The cane-carrying old man heard Xu Ying and the others' voices from afar. These youths were chatting and laughing, occasionally interspersed with the sound of the great bell, and the snake's hissing laughter.
The cane-carrying old man sneered: "However happy you are laughing now, that's how terrified you'll be later. This time I'm eating alone—I need a quick victory, lest the other old ghosts rush over!"
Xu Ying was the first to enter. Guo Xiaodie must have said something, for as the youth stepped through the door, he turned back and laughed: "In the middle of the night, who could step on your chest twice? Could it be a haunting?"
As he spoke, suddenly the great bell materialized behind him, its power surging. With a dong, the resonant bell sound left everyone dizzy!
On the bell's surface, circles of thick, plain textures floated and rotated. The myriad patterns carved on its inner wall seemed to come alive at this moment—all things flourishing, brimming with vitality, concealing immense power!
Xu Ying himself was puzzled, not understanding why the great bell suddenly erupted. He then heard a muffled groan and quickly looked over to see the cane-carrying old man—the one who had warned them about the ghost here—pinned against the wall of the Demon-Quelling Hall by the bell.
Xu Ying hastily said: "Bell Master, it's that old gentleman with the cane, not an evil spirit!"
The great bell immediately halted its surge of power and stammered: "I sensed yin energy approaching you rapidly, and smelled the scorched scent of heavenly tribulation, so I panicked, fearing you might be harmed by a vengeful ghost. I acted without thinking. I never expected to injure our benefactor!"
The cane-carrying old man had nearly been shaken apart, body and soul. Hearing this, he hastily said: "I am a ghost, so of course I have yin energy. When I underwent tribulation back then, my primordial spirit was scattered by the lightning. So even after becoming a ghost, I carry the scorched scent of heavenly tribulation. You youngsters—why are you back? Hurry, scrape me down!"
Xu Ying flew forward and scraped him off the wall.
When the cane-carrying old man saw him approach, malice arose in his heart. Glancing back, he thrust his sharp claws into Xu Ying's body, intending to tear out his soul and devour it first.
Unexpectedly, the moment his claws touched Xu Ying's skin, they grasped Xu Ying's soul—solid as rock, impossible to grasp at all. The impact snapped all five of his fingers.
Xu Ying looked back at him in confusion, then turned back to continue talking with Guo Xiaodie.
"It was the night Feng Xian'er came to find you. I was sleeping soundly, and when I woke up, I found myself wearing someone else's old clothes, with a shoe print on each side of my chest." Guo Xiaodie recounted that night's events, clicking her tongue in wonder.
The cane-carrying old man's face twisted in pain. He hastily straightened his broken fingers, his mind filled with alarm: "I had my physical body and primordial spirit destroyed by heavenly tribulation. The remaining soul may not be what it once was, but it still retains some of my primordial spirit's power. Never mind a little ghost—even a Ghost King would die from this claw of mine! Why is this boy's soul so hard?"
Xu Ying recalled the shoe prints on Guo Xiaodie's chest—one of which he had made—and felt a twinge of guilt. He changed the subject, laughing: "How is Sister Xiaodie progressing with the Sword Guiding Art? If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me. I guarantee I can teach you until you master it."
Guo Xiaodie agreed.
Yuan Weiyang looked up and said: "It's getting dark. We should leave quickly. At night, who knows what this underworld will look like. If we're late, we won't be able to leave!"
Xu Ying agreed, turning back to the cane-carrying old man: "Thank you for your care, Elder. We'll return tomorrow!"
The group jumped into the water vat one after another, splashing water before vanishing.
The cane-carrying old man's eyes gleamed with malice. Seeing the snake demon land last, its head already inserted into the vat, he rejoiced: "Look at this snake—chubby and cute, vigorous in blood and qi. Definitely a great supplement for yang energy. I'll start with this big snake!"
He flew forward, his fingernails growing wildly as he thrust them toward the Seven-Tailed Serpent!
Just then, the serpent's tail tip rose, curling a blue paper umbrella. With a pop it opened, and within seemed to reside a sun, blazing brighter than fire.
