Chapter 383: Treasure Custodian
It was evening by the time Xu Qing left the summit. He had stayed the whole day, playing a few games of Go with his Master. Every time he lost, Master Seventh laughed heartily. Xu Qing would always spend time thoughtfully looking at the board. Occasionally he would instinctively reach out and grab one of the nearby pastries to eat. As he chewed, he would stare intently at the board.
The pastries were delicious. Xu Qing had never had anything like them. What was especially noteworthy was that, after eating them, they would stir his dharma force. There were clearly some extraordinary medicinal ingredients in them.
Master Seventh really seemed to enjoy Xu Qing’s thoughtful expression.
For the entire day, no one disturbed them. When the servant came for the ninth time with more pastries, Xu Qing ate one and then sighed.
“Master, I forfeit.” He stood, a look of admiration on his face as he clasped hands and bowed to Master Seventh. Master Seventh looked very pleased. Looking outside at how dark it was getting, Xu Qing bid farewell and left.
Master Seventh watched him go, then looked at the tray of pastries off to the side.
“He ate nine trays...” the servant said.
Master Seventh sighed. “Ai. The older I get, the more I enjoy spending time with the young ones. Sadly, if you directly invite them, they don’t want to come.... The pastries were a good idea. Going forward, let’s make sure to have lots of them on hand. I bet that’ll get them coming around all the time.”
Chuckling, Master Seventh looked in the direction of South Phoenix. He sighed. “Second Sib and... Huang Yan went back to South Phoenix. I could hardly bear to see her go. But I suppose it’s a good thing. Nothing bad will happen to her there. Besides, with her in South Phoenix, her Elder and Junior Brothers will have a safe haven if they run into trouble in that area.
“Given Big Sib’s personality, you never know when he’ll gnaw his way into a big catastrophe. And you always have to worry about the consequences of Third Sib’s love affairs.”
The servant had an odd expression on his face as he quietly said, “Third Highness has been missing for a while now. Quite a few people have asked about him. The Zhao Clan from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. The Spirityear Sect. The Manyeyes people. The Scaled Ones.”
Master Seventh flicked his sleeve in irritation. “He fooled around too much, and everyone was trying to force him into a marriage. Who knows where he ran off to. Fourth Sib is the one who puts my heart at ease. He’s the kind of person that, if he provokes someone, he always kills them. He never leaves behind potential calamities. That said, he’s sometimes too quick to resort to lethal force. Now that he’s going to Sea-Sealing County... I have to wonder whether things will get better or worse in that regard.”
Master Seventh suddenly looked a bit hesitant.
The servant nodded. “The county capital seems like a thriving place, but the reality is it’s a den of vipers. Everyone there has secret motives of some sort. Furthermore, I heard the governor is hesitant and indecisive....”
“No. He just likes to keep the status quo. He knows that he can’t possibly be like the glorious generals of old, when humans were in their heyday. Besides, maintaining the status quo requires a lot of compromising.” Master Seventh shook his head.
***
As Xu Qing headed down the mountain, he kept burping and licking his lips. “Master’s pastries are amazing!”
With the flavor still in his mouth, he went back to his berth in the port.
A few days passed. During that time, he went to see Zhang San to get some work done on his dharmaship. After all, he was going to do some extensive traveling going forward.
Ding Xue came to visit.
As for Yanyan, after returning to the coalition, Guru Eastnether forced her to go into seclusion as punishment, and said she couldn’t come out until she achieved a breakthrough.
Gu Muqing never showed up. She had been given a permanent assignment in South Phoenix.
Xu Qing waited until Zhang San was finished working on the dharmaship. It was on the sixth day after returning that he made preparations to head to Seazombie territory to serve as a treasure custodian for the rest of the three months.
Something of concern to Xu Qing was the fact that, in recent days, a number of coalition disciples had gone missing while on missions. Specifically, they were disciples who had been out on the Forbidden Sea near Forbidden by the Zombie. Based on the clues available, it seemed that, for unknown reasons, they had actually entered the forbidden ground. Because a forbidden ground was involved, coalition protocol was followed, and a group of disciples from various factions was sent to investigate.
The matter didn’t cause huge waves in the coalition. After all, it wasn’t unheard of for people to go missing in forbidden grounds. It happened on a yearly basis. And it wasn’t just something that happened with coalition disciples. Cultivators from all sects and species, especially those who operated on the Forbidden Sea, would experience the same thing.
Xu Qing heard about the matter, but it didn’t affect his plans to go to the Seazombie lands. At the very most, he would be extra cautious. Besides, he wasn't planning to make the trip via dharmaship. Instead, he would use the coalition’s teleportation portals.
At the moment, he stood atop just such a portal, glittering light swirling around him. He disappeared, and then reappeared a moment later in Seazombie territory.
Cultivators who teleported such a great distance without taking special precautionary measures would often feel their soul and fleshly body being tugged away from each other. But Xu Qing’s fleshly body was so powerful that all he experienced was a bit of a shiver. Then everything was back to normal.
When he appeared on the Seven Blood Eyes portal, there were over a thousand disciples waiting to meet him. They were all disciples who had been assigned to duty here. Clasping hands, they bowed in greeting.
“Well met, Dao Child.”
