Chapter 342: The Key to Pursuing Godhood
Forbidden by the Sword was the only forbidden ground in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. It was west of the center of the prefecture, and overlapped one section of the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River. Before the river entered Forbidden by the Sword, the water was full of immortal energy. Upon entering the forbidden ground, it turned pitch black. The forbidden ground was filled with drifting fog that the sunlight couldn’t penetrate. From high above it was possible to see the dark stain that was the river, but nothing more detailed than that. The fog covered everything. Though the river split Forbidden by the Sword into two sections, the fog united them.
As the Captain looked out into the pitch-black jungle, he said, “According to what I read in the coalition, Forbidden by the Sword produced a huge catastrophe 3,000 years ago. Emperor Sword awoke, causing a huge stir in Sea-Sealing County. Eventually, countless species in the county joined forces to fight and seal the emperor.
“Emperor Flame. Emperor Zombie. Emperor Sword. Those are the three emperors of those forbidden grounds, and each one is mysterious and unpredictable.” By the time he finished speaking, Xu Qing had already leaped off of the dharmaship, and was a streak of prismatic light that shot into Forbidden by the Sword.
Yanyan looked worried. “Eldest Brother....”
The Captain looked at Xu Qing and smiled faintly. “It’s fine. With me standing guard, I guarantee that Xu Qing will be completely safe. That said, Yanyan, I’m running a bit low on funds nowadays. Any chance....”
Yanyan tossed him a bag of holding.
The Captain’s eyes lit up. Scanning the bag of holding, he suddenly looked very happy. Thumping his chest, he loudly said, “Don’t worry at all, Sister-in-Law. I’ll go through hell and high water if necessary to keep your husband safe!” [1]
After finishing speaking, the Captain glanced somewhat expectantly at Yanyan.
When Yanyan heard him use the term ‘sister-in-law’ she blushed slightly, then happily took out another bag of holding.
“Well, shoot!” the Captain said. “Yanyan, going forward, you’re the only ‘sister-in-law’ I formally recognize!” The Captain grabbed the bag of holding, then shot off of the dharmaship in pursuit of Xu Qing.
Yanyan blushed even harder.
Little did she know that the Captain was even more elated than her, and his eyes shone with the happiness of someone who had just unearthed new treasure.
I’m so dumb! I shouldn’t be envious of little Ah Qing. I should just make sure we always bring a girl with us! That way I’ll never run low on cash! Of course, that sugar momma Ding Xue has the deepest pockets of all!
Then the Captain started imagining traveling with Xu Qing and Arch-Immortal Plumdark. He could just think about her calling him Elder Brother, and that was really exciting.
When we get back, I need to send gifts to all of them in Xu Qing’s name. I have to make sure they all stay close to him. Ah Qing, oh Ah Qing. You must’ve been really blessed in your previous life to end up with an Elder Brother like me!
Truth be told, this wasn’t the first time the Captain had done something like this. After his and Xu Qing’s big escapade in Seazombie territory, when the two of them became envoy disciples, he was the one who made sure that both Ding Xue and Gu Muqing were assigned to work with Xu Qing. The reality was that the sect had originally assigned Gu Muqing alone. As for Ding Xue, the Captain had secretly reached out to her and sold her the second spot. [2]
Feeling very pleased with himself, he shot after Xu Qing into the depths of Forbidden by the Sword.
As Xu Qing sped along in the jungle, mutagen poured toward him. He absorbed it all and sent it right into his third palace. He didn’t slow down for an instant. At a certain point, his hand shot out and he grabbed a huge snake off of a tree. The serpent let out an agonized hiss as its body withered up. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a skeleton as all of its life force vanished.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. Without a word, he continued on until he spotted a red creature that resembled a qilin. The beast had an extraordinary aura and a strong baleful energy, and had a long face that looked somewhat human. It was facing off against a pack of eight-legged wolves, each of which looked almost like two wolves put together, except with only one head. However, their heads were huge, being about as large as their bodies. They exuded vicious auras, and yet once the qilin-like beast stomped its hooves, they backed away with their tails between their legs.
When Xu Qing appeared between the two parties, the qilin-like beast stopped in place and erupted with a baleful aura. Xu Qing simply reached out toward it. The beast shivered, and before it could either flee or defend itself, Xu Qing’s hand landed on its head. A pop rang out, and the beast withered into a skeleton over the course of only a few breaths of time.
The eight-legged wolves trembled in fear as they fled. However, Xu Qing just licked his lips and transformed into a series of afterimages as he pursued them. Moments later, he left the corpses behind as he disappeared deeper into the jungle.
Ten breaths of time later, the Captain appeared. Looking around at the corpses, he sighed in relief.
“Looks like he’s doing just fine.”
With that, he prepared to continue chasing after Xu Qing. Except then his eyes narrowed and his nose twitched, causing him to turn and look in a different direction in the forbidden ground. After a moment of observation, his eyes lit up.
I can’t believe there’s a treasure like that here! He licked his lips. Little Junior Brother should be fine. It makes more sense for me to go check out this treasure.
Having reached the conclusion that this was definitely the best idea, the Captain shifted directions and disappeared into the jungle.
