an instant, the atmosphere inside the great hall became stiflingly oppressive. Even Guo Xiaodie could tell something was amiss and dared not speak.
Yuan Weiyang suddenly broke the silence, asking, "Why is this ancient Qi Refiner sitting in a shrine? He is no god. Could sitting in a shrine mean he sought to absorb incense smoke qi and attain godhood in the flesh?"
She was exceptionally clever. Knowing Emperor Shengshen had been backed into a corner by Old Ancestor Zhou's single remark, and that an ongoing standoff would lead to a fight to the death unless one backed down, she took the initiative to offer a topic that would interest them both, giving each a way out.
Zhou Qiyun relaxed his pressure and said, "This Qi Refiner must have reached the end of his lifespan without any confidence in surviving his tribulation, and thus took another route to prolong his life."
Emperor Shengshen said, "A Qi Refiner's lifespan has its end, but a god's does not. As long as incense smoke remains, a god is immortal."
Both were exceptionally gifted individuals; seeing the posture of the ancient Qi Refiner's corpse, they immediately understood his path of cultivation.
Zhou Qiyun said softly, "Yet this is a false path. If incense smoke qi could grant longevity, wouldn't every emperor throughout history have lived forever?"
He recited, "'Where are the emperors, generals, and ministers now? Only the weeping of ghosts at grave mounds is heard.' Attaining godhood through incense smoke is a dead-end heresy!"
The corners of Emperor Shengshen's eyes twitched, his voice majestic and harsh: "Which path isn't a dead end? Even someone as powerful as the Qi Refiner before us exhausted his lifespan and was forced to seek godhood through incense smoke! Yet some fail to see this, blindly marching down the path of Qi Refiners and thinking themselves peerless, when in truth they are fools beyond measure!"
Zhou Qiyun's eyes twitched violently as well.
The Zhou clan's search for and deciphering of demon cultivation methods, and their excavation of ancient Qi Refiners' tombs and cave-heavens, was hardly a secret!
Emperor Shengshen had clearly known of the Zhou clan's moves for a long time, and now sneered at him, mocking his futile pursuit of immortality!
Yuan Weiyang's head ached at once. She had just stepped in to give them a way out, yet here they were, butting heads again.
"Brother Yuan, there's a huge vat here! Come take a look!" Xu Ying's voice rang out in astonishment.
Yuan Weiyang looked over to see Xu Ying staring at the large water vat beneath the eaves outside the hall. She thought, *We just leaped out of that vat, so why does he look like he's seeing it for the first time?*
She caught on immediately, walked over, and joined Xu Ying in examining the large water vat.
The two began appraising the vat. Yuan Weiyang bent forward, studying its grain and texture, while Xu Ying rested one hand on his hip and stroked his chin with the other, seemingly calculating its value.
"Will they fight?" Yuan Weiyang's voice was as faint as a mosquito's hum.
"Hard to say."
Xu Ying scrutinized the vat, eyes flickering, and whispered, "Though Lord Bell said there are three experts in the hall. The emperor is one, Old Ancestor Zhou is naturally another. Who is the third expert?"
Yuan Weiyang could not help shivering. She glanced back covertly at the ancient Qi Refiner sitting upright in the shrine.
The ancient Qi Refiner wore a broad smile, the flesh at his glabella already stiffened.
Yuan Weiyang withdrew her gaze and whispered, "Are you saying he isn't dead at all? But he's clearly a corpse! If he weren't dead, wouldn't His Majesty and Old Ancestor Zhou have noticed?"
Xu Ying continued examining the vat and said, "They might have noticed already."
In the hall, cold sweat dripped from Uncle Xiao's forehead; the pressure had now fallen on him. If he didn't do something soon, the two peerless experts would surely come to blows on the spot.
If they fought, they might not die, but he definitely would!
Rack his brains as he might, he finally found a topic and blurted out, "Peculiar! If this ancient Qi Refiner walked the path of godhood through incense smoke, why is there no incense smoke qi on him?"
Zhou Qiyun and Emperor Shengshen both understood that if neither reined himself in, they would have to settle it with their fists, so they took the pretext to dismount their high horses.
Emperor Shengshen stepped forward and said, "A man's death is like an extinguished lamp, and the same goes for gods. Once he died, his incense smoke qi went out with him. This man lacked the courage to face tribulation, yearning for eternal life through godhood—a wretched creature."
His words were loaded with double meaning, clearly taking aim at Zhou Qiyun's approaching tribulation!
