Chapter 145: One Talisman, Two Lives
When the First Peak disciple called out in excitement, he projected his voice with dharma force, ensuring that he could be heard from quite a distance. His voice pierced shrilly high into the dome of heaven. In fact, all of the dozens of fighting cultivators from both sides of the conflict heard him.
Xu Qing’s expression flickered and he backed up. It wasn’t just the unfathomable poetry that caused him to do so, but also... the dozens of gazes that turned in their direction. Every single one of those gazes had eyes like gods, and all of them had auras that, despite the great distance involved, had caused Xu Qing to tremble and cough up blood. Therefore, when they looked over... Xu Qing backed up without any hesitation. He fully activated his dharmaskiff’s defenses, took out some defensive talisman treasures, and waved his hand to call over his snakeneck dragon as well.
However, the indescribable terrifying pressure was so intense that, as Xu Qing’s mind spun, his snakeneck dragon collapsed, and his talisman treasures shattered. Thankfully, his dharmaskiff was extraordinary, and had been built with godliness. Therefore, though the defenses were destroyed, the boat itself remained intact. Shaking, he coughed up two more mouthfuls of blood. However, as the dharmaskiff’s defenses reactivated, and he backed up at high speed, he managed to finally stand up to the pressure.
Meanwhile, the First Peak disciple coughed up eight successive mouthfuls of blood as three of his life-saving items collapsed and his blood sword form was destroyed. He even pulled out an amazing shield, but it shattered. By that point, he was far enough away that he could resist the pressure. Xu Qing’s heart pounded with fear as he continued to back up, while simultaneously taking in the scene.
High in the dome of heaven, the two parties involved in the conflict exchanged blows that caused wild colors to flash in heaven and earth, massive rumbling to echo out, and a tempest to rage on the surface of the water. Among the figures involved in the fight, Xu Qing spotted the peaklord of the Seventh Peak. There were six other individuals with him, wearing different colored robes, and all of them pulsing with auras similar to his.
Xu Qing didn’t need to guess who they were. They were obviously the peaklords of the other mountain peaks in Seven Blood Eyes.
Fighting them on even terms were Seazombies. Xu Qing had encountered Seazombies in the Merfolk Isles. As for these, his eyes stung as he looked at them, but he could tell that they looked like humans. Each one wore a black suit of armor, and their eyes burned with black flames. At the same time, they seemed to exude a towering zombie poison.
There were other cultivators present as well, with weaker cultivation bases. However, they were still mighty. Xu Qing saw Third Elder, as well as Seazombie cultivators who were roughly on the same level as him.
Eventually, Xu Qing’s eyes hurt so bad that he looked away. If he kept looking, he knew that his eyes would eventually collapse. That was how much more powerful this group was than him.
Suddenly, a howl echoed across the dome of heaven, and a crimson-robed old man from the Seven Blood Eyes group waved his hand. Instantly, an awe-inspiring golden sword appeared around him as he shot away from the Seazombies and toward Xu Qing and the First Peak disciple. The old man’s face was as red as his crimson robe, making it seem like he was a burning sun. At the same time, he emanated a hair-raising heat. This was the peaklord of the First Peak.
Seeing him approach, the First Peak disciple excitedly shouted, “A new thread of hope rises up deep in the ocean; the setting sun casts out a divine ray of light!!!”
“Even in a moment like this you refuse to talk like a normal person, my apprentice?” shouted First Peaklord. “Get the hell out of here! Stick around and you’ll end up dead!” He waved the sword in his hand, blocking an attack from one of the Seazombies that had broken away from the main battle to chase him.
In the blink of an eye, their fighting had taken them off into the distance. Hearing what the old man said, Xu Qing’s pupils constricted and he sent his dharmaskiff underwater and shooting away at top speed.
Not too far off, the First Peak disciple also seemed anxious to get away. He knew that time was limited, and if his Master left him, he would be dead for sure. Looking like he was hardly able to spit the words out, he shouted, “Master, help me! This Seventh Peak punk has been trying to kill me for ten days and ten nights! He won’t rest until I’m dead! Don’t leave me, Master! Heeeelp!!”
Meanwhile, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate to push his dharmaskiff in the opposite direction with as much speed as possible.
Some distance away, the old man from the First Peak looked back in shock. He had known from the beginning that his last apprentice liked to babble meaningless poetry. And that was because the young man had learned that Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity had often hidden profound truths within poetry. Ever since then, he’d gone crazy trying to do the same thing. In fact, the last time the peaklord heard his apprentice speak like a normal person was three years ago. The old man’s gaze shifted like lightning to Xu Qing’s fleeing form.
Despite how far away he was, and the fact that Xu Qing was now under water, the pressure of his gaze still caused Xu Qing to tremble. And then he simply couldn’t move at all, as though he were restrained in place, his life hanging on a thread.
Opening his mouth, First Peaklord said, “You—”
“It’s a kid’s scrap,” a voice said coolly from higher up. The person who spoke the words stood atop a dreadnaught, and was casually fighting three Seazombies. He was none other than Master Seventh.
The First Peak disciple was visibly taken aback. However, First Peaklord didn’t react at all, and continued speaking, making it impossible to determine if Master Seventh’s words had made him change his mind about what he had been about to say.
