Chapter 527: Seems Familiar
The moment Xu Qing stood, the surrounding mutagen surged away from him, creating a cloud of mist. He currently stood at about three meters in height, looking very mysterious. Extraordinary fluctuations rolled off of him, causing the mutagen to roil as if it were crawling away from him. Based on what Xu Qing could sense, he was at the point in which he could cause the mutagen to erupt if he wanted. Now that the god of Forbidden by the Immortal had perished, he was gradually becoming the lord of the place.
Sadly, my current cultivation base isn’t enough to sustain much more of the local mutagen . Shaking his head, Xu Qing suppressed his desire for more mutagen. He could theoretically absorb some more, but they were running out of time, and doing so could reveal their position.
There was another reason that had prompted Xu Qing to cease absorbing mutagen. And that was... he had sensed the god’s finger stirring in D-132.
The violet crystal is too weak to fully seal the god’s finger. And if the finger gets the local mutagen, it’s entirely possible īt could break out from inside of me....
He sighed at how seemingly useless the violet crystal was right now.
Meanwhile, the Captain was off to the side, looking up at the 3-meter-tall Xu Qing, and comparing his own height. His eyebrows were fully raised.
Xu Qing understood what he meant by that look. A tremor passed through him as he shrank back down to his normal height. Afterward, he felt different. Before, he’d known that his remolded body was unusual. However, he had been unable to control the golden threads inside of him, and as a result, hadn’t been able to control the god body. As of now, he had enough control that he could reach a height of three meters. When transforming from his normal height to that three-meter height, he was in a completely different state. In the latter, he was vastly stronger.
The Captain seemed pleased to see Xu Qing back at his normal height. Earlier, when he realized Xu Qing had become larger, he had very nearly released one of the seals inside of himself so he could do something similar.
However, right then, intense rumbling sounds filled the dome of heaven. As the rifts above shattered and fell, a white net appeared overhead. Upon looking closely, it was possible to see that above the net were quite a few cultivators from the army. They were unleashing the net, which was now spreading out across the sky.
Meanwhile, the fourth wave of cultivators was already coming through the entrance.
From a distance, it was possible to see that Seventh Prince wasn’t leading the way. Instead, the group was being led by the three commanders-in-chief from the three palaces. Behind them were masses of imperial cultivators, who quickly spread out to purge the mutagen, or worked on repairing the shattered sky. By working on both fronts, they were attempting to quickly stabilize the area. Apparently, that was why they had taken a bit of time before entering.
At the same time, Xu Qing and the Captain both felt their command swords vibrating. An order had come in, requiring all cultivators from the first three waves to leave within two hours. After that, Forbidden by the Immortal would be converted into a special region that could not be entered without special orders. What was more, anyone who didn’t leave in the required time would be considered an interloper.
“If Master was right,” the Captain said, “then Seventh Prince must have accomplished his mission here. Now, he considers all of this to be his personal reward.” A crazy look suddenly appeared in his eyes. “You leave, little Junior Brother. I’m going to wait around just a bit longer.”
Xu Qing eyed the Captain. Noting the crazy look in his eyes, and also knowing his Eldest Brother, he didn’t bother trying to persuade him to leave. That said, the risks of staying outweighed the benefits for Xu Qing. After all, with Seventh Prince in charge of everything, and if something went really wrong in Forbidden by the Immortal, it would be hard to make an escape.
After a moment of thought, Xu Qing nodded. “Alright. In that case, I’ll leave now. Master already got the best loot, and he’s probably outside waiting for us. I’ll go work to make sure we get our fair share from the old man. Don’t worry at all, Eldest Brother. You just have fun.”
With that, Xu Qing turned to leave.
Stunned, the Captain ran over to Xu Qing’s side.
Xu Qing looked at him in surprise. “Eldest Brother, I’m heading back to the camp. What are you doing?”
The Captain laughed heartily and threw his arm around Xu Qing’s shoulders. “I changed my mind! The old man is ruthless to the core. I’m worried that you might not know how to deal with him. Ah, whatever. For your sake, little Junior Brother, I’m going to forget about the other treasures up for grabs here!”
“Oh,” Xu Qing replied, looking the Captain up and down.
The Captain blinked a few times very sincerely, then urged Xu Qing to hurry up and get moving. Thus, the two of them raced along, making sure to keep their concealments in place all the way until they reached the safe zone.
The magical devices in the safe zone purged mutagen. However, the mutagen levels were so high that it was possible to see occasional gory remains of cultivators who had mutated and died in the process. After the fight between Crimson Mother and the local god, the surviving cultivators were all dealing with various degrees of mutagen. For now, all they could do was suppress it and wait until they were outside to take steps to purge it. Quite a few people were already flying up to the exit.
Xu Qing scanned the crowd, and though he saw a few familiar faces, he didn’t spot Qing Qiu or Kong Xianglong. Therefore, he took out his command sword and sent messages to them inquiring how they were.
He soon learned that Qing Qiu had left as soon as the initial seven days were up, whereas Kong Xianglong only just now left.
Upon getting Xu Qing’s message, Kong Xianglong said he would wait outside to meet up. Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief knowing that both of them were fine. Because of the situation with his Master, he hadn’t been able to tell anyone what was really going on. He’d been forced to just follow his Master’s lead. Besides, if they had gone with him, they would have been in a lot more danger. Considering how busy Xu Qing had been, he hadn’t been able to check in with them. Thankfully, he’d managed to let them know ahead of time that something dramatic was going to happen, and that they needed to be careful.
