Chapter 44: Cause and Effect
The grand elder died a horrible death, and as his final scream echoed through the city, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior noticed. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he had acute senses, and immediately looked up when he noticed the sound. Expression grim, he jumped into the air and started moving in the direction of the sound.
Although there were dangerous creatures around, given his level, he had nothing to fear as long as he didn’t encounter either a grue or an entire horde of mutant beasts. Not even the strong mutagen was much to worry about for him. Given the level of his cultivation base, he could stay in these ruins for as long as a month without any difficulty.
After confirming he was heading in the right direction, the patriarch let loose a loud cry backed with the power of his cultivation base, ensuring that even someone a great distance away could hear him.
“Keep that brat busy until I get there!”
As the words echoed out, he shot forward with explosive speed, making him look like a shooting star.
Meanwhile, back on the field of the battle, the surviving grand elder was backing away from the incoming Xu Qing. He had heard his patriarch’s orders, but at the same time, didn’t want to end up dead.
He didn’t care if he ended up berated by the patriarch. Xu Qing’s baleful aura was too intense, and he fought too ruthlessly.
Therefore, the grand elder fell back at top speed, adding in the benefits of the flight talisman to move back hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he also heard Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior’s words. However, he didn’t stop chasing the grand elder. Scooping up his iron skewer along the way, he prepared to use his newly acquired flight talisman. Just before he did, though, his expression flickered, and then he turned and shot back in the opposite direction.
Upon seeing this, a look of shock appeared on the fleeing grand elder’s face. Then he sensed a wave of sinister coldness before realizing that an enormous figure was right next to him.
It was a gigantic woman with no facial features and long black hair, wearing a flowing white garment. The countless faces on her garment wept mournfully, filling the area with a gruish aura, and causing the moon above to turn the color of blood.
From a distance, the grand elder looked like an ant in front of her. Because of the countless weeping faces, the grand elder trembled violently, and his expression turned to one of sorrow as he, too, began to weep. His eyes shone with immense terror, as if the weeping was beyond his control.
Then his weeping merged with the weeping of the faces on the dress, until they seemed united. White energy then seeped out of the grand elder’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, flowing into the faceless woman’s dress. A moment later….
The grand elder was a desiccated corpse that toppled to the ground, completely devoid of energy.
At the same time, a new face appeared on the woman’s dress. It was the grand elder’s face! Though there was no expression on the face, as soon as it appeared on the white garment, it began weeping.
Xu Qing saw this happening, as did Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior, and both were shaken.
Xu Qing took a deep breath, suppressed his shock, and picked up speed as he fled into the ruins.
In contrast, the newly arrived Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was so shocked his scalp tingled and he felt rooted in place.
And that was because the faceless woman in white was heading in his direction.
The patriarch knew that, when facing an entity like this, one shouldn’t make sudden moves. Someone who did so would end up like the grand elder from moments before. Therefore, he suppressed his terror and stood in place as the faceless woman slowly moved past him and off into the distance. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, he felt that something strange was going on.
Running into a grue twice is strange. Why do I have this feeling… it has something to do with that brat? He really does fight dirty!
Looking in the direction Xu Qing had fled, the patriarch felt more than ever that he had to exterminate him. Gritting teeth, he flew after him.
The night echoed with roars that filled every corner of the ruins, along with the sounds of chewing, weeping, and laughter. Beneath the moonlight, the crumbled ruins seemed more demonic and gruish than ever.
As Xu Qing sped along, although he was familiar with the city night, he was still fearful of all the strange, gruish sounds. He also felt like he was the subject of countless malevolent gazes that sent frigid coldness into his body. Even as that cold feeling grew more intense, Xu Qing passed the spot where, months before, he had set an ambush for a vulture. And that was when his pupils constricted….
A short distance away, he saw the broken-down horse cart. Before, there had been a blood-soaked rabbit doll hanging from the axle. But it was in a different position now. It was now sitting on the cart itself, its back to Xu Qing so that he couldn’t see its face.
Scalp tingling, Xu Qing fled.
