Pei Jingting's nerves were strung taut, his senses constantly scanning their surroundings. Of their convoy of two to three hundred, he was now the sole survivor. Yet even if he stood entirely alone, he was determined to bring Xu Ying alive to Shendu!
Night fell before they knew it. In the darkness, finding one's bearings grew treacherous, and below lay a vast expanse of hazy mountains whose terrain was impossible to discern. Daring not press onward, he had no choice but to stop and rest.
They did not head for any nearby cities, nor did they seek shelter in a temple, opting instead to camp on an arbitrary mountaintop.
Xu Ying voiced no complaints, gathering firewood and cooking dinner himself. Yuan Qi slithered off to hunt, returning after a short while dragging a wild boar the size of a small hill, calling out in alarm, "Ah Ying, the pigs in these mountains are enormous!"
Pei Jingting stared warily into the darkness and murmured in a deep voice, "It is an exotic beast that escaped from the new territory..."
His eyes flared with piercing light. Suddenly, he struck out with a palm strike across the distance. Mountains and forests over ten li away detonated—Pei Jingting's eyelid twitched, and he relaxed. "Ah, it was only a mosquito flying past."
Xu Ying finished cooking the meal and chuckled. "Elder Pei, there is no need to be so tense. Sit and eat first."
After the meal, Pei Jingting remained on high alert, his eyes watching every direction and his ears listening to all sides, not sleeping a wink the entire night. Xu Ying, on the other hand, collapsed and slept soundly until dawn.
Before the sun had even risen, Xu Ying washed up briefly and began his morning routine, harvesting qi toward the morning sun.
Yuan Qi slithered up beside him, breathing in and out toward the dawn. Even the bronze bell wobbled into the air, perking itself up as it expanded and contracted while cultivating toward the sun.
Pei Jingting watched this scene in astonishment, unaware that this was a habit Xu Ying had formed early on—and once he met Yuan Qi and the bronze bell, it had become a shared daily routine for them all.
The morning sunlight formed a Dao field spanning three to four mu above Xu Ying's head, while behind him manifested the two great secret depositories of the Mud Pill and Crimson Palace. In rhythm with his inhalations and exhalations, the Dao field and secret depositories seemed to breathe in unison.
"He has unified the two secret depositories of the Mud Pill and Crimson Palace!"
Pei Jingting felt a jolt in his heart, involuntarily feeling a measure of admiration for Xu Ying. *They all said this youth gave pointers to Patriarch Baimei, allowing him to cultivate both Nuo and qi. It seems the rumors were true!*
Suddenly, Pei Jingting sensed something and looked into the distance.
A donkey appeared on a distant slope, leisurely grazing. As if sensing his gaze, the donkey looked toward him, then broke into a hurried trot up the summit, hiding behind a dull-faced, wooden-looking youth.
Pei Jingting took a long, deep breath. Sharp light gleaming in his eyes, he strode toward the dull-faced youth. With every step he took, his aura swelled, and his dharmic power grew mightier! Ocean waves surged beneath his feet, spreading in all directions with him at the center. Yet this seawater was no real ocean; it was a Dao image he visualized, his Hidden Scenery. It had no physical depth, yet just like a real ocean, it harbored power capable of shaking the heavens and earth!
"Like the Zhou clan, the Zhu clan is merely a newly risen aristocratic clan—inferior even to the Zhou."
Pei Jingting's imposing presence mounted as he spoke. "Old Ancestor Zhu, you would do well not to bring trouble upon the Zhu clan. Offending the Pei clan is something a fledgling upstart clan like yours cannot afford."
That dull-faced youth was none other than Old Ancestor Zhu. He replied impassively, "Try me."
Yuan Qi whispered hurriedly, "Ah Ying! Old Man Pei has been lured away, we can make our getaway now!"
Xu Ying shook his head. "Keep cultivating."
Yuan Qi was baffled.
The bronze bell said, "Where could we possibly run? Wherever you hide, so long as your cultivation stirs heaven-and-earth anomalies, you will be tracked down."
Xu Ying said, "Others are begging from me; I am not begging from them. Rather than continually being hunted down, it is better to take the initiative and keep the upper hand in my own hands. None of them are Zhou Qiyun; what right do they have to coerce me?"
"How do you take the upper hand?" Yuan Qi asked.
