Chapter 260: It Was Worth It!
Master Shengyun’s voice ceased as his life force faded.
However, Xu Qing wasn’t ready to rest at ease. Pulling his skeletal hand back, he prepared to rip Master Shengyun’s throat fully open. Then he would tear the rest of his body to shreds. The last thing he wanted was his opponent using some mysterious technique to resurrect himself. Before he could do anything else, the seven-colored life lamp he was holding emitted a bright beam of light. It happened with no warning whatsoever. Apparently, it was powered by the same force behind the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo projection, which didn’t block it at all. Not even the Seven Blood Eyes magical treasure eye could do anything to stop it. It rose high into the dome of heaven, where it exploded like a firework.
Then, it transformed into a massive blood-colored vortex. A terrifying, hair-raising aura then erupted from the vortex, along with an enraged shout.
“Who dares to harm my grandson??”
The Seven Blood Eyes magical treasure projection collapsed. The projection of the taboo treasure also faded away, unsealing the area and revealing Xu Qing.
Xu Qing’s expression flickered as he realized the life lamp was struggling against him, trying to shoot up toward that vortex. He tightened his grip on it. He had worked hard to get this treasure, and now it was his!
He had lost a lot of fingers, though, so he quickly bit down onto the lamp, his eyes bloodshot.
As the sound of the enraged voice continued to echo about, a hand emerged from the vortex! It was a withered hand, covered with wrinkles, pulsing with a sensation of decay and ancientness. Furthermore, it was massive, blotting out the sky and causing all heaven and earth to grow still. An immense mightiness came with the hand, spreading out over everything.
Master Shengyun, who was hovering on death’s door, suddenly vanished, then reappeared below the vortex. A moment later, he disappeared into the vortex.
Thankfully, Xu Qing’s shadow was quick enough to get out of Master Shengyun before he was gone.
The massive hand ignored all of that, and began to stretch down toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing quivered from head to toe. Blood dripped from his mouth as he kept his teeth locked onto the life lamp. His vision swam. Creaking sounds echoed out from within him, and more blood sprayed from various wounds on him. He felt the shadow of death covering him. There was no way to dodge this. No way to flee. The massive hand brought destruction with it as it descended from the vortex. No level of cultivation base, no special plan, no unique preparations could do anything right now. The difference in cultivation level left room for only despair.
But then....
Deep within Forbidden by the Phoenix, a cry rang out, piercing through the clouds. It sounded like the song of a bird, or perhaps the roar of a phoenix. Brightly colored light flashed in heaven and earth as a huge rift opened up in the dome of heaven. A deafening noise erupted from the rift, shredding the blood-colored vortex to bits, and causing the enormous hand to shiver.
A voice filled with infinite majesty spoke from the very depths of Forbidden by the Phoenix.
“I’m the emperor of this forbidden ground, and Void Returning isn’t welcome here. Screw off!”
The vortex ripped apart, and a muffled grunt rang out. All of a sudden, three fingers on that huge, ancient hand collapsed.
A tremor passed through Xu Qing as the intense sensation of deadly crisis vanished. At the same time, the seven-colored ceramic lamp between his teeth vibrated. The human-shaped striations formed from magical laws of heaven and earth suddenly grew blurry. Then, cracking sounds could be heard as the striations were wiped out of existence. With the image gone, the life lamp ceased struggling. Xu Qing could now sense that it was masterless.
At the same time, a shout of rage came from the vortex. However, the huge hand seemed unwilling to press the issue, and slowly retracted. After it was gone, a voice echoed out.
“Dao protectors, you have failed and earned the death penalty. If you kill this child and bring back the life lamp, I’ll pardon your error and spare your life!”
Numerous rifts exploded across the sky, crisscrossing the remaining bits of the vortex like blades. The vortex collapsed and disappeared. Heaven and earth went back to normal.
Xu Qing stood there gasping for breath. Picking up the wish box, he unhesitatingly turned and started fleeing as fast as he could. He had no time to sit around coming up with a plan. The moment that vortex collapsed, he had sensed three Gold Core auras heading in his direction, pulsing with madness and fury. There was no need to guess who those came from. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, they were Master Shengyun’s dao protectors.
The terrifying entity in the vortex was most likely the patriarch of the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect. Though he had been forced to retreat by that voice from the depths of Forbidden by the Phoenix, he had somehow managed to teleport the three dao protectors to this location before leaving. The patriarch couldn’t be here personally, but he still wanted Xu Qing dead because of the life lamp.
