The worried old man sighed, knowing he could not make Xu Ying drink the tea today. He swept his sleeves, folding away the table, chairs, teapot, and cups, and departed at a leisurely pace.
His speed appeared slow yet was in truth remarkably swift. Within moments, he vanished from Wuwang Mountain.
Then the mountain itself let out a deafening roar. The mountainside paused, then began to tilt to one side. Countless rocks exploded outward as the colossal peak slowly toppled.
The mountain was so vast that even its collapse took an extended time to complete.
* * *
Xu Ying continued racing beneath the silk kerchief, which grew ever larger above him. But shrunk to the size of a bean, even his maximum speed could not carry him beyond its coverage.
"Ah Ying, is that you?" A giant serpent appeared ahead, its voice unmistakable.
The serpent bore one black and one white dragon horn, its body covered in mirror-like scales—Yuan Qi. Though it still appeared enormous relative to Xu Ying, it had been shrunk as well, now barely a foot in length. Yet even so, Yuan Qi was still a hundred times larger than Xu Ying.
One human, one serpent—both victims of the Zhou family elder Zhou Yu Po's silk kerchief.
Xu Ying leaped onto Yuan Qi's back. "Little Seven, swim faster. We need to flee this place!"
Yuan Qi propelled them forward. "What kind of power does this old woman possess? How can she be so formidable?"
The Great Bell's voice drifted from within: "It should be the Nuo art of Sowing Beans to Create Soldiers—but used in reverse. Normally, the technique transforms beans into armored soldiers who grow to several times human size on contact with wind. The old woman reversed it, shrinking people down to bean size. Among Qi-Refiners, there exist similar techniques."
Xu Ying's eyes gleamed. "I've already opened the Mud-Pellet Repository. I comprehend life and death, yin and yang, and can control the body's vitality. Her Nuo art, however ingenious, cannot hold me for long. I'll soon return to normal. Yuan Qi—the size-transformation methods recorded in the *True Cultivation of the Ba Snake* and the *Dragon Snake Hibernation Art*—if you grasp them, you too can break her sorcery."
Yuan Qi surged ahead, recalling the transformation techniques Xu Ying had taught him. Sure enough, the *Ba Snake* scripture contained methods for altering the physical form. He rejoiced. "Ah Ying is dependable after all. With just a hint from him, I see the way."
Then, through the translucent kerchief, they saw the toppling Wuwang Mountain hurtling toward them. Despair gripped them both—the mountain would crush them flat.
In normal circumstances, they might have escaped—but with their tiny limbs, they could never outrun the mountain's shadow.
* * *
At that moment, the kerchief was pinched between two enormous fingers. Xu Ying and Yuan Qi, still wrapped in its folds, were lifted into the sky.
The Zhou family elder Zhou Yu Po chuckled, shaking the kerchief over the basket slung from her arm. Xu Ying and Yuan Qi tumbled out and landed inside.
"This old woman has brought Young Master Xu. I'm heading out ahead!" Zhou Yu Po announced to no one in particular.
The basket held half a load of beans. Xu Ying and Yuan Qi crashed into them, and the beans cried out in pain.
They were startled to see the beans stand up like humans—clad in golden armor, wearing golden helmets, gripping azure swords, their brows fierce with heroic spirit, each one strikingly handsome.
Yuan Qi recoiled. "Who are you? Have you also been captured by this demon woman?"
The nearest golden warrior put his hands on his hips with disdain. "Demon woman? This is the Lord of Dangfu! You ignorant serpent—haven't you heard of Sowing Beans to Create Soldiers? We are the Dangfu..."
Thousands of golden warriors turned their heads in unison, speaking as one: "Bean Soldiers!"
Yuan Qi's eye twitched. He whispered to Xu Ying: "They're not human?"
Before Xu Ying could answer, the Great Bell spoke: "They are the beans from the Sowing-Bean technique. This Zhou Yu Po is remarkable—she has granted these Bean Soldiers true intelligence. That kind of power cannot be achieved through repository vitality alone. The Zhou family's Nuo arts have evolved far beyond their original form, surpassing the equivalent Qi-Refining techniques."