“—You two are really getting into a scuffle considering the circumstances?” He waved his hand, and a golden paper talisman flew out. It appeared to be a talisman treasure, but at the same time, seemed a hundred times more powerful than any talisman treasure Xu Qing had ever seen. It splashed into the water and headed toward him. As it closed in, it suddenly ripped in half, with one part heading toward the shocked First Peak disciple and landing on his face. The other part pierced right through Xu Qing’s dharmaskiff defenses and landed on his arm.
The moment it happened, Xu Qing and the First Peak disciple trembled, and the talisman disappeared, leaving behind a golden mark on both of them.
“This lifelink talisman won’t harm you in any way. However, if one of you dies, the other will also die. If you want to kill each other, then go ahead. But if you don’t, then get the hell back to the sect. Once you’re there, the grand formation will dispel the talisman.”
Next, the peaklord sent a massive wave of force down, picked up Xu Qing and the First Peak disciple, and threw them off into the distance. Finally he shot back into the battle, waving his sword to chop the leg off of one of the Seazombie cultivators. Before the Seazombie could react, sword energy shot through him, and he exploded. Then another Seazombie engaged with him, and they started fighting, rapidly moving off into the distance.
Waves rolled across the surface of the sea, and a very unsightly expression appeared on Xu Qing’s face as he looked down at the mark on his arm. The mark wasn’t actually limited to his arm; it covered his entire body.
Not too far away, the First Peak disciple was also looking at the mark. However, in contrast to Xu Qing, he was breathing a sigh of relief. In fact, he even took out a half-broken sword, sat on it, and looked at Xu Qing on his dharmaskiff.
Xu Qing looked back at him coldly. “What’s your name?”
“I’ve lived free, as if drunk or dreaming; with a masked face, I’ve traveled the world.”
Struggling to keep his killing intent under control, Xu Qing summoned an illusory dagger of black flame and rushed toward the First Peak disciple.
The First Peak disciple’ heart leapt into his throat, but he trusted his Master, so he forced himself to just sit in place. The knife closed in on his throat, and just when it seemed like it was about to plunge into the flesh…
Xu Qing suddenly felt an intense sensation of deadly crisis. He hated to admit it, but it seemed this lifelink talisman really was astonishing. With the talisman in place, he couldn’t kill his opponent. Nor did it seem possible to beat him to a pulp, or cripple his cultivation base.
Besides, given how tenacious he was, it was always possible Xu Qing might accidentally kill him, and thus, kill himself. That wasn’t even to mention that the fellow had formidable battle prowess, ensuring that it would take a lot of effort to completely defeat him. After weighing the options, Xu Qing quashed his killing intent, glared coldly at the young man, then put his dagger away and got back onto his dharmaskiff.
Seeing that, the First Peak disciple finally started to recover from the terror which had been building up in him.
As for Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior in the iron skewer, he looked at the distant peaklords and sighed deeply.
Why didn’t I think of that? It’s a freaking good idea!!!
Meanwhile, Xu Qing sat cross-legged on his dharmaskiff, using his shadow to overload himself with mutagen, hoping that it might get rid of the lifelink talisman mark. Actually, the lifelink talisman mark did flicker a bit, but Xu Qing could tell that the process was going very slowly.
Ignoring the First Peak disciple, Xu Qing kept up the process of chipping away at the mark, then took out his bamboo slip and used the iron skewer to carve something on it.
Upon seeing the bamboo slip and all the names on it, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior’s eyes went wide. That was especially true considering his name was at the top of the list. That got his heart pounding, and he was suddenly struck with how vengeful of a person Xu Qing was. But what caused him to tremble even more was the realization that, though his own name was crossed out, it looked different from other names that had been crossed out. The other names were crossed out with three lines, but his was only crossed out with one. And it was very faint.
Don’t tell me he’s still thinking about killing me? Terror gripped the patriarch, and he suddenly decided that he had to work much harder at being useful. The patriarch then watched as Xu Qing wrote a new name on the list.
‘Idiot.’
Peering surreptitiously at the First Peak disciple, the patriarch mused that he fully approved of putting this name on the list.
As for the First Peak disciple, he was breathing a sigh of relief, and thinking that if he hadn’t run into his Master, he would probably have lost his life already.
Then he started thinking about the implications of Master Seventh’s words, and that caused him to look over at Xu Qing.
Unfortunately, he didn’t actually know a lot of poetry. Most of the things he said were just random words thrown together. Though he wanted to ask Xu Qing some questions, he wasn’t really sure of how to word them.
After thinking for a moment, he forced out the following lines.
“On a sleepless night, I listen to the rain; is the immortal in the sky your father?”
Completely ignoring the psychotic ramblings, Xu Qing finished writing ‘Idiot,’ and then put the bamboo slip away. After that, he activated his dharmaskiff’s defenses and prepared to put some distance between himself and this young man.
Just as he was about to perform an incantation gesture... a rumbling could be heard off in the distance. Looking over toward where the Seven Blood Eyes cultivators were fighting the Seazombies, he saw the mangled torso of a Seazombie Gold Core cultivator splash into the water, sending out a huge wave before sinking down.
Xu Qing’s pupils constricted.