The demons inside the Sword Sect demon ruins had rebelled and turned a thousand upper yard disciples into blood sacrifices. They awakened the Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s spirit. Many Qi Refining warriors had lost all their disciples. The sensation this affair caused inside the Sword Sect was easy to imagine.
The high levels of the Sword Sect were furious. It could be said that such shame and humiliation had never befallen the Sword Sect ever since its establishment. Among the dead upper yard disciples many came from the ten great clans and tribes of the Great Wilderness, or were even sons or daughters of the tribe patriarchs!
One by one the elders came out of the palaces and halls in the high reaches of the Sword Sect mountain. They entered the demon ruins and searched for demon Qi Refining warriors, searched for the Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s spirit.
This matter made uproars abuzz, but some news also quietly came, saying that there were spies inside the Sword Sect, that some people colluded with demons inside the demon ruins in evil conspiracies.
Things calmed down a dozen days later. The Sword Sect elders sealed the demon ruins and forbade anyone from going inside.
However, those things had nothing to do with Zhong Yue.
Pu Elder had immediately come, and when he saw Ting Lanyue and the others he felt both joy and grief. He had around a hundred disciples, but now only a dozen were left. It couldn’t be said that it wasn’t disaster.
Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan and the other disciples bowed to him and said: "Pu elder, this time it’s only thanks to apprentice brother Zhong’s efforts that we could escape alive from the demon ruins."
They spoke quickly and roughly explained what they’d gone through inside the demon ruins.
Pu elder was moved. He looked up and down at Zhong Yue and slowly nodded as he said: "Zhong Mountain clan’s Zhong Yue? You’re actually a promising youth. You saved my disciples. You also have extraordinary apt.i.tude and obtained the true legacy of my Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword. I want to receive you as a disciple…"
Ting Lanyue repeatedly threw meaningful glances at Zhong Yue, hinting at him to accept.
Zhong Yue thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Many thanks Pu elder, but if Pu elder took me in I’m afraid it’ll incur the Tian Feng clan’s displeasure. If Pu elder doesn’t mind, I would like to attend your lectures often. As long as I’m not Pu elder’s disciple, I believe Pu elder won’t be met with the Tian Feng clan’s hostility."
He originally couldn’t be more eager to become some Qi Refining warrior’s disciple, but now he wasn’t so keen anymore. He even had some hope he could stay without a master.
"The Fire Era Palace Sovereign Sui Picture Xin Huo taught me is too powerful. The cultivation is too fast, in a few days I continuously crossed over the Out of Body and Soul Infusion realms! If I were to become the disciple of some Qi Refining warrior, I’m afraid this cultivation technique would be exposed for sure!"
Zhong Yue silently thought in his heart: "If this method were to be exposed, the Sword Sect will seek the origin and discover Xin Huo. If Xin Huo were to be discovered…"
"This also works."
Pu elder faintly smiled: "You saved my disciples, I naturally have to repay you. You’re still missing a soul weapon right?"
He examined Zhong Yue, and saw that Zhong Yue carried on his back two forearm bones from a mutant aberration, looking like sickle blades. The celestial elephant Qi Refining warrior’s body wasn’t far away either. He said: "You excel in strength, and your mind power can also be called excellent among your peers. You can control two soul weapons. I’ll combine dark iron with dark gold and refine for you two black gold soul weapons. Come find me in the Teaching Pavilion in twenty days, you’ll be able to see your soul weapons by then!"
Ting Lanyue, He Chengchuan and the others couldn’t help but reveal an envious expression. With old sir Pu’s level it wasn’t difficult to refine soul weapons. In at most two or three days he could refine one, but Pu elder told Zhong Yue to get his a full twenty days later, so it was obvious this time that the two soul weapons he wanted to refine were certainly no small trifling things!
Dark iron and dark gold could already refine superior grade soul weapons. With Pu elder’s polish on top of that, those two soul weapons would certainly become an extreme rarity in the upper yard. Even core disciples from the great clans couldn’t possess such grade of treasures!
Zhong Yue was greatly delighted in his heart and repeatedly expressed his thanks. He smiled at Ting Lanyue: "Senior sister apprentice, since Pu elder is using dark gold from this demon Qi Refining warrior’s body to refine two soul weapons for me, I don’t need the rest of the dark gold anymore. Sister apprentice and fellow apprentices can share it."
