Not long after, the wind weakened slightly. The great bell fell from the sky, clanging and bouncing, rolling several dozen zhang before stopping.
Su Yan tumbled out from inside the bell. His legs were still shaking, nearly giving out. He grabbed the bell to steady himself.
After the chaos, everything quieted.
Su Yan staggered forward, climbing a small hill, and froze. That Plague God tentacle had left a crater a hundred zhang wide where they'd stood, bottomless!
White smoke still rose from the pit.
Su Yan caught his breath. The great bell wobbled over and said, "A-Yan, the Plague God has probably taken notice of you. Since it missed this time, it'll remember you from time to time and give you a poke."
Su Yan shuddered, forcing a smile. "The Plague God was sent back to the Heavenly Dao World. It can't come down so easily, right?"
The great bell said, "Unless someone summons the Plague God again. Once it descends, it'll immediately sense your aura and jab a finger at you."
Su Yan laughed loudly to bolster his courage. "Summoning a heavenly god isn't easy. I don't think anyone will summon the Plague God again anytime soon."
The great bell said leisurely, "By the time the Plague God descends again, my injuries should be healed."
Su Yan's eyes lit up with hope. "When your injuries heal, you can block the Plague God?"
The great bell spat heavily: "When my injuries heal, I'll of course get as far away from you as possible and let you get crushed by the Plague God! Since meeting you, I haven't had a single good day. First severely wounded by the demoness, then beaten by gods, then used by you to knock on walls. Now there's a Plague God grudge on top of everything!"
Su Yan said, "I feel my qi and blood surging these days, like I'm about to break through. I'll probably enter the Gate-Breaking stage soon."
The great bell's tone softened, comforting: "Cultivate in peace. Don't keep thinking about the Plague God's revenge. If the sky falls, Uncle Bell will hold it up—Uncle Bell is tall. Um, after you break through, lend me some qi and blood to heal..."
Su Yan sat on the hill, activated his Heavenly Eye, and gazed at this unfamiliar land. The black plague qi filling heaven and earth gradually dissipated. In the distance, people remained, the Plague God's tentacles gone from their bodies, only scars remaining. Before long, the plague would be cured.
The world slowly grew clearer.
"So the coffin girl's purpose was to send the Plague God away and save the people."
Su Yan felt some confusion. The girl had been suppressed in the dry well of the desolate mountain temple for thousands of years. Shouldn't she be a ferocious demon king or devil lord?
How could a demon king save people?
If the coffin girl was good, then was the one who suppressed her good or bad?
Then was the great bell good or bad?
Su Yan suddenly realized he had assumed the great bell's master was a good person who suppressed evil. But what if the great bell's master was the bad guy?
"Could be a pair of bad guys," Su Yan glanced at the great bell, thinking.
He was letting his imagination run wild when the great bell, worried about the girl's return, quietly slipped into the back of his head, hiding near the Mud Pill Secret.
Thunder kept rumbling in the sky, bright light occasionally shining through, piercing heaven and earth, terrifying beyond measure.
Su Yan felt vaguely uneasy. After a long while, the phenomena in the sky suddenly vanished. Moments later, a black coffin flew over and landed before him.
Su Yan looked up to see the girl float down from the sky, landing gently before him.
"I've severely wounded the one who summoned the Plague God. My Primordial Spirit is still tracking him, investigating his purpose and who is behind him. I don't have time to send you back personally."
The girl opened the black coffin, rummaged inside, and took out two leaves and a basin of clear water. She placed one leaf in the basin. "When you reach the Nai River, float this leaf on the water. Stand on the leaf, set the basin down, and blow on the leaf inside. Remember, nothing should disturb the clear water in the basin. I've left a spell in the basin that can send you back to Wuwang Mountain."
Su Yan held the basin of clear water, pinching a leaf, about to speak—when suddenly he rose into the air involuntarily, walking through the sky. In the next moment, he was at the Nai River's edge.
He looked back. The girl had already vanished.
Su Yan steadied himself and looked at the leaf in his hand. It was an ordinary maple leaf, still tender, not yet yellowed.
"This maple leaf can really take me back to Wuwang Mountain?"
Su Yan threw the leaf into the Nai River doubtfully. As it fell, it grew rapidly. By the time it landed on the water, it was two or three zhang long, the stem tilting upward.
