"Smells like daphne and orchid, with a hint of milky sweetness!" Xu Ying sniffed his hand again.
Yuan Qi said: "Disgusting."
Xu Ying apologized to Yuan Weiyang: "Brother Yuan, I haven't even thanked you for your help on the road, and now I've dragged you into trouble again. I feel terrible."
Yuan Weiyang shook his head: "When I came to find you, how could I not lend a hand? As for being kept by the Zhou family ancestor, it has nothing to do with you. I saw the upheaval at the Water-Entrance Temple and couldn't resist my curiosity, so I came here. You already warned me—it was just my bad luck."
Xu Ying laughed: "I'm actually happy you came to fish with me."
Yuan Weiyang shook his head: "I came to discuss the mysteries of spirit sense cultivation, not to fish."
Xu Ying continued on his own: "We could also dig for loaches together. Have you ever caught shrimp? You have to be careful when catching them—move your hand slowly, then strike quickly, or they'll jump backward out of your grip and land on your face."
The blue-robed elder Xiao Bo looked worried, but seeing Yuan Weiyang's eyes brighten, he realized his young master was being tempted.
"You little brat!"
He wanted to explode, but Zhou Qiyun was right there. Before the most powerful being in existence, he couldn't make a scene.
The Yuan family had few members, and by Yuan Weiyang's generation, even fewer children survived to adulthood. This ancient clan was on the verge of disappearing from the world, so Xiao Bo feared for Yuan Weiyang's safety and didn't want him near dangerous people.
After a moment, auspicious clouds drifted through the sky, with dragons moving among them. As they drew closer, it turned out to be four divine dragons pulling a treasure carriage.
The dragons were dragon gods, carrying thick incense qi. They were likely wooden or stone carvings that had been worshipped for so long they gained the ability to ride clouds.
Zhou Qiyun boarded the carriage, and Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang followed. The carriage looked small from the outside but was surprisingly spacious within. Yuan Qi lowered his head and slithered in, finding plenty of room even if he stretched out fully.
"Could this be a treasure artifact?" he wondered.
The four divine dragons lifted the carriage into the clouds and headed into the distance.
Xu Ying lifted the curtain to look outside, seeing white clouds drifting past as the carriage traveled through mist. The humidity was heavy, and soon the interior was damp.
Water dripped continuously from the four dragons, and occasionally lightning from the clouds struck them, bursting into flames. Each time, the scent of incense offerings filled the air.
Xu Ying closed the window and looked through the crystal lattice instead, to prevent too much moisture from entering.
The carriage emerged from the clouds, and suddenly a magnificent landscape rushed toward them—mountains rising ten thousand ren high, steep as if carved, thrusting upward from the earth. Unknown fearsome creatures within the mountains roared, sending visible waves of sound rippling outward!
The incense qi on the four dragons was scattered by the sound waves, their forms wobbling, the clouds beneath them scattering as the carriage shook violently.
Zhou Qiyun gave a soft hum. Though quiet, it caused thunder and lightning to erupt within the magnificent mountain, as if an invisible giant had punched the source of the roaring, shaking the entire valley.
The roaring stopped abruptly.
Yuan Qi praised: "The White-Browed Ancestor is incomparably domineering. My grandfather lost to him—his defeat was well-deserved!"
Xu Ying looked out the window. The four dragons pulled the carriage around a massive peak and through a canyon between two mountains. Below flowed a bright river, looking like a silver ribbon from above, reflecting sunlight with sparkling ripples.
In the distance, he seemed to see fish dragons leaping from the great river.
The landscape was like a painting, magnificent as a song.
The four dragons flew for countless miles, but still no human cities appeared. Xu Ying suddenly thought of something terrifying: "How vast is this new land?"
Why hadn't he seen Lingling City after flying for so long?
He hadn't even seen the Xiao River or the Xiang River. Yongzhou City was nearby—why couldn't he see it either?
He looked around at towering mountains piercing the clouds and felt a twinge of panic. There wasn't a single familiar place here!
"When I first entered the new land, it had grown to about eight hundred li along both banks of the Naihe."
Zhou Qiyun looked out the window: "I don't know how much it has grown since then."
A towering tree came into view ahead, its crown surpassing the surrounding mountains, with clouds floating beneath its canopy.
