Young Master Xiang scrambled and crawled, fleeing dozens of li, before he finally couldn't suppress his injuries and fell on his back, gasping for breath.
After a moment, the beautiful woman Thirteenth Lady limped over, coughing blood.
The two experts looked at each other, both mortified.
"We never thought this person's cultivation was so unfathomable. We've fallen."
Young Master Xiang caught his breath, sat up, and said, "Fortunately we ran fast, or we'd be dead."
Thirteenth Lady collapsed and said, "I couldn't see the depth of his cultivation. He just sat there and casually poked a few times, and we were severely wounded. Could he be an ancient pre-Qin qi cultivator, deliberately disguised as a youth?"
She was deeply ashamed. Su Yan had dealt with the two of them without even fully raising his hand, and they were half-dead. They hadn't even seen how he attacked!
Young Master Xiang shook his head. "We've searched for ancient qi cultivators for so many years and only found one at Little Stone Mountain. Where did this other ancient qi cultivator come from?"
Thirteenth Lady was also baffled.
On the Nai River, the wind had stopped and the moon shone bright. Even the usual noisy lonely souls and wild ghosts on the river were silent. Besides Su Yan, no one dared breathe.
Su Yan had severely wounded the two experts, and his gaze became somewhat deep and distant, as if he had become a great expert himself.
After a moment, the boy came to his senses and thought: If I become arrogant and conceited, I'll probably be killed inexplicably. Just like many old snake catchers who thought themselves skilled, carelessly took a snake's venom, and died with their legs kicking.
Still, the copper basin was astonishing. It had disguised him, a minor qi cultivator, as an unrivaled expert, beating Young Master Xiang and Thirteenth Lady until they spat blood and fled. Su Yan couldn't help growing fonder of the basin.
"The coffin girl gave me the copper basin without saying I had to return it. So I won't."
The boy thought, "This copper basin might be her love token. For the basin's sake, even if she's a ghost, I'll reluctantly..."
The maple leaf boat traveled east through the night for thousands of li, finally reaching the vicinity of Wuwang Mountain. Suddenly, the sky brightened. Morning sunlight spilled down. Su Yan knew something was wrong and immediately hugged the copper basin.
Beneath the maple leaf boat, the entire Nai River suddenly vanished without a trace. The maple leaf boat became a leaf with no support, drifting down from the air.
Su Yan fell from the sky. Though uninjured, the bottom of the copper basin was cracked from impact, water leaking out constantly!
Su Yan was devastated. He hugged the basin and sprinted, shouting: "Hu family! Hu family! Lend me a big silver ingot! Gold is even better!"
Those fox yao lived in the small town at the foot of Wuwang Mountain. At this hour, dawn was just breaking, and many fox yao hadn't risen. Yet they saw Su Yan burst into town hugging the copper basin.
The Hu family elder hurried out. "Demon King Xu, what brings you?"
The water in the basin was almost gone. Su Yan didn't have time to explain. Seeing a gold ring on the elder's finger, he snatched it and tossed it into the basin.
The water in the basin was nearly at the bottom. The gold ring fell into the water with a splash.
Su Yan hurriedly looked up. Suddenly, the firmament split open, and a massive golden ring descended from the sky, about three or four li in diameter, falling through the atmosphere with blazing fire!
Boom!
Violent shaking ensued. The three-li golden ring broke through the atmosphere, carrying raging flames, crashing toward Wuwang Mountain. Mountain yao big and small cried out in terror, scattering in all directions.
Su Yan, who had grown up poor, looked up with full expectation. But as the golden ring fell, it grew smaller. At first it was two or three li, soon shrinking to about a hundred zhang.
By the time it reached Wuwang Mountain, it was only five or six zhang.
Clang!
The golden ring spun and smashed into a cliff face.
Su Yan ran over, pulled the golden ring from the cliff. The ring was only four chi wide but vastly larger than the gold ring, weighing at least a thousand catties!
"I don't have to work hard for the rest of my life..." Su Yan's voice trembled.
He looked at the broken copper basin. The water had drained out, and the coffin girl's divine power had vanished with it.
Su Yan tossed a small pebble into the basin. It only made a clanging sound. No mountain fell from beyond the heavens.
"Pity. This treasure is countless times more powerful than the legendary treasure-basin, but it's too fragile."
Su Yan was rather regretful, but having obtained a huge gold ring, presumably Official Su wouldn't have to worry about food and drink for life. The dowry was no longer a problem either.
