Chapter 408: A Very Mysterious Clue
Xu Qing had also chosen to return to his sword pavilion, and along the way he had kept his guard up, so it was only natural that he noticed Qing Qiu. Knowing that they were simply both going in the same direction, his eyes flashed with cold light as he continued on his way.
Qing Qiu also understood that they were simply heading toward the same destination. However, in her mind, the evil ghost was screaming and howling like it usually did.
Gritting her teeth, she interrupted, “You’re such a chatterbox! How about I end things with YOU in mutual destruction?”
The evil ghost suddenly went silent.
And thus Qing Qiu and Xu Qing arrived at the sword pavilions one after the other. When they both landed only 3,000 meters apart, they exchanged a glance. Both frowned. As it turned out, they were sword pavilion neighbors.
It wasn’t exactly a random coincidence. There had been fifty-one new swordsages who all established sword pavilions at roughly the same time, and were all in roughly the same area. That said, Xu Qing didn’t like crowds and lots of activity, so he had waited a few days in the hopes that the other swordsages would all build their sword pavilions first. As it turned out, Qing Qiu was also somewhat antisocial, which had increased the chances of them ending up next to each other.
All told, it wasn’t a huge deal to Xu Qing. After entering his sword pavilion, he checked the area for safety, then sat down cross-legged and started familiarizing himself with what he had learned of The Emperor’s Sword.
Now that he had gained full enlightenment, the sword within him had changed. With the proper foundation, instead of being dazzlingly bright, it seemed dignified and weighty. It also emanated faint streams of sword energy. That sword energy didn’t spread out around Xu Qing. Instead, it circulated around The Emperor’s Sword, slowly forming concentric rings around it
Currently, it had 11 rings. Though the 12th ring existed, it was only about half complete. Obviously it would complete itself as long as enough time went by.
That’s obviously the sign of The Emperor’s Sword’s powering up.
After determining the time since he had succeeded at enlightenment, then doing some simple calculations, he came to the conclusion that the sword would generate over a hundred rings of sword energy per day. The more sword energy, the more devastating the attack when unleashed.
In one year, it can form 30-40,000 rings. In ten years, 300-400,000. And after a hundred years.... He started to calculate, but then realized it was so far off in the future he might as well forget about it. Even if I only power it up for a short time, The Emperor’s Sword will still be impressive.
As he sensed the might of The Emperor’s Sword in his sea of consciousness, he thought about the golden dragon Kong Xianglong had revealed, which was also an imperial-class technique.
That golden dragon had been keeping The Emperor’s Sword in its mouth.
After some thought, he stimulated the totem tattoo on his back, causing intense heat and bright light to fill his sword pavilion. The golden crow appeared behind him, and then circled in the air around him. Burning phoenix-like feathers drifted down, making an incredibly beautiful scene. But Xu Qing’s focus was on drawing The Emperor’s Sword out of his sea of consciousness and up through the top of his head.
Once it was completely out in the open, the golden crow let loose an exultant cry, then flew over and clamped its beak down onto the sword. A tremor passed through it, and it transformed. For one thing, it now pulsed with sword energy. That was even more the case with its tail. And it was generally much stronger than before.
So, as it turns out, you can actually combine imperial-class techniques in this way....
At least, that was Xu Qing’s guess. It also seemed highly likely that it had something to do with the special qualities of The Emperor’s Sword. After further examination, Xu Qing couldn’t be totally sure. But he did know that the golden crow was more impressive now. What was more, this change didn’t affect the power-up function of The Emperor’s Sword. Settling his thoughts regarding that matter, he took out a pallid bolus and started studying it.
Time passed. Eventually, the rain started, and as the pitter-patter filled the outside world, Xu Qing immersed himself in pill research. After dissecting several of them, he started to get an idea of the concocting method.
It’s a very ingenious method. But that’s not the key to the pill. The reason it’s so effective in purging mutagen is that it has some very unique medicinal plant ingredients.
He couldn’t tell what those ingredients were. But then he thought back to what the lieutenant governor had mentioned in his lecture about how living things would adapt to their environment. Considering that, it seemed highly likely the lieutenant governor had used that method to get the ingredients he wanted.
Finally, Xu Qing took one and swallowed it, then paid close attention to the effects. It was indeed impressive. However, by closely examining what happened, Xu Qing came to the conclusion that the pill actually had some flaws. It wasn’t perfect. That said, he had no way to make any changes. In some respects, this pill seemed to be something completely new in the dao of medicine.
He sighed. Looking outside, he saw that it was hazy and still a bit rainy. Given the dusky environment, it was hard to say if it was dawn or evening.
Xu Qing spent a bit of time meditating, then left the sword pavilion and headed through the rain toward the Corrections Division. Along the way, he thought about the two accidents that had nearly befell him, and his eyes glittered with incisive light.
Today I’m going to figure out what’s going on in D-132! If the prisoners refuse to cooperate... I’ll kill them all!
As he walked through the puddles, the rainwater splashed like blossoming flowers. Eventually, he reached the Corrections Division and passed right through the defensive barrier. Because of those defenses, the rainwater didn’t fall into the prison. That said, the sense of humidity that the rain brought was still present.
Expression calm, Xu Qing walked through that humidity down the stairs that ringed the walls of the prison. Along the way, he spotted a few jailers he recognized, and exchanged greetings with them. He didn’t immediately go to D-132. Instead, he went to Level 35, to the cell block where he had passed his initiation hazing. There, Ol’ Li was still cleaning up all the corpses.
