Chapter 225: A Tempest Builds
Leaving the public market area, Xu Qing walked through the night and thought back to the encounter with the other disciples.
One of them was one of the First Peak’s highnesses, though I’m not sure which one.
Though they had taken precautions to conceal their auras, Xu Qing had still been able to sense a sword energy on them that reminded him of Wu Jianwu. To any other person, that aura would have been difficult to identify. But Xu Qing had chased Wu Jianwu for days on end, and thanks to all the techniques he had used, was very familiar with his aura. That same sense had come across strongly just now, so Xu Qing was certain of his assessment.
The war is still going on, but they’re out here...?
Xu Qing thought back to what the Captain had told him, and also the rumors he’d heard earlier about the Seven Sect Coalition interfering with the war. He already had some speculations of his own about what was going on.
It seems the war really is about to end.
He had been waiting for a long time for this. After all, he had a lot of battle accomplishments that would earn him rewards after the official conclusion of the war.
Truth be told, he felt poor right now. He had just earned a nice sum of spirit stones, only to spend them all on soul pills. Although his investment in Harbor 176 would earn him some profit, the development still wasn’t complete, and he would have to wait for that.
Money will be coming my way soon.
Taking a deep breath, he hurried toward the teleportation portal complex. Along the way, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior had something to say.
“I made a recording of the transaction just now,” he said excitedly. “I got everything! Your humble servant thought milord might want evidence. I realized it the moment you tapped me.”
Xu Qing was pleased. He’d had no specific plans for the recording, but considering he had been dealing with some First Peak disciples acting furtively, having a recording of them might be useful later. With that matter out of the way, Xu Qing continued on his way.
It was nighttime, so other than certain specific locations, the streets had much fewer people on them than during the daytime. Meanwhile, gazes from the shadows locked onto Xu Qing as he walked. He ignored them, and as he made his way to the teleportation portal complex, no one caused any trouble for him. Xu Qing was actually a bit disappointed by that.
People here aren’t fools. Unless they’re completely confident, they won’t do anything.
Upon arriving at the teleportation portal, Xu Qing shook his head when he didn’t see the Captain. Taking out a jade slip, he sent a voice message asking where he was.
“Don’t wait for me, little Ah Qing. You’ll never guess who I ran into. Hahaha! Some of the highnesses from the First Peak! They’re secretly fencing some stuff from the war. I’m going to record some images of them and send them to Sect Granduncle and see what I can blackmail him out of.”
Xu Qing shook his head. From what he could tell, both the Captain and Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior were equally underhanded. Xu Qing himself would never act like that. He would never dirty himself in that way, and thus, always had a clean conscience.
Entering the teleportation portal, he disappeared into the glowing light.
***
It was night in Seven Blood Eyes, and as usual, the moon shone in the sky, and a cold wind blew. The capital city seemed quiet and peaceful at nighttime, but there were actually many people about. In some alleys, local gangs struggled for supremacy, and in other places, disciples fought and killed each other. None of that had stopped because of the war.
But that was of no concern to Xu Qing. He had risen above such struggles, having slaughtered his way to his current high standing.
Xu Qing walked along quickly, taking note of the Violent Crimes Division constables on patrol. He also happened to pass by Plankspring Way. There, he stopped for a moment. The inn had been closed for quite a while. Looking at it, Xu Qing suddenly found himself thinking of that anaconda.
After a moment, he cleared his mind and moved on. Back at his berth in Harbor 176, he took out his dharmaskiff, stepped aboard, and sat down cross-legged. Finally, he took out the soul pills he had just bought.
He did one more inspection to make sure there was nothing unusual about the pills. Then he selected one and melted it with balefire. Within moments, the soul power from the pill was sweeping through his body toward his 80th dharma aperture.
If one wasn’t enough, he would use four. If two wasn’t enough, he would use ten!
Before long, rumbling sounds filled him, and dharma force fluctuations rolled out. His 80th dharma aperture was open!
He didn’t stop there. Over the course of the next two hours, he assimilated forty-three soul pills, which enabled him to open up to his 83rd dharma aperture.
He was only 7 dharma apertures away from this third life flame.
Sadly, these First Peak soul pills weren’t even close to being as good as the pill Master Sixth gave me. It makes sense considering the souls were on a much lower level.
Though Xu Qing was slightly disappointed, that disappointment was outweighed by anticipation.
At this rate, it won’t be long before I ignite my third life flame. And when I do that....
His heart pounded as he thought about the astonishing battle prowess he would attain with that third flame.
With the addition of my life lamp, that’ll be power equivalent to four life flames. With Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits, it’ll jump to the equivalent of five flames. I’ll be able to crush anyone else in Foundation Establishment... as long as they don’t have a life lamp!
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the two wish boxes in his bag of holding. After checking them, he continued to send dharma force into them.
“I’ll be able to open them soon,” he murmured.
He was now in a much better mood than before. However, that only lasted until he started thinking about the Night Dove caravan he’d encountered. Then, killing intent flickered in his eyes.
However, he was only the director of the Seventh Peak’s Violent Crimes Division. Furthermore, in doing work with his black beetles, he had clashed with some of the other Violent Crimes Divisions. Because of that, getting them to cooperate with him wasn’t going to be easy.
