Zhu Zhongquan gazed up at Mount Dongting, his heart racing.
"Once I reach Dual Refinement and forge my golden core," he whispered, "I'll crush him."
For the young cultivators of the God Capital, Su Yan was the mountain that crushed their ambition. Three years ago, a boy with a serpent and a bell had carved a path from the Guo manor to the Luo River, then to the Shi manor. He had shattered the pride of an entire generation.
Now the new territories had emerged, imperial authority fractured, and the Li clan no longer ruled supreme. Zhu Zhongquan needed Su Yan's fame. Defeat the Undying Immortal, and the Zhu family would back him. Perhaps one day, the throne itself.
He forced down his excitement. "He is only called the Undying Immortal. I have a true immortal behind me. The fortune-teller said I'm destined for the purple throne. Su Yan, I'll borrow your name and rise."
The Guo and Zhu families set out again, searching Yunmeng Marsh for the dragon-headed god. Yuan Qi carried Su Yan behind the Guo procession.
Su Yan turned to Zhu Hongyi. "How did your brother open all Six Secrets? The Bubbling Spring is rare. Who taught him?"
Zhu Hongyi adjusted her pipa strings. "Zhongquan's talent exceeds mine. The old immortal in the prison cart took a liking to him. Now his status in the family surpasses mine."
Su Yan looked at the cart draped in black cloth. "Old immortal?"
"Yes." Zhu Hongyi laughed behind her hand. "Three years ago, the Demon King was called the Undying One, and the noble houses fought over him. Now every house has its own immortals. The great houses like Pei, Cui, and Li keep several."
Guo Xiaodie snorted. "My old ancestor talks too much. When you entered his grotto-heaven and caught that little immortal girl, she escaped. So he went back with others and caught an other-shore immortal. Word spread, and now every house searches the grotto-heavens for immortals."
She meant Zhu Chanchan.
Yuan Qi asked, "How do you treat these other-shore immortals?"
Zhu Hongyi and Guo Xiaodie exchanged glances.
"They are imprisoned," Guo Xiaodie said quietly. "Chained so they cannot flee. Their Xiyi Domains are sealed, their spirit senses suppressed. They cannot recover their cultivation or蛊惑人心."
Su Yan looked at the Zhu prison cart. *An other-shore immortal sits in there.*
Zhu Hongyi added, "If they cooperate and teach us cultivation laws, they aren't harmed. If not, they face some small punishments."
Big Bell sneered. "Seventh Master, you think too well of these houses. Other-shore immortals are replacements for A-Yan. If he fell into their hands, he'd fare no better."
Zhu Hongyi smiled thinly. "There is only one Undying Immortal, so everyone cherishes him. But other-shore immortals are numerous. Lose one, and you fetch another."
Su Yan asked about the dragon-headed god. Zhu Hongyi and Guo Xiaodie hesitated.
"Speak freely," Su Yan said. "If it's inconvenient, say nothing."
Li Yingzhu drifted over, her light gown pressed against her by the wind. "The other-shore immortal my Guo family captured says the dragon-headed god is no living creature. It is a Heavenly Dao Artifact."
Big Bell muttered, "That lying vixen."
"Aunt, tell us more," Su Yan said.
Li Yingzhu smiled, eyes captivating. "It fell from the Heavenly Dao world during a punishment, could not return to the heavens, and hid in Yunmeng Marsh. In the old immortal's era, many searched for it and failed. Legend says it moves with thunder, and whoever holds it can withstand heavenly tribulation and ascend. The Li and Guo families came for it. I married into Guo, so I did not go with Li."
Zhu Hongyi cradled her pipa. "Our Zhu family came for the same reason. We even brought our old immortal."
Li Yingzhu looked at her. "You brought more than an old immortal, little sister. You want to bind the Undying Immortal to your cart. And your neckline is rather low today."
Zhu Hongyi flushed, hid behind her pipa, and fled to change clothes.
* * *
Suddenly the marsh waters surged. A colossal fish leaped out, four wing-like fins beating, and swallowed a dozen Guo nuo masters whole.
Li Yingzhu and Guo Yue charged forward, grotto-heavens blazing. Other great nuo joined the fight. The fish's roar blasted them back. Only when a clan elder opened eight grotto-heavens did they drive it off.
The Zhu family met a similar beast soon after. Several elders combined their nascent Primordial Spirits to repel it.
Su Yan watched, impressed. "Almost every nuo master now has two or three secrets open. The unified path of cultivation has spread."
This dual-path cultivation began with Zhou Qiyun and was refined by Su Yan.
* * *
Deeper in the marsh, danger multiplied. Iron-feathered birds struck faster than flying swords, snatching cultivators and tearing them apart midair.
The families raised protective artifacts overhead.
"A-Yan, I'm hungry!" Yuan Qi called.
Su Yan leaped into the air. Sword qi wrapped around Yuan Qi as he shot upward, devouring the birds one by one. The Guo and Zhu nuo masters cheered.
Su Yan landed on the mirror-still water and followed the procession.
These past two days, he had completed the true law of the Yellow Springs Scripture. Now he used Dragon-Seeking Positioning to locate his Bubbling Spring.
"Bell, protect me."
Big Bell flew out, hovering above his head.
Within Su Yan's Xiyi Domain, his golden core blazed. It descended through the Yellow Springs, illuminating the underworld of his body. At the deepest point lay a dark sea, and upon it floated an unopened lotus.
That lotus was the Bubbling Spring secret.
"According to the scripture, there are two—left foot, right foot. The Six Secrets actually number seven."
He thought of Zhu Zhongquan, who had only one Bubbling Spring open. *Did his teacher withhold the true law?*
Su Yan drove his golden core into the lotus. Light burst forth, petals unfurled, and a lotus-shaped grotto-heaven rooted itself in the dark sea, drawing immortal medicine.
This medicine was different from the others. Mud Pill granted vitality. Yellow Court strengthened spirit sense. Crimson Palace bolstered heart-force. Jade Pool refined essence. Jade Capital balanced yin and yang. But Bubbling Spring nourished the soul.
"The Bubbling Spring cultivates the soul!"
Su Yan opened both lotus grotto-heavens. The medicines merged, and his soul grew stronger than ever.
He opened his eyes and activated the Grand Unity Daoyin Art. Six secret medicines surged through him, refined layer by layer. He pushed the Bubbling Spring to three grotto-heavens before his golden core tired.
Now he possessed six secrets and twenty-one grotto-heavens.
"Seventh Master, I've opened the Bubbling Spring. I can find yours too."
Yuan Qi rejoiced. *Three years ago I was a snake he hunted. Now I'll be a six-secret cultivator too.*
Suddenly shouts rose from ahead.
"Look! Look!"
Yuan Qi lifted his head higher. In the distance, smoke curled above a stone city.
"How do people live in Yunmeng Marsh?" Su Yan asked, astonished.
From the Zhu prison cart came an old voice: "Zhu Zhongquan, they are Heavenly Dao Migrants."