Xu Ying felt a stab of disappointment. He had assumed the mysterious voice was about to teach him the exorcist arts of the Nuo masters, and for a moment his heart raced with excitement. It was nothing of the sort.
"Qi Refiner?" he repeated. "What is that? I thought I was cultivating demon arts?"
He was genuinely confused. "Elder, could you open the Mud Pill Secret Treasury for me and teach me the Nuo arts?"
The voice was irritable. "What you're cultivating is clearly the method of a Qi Refiner — it has nothing to do with demon arts! As for these 'Nuo arts,' what nonsense is that? Enough idle talk. I'll teach you inner observation. Let your eyes be half-closed, so that only a thread of light enters your sight. Gaze upon the bridge of your nose, and hold a single thought in your mind. That one thought is your awareness. Listen to my command: the eyes are sun and moon, the hair is the stars, the brows are the royal canopy, the head is Mount Kunlun. Array the palaces and towers, settle the spirit there! I want you to settle your spirit within your eyes, transform it into a single thought, and forge that thought into spirit sense!"
Xu Ying's eyes were neither fully open nor fully closed; only a thread of light remained before him as he fixed his gaze on the bridge of his nose. Yet what he saw was not the nose at all, but a single thread of light.
He gathered his awareness upon that thread of light, holding a single thought, thinking of nothing else.
The voice thundered on inside his mind, deafening and relentless. "Forge your awareness into spirit sense, and you will see that the light before your eyes is a gateway. Push the door open and step inside, and there lies the Hidden Realm within your body! But forging awareness into spirit sense takes several days. Once you've done it, call for me again... Eh?"
In Xu Ying's half-closed eyes, a faint divine radiance seemed to well up between his lids!
This was spirit sense!
The voice let out a startled cry, nearly leaping out from the back of Xu Ying's skull.
The one making the sound was none other than the Great Bronze Bell hiding in the back of Xu Ying's head. The night before, this great bell had run rampant upon the River Naihe, slashing down six or seven powerful foes — only to be gravely wounded when the captive maiden broke free of her coffin.
It had fled with all its might, crashing into Mount Jian, then tumbling and rolling all the way down the slope until it fetched up at the edge of a mountain stream. It tried to heal its wounds, but the injuries were too severe, and it could not mend itself.
By chance, Xu Ying happened by, reaching out to stroke its "head." The bell sensed that Xu Ying was a Qi Refiner, and so it hit upon a scheme to play the injured bystander.
The Great Bronze Bell took up residence in Xu Ying's mind, stealing his qi and blood to heal itself. But Xu Ying, for all that he was a Qi Refiner, had no idea how to cultivate — which infuriated the bell no end. That was why it had deigned to offer instruction.
After all, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. And as the saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without risking your wife, nor race a horse without feeding it well. If Xu Ying cultivated faster, the bell could steal more qi and blood, and its wounds would heal all the quicker.
But help it might, it never believed Xu Ying could master inner observation in so short a time. What it had never anticipated was that, the very moment it finished speaking of forging a single thought into spirit sense, Xu Ying would already have forged his awareness into spirit sense!
The sheer speed of it gave the bell a fright!
The Great Bronze Bell was a creature of wide experience. In its era, when any Daoist adept settled into inner observation and contemplation, divine radiance would flicker in their eyes, swelling and shrinking, long and short by turns!
That divine light was spirit sense.
Xu Ying's radiance did not spill out of his eyes, but gathered within them — an unmistakable sign that he had already forged spirit sense!
Only the speed of it was far too fast!
What it did not know was that the art Xu Ying practiced was called the Grand Unity Daoyin Art. To cultivate this art, one had to rein in the restless mind and keep but a single thought.
That one thought was Grand Unity.
Though Grand Unity was his thought, the thought itself was empty, vast enough to contain all his spirit.
Xu Ying had held to Grand Unity for seven years, his foundations unshakably firm. Now, guided by the Great Bronze Bell, his spirit condensed into a single thought, and that thought was forged into spirit sense — as natural as water flowing into its channel, effortless and simple.
The Great Bronze Bell thought to itself: "Even forging spirit sense is not enough. He'll need several more days before he can see that gateway. And even if he can see it, he'll need time to temper his spirit sense before he can push the door open and enter the Hidden Realm..."
The thought had scarcely formed before divine radiance gathered thick in Xu Ying's eyes. In but a single breath, the boy saw the gateway, and his spirit sense pushed the door open!
"This lad is a prodigy!"
The Great Bronze Bell's mind reeled. "He's only a notch short of a genius! With talent like this, he might well catch up to my master... well, a little bit short of my master, anyway."
Xu Ying observed the divine light before him, and dimly saw within it a gate of white jade — nothing more. He "walked" forward, and as he approached the gate grew taller and broader. He pushed it open, and abruptly a wondrous world spread out before his eyes. This was the Hidden Realm the Great Bronze Bell had spoken of — the mysterious, phantasmal world within the body!
