The catastrophe at the Paulownia tree had come swiftly and departed just as swiftly, but the devastation it left behind was immense. The tree had been nearly stripped of its bark by the rotting flesh from the Cangwu Abyss. The Nuo masters on its branches had suffered catastrophic losses—fewer than one in ten survived.
The beautiful couple were among the lucky ones. They surveyed the aftermath and saw Nuo masters who had lost legs to the grotesque flesh, others whose bodies had been half dissolved. The sight was harrowing.
They raised their eyes to the canopy. The divine birds had fared no better—corpses lay scattered among the branches. As for the living birds and the Phoenix herself, they had vanished without a trace at some point during the battle.
The Phoenix had used the Paulownia tree to weather her tribulation. When it passed, ruin was all that remained.
*That peeping tom who spied on Xiaodie's bath was right about the danger,* the beautiful woman thought. *But how did he know? And how did he even get into Mount Jiuyi?*
The Guo family were imperial relatives. The Holy Spirit Zhangwu Emperor's journey to Mount Jiuyi, seeking the Cangwu Abyss, had been conducted under the Guo family's name. The emperor could rarely leave the capital; the Guo family could. This time, few members of the imperial family had come—most of the people on the mountain were Guo family retainers.
Mount Jiuyi's treacherous passes were all guarded by the Golden Guard. Ordinary people could barely enter. Yuan Weiyang had already aroused suspicion by slipping in, and now Xu Ying had done the same. The couple couldn't help but wonder whether some hidden passage through Mount Jiuyi existed, allowing free entry and exit.
*And what exactly is the Cangwu Abyss? How does His Majesty know that this path leads to the Underworld?*
The couple exchanged a look, minds perfectly in sync, and spoke in unison: "Find that peeping tom and see what he knows."
They went looking for Xu Ying—but he had vanished. Not only was Xu Ying gone, Yuan Weiyang, her servant, and Guo Xiaodie had all disappeared as well.
*We should report to His Majesty first.*
The couple hurried back to the Cangwu Sect's great hall, only to find the Holy Spirit Emperor absent. They asked Eunuch Chen, but even he didn't know when the emperor had left.
Anxiety gnawed at them. *Where did they all go?*
---
"So you're called Demon King Xu. Are you a demon?" Guo Xiaodie studied Xu Ying up and down, eyes bright with curiosity.
Xu Ying considered for a moment. "My name is Xu Ying. I'm probably human."
Guo Xiaodie bumped him with her shoulder, grinning. "Don't be so sure. What if you're not? Come on, let Big Sister check whether you've grown a tail."
Xu Ying jumped back, swatting away her reaching hand.
Guo Xiaodie burst into giggles. "You definitely have a little tail hidden in your trousers!"
Xu Ying's face flushed crimson. "I do *not*…"
Yuan Weiyang clarified that Xu Ying had been entering the Dao beneath the Paulownia tree and couldn't possibly have gone to the mountain lake to watch her bathe. The misunderstanding was cleared up. Guo Xiaodie was a carefree girl and didn't dwell on the question of whether someone in a meditative state could see her bathing. She let it go without further fuss.
Neither did she wonder how Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang had managed to enter the mountain while the Golden Guard had it sealed. Instead, she enthusiastically led them toward the source of the flesh that had crawled up the cliffs.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang were deeply curious about the strange flesh as well. It had been growing wildly, transforming into massive serpents that attacked everything in their path—then suddenly died and rotted at an astonishing speed.
Guo Xiaodie found a stick and poked at the dead flesh. The stench was dreadful. "Mount Jiuyi is a sacred mountain," she said, frowning. "Why would things like this appear here?"
The Golden Guard were already cutting the rotting flesh apart and hurling chunks off the cliffs to reduce the smell.
Xu Ying stepped forward to examine it. Embedded in the flesh were bone structures resembling teeth—numerous. He couldn't determine what species of creature they belonged to.
The Great Bell was agitated. "A-Ying, the thing that attacked the Phoenix chick is the Celestial God I sealed in the well on Little Stone Mountain. It's in league with that demoness in the coffin! I scared it away, but I'm worried it may have seen through my bluff. It will likely return!"
Xu Ying whispered, "Master Bell, you were able to suppress it once. Surely you can do it again?"
