"If Yuan Wuji isn't Yuan Wuji, who is he?" Su Yan and Big Bell both shuddered.
Su Yan forced a smile. "Just wild speculation. Maybe he's a once-in-ten-thousand-years genius who had a breakthrough after studying the Yellow Court Dao Validation Technique..."
His voice trailed off. Six months to reach Xu Fu's level? That would be insulting to Xu Fu.
The air above Mount Fangzhang erupted. Ten colossal impacts followed—ten golden men surrounding the mountain, each trading a single blow with Xu Fu.
The shockwaves pinned Su Yan, Veyon, and Zhu Chanchan to the ground. They couldn't even raise their heads to watch.
Then the First Emperor's voice faded into the distance, cold and mocking. "Xu Fu, you won't escape! And Undying Immortal—hand him over!"
Xu Fu had fled. The First Emperor pursued with ten golden men.
Su Yan's heart hammered. "The First Emperor is terrifying. Wait—what does he want from me?"
He turned. Yuan Wuji watched him with an unreadable smile.
When the pursuit vanished over the horizon, Yuan Wuji stood. "Now we can properly explore the tomb. Back to Mount Li."
The dragon-sparrows struggled to lift the carriage and the serpent stuffed inside. They turned toward the mountain.
Yuan Wuji's eyes gleamed. "According to ancient texts, besides the imperial seal and the Twelve Golden Men, the tomb holds another treasure."
He didn't say what.
They returned to the mountain's interior cave-heaven. The tomb had changed. The sky-mountains forged from ancient cultivators' Xiyi Domains were cracked. Countless seals and restrictions lay broken.
The mercury river boiled, releasing toxic vapors. Forests burned. Explosions rippled through the air.
Corpses floated in the sky, held motionless by some unknown force.
Yuan Wuji cleared a path. Everyone followed safely.
Zhu Chanchan recovered enough to hammer at Big Bell's dents, smoothing the surface. The bell had taken a brutal beating against the golden man, and then Su Yan had swung it around like a club, cracking it further.
Su Yan and Veyon discussed cultivation methods, talking about heavenly sensing. As Su Yan explained how he sensed the heavens, his mind grew hazy. Images flashed before his eyes—memories of Diqiu.
The city that appeared from nowhere. Food preserved exactly as it was when the city vanished. No living thing inside.
He remembered his conversation with Beichenzi. Remembered heavenly-man sensing. Remembered Weixu. Remembered the girl named Feng Xue'er.
They had promised to stay together, even in the next life.
The memories flooded back like a tide. Su Yan's eyes widened, tears streaming down his face.
Veyon had been explaining the subtleties of sensing when she saw Su Yan weeping, his eyes brimming.
She panicked, waving her hand before his face.
Su Yan caught her wrist. His voice cracked. "Is it you? When you left... I searched for you. I searched so hard."
Veyon's heart skipped. She pulled her hand back gently. "Demon King Su, your memory hasn't recovered. You're confusing me with my sister Yuan Rusi."
Su Yan closed his eyes, squeezed out the tears, and steadied himself. "I lost control. I just remembered something that overwhelmed me. Brother Veyon, I remember now. You're not a woman."
Veyon studied him. Something had changed. He seemed older.
Big Bell sensed it too. "A-Yan, did you remember your life as a snake catcher?"
Su Yan nodded. "Most of it."
Big Bell flew into Yuan Qi's mouth, chiming once.
Zhu Chanchan understood. She followed the bell into Yuan Qi's belly. "Bell has something to say?"
"A-Yan says he remembers his snake catcher memories," Big Bell said, its tone heavy. "I don't know how much he remembers. Do you remember what he was like before the seal?"
Zhu Chanchan shuddered, recalling Su Yan slaughtering the heavenly demon and fighting Beichenzi's trio. "You mean... A-Yan has become Master Ying?"
Big Bell bobbed. "I think he's in Master Ying state right now. Six months ago, Master Ying was only at the third Gate-Breaking heaven, and he already killed everything in sight. Now he's at the fourth. What happens next?"
