Chapter 20

Retreat

The person outside was indeed the Divine Lord Yin Ze. However, he was still in the form of Ma Xiao. He had shaved his beard, taken off his bear skin armor, and tied his hair in a braid at the back of his head, looking much lighter.

Wiping the blood off his long sword, he sheathed it. “You don’t have any combat experience at all. Why did you run so fast alone?”

“I... I thought the Grand Master wasn’t here.”

“I fell down with you, how could I not be here?” Seeing the wound on my shoulder, he took a medicine bottle from his pocket and threw it to me. “I can’t use magic now, so take this to stop the bleeding.”

I quickly swallowed the pill and said, “If you can’t use magic, then how did you get down here?”

Yin Ze looked down at the sword at his waist and then looked at me as if I were an idiot. I didn’t understand. “Why can’t the Grand Master use magic? I can.”

Yin Ze said, “If my divine body stays in the mortal realm for too long, it will easily cause a severe frost. So I transformed into a human form. This is not an illusion. Unless I cast a spell to change back, this body is no different from a mortal’s. Here, neither humans nor demons can use magic. When I fell, I didn’t have time to change back into my divine form.”

“In other words... now this human body can’t use any magic at all?”

“That’s right.”

“Then what will happen if the human body is destroyed?”

“You’ll die.”

“Then what should we do now?”

“There’s no exit from the Demon Refining Valley. We can only go to the bottom and take a detour back to the celestial realm through the underworld.”

As expected of the Grand Master, he was still so good at giving simple answers that completely crushed people. So, now Yin Ze was weaker than me, and I probably had to protect him on this journey. Suddenly, a sense of responsibility weighed heavily on my shoulders. We had only gone down a few floors, and I was already unable to defeat the demons here alone. If we went further down and had to protect a mortal as well, I’m afraid we would be in big trouble.

Since it was a matter of life and death anyway, I knelt down and said, “Grand Master, if we can get out of here safely, please grant me a request.”

“Speak.”

“Take me as your disciple.” At the end, I added, “Grand Master, now we have to rely on each other. I promise I will protect you along the way, but I really want to follow you.”

“Oh? You can really protect me?” He raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused.

Strangely, even though Ma Xiao’s face was ordinary, paired with the expression of Divine Lord Yin Ze, it exuded a charming aura.

I said nervously, “I will do my best.”

“Alright, I’ll teach you a few moves.”

“Yes! Thank you, Master!” I said excitedly, but then I met his suddenly cold gaze and my momentum weakened. “Thank you, Grand Master...”

I was too excited. I had always been praised by my master in class, but my dignity was completely shattered. I cried, “Grand Master, I’m just a spirit...”

“Right, I almost forgot. Aren’t you a water spirit? Why, after fighting so many times, can you only turn into ice arrows?”

“I can also turn into ice sculptures... but in battle, I really don’t have time to make the ice look good...”

Yin Ze was silent for a moment. “I mean, if you keep using water to attack, you will waste a lot of time. Why don’t you directly use water-based spells?”

I said, “Grand Master, we, the people of Suzhao, can only manipulate water, not transform it...”

“Who told you that?”

“You did.”

“When did I say that?”

In the “History of Suzhao,” it was said that the Cangying God descended from heaven and told the ancestors of Suzhao that water was the root of the people of Suzhao. If they arbitrarily moved water out of their bodies, it would be like pulling out their roots and would shorten their lifespan... I wanted to recite this passage to him, but the obvious fact was: superstition had killed me.

In the end, I could only ask, “So, can I turn water into liquid?”

“Do this motion.” Yìn Zé placed both hands in front of his chest as if holding a ball, “Then draw in energy, gather the spiritual energy in your chest and abdomen, and channel it to your palms.”

I mimicked his movements and followed his instructions. Sure enough, a continuous stream of clear energy surged within me, but it remained swirling around my shoulders.

He came a little closer, pressing one hand against my back and the other hand pulling my shoulders back. “When you’re just starting, your posture must be correct, or it will affect your future practice.”

When he touched me like that, my whole body shuddered with energy. I nodded in agreement, and he continued, “Now, push the spiritual power out.”

I followed his instructions, and to my amazement, a thin mist of water rose between my hands, swirling like a galaxy. I was both startled and delighted but didn’t dare speak, merely nodding vigorously at him like a chick pecking for grain.

Yìn Zé said, “Very good, now hook your index fingers together, focus, and gather the mist toward your fingers. Use the water channeling technique to condense it into a water stream.”

I continued to follow his guidance, and the mist indeed gathered together, condensing into a trickling stream.

Yìn Zé said, “Now make it circulate faster. Push it out.”

When I pushed the stream forward, it became a strong force of water, pushing the rocks ahead by three or four meters.

I suddenly felt a rush of accomplishment, clapping my hands on my hips, puffing out my chest, and raising my eyebrows toward Yìn Zé.