It had always considered Nuo arts inferior to those of the Qi-Refining era. To admit the Bean-Soldier technique surpassed its equivalent was high praise.
The lead golden warrior asked: "Which of you is Young Master Xu? The Lord of Dangfu ordered us to protect you and ensure you come to no harm."
Xu Ying ignored him and began climbing over the warriors' heads, trying to escape the basket.
"Don't go out!"
The golden warrior seized his legs. "There are terrifying two-legged giants outside! Their claws are dozens of times your size, with iron beaks and golden throats, red flames blazing on their heads, steel wings, and roars like thunder! Many of our brothers have died in their mouths!"
Yuan Qi considered this. "Are you talking about chickens?"
* * *
Xu Ying struggled upward. The warriors pulled and tugged, clinging to his feet, trying to drag him down. He finally reached the basket's edge and peeled back the kerchief to look outside.
They were airborne. The old woman carried the basket while a great roc soared behind her—the creature was her Hidden Vision projection, carrying her and her captives through the sky.
Then Xu Ying saw a distant mountain shudder, followed by a wave of terrifying force. Where it passed, clouds were obliterated in an instant.
"Disaster!"
Xu Ying's face went pale. "Bell Master—quick, come out and save us!"
The Great Bell burst from his skull, shattering the basket. Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and the golden warriors clinging to his ankles tumbled into the bell's interior.
The Great Bell was an artifact forged by ancient Qi-Refiners, hidden within Xu Ying's mind. Zhou Yu Po's Nuo sorcery could not shrink it—it remained at its original size.
The instant the basket burst, Zhou Yu Po noticed. She lunged toward the Great Bell: "Young Master Xu, do not resist—this old woman means no harm—"
A cataclysmic force struck before she finished. Zhou Yu Po's Golden-Winged Roc manifestation shattered. The impact sent her hurtling backward, blood spraying from her mouth.
The destructive wave collided with the Great Bell. It rang—a deep, resonant tone—and the runes across its surface blazed to life, spinning into a thick barrier of light.
But on that barrier was a massive palm print—the wound the coffin girl had left on the Great Bell, a weak point in its defense.
The barrier cracked and was torn apart. The Great Bell was sent tumbling through the air, its ring faltering.
"Finished!" The Great Bell mourned. "I've spent these past weeks stealing vital essence just to heal a fraction of my wounds. Now it's all been undone!"
* * *
Inside the Great Bell, Xu Ying, Yuan Qi, and hundreds of golden warriors were tossed violently, crashing into each other. One warrior wailed: "You're crushing me! I'm going to die!"
He was promptly flattened into a bean pancake and perished.
After a time, the violent shaking subsided. The Great Bell plummeted from the sky, crashing into the forest, rolling three or four li before stopping with a final clatter.
Xu Ying crawled out and sat on the rim, legs trembling. After recovering his wits, he reset Yuan Qi's dislocated bones—a task made simple by his expertise as a snake catcher.
Yuan Qi, gazing at the broken Wuwang Mountain, nearly wept. "My home is gone..."
Behind them, the surviving golden warriors knelt in the dirt, mourning their fallen comrades. The shockwave had crushed many into bean pancakes, but over half survived—three or four hundred warriors remained.
One warrior stood, kicking his weeping fellows. "A true man meets death on the battlefield—why weep like children? Rise! Have you forgotten the Lord of Dangfu's painstaking efforts in training you?"
The warriors rallied, their spirits restored.
Xu Ying studied them with surprise. To survive such devastating force, they were far stronger than he had assumed. Each warrior possessed genuine combat power.
"Zhou Yu Po must have tempered them repeatedly after forging them into Bean Soldiers," he thought.
"Are you all right, Bell Master?"
The Great Bell's weak voice replied: "Ah Ying, my injuries have worsened. I need to hide in your Mud-Pellet Grotto-Heaven to heal."
It shrank, flying into Xu Ying's skull and vanishing. Within moments, it floated inside the Mud-Pellet Repository, drifting in the grotto-heaven's space.
"Bell Master is injured. We're on our own. But who could possess such power? Even the余波 nearly killed the Bell Master!"
