Realm of Serenity

Xu Ying was somewhat disappointed. He had thought the mysterious voice was talking about the Nu Master's Nu arts, and had been quite excited. He had not expected it to be something entirely different.

"What is a Qi Refiner, then? Am I not cultivating Demonic Arts?"

He was puzzled and said, "Senior, could you help me open the Ni Wan Secret Treasury and teach me the Nu arts?"

The voice was extremely irritable. "What you're cultivating is clearly a Qi Refiner's technique. It has nothing to do with Demonic Arts! As for Nu arts, what are those? Enough nonsense. I'll teach you how to look inward. Keep your eyes half-closed, with only a sliver of light remaining before you. Observe the wings of your nose, and hold on to a single thought. That thought is your consciousness. Listen to my command: your eyes are the sun and moon, your hair the stars, your brows the canopy, and your head Kunlun. Arrange the palaces and halls, and settle your spirit! I want you to settle your spirit between your eyes, turn your spirit into a single thought, and refine that thought into divine sense!"

Xu Ying's eyes were neither fully open nor fully closed. Only a sliver of light entered his vision. He looked at the wings of his nose, but what he saw was not his nose, only that sliver of light.

His consciousness focused on the sliver of light. He held a single thought in his heart, with nothing else on his mind.

The voice rang out in his mind like thunder, continuing, "Refine consciousness into divine sense, and you'll be able to see the light before you as a door. Push it open and enter, and you'll reach the Realm of Serenity within your body! However, refining consciousness into divine sense takes several days. Call me once you've finished refining your divine sense... Hmm?"

Between Xu Ying's half-open, half-closed eyes, a faint divine light seemed to be gathering!

This was divine sense!

The voice let out a startled cry, nearly leaping out from the back of Xu Ying's head.

The one making the voice was the Great Bronze Bell hidden in the back of Xu Ying's head. Last night, the Great Bell had slaughtered its way across the River of Helplessness, killing six or seven powerful foes, only to be severely wounded when the Maiden in the Coffin escaped her restraints.

It had fled for its life, crashed into Jian Mountain, tumbled down the slope, and landed beside a mountain stream. It had tried to heal its injuries, but they were too severe for it to mend them on its own.

As it happened, Xu Ying had passed by and intended to touch its "head." Sensing that Xu Ying was a Qi Refiner, it had therefore decided to feign an injury and extort him.

The Great Bronze Bell hid in Xu Ying's mind and stole his qi and blood to heal itself. Yet Xu Ying was clearly a Qi Refiner who did not know how to cultivate, which infuriated it so much that it finally offered him some guidance.

As the saying went, giving a man a fish was not as good as teaching him to fish. Or, if you wanted to trap a rogue, you had to be willing to sacrifice your wife. Or, if you wanted a horse to run fast, you had to feed it well. Once Xu Ying's cultivation speed improved, it could steal more qi and blood, and its injuries would heal faster as well.

Still, guidance was one thing. It did not believe Xu Ying could master inner observation in such a short time. Yet what it could never have imagined was that Xu Ying had refined his consciousness into divine sense immediately after it finished telling him to refine a single thought!

That speed gave it a real fright!

The Great Bronze Bell had seen plenty in its day. In its era, accomplished cultivators, when practicing inner observation and visualization, had divine light flickering in and out of their eyes, varying in length and intensity!

That divine light was divine sense.

Although no divine light spilled from Xu Ying's eyes, divine light was clearly contained within them—a sign that he had indeed cultivated divine sense!

It was just far too fast!

What it did not know was that the technique Xu Ying cultivated was the Taiyi Guiding Technique. Practicing this technique required him to restrain the monkey of the mind and horse of the will, retaining only a single thought.

That thought was Taiyi.

Although Taiyi was his thought, the thought itself was empty, spacious enough to contain all his spirit.

Xu Ying had guarded Taiyi with his consciousness for seven years. His foundation was incomparably solid. Now that he had received the Great Bronze Bell's guidance, turning his spirit into a single thought and refining that thought into divine sense was as natural as water flowing down a channel, simple beyond belief.

The Great Bronze Bell thought, Mastering divine sense alone isn't enough. To see that door, he'll still need several days of cultivation. And even if he can see it, he'll need several more days to temper his divine sense before he can push it open and enter the Realm of Serenity...

Just as it thought this, it saw divine light misting in Xu Ying's eyes. In that brief instant, the youth had actually seen the door, and his divine sense had pushed it open!

"This kid is a great talent!"

The Great Bronze Bell's mind shook violently. "He's only one stroke away from being a genius! With talent like this, he might even catch up to my master... Hmm, he's still just a tiny bit behind my master."

Xu Ying observed the divine light before him inwardly. Within it, he vaguely saw a white jade door. Beyond that, there was nothing else.

He "walked" forward. The door grew taller and wider. He pushed it open, and suddenly a fantastical world appeared before him. This was the Realm of Serenity the Great Bronze Bell had mentioned—the mysterious, illusory world within his body!

