Chapter 423: The Mysterious Supreme Void World
“The thing is… it takes a lot of money to buy intelligence reports. But don’t worry, little Ah Qing, that money was spent wisely!” The Captain gave an embarrassed chuckle. “You listen to me. Once I make all the final arrangements, you and I are going to hit it big. You could go outside and risk your life on missions for ten years and not benefit as much as you will from this job! And that... is why I need your support, little Junior Brother.”
The Captain’s voice was filled both with complacency and longing for the future.
Xu Qing was actually a bit curious. Knowing the Captain as he did, he got the feeling that the job would probably be just as amazing as the Captain was making it out to be. But it would also be incredibly risky.
After mulling it over, he decided to support the Captain with spirit stones. After all, he had plenty to spare nowadays; what he lacked was military credit. He exchanged a few more messages, and tried to arrange to either go meet the Captain to transfer the funds, or have the Captain come over. But the Captain was busy with something and said he didn’t have time at the moment. The two of them agreed to meet up at the Supreme Void Demonization Sect the next day.
At the same time, Xu Qing let the Captain know about how swordsages could use military credit to learn the techniques of the three great sects. The Captain was immediately intrigued.
“You can do that? How come I haven’t heard about that? Oh, I get it. The three great sects are really crafty, aren’t they? From the perspective of the Swordsage Palace, the idea is that they don’t want all their members coming from the three great sects. If that happened, then over a long period of time, it would create a lot of potential calamities. So they don’t make a point of publicly announcing this study arrangement.
“The stance of the three sects is the opposite. They want more of their members to be swordsages, and that’s why they instituted the arrangement.
“That said, overall, the Swordsage Palace has the dominant position, and the three sects are inextricably tied to it. That’s probably the reason why the three sects have existed for so long.”
After hearing the Captain’s analysis, Xu Qing nodded in agreement. What the Captain said made sense.
Once the arrangements were made to meet up the next day, the Captain ended the conversation.
Xu Qing put down his transmission jade slip and went back to thinking about how to use the two hands of his upgraded Gruegloom Daoseizing Art.
About imbuing it with mutagen.... The reality is that I’m not limited to only mutagen or poison.
After some more thought, he tapped into his third heavenly palace, causing taboo poison power to spread into both of his hands. Almost instantly, his hands pulsed with poison. Then he changed tactics and filled his hands with mutagen. Next, he tapped into his fourth heavenly palace, whereupon his two hands became violet as the power of the violet moon filled them.
Using my hands in this way will make it very difficult for an enemy to defend against me in a fight. It could allow me to strike a fatal blow.
Xu Qing had always tried to keep his assets hidden and catch his enemies off guard. It was a practice that had started when he was young, and at the same time, conformed to the customs of the Seven Blood Eyes’ Seventh Peak.
As the night passed, Xu Qing spent more time becoming familiar with the upgrades to his Gruegloom Daoseizing Art. The next day, he requested three additional days off from the Corrections Division to go visit the Supreme Void Demonization Sect.
As one of the three great sects of Sea-Sealing County, the Supreme Void Demonization Sect had long occupied a large section of the southwestern part of the capital. They had teleportation portals active year-round to connect them to their main sect headquarters.
As for their subsidiary sect, it had one mission: to serve the swordsages. Upon arriving, Xu Qing saw a lot of swordsages coming and going. The Captain was already there waiting, squatting nearby and eating an apple. When he saw Xu Qing, he waved.
“Over here, little Ah Qing!”
Xu Qing walked over.
The Captain tossed him an apple.
Xu Qing caught it and took a bite. Then he handed some spirit notes to the Captain.
The Captain got visibly excited when he saw the spirit notes. Taking one more big bite of his apple, he glanced around and then said, “Don’t you worry, little Junior Brother. Based on my plan, it won’t be long before we accomplish something really big.”
“How dangerous will it be?” Xu Qing asked.
“Dangerous? It won’t be dangerous!”
Xu Qing nodded. Clearly, the plan was going to be incomparably dangerous.
