Chapter 310: Blood-Soaked Performance - Prelude
Master Seventh had given Xu Qing a path to follow, which led to him copying the image of a god, although without the face.
Xu Qing had given the Mute a path to follow, to study the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture, which was a path of slaughter. He felt that it was fitting for the Mute. Xu Qing could tell that his life up to this point had been one of killing and brutality. In acting as dharma protector for him these past days, Xu Qing had felt like he was looking at the old version of himself. The world was a fickle place, and only by means of cultivation could one find safety and stability. The Mute was a killer, and people like that, people like Xu Qing, were suited to the cultivation of the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture. The Mute took Xu Qing’s advice to heart. He had always been a willing follower; it was an instinct of his to revere the powerful.
After seeing the Mute off, Xu Qing didn’t rest. He immediately headed toward the Transportation Division. However, when he arrived... it was evening, and the first thing he saw was a blushing female disciple next to Zhang San. Zhang San, meanwhile, was contently smoking his pipe.
Xu Qing recognized the female disciple. She was an alchemy cultivator from the Second Peak, and Xu Qing remembered seeing her with Gu Muqing when they came to ask Zhang San about bodyguard services. She wasn’t unusually pretty, but was good-looking. Seeing Xu Qing approaching, she blushed even harder, then quickly clasped hands and left. [1]
Xu Qing wasn’t going to pry into Zhang San’s affairs, and was just about to ask about something else when Zhang San proudly lifted his chin. “Well, what do you think? I’m dashing enough, right?”
“Incredible!” Xu Qing said, nodding earnestly. He knew that this specific reaction tended to please others. Whether it was the Captain or his Master, everyone seemed to like it.
When Zhang San saw his facial expression, he looked very happy. Lifting his hand, he pointed at Xu Qing and said, “Hand it over. You blew up your dharmaskiff, right? Did you finally see the Participation Effect?”
Xu Qing thought back, then shook his head. He took out the dharmaskiff.
“You didn’t see it? Impossible!” Zhang San anxiously examined the dharmaskiff. After a moment, he seemed to be hit with understanding. “Oh, that’s what’s going on. You didn’t use all of the self-detonations. That said, Xu Qing, this is the first time you actually brought this thing back in one piece. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Keep it up!” Zhang San laughed heartily. “Three days. I’ll have it done by then, and it’ll be exactly the same as before. You need to get moving, Xu Qing. Fill those dharma apertures with souls, that way you can form a spirit automaton and upgrade this thing.”
“I already did,” Xu Qing replied calmly.
“Huh?” Zhang San was stunned. He also cultivated the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture, and knew how much effort and slaughter it would take to fill 120 dharma apertures with souls. And he hadn’t forgotten that Xu Qing actually had four life flames. “That fast?”
Xu Qing nodded, then ignited all 120 of his dharma apertures. Countless screams rang out from the numerous souls imprisoned within him.
It turned into a rancorous energy that swept out in all directions with tempestuous force. Seeing it, Zhang San gasped.
“In that case, three days won’t be enough. I’ll need seven. After that, you can fuse those souls with the ship, and you’ll have a dharmaship!”
Zhang San looked very excited, to the point where he ignored Xu Qing and took the dharmaskiff away to immediately start working on it.
Watching him go, Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed deeply. Then he left for the Special Security Division headquarters, which was where he planned to stay for the next seven days.
The Special Security Division in Seven Blood Eyes had been busy recently. They had been focused on working with other departments in the sect, as well as handling various coalition-related missions. Seven Blood Eyes had now settled into its role as part of the coalition. Sect disciples regularly went out on coalition missions, and Xu Qing saw a lot more disciples from other sects in the Seven Blood Eyes capital city.
Seven Blood Eyes disciples didn’t just stick to Seven Blood Eyes. They often went out to other cities to go shopping, do business, and even open up shops. As a matter of fact, the addition of Seven Blood Eyes to the coalition had livened things up.
Right now, there were many missions focused on the Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain. After checking through the files, Xu Qing saw that the place was more active lately. The population in their 137 subsidiary nations had dropped significantly, and cultivators were spreading out wider and wider, hunting for new people to make up for the loss. Their hunting expeditions were becoming so frequent that the coalition had started watching the situation closely. Occasionally, friction arose between the two organizations as a result.
The Captain was nowhere to be found. Xu Qing wasn’t sure what he was up to, but when he realized Wu Jianwu was also seemingly missing, he had to wonder what the two of them were planning. Xu Qing looked suspiciously in the direction of the Dark Serenity Sect for a moment, then looked away.
Some of the officers from the Special Security Division had recently left for a second inspection tour of the tributary. Xu Qing and the Captain weren’t going along this time. Instead, there were some two-flame Foundation Establishment officers from the Fifth Peak who would take charge. Because of all that, the Special Security Division seemed a lot emptier than usual.
