Xu Ying's face reddened slightly. "I'll return it once I'm done reading. Haven't I not finished yet? Look at how impatient you are. It's not as if I could secretly keep your book."
This Black Bear was a demon from Mount Xiao, and he and Xu Ying could be considered old acquaintances.
Children from poor families learned to manage their households early. Xu Ying was a Snake Catcher from Lingling, usually running all over the mountains and plains in search of Strange Snakes. After taking so many wild mountain paths, it was inevitable that he would encounter demons.
Although he was an honest boy, he had practiced the Taiyi Guiding Technique since childhood. His qi and blood were vigorous, and ordinary demons truly were no match for him. Thus, Xu Ying had become acquainted with many of the demons in the mountains of Lingling through "fighting without knowing each other."
Because he had practiced the Taiyi Guiding Technique for many years, his cultivation had reached its peak, leaving him with nowhere else to go. So he extorted these demons, demanding their scriptures for study in an attempt to find the path beyond.
The bear demon Xiong Qianli was one of his victims.
"Are we really not going to eat him?" Snake Demon Yuan Qi glanced at Black Bear, licked his lips, and whispered, "I'm getting a little hungry."
Xiong Qianli glared angrily. "Xu, you really are planning to eat me!"
Xu Ying consoled him. "Qianli, you know me. I'm handsome and kindhearted. I don't eat demons. If I wanted to eat you, I would have done it years ago." As he spoke, his stomach betrayed him and rumbled several times.
Black Bear jumped in fright and shrank even farther into the corner, even less willing to come out.
Xu Ying searched through the cave, with Great Bell following behind him and crashing into everything with a constant clanging. Fortunately, the rainstorm made it impossible to climb the mountain. Otherwise, the noise would surely have drawn the pursuers.
After searching for a long while, Xu Ying found only pots, bowls, ladles, chopsticks, some old books, and a few sweet potatoes and yams. There was no other food.
Xu Ying glanced at Xiong Qianli in the corner. Black Bear shuddered and shouted, "Don't look at me! I don't eat people! After you told me not to harm anyone last time, I even gave up eating chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs! There's no meat here! Look at the fields outside the cave—those sweet potatoes and yams were all planted in my fields!"
Xu Ying scratched his head. "You can still eat some game in your daily life. Forget it. I'm not someone who can't live without meat. A few sweet potatoes and yams won't kill me."
He brought over some sweet potatoes and yams and placed them in the fire to roast. After a while, an alluring fragrance filled the cave.
Black Bear was hungry too. He cautiously edged over, begged for several, and began eating.
Seeing how spineless he looked, Snake Demon Yuan Qi grew angry and called out, "This is your cave, and those sweet potatoes and yams were planted by you. They aren't his. Do you really need to be so cautious?"
Black Bear wiped away his tears and choked out, "You haven't been beaten by him..."
Yuan Qi could not help shedding tears as well. "Brother, so you've suffered the same fate as me."
Xu Ying put down his roasted sweet potato and said unhappily, "Qianli, I thought we were friends. I didn't expect you to speak about me like that behind my back!"
Black Bear sat meekly beside Yuan Qi and whispered, "He even picked up a rock and squeezed the juice out of it. He said that if I didn't give him my scriptures, he would squeeze the juice out of my head too—and make me drink it!"
Xu Ying heard him. His face darkened, but he said nothing, lowering his head and eating his sweet potato. He clearly said he was willing to be my friend, yet he still badmouths me behind my back! Hmph!
Snake Demon Yuan Qi secretly glanced at Xu Ying and whispered, "When he threatened me to hand over my scriptures, he also squeezed juice out of a rock, wringing water from it. It was downright terrifying!"
Xiong Qianli lowered his voice. "What a ruffian. He's not as refined as us demons!"
Snake Demon Yuan Qi nodded repeatedly. "Brother, what books do you usually read?"
Xiong Qianli was both surprised and delighted. "You like reading too?"
The two demons felt as though they had finally met kindred spirits and had countless things to say, but unfortunately Xu Ying was in the way.
Xu Ying finished brewing the medicine, dividing it into an external application and an oral dose, then applied it to Snake Demon Yuan Qi. Yuan Qi curled his tail around the large pot and gulped down the medicinal broth.
Xu Ying then treated himself. His internal injuries were not serious, but the wounds on his skin and flesh were severe, so they had to be treated quickly.
After applying the medicine, Xu Ying looked outside. Although the sky had darkened, it was not yet time for the sun to set.
"Yuan Qi, Great Bell taught me a method of inner observation. It can heal injuries to the five viscera and six bowels, and it can also raise one's cultivation by transforming the qi of the five viscera into origin qi. I'll teach it to you."