His "sight" widened and brightened, and a riot of brilliant colors flooded into view!
These colors were so vivid, so clear, that nature itself held no hues to match them!
But this was not the sight of his eyes. It was the sight of his spirit sense!
In the moment he had pushed through the door, his spirit sense had undergone a miraculous transformation, granting him the power to see within his own body!
He felt as though his spirit sense had gained the ability to fly, drifting through a vast emptiness, threading its way through rivers of visible air current.
Mists coiled all around him.
Those currents, those mists — they were the qi within his body!
High in the sky hung towering mountains, inverted and immense — his heart and lungs!
He could even see the scars upon his five viscera and six bowels, wounds suffered all along the road!
Xu Ying watched as streams of qi steamed upward, turning to rain. In the instant they became a storm, thunder boomed through the clouds and blinding lightning split the mist-shrouded heavens, the earth, and the mountains!
"So this is thunder-sound body refinement!"
Xu Ying suddenly understood the truth behind thunder-sound body refinement, and a great joy welled up within him.
All at once, a brilliant light swept over him. Xu Ying looked, and saw qi converging into a blaze fierce as a great sun, rising from within his body and roaming among his vast, enormous viscera and bowels.
That great sun bathed his liver in green light, his lungs in white, his heart in red, his kidneys in black, and his spleen in yellow!
This was Great Sun body refinement!
Such a breathtaking spectacle filled his heart with delight!
Within his body there seemed to be boundless space!
This was inner observation!
Xu Ying turned to look, and saw "himself" floating before a doorway of white jade.
That was the door he had just pushed open, unlocking a mysterious, phantasmal world within his mortal flesh!
That world within the body was the Hidden Realm the Great Bronze Bell had named!
The Great Bronze Bell spoke: "Your talent is barely passable. Since you have opened the Hidden Realm, I shall teach you how to bring the Five Qi back to Origin. Let spirit sense be the will, and draw upon the qi of the five peaks."
Xu Ying followed its instruction. His spirit sense drew upon him, and he saw the five viscera hanging like inverted mountains in the sky, each releasing a stream of mysterious qi that surged toward and converged upon him.
The qi of heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys came in five colors — red, green, yellow, white, and black — and as his spirit sense drew them in, the Five Qi returned to Origin, merging into one!
As the five streams of colored qi fused, divine radiance blazed forth, myriad beams of golden light, and origin qi took form!
This was the Five Qi returning to Origin!
Xu Ying felt a strength course through his body, impossible to describe, vast and surging far more pure and mighty than his former qi and blood!
As that wondrous flood of origin qi swept through him, even the inner wounds of his viscera and bowels began to mend, almost imperceptibly!
The Great Bronze Bell was astonished too. It had expected Xu Ying to need more time before achieving the Five Qi returning to Origin, forging the fivefold qi into origin qi. Yet Xu Ying had summoned the five qi with a wave of his hand and completed the task at once!
"This prodigy barely earns that missing notch," the Great Bronze Bell thought. "Of course, he still falls a little short of my master. Just a little!"
Xu Ying, suffused within with the five qi, their returning to Origin transformed into origin qi. He felt his qi and blood bloom with vigorous life, his bones and sinews ringing in harmony, his viscera and bowels roaring like dragons and tigers — his whole body at peace with itself.
Yuan Qi was startled. In that brief span, he felt Xu Ying's breath grow long and deep, his qi and blood swelling to fullness.
"What's happened to Ah Ying?"
The thought had barely formed before he saw Xu Ying's qi and blood wither away at terrible speed, as though the boy had been drained three hundred rounds by a she-ghost.
"Ah, that looks more normal... no, this is definitely not normal — it must be that bell interfering!"
The serpent's face flickered between dark and light, his heart torn and churning. "Xu Ying is my brother. I can't just watch the Bell Devil drain him dry!"
He summoned his courage, ready to speak. But suddenly a bell rang inside his head, and all his courage fled. He thought: "A few more drains won't kill him. Let it be."
In the village at the foot of Mount Jian, the villagers set aside their work and turned to stare at the entrance, where a giant a full fourteen feet tall was striding into the little settlement.
The giant's torso was bare, wrapped in green silken bands, with a ship's-wheel round ring slung behind his head. He walked barefoot, wearing only a pair of shorts, his muscles hewn like knives, sharp-edged and rugged as living rock.
Green smoke of offerings drifted about him — the incense offerings the people had paid him homage with.
These threads of incense qi darted about his body like spirit serpents, nimble as living things.
The villagers heard faint whispering fill the air, and fear gripped their hearts. The old men quietly drove their livestock to the rear of the village to hide them; the women snatched up their children; and the comely young maids and brides reached into the fireplace, smeared two handfuls of soot across their faces.
