The Stone Mountain God, Huang Siping, fixed Xu Ying with a frigid gaze. His other leg was stripped of flesh, reduced to bare bone; too much strain would snap it outright. For him, this battle had to be decided swiftly!
In his grip, a saber light flared. His qi and blood surged through the Hundred-Refined Horse-Chopping Saber, sending forth a banner-like arc of blade light that collided violently with the bronze pillar Xu Ying swung!
The momentum behind Xu Ying’s strike was terrifying, whipping up howling gusts of wind. Yet Huang Siping’s saber qi was searing beyond measure. As it carved into the bronze pillar, the biting blade qi sheared clean through the metal!
His true yang qi and blood burned fiercer than an open furnace. Wherever the saber light swept, the severed cross-section of the pillar glowed a molten red!
Yet the sheer might packed within the pillar rumbled down the length of the blade in relentless waves. It was the power of the Elephant God. Though Xu Ying was no demon king, his raw strength far exceeded the god’s!
Huang Siping’s hands trembled on the hilt. He couldn't help taking a step back to keep from overburdening his skeletal left leg.
Xu Ying thrust the sheared pillar straight forward. Huang Siping retreated another step and brought his saber crashing down against the incoming metal. His true yang qi and blood blazed even hotter. Beneath the razor edge, the bronze pillar began to melt, molten bronze dripping continuously from the cut!
With that single cleave, he split the pillar right down the middle!
Yet the moment he parted the column, Xu Ying gave it a vicious twist. The rotation caught the Hundred-Refined Horse-Chopping Saber, violently wrenching Huang Siping’s arms out of shape!
Huang Siping roared in fury. His form blurred as he revealed his true appearance: a yellow wolf over ten feet tall with the head of a wolf and the body of a human, regal and imposing, sporting silver fangs, razor claws, and a coat of yellow fur like bristling golden needles!
His roar wailed like a tempest. His true yang qi and blood flared exponentially as he wrenched the horse-chopping saber free, but Xu Ying closed in instantly. His palm whipped forward like an Elephant God flinging its trunk, slapping hard against the flat of the blade with a sharp crack.
The Hundred-Refined Horse-Chopping Saber warped and bent from the blow, yet Huang Siping’s true yang qi and blood coursed along the steel into Xu Ying’s palm, driving up his arm into his body!
Huang Siping was a demon king of the stone mountain, his cultivation of qi and blood immense and profound. Coupled with the blistering heat of his true yang vitality, which could easily liquefy solid bronze, how could Xu Ying’s mortal flesh withstand it?
Yet the instant his qi and blood invaded, it met immediate resistance from Xu Ying’s own vitality.
In the split second their strike connected and parted, Huang Siping sensed that although Xu Ying’s qi and blood was not as vast as his own, it was exceptionally pure. Within a heartbeat, it halted his true yang vitality at the elbow, forcefully sweeping it outward and leaving behind no lingering injury!
*To possess such cultivation at so young an age—no wonder he could slay a straw-headed deity!*
His arms numbed by the shock, Huang Siping lost his grip on the horse-chopping saber. Instead of anger, admiration welled in his heart. *A true exotic breed of our demon race!*
The cultivation technique Xu Ying practiced was unmistakably a demon guiding technique, and his martial art belonged to demonkind as well. Though he looked like a human boy, in Huang Siping’s eyes, he was hardly one.
He had never seen a human so utterly wild.
He showed no mercy with his follow-up. Razor claws slashed out, backed by true yang qi and blood, carrying an aura no less lethal than the Hundred-Refined Horse-Chopping Saber!
At the same time, Xu Ying’s fist drove forward. Behind him, the Elephant God fiend body struck with full force, bringing with it a raging gale!
Both combatants took the brunt of the exchange simultaneously. Xu Ying coughed up blood and flew backward, crashing through into the Mahavira Hall as raging flames ignited across his body, setting the hall ablaze!
The violent impact slammed into Huang Siping’s chest, shredding the clothes on his back. His massive bulk flew through the air, and upon landing, a sickening crack resounded—his left leg bone had snapped completely!
Huang Siping staggered back several paces before tumbling to the earth. Rolling over, he transformed into a giant yellow wolf with only three legs, whirled around, and bolted into the mountain woods at breakneck speed.
"Xu Ying, we are both of the demon race! Since your demon nature remains unextinguished, I shall grant you a path to live!" his voice drifted back from afar.
Earlier, with his leg bone intact, he could still contend with Xu Ying. Now, stripped of a limb, he could not even muster thirty percent of his might and had no choice but to flee.
