Zhou Qiyun's expression softened. "I came to see whether you've grown slack. You're good—you've kept my affairs in mind."
Xu Ying bowed slightly. "When entrusted with a task, how could I dare be negligent?"
Zhou Qiyun said, "It would be even better if you weren't all talk and no action."
Xu Ying's face reddened slightly. Over the past few days he had been busy socializing with Yuan Weiyang, Guo Xiaodie, and the others, and sneaking meetings with Feng Xian'er. Where had he found time to decipher the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture?
Zhou Qiyun's words were meant to keep him on his toes. "That sorrowful old man who came looking for trouble—I've taught him a lesson. He won't bother you again anytime soon. That's why I came, to tell you this."
Xu Ying looked at him in surprise. After a moment he asked, "Is Ancestor Zhou still that snake-catching youth from Yongzhou?"
Zhou Qiyun met his gaze, his tone indifferent. "No. Don't flatter yourself. I don't feel any kinship with you—I simply find you useful."
He turned to leave. "Don't make me wait too long."
Xu Ying smiled. "Farewell, Ancestor Zhou."
After Zhou Qiyun departed, Xu Ying settled down and began deciphering the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture word by word with great concentration. Before long, Yuan Weiyang arrived and joined him in the work.
Shortly after, Guo Xiaodie peeked in. Seeing the two engrossed in the scripture, she waited nearby, but grew restless after only a moment. She sidled up to Yuan Weiyang and watched him write, secretly admiring: "Brother Weiyang's handwriting is so elegant." Then she moved to Xu Ying's side and thought: "And this is called handwriting? It looks like caterpillars crawling."
In just two days, Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang completed the full translation of the remaining portions of the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture. Yuan Weiyang said, "Once we hand this over, we may well die."
Xu Ying gazed at the scripture, considering for a moment. "Not necessarily. Zhou Qiyun already knows the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture is incomplete. If he cultivates it forcibly, he'll only turn into a woman. A man so proud and arrogant, with such an overwhelming desire for control—he would never let a single cultivation technique dictate his fate."
Yuan Weiyang came to his side. "Demon King Xu, you mean to say...?"
Her eyes flickered. She took up a brush and wrote three characters on paper.
Xu Ying looked and nodded gently.
Guo Xiaodie, Yuan Qi, and the Great Bell crowded around to look. Yuan Weiyang had written "Zhou Qiyun" but with the character for a woman's name substituted in—making it read "Zhou Qi-yun" like a lady's name.
They wanted to laugh but dared not. When Xiao Bo saw it, he leaned in for a look and couldn't help laughing: "Young Master, that's not how you write Zhou Qiyun's—"
Then he realized what he'd said and burst into louder laughter: "That's a woman's name!"
Then he caught himself, clamped his mouth shut, kept a straight face, and broke into a cold sweat, thinking: "If Zhou Old Sister were here, I'd surely be destroyed body and soul."
Xu Ying said, "He wants to complete the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture and transcend beyond it. He's confident he can do it. From all our interactions, we can see he's extremely proud, extremely confident. Therefore, he will absolutely cultivate the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture!"
The group was stunned, scarcely able to believe it.
The Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture was indeed a top-tier technique among Qi Refiners, but it had a fatal flaw: it lacked any explanation of yang. When women cultivated it, they became only more alluring and beautiful. But when men cultivated it, they turned into women!
How could a man as proud as Zhou Qiyun tolerate the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture changing his gender?
Xu Ying's eyes gleamed as he continued his deduction. "He's already cultivating it. Not only that—he's sensed his primordial yang gradually draining away, and his body has undergone strange changes. But he is the Zhou family ancestor after all, a Nuo Immortal who opened the Mud Pill Secret to the Ninth Heaven. He can control his physical vitality and reshape his body at will."
Though Yuan Weiyang hadn't cultivated the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture, her understanding of the technique was remarkably deep. She frowned. "Even if he reshapes his body back to male form, he'll find it hard to change his Great Yin physique. After all, following the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture, the Great Yin true essence within him won't change."
Xu Ying smiled. "That's where our lifeline lies."
Yuan Weiyang caught on. "When he can't solve it himself, he'll come looking to us for help."
Xu Ying said, "A man so cautious, so brilliant in strategy and calculation—he'll certainly keep us alive as insurance."
The two exchanged a knowing smile.