Under the illumination of that light, the cane-carrying old man let out a shrill scream. Locked by the blue paper umbrella, he was involuntarily pulled inside, shrieking: "The Azure Sun Treasure Umbrella—invulnerable to all methods, repelling all evil. It truly lives up to its reputation!"
In an instant, he was refined until his soul scattered. His undying true spirit was also sent by the paper umbrella into the Seven-Tailed Serpent's body, nourishing its own true spirit.
"Swish!"
The blue paper umbrella automatically closed, returning to its original state.
This paper umbrella was something the Seven-Tailed Serpent usually used to shade itself from the sun. Curled by its tail tip, it could be held over its head to block the sun. It never expected to save its life this time.
The serpent sensed the commotion and pulled its head back from the vat, looking around with confusion: "Was there some sound? That old gentleman left quickly! For our safety, he actually stood guard here in advance, sent us away, and left himself."
"There is true feeling even in the underworld!" he sighed, then slipped into the water vat.
Xu Ying parted ways with Yuan Weiyang and Guo Xiaodie and moved into the Wutong Palace to live. After all, Feng Xian'er had fled, and the place would just sit empty otherwise.
Xu Ying moved into the Wutong Palace, and naturally the great bell and the serpent followed. These two immediately ran off to choose their rooms.
There came a knock at the door outside. Xu Ying opened it to find Guo Xiaodie standing there. The young woman fidgeted for a long while without stating her purpose, then suddenly produced a thin scroll of paper and slapped it into Xu Ying's hand.
Xu Ying was momentarily stunned.
Guo Xiaodie said: "You're going to teach me the Sword Guiding Art, and I certainly can't take advantage of you. The Dragon-Finding Positioning Technique from my Guo family's Crimson Palace Secret Treasury cannot be passed to outsiders. But every Guo family girl gets one exception—the right to pass it to her husband. My Guo Xiaodie's husband will surely be an upright man who stands between heaven and earth, and won't covet something as petty as my Guo family's techniques. So I'm giving you this dowry first—that way I won't be breaking the Guo family's rules!"
Xu Ying was taken aback, then laughed: "Sister Xiaodie is no less formidable than any man—truly a woman of steel."
He accepted the Guo family's Dragon-Finding Positioning Technique, emanated sword intent, and carefully taught Guo Xiaodie.
Guo Xiaodie was someone who could force Xu Ying to use the Eight Tones of Primordial Nurturing without achieving victory. Her talent and comprehension were exceptional, and the Guo family was a martial hero clan with a foundation in tempering sword qi. She learned extremely quickly.
However, the Sword Guiding Art required not only great comprehension of swordsmanship but also powerful control over spiritual consciousness. The reason Xu Ying had collaborated with Yuan Weiyang to complete the Sword Guiding Art was precisely because Yuan Weiyang's attainment in spiritual consciousness far surpassed his own.
"Sister Xiaodie, if you still have any difficulties with the sword movement of spiritual consciousness, you can ask Brother Yuan. He co-created this Sword Guiding Art with me, and his skill in spiritual consciousness swordplay surpasses even mine," Xu Ying said.
Guo Xiaodie heard this and secretly regretted: "If I had known, I would have taken my dowry and married into the Yuan family. Why did I have to be 'a woman of steel'? Wouldn't it have been better to have a sweet romance with Brother Weiyang?"
But her straightforward nature soon made her forget the matter, and she devoted herself entirely to learning the sword.
Atop the wutong tree, Xu Ying supervised her sword practice, worried she might fall. Then he recalled that the Guo family's Cloud Ladder Heavenward technique was supremely skilled—a single flip and leap, with incredible speed—so she wouldn't fall to her death. He then departed.
Xu Ying looked down the mountain and saw that the Cangwu Sect had sent many great masters wearing impermanence masks, each jumping into the Green Lake and plunging into the Cangwu Abyss. He thought: "I wonder what cultivation method the emperor practices. Why does he need so much yang energy every day?"
He returned to the Wutong Palace and took out the Guo family's Dragon-Finding Positioning Technique. After reading it once, he understood the secrets of the Crimson Palace.
