Chapter 595: An Old Grandpa in a Sun
A massive burning metal sphere currently hovered in the air above the Yin Sacrifice River, emanating terrifying pressure along with loud crunching sounds that resembled the grinding of teeth. It had turned bright red, and its surface was so hot it was starting to melt. Fluctuations of instability rolled wildly off it, such that anyone who looked at it would feel indescribable terror. The pulsations of the ancient sun caused countless grains of red sand to rise into the air. It was the same with the river, as innumerable droplets of blood-red water floated upward.
Everyone on the river bank was so astonished they felt like they were being struck with 1,000,000 bolts of lightning.
“What’s going on?” Li Youfei said.
“Dammit, I knew this would happen!” Wu Jianwu blurted.
“Every time Chen Erniu does anything, bad things go down!” Ning Yan snapped. “Does he really have a death wish? I can’t believe I trusted all of his goddamn nonsense again!!”
Wu Jianwu and Ning Yan were both deathly pale in the face as feelings of deadly crisis exploded within them. Both of them were trembling visibly. Ning Yan was the first to turn his shock into action. Screaming, he turned and ran. As he fled, he tried to pull the vine all the way back underneath his garment.
Wu Jianwu’s cultivation base wasn’t high enough, and he was also slower, so as the vine swept past him, he grabbed onto it and used it to flee.
Li Youfei also reacted quickly. This was his first time accompanying Xu Qing, so he wasn’t prepared. But as his spine tingled, and he saw the terrifying fluctuations of self-detonation coming off the sun, he instinctively fled.
All three of them wished they could teleport away, but the Captain’s warding spells had the place locked down. Besides, the fluctuations coming off of the sun had thrown the surrounding space into chaos, making teleportions impossible. The parrot might have been able to, except... his feathers still hadn’t grown out yet.
“We’re finished! Finished! I can’t believe I’m going to die! This is so messed up!” Furious, the parrot bit down onto Ning Yan’s vine. “The biggest mistake in my entire life was going to the Bitter Life Mountains....”
It didn’t matter how quickly everyone fled, they couldn’t flee far enough.
Seeing what was happening, Xu Qing sighed. This was exactly what he had thought would probably happen. Whenever the Captain did something big, things like this went down. However, he didn’t flee in the same direction as Ning Yan and the others. Instead, he turned toward the Yin Sacrifice River. It seemed like a much better choice to rely on the power of the river to stay safe, rather than flee out into the wide open.
As he burst into motion, he shouted some advice to Ning Yan and the others.
“Get in the river!”
Hearing that, Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu changed directions. Li Youfei was surprised, but after thinking about his own special abilities, he gritted his teeth and did the same.
Meanwhile, the Captain was just staring at the sun up above, completely dumbfounded. Sensing the fluctuations coming off of it, he turned to the fleeing Xu Qing.
“There’s no way! I planned everything. Things can’t go wrong. This really was just a small job....”
As Xu Qing reached the water, he looked at the Captain. “You call this a small job?”
“Yeah, it’s really a small job! Dragging some things up and lighting them on fire!” The Captain’s heart was in chaos. This really went beyond anything he could have predicted. As he had said, he really did prepare for a long time for this job. “How could dragging up a sun lead to this? It’s not a god or something! Logically speaking, this shouldn’t be happening.”
The Captain felt both humiliated and hurt that something was going on with the sun. This didn’t conform to his plan at all, and it seemed he wouldn’t be able to take the sun away.
“I’m going to go take a closer look, little Ah Qing. Maybe I can repair—”
All of a sudden, the ancient sun’s aura erupted again, sending out terrifying fluctuations. The sand was no longer rising up into the air. Instead, the high levels of heat were causing everything to melt. The nearby water was steaming as the aura of self-detonation grew more intense. The massive detonation of a sun like this would release indescribable force. But one thing was for sure; everything in the area would definitely be incinerated.
As a result, the Captain gave up on his idea of repairing the sun. Xu Qing took a deep breath, and as the sense of deadly crisis built within him, he backed up into the water.
But then, the sun floating above suddenly dropped down. Wild colors flashed in heaven and earth as intense heat rippled out, and pressure weighed down everywhere. Most terrifying of all was that the sun wasn’t just moving straight down. It was actually going in the direction of Xu Qing and the Captain.
Xu Qing could only watch as the massive sun drew near. As it did, the Yin Sacrifice River near Xu Qing and the Captain solidified.
It wouldn’t permit them to enter!
Xu Qing’s face fell, and he prepared to change directions. But then a massive amount of pressure wrapped him up. In the blink of an eye he was shaken to find that he couldn’t move at all. It wasn’t just him. It was the same with the water and the land. Ning Yan and the others had stopped moving, and were locked in place.
“What is this?” the Captain moaned. “Is this thing intelligent or something?”
Xu Qing’s scalp tingled. Everyone else felt like their astonishment had turned into tempests of death in their mind.
Meanwhile, as the sun neared, it shrank. As everyone trembled, it unexpectedly shrank down to roughly the size of a fist. And then someone seemed to step out of thin air and grab it.
He was an extremely handsome man in a brown robe, with long, flowing hair that turned into deceased souls. He had blue eyes, almost like gemstones, which gave him an extremely noble air. When he appeared, everything above and below went still. The wind stopped blowing. The fire stopped burning. Even the waters of the Yin Sacrifice River became as tranquil as a painting. All creation calmed down because of the presence of this person. The only thing left behind was the boundless terror in the hearts of everyone present.
Ning Yan was terrified. Wu Jianwu was shaking. Both of them recognized this person....
