Chapter 282: Master... I’m Obedient....
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly as he raced in pursuit, and his shadow stretched out in front of him, its mouth open. No one perceived what was happening as the shadow bore down on its nonhuman counterpart, gaping maw full of madness and anticipation.
The nonhuman tried to fight back, but the disparity with Xu Qing’s cultivation base was so immense that it was powerless. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing had caught up, and had his hand around the nonhuman’s neck. Struggling did no good. All he could do was sense the burning fire coming from Xu Qing’s hand madly enveloping his entire body. At the same time, it was with utmost ferocity and longing that Xu Qing’s shadow pounced on the nonhuman’s shadow.
A howl that no one else could hear echoed out from the shadow.
“Kill everyone here, then go back to the ship and wait for my return.”
Leaving behind those words, Xu Qing shot out of the cave through the hole overhead, taking the nonhuman with him. Below him, the sounds of slaughter rang out.
It was dark outside. Moving with shocking speed, Xu Qing dragged the nonhuman off to a nearby mountaintop. Once there, he looked down at the trembling, despairing shadow cast by the nonhuman.
The shadow twisted and distorted as it struggled. Xu Qing could see that his own shadow was inside the nonhuman’s shadow, and they were snapping and biting at each other in a battle to the death.
Fluctuations of vile insanity rolled off of the nonhuman’s shadow, something that reminded Xu Qing of back when he first acquired the shadow in the jungle outside the scavenger basecamp. It had overflowed with wild savagery. It was only after Xu Qing had crushed his shadow over and over again that it finally lost some of that savage nature, and started obeying him. That said, Xu Qing knew that its rebellious nature was still there.
As it turns out, grues like my shadow are exceedingly rare, but others do exist.
Meanwhile, he looked at the nonhuman cultivator to whom the shadow was attached. Most likely, this cultivator was like himself. In some situations in the past, the shadow had attacked him, then taken him over as the host.
If I didn’t have the violet crystal, then the same thing would have happened to me back in that jungle. It wouldn’t be me anymore. After all, Xu Qing could tell that, unlike himself, this nonhuman cultivator had normal mutagen levels.
Apparently that was the difference between someone controlled by such a shadow, and someone who controlled the shadow. If you couldn’t suppress the shadow, then it would take you over, wearing you like a set of clothing.
Xu Qing looked at the nonhuman’s shadow fighting with his own shadow, and unleashed the violet light of suppression.
Of course, he wasn’t targeting his own shadow, but rather, the nonhuman’s shadow. The violet crystal obviously had immense power over grues like this. As rumbling sounds echoed out, the nonhuman’s shadow let loose a scream of agony that only Xu Qing and the nonhuman could hear.
As Xu Qing’s shadow got excited, the nonhuman’s shadow went wild, eventually lunging toward Xu Qing as if to devour him. Xu Qing’s expression was cold as he sent violet light crushing onto the nonhuman’s shadow seventeen times in a row.
Over and over, the nonhuman’s shadow shrieked in agony, until it reached the point where it was absolutely terrified. Then, looking very weak, it tried to escape. Before it could, Xu Qing sent violet light over and crushed it down in suppression. The violet light of suppression didn’t fade quickly. And because the shadow couldn’t flee, it simply struggled, shrieking and pleading for mercy.
Off to the side, Xu Qing’s shadow was, for the first time, finally seeing its own torment unleashed onto another. It was a very fantastic feeling, and it caused it to look at Xu Qing and send out fawning fluctuations.
Xu Qing squatted down and looked at the nonhuman’s shadow in the moonlight. It was basically the same shape as his own shadow, having taken on the form of a tree full of eyes. At the moment, every single one of those eyes shone with terror.
Xu Qing thought for a moment, considering whether or not he wanted to add a second shadow to his collection, perhaps by sealing it within the violet crystal. But... he couldn’t. When he put his hand into the nonhuman’s shadow, he felt icy coldness. But when he tried to unleash the violet crystal, it didn’t work. Finally, he waved his hand, and the iron skewer pierced through the nonhuman’s throat, killing him instantly.
Xu Qing thought to back when the black-scaled wolf died, and the shadow pounced on him. He had hoped that killing the nonhuman would give him a similar chance to subjugate the second shadow. It didn’t work.
His own shadow had no idea that the plan wasn’t working, and sent some anxious fluctuations in Xu Qing’s direction.
“Milord... I’m obedient... right...?”
Inside the iron skewer, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior saw this happening and resisted the urge to translate.
Xu Qing looked at the shadow for a moment, then coolly said, “Given how well you’ve performed recently, I won’t replace you with this second shadow. But take note: all your previous service doesn’t count for anything now. Going forward, if you don’t perform well, then next time... I’ll replace you.”
The little shadow trembled in response, and wildly shook its head.
Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior saw all of this and was pleased to the core.
Xu Qing frowned.
The shadow reacted instantly, shaking its head with even more vigor. Obviously it was very nervous, as it was reverting to what the patriarch had taught it about how to communicate. Thankfully, it could also send out fluctuations, which enabled it to solemnly acknowledge Xu Qing.
