Chapter 233: You Can’t Get Rich Without Ill-gotten Gains
“Taboo treasure?” Xu Qing said, looking stunned. He had never heard the term before and had no idea what it was.
After some more communication between the patriarch and the shadow, Xu Qing was able to get an idea that taboo treasures were things that existed on a higher level compared to ordinary magical treasures. As for how the shadow knew this, the patriarch asked a series of complicated questions, and came to the conclusion that the shadow wasn’t sure how it knew. At the same time, the shadow continued to release strong emotional fluctuations of longing. It deeply desired to consume the item.
Xu Qing thought about it for a bit, but in the end, decided not to grant the shadow’s request. He wouldn’t do that unless he was absolutely confident in the outcome. For all he knew, the shadow might turn on him during the process. As the shadow looked on reluctantly, he put the wooden box away.
After, he looked at the shadow and said, “If you behave, I’ll think about giving it to you later.”
The shadow emitted fluctuations of excitement. Off to the side, the patriarch felt shaken, and realized he needed to be even more careful about dealing with the shadow. He also needed to take steps to make sure the pesky shadow didn’t succeed in earning favor.
Ignoring the patriarch and the shadow, Xu Qing continued to go through Sima Ling’s ring of holding. However, after examining all the miscellaneous items, he didn’t find anything valuable.
Finally, he went back to the five medicinal pills. After smelling them again, his eyes filled with determination, and he put one in his mouth. It melted, and then a tremor passed through him. He could already sense that a very powerful and violent force was converging in him. It wasn’t soul power, but rather some other high-level force specifically designed for opening dharma apertures. As it converged, his unopened 84th dharma aperture stirred even more dramatically than before. Then, all of a sudden, the violent force shot toward that dharma aperture, and it opened.
Xu Qing shivered, and his eyes lit up with delight.
A single pill actually opened one of my dharma apertures!
This result was far superior to the soul pills he’d purchased at the black market. In fact, other than Bai Li’s high-level soul pill, these were the most effective pills he had ever consumed. Without the slightest hesitation, he consumed the second pill. Moments later, he shivered again.
His 85th dharma aperture had opened!
“The second was just as effective!” he murmured. Xu Qing could tell that these were some very precious pills, and it also gave him a good sense of how wealthy the Seven Sect Coalition chosen were.
There are still three more.
Eyes glittering, he consumed the third pill. Soon, his 86th dharma aperture opened. Not stopping there, he consumed the other two pills. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, his 88th dharma aperture opened. His dharma force now flowed through him like a fire dragon, fierce and burning.
I only have two more dharma apertures to open before I get my third life flame!
His eyes shone with anticipation.
Over the course of the following few days, he collected more soul pills from places in Seven Blood Eyes, as he prepared for that breakthrough with the final two dharma apertures. Unfortunately, getting soul pills was something that took time, and he couldn’t quite get enough.
As far as the two chunks of flesh with godliness, Xu Qing did some experiments and decided that they weren’t good enough for personal use, and that it was best to use them in his dharmaskiff.
Right now, though, he left his berth and went to the nearest Violent Crimes Division cell block. There were a lot of Night Dove inmates, and though most of them had weak cultivation bases, there were many of them. With that many to work with, he could probably open one or both dharma apertures. Furthermore, during the process of refining souls, he would also be able to get used to the poisonous properties of the taboo poison pill. He could also see if he could get the poison pill to work with his black beetles. It was a new conundrum, and if he wanted to make progress, it was going to take a lot of experimentation.
In that matter, time slipped by slowly but surely.
Seven Blood Eyes was still in a period of celebration. Nonhuman envoys arrived on a daily basis, and the entire port was bustling. However, the moods of the Seven Blood Eyes disciples continued to sink.
Although Xu Qing’s actions had changed things for a few days, the challenges from the Seven Sect Coalition soon continued. It seemed the Seven Sect Coalition wanted this state of affairs to continue for at least three months. As for Master Shengyun from the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect, he didn’t issue any further challenges, and took up residence on the First Peak.
His seven-colored wind-chanting lamp that could shake heaven and earth kept the First Peak disciples completely stifled, and also cowed all of the nonhuman envoys and allies.
The Seven Sect Coalition’s attitude was clear. This beat-down wasn’t just a simple reminder, it was a clear warning. Seven Blood Eyes was not to harbor any thoughts of being independent. What was more, rumors were spreading that, after the period of celebration, the seven peaklords were going to be replaced by the Seven Sect Coalition.
