Chapter 1010: Sageheaven Pagoda
At Seven Blood Eyes, dawn was the purest and most tranquil part of the day. The first stream of light that came from the east brought golden color with it, and it shone around the approaching female figure.
She wore a long white gown that was the perfect complement to her beauty. The rising sun behind her made her skin seem extraordinarily fair, like exquisite porcelain. She seemed clean, pure, and free of all worldly defilements. She was slender and elegant, like a supple willow tree. Her long, straight nose, rosy lips, and beautiful smile were as warm and gorgeous as the sunrise. As she approached, her long hair swayed behind her in a mysterious, intoxicating rhythm. Especially noteworthy were her eyes, which glittered like gemstones, and brimmed with pure, joyous light. She was like a butterfly slowly stretching its wings, with charm and loveliness that was almost palpable.
Ling’er missed Xu Qing so much that she had finally come to see him at the Seventh Peak. When she threw herself into his arms and breathed in his scent, her eyes overflowed with tears.
“Big Bro Xu Qing....”
Endless longing and worry had filled her, as well as an ineffable indecision, and all of that came out in the words she spoke.
A host of memories filled Xu Qing’s heart and mind when he heard her speak. He gently lifted his hand and stroked her hair.
“Why are you crying?” he asked softly.
“I don’t know.... I just feel like I’ve lost you, Big Bro Xu Qing.” She looked up at him.
He was quiet for a moment, and then he laughed softly. “Impossible.”
“Really?”“Really,” he said with a nod.
Ling’er laughed through her tears.
Xu Qing looked up at Grandpa Ninth, who had not descended from the dome of heaven. Grandpa Ninth closed his eyes, settled down cross-legged in midair, and started meditating.
After some thought, Xu Qing decided not to go to the forbidden ground to check on his dreadnaught. Instead, he sat down outside of his mansion grotto and told Ling’er the story of everything that happened after he left the Moonrite Region.
Ling’er listened intently to all the twists and turns, and her emotions rose and fell as he went through the different parts of the story. When she heard the parts where Xu Qing was in danger, she got nervous. When she heard the parts when he won great victories, she got happy. Gradually, her worries faded away, and she became immersed in Xu Qing’s world.
As he recounted his tale, that feeling of indecision within her gradually faded away. It was replaced by a smile, and then, with a love of life and a hope for what was to come in the future. It was something unique to young women. It was the liveliness and excitement of youth, the pure manifestation of a girl’s dreams. She suddenly seemed like a flower blooming in spring, or the sunlight in summer, or the leaves falling in autumn, or the snowflakes in winter.
When Xu Qing told the parts of his story that touched on Erniu, she laughed and laughed, sounding like a gentle stream flowing through a mountain.
Time passed.
As Xu Qing spoke, the sky turned blue, and white clouds drifted overhead. Just like Grandpa Ninth had, they looked down calmly at what was happening on the Seventh Peak. Combined with the shining sun, it looked like a simple but elegant painting.
Eventually, Ling’er yawned. Then her eyes fluttered closed, and she fell asleep.
Xu Qing gently stroked her head to make sure she was in a deep slumber. Then, he looked up at Grandpa Ninth with a very serious expression. Clasping hands, he bowed.
“Grandpa Ninth, what’s going on with Ling’er?”
Grandpa Ninth opened his eyes and looked down. “Last month, when she reached the great circle of Nascent Soul, her bloodline curse started flaring up again. The imperial energy you left for her ran out.”
Xu Qing looked down at the sleeping Ling’er. Earlier, he had sensed the fluctuations indicating her cultivation base was unstable.
Face expressionless, Grandpa Ninth continued, “I brought her here to see you because I want you to come with me to see Emperor Ancient Spirit. My plan is to force him to give up the rest of his imperial energy. All of it. That said, there’s no need to rush. Ling’er isn’t in any immediate danger.”