Xu Ying steadied himself. The power was far beyond the white-robed Nuo Immortal.
Of those he knew, only the Great Bell at full strength could rival such a being, and the girl in the coffin could certainly do so as well.
The worried old man with his perpetual frown might also have been capable.
No one else could match that level of power.
"This time the Zhou family sent many people, led by Governor Zhou Heng. This old woman Zhou Yu Po is another of their experts. Could it be that the Zhou family ancestor himself took action to battle the creature beneath the earth?"
Xu Ying was fascinated. The creature might be the master of the Mud-Pellet Palace, and the Zhou family ancestor could be the snake catcher who had entered the stone chamber three hundred years ago—the successor of the Mud-Pellet Palace master. What an extraordinary battle that would be!
He longed to return to Wuwang Mountain to watch, but even the residual shockwaves had nearly killed them. To get closer would be suicide.
"This place is not safe. The Zhou family will surely send people to find us!"
* * *
Xu Ying surveyed his surroundings. Trees towered above him, impossibly enormous. Mountains loomed in every direction, their scale beyond imagination, unclimbable.
"You cannot leave!"
The golden warriors blocked Xu Ying and Yuan Qi. The lead warrior spoke: "The Lord of Dangfu ordered that you remain here and await her return!"
A warrior suddenly pointed skyward, screaming: "Two-legged giants are coming!"
Xu Ying looked up. A flock of blue birds had spotted them and was diving in. These blue birds were Underworld species he had never encountered in all his years as a snake catcher.
The flock landed, charging at them like divine beings from primordial myth—feathered in blue, with copper sinew and iron bone, each one possessing thousands of times their size.
Their footsteps shook the earth. Their wings stirred hurricanes.
They pecked downward. The bean soldiers had no resistance—bones snapped, bodies broke, one bite was all it took.
Panic erupted. Bean soldiers fled in every direction, wailing as though the end of the world had arrived.
One bird pecked down, splitting a bean soldier beside Xu Ying in half. Half the body was swallowed immediately; the other half continued to scream.
A few warriors rallied, raising their azure swords to fight back, but these birds were no ordinary creatures—they were Underworld species immune to blades. One peck, one death.
Xu Ying snapped to his senses. "Little Seven, move!"
Yuan Qi, who had never witnessed such horror in his long life, screamed and followed Xu Ying.
Behind them, a blue bird dove low, snatching Yuan Qi's tail and lifting him. Xu Ying leaped, landing on the bird's head, and struck with a sweeping kick.
Behind him, two golden warriors no taller than beans materialized—the Elephant King's Divine Body—and swept along with his kick.
Crack!
The bird's beak deflected, sending Yuan Qi tumbling free—but the recoil shattered Xu Ying's Elephant King manifestation into a mist of blood.
Shocked and enraged, Xu Ying landed. As the bird's talons reached for him, he deployed the Ba Snake—thick as a finger, it coiled around the bird's legs with a hiss.
"Down!" he roared.
The bird's legs flexed, snapping the Ba Snake apart.
Xu Ying froze.
The Ba Snake—his comprehension of the Dao form from the *True Cultivation's* diagram—destroyed by an unknown bird?
As the bird's beak descended, Yuan Qi charged from the side, wrapping his tail around Xu Ying and whipping away.
"Protect Young Master Xu!" a warrior shouted.
Dozens of golden warriors surged forward, hurling themselves at the blue birds. They fought with total disregard for their lives.
Azure wings and golden armor—limbs flew like a vision of hell.
"Escort Young Master Xu!"
Warriors poured in, azure swords flashing against monstrous beaks, falling one after another.
Xu Ying paused. The sight moved him.
"Little Seven, put me down," he said quietly.
Yuan Qi obeyed.
Xu Ying stopped fleeing. Yuan Qi urged him on: "Ah Ying, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"
Xu Ying shook his head, his voice low: "I've opened the Mud-Pellet Repository. I am a Nuo shaman now. I want to reverse-engineer the Sowing-Beans art. I can't let these warriors die for us in vain!"
He activated the Mud-Pellet Grotto-Heaven. Behind his head, a chaotic space appeared—the clouds parted, revealing the grotto-heaven within.