At night, Xu Ying and the Snake Demon Yuan Qi hid in an abandoned temple in the rocky mountains. Xu Ying lit a campfire, while the Snake Demon Yuan Qi moved closer to the flames to warm himself.
Snake Demons feared the cold. When they were cold, their blood and qi stopped circulating, causing them to stiffen and hibernate. That was why he liked staying near the fire at night.
Xu Ying gave him the half-duck they had brought, while he himself gnawed on some dry rations to make do.
Actually, Mount Wu Wang and Qin Yan Cave were not far away. With their leg strength, they could reach them in at most a day. However, Gods and Devils ran rampant along the way, and Nu Masters pursued them, delaying their journey.
Before the sky had gone completely dark, Xu Ying took the chance to look around. The ruined temple was not large. At the front stood a Great Hall of Heroes, but he had no idea what deity it had once enshrined. There was not only no statue—even the shrine was gone.
In the rear courtyard stood a pavilion. A Great Bronze Bell more than a person's height hung inside it, already covered in rust.
Beneath the Great Bronze Bell was a hexagonal deep well. Looking down revealed nothing but darkness; its bottom could not be seen. Thick black iron chains, each as wide as a leg, hung from the well walls, their other ends disappearing into the depths.
Xu Ying tugged on one of the black iron chains. It was exceedingly heavy, and a clattering echo came from within the well.
Most of the deity enshrined here probably ran away, Xu Ying thought.
He returned to the campfire, slowly evened out his breathing, circulated his blood and qi, and began slowly practicing the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist. "Yuan Qi, I'll teach you the secrets of circulating the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist. Watch first and compare it with the scripture."
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi immediately raised his head. He watched Xu Ying practice the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist while using the firelight to compare it with the manual.
Wherever Xu Ying's blood and qi circulated, light appeared, as if there were a great sun inside his body illuminating his five viscera and six bowels, his body and skin. It made his flesh seem to have light flowing beneath it!
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi was puzzled. "That's not right. Did you practice it incorrectly?"
The manual contained no record of Xu Ying's blood and qi transforming into a great sun!
The Old Niu Family's grandfather, father, and grandson had all been Snake Demons, and they had all practiced the Great Sun Guiding Technique and the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist. However, the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist they practiced was clearly a completely different technique from the one Xu Ying practiced!
As Xu Ying practiced the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist, the great sun of blood and qi within him grew stronger and stronger, causing white mist to billow above his head!
A faint fishy odor drifted through the mist. It came from the impurities refined out of his body as the great sun formed from his blood and qi tempered his flesh!
The Taiyi Guiding Technique contained Thunder Sound Body Tempering, which had long since refined the impurities from Xu Ying's body. Yet Great Sun Body Tempering could temper areas that Thunder Sound could not reach, proving that the Great Sun Guiding Technique had its own unique merits!
However, the Snake Demon Yuan Qi flipped through the manual until its pages were worn thin, yet still could not find Great Sun Body Tempering!
"Stop looking. I comprehended Great Sun Body Tempering while fighting Ding Quan."
Xu Ying said, "This body-tempering technique should be the missing method from the Great Sun Guiding Technique and the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist. It wasn't difficult to comprehend."
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi was rather indignant. "You can comprehend a missing fist technique method during battle? Are you trying to fool me? Why did none of my family's three generations comprehend it? Are the three generations of the Old Niu Family all idiots?"
Xu Ying said nothing.
He was a kind-hearted young man.
He continued circulating his blood and qi. When the blood and qi within him reached their peak, his skin seemed to split inch by inch. The progress of his fist technique had exceeded the limit his flesh could bear!
When practicing martial arts, whether the body could withstand the impact of martial might was extremely important. Forcing oneself to practice beyond what the body could bear would place immense pressure on it. The more one practiced, the more the body would suffer, potentially causing severe internal injuries and leaving hidden problems!
Xu Ying was just about to stop when, during the tempering of his body by the great sun, five-colored light suddenly appeared around his five viscera!
Without realizing it, the strength of his five viscera had greatly increased, and his blood and qi had grown even more vigorous!
The pores all over his body seemed to open like countless air valves, and blood and qi hissed outward!
At the same time, his heart began beating like a drum, pounding loudly and making the chest feel stuffy. It ceaselessly produced fresh blood and qi, keeping him perpetually at the peak of his vitality!
Xu Ying's heart stirred, and he continued circulating his blood and qi.
The blood and qi that spilled out condensed behind him into Baleful Intent—qi baleful intent and blood baleful intent—which merged together to form the divine form of a Elephant-Headed Deity!
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi stared at the Baleful Intent behind Xu Ying, his mind in turmoil.
Xu Ying had obtained the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist this very morning. Then, the fifth stage of the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist, the Elephant Deity Phenomenon, had been completed while he killed the Green Robe Deity today.
Now, while teaching him this martial fist technique, Xu Ying had actually completed the sixth stage of the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist!
It seems the brains of my Old Niu Family really aren't very sharp.