Guo Xiaodie watched them banter back and forth, analyzing a matter of life and death with casual ease. She felt both admiration and a twinge of jealousy, thinking: "Two men being so intimate—I feel like the odd one out. But they're both remarkable. This Demon King Xu isn't bad either, quite charming."
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang submitted the translated Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture one after another. After half a day, when Zhou Qiyun didn't come to kill them, they knew their lives were safe, and both breathed sighs of relief.
They then traveled to the Zhaochen Grand Void Blessed Land to cultivate there.
Their footsteps didn't stop at that isolated cliff. The group descended the mountain and sat on the great serpent Yuan Qi's head as he slithered through the blessed land. Before they knew it, they arrived beneath the Ascension Aurora.
Xu Ying said, "After drinking that tea, I vaguely heard that sorrowful-faced elder say this aurora isn't an Ascension Aurora at all. It was formed when a Qi Refiner undergoing tribulation here was obliterated—his body and primordial spirit shattered into dust, creating this light."
The group was horrified.
Xu Ying continued, "People mistook it for an Ascension Aurora, so many Qi Refiners came here to undergo tribulation. They all died in this blessed land. Not a single one survived."
Guo Xiaodie asked, "Demon King Xu, what tea did that sorrowful old man give you?"
Xu Ying hesitated. "I once saw Meng Po's Soup on the Bridge of Helplessness. Its color was similar to the tea he gave me."
Everyone jumped. Xiao Bo blurted, "If you drank Meng Po's Soup, wouldn't you forget everything—past and present? What you drank probably wasn't Meng Po's Soup!"
Xu Ying agreed. "After drinking the old man's tea, I felt a rush—potent stuff. The more I drank, the stronger the aftereffects, splitting my headache. But it tasted good—sweet aftertaste, moistening, refreshing."
The Great Bell spoke suddenly. "A Ying, if that pot of tea really was Meng Po's Soup, then your soul's condition can't be explained by just a dozen Spirit Restoration Pills."
Xu Ying didn't understand.
The Great Bell said, "Spirit Restoration Pills are powerful and can mend the soul, but they can't resist Meng Po's Soup. The fact that you retained your memories after drinking it—it can't be the Spirit Restoration Pills' doing."
Guo Xiaodie laughed. "So what Demon King Xu drank definitely wasn't Meng Po's Soup! I love tea-tasting. Next time he invites you, bring me along—I want a sip too!"
Xu Ying readily agreed.
The group continued cultivating while enjoying the scenery of the blessed land. Yuan Qi carried them onto the back of an ancient primordial beast, weaving through the mountains on its back. Though Yuan Qi was enormous, compared to the primordial beast he was insignificant—the beast couldn't even be bothered with them.
Yuan Qi slithered to the beast's head. Mountains stood atop it, along with several ancient houses, half-collapsed. Fortunately, a pavilion still stood.
They tidied up and sat inside.
The houses must have been built by ancient Qi Refiners thousands of years ago. Now, millennia later, those ancients had become legends, their traces lost in the river of time.
Yet the great beasts remained. They were the true masters of this blessed land, still wandering the Grand Void realm.
Guo Xiaodie brought out tea implements and brewed tea, laughing: "Try this tribute tea I brought from the palace. It may rival Meng Po's Soup."
Everyone took their seats. Even Yuan Qi shrank his form into a modest serpent and coiled on a stone stool, waiting for tea.
While waiting, Xu Ying recounted his experience that night—omitting Guo Xiaodie crawling into his bed, and the matter of Feng Xian'er having seen him three thousand years ago.
"Little Feng Xian said she saw heaven and earth twist and spin, then she fell into darkness and lost consciousness. When she awoke, it was three thousand years later—today."
Xu Ying said, "Something about this feels strange. Three thousand years ago, who sealed heaven and earth? Who had such power? And this time, the Nether River invaded, then the underworld invaded, and new lands appeared out of nowhere along the Nether River. Could these new lands be that sealed-away world?"
Hearing this, Yuan Weiyang immediately sensed the oddity. "Demon King Xu, could it be that the Great Sealing Feng Xian'er spoke of caused the extinction of the Qi Refiners?"
Her words awakened everyone. Previously, neither Xu Ying nor the Great Bell nor Yuan Qi had noticed this point.
The decline of the Qi Refiners happened in a much more ancient era, but their extinction was likely connected to that Great Sealing!
"My master disappeared after that Great Sealing. For three thousand years since, I've never sensed his presence again."
