"I'm definitely human, absolutely not a demon! I live in Xu Family Village. I have a father and a mother, and they're both human. My father's name is Xu An, and my mother's name is Tian Ruijun. She's from Tian Family Village."
Xu Ying muttered under his breath, "I still remember the roads to Xu Family Village and Tian Family Village. I'm definitely human..."
Snake Demon Yuan Qi listened to his endless muttering, feeling puzzled as well. "If he really is human, then how did he cultivate my Demon Race techniques and fist arts? Clearly, there isn't that much human in him. He has more demon in him."
Xu Ying set his worries aside. As he walked, he activated the Taiyi Guiding Technique, drawing in the essence of the sun.
As he cultivated the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist to the sixth level, the storm of light particles formed from sunlight grew increasingly distinct with every breath. Accompanying his breathing, the particles poured into his body!
Xu Ying activated Thunder Sound Body Tempering and Great Sun Body Tempering, refining away the True Yang Vitality remaining in his body and healing his injuries.
However, he had not opened the Ni Wan Secret Treasury, so he could not heal his wounds as quickly as Nu Masters like Ding Quan and Wei Chu.
Moreover, in his battle with Huang Siping, he had almost been disemboweled, leaving a wound on his chest deep enough to expose bone. Even if the injury healed, it would leave behind a horrifying scar!
Xu Ying sighed and thought silently, If only I had the Dragon Seeking Positioning technique and a method to open the secret treasury...
Opening the Ni Wan Secret Treasury and cultivating an undying body was indeed enviable!
"And my face would definitely become much fairer. Maybe I could make a living off my looks in the future."
The boy's heart brimmed with impractical yearnings. He said to Yuan Qi, "My godfather said that wealthy women in the city like boys with fair faces. Two years ago, when we couldn't afford food, he wanted to sell me to one of the city women, but my skin wasn't fair, so no one bought me. The child from Jiang Shouzheng's household next door fetched a good price and is living very well in the city."
Yuan Qi was silent for a moment before saying, "Don't you think that's rather tragic?"
Xu Ying smiled with utter innocence. "In times like these, being alive is already wonderful. He eats more than I do and wears warmer clothes."
He seemed quite envious of the child who had been sold.
In the riverbed at the foot of the mountain lay enormous bones. A single finger was taller than Xu Ying.
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi walked beside the colossal skeleton. They passed through its rib cage in the riverbed, then stopped and looked up at the thick ribs. Both felt as though they had entered a bizarre, fantastical world.
"Is this the creature that attacked the ruined temple on the Nai River last night?" Xu Ying murmured.
No one knew whether the skeleton had belonged to a god, a demon, or some other creature. It had been killed by the Great Bronze Bell, fallen into the Nai River, and lost all its flesh.
As they passed beside the skeleton, they heard strange sounds again, as if tens of thousands of people were whispering among themselves.
Yuan Qi said, "Deities enjoy worship. After a hundred years, they cultivate Magic Power, and after three hundred years, they refine a six-zhang golden body. This must be a deity. Those whispers are caused by the deity's Incense Qi. Incense Qi is a deity's Magic Power. Although this deity is dead, its Incense Qi has not completely dispersed."
Xu Ying examined the skeleton, deeply shaken. "How many years would it take to produce a deity this enormous?"
Yuan Qi shook his head. "A six-zhang golden body takes three hundred years. This deity's skeleton is thirty or forty zhang long. It would probably take more than ten thousand years of worship to nurture such a mighty golden-bodied deity. But I've read countless books, and they say recorded history only goes back three thousand years. Where did a deity worshiped for ten thousand years come from?"
Xu Ying stared at the flickering golden patterns on the skeleton, his mind filled with questions as well.
They continued onward, passing through the forests of Anzi Ridge. In the riverbed, they encountered another corpse.
This corpse was even larger. It blocked the middle of the riverbed and had no lower half, only an upper body.
The flesh on the corpse had not been completely dissolved by the Nai River. Meat still clung to its thick bones.
From a distance, the flesh on the white bones was still writhing sluggishly.
