Chapter 195: The Sorrow of the Weak
Looking away from the shadow to the apple, Xu Qing curiously asked, “Captain, the bounty on your head is for 100,000,000. But an arm and a leg together are probably worth 30,000,000 spirit stones, right?”
Some teeth marks appeared on the apple, as if the person eating it had been about to take a bite, then stopped.
“Leg? Arm? What are you talking about, Deputy Director Xu? I don’t understand. All I know is that you owe me 20,000 spirit stones, and you better not come up short. This time, I risked my life to make sure you got away safe!”
“Oh,” Xu Qing said, then he took out a jade slip and tossed it to the Captain.
That jade slip contained a recording made by Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior. It clearly showed the Captain prancing about disguised as Third Princess....
The Captain caught the jade slip, and then a few breaths worth of time passed. After that, the sound of hearty laughter filled the museum.
“Oh my dear, lovable little Junior Brother. As your elder brother, I was just joking around with you! Hey, Zhang San! What are you doing here? Did you build this place? What’s that big nose you’re standing next to?”
An odd expression could be seen on Zhang San’s face. The nose was obviously the largest object in the entire museum. Ahhh, Captain. You really have a random way of changing conversation topics, don’t you?
Looking at the spot where the apple was slowly being eaten away, he shook his head. “Captain, you have the other half of the nose, don’t you? Take it out and I’ll see if the pieces fit together. That’ll make our exhibit perfect!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, a rumbling sound echoed out followed by a loud thump as a huge gray stone appeared. It was about twenty to twenty-five meters tall, and was none other than the chunk of the nose that the Captain had made off with. Strangely, there were teeth marks on one corner of the nose where someone had obviously tried to bite it.
“This thing is useless,” the Captain said, sounding bored. “On the way back, I tried to bite it a few times, but nothing worked.”
Ignoring the Captain, Zhang San stepped forward, grabbed the nose, and excitedly pushed it next to the piece from Xu Qing.
“Alright,” the Captain said. “I just got back and I have some work to handle. I have a huge plan I’m working on. Now that I have my high-level zombie heart, I just need to get a few more intelligence reports. Once I have everything ready, the three of us can go on a really big job!”
“Another job?” Zhang San gasped, looking in the direction of the apple as if he was looking at a deity.
Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing said, “Will it involve opening dharma apertures?”
“Dharma apertures?” the Captain said. “Why? Deputy Director Xu, you lack ambition! If we do this job, we’ll reach heaven in a single bound! Both Joine’s flesh and my high-level zombie heart are just stepping stones for this new plan!” The Captain was starting to get very excited, but in his excitement, he opened some of his wounds, and had to grit his teeth against the pain.
“I’ll explain the details later,” he continued coolly. “I have to go now. Ai. I’m such a workaholic. I have a whole pile of work waiting for me to handle.” With that, he hopped away.
Zhang San couldn’t see anything, but Xu Qing was able to track his shadow.
“With two pieces of the nose, our museum is going to be incredible!” Zhang San said excitedly, slowly walking around the composite nose.
Xu Qing looked away from the Captain and back at Zhang San. “Elder Brother Zhang San, how’s the work on my dharmaskiff?”
“It’s done,” he said, tossing a bottle to Xu Qing. “There’s an instruction manual inside. Go check it out on your own, Xu Qing; I need to get these two nose pieces properly attached to each other. I want this exhibit to look perfect!”
Laying himself up against the nose, he started planning how to attach the two pieces to each other permanently.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing left with the bottle. He didn’t return to the Violent Crimes Division, but instead went to Harbor 176. When he produced his dharmaskiff, it landed on the water with a thud, sending out waves in all directions. It looked exactly the same as before, down to every detail.
However, the materials were better than before. Clearly, Harbor 176 was producing a good income, as Zhang San had made general improvements to all parts of the dharmaskiff.
Xu Qing could even sense fluctuations from inside that could suppress a life flame. He remembered Zhang San mentioning that class-eight dharmaskiffs could suppress the life flames of other cultivators.
Looking at the dharmaskiff, he took out the instruction manual Zhang San had referred to and started looking through it. Because this dharmaskiff didn’t have any of Joine’s flesh, it lacked godliness. That said, the materials used to create it were superb. All of the interior parts were high-level materials. It was a class-eight dharmaskiff, and it was obviously worth a lot of money.