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi snorted inwardly. My grandfather, my father, and I—we're all not that clever. But there is someone clever. A Ying is so smart. If I learn from him, won't I avoid having to use my brain? It's not like using my brain is useful anyway.
Xu Ying stopped practicing, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
He had come to teach the fist, yet somehow broken through and forgotten to tell Yuan Qi the essentials.
The fifth stage of the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist, the Elephant Deity Phenomenon, was merely a vague phantom formed from blood and qi. The boost it gave Xu Ying was still not very great.
The sixth stage, Blood-Qi Baleful Body, had form but no substance. Nevertheless, it contained tremendous power and could provide Xu Ying with twice his strength, making it incomparable to the Elephant Deity Phenomenon!
The Taiyi Guiding Technique was originally a top-tier Qi Refining Method. Xu Ying's mind was also pure, free of distracting thoughts as he practiced, so his progress naturally advanced with divine speed.
After seven years of cultivation, Xu Ying's blood-and-qi cultivation had long since become godlike and demonic!
As the saying went, thick accumulation leads to sudden release. With seven years of accumulation and extraordinary comprehension, he could advance a thousand li a day while practicing the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist.
But once his potential was exhausted, making further progress became extremely difficult.
"Brother Niu, the key to practicing the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist lies in blood and qi and body tempering. Only with sufficiently vigorous blood and qi and a sufficiently powerful body can you practice the next stage. The Great Sun Body Tempering I comprehended is perfectly suited to you."
Xu Ying carefully explained Great Sun Body Tempering to the Snake Demon Yuan Qi. This body-tempering method was indeed more suitable for Snake Demons.
A Snake Demon's body was simply a straight, direct strip of flesh. Circulating Great Sun Body Tempering for one cycle was very simple; there was no need to run it through the limbs and all those crooked branches.
For example, when Xu Ying practiced, he had to temper not only his five viscera and six bowels but also his limbs and head, which was quite troublesome. Even more troublesome was having to temper his fifth limb, wasting time and blood and qi.
Although he did not know what use tempering the fifth limb had, if it was not strong enough, being kicked there still hurt terribly.
Yuan Qi did not need to do this. While others practiced one cycle, he could practice three.
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi circulated the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist beside the campfire and practiced Great Sun Body Tempering. The two methods complemented each other, proceeding side by side without conflict.
He was a Snake Demon, so practicing a fist technique was quite difficult. He needed to twist his body and assume attacking postures suited to fist techniques.
As a Snake Demon, he had practiced a martial art that did not suit him at all and persisted until now. Even Xu Ying deeply admired that perseverance.
Xu Ying sat beside the campfire and used the firelight to take out the cloth bundle he had snatched from Ding Quan.
Using the techniques for capturing snakes, he had dislocated Ding Quan's tendons and bones and conveniently fished the cloth bundle from inside his robes. He had not yet had time to inspect what was inside.
The cloth bundle was small. When unfolded, it revealed several ounces of broken silver and a handwritten book.
Xu Ying put away the broken silver, overjoyed. "I can eat several proper, filling meals now!"
This was the largest sum of money he had ever seen in his life!
Xu Ying opened the handwritten book as well and read it by the firelight. It described a Qi Refining Method. After skimming through it, he let out a soft exclamation. The Qi Refining Method in the book was unlike any he had seen before.
He had seen fifty or sixty cultivation methods, all of them Guiding Techniques of the Demon Race. They drew in the essence of the sun, refined essence into qi, and strengthened one's own blood and qi—refining the sun's excess to replenish one's own deficiencies, as the saying went.
The cultivation method recorded in Ding Quan's handwritten book, however, drew upon the power within the human body, taking it from the body itself without drawing even the slightest bit from the outside world!
Could this be a cultivation method for a secret treasury?
Xu Ying's heart pounded several times. He studied it carefully, but soon found himself utterly blind to its meaning.
The book said that there was a secret treasury in the human brain called Ni Wan. Its surroundings were a chaotic expanse containing tremendous energy. By grasping Ni Wan, drawing upon its power, and refining it into an Hidden Scenic Phenomenon, one could forge an undying body and possess abilities beyond the comprehension of gods and ghosts!
Yet the book did not explain how to find the Ni Wan Secret Treasury. Nor did it explain how to open it. Even though the cultivation method had fallen into his hands, he could not practice it!
The book only explained how to draw upon Ni Wan and refine an Hidden Scenic Phenomenon!
Judging from the information revealed in the book, to become a Nu Master, one not only needed Dragon Seeking Positioning to locate the secret treasury within the human body, but also needed the help of a Grand Nu to open the secret treasury.
But even after opening the secret treasury, one still could not become a Nu Master!
One also needed a special cultivation method to draw upon the power of the secret treasury and refine an Hidden Scenic Phenomenon.
An Hidden Scenic Phenomenon was not a secret treasury. It was something refined after birth by drawing upon the energy of the secret treasury.
