Ascension Day

Yuan Weiyang was astonished. As the sophora flower entered her stomach, she felt a pleasant warmth spread through her belly. A brilliant Yang Qi, like a great sun, shone within her, feeling as if it could illuminate her very marrow.

The Yuan Family's Mastery of Divine Sense could be called the best in the world. They possessed Magic Skills to temper the Flesh Body with Divine Sense, but those were the profound Magic Skills of the Yuan Family. For a single sophora flower to have the same effect was endlessly amazing to her.

Not only that, but after eating a single sophora flower, she felt her Primordial Qi fluctuate and her Cultivation rise. Only then did she realize just how much benefit Xu Ying and Yuan Qi had gained from messing around these past few days!

The two people and one snake devoured the large, roasted branch in just a few bites. They ate until their bodies were steaming with heat. Fine beads of sweat even appeared on Yuan Weiyang's forehead as Yang Qi flowed through her entire body, cleansing her sinews and purifying her marrow.

Xu Ying stood up and began to practice the Taiyin Yuan Yu Skill to work his limbs, Cultivating the eight postures of the technique.

The Big Snake was also wriggling about, as if it too were Cultivating the Taiyin Yuan Yu Skill. At one moment, it twisted its body into a simple hook shape, and the next, into a concave curve. After a moment, it formed a convex one.

Yuan Weiyang sat and watched. She could faintly hear the sound of Primordial Qi and Divine Sense flowing within Xu Ying and the Big Snake, as well as the mysterious and profound whispers of their souls. She could even hear a faint rustling sound coming from their very marrow.

It was as if there was a light inside their bodies. It gradually rose, and when it circulated to the various acupoints in their bodies, Divine Light would seep out from them.

The internal structures of the acupoints were projected into the air by the Divine Light, revealed in minute and perfect clarity. Yuan Weiyang was shocked to discover that the internal structures of these acupoints actually looked like natural Grotto Heavens or Palaces!

'This Cultivation Technique is extraordinary. The longer one Cultivates it, the more transformations it brings. It's indeed much better than the Tuo Yu Immortal Book!'

Yuan Weiyang watched in silence. When she saw the projections of the acupoints, she had a flash of insight. 'From these acupoint projections,' she thought, 'I can combine the *Primordial Dao All Heavens Sensing* and the *Inner Observation and Visualization Skill* to create a Divine Treasure Skill! I can make each acupoint in my body house a divinity, forming the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Divine Treasures in the Body.'

As she thought of this, inspiration surged through her, and she suddenly felt that it no longer mattered whether she could obtain the Taiyin Yuan Yu Skill or not.

'But I need the clear internal structures of these acupoints to perfect the Divine Treasures,' she thought to herself.

"My mouth tastes a little bland. Brother Yuan, let's go catch some loaches!"

Xu Ying reached out and pulled Yuan Weiyang to her feet, running toward the river on the tree trunk. Yuan Weiyang stumbled from his pull but quickly hurried to keep up with him.

"How can there be loaches here?" Yuan Weiyang asked in surprise, looking at the river before them.

Xu Ying let go of her hand and shouted, "Yuan Qi, go upstream and block the river! We'll dig for loaches downstream, and we'll give you two extra later!"

Yuan Qi acknowledged the command and swam upstream, using his massive body to block the river channel.

The current wasn't very strong, but because of the slope, a section of the river soon drained, leaving behind a layer of water just deep enough to cover their ankles.

The silt, however, was quite deep.

Xu Ying bent down and rolled up his pant legs. "Brother Yuan," he said, "roll up your pant legs like this, so you don't get your clothes dirty. Huh, your legs are so white!"

Yuan Weiyang bent over and rolled up her pant legs, revealing fair and delicate skin. Xu Ying couldn't help but run a hand over her leg, praising, "As smooth as silk."

The touch flustered Yuan Weiyang, but fortunately, Xu Ying had already pulled his hand back.

Xu Ying then showed her how to roll up her sleeves so they wouldn't fall down. With that said, he leaped into the riverbed, and the silt came up to the back of his knees.

Seeing this, Yuan Weiyang relaxed and cautiously stepped into the river. She saw Xu Ying digging around with both hands in the silt and asked doubtfully, "Are there really loaches here? Our current location is much higher than most mountains in the world. How could there be loaches in a place like this?"

Xu Ying whispered, "There are. The loaches here are huge and delicious, not something you can eat on the ground... I've found one!"

He quickly pulled out his hands, grabbed Yuan Weiyang's, and guided them into the mud. He laughed, "You come feel it. Be careful, don't startle it."

Yuan Weiyang bent over, carefully feeling her way downward. She laughed, "Where is... It's huge!"

She cried out in alarm, "It's so thick... and so slippery, I can't hold on to it at all!"

The more she tried to grab it, the less she could hold on, and the loach slipped away.

Suddenly, the mud churned. With a loud SPLASH, a "loach" about five or six feet long leaped out of the silt. It opened its cavernous, blood-red maw, filled with nail-like teeth, and lunged to bite Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang!

A normal loach is at most a foot long, with a small mouth and whiskers. But this "loach" was astonishingly large, with a dragon's mouth, a dorsal fin on its back, and long barbels flowing from the corners of its mouth. It was incredibly ferocious.

Unfortunately for it, facing two young masters like Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang, the "loach" didn't even have a chance to bite down before it was knocked unconscious. The two of them were splattered head to toe with the mud it flung up.

"I think it's a Dragon Loach!"

Yuan Weiyang examined it closely and exclaimed, "It really is a Dragon Loach! I've read about them in the Yuan Family's records. A Dragon Loach has four barbels on each side of its mouth, the head of a dragon and the body of a loach, and it's impossibly slippery. It's an extremely rare Exotic Beast! It's recorded in the *Thousand Techniques Record*, the *Annals of the Ultimate Dao Emperor*, and even the *Martial Saint Era*!"

Xu Ying tossed the Dragon Loach onto the bank, his eyes sparkling. "Do the books say how to eat it?"

Yuan Weiyang was tongue-tied, stammering, "N-no, they don't."

Xu Ying shook his head. "The books you read definitely aren't proper books. A proper book would always mention if you can eat something and how to cook it."

Yuan Weiyang was exasperated. "The nerve of you!"

Xu Ying, feeling a little guilty, changed the subject. "Brother Yuan, when you're feeling around, you have to pay attention to the air holes in the mud. Don't put your hand where there's an air hole, because the Dragon Loach's head is under there, and you'll get bitten if you feel around. The slightly sunken spots are where its tail is."