Chapter 286: A Heavenly Spike to Crush a Demon Snake
This Dark Serenity Sect’s precious treasure was an engraving on a big rock. At first glance, it was obvious that it was an ordinary engraving on an ordinary rock. What was extraordinary wasn’t the engraving or rock, but rather, what the engraving depicted. It showed an enormous dragon-like snake, with a long, serpentine body, six leathery wings, and a vicious crocodilian head. Despite being nothing more than an artistic depiction, it seemed to radiate viciousness.
In the engraving, the snake had a massive spike impaled through its tail section. Connected to the spike was a chain that had been inserted into the creature’s skull.
In that manner, the snake’s head and tail were both locked in place. However, a creature like that couldn’t die so easily. It was covered with numerous gaping wounds that revealed both muscles and bones, all of which were covered with countless appalling restrictive spells.
The engraving made it very obvious that the snake was experiencing immeasurable suffering. All it could do was howl in helpless anguish. Obviously... whoever had impaled this draconic snake hated it immensely. After all, the impaler could have killed the creature, but instead chose to torment and watch it suffer.
What was most astonishing to Xu Qing and the Captain was that the engraving depicted stars swirling in the snake’s eyes. Close examination revealed that there were over 10,000 layers of stars. That meant... that it was in the second stage of the Void-Returning level!
Xu Qing looked at the Captain. The Captain looked back at him, then shifted his gaze to the old man.
“What is this thing?” the Captain asked.
“This is our Dark Serenity Sect’s connection to Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. Countless years in the past, before Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity conquered Revered Ancient, he came here on a mission that turned him into a legend.
“The place where he arrived on the mainland is what we now call Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. When he made landfall, there was a demon snake in the area that caused constant problems. It refused to surrender to the Ancient Emperor, and was actually so stubborn that it bit him.
“Although the Ancient Emperor had not yet fully achieved his great dao, he had no trouble crushing some paltry demon snake. Then he used a heavenly spike to impale the demon snake on the shore of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, after which he inscribed its muscles and bones with warding spells to torment it. When the process was done, he mocked the demon snake in front of his companions, saying that to punish it for taking that one bite, he would suppress the demon snake for a hundred thousand years.
“In addition to that, the Ancient Emperor composed a poem about the event.
“A heavenly spike to crush a demon snake; 10,000 magics assimilate the cosmos!”
When talking about Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, the old man seemed to forget that the Captain was stepping on his chest, and a look of immense pride filled his face.
“In response to one single bite,” the Captain said, “the Ancient Emperor sliced open the snake, filled it with warding spells, and tormented it for a hundred thousand years? He was that petty?” He turned to Xu Qing, an odd expression on his face as he transmitted a message to him via divine will. “I used to think you were the most petty person ever, little Ah Qing. It seems you might have to work harder in that regard.”
The Captain blinked a few times. With strangers present, there was no way the Captain would reveal Xu Qing’s identity by speaking. That was why he projected the message instead of speaking it out loud.
Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever as he replied with a single sentence. “Captain, were you that snake in a past life?”
The Captain chuckled sarcastically. Looking back down, he shot a fierce expression at the old man and said, “Your sect’s precious treasure is this engraving? That’s it? Since you have the engraving does that mean you know where the snake was impaled? Was it right here?”
The Captain looked around, but didn’t see anything to indicate that this location was where the snake was impaled.
The old man looked a bit embarrassed, like he didn’t want to answer the question. But then he considered that these two people from a supervisory sect didn’t seem very friendly, and thus he decided not to hide anything. He sighed.
“It wasn’t here.”
“Then where?” Xu Qing asked, though he already had a guess as to the answer.
“In the Dark Serenity Sect in your Eight Sect Coalition,” the old man said.
The Captain laughed. “Your sect’s precious treasure is an engraving of the the Dark Serenity Sect’s pocket realm in the Eight Sect Coalition?”
The old man gave a wry, embarrassed smile. “Actually, we’re the most authentic Dark Serenity Sect in all of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. Years ago, our founder was given a mission by the Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity himself, to guard over the demon snake and increase its torment on a yearly basis.
“As time passed, that legacy was passed down with few interruptions, until my own Master took over.... Some years ago, he ran into Immortal Fairy Plumdark from your coalition. Nowadays she’s called Arch-Immortal Plumdark. In any case, as soon as my Master laid eyes on her, he knew that she had limitless opportunities for the future.
“Because of that, my Master was more than happy to give the ancestral land to her, and also pass on the legacy of our sect to her. Afterward, he had nothing holding him back, so he took us here to live in seclusion and enjoy life, aloof from worldly affairs. About thirty years ago, he flew on a crane to the Western Paradise, and passed away peacefully....”
Xu Qing looked thoughtfully at the surrounding emaciated disciples, and then at the cowering old man.
An odd expression could be seen on the Captain’s face as he stared at the old man. The old man looked back awkwardly, not sure what to say next.
After a moment, the Captain cleared his throat and said, “Was your Master surnamed Zhao? Zhao Zhongheng?”
The old man gaped. “Huh? No, my Master wasn’t surnamed Zhao.”