The great bell floated silently behind him, thinking: The brat thinks the copper basin is the treasure, but the treasure was actually the demoness's space art. Only immortal-level beings can cultivate such arts. The demoness has achieved this level—no small matter. Now that she's free, it's truly a dragon leaving shallow waters.
It suddenly thought, if the demoness isn't evil, and instead resolved the Plague God invasion, then wasn't suppressing her a sin?
"Am I a bad bell?"
It lost its composure, murmuring, "Could my master and I be the villains? No, my master is open and aboveboard, brilliant and mighty. How could he be a villain? The demoness must be pretending to be good, deliberately deceiving us!"
Su Yan returned the gold ring to the Hu family elder, shouldered the huge golden ring, and returned to Qinyan Cave. He saw a great snake coiled at the cave mouth.
The snake's head was over a zhang wide, with horns growing from its head. The two horns branched like newly grown deer antlers, fuzzy, one black and one white, blood vessels visible.
The great snake was over ten zhang long, coiled before the cave. Its scales were like bright mirrors, reflecting golden-red light in the spring sunlight.
The snake head rose, about three or four zhang high, wrapped in dense yao qi, gaze deep and profound, staring at the rising sun.
It was facing the sun, breathing and circulating, cultivating the Daoyin art. When it inhaled, its massive body expanded, scales rubbing with metallic clashing sounds.
Countless light particles in the sunlight swarmed toward it, forming a vortex, pouring into the snake's mouth.
Inside the great snake, a great sun could be seen moving. Its light even penetrated the scales, illuminating its five organs and six viscera.
That great sun, in a short moment, traveled from throat to tail tip. Wherever it passed, the body swelled and expanded, thicker than a farmer's water vat by two or three times.
When the snake exhaled, sand and stones flew. Poison gas in its mouth formed smoke clouds, turned into colored clouds by sunlight, rising into the air.
Su Yan had encountered many demon kings and demon gods, but none matched this great snake in momentum and yao qi.
"Are you... Yuan Qi?" Su Yan approached and asked tentatively.
The great snake gazed at him profoundly and said nothing.
Su Yan said, "Yuan Qi, ranked seventh in venom?"
The great snake opened its mouth, and a child's voice came out, like a three or four-year-old, angry: "Before my transformation I was fifth in the world. After transformation, how am I seventh? I'm at least top three now!"
Su Yan was puzzled. "Yuan Qi, weren't you supposed to transform into human form? How did you become like this?"
The great snake closed its mouth, gaze profound, saying nothing.
Su Yan stared at him. After a long while, the great snake had to speak, its child's voice clear: "I thought I'd transform into human form too. Transformation power grew in my body—that's the sign of transformation. I didn't expect that after entering retreat, the transformation power gathered at the back of my head, and then these two horns grew."
Su Yan also noticed that when the great snake didn't speak, it was fine, but when it spoke, its voice was as clear as a child's. He thought, No wonder he always stays quiet.
Yuan Qi had made significant progress in this retreat. Not only had he cultivated the Titan-Ox Demon Fist to the seventh level, becoming a demon king, but he had also succeeded in inner observation, cultivating spirit sense, entering the Realm of the Subtle, regulating the five qi, five qi returning to the origin.
His cultivation achievements these past few days were truly extraordinary!
Su Yan walked closer. "Yuan Qi, let me see how much you've improved!"
He surged with qi and blood, and the Elephant King manifestation appeared behind him. He punched out, and wind and thunder erupted!
These past few days, Su Yan had killed Zhou Yang and whipped the Plague God, experiencing extraordinary fortunes. This punch was the essence of the Titan-Ox Demon Fist, but it had changed considerably.
His fist intent had broken free of the demon ox's mad ferocity, gaining instead the sharpness and extension of sword dao.
Yuan Qi also surged with qi and blood, and an Elephant King manifestation over a zhang tall formed behind him. But compared to his massive body, the manifestation seemed quite small.
His tail tip struck out, using his tail as a fist, meeting Su Yan's punch.
His tail tip was somewhat blunt, like a large scale weight. The punch's power was no less than Su Yan's, perhaps even greater!
Bang!
Fist and tail collided. Force erupted, air waves surging. Su Yan's clothes whipped in the wind. Behind Yuan Qi, long mane-like hair fluttered like a string of feather-shaped banners.
