Chapter 1011: Spiritsound Absorbing Zimei
A classified report was sent from the Swordsage Court in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture all the way to the Swordsage Palace in Sea-Sealing County! The Swordsage Palace received the report and immediately assigned a powerful expert to Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. The report was also sent to Xu Qing.
“Twenty days ago, a sect by the name of the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture issued an arrest warrant for a disciple named Li Zimei. The entire prefecture was notified that she had been bedeviled and was no longer human. She had killed fellow disciples in the most brutal manner. She fled, and the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society pursued her for ten days. Of the dozens of teams the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society sent after her, more than half were wiped out.
“During the process, she encountered Swordsage Qing Qiu from the Swordsage Court in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. For some unknown reason, the two of them started fighting, and then ended up disappearing into the Spiritsound forbidden ground.”
***
The Sageheaven Pagoda that Seven Blood Eyes had mobilized to create was able to cross the Forbidden Sea in only a day. Upon arriving in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, Xu Qing was seated cross-legged in the pagoda when he received the classified report from the Swordsage Palace.
“Qing Qiu...” he murmured.
As he pulled his divine will out of the jade slip, he thought back to the scavenger basecamp, and the little girl that had later come to be a fellow swordsage. He would never be able to forget her strong determination.
The other name also struck a chord in him. She was someone he had come to know in Seven Blood Eyes, and she was similar to Qing Qiu in some ways. Though she had a timid personality, her sense of pride was sky-high. Later, she ended up being taken into the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. The last time Xu Qing remembered seeing her was on the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River. Back then, Li Zimei had left him a letter explaining that she was going to accept a legacy. Xu Qing eventually moved on to Sea-Sealing County, and the two of them lost touch.
Never could he have imagined that the next time he heard about either of them, it would be in a situation like this.
“Spiritsound forbidden ground....” Xu Qing looked down at Ling’er sleeping and mulled the matter over.“Have something to take care of?” asked Grandpa Ninth, who was standing off to the side.
Xu Qing turned to look at him. “I received a classified report from the Swordsage Palace. Two old friends of mine went missing in the Spiritsound forbidden ground.”
Grandpa Ninth looked at Ling’er. Before he could say anything, Erniu interjected, “Spiritsound? That craphole of a forbidden ground? Raze it to the ground, I say! Who went missing there?”
“Qing Qiu,” Xu Qing replied calmly.
Erniu thought about it for a moment, and then smiled enigmatically. “Qing Qiu? The same one who tried to steal our loot on the Nethersprite heist, and then later became a swordsage? The same chick who went to the Holytide Region with us? Right, I remember. She loved that scythe of hers. It had a spirit automaton, right? And I remember she had some kind of blood will domain. That girl was a real freak of nature! Who’s the other one?”
“Li Zimei,” Xu Qing replied.
“Li Zimei? Who? That’s not ringing a bell.” Erniu scoured his memories but couldn’t recall who Li Zimei was. After all, whether it was her time in Seven Blood Eyes or the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society, he had never had any dealings with her.
Meanwhile, Grandpa Ninth looked away from the sleeping Ling’er. “Dealing with one forbidden ground shouldn’t waste too much time. Go if you want.”
Xu Qing nodded, then sent the Sageheaven Pagoda flying over the Eight Sect Coalition and toward the mountain range beyond it. The mountain range was made of undulating black mountains, some of which were very tall, some of which weren’t. They seemed to stretch on endlessly into the depths of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. Altogether, they resembled the corpse of some massive beast, dark and hazy as if filled with sinister evil. The place overflowed with vile trees and grues.
These were the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture’s Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains! In the spot where the mountains approached the sea, the Eight Sect Coalition had made their headquarters. At the other end of the mountains in the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture was the notorious Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain.
After Xu Qing’s pagoda sped into the airspace over the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains, it slowed to a halt.
In the direction of the Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain, two figures appeared, one short and one tall. Both were looking in the direction of the pagoda.