The Captain shook his head and took his foot off the old man’s chest. After everything, he didn’t feel good bullying these people. If anything, he pitied them. Instead, he asked for some more details about the snake.
The old man quickly complied. “That pocket realm is now a reserve power of the Dark Serenity Sect in the Eight Sect Coalition. I’ve never been there, but I heard my Master say that it’s full of terrifying soul power. Strong soul power like that can be very useful for cultivation. Even inhaling a single mouthful can bring immense benefits.
“The demon snake’s fleshly body died, leaving behind only a skeleton. However, my Master said it’s not truly dead. Its soul still exists, though it’s extremely weak. Sleeping, really. So the soul power in the ancestral land is really just emanating off of the demon snake’s soul.
“The Ancient Emperor’s spike didn’t just seal the demon snake’s fleshly body, it also sealed its soul. Thus, even after all of the countless years which have passed, the snake still hates Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity down to the core of its being!”
Thanks to this old man, Xu Qing and the Captain knew a lot more about the pocket realm belonging to the coalition’s Dark Serenity Sect. Shortly thereafter, they made their way out of the sect.
They didn’t bother looking into the diversion channel. However, they emphasized to the old man that he couldn’t go overboard using the river water. What was more, they checked the huge stone at the entrance of the sect, and found that it truly was impossible to move. It was a permanent part of the landscape.
The Captain, however, wasn’t willing to give up that easily, and managed to take a bite out of it. However, that was the limit of what he was capable of. Finally, as the members of this Dark Serenity Sect trembled in anxiety, Xu Qing and the Captain finally left.
On the way back, the Captain sighed and said, “I felt like we got really unlucky. We didn’t get anything.”
Xu Qing nodded. They really hadn’t benefited much on this outing.
Suddenly, they exchanged a glance.
Lowering his voice, the Captain said, “Say, once we’re back, why don’t we figure out a way to get into the Dark Serenity Sect’s pocket realm, and absorb some of that soul power?”
Xu Qing hesitated, all the while thinking about Arch-Immortal Plumdark. On an instinctual level, he didn’t want to go anywhere near her. Given that, it didn’t seem like a good idea to trespass on the Dark Serenity Sect just to absorb some soul power.
“Then again,” the Captain continued, his eyes glittering, “absorbing some soul power isn’t exactly something amazing. But if we could wake up that demon snake, and take a bite out of it... that would be amazing!”
That got Xu Qing’s heart thumping. Forgetting all about Arch-Immortal Plumdark, he started considering how they could pull something like that off. The Captain was also lost in thought.
Eventually, they flew out of the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains and spotted the coalition ships off in the distance.
That was when Xu Qing suddenly said, “That demon snake hates Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity to the core of its being, right. So… if it sees someone that reminds it of the Ancient Emperor, would it get so irritated it might wake up?”
Hearing this, the Captain’s eyes lit up. “That might be a way to solve the problem. Are you talking about Little Jianjian...?”
Xu Qing nodded, and the Captain chuckled darkly. The two of them started discussing the details. The ships were moving up the river again by the time they finalized their plan.
“But Wu Jianwu didn’t come to the mainland,” Xu Qing said. “I’m pretty sure he’s still back on South Phoenix, most likely somewhere in Forbidden by the Phoenix.” Xu Qing looked at the Captain. The key to the whole plan would be to convince Wu Jianwu to agree to work with them.
“That’ll be simple,” the Captain said. “That little punk is absolutely crazy about Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. I’ll just send some people to Forbidden by the Phoenix to find him and deliver a message. I’ll say something like... ‘we found one of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity’s old stomping grounds. Guess what, there’s a poem there hand-written by the Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity himself!’
“Believe you me, little Ah Qing, stomping grounds plus a poem will be too much for Little Jianjian to resist. Especially the latter!”
The Captain’s eyebrows danced up and down as he used the assets on the Special Security Division ship to send a message back to the sect and set things in motion.
Time passed. They continued upriver on the inspection for a few months. Everything went smoothly, and before long they reached the end of the tributary.
This was where the mainstem of the river intersected with the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains, where the headquarters of the Young Arbiter Sect used to exist. As they neared, Xu Qing could see the ruins of the sect, as well as the crumbled remains of the dam. Even the smallest chunks of the dam were hundreds of meters in length, and the big ones were thousands of meters. From that, it was possible to imagine how shockingly immense the dam had been.
Beyond the ruins of the dam and the sect, Xu Qing and the Captain spotted a massive flow of turbulent water that might as well have been a sea.
It was... the mainstem of the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River!
The immortal energy there was incredibly strong, such that the Seven Blood Eyes disciples couldn’t get too close without feeling intoxicated and dizzy. Even Xu Qing felt unsteady. He looked to the east, where the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society was, and then to the west, where, beyond the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains was... Emperor-Receiving Prefecture’s primary forbidden ground.
The river flowed right into that forbidden ground, where it became completely black and full of shocking mutagen. It was easy to imagine how terrifying that forbidden ground was, considering it could transform immortal energy into mutagen!