The Guo family's Dragon-Finding Positioning Technique located the position of the Crimson Palace. The Crimson Palace Secret Treasury, as the center of the human body's six secrets, governed the heart's power. The stronger the heart, the greater the strength. Thus, whether male or female, Guo family masters possessed extraordinary physical power.
Finding the dragon and positioning it wasn't actually difficult—as long as you had the cultivation method, you could locate it. The difficulty lay in opening the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury.
Ordinary people, before becoming great masters, didn't understand qi refining and were physically weak. They couldn't possibly open the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury on their own. Thus, they needed a trustworthy great master to help them open the secret.
The great families could control the masters, and the martial sects could survive, precisely because they possessed the Dragon-Finding Positioning Technique and had great masters to use.
An ordinary person, no matter how talented, couldn't open the secret treasury by their own strength alone.
Unless they were a Qi Refiner.
Xu Ying was exactly such a Qi Refiner.
He had opened the Mud Pill Secret by his own strength, shattering the chaotic mud pill to form a cave heaven, and drawing physical vitality from the chaotic sea.
Opening the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury this time was smooth sailing.
His Crimson Palace Secret Treasury was located in the left ventricle, hidden within the Xian Mountain of the Xiyi Domain. Xu Ying's spiritual consciousness flew into the Xian Mountain, thinking: "Within the heart there lies an inner eye, called the Heart Eye. The Crimson Palace Secret Treasury is within that Heart Eye!"
He located the dragon and positioned it, traveling to the mountain's interior. His spiritual consciousness shuttled through the mountain until he finally found a Heart Eye cavity, like an eye of flame.
He entered with his spiritual consciousness, and before him was a sea of fire. Blazing crimson flames obscured his vision, hiding everything beyond.
"The Dragon-Finding Positioning Technique says: 'The Crimson Palace blazes with the Crescent Moon Furnace; the Spiritual Terrace is silent, the Great Void Altar!' Opening a Crescent Moon Furnace cave heaven within the Heart Eye to strengthen the heart fire—this is where one draws the Crimson Palace's power!"
Xu Ying channeled his spiritual consciousness, visualizing the Dao Image of Ten Thousand Mountains Revering Jiuyi, unleashing its might to strike at the heart cavity!
A tremendous boom shook the fire sea of the heart cavity, and with Xu Ying's strike, the flames grew even fiercer, as團團 flames collapsed toward deeper space!
In an instant, a cave heaven took shape, its form like a half-moon hanging within the sea of fire. Instantly the flames blazed even brighter!
This was the so-called Crimson Palace blazes with the Crescent Moon Furnace!
Xu Ying had opened the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury. He felt his heart power surge, waves of heat flowing from the heart cavity throughout his limbs and bones—an indescribable comfort.
He had been somewhat drowsy before, but now all drowsiness vanished. He immediately rose and stepped outside the Wutong Palace, lightly leaping into midair.
He stepped on the Cloud Ladder, striding upward, then leaped again into the clouds, and once more leaped hundreds of zhang away—his speed no less than that of the Sword Guiding Art!
Xu Ying moved like a nimble ape, leaping through the air,说不出的痛快.
After playing for a while, he finally wrapped himself in团团 sword qi and entered through the window back into the Wutong Palace.
Though this night was peaceful, a pair of eyes had been watching the sky throughout, following Xu Ying's movements. Only when Xu Ying, covered in sword qi, flew back into the Wutong Palace did the gaze finally shift away.
"Master of both the great master arts and qi refining, rotating without obstruction—far superior to Zhou Qiyun."
The Sacred Emperor coughed violently, his face turning red from the exertion. It took a long time before he calmed down, then he waved his hand: "Eunuch Chen, go invite Xu Ying here. I wish to see him."
The purple-robed eunuch Chen felt a jolt in his heart: "Invite him?"
"Correct. Invite him." The Sacred Emperor repeated.
Eunuch Chen bowed respectfully: "What if Ancestor Zhou obstructs?"
"I am still the emperor, after all."
The Sacred Emperor coughed once and said lightly: "Moreover, the two immortals above fought and sustained some injuries. Go."
Eunuch Chen bowed and turned to leave.
