Realm of Serenity

Xu Ying was a little disappointed. He thought the mysterious voice was talking about the Nuo Master's Nuo techniques and had gotten excited, only to realize it wasn't at all.

"What's a Qi Refiner? Aren't I practicing demonic arts?"

He was a bit confused and asked, "Senior, can you help me open my Ni Wan Secret Treasury and teach me Nuo techniques?"

The voice was very irritable. "You're clearly practicing the techniques of a Qi Refiner, it has nothing to do with demonic arts! As for Nuo techniques, what are those? Enough nonsense, I'll teach you how to observe internally. Your eyes are neither fully open nor fully closed, with only a sliver of light remaining before you. Observe your nostrils, and hold a single thought. This thought is your consciousness. Listen to my command: your eyes are the sun and moon, your hair is the stars, your eyebrows are the canopy, your head is Kunlun. Arrange your palaces and position your spirit! I want you to position your spirit between your eyes, transform your spirit into a single thought, and refine this thought into divine sense!"

Xu Ying's eyes were half-open, half-closed. Before him, only a sliver of light entered his vision. He looked at his nostrils, but what he saw was not his nostrils, but a line of light.

His consciousness focused on this line of light, holding a single thought, with nothing else in his mind.

The voice, deafening, continued to echo in his mind. "Refine consciousness into divine sense, and you will see the light before you as a gateway. Push open the door and enter the Realm of Serenity within your body! However, refining consciousness into divine sense takes several days. I'll wait until you've refined your divine sense before calling me... Huh?"

As Xu Ying's eyes were half-open and half-closed, a divine light seemed to be contained within them!

This was divine sense!

The voice exclaimed in surprise, nearly leaping out of the back of Xu Ying's head.

The source of the voice was the Great Bronze Bell hidden in the back of Xu Ying's head. Last night, this bell had wreaked havoc on the River of Oblivion, killing six or seven powerful enemies. Unexpectedly, the girl in the coffin broke free and severely injured it.

It fled desperately, crashing into Jian Mountain, tumbling down the mountain and landing beside a ravine. It tried to heal its injuries, but they were too severe for it to heal on its own.

Coincidentally, Xu Ying passed by and intended to touch its "head." The bell sensed that Xu Ying was a Qi Refiner and decided to play the victim.

The Great Bronze Bell hid in Xu Ying's mind, stealing his Blood Essence to heal itself. But Xu Ying was clearly a Qi Refiner yet didn't know how to cultivate, which greatly angered it, hence its decision to offer guidance.

As the saying goes, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Also, "You can't catch a rogue without sacrificing your daughter," and "If you want the horse to run fast, you have to feed it well." If Xu Ying's cultivation speed improved, it could steal more Blood Essence, and its injuries would heal faster.

However, guidance was one thing. It didn't believe Xu Ying could achieve internal observation in such a short time. But what it never expected was that Xu Ying would refine his consciousness into divine sense right after it finished explaining how to refine a thought into divine sense!

This speed truly startled it!

The Great Bronze Bell had seen much in its time. The enlightened individuals of its era, when performing internal observation and contemplation, would have divine light emanating from their eyes, fluctuating in length!

This divine light was divine sense.

Although Xu Ying's eyes didn't have divine light spilling out, the divine light contained within them was indeed a sign of having cultivated divine sense!

But this speed was simply too fast!

It didn't know that the technique Xu Ying was cultivating was called the Taiyi Guiding Technique. When practicing this technique, one needed to restrain the restless mind, leaving only a single thought.

This single thought was Taiyi.

Although Taiyi was his thought, the thought itself was empty, capable of containing all his spirit.

Xu Ying had been guarding Taiyi with his consciousness for seven years, his foundation incredibly stable. Now, with the Great Bronze Bell's guidance, transforming his spirit into a single thought and refining that thought into divine sense was a natural and incredibly simple process.

The Great Bronze Bell thought to itself, "Just cultivating divine sense isn't enough. He still needs several days of practice to see that gateway. Moreover, even if he can see the gateway, it will take several days to hone his divine sense before he can push open the door and enter the Realm of Serenity..."

Just as it thought this, it saw divine light swirling in Xu Ying's eyes. In that brief moment, the young man actually saw the gateway and pushed it open with his divine sense!

"This kid is a genius!"

The Great Bronze Bell was greatly shaken. "He's only one step away from being a true genius! This kind of talent might even catch up to my master... Hmm, still a tiny bit behind my master."

Xu Ying observed the divine light before him. Vaguely, he saw a white jade gateway within the divine light, and nothing else.

He "walked" forward. The gateway grew taller and wider. Pushing it open, a fantastical world suddenly appeared before his eyes. This was the Realm of Serenity the Great Bronze Bell had spoken of, the illusory world within his body!

