Chapter 45: Seeking Revenge over the Smallest Grievance
The arrival of the god’s broken face was like the Awakening of Insects, which affected all living things, and forced them to change. It changed the world into a colder and more brutal place. [1]
The forbidden regions were convergences of that coldness, but right now… as Xu Qing watched the figure in white, he suddenly thought back to what Sergeant Thunder mentioned about their first meeting.
“Do you know why I took you with me when we left that city? When I saw you cremating all those bodies, with the fire shining on you, it seemed like… you had brought a bit of warmth and kindness into this brutal world.”
Just like Sergeant Thunder back then, Xu Qing felt like he sensed a bit of warmth right now. It came from the faceless woman in white, and from the numerous smiling faces that had thanked him. It came… from the humanity that this brutal world couldn’t take away.
Eventually, Xu Qing again clasped hands and bowed deeply.
Then he turned back in the direction of the city wall and started moving.
***
Apparently, he had thrown out so many black boluses that he pushed the mutagen in that part of the city beyond the brink, making it like a bright torch on a dark night. Perhaps it was a matter of cause and effect. Regardless, he didn’t encounter much danger at all as he sped toward the outskirts of the city.
Once outside, he looked back into the city, and could hear the roars and screams echoing through the darkness.
I wonder when I’ll be back… he thought. Then he hopped off the city wall and sped away into the night. In order to maximize his speed, he put his new flight talisman on his leg, then poured spirit power into it. He instantly shot up into the air.
Sailing along with the wind against his face was a new feeling, as was the incredible speed he was capable of. This was his first time flying. He looked down at the world speeding by below, a somewhat dazed expression on his face.
So this is what it feels like to be a bird flying in the air.
Having reached the seventh level of the Sea and Mountain Incantation, he had perfect control over his body, and thus quickly acclimated to flying. Combined with his natural speed and power, he was able to soar for long periods before dropping back down. And he could thrust his fists behind him to gain added bursts of speed.
From a distance, he looked like a beam of light speeding through the air of the forbidden region. Any other person would have been forced to worry about mutagen, but not him.
It didn’t take long before he saw the boundary of the forbidden region. Bursting through it, he entered the outside world, and felt the warm breeze against his face. It quickly drove out the cold of the forbidden region.
Hovering in the air, Xu Qing looked thoughtfully toward Antlerville, and then shifted to look in a different direction.
After living in the scavenger basecamp for half a year, Xu Qing had picked up quite a bit of knowledge. For instance, he had learned the names of many places and locations in the area, and knew the general location of the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect headquarters.
It wasn’t yet sunrise, and the moon didn’t do much to illuminate the darkness, but he could still make out mountains in the distance.
Hovering there, he looked back and forth between Antlerville and the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect headquarters.
“I’m not going to let this go,” he murmured.
He wasn’t sure what would happen with Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior in the ruins, but he doubted the man was going to perish. However, he would probably end up severely injured, and it didn’t seem likely that he would extricate himself any time soon.
Xu Qing knew that if he went toward Antlerville immediately, he would reach it without any problems. But he just couldn’t make himself do that.
After thinking about it more, his eyes shone with cold light as he tapped into the power of the flight talisman to head… toward the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect.
Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was in a bad situation, and two of the sect’s grand elders were dead. The sect itself was in a state of unprecedented weakness, so now would be the best time to strike a deadly blow.
This was Xu Qing’s personality.
Any other person would probably have chosen this moment to flee. But Xu Qing had learned from a young age that potential calamities needed to be eradicated as quickly as possible. Even if this specific potential calamity couldn’t be dealt with fully, he could at least inflict some pain on his enemy. And enough pain could turn into a deterrent. That was the law of the slums, and that was the law of the scavengers. Whether or not that was the law of the chaotic world in general, Xu Qing wasn’t sure. But that was his law.
He wasn’t convinced that killing two grand elders would be enough of a deterrent.
Xu Qing sped along, and as the sun rose over the horizon he caught sight of his destination.
The headquarters of the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect!
It consisted of numerous buildings on a mountain. As the sun shone on the grand hall atop the mountain, it looked incredibly inspiring and beautiful. However, most of the sect cultivators were out searching for Xu Qing right now. There was only a small group of disciples left behind to stand guard, and only a few of them were visible this early in the morning.
