Of the four suns in Chaozhen Taixu Cave-Heaven, one had already sunk below the mountains, two were gradually climbing toward the zenith, and the last had softened into an evening sun.
Strangely enough, the suns in this grotto-heaven and blessed land lacked the scorching fiery nature of the sun in the outside world. Their light was gentle and moist. When refined into yuan qi, one did not have to fear qi deviation from excessive fire nature, allowing cultivators to practice with total peace of mind.
"'A day inside the cave, a thousand years in the world outside.' When a Qi Refiner hides in a cave-heaven to cultivate, it might not be a day for a thousand years, but one day here is surely worth half a year or even a full year out there," Yuan Qi could not help but marvel.
While Xu Ying cultivated, the snake took the opportunity to practice the Dragon Snake Awakening Technique. Although the technique was not of particularly high caliber, fortunately, whenever Xu Ying practiced, Yuan Qi could filch a few Dao seeds, so his cultivation speed was far from slow.
His own Dao image grew increasingly distinct, and more of the ancient yuan-snake bloodline within him awakened. With every breath, he swallowed clouds and exhaled mist, gradually exuding the aura of an ancient yuan-snake—riding toxic mists and commanding wind and thunder.
The bronze bell likewise surged with its guiding breath method, intercepting Dao seeds for its own use whenever Xu Ying's Dao field and Dao seeds erupted.
Cultivating here for a single day indeed yielded the results of half a year or a year in the outside world. Above all, intercepting Dao seeds was even more thrilling than stealing Xu Ying's vital qi and blood!
Guo Xiaodie knew nothing of qi refinement and was fretting in vain. Fortunately, in the breaks between her own cultivation, Yuan Weiyang explained Granny Tuo's Immortal Scripture to her, helping her gather qi. Guo Xiaodie possessed remarkable comprehension and soon got the hang of it.
The two young women nestled close together, refining qi and conversing side by side. Guo Xiaodie felt only sweet warmth, tossing whatever slight goodwill she had for Demon King Xu to the back of her mind and simply relishing the tender intimacy of the moment.
Little did she know that Uncle Xiao stood watching from the side, fretting secretly, unable to point out that Yuan Weiyang was also a woman.
Before they knew it, another sun had sunk behind the mountains, and the other two had turned into setting suns dipping toward the west.
The sky gradually dimmed.
Just then, an elderly man leaning on a staff walked over from the mountain slope, chuckling from afar. "You little children, the suns are about to set. Why aren't you running yet?"
Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang, and the others were startled. *There is someone else in this cave-heaven?*
Xu Ying stepped forward and bowed in greeting. "Venerable Elder, why must we run once it turns dark?"
The staff-wielding elder halted, tapped his cane, and said, "When the suns set, the Netherworld will enshroud this place. At that time, the Qi Refiners who died wrongful, untimely deaths in the Heavenly Tribulations will appear. Their resentment towers to the heavens, and they have become bitter specters and vicious ghosts. This old man cannot bear to see you lose your lives, so I have come specially to warn you. Depart at once!"
A jolt went through everyone's hearts. They hurried to look toward the suns and saw that yet another had sunk below the peaks, while the remaining setting sun hung right upon the crest of the mountain.
Guo Xiaodie thanked him and asked, "Venerable Elder, will you not leave with us?"
"This old man is a stray ghost bound to this place and cannot leave. It is only that a shred of conscience remains in me, which is why I spoke up to rescue you."
The moment the old man finished speaking, his figure vanished without a trace.
Astonished, the group hurried down the mountain and returned to Subduing Fiends Hall, just as dusk deepened and the yin wind blew increasingly chill. One after another, they leaped into the water vat and returned to Cangwu Abyss.
Xu Ying was the last. Just as he leaped into the vat, a flash of bloody light suddenly caught his eye. He hastily called out, "Lord Bell, Seventh Master, did you see a flash of bloody light?"
Neither the bronze bell nor Yuan Qi had seen anything. Xu Ying touched his forehead and found a smear of blood on his fingers, no larger than a squashed mosquito.