There were other loose ends. Who was that voice from the depths of Forbidden by the Phoenix? Was Master Shengyun alive or dead? What was Xu Qing going to do next? There was no time to consider those things.
As he fled, the violet crystal went to work, and he kept a tight grip on the seven-colored ceramic lamp.
At the same time, a crazy look appeared in his eyes. He had put everything on the line, and had very nearly died. It had come at great cost. But it had brought great gain. The value of a life lamp was simply beyond description!
“It was worth it!!” he murmured. Gritting his teeth, he started absorbing the seven-colored ceramic lamp. He couldn’t wait until later to do it, given the danger he was in. There were three Gold Core enemies after him, and he would need every ounce of strength possible, as well as every bit of recovery power available.
Without taking time to study the lamp, he decided to just risk it. He lit his life flames.
As the light of his life flames raged around him, he put the seven-colored lamp inside of himself. The lamp shone so brightly it was nearly blinding. However, nothing stopped Xu Qing from placing fire inside the lamp and then branding it to himself!
As the lamp burned, seven-colored light swirled around him, filling all of his pores. There was no pain involved; in contrast, it felt wonderful. Eventually, the light swirled into his dantian region, and into his sea of consciousness there. As it converged, the image of a seven-colored ceramic lamp became visible, filled with the profound sensation of ancient time.
It didn’t look inferior in any way to the black life lamp.
Both were exquisite. Both had an ancient resonance. And as their radiance combined, it turned into something even more dazzling. The black light and the seven-colored light interacted, casting out radiance that made Xu Qing’s heavenly palaces even more visible!
From a distance, it was possible to see Xu Qing fleeing through the jungle, with seven-colored light surrounding him like a daoist robe. At the same time, two umbrellas were visible over his head. One was black, surrounded with endless flames that could protect the soul. The other was seven-colored, and it spread out over his entire person, protecting his fleshly body.
It was already as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns to have one umbrella. Having two was the ultimate honor!
Xu Qing was in bad shape from the fight, but at the same time, was clearly infinitely exceptional. As the life lamp became part of him, Xu Qing put one of his life flames atop it. Instantly, the light of his life lamp became even more astonishing.
Rumblings like heavenly thunder echoed in Xu Qing’s mind as his cultivation base rose rapidly. With two life lamps in him, his life flames were more amazing than ever. It no longer seemed like a world was burning within him. Instead, it seemed like an entire heaven and earth, burning like hell. With the addition of this life lamp, Xu Qing instantly went from the five-flame level to the six-flame level!
With battle prowess like that, he would stand at the peak of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture.
Master Shengyun had once been considered the strongest, but now, that spot belonged to Xu Qing!
***
As Xu Qing fled through the forbidden ground from three Gold Core experts, a shout of rage could be heard in the Revered Ancient mainland, in the Seven Sect Coalition, specifically from the headquarters of the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect.
“What peasant dared to steal my sect’s life lamp??”
The ancient voice belonged to none other than Patriarch Soaring Cloud. At the same time, a beam of light shot up from the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect, speeding out over the Forbidden Sea and causing everything to shake violently. Within that beam of light was an old man in a golden robe. He had white hair, and radiated a sense of majesty and might. He was also furious. The wave of his hand caused numerous streams of sword energy to shoot up and accompany him as he shot out over the water in the direction of South Phoenix and Seven Blood Eyes.
The water seethed beneath Patriarch Soaring Cloud, while at the same time, flickering streams of light could be seen in his eyes. Astonishingly, his cultivation level was the same as Sir Bloodsmelter. He was in the first step of the Void Returning level. His rage alone was enough to boil the sea, and he pulsed with a boundless sword energy which caused countless sea beasts to tremble, and struck fear into the hearts of numerous species. The sky trembled, and space itself shattered as an almighty being went out to sea!
***
Meanwhile, in Seven Blood Eyes, atop the Seventh Peak, Master Seventh sat in a building playing Go with his servant. However, he had been holding the same piece between his fingers for quite some time now. If you calculated the exact time, he had been holding the piece from the moment Xu Qing started fighting Master Shengyun.
The servant wasn’t in a hurry, and just sat there waiting.
After some time passed, Master Seventh calmly got to his feet and said, “I have to stop playing for now. I’ll go get Fourth Sib, and make my move when I get back.”
With that, Master Seventh clasped his hands behind his back, stepped out into midair, and headed toward Forbidden by the Phoenix. His hair was white, and his eyes seemed to contain a starry sky. His robe was violet, and he stood as straight as a mountain peak. He was old, but he was hale and hearty, like an old steed that can still gallop a thousand miles.