Chapter 357: Chosen Fighting it Out
Xu Qing recognized that girl in red.
As for her, she had already spotted him on the pillar, but the eyes beneath her mask didn’t betray any sort of reaction. She knew who he was, and didn’t care at all about his unusually good looks. From a young age, she had experienced the ugliest side of humanity, and knew that physical appearances were a shell, nothing more. Even someone with incredible good looks who provoked her would end up as a rotting corpse. It was the same end result for people who were ugly. There was no difference.
In fact, a moment later her evil ghost scythe sent her a message via divine will, and it caused her eyes to turn icy cold. “Ghost Hand and Mad Dog are here. Ghost Hand is on the pillar, and Mad Dog is in the crowd below.”
Chuckling silently, she stared at Xu Qing on the pillar for a moment before looking away. Killing was prohibited in this place, so she was already devising a plan to secretly put them to death.
Xu Qing’s eyes were just as cold as hers as he released his grip on the pillar and began his descent. The moment he lost contact with the pillar, numerous beams of light shot out. There were so many that the people in the crowd below instantly started shouting out exclamations of astonishment.
“Look at all those light beams!”
“Oh my god!!”
“That’s totally absurd!!”
“No wonder that guy is known as the Junior Brother of Chen Erniu. Awesome! Maybe we should all start calling him Xu San’niu!” [1]
Back when Xu Qing climbed to 3,000 meters and became the first place participant in the event, the crowd below had discussed the matter, but not cried out in shock. But now they couldn’t contain their astonishment.
After all, to see so many beams of light coming off the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar really was absurd. Other people who climbed the pillar would be lucky to get three beams of light. And if they were unlucky, they might not get any. After all, there was a fixed probability of getting rewards. The higher you climbed, the more rancorous souls you had to deal with, and your chances of getting a reward increased. But it was still ridiculous that Xu Qing got a total of sixteen beams of light. Each of those beams was dazzling and glittering, and attracted the attention of all onlookers. Everyone was shaken.
Xu Qing, on the other hand, wasn’t surprised. As he had already come to find out, as long as he actually destroyed a rancorous soul in his sea of consciousness, the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar would connect to him via divine will to assign a reward. And he had crushed a total of sixteen rancorous souls.
Therefore, he had been prepared for this, and had already planned for how to react. After all, it would be difficult to explain what happened by claiming he’d just gotten lucky. The people in the city weren’t fools, and would obviously start speculating about how he’d accomplished it. And Xu Qing felt it was better to guide those speculations instead of letting them run rampant.
Therefore, he sent out over seventy battle spirit symbols, which swirled around him, pulsing with a shocking battle spirit. The sight of those battle spirit symbols caused an immediate uproar. Within the crowd was a pock-faced middle-aged man who, upon seeing Xu Qing’s battle spirit symbols, suddenly felt a bit disappointed at the forty that he had collected.
As the crowd cried out in surprise, and the battle spirit symbols swirled, the sixteen beams of light from the pillar swept toward Xu Qing, surrounding him with a host of colorful energy streams that settled onto his palm. He could sense three streams of septenary goldmetal energy, with the rest being things like secondary springstart energy and tenstem relighting energy.
Sadly, there were no technique legacies. That was understandable, as techniques were the rarest reward from the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar. Among all the successive generations of cultivators who had climbed the ancient weapon, only about three hundred had ever received technique legacies. Besides, such destined opportunities only came on when you climbed higher than 3,000 meters.
That said, Xu Qing was pleased with the sixteen streams of energy he’d acquired, especially the septenary goldmetal energy. As for the others, he could sell or trade them to other people.
As the crowd looked on in amazement and envy, Xu Qing landed on the ground and left the area. His use of the battle spirit symbols might have fooled the cultivators in the crowd, but he knew there was no way he had fooled the Swordsage Court. That said, if they dug into the matter and learned the truth, he wasn’t worried. He had acquired his Ghost Emperor mountain in an aboveboard manner. What was more, during his climb, he had sensed that other magical symbols and totems on the pillar were already worn down before he got there, indicating that other people had done similar things in the past.
Because of that, he wasn’t very worried. Under the reverential gazes of the surrounding disciples of various sects, he returned to the garrison.
Once he was back, he summoned the Mute and had him go out into the city to look for people interested in trading septenary goldmetal energy for the extra streams of energy he’d acquired. The Mute couldn’t speak, but he had other ways to communicate, and immediately set about looking for trading partners.
Xu Qing sat down cross-legged and started refining the Ghost Emperor mountain, easing it out of the ‘stuffed’ state it was in. At the same time, he continued ensorcelling his iron skewer.
In that manner, ten days flew by.
During that time, rumors about Xu Qing flew through the city. Many cultivators had come to the conclusion that the seventy battle spirit symbols were the reason why he had been rewarded so handsomely. There were other speculations as well. However, none of the other theories had much weight to them. Therefore, most people agreed that the battle spirit symbols were the key to getting rewards. Everyone was talking about it.