He felt puzzled, but after inspecting himself internally, he detected nothing amiss and let the matter rest.
Meanwhile, the staff-wielding elder suddenly appeared within Subduing Fiends Hall. Finding Xu Ying and the others gone, he stamped his foot, shook his head, and cried, "Slipped away so fast! Denied this old man a solo feast! No matter. Having tasted the benefits of this cave-heaven, they will surely return!"
Night had already fallen over Cangwu Abyss. Many Nuo masters wearing impermanence-ghost masks descended from Mount Jiuyi into the Netherworld. Ghost children of the Netherworld roamed unchecked, flitting among the graveyards to suck the yang fire from the shoulders of newly deceased ghosts and harvest their yang qi.
Other ghost children ran into human villages and towns to steal yang qi from the living.
With the Netherworld's invasion, the realms of yin and yang were gradually merging, and many human villages and townships were carved into the new territory. These ghost children often gathered in nearby mass graves, emerging to wander as soon as darkness fell.
Little did they know that the yang qi they gathered would in turn be harvested by the impermanence ghosts, leaving them just enough to barely fill their bellies, trapped forever in a state of starvation.
Among those impermanence ghosts, quite a few human Nuo masters mingled, joining in the exploitation.
Xu Ying watched the Nuo masters enter the Netherworld and suddenly wondered: *The impermanence ghosts exploit the ghost children, harvesting so much yang qi from them. Do these impermanence ghosts have masters above them as well?*
*Could it be that their superiors control these impermanence ghosts, waiting until they return with harvested yang qi, only to squeeze them dry in turn and leave them with nothing but scraps?*
Yuan Qi had read unofficial histories on such matters and remarked, "The *Records of the Divine and Strange* says that the Netherworld impermanences harvest yang qi to present as tribute to the Netherworld emperors. There was once a scholar who, finding all paths to advancement blocked by official corruption, committed suicide in shame and fury. When his ghost entered the Netherworld, he encountered a Netherworld emperor surrounded by immense pomp, no different from an emperor of the mortal world. The scholar knelt in audience, and the Netherworld emperor laughed heartily, saying he was a certain emperor from several thousand years ago who remained an emperor in the Netherworld after death."
Xu Ying listened intently and asked, "Did that scholar attain his wish and become a high official in the Netherworld?"
Yuan Qi replied, "He wanted to beg that Netherworld emperor for an official post. The Netherworld emperor told him, 'The reason I can be an emperor in the Netherworld is entirely because my civil and military officials died as well. When these old brothers arrived in the Netherworld and supported me as emperor, only then could I remain an emperor. These old brothers never die in the Netherworld, yet their children in the mortal world grow old and die—arrangements must be made for them, must they not?' That emperor told him that even the lowliest clerk position in a village already had a waiting list booked ten thousand years out! Overwhelmed with grief and indignation, the scholar decided that a bad life was better than a good death, so he simply returned to the living."
Xu Ying, Guo Xiaodie, and Yuan Weiyang were enthralled, then startled, exclaiming one after another, "Even the Netherworld is that competitive?"
"It is far harsher there."
They caught hold of the fishing line and were hauled up out of Cangwu Abyss. Ever since following Zhou Qiyun into the Netherworld, Xu Ying, Yuan Weiyang, and the others had not rested at all; they were utterly exhausted.
Guo Xiaodie arranged rooms for them so they could rest first, while she went to find the beautiful woman and her husband.
The beautiful woman was her mother's younger sister, named Li Yingzhu. She hailed from the reigning imperial Li clan, a prominent great clan in its own right; though not a princess of the realm, she held considerable status within the Li clan.
The handsome young man was a talent of the Guo clan named Guo Yue, Guo Xiaodie's fourth uncle.
The marriage alliance between the Li and Guo clans was not merely a matter of the Guo clan marrying daughters to emperors as empresses; the imperial family likewise married daughters into the Guo clan. In this way, their interests were deeply intertwined and impossible to sever.
Guo Xiaodie retrieved the two-hundred-odd-character Sword Control Formula, handed it to the beautiful Li Yingzhu, and said, "Aunt, you are vastly learned and a swordsmanship genius of both our clans. Please take a look at this Sword Control Formula for me; I truly cannot make sense of it."