Xu Ying said, "By walking from here to Shendu, I will hold it."
Before his words had faded, a white-haired elder came riding a donkey, coming to a halt not far away. The white-haired elder smiled. "Monster King Xu, have you been well since we parted?"
This elder was the very Zhu clan elder who had stayed overnight at Mount Wuwang. Back then, Xu Ying and the others thought he was the dull-faced youth's father, only to discover he was actually his son.
Xu Ying nodded slightly. "Thanks to fortune, all is well."
The elder extended an invitation: "Might I trouble Monster King Xu to accompany me to the Zhu clan?"
Xu Ying replied solemnly, "Lead the way, Master Zhu."
The elder beamed with delight. "I dare not accept such a title! My Zhu clan's old ancestor is still alive; I am not the master of the house. Monster King Xu, please mount the donkey!"
The bronze bell flew behind Xu Ying's head, and Yuan Qi shrank his body, hiding under Xu Ying's collar. Xu Ying mounted the donkey's back, while the white-haired elder led the donkey by the reins ahead, chuckling, "Rest assured, Monster King Xu. Although this beast is a bit dim-witted, it runs fast."
Smoke rose from the donkey's hooves as it trotted along with a clatter, accelerating as it scaled mountains and crossed ridges as if traversing flat ground.
Yuan Qi asked quizzically, "Back at Mount Wuwang, didn't you say you were going to slaughter this donkey for meat? Why didn't you?"
Fuming with indignation, smoke shot from the donkey's nostrils, and it gave a sudden buck that nearly tossed Xu Ying off.
The Zhu elder hurriedly lashed it twice with his whip, finally making the beast behave.
After galloping more than three hundred li like this, the qi of a true dragon suddenly surged up from the mountain forests ahead. The dragon was massive and serpentine, coiled around an entire great mountain.
Its scales were azure-green, resembling patches of bronze patina. Its massive dragon head was terrifyingly savage, hanging down from the mountain crest with saliva dripping from its jaws, glaring fixedly at the donkey and the Zhu elder.
The dragon's head was colossal, like a small hill. It snorted violently, whipping up howling gales that snapped forest trees and sent sand and rocks flying.
The donkey pissed itself on the spot. The Zhu elder's face turned ashen; staring up at the azure dragon, he let out a thunderous roar, and eight cave-heavens manifested behind him.
*Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!* Above the opposite mountaintop, nine gargantuan cave-heavens hung suspended in the sky, slowly rotating as if warping time and space, bending the very sky out of shape.
From the Zhu elder's perspective, the realm behind that mountain had warped into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic spectacle!
"The Imperial Li clan truly lives up to its reputation!"
The Zhu elder immediately turned to Xu Ying and said, "Monster King Xu, please dismount. This Zhu can only escort you this far. Farewell!"
Xu Ying stepped down. The Zhu elder instantly leapt onto the donkey's back, his gaze locked warily onto the azure dragon as he rode backward, frantically slapping the donkey's rump as he fled in panic.
Xu Ying walked forward, only to see a yellow-robed youth lying flat on his back upon the lush green grass beneath the slope coiled by the azure dragon, legs crossed casually and bobbing up and down.
With his hands pillowed behind his head, he stared up at the sky, a stalk of foxtail grass dangling from his lips.
As Xu Ying approached, the yellow-robed youth rolled to his feet and smiled. "I am Imperial Uncle Zhao, Li Jie—some old-timers call me Imperial Uncle Li. I've been waiting here for Monster King Xu, tasked with escorting you to the capital for an imperial audience."
Xu Ying smiled. "Very well. Ever since parting with Emperor Shengshen at Mount Jiuyi, I have longed to meet him again. May I ask what carriage Imperial Uncle Li has prepared for travel?"
Imperial Uncle Li burst into hearty laughter and waved his hand. "This is precisely the carriage His Majesty ordered me to bring! His Majesty decreed that Monster King Xu must ride to the capital in this!"
Above him, the azure dragon shook its massive body with a rustle and prostrated itself. Perched atop the dragon's forehead was a prisoner wagon, fully equipped with a cangue, chains, and iron shackles!
Xu Ying thought nothing of it. He ascended the dragon's crown, unlatched the prisoner wagon, and stepped inside.
