Chapter 441: The Young Cow Runs Like Crazy
Xu Qing and the Captain were currently fleeing madly through the Inkpaint Mountains.
Their dark red armor was falling apart, and they had ghastly wounds all over their bodies. Many of those wounds were already rotting, and emitted very weak auras. Some of their injuries seemed potentially fatal. One of Xu Qing’s arms wasn’t working, and his belly had a gaping gash in it. The spot over his heart was a mass of mangled flesh, as if something had exploded there. He seemed to be barely clinging to life. The Captain was in similar shape. His worst injury other than the ragged hole near his kidney was a slash to his neck that looked like it had come close to severing his head.
Clearly, these Nightshades had strong life force; despite their injuries, they were running at top speed. As black blood splashed here and there, their eyes shone with cold determination. It was as if death didn’t mean much to them.
They were being chased by Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit.
Kong Xianglong had sped around in a different direction, so it would seem like he had come in response to the signal.
As Sir Mountain-River and the others gave chase, they pulsed with baleful auras and killing intent. Occasionally they would perform an incantation gesture, causing the fluctuations of magical techniques to roll out.
Booms rang out constantly. However, Xu Qing and the Captain were extraordinary in their own ways. The Captain’s eyes suddenly flickered with cold light, and a plethora of spears appeared behind him, which shot backward.
That wasn’t a human magical technique, but rather, a shocking Nightshade art.
Xu Qing fought back even more incisively. He looked over his shoulder, and his black eyes gleamed brightly. Suddenly, a large area behind him turned black, as if it had been blotted out from the sun. And then the darkness turned into the shape of a huge hand that shot toward Sir Mountain-River and the others. It was so dark it seemed capable of devouring sunlight. In the blink of an eye it was several hundred meters in size, and absolutely astonishing to behold.
Sir Mountain-River and the others were almost convinced they were dealing with real Nightshades.
The Captain was just as shaken. Truth be told, what Xu Qing was doing looked almost exactly like a real Nightshade technique.
Rumbling sounds echoed out as Sir Mountain-River and the others scattered, then tapped into all their strength to dispel the darkness. However, before they could recover their wits, Xu Qing pressed the attack.
Spinning, he glanced at Sir Mountain-River and the others, and then his black eyes glittered even more dazzlingly.
The huge black hand then shot toward the three swordsages. As the fingers closed, powerful psychic fluctuations rolled out. As a result, Xu Qing’s simple move contained massive strength. What was more, this was not like the black hand from before. Instead, its goal was... to take control of the enemy!
All of a sudden, Sir Mountain-River shivered, and a look of struggle appeared in his eyes. However, that struggle quickly faded away, and then Sir Mountain-River turned to look at Wang Chen with a grim look.
As his blood energy erupted, he seemed to have lost control of his own body as he lunged toward Wang Chen and attacked him.
It happened so quickly that Wang Chen could only react with a shocked look. Duskspirit was similarly shaken.
With no time to do anything else, they rushed to intercept Sir Mountain-River. Duskspirit in her demonized form spat up a mouthful of blood, which transformed into a blood sword that she slashed down in front of Sir Mountain-River. It was a move specifically designed to deal with psychic control techniques. Duskspirit was currently thinking back to what Kong Xianglong had explained about Nightshade innate abilities. As the blood sword slashed down, rumbling sounds erupted as if numerous invisible strings had snapped.
Sir Mountain-River shivered as he recovered his wits. His expression was listless, though his eyes glittered with shock.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing’s head spun as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, then fled looking extremely exhausted.
As he neared the Holytide caravan, he didn’t hesitate for a moment to coldly reach his hand out and make a grasping gesture.
One of the fourleggers shivered as it was yanked into the air. Then it was seemingly crumpled into nothing. It collapsed into a haze of blood, whereupon its life force was extracted and flew over to Xu Qing.
As he absorbed it, the life force entered him and the exhaustion in his expression disappeared. Just as he was going to continue fleeing, Sir Mountain-River and the others arrived.