“Xu Qing, dharmaskiffs are different from dharmaboats. Dharmaboats are simple things, and thus, every time you increase their class rating, they become more impressive. Dharmaskiffs aren’t like that.
“The first seven dharmaskiff classes are different from each other, but not by much. It’s only when you get to class-eight that you get something really superior. This time, I focused on creating class-eight defenses for your dharmaskiff. For its power source I used the heart of a monolithoid. With that backing the defenses, you can reach the same level as the profound radiance state of early Foundation Establishment.
“You don’t have any godliness, but I left space to add it. If you can get the heart of a godly entity, then your dharmaskiff can be upgraded to class-nine. At that point, your defenses, and everything else, will be comparable to mid Foundation Establishment! Of course, the bigger the godly heart you acquire, the mightier your dharmaskiff will be. If you reach class-ten, your dharmaskiff will be comparable to late Foundation Establishment. Don’t forget that class-ten dharmaskiffs are quite rare.
“I put in the same camouflage technology as before. Also, I decided to explore a new direction with this dharmaskiff, by adding a special self-detonation ability. It should make things easier for you. I also added something to the self-detonation that I like to call the Participation Effect. Next time you blow up your dharmaskiff, you’ll see how I participated....”
Xu Qing shifted back and forth between looking at the jade slip and studying the dharmaskiff. Despite lacking an attack of godliness, Xu Qing was pleased with the dharmaskiff. Stepping aboard, he activated the defenses, entered the cabin, and sat down. It felt cozy.
I really do prefer being on a boat. But what’s this Participation Effect that Zhang San mentioned?
Xu Qing was curious about it, but didn’t spend much time thinking about it. After taking a few deep breaths, he settled down to meditate.
Three days passed in a flash.
Now that the Captain was back, there was another wave of excitement in the sect regarding Xu Qing and the Captain’s heroic undertaking. That, in turn, led Xu Qing to wonder about the reward the sect had mentioned.
At the same time, he felt a bit more at ease. With the Captain away, Xu Qing hadn’t felt safe at all. If some higher-ranking member of the sect had malicious intentions, he would have been in great danger. Although it hadn’t seemed very likely, he liked to be prepared for anything. But now... the Captain was back, and Xu Qing felt a lot safer.
After all, he was the mastermind. He blew up the nose, and the bounty reward for him is off the charts. He’s in the #1 spot! If someone is thinking of making a move, and they’re trying to pick between the two of us, they’ll definitely target him.
Xu Qing felt very calm. However, three days later around evening time, someone who was decidedly not calm arrived at Harbor 176 and headed toward Xu Qing’s dharmaskiff. In fact, this person’s heart was full of grief.
It was a young woman, not very tall, and obviously quite thin and weak. She wore a gray daoist robe, and was in the third level of Qi Condensation. People like this had to be very careful in whatever they did in Seven Blood Eyes, regardless of if they were male or female.
As it turned out, this young woman was Xu Xiaohui, who had joined Seven Blood Eyes on the same day as Xu Qing. [1]
She quietly came to stand in front of Xu Qing’s dharmaskiff, her expression one of bitterness. In her heart, she felt not just sorrow, but deep anxiety. Truth be told, it was only because she had run out of all other options that she was seeking out Xu Qing.
Though she and Xu Qing joined the sect at the same time, she had never spent much time with him. Furthermore, he was now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and was so famous in Seven Blood Eyes that everyone knew his name. Someone like her would be hard-pressed to even look someone that important in the eye.
She had suffered in torment for months before finally making the decision to come. Therefore, upon reaching Xu Qing’s dharmaskiff, she dropped to her knees and kowtowed.
“Disciple Xu Xiaohui is here to request an audience with Sect Uncle Xu Qing.”
Inside the dharmaskiff, Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked through the defenses to see Xu Xiaohui.
“How can I help you?” he said.
The words echoed in Xu Xiaohui’s ears, causing her to tremble. Voice quavering, she said, “Sect Uncle, I came to tell you that Elder Brother Zhou Qingpeng... was killed three months ago.”
Silence filled the dharmaskiff.
