Chapter 268: Eat the Whole Thing by Yourself?
It was the tenth month. Fall.
In the north of South Phoenix, in the capital city and sect headquarters of Seven Blood Eyes, the sky was blue and sunny. A few wispy clouds drifted overhead. They almost looked like clouds painted casually onto a canvas by a scholar.
Things below looked just as picturesque. The capital city thrummed with life and everyone seemed to be smiling. They were real smiles, as Seven Blood Eyes had recently announced the plans for moving. Anyone who had been paying taxes in the city for ten years or more could apply to move to the Revered Ancient mainland. Of course, they would have to cover their own moving expenses. Countless cultivators in South Phoenix longed for such an opportunity, and that wasn’t to mention the numerous mortals who lived in Seven Blood Eyes.
As the city bubbled with excitement, seven enormous watercraft were moored outside Harbor 1. They all looked identical. They were violet, and were massive, being fully 3,000 meters long. They were extravagantly decorated, covered with spirit jade, and gilded with gold. Each one had a huge, vicious eye as the figurehead. At the stern of each ship were nine terrifying tails that filled one with a ghastly sensation upon looking at them.
Complicated spell formations were built into all of the giant ships. People who knew spell formations would gasp upon seeing them. That was because the formations were so complex that, upon being activated, they would turn each ship into a war fortress.
There were already Seven Blood Eyes disciples boarding the ships. Based on the clothing of the disciples, it was clear that each mountain peak had one ship. All of the disciples were extraordinary, and had powerful cultivation base fluctuations. Because of that, other disciples had gathered to watch, and were excitedly discussing what was happening.
“I saw the second highness from the First Peak! I heard that after he lost to Master Shengyun, he went into seclusion. He’s definitely a lot stronger now!”
“He’s not the only one. Look over there, everyone! Those are the grand highnesses from the Third and Fourth Peak.”
“The highnesses from the Second and Fifth Peak are here too!”
As the crowds of disciples chattered, the Captain stood on the deck of the seventh huge ship, his lips pursed in thought. “I guess they’re out for revenge, huh? Before, everyone was throwing their fights, but that doesn’t mean they really gave up. I guess they want to take advantage of the big negotiation to wipe away their humiliation. Say, little Ah Qing, do you think we should go track down Little Kunkun to get revenge? He has an older brother, you know. Maybe he has some Dark Serenity Fingers also!” [1]
Taking a bite of an apple, the Captain looked over at Xu Qing, who was seated cross-legged in meditation.
Xu Qing opened his eyes. The images from the dream the night before were still floating in his mind, but he shoved them away.
Most of the people joining the delegation had been selected by Master Seventh because of their familiarity with the people from Revered Ancient. Xu Qing himself wasn’t the only one with such experience. All of the mountain peaks had people like that. For the most part, they were the top highnesses. As for the Seventh Peak, all of the highnesses were going except for Second Elder Sister.
In response to the Captain’s question, Xu Qing thought for a moment. Given that Seven Blood Eyes was joining the coalition, he hadn’t seen any need to keep their chosen locked up, and had thus freed Huang Yikun and the others. He nodded.
“When he left,” Xu Qing explained, “he didn’t pay his incarceration fee. He just wrote an IOU. I supposed I ought to go find him and collect.”
The Captain’s eyes lit up and he tossed an apple to Xu Qing. “Good thinking. We’re not going over there to cause trouble, just to settle some debts. Speaking of which, what about everyone else, little Ah Qing. Did they pay up?”
“They all wrote IOUs,” Xu Qing replied, his expression the same as ever.
“Hahaha! I have to offer you some praise, little Ah Qing. You always come up with good reasons to do what you do. In that sense, you’re like me. You and I are both very reasonable. Unlike Third Sib, who goes around forcing people to cooperate. That’s just ridiculous. Wait. Hold on… where’d Third Sib get off to?” Eyebrows dancing up and down, he looked around. “I bet he went to brownnose Master. Or maybe chat with girls from the other peaks. Let me tell you, from the moment he joined the sect, I never really liked him. At first, I was thinking I should hook him up with Second Sib. But then I realized she’d probably just beat him up every day.”
The Captain sighed regretfully.
Xu Qing looked at him and didn’t say anything in response.
Before long, the people from the other mountain peaks had boarded their ships. All seven of the huge watercraft rumbled to life, then slowly started moving out of the port, out to the Forbidden Sea, and in the direction of Revered Ancient.
Sir Bloodsmelter and Master Seventh were leading the delegation going to the mainland. The other peaklords wouldn’t go, and would instead remain behind to handle preparations for the big move.
South Phoenix was so far from Revered Ancient that traveling by ship would take too long. Therefore, once the seven huge ships were out of the port, they blurred as they tapped into the power of the sect’s spell formation to activate teleportation formations built into them. Loud rumbling sounds echoed out, and then the ships vanished.
When they appeared, they were near the Merfolk Isles.
They didn’t stop to rest. Using the spell formations there, they performed another greater teleportation, which took them to the Seazombies’ fortified islands.
Tapping into the spell formations there, they quickly traveled to the Seazombie ancestral land. From there, only a single teleportation would get them to their destination. Even if they didn’t use such a teleportation, it would only have taken three days at sea for them to arrive.