Xu Qing nodded. Going to see Emperor Ancient Spirit would involve traveling to the Wood Spirits in Sea-Sealing County.
Although he once had a command medallion that would take him directly to Emperor Ancient Spirit, after he was resurrected in South Phoenix, that medallion stopped working. Xu Qing had tried using it when he was being chased by Floating Fiend, only for it to fail.
“Very well, Senior. Please wait just a moment.”
Xu Qing waved his hand, sending out a gentle force that helped suppress the instability in Ling’er’s cultivation base. Then he floated up into the air before vanishing. When he reappeared, he was in the forbidden ground where his dreadnaught was being made.
A huge open space had been prepared there. As soon as Xu Qing appeared, he saw the hundreds of thousands of cultivators under the command of Zhang San, making the final inspection of the dreadnaught.
Huang Yan and Erniu were meditating at opposite ends of the open area.
Astonishingly, the object that Zhang San and the hundreds of thousands of Seven Blood Eyes disciples were inspecting was a massive nine-floor pagoda that rose high into the sky. It rotated slowly, glowing with majestic light, and pulsing with an ancient aura. All it took was a single glance to realize that it was extraordinary. The sageheaven god vine coiled around it, casting its own starlight into the glow of the pagoda.
Close examination would reveal that the nine-floor pagoda wasn’t actually a unified structure. It had been pieced together. The bottom level was made from the earliest version of the dilapidated pagoda. The eight floors above it had apparently been added on to provide a higher level of control.
When Zhang San spotted Xu Qing, he looked at him and grinned. “What do you think, Xu Qing? Happy? That dilapidated pagoda of yours was very, very difficult to refine. Thankfully, the exalted Huang Yan’s flame was extraordinary, and made it possible to refine it. When you add in the Captain’s marvelous abilities, we were able to add eight floors to the pagoda.
“Now, you should be able to directly control it! This dreadnaught won’t just work in the Forbidden Sea. You should be able to use it... in the starry sky! This is a dreadnaught designed to traverse the stars!
“It doesn’t just have materials from godly entities. The Captain and the exalted Huang Yan also added in the flesh of gods. It’s completely astonishing, and at the same time, can be released and collected back at will.
“What’s more, given how much I’m familiar with your practice of blowing up your ships, I didn’t bother building in divine abilities and magical techniques. Instead, I focused everything on durability. This dreadnaught... can also be used as a weapon to bash enemies over the head! And of course, in terms of speed and strength, it surpasses your previous dreadnaught by a longshot!”
Zhang San kept talking louder and louder in his excitement. Over the last month, he had been the one orchestrating the plan to build the dreadnaught. He had poured blood, sweat, and tears into the project, and had pushed his skill and imagination to the limit. As far as he was concerned, this was the best work he had done in his entire life.
“Now you just need to awaken your god vine! The vine is the spirit automaton of the dreadnaught. During the process of refining the pagoda, it became inextricably linked to it. Right now, it’s asleep. With it as the spirit automaton, you can control the pagoda perfectly! By the way, I kept the defensive bubble that surrounded the pagoda.”
Zhang San hurried to Xu Qing’s side looking very excited, and all the while trying to hide his exhaustion. However, his bloodshot eyes made it obvious how tired he was.
Xu Qing was moved. Taking a deep breath, he clasped hands and bowed to Zhang San. Then he bowed to the hundreds of thousands of cultivators in the area. Finally, he waved his hand in the direction of the pagoda.
As his divine will streamed out, the sageheaven god vine coiled around the pagoda twitched. Then it slowly woke up and started moving around the pagoda. Starlight glittered resplendently as the sageheaven god vine carried the pagoda right toward Xu Qing. Along the way, both the vine and the pagoda shrank down until they landed on Xu Qing’s palm, hardly more than an inch tall.
Xu Qing checked it with divine will, then retracted his divine will. Around that time, Erniu and Huang Yan emerged from meditation. Both of them looked very pleased. But then they noticed each other. Glaring at each other, they seemed just on the verge of bickering when Xu Qing cleared his throat.
