Young Master Xiang crawled and tumbled, fleeing dozens of li before finally succumbing to his injuries. He collapsed on his back, gasping for breath.
Moments later, Thirteen Lady limped over, coughing blood.
The two masters regarded each other, both embarrassed.
"Who would have thought his cultivation was unfathomable? We've been thoroughly defeated."
Young Master Xiang caught his breath and sat up. "Thank heavens we ran when we did, or we'd be dead for certain."
Thirteen Lady sank to the ground: "I couldn't gauge the depth of his cultivation. He simply sat there and flicked his finger a few times, and we were nearly killed. Could he be an ancient Qi-refiner from the pre-Qin era, disguised as a youth?"
She was deeply ashamed. Xu Ying had barely raised a hand against them, and they had been beaten half to death—they hadn't even seen how he struck!
Young Master Xiang shook his head: "We've been searching for ancient Qi-refiners for years. We finally found one on Stone Mountain. Where did this one come from?"
Thirteen Lady was equally baffled.
On the Nether River, the wind had stilled and the moon shone clear. Even the ghosts that usually haunted these waters were silent. Apart from Xu Ying, not a soul dared to breathe.
Having severely wounded two masters, Xu Ying's gaze grew deep and distant—as if he had become a master himself.
After a moment, the youth snapped out of his self-congratulation: "If I become arrogant and complacent, I could easily be killed without understanding how. Like many expert snake catchers who believe themselves infallible—one careless bite, and they kick the bucket."
Still, the copper basin was astonishing. It had transformed a minor Qi-refiner like him into an apparent supreme master, sending Young Master Xiang and Thirteen Lady fleeing in blood. Xu Ying found himself increasingly fond of the basin.
"The girl in the coffin gave me the basin but never said she wanted it back. So I won't return it."
The youth thought: "Perhaps this copper basin is her token of affection. For its sake, even if she is a female ghost, I suppose I could endure..."
The maple-leaf boat traveled thousands of li eastward overnight, finally approaching Wuwang Mountain. Suddenly, daylight brightened—morning sun spilled across the land. Xu Ying knew trouble was coming and clutched the basin.
Beneath the maple-leaf boat, the entire Nether River vanished without a trace. The boat became a leafless branch, drifting downward from the sky.
Xu Ying fell from the air, unhurt—but the basin's bottom had cracked on impact, a fissure leaking water!
Xu Ying's heart sank in despair. He clutched the basin and sprinted, shouting: "Hu family! Hu family! Lend me a big silver ingot! Gold is even better!"
The fox spirits lived in the small town at Wuwang Mountain's foot. Dawn was just breaking, and many foxes had not yet risen—when Xu Ying burst into the town, basin in hand.
The Hu elder hurried out: "Demon King Xu, what brings you here?"
The water in the basin was nearly gone. Xu Ying had no time for pleasantries. Seeing a gold ring on the old fox's finger, he snatched it and tossed it into the basin.
The last of the water drained away. The gold ring landed with a splash.
Xu Ying looked up. The sky split open, and a golden ring descended from beyond the heavens—three or four li in diameter, plummeting toward earth!
"BOOM!"
The titanic ring broke through the atmosphere, wreathed in blazing fire, hurtling toward Wuwang Mountain. The demons in the mountain shrieked and fled in terror.
Xu Ying, who had grown up poor, watched with eager anticipation—but the ring shrank as it fell. What had been three li quickly dwindled to a hundred zhang.
By the time it reached Wuwang Mountain, it was only five or six zhang across.
"CLANG!"
The ring spun downward and embedded itself in a cliff face.
Xu Ying ran over and wrenched it free. The ring was only four feet wide—but far larger than any gold ring, weighing at least a thousand catties!
"My life... I need never work again..." Xu Ying's voice trembled.
He looked at the broken basin. The water had drained, and with it, the girl's spell had faded.
Xu Ying dropped a small stone into the basin. It clanged once—but no mountain fell from the sky.
"What a pity. This treasure is far more powerful than the legendary Cornucopia, but it is too fragile."
Xu Ying sighed with regret, but the great gold ring was consolation enough. Master Xu would never go hungry again—and the bride-price problem was solved.