The maple leaf stopped on the Nai River, unmoving.
Su Yan cautiously extended a foot, stepped onto the leaf, tested it, then stood fully.
The giant maple leaf floated on the water, surprisingly stable, unaffected by the Nai River's wind and waves.
Su Yan set his mind at ease, sat on the leaf holding the basin, and blew on the leaf inside. He thought, She told me to blow like this to return to Wuwang Mountain. Is it real or fake?
The maple leaf in the basin drifted forward from his breath. Strangely, the basin was only about a foot across, yet the leaf drifted forward without ever reaching the basin's edge.
This small basin seemed to contain boundless space!
Su Yan was watching the leaf in the basin when suddenly a fierce gale rose behind him, blowing his giant maple leaf against the Nai River's current, rushing upstream dozens of li in moments!
Su Yan was bewildered. The sudden gale gradually weakened, and the maple leaf's speed slowed.
He blew on the basin's leaf again on a whim. Sure enough, the gale rose again, driving the giant maple leaf against the Nai River's current, racing back the way they came!
Su Yan exclaimed in wonder: "I never thought such arts existed in the world. Truly miraculous!"
The great bell flew out from behind his head and sneered: "It's just folded space. Nothing special."
Su Yan extended a finger, trying to poke the leaf in the basin. The great bell panicked: "A-Yan, don't mess around!"
Suddenly, thunder roared in the sky above them. Su Yan looked up and saw the sky split open. An impossibly thick finger rubbed against the air, erupting with rolling thunder and fire, descending from beyond the heavens, pressing toward the maple leaf boat!
Su Yan hurriedly stopped his finger. The massive finger from beyond the heavens also stopped.
Su Yan withdrew his finger. The pillar-like finger also retracted toward the heavens, finally vanishing.
Su Yan broke out in a cold sweat.
The great bell breathed a sigh of relief. "Space arts aren't toys. Be careful not to kill yourself. Behave!"
Su Yan sat obediently before the basin, blowing when the maple leaf boat slowed to speed it up.
But he was still a boy at heart. He quietly extended his finger into the basin. The finger from beyond the heavens appeared again, probing into the firmament.
"My finger is huge!" Su Yan marveled.
He adjusted its position, keeping the heavenly finger away from the river, admiring his giant finger leisurely. Suddenly, a thunderous boom sounded. That finger smashed into a mountain peak. Su Yan's finger hurt, and he hurriedly withdrew it. The tip of his finger was scraped and bleeding.
On the left bank of the Nai River, a mountain peak exploded, rocks flying, scattering dozens of li away.
Su Yan was frightened and dared not play anymore.
The great bell, seeing him suffer, laughed happily, clanging away.
The maple leaf boat traveled east for over a thousand li, reaching a desolate area with steep mountains and rushing Nai River currents. At a river bend, the water slowed. Suddenly, light shone ahead—it was a painted pleasure boat, brightly lit, sailing on the Nai River.
At the river bend, the water was wide as a sea. On the western mountain hung a moon the size of a bucket, the peak seeming smaller than the moon.
Su Yan admired the scenery. This netherworld atmosphere had its own beauty.
"A-Yan, not every boat can sail the Nai River," the great bell whispered. "That pleasure boat probably means ill."
Suddenly, a voice came from the painted boat: "Nai Yue, the wind is strong on the river. Hang up the wind-shelter lantern."
A woman's voice: "Yes, Young Master Xiang."
Su Yan looked over to see a woman step out of the painted boat, her form graceful, rising on her toes to hang a lantern under the eaves.
As the lantern rose, the fierce wind suddenly ceased. The maple leaf boat slowly stopped, drifting on the water.
Su Yan raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Then the "Young Master Xiang" in the painted boat stepped out, gazing at Su Yan from afar, surprised: "The one who whipped the Plague God and drove it back to the Heavenly Dao World in Zhudu Kingdom—turns out to be a brat."
Another painted boat approached. A beautiful woman inside giggled: "Young Master Xiang, your wind-shelter lantern stopped his wind, and he's at a loss. Clearly just a fledgling. You made such a grand show, inviting me to help, just to deal with a junior like this?"
Su Yan's heart sank. "Crap! Looks like more than one person was behind the Plague God's descent. Someone led the coffin girl away, and the rest are blocking me on the river."