Imperial Uncle Li stepped forward and smiled politely. "Pardon the offense." With that, he unlocked the cangue and shackles, fastening them around Xu Ying's neck, ankles, and wrists.
"This is a treasure specially forged by the Imperial Prison. It binds both physical body and soul, seals the Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body, and forbids all supernatural transformations,"
Imperial Uncle Li explained. "Although His Majesty instructed me to confine you and bring you to Shendu, from how I see His Majesty's intent, he still values your talent immensely. On this journey to Shendu, His Majesty will surely balance mercy with severity and not make things too difficult for you."
Xu Ying smiled. "If that is the case, I won't make things difficult for His Majesty either."
Imperial Uncle Li frowned slightly. The azure dragon beneath his feet stirred and vaulted into the air, sinuously gliding through the skies toward Shendu.
They had flown over two thousand li when the sun in the sky suddenly tilted, joined by an extra sun! Knowing trouble was afoot, Imperial Uncle Li immediately braced for battle. From within that blazing sun, a chariot came charging forth—four steeds engulfed in roaring flames pulled the chariot, dragging a sun behind them!
As the four steeds galloped, their hide peeled away to reveal dragon scales and talons, exceptionally ferocious, radiating an overwhelming, bloodthirsty aura that sent chills down the spine!
"Dragonkin with awakened archaic bloodlines? An aristocratic clan capable of fielding four awakened dragonkin beasts is certainly no ordinary power!"
Imperial Uncle Li dared not lower his guard. The azure dragon wheeled sharply and lunged toward the chariot as he bellowed, "Who is in that chariot? Reveal yourself!"
The azure dragon crashed into the four dragon-steeds with a thunderous impact, shockwaves blasting in all directions. Suddenly the chariot exploded, and a colossal figure resembling an archaic titan rose up, his body gleaming gold, his muscles coiling like winding dragons. Whirling a massive battleaxe, he swung down toward the azure dragon and Imperial Uncle Li!
Imperial Uncle Li met the blow head-on. Yet no sooner had he blocked the giant axe than a thick, colossal cudgel thrust out from the sun behind the chariot, striking squarely against his chest!
Imperial Uncle Li coughed up a mouthful of blood, shocked and furious. "The Zhao brothers!"
The azure dragon's head was cleaved off by the second Zhao brother's axe strike. The severed dragon head plummeted from the heavens, the prisoner wagon still atop it.
Locked in battle against both Zhao brothers alone, Imperial Uncle Li could not rescue the prisoner wagon in time. He thought in dismay, *This is disastrous! If Xu Ying falls to his death, I cannot answer to His Majesty!*
Just then, a white crane with a hundred-zhang wingspan swooped in on beating wings, its long, pointed beak skewering the cage bars and snatching the prisoner wagon away midair.
Standing at the crane's crown was an alluring woman facing the wind, giggling merrily, "Monster King Xu is coming to guest at my Cui clan; there is no need to trouble you gentlemen any longer!"
*Whoosh!*
A streak of arrow light shot forth, piercing straight through the white crane's left eye and exiting out its right! The white crane blew apart into a cloud of dispersing vital qi and blood—it had merely been formed from an image of the Great Dao.
The prisoner wagon tumbled downward, but then a celestial ladder extended across the sky. In the distance, a giant stood upon the ladder, holding up the azure sky with a single hand, catching the prisoner wagon upon azure sky and white clouds.
"Haha, good friends! Little Brother Xu is my Guo clan's son-in-law, heading to the capital to marry my clan's young lady! No need for you all to see him off!"
A tall, white-haired old man appeared, a black cloth masking his face. The giant behind him bore the prisoner wagon, bounding across the skies alongside him like an agile ape—a single leap carrying them a hundred-odd li, moving with blinding speed!
Suddenly, Pei Jingting—covered in blood—charged out from nowhere, hurtling headlong toward the Guo elder as he roared, "Old Ancestor Guo, leave Monster King Xu behind!"
The dull-faced youth of the Zhu clan also swept into the fray, barking, "Brother Guo, do you intend to swallow him all for yourself?"
Imperial Uncle Li, struggling to shake off the Zhao brothers, also charged over, shouting from afar, "Old Guo, you are the Duke of State Protection! Do you dare defy the imperial decree as well?"