Inside the Mahavira Hall, Xu Ying leapt up and pressed both hands to the floor, instantly smothering the flames inside.
A sudden warmth surged up his throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. The moment it hit the flagstones, it erupted into roaring flames—the lingering damage caused by Huang Siping’s true yang qi and blood invading his heart and lungs.
True yang vitality burned hot enough to melt iron and bronze. Had Xu Ying’s own qi and blood not been robust enough to ward it off, his entire body would have been charred to a crisp!
Xu Ying grunted, churning his vitality to suppress the heat with everything he had. Even so, the wound across his chest tore open, laying his ribs bare.
Had his Elephant God fiend body not absorbed a portion of Huang Siping’s force, that single swipe would have severed his ribs entirely!
Barely stabilizing his condition, Xu Ying deliberately left a trace of true yang vitality at the edge of the wound to scorch and cauterize the torn flesh before finally expelling it.
He regulated his breath, circulating the Taiyi Guiding Technique. Suddenly, Wei Chu’s limbs twitched in the courtyard.
Xu Ying’s brow twitched. He scooped up the bent saber and flung it with a piercing whoosh.
Wei Chu rolled aside, dodging the flying blade, and scrambled to his feet with a loud laugh. "The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind! Xu Ying, the Godslayer—you truly possess the strength to slay gods. But now that you and the stone mountain wolf have crippled each other, can you still stand against me?"
Across his right leg, once stripped to bone, new flesh was slowly knitting itself together!
Xu Ying smiled. "Master Wei, you are clearly a Nuo master who opened the Mud Pill secret depository, possessing remarkable power, yet you lay there playing dead. By all rights, Nuo arts counter demonic methods, and taking on the two of us at once should have been effortless for you. Yet you chose to wait until we tore each other apart. That only proves one thing: your injuries cannot be cured by the Mud Pill secret depository."
Wei Chu’s expression darkened.
He had played dead precisely because his injuries were too severe.
When the roar erupted from the well, he had been the closest and took the brunt of the blast. More critically, though he was a Nuo master, his physical cultivation fell far short of Xu Ying and Huang Siping’s, lagging even behind the snake demon, Yuan Qi!
Though the Mud Pill secret depository could grant an undying body, it did not make him truly invincible!
The internal damage inflicted by that roar could not heal in an instant!
"Back then, I was indeed no match for you two. But now..." Wei Chu strode toward Xu Ying with a sneer. "I can slaughter you with ease!"
Xu Ying stood tall and motionless. "Master Wei seems to have forgotten my good brother, Yuan Qi. Right now, he is hiding on the roof of the Mahavira Hall, waiting for your move so he can deliver the fatal strike."
Wei Chu’s expression shifted, recalling Judicial Assistant Ding Quan's neck.
Xu Ying’s face turned solemn. "Master Wei should be quite familiar with Judicial Assistant Ding Quan, shouldn't you? My good brother Yuan Qi’s venom ranks second under heaven. He gave Master Ding a single bite. Even if you people managed to patch him up, he is doomed to die! Not even the Mud Pill secret depository can save him!"
Suddenly, laughter echoed from outside the temple. "Didn't that snake demon claim last time that his venom was fifth under heaven? How did it become second the moment it came out of your insolent mouth?"
Xu Ying’s expression changed slightly as Ding Quan stepped through the temple gate. His neck was pitch-black and his complexion sickly, showing that the venom was far from fully purged.
Wei Chu burst into loud, mocking laughter. "Insolent peasant, what excuses do you have left?"
Ding Quan walked over to Wei Chu and bowed deeply with clasped hands. "Many thanks to Brother Wei for purging the poison. Had it not been for your rescue, I would already be a ghost in the Yellow Springs."
Wei Chu waved it off with a smile. "We are colleagues. Saving you was no more trouble than lifting a finger. Think nothing of it."
Ding Quan replied solemnly, "Lifting a finger for you was a life-saving grace for me. I have studied the sages' teachings since childhood and understand propriety, righteousness, and shame. I shall never forget Brother Wei's kindness as long as I live!"
Xu Ying swiftly regained his composure. His face settled into calm as he chanted in a low voice:
"The heavenly soul begets the White Tiger,
The earthly po yields the Azure Dragon.
Circulate the treasure while the Mud Pill abides,
Transport the essence into the Upper Palace.
Should one comprehend this wondrous way,
Ten thousand years shall pass, their face still a child’s."
Hearing those words, both Wei Chu and Ding Quan turned pale.
Ding Quan began to tremble.
