As Xu Qing’s voice echoed within the grand hall of the tenth Imperial Sovereign mountain, the empress looked up at him.
“It’s a paramount godly authority,” the empress said, “especially the variables of fortune. Not even I can see that clearly. All I can tell you is that the godly authority of the broken face Eminent Desolation is, put precisely, fate.
“When it comes to you and Zi Qing, one of you has a body made from Eminent Desolation’s flesh and blood. The other gained a new life as a family member of Eminent Desolation. At the same time, thanks to your Master’s saber strike, you were able to seize some of the destiny aura of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan. As a result, the return of the sovereign kingdom wasn’t complete.
“And thus, in this life, you and Zi Qing are yet again closely related. All of it is because of the entanglements of fate. And all of it will come together at some point in the future. This discussion of constants and variables is also a debate between life and fortune. Or you could say that it’s a battle of fate between you and Zi Qing.”
The empress looked away from Xu Qing and into the sky, hēr eyes glistening... as if shē could already see that day. Those eyes quickly returned to normal.
Xu Qing didn’t say anything. When he saw the empress’ eyes go back to normal, he decided not to ask any further questions. Regardless of anything, whatever the empress could see would fall into the realm of constants. Shē could not see variables. Since Xu Qing himself had some control over fate, then when it came to the future, he would have to use his carving knife to make changes on his own behalf. After all, it could be used on his own life as well as others.
Looking very calm, Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed deeply to the empress. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for dispelling my confusion. By the way, is there anything else I can assist you with here in the Devilbird holy land? If there is, I will do everything in my power to be of benefit.”
The empress gave a slight nod. “Previously, I would have said no.”
Xu Qing blinked a few times. The implications of the empress’ words were evident.
“However,” the empress continued, “considering that you have a tendency to get restless, you’ll stick by my side going forward.“Three days from now, I’ll be taking a trip as Lu Lingzi to the western Devilbirds. The plan is to offer formal greetings to Grand Emperor Devilbird and discuss the particulars of opening the secluded meditation facilities of Grand Emperor Netherflame. When the time comes, I want you to accompany me. For now, you can rest and recuperate outside of the hall. Your soul is obviously very weak, and it needs to recover.”
The empress waved a hand, sending a pill bottle and a jade slip flying over to him.
He caught them. Senses alone told him there was a medicinal pill in the bottle, and it was clearly something designed to nourish and replenish the soul. The jade slip served the same function. Feeling deeply appreciative, he bowed again, and then left the hall.
Outside, he took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged, and then consumed the pill. The pill entered his mouth and turned into streams of warmth that flowed into his sea of consciousness to bolster his soul. It was an extraordinary pill. When the effects reached his sea of consciousness, they became like rain falling onto withered plants and vegetation. Xu Qing’s dim and feeble soul immediately began to recover.
Three days passed.
Thanks to the medicinal pill, Xu Qing’s soul had recovered by about fifty percent. Although he wasn’t back to the same condition as before, his battle prowess hadn’t been affected very much. With a bit more recovery time, and the help of the jade slip, it wouldn’t take more than a month for him to be fully recovered.
After those three days passed, the empress emerged from the hall and floated up into the air.
Xu Qing rose and followed.
At the foot of the tenth Imperial Sovereign mountain, the gathered Devilbird cultivators looked up into the evening sky and bowed respectfully. The Imperial Sovereign was rising into the air. It was the first time ‘Lu Lingzi’ had made a public appearance after establishing the Imperial Sovereign mountain. Of course, everyone quickly noticed Xu Qing, and all of them were shaken. Some of them knew Sir Blood Dust, and quite a few of the people present had seen him go into the mountain before. That alone had been a shock.
But what was happening now was different. ‘Sir Blood Dust’ was following ‘Lu Lingzi.’ That meant that he had become an official attendant!
Going forward, ‘Sir Blood Dust’ would have a status and position that were completely different than before. In the future, even if he left the mountain alone, all of the gathered cultivators would bow worshipfully to him. Mixed emotions, including feelings of defiance, rose up in the hearts of many. But in the end, they suppressed such emotions. They didn’t dare to reveal how they truly felt. They only dared to reveal... respect.
As everyone bowed, Xu Qing followed the empress over the horizon.
The empress didn’t move at a high rate of speed. Yet every step shē took caused heaven and earth to blur, and sent visible Imperial Sovereign fluctuations rolling out in all directions. The empress’ actions were immediately noticed by the other Imperial Sovereigns among the eastern Devilbirds, and many gazes locked onto hēr.
Xu Qing instinctively retracted his aura. However, when he realized the empress didn’t seem worried at all, he felt more at ease. After all, shē was a peak Altar God. Clearly, shē was fully confident in going to see Grand Emperor Devilbird. Given that, he didn’t need to overthink things. Having reached this point in his train of thought, he looked up, and this time, he seemed very relaxed.