Zhou Qiyun's pupils shrank. "Your Majesty seems quite knowledgeable about Qi Refiners. It appears Your Majesty has not only cultivated incense smoke, but has also obtained quite a few Qi Refiner techniques, no? Your Majesty cultivates using yang qi, which hardly looks like an orthodox path. Your Majesty, haven't you strayed?"
Emperor Shengshen said blandly, "If the enemy may go, so may I. It is common knowledge that certain people hunt far and wide for demonic arts; may We not seek a few demonic arts as well?"
A blue vein throbbed on Zhou Qiyun's forehead.
Uncle Xiao turned right around, hurried over to the large water vat, bent down to look at the water's surface, and cried in fake astonishment, "What a huge vat! Could it be a treasure?"
He lowered his voice and whispered, "Young Master, Demon King Xu, what do we do now?"
Their predicament was probably even more perilous than the heavenly god besieging the parasol tree. Back then, they could still run for their lives; right now, they might not even get the chance!
Xu Ying whispered, "The moment they make a move, we jump into the vat and return to Cangwu Abyss!"
In the hall, Guo Xiaodie plucked up her courage and asked, "Why are so many talismans pasted on this Qi Refiner's body? What do they mean?"
"A fine question. My dear Zhou must know, surely?" Emperor Shengshen looked toward Zhou Qiyun.
Zhou Qiyun shook his head. "This subject is ashamed. Your Majesty's learning bridges heaven and man; Your Majesty must understand."
Tension flared between the two once more.
Guo Xiaodie slunk out of the hall in dejection and exclaimed, "There's actually a water vat here! What a pretty vat—how did it end up here?"
She lowered her voice and said excitedly, "Will the dynasty change hands today?"
Yuan Weiyang and Uncle Xiao both frowned. If the hostility between Emperor Shengshen and Zhou Qiyun could not be defused today, a change of dynasty might genuinely occur!
And a change of dynasty would have nothing to do with them, because whether the emperor lived or Zhou Qiyun lived, neither would leave any of them alive.
If the victor wished to appear glorious and unblemished, he would have to silence all witnesses and leave not a speck of filth behind!
Xu Ying frowned. Glancing up inadvertently, his eyes fell upon the horizontal plaque of the hall embedded in the mountain, and he froze slightly. The plaque was inscribed in Bird-Worm Seal Script with several enigmatic characters.
Suddenly, Xu Ying stretched languidly and called out with a chuckle, "I know what the talismans on that ancient Qi Refiner mean!"
Both Emperor Shengshen and Zhou Qiyun turned to look at him together.
Xu Ying stood outside the hall, smiling. "The talismans are seals."
Emperor Shengshen said, "Even a three-year-old child could see that."
Xu Ying said, "Yet neither a three-year-old child nor Your Majesty noticed that these talismans respectively seal his Primordial Spirit, vital qi, and physical body, rendering him completely leakless."
Zhou Qiyun looked over with great interest. "Continue."
Xu Ying said, "He cultivated a technique of leaklessness, but it was imperfect and required the reinforcement of talismans. These talismans were seals he placed upon himself."
Emperor Shengshen mused, "He used talismans to make up for the technique's flaws, aiming to seal his own acupoints to achieve longevity? To think such a peculiar technique exists in the world!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "Your Majesty has guessed wrong again."
Emperor Shengshen glared at him with natural majesty. "Are you toying with Us?"
Xu Ying continued, "The purpose of sealing himself was not to prevent the essence and qi inside his body from leaking out, but to block out something from the outside, keeping it from getting in."
Both Emperor Shengshen and Zhou Qiyun stared in surprise. Outside the hall, Yuan Weiyang, Guo Xiaodie, and Uncle Xiao were also stunned. The ancient Qi Refiner had sealed himself not to keep things in, but to prevent something outside from entering his body?
What was that thing?
"Wrong!" Emperor Shengshen declared flatly. "You are mistaken! A hole was clearly torn in his glabella, and flesh and blood surged from it, transforming into giant pythons! If he sealed himself, how could such a transformation occur? We shall charge you with deceiving the sovereign!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "His glabella was ruptured naturally because that thing outside broke through it. That thing entered his body through the breach in his glabella and nested inside."
A chill crept up everyone's spines, and they all looked toward the corpse of the ancient Qi Refiner in the shrine.
Xu Ying continued, "Qi Refiners possess an inner world known as the Realm of Xiyi. That thing parasitized it, devoured his Primordial Spirit down to nothing, and took control of his flesh."