Xu Ying sat before the campfire, condensed his consciousness into divine sense, and explained how to open the door of divine sense and enter the Realm of Serenity. "Once you open the Realm of Serenity inside your body, you'll be able to see your own five viscera and six bowels, with your heart and lungs hanging upside down like mountains. The five viscera contain five types of qi, radiating five-colored divine light. Combined with the Great Sun Body Tempering, they can be seen clearly. Gather the five qi toward their origin, and you can refine origin qi. Once you accomplish this, your power will advance by leaps and bounds, and becoming a Demon King will not be difficult."
Snake Demon Yuan Qi listened, completely absorbed. The demon Xiong Qianli also listened beside the campfire, looking somewhat bewildered.
After Xu Ying finished speaking, he left them to cultivate and once again turned inward, allowing his divine sense to enter the Realm of Serenity within his body.
Snake Demon Yuan Qi was a Strange Snake. His strength had originally been about equal to Xu Ying's, and it had taken three days and three nights of fighting before Xu Ying captured him. His natural aptitude was extraordinary. After Xu Ying explained the method once, he gained considerable insight. Soon, he was gazing at his nose and nose at his heart, entering meditation.
Black Bear's mind was not especially nimble, so he could only sit by the campfire and slowly ponder the method.
Xu Ying sat before the campfire, keeping his mind on Taiyi. His eyes were half-open and half-closed, and beneath his eyelids, divine light flickered and swallowed like a yellow sprout.
Before him, the white jade door appeared once more. He pushed it open and entered the Realm of Serenity within his body again.
The last time he had entered the Realm of Serenity, he had stayed for too short a time and had not lingered. This time, the torrential rain had cut off the pursuers, giving him plenty of time to explore this inner world.
Although this was his second time entering the Realm of Serenity, the shock of his first entry had not diminished in the slightest!
Xu Ying floated in the air and looked around. The dazzling colors in the Realm of Serenity, impossible for anything in the world to possess, fascinated him deeply.
Origin qi flowed through the sky like streams, its currents stretching across the heavens like rainbow ribbons. His elevated heart and lungs hung like mountains, inverted from above. The five qi fell like waterfalls, drifting downward and gathering into origin qi.
Origin qi steamed and rose. When it encountered thunder, it transformed into rain, or gathered into masses and became scorching suns that traveled among the mountains and rivers, illuminating the five viscera and six bowels.
Xu Ying felt refreshed and carefree. His divine sense roamed through heaven and earth along the currents of origin qi, borrowing the origin qi to heal his internal injuries.
Within the clouds, bolts of thunder appeared so clear and dazzling that he could even see every detail of them, filled with power and sharpness!
"Great Bell said I only know how to gather qi and don't understand inner observation and visualization. Now I've learned inner observation, but what is visualization?" Xu Ying wondered.
To preserve his life, Great Bell had fought against the City God and Zhou Yihang, exhausting the last of its might. It was still sleeping, and Xu Ying could not contact it. Naturally, he had no way of knowing what visualization was.
Xu Ying roamed through the Realm of Serenity for a long while. Suddenly, illuminated by the light bursting forth when the thunder tempered his body, he noticed many dark regions within himself that he had never paid attention to before!
"What is that place?"
Amid the flashes of lightning, he vaguely saw lofty mountain ranges in the darkness, stretching and rising like giant dragons, with no idea where they came from. Following the mountain range by the light of the thunder, he saw that its course seemed to descend from above, coming straight down from the heavens!
Xu Ying was startled and uncertain. Suddenly, he saw surging rivers rushing violently from the horizon, as if they intended to drown the mountains!
Beside that mountain range, there seemed to be a heavenly river hanging upside down!
The flash of thunder vanished in an instant, and the enormous mountains and surging river once again disappeared into the darkness.
Xu Ying steadied his mind. When the thunder within him lit up again, amid the flashes and rumbling, he vaguely saw a portal standing between the mountains and the great river, reaching from earth to heaven. It stretched across the world, separating the mountain range from the heavenly river!
That portal gleamed with the luster of black iron in the thunderlight!
After the thunder passed, the portal with its Black Iron luster concealed itself in the darkness once more.
"That portal..."
Xu Ying's mind was shaken. His divine sense rose and flew toward it, trying to get a closer look. But as soon as he reached the edge of the darkness, his "vision" suddenly blurred, and his divine sense showed signs of scattering.
He hesitated, then moved forward again. His divine sense grew hazy, and suddenly it collapsed and disintegrated.
Xu Ying awoke from his inner observation and was just about to rise when the world suddenly spun around him. With a thud, he toppled to the ground and fainted.