Wei Chu took a stride forward, barking, "What did you say? Where did you obtain the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique? That is clearly the Zhou clan’s closely guarded—"
Before he could finish, countless roots wriggled up beneath his feet, burrowing into the flesh of both his legs like swarms of tiny spirit snakes!
The flesh on his right leg was still in the middle of regenerating, leaving an opening for the roots. In a mere breath, countless tendrils bored into his blood vessels and reached into his heart!
Wei Chu froze, turning to gaze at the man beside him in disbelief.
Ding Quan looked back at him, eyes brimming with tears as he choked out, "Brother Wei, he forced my hand! Don't blame me! The moment he recited the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique, I had no choice but to kill you! I cannot let the Zhou clan exterminate nine generations of my kin! I have a wife at home, and three concubines to feed. I am a pitiable soul too, you know that..."
Wei Chu’s face flushed crimson. Blood welled from his mouth as he forced out a final whisper: "I saved your life..."
Ding Quan’s tears fell freely as he sobbed aloud, "I know! I will live well, and I will not let down your life-saving grace! So please, rest in peace. Once you are dead, no one will know my secret!"
Wei Chu’s skin and clothes burst open as blood pooled across the ground.
His flesh and blood had completely transformed into countless roots; even his brain was now a tight tangle of roots intertwined into the shape of a brain!
"I cannot let the Zhou clan know that I copied a manuscript of the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique! And I certainly cannot let them know that I lost the transcript!"
Ding Quan’s expression twisted into vicious cruelty as he addressed the humanoid mass of roots. "If you want to blame someone, blame Xu Ying! Blame that unruly peasant for his loose tongue! Xu Ying killed you, not me! Brother Wei, I will send this peasant to join you right now and avenge your death!"
He placed his palm against the roots sprouting from Wei Chu's corpse, unleashing his Nuo art. The tendrils surged upward at blinding speed, swiftly blooming into a colossal willow tree!
The willow’s roots twisted together, and near the trunk, they formed the shape of a face remarkably similar to Wei Chu's, still frozen in shock.
The canopy expanded wider and wider until it eclipsed the ruined temple. Thousands of willow fronds draped downward, swaying in the wind.
Standing beneath the tree, Ding Quan looked up at Xu Ying with murder in his eyes. "Insolent peasant, you killed my savior! Today, this official will avenge Master Wei!"
Xu Ying said nothing. Suddenly, snickering broke out above the Mahavira Hall. Yuan Qi had awakened and poked his head out from under the eaves, chuckling. "What a character you are! You butcher your own savior, yet you pin the blame on others. You bragged about reading the sages since childhood—seems to me you read them straight into a dog's skull!"
Ding Quan’s face darkened. The willow branches hissed through the air, whipping toward Yuan Qi as Ding Quan sneered, "Monstrous beast, what do you know? Brother Wei was my savior! Xu Ying was the killer, and you, a strange snake, were his accomplice! Avenging my savior by executing you two scoundrels is righteousness touching the heavens!"
Yuan Qi’s body darted about. Using his thirty-foot frame in place of fists and feet, twisting and bending his long torso, he unleashed the forms of the Elephant-Strength Bull Demon Fist, churning his qi and blood to beat back the encroaching willow fronds!
As he slithered and maneuvered, executing punch after punch, elephant bugles echoed from within him. He sneered, "Ding, people call me a venomous snake, a monster. But I think you are the true snake, the real monster! There isn't a single shred of humanity left in you!"
Furious, Ding Quan moved in for the kill, and Yuan Qi was quickly battered with wounds, his situation turning precarious.
Xu Ying walked out of the Mahavira Hall and said with utter seriousness, "Ding Quan, I carefully pondered the Nuo arts and methods in the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique just now, and I found quite a few flaws in them."
He stirred what remained of his qi and blood, barely coalescing the apparition of the Elephant God fiend body behind him. "Your Nuo arts and your undying body aren't actually that hard to break. As long as I strike the right spots, killing you is as easy as turning my palm."
Ding Quan’s heart skipped a beat, but he sneered. "You're bluffing! I studied the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique for eight years. Even if you stole a look, it was only for half a day! How could you see through my flaws?"
Xu Ying limped toward him, the Elephant God fiend body behind him limping in tandem. He smiled. "The Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique has its merits, but it remains a crude Nuo method. I have studied over fifty demon guiding manuals, and this Mud Pill technique is by far the crudest of them all. Clearly, the Zhou clan never taught you their profound arts."
Ding Quan roared with laughter. "The highest stage of demon cultivation is only the Qi Harvesting stage! It isn't even fit to carry the boots of Nuo arts, yet you dare claim mine is crude?"