Snorting coldly, Xu Qing waved his hand, causing a few dozen shocked Holytide cultivators to rise into the air along with about seven fourleggers. Then Xu Qing flung all of them toward Sir Mountain-River. Their eyes shone with animosity, as though they couldn’t stand to live as long as Sir Mountain-River and the others were alive.
Xu Qing, having accomplished that, sped onward.
The Captain was a bit taken aback. Xu Qing’s performance had caught him by surprise, and didn’t exactly fit with his plan. However, he recovered quickly from his surprise. Quelling his shock, he chased after Xu Qing. The two of them fled into the distance.
Meanwhile, the furious Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit fiercely unleashed attacks onto the Holytides that had been thrown in their directions. The Holytides fell like dry weeds. Strangely, though, none of them screamed, and their eyes glittered with hatred before they died.
Down below, the caravan had been thrown into chaos by Xu Qing. The Holytide cultivators were astonished, and even the Gold Core cultivators were clearly very anxious.
The young man with six-palace battle prowess suddenly floated up into the air.
“Ladies and gentlemen from the Swordsage Palace, we’re a Holytide caravan from the duchy of Heaven Zenith. We have a travel permit from Marquis Yao in Sea-Sealing County!” The young man pulled out a jade slip and snapped it in two, causing a magical symbol to appear. It was the symbol of the Yao Clan, and it represented protection from them!
Having done that, the young man looked grimly at Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit.
The three swordsages looked at the symbol with unsightly expressions. Then they snorted coldly and, ignoring the caravan, continued their pursuit of Xu Qing and the Captain. After passing the caravan, the three of them exchanged glances. All three could see how confused and surprised the others were.
Chen Erniu’s performance had been in line with their expectations, but Xu Qing... had caught them by surprise. His two attacks really did seem like the work of a Nightshade, and were so terrifying that he seemed like someone extraordinary even among Nightshades. Yet again, if they hadn’t seen Xu Qing transform, and didn’t know about his 30,000-meter pillar of light, they might think that he was actually a Nightshade.
What was most shocking was that although it seemed like Sir Mountain-River was only being controlled in terms of his fleshly body, the reality was that both Duskspirit and Wang Chen could see that it wasn’t just his body that had been taken over. It was his mind as well.
It was the same with the Holytides. They couldn’t be sure of how exactly it worked, but based on their limited understanding of Nightshades, it left them feeling very fearful.
“This is just an act, but why does it feel so real...” Sir Mountain-River murmured with a bitter smile.
Duskspirit and Wang Chen wore similar smiles as they disappeared after Xu Qing and the Captain. Moments later, Kong Xianglong showed up, his expression grim as he started looking for clues.
Time passed and soon it was late in the night.
***
Somewhere in a cave in the Inkpaint Mountains, Xu Qing sat cross-legged in meditation, occasionally coughing up black blood thanks to his injuries.
The Captain sat next to him, unspeaking, his expression dour.
Some time passed, and then Xu Qing’s black eyes glittered. Looking up at the moon, he said, “There is no spirit in the moon here in the Holytide Region.”
The Captain didn’t say anything for a moment. He just looked at the moon and sighed.
“Exalted one, I miss home too,” he said softly.
Xu Qing looked at the Captain. The use of the term ‘exalted one’ wasn’t part of their original plan, but he didn’t betray any surprise to hear it.
“Do you still have that contact in the Garmentfolk? We need to get a shadeheaven demonmoon pill as quickly as possible so that we can change into human form.”
“The Garmentfolk—hey, what’s that?” Expression flickering, the Captain looked coldly toward the mouth of the cave.
All of a sudden, an anxious-sounding voice reached their ears.
“I’m a nobody from the inferior species’ Heaven Zenith duchy. I hereby request an audience with the two exalted members of the superior species.”
The Captain’s eyes glittered coldly, and he was about to launch an attack when Xu Qing waved his right hand.