Xu Qing liked peace and quiet, so he was perfectly happy with things in the Special Security Division. Sitting down cross-legged in his office, he focused again on his 121st dharma aperture.
I can open it in a spot between life and death.... On the way back from the recent outing, he had come up with a plan for how to open that 121st aperture. It was still just a fledgling plan, and would require a lot of flexibility and adjustment.
I might need the help of the Seven Blood Eyes’ taboo treasure....
Xu Qing thought back to what Master Seventh had said about that subject. And now, he just wanted to wait seven days until his dharmaskiff was upgraded to a dharmaship, then he would go to visit the taboo treasure and do some tests.
That said, he knew that this plan of his would be dangerous. He was even a bit hesitant as to whether or not he should really try it.
I don’t need to worry about that for now. In seven days, I can just go there and check things out.
That was his decision. As far as he was concerned, it would be great to open that 121st dharma aperture, but if he couldn’t do it, he wouldn’t worry about it.
For the following days, he remained calm and focused on refining all of the various aspects of his plan. On the evening of the seventh day, he got a voice message from Zhang San letting him know that his dharmaskiff was finished. Putting away the transmission jade slip, Xu Qing stood and left the Special Security Division.
Tomorrow I’ll go visit the sect’s taboo treasure. He looked up at the sky to check the time. It was evening, and the red sky reminded him of one particular day in the past. The red clouds that spread out cast red light onto the face of the broken god above. Everything seemed like the color of blood.
Xu Qing looked away.
For some unknown reason, he felt jittery. It was a feeling he wasn’t used to, and it made him very uneasy. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pinpoint why he felt that way.
Mulling the matter over, he made haste to the Transportation Division. Before long, he was looking at his old faceless dharmaskiff. It didn’t look any different from before. But close examination revealed that it had stronger godliness, and also, it had many more unique spell formations and magical symbols.
“Those are for the spirit automaton you’ll form soon,” Zhang San explained. “That will make it easier for you to control the dharmaship. I won’t waste time explaining. Xu Qing, take those imprisoned souls and use the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture method to insert them into the dharmaskiff!”
Xu Qing took a deep breath and then, without the slightest hesitation, activated all 120 of his dharma apertures, like a hundred and twenty volcanoes all erupting. Dharma force surged and flames seethed. Intense heat rolled out. Within the fire, everything around Xu Qing twisted and distorted. The ground dried up and cracked, and Zhang San inhaled sharply and backed up.
Xu Qing was emitting so much pressure that Zhang San almost couldn’t take it. His eyes hurt!
“So strong!!” he murmured.
Xu Qing quickly began performing incantation gestures with both hands, his fingers becoming a blur.
By using the techniques of the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture, he took about half of the imprisoned souls and sent them out of him into an enormous soul shadow with a vicious facial expression. Xu Qing’s incantation gestures changed, and he sent out Stygian Flame, enveloping the soul shadow and creating something like a suit of armor. With the armor, the soul shadow’s pulsing ferocity and rancorous energy was suppressed. Then Xu Qing guided it into the dharmaskiff.
Zhang San helped, activating the power of the dharmaskiff and causing it to vibrate. When the soul shadow entered, the dazzling light shone out. Even Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was taken aback as he watched from within the iron skewer.
After all, this was the Fiendish Xu’s second spirit automaton, and he had to pay very close attention to see if it would be a threat.
When the soul shadow fully entered the dharmaskiff, it trembled visibly, and then the faceless prow suddenly changed. All of a sudden, it had a vicious face on it! It was the same face as the soul shadow!
A new sensation filled Xu Qing’s mind, something different from the dharmaskiff. It was as if this thing were now a part of his own senses. Based on his understanding, his dharmaskiff was now complete, and his control over it was vastly superior compared to before.
Forgetting the soul shadow, even just the spell formation would surpass the Foundation Establishment level, and could threaten Gold Core experts.
As of now, this was no longer a dharmaskiff. This was a dharmaship!
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered, and Zhang San looked incomparably excited.
“It worked!”
***
As the sky turned redder, two figures walked along the street in the capital city of the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect in the Eight Sect Coalition.
One walked in front, the other behind, like a servant and master. Both wore black cloaks, with masks resembling the broken face of the god, which emanated terrifying auras.
“What a bustling city,” said the person in the front. He sounded like he was young, and also sounded like he was smiling. “Will the performance begin soon, Night Dove?”
“Lord, I received a response to the inquiry. The performance will begin shortly.”
At almost exactly the same moment that Night Dove responded... the water in the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River tributary outside of the Eight Sect Coalition changed.
It turned pitch black!
1. The scene with Zhang San and the Second Peak disciples was in chapter 94, though this girl wasn’t specifically mentioned there. ☜