Su Yan's consciousness drifted on the River of Heaven. He didn't know the Light Field Dao-Planting had shocked the bell. He simply cultivated, following instinct.
Dao seeds entered his body, raising his power steadily.
He looked up. The river cut through mountain ranges that loomed like a spine—clear in the foreground, fading to mist in the distance. Each mountain was half a lotus, layer upon layer, matching his own backbone.
This was his first time entering the Tailbone Pass since reaching the Gate-Breaking stage. For the first time, he sensed yin-yang changes and regulated his internal organs.
He could feel his soul now. It had structure, like his physical body. *This must be what they mean by 'knowing life and death.'*
"Step by step," he thought. "Climb each heaven. No rushing."
When the sun climbed high, they stopped. The Bull Demons transformed into black cattle and grazed, tails swishing at flies.
Su Yan ate breakfast and pondered. He lacked proper martial arts. The Ba Serpent and Dragon-Serpent arts had combat forms, but they suited yao cultivators like Yuan Qi. The illustrated dao images in the texts were limited by their authors' understanding.
Su Yan practiced anyway. He mastered the Ba Serpent Eight Forms and Dragon-Serpent Awakening Six Forms, then shook his head. "Limited."
Yuan Qi cheered inwardly. *Finally, something A-Yan can't master!*
Then Su Yan released his qi. Mist swirled behind him, and a massive serpent head emerged—horned, scaled, terrifying. The Ba Serpent coiled around him, alive and hungry.
He struck. The serpent's maw tore through the air, wind ripping through the valley.
Far stronger than the Titan-Ox Demon Fist. The Ba Serpent Dao Image gave his strikes true power.
Still not enough. The Zhou family's Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars Inner Realm Art surpassed this.
*Why does the white-robed Nuo Immortal have Qi Cultivator methods?* Su Yan wondered. The temple's Five-Organ Immortal Mountains clearly borrowed from the Realm of Subtle Silence.
*And why do Zhou family and the underworld hunt me so relentlessly?*
Hundreds had died since he killed the Jiangjia Village god. Was a mere snake catcher worth that cost?
"Yes," Su Yan decided. "If I weren't worth it, they'd stop. They sent the Prefect and the Judge. They want something I have."
He looked at his hands. "My Qi Cultivator methods. That's why."
But why would they want a discarded cultivation system?
"Bell!" Su Yan called.
The bell flew over. Su Yan threw a stone. "Can you break this?"
The bell rang. The stone remained intact. Yuan Qi tumbled down the mountain.
"My aim's been off since the injury," the bell admitted.
"Never mind."
Su Yan had wanted the bell to open his Mud Pill Secret Repository. But if it missed...
*I'll do it myself.*
He entered the Realm of Subtle Silence and ascended with his sword dao image—a rainbow of cutting light. Through the five organs, past the Twelve Story Towers, across the Jade Pool, over the Spirit Bridge, past sun and moon, into the sea of primal chaos.
He hovered before the Chaos Egg, the Mud Pill itself.
*Once opened, it can't close. If the two systems aren't compatible...*
He laughed. *I'm a snake catcher with no tomorrow. Why hesitate?*
He drove the sword image into the egg.
It struck resistance, then blazed stronger. The sword pierced through.
Chaos churned. A grotto-heaven poured into the sea, flooding Su Yan's body with vital energy.
Cool power flowed through him. The Mud Pill Secret Repository—open.
Su Yan laughed, ecstatic.
The grotto-heaven felt like a limb. He could move it, control it.
*If others opened this for me, they could control it too.*
He frowned. The ancient text said you needed others to open your secrets. That meant surrendering control.
Su Yan watched Yuan Qi healing in the cave's mysterious energy. "If the cave's energy heals Yuan Qi too... does that mean the Six Secrets exist in demon beasts as well?"