The Great Bell grunted. "Once I've healed, of course I can. But I haven't recovered yet. I need massive quantities of qi and blood to obliterate the demoness's palm imprint! Where did that Zhou Qiyun go? If he'd just let me take one more bite—one single bite…"
Xu Ying shook his head and walked to the cliff's edge, peering down. *Strange. Elder Zhou vanished after ascending the mountain. The Phoenix's appearance was quite the spectacle, yet he's nowhere to be seen.*
Below the cliff, the flesh had crawled up from the small lake—the very lake that led to the Cangwu Abyss.
Guo Xiaodie suddenly leaped from the cliff. She employed her Cloud Ladder Skyward Technique, descending swiftly to the lake shore, and waved at them energetically.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang exchanged a glance. Sword light flared around both of them as they shot into the air, streaking downward in twin arcs of brilliant sword qi, landing before Guo Xiaodie.
The old servant Xiao Bo had no choice but to follow, using the Yuan family's Spirit Sense Leap technique. He moved through the air but was considerably slower than the three of them, thinking glumly, *The Young Master has become rather showy lately. Must have learned bad habits from that Demon King Xu.*
Guo Xiaodie's eyes sparkled. "What technique was that? Teach me! I'll trade you my family's Cloud Ladder Skyward Technique!"
Xu Ying was equally intrigued by her Cloud Ladder technique. He smiled. "That is the Sword-Flying Art. It requires a deep understanding of swordsmanship to master."
Guo Xiaodie beamed. "The Guo family specializes in martial Nuo arts, and quite a few of us practice swordsmanship—I'm no exception. But our Cloud Ladder Skyward Technique requires first cultivating the Azure Sky Scripture, and to cultivate the Azure Sky Scripture, you must first locate the dragon meridian, open the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury, and unlock the power within. Do you still want to trade?"
"Deal," Xu Ying said without hesitation.
Guo Xiaodie produced a thick scripture scroll and slapped it into his hands. "I won't shortchange you. This is the Azure Sky Scripture. It contains our martial cultivation methods—form eight is the Cloud Ladder Skyward Technique. If you can master it, good for you."
Xu Ying handed her a crumpled piece of paper containing just over two hundred characters. "This is the Sword-Flying Art. If you don't understand, come ask me."
Each took what they wanted, both perfectly satisfied.
Yuan Weiyang watched them—one handing over a generational secret technique without a second thought, the other producing the Sword-Flying Art without hesitation—and felt a pang of melancholy. *If I didn't carry the weight of the Yuan family, I could be that free too.*
Xu Ying began reading through the thick Azure Sky Scripture. After a few pages, he frowned. Every stage of cultivation required drawing upon the heart-force of the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury.
Without powerful heart-force, cultivating the Azure Sky Scripture would drain the heart and lead to gradual death.
When he had fought Guo Xiaodie earlier, he had noticed the extraordinary physical power coursing through her body—likely the Crimson Palace's doing.
Guo Xiaodie noticed his frown and swelled with pride. "The Crimson Palace sits in the heart ventricle, nestled within the heart chambers. The heart is the source of all vitality, so the Crimson Palace stores heart-force. That's why the Guo family has produced so many fierce generals and brilliant strategists—our heart-force is exceptional. Without opening the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury, even if you have our Azure Sky Scripture, you'll never master it!"
She laughed. "And I got the Sword-Flying Art for free!"
She lowered her head to study the two-hundred-character Sword-Flying Art, her large eyes staring at the characters. After a long while, her chest had turned red from holding her breath. "Is this something a human wrote? I can't understand a single word!"
Yuan Weiyang smiled faintly. *This is the text that Demon King Xu and I composed together. We strove for maximum conciseness—every character packed with the essence of swordsmanship, approaching the Dao itself. Without the right kind of comprehension, of course she can't read it.*
Xu Ying continued through the Azure Sky Scripture. The heart method first refined the heart, using it as the furnace—a veritable cauldron with six apertures that served as vents, designed to unleash overwhelming physical power.
The purity of this physical power surpassed the Elephant Strength Ox Demon Fist by a wide margin, and was even more refined than the True Cultivation of the Ba Snake. The Zhou family's Vajra Indestructible Body likely couldn't compare either. This was a supreme method of body cultivation.
As for the combat forms, they visualized the azure sky above, borrowing the Dao Manifestations of the sun, moon, stars, and wind to forge Hidden Vision, thereby wielding tremendous power.
Beyond the heart method, there were eight exquisite martial forms. The eighth was the Cloud Ladder Skyward Technique, which required mastering the preceding seven.
But without the Crimson Palace Secret Treasury unlocked, forcing cultivation was a death sentence.