Xu Ying saw the Naihe again. This enormous tree grew at a bend in the river, causing the current to change direction.
"It's a scholar tree!" Yuan Qi pressed his large head against the window, peering through the lattice to identify the species.
Xu Ying stared in astonishment—such a massive scholar tree, never seen nor heard of!
"Trees are born immortals. As long as the trunk doesn't wither or break and the roots aren't eaten by worms, they can live forever. This tree is the same."
Zhou Qiyun spoke with feeling: "This great scholar tree has been growing for untold ages, making it an immortal of the mortal world. Though it grows in the Underworld, a place unsuitable for life, it has survived because no one has chopped it down, becoming an immortal plant. The great scholar tree is also called the Yang Scholar—the most yang and forceful thing in the Underworld, where a hundred ghosts cannot approach! You can sense its spirit."
Xu Ying released his spirit sense and indeed detected an ancient consciousness within the towering tree, slowly turning, heavy, deep, ancient and profound.
He didn't know what the great scholar tree was saying—it might just be meaningless chanting, or perhaps expressing its understanding of life and the Dao. For such an ancient being, language seemed to have lost its meaning.
Many scholar flowers hung from the tree. It was spring, the season when scholar flowers bloomed. The entire tree was covered in golden blossoms, about to open, their fragrance already spreading.
Xu Ying inhaled the scent and felt his origin qi actually increasing without realizing it!
"This is definitely a treasure ground for cultivation. When the scholar flowers bloom, the heaven-and-earth origin qi will be even more concentrated!"
The dragon carriage headed toward the great scholar tree. Beneath it, Xu Ying discovered an ancient palace with Zhou family disciples coming and going. Before the palace, he looked up and saw archaic script carved above.
"Scholar Flower Palace Blessed Land." Xu Ying read silently but said nothing.
This was ancient writing that even the Great Bell couldn't recognize. He thought it best not to show off in front of Zhou Qiyun.
The Scholar Flower Palace Blessed Land was likely built by predecessors who discovered that cultivating beneath the tree was twice as effective, treating this place as a grotto-heaven blessed land.
But for some reason, the predecessors had abandoned it. Now that the new land had emerged, the Zhou family experts found it and used it as a base for exploring the new land.
"Why would the predecessors abandon this place?" Xu Ying wondered.
The place was rich in heaven-and-earth origin qi—a blessed land that should have been fiercely contested. Even if it was in the Underworld, some yin deity or powerful Underworld being should have claimed it, not left it empty.
The dragon carriage descended slowly. Someone had already opened the palace gates, and the four dragons led the way into the Scholar Flower Palace.
Zhou Qiyun descended from the carriage and instructed the elderly servant who came to greet them: "Buyi, take Young Master Xu and Young Master Yuan to study the Scripture of Tuoyu."
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang stepped down from the carriage. The servant named Buyi bowed slightly: "Young masters, please follow me."
The blue-robed elder Xiao Bo studied the servant carefully, recognizing him as Zhou Buyi, the inner household steward with unfathomable cultivation, who had been granted the surname Zhou.
Xu Ying immediately activated the Grand Unity Daoyin Art, and strange floral scents rolled down from the sky, rich in origin qi, forming a field of about one mu in the air. Dao seeds continuously flew into Xu Ying's body.
Yuan Qi followed suit, activating the Great Sun Daoyin Art. His cultivation rose steadily, and he thought: "At other places, you can only cultivate for a short time in the morning, but beneath this great scholar tree, you can cultivate day and night. It's just a pity the scholar flowers only bloom for half a month."
But even half a month here was equivalent to a year of cultivation outside. Moreover, the peak blooming period hadn't even arrived!
Furthermore, the scholar flowers contained origin qi that was almost purely yang, saving countless steps of tempering.
Old servant Zhou Buyi watched the human and snake cultivating so ostentatiously and sneered inwardly: "Yao cultivators!"
Yuan Weiyang looked at the one-mu field above Xu Ying's head in surprise, quickly grasping its brilliance: "Demon King Xu, this art of yours is remarkable. I can see your cultivation differs from other yao cultivators—it seems like an entirely different, extraordinary path."
Xu Ying said: "This is the Dao-Planting Method, which I stumbled upon. If you want to learn it, I can teach you."
Yuan Weiyang considered: "I need to ask my mother before I can answer."