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi were just about to pass by when a flock of wild birds flew over. They came in a dark, crushing mass, crossing the sky above the riverbed. Suddenly, all the flesh on the white bones shot out like frogs' tongues, sticking to the flock and dragging every bird into the riverbed.
The birds shrieked, feathers flying everywhere, but soon fell silent. Only their bones and feathers remained scattered across the ground.
Meanwhile, the flesh on the corpse churned and swelled, becoming considerably more abundant than before.
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi were horrified. They hurriedly held their breath and detoured around it.
Suddenly, the enormous corpse jerked its head up. Its empty eyes "looked" toward Xu Ying and Yuan Qi. Its head resembled a mountain of flesh, with lumps of meat crawling and writhing across it.
"Run!" Xu Ying shouted urgently.
Man and snake fled for their lives. The half-corpse crawled with both arms, moving astonishingly fast as it charged along the riverbed in pursuit!
The corpse chased them for a while. Only after losing sight of Xu Ying and Yuan Qi did it finally give up.
Xu Ying and Yuan Qi fled desperately all the way to Jian Mountain. Seeing that the corpse had not followed, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Look at Jian Mountain!" Yuan Qi hurriedly said.
Xu Ying looked up and saw that a large section of Jian Mountain's peak was missing, as if some enormous monster had hugged the mountaintop and bitten into it.
However, there were many shattered rocks on this side of the mountain, making it seem more likely that something had smashed into the peak and knocked out a section.
"The world is becoming more and more chaotic." Xu Ying shook his head.
Ahead lay a broad mountain stream. Water murmured through it, and it was about three or four zhang wide. The water was crystal clear, allowing them to see the riverbed. It was currently the dry season. Once the rainy season arrived, floods would sweep down from upstream, making the ravine extremely dangerous.
Yuan Qi went hunting on the opposite side of the ravine, while Xu Ying stripped naked and jumped into the water. He washed the blood and grime from his body, then washed his clothes as well.
Before long, he put on his dripping-wet clothes and circulated his vital energy. Heat steamed from his body, and after a short while, he had dried his clothes.
Suddenly, Yuan Qi's startled cry rang out. Xu Ying hurried over and saw a scene of devastation in the forest. Trees had been smashed and broken everywhere, while waves of heat rose from the woods. The farther forward he went, the hotter it became.
Xu Ying walked dozens of steps farther and saw that the trees ahead had been completely flattened, all bent in the same direction!
Amid the fallen trees floated a Great Bronze Bell taller than a person. It hovered two chi above the ground. Strange patterns across its walls lit up and went dark in turns, flickering uncertainly.
As the patterns flashed and faded, the Great Bronze Bell rose and fell as well.
Even stranger, whenever the bell floated upward, it slowly expanded by another ring. When it descended, it gradually shrank by a great deal!
It seemed to be breathing.
Yet there was a deep palmprint on the bell's wall, sunk more than three cun into the metal. It had nearly punched straight through the bell!
Judging by the palm and finger joints, it was a woman's hand. It had been very delicate.
Xu Ying could not help recalling the Female Ghost in the coffin from the previous night. Judging from the palmprint, it might have been left by a beautiful female ghost.
Around the palmprint, strange patterns intertwined. Sometimes they erupted, sometimes they collapsed and vanished, as if the palmprint contained terrifying power that was destroying the Great Bronze Bell's internal structure.
More remarkably, Xu Ying actually felt that the Great Bronze Bell was using a strange breathing and circulation technique to stimulate its own potential and resist the terrifying power within the palmprint!
It was healing itself!
Not far away, Snake Demon Yuan Qi had a black boar weighing more than ten jin in its mouth. The boar had already been poisoned to death. Another black boar was pinned beneath him, but it was still alive.
Snake and boar both stared wide-eyed at the Great Bronze Bell in terror.
"How did this bell end up here? I thought it had been swept into the underworld. Could the gap in Jian Mountain have been made when it crashed into it?"
Xu Ying cautiously stepped forward and extended a hand from a distance. In a low voice, he asked, "Is it injured?"
