Xu Ying shook his head. "I don't want to be different. I prefer to blend in with everyone."
The bell probed cautiously: "Your 'blending in'—is that literal, or do you mean it metaphorically?"
He had a feeling this youth's idea of blending in was rather different from other people's.
Xu Ying said: "The Mud-Pellet Secret Treasury must be opened. I think since Qi-refiners and Nuo shamans are two completely different cultivation systems, cultivating both should be parallel rather than conflicting. So I want both."
The bell froze.
Qi-refiners and Nuo shamans—shouldn't one be superior to the other? Was it even possible to cultivate both?
And wouldn't they conflict?
Xu Ying walked into Qinyan Cave, his expression puzzled. "Strange. The Nether invasion has reshaped the local geography. How did Magistrate Zhou find this place?"
Shortly after he left, the forest rustled. Countless figures, barely a foot tall, dressed in green, swarmed across the mountains.
These green-clad figures were slender, dressed in verdant robes, wearing pointed hats and straw sandals. Each was sharp and alert, looking around and searching as they moved.
This was the Zhou family's Nuo sorcery: the Grass-and-Tree Soldier Art.
The green figures were plant spirits given life by Nuo sorcery, used for assassination or reconnaissance.
The Zhou family's great shamans could even use this technique to raise an army, overwhelming enemies through sheer numbers.
Suddenly, one of the green figures looked up and spotted Zhou Yang pinned to the cliff. It let out a cry. The others swarmed over, chattering in an unintelligible language, piling on top of each other to climb the cliff.
Working together, they pulled out the swords one by one, then carried Zhou Yang's body into the forest.
By dusk, the green figures had carried the body over mountains to Yilin Temple. Yilin Temple had once been close to Wuwang Mountain, but the Nether invasion had collided the mortal and spirit realms, creating new mountains and rivers. Wuwang Mountain had become Wuwang Mountain of No Delusion, and Yilin Temple had been flung forty li away.
The space between was largely Nether territory—treacherous, dangerous, and nearly impassable.
The green figures carried Zhou Yang's body into Yilin Temple. Zhou Yihang, his old eyes wet with tears, trembled as he reached out to close his son's eyes.
"Do not let the wind disturb my son's spirit," he commanded the surrounding officials, ordering the doors and windows sealed.
When night fell and the Nether River invaded, Zhou Yang's ghost drifted forward, standing before his own corpse, its feet connected to the body's feet.
Normally, ghosts were invisible to the naked eye. But after the Nether invasion interfered with reality, ghosts could be seen at night.
Zhou Yang's ghost cried: "Xu Ying killed me, Father! Avenge me!"
Zhou Yihang wept bitterly: "Rest assured, my son. Your old father will slay this beast, no matter the cost, and offer his head as the first sacrifice after your deification!"
Zhou Yang's resentment diminished slightly: "The cold wind hurts me."
Zhou Yihang wiped away tears: "I have already ordered a statue made. Once it is completed, I will apply gold leaf to create a golden body. After the seven-day mourning period, I will have the lowly people of Lingling worship you. Within a few years, you will become a deity! We father and son will meet again!"
Zhou Yang wailed and bowed.
Zhou Yihang closed the door, his expression dark, and gazed toward Wuwang Mountain of No Delusion. "Wuwang—disaster and change. The meaning of Wuuwang is calamity and upheaval. Xu Ying, even if you possess heaven-reaching talent, I will take your life and avenge my son! The name No Delusion means disaster has come for you!"
At the foot of Wuwang Mountain, Xu Ying saw Yuan Qi still in the throes of metamorphosis, so he slipped out of Qinyan Cave to check on the Nether River.
As the sun set, the Nether River appeared once more, surging and turbulent. Ghostly energy filled the air. Many things in Wuwang Mountain stirred, flying and wandering everywhere. Others crawled from old graves, calling friends, drinking and making merry.
Xu Ying saw a village at the foot of the mountain, brightly lit, with a wealthy household hosting a banquet for guests. He was puzzled: "How was this village not here during the day?"
Qinyan Cave had no food. His meals consisted of fish caught in the water and fruit picked from trees—filling enough, but the lack of rice and noodles left his stomach feeling hollow.
