Chapter 137: Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture
The Life Nurturing Incantation is too passive!
Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed with determination as he sat in his mansion grotto.
On the one hand, the Life Nurturing Incantation would work well with his life lamp, as he wouldn’t need to leave his mansion grotto. Once he reached the point of being able to use the life lamp, his battle prowess would be astonishing.
However, it would take too long to reach that point. Cultivation required spirit stones, and he also needed to upgrade his dharmaboat. Most important of all, Xu Qing knew that it was possible his situation could change overnight.
Therefore, it didn’t make sense for him to focus on the quiet and peaceful Life Nurturing Incantation. It seemed entirely possible that, before he even reached the point of being able to use the life flame, catastrophe could befall him. He did not like the idea of being so passive.
Therefore, he decided to cultivate the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture.
With the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture, he could imprison the souls of enemies in his dharma apertures. Not only would it make his dharma force more powerful, but according to the technique description in the jade slip, he could use a special method to link the imprisoned souls to a dharmaskiff. By doing so, his dharmaskiff would essentially have its own spirit. In other words, his dharmaskiff would have some of the characteristics of a magical treasure!
Xu Qing had actually never laid eyes on any magical treasures. But he knew that they were extremely rare, could not be used indefinitely, and had heaven-shaking, earth-shattering power.
Is my life lamp actually a special kind of magical treasure?
He wasn’t completely sure.
After some more thought, he confirmed that this was the right decision. Taking the jade slip, he sat there cross-legged, closed his eyes, tapped into his dharma apertures, burned his spirit seas, and began following the description of the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture to cultivate the technique!
The first step in the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture was forming the actual balefire.
All Foundation Establishment cultivators had flames in their dharma apertures. Those flames could ignite the spirit sea and turn into dharma force. It was also the same flame that was critical to lighting one’s life flame.
Because of fusing with the black umbrella that was the life lamp, the flames in Xu Qing’s dharma apertures had changed, and were now pitch black.
As it happened, the fire cultivated in the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture was also the same color. The two types of flame seemed very similar. However, after only four hours of cultivation, Xu Qing succeeded in creating balefire in his dharma apertures, which was when he realized they were actually very different.
The flame from the black umbrella existed on a higher level than the balefire, and it was also much hotter. The only thing it lacked was the ability to absorb souls.
However, it was an easy issue to resolve. Xu Qing simply combined the balefire with the black fire that already existed within him. Soon the black fire in him also developed the ability to absorb souls, just like the balefire.
Feeling very pleased, Xu Qing proceeded with cultivation.
Three days passed.
Eventually, when the black fire in both of his dharma apertures was fully capable of absorbing souls, he stopped the session of cultivation. Going forward, the most important thing for him would be souls. He needed souls as kindling to open his third dharma aperture.
I wonder if Elder Brother Zhang San is back. Once he finishes fixing my dharmaboat, I can go out to sea.
Looking down at his shadow, he thought for a minute, then took out his black iron skewer and undid the seals on Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.
The patriarch’s aura appeared, but he didn’t say a word. He was obviously afraid that if he said the wrong thing, it would provoke killing intent in Xu Qing. After studying the iron skewer briefly, Xu Qing tapped into the power of the violet crystal and crushed his shadow with suppressive force. This was all while the patriarch was hiding in the skewer watching.
Xu Qing did this on a daily basis. During the entire process, his facial expression didn’t change. His shadow was also used to it, and didn’t fight back. It just allowed itself to be viciously crushed.
However, inside the iron skewer, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior trembled in fear at the sight of it. It was a case of killing a chicken to frighten the monkey, and in this case, the patriarch was the monkey.
“You aren’t as useful to me now as you used to be,” Xu Qing said calmly to his shadow.
Now that Xu Qing was in Foundation Establishment, he viewed his shadow differently. It had its own sense of will, but he could suppress it. At this point he actually wanted his shadow to be stronger. Otherwise, his shadow wouldn’t be able to keep up with him, and he couldn’t use it as a trump card in a fight. He also felt the same about Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior in his iron skewer.
The patriarch had nothing to do or worry about, and that didn’t suit Xu Qing’s path. The words he had just spoken caused both his shadow and the iron skewer to tremble.
A moment later, his shadow rippled and distorted. As the fluctuations rolled off of it, a tiny scrap of will appeared and spoke in Xu Qing’s mind.
“Mutagen... upgrade... godliness....”
A thoughtful expression appeared on Xu Qing’s face. Then he looked from the shadow to the iron skewer, and his eyes burned with killing intent. That gaze caused the skewer to tremble even more intensely.
“What good are you?” he asked slowly. He raised his right hand, and within it appeared a scrap of the patriarch’s life essence spirit. It looked like Xu Qing was ready to crush it. However, that was when the patriarch flew out of the iron skewer to appear in front of him.