The giant spirit walked along, surveying the village, then suddenly stopped, snatched up an old man, and asked in a booming voice: "Five chickens, two jugs of wine. The chickens are for boiling in clear water, seasoned with nothing but salt and star anise. Boil them for a bit, then fish them out and chill them in cold water."
The old man said, his voice choked with tears: "Great Spirit, I have only two hens at home, and I've been saving their eggs to sell at the market of Huangtiampuzhen so I can raise a bit of money. As for wine — I've never so much as tasted it, I don't know what it even tastes like..."
The giant spirit flung him to the ground and sneered: "Would you have me eat people instead? Go comb the village!"
The old man scrambled to his feet and hurried off, wheedling and begging his neighbors until he had gathered a few chickens.
Trembling with fear, the villagers prepared the chicken in clear water, scraped together two flagons of watery wine, strained off the cloudy dregs, and offered them to the giant spirit.
The old man poured the wine, his hands shaking: "And where does the Great Spirit come from?"
The giant spirit wolfed down the chicken, gulped the wine in great bowls, and said: "I have enjoyed incense offerings at Yangzitang Township for two hundred and thirty-four years, and the offerings have never once ceased. The townsfolk of Yangzitang call me Great Immortal Yang. By decree of the City God, I have come to seize the criminal Xu Ying. Do you have a daughter? Let her come sing songs and drink with me."
The old man wept: "A man can't even afford a bride — how could I have a daughter?"
The giant spirit glanced toward the neighboring house, spied a girl, and bade her come sing to liven the mood. He asked her: "How old are you?"
"Twelve."
"Twelve is too young. When you reach fourteen or fifteen, don't marry anyone — I shall come and favor you, wed you with proper ceremony and make you my lawful wife. It won't dishonor you."
The giant spirit tossed the girl a chicken leg. She was gaunt and famished, and clutched the bone with both hands, gnawing at it between tears of gratitude, so ravenously that the old man beside her swallowed hard.
At that moment, the giant spirit felt a stirring in his heart and looked toward the village entrance. There a boy was coming, somewhat thin of frame.
The boy was only fourteen or fifteen, but of a tall and imposing build, with broad bones, big hands and big feet. His robes were tattered, yet he carried himself with the majesty of a hero, and between his brows lurked a hint of wild, unbroken defiance.
The youth's complexion was poor — dark circles under his eyes, hollow cheeks, his qi and blood running thin.
Trailing behind him came a great serpent, black and white in bands, several zhang long, carrying a natural air of demonic menace.
"The god-killer, Xu Ying!"
The giant spirit burst into laughter and rose to his feet, his voice booming like a bell: "All the other spirits have rushed off to the northwest, thinking to cut you off there. But I am clever — I knew you might go the opposite way. So I stayed put, and here you are, walking right into my hands!"
That youth was indeed Xu Ying, and he showed no hint of alarm.
Yuan Qi the serpent yao cried out: "If you know this is the god-killer you're facing, then get the hell out of here! Lingling's own Ding Quan and Warden Wei Chu both died at Young Master Xu's hands — you can see their corpses still lying up on Stone Mountain! Stone Mountain's god, Huang Siping, lost a leg to Young Master Xu and fled for his life! If you know what's good for you, turn around and run right now, and Master Xu and Master Ox here will spare your life!"
The giant spirit seemed amused, and smiled: "Xu Ying — Stone Mountain's god was a Demon King, and the warden and the legal officer were Nuo masters. If they met their end at your hands, it seems you truly have real skill. But how can you be so sure my strength is lesser than theirs?"
He stepped forward, flicked a finger, and a beam of incense qi shot forth swift as lightning, taking the shape of an arrow mid-flight that pierced the slow-footed serpent yao through and pinned him to the ground!
Yuan Qi wept with pain, and knew he had crossed a hard customer. "You're here to seize the fugitive Xu Ying — what does that have to do with me, Ox Yuan Qi? Why strike me?"
The giant paid him no mind. He gave a light wipe of his palm, and out of the incense qi took shape a great sword over a zhang long. A flick of his finger upon the blade sent a clear, crisp ring through the air. "Kneel, Xu Ying," he said slowly. "Do not defy me. Let me cut off your head and take it back to the City God to settle this debt!"
"Kneel?"
Xu Ying clenched his fists, looking down at his battered, scarred hands, and the corners of his mouth twisted in defiance. "The day I struck down the god of Jiangjia Village, I swore a silent oath: I would never kneel again to gods of carved wood and molded clay."
The boy's qi and blood boiled, rising behind him to form a towering, ten-foot-high spirit with the head of an elephant upon a man's body, which bellowed defiantly at the giant spirit — a roar that shook heaven and earth.
Xu Ying raised his head, his eyes blazing bright as stars in the dark of night: "I was born free! Whoever tries to ride me, whoever calls me their slave and commands me to kneel — by Heaven, I will beat them to death!"
[Author's note: This paragraph about pollen allergy and monthly votes has been omitted as it is not story content.]