Yìn Zé remarked, “That’s it. This is the most basic ‘Condensed Mist Water.’ Remember, all water-related techniques are based on misty water, which turns into ice, and ice turns into blades.”

Afterward, he taught me some basic techniques. It turned out that if, instead of gathering the power at the index fingers, I spread my arms wide and dispersed the mist, it would form “smoke rising to the sky,” making it difficult for the enemy to see where I was. In other words, it’s like shedding one’s shell, which I think is the most practical technique so far.

After the lesson, we turned a corner and encountered a one-meter-tall toad demon. Under Yìn Zé’s guidance, I defeated it in just a few rounds. I was feeling smug when, unexpectedly, the praying mantis caught the cicada, and a terrifying centipede demon, spotting us from a great distance, came charging.

It waved hundreds of human-like limbs, its five-foot-long venomous tongue flicking out, heading toward us with alarming speed.

Cāng Yíng Shén, this creature is too terrifying! Can we escape?

No, the Cāng Yíng Shén is now a mud Buddha; it can’t help me. Since he’s in a human form, he can’t outrun this centipede.

I rushed in front of Yìn Zé, resolutely saying, “Master, I’ll protect you!!”

“This centipede has cultivated for a thousand years. You can’t defeat it. Step back.” Yìn Zé remained as calm as ever.

“But—”

“Step back!”

His reprimand made me take two steps back. He drew his sword and stood straight, pointing the tip of the sword at the ground. In a moment of inspiration, I used the “Smoke Rising to the Sky” technique. However, the mist I released was blown away by the centipede’s gust of air from a distance.

It detected our weakness, its eyes gleaming with excitement, and it seemed even more enraged. Its eyes were the size of watermelons, and its tongue dripped with yellow venom. The air was silent except for the sound of its rapid crawling. This creature, when fully extended, was even larger than the Xià Yú, with skin as tough as steel. Together, we could never defeat it.

Seeing it only about ten meters away, Yìn Zé sprinted toward it, sword in hand.

At the same time, the centipede suddenly stopped, raised its body, and extended its tongue.

“Master!!”

I watched as Yìn Zé leapt high, aiming straight at the centipede’s face. The centipede trembled and extended four more slender tongues.

This is the end. Master is done for, and so am I.

Not wanting to face the impending doom, I covered my ears and shut my eyes for a moment, but forced myself to open them again, wanting to see what would happen next.

What I saw was completely unexpected: the centipede’s huge eyes froze as it stood motionless. Yìn Zé appeared at its rear, kneeling on one leg, gripping the hilt of his sword, which was buried into the ground.

At that moment, his braid slowed as it gently fell like willow fluff to his back.

Suddenly, the centipede split vertically into two halves, falling to either side. In the middle of the writhing guts, the exposed ground had a sword mark stretching halfway down the corridor. Blood poured out like a river, flowing into the fine groove.

It was... simply stunning...

I almost forgot. Fu Chén Zhī’s swordsmanship was learned from Master Yìn Zé. But is Master serious when he says this is a mortal form? Even with such superb swordsmanship, how could a mortal so easily defeat a thousand-year-old centipede demon, as if squashing an ant?

Alright, a god is truly a god. Even in a mortal form, he remains divine.

Yìn Zé stood up, placing his clean, bright sword back into its sheath. Without turning around, he half-turned his head and said, “Lò Wēi, let’s go.”

“Huh? Oh, right.”

He just called my name?

Finally, I’ve been upgraded from “Little Water Spirit” to “Lò Wēi.” That wasn’t easy!

Watching his tall figure walk ahead, I suddenly felt like the Demon Refining Valley had become as warm and safe as my childhood bed curtain.

I hurriedly jogged to catch up, sticking closely behind him like a little tail.

The Demon Refining Valley was truly vast. Over the next few days, we trekked long distances, searching for an exit to the lower levels. Thankfully, there were plants in some of the levels, so we didn’t have to resort to eating demons out of hunger. The deeper we went, the more demons who had cultivated into human forms we encountered. By the time we reached the seventeenth level, a beautiful fox demon had wrapped herself around Yìn Zé.

This fox demon originally lived by absorbing men’s vital energy, having encountered countless men. Upon seeing Yìn Zé’s mortal face, she unexpectedly developed feelings for him and insisted on marrying him in this cursed place. Yìn Zé nearly killed her, but after my long persuasion, I managed to drag him downstairs.

Finally, when we reached the twentieth level, as we just entered the teleportation circle, we saw a familiar figure of a young man holding a sword in front of us. Seeing such a familiar back here, I thought I was hallucinating.

However, he turned around, and it was indeed Fu Chenzi.

I was stunned and exclaimed, “Brother? Why are you...”

However, his eyes were red, and without a word, he swung his sword at us.