Chapter 604: Just In Time
In the square in the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple, nine dazzling vortexes glittered like heavenly bodies, surrounding Xu Qing and emanating the might of assimilation. Suns, moons, ice, fire, lightning, thunder, and a heavenly wind all surged.
There was also the enormous figure of the treant, visible outside of the illusory secret trove created by the vortexes. He was fully 3,000 meters tall, looming over the square in terrifying fashion. A dao begetting aura was fully on display. Wild colors flashed in heaven and earth. Gale force winds screamed. A sound like heavenly thunder echoed out everywhere.
Yet the moment Xu Qing spoke, all of those things were deeply shaken by the roar of a dragon. That draconic cry resonated with the dome of heaven, causing ripples to appear in the sky that resembled fish scales. The ground started to shake violently.
The whiskers of a massive bluegreen dragon appeared from within Xu Qing, followed by the majestic head, and then the entire body. As its massive form leaped out, it began to swim through the illusory secret trove. Its bluish body, countless razor-sharp teeth, and shocking draconic fins were divinely graceful. At the same time, the aura of a heavenly dao spread out everywhere. There was a pleasing exuberance in the dragon’s cry, as if it had finally returned to the sea, its most suitable environment.
Its arrival caused the secret trove to tremble. It was as if the natural and magical laws within it were soldiers that were now in the presence of a general, and were instinctively inclined to be obedient. The sky shook as heavenly thunder boomed.
The cathedral cultivator’s face fell, and his eyes filled with unprecedented disbelief.
“A heavenly dao??”
Massive waves of shock filled him at the unimaginable sight. He had long dreamed of forming a heavenly dao, yet never had. But now he was seeing one in the hands of a Nascent Soul cultivator. What was even more shocking was that this person wasn’t from a minor world, but rather, was a native of the Revered Ancient mainland. That was absolutely ridiculous.
How can a Nascent Soul cultivator have a heavenly dao? That means that when this kid reaches the great circle, he can basically skip the dao begetting phase and go right into having a secret trove!
The cathedral cultivator was not only shocked. He was also starting to feel very uneasy, even terrified.
The secret troves of dao begetting cultivators don’t have heavenly daos. During that time, though they seem impressive, they’re actually incredibly vulnerable. After all, they can easily be occupied by someone else’s heavenly dao.... This is the perfect place to form a heavenly dao....
A tremor passed through the cathedral cultivator as he quickly performed an incantation gesture. As a result, the nine vortexes that formed his secret trove began to fade away. And instead of pulsing with the power of assimilation, they were trying to open up and eject Xu Qing and his heavenly dao.
But it was too late!
The bluegreen dragon was already here. As it cried out exultingly from within the secret trove, it started to take over all of the subservient magical and natural laws. This was like a dream come true. After all, normally speaking, a dao begetting cultivator would never, ever bring someone else’s heavenly dao into their secret trove.
Eyes glittering, Xu Qing fought back against the power of expulsion. After all, right now, he had no desire to leave.
Waving both of his hands out in front of him, he said, “Take control, bluegreen dragon!”
The moment the words left his mouth, the bluegreen dragon roared, growing larger and simultaneously sending out countless beams of light to connect to the secret trove.
The nine vortexes were the key.
Innumerable threads of light shot toward the vortexes. Though many of them collapsed as they neared, there seemed to be no end to their replacements. Considering how badly the bluegreen dragon had been injured recently, and how hungry it had been for so long, it was as crazed as a starving person at a banquet. Eyes glittering with greed, it held nothing back to start viciously devouring everything around it. As it did, its color started turning to a darker blue.
Crunching sounds rang out as the secret trove shook violently. To the cathedral cultivator, those sounds were like the sounds of its own heart being devoured. Each bite took away nourishment that he had been building up for years. What was even more painful was that the heavenfate that he had been accumulating for so long was now being wolfed down by the bluegreen dragon. As a result, the bluegreen dragon’s godly resonance grew more prominent, and its aura surged. Then it changed colors again, with bits of silver appearing on it. It wasn’t much silver, but there was enough to impart the sensation of the Spirit Trove level.
Up above, the Heir Apparent noted that, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
As for the cathedral cultivator, he was on a higher level than Xu Qing, so when he saw what was happening, his heart filled with madness.
“Devouring my secret trove might be an opportunity for you. But it’s also an opportunity for me! If I can assimilate you and take your heavenly dao, then I’ll be the one in charge of it. And that means that today... is the day my first complete secret trove will be formed!”
His illusory body shrank down, turning into nine clones that bolstered the nine vortexes. As a result, the secret trove once again surged with power. Suppressing the bluegreen dragon’s ability to devour the natural and magical laws, they once again erupted with the power of assimilation.
He had been working on this secret trove for many years, and though the bluegreen dragon did have a big advantage, the cultivation base discrepancy was too great. As of now, it had only absorbed about twenty percent of the secret trove.
Now that the cathedral cultivator was truly going all out, everything had turned around.