Li Yingzhu cast a casual glance over it, but her eyes instantly locked onto the page. She snatched it away and cried out in disbelief, "This Sword Control Formula—where did you get it?"
Guo Xiaodie was stunned. "I traded for it with that scoundrel... Aunt, is there something wrong with this formula?"
"Something wrong? Of course there is—a huge matter!"
Li Yingzhu paced back and forth in excitement, her soul restless within her body, wishing she could fly out and roam ten thousand li cheering before returning. She exclaimed, "In the early days of the dynasty, martial Nuo flourished, and even the imperial family favored nurturing sword qi. A single breath of vast righteous sword qi brought forth half of the Glorious Tang! Yet not even the Three Heroes of the Founding could comprehend the art of controlling swords! They scoured famous mountains and great rivers, combed through ancient classics for who knows how long, before finally discovering a single line of a dozen characters of sword control technique! It was identical to a dozen characters on this sheet of paper!"
Guo Xiaodie was dumbfounded. Only now did she realize just how precious the manual she had traded her Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens for truly was!
"Later on, people stopped nurturing sword qi precisely because there was no sword control technique. Sword qi could never reach higher realms and fell slightly behind other Nuo arts in elegance."
Li Yingzhu carefully smoothed out the Sword Control Formula, a fiery light of excitement dancing in her eyes. "With this sheet of paper, sword qi will not decline. Wonderful, truly wonderful..."
Then she furrowed her brow. This Sword Control Formula was only two hundred-odd characters, simple and clear, yet completely incomprehensible.
Guo Xiaodie asked cautiously, "Second Aunt, I traded the Guo clan's Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens with him. Was it worth it?"
"Worth it? Of course it was worth it—immensely so! Even with the Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens in hand, he won't be able to practice it; to him, it is no different from a stack of waste paper. Even if our founding ancestor heard of this deal, he would crawl out of his coffin to clap and cheer for you!"
Li Yingzhu said excitedly, "The scoundrel who peeked at you bathing gave you this? Who would have thought that little rascal possessed such a treasure! Why didn't you let him watch a little longer? Maybe you could have gotten an even better treasure out of him!"
Guo Xiaodie stared wide-eyed and hastily retorted, "Second Aunt, what are you saying? How could a decent girl let someone gawk at her body like that? It's utterly mortifying!"
Li Yingzhu slung an arm around her shoulder, slipped two fingers out, and quietly pulled down Guo Xiaodie's chest wrap a notch, giggling. "Be a good girl, Xiaodie. Go entice him again and trick him into explaining what these two hundred words mean. If all else fails, go take another bath and soak a little longer... By the way, you aren't betrothed yet, are you?"
Guo Xiaodie grew wary and cried, "Second Aunt, what are you scheming? I already have someone I like!"
"Young Master Yuan?"
Li Yingzhu said offhandedly, "Though Young Master Yuan is handsome, clever, and of good family background, the Yuan clan is a fallen noble house after all. The boost they can offer our Li and Guo clans is limited. But that scoundrel is different. With just this two-hundred-word Sword Control Formula alone, he can ensure our Li and Guo clans stand unshakeable for another century! Xiaodie, how about the two of you cook the rice first?"
Guo Xiaodie gasped in fright and hastily broke free from under her arm.
Li Yingzhu chuckled. "In great clans like ours, how many marriages are truly our own choice? Even between me and your Uncle Yue, it was all arranged by the clan elders. We met only once before wedding, and aren't we living quite happily now, husband following wife? That scoundrel's skin might be a little dark, but looking at his broad frame, he must have fine bone. Certain ladies in the capital love keeping youths like that!"
Guo Xiaodie fled in a panic, calling out loudly, "Second Aunt, you've gone mad! I'm going to tell Uncle Yue!"
A short while later, Guo Yue arrived at the study, and husband and wife studied the two-hundred-odd-character sword control technique together. After a long silence, Guo Yue sighed, stood up, and said, "I will go speak to Xiaodie."
