Ascension Day

Countless locust flowers hung from the tree's branches. It was balmy spring, the time for them to bloom. The entire tree was covered in brilliant, golden blossoms, not yet fully open, but their fragrance already filled the air.

Xu Ying sniffed the fragrance and felt his Primordial Qi unknowingly rise!

'This is definitely a treasure land for cultivation. When the locust flowers fully bloom, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi will probably become even richer!'

The Dragon Chariot was heading directly for this very locust tree. Upon arriving beneath it, Xu Ying discovered an ancient palace, with disciples of the Zhou Family coming and going. Standing before the palace, Xu Ying looked up and saw words written in an ancient bird-and-worm script.

'Huaihua Palace Blessed Land,' Xu Ying recited silently, not speaking aloud.

This type of script was ancient, and even Da Zhong couldn't recognize it. He decided it would be best not to show off in front of Zhou Qiyun.

The Huaihua Palace Blessed Land was most likely built by people of the past who realized that cultivating under the locust tree was twice as effective with half the effort. They must have regarded this place as a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land and thus constructed this palace.

For some unknown reason, however, those predecessors had abandoned Huaihua Palace. Now, with the emergence of the New Land, the experts of the Zhou Family had found this place and were using it as a base to explore the new territory.

'Then why did the predecessors abandon this place?'

Xu Ying was puzzled. 'The Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi here is so rich, making it a Blessed Land. Logically, it should be fiercely contested territory. Even if this place were located in the Underworld, it should have been occupied by Yin Spirits or other powerful beings from the Underworld, not left empty.'

The Dragon Chariot slowly descended. Someone had already opened the palace gates. The four Divine Dragons led the way, pulling the chariot into Huaihua Palace.

Zhou Qiyun alighted and instructed an old servant who had come to greet them, "Buyi, take Young Master Xu and Young Master Yuan to study the Tuo Yu Immortal Book."

Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang stepped down from the Dragon Chariot. The old servant named Buyi bowed and said, "Young Masters, please follow me."

The green-robed old servant, Uncle Xiao, gave him a couple of extra glances. He knew this old servant's cultivation was unfathomably deep. He was the General Manager of the Zhou Family's Inner Mansion and had been granted the surname Zhou, thus he was called Zhou Buyi.

Xu Ying immediately activated his Taiyi Guiding Skill. At once, a unique floral fragrance, rich with Primordial Qi, surged from the sky. It condensed in the air to form a Dao Field about an acre in size, and Dao Seeds continuously flew into Xu Ying's body.

Seeing this, Yuan Qi also activated his Great Sun Guiding Skill. He felt his cultivation constantly rising and inwardly praised, 'In other places, you can only cultivate for a short period in the morning. But under this Big Locust Tree, I can cultivate day and night. It's just a pity the locust flowers only bloom for about half a month.'

Even so, half a month here was equivalent to an entire year of cultivation outside. What's more, the day the flowers would be in their fullest, most fragrant bloom had yet to arrive!

Furthermore, the Primordial Qi contained within the Big Locust Tree's flowers was almost Pure Yang Yuan Qi, saving countless steps of refining one's Primordial Qi.

Seeing the man and the snake being so ostentatious, the old servant Zhou Buyi sneered inwardly, 'Demon Cultivators!'

Yuan Weiyang looked up at the acre-sized Dao Field above Xu Ying's head in surprise. He soon saw its wonders and said, "Xu Demon King, your cultivation technique is quite peculiar. From what I see of your cultivation, it's already different from other Demon Cultivators. It seems to be another, extraordinary path."

Xu Ying said, "This is the Seed Dao Method, something I comprehended by chance. If you want to learn it, I can teach you."

Yuan Weiyang thought for a moment and said, "I need to ask my mother before I can give you an answer."

Xu Ying was quite baffled. He didn't understand why learning the Seed Dao Method required asking one's parents.

Uncle Xiao, however, was shaken. 'Is Weiyang planning to exchange cultivation techniques with him? Only something as major as exchanging techniques would require asking the Matriarch! But how can the Yuan Family's technique be shown to an outsider so lightly? What kind of Seed Dao Method could possibly compare to the Yuan Family's ancestral technique?'

His gaze toward Xu Ying was filled with vigilance. 'Little swindler! If I weren't around, he would probably trick the Yuan Family's cultivation technique right out of him!'

Xu Ying followed Zhou Buyi into a large hall. Inside, there were men and women, old and young, standing, sitting, or lying down in a thousand different postures.