Zhou Qiyun frowned. "Xu Ying, these are merely your conjectures."
Xu Ying gripped a door knocker with each hand, pulled hard, and slowly drew the hall doors shut until only a narrow slit remained. "If the two of you don't believe it, there's a talisman on the floor. You can pick it up and paste it onto his glabella. If he doesn't want to be sealed, he will lash out."
In the hall, Emperor Shengshen and Zhou Qiyun looked at each other, then down at the talisman on the floor.
Zhou Qiyun bent down, picked up the detached talisman, and moved to stick it onto the ancient Qi Refiner's glabella. Just as his hand was about to touch the corpse's forehead, the ancient Qi Refiner suddenly grinned.
His mouth split wide to his ears.
Baring a mouthful of sharp fangs.
His eyes were almost entirely white, save for a vertical slit pupil down the center!
*Clang!*
Xu Ying slammed the hall doors shut. Inside, thunder suddenly rumbled, dragons roared, and tigers howled. The entire hall shook violently as dazzling light flared from within, piercing through the seams of the doors.
With a succession of piercing whistling sounds, beams of light shot forth, striking a mountain several dozen li away. Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang, and Guo Xiaodie stared blankly. The mountain peak looked like a steamed bun sliced a dozen times over, yet had not collapsed.
The disturbance inside grew increasingly terrifying, as if primeval behemoths were clashing, shaking the very mountain itself!
"Demon King Xu, what was that thing that crawled into the Qi Refiner's body?" Guo Xiaodie shouted.
Xu Ying looked up at the horizontal plaque above the doors. The Bird-Worm Seal Script on it was intricate and obscure, yet he recognized it.
*Subduing Fiends Hall of Chaozhen Taixu Cave-Heaven!*
"A heavenly fiend," he told Guo Xiaodie.
The Qi Refiner in the shrine had been one dedicated to subduing fiends, yet had ultimately fallen prey to a heavenly fiend. The fiend had devoured his Primordial Spirit, seized control of his corpse, and sat in the shrine like a deity, basking in the worship of mortals in an attempt to become a god.
*Boom!*
Another violent tremor sounded from the Subduing Fiends Hall. Beneath the feet of Xu Ying and the others, the earthworm-like flesh tendrils connected to the water vat suddenly spasmed and twitched, then fell still once more.
Everyone's hearts thudded wildly as they stared at the doors of the hall.
Silence fell over the interior.
Suddenly, thick gore welled out from beneath the doors, rank and foul.
Guo Xiaodie and Yuan Weiyang hurriedly covered their noses and mouths. Just then, the doors were pulled open from within. Zhou Qiyun stood there soaked in blood, looking thoroughly battered, with unhealed wounds still marking his face and body.
Blood stained the corners of his mouth and his white brows. He limped out of the Subduing Fiends Hall, and one could even see the jagged, stark-white ends of broken bones poking out from a wound on his thigh!
When had the grand white-browed Old Ancestor of the Zhou clan ever been reduced to such a wretched state?
He seized Xu Ying by the collar and hoisted him into the air, growling ferociously, "You wanted to kill me?"
Xu Ying dangled from his grip like a salted fish, offering no struggle. "I figured an Old Ancestor Zhou, a Nuo immortal bold enough to undergo tribulation and become an immortal, surely wouldn't fall short against an ancient Qi Refiner. If you lacked the means to slay a fiend, how could you speak of facing tribulation?"
Zhou Qiyun glared at him with chilling eyes. After a moment, he set him down.
"There will not be a next time for this," he said impassively.
Xu Ying rubbed his neck and looked past him. Emperor Shengshen stepped out of the hall with a dark expression, in a state scarcely better than Zhou Qiyun's.
These two top experts had very nearly perished inside this Subduing Fiends Hall!
Emperor Shengshen looked at Xu Ying, divine light glinting in his eyes. He said unhurriedly, "Our gaze can kill. But today We shall spare you."
He coughed violently, vomiting a mouthful of blood. Leaning against the doorframe, his legs trembled faintly.
He leaned against the door, panting heavily, and glared daggers at Xu Ying. "You have rebellion in your bones!"
Xu Ying whispered, "Lord Bell, with your current strength, can you finish the two of them off?"
The bronze bell replied, "No."
Xu Ying smiled. "Your Majesty, this was a misunderstanding from the start."
Yuan Weiyang interrupted them, asking, "Then why did a heavenly fiend and a heavenly god join forces to besiege the phoenix?"
Chapter 70