Su Yan coughed to bolster his courage. "Who are you? Daring to block this seat's path—how bold! How do you compare to the Plague God?"
The beautiful woman and Young Master Xiang exchanged glances and burst out laughing.
Su Yan said coldly: "If I can beat the Plague God, I can't beat you two? Leave now, and this seat won't hold it against you juniors."
The beautiful woman laughed out loud. "This brat is putting scallions in his nostrils, pretending to be an elephant. We can see your cultivation level at a glance. Young Master Xiang, will you act, or shall I?"
Young Master Xiang held a folding fan, snapped it open with a flourish, and swayed it gently, looking dashing. "Thirteenth Lady, capturing the one who sent the Plague God away is a great merit. I'll let you have this credit."
The beautiful woman looked at Su Yan, and suddenly her heart stirred. "In past years we always captured handsome, fair young men. I've never tasted a dark-skinned one..."
Su Yan's heart was shocked and furious. "She wants to eat me!"
The beautiful woman giggled. Suddenly, two red silk ribbons flew from the boat, dancing over the river, instantly transforming into two red dragons, heads as big as small mountains, ferocious flames billowing!
The lead red dragon roared, its dragon cry shaking the mountains, lunging toward the maple leaf boat!
Su Yan didn't hesitate. He pressed one finger into the copper basin. Suddenly, thunder and lightning erupted in the sky. Rolling thunder and fire descended as a meat-colored pillar from the heavens, pressing onto the red dragon like holding an earthworm, driving it from the water's surface to the bottom of the Nai River!
The water exploded, raising hundred-zhang waves, lifting both painted boats and the maple leaf boat into the air.
Young Master Xiang and the beautiful woman paled in shock. They hastily steadied themselves. The beautiful woman cried: "He's playing the pig to eat the tiger, a cunning old fox—we underestimated him!"
Su Yan circled another finger with his thumb and flicked.
In the sky, a giant thumb descended, middle finger and thumb forming a circle, middle finger snapping out. The other red dragon spewed blood, flicked away by the finger, crashing into a nearby netherworld mountain, its five organs shattered, bones broken, clearly beyond saving.
The red dragon Su Yan had pressed to the river bottom was also crushed, its flesh and blood corroded by the Nai River, leaving only a pile of bones.
Su Yan was amazed and delighted. "This copper basin has this ability too?"
The beautiful woman was shocked and furious. She shouted, and behind her appeared layer upon layer of grotto-heavens, large grotto-heavens nesting smaller ones, with a long river manifestation outside, dao resonance rumbling!
She was about to strike when Su Yan quickly put his hand in the copper basin and flicked again. That middle finger broke through layers of nuo techniques and divine powers. Every nuo technique and divine power shattered. The impossibly thick middle finger directly flicked the beautiful woman.
The painted boat exploded. The woman spat blood, her hair in disarray, knocked back several li, crashing into a great mountain.
On the other side, Young Master Xiang was waving his folding fan, about to strike, when he felt dark clouds pressing down. He looked up, and his eyes nearly split.
Above the firmament, a heaven-covering great hand carrying endless flames descended from the sky, attacking him!
He couldn't care about anything else. He immediately rose into the air, treading on void, running through the air, fleeing with all his might.
The great hand became a fist, chasing him for a hundred li, then punched him from afar.
Young Master Xiang crashed into the mountain wilds, his fate unknown.
The beautiful woman burst from the rocks burying her, flying up like a startled swan, crying: "Thirteenth Lady was blind, offending Senior Blackface. Please forgive me!"
"Blackface?"
Su Yan was furious. He extended his index finger and poked repeatedly in the copper basin, finally hitting the beautiful woman, breaking her bones, making her spit blood and fall to the ground.
Behind Su Yan, the great bell had long been stunned.
"It seems the only one who hasn't improved over the years is me."
It thought to itself, "The demoness was suppressed by me for three thousand years. Her cultivation didn't advance, but her divine powers are truly heaven-shaking. Even if no one had rescued her, in a few more years she would have defeated me and freed herself!"
It had hung in the desolate mountain temple, sleeping for thousands of years, wasting time. Meanwhile, the coffin girl had kept improving. The gap had grown, and it realized it could no longer fathom her techniques.