One person had grown three heads and six arms. His necks were stretched out long, and he held three books in front of and behind him, clutching three pens as he stared at the books, writing and drawing.

Another had an eye growing from his forehead and eyes growing on his hands, seemingly trying to examine the scriptures floating in the air from strange angles.

Yet another was fast asleep on his back, snoring like thunder, but his Divine Sense was overflowing from his mind, floating in the air like bubbles. His Human Soul sat within one of the bubbles, staring at the floating scriptures, attempting various cultivation techniques over and over again.

Another was surrounded by books and papers stacked up like mountains, enclosing him in the center. He had a full eighteen arms, constantly flipping through various classics to verify the scriptures.

Some had worried their hair white, some were muttering to themselves with a crazed look, and others were tearing out their hair by the handful, already bald.

Suddenly, someone burst into laughter, shouting, "I've comprehended it! I've comprehended it!"

Then he started vomiting mouthfuls of blood. Someone slapped him across the face and yelled, "You animal, what did you comprehend?" Only then did he come to his senses.

The scriptures floating in the air were written on sheets of gold paper. The handwriting on them was elegant, likely that of a woman.

Light seeped from the gold paper, projecting the words into the air so that everyone in the hall could study them.

Yuan Qi was inexplicably excited. He said to Xu Ying, "There are books to read here! In the past hundred years, I've read every book in my home! I'm very well-read. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me!"

The old servant Buyi said, "Young Master Xu, Young Master Yuan, these words are the contents of the Tuo Yu Immortal Book."

Xu Ying looked up. The content of the Tuo Yu Immortal Book started with the basic Guiding Skill, then went on to Qi Collection, Knocking at the Gate, Inter-refining, the Second Knocking Gate, the Multi-Storey Tower, the Jasper Pool, the Divine Bridge, the Third Knocking Gate, and finally, Ascension.

It was a complete "Demon Clan Technique"!

In addition, there was other content, which seemed to be Magic and Divine Power, as well as Pill Formula Scriptures.

"What's so difficult to decipher about this?" Xu Ying was thoroughly confused.

From his perspective, the Tuo Yu Immortal Book had already laid out the cultivation steps with perfect clarity. Every step, and how to cultivate it, was written out in meticulous detail. As long as one followed the steps in order, there shouldn't be any major problems.

And yet, in this great hall, the geniuses of the Zhou Family were racking their brains, struggling to comprehend it, even consulting all sorts of ancient texts, as if it were incredibly difficult to decipher.

'The Tuo Yu Immortal Book is a Qi Refining Technique for women. If a man were to cultivate it, he would probably lose his Primordial Yang first.'

Xu Ying quickly skimmed it and saw the problem. Cultivating the Tuo Yu Immortal Book would soon cause a man to lose all his Primordial Yang. It would transform into Primordial Yin, giving him a female body while he retained his Male Aspect.

If a woman were to cultivate it, however, there would be no problem; in fact, her progress would be incredibly fast. But the cultivation technique seemed vague in some places, as if it were incomplete.

He then gave a quick look at the Magic and Divine Power within the Immortal Book. Most of them were techniques that could only be used in conjunction with the cultivation technique; without learning the technique, one probably couldn't unleash their power.

However, Yuan Weiyang was very interested in the Tuo Yu Immortal Book. He started reading from the very beginning, and was extremely meticulous.

Xu Ying went to his side and whispered, "Brother Yuan, this is a cultivation technique for women. Men can't cultivate it."

Yuan Weiyang whispered back, "I feel like this cultivation technique might be very suitable for me. It seems to have complementary aspects to my Yuan Family's Nuo Technique."

Uncle Xiao's face darkened. He appeared behind them and reached out to separate the two. "Young Master, your heads are getting a little too close. Mind your distance."

Just then, Xu Ying noticed about a dozen other elders with hoary white hair sitting in the center of the hall. They weren't looking at the floating scriptures, but were instead staring at a green bamboo shoot floating above an altar in the center of the hall.

It was a Green Jade Scroll.

The jade scroll was about a foot long, translucent and emerald green. It looked as if it were carved from fine jade, yet also like a bamboo shoot that had just broken through the soil. One could even seem to smell the faint fragrance of bamboo.

A line of text was written on this Jade Bamboo—it was bird-and-worm script!

Xu Ying's heart pounded. 'This is the real Tuo Yu Immortal Book! No, wait, it's not the Tuo Yu Immortal Book. The words on this Jade Bamboo say Taiyin Yuan Yu Skill!'