Yuan Qi felt a sudden pressure. If these oxen had reached demon kinghood on their own, they were far more talented than him. His position as senior disciple was in jeopardy.
"We're all surnamed Niu," he thought. "They should show me some respect. Instead they whip me like I'm the plow ox."
Su Yan taught Niu Zhen and Niu Gan how to cultivate spiritual sense and open the Xiyi Domain. The two former ox-demon kings had ancient qi cultivation inheritance themselves, incomplete but genuine. Their comprehension was sharp. Within days, their eyes glowed with nascent divine light.
Yuan Qi watched jealously, then begged Su Yan for sword lessons too. Su Yan strapped Yuan Tiangang's sword case onto his back.
"Feel the sword qi inside. When you resonate with it, the blades will teach you their forms."
Yuan Qi shrank to the perfect size, closed his eyes, and focused. For once, he was serious.
Su Yan turned to the great bell. "What did you find at Qinyan Cave?"
"Nothing. The serpent thought the underground creature meant the ascension ground was underwater. We dug through the collapsed cave and dove deep. Nothing."
Su Yan considered. "The only true ascension ground we've seen is the Heavenly God Hall at Ghost Child Ridge. It only appears at specific times. If Mount Wuwang has one, it must also require specific conditions."
"We don't know when or where," the bell said. "This mountain is enormous."
Su Yan smiled. "But someone from three thousand years ago might know."
He entered the chamber and lifted the bronze mirror. "Lady in the mirror. We mean no harm. We only want to know if this mountain holds an ascension ground."
The ghost girl cowered at the sight of the great bell. Su Yan frowned. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing. Yuan Qi looked at himself in the mirror. She saw a yao and panicked. I entered to comfort her, but she thought I was a bell demon."
Su Yan gentled his voice. "Tell us about the ascension ground, and we'll free you. Stay silent, and the bell demon gets angry."
The ghost girl pointed toward the mountain's interior.
They followed her through the collapsed body of Mount Wuwang. She led them to a fissure in the broken peak—easy to miss, impossible to find alone.
The passage wound deep. Ancient murals covered the walls. Primitive hunters with painted faces and bone ornaments. Then a woman in fine robes, leading them to hunt ever-larger prey. The hunts became massacres. Sacrifice piles became mountains of corpses.
"When was this?" Su Yan whispered.
"Before my master's time. Before written history. Perhaps ten thousand years. Perhaps a hundred thousand."
The final murals showed the woman facing heavenly tribulation. Above the thunderclouds hung a weapon shaped like a trident.
"A heavenly dao weapon," the great bell said.
The tribulation ended. Ascension light descended. But the weapon fell too, pinning the woman through her heart.
The primitives sealed her in a coffin, surrounded it with treasures, and built stone sarcophagi layered with blood curses. Then they left.
Before them stood a stone door, stained and ominous.
The ghost girl hid behind Su Yan.
He pushed. The door groaned open.
Light flooded out. Not darkness. Not evil. A garden of flowers, green and vivid, filling a circular space hundreds of acres wide. The walls were jade, not stone.
"Ten-thousand-year hollow jade," the bell breathed. "The mountain's core turned to jade, then liquefied at its center. Drink it, and you live forever."
The pool was empty. Someone had consumed it all.
Above, ascension light hung like a curtain of color. Immortal music drifted down. Beneath it stood a thatched hut, golden and fresh.
And a stone coffin wrapped in chains and blood curses.
Beside it, a table. A teapot. A cup.
Steam rose from the cup.
Su Yan touched it. Warm.
"Someone was here?"
"The tea's three thousand years old," the bell said. "In a place this rich with spiritual energy, nothing loses heat. The steam rises but never disperses."
Su Yan laughed at his own fear. Then he froze.
"The ghost girl drew a map of the mountain from above. She'd need to fly to see the whole thing." His blood ran cold. "Why was she sealed in a mirror? How does she know this place?"
He whirled. "Lord Bell! Cover the coffin!"