After a few breaths of time passed, Xu Qing walked out of the cabin and onto the deck. Looking at Xu Xiaohui kneeling there, he thought back to the day the four of them had climbed the peak. And he thought back to straightforward Zhou Qingpeng giving him those ghostlonging horseshoe crabs. Although he had never become very close with Zhou Qingpeng, he hadn’t forgotten that he owed him a favor because of that. The ghostlonging horseshoe crabs had proven very helpful. Hearing the news that Zhou Qingpeng had been killed, he couldn’t help but sigh. [2]
It wasn’t very surprising. Offpeak disciples lived brutal lives, like venomous bugs in a jar. That reality hadn’t changed because of the war. There were always people dying, and there were always people to replace them as new recruits in the sect. That said, Xu Qing wouldn’t forget the favor he owed, and thus, he wanted to know more about what happened.
“Explain everything,” he said.
Upon hearing that, Xu Xiaohui’s eyes turned red, and tears began to flow down her cheeks. For months now, she had despaired. But now that Xu Qing wanted to know about what happened, she finally felt a bit of hope.
“Sect Uncle Xu, you might remember that Elder Brother Zhou started working for Sect Uncle Ding Xiaohai in the Coastguard Division. He told me that he helped Sect Uncle Ding with a lot of things that never became public knowledge. Because of that, Sect Uncle Ding promised that he would make Elder Brother Zhou one of his attendants. [3]
“However, after Sect Uncle Ding left the Coastguard Division, he didn’t take Elder Brother Zhou with him. As a result, Elder Brother Zhou suddenly had no one to keep him safe. He had done some things in the past that got people angry with him, and that’s one of the reasons he died.
“In addition to that, back during the Grand Competition at the Merfolk Isles, Elder Brother Zhou made some considerable profits. At first, he had no problem keeping those things safe. But after Sect Uncle Ding Xiaohai took to ignoring him, people started targeting Elder Brother Zhou. Three months ago, he was killed on the street. I’ve been investigating his death ever since, but I still haven’t found out who the killer is.”
Though Xu Xiaohui was visibly distraught, and was even weeping, her thoughts were very well organized. Clearly, she had thought through everything she wanted to say.
After a moment passed, Xu Qing said, “Were you and Zhou Qingpeng...?”
“Elder Brother Zhou was very kind to me, that’s all. A while back, I took out a big spirit stone loan to buy a dharmaboat. But I couldn’t keep up with the payments, so I had to throw dignity aside to curry favor. I eventually sank to being a plaything to other disciples. I might have seemed well-off at a casual glance, but the truth was I lived like an animal, enduring whatever torment they desired. I sometimes ended up covered with cuts and bruises. Perhaps that’s just what I deserved for being so vain.” [4]
Biting her lip, she lowered her voice and continued, “Elder Brother Zhou showed pity to me, and helped me pay back my debt. I thought that maybe he was in love with me, but from beginning to end, he never even tried to touch me. He just kept helping me. I think that... I’m not exactly a great person. But I know how to repay a kindness. It’s just that I’m not that strong. For months I’ve done everything I can to find out the truth. I’ve even sold myself. Nothing has worked. And that’s why I’ve come to beg your help, Sect Uncle.”
Xu Xiaohui bent over to kowtow, but a soft and gentle force prevented her from hitting her head onto the ground.
“There’s no need for that,” Xu Qing said. “I owe Zhou Qingpeng a favor. Let me handle this.”
1. Xu Xiaohui was introduced in chapter 51 and the last we saw her was in chapter 68. As a brief reminder, though her surname looks the same as Xu Qing’s in English, in Chinese their surnames are very different. His is 许 and hers is 徐. His surname is pronounced with the third tone, and hers, the second. ☜
2. Zhou Qingpeng gave Xu Qing the ghostlonging horseshoe crabs in chapter 68. ☜
3. Zhou Qingpeng mentioned Ding Xiaohai in chapter 68. In chapter 93, we saw Zhou Qingpeng working with Ding Xiaohai. And by way of reminder, Ding Xiaohai is the same person Zhang San and Xu Qing encountered in 118 and 119. Later, he took first place in the Grand Competition, thus becoming a conclave disciple (and arousing the disdain of Third Elder). That was in chapter 128. ☜
4. If you go back to read chapter 68, you’ll find that Xu Xiaohui’s circumstances were hinted at/foreshadowed there. ☜