Chapter 193 — Revealing the True Form

Yue Qinghong and the others were asking Imperial Teacher Jingping about swordsmanship. He talked as he walked, answering without reservation, but before they could comprehend a point, he had already moved on, much to their distress. It was not that he spoke especially fast; it was that they could not grasp it right away and needed time to digest it gradually. Yet they dared not confess this openly, for fear of having the label of "the worst crop of scholars" slapped on them again.

After Yue Qinghong had sought instruction on the sword, Monk Yun Que asked about Buddhist dharma. Imperial Teacher Jingping was also accomplished in Buddhism, having once entered the Great Tingming Temple to seek guidance from the Old Tathagata; naturally, he discoursed so eloquently that flowers showered down from the sky.

After Yun Que, Shen Wanyun asked him about the combination of sword techniques with combat arts. He had trained for a time under Libationer Bashan, who had passed on to him the Seven Tyrant Forms and also guided his swordsmanship; Shen Wanyun therefore walked the path of cultivating both saber and sword.

Si Yunxiang also asked Imperial Teacher Jingping about some cultivation problems. Toward her, he was rather considerate, explaining with great care in much more detail than he had with the others. When she had cultivated under the Young Patriarch, she had seen him several times, and had even received his guidance in the past.

Wolf Slave hesitated, then plucked up his courage and asked about saber technique. Imperial Teacher Jingping glanced at him and said, "A warrior of the Wolfjuxu Kingdom?"

Wolf Slave nodded, his heart quailing.

Imperial Teacher Jingping did not take it amiss. "I teach without distinction. I do not care what race you are." Then he directed his saber practice, likewise answering every question with exhaustive candor.

Before long, everyone fell silent, each pondering his words, no one speaking. What Imperial Teacher Jingping said was not much by volume, but it was enough to occupy their understanding for quite a while.

"Imperial Teacher Jingping, have you ever studied beast cultivation?" Snow Fox broke the silence, sitting atop the Dragon Qilin's forehead as she asked.

Imperial Teacher Jingping shook his head. "No, I have not studied it."

Snow Fox's eyes lit up, and her voice rang clear: "Then I will teach you!" Her expression was perfectly earnest.

Imperial Teacher Jingping replied with equal seriousness, "May I ask for your instruction?"

Snow Fox then shared with him her cultivation insights, relating what she had learned from the archives of the Dragon Palace of the Surging River, expounding the Creation Spirit Art, and adding some of her own realizations to boot.

Imperial Teacher Jingping listened quietly. When Snow Fox had finished, he said abruptly, "The demon race has no divine vaults, does it? What I heard from the arts and insights you described just now contained nothing about cultivating divine vaults."

Snow Fox shook her head. "No, it does not. That is why we must strive to cultivate ourselves into human form. Once we achieve human form, we are demon kings—quite formidable!"

"I have met a few demon kings. They do indeed possess some extraordinary abilities," Imperial Teacher Jingping said. "The spirit-art transformation you spoke of is fascinating. That art seems capable of a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations."

He then explained the Creation Spirit Art in fine detail. The more Snow Fox listened, the more absorbed she became. Only when Imperial Teacher Jingping finished did she suddenly snap out of it and cry, "I said I would teach you—how did it turn into you teaching me?"

Imperial Teacher Jingping said, "Let us be each other's teacher."

"Hm!" Snow Fox nodded emphatically.

The Dragon Qilin beneath her gave a snort and rolled its eyes skyward twice.

Just then, specks of light suddenly appeared in the sky, flying toward them. Imperial Teacher Jingping glanced at them, and his gaze rested on Shen Mu. The specks of light gathered, entering Shen Mu's body through the crown of his head. More and more light streamed in, gradually coalescing into a fiery-red thin current.

Snow Fox reached out and touched it. A tuft of fur on her claw was singed off, and she hastily drew her claw back.

Before long, Shen Mu's aura suddenly surged. Flames flew wildly all over his body, swirling about him like fire clouds. Snow Fox was still gaping in astonishment when she heard two soft pops—a pair of ox horns sprouted from Shen Mu's head. His nostrils gradually swelled and flared outward, spouting two streams of white smoke tinged with fire.

Snow Fox screamed. Then came crackling, snapping sounds as the bones within Shen Mu's body began to undergo an eerie transformation: his two thighs grew thicker and thicker, his stature taller and taller, the muscles all over his body bulging outward with pounding thuds. Fire markings spread across his skin, and with a pop, an ox eye opened in the middle of his forehead.

Then Snow Fox saw an ox tail hanging down behind Shen Mu's rear, which had also grown much larger, like a plump ox's backside. The tail lashed about with snapping cracks, striking that plump rear—it must have hurt!

"Imperial Teacher Jingping..." Snow Fox was dumbfounded for a moment, then turned her head to him and said, "Our young master has revealed himself! His true form has appeared! He is not a fox spirit—he is an ox spirit!"