That meant that the Seven Blood Eyes disciples had one day of free time to disembark.
This voyage was being made on official sect business. That said, everyone was curious about the taboo treasure. What was more, the top figures from the various mountain peaks were certain to be important people in the future. Therefore, it was important that they understood their own sect’s taboo treasure.
After the seven ships dropped anchor, numerous figures flew out of them and shot toward the taboo treasure. From a distance, Xu Qing could see the huge bronze mirror. All fourteen of the zombie ancestor statues were now arrayed in the area, and they pulsed with an ancient aura. Most gruish of all, however, were the seven closed eyes.
After Seven Blood Eyes revealed its taboo treasure, what territory the Seazombies had retained was naturally ceded. From that point on, there was no autonomous Seazombie culture. They were now a subsidiary species attached to Seven Blood Eyes. As long as Seven Blood Eyes had its taboo treasure, their fate would never change.
Vastworld had been allowed to leave the sect headquarters, but it didn’t matter. Nobody cared about Seazombies anymore. In the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, all eyes were on the first sect to have truly risen to prominence in the last ten thousand years. Seven Blood Eyes.
The Captain looked around and, seeing that everyone else had left to look at the taboo treasure, said, “I have a personal matter to attend to, little Ah Qing. There’s an old friend I need to see. Ai. She’s the only reason I managed to get out of this place back then. You probably already guessed who I’m talking about, right? That’s why it’s not exactly going to be convenient to bring you along. I’ll head off now, little Ah Qing. Your Elder Brother trusts that you won’t tell anybody about this.”
Seeming very serious, he flew off into the distance.
Looking after him for a moment, Xu Qing got to his feet and followed.
Sensing Xu Qing behind him, the Captain suddenly looked very much on guard. “What the hell are you following me for?”
“I also have a personal matter to attend to,” Xu Qing replied calmly.
The Captain blinked a few times, then plastered a look of sudden understanding onto his face.
“You want to go take care of Vastworld, don’t you? I already know where he is. Just head in the direction indicated on this jade slip.” The Captain tossed a jade slip to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing put the jade slip into his robe and continued after the Captain.
“Why are you still following me, Xu Qing?” the Captain blurted. He sounded quite anxious.
Xu Qing didn’t say anything. After looking around, he flew into a shadowy canyon. The Captain followed.
“Take it out, Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing said. “We only have a day. Let’s eat it together.”
“Eat what?” the Captain said, glaring as he backed away a few steps.
“The nose! I went to the museum yesterday, and it was gone. You took it, right? What, you thought you were going to eat the whole thing by yourself?”
The Captain blinked a few times, then laughed heartily. “Hahaha! I really can’t slip anything past you, little Junior Brother. Well done. Very well done. I’d planned all along for the two of us to eat it together. I was joking around just now, that’s all.”
Clearing his throat, the Captain looked around, then grimaced and took something out of his bag of holding.
With a thump, it landed on the ground. It was, of course, the nose from the zombie ancestor divine likeness. Back in Seven Blood Eyes, it was nothing more than ordinary stone. But here, it emanated shocking fluctuations, and contained a divine resonance.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he sat down cross-legged and circulated his cultivation base. Two umbrellas appeared above him, and the golden crow manifested and began viciously assimilating the nose.
Seeing this, the Captain instantly got anxious. The main thing he had been worried about was the possibility of Xu Qing devouring the nose too quickly. That was why he’d attempted to sneak out, absorb most of it, and give some leftovers to Xu Qing.
Obviously, Xu Qing had seen through his plan, and was now voraciously devouring the nose. All the Captain could do was rush forward, throw his arms around the nose, and start doing his own absorbing.
While the highnesses from the other peaks were sighing in admiration at the sect’s taboo treasure, Xu Qing and the Captain were secretly having a feast.
Inside Xu Qing, a massive, terrifying force was building up. Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior and the shadow also rushed out to join in absorbing the nose.
“Outrageous!” the Captain growled. “Ridiculous! This is beyond the pale!”
Baring his teeth, he bit a huge chunk out of the nose. However, that wasn’t enough for him, so he utilized some unknown technique to cause himself to suddenly grow multiple mouths all over his body, all of which he used to bite the nose.
Crunching sounds echoed out as the two of them used various means to absorb the nose.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing opened his 93rd dharma aperture. And there was more. He soon opened his 94th and 95th. Right now, he needed many times more power to open dharma apertures than he did before. And yet, just as in situations past, he was opening one after another thanks to the terrifying power in the nose.
Time passed. Before long, the day was up. The highnesses from the other peaks returned to their ships. By that time, Xu Qing had opened his 101st dharma aperture!
The zombie ancestor nose was now forty percent smaller. The divine resonance inside had been greatly reduced. Absorbing more of the nose would require a high cultivation base, otherwise, the Captain would have devoured the entire thing.
Xu Qing hesitated, as he had the feeling he couldn’t digest any more. After some hesitation, he waited until the Captain had devoured half of the nose. Then Xu Qing waved his hand to put the nose away.
The Captain burped and rubbed his swollen stomach as he lay sprawled on the ground. He looked very weak.
“I’m totally stuffed.... Help me up, little Ah Qing. I can’t stand on my own.”
1. Little Kunkun refers to Huang Yikun, who challenged the Seventh Peak in chapter 236. ☜