Clasping hands to Ol’ Li, Xu Qing said, “Senior, there’s something I wanted to ask you about.”
Ol’ Li was more than happy to make friends with a newcomer like this, so after tossing the corpse he was holding into the pit outside, he smiled. “How can I help you?”
Xu Qing mulled it over for a moment, then asked, “Is there anyone that still works in the Corrections Division who survived guard work in D-132?”
Ol’ Li thought for a moment, then nodded. “There are! Chen Boli was the last person stationed there, about a hundred years ago. He held the station for three years before transferring to Level 77. Although, after his stint at D-132, Chen Boli’s personality changed. He became eccentric, and will rarely interact with anyone else. If you want him to talk, you’ll have to ply him with gifts. Do you happen to have anything really tough that can be used to sharpen bladed weapons?”
Xu Qing rummaged through his bag of holding and found a table-and-chair set from August Spirit Nethersprite’s mansion grotto that seemed like it was quite hard. “Yeah.”
Ol’ Li smiled. “In that case, this’ll be easy. Follow me.”
He led Xu Qing to Level 77, where they found a pock-faced old man.
He squatted in the corner with his back to the wall, as he felt that was the safest position. Given how the shadows fell around him, he seemed very ferocious. He was in the middle of sharpening a dagger. As he slid the blade back and forth across the sharpening stone, it caused an unsettling, ear-piercing noise to fill the area.
Seeing Xu Qing and Ol’ Li, the old man looked up with grim eyes that seemed to warn other living people to stay away.
“Brother Chen! I’d like you to meet Xu Qing. He’s new here, and he got assigned to D-132. He wanted to ask you some questions about that.” After making the initial introduction, Ol’ Li was apparently not inclined to stick around, and he left.
Chen Boli didn’t say anything, and looked as grim as before. After watching Ol’ Li leave, he shifted his gaze to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed, then took out Nethersprite’s chair-and-desk set and put it off to the side.
“Senior, these items are very hard.”
He could sense that this man had a very profound cultivation base.
Chen Boli glanced at the furniture, then reached out and rubbed his hand along the material. After that, he made some experimental swipes to sharpen his dagger. When he saw the results, he looked pleased.
“What do you want to know? How to avoid dying on the outside?”
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. Already he could tell that he was on the right track. Clasping hands, he bowed again. “I hope you can clear up my confusion, Senior.”
“Have you already experienced some misfortune?” Chen Boli asked, looking Xu Qing up and down.
Xu Qing nodded.
Chen Boli’s expression flickered and he put his dagger onto the ground next to him. “It seems to me the unknowable has already gathered to a sufficiently high level to manifest. That was very fast. Avoiding death on the outside is simple. Just don’t leave the Corrections Division. Either that or have a very strong life force. I’m not the latter, so when I had that post I never left. That’s what the person assigned to the post before me said to do.” Chen Boli was looking at Xu Qing like he was already dead. “You need to be careful. When that unknowable misfortune locks onto someone, they usually don’t survive a month.”
Xu Qing considered everything for a moment, then asked, “Senior, this ‘unknowable’ you mentioned, does it come from the inmates in D-132? Do they have some special characteristics? Although, I suppose if they did, they wouldn’t be locked up in Unit D, but rather, somewhere deeper.”
Chen Boli both nodded and then shook his head. “The inmates in D-132 are indeed special. After being locked up and managing to survive, they became inherently unknowable. At least, that’s what I think. My sense is that all of them contribute a bit to the unknowable.
“Or maybe D-132 itself is unknowable. Or it’s even possible that one of the inmates has turned the tables and taken charge in there. That said, the palace lord doesn’t pay much attention to D-132, so I’d say my first guess is probably the correct one.
“Did that head in 237 beg for you to put it in with the cloud troll? Ignore it. Someone tried that once, and it didn’t do anything.”
With that, Chen Boli went on to give Xu Qing some details about the various inmates in D-132. “The thirteenth inmate, that head, really does have some skills. But not many. Again, don’t take any of its advice, or it could affect you negatively.
“And then there’s the Paintedfolk. All twenty-two figures in that painting are part of it. That’s the inmate who’s been locked up the longest, but at the same time, causes the least problems. During the entire time I was assigned there, I never once saw it out in the open.”
Hearing all that, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Senior, doesn’t that Paintedfolk painting have a family with twenty-three members?”
Chen Boli’s eyes also narrowed. “Twenty-three? No, definitely not. It’s twenty-two.”
After some thought, Xu Qing nodded. Then he asked a few more followup questions, and finally placed some spirit stones off to the side before bidding farewell.
Just before Xu Qing left, Chen Boli suddenly said, “Xu Qing, everyone who gets assigned to D-132 is someone the palace lord believes to be important. It’s a test. According to the rumors, there aren’t just secrets buried there. There’s also incredible good fortune. Unfortunately, I never found it.
“If you really want to avoid dying, go to Level 9 and request to be transferred. Every new jailer has that right. After you transfer, you’ll be fine. The only consequence is that your name will be removed from the list of people who’ve been assigned to D-132.
“Finally, let me tell you something that one of the other jailers told me about the secrets of D-132. When you think you know everything, you’ll find there’s only more to discover.”