He approached. The villagers showed no ghostly energy and warmly invited him to join the feast. The village was full of handsome men and beautiful women. An elder acted as matchmaker, proposing to pair him with a lovely young woman of exquisite beauty.
Xu Ying blushed crimson: "I... I have no bride-price..."
"What need for a bride-price?"
The elder stroked his black beard and smiled: "If I demanded a bride-price, would that not be selling my daughter? That would be a moral failing. My Hu family, when marrying off daughters, has always provided a dowry to the groom. If you agree, I will give you two shops and a residence on a bustling street in Yongzhou, plus five hundred taels of silver."
Xu Ying was greatly tempted. He looked at the Hu family's daughter, finding her even more beautiful, and was about to agree when a woman's voice drifted from outside the village: "A pack of fox spirits, daring to deceive an innocent youth! Do you think no one can stop you? Leave at once!"
At these words, the villagers' faces changed. Yellow fur sprouted on their cheeks as they transformed into foxes, scattering in all directions, darting into houses.
Xu Ying sighed inwardly: "If only I could have two shops and a residence, and marry a beautiful fox woman—what harm in being an innocent youth?"
At least he'd had a full meal. He bowed to the hiding foxes: "Thank you for your hospitality. I am Xu Ying, Demon King of Wuwang Mountain. We are neighbors—there is no need for alarm."
A fox emerged from a house, stood upright like a human, and bowed: "So it is Demon King Xu. Forgive us. We are wild foxes of the mountains. We saw Demon King Xu's valor in slaying his enemies and wished to propose an alliance."
"No harm in ignorance. If the elder still wishes to marry off his daughter, I am willing." The youth's eyes brightened.
The old fox dared not raise the subject again.
Xu Ying sighed inwardly and walked out of the village, following the woman's voice. Before long, he saw a black coffin standing by the Nether River, its long chains hanging to the water's edge.
The girl in the coffin sat before it, her knees drawn up, gazing at the moon.
Xu Ying looked up. A full moon, large as a bushel, hung over the far bank of the Nether River. Its light was ethereal, unlike anything in the mortal world.
Under that moonlight, the girl was even more beautiful.
Xu Ying's heart raced. He quietly called out twice, but the great bell made no sound, as if dead. Yet this bell had always been chattering, urging Xu Ying to cultivate so it could steal his blood and qi, treating him like a donkey pulling a millstone.
"Old Bell has become open-minded again."
Xu Ying steadied himself, walked forward, and bowed: "Thank you for your warning. Otherwise, I would not have seen through their fox-spirit disguise."
The girl in the coffin regarded him with gentle eyes, her voice equally soft: "You failed to see through them because you have not yet cultivated the Celestial Eye. Eyes containing divine light, inner vision of sun and moon. Thought moving like polishing a mirror, three lights converging at the brow center—these are the secrets of the Celestial Eye."
Xu Ying asked: "Eyes containing divine light refers to spirit sense, inner vision of sun and moon refers to both eyes, thought moving like polishing a mirror means spirit sense as a mirror—three lights are the light of sun and moon, but what is the third light?"
The girl looked surprised: "Your comprehension is excellent. The third light is at the hollow of your brow, called Heavenly Light. Focus your spirit sense between your sun and moon, hold to a single point, and move your thought like polishing a mirror. Then you can open the Celestial Eye and see through demonic transformations."
As she spoke, Xu Ying practiced.
He focused his spirit sense, entering the Domain of the Ineffable, drifting between sun and moon. He polished his spirit sense, and in moments it became as clear as a bright mirror.
Suddenly, light shone from beyond the heavens—the third light, Heavenly Light!
At the same time, his eyes opened. Left eye and right eye reflected the outer world, projecting into the Domain of the Ineffable. The light from both eyes fell upon the mirror of his spirit sense and touched the Heavenly Light—immediately, a transformation occurred!
Xu Ying looked toward the light, and the world was utterly changed!
He saw a line dividing the Nether and mortal realms along the right bank of the Nether River—like the terminator between day and night.
At the collision point of these two overlapping worlds, a massive fissure had torn open. The spaces and earth of both worlds ground against each other with terrifying force!
Xu Ying and the girl in the coffin were standing at the very edge of this great rift!
The rift was expanding!
From within came a sound like the bellowing of a great beast. Xu Ying peered downward and saw a vast, sinuous body writhing within the fissure—something impossibly large, trapped underground, trying to break free!
