Ascension Day

Xu Ying was deeply moved. He bowed low. "This humble man from the mountains will await your good news, Mr. Liu."

Liu Zongyuan returned the bow. "The honor is mine."

The servant, having fetched the water, urged from the carriage, "My lord, we must hurry!"

Liu Zongyuan climbed into the carriage. Xu Ying waved a reluctant farewell, watching it recede into the distance.

"With Mr. Liu’s concern for the realm, life is sure to get better!" Xu Ying said to Yuan Qi with a smile.

A pity he could not see the future.

On this trip to the capital, Liu Zongyuan would not be given a high-ranking post. Instead, he was repeatedly marginalized and later demoted to Liuzhou. He would die there in despair a few years later, at the young age of forty-eight.

The Snake Demon Yuan Qi, confused, asked, "Xu Ying, since you know such a high-ranking official, why not ask him to plead your case and clear your name?"

Xu Ying smiled faintly. "Brother Niu, you just said that a true man doesn’t hide his name. Well, I have a saying of my own."

His voice boomed with heroic pride. "A true man answers for his own deeds! Why would I need someone else to do it for me? I killed that Divine Spirit lord, and I will bear all the consequences myself!"

"Well said!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out in admiration from the other side of the waterfall, startling the forest birds into a flurry of motion.

Xu Ying’s heart leaped in alarm as he looked toward the voice. Across the waterfall stood a Junior Official in cyan robes. He looked to be in his twenties, with a scholarly air and delicate features, clearly from a much better background than a country boy like himself.

Xu Ying’s heart hammered in his chest.

’Officials!’

’The very people he feared meeting most.’

He had seen these Officials storm into villages all too often, demanding exorbitant rents and donations. They would seize the villagers’ cattle and sheep, stone-hearted and unmoved by the heaven-shaking cries of the people.

Worse still, some Officials were Nuo Masters, wielding mysterious and unfathomable Magic!

’I hope he’s not a Nuo Master...’ Xu Ying’s heart hammered wildly.

"Truly well said!" The Junior Official in cyan clapped his hands in admiration. "Xu Ying, since you claim a man answers for his own deeds, then for your treasonous act of slaughtering a Divine Spirit in violation of the Celestial Rules, and for murdering Landlord Jiang, you had best surrender without a fight."

"Surrender my ass!"

Xu Ying roared with laughter. "I killed a Divine Spirit. What makes you think I’m afraid to kill you?"

The Junior Official in cyan merely smiled. He reached out with his thumb and forefinger and plucked a tender leaf from a vine by the pool. In his hand, the leaf sprouted branches and budded, growing at a visible rate into a lush vine that crawled up a nearby willow tree.

Xu Ying’s heart leaped. ’This is an Official who knows Nuo Art!’

’A Nuo Master!’

They possessed mysterious and unfathomable Magic Skills. They had opened the Secret Treasuries of the Human Body and wielded power unimaginable to Mortals. They could command gods, enslave ghosts, and vanquish demons. They possessed the greatest combat strength in the world!

CRACK!

The willow tree collapsed!

The vine, manifested by the Junior Official’s Nuo Technique, had coiled around the bucket-thick willow like a great python, snapping it into several pieces!

The corner of Xu Ying’s eye twitched.

"My name is Ding Quan, a Judicial Assistant from Lingling. Xu Ying, what you practice is a Demon Technique, isn’t it?"

The Junior Official in cyan nonchalantly lifted his foot and set it gently on the water’s surface. The pool rippled, and from its depths, lotus flowers and leaves grew with incredible speed!

One of the very leaves now supported the foot of the Junior Official, Ding Quan!

As Ding Quan lifted his other foot to take a step, another lotus leaf emerged from the water to support him.

"Xu Ying, practicing that Demon Technique of yours has given you great power. Killing a Divine Spirit has made you arrogant. But you only killed a mere Village God. Village Gods have a nickname, you know. They’re called Grass Gods."