Snake Demon Yuan Qi was frantic. He lowered his voice and shouted, "Don't mess with it! People will die!"
Xu Ying summoned his courage and edged forward inch by inch.
Snake Demon Yuan Qi shouted, "Xu Ying, come back! You haven't left a son for Old Jiang's family yet. If you die, Old Jiang's family will be extinct!"
Xu Ying's palm gradually drew closer to the Great Bronze Bell.
Suddenly, the Great Bronze Bell stopped. It no longer rose and fell, nor did it grow and shrink.
Snake Demon Yuan Qi cried out and held his breath. Xu Ying also felt as though the Great Bell had grown a pair of eyes and was staring at him, watching to see exactly what he intended to do.
The air temperature around them suddenly rose sharply. The fallen trees crackled as they baked, bursting apart one after another.
Xu Ying did not move at all.
After a moment, the Great Bronze Bell began rising and falling again, growing and shrinking as it focused on dealing with the palmprint on its wall. Clearly, the bell had decided that Xu Ying posed no threat.
Xu Ying felt the surrounding air cool considerably. He quietly took one step forward and extended his hand farther.
The Great Bronze Bell stopped again, and Xu Ying froze.
Snake Demon Yuan Qi and the black boar both felt their hearts rise to their throats.
The Great Bronze Bell resumed its rise and fall, breathing in and out. Xu Ying's palm gently landed on the bell's wall. He stroked it and revealed a satisfied smile.
Snake Demon Yuan Qi called softly, "You risked being beaten to death by the Great Bell just to touch it?"
Xu Ying smiled. "We survived the Nai River's diversion last night because of it. Now that it's injured, of course we have to touch it and comfort it. That's how I pet the cats and dogs at home. They calm down afterward."
Yuan Qi actually felt there was some twisted logic to his words. However, the instant Xu Ying turned his head, a tremendous clang suddenly rang out. The Great Bronze Bell fell from the air and crashed onto the ground!
Xu Ying was startled as well. He hurriedly turned around and saw the bell's wall trembling nonstop. The patterns on it were in complete disarray, jumping about and occasionally spasming.
The sight looked exactly like a critically wounded person on the verge of death!
"Come back, quickly!"
Yuan Qi's voice turned shrill and somewhat hoarse as he shouted, "It's dying! When it explodes, it'll blow blood all over your head and face!"
Seeing this, Xu Ying could not be sure whether the violently shaking bell would explode. He hurried toward Yuan Qi.
He had only taken two steps when he heard the bell striking the ground behind him. Xu Ying looked back and saw that the Great Bronze Bell had moved two steps in his direction. It was still spasming like a seizure, as though it were about to breathe its last.
Xu Ying took one step forward, and the Great Bronze Bell dragged itself one step forward as well.
Xu Ying took another step, and the Great Bronze Bell spasmed and slid forward one step.
Xu Ying broke into a quick walk. Behind him, the Great Bronze Bell clanged and scraped along, following right behind him.
"You've been shaken down!"
Yuan Qi's voice was shrill as he called softly, "You touched it just now, and now it's shaking you down! It's seriously injured and can't protect itself. Once you touched it, it latched onto you. I told you not to help old ladies cross the road!"
The little black boar beside him nodded repeatedly, deeply convinced.
Xu Ying took off running. Behind him, the Great Bronze Bell clanged and crashed along, trailing smoke and clouds of dust as it stayed glued to his heels!
Xu Ying slipped between two large trees standing side by side. Two thunderous cracks rang out behind him, and the trees fell neatly to the ground!
Xu Ying leaped over a boulder two or three people tall. The next moment, the rock was crushed into powder. The Great Bronze Bell clanged as it followed behind him, never leaving him.
Xu Ying ran back. Yuan Qi and the little black boar stared behind him, where the bell was still dragging itself along and clanging into everything.
The boy stopped, his face wooden. Two streams of tears slid down his cheeks.
"I've killed people and even slain a deity. Now the City God and the authorities are hunting me. With this bell hanging off my backside, making sure no one can fail to see or hear me, I might not survive half a day." Xu Ying raised his head to the sky so the tears would not slide into his mouth.