Xu Qing returned the salute, then bowed to Master Third. Then he went to the taboo treasure and sat down cross-legged atop the huge bronze mirror. The mirror was high in the sky, so seated atop it, he felt like he was atop a massive, wind-swept plate. Looking down, he saw the Forbidden Sea, like ink beneath him. It stretched as far as the eye could see.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and sent his divine will into the taboo treasure. Almost instantly, a shocking divine will responded, sweeping over him, completely lacking any emotion. After confirming his identity, the divine will created a defensive shield around him. Then a cold voice spoke into his mind.
“Spirit Automaton Blood Eyes, awaiting your command.”
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered.
With the mirror’s divine will covering him, it almost felt like his body didn’t exist. His senses were gone. By sending divine will out, it was almost like he had become a soul body.
“What are my options?” Xu Qing transmitted.
“First, you can choose soul fusion. You can combine with me, in which state you will be indestructible as long as I exist.
“Second, you can observe anything that exists within range.
“Third, you can create a treasure custodian projection in any location that you can see. It will last for one hour, and will have the same capabilities as your true form.
“Fourth, you can target any individual living being with the power of capital punishment. However, you’ll need approval from a total of three treasure custodians to do so.”
Now Xu Qing understood why his Master had prohibited him from looking at certain areas. After some thought, he chose to start with the soul fusion option. He sent out his divine will, and his soul seemed to scatter. Then it felt like he had a new body. Specifically... it was the bronze mirror. He had completely fused with it, making the two of them one. He suddenly felt like his field of view had expanded in an unprecedented way.
It was now possible to see much farther than he could with his own eyes. From where he was located, he could see north to Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, south to South Phoenix, east to the deep sea, and west to Forbidden by the Zombie. It was possible to see anything within those bounds.
It was unsettling at first, but Xu Qing quickly settled his thoughts. The first place he chose to focus his gaze was the scavenger basecamp. Specifically, he looked at the adjoining forbidden region, where Sergeant Thunder’s grave was located.
The huge mirror thrummed as it shifted to face South Phoenix.
A moment later, the familiar scavenger basecamp became clear in front of him. It was just as dirty and dilapidated as before. Xu Qing even saw his house, which had long since been taken over by someone else. Given how much time had passed, the slaughter Xu Qing had carried out there had long since become little more than an old story that many people didn’t even believe.
Xu Qing shifted his gaze to the forbidden region. There he found Sergeant Thunder’s grave, which was still in good condition. There weren’t many rules that scavengers followed. But one thing they all did was respect the graves of other scavengers. They wouldn’t touch them, much less deface or destroy them. After all, every scavenger hoped that they might one day have someone to bury them. [1]
Eventually, Xu Qing sighed and was about to retract his gaze. But then something occurred to him.
Master said not to look at forbidden grounds. But forbidden regions aren’t forbidden grounds. His divine will stirred, and then his gaze shifted again, passing the temple complex and heading into the depths of the forbidden region.
What he saw was a big shock.
In the deepest part of the forbidden region there was a huge chasm. And at the bottom of the chasm was the indistinct figure of a woman, bowing in front of a large zither. [2]
Xu Qing had never seen this woman before. However, he had seen the boots she wore. They were the same boots worn by Sergeant Thunder’s beloved partner when they heard the Singing. [3]
The zither was mottled with age and half decayed. The strings were playing of their own accord, and singing also echoed out from it. The music filled the chasm, covering the countless corpses there that also prostrated to the zither. Mutagen poured out of the corpses, but if you looked closely, it was obvious that its real source was the zither.
After looking at the scene briefly, Xu Qing retracted his gaze.
Shortly after, he looked in the direction of the Violet Lands.
His vision swam, and then he was looking at the graveyard, and one specific grave with fresh flowers gathered in front of it.
It was Grandmaster Bai’s grave. The flowers looked like they must have been placed there just the day before, as they weren’t wilting at all. All of a sudden, Xu Qing felt like he could see Grandmaster Bai himself, surrounded by flowers. Xu Qing looked at the grave for a long time. Eventually, two familiar people appeared. It was a young man and woman, and they were none other than Chen Feiyuan and Tingyu. They approached the grave, replaced the flowers with fresher flowers, and then left the graveyard.
Xu Qing watched them go. One thing of note was that inside of Chen Feiyuan was a ghost-faced gyroscope, spinning endlessly and drawing his energy and blood into a whirlpool that emanated terrifying pressure. Seeing that, Xu Qing thought back to what Chen Feiyuan had told him about the blood of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan, and the innate abilities it contained. He now had a magical treasure that was part of him. [4]
Xu Qing retracted his gaze and looked in another direction. This time, he looked toward the Forbidden Sea. Master Seventh had warned him not to focus his gaze there for too long, so he merely took a short look.
As he did, he spotted Huang Yan and Second Elder Sister, who had only just left the coalition. They both rested on the deck of the dharmaship, where Huang Yan looked excited as he gave her a leg massage.
Xu Qing smiled. He was just about to look away, when Huang Yan suddenly looked suspiciously up into the sky.
Xu Qing’s smile froze in place, and his eyes widened in shock. He can sense me?
1. As was emphasized in chapter 39, most scavengers die without being buried. Having someone to bury them is considered a big honor. ☜
2. There are a couple of traditional Chinese instruments often translated as zither. Guzheng and guqin are two of the most common that I know about. In this case, it’s a guzheng, which is the larger type. Usually it’s rested on a stand, with the musician sitting behind it. This image will give you a good idea of what it looks like and how large it usually is in relation to a person. ☜
3. Sergeant Thunder and Xu Qing encountered the Singing in chapter 16. ☜
4. Chen Feiyuan explained about his special situation in chapter 210. ☜