Zhu Chanchan considered. "You forgot something. Back then, Master Ying could go on a rampage because the paper talisman incense was stopped. Now he's recovered those memories, but the talisman seal is still with Beichenzi and the others. Plus, he has an extra seal now."
Big Bell relaxed. "I was overthinking."
"Why are you worried?" Zhu Chanchan asked. "Shouldn't you be happy?"
Big Bell hesitated. "I'm worried that Master Ying isn't the A-Yan we know now."
Zhu Chanchan fell silent.
They came back out. Su Yan and Veyon were discussing cultivation with great enthusiasm, everything normal.
Veyon shared her modified Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing with Su Yan. It now included methods to refine spirit medicine. Su Yan practiced it, found improvements, and added his own contributions.
They talked about the heavenly-man sensing from three thousand years ago and Weixu.
"I suspect the Yuan family's small population is connected to Weixu," Su Yan said. "Remember Zhou Qiyun said enlightenment carries great danger?"
"I nearly fell into the abyss during my own enlightenment," Veyon admitted.
"Your family's technique requires extreme rationality, abandoning all stray thoughts. I think it's to resist Weixu, to avoid falling in."
The Yuan family was naturally brilliant. Combined with Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing, they had a higher chance of being devoured by Weixu during enlightenment.
"I think Primordial Dao Heavenly Sensing's powerful sensing ability comes from the heavenly-man sensing of the Martial Emperor's era," Su Yan speculated. "The technique itself probably originated then."
Veyon's eyes lit up. "I borrowed your Eight Yuan Tones and sensed the body's acupoints. I visualized gods in each acupoint and developed my own half-cultivation, half-nuo system."
She smiled, calm and confident. "Now when I sense the heavens, gods guard every acupoint, locking my body and soul. No danger of falling into Weixu."
Su Yan was deeply impressed.
Veyon hadn't learned the Eight Yuan Tones from him. She'd watched him practice, memorized the images reflected from his acupoints, and gained her own insight. She'd founded a new school, different from both nuo and cultivation. A true grandmaster.
Su Yan immediately understood her method's principles. He activated the Eight Yuan Tones,调动神识, and visualized his acupoints internally.
With each tone's vibration, the acupoints became clearer. Some resembled bright halls. Others lotus flowers. Some were naturally palaces, immortal mountains, lakes. Some even took the form of gods.
Su Yan fell silent, then exclaimed, "Brother Veyon, your talent is extraordinary! I'd never thought about it this way. If I use the Eight Yuan Tones to visualize the acupoints and connect them to the heavens, I can achieve heavenly-man interaction!"
He laughed. "Each acupoint corresponds to a heaven. Through heavenly sensing, we can explore Weixu!"
Veyon's eyes shone. "Exactly what I was thinking."
Su Yan's enthusiasm surged. He immediately activated the Eight Yuan Tones on Yuan Qi's head, making strange movements, visualizing his acupoints while sensing the void heavens, connecting acupoints to heavens.
He wasn't learning Veyon's technique. She'd walked her own path, already a grandmaster. Her method required reading countless texts, finding divine images, spending untold time on each acupoint. Filling every acupoint would be harder than ascending to heaven.
Su Yan simply connected his acupoints to the heavens, deepening his heavenly sensing, linking his body to the cosmos.
He couldn't connect his spirit to the heavens like Veyon could. Only she could do that.
He connected his body's acupoints, reinforced them with spirit sense, and looked at Veyon. They nodded.
Veyon hesitated. "Sensing Weixu inside the tomb? This is a burial ground. The First Emperor has revived, but who knows what else sleeps here. We might sense something... bad."
Su Yan said, "I know it's reckless."
They looked at each other. Then, as if sharing the same thought, they activated their techniques and entered heavenly-man sensing.
Yuan Wuji searched nearby, breaking remaining seals. The Old Matriarch and Lady Yuan helped. Yuan Qi dozed. Big Bell focused on stealing Yuan Qi's qi and blood to heal. Zhu Chanchan looked around, hoping to scavenge more treasures.
No one noticed the sky of Mount Li's tomb tilting, as if falling toward an unknown place.