Chapter 330: The Afterglow Remains
Xu Qing, the Captain, and Yanyan all reacted with shock. They had come to this place with a basic understanding of what it was like, and had already seen much on their travels. But seeing the brutality on display on these three mountains filled their hearts with waves of astonishment.
However, that astonishment had different results among the three of them. It caused Yanyan to tremble. It caused Xu Qing to activate all of the cloaking treasures he had. And it caused the Captain... to stare at the three thrones with his eyes glittering brightly.
“Treasures. They’re precious treasures!!”
Yanyan looked over at the Captain as if she were looking at a ghost.
Xu Qing, on the other hand, was used to his behavior and ignored him. After some further thought, he passed a handful of cloaking treasures to Yanyan. That finally shifted Yanyan’s attention away from the mountains. Eyes shining, she took the treasures, then couldn’t stop herself from slowly biting her finger.
Xu Qing’s gaze dropped from the mountains to the lands below them. They were currently lying on a boulder atop a low-lying mountain, looking over the edge at everything below. The low-lying mountain was part of a mountain range that was dwarfed by the three-peaked mountain, but it was high enough to give them a good view.
From a distance, the dark three-peaked mountain was surrounded by swirling mists that took the shape of huge ghost heads that flew here and there moaning.
The lands beneath the huge mountain were dotted with dark cities. They were bustling places filled with bizarre screams and bloodthirsty cackling. The cities were inhabited by Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain disciples, as well as countless mortals who served as slaves, servants, and food. All of them lived lives worse than death.
The Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain disciples came from just about every species imaginable, but they were all vicious and ruthless individuals. They had ultimately found their way here and, benefiting from the protection of the Three Spirits, became disciples. There were low-level cultivators as well, either people who had been conscripted forcibly, or who had somehow climbed from the ranks of the mortals. All of them had lost any shred of humanity, and were vicious to the core. That was the only way to survive in a place like this.
Xu Qing took it all in. There were innumerable vicious and monstrous enemies that were the first barrier to deal with in reaching the actual Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain. Many of them were powerful experts. Even just looking at them casually, Xu Qing could sense numerous powerful auras.
Thankfully, Xu Qing, Yanyan and the Captain were concealing their own auras. As long as they didn’t do anything to stand out, they wouldn’t attract any attention. However, that was only because they hadn’t approached close enough to be detected by the sect’s spell formation. This situation was different from the time they had infiltrated Seazombie territory. They couldn’t just brazenly strut in. They needed the right opportunity to come along.
“It’s not going to be easy to get in there,” Xu Qing said. “Eldest Brother, when did you say the Swordsage Court is going to arrive?”
“Soon,” the Captain replied. “Relax, we’re not in a hurry. We’re in a good hiding spot here. Let’s just stay put and wait.” The Captain licked his lips and suppressed his anticipation.
Xu Qing nodded and continued to lay there silently. Yanyan, meanwhile, kept a close grip on the treasures Xu Qing had given her. Blushing a bit, she scooted a bit closer to Xu Qing so that her left hand brushed against him. That caused her to shiver as if she’d received an electric shock, and her eyes glazed over.
Xu Qing was about to move away from her when, out of nowhere, a ripple passed through the air toward them. Xu Qing froze.
The ripple passed their position and then disappeared.
“That’s the Three-Spirits peripheral scanning formation,” the Captain explained quietly. “Don’t worry about it. As long as we don’t jump out into the open and make a scene, it’ll ignore us. It’s only looking for Nascent Soul cultivators and higher. As far as the Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain is concerned, anyone under the Nascent Soul level is a bug.”
Xu Qing didn’t reply. Taking out a few more cloaking treasures and activating them, he then gave a signal to Yanyan, and the two of them moved a short distance away from the Captain. After all these years, Xu Qing knew that the Captain was sometimes unreliable.
Seeing that, the Captain’s eyebrows shot up in displeasure. “You’ve changed, little Ah Qing! What are you doing way over there?”
Xu Qing looked back at the Captain, who was now a good distance away. “Eldest Brother, did Master happen to give you a new treasure recently?”
“Are you kidding me? No way! The old man’s way too stingy. By the way, little Ah Qing, any chance you have any apples on you? I’m a bit hungry.” The Captain’s expression was so smooth there wasn’t even a hint he was lying.
Xu Qing didn’t respond. He took out some apples and threw them over, then sprinkled poison powder in the area around himself.
The Captain blinked a few times and then sighed.
Yanyan was confused by their behavior, but didn’t ask any questions.
Thus, three days passed.
“Captain,” Xu Qing said, “if the Swordsage Court doesn’t show up, we can’t just sit around waiting forever. Do you have a Plan B ready?”
“The Swordsage Court is definitely going to show up!” the Captain said firmly.
“You’re that sure?”
“Absolutely. I paid a lot of money for that intelligence report!” The Captain’s eyes glittered as though he were reviewing his complex plan of action.
Xu Qing considered his words and chose not to say anything further.
A few days passed.
Xu Qing looked over at the Captain.
The Captain took a deep breath and nodded as confidently as before. “Don’t worry!”
About a week passed.