The tall, white-haired elder was indeed Old Ancestor Guo. Hearing this, his heart skipped a beat, and he cursed under his breath, "Even with my face covered you bastards recognized me. Now this will be hard to explain."
Summoning all his strength, he hurled the prisoner wagon forward and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Little Brother Xu, Shendu lies just ahead! Once you enter the city, give them the Guo clan's name!"
*Whoosh—*
The prisoner wagon sailed through the firmament, hurtling past jagged mountain peaks, shooting through deep gorges flanked by sheer precipices, and skimming beneath a grand roaring waterfall.
Inside the wagon, Xu Ying looked ahead as a magnificent, ancient metropolis came into view—a city that seemed like an immortal palace and blessed paradise, filled with cloud-piercing pagodas, timbered pavilions, diverse cave-heaven anomalies floating in the sky, and towering, majestic deities!
Those deities were not in the least inferior to the colossal statues of gods in the Nether Court. Heavy incense smoke qi drifted like clouds and mists, like trailing ribbons, weaving between the city's architectures, coalescing into long rainbows and arches of bridges!
From afar, pedestrians bustled like woven threads, strolling across rainbows and bridges formed of incense smoke.
The prisoner wagon was hurtling down toward the city. Seeing this, Xu Ying instantly circulated the Taiyi Guiding Skill, churning the yuan qi within his body. These shackles and cangue specially crafted by the Imperial Prison could seal the Six Secret Depositories of the Human Body, bind cave-heavens, and lock down the soul—yet they could not restrain his Realm of Xiyi!
Xu Ying surged with power. With crisp snapping sounds, he shattered the cangue and iron shackles, reducing the prisoner wagon to splinters.
He took a step forward into empty air. A cloud ladder manifested beneath him; Xu Ying guided his descent along the rungs, his speed slowing until he finally touched down on solid ground, just over ten li outside Shendu.
Ten li ahead stood Shendu, bustling with boundless incense smoke, grand and peerless—the seat of the Son of Heaven.
Xu Ying walked toward Shendu, only to find the roadsides strewn with the starved corpses of the dead. Body after body, wrapped in straw mats, had been dumped along the banks of a broad river.
In that great river, giant fish had turned into demons, their bellies sprouting four thick fins. With a splash, one clambered ashore, lumbering forward with all its might to clamp its jaws onto a corpse and drag it into the water.
The waters churned in a frenzy as the fish demons swarmed to feast.
Xu Ying's steps slowed involuntarily. Walking along the post road, he noticed several Nuo masters behaving furtively. They brought out half-man-tall, vermilion gourds, setting them beside the corpses while chanting incantations under their breath.
Seeing Xu Ying approach, they stopped chanting one after another, straightening their backs and staring eerily at Xu Ying without a word.
Once Xu Ying passed, they resumed muttering incantations, activating the gourds.
Xu Ying channeled his Heavenly Eye and looked back. Plumes of black smoke poured from the mouths of the gourds, slithering into the corpses along the riverbank and forcefully dragging their souls out through their nostrils!
Many of the corpses by the river had died less than seven days ago; their spirits still watched over their physical remains. By day, the ghosts hid within their dead bodies to evade the sunlight.
Yet the black smoke from the gourds' spouts could forcibly rip those ghosts from their respective corpses!
In the next moment, Xu Ying watched the spirits twist and writhe in struggle, swept up by the black vapors and pulled headlong into the vermilion gourds!
"What are you doing?" Xu Ying barked loudly.
The group of Nuo masters stopped in a hurry. One of them frowned and said, "Friend, this is none of your business. We come from a manor in Shendu. Mind your own affairs!"
Xu Ying came to a sudden realization: "You are harvesting souls to refine pills for some prominent figures in Shendu?"
The Nuo masters exchanged glances. The lead black-robed Nuo master snapped, "He cannot be left alive! Kill him first!"
Before they could make a move, a flash of sword light flared! Before any of the Nuo masters could even react, their heads were severed from their bodies!
Xu Ying cut down several men in a single stroke. His gentle face hardened into a fierce, ruthless grimace. Snatching up that vermilion gourd, he strode with murderous menace toward Shendu.
"I arrived with a heart seeking virtue and learning, yet why does this Shendu seem no place of benevolence? They force me to kill!"
Chapter 93