Li Youfei seemed to be the closest to a complete breakdown. Ever since he had started following Xu Qing around, the things he experienced surpassed anything he could have imagined. What he had gone through in the past several months went far beyond anything he had experienced before in his entire life. Although he had no idea who this newcomer was, it couldn’t have been more shocking to see him take a sun that was about to explode and fiddle with it in his hand.
The Captain, meanwhile, looked on with pupils constricted, his heart battered by waves of shock and astonishment.
How could there be a person inside my sun.... Just what the heck did I drag up? And why does this person... seem so familiar?
The Captain was trembling.
Also trembling was Xu Qing. As he looked at the person holding the sun, he felt blank inside. Never could he possibly have imagined that the Captain’s ‘small job’ of dragging up some suns would also involve dragging up the Heir Apparent of an Imperial Sovereign!
Then Xu Qing thought back to the scene at the bottom of the river when they found the metal sphere. The Heir Apparent must have been inside at the time. Thinking back to the stories he’d heard about the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom fighting the godchild of the Red Moon Cathedral, he could only guess that the Heir Apparent must have gone into hiding in this sun while he recovered.
It was true that a sun would make a great hiding place. After all, this ancient sun originated in the time of the Imperial Sovereign, so the Heir Apparent would naturally know a lot about it. And though the Yin Sacrifice River was a dangerous place, with Crimson Mother sleeping, it was actually very safe.
Normally speaking, it would have been virtually impossible for anyone to find him. That is... except for the Captain, whose entire plan had been to drag that sun to the surface.
Looking very calm, the Heir Apparent approached Xu Qing and the Captain. Looking down at them, he asked, “How did you find me? And why did you try to light my hiding spot on fire?”
With that, he waved his hand, dispelling the restraining power that held them in place. Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu flopped onto the ground, as did Li Youfei. All of them were shaking uncontrollably. The terrified parrot scrambled to hide in his father’s sleeve. The Heir Apparent’s gaze and aura contained unimaginable pressure that filled the area.
Trembling, the Captain tried to be dismissive and fawning at the same time. “Senior, it was just a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding.... Our bad. So, we’ll take off now. No need to pay any further attention to us, venerable sir. Er... maybe you should go back and rest some more?”
As he spoke, the Captain slowly backed up.
The Heir Apparent looked at him calmly.
The Captain plopped to the ground, a geyser of blood spraying out of his mouth.
The Heir Apparent looked at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing eyed the Captain coughing up blood. Looking very respectful, he clasped hands and bowed to the Heir Apparent. Being just as courteous as he had been in the past, he said, “We had no idea you were in there, Senior. We’re here to work on the mission our Master gave us to locate three suns.”
The Heir Apparent looked at Xu Qing and smiled mysteriously. Forgoing any further questions on the subject, he looked off into the distance.
“He’ll be here soon. We should leave. Young friends, where did you plan to take these suns after you dragged them up?”
Xu Qing hesitated, but in the end, didn’t dare to hide the truth. “The Bitter Life Mountains.”
“The Bitter Life Mountains?” The Heir Apparent thought for a moment, then smiled. All of a sudden, his appearance changed as he transformed into a kindly old grandpa. Retracting all of the pressure and every last fluctuation, he clasped his hands behind his back, making him look very much like a random mortal shopkeeper.
“I was planning to go in that direction myself,” he said, starting to walk. “Let’s go together. On the way, I’ll explain some secret information about the Red Moon Cathedral that relates to you.”
Ning Yan and the others looked on, flabbergasted. For some reason, their attention was focused on Xu Qing. As for the Captain, he stopped coughing up blood, crawled to his feet, and also looked in shock at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing wasn’t completely sure of what to do, but after a moment, he gritted his teeth and hurried after the Heir Apparent.
The others quickly followed. Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu exchanged a glance. Both of them felt weak in the knees, and could see the astonishment in each other’s eyes.
A living Smoldering God....
That was what both of them were thinking. As for the Captain, he quickly composed himself and then rushed to the Heir Apparent’s side. Acting very much like a servant, he took out a fan and started gently waving it in the Heir Apparent’s direction.
“Grandpa, you look hot. Allow me to cool you down, sir. Grandpa, are you tired? Big Jianjian, call your precious bear out immediately for the grandpa to ride!”
Everyone trembled as they proceeded along. Only Xu Qing looked the same as usual. However, in his heart, he was trying to figure out what was going on.
I guess we’re going back to the Green Spirit Pharmacy?
***
About two hours after they left, everything blurred and rippled as an enormous figure appeared.
It was impossible to make out any details about this newcomer. He wore a voluminous red cloak that spread out in all directions and caused everything to turn the color of blood.
Godly might that surpassed Void Returning filled heaven and earth, causing countless natural and magical laws to manifest. It was even possible to see projections of suns, moons, stars, and other heavenly bodies. Everything blurred as the power of the red moon spread out. The figure waved a hand, and time flowed in the opposite direction in the area.
Countless illusory shards formed together, as if to reveal what had played out in the area earlier. However, just as the shards were connecting, but before they could form a stable image, they started vibrating. A moment later, they shattered and dispersed.
The figure looked at the Yin Sacrifice River, and the waters seethed.
“Come to me, river spirits,” he said, his deep voice echoing over the water.
In the blink of an eye, a host of river spirits appeared. All of them bowed deeply to the cloaked figure.
“Well met, Pontiff.”
“What happened here?” the enormous figure asked coolly.
The river spirits looked around, confused and shaking their heads. They had no idea what happened.
“Altered perceptions....” The huge figure looked off into the distance, then turned and faded into nothing. However, his voice continued to echo even after he’d left. “So, you were hiding here, Heir Apparent.... Now that you’re on the move, where are you going?”