Su Yan only then noticed the row of fluttering mane behind Yuan Qi's head, somewhat like feathers, somewhat like a horse's mane, looking soft.
"Could it be because of those few mouthfuls of dragon blood that he couldn't transform into human form?" Su Yan thought.
He remembered Yuan Tiangang had said that Yuan Qi, because he had greedily taken a few mouthfuls of dragon blood, had added obstacles to his human transformation. This must be what Yuan Tiangang meant.
Yuan Qi struck again with his tail as a fist. Su Yan met him with fists and feet. One boy, one snake, qi and blood surging. For a time, sand and stones flew outside Qinyan Cave.
Suddenly, Yuan Qi executed the White Elephant Trunk Sweep. His tail tip tore through the air with a thunderclap. Su Yan hastily dodged, not meeting it head-on.
Yuan Qi's tail swept a mountain rock, and the rock shattered into pieces.
This was Yuan Qi's most powerful move. The tail tip surpassed the speed of sound, containing too much force. Su Yan didn't dare block it easily, lest he be injured.
"Little Seven, the Titan-Ox Demon Fist no longer suits you." Su Yan looked at the small elephant-headed deity behind the great snake.
Yuan Qi nodded. He too felt the Titan-Ox Demon Fist was somewhat mismatched with him. The Elephant King manifestation this fist technique formed couldn't contain all his qi and blood, instead limiting his strength.
"A-Yan, where's the great bell?" Yuan Qi asked.
Su Yan gestured toward the mountain foot with his chin. "Don't know why, but it's spacing out down there. Probably has something on its mind. Go cheer it up."
Yuan Qi slithered down the mountain. His body over ten zhang long pressed through thorns and grass, squeezing forest trees aside, making the beasts in the forest fall silent and the yao prostrate, not daring to raise their heads.
Yuan Qi silently passed through the beasts and yao, arriving beside the great bell. He looked down at the bell for a long moment before saying: "Uncle Bell, why are you wallowing in self-pity?"
The great bell's spirit sense fluctuated: "I don't know if I'm good or evil. I was momentarily overcome... wait, it's you! Yuan Qi, why did your voice become a child's?"
Yuan Qi was both ashamed and angry. "A-Yan said you had something on your mind and sent me to cheer you up, yet you mock me! What is on your mind?"
The great bell explained its worries. Yuan Qi, after all, had read many books. He said: "Since you suspect you're a bad guy, why not ask the coffin girl ghost? Explain the situation to her, and you'll know. Why wallow here?"
The great bell would never bow to the coffin girl. It sneered: "I suppressed her on my master's orders. She's the bad one, my master can't be wrong. Besides, I'm severely injured now. If I go see her and she kills me on the spot, wouldn't that be unjust?"
Yuan Qi said: "So you're just scared."
The great bell was furious, pressing the great snake's head against the ground and smashing it, shouting: "Me, scared? I'm just injured! If I were in good health, would I fear her? Once I'm healed, I'll personally suppress her and stuff her back into the ancient well in Little Stone Mountain!"
Yuan Qi, despite his head being battered into over a dozen lumps, still refused to yield, shouting: "Back when you weren't injured, weren't you still beaten half-dead by her, fleeing in disgrace? Even if you heal and seek revenge, you'll just get beaten worse!"
The great bell was incensed: "Dead snake, today Old Bell will send you to the netherworld by this Nai River!"
"We're already in the netherworld, no need for you to send us!"
"Stinky snake, I'll beat you to death!"
"Uncle Bell, spare me!"
Su Yan was breathing and circulating before Qinyan Cave, cultivating the Grand Unity Daoyin Art. Hearing the commotion below, he looked down the mountain to see the great bell and Yuan Qi playing around, the bell pressing Yuan Qi's head against the ground one moment, Yuan Qi wrapping around the bell trying to squeeze it to death the next. They got along wonderfully.
"The spring sunlight is perfect." Su Yan smiled, his heart peaceful, sunlight gathering above his head, gradually forming a half-mu patch of light.
The weather was warm, everything unfolding.
Zhou Yihang was walking toward Wuwang Mountain. From afar, he saw the towering mountain, his face dark.
The old man was covered in injuries. For two days, he had crossed forty li of netherworld from Yilin Temple to here, encountering all kinds of dangers and netherworld phenomena. He had survived and reached Wuwang Mountain.
"Yang'er, today your father will cut off Su Yan's head and place it on your altar, as the first sacrifice you will enjoy after becoming a god!"