Chapter 478: Clues Left by the Palace Lord
That night, the palace lords from the Administration and Justice Palaces left for the northern front.
After that, Palace Lord Kong led 100,000 swordsages off to the west with great fanfare. That group of 100,000 included the best of the best from the Sea-Sealing County for the past centuries. The elite cultivators in that group represented all the prefectures in the county. Each one had passed the most difficult of assessments to become a swordsage. All had been on countless missions, and had gone through grueling training to hone their killing ability and toughness. In fact, you could say that they represented the heart of Sea-Sealing County.
And on this day, they took to the field. 100,000 swordsages. Just like the oath they had sworn, they headed to the western front with decisiveness and tenacity.
Xu Qing stood on a mountain outside the county capital, watching them go. He had already concealed his aura. The cold wind caused his garment to flap, and sent his long hair swaying behind him. After watching the swordsage army leave, his expression turned fierce. Turning, he shot in the direction of Daybreak Prefecture. He was like a lone wolf stalking through the night.
“Daybreak Prefecture....” he murmured. As he sped along with his guard up, his heart pounded.
After all, Mount Daybreak was in Daybreak Prefecture. His most deep-seated desire upon reaching the county capital was to eventually travel to Mount Daybreak. Never could he have imagined that he would end up going there like this.
As he flew, he took out the jade slip from Palace Lord Kong and studied the contents. The palace lord had explained a lot before they parted, and had made his way of thinking very clear. The governor’s sudden death was extremely strange, and there was no telling who the secret traitor was.
As he studied the information in the jade slip, Xu Qing suddenly stopped in place and struggled to control his breathing.
The lightmost fatehavoc pill?
Despite everything Xu Qing knew about the dao of medicine, he had never heard of such a pill.
Palace Lord Kong’s jade slip gave a detailed description of it. It was a taboo pill that had been outlawed during the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. The reason for the ban on the pill was that top experts from countless species had absolutely detested it. A lightmost fatehavoc pill wouldn’t do anything to an ordinary cultivator. However, it was a pill that was extremely dangerous to government leaders, as it had the potential to kill them almost instantly.
The reason for that was related to destiny aura: the pill could cause a deadly eruption in destiny aura power. And the more destiny aura was gathered in someone, the more powerful the effect would be.
The pill was originally created to resist the rule of the Ancient Spirits, and was created using the light of a perished sun. It resurfaced in the days of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, and was used to assassinate many humans who had destiny aura, as well as many nonhuman political leaders. There were even three nonhuman emperors who were killed with it.
It didn’t matter if someone was human or nonhuman, as long as they were an important leader, they would naturally gather the destiny aura of their species. Destiny aura would give a person something like the mandate of heaven. But at the same time, it could be turned into something that would wreak havoc on someone’s fate, and ultimately destroy them with terrifying power. During the half-month that Palace Lord Kong had been investigating the governor’s death, the clues he had uncovered pointed to the possibility of a lightmost fatehavoc pill being involved.
Xu Qing’s pupils constricted as the information from the jade slip entered his mind.
“Based on my investigation, there are many possibilities as to why the governor died. However, among those many possibilities... only a few of them can account for what happened in the Corrections Division.
“Imprisoned in the Corrections Division was the clone of the god sleeping in Forbidden by the Immortal. The method of imprisonment involved converting destiny aura into a power of forced amnesia. In other words, the clone believed itself to be the spirit automaton of the Corrections Division.
“Whoever continues my investigation should study the files of D-132. For all intents and purposes, D-132 was the epitome of the Corrections Division, and a miniature representation of the entire prison. Feel free to consult my secretary-general, Xu Qing, who was the most recent guard in D-132, and who I’ve been grooming as my successor. He’s trustworthy.
“The D-132 cellblock was formed by an external manifestation of the prison’s suppressing power. Inside of it was the finger of that god’s clone, as well as a spirit manifestation of the destiny aura of Sea-Sealing County.
“This god clone from Forbidden by the Immortal had a formidable power: anyone who remembered hīm would be sucked into endless misfortune. Based on our records, whoever became wrapped up in that misfortune would experience increasingly terrifying situations that would ultimately lead to their death.
“The purpose of the destiny aura spirit in D-132 was to wipe out the memories of that god from anyone who served as a guard there, thus severing the karma.
“Normally speaking, whatever the circumstances surrounding the governor’s death, they shouldn’t have any connection to the Corrections Division. After all, the Corrections Division has been around for an extremely long time, and has seen many governors come and go.
“After carefully considering the various possibilities, and weighing them against each other, I’ve come to focus on the lightmost fatehavoc pill. As for why I think that pill is involved, whoever continues the investigation can check Classified Dossier 19.
“I’ve had limited time to run this investigation, and time is now running out. What’s more, the enemy is still in hiding, while I myself am exposed. I don’t want to tip my hand, and also, the war situation is approaching a critical point. Sea-Sealing County is in great danger, making it impossible for me to secretly carry out this investigation.
“Thus, I’m sending my secretary-general, Xu Qing, to look for a very specific clue.
“And that is: daybreak light.
“Activating a lightmost fatehavoc pill requires one special element: the light of a perished sun. Such light can only exist for a very short moment. And that kind of light occasionally appears in the vicinity of Mount Daybreak.