The minor official Ding Quan must have been cultivating the Ni Wan Secret Treasury and refining the Hidden Scenic Phenomenon of the Ni Wan Palace. His cultivation was only superficially correct, yet his strength was already so terrifying. The true Hidden Scenic Phenomenon method of the Zhou Family must be even more formidable!
Xu Ying put away the scripture Ding Quan had copied and thought, However, my Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist has broken through to the sixth stage, so I'm no longer afraid of Ding Quan. If I clash with him again, even without Yuan Qi's help, I'll definitely be able to defeat him!
He had confidence in this!
Demon Race cultivation methods combined with martial arts skills were absolutely no weaker than the Nu Art of a Nu Master!
Suddenly, wave after wave of surf pounding the shore rang out, growing louder and louder. Xu Ying hurriedly looked toward the sound, only to see the Snake Demon Yuan Qi at a critical moment in his cultivation, light blazing within his body!
"Ah—"
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi opened his mouth, yet what burst forth was a resonant elephant cry, deafening to the ears!
This was precisely the sign that his blood and qi had flowed through his entire body and he had cultivated the fourth stage, Divine Elephant Strength!
Not only that, but blood and qi spilled from every part of his body, gradually forming a divine-human phenomenon with an elephant's head and a human body behind him!
This was the sign of the fifth stage of the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist!
"I...I've cultivated the fifth stage of the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist! I've cultivated Divine Elephant Strength and the Elephant Deity Phenomenon!"
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi was both startled and delighted. He suddenly slithered outside the temple, coiled his tail around a huge stone weighing two or three thousand jin, and lifted it. With a flick of his tail-tip, he sent the stone flying into the sky!
Yuan Qi threw back his head and laughed, his long tongue trembling like a wave, extraordinarily nimble.
But as he laughed, he suddenly began to sob.
For three generations, over two or three hundred years, not a single Snake Demon had cultivated the fourth stage of the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist. Yet now, with Xu Ying's guidance, he had reached the fifth stage in only a short while!
He had never imagined that cultivation could be so easy, so simple!
"Before long, I'll be able to cultivate the sixth stage, and perhaps even transform into human form! Once I become human, won't practicing fist techniques advance a thousand li a day?" he said, trembling with excitement.
Of course, it was because his hundred and twenty years of painstaking cultivation had brought his blood-and-qi cultivation to the necessary level, and because he had obtained the proper method for practicing the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist, that he could advance so quickly.
Suddenly, Xu Ying raised his hand and struck, extinguishing the campfire. He lowered his voice. "You just broke through. The elephant cry caused by the flow of blood and qi through your body will certainly alarm the nearby deities and the officials pursuing us. We must leave at once!"
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi's heart turned cold. He hurriedly followed him and whispered, "Traveling by night is extremely dangerous. The nights in Lingling are not safe!"
Xu Ying did not want to travel at night either. Under the moonlight, the mountain forests were dense, making it difficult to distinguish directions in the deep mountains. Not only was it easy to get lost, but one could also fall into an abyss or encounter a fierce beast at the slightest carelessness.
But they had no choice. If their pursuers blocked them inside the ruined temple, they would surely be doomed!
The human and snake felt their way down the mountain in the darkness, proceeding cautiously. Suddenly, the sound of roaring waves surged from afar, growing louder and louder. In an instant, it transformed into a sound like the collapse of heaven and earth, deafening to the ears!
The earth beneath Xu Ying's feet shook incessantly. He hurriedly leaped aside and landed atop a towering tree.
The young man bounded several times and leaped to the treetop. When he followed the sound with his gaze, he could not help staring in stunned silence.
Under the moonlight, a dazzling white line rose between the vast mountains, growing higher and higher. It was a great river wider and more violent than the Xiao River and the Xiang River, appearing out of nowhere. Its waters surged furiously, drowning everything in its path!
"Impossible. There's no river like this around Lingling!" Xu Ying stared in disbelief.
The Snake Demon Yuan Qi also climbed onto a branch and looked into the distance. Ghost Fire darted wildly in all directions across the river. He suddenly recalled a similar event recorded in an ancient book he had once read and cried out involuntarily, "It's the Nai River!"
His voice sharpened, stabbing painfully at the ears. "It's the Nai River of the underworld changing course! Hurry up the mountain! We need to get up the mountain!"
He shot down from the tree. Xu Ying also leaped down, and the human and snake raced toward the ruined temple at the mountaintop.
The Nai River from the underworld surged violently as it came from among the mountains. Wherever it passed, flowers and grass withered and trees faded. Whether birds, beasts, or insects, all life was stripped away!
Strangely enough, although the river stood more than a hundred zhang above the ground, it seemed constrained by invisible banks. Its waters did not spread in all directions but instead rushed along an invisible riverbed.
However, the rocky mountain where Xu Ying and Yuan Qi were stood directly in the center of that riverbed!
—Many thanks to the alliance leaders Vast Sea X Madman, Divine Dynasty_Qi Qi, Riding the Wind 2015, Flying House Bajie, 8538fg, and Three Lives Fate Ilena for your generous rewards. I am deeply grateful and moved to tears as I write this!
Before you continue