The bell floated silently behind him, thinking: "The fool thinks the copper basin is the treasure. The real treasure was the fox-woman's spatial magic. To cultivate such a technique requires the level of an immortal. That she mastered it is extraordinary. Her escape makes her a dragon loosed from shallows."
It suddenly considered: if the fox-woman was not evil—if she had come to send away the Plague God—then what did that make the one who imprisoned her?
"Could I be a wicked bell?"
It felt hollow, murmuring: "Could my master and I be the villains? No—my master is righteous and brilliant. He cannot be the villain. It must be the fox-woman feigning goodness to deceive us!"
Xu Ying returned the gold ring to the Hu elder, shouldered the great gold ring, and headed back to Qinyan Cave—only to find a massive serpent coiled at its entrance.
The snake's head was over a zhang wide. Horns grew from its skull—forked like young deer antlers, one black, one white, fuzzy, with visible blood vessels.
The serpent was over ten zhang long, coiled before the cave. Its scales gleamed like mirrors, reflecting the spring sunlight in an iridescent red-gold glow.
Its head rose three or four zhang high, wreathed in dense demonic energy. Its gaze was deep and unfathomable as it contemplated the rising sun.
The great snake was practicing breathing exercises, drawing in solar essence with each inhalation. Its massive body swelled, scales grinding against each other with a metallic ring.
Countless motes of light swarmed from the sunlight, forming a vortex that poured into the great snake's mouth.
A great sun was visible within the serpent, traveling from throat to tail in moments. Wherever it passed, the body bulged and expanded, growing two or three sizes thicker than a farmer's water cistern.
As the great snake exhaled, sand and stones blew. Venomous mist formed a cloud from its mouth, catching the sunlight and rising as a colorful haze.
Xu Ying had encountered many demon kings and demon deities, but none possessed a demonic aura as overwhelming as this great serpent's.
"Are you... Yuan Qi?" Xu Ying approached cautiously.
The great serpent regarded him with its deep gaze, silent.
Xu Ying said: "The Yuan Qi ranked seventh in venomous toxicity?"
The great snake opened its mouth, and a child's voice emerged—clear and crisp, like a three-year-old boy: "Before my metamorphosis, I was ranked fifth! How did I become seventh? At minimum, I am now in the top three!"
Xu Ying asked, puzzled: "Yuan Qi, weren't you supposed to transform into human form? How did you become this?"
The great serpent closed its mouth, gazing with unfathomable depth.
Xu Ying stared at him. After a long pause, the great serpent was forced to speak, the child's voice echoing: "I thought I would take human form. The generative force within me was rising—signs of transformation. But after entering seclusion, the force concentrated at the back of my head, and these two horns grew."
Xu Ying noticed that the great serpent only grew eloquent once it started speaking. He thought: "No wonder he was silent."
Yuan Qi's cultivation had borne fruit. During this seclusion, he had not only elevated the Elephant-Force Ox-Demon Fist to the seventh level, becoming a demon king, but had also achieved inner vision, cultivated spirit sense, entered the Domain of the Ineffable, and harmonized the Five Qi into Unity.
His progress in these few days was truly extraordinary!
Xu Ying approached: "Yuan Qi, let me see how far you've come!"
He channeled his blood and qi. The Elephant-King Divine Form manifested behind him. His fist struck, and thunder roared!
These past days—slaying Zhou Yang, lashing the Plague God—Xu Ying's experience had been extraordinary. This fist, while still rooted in the Elephant-Force Ox-Demon Fist, had evolved.
His fist-intention had transcended the ox-demon's frenzy, gaining instead the keen edge and expansive grace of swordsmanship.
Yuan Qi too channeled his blood and qi. Behind him manifested an Elephant-King Divine Form over a zhang tall—tiny compared to his enormous body.
He struck with the tip of his tail, using it as a fist. It met Xu Ying's punch.
His tailtip was blunt, like a great weight. The strike matched Xu Ying's force, even exceeding it!
"BOOM!"
Fist and tail collided. Power erupted, shockwaves rippling outward. Xu Ying's robes billowed. Behind Yuan Qi, a long mane of hair streamed behind him like a feathered banner.