Xu Qing finally nodded.
“You can devour it.” Xu Qing got to his feet. However, he kept the force of suppression going. As the nonhuman shadow shrieked, Xu Qing’s shadow opened its mouth wide and started eating.
The process took an incense stick’s worth of time. Eventually, Xu Qing’s shadow completely devoured the nonhuman’s shadow, after which it burped and sent fawning emotions to Xu Qing. It was clearly stronger than before, and now had many more eyes than before, though they weren’t open. What was more, the shadowy tree now had flower buds on it.
“Time... absorb... stronger....”
Seeing Xu Qing looking at it, the shadow sent forth some more fluctuations.
Xu Qing looked away and focused on the Minor Three Spirits mountain. He was pleased with what he had gained out of this incident. Turning into a beam of light, he shot off into the distance.
Before long, Xu Qing was back at the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River tributary, on the ship with the Captain. The king of the small nation was gone, and the officers Xu Qing had led away were already back.
“Is it over?” the Captain asked with a mysterious smile.
Xu Qing nodded.
“Well, that’s good,” the Captain said. He didn’t ask any further questions. Stretching, he put his hands behind his head, lay down on the deck, and looked up into the night sky.
Xu Qing sat down cross-legged to do breathing exercises.
The evening wind blew, stirring their hair as the ships moved upstream. The sound of the water was like a natural symphony, swirling around them as they drifted off into the distance.
Time passed. Before long, they had been traveling for a month. The Special Security Division’s ships were about half done with their inspection tour. The reason they were able to do it so quickly was that the coalition ships were amazing. Not only did they have incredible offensive and defensive capabilities, but also, they were very fast. Beyond that, few sects or nations would dare to try to divert the river water. In addition, this wasn’t the coalition’s first inspection tour. Therefore, everything was relatively peaceful, and they could move quickly.
Xu Qing’s cultivation also progressed rapidly. He finally opened his 102nd dharma aperture, giving him even more powerful dharma force.
The Captain, after eating a few spirit fish half a month before, fell in love with the flavor, and spent every day eating all different types of fish. After sampling some, Xu Qing found that they tasted quite good. After that, everyone on board started fishing for food.
At the moment, the Captain sat next to Xu Qing, winking. “Little Ah Qing....”
Xu Qing begrudgingly opened his eyes, waved, and sent out a ball of balefire. The Captain expertly started grilling the fish atop it.
“My cultivation technique has nothing to do with fire,” he said excitedly. “And even if I did manage to summon some fire, the flavor is just different. Little Ah Qing, your balefire is just the best! It really brings out the unique flavor of these spirit fish.”
Xu Qing ignored him and was about to go back to meditating when his expression flickered. Similarly, the Captain looked up, and together, they stared at the distant sky.
Two beams of light shot through the dome of heaven, one after the other. Apparently, there was a chase going on. In front was an old man with red hair. His chest was torn and bleeding; apparently he was wounded. He had a sinister face covered with wrinkles. Coupled with his vile eyes, he looked very vicious. Hovering above his head were two pitch-black heavenly palaces which exuded a very shocking aura. He happened to be flying right over a small nation of nonhumans. Waving his hand, he caused nearly 10,000 of them to fly up into the air, all of them bleeding from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. Despair covered their faces as their blood flowed into the sky, landed in the sinister old man’s palm, and then transformed into a blood pill that he consumed. A moment later, his wounds were visibly less severe.
He was just about to continue taking blood from the nonhumans when a stream of sword energy arrived. The devilish old man shrieked as he was forced to flee instead of continuing to heal himself.
As for the nonhumans, they dropped back down to the ground, some dead, some merely wounded.
The person who had unleashed the sword energy was a young man in a long white robe. He had twenty-seven swords circulating endlessly behind him, from which shot streams of sword energy as he continued to attack the old man. He was handsome, with eyebrows like sharp swords, eyes that sparkled like stars, and hair that swirled around him as he moved. However, what was most noticeable was the fiery design embroidered on his robe!
“Look at his robe! That guy’s a swordsage!” The Captain’s eyes went wide, and he immediately got very excited. [1]
1. I’ve edited the details about the swordsage’s robe to match later continuity, but I’m keeping the original details in this footnote for archival purposes. In the original Chinese, the Captain notices that the swordsage has a “bauhinia flower” design on his robe, marking him as a swordsage. However, later on, their robes are completely different, and the bauhinia flower is never mentioned again (at least in relation to swordsages). The bauhinia is well-known in China, as it’s the prominent image on the regional emblem of Hong Kong (starting in 1997), which looks like this. Many Chinese readers mentioned this aspect. If it later turns out that I was wrong and bauhinia flowers really do identify swordsages, I will humbly apologize and adjust the text. That said, I’ve read far enough ahead that I’m pretty confident the detail in this chapter was either forgotten, or changed and the author never came back to adjust it. ☜