Suddenly, the Great Bronze Bell behind him silently floated into the air. It slowly spun, growing smaller and smaller, then shot into the back of his head!
Xu Ying saw Yuan Qi and the little black boar staring behind him in terror. He whipped around, only to find that the Great Bronze Bell had vanished. Both shocked and delighted, he laughed. "I finally got rid of that burden."
The tip of Yuan Qi's tail pointed at his head. He stammered, about to speak, when a bell chime suddenly rang inside his mind. Yuan Qi shuddered, and his tail went limp.
"Yuan Qi, you caught two wild boars. I think this one is quite intelligent. Why don't we let it go?" Xu Ying examined the little black boar pinned beneath the Snake Demon and suggested.
Yuan Qi said, "This black boar was poisoned to death by me. My venom has no antidote. If you eat it, you'll definitely drop dead. The living one is unpoisoned. Are you sure you want to release it?"
Before long, the two little wild boars were roasting over a campfire, their skins glistening with oil. Fat dripped into the flames, filling the air with the smoky fragrance of pinewood and the aroma of meat.
After Xu Ying and Yuan Qi had eaten their fill, they continued toward Mount Wu Wang.
"Little Seven, I don't know why, but whenever I shake my head, I can always hear a bell."
Xu Ying shook his head, somewhat puzzled. He listened carefully for a moment and said, "I think I'm hallucinating."
Yuan Qi watched his nose and his heart, saying nothing.
Xu Ying shook his head again and heard the bell once more.
"Stop shaking it! At this rate, you'll shake your head right off!" Snake Demon Yuan Qi fretted inwardly, always worried that Xu Ying would shake too hard and the Great Bell would smash his head open from within.
Not only did Xu Ying often hear the bell, he also felt that his vital energy was not as abundant as before. He was already panting after walking a short distance, but he merely assumed that his injuries had not yet healed.
Yuan Qi saw it all and was nearly scared out of his wits. In a mere moment, Xu Ying had already become haggard and gaunt, his face waxen yellow and his eye sockets black, as though he had been drained by a Female Ghost three hundred times!
Suddenly, a voice as sonorous as a great bell resounded in Xu Ying's mind. "Young man, do you know what it means to turn your gaze inward and preserve your thoughts?"
Xu Ying froze and hurriedly asked, "Who? Who's speaking?"
Snake Demon Yuan Qi was stunned. He looked around and said, "Someone's speaking? Why can't I hear anything?"
Inside Xu Ying's mind, the voice drawled lazily, "Your vital energy cultivation has clearly reached the required level, and your Qi Gathering Stage cultivation has reached its peak, yet you do not understand how to turn your gaze inward and preserve your thoughts. Your cultivation cannot advance any further."
Xu Ying looked left and right but saw no one. He tentatively asked, "May I ask, Senior, what does it mean to turn one's gaze inward and preserve one's thoughts? How does one turn the gaze inward? How does one preserve one's thoughts?"
The voice said slowly, "Turning one's gaze inward and preserving one's thoughts means taking from within. During the Qi Gathering Stage, you draw in the sun's essence and energy, taking from the outside to gather essence and energy and enrich your vital energy. To turn your gaze inward is to observe within—to observe your own body, open the Realm of Serenity, and see your five viscera and six bowels from within. It is an extraordinary sight, mysterious and illusory. At that stage, the Five Qi Towards Origin, harmonizing the five qi and transforming them into origin energy, marks the great accomplishment of the Qi Gathering Stage. Only after reaching great accomplishment in Qi Gathering can you see the Human Body Mystic Pass and advance toward the next realm."
Xu Ying was confused. "Senior, the next realm you described doesn't match the Nu Master realms. Could you be talking about the cultivation method of the Demon Race?"
Yuan Qi heard Xu Ying muttering and hurriedly looked over, only to see him speaking to empty air. He wondered, What's wrong with A Ying?
The voice asked, puzzled, "What is a Nu Master? I'm talking about Qi Refiners! Aren't you a Qi Refiner?"
Before you continue