Chapter 171: Suppress! Suppress!! Suppress!!!
The shadow was now an incomparably bizarre and gruish pitch black tree. It had over a hundred eyes, all of which radiated an astonishing crimson light that made the entire mine seem like a world of blood. The malicious ferocity it exuded seemed filled with madness. It was as if the shadow had been holding back for so long that, when it finally managed to reach a breakthrough, everything it had been suppressing in its heart finally erupted into the open. Strangely, though, much of that ferocious maliciousness wasn’t directed at Xu Qing, but rather, at Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.
Given how Xu Qing had suppressed the shadow on a daily basis for such a long time, it would have made sense for all its killing intent to be focused on him. But obviously, some of the things the patriarch had done aroused the shadow’s hatred to this level.
The patriarch’s expression was solemn as lightning crackled around him and he looked at the shadow. However, inside he was bursting with joy.
Ah, Little Shadow, you did perfectly. You couldn’t have picked a better way to reveal your rebellious nature. This is only going to make my position more stable.
With those thoughts on his mind, the patriarch shouted, “You evil shadow! I can’t believe you want to devour our lord and master!!”
As the words left his mouth, he flew in between Xu Qing and the shadow, looking very loyal and protective. At the same time, the lightning symbols on the skewer glittered brightly and exuded a terrifying aura.
Xu Qing’s eyes shone brightly as, instead of worrying about the shadow’s sudden maliciousness, his mind raced as he tried to recall why that crunching sound was so familiar. Then it hit him.
The giant with the dragon chariot! [1]
Suddenly, to his shock, he noticed a muffled rumbling sound coming from far off in the distance, beyond the mine and the island.
It was a faint noise, like something very heavy being dragged along the ground. Its vibrations caused waves to roll out on the surface of the water, and the entire island trembled. Under the water beyond the shore of the island, Xu Qing’s snakeneck dragon appeared and looked off into the distance.
What Xu Qing saw through its eyes sent shock rolling through him. Off in the distant sea, he saw a dense mist covering the surface of the water. And besides the sound he had just detected, he also heard chains clanking. Shockingly, there was a massive giant on the seafloor, slowly walking toward him step by step. Its huge body was covered with numerous tentacles that looked almost like hair. Every step the giant took caused powerful currents of water on the seafloor, and kicked up massive clouds of silt.
As it walked along, a set of ghastly black chains appeared behind it. Those chains draped behind it, ending in an astonishing bronze dragon chariot. It oozed a sensation of ancient time, and was covered with rust and corrosion. It looked to be in very bad condition, and was tilted so badly it seemed like it might fall on its side. It left a huge furrow in the sea floor as it moved. Both the giant and the chariot were enormous, to the point where Xu Qing would seem tiny compared to them. To him, both of them seemed like mountains.
What was more noteworthy were the carvings on the chariot itself. They seemed like something belonging to an emperor, as if only someone filled with a spirit of incomparable dignity could ride in this chariot.
As the giant got closer, the sea whipped into a frenzy. The waves became so huge they turned into a tsunami. This terrifying aura surpassed the level of Joine by so many times over that it was impossible to calculate. It was like the difference between a firefly and a torch. In fact, a moment later, Xu Qing’s snakeneck dragon started to crumble to pieces.
Xu Qing’s eyes began stinging, and then blood dripped out of them. Then the walls of the mine collapsed, with cracks spreading across them and sea water flowing into the mine. A moment later, the walls completely crumbled, such that Xu Qing didn’t need the snakeneck dragon to see the giant; he could see it with his own eyes. The aura assailing him caused his mind to tremble.
Without any hesitation, Xu Qing ignited his life flame and entered the profound radiance state. He erupted like a volcano to fight back against the aura. However, being this close to the dragon chariot, he was actually able to see one of the engravings on it!
It depicted a handsome young man wearing fine clothing and an emperor’s crown. He sat on the dragon chariot, one hand rested on his chin, the other holding a bamboo slip from which he read. It was a beautiful image, and it was very lifelike. The young man’s posture and expression were very clear. He seemed very interested in what he was reading, and the corners of his mouth were even tilting up in a smile. The dragon chariot was being pulled into the sky by a running giant, around whom curled five golden dragons. The giant was obviously extraordinarily mighty; despite it being a simple engraving, he seemed incredibly powerful.
The giant in the engraving was looking back at the young man as they ascended into the sky. His expression seemed one of loyalty and even fanaticism. It was as if, to him, that young man carried his fate in his hands. It was as if, to him, pulling that chariot was the greatest honor he could ever experience.
That wasn’t the only engraving Xu Qing could see. In the next one, he saw the young man with the emperor’s crown riding the chariot through the clouds all the way to the horizon, where he transformed... into the sun. There it hung, high in the dome of heaven! Its radiance shone on all the lands below!