As the Imperial Sovereigns looked on, the empress took Xu Qing over the horizon. With only a few paces, they left the territory of the eastern Devilbirds and entered the lands of the western Devilbirds.
The moment they arrived, the gazes of even more Imperial Sovereigns locked onto them. In an instant, the lands began to tremble, and the air distorted. Traces of natural and magical laws glittered, as well as domineering streams of divine will. There wasn’t any ounce of courtesy being shown to the empress.
The empress’ face was completely expressionless as shē proceeded on hēr way. Xu Qing’s face was similarly blank as he kept his head bowed and followed hēr.
The western Devilbirds had more Imperial Sovereign mountains than the east did. They had twenty-one. But Xu Qing could sense from the gazes that they didn’t care about him very much at all. After merely glancing at him, they focused solely on the empress.
Xu Qing felt hardly any pressure at all. He was just a mere attendant. However, it was still clear to him that these gazes were not packed with good intentions. In fact, they were scornfully offering a warning to this new Imperial Sovereign from the east. That scorn contained deeper implications, of course, and thus, it didn’t just come from the Imperial Sovereigns.
It also came from Grand Emperor Devilbird. It didn’t seem to make any difference that the empress came to respectfully offer greetings.
After arriving at Grand Emperor Devilbird’s dao altar, the empress stated hēr purpose in coming. This Grand Emperor also had an apprentice present, who was a middle-aged cultivator that had also just recently become an Imperial Sovereign. He was the one who responded to the empress’ self-introduction. It came in the form of an order.
“Wait a moment!” The new Imperial Sovereign looked imperiously at the empress and coldly continued, “Lu Lingzi, you and I clashed years ago, and neither of us came out on top. Now that you’ve experienced a breakthrough, why don’t we settle things once and for all!”
His words boomed like thunder, and came with immense pressure.
The empress’ expression hadn’t changed at all the entire time. Nor had shē even glanced at Grand Emperor Devilbird’s apprentice. Turning to Xu Qing, shē calmly said, “Sir Blood Dust.”
“Here, sir!” Xu Qing bowed at the waist.
“Go swap pointers with all of the Smoldering God subordinates of the western Imperial Sovereign. While you’re at it, don’t besmirch the name of the eastern Devilbirds.” [1]
Those words caused all of the local Imperial Sovereigns to look at Xu Qing. Even the Imperial Sovereign who had voiced the order of the Grand Emperor looked over at him.
Xu Qing’s gaze hardened. He could tell what the empress wanted. Shē wanted him to make a scene. However, his most deadly abilities related to godly authority and cultivator authority. Therefore, the biggest problem was going to be not revealing the truth about his assets.
The empress had given orders, though, and there was no time to sit around contemplating matters. Without the slightest hesitation, he let loose a somber and desolate aura and said, “Your orders shall be followed!”
Then he blurred into motion and shot over the horizon.
The empress closed hēr eyes and said nothing further.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing was scrambling to make a plan. On the one hand, he was wondering what the empress might have done to make sure his true identity wasn’t revealed. At the same time, he was pouring through Sir Blood Dust’s memories to find information about the western Devilbirds.
The western Devilbirds have twenty-one Imperial Sovereign mountains. The strongest is the second. After that come the first, the third, and the seventeenth. The empress said to swap pointers. In that case, the most suitable first challenge will be...
Xu Qing looked north. That was where the seventeenth Imperial Sovereign mountain was located.
That direction. As for how the empress is planning to keep my identity a secret, the most likely explanation....
Xu Qing rubbed the jade slip the empress had given him. He had assumed that jade slip was to nourish his soul. But now that he thought about it, it seemed highly likely that it was a special item that the empress had prepared for him to keep his true identity a secret.
Convinced that this assessment was correct, he unhesitatingly shot toward the seventeenth Imperial Sovereign mountain. He accelerated to top speed, causing a sonic boom to echo out. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he caught sight of the towering mountain up ahead.
As he closed in, he spoke in a thunderous voice that slammed into the mountain.
“I am Sir Blood Dust, subordinate of the tenth Imperial Sovereign of the eastern Devilbirds. I hereby challenge the Smoldering Gods of the western Devilbirds’ seventeenth Imperial Sovereign mountain!”
The response to his words was a cold snort that echoed out from the seventeenth mountain.
“Chen Fei, you go crush this kid!”[2]
Obviously, the local Imperial Sovereigns had all heard what the empress said to Xu Qing earlier. Since Lu Lingzi wasn’t personally making challenges, but was sending a subordinate out as a champion... then all they had to do was crush the subordinate, and Lu Lingzi would have no way to get out of fighting.