Shortly after, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior arrived in the same spot. Looking around, he spotted the cart, as well as the blood-soaked rabbit. Which was now facing him.
The eyes embedded in its face were dark, and the doll seemed gruish to the extreme. And it was looking at the patriarch very eerily.
The patriarch’s pupils constricted and his hair stood on end. Stopping in place for a moment, he then crept away slowly before exhaling softly and continuing on his way. [1]
He didn’t get too close to Xu Qing. The patriarch was convinced Xu Qing used all sorts of evil tricks, including the ability to make mutagen stronger. Therefore, the patriarch didn’t want to approach him and directly attack. Instead, he decided to watch from a distance and wait until daylight to make a move.
For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to be so cautious in dealing with a Qi Condensation cultivator would result in a huge loss of face if word got out. But given the circumstances, the patriarch wanted to play it safe.
Slowing down a bit, he kept trailing Xu Qing from a distance.
Xu Qing sensed what was happening. He had already been preparing how to fight back, including getting his shadow ready to take action, and making sure his black boluses were ready to throw out.
He had felt confident that, though he couldn’t unleash any fatal attacks, he could at least inflict some damage. And though he would be seriously injured in the clash, he should be able to escape. What was more, the added element of injury would help sell the next phase of his plan.
But despite being a Foundation Establishment expert, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was being extremely cautious, in turn causing Xu Qing to be more cautious. Despite the fact that the man was keeping his distance, Xu Qing still wanted to go through with his trap, so he kept moving at top speed toward the city magistrate’s manor.
It was located in the very middle of the city, where the mutagen was stronger than anywhere else. Yet for some reason, there were fewer mutant beasts there.
As Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior observed what Xu Qing was doing, his expression flickered, and a sensation of danger filled him.
As Xu Qing fled, the patriarch looked at a nearby fallen building and suddenly stopped in place. In fact, not only did he not continue chasing, he actually backed up.
This went completely beyond what Xu Qing had planned for. Just when he was only a few hundred meters from the city magistrate’s manor, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior suddenly retreated?
It’s too late to change plans now! Gritting his teeth, Xu Qing suddenly threw out a large quantity of black boluses.
In fact, in the interests of achieving his goal, he threw out half of his entire collection.
When they exploded, they created a massive vortex that caused waves of mutagen to rush forth, rippling the air, twisting everything, and making it impossible to see anything clearly.
The level of mutagen at play was astonishing.
The retreating Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was shocked, but more than that, puzzled, as Xu Qing was right in the middle of all the mutagen.
Forgetting the danger of the mutagen itself, this event would surely attract mutant beasts and grues, which would kill Xu Qing for sure. It almost seemed like he was committing suicide.
As the patriarch wondered what was going on, a few hundred meters away in the city magistrate’s manor, an intense rumbling shook everything in the area, followed by a terrifying roar. The ground trembled, and the blood-colored moon in the sky grew blurry.
The patriarch was visibly shocked, and the sensation of deadly crisis within him grew more intense than ever. Backing up even faster, he looked toward the sound and saw numerous shadowy figures flying out of the mansion. They were incredibly gaunt, with wings of black flame, and a stupefying level of mutagen on them that caused everything around them to ripple and distort. The shocked patriarch’s face went pale, and he gasped as the entire city magistrate’s manor collapsed in on itself, leaving behind a huge hole in the ground.
Crawling out of that hole was a gaunt, three-hundred-meter-tall figure, roaring to the heavens. It seemed as slender as a tree, and actually was more than three hundred meters tall, as it was only halfway out of the crater. It waved its arms, and its ten fingers became long vines, some of which stabbed into the ground. Using the vines, the gaunt figure began pulling itself further out of the hole.
“What the hell is this freaking thing??” the patriarch blurted in his shock. Looking astonished beyond reason, he turned and fled at top speed.
Then his heart filled with even more madness as he realized that the winged creatures that had originally been attracted to the strong mutagen had for some reason emerged from that area and were now howling as they flew toward him!
“What’s going on here?? Where’s Kid??”
The patriarch’s eyes went wide as he realized that, no matter how fast he fled, they were going to catch up. Having no other choice, he turned and unleashed an attack.