But when he looked closer, all he saw were scale-like boulders.
He could clearly see the Nether invasion, the ghosts drifting within the Nether River!
Xu Ying's heart pounded: "Cultivating the Celestial Eye to see ghosts and deities may not be a blessing."
Ghosts retained the appearance they had at death. Some had died so gruesomely that seeing them could shock one's own soul.
Therefore, cultivators of the Celestial Eye could not activate it often—not only because it attracted ghosts, but because it could disturb one's own soul and bring unrest.
More critically, using the Celestial Eye consumed spirit sense at an alarming rate. Xu Ying did not yet know how to strengthen his spirit sense, so he could not maintain the Celestial Eye indefinitely.
While his spirit sense still held, he turned his gaze toward the girl in the coffin—and his heart lurched.
The girl asked: "Did you see?"
Xu Ying nodded. Behind the girl sat another figure—a divine maiden, vast as a mountain, seated in the sky, radiating an overwhelming sense of immensity!
The divine figure resembled the girl in appearance, with the same features—but she was clad in blazing divine light, radiant and dazzling!
From her body emanated rays of light, each slender as a hair, no longer than a foot.
Her body did not touch the ground. Clouds drifted beneath her, floating in the sky—seemingly boundless, yet occupying no space.
Behind her trailed ribbons of divine light, not attached to her body but drifting freely in the air.
The girl in the coffin had a delicate, enchanting air, while the divine figure behind her exuded awe-inspiring sanctity, inviolable and sublime!
Xu Ying suppressed his shock: "What is that behind you?"
"My Primordial Spirit. You too will have one someday," the girl said.
"I will?" Xu Ying was both surprised and delighted.
"You are currently in the Qi-gathering stage, absorbing solar essence to nourish your body, soul, and vitality. When you enter the Gate-Knocking stage, you will open the Tailbone Mysterious Pass, opening the gate of Qi-refinement and the path of the Celestial River. Further advancement brings you to the Water-Fire Refinement stage, where water and fire combine to build the alchemical cauldron. Then a second Gate-Knocking opens the Spinal Pass, adding oil to extend your lifespan."
The girl spoke calmly and steadily: "After that comes the Twelve Towers stage, flying over the twelve towers. Then the Jade Pool stage, where you shed your mortal shell and cultivate the Primordial Spirit. Then the Divine Bridge stage, crossing the divine bridge, followed by a third Gate-Knocking—the Jade Pillow Heavenly Pass—to receive heaven's mandate."
Xu Ying listened, rapt: "And then?"
The girl said: "Then you ascend and become an immortal. However, that path has been severed."
Xu Ying was still lost in reverie. At her words, he started: "Severed? How so?"
"Blocked by a great evil. The path to immortality has been cut off."
A trace of melancholy crossed the girl's eyes. She composed herself and looked toward Wuwang Mountain in the night. "Do you know what Wuuwang means?"
She did not wait for his answer: "Wuwang means the unexpected. I thought I was the only Qi-refiner in the world, yet I have met you. We are of the same kind."
A smile appeared on her face: "Who would have thought that three thousand years later, someone would still walk the path of the Qi-refiner. The path is not lonely."
She stood before the black coffin, her robes fluttering. "Three thousand years ago, I set my boat upon the Nether River. Three thousand years later, I board that boat once more. My vessel has arrived."
As she spoke, the river's surface churned. Waves surged, and a great tower-ship burst from the water, leaping into the air!
On the deck, hundreds of skeletons fought with swords, hooks, and spears. They froze in shock—the ship had sailed these waters for millennia and never before surfaced.
The girl waved her sleeve: "You ghost-pirates, daring to occupy my treasure ship—begone!"
Her sleeve swept the air. The skeletons on the deck flew involuntarily upward and plunged into the Nether River.
The girl drifted lightly to the prow. Xu Ying stood on the bank as the tower-ship surged toward him, Nether water still cascading from its deck like a waterfall, overwhelming in its presence.
The ship halted. The girl peered over the prow and smiled: "Tonight I must accomplish something important, and I lack an assistant. Our meeting was fated by Wuuwang. Come with me—you have my word that I will bring you back at dawn."
Xu Ying leaped aboard: "What is it?"
"Sending a deity away."