His "vision" broadened and brightened, with all sorts of brilliant and colorful hues appearing before him!

These colors were incredibly vivid, so much so that there were no corresponding colors in nature!

But this was not his physical sight; it was the sight of his divine sense!

The moment he pushed open the door, his divine sense underwent a wondrous transformation, granting him the ability to perceive himself internally!

He felt as if his divine sense had gained the ability to fly, floating in the vast expanse, traversing through visible currents of air.

Clouds and mist swirled around.

Those currents of air and clouds were his internal Qi!

High in the sky, majestic mountains hung upside down – these were his heart and lungs!

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

Xu Ying saw some Qi rising and turning into rain, the moment thunder and rain formed. In the thunderclouds, thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed, illuminating the sky and the mountains and rivers covered in mist!

"So this is Thunder Sound Body Tempering!"

Xu Ying suddenly understood the truth of Thunder Sound Body Tempering, and a great joy bloomed in his heart.

Suddenly, a bright light shone forth. Xu Ying looked and saw Qi converging, forming a ball of light as blazing as fire, like a great sun rising from within his body, moving through his immense internal organs.

That great sun illuminated his liver, showing a green light; it illuminated his lungs, showing a white light; it illuminated his heart, showing a red light; it illuminated his kidneys, showing a black light; it illuminated his spleen, showing a yellow light!

This was Great Sun Body Tempering!

Such a magnificent spectacle filled him with exhilaration!

His body's interior seemed to contain boundless space!

This was internal observation!

Xu Ying looked back and saw "himself" floating before a white jade gate.

He had just pushed open this door, and a world that was as mysterious as it was illusory within his physical body had opened up!

This physical body world was the Realm of Serenity that the Great Bronze Bell had spoken of!

The Great Bronze Bell said, "Your aptitude is passable. Since you have opened the Realm of Serenity, I will teach you how to achieve Five Qi Towards Origin. Your divine sense is your will; guide the Qi of the Five Great Mountains."

Xu Ying followed its words, his divine sense guiding him. He saw that within the five viscera, which hung in the sky like inverted mountains, mysterious Qi flowed in, converging towards him.

The Qi of the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, divided into five colors—red, green, yellow, white, and black—was guided by his divine sense. The Five Qi Towards Origin, converging into one!

The five streams of colored Qi fused, and immediately, divine light radiated, with ten thousand rays of golden light, and primal Qi was formed!

This was precisely Five Qi Towards Origin!

Xu Ying felt his body filled with an indescribable power, vast and mighty, purer and more potent than his former Blood Essence!

This miraculous flow of primal Qi, wherever it passed, even healed some of his internal injuries to his five viscera without him realizing it!

The Great Bronze Bell was also extremely shocked. It had originally thought that Xu Ying would need more time to achieve Five Qi Towards Origin, to refine the five Qi generated by his viscera into primal Qi. It had not expected Xu Ying to achieve it so effortlessly, directly drawing the five Qi to accomplish Five Qi Towards Origin!

"This great talent, I can barely add that stroke to his name," the Great Bronze Bell thought to itself. "Of course, he's still a tiny bit short of my master! Hmm, just a tiny bit..."

With the five Qi contained within him, Five Qi Towards Origin, transforming into primal Qi, Xu Ying felt his own Blood Essence vigorously generating, his muscles and bones chiming, his five viscera as if filled with the roars of dragons and the howls of tigers, his body and mind at ease.

Yuan Qi was startled. He felt that in such a short time, Xu Ying's aura had become long and continuous, his Blood Essence robust.

"What's wrong with A Ying?"

Just as he thought this, he saw Xu Ying's Blood Essence rapidly wither, as if he had been ravaged by the female ghost for another three hundred rounds.

"This is much more normal... No, this is absolutely not normal! It must be that bell causing trouble!"

Yuan Qi's snake face flickered with changing emotions. He struggled internally, thinking, "Xu Ying is my brother. I cannot stand by and watch him be drained by the bell demon!"

He mustered his courage and was about to speak when a bell sound suddenly rang in his mind. Yuan Qi's courage vanished. He thought, "It won't kill him to be drained a few times anyway. Let it be."

In the village at the foot of Jian Mountain, the villagers all stopped their work and looked towards 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 him. A rudder-shaped wheel was strapped to his back, and he was barefoot, wearing only a pair of shorts. His muscles were like they were chiseled by knives, with sharp, distinct edges like rocks.

A green smoke and fire Qi emanated from his body; it was the incense offered to him by the people.

This incense Qi, like spirit snakes, flew around his body, extremely agile.

The villagers heard faint whispers and felt a sense of awe. The old men quietly herded their livestock to hide behind the village, the women quickly picked up their children, and the beautiful young girls and wives reached into the bottom of the pot, grabbing a handful of soot to smear on their faces.