Ting Lanyue hurriedly said: "How could we do this? Brother apprentice is the one who dragged this demon Qi Refining warrior back, by reason you should obtain the bulk of it. Brother apprentice Zhong has to have his share no matter what. To tell you the truth, if we sold off the rest of the dark gold through my Great Ting clan, all of us could obtain at least eight hundred Feather Spirit Dan pills!"
Zhong Yue jumped in fright. Eight hundred Feather Spirit Dan!
The Sword Sect distributed ten Feather Spirit Dan pills to upper yard disciples every month, it would take six or seven years to obtain eight hundred!
Ting Lanyue smiled and said: "Brother apprentice is tempted. After I sell the dark gold off, I’ll come and find you."
The group separated and Zhong Yue headed to his own courtyard. He got in touch with Xin Huo inside his sea of consciousness and said: "Xin Huo, it’s been probably ten thousand years since the Sword Sect’s founding, how could this Celestial Elephant Old Mother survive until now?"
"Maybe you’re not aware that G.o.d demons aren’t like you guys. Whether demons or humans, you all have a soul, but no spirituality. Spirit and soul are actually two different things, and it’s only possible to merge spirit and soul by becoming a Qi Refining warrior."
Xin Huo explained: "For example, the small ghost called Pu elder from earlier has already cultivated to the point of spirit and soul becoming one. His spiritual soul is a mountain deity, he can refine his spiritual soul into a totem and let his tribe worship it. In the future, if this small ghost died, his soul and spirit will be inseparably linked. As long as the spirit survives, his soul will survive! And the way to preserve the spirit is through worship. It’s possible for him to preserve his soul through the worship of his tribesmen. By that time, he’ll be like a G.o.d, a mountain G.o.d! If the worship is powerful enough, it’s even possibly to remodel a body for him, and revive him from the dead, with great magical powers!"
Zhong Yue suddenly realized that the demon ancestor Celestial Elephant Old Mother was a demon G.o.ddess. Although the Celestial Elephant Old Mother died, her spirit certainly concealed itself somewhere and wasn’t killed off by the Sword Sect’s ancestors. If the demons in the demon ruins had been secretly worshiping her all along, it was possible for the Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s soul to survive.
"Spirits even have this kind of uses? For Qi Refining warriors to merge soul and spirit into one, it was originally for the sake of preserving their soul and not let it scatter after death."
Zhong Yue’s knowledge about spirits deepened another level as he said: "I don’t know if that Fang Jiange managed to kill the Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s spirit…"
"He didn’t!"
Xin Huo said without a moment’s hesitation: "Earlier after you guys left the demon ruins, I noticed that an evil aura also took the opportunity to leave, it must have been the Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s spirit."
Zhong Yue jumped in fright, almost losing his voice: "The Celestial Elephant Old Mother left the demon ruins? Earlier some elders definitely went inside the demon ruins to look for her, how could they possibly let her leave?"
"Naturally it was a certain someone among the elders who brought her out."
Xin Huo carelessly said: "No demon worships her outside the demon ruins, the Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s spirit can’t live long before it dies, except if she can obtain a body, a body that can let a spiritual soul live inside as a parasite. In my opinion, the one who brought her out has already long ago prepared a body for her, and now the Celestial Elephant Old Mother has certainly become someone of the Sword Sect. No one can recognize her."
"The Celestial Elephant Old Mother became someone from the Sword Sect?"
Zhong Yue repressed the shock in his heart and muttered: "It’s a disaster this time… Xin Huo, can you sense in whose body the Celestial Elephant Old Mother is living?"
"Right now she’s hiding inside someone’s body, and this body is warding off my senses."
Xin Huo smiled: "I can actually tell if we meet this person face to face, but right now I can’t sense anything. It’s really fun, the traitor in the Sword Sect spent so much energy to take the Celestial Elephant Old Mother out of the demon ruins, there’s certainly a conspiracy here. Hehe, it’ll be fun to watch…"
Right at the same time, inside a great hall shaped like a Lingzhi mushroom at the Sword Sect mountain’s middle-height waist, a girl thirteen or fourteen years old was examining her own body with great curiosity. She looked left and right, and suddenly laughed puchi as she said: "I never thought I would hide inside the body of a livestock, gegege, it’s really too ironic! Don’t you agree?"