During this bout of unconsciousness, Xu Ying felt as though his head was splitting apart in his dreams. He was dazed and muddled, plagued by one nightmare after another. Each nightmare was bizarre, terrifying, and horrifying, like a heart demon invading him.
When he gradually awoke, he could not remember a single dream.
Xu Ying slowly opened his eyes. His head still hurt terribly, as if an ax had chopped into the left side of his skull and remained lodged there, never pulled free.
His vision gradually cleared, revealing the faces of Snake Demon Yuan Qi and Xiong Qianli. The two great demons watched him with concern, and only after seeing him awaken did they breathe a sigh of relief.
"You suddenly fainted and scared the wits out of the two of us!" Snake Demon Yuan Qi shouted.
Seeing Xu Ying's confusion, he hurriedly explained, "While you were unconscious, Qianli and I had a wonderful conversation and became sworn brothers. I'm the elder brother."
"I'm the younger brother!" Xiong Qianli said excitedly. "We discovered for the first time that we had so much in common. If we hadn't become sworn brothers, we would have had no choice but to get married!"
That night, whenever the bear demon and the snake demon began discussing Xu Ying, they found they had endless things to say.
Xu Ying shook his head and then slapped it hard a few times, but the pain on one side remained. The two great demons wore concerned expressions, yet their eyes held a hint of anticipation, afraid that if he struck too hard, he might smash his own head open.
After a while, Xu Ying finally felt a little better. He stared into space for a moment, then said hoarsely, "Just now, in the Realm of Serenity, I think I saw the profound pass leading from the Qi Gathering Stage to the realm beyond."
Snake Demon Yuan Qi froze slightly, while the demon Xiong Qianli also trembled violently.
The two demons exchanged a glance. Yuan Qi's voice shook. "A Ying, what did you say?"
Xu Ying thought for a moment and, certain that he had not been mistaken, said, "I've practiced the Taiyi Guiding Technique, and long ago I sensed that my cultivation had reached its peak. My qi and blood were ready to charge through a pass, but there was no pass to charge through and nowhere left to go. Yet just now, while observing my own body, I saw that profound pass. It was a pitch-black portal hidden in the darkness! I have a feeling that once I break through it, a whole new world will open before me!"
Snake Demon Yuan Qi was indescribably excited. His voice trembled. "You really saw that profound pass? Is there truly a path beyond it?"
Xiong Qianli could not suppress his excitement either. He stared at Xu Ying with wide eyes, waiting for his answer.
Xu Ying nodded firmly. "There is definitely a path!"
Yuan Qi stood there dumbfounded. Suddenly, tears streamed down his face as he murmured, "There really is a path. There really is a path... Hahaha! Wonderful! There really is a path! A Ying, you're the great hero of the Demon Race!"
He was wild with joy, overwhelmed with excitement, and cheered again and again.
Xiong Qianli's eyes filled with hot tears. He hugged the snake demon, leaped about, and laughed without end.
Demons could cultivate only to the Qi Gathering Stage. At most, they could become Demon Kings, but they could not advance any farther. Basically, every great demon that cultivated to the peak of the Qi Gathering Stage would feel its qi and blood ready to charge through a pass, yet find no pass to charge through, making it utterly impossible to enter the next realm!
If Xu Ying could truly find the portal to the next realm, then for the Demon Race, it would absolutely be a world-shaking cause for celebration!
"The Demon Race will rise!" Xiong Qianli shouted excitedly, clenching his fists and raising them high.
"Overthrow human tyranny!" Snake Demon Yuan Qi cried out in ecstatic frenzy.
The two demons exchanged a glance and shouted in unison, "Shenzhou belongs to humanity, but it will eventually belong to the Demon Race!"
Xu Ying sat up and did not join the two demons' revelry. He murmured, "But don't you find it strange? So far, neither of you has mastered inner observation or entered the Realm of Serenity. Instead, I, a human, mastered it first. Could this mean that the demonic cultivation arts may not actually be demonic cultivation arts?"
He remembered Great Bell once saying that Demonic Arts were cultivation arts of Qi Refiners and said, "I think Demonic Arts may not truly be Demonic Arts. Perhaps they are human cultivation arts—the cultivation arts practiced by human Qi Refiners. But for some reason, they were lost..."
"Why must they be human Qi Refiners? Why can't they be demon Qi Refiners?"
The demon Xiong Qianli threw an arm around Xu Ying's shoulders and said excitedly, "Seventh Brother and I discussed this all night and reached an important conclusion. You must be a demon who looks human! You're a humanoid Strange Snake among demons!"
Snake Demon Yuan Qi sidled over from the other side and draped an arm over Xu Ying's shoulders, chuckling. "A Ying, one day you'll reveal your true form!"
Before you continue