Even as the cold snort still echoed in the air, someone flew out from the mountain. It was a burly middle-aged cultivator whose cultivation base fluctuations were that of a seven-world Smoldering God. He glittered with dazzling light as he flew out, clasped hands respectfully to the mountain, then turned to look sharply at Xu Qing. Then he advanced at top speed. Seven major worlds erupted with power, creating a terrifying pressure.
At the same time, Xu Qing casually lifted his right hand, extended it in the direction of this Chen Fei, and then closed his fingers into a fist. His sound authority swept out.
The sound around Chen Fei became a deadly attack that swept him up. It was like a huge sphere around him in which all the sound waves became deadly ripples. Chen Fei’s face fell and his heart started pounding. However, what he saw wasn’t a sound attack. Instead, it was a host of shocking blood-red sealing marks. The blood seals pulsed with a gory sensation, as well as extraordinary power. And they made him feel very uneasy. In the blink of an eye, he lost the initiative.
At that moment of crisis, his seven major worlds surged with light, and at the same time, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture. Astonishingly, within his seven worlds, seven gruish statues appeared, each different from the other. Then all of them burst into motion, emerging from the worlds to attack Xu Qing with deadly force.
Xu Qing’s face was completely expressionless as he looked at the seven statues. Then, astonishingly, he vanished into the sound, only to reappear right behind Chen Fei.
Two types of authority glittered in his eyes. Looking at Chen Fei’s karma threads, he stirred the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures. Karma clamped down onto life, and the emotions went wild. It was a mental attack.
Next came the profound sun immortal light in the form of a huge sun rising above his sea of consciousness. It cast boundless light and heat that surrounded Chen Fei and then crushed down on him.
Rumbling booms rose into the sky as the authority of sound caused Chen Fei to lose any chance of fighting back. He staggered, and before he could even make a move, found that he was seriously injured by the profound sun immortal light. An instant later, he slammed into the ground below.
Xu Qing raced after him, clenching his hand into a fist that he slammed into Chen Fei’s chest, worsening his injuries.
All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but actually happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off a piece of flint.
What was more, when Xu Qing unleashed his godly authority and cultivator authority, the jade slip the empress had given him surreptitiously worked behind the scenes to disguise the true nature of what he was doing. His authority of sound became blood sealing marks. His cultivator authority became a daoist magic. The sun of immortal light became a secret technique.
The fact that the fight ended so quickly caused the cultivators who had been watching the fight to feel shaken to the core. All of them were struck speechless.
Thinking back to what the empress had asked of him, Xu Qing hovered in the air looking down at Chen Fei.
“You... are too weak.” Then he launched a kick that sent Chen Fei flying back to the Imperial Sovereign mountain. “Are there any other Smoldering Gods in this mountain who want to fight?”
Chen Fei wanted to speak up. He had other assets at his disposal, and was convinced that his defeat was the result of some minor slip-up. However, his injuries from his fall were so severe that when he opened his mouth to speak, blood sprayed out.
At the same time, a grim voice spoke from the seventeenth Imperial Sovereign mountain. “I’d hoped to avoid looking like a bully. But since you asked for this, Sir Blood Dust... I suppose I have no choice other than to crush you.”
An aura far more terrifying than Chen Fei’s erupted from the mountain, accompanied by an old man. He had scarlet hair, and pulsed with a nine-world aura. That aura came from the worlds that floated behind him. It was an energy that made this old man feel very much like an actual god.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered slightly. He actually wasn’t confident at all in his ability to defeat a nine-world Smoldering God. Looking at the cultivator, he shook his head.
“You’re not a match for me either. But since you’re the one who brought up bullying, I’ll just stand here and let you unleash three moves on me. If you can hurt me, then you win.”
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1. Presumably most readers of wuxia and xianxia know this, but just in case there are some out there who don’t, whenever you hear something like “swap pointers” or “exchange advice” or something like that in a context like this, it’s usually referring to going out and challenging people to fight. Because the two parties are “swapping pointers,” it’s obviously not supposed to be a duel to the death, but rather, a quasi-friendly match, almost like sparring, to see who is stronger or better. Of course, it could be that the person issuing such challenges has ulterior motives and will push things beyond the level of a friendly match. But the presupposition is that it’s not a death duel. ☜
2. Chen Fei: Minor spoilers, but probably no surprise, that this character isn’t really important. However, what is interesting is that he bears the exact same name as a minor character from A Will Eternal , someone who first appeared in chapter 12 of that novel. No, they’re not supposed to be the same character. Just the same name. What’s more, the characters are the same exact characters as the first two from the character Chen Feiyuan of this novel. ☜
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