During that time, a few dangerous incidents occurred.
Three-Spirits disciples flew by a few times on patrol, and nearly spotted them. The worst situation was when some of those disciples sensed something unusual, and actually searched the mountain where they were hiding.
Xu Qing kept his cloaking treasures activated, and also had his shadow assist. Yanyan obviously had treasures of her own, and therefore, neither of them were spotted.
The Captain activated his cloaking treasures at the last minute, vanishing from sight. When he did, Xu Qing looked down at his shadow. It was night, so no one could see the shadow as it stretched toward a boulder not too far away.
Xu Qing stared expressionlessly at that exact spot. In the location the shadow was pointing to, at the base of the boulder, was a barely opened eye.
Something’s not right here. How did little Ah Qing spot me? Don’t tell me Master told him about the treasure that can create a clone and transform my true form? This little brat is too smart for his own good. He’s no fun at all.
That boulder was the Captain’s hiding spot. That was his true form, while off in the distance… he had a much more easily visible clone. His original plan had been to wait until the Swordsage Court showed up, and in the resulting chaos, have his clone lead the way for Xu Qing and Yanyan, while his true form followed behind secretly. That would be a lot safer in general, and would also give him opportunities to surreptitiously get more loot.
He had tried to use similar tactics both in the Merfolk Isles and in the Seazombie restricted area, although on both those occasions his efforts failed. When following Xu Qing in the Merfolk Isles, he had ended up getting poisoned. And in the Seazombie restricted area, he ended up taking the blame for the entire nose-explosion incident. He had never been happy about that, and had hoped that with this new treasure from his Master, he would finally come out on top.
Sadly, Xu Qing’s gaze from moments ago made him feel a bit guilty. After the Three-Spirits disciples were gone, he shifted positions.
Three more days passed. They had now been waiting for about a month. As evening fell, a lightning bolt suddenly pierced through the dark clouds in the sky. The massive lightning bolt was 30,000 meters in length, and seemed to completely split apart the dome of heaven. Thunder ripped through the sky, shaking everything.
After the main lightning bolt struck, countless smaller lightning bolts spread out, turning the area into a chaotic city of lightning.
Then the clouds parted and the pounding of war drums echoed out. Simultaneously, a beam of sword light descended from on high. It was massive, and was surrounded by thousands of dao lineaments that gave it the power to sunder heaven. It emanated boundless might, making it seem like heavenly tribulation as it shot... toward the first peak of the Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain!
A sword descended, causing the first mountain peak to shake violently.
At the same time, a black mist erupted to resist the sword light. Heaven and earth shook as they fought. Meanwhile, a voice that could shake the mind echoed out from the mist.
“Elders from the Swordsage Court??”
The response from within the sword light made things very clear.
“The Swordsage Court is here on order from the county itself to suppress the Three Spirits!”
The sudden turn of events was shocking even to the Three Spirits, and it threw the surrounding lands into an instant uproar.
But before anything else could happen, two hands stretched down from the sky and viciously ripped apart the dark cloud cover. Numerous swordsages appeared, wearing the formal attire of the Swordsage Court. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into beams of sword light that shot downward. At the same time, the giant that had ripped apart the cloud cover threw his head back and howled, then charged toward the second mountain peak. Clenching his hand into a fist, he unleashed a strike that shook the entire mountain, causing cracks to appear on its surface.
Three figures stood atop the giant’s head, all of them pulsing with astonishing auras. Their eyes all contained countless streams of light. In unison, they stepped forth toward the third mountain peak.
Before they even arrived, their sword energy slammed into the mountain! Intense cracking sounds rang out from the third mountain peak as defenses and warding spells collapsed. Half of the mountain directly collapsed, and the remaining part tilted precariously to the side. The intense pressure it had previously radiated was already dissipating.
Thanks to the damage, an immense cave temple became visible inside, within which was the mansion grotto of August Spirit Nethersprite. Up above in the sky, August Spirit Nethersprite’s face suddenly turned incomparably vicious.
The skeletal giant on the second mountain peak stood. “Swordsage Court,” he shouted furiously, “aren’t you aware of the consequences you’ll face for attacking us? We’ve played our assigned role and haven’t overstepped our bounds. And we haven’t responded to the call of the Ghost Emperor. Are you trying to force our hand? Do you want us to merge into the Ghost Emperor and wake him up?”
“Back in the age of the Ancient Emperors,” came the response, “you measly spirits wouldn’t count as anything more than backwater bandits. It’s only now that humankind is in decline that you dare to utter such threats.”
The words were spoken by a middle-aged man hovering high in the sky. He wore a government uniform and an official hat decorated with dao lineaments. He seemed calm and at ease, and carried an ancient sword strapped to his back. His garments flapped in the wind, and sword energy swirled around him. Shockingly, he was flanked by innumerable projections that resembled himself. Each was larger than the one before it, and it made it seem like he was connected to the dome of heaven.
This indicated he was in the second stage of Void Returning.
The clouds behind him were ripped to shreds, revealing the evening sun that hadn’t shone onto these miserable lands for years on end.
Although it was only an afterglow, it was still dazzling!
Just like humankind.