“Six breaths of time left,” the Heir Apparent said calmly.
As the words left his mouth, Xu Qing looked deeply at the heavenly dao bluegreen dragon. He could sense that the bluegreen dragon had only absorbed twenty percent of the secret trove. However, the heavenfate that it had taken was more than enough.
Good enough, even if I just use it for a self-detonation!
Xu Qing stowed his greed. He got the feeling that the Heir Apparent wasn’t joking around, and that if he really did go past a hundred breaths of time, he would end up in a deadly situation. Given his own personality, he didn’t want to let his own safety come down to someone else’s whim.
As the cathedral cultivator continued his assimilation efforts, the bluegreen dragon was having trouble doing any devouring. Therefore, the most important thing at the moment was to end this fight quickly.
With those thoughts on his mind, Xu Qing sent the command to the bluegreen dragon to self-detonate. The bluegreen dragon shivered and let loose a moan of disappointment. Then it shivered, and to the shock of the cathedral cultivator, it suddenly erupted with a terrifying shockwave. The shockwave grew stronger and stronger, until it was a loud rumbling sound that filled heaven and earth. And then the bluegreen dragon exploded.
A deafening boom shook everything. Miserable shrieks rang out from both the bluegreen dragon and the cathedral cultivator. Xu Qing, meanwhile, let loose a muffled grunt of pain.
It wasn’t just the bluegreen dragon that exploded. The secret trove, having already been connected to the bluegreen dragon by countless threads, was directly impacted. Instantly, six of the nine vortexes collapsed. The three that survived were now very dim. As they raced to converge, they formed the cathedral cultivator, who coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood. Eyes full of alarm, he backed away.
All that was left of the bluegreen dragon was its head. The rest of it was flying around in all directions.
However, there was a lot of silver on that head. Though it seemed very weak, it was actually stronger than before. Howling in grief, it became a silver streak that shot back into Xu Qing.
Xu Qing was also badly hurt. Whether it was the injuries from fighting or the effects of the assimilation, he was in bad shape. What was more, the bluegreen dragon was his life essence, so self-detonating it would obviously result in a backlash. Blood dribbled out of the corners of his mouth. He had numerous wounds all over him. Yet even as he staggered backward, he released all of his taboo poison and sent it shooting toward the cathedral cultivator.
Then he lunged forward and slashed his dagger out. A head flew through the air!
That sudden burst of movement caused more blood to spray out of Xu Qing’s mouth. He was currently gasping for breath, and could barely see. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at the Heir Apparent. Voice hoarse, he said, “Just in time!”
The moment words left his mouth, the perception-altering power that had been covering the church temple vanished. Everything went back to normal. Everyone turned to look at the square. Nothing was there.
The dead dao begetting cultivator was gone. Xu Qing was nowhere to be seen. Only the ripples in the air and the wrecked ground bore any evidence that something had happened recently. However, in the memories of everyone present, the ground had always been cracked and crumbled. And none of them paid much attention to the ripples. Things in the church temple were the same as usual.
High in the sky over the church temple, the Heir Apparent hovered with hands clasped behind his back. Xu Qing was next to him, trembling and working hard not to pass out as the shadow and Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior supported him on either side.
“You revealed many weaknesses in that fight,” the Heir Apparent said calmly.
Xu Qing didn’t respond.
“In Spirit Trove, having a secret trove and not having one is similar to having or not having the profound radiance state in Foundation Establishment. Therefore, you should now understand that if you fought an actual Spirit Trove enemy, you would be killed with a single blow. That said, you did finish it in a hundred breaths of time, even though you ended up seriously hurt.
“Your first weakness is your lack of battle experience against dao begetting cultivators. You still don’t understand how to fight against people with natural and magical laws on their side. What was more, your opponent’s laws weren’t very impressive. They were even simplistic.
“Your second weakness is all the random assets you use all the time. You haven’t unified them to create a true trump card for yourself.
“Your third weakness is that you haven’t taken the time to truly explore what you’re capable of with those powers of yours. Long story short, your methods are too one-note.
“You do have some combinations, but they’re not good enough. And you don’t have any divine abilities that you can use to truly threaten someone in a higher level than yourself. I can tell that you have experience fighting people stronger than you. But the reality is that you didn’t ‘use weakness to defeat strength’ in this fight. You won by going all out. That’s not the way to do things.”
The Heir Apparent looked at the teetering Xu Qing and waved his hand. Everything blurred, and then they reappeared outside the Green Spirit Pharmacy.
Eyes glittering with anticipation, he softly said, “When you can truly ‘use weakness to defeat strength,’ then you’ll be up to standard.”
Expression tranquil, he entered the medicine shop.
Xu Qing followed, but after stepping inside, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and finally lost control, toppling over unconscious. Just before everything went black, he heard Ling’er cry out in alarm, and heard the parrot complaining.
“Grandpa! Grandpa! You’re finally back! When I was out playing recently I ran into some mysterious cultivators! They ripped out all the feathers I’d just regrown....”