The flying figures exploded, but strangely, they recovered after only a short moment, and kept coming. What was more, the terrifying entity further back had almost climbed out of the giant hole in the ground.
As Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior dealt with the maddeningly deadly situation, it was a short distance away, just beyond the area of strong mutagen, where Xu Qing had found a crevice in a wall, and was in hiding.
From that position of safety, he watched events play out.
Back when he had been exploring the city, he discovered more than one location where birds had roosted. And this crevice was one of them! When he’d found the cultivation technique in the city magistrate’s manor, and been severely injured in the process, he ended up hiding here to evade the mutant beasts chasing him. [2]
That said, it was too close to the city magistrate’s manor for him to choose it as a long-term camping site.
When the eyes of the god above opened, and catastrophe began, all types of living beings were wiped out. The only type that weren’t affected… were birds, for some unknown reason. And they instinctively were able to find safe hiding places. Although such locations weren’t absolutely without risk, the chances of grues or mutant beasts discovering them were small.
Of course, that was all comparatively speaking. Were it not for Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior being present, hiding in this place would have meant certain death in the circumstances.
Seeing Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior in such bad condition, and also seeing the gigantic figure climbing out of the ground, Xu Qing took in a deep breath. Then he gritted his teeth, charged out into the open, and tossed about a dozen black boluses in the direction of the fleeing patriarch.
When they exploded, the mutagen in the area became even more shockingly dense. At the same time, the explosion seemed to surpass a limit of some sort. All of a sudden, the countless malevolent gazes that had locked onto Xu Qing after he emerged from the crevice… shifted to look at a different subject. They were now looking at that influx of mutagen. And they weren’t the only ones. Other grues and mutant beasts in the city all looked in the same direction.
Then, they started moving!
A howl of rage erupted from Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior’s mouth. Xu Qing, looking over his shoulder as he fled, saw the grues and mutant beasts rushing toward the intense mutagen.
The patriarch also wanted to flee, but was being harried by the winged figures, making it impossible for him to do much. At that moment, his anxiety grew deeper, and his rage toward Xu Qing more intense.
Xu Qing sped down a nearby road, getting further away from the city magistrate’s manor and heading toward the edge of the city. But then… a wave of intense, sinister coldness hit him.
He heard weeping from up ahead, and then the faceless woman in white appeared. One moment, she was far away. The next, the gruish woman was right in front of him. She moved with such incredible speed that there was no way he could flee. As the coldness covered him, his mind went blank, almost as if it had been frozen in place.
The countless faces covering the woman’s garment wept mournfully, the sound piercing into Xu Qing’s mind. They created fluctuations that stirred his emotions, and it seemed like he might start weeping at any moment.
But then… some of the faces on the faceless woman’s dress suddenly stopped weeping and looked at Xu Qing with blank expressions. A moment passed, and unexpectedly, they smiled and opened their mouths as if they were speaking. However, he heard no sound. More and more faces ceased weeping, until finally… more than half had smiled warmly at Xu Qing and spoken to him, though he couldn’t hear a single thing they were saying.
All he could do was stare dumbstruck at the scene. Before he could make heads or tails of it, the faceless woman moved past him, and the weeping continued….
Eventually, Xu Qing felt he could move again. Struggling to breathe, he looked over his shoulder at the faceless woman. In the darkness of night, her white dress seemed like a beacon of flame….
For some reason, the faces that smiled at him… seemed very familiar.
As if he knew them….
And that was especially true of one face in particular. He had carried that person on his back to be cremated, and had told him to rest in peace. It was… the old man from the medicine shop.
Xu Qing stood there quietly looking at the figure, until a look of understanding appeared on his face. Clasping hands, he bowed deeply and whispered, “Thank you.”
And that was the same thing the smiling faces had said moments ago.
“Thank you.”
1. Surely everyone remembers the creepy doll from chapter 1! ☜
2. It was also in chapter 1 that we read about Xu Qing getting his cultivation technique from the city magistrate’s manor, and being wounded there (which led to him putting the violet crystal in his chest). ☜