Coincidentally, someone found a passage in one of the ancient records which mentioned a similar event seven hundred years in the past. In that instance, a Gold Core cultivator climbed to a height of more than 4,500 meters and got a reward of over twenty beams of light. At that time, that person had displayed over sixty battle spirit symbols. That person later went on to pass the recruitment test and become a swordsage. Later, he climbed the pillar a few more times, and got even higher, but didn’t get any more spectacular rewards. The ancient record didn’t contain details about that person’s identity. Regardless, this passage convinced a lot of people that enlightenment of the battle spirit symbol was integral to the pillar rewards.
On the tenth day after Xu Qing had finished his climb, the girl in red appeared and started her own climb. That event attracted a lot of attention, as she had a very high status.
She was Qing Qiu, a holy daughter of the Church of Departure. She was a fast climber, and on her first run she quickly went past the 3,000-meter spot, surpassing Xu Qing. That itself caused a big commotion, yet she wasn’t done. She eventually climbed to 4,500 meters, securing the first place spot in the rankings. After that, she released her grip and dropped down, earning two rewards.
The fact that Qing Qiu and Xu Qing had taken the first and second place spots lit a fire under disciples from many other sects who had refrained from climbing the pillar up to this point. In the following days, disciples who had been keeping their battle prowess hidden emerged like bamboo after a spring rain. Quite a few climbed to 1,800 meters, with some surpassing 2,400 meters. There were even seven or eight who climbed past 3,000 meters.
Of that group, three were from small sects, but the others were from major sects like the Church of Departure, the Eight Sect Coalition, and the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society.
The contender from the Church of Departure was a young man. The contender from the Eight Sect Coalition was actually a bit of a surprise to Xu Qing. It was Sima Ru from the House of Grue Hunters, who had been in seclusion in the garrison up to this point. Upon finally showing her face, she climbed to 3,000 meters on her first try. [2]
One of the contenders from one of the small sects was a young man of about sixteen or seventeen years of age. He climbed to a height of 4,200 meters, almost surpassing Qing Qiu, but not quite.
That said, Qing Qiu was no longer in first place. That spot was occupied by a middle-aged cultivator from another small sect. He was nothing special to look at, and had previously spent most of his time talking to people in the crowd. He had been especially fond of emphasizing how Xu Qing was very close with his Elder Brother Chen Erniu. Because of that, most people laughed at him when he started climbing. However, that laughter quickly faded away. When he passed the 3,000-meter mark, those who had been laughing felt shaken. And when he reached 4,500 meters, they were dumbstruck. He only stopped when he reached 5,700 meters.
The onlookers were astonished. What was more, people began speculating about his age and cultivation base. After all, he looked like a middle-aged man. However, according to the rules for the Swordsage Court recruitment event, you couldn’t be older than twenty-five to participate.
When Qing Qiu found out she’d been surpassed, she made her second climb, and this time she climbed past 5,400 meters. All the other contenders made new climbing attempts as well. In no time at all, the hosts of chosen had the entire city abuzz.
Around that time, Xu Qing fully refined the Ghost Emperor mountain in his sea of consciousness. The cracks in its surface were gone, and it was more true and real than ever. As for its facial features, they were about seventy percent similar to Xu Qing’s. It emanated a dao resonance which filled Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness, nourishing his soul, strengthening it and causing its eyes to shine more brightly.
The ensorcelling of the iron skewer was going well. Although the Mute didn’t manage to trade away all of Xu Qing’s excess streams of energy, he did manage to get seven streams of septenary goldmetal energy. All of the damage to the skewer was gone, and it was well on its way to becoming a magical device.
Seeing that, Xu Qing’s eyes shone. Then... he prepared to climb the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar again.
I need to get enough septenary goldmetal energy this time!
With such thoughts in mind, he headed toward the pillar. People noticed him immediately. After all, everyone had been waiting for Xu Qing’s next climb. They wanted to see if he would take back the first place slot. It wasn’t just ordinary disciples who were watching. The other chosen who had taken spots in the standings were also paying very close attention.
When Xu Qing arrived and leaped onto the pillar, many other chosen took action. Qing Qiu was the first. She rushed toward the pillar with the mindset of fighting Xu Qing, just in a different way than before. Other chosen felt the same. In fact, everyone who had previously passed the 3,000-meter mark started climbing again. One of them was the middle-aged cultivator, who blinked a few times before starting his climb. The scene grabbed the attention of virtually all the cultivators in the city, and even the patriarchs of the sects. What was more, the Swordsage Court was now paying attention.
The chosen were fighting it out!
1. Er means “two.” San means “three.” So San’niu is basically the same as Erniu, except with a lower-ranking number. Lol. ☜
2. Sima Ru’s clone showed up at Seven Blood Eyes in chapter 239. Xu Qing beat her in a fight in chapter 272. She has been mentioned in passing in a handful of chapters, notably in 305. ☜