They all had arrogant looks on their faces, as though they represented a paramount figure in all creation. Leading into the sect was an arched bridge, where five disciples stood chatting and laughing.
Their conversation revolved around how their patriarch had gone out to look for some child. From the tone of their conversation, it was obvious they thought this whole thing was a big fuss over a minor issue.
Further inside, some disciples sat cross-legged in their quarters, doing breathing exercises.
The sect leader was in the grand hall, flipping through some accounting records for the local cities and scavenger basecamps. Similar to the disciples outside, he wasn’t convinced the patriarch even needed to be outside the sect.
It’s just some scavenger. He might be skilled, but our two grand elders can handle him easily. There’s no reason for the patriarch himself to have gotten involved. Now the sect is completely empty.
The sect leader shook his head. His opinion didn’t really matter, as there was no way anyone would defy the patriarch.
As all members in the sect sat around not doing much, no one noticed Xu Qing high above the sect, looking down coldly.
After first checking the direction of the wind, he circled around the sect until it was downwind of him. He also determined the speed of the wind.
Face completely expressionless, he took out a large amount of poison powder and scattered it. In that one moment, he threw out about eighty percent of all of his poison powder reserves.
As the different powders mixed, they created an astonishing combination of poisons that drifted into the sect with the wind. Instead of taking any further action, he watched and waited. It didn’t take much time before the wind turned brown, and then black. Xu Qing’s eyes flickered coldly.
That should do it.
The black wind finally attracted the attention of the cultivators in the sect. The first to notice it were the disciples chatting on the bridge. The entire group looked up in astonishment and shock.
“Hey, what’s that?”
The black wind passed through a tree, which instantly withered. The disciples’ faces fell.
“Poison!!”
As the cry rang out, other disciples in the sect heard, and they rushed out into the open to try to drive away the poison wind.
That was when Xu Qing suddenly appeared, like a bolt of lightning that shot toward the sect headquarters.
As the cultivators of the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect reacted with shock and fury, and as warning bells clanged inside the sect, Xu Qing landed on the ground halfway up the mountain.
A boom rang out, and cracks spread out from his feet as he looked up with killing intent at the shocked enemy cultivators. Then he attacked!
A huge boom echoed out.
As he moved with shocking speed, screams filled the air, and corpses fell to the ground. Although the majority of the disciples were out of the sect, that still left plenty behind to fight. Soon, enraged shouts filled the air, and more figures were rushing toward Xu Qing.
“An ambush!”
“Dammit! I can’t believe someone is actually launching a surprise attack on us!”
“Kill him!!”
Meanwhile, in the grand hall, the sect leader realized something was happening, and strode out furiously. When he saw the chaos, and the poison wind, he shouted, “All disciples, consume anti-poison pills and drive this poison wind away!”
Then he glared down toward the area halfway down the mountain where the rumbling sounds came from. Eyes cold, he rushed in that direction.
However, Xu Qing wasn’t fighting the sect disciples there. Instead, he was moving away at top speed and throwing black boluses behind him.
Some exploded when contacting the ground, others exploded in midair. All of them created vortexes of mutagen. It was like the mutagen in the area was alive as it converged rapidly on the mountain
“Mutagen!!”
The disciples who had been about to charge in that direction saw what was happening and instinctively backed up. Some were close to the vortexes, and the sudden increase in mutagen caused their skin to start turning greenish-black.
“This is outrageous!!” the sect leader shouted as he arrived from the grand hall.
Cultivation base fluctuations that surpassed the perfect level of Qi Condensation rolled out. This was a level of strength beyond the grand elders Xu Qing had killed, and was second only to the patriarch of the sect.
The sect leader’s golden robe fluttered around him, and grim killing intent pulsed on his face. However, when he saw Xu Qing, a scavenger, and a very young one at that, a tremor passed through him. He had no need to guess who this person was.
“It’s you!”
As the realization hit him, his heart pounded.
1. By way of reminder “Awakening of Insects” is also the name of volume 1 of the story. Here’s a link to the solar terms. ☜