“Milord, Milord, don’t kill me!” he moaned. “I can practice cultivation! I have a spirit automaton technique. But lately I’ve either been too weak or just asleep, so I haven’t been able to cultivate it. Give me a chance, Milord. I’ll definitely, definitely, definitely cultivate it! I’ll work really hard!”
He looked absolutely terrified.
“In six months I’m going to assess both of you,” Xu Qing said. “The loser gets eliminated!”
In response to his words, his shadow seemed to pulse with ferocity. However, it wasn’t targeting Xu Qing, but rather, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior. The patriarch felt a similar ferocity in himself, but he didn’t let it show on his face. Instead, he made himself seem calm and placid. That seemed suspicious to the shadow, who reined in some of its ferocity.
Xu Qing knew how the patriarch operated, so he didn’t bother paying attention to the scheming that was already underway between him and the shadow. Putting away the iron skewer, he opened the door of his mansion grotto.
It was currently noontime. The sky was blue and dotted with white clouds. Sunlight streamed down, and carried on the humid wind were the sounds of the Offpeak world. However, the city was distant, so the clamor seemed like it came from another world. It almost didn’t seem real.
Xu Qing walked over to the cliff and looked down at the city, noticing the bustling harbors and the ships coming in and out of the port. The other districts in the city were just as busy. The streets were packed with people. The Seven Blood Eyes capital city really was a flourishing place. On Xu Qing’s first time up the peak, he’d had a chance to look down at the Offpeak world like this. But now he was an Onpeak cultivator, and the feeling was very different.
Things are the same. And they’re different.
What was different was his level. What was the same was that the broken face of the god still loomed over everyone.
Eventually, Xu Qing headed down to the Port District. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he now had the right to develop his own harbor. However, he hadn’t yet decided if he wanted to do that. In fact, he was thinking about that very topic as he walked through the air down toward the city.
His plan was to visit some of the shops in the Port District and buy some powerful jade talismans that were suitable for Foundation Establishment. After all, given the level of his cultivation base, ordinary talisman treasures wouldn’t be of much use. Foundation Establishment cultivators primarily used jade talismans.
Another thing he planned to do was find his informant. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was allowed to have attendants, and he wanted his informant to be the first, though he didn’t plan to take her up the peak. Another objective was to see if Zhang San was back.
Given his breakthrough, his standing in the Violent Crimes Division had changed. He still had a position there, but his position was different. Instead of being the deputy captain of Unit Six, he was now a deputy director, and he was in charge of the Celestial Bureau. Being a deputy director meant that he didn’t have to go to the Violent Crimes Division very often. In fact, he only needed to show up for important operations. His salary had increased, and was now 100 spirit stones per month.
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could resign from the division if he wanted. His spirit stone salary wasn’t much compared to what he would earn from the sect’s profits. But for now, he wanted to stay. After all, when he first arrived in Seven Blood Eyes, 100 spirit stones was a huge sum.
Upon coming down from the peak, he became the subject of numerous envious gazes in the port district. When he landed and started walking the streets, everyone got out of his way, and no one spoke to him. When he entered one of the shops, the shopkeeper rushed to meet him, bowing and offering respectful greetings.
The Offpeak disciples present, regardless of which peak they were assigned to, bowed at the waist and called out respectful greetings.
To Offpeak disciples, Foundation Establishment cultivators were no different from gods. After all, both gods and Foundation Establishment cultivators could kill them. And the latter were a lot more likely to do so.
As the sun shone onto Xu Qing’s violet robe, it seemed to radiate a boundless majesty.
To Xu Qing, who preferred keeping a low profile, being the focus of so much attention was unusual. Therefore, he quickly left the shop.
The next place he appeared was his set meeting location with his informant. After he summoned her, she came running. When she saw his dark violet daoist robe, she skidded to a stop, seemingly at a loss for what to do. The reverence in her eyes increased, and she started breathing heavily. She looked completely stunned. Then she saw Xu Qing’s cold gaze, and she shivered and fell to the ground to kowtow.
“Milord!”
Xu Qing took out a jade medallion and waved his hand, sending it streaking toward her. It stopped right in front of her, hovering in the air until she put out her trembling hands to take it.
“That’s an attendant medallion. I’m sure you know how much it’s worth. For now, you won’t live on the Seventh Peak. For the next three months, your task is to determine what’s necessary for me to develop a harbor.”
A moment later, Xu Qing was gone. The sea breeze stirred his informant’s long hair, revealing a look of complete incredulity on her pretty face. Looking up at the departing Xu Qing, she tried to steady her breathing. Never could she have imagined that he would reach the lofty Foundation Establishment level in such a short time.