“Huang Yan, I have a matter to attend to. I need to leave South Phoenix.”
Huang Yan opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Erniu jumped up, rushed over to Xu Qing, and laughed heartily.
“We’re finally leaving? Alright, let’s hurry up and get out of here! Having to deal with this birdman on a daily basis is really getting old. It’s high time I un-bird-en myself, I can tell you that!”
Xu Qing clasped hands to Huang Yan. There wasn’t a need for any parting words. With another bow to everyone else present, he threw the pagoda into the air. In accordance with his thoughts, it grew to a height of 300 meters tall, and also emanated a seven-colored glow. A magnificent will spread out in all directions as Xu Qing stepped onto the pagoda. Erniu followed, and as his sageheaven god vine glittered with starlight, he was admitted. Next, rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as the pagoda pierced through the void and disappeared.
When it reappeared, it was above the Seventh Peak in Seven Blood Eyes. There, the pagoda’s main doors opened, and the sleeping Ling’er floated up and into the pagoda. Grandpa Ninth also stepped inside. He looked around, and his eyes flashed with amazement.
“This thing is incredible!”
Hearing that, Erniu laughed proudly. “I refined it!”
Grandpa Ninth ignored him.
Xu Qing bolstered Ling’er again, slowing down the changes to her cultivation base. Then he sent more divine will into the pagoda. As all the Seven Blood Eyes disciples watched, the pagoda flared with seven-colored light. Dazzling brightness spread for 5,000 kilometers, and then the pagoda vanished.
It moved with shocking speed out over the Forbidden Sea. Immense waves swept out over the water as the pagoda shot toward Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. Wherever it passed, countless sea beasts sensed the pressure of the pagoda’s aura, and they trembled.
***
In Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, the Swordsage Court grand elder in charge of the prefecture was flying over the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains. After passing the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River, he appeared outside the Spiritsound forbidden ground.[1]
Looking into the forbidden ground, he said, “Three days ago, a swordsage from my Swordsage Court was out on a mission when she encountered the wanted cultivator Li Zimei from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. After chasing her into the forbidden region, they both disappeared.[2]
“Lord Spiritsound, things are different in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, Sea-Sealing County, and the Holytide Region in general, compared to the last time you awoke! Therefore, I’m here on orders from the Swordsage Palace in Sea-Sealing County, demanding that you release these people from your forbidden ground!”
Natural sounds erupted from the Spiritsound forbidden ground, turning into sounds of death that swept out in all directions. The shocking power of the sound caused the entire forbidden ground to tremble. Waves broke out on the surface of the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River, all while a sinister voice spoke from inside the forbidden ground.
“Screw off!”
The Swordsage Court grand elder was shaken deeply as he fell back 300 meters. Face pale and eyes sharp, he looked at the forbidden ground. “That swordsage was named Qing Qiu, and she was a close childhood friend of Region Lord Xu Qing. If you insist on being stubborn, you’ll bring catastrophe down on your own head. And now, you can’t claim that I didn’t warn you!”[3]
1. The Spiritsound forbidden ground was first mentioned in chapter 269. More details about it were explained in chapter 347. ☜
2. Li Zimei was introduced by name in chapter 49. She was last mentioned in chapter 660, and last appeared onscreen in chapter 287. ☜
3. Qing Qiu was first introduced by name in chapter 355, although she had appeared onscreen before that. She first showed up as an adult in chapter 335, but her first actual appearance onscreen was in chapter 6. She appeared in far too many chapters to include references. The last chapter in which she appeared onscreen was chapter 543, though she was mentioned in a few chapters after that. ☜
Deathblade's Thoughts
By this point in the novel, the author has seemingly forgotten his original designations for the Swordsage Court, Palace, and Division. Because of that, this a bit confusing when you read it in Chinese. I’ve edited the text here (as well as in subsequent chapters) so that the continuity is maintained.