Xu Ying was puzzled—why did learning the Dao-Planting Method require asking his parents?
Xiao Bo's heart trembled: "Does Weiyang intend to exchange techniques with him? Only something as significant as exchanging techniques would require consulting the mistress! But how could the Yuan family's techniques be shown to outsiders? What Dao-Planting Method could compare with the Yuan family's ancestral arts?"
His gaze toward Xu Ying filled with wariness: "Little swindler! If I weren't here, he'd probably swindle all the Yuan family's techniques!"
Xu Ying followed Zhou Buyi into a great hall. Inside were men and women, old and young, standing, sitting, or lying down in various postures.
Some had grown three heads and six arms, their necks stretched long, holding three books and three pens, staring at the texts and writing.
Others had eyes growing on their foreheads and hands, seeming to examine the scriptures floating in the air from unusual angles.
Some slept with thunderous snores, yet spirit sense leaked from their minds like bubbles floating in the air. Their souls sat within the bubbles, staring at the drifting scriptures, attempting various techniques again and again.
Still others were surrounded by mountains of books and papers, their arms numbering eighteen, constantly flipping through texts to verify the scriptures.
Some had worried their hair white, some muttered to themselves with mad expressions, and others pulled out great handfuls of hair, already bald.
Suddenly someone burst into laughter: "I've comprehended it! I've comprehended it!"
Then they vomited blood in great mouthfuls and received a slap: "Beast, what have you comprehended?" Only then did they return to their senses.
The scriptures floating in the air were sheets of gold paper with handwritten text, the characters delicate and clearly written by a woman.
The gold paper emitted light that projected the text into the air, allowing everyone in the hall to study it.
Yuan Qi was thrilled and said to Xu Ying: "There are books here! Over the past hundred years, I've read all the books in my house. I've read a great deal—if any of you have questions, you can ask me!"
Old servant Buyi said: "Young Master Xu, Young Master Yuan, these characters are the contents of the Scripture of Tuoyu."
Xu Ying looked up. The Scripture of Tuoyu began with basic Daoyin arts, progressing through qi gathering, barrier breaking, dual tempering, second barrier breaking, layered towers, jade pool, divine bridge, third barrier breaking, and finally ascension.
This was a complete "yao cultivation system"!
There was also other content—likely spells, divine abilities, elixir recipes, and scriptures.
"What's there to decipher?" Xu Ying was thoroughly confused.
In his view, the Scripture of Tuoyu had already described the cultivation steps with perfect clarity, each stage laid out in detail. As long as one followed the steps, there shouldn't be major problems.
Yet here in this hall, the Zhou family's brightest minds were agonizing over it, poring over texts and consulting various references, as if it were incredibly difficult to crack.
"The Scripture of Tuoyu is a qi-refining method for women. If a man practices it, he will likely lose his yang essence."
After a quick scan, Xu Ying identified the problem. Practicing the Scripture of Tuoyu would soon drain one's yang essence, transforming it into yin, changing a man's body to resemble a woman's.
For women, there was no issue—in fact, progress would be swift. But the technique seemed incomplete in places, with vague descriptions.
He also skimmed the spells and divine abilities in the scripture, most of which required the cultivation method to work. Without learning the technique, the spells likely couldn't be wielded effectively.
Yuan Weiyang, however, was very interested in the Scripture of Tuoyu, reading carefully from the beginning.
Xu Ying approached and whispered: "Brother Yuan, this is a technique for women. Men can't practice it."
Yuan Weiyang whispered back: "I feel this technique might suit me well—it seems complementary to my Yuan family's Nuo arts."
Xiao Bo's face darkened as he appeared behind them, separating the two: "Young masters, your heads are about to touch. Mind your propriety."
At this moment, Xu Ying noticed another dozen or so elders with white hair sitting in the center of the hall, not looking at the floating scriptures but staring at a green bamboo stalk floating on an altar.
It was a green jade slip.
The jade slip was about a foot long, emerald and translucent, as if carved from fine jade, or like a bamboo shoot that had just broken through the earth. One could almost smell a faint bamboo fragrance.
On this jade bamboo was written a line of text—in archaic script!
Xu Ying's heart pounded: "This is the true Scripture of Tuoyu! No, it's not the Scripture of Tuoyu. The text on this jade bamboo is the Great Yin Nurturing Art!"