The tall one was incredibly skinny, almost to the point of looking skeletal. The only thing about him that wasn’t incredibly bony was his back, which was hunched and looked almost like a small mountain. That ‘mountain’ was actually some sort of cancerous growth, covered with horrid, greenish-red veins. It almost looked like that growth had absorbed all of the other flesh and blood on his body.
The person next to him was actually a dwarf.
The dwarf wore a black robe and had tiny, beady eyes along with a bulging forehead. He had two very long eyebrows that drooped down to his cheeks. He had a recessed chin, and a mustache shaped roughly like the character 八, with the ends curled up so they resembled tusks. He was surrounded by a black cloud that looked like it was formed from countless shrieking centipedes.
Obviously, the arrival of the Sageheaven Pagoda, and the pressure it emanated, had shaken these two individuals to the core.
Xu Qing emerged from the pagoda and looked at them. The two enormous figures breathed sighs of relief. Eyes shining, they ducked their heads down and bowed at the waist to Xu Qing.
They were none other than the heavenly soul Sporelight and the earthly soul Sunslaughter! Years ago, Xu Qing had relied on their help to deal with Forbidden by the Zombie, in exchange for a promise to help them break free from the shackles of the Ghost Emperor, and thus earn freedom.[1]
“I don’t break my promises,” Xu Qing said in a low voice. “Once I reach Smoldering God, I’ll live up to my word.”
When Sporelight and Sunslaughter heard that, it was very thought-provoking to them. Although they hadn’t personally witnessed Xu Qing’s rise to prominence, they had been there for two important events along the way.
The first was when the two thieves Xu Qing and Erniu broke in and stole Nethersprite’s clothes. Back then, any one of the three souls had a cultivation base so powerful they could have killed the two with the wave of a hand.
The second was when Xu Qing and Erniu came with Qingqin and asked the heavenly soul and earthly soul for help. At that time, Xu Qing was already showing he had the potential to rise to prominence. Therefore, Sporelight decided to casually place a game piece into play. As far as Sporelight was concerned, that random game piece wasn’t really very important. And he wasn’t very certain that anything would come from making that move.
Neither of them could have guessed that Xu Qing would perform so dramatically, that he would go to Sea-Sealing, and Moonrite, and Holytide, and even the imperial capital.... In fact, he was now a region lord of two regions, plus the tutor to the crown prince, the Grand Darkheaven of the Firemoons, and a person whose name had shaken the entire east of Revered Ancient. And he had single-handedly brought down an entire holy land.
Combined, that surpassed anything they could have imagined. Xu Qing had reached the point where they had to struggle just to lift their heads high enough to see him. Today... was their third encounter.
Keeping their heads down, they bowed respectfully. That casually placed game piece had really turned into good fortune.
Xu Qing looked at the two souls but said nothing further. He went back into the pagoda, which shone with bright light that drove away the darkness of the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains. Surrounded by brightness, the pagoda shot off into the distance.
Sometime later, Sporelight and Sunslaughter looked up, their hearts pounding.
“In all the history of Revered Ancient,” Sporelight murmured, “how many chosen have there been who could surpass him?”
***
Heaven and earth grew dim as evening fell. As the afterglow of sunset began to fade, Xu Qing spotted a great river ahead of the Sageheaven Pagoda.
Emperor-Receiving Prefecture had a famous mountain range and a famous river. The mountain range was the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains. The river was the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River.
The majestic, ancient river was as wide as a sea, and its waters rushed turbulently, creating a constant crashing sound as the waves frothed. The immortal energy was strong.
It entered the prefecture from the outside, passing through the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society in the east of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. It passed through the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains, ultimately entering the Spiritsound forbidden ground, before eventually reaching the sea in the distant west. At the spot where the river and the mountains intersected, the Sageheaven Pagoda shot through the air, following the river... to the Spiritsound forbidden ground.
Spiritsound split the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River into two parts.