Half a month flew by.
During that time, Xu Qing slaughtered with abandon. He killed any beasts he ran into and absorbed their life force to nourish his poison core. He did the same with any grues he encountered. He lost track of how many beasts he killed. Now that he had four-palace battle prowess, he could easily cut down just about everything in the periphery of the forbidden ground.
Eventually, he started working his way deeper into the forbidden ground. As he did, he found even more beasts, and the slaughter continued. He began to regain his senses. His eyes grew less glazed, and his skeletal form was filling in with flesh. His hair also grew out again.
With the additional benefit of the violet crystal, he gradually started to look the same as he had before. At most, he was a bit thinner.
Finally, he changed into a new set of clothing. The poison core in his third palace thrummed with both life force and mutagen, but was still not totally restored.
However, that wasn’t a hard problem to fix. Xu Qing’s hand shot out toward a swarm of huge jellyfish flying in the sky. It emanated intense coldness that caused the jungle floor to ice over, and prompted all beasts in the area to flee. There were dozens of jellyfish in the group. Within their semitransparent forms it was possible to see rotting corpses. Xu Qing had seen jellyfish like this in the forbidden region by the scavenger basecamp all those years ago.
From the look of it, these jellyfish were common in forbidden regions and forbidden grounds. Of course, he no longer felt the intense pressure they had exuded on him so long ago. The sight of them reminded Xu Qing of how easily such creatures had slaughtered low-level cultivators from the basecamp. In fact, he had personally buried one of them himself. Ol’ Stony. [3]
Eyes glittering brightly, Xu Qing shot forward into the midst of the jellyfish. Booms rang out, and then lifeless jellyfish husks started dropping into the jungle below. A short time later, Xu Qing descended onto the crown of a tree, his eyes shining brightly, and thunderous rumbling sounds echoing out from within him.
Within his third palace, the poison core was now fully connected to his life essence. It was restored, as if the flame of its life force had once again been ignited. And it emitted powerful fluctuations.
It even pulsed, almost like it was a beating heart. Xu Qing could feel it, making it truly seem like it was part of him. His heart filled with excitement. Taking out his beetles, he inhaled them, and they burrowed into the depths of his body, then took up positions around the poison core.
Finally, Xu Qing looked up. Off in the distance, he could see another swarm of jellyfish heading toward him. This was an even larger swarm, and they had been attracted by his slaughter of the previous group. From the look of it, this group had hundreds of jellyfish in it. Three of them were several hundred meters in size, and radiated fluctuations equivalent to a Gold Core cultivator with two or three heavenly palaces.
I haven’t even gone very deeply into this forbidden ground, and I’m already running into really powerful beasts. Well, that’s fine. It’s the perfect chance to see how impressive my poison core is.
Eyes flashing, he released the power of all three of his heavenly palaces, including that of the taboo poison core. A boundless poison aura erupted from him, odorless and invisible, but surging with mountain-toppling, sea-draining power. Down below, countless trees instantly started rotting. Plants crumbled into ash, and nearby beasts were so powerless they hardly had a chance to shriek in agony before they dissolved into pools of blood.
The jellyfish had no way to escape. They all started turning black, and emitted sounds of torment as they rotted and fell to the ground. Even the ground was affected. Countless bugs were infected and subterranean creatures were killed. The fog in the area vanished, and the dirt melted. Soon, outside moonlight spilled down into the area.
Everything for 1,500 meters around Xu Qing was bare and empty! Nothing existed there! There was only black soil. It was a truly appalling sight.
As Xu Qing hovered there, his shadow appeared. Turning into the shape of a tree, it bent in his direction in a bow. The tree was almost like a cape, and the surrounding devastated area created a perfect contrast for Xu Qing’s bewitching good looks. In fact, he looked even more bewitching.
The black iron skewer flew out, trembling, and the image of Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior appeared, bowing and scraping.
The patriarch couldn’t have been more shocked, and when he looked around, he found himself mumbling, “Is he a god...?”
His reason for that thought was the strong mutagen seeping out of the ground! It was a mutagen that didn’t come from the forbidden ground itself. Rather, it came into being because of Xu Qing’s poison! Most bizarre of all was that the mutagen seemed connected to Xu Qing. As if he had birthed it. As a result, it was different from the surrounding mutagen.
A tremor passed through Xu Qing. Even he was having a hard time believing what was happening. After all this... was the power of a god!
1. You might remember back in chapters 234 and 235 how Yanyan got everyone in Violent Crimes to address her as Sister-in-Law. That’s actually a different word in Chinese than the word used here by the Captain. They have the same meaning. However, the word used here is a bit more specific and intimate. It’s the form of address an older brother will use for his younger brother’s wife. What’s more, the word for ‘husband’ here is somewhat formal and archaic. ☜
2. Ding Xue and Gu Muqing worked with Xu Qing in chapter 199. ☜
3. Xu Qing first saw one of the flying jellyfish in chapter 14 and a second time in chapter 22. He met Ol’ Stony in chapter 30. Ol’ Stony was killed by jellyfish in chapter 33 and Xu Qing buried him in chapter 34. ☜