Clearly, Qing Qiu had taken the words to heart. And though Kong Xianglong hadn’t left early, he’d been able to keep himself safe.
Xu Qing and the Captain exchanged a glance, then their eyes shone with determination as they shot up into the sky. As they rose higher and higher, Forbidden by the Immortal became smaller and smaller beneath them. Far off in the distance, Xu Qing could see the scars left behind by Crimson Mother’s massive hand. He also saw the gigantic ravine that had once housed a sleeping god. The palm print was very clear, and the terrifying mightiness that pulsed from it gave a clue as to how powerful Crimson Mother was. Xu Qing felt lingering fear just looking at it.
“Crimson Mother will sleep after eating,” the Captain said, “but will be even more terrifying after awakening. I just wonder how the emperor plans to deal with things after that.”
Xu Qing had been wondering the same thing, and didn’t have any answers. With that, the two of them flew through the gigantic bottleneck. Leaving Forbidden by the Immortal, they reached the depths of the old Corrections Division, and the crumbled spell formation there. Along the way, they had passed the web formed by dozens of spell formations, which was designed to isolate the mutagen.
Looking up, beyond the pit that was the old Corrections Division, they saw that the sky was dark. It was night time.
About a dozen breaths of time passed, after which they flew out of the old Corrections Division. They were met by a refreshing breeze that lifted their hair and caused their garments to ripple. Compared to the sealed world of Forbidden by the Immortal, the outside was a much more welcoming place.
The moon in the sky was not red. That alone caused Xu Qing and the Captain to subconsciously breathe sighs of relief.
One thing they noticed right away was that the old army camp was gone. There had been millions upon millions of troops in that army, so they hadn’t all gone into Forbidden by the Immortal. Based on what Xu Qing had estimated, it didn’t seem that more than a million imperial troops had gone in.
As Xu Qing took that in, he spotted Kong Xianglong, seated cross-legged nearby, waiting. Upon noticing Xu Qing, he stood and flew over. His mutagen levels didn’t seem to be very high, so he had obviously used various methods to purge himself after leaving. Noticing Xu Qing looking in the direction of where the army camp used to be, Kong Xianglong offered a quick explanation.
“They left. Five days ago, from what I heard. They used the county teleportation portal to go back to the front lines. I only found out after I left earlier. My guess is that something big is happening on the battlefield.... About an hour ago, Seventh Prince also teleported away. This time, he didn’t conscript any Sea-Sealing County cultivators.”
Xu Qing thought back to his Master’s speculation that everything was part of the emperor’s plan related to the war. And now, right after the Crimson Mother plan wrapped up, the army suddenly left for the front lines?
“There’s definitely something big going on!” Xu Qing took a deep breath and looked at the Captain. The Captain was looking back at him. Both of them were speculating about the same thing. And that was... that humankind was going to announce that it had a domain treasure.
“All fogs of confusion will soon be lifted,” the Captain said. “We’ll know the truth in short order.”
Kong Xianglong sighed. “Xu Qing, I feel like there are a lot of things going on that we have no clue about. If you figure anything out, don’t forget to give me a heads up.”
With that, Kong Xianglong took out two medicinal pill bottles which he offered to Xu Qing and the Captain.
“These are pallid boluses. Although a lot of preparations were made before opening Forbidden by the Immortal, there was still a lot of mutagen released. Since so many people are coming back with high mutagen levels, pallid boluses have sold out just about everywhere. They’re basically impossible to buy. Those are some of the stockpiles I built up earlier. Take them.”
Chuckling, the Captain took a bottle, opened it, dumped out two pallid boluses, and consumed them.
The process caused a medicinal aroma to spread out, clearing the area of mutagen.
When Xu Qing smelled that aroma, it seemed familiar, as if there were some other fragrance in addition to the normal smell of the medicine. It was very faint, and gave him a vague sense of déjà vu. Reaching out, he took the other bottle.
Pallid boluses were an improved version of white boluses, which the lieutenant governor had created years ago. They were twice as effective as white boluses, and were considered a blessing for humankind, especially Sea-Sealing County. Unfortunately, some of the main ingredients were very difficult to produce, and thus, the supply had always been limited to the county capital. Despite that, many people had benefited from them, especially since they were actually cheaper than white boluses. As a result, many mortals could consume them.
Although Xu Qing didn’t need pills like that, there were some secrets he wanted to keep as tightly as possible, which was why he accepted the bottle. Next, he conveyed some of his Master’s speculations to Kong Xianglong.
There were many finer details he had to hold back, but he was able to give Kong Xianglong a general idea. Upon hearing the theories, Kong Xianglong shivered and then struggled to control his breathing. His eyes were already bloodshot, and his hands kept clenching and unclenching. Clearly he was thinking about Palace Lord Kong’s death. Eventually, he opened his mouth to speak, only to close it again.
Finally, his hands settled into fists and he said, “I just hope we humans come out victorious!”
Looking bleak, he gave a farewell wave of the hand, then turned and left. Kong Xianglong was obviously very young, but right now, he seemed like he was aging rapidly.
The Captain watched him leave and softly said, “Kong Xianglong really is a great person!”