In the final engraving, it was evening, and the sun had once again transformed back into a young man. As before, he sat on his chariot, and was being pulled by the giant across the sea. These series of images shook Xu Qing deeply, leaving him trembling to the core.
Meanwhile, the giant pulling the chariot issued forth another sound.
C-c-crunch. C-c-crunch.
Bizarrely, it seemed like that sound was a response to the shadow!
Although Xu Qing’s shadow was already submerged in water now, making it impossible for anyone to see, Xu Qing knew that it was still in the shape of that bizarre tree, bursting with malice and madness. And it was still making that same noise!
C-c-crunch. C-c-crunch.
The giant trembled and continued to walk in Xu Qing’s direction. As it got nearer, fear rose up in Xu Qing. He looked deeply at the giant for a moment, then chose to flee. Sending out the power of the crystal, he suppressed the shadow, took out his dharmaskiff, and started speeding across the surface of the sea.
It was currently dawn, and the sun shone brightly onto Xu Qing.
That, in turn, caused his shadow to appear clearly on the deck of the dharmaskiff. The shadow twisted and distorted as it tried to fight against his suppression. As it did, its appearance changed again. Tentacles spread out from the tree, making it look very similar to the giant pulling the dragon chariot.
Killing intent appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. Tapping into all 44 of his dharma apertures, he sent dharma force into the violet crystal. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the power of the crystal erupted from his chest and slammed into the writhing shadow. This time, Xu Qing suppressed the shadow 50 times in a row!
The shadow fought back fiercely, its eyes glowing bright red. Then, when it seemed like it was going to issue forth more sound from its mouth, Xu Qing snorted coldly and added the power of his life flame into the violet crystal. Then he waved his hand, and a huge black umbrella appeared.
Instantly, brightly colored light flashed in heaven and earth. Winds screamed as Xu Qing covered the shadow with the umbrella, blocking it from the sun, and thus its connection to the outside world. Beneath the umbrella, no one could see the shadow. But Xu Qing could sense its position, and knew its connection had been severed, causing it to look surprised, and to struggle even more.
“Fool,” Xu Qing said. By imbuing the violet crystal with his life flame, it became even more impressive, and unleashed an unprecedented level of suppressive power. It was a violet halo that crushed down onto the shadow over and over again.
3 times. 7 times. 16 times.
With the added power of the life flame, the suppression was vastly beyond anything from before. The shadow trembled, and its fight against the suppression grew weaker and weaker. It couldn’t emit any sound, and eventually began shaking.
At the same time, Xu Qing checked and found that, thanks to the black umbrella and his effort in suppressing the shadow, the giant and the chariot had stopped moving. Apparently, whatever had allowed the giant to sense them was now gone. Turning, the giant dragged the dragon chariot in a different direction, going deeper and deeper into the sea.
Even after the giant was gone, fear lingered in Xu Qing’s heart. Turning coldly to look at his shadow trembling in trepidation.
“Your plan failed,” he said coolly.
The shadow shivered as it reverted to its previous shape. The tentacles disappeared, and though its eyes were still red, they didn’t radiate malice, but instead seemed fawning.
Out on the open sea, the morning sun was brighter than it seemed on land, its red light spreading out everywhere, making it seem like everything was on fire. Even the black Forbidden Sea couldn’t contend with the glory of the sun at sunrise.
Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to that, though. Waving his hand, he dispelled the black umbrella. As the sunlight shone down on them again, the shadow became visible on the deck. After being suppressed so many times in a row, it was back to the same color it had been before its breakthrough. As Xu Qing glared at it coldly, it shook harder.
“My... bad....” the shadow conveyed.
Xu Qing tapped into the violet crystal and suppressed it violently again.
10 times. 30 times. 70 times. 120 times.
In the middle of it, he sat down and looked off into the sky, making it seem like he had no intention of stopping. Off to the side, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was excited, but as it went on, he started to feel more and more anxious. He watched as the shadow got weaker and weaker, trembling so badly that it looked like it might die.
Then the patriarch looked at the expressionless Xu Qing. Finally, the patriarch couldn’t hold back, and said, “Milord, it’s... it’s about to die.”
Xu Qing looked at him. “You feel sorry for it?”
“Absolutely not!” the patriarch blurted, terrified at Xu Qing’s gaze. Slapping himself on the chest, he produced a mass of lightning that swirled around him. “Milord, we can put this traitorous shadow to death together!”
Worried that he wasn’t reacting fast enough, he sent some lightning flying toward the shadow.
1. The reference to the giant and the dragon chariot is the same as the link from the last chapter. Chapter 80. ☜