“Whoever is behind this plot is obviously clever and skilled. In all likelihood, investigating Mount Daybreak won’t lead to anything. But we can’t ignore it. As for what it reveals in the end... if I die in battle, then whoever continues the investigation can ask Xu Qing.” [1]
Xu Qing currently stood on a wide plane under the dark of night, a thoughtful look on his face as he put away the jade slip. He turned to look toward the western front, then started moving again toward Daybreak Prefecture.
A few days passed.
The public believed Xu Qing to be with Palace Lord Kong on the way to the battlefield, but in reality, he had already used the concealment magic given to him by Arch-Immortal Plumdark to ‘disappear.’ He was already in the prefecture that lay between the county capital and Daybreak Prefecture.
It was a very large area that was known for the very unique type of wind that blew through it. Wherever that wind blew, it would open up countless strange rifts in the air. That made it impossible to fly, and thus made ground travel a necessity. After all, the wind only touched the air, not the ground. According to local legend, when the sun perished in Daybreak Prefecture, it created an unusual climate that gave birth to this unique wind. As a result, it came to be called the ‘sun wind’.
When the sun wind blew, only people with extremely high cultivation bases could fly. Everyone else had to drop to the ground. There was no way to reach Daybreak Prefecture without going through this area.
Xu Qing would drop to the ground when the wind blew. When it stopped, he would fly back up into the sky again. As he traveled, he saw how the war was already affecting Sea-Sealing County. The citizens of the small human nations that existed everywhere were visibly alarmed. The countless villages that dotted the wilderness were terrified. Everyone that Xu Qing saw was fearful because of the war, and also uncertain about the future.
And then there were the nonhumans. Now that Xu Qing wasn’t wearing his swordsage uniform, and was instead clad in an ordinary robe, he could see the wild ambition and greed in their eyes. It was easy to imagine what would happen if the war spread to these areas, and the Holytide army took over. These nonhumans would immediately turn on the humans, and take advantage of the situation to plunder whatever was available.
Palace Lord Kong was right. If he hadn’t forced the nonhuman experts into service, things would have been a lot worse.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with cold light as he continued on his journey. Occasionally, he would spot human sects off in the distance. All of them had activated spell formations to seal off their headquarters. Most of the cultivators were off at war, leaving those headquarters with only a few people behind to take care of things.
All major sects had activated their taboo treasures and handed control over to the county capital.
Over the course of a few days of travel, Xu Qing saw brightly colored light flashing in heaven and earth, which were of course caused by the use of those various taboo treasures being activated. One afternoon, the canopy of heaven trembled, and Xu Qing looked up to see scintillating light flowing across the net in the sky. Terrifying pressure weighed down as one stream of light headed to the west, the other to the north. Clearly, power was being taken from the taboo treasures and used with killing force on the battlefield.
The rumbling sounds that filled the sky were a constant reminder to Xu Qing that a bitter war was being fought.
Looking down from the sky, he continued on his way.
Two more days passed.
If he traveled through the night, he would reach the border of Daybreak Prefecture. As the sun set, and the sun wind blew, Xu Qing landed near a village.
Something seemed off about the place. It looked different from other villages that Xu Qing had seen. For example, the trees weren’t growing out of the ground. Instead, they floated in the air. There was a flock of birds overhead, and though the feathers of their wings rippled, they weren’t actually moving. They seemed stuck in place. And they were being hurt by the sun wind.
The situation on the ground was even more freakish. The buildings were all upside down. Some parts of the village would disappear, then appear again a moment later. At the entrance of the village was a hairless dog with a human face, looking at Xu Qing with bared teeth, growling.
Xu Qing took in the scene as the sun set and darkness spread.
Once it was dark, everything changed again. It went back to normal, and resembled any old village. The dog at the entrance was now a muscular oaf. He grinned at Xu Qing with blackish-yellow teeth and beckoned at him to enter the village.
Xu Qing’s face remained expressionless. He had no time to waste, and thus, he just circled around the village and continued on his way.
But then, the village behind him trembled, and then the buildings grew legs, stood up, and rushed toward him.
Xu Qing stopped in place and turned around. All the buildings dropped in place. The village oaf was still there, grinning and waving at him. As he grinned gruishly, the entire village emanated pure malice.
Xu Qing walked back toward the village.
His shadow stretched behind him, emitting fluctuations of excitement. It sounded like it was salivating.
“Hungry... so hungry....”
That made Xu Qing think back to when he was in Emperor Ancient Spirit’s major world, when the shadow had tried to eat some of the evil souls, only to end up vomiting.
Xu Qing decided he ought to reward the shadow for its loyalty, and therefore walked a bit more quickly toward the village. It only took a few moments for him to reach the grinning oaf.
Seeing Xu Qing approaching, the oaf was about to open his mouth when the shadow suddenly lunged toward him. The shadow enveloped him, and the oaf disappeared.
As crunching sounds rang out, the entire village trembled. Numerous eyes popped up on the buildings and trees. They looked at Xu Qing, then closed.
“Eat,” Xu Qing said coolly, standing there with arms crossed.
1. Some readers might remember that daybreak light was described obliquely inchapter 392 . ?