Zhou Zhi shot upward along the pagoda tree's trunk, his Dao-form manifesting behind him—a golden-furred ape the size of a small house. Its claws dug into bark as it ran parallel to the ground, closing the dozen-zhang gap with impossible speed. A fist the size of a wagon wheel smashed toward Su Yan.
Su Yan met it with the Ba Serpent Eight Forms. Their collision shook the tree. Qi and blood churned in his veins. His serpent Dao-form flickered like incense smoke, dissipating with every blow.
He switched tactics. Sword fingers formed. His left index and middle fingers pressed together, thumb locking the ring and pinky. He thrust forward.
In his Inner Realm, the World-Cleaving Sword visualization vanished. A rainbow-bright blade erupted from his right shoulder, slashing down at Zhou Zhi.
Zhou Zhi brought both palms together to catch it. The golden ape mirrored him, massive palms clapping shut with a thunderclap.
*Bang!*
The impact drove Zhou Zhi to his knees. Bark exploded around him. The sword-qi pressed against his brow, forcing blood from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Su Yan's World-Cleaving Sword grew stronger the harder it was resisted. The blade halted an inch from Zhou Zhi's forehead.
"Impressive." Zhou Zhi's voice had changed—higher, almost feminine. Blood and sweat streaked his powdered face, but he smiled. "Truly impressive, Demon King Su."
Five Zhou disciples caught up behind them. They opened their sword cases. Flying blades whistled toward Su Yan.
Su Yan's right hand flashed in a sword seal. The incoming weapons froze mid-air, then reversed. His sword will seized them. The blades accelerated, stabbing into Zhou Zhi with lethal force.
Zhou Zhi's Vajra Body held—barely. The swords sank two inches into his flesh and stopped.
"Wonderful!" Zhou Zhi sprang upward. His Dao-form shifted. The golden ape burst into flames, transforming into a three-legged golden crow. It dove at Su Yan, wings blazing with solar essence hot enough to melt steel.
Su Yan retreated up the trunk, buying space. He channeled the "Tai" tone from the Eight Yuan Tones. His internal organs resonated. Celestial water flooded his Inner Realm, merging with primal qi, strengthening flesh and bone.
He punched upward. His right sleeve shredded. Bones sang. Blood surged. The serpent coiling around him solidified tenfold, becoming vast enough to swallow heaven itself.
The Ba Serpent's maw opened. It devoured Zhou Zhi and his golden crow whole.
Not truly—no Dao-form had substance. But the force behind that punch struck true. Zhou Zhi's body ruptured. The crow-form dissolved into smoke.
"No wonder you killed so many of my family." Zhou Zhi laughed as he fell, voice pitched wrong. "Demon King Su, you are magnificent!"
He summoned another form—a heavenly dragon. It raced up the trunk toward Su Yan.
Su Yan unleashed the Eight Yuan Tones in sequence, shattering transformation after transformation from the Thirty-Six Heavenly-Gang Inner-Realm Arts. They fought from the tree's waist to its crown, leaving the five Zhou disciples gasping far below.
They landed in the crown together. Zhou Zhi smoothed his hair back, lips pursed in a practiced smile. "Demon King Su, you actually withstood our Zhou family's Thirty-Six Heavenly-Gang Arts. A true young hero."
"Those arts aren't the Zhou clan's pinnacle," Su Yan said flatly. "Patriarch Zhou never uses them against real enemies. Your top techniques weren't passed to you."
Zhou Zhi's smile twisted into genuine feeling. "My family's rot runs deep. Elders won't step down. Juniors can't climb up. We murder each other for scraps of true inheritance." He laughed, shrill. "Why else would I study Tuo's Scripture?"
Su Yan laughed too, circulating the Grand Unity Daoyin Art to recover qi. "You cracked Tuo's true meaning?"
"I'm talented, but not our family's most brilliant. All those geniuses failed to decipher it—why would I succeed?" Zhou Zhi's eyes gleamed. "But I knew they'd compile their findings for the patriarch. And I stole them."
Su Yan stared. "You didn't comprehend it yourself. You stole Zhou Qiyun's translation?"
"Comprehension wastes time. Clever people delegate. Even the patriarch doesn't decipher personally." Zhou Zhi giggled. "Why should I?"
"When did you last shave?" Su Yan asked quietly.
Zhou Zhi touched his smooth, hairless jaw. "My beard was thick once. After cultivating Tuo's Scripture, it vanished. My skin improved remarkably."
"Any other changes?"
Zhou Zhi's face darkened. His voice rose to a woman's pitch. "What have you heard? Who's been gossiping?"
The five Zhou disciples arrived, bewildered to find them chatting instead of fighting.
Su Yan pressed his advantage. "Consider this—what if Zhou Qiyun placed that translation where you'd find it? His mind is too careful. I don't believe you could steal from him."
Zhou Zhi paled. "He wanted me to take it? What would he gain?"
"He didn't know if Tuo's Scripture was genuine. He needed a test subject. You volunteered by stealing it."
"Lies!"
"He's been observing you. Every change in your body—he probably knows before you do." Su Yan paused, then understood. "That's why he also had me and Veyon decipher it. Multiple verifications. To us, he only needed to capture two juniors."
"Woman?" one disciple called out, confused and amused. "Eldest Brother, is it true? You're a woman now?"
"Should we call you Brother or Sister—"
Zhou Zhi's arm transformed. A fleshy wing-blade swept out. The speaker fell in two pieces.
"The patriarch won't know!" Zhou Zhi shrieked. Golden feathers became a storm of knives, drowning the remaining four.
Moments later, four corpses lay on the bark.
Su Yan watched without interfering. "Not thorough enough. The Zhou family can trace this."
Zhou Zhi frowned.
"They have methods to interrogate souls." Su Yan pointed. "I cultivated a Heavenly Eye. I see their souls still tethered to their feet, watching you with hatred."
Zhou Zhi produced a white bone banner from behind his head. Bone chains emerged, snaring the five souls and dragging them into the banner.
"Now only you know my secret." He giggled.
Su Yan smiled. "Not quite. Bell. Yuan Qi. Come out."
A shadow rose behind Zhou Zhi—mountainous. He turned. A serpent head larger than a hill hovered above him, antlers branching black and white against the sky. Scales like mirrors caught rainbows from the sun.
Yuan Qi. His transformation had made him larger, not human. Ancient wildness radiated from him, pressing down like the weight of primordial ages.
A bell drifted into view, green with verdigris, taller than a man. "A-Yan. The pagoda tree is dead."
"Zhou Qiyun killed it. Borrowed its eight thousand years to heal himself." Su Yan turned toward the crown's edge. "The Zhou clan is cutting it down. We should go."
Zhou Zhi gathered all his power. Three grotto-heavens blazed behind his head. "I've opened three Secret Realms! I cultivate Tuo's Scripture! I am a true cultivator's second stage—"
*Clang!*
The bell rang once. Zhou Zhi's soul left his body.
Su Yan's sword finger pierced the body's brow, driving through brain and grotto-heavens, draining the Secret Realms of vitality. Yuan Qi's tail descended from above, smashing the flesh into paste.
Su Yan walked to the crown's edge. "Bell. Yuan Qi. Let's go."
He slapped the bell as he passed. It turned, mouth facing Zhou Zhi's drifting soul, and rang again.
The soul scattered into nothing.
"You were pitiable," Su Yan said, not looking back. "But I won't let Zhou Qiyun learn my secrets through your ghost."
He leaped from the tree. The great serpent followed, winding down through the branches.