"The Azure Sky Scripture isn't difficult to cultivate," Xu Ying said, closing the scroll, intending to return it to Guo Xiaodie.
The Great Bell's voice came through. "A-Ying, you're already a Gate-Opening Stage cultivator. Having ascended one heavenly tier, your heart-force should be sufficient. Even without the Crimson Palace, you should be able to cultivate this without major issues."
Xu Ying hesitated, then reopened the scroll.
Guo Xiaodie stowed the Sword-Flying Art, laughing. "Stop staring at it—you'll never learn it anyway. Let's jump into the lake and see where this flesh trail leads!"
She dove into the lake, following the flesh downward.
The lake appeared deep, but in truth the water was only a thin layer. The next instant, they plunged through it and fell toward a vast, terrifying fissure in the earth.
The fissure seemed impossibly long, its depths glowing red—bottomless. It was the Cangwu Abyss.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang jumped in after her. Yuan Weiyang employed her Spirit Sense Leap, visualizing footholds in the void, hovering above the Abyss without falling.
Xu Ying activated his sword qi, coils of sword light orbiting him to keep him aloft. Guo Xiaodie stood on her Cloud Ladder.
Xiao Bo leaped in after them, thinking, *These three little ancestors—nothing must happen to them.*
They looked upward. The flesh spread above them like an enormous blood-red fan, extending from the lake overhead and growing downward through the water. Beneath the lake surface, they could see nerve-like textures of pale flesh.
Guo Xiaodie bounded forward, covering a thousand zhang in a single leap, tracing the flesh fan along its path.
Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang followed. The flesh fan extended along the Cangwu Abyss for more than ten li without any sign of ending. After another ten li, they saw it curve upward.
Xu Ying looked up and saw a lake shimmering with reflected light.
Guo Xiaodie leaped out first, and Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang followed, springing from the water.
All three cried out in surprise.
Xiao Bo heard them and dove through the lake, emerging with a splash. Before he could even shake the water from his clothes, he was channeling his cultivation—five-layered Yellow Court Grotto-Heavens fully open—standing guard over Yuan Weiyang in battle-ready posture.
But when he took in their surroundings, he cried out too.
Behind them stood an enormous water jar—they had just jumped out of it.
Before them rose a great hall built into the mountain's interior. Crimson pillars, azure eaves, and jade-green doors.
Thick strands of flesh, like tentacles, crawled from the water jar across the floor and into the hall. The door and threshold were covered with desiccated tendrils, dried and lifeless, like earthworms baked in the sun.
Guo Xiaodie steeled herself and walked toward the hall. Xu Ying whispered, "Master Bell—is there danger?"
The Great Bell's voice was grave. "Yes. I sense two powerful presences in that hall… no—three!"
Guo Xiaodie's voice drifted from ahead: "Your Majesty—why are you here? And who is this white-browed boy?"
Xu Ying was stunned. He stepped forward and saw a middle-aged man with a brooding, irritable expression, and on the other side, a white-browed youth.
Both stood before the hall's enshrined deity statue. Neither spoke. Neither moved.
*That's the man who was eating spirit pills like food,* Xu Ying realized.
The middle-aged man was wreathed in thick incense-offering qi. Auspicious clouds steamed above his head—vast, imposing. He moved with the tread of a dragon and tiger, radiating deep imperial authority. He was none other than the ruler of the Divine Land: the Holy Spirit Zhangwu Emperor.
The Holy Spirit Emperor glanced at Xu Ying—then froze. He let out a cold snort, clearly recognizing him.
The snort was quiet, but it exploded in Xu Ying's mind like a thunderclap. Simultaneously, the Great Bell vibrated, dispersing the sound.
"You're trying to ruin my meal?" The Great Bell seethed. "This old emperor is no good!"
Xu Ying looked at the enshrined deity statue and went rigid, his voice cracking: "This is a *living god*—a deity of flesh and blood?"
The statue depicted an ordinary-looking middle-aged man seated cross-legged in a niche, holding a horsetail whisk, smiling gently at them with an air of great compassion. He was made of flesh and blood—not wood or clay.
The worm-like flesh tendrils crawled from between his brows.
The blood-flesh tentacles that had attacked the Phoenix had come from *his* body.
And on every wall around him, covered floor to ceiling, were talismans and seals. His body was plastered with them as well.
"Your Majesty, this is an ancient cultivator who has already died." The white-browed youth—Zhou Qiyun—spoke at last, his tone calm and detached.