On the one hand, Seven Blood Eyes had won a clear victory against the Seazombies. But now they were being crushed by the Seven Sect Coalition. And the Seven Blood Eyes patriarch didn’t seem to be doing anything about it.
Xu Qing could feel the pressure building in the sect. However, he got the feeling there was more going on than what was visible on the surface. That was especially true considering what the Captain had seen in the Sixth Peak. Xu Qing got the feeling the sect was waiting for something in particular. [1]
It doesn’t matter too much. The sect leadership will decide how to make the next move. Xu Qing shook his head and focused on his own cultivation. The Captain was back in the sect, and he had sent a voice message to Xu Qing asking what he was up to.
Though Xu Qing had been refining souls nonstop, he hadn’t been able to open the next dharma aperture. That said, he had made some progress in his research on the taboo poison pill. And he was building up enough of a tolerance that he was certain he would eventually be able to reconcoct it. He also attempted to force his black beetles into the pill. However, the process was so difficult for the beetles that not one of them ever survived. Each and every one died.
Xu Qing wasn’t discouraged. As he sat there cross-legged in the cell block, he took out all of the bottles he used to store the black beetles in.
After his previous work with them, he had a total of eight.
However, the attempt to get the beetles into the pill killed all of the beetles in the first bottle. Opening the second bottle, he performed an incantation gesture and pointed out. In response, the beetles flew out and surrounded him. If there had been onlookers, they would have been shocked. After all, these beetles were such a threat that even a Gold Core expert would be leery of them.
Xu Qing still didn’t think they were effective enough, though. Opening the wish box, he sent the beetles streaming toward it in a black cloud. As the cloud neared, it began to collapse as the beetles rotted and died. Frowning, Xu Qing continued experimenting. He soon went through the third bottle, then the fourth and fifth....
The tiny beetles died one after another, until he reached his final bottle. Not a single beetle had survived. Xu Qing sighed. He didn’t dare to continue experimenting with his final bottle, as he needed those beetles to breed more.
With that, he arranged for more inmates to be brought to him to feed the beetles. As the beetles fed, Xu Qing continued working on getting used to the poison pill. Simultaneously, he added medicinal plants into the beetle’s diets that counteracted poisons. He also put in some of his own blood. After all, he had already built up some resistance.
Seven more days passed.
Eventually, his work paid off. He was finally able to get eight black beetles to survive the process. Though they came out weak, Xu Qing was still excited at the results. This first group of survivors would be the starting point to raise a new generation of even stronger beetles. What was more, even though the beetles were weak, they had transformed, and were now less dark than before.
If I keep this going, I should be able to eventually raise some beetles that are completely resistant to the taboo poison pill. And if I can get them to breed inside that pill, then they’ll absorb the pill’s qualities and become even more astonishing.
As Xu Qing’s heart filled with anticipation, it was evening outside. As the red glow in the sky deepened, an uninvited guest suddenly appeared outside the entrance of the Violent Crimes Division.
He was a young man of about seventeen or eighteen years old, clad in a violet daoist robe inlaid with gold. His sleeves were decorated with a gobblewock motif, and his right hand was covered with a red glove. [2]
As he walked along, his daoist robe emanated powerful dharma force fluctuations that made his handsome features seem even more extraordinary. That said, though he was handsome, he had a rather large nose that disrupted the delicacy of his face, and made him seem unusually domineering. As he approached, the pebbles on the road outside the Violent Crimes Division began to float up and swirl around him, creating something like a tempest. Especially noteworthy was the fact that the glow of evening seemed to darken because of his presence. Within that growing darkness, the glove he wore seemed extremely bizarre and fiendish.
The Violent Crimes Division disciples on duty at the entrance noticed him immediately, and their expression turned very serious, as if they were facing a big enemy. But as the young man neared, the tempest surrounding him reached the on-duty disciples, shoving them backward until they bumped into the gate itself.
One of them, veins bulging on his forehead, shouted, “Halt! Who goes there!?”
The violet-robed young man lifted his hand, revealing a violet pearl that shivered and then shot toward the on-duty disciples.
“Calm down. Just give this pearl to Director Xu Qing. Tell him that I wanted to give him a destined opportunity.”
1. To review the Captain’s observations, check out chapter 221, which was entitled “Seven Blood Eyes' Big Secret”. ☜
2. My translation of “gobbelwock” is another creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. There are so many random creatures from that book that, when simply transliterated into pinyin, they become easily forgettable. I prefer using memorable English names to make them more vivid (which they inherently are in Chinese thanks to the nature of Chinese characters), and also more easy to remember. ☜