Before reaching the forbidden ground, the water rushed along filled with life and immortal energy, which helped countless living beings to cleanse themselves of mutagen. But after it entered the forbidden ground, the life in the water vanished, and it turned black and murky. The mutagen of the forbidden ground invaded it. Infected it.
However, there is karma in all things, and counterparts in everything. For years on end, water full of immortal energy had poured into the forbidden ground. Though that water ended up polluted, the reason was that it was taking mutagen out of the forbidden ground. And the result was that, despite how much time had passed, the Spiritsound forbidden ground hadn’t expanded its borders.
Though it was officially a forbidden ground, it wasn’t close to being on the same level as Forbidden by the Zombie. Nor could it compare to the forbidden ground in South Phoenix.
The lord of this forbidden ground, who was sometimes referred to as Emperor Spiritsound, and sometimes as Lord Spiritsound, occasionally awoke. But when that happened, the combined forces of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture would work together to create a sealing mark to contain him. After all, if the emperor of a forbidden ground ended up dying, as long as the forbidden ground itself remained, a new emperor would eventually arise. And as far as Emperor-Receiving Prefecture was concerned, it made a lot more sense to just keep dealing with an entity they knew, rather than have to handle an unfamiliar entity. Thus, the two parties had existed for a long time without very much friction.
But today, catastrophe loomed over the Spiritsound forbidden ground. As the haze of evening spread out in heaven and earth, a nine-floor pagoda shining with seven-colored light appeared. It pulsed with a chaotic, primeval aura, and emanated terrifying pressure as it came to hover above the forbidden ground.
As soon as it arrived, Xu Qing stepped out of the pagoda and hovered in the air.
The afterglow of sunset would make it hard to see most things, but it didn’t obscure Xu Qing at all. He stood tall and straight, his eyes glittering profoundly.
“The lord of this forbidden ground will come out immediately to see me.”
In response to his words, countless sounds erupted from the forbidden ground.... They included the sound of the wind, the sound of rustling leaves, the sound of water dripping, and the sound of swamp lands stirring.... Countless sounds, including those of innumerable living beings and everything else that existed in the forbidden ground, erupted uncontrollably. Every single one of those sounds existed within Xu Qing’s authority of sound. Every movement was within his god perception.
As of this moment, all of those sounds didn’t belong to the forbidden ground. They belonged to Xu Qing! As they converged, they became part of the words he had spoken, causing heaven to shake and the earth to quake.
When facing the authority of sound, this forbidden ground had no choice but to acknowledge allegiance.
Countless images and perceptions appeared to Xu Qing. He saw everything, including... Li Zimei in the depths of the forbidden ground. She was trapped inside of a gruish tree. Her long hair was draped around her, and her eyes were closed, but her expression was fierce, and she pulsed with a baleful aura. Her aura was very gruish, and seemed to be on the verge of fusing with the forbidden ground around her.
It was at that exact same moment that the entire forbidden ground came to be under Xu Qing’s control....
The only part of Li Zimei that was visible was her head. Suddenly, her eyes opened, and they shone with a fiendish, bloody glow. In the past, her face had been delicate and pretty. But now it was ferocious, covered with black veins that formed the image of a ghost face.
The sight of it caused Xu Qing to sigh inwardly. He suddenly thought back to the letter Li Zimei had left for him when they parted ways last.
The past was now vividly in mind.
***
“Elder Brother Xu Qing, I’ve been doing well in the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society....
“I’m going to participate in one of the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society’s ceremonies of enlightenment.... If I succeed, it’s possible that my personality will change.... I’ve never liked my personality anyway. Sometimes I’m too weak....
“I don’t know if I’ll succeed, and if I do, I have no idea how I’ll transform....
“Finally, Elder Brother, I want to offer you my sincere well wishes. I hope you do really well in life. Forever. Always.
“Li Zimei.”
1. The part in which Sporelight and Sunslaughter helped Xu Qing with Forbidden by the Zombie started in the second part of chapter 500. ☜