“Come in,” he said coolly. As the words left his mouth, a figure cautiously entered the cave. It was none other than the young Holytide man from the caravan with the six-palace battle prowess.
The Captain’s eyes narrowed, and he quickly edged closer to Xu Qing, putting himself between Xu Qing and the young man.
When the young Holytide man laid eyes on Xu Qing and the captain, he inhaled deeply and then dropped to his knees to kowtow.
“Greetings, oh members of the superior species!”
“How did you find us?” the Captain said, his black eyes glittering with cold light.
“Sir,” he said quietly, “your humble servant happens to have a rare spirit pet that can track the aura of someone’s blood.... After seeing the two of you, then finding some of your blood splattered on the ground, I was able to find you.”
Xu Qing said nothing. He just looked calmly at the young man.
“What are you doing here?” the Captain said gruffly.
“Sirs, that group of swordsages is still out there looking for you. Whatever you have planned, it’s not going to be easy to carry it out. So how about... the two of you let us escort you back to Holytide territory? And if you have any other needs, the duchy of Heaven Zenith will hold nothing back to fulfill them.
“If you’re pleased with my service, I only hope that you can bestow upon me a Nightshade blessing!” The young Holytide’s eyes shone with fanaticism as he looked at Xu Qing and the Captain.
***
The night passed without incident.
The following morning at dawn, the hooves of the red-skinned fourleggers caused thunderous rumbling as they sped away from the Inkpaint Mountains. The carts they pulled were all laden with cloudmother stones. Not one was missing. However, it was only the curses and whips of the Holytide cultivators that got the fourleggers moving.
As the caravan moved along, it kicked up dust that the wind blew this way and that. From a distance, the dust almost looked like a tempest, making the caravan difficult to see clearly. Even at around noon, when the sun was the strongest, the sunlight couldn’t quite penetrate the dust.
However... before long, the sound of cracking whips rang out, and the cries of the beasts grew louder as they slowed to a halt.
Slowly, the tempest of dust settled. Gradually, the hundreds of fourleggers were revealed, as well as the vigilant Holytide cultivators atop them.
“What’s the meaning of this, human swordsages?” The angry voice came from atop the ninth fourlegger in the caravan train.
It was the young man with six-palace battle prowess and an extraordinary bloodline. As he looked ahead of the caravan, the air there rippled and distorted, and four figures became visible.
In the lead position was Kong Xianglong, his expression grim and his eyes shining with ferocity as he scanned the various fourleggers. Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit scattered and started inspecting the fourleggers.
“We have a travel permit from Marquis Yao!” the young Holytide said, his expression flickering.
“Pipe down!” Kong Xianglong said. His hand flew out, smacking the young Holytide in the side of the face. Blood sprayed from the young man’s mouth as he flew several hundred meters to the side, until he slammed into a boulder.
“Inspect everything!” Kong Xianglong said calmly, not sparing a glance for the young Holytide.
Sir Mountain-River and the others quickly started moving through the caravan, inspecting all of the fourleggers, as well as the individual cultivators. In the end, they found nothing.
Kong Xianglong snorted coldly and flew off to search another area. Sir Mountain-River and the others followed him.
When they were gone, the young Holytide got back up and returned to the ninth fourlegger. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he said, “Keep moving.”
Before long, the rumbling and the dust was back as the caravan proceeded on its way.
About two hours later, the young man stood atop the fourlegger and performed an incantation gesture with his right hand. Instantly, he started shrinking, until he became so small he disappeared.
Meanwhile, the red-furred fourlegger grew larger before his eyes, until it became like a huge red land mass around him.
The wrinkles in the beast’s skin were ravines, and its countless semitransparent hairs were like enormous trees or pillars, except flexible.
One of those enormous hairs was bent to provide shade from the sun. And in that shade sat Xu Qing and the Captain, doing breathing exercises.
Hurrying over, the young man knelt in front of Xu Qing and the Captain. Eyes burning with zealous fanaticism, he said, “Greetings, oh members of the superior species. You can rest easy, exalted ones. The swordsages are gone.”