A silhouette stood in the shadows and laughed as it heard: " Celestial Elephant Old Mother, humans are livestock that we G.o.d races have bred and kept as beasts of burden. What’s truly ironic is that you’ve been repressed so many years by this very livestock. If I didn’t enlighten your descendants and made them become Qi Refining warriors, I don’t know how long you would have needed to shed off your sleep."
The Celestial Elephant Old Mother giggled: "I never imagined either that a demon G.o.d of the demon race like me would be rescued by a mortal enemy of my demon race, someone from a G.o.d race! You awoke me after untold hardships and schemes, what are you really planning?"
The man’s voice came from the shadows: "I want that thing underneath the Sword Sect mountain."
The Celestial Elephant Old Mother’s expression changed drastically, her charming face uncertain: "The thing underground? Who are you, how do you know…"
"Since I am from a G.o.d race, I naturally know some secrets."
"Since you know about it, you know how terrible it would be if that thing underground came out in the world!"
"I’m naturally aware."
The man inside the shadows said leisurely: "I have full confidence I can control this thing. Celestial Elephant Old Mother, I woke you up only so you could help me, but even without your help the Sword Sect will also be mine sooner or later, then the thing under the mountain will also be mine sooner or later!"
The Celestial Elephant Old Mother sneered, and said after some time: "Right now I still haven’t restored my strength, how can I help you?"
"I can wait until you restore your strength. Celestial Elephant Old Mother, your present body has the status of an outer disciple of the Sword Sect. You first go to the outer sect and cultivate, when later you become a Qi Refining warrior and restore some strength, I have matters that can use your help! You’re a demon G.o.d’s spirit, don’t let me down."
The Celestial Elephant Old Mother sneered. She went down the mountain and directly headed to the upper yard.
Inside his courtyard, Zhong Yue didn’t dare cultivate the Fire Era Palace Sovereign Sui Picture since he had no Feather Spirit Dan, so these days all he practiced were the Secrets of the Surging Thunder Sword and the Jiao Dragon Totem Body Coiling Secrets.
"The Surging Thunder Sword and the Jiao Dragon Totem Body Coiling Secrets still have more profoundness!"
Every time he visualized those two methods he reaped new understandings. The Surging Thunder Sword was an attack technique, while the Jiao Dragon Body Coiling Secrets were a body cultivation method. But now he combined the two techniques by building the Jiao dragon with thunderbolt totems, and cultivated the two techniques together. He developed even more subtleties this way, making Zhong Yue sink into the pleasure of cultivation.
He discovered that by combining the two techniques, his body was enhanced and became even faster than before. Thunderbolt totems transformed into a Jiao dragon circling his body, and the thunderbolts tempered his body, making it stronger and more resilient. With a thought his strength could burst out, fast as surging thunder!
This completely new body cultivation method was stronger than the original Jiao Dragon Body Coiling Secrets, and it enhanced the body faster!
Other upper yard disciples didn’t fancy body cultivation techniques, but he never slacked off, instead practicing even harder!
Zi La!
The thunder light flickered inside his body as the thunder Jiao vaguely pa.s.sed through his skin, muscles, bones, and even blood. It filled his body with an exceptionally powerful flow of electricity and refined the body’s impurities. The energy inside the thunderbolts even indistinctly entered inside his body and concealed itself there!
After cultivating six or seven days, Zhong Yue could feel that this new body cultivation method had met a bottleneck. It didn’t enhance his body as much as before. He thought: "It must be because I didn’t obtain the true legacy of the Jiao Dragon Totem Body Coiling Secrets and can’t continue to enhance it… There’s still more than ten days until Pu elder is done refining the soul weapons, I might as well go see Shui Qingyan. After all I promised her I would go find her in the female yard. I don’t even know if she went to the demon ruins…"
Zhong Yue went out of his residence and directly ran to the female yard. Some male upper yard disciples were sneaking around and peeping inside the yard when he arrived.
Zhong Yue was puzzled. He shook his head and walked into the female yard.
"Puff! Someone intruded inside the female yard right now!"
These sneaky male disciples had eyeb.a.l.l.s that were about to jump out of their sockets. They said: "l.u.s.t gave him wings, l.u.s.t gave him wings! This person unexpectedly even dares to intrude inside the female yard!"
"He’ll be beaten to death by those girls right?"
There was a stone stele standing in a corner in front of the female yard. On it was written: "Male disciples who trespa.s.ses the female yard will be beaten to death with no trial!"