The giant deity walked, observing the village. Suddenly, he stopped, grabbed an old man, and said in a deep voice, "Five chickens, two jars of wine. The chickens should be boiled in clear water, with only a little salt and star anise. Take them out after a quarter of an hour and ice them in cold water."

The old man said with a crying voice, "Your Excellency, I only have two old hens at home, and I need them to lay eggs to sell for money in the market at Huangtianpu Town. I've never even tasted wine, so I 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 scrambled up and hurriedly went into the village, begging and pleading to get a few chickens.

The villagers trembled, preparing clear water chicken and two jars of weak wine. They strained out the turbid dregs and offered them to the giant deity.

The old man poured the wine and said, trembling, "Where are you from, Your Excellency?"

The giant deity ate the chicken heartily and drank the wine from a large bowl, saying, "I have enjoyed incense offerings in Yangzitang Town for two hundred and thirty-four years without interruption. The townsfolk of Yangzitang Town call me Yang Xiangong. I am here under the City God's orders to apprehend the fugitive Xu Ying. Do you have a daughter? Have her sing and drink with me."

The old man cried, "I can't afford a wife, where would I get a daughter?"

The giant deity glanced at the neighboring house and saw a girl. He asked her to come sing and entertain, inquiring, "How old are you?"

"Twelve years old."

"Twelve is still young. When you are fourteen or fifteen, don't get married. I will dote on you and marry you with proper rites. It will not disgrace you."

The giant deity tossed a chicken leg to the girl. The girl, with a sallow complexion, hastily took the chicken leg and gnawed on it, tears of gratitude streaming down her face. The old man beside her gulped, his throat bobbing.

At this moment, the giant deity sensed something and looked towards the village entrance. He saw a slightly thin young man walking over.

The young man was only fourteen or fifteen years old, but he was tall and broad-boned, with large hands and feet. Although his clothes were tattered, he carried himself with dignity, a hint of untamed wildness hidden in his brows.

The young man's complexion was poor, with dark circles under his eyes, sunken eye sockets, and a lack of Blood Essence.

Behind him followed a large snake, black and white, several dozen feet long, naturally exuding a demonic aura.

"God Slayer Xu Ying!"

The giant deity laughed heartily and stood up, his voice like a booming bell. "The other deities are rushing to the northwest, thinking they can stop you there. But I am clever. I knew you might do the opposite. So I stayed here, and indeed, I have waited for you!"

The young man was indeed Xu Ying. He was not alarmed upon hearing this.

The snake demon Yuan Qi shouted, "Since you know the person is the God Slayer, why aren't you leaving? Lingling's Judicial Assistant Ding Quan and Warden Wei Chu both died at the hands of the great young master Xu! Their corpses are still on Stone Mountain as proof! Stone Mountain God Huang Siping had a leg cut off by the great young master Xu and fled in disarray! If you know what's good for you, get lost immediately. Your Master Xu and Master Niu will spare your life!"

The giant deity was surprised and laughed, "Xu Ying, the Stone Mountain God is a Demon King, and the Warden and Judicial Assistant were Nu Masters. They were defeated by your hand. It seems you do have some skills. However, how can you be sure that my strength is weaker than theirs?"

He strode forward, flicked his finger, and a stream of incense Qi shot out, as fast as lightning. In mid-air, it transformed into a sharp arrow, piercing the unprepared snake demon Yuan Qi and pinning him to the ground!

Yuan Qi's eyes welled up with tears from the pain. He knew he had encountered a tough opponent and cried, "You are apprehending the fugitive Xu Ying. What does this have to do with me, Niu Yuan Qi? Why did you hurt me?"

The giant ignored him. He lightly wiped his palm, and the incense Qi in his palm formed a sword over ten feet long. He flicked his finger, and the sword rang out clearly. He said leisurely, "Kneel, Xu Ying. Do not resist me. Let me cut off your head and take it to the City God as my report!"

"Kneel?"

Xu Ying clenched his fists, looking down at his scarred hands. The corners of his mouth turned up stubbornly. "When I beat to death the deity of Jiangjiatian, I secretly swore that from then on, I would no longer kneel to deities made of wood carvings and clay."

The young man's Blood Essence surged, forming a divine figure over ten feet tall with an elephant's head and a human's body behind him. It roared defiantly at the giant deity, its roar shaking the heavens and earth.

Xu Ying raised his head, his eyes shining, sparkling like stars in the dark night. "I was born free. Whoever dares to ride on my head, whoever dares to call me a slave, whoever dares to tell me to kneel, I will beat them to death!"

----Recently, I've been suffering from pollen allergies, and my nose has been running like a faucet, with constant sneezing. It's already affecting my normal routine and life. "Ze Ri Fei Sheng" is in the new book period, and data is crucial. Brothers, please vote for the monthly ticket~