“Forget about that,” the Captain said. “I need to go find Wu Jianwu. Can you believe he spent a bunch of spirit stones to tap into my personal connections, all to get a chance at qualifying to be a swordsage? Today he’ll go through the Grand Emperor’s assessment of the heart. Last night we had a cram session based on all the information I previously bought. At least that way, my investment won’t be totally wasted.” The Captain stood. “I want to go see how he performs. Will he also get a one-meter light?”
Eyes shining with anticipation, the Captain hurried away.
Xu Qing watched him go, musing that the Captain must really have a big grudge with Wu Jianwu, otherwise he wouldn’t be scamming him over and over again.
After the Captain was gone, Xu Qing entered the subsidiary sect of the Supreme Void Demonization Sect.
The sect was constructed from concentric rings of buildings that formed the sect’s unique Supreme Void Formation. Every building was adorned with carvings of strange and bizarre animals. Some were vicious and cruel, others were calm and auspicious. Most were mutant beasts from forbidden regions, and some were even nonhuman species. Based on the understanding of the Supreme Void Demonization Sect, all of them could be subjects of demonization.
One of the halls here was where one could study the Demonization Art. It didn’t look like an ordinary hall. Instead, it was made up of countless stone alcoves that allowed people to work on cultivation without disturbing the others present. There were well over a hundred such alcoves.
After paying the required military credit, Xu Qing was led inside by a very polite sect disciple, whereupon he was allowed to enter one of the alcoves.
Inside, Xu Qing saw that there was a spell formation carved on the floor, at the head of which was a stone stele. The stele wasn’t some ancient artifact pulsing with a sensation of ancient time. It was new. That said, it was covered with deeply meaningful magical symbols. Obviously, the marks on the stone stele weren’t original, but had been transferred there. It seemed most likely that this stele was a copy of an original maintained by the sect. The fact that it was a copy wouldn’t influence the enlightenment gained from it, so Xu Qing sat down cross-legged, took a deep breath, and looked at the stele with determination flickering in his eyes.
It took a lot of military credits to get in here. I have three days to seek enlightenment. Hopefully I can make it work on the first shot! And I hope this Demonization Art really can help my Ghost Emperor mountain to fully materialize!
Without the slightest hesitation, he closed his eyes and cast his senses into the stone stele. The moment he made contact, he could hear what sounded like a roar from ancient times. The roar grew more intense, until it was like a wind sweeping over him. Then a tremor passed through him as he sensed something like the power of teleportation.
This was different from any previous instance in which he sought enlightenment. Eyes opening, he found that he was now in an astonishing void.
He was no longer in an alcove in the Supreme Void Demonization Sect. Instead, he had been teleported into the inside of a semitransparent fish. The fish was about thirty meters long. In some locations on its body it had black magical symbols that resembled crying faces. The sound of weeping echoed out into the void as the fish swam along. In front of the fish was a greenish lantern that emanated netherworldly fire into the void. It was like flickering ghostfire leading the way forward.
Xu Qing was shaken. This turn of events went beyond what he had anticipated. Expression flickering, he kept his guard up as he remained within the fish. A moment later, an ancient-sounding voice echoed into his ears.
“Greetings, trial-taker.
“You are currently on your way to the location where you will seek enlightenment of the Demonization Art.
“That place is... the Supreme Void World, a fragment of a profound and mysterious world discovered by our sect’s founder. While in the Supreme Void World, you will form a pact that will allow you to use the demonization ability.
“The Demonization Art actually does not require any enlightenment. It requires the pact. That pact is what requires enlightenment. Once you succeed, then the image of a demon will be transported into your sea of consciousness. The basic principle of demonization is to borrow the power of the Supreme Void World to materialize the demon in your sea of consciousness. That is why... the pact is so important.
“There is no guarantee that you will formalize the pact. The chances of failure are high. Furthermore, the Supreme Void World is crafty. Whether or not you succeed with the pact will depend on your personal good fortune. Remember, this is a secret of our sect, and cannot be revealed to outsiders. Any who violate that rule will be punished!
