Yuan Qi had climbed back to where the branches crossed on the great scholar tree, alternating between breathing exercises to build strength for the upcoming gate-knocking and waiting for its second transformation.
"Stinky snake, will you turn into a human this time?" the Great Bell asked.
Yuan Qi was hopeful: "When a great serpent becomes a Demon King, it can assume human form. When I became a Demon King, I drank too much dragon blood and it was delayed. But this is my second transformation—I will definitely become human."
The Great Bell became interested: "Though A-Ying taught you the Great Yin Nurturing Art, are you sure you've mastered it? If you only understand the 'Yin' part, you might turn into a woman. You might even become both male and female!"
Yuan Qi was startled and grew anxious.
The Great Bell quickly warned: "You are in the gate-knocking phase, focusing on the Mysterious Pass of the Tailbone. If your heart is not sincere, the pass won't open! Focus your mind and stop thinking about becoming male or female—let nature take its course!"
Yuan Qi immediately composed itself.
The Great Bell circled it, gently ringing its chime to help it meditate, thinking: "This is my fault. If I hadn't mentioned male or female, it wouldn't be worrying. I hope the transformation succeeds."
The floral fragrance in the surroundings was intense and the world's vital essence was abundant, so there was no need for medicine. The scent of the pagoda flowers alone was enough to break through.
Unknowingly, night fell. The River Nai appeared. As the Great Bell guarded Yuan Qi, it suddenly felt the temperature drop sharply. It was the first time it had spent the night outside the Pagoda Tree Palace since arriving, and it hadn't realized it would be this cold.
It hurriedly pushed Yuan Qi closer to the fire pit to prevent it from freezing.
Just then, at the foot of the great tree, across the River Nai, ghostly fires gathered together and drifted toward the tree.
"Strange..."
The Great Bell sensed carefully and its body trembled. Those ghostly fires surging toward the tree were actually countless Underworld Ghost Soldiers riding tall horses and wearing decaying armor.
These soldiers were in perfect formation, riding not only white bone horses but also giant Ox Demons, bone dragons, and bone phoenixes.
Other Underworld soldiers carried tattered banners. As the wind blew through the holes in the fabric, strange underworld creatures with slick, dark bodies would wriggle through.
At the center of the ghost army was a massive Canopy several acres in size, like a tattered but magnificent umbrella, riddled with holes.
Long, pitch-black ribbons hung from the canopy, also corroded and covered in holes, fluttering in the wind.
Beneath the canopy, ghostly kings stood with executioner's swords, their murderous intent palpable.
Further back, a towering figure sat wearing an emperor's crown with hanging jade pendants, dressed in a golden dragon robe with a coiled dragon embroidered on the chest.
However, this majestic being was now nothing but white bone. The face beneath the crown was a skull, and the hands gripping the dragon throne were also skeletal.
The Great Bell clanged in alarm: "Zhou Qiyun chose a place with bad feng shui! The master of the Pagoda Tree Palace should be an emperor! No wonder the palace remained unoccupied—the emperor lived here even after death! And now, the master has returned!"
It suddenly understood why the Master of the Mud Pill Palace had been slow to "harvest" Zhou Qiyun: he was waiting for the arrival of the Pagoda Tree Palace's master.
Zhou Qiyun had occupied the Pagoda Tree Palace, and its master naturally would not stand for it.
When Zhou Qiyun faced the Pagoda Tree Palace's master, it would be the Master of the Mud Pill Palace's turn to harvest!
"If Zhou Qiyun cannot withstand this calamity, then when the nest is overturned, no egg will remain intact. A-Ying will likely be in trouble too!"
Looking from afar, it wondered silently: "I wonder which earthly emperor this is?"
At that moment, Zhou Qiyun walked out, followed by thirteen elders with ancient appearances—the same thirteen Zhou family elders who had been sitting in the main hall contemplating the jade slip Dao text.
Xu Ying was surprised. These thirteen elders had been oblivious to worldly affairs while studying the text. Why were they awake now?
Behind the elders were the male and female disciples of the Zhou family who had dismantled the Great Temple, their faces solemn as if facing a great enemy.
"I only stole a pillar. Is this really necessary?" Xu Ying's heart was racing with anxiety.
Zhou Qiyun walked past him without stopping: "There's a missing pillar in the hall. Who took it?"
As Xu Ying was about to deny it, the thirteen elders behind Zhou Qiyun pointed simultaneously at him.
Xu Ying then gave up: "I took it. Was it really that important?"