With a thought, thousands of willow fronds whipped through the air like venomous serpents and giant pythons, coiling in from every direction!
At the same time, countless other fronds darted back and forth to pin down Yuan Qi.
This was the premier Nuo art recorded in the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique: the Nuo Willow Sword-Brushing Art. It wielded the tree’s branches as swords, commanding thousands of fronds to execute sword forms against enemies on all sides!
When facing fewer foes, the branches could converge into a crushing knot to strangle them outright!
Xu Ying advanced, his form linked with the Elephant God fiend body. Limping along, he would suddenly flicker or pivot to the side, miraculously slipping past the strikes of the Nuo Willow Sword-Brushing Art by a hair’s breadth, drawing ever closer to Ding Quan.
Panic flared in Ding Quan’s chest. *Did he truly see through the flaws in my art? No, impossible! I practiced this for eight years—how could I not know its flaws? He's bluffing!*
He shifted tactics at once. Countless willow roots tore from the earth and coiled around his body, acting as artificial muscles and sinews to bolster his strength!
Right then, Xu Ying drove a fist forward. Ding Quan hurriedly raised his arm to block, thinking, *Still this move! I saw it coming long ago...*
Yet the approaching fist suddenly opened into a splayed palm. Xu Ying’s five fingers danced, tapping rapidly across Ding Quan’s root-covered arm!
With every tap of Xu Ying’s fingertips, Ding Quan felt a wave of numbness spread through his flesh, as if his muscles and sinews had lost all connection to his brain!
Xu Ying brushed past him, ten fingers fluttering in a blur, striking pressure points all over his body.
The willow roots wrapped around Ding Quan went limp like dead serpents, sliding to the ground. The branches assailing Yuan Qi lost all direction and hung still once more.
Ding Quan stood frozen, completely devoid of sensation in his limbs. A profound terror welled from the depths of his soul—the fear of death.
"Ding Quan, I told you killing you would be easy, didn't I?" Xu Ying turned and tapped a finger against the back of his head. "See? I didn't lie to you."
Not a single wound appeared on the back of Ding Quan’s skull, but his forehead suddenly blew outward. His body swayed and crumpled face-first into the dirt.
"Although the Mud Pill Hidden Scenery Qi Refinement Technique never explicitly states the secret depository's precise location, judging by the path the qi travels, the Mud Pill originates in the brain," Xu Ying said, addressing Ding Quan’s corpse as he turned away. "Once I understood the flow of your Nuo method and knew your forms, killing you became very simple. You shouldn't have killed Wei Chu. I had never seen his technique, so I wouldn't have been able to break it so quickly."
Yuan Qi slithered down from the hall roof and urged, "Why bother explaining to a corpse? Dawn has broken. Let's move quickly, or we'll be trapped on this stone mountain!"
Xu Ying limped after him, saying, "I was afraid he'd die without understanding why. The elders in my village always said that those who die confused turn into vengeful ghosts."
"You actually believe that? That's just a story to fool little kids!"
The moment they stepped outside the ruined temple, they saw the Stone Mountain God, Huang Siping, standing a short distance from the gate.
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi both tensed.
Both of them were nursing severe wounds. If Huang Siping held them back now, they would surely be doomed!
Huang Siping acted as though he had not even seen their defensive posture, speaking casually. "Once you head down the mountain, do not go northwest. I received word yesterday that many mountain gods and straw-headed deities are waiting there for you to walk into their net. Head southwest instead. Take the path through Anzi Ridge and Mount Jian; the gods of that region have all left for the northwest."
Transforming back into a three-legged demon wolf, he limped down the slope, adding, "Once you reach Mount Jian, you had better wash yourself. You are covered in blood and your scent is thick; demon gods can track you by smell alone."
Xu Ying called out to him, "Stone Mountain God, why are you letting us go?"
Huang Siping paused and glanced back at Xu Ying. After a moment of thought, he replied, "Probably because your demon nature is hard to tame, yet your human nature isn't extinguished. I used to have those things once. But after I yielded to the Nether Court to become the Stone Mountain God, they were gone."
He limped farther down the trail, his voice drifting back. "If you are human, you are an anomaly among humans. If you are a demon, you are a rare marvel among our kind. I look forward to seeing what you become in the days ahead."
Xu Ying smiled. "I am definitely human, not a demon!"
Vanishing into the mountain woods, the demon wolf murmured faintly, "Don't be so certain. The wildness in you runs thicker than mine. If the day comes when you reveal your true form, you might just frighten yourself."
Chapter 9