Ascension Day

But with his potential exhausted, any further progress would be extremely difficult.

"Brother Niu, the key to cultivating the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist lies in Qi Blood and Body Tempering. You can only reach the next layer if your Qi Blood is abundant and your Flesh Body is powerful enough. The Great Sun Body Tempering technique I devised is perfect for you."

Xu Ying explained the Great Sun Body Tempering to the Snake Demon Yuan Qi in detail. This Body Tempering Technique was indeed a better fit for the Snake Demon.

A Snake Demon’s body is essentially a straight, fleshy staff. Completing a full Circulation for the Great Sun Body Tempering is very simple, as there’s no need to direct it into limbs and other offshoots.

When Xu Ying cultivated it himself, for example, he had to temper not only his Five Viscera but also his limbs and head, which was quite a hassle. Even more troublesome, he also had to temper his "fifth limb," wasting both time and Qi Blood.

Although he didn’t know the purpose of tempering the fifth limb, he knew it would be incredibly painful if it wasn’t strong enough and someone landed a kick there.

Yuan Qi had no such need. For every one time others refined their bodies, he could do it three times.

The Snake Demon Yuan Qi activated his Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist by the bonfire, circulating the Great Sun Body Tempering. The two techniques complemented each other, running in parallel without conflict.

As a Snake Demon, cultivating a Fist Technique was no easy feat. He had to contort his body into postures resembling fist-based attacks.

For a Snake Demon to cultivate a Martial Dao so ill-suited for his form and to persist for so long—even Xu Ying couldn’t help but admire his tenacity.

Xu Ying sat by the bonfire and, using its light, took out the cloth pouch he had swiped from Ding Quan.

He had used a snake-catching technique to dislocate Ding Quan’s joints, and in the process, had snatched the cloth pouch from inside his robes. He hadn’t yet had a chance to inspect its contents.

The pouch wasn’t large. When he opened it, he found a few taels of broken silver and a handwritten manuscript.

Xu Ying put the broken silver away, his heart filled with joy. ’Now I can afford plenty of good meals!’

This was the largest amount of money he had ever seen in his life!

Xu Ying then opened the manuscript and examined it by the firelight. It described a type of Qi Refining Technique. He gave it a quick read and let out a soft exclamation of surprise; the Qi Refining Technique in the manuscript was unlike any he had ever seen.

He had seen fifty or sixty different Cultivation Techniques, all of them Guiding Skills from the Demon Race. They all involved Gathering the Sun’s Essence and Refining Essence and Transforming Qi to strengthen one’s own Qi Blood. The principle was, as they say, to refine the sun’s excess to supplement one’s own deficiency.

The Cultivation Technique recorded in Ding Quan’s manuscript, however, was about drawing upon the power within the human body. It took from the body itself, not borrowing even an iota from the outside world!

’Could this be a Cultivation Method for a Secret Treasury?’

Xu Ying’s heart pounded in his chest. He studied the text intently, but he was completely in the dark.

The book stated that a Secret Treasury called the Mud Pill exists within the human brain. Surrounded by Chaos, it holds immense Energy. By mastering the Mud Pill, gathering its power, and refining it into a Hidden Scenery, one could attain an Undying Body and possess Incomprehensible abilities!

However, the book gave no instructions on how to find the Mud Pill Secret Treasury, nor how to open it. Even with the Cultivation Technique in his hands, he was unable to practice it!

The book only described how to draw power from the Mud Pill and refine the Hidden Scenery!

Based on the information revealed in the book, becoming a Nuo Master required not only using Dragon Seeking Positioning to locate the body’s Secret Treasury but also having a Grand Nuo’s help to open it.

But even opening the Secret Treasury wasn’t enough to become a Nuo Master!

One also needed a special Cultivation Technique to draw upon the Secret Power and refine it into a Hidden Scenery.

The Hidden Scenery was not the Secret Treasury itself, but something refined postnatally by gathering the energy of the Secret Treasury.

’The Junior Official Ding Quan must be cultivating his Mud Pill Secret Treasury, refining it into the Hidden Scenery of the Mud Pill Palace. His version is just a pale imitation, yet his power is already this terrifying. The Zhou Family’s true Hidden Scenery technique must be even more incredible!’

Xu Ying put away the Scriptures Ding Quan had copied. ’Still,’ he thought, ’now that my Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist has broken through to the Sixth Layer, I have nothing to fear from Ding Quan. If we were to fight again, I’m certain I could win, even without Yuan Qi’s help!’

He was confident of that.

’A Demon Clan Technique, combined with Martial Dao prowess, is in no way inferior to a Nuo Master’s Nuo Art!’