Zhou Qiyun walked toward the palace exterior: "Since you took it, you took it. This palace doesn't belong to my Zhou family anyway."
Xu Ying was quite surprised. Zhou Qiyun usually scraped the ground clean wherever he went. Why was he being so generous today?
"The rightful owner of this palace has come to settle accounts," Zhou Qiyun said calmly.
Xu Ying followed him out of the Pagoda Tree Palace and looked up. He saw an endless army of Underworld Ghost Soldiers standing in the air, their formations perfect and silent.
In the center of the army, beneath the tattered canopy, sat the White Bone Emperor, impeccably dressed in his imperial robes, with Ghost Kings standing below him like court officials.
Xu Ying felt a chill: "They wouldn't make such a grand display for a bronze pillar. Ancestor Zhou, they aren't here for me."
Zhou Qiyun sighed, yet smiled: "They're here for me. The Master of the Mud Pill Palace has been waiting for this opportunity, and now he has finally gotten it."
Xu Ying understood. The reason no one had occupied the Pagoda Tree Palace was that it had an owner. Others feared this owner and hadn't dared to claim it.
And this owner was the White Bone Emperor who had arrived with such a vast army!
The Master of the Mud Pill Palace had been waiting for the White Bone Emperor to come and settle accounts before making his move!
The Master of the Mud Pill Palace was in the shadows, while the White Bone Emperor was in the open. Facing both simultaneously would likely mean disaster.
Zhou Qiyun said: "With these old monsters, one truly cannot afford any mistake. A single slip could mean death."
The "mistake" he referred to was occupying the Pagoda Tree Palace.
Though the palace was excellent, the Zhou family shouldn't have claimed it without knowing its origins. It was their arrogance and long-standing dominance that led to this oversight.
Judging by the inscriptions on the palace gate, he must be an ancient Qi refiner, likely older than even Grandpa Bell's master.
Xu Ying looked at the White Bone Emperor from afar and thought: "Who is he? If Yuan Qi were here, it would certainly recognize which earthly emperor he was."
Zhou Qiyun radiated a surge of clear light behind him, like a rising tide: "But this also gives the Master of the Mud Pill Palace the confidence to act, letting me eliminate him to prevent future trouble."
Xu Ying's heart stirred upon hearing this: "Is he confident in fighting two Nuo Immortal-level beings at once?"
Dark clouds surged and thunder crashed in the sky. Boundless storm clouds pressed down over the Pagoda Tree Palace. Suddenly, in a flash of lightning, a giant black hand flew from the clouds, its palm wreathed in hellfire, pressing down toward the palace.
The black hand met the clear light behind Zhou Qiyun and halted abruptly. Thunder-fire formed a thin screen of light that swept out like a blade in all directions.
Xu Ying immediately sensed a slight vibration in space, then saw a new wound on the great scholar tree, deep into its trunk.
Nearby, a hilltop silently rose into the air, as if severed by an invisible blade. The hilltop flew dozens of miles before tilting and falling, only to be hit by the residual shockwave and suddenly explode.
This entire scene occurred in complete silence. It took a full breath's time before the dull roar finally reached everyone's ears.
Xu Ying quickly mobilized his spirit sense and activated his Celestial Eye to see what was happening in the sky.
Behind Zhou Qiyun, he saw another Zhou Qiyun, seated within an immeasurable space—appearing small yet boundlessly vast—surrounded by radiating clear light.
That surging, rising light was emanating from this second Zhou Qiyun.
"The Primordial Spirit?" Xu Ying thought of the girl in the coffin, but quickly realized something was different.
The girl's Primordial Spirit was powerful and substantial, yet invisible to the naked eye. Even its radiance was a fine, subtle glow.
Zhou Qiyun's "Primordial Spirit" was more massive but somewhat ethereal, its light visible to the naked eye rather than a subtle glow.
Upon closer inspection, Xu Ying noticed a fire atop the Primordial Spirit's head—the yang fire of the soul.
"A soul should have three yang fires: one at the crown of the head, and one on each shoulder. Why does Zhou Qiyun only have one... it's the Samadhi True Fire!" Xu Ying suddenly realized, feeling disbelief.
Zhou Qiyun had actually merged his three yang fires to refine the Samadhi True Fire. His talent was terrifyingly high.
"He doesn't know the arts of ancient Qi refiners. He must have discovered them in the tombs of Qi refiners and Nuo Immortals. Relying on incomplete transmissions, he refined the Samadhi True Fire and cultivated his soul to such a powerful state!"