The Great Bell said excitedly, "If that's the case, my master may have been sealed too! He and I will surely meet again! A Ying, then I'll show you what a true genius looks like!"
Xu Ying laughed and flattered, "The Great Bell's master must be incredible—I can't hold a candle."
The Great Bell felt a twinge of guilt, thinking: "My master's talent might actually be just a tiny bit less than his... but only a tiny bit."
Guo Xiaodie poured tea for them, laughing: "If the Qi Refiners of three thousand years ago were also all sealed, then with the emergence of these new lands, wouldn't those ancient Qi Refiners return?"
At her words, everyone froze.
Xu Ying stood, holding his teacup, gazing across the vast expanse of the Grand Void Blessed Land, and murmured, "Are the Qi Refiners of three thousand years ago truly still alive?"
If the ancient Qi Refiners had been sealed along with that world, then upon their return, would the current world order change?
The great families standing above all, the imperial power ruling the world, the divine authority governing the underworld—what would become of them?
The Great Bell emitted a resonant chime and said slowly, "If the Qi Refiners of three thousand years ago were sealed along with this world, then the mystery of their disappearance is explained. They were the masters of that era. When the new masters encounter the return of the old—what will happen?"
Yuan Weiyang cradled her teacup with both hands, sipping lightly, her expression calm. "What's even more terrifying is—who sealed the ancient world, and who will unseal it?"
Guo Xiaodie tugged at her bodice, fanning away the heat inside her. She drained her cup in one gulp, found it unsatisfying, then grabbed the teapot and drank straight from the spout.
She wiped her mouth, lifted her skirt, planted one foot on the tea table, and declared loudly: "There must be a grand conspiracy behind all this!"
As for what conspiracy, even she couldn't say.
Yuan Qi nodded repeatedly, sipping his tea with refined composure. "The people stirring things up behind the scenes—those are the most dangerous. I suspect all of this is..."
He paused, then whispered: "A human conspiracy against my yao race's ancient Qi Refiners! While sealing away the Qi Refiners, they destroyed our yao history, reducing us to pitiful creatures who can only cultivate to the Qi Gathering stage, enslaved and discriminated against. Until Demon King Xu burst onto the scene, broke through the Qi Gathering barrier, dared to challenge the gates, and led our yao race onto a path of resistance against human tyranny—"
He stopped abruptly. Guo Xiaodie, Yuan Weiyang, Xiao Bo, and Xu Ying were all staring at him with odd expressions.
Yuan Qi coughed and calmly continued drinking his tea, muttering, "Sooner or later, the truth will come to light."
Everyone looked over again, their expressions peculiar.
Yuan Qi coughed once more, sat up straight, gazed at his nose as if in meditation, and whispered: "Justice is never late, only absent. Sooner or later..."
No one paid any more attention to the snake demon's muttering. They sipped tea and cultivated, chatting and laughing, quite at ease.
Guo Xiaodie had never cultivated qi before. Now, practicing the Tuo Yu Immortal Scripture, her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang studied together whether they could help Yuan Qi open the Mud Pill Secret. The two argued heatedly over whether the human body could open more than one secret.
As for Yuan Qi, he was being studied while simultaneously stealing Xu Ying's Dao Seeds.
The Great Bell and Xiao Bo lounged together—one hanging in Xu Ying's Dao Field, waiting for Dao Seeds to fall on him before stealing them, the other continuously sipping tea and admiring the sunset.
Before they knew it, evening had fallen. Two suns still hung above the western mountains as they made their way toward the other cliff of Mount Jiuyi.
Xu Ying suddenly remembered the cane-carrying old man who had warned them about darkness. He smiled: "Remember that kind old gentleman? He warned us to beware of the vengeful ghost Qi Refiners at night!"
Everyone recalled it and exclaimed: "What a good Samaritan!"
Yuan Qi said, "We've faced great dangers. What we fear are ghosts, but ghosts have never harmed us. It's human hearts that are truly sinister."
The Great Bell laughed: "You've forgotten how the ghost dolls drained your yang qi and blew out two ghost flames?"
Xu Ying asked, "Great Bell, how much has your injury healed?"
"One percent!" the Great Bell said happily.
Meanwhile, in the Demon-Quelling Hall, the cane-carrying old man sat upon the shrine, his walking stick set aside, staring at the water vat with gleaming eyes. He chuckled: "Those little rascals actually came back."
He rose to his feet, his gaze fierce: "Today, I feast alone!"