Xu Ying only now noticed the row of flowing hair at the back of Yuan Qi's head—somewhat like feathers, somewhat like a horse's mane, looking soft and downy.
"Could it be the dragon blood he drank that prevented his human transformation?" Xu Ying wondered.
He recalled Yuan Tiangang's words: Yuan Qi's greed for a few mouthfuls of dragon blood had added obstacles to his transformation. This must have been what he meant.
Yuan Qi struck again with his tail. Xu Ying met it with fist and foot, man and serpent clashing, their blood and qi surging. Sand and stones swirled outside Qinyan Cave.
Suddenly, Yuan Qi executed the White Elephant Swinging Trunk technique. His tail cracked the air, producing a thunderous boom. Xu Ying dodged without trying to block.
The tail smashed into a boulder, shattering it to pieces.
This was Yuan Qi's most devastating move. The tailtip broke the sound barrier, and the force it carried was so immense that Xu Ying dared not take it head-on, lest he be injured.
"Xiao Qi, the Elephant-Force Ox-Demon Fist no longer suits you," Xu Ying said, glancing at the small elephant-headed deity behind Yuan Qi.
Yuan Qi nodded. He too felt the technique no longer harmonized with him. The Elephant-King Divine Form it produced could not contain all his blood and qi—it actually limited his power.
"A-Ying, where is Old Bell?" Yuan Qi asked.
Xu Ying jerked his chin downhill: "Not sure what's gotten into him—he's been spacing out over there. He might have something on his mind. Go talk to him."
Yuan Qi slithered downhill, his ten-zhang body pressing down thorns and grass, forcing the forest trees to lean. The beasts in the woods fell silent, demons prostrate, not daring to lift their heads.
Yuan Qi glided noiselessly through the wildlife and demons, arriving at the bell's side. He looked down at it for a moment, then asked: "Old Bell, why do you mope?"
The bell's spirit rippled: "I don't know if I am good or evil—my feelings are in turmoil... Wait—that's you! Yuan Qi, why has your voice become a child's voice?"
Yuan Qi was both mortified and furious: "A-Ying said you were troubled and asked me to comfort you, yet you mock me! What exactly troubles you?"
The bell recounted its worries. Yuan Qi, who had read more books, offered: "If you doubt whether you are the villain, why not ask the coffin girl? Clear things up with her, and your doubt will be resolved. Why sit here tormenting yourself?"
The bell would never lower itself to apologize to the girl: "I was ordered by my master to suppress her—she is the evil one. My master cannot be wrong. Besides, I am gravely injured. If I go see her, she might kill me outright!"
Yuan Qi said: "So you're a coward."
The bell seethed and slammed the great snake's head against the ground: "Coward? I am merely injured! If I were well, would I fear her? When I am healed, I will personally suppress her and shove her back into Stone Mountain's ancient well!"
Though Yuan Qi's head now bore a dozen blood-bulges, he refused to back down: "Even before you were injured, didn't she beat you and send you fleeing? If you go back healed, she'll only beat you worse!"
The bell was furious: "Curse of a snake! Today I, Old Bell, will send you to the Nether realm right here by the Nether River!"
"We are already in the Nether realm—you needn't bother sending me!"
"Filthy snake, I'll kill you!"
"Old Bell, spare me!"
At the cave mouth, Xu Ying practiced the Primordial Unity Guiding Art, breathing in solar essence. Hearing the commotion below, he looked down and saw the bell and Yuan Qi tussling—now the bell slamming Yuan Qi's head into the ground, now Yuan Qi coiling around the bell, trying to squeeze it. They seemed to be getting along wonderfully.
"The spring sun is warm," Xu Ying said with a smile, his heart at peace. Above his head, sunlight gathered, forming half an acre of luminous field.
The air was warm. All things stretched and flourished.
Zhou Yihang was making his way toward Wuwang Mountain. He gazed at the towering peak from afar, his expression dark.
The old man's body was battered. For two days he had crossed forty li of Nether territory from Yilin Temple to this place, encountering every danger and marvel of the spirit realm. He had survived—and arrived at Wuwang Mountain.
"My son, today your father will cut off Xu Ying's head and place it upon your altar—the first offering you shall receive after becoming a deity!"