His "vision" suddenly expanded and brightened, and all manner of gorgeous, dazzling colors flooded his sight!

The colors were incredibly vivid—so vivid that no corresponding color existed in the natural world!

But this was not the vision of his eyes. It was the vision of his divine sense!

At the instant he pushed open the door, his divine sense had undergone a wondrous transformation, granting him the ability to look inward at himself!

He felt as though his divine sense had gained the ability to fly. It floated in the boundless sky, traveling alongside streams of visible energy.

Clouds and mist swirled all around.

Those streams of energy and those clouds were the qi within his body!

High in the sky, towering mountains hung upside down. They were his heart, lungs, and other organs!

He could even see the scars on his internal organs—the internal injuries he had suffered along the way!

Xu Ying saw some qi surge upward and transform into rain. The instant thunderclouds formed, thunder boomed within the layers of clouds, and lightning burst forth, illuminating the cloud-filled sky, earth, and mountains!

"So this is Thunder Sound Body Tempering!"

Xu Ying suddenly understood the truth behind Thunder Sound Body Tempering, and immense joy welled up in his heart.

Suddenly, bright light shone over. Xu Ying looked toward it and saw qi gathering into a blazing radiance, like a great sun rising from within his body and traveling among his immense internal organs.

The great sun illuminated his liver, producing green light; illuminated his lungs, producing white light; illuminated his heart, producing red light; illuminated his kidneys, producing black light; and illuminated his spleen, producing yellow light!

This was Great Sun Body Tempering!

The magnificent sight left him carefree and refreshed!

His body seemed to contain an immeasurable expanse of space!

This was inner observation!

Xu Ying turned back and saw "himself" floating before a white jade door.

He had just pushed open this door, opening a mysterious, illusory world within his fleshly body!

This world of the flesh was the Realm of Serenity the Great Bronze Bell had mentioned!

The Great Bronze Bell said, "Your talent is passable. Since you've opened the Realm of Serenity, I'll teach you how to achieve Five Qi Towards Origin. Let divine sense be your intent and draw upon the qi of the five mountains."

Following its words, Xu Ying guided his divine sense. He saw mysterious streams of qi rushing toward him from the five organs hanging upside down like mountains in the sky.

The qi of the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys came in five colors—red, green, yellow, white, and black. Drawn by his divine sense, the five qi converged toward their origin and merged into one!

The five-colored streams of qi fused, and divine light suddenly blazed forth. Ten thousand rays of golden light shone, and origin qi took shape!

This was Five Qi Towards Origin!

Xu Ying felt an indescribable power filling his body, vast and mighty, purer and more vigorous than his former qi and blood!

This wondrous current of origin qi flowed through his body. Wherever it passed, even the internal injuries in his organs quietly improved.

The Great Bronze Bell was equally astonished. It had originally thought Xu Ying would need some time before he could achieve Five Qi Towards Origin, refining the five qi produced by his organs into origin qi. It had never expected Xu Ying to accomplish it with such ease, directly drawing in the five qi and achieving Five Qi Towards Origin!

This great talent can reluctantly be given that extra stroke. The Great Bronze Bell thought, Of course, he's still just a tiny bit behind my master! Hmm, just a tiny bit...

Five qi gathered within Xu Ying, converged toward their origin, and transformed into origin qi. He felt his qi and blood flourishing, his muscles and bones ringing in unison, and his internal organs rumbling as if dragons roared and tigers howled. His body and mind were indescribably comfortable.

Yuan Qi was startled. In such a short time, he felt Xu Ying's aura become deep and unending, his qi and blood rich and vigorous.

"What happened to A Ying?"

Just as he thought this, he saw Xu Ying's qi and blood rapidly wither, as though the Female Ghost had harvested him three hundred times over.

"This is much more normal... No, this absolutely isn't normal! It must be that bell meddling!"

Yuan Qi's snake face shifted between light and shadow. Torn and struggling inwardly, he thought, Xu Ying is my younger brother. I can't just stand by and watch him be harvested by the Bell Demon!

He gathered his courage and was about to speak when a bell rang inside his mind. His courage immediately vanished, and he thought, He won't die from a few harvests. Forget it.

At the foot of Jian Mountain, the villagers stopped whatever they were doing and looked toward the village entrance. They saw a giant fourteen feet tall walking into the small village.

The giant was bare-chested, with green streamers wrapped around his body. A round wheel shaped like a ship's helm was strapped to his back. He was barefoot and wore only a pair of shorts. His muscles were chiseled like they had been carved by knives and axes, their edges as sharp as rock.

Green incense smoke of worship roiled around his body. It was the Incense Qi the people had offered him.

The Incense Qi darted around him like agile spirit snakes.

The villagers heard faint whispers all around them and grew fearful. The old men quietly drove the livestock to hide behind the village. The women hurriedly picked up their children, while the pretty young girls and married women with delicate complexions shoved their hands into the bottoms of cooking pots, grabbed handfuls of soot, and smeared it across their faces.

