Chapter 424: The Ghost Emperor Arrives!
It was a gruish world, but something even more gruish was playing out.
Within that boundless mist, the malicious and greedy tree-like brain that wanted to devour Xu Qing’s memories was currently feeding on the memory he had given it of D-132....
The giant brain spasmed. It was seeing something it shouldn’t be able to see. The suppressing power of the Corrections Division wasn’t present, so maybe that was why it couldn’t forget what it was seeing. It was a unique entity that specialized in devouring memories. As a result, the brain tree suddenly felt immeasurable pain that caused it to suddenly let loose an agonized shriek.
Because the other brain trees in the area rarely saw anything like this, or perhaps because it had been so long since they had, curious fluctuations immediately began to fill the area.
“What’s happening? Is something wrong?”
“It’s that delicious?”
“I want to have a try!”
From those words, Xu Qing suddenly realized that the brains in this Supreme Void World were actually quite naïve.
As the brains expressed their curiosity, the screams of the brain in front of him turned shriller. The large central brain as well as the two smaller auxiliary brains were all wriggling and twitching. And then they started struggling as if to pull away from Xu Qing.
Instead, Xu Qing gripped down hard with his hand, his fingers sinking into the brain so that it couldn’t escape. Then he calmly asked, “Taste good?”
“I....” The brain’s screams grew in intensity, filling the area until there was a massive boom. Countless chunks of mucus-covered brain chunks exploded in all directions. It had been destroyed in body and soul.
Everything went completely silent. Even if the other surrounding brains were more naive than they were, they could see what had just happened. One by one, they started backing away.
“How could it have exploded?”
“What memory did it eat?”
“What did he feed it?”
Xu Qing’s face remained expressionless as he flicked his hand free of some mucus.
This was the plan he had come up with, partly as a test regarding D-132. The truth was that Xu Qing wasn’t as ignorant regarding D-132 as he had been in the past. Although he didn’t know all the details, he had noticed his supply of bamboo slips dwindling. He had also been paying attention to the specific things the head told him. As a result, he had long since come to a general realization of what was going on.
There was something terrifying in D-132, and he had woken up to its existence many times already. He just couldn’t remember any of the details.
It must have something to do with a god. Or perhaps it’s just some entity that casts a death curse on anyone who sees it and remembers. Maybe the Corrections Division itself is ensuring that whoever sees that entity forgets about it as a way to sever karma? Is that why I can’t remember anything about it?
He couldn’t help but remember what Chen Boli had told him. “When you think you know everything, you’ll find there’s only more to discover.”
It was very thought-provoking.
Does it mean that I’ve actually uncovered the truth already? But after I do, I forget it? Or maybe there’s some even deeper secret that I don’t know about? How much, if any, of my speculations are correct?
With such thoughts on his mind, he looked at the other brain trees in the area.
He found this gruish Supreme Void World to be very interesting. Not only could he possibly get the Demonization Art here, but also, he might be able to dig into the truth about D-132.
He decided to do some more experimentation. Striding forward to another of the brain trees, which was currently shivering and inching away from him, he reached out his right hand.
“It’s delicious. Come have a taste.”
The brain trembled. However, its longing for memories ensured that it cautiously approached Xu Qing and touched his hand. The other brains in the area watched to see what would happen.
A moment later, the brain Xu Qing had touched started to shiver. Then it screamed and writhed dramatically. Just before it exploded, Xu Qing said, “What do you see?”
“I see—”
Before it could finish speaking, it exploded.
Xu Qing’s expression was unsightly as he looked around at the other brains. Without exception, they were madly backing away in terror. However, Xu Qing wasn’t ready to give up quite yet. Chasing one down as it screamed, he reached out and touched it.
“Come on. It’s delicious.”
Things continued in that manner for three days. Soon his time limit was up, and the big fish came to the statue and sucked him out. Once he was inside, the fish turned and zipped off in the other direction. Xu Qing looked over his shoulder at the statue and sighed inwardly.
Sadly I didn’t get a full answer. Only bits and pieces. If only I had a bit more time in there....
He got the feeling that this place was going to be the key to figuring out D-132.
It just takes so many military credits to get in here.
Shaking his head, he lifted his hand, above which floated a magical symbol that greatly resembled the brains in the Supreme Void World.
That magical symbol was a pact.
Every trial-taker who could satisfy one of the brains with their memories would be given a demonization symbol like this to formalize the pact. As a result, they could then utilize the Demonization Art. Demonization was draining. Though the cultivator who used it would bear some of that burden, the rest of the burden was taken by the Supreme Void World. The exact ratio was different for each person, and was determined by the specific pact with the specific brain.
Stifling his disappointment, Xu Qing waved his hand, producing a second pact, then a third and a fourth...
In total, he had thirty-two demonization symbols. Each and every one of them was a pact that would help bear the burden of demonization. Xu Qing had quite a few, and he knew why. They were an expression of approval from the brain trees in the Supreme Void World. The fact he had so many went to show how much he was approved.
Sighing, he flicked his sleeve to gather up all thirty-two symbols, then he closed his eyes to meditate.
Time passed. At a certain point, he shivered as he sensed himself being teleported. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the alcove in the subsidiary sect of the Supreme Void Demonization Sect.
Thinking back to what he had experienced during the past three days, he took a deep breath and walked out. His plan was to go back to the cultivation chamber in his sword pavilion and see if the Demonization Art would help him materialize the Ghost Emperor as per his plan.