Li Yingzhu said, "If all else fails, request instructions from the clan elders. Let them petition His Majesty to bestow a marriage by imperial decree. That little girl won't have any choice but to agree."
Guo Yue nodded gently. "There is one more matter. I received word that this scoundrel named Xu Ying originally hailed from Lingling in Yongzhou. Because he killed a deity, he became wanted across both the yin and yang realms. Both the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court and Zhou Qiyun value him extraordinarily, ordering his capture at all costs, which stirred up immense commotion. After Zhou Qiyun captured him, he kept him by his side constantly, taking him wherever he went. Rumor has it that he can read demon arts!"
Li Yingzhu covered her mouth in shock, her eyes wide. "Truly?"
Guo Yue said, "Without a shadow of a doubt. Furthermore, Zhou Qiyun is currently in these mountains. Not a single move Xu Ying makes can escape his grasp!"
Li Yingzhu gathered her wits and declared firmly, "We must cook the rice between him and Xiaodie as soon as possible! Xiaodie cannot see through it now, but in the future she will understand, and she won't be able to thank us enough! By the way, does His Majesty know?"
Guo Yue smiled. "The news I obtained came straight from His Majesty. The moment His Majesty learned of it, so did I."
Husband and wife exchanged a knowing smile.
Li Yingzhu said, "His Majesty takes such interest in Xu Ying surely because of that volume of immortal arts, yes?"
The smile on Guo Yue's face slowly froze. Seeing this, Li Yingzhu sighed as well and brought the matter up no further.
***
In the middle of the night, Xu Ying was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt warmth beside him under the blanket. Reaching out, his hand met smooth, soft flesh, plump and tender.
The youth startled awake from his dream and pulled back the quilt, only to find dark hair sprawling untamed across the pillows. Guo Xiaodie lay inside his bedroll, stripped barer than he was, without a stitch on!
The young woman was fast asleep, entirely oblivious to what was happening.
Xu Ying hastily called out, "Lord Bell! Lord Bell! Seventh Master! Seventh Master!"
Strangely enough, both the bronze bell and Yuan Qi were nowhere to be seen. Ordinarily, while Xu Ying slept, the bronze bell hovered right above him, faithfully guarding its meal ticket.
Yet tonight, the bronze bell had vanished, and even Yuan Qi had disappeared off somewhere to fool around.
Seeing that they were absent, Xu Ying looked toward the naked girl under the covers. Wicked thoughts immediately arose in his mind. Lifting a corner of the quilt to peer inside, he thought to himself, *There really is a dark mole! In that case, when I entered the Dao yesterday and merged my divine sense with Jiuyi, that really happened! And Seventh Master lowering his tail to save me was real too!*
He sat up, got dressed, and thought with flickering eyes, *Which means that immense terror I felt upon entering the Dao was real as well!*
He found a set of clothes he did not wear, dressed Guo Xiaodie piece by piece, pushed open the window, and tossed the sleeping girl straight out.
"Wretched girl, do you have nowhere else to sleep? Taking up my bed!"
An "ouch!" came from outside the window, followed by Guo Xiaodie's groggy voice: "How did I end up sleeping here?"
Xu Ying pondered deeply. *That immense terror nearly dragged me down into Cangwu Abyss. That means there truly is something ominous within Cangwu Abyss that prevents people from entering the Dao and restricts the development of divine arts and Dao methods, putting anyone who enters the Dao in mortal peril! Just what is down in that abyss?*
Right then, a rhythmic tap-tap-tap sounded against the window lattice.
Xu Ying was surprised. *Xiaodie hasn't left? If she hasn't left...*
His heart suddenly beat faster, his thoughts running wild, and a restless sensation he had never felt before stirred within him.
The love-struck youth pushed open the window, but standing outside was not Guo Xiaodie. Instead, it was a petite girl dressed in colorful robes, standing demurely outside the window, looking at him with a smile, her eyes brimming with youthful charm.
"Young Master Xu, do you still remember our appointment from yesterday? This humble girl's injuries have healed. Please follow me."
Chapter 72