Suddenly, the sound of waves crashing against a shore echoed, growing louder and louder. Xu Ying hurriedly looked toward the sound, only to see the Snake Demon Yuan Qi reaching a critical moment in his Cultivation. A brilliant light erupted from within his body!

TRUMPET—

The Snake Demon Yuan Qi opened his mouth, but what burst forth was the melodious, deafening trumpet of an elephant!

This was the very sign that his Qi Blood had permeated his entire body—he had achieved the Fourth Layer, the Divine Elephant Power!

Moreover, his Qi Blood overflowed from every part of his body, gradually forming the Abnormal Phenomenon of a Divine Being with the head of an elephant and the body of a man behind him!

This was the sign of reaching the Fifth Layer of the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist!

"I... I’ve reached the Fifth Layer of the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist! I’ve mastered the Divine Elephant Power and manifested the Elephant God Phenomenon!"

The Snake Demon Yuan Qi was both shocked and overjoyed. He suddenly slithered outside the temple, coiled his tail around a massive boulder weighing several thousand pounds, and lifted it. Then, with a flick of his tail’s tip, he launched the boulder into the sky!

Yuan Qi roared with laughter, his long, flexible tongue flicking in and out like a wave.

As he laughed, he began to sob uncontrollably.

For three generations, spanning two or three hundred years, not a single snake in his family had reached the Fourth Layer of the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist. Yet now, with Xu Ying’s guidance, he had reached the Fifth Layer in a matter of moments!

’I never imagined Cultivation could be this easy, this simple!’

’It won’t be long before I reach the Sixth Layer, maybe even achieve Transformation into a human! Once I have a human form, won’t my progress in the Fist Technique advance by leaps and bounds?’ he thought, his excitement boundless.

Of course, his rapid progress was only possible because his one hundred and twenty years of bitter training had built up his Qi Blood Cultivation, and now he had finally found the proper way to practice the Elephant Power Ox Demon Fist.

Suddenly, Xu Ying raised a hand and extinguished the bonfire with a sweep of his palm. "Your breakthrough just now caused your Qi Blood to flow so powerfully it created an elephant’s cry," he said in a low voice. "That will surely alert any nearby Divine Spirits, as well as the Officials who are hunting us. We need to leave, now!"

A chill ran down the Snake Demon Yuan Qi’s spine. He hurriedly followed Xu Ying and whispered, "Traveling by night is extremely dangerous. The nights in Lingling aren’t safe!"

Xu Ying didn’t want to travel at night either. The mountain forests were dense under the moonlight, making it difficult to find one’s way in the deep mountains. It was easy to get lost, not to mention the risk of a careless step leading to a fall into an Abyss or an encounter with a ferocious beast.

But they had no choice. If their pursuers cornered them in the ruined temple, their fate would be sealed.

The man and the snake moved through the darkness, cautiously making their way down the mountain. Suddenly, the sound of surging waves boomed in the distance, growing louder and louder until, in an instant, it became a deafening roar like the sky falling and the earth rending apart!

The ground beneath Xu Ying’s feet trembled violently. He immediately sprang up, leaping onto a nearby towering, ancient tree.

After a few quick leaps, the young man reached the treetop. He looked in the direction of the sound and was left completely stunned.

Under the moonlight, a gleaming white line rose between the vast mountains, climbing higher and higher. It was a great river, wider and more ferocious than the Xiao River or the Xiangjiang, that had appeared from nowhere. Its raging waters surged forward, swallowing everything in their path!

"Impossible! There’s no river like this anywhere near Lingling!" Xu Ying stared, his eyes wide in disbelief.

The Snake Demon Yuan Qi also slithered up to a branch to get a look. He saw Ghost Fires flitting about wildly within the river. Suddenly remembering a similar account he’d read in one of the Ancient Texts, he cried out in a choked voice, "It’s the Naihe River!"

His voice became a piercing shriek. "The Naihe River from the Underworld has changed its course! Back up the mountain! We have to get back up the mountain!"

He shot down the tree, and Xu Ying leaped down after him. The man and the snake scrambled madly toward the ruined temple on the mountaintop.

The Naihe River from the Underworld surged and swelled as it poured out from between the mountains. Wherever it passed, flowers and grass withered, trees decayed, and every living creature, whether bird or beast, was stripped of its Vitality.

Strangely enough, though the river flowed hundreds of feet above the ground, it was as if constrained by invisible banks. The water didn’t spill out and flood the land, but rushed along a formless channel.

The only problem was that the Stone Mountain where Xu Ying and Yuan Qi stood was directly in the center of the river’s path!

---- Sincere thanks to Alliance Leaders Canghai X Kuangren, Shenchao_Qiqi, Chengfeng2015, Feixiangjia Bajie, 8538fg, Sanshengyuan Yileina, and the others for their generous support! I’m beyond grateful, moved to tears as I write this!