Ding Quan walked across the water, a lotus blooming with every step. He approached from the far bank, his expression relaxed. "The Human Race has its own true path of Cultivation. Why would anyone need to practice a Demon Technique? The absolute peak of any Demon Technique is merely the Qi Collection Stage. But with the Six Secrets of the Human Body, opening even one Secret Treasury—even just to the First Layer—is enough to surpass a Village God, to surpass a Demon King!"

He spoke as he walked. Lotus leaves constantly sprouted and flowers bloomed beneath his feet, but behind him, they instantly withered and crumbled into black ash.

Xu Ying clenched his fists, a smile playing on his lips. "And what might these Six Secrets of the Human Body be? Which Secret Treasury have you opened, sir, and to what layer have you cultivated it?"

He suddenly froze, noticing the spot beside him was empty. The Snake Demon Yuan Qi had clearly vanished without a trace long ago.

A pang of disappointment hit Xu Ying, but it was quickly replaced by relief.

’This is my fight, anyway,’ he thought. ’I didn’t want to drag Yuan Qi into it.’

Ding Quan came to a stop just twenty feet away. He stood on the water, while Xu Ying stood on the shore.

"The Six Secrets of the Human Body are the Jiang Palace, the Yellow Court, the Jade Capital, the Spring, the Jade Pool, and the Mud Pill. Of these Six Secrets, you can only open one. And finding these Secret Treasuries is no easy task."

Ding Quan was in no hurry, explaining patiently. "The precise location of a Secret Treasury differs from person to person. You need a Grand Nuo with profound Cultivation to perform Dragon Seeking Positioning to find it, and then to help you open it. How could a commoner ever have such an opportunity? Only those from prominent, well-established families with a Grand Nuo in their ranks can open a Secret Treasury, become a Nuo Master, and master the Nuo Art."

He added with a sigh, "That’s why becoming a Nuo Master is so difficult. It’s not something just anyone can achieve."

Xu Ying laughed. "I’ve heard that County Magistrate Zhou’s family is a prominent one, but I’ve never heard of any prominent family named Ding. It seems there’s another way to become a Nuo Master—by being a dog for one of those families."

Ding Quan’s expression darkened. "You’re asking to die!"

Xu Ying’s words had struck a nerve.

The ground at Xu Ying’s feet suddenly erupted as thick Cyan Vines shot out, coiling around his legs and binding them tight!

The Cyan Vines grew with mad speed, like venomous serpents, and soon covered his entire body, twisting him up like a rope.

Ding Quan’s face was grim. He thrust a hand upward, and the Cyan Vines shot into the air, carrying Xu Ying with them. They held him aloft, over a hundred feet high, far above the treetops!

He viciously swung his hand down. The Cyan Vines whirled Xu Ying through the air and slammed him into the ground!

With a deafening BOOM, Xu Ying was smashed onto the jagged rocks by the side of the pool, sending rock fragments flying!

Ding Quan splayed his fingers. All around, sharp Cyan Vines erupted from the earth. Hissing like cyan blades, they shot from every direction, piercing into the pile of rubble where Xu Ying had landed!

Countless stone fragments exploded outward.

Ding Quan clenched his right fist hard. The countless Cyan Vines wrapped around Xu Ying, forming a nine-foot-wide ball of green. Suddenly, the vines in the ball coiled tighter, stretching taut and compressing everything within!

The pressure was enough to squeeze water from a stone, enough to crush it to dust!

’Don’t blame me.’

Ding Quan’s clenched fist slowly relaxed. A corner of his mouth twitched. ’There are lines you don’t cross. You don’t hit a man in the face; you don’t expose his deepest shame. You exposed mine, so you had to die.’

As his hand opened, the Cyan Vines making up the ball shattered one by one, turning into fine powder.

The power of his Nuo Art was simply too immense. The force it had unleashed exceeded the limits of what the Cyan Vines could endure. Once that power had fully erupted, the vines themselves were inevitably blasted to dust.

Such was the power of a Secret Treasury of the Human Body!