“Regardless of whether you succeed, you can always call upon this fish to return from the Supreme Void World. And with that, I wish you good luck.”
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. He could tell that the voice wasn’t speaking to him specifically. Rather, it was a standardized message that everyone received. As he pondered the situation, his eyes narrowed. Off in the distant void, he saw what appeared to be a massive stone statue of a cyclops. In the statue's chest was a cavity that went through its entire torso. The statue’s facial features weren’t clear, but its mouth was open wide and it looked like the entrance to another world.
The fish Xu Qing was inside was moving rapidly toward that statue. Once in front of it, the semitransparent fish twitched as it spat out a bubble. Inside of that bubble was Xu Qing. When the bubble entered the statue’s mouth, Xu Qing saw another world that surpassed anything he could have imagined.
It was filled with mist, and within that mist were whispering voices that gave the place a sinister, gruish air. Floating up right in front of Xu Qing was a very large white object. As Xu Qing took the white object in, he saw that it was covered with many folds that looked almost like waves. Eventually, it was revealed in its entirety.
Astonishingly, it was a gigantic brain! Not only was it covered with numerous folds, but also, it had a central sulcus separating the front part of the brain from the back. And it had a dark brainstem which split into two sections, at each of which was a smaller brown-colored brain. It was completely horrid in appearance. As it floated in the mist, Xu Qing saw that, beneath the brain, there was a network of nerves and blood vessels. They almost looked like a chaotic mass of tree branches.
There wasn’t just one such ‘brain tree’ floating in this world of mist.
Xu Qing’s pupils constricted as he looked around and saw many, many more of them out there. There had to be hundreds of them just in his vicinity, with more further in the distance. There were simply too many to count them accurately.
All the brain trees around him were shivering, and he could hear them whispering to each other.
“Another one’s here.”
“Sssh! Keep it down! You’ll scare him away.”
“There’s another one off in the distance. I wonder if they know each other.”
“Hard to say. But this one looks quite delicious. I heard the Voidlings are going to war. We have to be careful.”
“Come over here. Pick me! Let’s enter a pact!”
“You want to learn demonization? I can help make it happen. All you have to do... is give me some of your memories.”
“You can sacrifice any of your memories to me. As long as they’re good enough, I’ll enter a pact with you.”
Numerous voices echoed into his ears. It was very gruish.
His expression was grim; this was his first time participating in any enlightenment like this. As he looked around coldly, one of the brain trees floated over to him.
“They’re lying. They just want to eat you. So why not enter a pact with me? Just reach out and touch me. I only want a small, minor memory. Give it to me. I’m hungry! Hurry up. Hurry up and give it to me....”
As it spoke with clear greed and longing, it wriggled in a very disgusting manner.
“Don’t trust it! It’s fooled a lot of people. Last time it ate one of your companions alive. People who lose their memories forget to enter pacts.”
“That’s right. It’s very cunning. Pick me! I only want to eat a little bit. Give it to me! To me!”
“Pick me... I’m so hungry. I want to eat! If you don’t give it to me, I won’t let you leave!”
The voices built up as dozens of brains floated toward Xu Qing, surrounding him, all of them expressing longing mixed with open malice and greed.
Xu Qing thought back to what the voice had told him before he entered this place. This place was the fragment of a world, and you needed to enter a pact to use the Demonization Art. Apparently, formalizing that pact involved giving one of these brain trees some memories to eat. If the brain was satisfied, the pact would be entered.
Of course, what exactly ‘satisfied’ meant was up to the crafty brain.
“Memories, huh...?” Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he identified the largest and most malicious of the brains.
“I pick you,” he said, extending his hand.
The wriggling brain approached and touched his hand.
“So, which memory are you going to give me...?” As the words echoed out, a malicious and greedy will reached out to Xu Qing’s mind. However, it couldn’t just take whatever it wanted; it needed Xu Qing to give the memory freely.
Eyes cold, Xu Qing quietly said, “I’ll give you a memory from when I woke up in D-132. I can’t remember that, so let’s see if you’re able to. Enjoy!”
A moment later, Xu Qing could feel through his hand that the brain was trembling.