With such thoughts on his mind, he flew out of the Supreme Void Demonization Sect’s subsidiary sect and back to his sword pavilion. Once inside, he activated the spell formation defenses, sealing himself inside.
Inside the cultivation chamber, he looked around. It was a self-contained dimensional space that was very roomy. After ensuring that it was large enough to accommodate a projection of the Ghost Emperor, Xu Qing took out one of the demonization symbols and sent it toward the Ghost Emperor mountain in his sea of consciousness. As the symbol got close, it started shining with dazzling light. The light grew brighter, eventually fully covering the Ghost Emperor mountain.
Meanwhile, outside of Xu Qing’s body, a vague mountain was now visible, gradually taking his place.
Although it was vastly smaller than the real Ghost Emperor mountain, it was still astounding. What was more, it eventually looked like a person seated cross-legged in meditation. Though it was semitransparent, it still looked profoundly menacing. Furthermore, it was soon clear that the meditating figure wore black armor and had a huge bladed weapon. And there were two worlds on its shoulders.
It looked like the spirit of some sort of wretched god sitting there meditating. Each bit of its suit of armor contained incredible destructive power, and the weapon looked like it could slice worlds in half. Astonishing fluctuations rolled off of it, full of brutal madness, as though it were furious at heaven and earth. What was more, there was a staff materializing on its knees, and it also pulsed with terrifying might.
The figure was none other than the Ghost Emperor! And his facial features were about eighty percent similar to Xu Qing’s. That said, those facial features were only about ten percent materialized. Meanwhile, the sword pavilion was having a hard time sustaining this Ghost Emperor, and it was rumbling as if it might collapse.
Loud cracking sounds rang out, and eventually, the demonization symbol in his sea of consciousness shattered.
The sea of light from the pact vanished, and the projection of the Ghost Emperor vanished as if it had never existed.
Shivering, Xu Qing opened his eyes and coughed up a massive mouthful of blood. However, his eyes were shining brightly.
“It works!”
He’d hoped to keep the Ghost Emperor mountain projected outside of himself for longer, but had been unable. However, he finally had some hope that he could eventually pull it off. The end failure had really been a result of the demonization symbol reaching its limit.
Ten symbols should be for a full materialization! Excited, he took a deep breath and suppressed any thoughts of doing further experiments. He only had thirty-one symbols left, and he just couldn’t bear to waste them for testing purposes.
This will be a trump card. And that means I basically have the ability to use a projection of the Ghost Emperor three times.
Eyes glittering, he started to contemplate more ways to accumulate military credits. That way, he would have enough for another trip to the Supreme Void World after he used those three chances he already had.
As he was thinking about that, his transmission jade slip vibrated as a voice message came in from the Captain. He sounded confused.
“Little Junior Brother....”
Surprised, Xu Qing lifted his jade slip. “What is it now?”
“Why does it have to be like this, little Junior Brother. Why? WHY?” The Captain sounded miserable, but at the same time, deeply confused. “When that idiot Wu Jianwu went through the heart assessment, he used the answers I gave him! Do you know the incredible price I paid for that information? I made sure he memorized all of it. And just to make sure he didn’t forget, I personally quizzed him several times. Then, when he went through the assessment of the heart, he actually got... a dazzling 15,000-meter pillar of light!
“15,000 meters!! Same question! Same answer! Why did I only get one meter? I was hoping Wu Jianwu would also get one. That way I would at least have some company....”
Xu Qing thought for a moment, then decided to try comforting the Captain. “There’s a good side, though. You’re still the only one with a one-meter light!”
A very long moment passed before the Captain replied, sounding very depressed. “You’re not very good at comforting people, little Junior Brother. Say, maybe Wu Jianwu did another Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity impression. Maybe he started reciting some poetry! No. This can’t stand! I have to ask him the details!”
Xu Qing did feel bad for the Captain. Therefore, out of respect for their friendship, he observed a brief moment of silence....
After that he quickly put his jade slip away and then went out to start more missions and get more military credits.
Time passed. Xu Qing never found out if the Captain got the answer he was looking for from Wu Jianwu. All of his focus was on military credits.
He did a lot of patrol, search, arrest, and backup missions. Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit offered a lot of help. Being in different departments, whenever they had a good mission, they would call him to join. Sometimes Kong Xianglong came along as well, and they would all do missions together. Though they had to split the military credits, it ensured that they were accomplishing missions constantly.
Eventually Arch-Immortal Plumdark came to find out that Xu Qing wanted military credits, so using her authority as the administrator of the Eight Sect Coalition’s subsidiary sect, she called upon all the swordsages who had originally come from the coalition to help out. Xu Qing was the palace lord’s secretary-general, and was known for his 30,000-meter pillar of light. That made it easy for him to make new acquaintances. And that wasn’t to mention that they came from the same coalition. In the past, Xu Qing had kept such a low profile that people rarely had a chance to interact with him. But thanks to Arch-Immortal Plumdark, a lot of people were willing to lend a hand and establish good karma as a result. Few people said no.
It reached the point where Xu Qing was able to finish six or seven missions a night. His military credits were rapidly piling up, which was a very good feeling. What was more, the fact that he was going crazy on a mission ensured that his name was spreading in the county capital.
He spent his days in the Corrections Division, where everything went on like usual. The boy never developed any further problems.
One day about half a month later, when Xu Qing had just walked out of D-132 to start working on missions again, an order came in on his command sword.
“Xu Qing, come to the Swordsage Palace immediately!”
The voice was cold, somber, and full of authority.