After thinking about the situation, he took out his identity medallion and sent a message to Master Sixth. After explaining what he’d learned from the Night Dove caravan, he awaited a response.
It didn’t take long.
“Xu Qing, I give you complete authority to deal with Night Dove. You may take command of the forces of all the Violent Crimes Divisions from all of the mountain peaks. Get rid of Night Dove. If you run into any trouble, contact me immediately!”
Master Sixth had come to really like Xu Qing, and treated requests from him as if they were from his own child.
“Many thanks, Master Sixth,” Xu Qing replied solemnly. He had sensed the approval in Master Sixth’s message, and was very grateful.
Over the course of the following days, Xu Qing was in constant communication with the Violent Crimes Divisions from the other mountain peaks. He sent them documents, and requested help from their constables in inspecting all of the watercraft in the Seventh Peak’s Port District.
They also kept a close eye on everyone who teleported in.
Night Dove and the Violent Crimes Division already had a history of animosity, and thus, the other divisions didn’t have any reason not to cooperate. Besides, Night Dove was rich, which created an added incentive. And thus, constables from all of the various Violent Crimes Division were put to work.
In the initial buzz of activity, quite a few Night Dove operatives were found and arrested. Night Dove was immediately forced to work harder at staying hidden, while at the same time, the Violent Crimes Division prisons filled back up with inmates.
Meanwhile, big news hit that quickly spread, not just through the sect, but throughout the entire Forbidden Sea.
The war between Seven Blood Eyes and the Seazombies was over!
The reason for the end of the war was that the Seven Sect Coalition had stepped in to prevent Seven Blood Eyes from outright taking over the Seazombie ancestral land. Though rumors had been spreading for a while about that subject, it still angered everyone in Seven Blood Eyes. Given how the war was going, it shouldn’t have taken more than half a year to completely defeat the Seazombies.
Yet right in that critical moment, the Seven Sect Coalition put an end to things. Although Sir Bloodsmelter was apparently furious at their heavy-handedness, he had no choice but to follow orders. After all, Seven Blood Eyes was still officially considered a subsidiary branch of the Seven Sect Coalition, and had to follow orders. Sir Bloodsmelter had no grounds to refuse.
However, Seven Blood Eyes would not give up on the profit it was owed. Even as Xu Qing was taking stock of the rumors, Sir Bloodsmelter issued four stipulations to the Seazombies to end the war.
First: Seven Blood Eyes would own all of the territory it had captured.
Second: The Seazombies were required to pay war reparations totaling 100,000,000,000 spirit stones.
Third: The Seazombies had to surrender eight of their zombie ancestor statues. The only one Seven Blood Eyes didn’t want was the one without a nose.
Fourth: All Seazombies in the Gold Core level or higher were prohibited from leaving their ancestral land for a hundred years. In addition, all members of the Seazombie echelon were to be sent to Seven Blood Eyes as hostages.
The Seazombies obviously didn’t want to agree to those stipulations, and thus things remained at a deadlock for half a month. During that time, there were heated negotiations. And every time there were negotiations, the details would be leaked to the disciples in the sect.
After all the negotiations were complete, a final agreement was reached.
The Seazombies would cede two of their fortified islands, and three districts in their ancestral land. Instead of 100,000,000,000 spirit stones, they would pay 80,000,000,000. And cultivators in the Gold Core level or higher would be confined for a sixty-year-cycle. As for the zombie ancestor statues, they were the foundation of Seazombies in general, and simply too important. Therefore, the Seazombies would only give away two of them.
After Seven Blood Eyes agreed to those terms, the war which had dragged on for over a year was finally over. When the patriarch and other high-level cultivators finally returned to the sect, a huge period of celebration began, and the entire sect bustled with noise and activity. Official orders were passed down that the period of rejoicing was to last for three months.
During that time, various allies and nonhuman envoys could come to offer congratulations. Of course, that would bring a big economic boost to the Seven Blood Eyes port, and would help things get back to normal even more quickly.
In no time at all, the Seven Blood Eyes’ capital city was once again a bustling place.
However, Xu Qing didn’t take part in any of the festivities. When he wasn’t working on his cultivation or researching his black beetles, most of his attention was focused on directing the Violent Crimes Division activities against Night Dove. Xu Qing detested Night Dove, and since he knew that there were so many of them coming to Seven Blood Eyes, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to feed his beetles and get souls for his cultivation.
Several days passed, whereupon the first group of nonhuman envoys arrived to offer congratulations.
Among the group was an old woman in a green robe. Her arrival caused a huge stir in Seven Blood Eyes, to the point that Sir Bloodsmelter himself went out to receive her.
The smile in his voice was obvious as his words echoed through all heaven and earth. “Welcome to Seven Blood Eyes, esteemed Fellow Daoist Eastnether!”
This old woman was the ruler of Eastnether Isle, also known as Guru Eastnether. And she was also the grandmother of black-garbed Yanyan. [1]
1. Yanyan was introduced in chapter 200 and was last mentioned in chapter 205. ☜