The giant deity surveyed the village as he walked. Suddenly, he stopped, grabbed an old man, and said in a deep, booming voice, "Five chickens and two jars of wine. Boil the chickens in clear water, adding only a little salt and star anise. Take them out after one-quarter of an hour and chill them in cold water."

The old man spoke with a sob in his voice. "Great god, my household has only two old hens. We need their eggs to scrape together enough money to take to the market in Huangtianpu Town and sell. As for wine, we've never even tasted it. We don't know what it tastes like..."

The giant deity threw him to the ground and sneered. "Do you want me to eat people? Hurry and search the village!"

The old man rolled and crawled away, rushing through the village to beg everyone for help until he managed to obtain several chickens.

The villagers trembled with fear as they prepared the clear-water chickens. They scraped together two jars of poor wine, strained out the murky sediment, and offered everything to the giant deity.

The old man poured the wine and asked timidly, "Great god, where did you come from?"

The giant deity devoured the chicken and drained a large bowl of wine. "I have enjoyed incense offerings in Yangzitang Town for two hundred and thirty-four years, and the incense has never ceased. The people of Yangzitang Town call me Yang Xiangong. I have received the City God's decree to capture the wanted criminal Xu Ying. Do you have a daughter? Have her come sing a song and drink wine."

The old man wailed, "I can't even afford to marry a wife. Where would I get a daughter?"

The giant deity glanced at the neighboring household and saw a young girl there. He had her come over to sing and entertain him, then asked, "How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Twelve is still too young. When you're fourteen or fifteen, don't marry anyone. I'll take you as my favored one. I'll marry you properly, so I won't bring shame upon you."

The giant deity tossed the Maiden a chicken leg. Her face was sallow from hunger, and she hurriedly hugged the chicken leg and gnawed at it, weeping with gratitude. Beside her, the old man's throat bobbed as he stared hungrily.

At that moment, the giant deity sensed something and looked toward the village entrance. A slightly thin youth was walking over.

The youth was only fourteen or fifteen, yet he was tall and broad-boned, with large hands and feet. His clothes were tattered, but he possessed a lofty bearing, and a trace of untamed arrogance was hidden between his brows.

The youth looked unwell. His eye sockets were dark and sunken, and his qi and blood were deficient.

A huge snake followed behind him. It was several yards long, black and white, and naturally carried a stream of Demonic Energy.

"God Slayer Xu Ying!"

The giant deity burst out laughing and rose to his feet, his voice ringing like a great bell. "The other deities all rushed northwest, thinking they could stop you there. But I'm clever. I knew you might go against expectations and come this way instead. So I stayed here, and sure enough, I've been waiting for you!"

The youth was Xu Ying. He did not panic at the words.

The Snake Demon Yuan Qi shouted, "Since you know he's the God Slayer, why haven't you run? Judicial Assistant Ding Quan of Lingling and Judicial Assistant Wei Chu both died at the hands of Young Master Xu. Their corpses are still on Stone Mountain as proof! Stone Mountain God Huang Siping had one of his legs hacked off by Young Master Xu and fled in disgrace! If you know what's good for you, get lost now. Your father Xu and Master Niu will spare your life!"

The giant deity was surprised. He laughed and said, "Xu Ying, the Stone Mountain God was a demon king, while the Judicial Assistant and the Judicial Assistant were Nu Masters. Since they were defeated by you, it seems you do have some ability. But how can you be sure my strength is inferior to theirs?"

He strode forward and flicked a finger. A stream of Incense Qi shot out like lightning. In midair, it transformed into a sharp arrow, piercing the caught-off-guard Snake Demon Yuan Qi and pinning him to the ground!

Yuan Qi wept from the pain. Knowing he had encountered a tough opponent, he shouted, "You're here to capture the fugitive Xu Ying! What does that have to do with me, Ox Yuan Qi? Why did you injure me?"

The giant ignored him. With a light wipe of his palm, the Incense Qi in it formed a sword over ten feet long. He flicked the sword with one finger, and its ringing note was clear and leisurely. "Kneel, Xu Ying. Don't resist me. Let me chop off your head and take it to the City God to complete my duty!"

"Kneel?"

Xu Ying clenched his fists and lowered his head to look at the wounds covering them. The corners of his mouth lifted stubbornly. "When I beat the deity of Jiangjiatian to death, I swore in secret that from then on, I would never kneel before wooden or clay idols again."

The youth's qi and blood boiled, forming behind him a twelve-foot-tall Elephant-Headed Deity. It raised its head and roared at the giant deity, its cry shaking heaven and earth.

Xu Ying raised his head. His eyes shone like stars in the dark night. "I was born free. Who dares ride on my head? Who dares call me a slave and order me to kneel? Whoever does, I'll beat him to death!"

----Lately, I've been suffering from pollen allergies. Zhuzhu's nose won't stop running like a faucet, and I keep sneezing. It's already affecting my normal schedule and daily life. Choose a Day to Ascend is in its new-book period, so the data is crucial. Brothers, please throw me some monthly passes~