Ascension Day

Zhou Qiyun's expression softened. "I came to see if you've been slacking," he said. "You've done well, taking this matter seriously."

Xu Ying gave a slight bow. "I wouldn't dare slack off on a task I've accepted."

Zhou Qiyun said, "It would be even better if you weren't all talk and no action."

Xu Ying's face flushed slightly. 'These past few days I've just been fooling around with Yuan Weiyang, Guo Xiaodie, and the others, not to mention my secret rendezvous with Feng Xian'Er. When would I have had time to decipher the Tuo Yu Immortal Book?'

Zhou Qiyun's words were meant to chide him and keep him from slacking. "That gloomy old man who came looking for trouble has been taught a lesson by me. He probably won't be looking for you again anytime soon. I came here to tell you this."

Xu Ying looked over in surprise. After a moment, he asked, "Is Elder Zhou still the same snake-catching youth from Yongzhou?"

Zhou Qiyun met his gaze and said indifferently, "I am not. Don't get any funny ideas. I don't feel any camaraderie with you; you're just useful to me."

He turned to leave. "Don't keep me waiting too long."

Xu Ying smiled. "Farewell, Elder Zhou."

After Zhou Qiyun left, Xu Ying settled his mind. He picked up his brush and began to meticulously decipher the Tuo Yu Immortal Book. It wasn't long before Yuan Weiyang found him and, seeing what he was doing, joined in on the work.

A little while later, Guo Xiaodie peeked in. Seeing the two of them busy deciphering the Immortal Book, she waited to the side. After just a moment, she grew restless.

She sidled up to Yuan Weiyang to watch him write, praising him silently in her heart, 'Brother Weiyang's handwriting is so elegant.' Then she drifted over to Xu Ying's side and thought, 'You call this handwriting? It looks like little bugs crawling all over the place.'

It only took Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang two days to completely decipher the rest of the Tuo Yu Immortal Book. Yuan Weiyang said, "If we hand this book over, we'll probably die."

Xu Ying looked at the Tuo Yu Immortal Book, pondered for a moment, and said, "Not necessarily. Zhou Qiyun already knows the Tuo Yu Immortal Book is incomplete. If he forces himself to cultivate it, he'll just turn into a woman. A man as proud and arrogant as him, with such a strong desire for control, would never let a Cultivation Technique dictate his destiny."

Yuan Weiyang came to his side. "Xu Demon King, are you suggesting...?"

His eyes flashed as he picked up his brush and wrote a name on the paper.

Xu Ying looked over and nodded gently.

Guo Xiaodie, Yuan Qi, and Da Zhong also crowded around to see. They saw that Yuan Weiyang had written "Zhou Qiyun."

They wanted to laugh but didn't dare. When Uncle Xiao saw this, he also leaned in for a look and couldn't help but laugh. "Young Master, that's not how you spell 'Zhou Qiyun'..."

He then immediately realized the joke and burst out laughing. "You've spelled it like a woman's name!"

Realizing his blunder, he quickly shut his mouth and put on a straight face, not saying another word. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he thought, 'If Sister Zhou were here, I'm afraid I'd be annihilated, body and soul.'

Xu Ying said, "He wants to complete the Tuo Yu Immortal Book to break free from its constraints. He's confident he can do it. From our time with him, we can all see he is extremely proud and extremely self-confident. Therefore, he will definitely cultivate the Tuo Yu Immortal Book!"

Everyone was shocked and horrified, finding it hard to believe.

Although the Tuo Yu Immortal Book was indeed a top-tier Cultivation Technique among Qi Refiners, it had a fatal flaw: it lacked an explanation of Yang. For a woman, cultivating the Tuo Yu Immortal Book would only make her more enchanting and beautiful, but if a man cultivated it, he would turn into a woman!

How could someone as proud as Zhou Qiyun tolerate the Tuo Yu Immortal Book changing his own gender?

Xu Ying's eyes glinted as he continued to speculate, "He has cultivated it. Not only that, but he has also sensed his Primordial Yang fading and his body undergoing strange changes. But he is, after all, Elder Zhou of the Zhou Family, a Nuo Immortal who has opened the Mud Ball Secret Treasury to the Ninth Heaven. He can control his Physical Activity and change his body's structure at will."

Although Yuan Weiyang had not cultivated the Tuo Yu Immortal Book, his understanding of the Cultivation Technique was extremely profound. He frowned and said, "Even if he changes his physical structure and remakes himself into a male body, it would be difficult to change his Taiyin Body. After all, by cultivating according to the Tuo Yu Immortal Book, the Taiyin True Essence within his body will not change."

Xu Ying smiled. "And that is where our chance for survival lies."

Yuan Weiyang's eyes lit up with understanding. "When he can't solve it himself, he'll come looking for us to help him."

Xu Ying said, "He is a cautious man, and his strategic calculations are second to none. He will definitely keep us alive to deal with any future troubles."

The two of them looked at each other and smiled.

Guo Xiaodie watched them talk back and forth, thoroughly analyzing a matter of life and death. She felt both admiration and a pang of bitterness, thinking, 'Two men being so close... it makes me feel like a third wheel. But they're both so outstanding. This Xu Demon King isn't bad either; he's very charming.'

Xu Ying and Yuan Weiyang submitted the deciphered Tuo Yu Immortal Book one after the other. After waiting for half a day without Zhou Qiyun coming to kill them, they knew their lives were safe and each breathed a sigh of relief.

They then went to the Chaotian Cave Heaven to cultivate in that Grotto Heaven.

Xu Ying and the others did not stop at the isolated mountain cliff. They descended the mountain and sat on the forehead of Big Snake Yuan Qi. The great snake slithered along, carrying them on a tour of this Grotto Heaven, and before they knew it, they arrived beneath the Ascension Radiance.

Xu Ying said, "After I drank the tea, I vaguely heard that sad-faced old man say that this radiance isn't Ascension Radiance. It's from a Qi Refiner who was Crossing the Tribulation here and was smashed to pieces. Their Flesh Body and Primordial Spirit were crushed to dust, forming this light."

Everyone was aghast to hear this.

Xu Ying continued, "People mistook it for Ascension Radiance, so many Qi Refiners came here to compete in Crossing the Tribulation. In the end, they all died in this Grotto Heaven, without a single survivor."