For Nuo masters, the Samadhi True Fire was a lost ancient art, mysterious and unknown. Zhou Qiyun had reconstructed it—a feat of extraordinary courage and wisdom that was truly admirable.
Xu Ying looked at the White Bone Emperor and saw he also possessed a Primordial Spirit, hidden in the darkness behind him. This Primordial Spirit was covered in black qi, torn and decayed, with black qi leaking from its rotting holes.
The black hand that had pressed down on the Pagoda Tree Palace was the manifestation of the White Bone Emperor's Primordial Spirit; otherwise, his strike would have been invisible!
And the force that had blocked that Primordial Spirit was Zhou Qiyun's soul.
One soul, one Primordial Spirit—they clashed once, their invisible combat creating a shockwave that cut into the scholar tree and sent a hilltop flying.
Without the Celestial Eye, the truth would have been impossible to see.
Suddenly, Zhou Qiyun beside Xu Ying shot into the sky. In the next instant, he was already airborne, floating before the canopy.
His robes fluttered, and despite his small stature, he seemed immeasurably vast. The tens of thousands of Underworld Ghost Soldiers, riding various exotic beasts and occupying dozens of miles, seemed like nothing more than tiny ants before him.
His aura erupted with terrifying intensity. Everywhere the clear light shone, the disciplined ghost soldiers suddenly fell into chaos. Each white-bone soldier looked at its own hands in disbelief.
Where the clear light touched their hands, flesh and skin rapidly grew. Bone regained its vitality. Blood and muscle crawled up their arms, reaching their shoulders.
In their chests, hearts began to beat and grow.
Their internal organs gradually formed, and their dead, decayed bones returned to life.
The tens of thousands of Underworld Ghost Soldiers lost all their murderous intent, staring in a daze at their resurrected bodies.
Zhou Qiyun stepped toward the canopy. The White Bone Emperor beneath it raised his own hands, watching the flesh regrow on his palms, ghost fire flickering in his eye sockets.
"Is this Nuo sorcery?"
An ancient voice spoke. The White Bone Emperor turned his hands over and over: "In my era, this peculiar art did not exist. I can feel the power I once possessed when I was alive..."
He suddenly clenched his fist, the flesh on his hand exploding and reverting to white bone.
"A pity—resurrection is but an illusion."
The White Bone Emperor slowly rose, his voice mixed with a rumbling thunder: "You tried to control me through flesh and blood, yet through the flesh you conjured, I sensed your old age. You possess the power of life, yet you wither like a mayfly with a mere three hundred years. You cultivate wrongly, don't you?"
Zhou Qiyun's expression shifted slightly. Seizing the moment of distraction, the White Bone Emperor struck out with a single finger, distorting space wherever it pointed.
Simultaneously, behind him, the Primordial Spirit bowed toward a floating curved blade. The blade screamed through the air, heading straight for the soul behind Zhou Qiyun.
Xu Ying's eye twitched: "The White Bone Emperor speaks the truth! Zhou Qiyun clearly opened all the secret repositories of the Mud Pill, possessing infinite vitality and life force. Why does he still age? Why does he have only three hundred years? It seems he hasn't truly escaped the Master of the Mud Pill Palace's trap!"
In a battle between masters, a distracted mind was the gravest error.
Having his deepest flaw exposed by the White Bone Emperor, Zhou Qiyun's breath wavered, creating an opening.
Just then, the earth near the Pagoda Tree Palace suddenly erupted. A massive being roared like thunder and charged at the airborne Zhou Qiyun.
"The Master of the Mud Pill Palace!" Xu Ying cried.
In the darkness, the colossal creature was covered in shimmering scales and radiated overwhelming demonic aura. Whether it was a dragon or serpent was unclear.
And atop its head sat a skeleton, cross-legged and appearing tiny.
"Teacher, you've finally shown yourself!" Zhou Qiyun burst into laughter.
He struck out with his own finger, meeting the White Bone Emperor's terrifying strike. At the moment of contact, the White Bone Emperor's finger joints exploded one by one.
Meanwhile, the curved blade summoned by the White Bone Emperor's Primordial Spirit whistled through the air and struck Zhou Qiyun's soul at the neck, severing it in two.
"I have refined myself to the pinnacle of the Mud Pill's secret repository. My soul is immortal and indestructible!"
Zhou Qiyun turned to face the massive creature: "Teacher, this is something you never anticipated when you passed your techniques to me all those years ago. Today, I will show you the ultimate realm you never grasped and send you on your way!"