Before the Wutong Palace, Xu Ying had just prepared for sleep when he heard a knock at the door. He rose to look and saw a beautiful woman standing outside, draped in a red robe trimmed with white sable fur. Under the moonlight and the palace's lanterns, her skin was as white as snow.
The beautiful woman exuded a captivating fragrance, her figure tall and graceful, her eyebrows and eyes rippling with charm. Her makeup was clearly meticulously applied, the collar revealing her slender shoulders, her collarbones deep enough to hold fine wine, her bodice modest yet alluring.
Xu Ying sniffed—the fragrance on her was that of a perfectly ripe honey peach.
She leaned slightly toward Xu Ying, smiling: "I am Xiaodie's second aunt. Forgive this late-night visit. Demon King Xu, would you be so kind as to let me come inside to sit?"
Xu Ying recognized her. Seeing her about to lean against him, he quickly sidestepped, thinking: "Back then, that's exactly how Bell Master tricked me! Will I fall into the same trap twice?" The beautiful woman was Li Yingzhu. That day, seeing Xu Ying impervious to temptation—refusing even the delivered Guo Xiaodie—she had misunderstood.
Tonight she had sneaked away from Guo Yue to visit the Wutong Palace, harboring different intentions. She meant to handle him, leaving him no choice but to explain the mysteries of the Sword Guiding Art.
Her methods were subtle: meticulously adorned, half-concealed and half-revealed. Every gesture, every smile, every slight movement revealed just a touch—no more, no less—making hearts flutter.
This was practice makes perfect, far beyond what a clumsy woman like Guo Xiaodie could compare to.
She was about to employ another stratagem to make Xu Ying drop his reserve when she heard Eunuch Chen's voice from behind: "Young Master Xu, I am here by imperial command to invite you to the palace for an audience. Lady Guo, your business—please wait a moment. Forgive me."
Li Yingzhu's face flushed crimson. She hastily wrapped her robe tighter, slipped past the eunuch, leaped into the clouds, and vanished.
Xu Ying praised: "Second aunt's movements are truly graceful! That's one skill I can't match!"
Eunuch Chen, in his purple robes emanating nobility, smiled: "Lady Guo's abilities are naturally exceptional, though she enjoys her fun. Young Master Xu, this way please."
Xu Ying laughed: "The emperor only thought to summon me today—not too late, though. Please lead the way, Eunuch."
Eunuch Chen felt a slight tremor in his heart and bowed to invite him.
Xu Ying followed him down the mountain. Before long they arrived at the great hall of the Cangwu Sect. Eunuch Chen bowed, invited him inside, and remained outside.
Within the great hall burned not one fire furnace, but over a dozen, their flames blazing fiercely, making the hall stiflingly hot. These furnaces were refining elixirs, and their most precious ingredient was yang energy!
Though Xu Ying had been here before, last time his consciousness had merged with Jiuyi. This was his first time physically setting foot here. After only a moment, he felt as if his own moisture would be evaporated dry.
"I too have cultivated demonic arts."
The Sacred Emperor suddenly smelled the scent of incense offerings and saw him walking out from behind one of the furnaces. "That is to say, your so-called Qi Refiner cultivation methods. Only, I haven't cultivated them smoothly."
Xu Ying saw his irritable face and suddenly realized: "Your heart fire is raging, overwhelming your body! You've opened two of the human body's six secrets! One is your Li family's secret, the other is the Guo family's Crimson Palace Secret Treasury!"
The Sacred Martial Emperor's face was grim, his entire body drenched in sweat as if he had just been pulled from water. His voice hoarse, he said: "Correct. My family passed down the Yujing Secret Treasury. I married Empress Guo and also cultivated the Guo family's Crimson Palace Secret Treasury. Moreover, I am the great emperor of the Divine Continent, uniting the faith of the world. Countless commoners pray and make offerings to me—I am the most exalted deity of the Divine Continent!"
Xu Ying couldn't help saying: "But you still can't defeat Zhou Qiyun."
The Sacred Martial Emperor let out a low roar, his eyes bloodshot, staring fixedly at him. After a moment, he finally spoke: "So he went to cultivate demonic arts, and I went to cultivate demonic arts too! I will achieve the long..."