Chapter 625: Yesterday’s Youth, A Thing of the Past
“Fell down again, huh?” the Heir Apparent said coolly from the side of the pit.
Xu Qing didn’t reply. Looking around, he saw that he was in an empty mansion grotto. The place had long since been abandoned. There were mansion grottoes like this throughout the Bitter Life Mountains. Most were places that cultivators had hewn out over the years as places of refuge. Looking at the mountains from a distance, you would never notice them. But because Xu Qing was so heavy, it was easy for him to break through the ceilings of such places.
“There are a lot of caves like this in these mountains. It looks like you’re going to be doing plenty of climbing on this journey.”
When the Heir Apparent looked at Xu Qing, he seemed very relaxed. It was almost as if seeing Xu Qing in this bedraggled state was somehow comforting to him. The truth was that it reminded him of his own childhood, when his father would have him walk around with a sun tied at his waist.
He just needs that hat.
The only difference was that when he was a kid, he would have the sun at his waist and a special hat to add weight to his soul. Seeing Xu Qing without such a hat left him sighing inside.
Xu Qing looked up at the Heir Apparent for a moment, then used his violet moon power and the strength of his other nascent souls to bear the weight of the sun. Bit by bit, he climbed back out into the open. Xu Qing felt like he was expending every bit of effort possible to ascend skyward. But because of the power of the sun, the weight he bore was so incredible that he could barely stand up straight. Xu Qing was not unfamiliar with situations like that.
Back when he was in the Corrections Division in Sea-Sealing County, he had experienced something similar. The only difference was that he had been dealing with the pressure of a minor world. [1]
One might think that something called a ‘minor world’ would actually weigh more than the little metal sphere. But Xu Qing was now personally coming to realize that it was the exact opposite.
It made him think about what the Captain had told him about the history of this sun. It was the first artificial sun created in the Moonrite Region, in the era when the Imperial Sovereign ruled the place. Countless years had passed since then, and there were no records indicating who created it originally.
The Heir Apparent watched as Xu Qing finally dragged himself out of the ground, then said, “Take advantage of the pressure of that thing. It was a toy given to me by an Ancient Emperor of the time.”
Xu Qing glanced down at the metal sphere at his waist. “Senior, other than weight and pressure, what else can it do?”
The Heir Apparent stood and started walking away. “Back then, when it was just a heavenly body, it had other powers. It could tap into the power of the immortal net that covered the Revered Ancient mainland, and use it to unleash heaven-destroying, earth-extinguishing power. But nowadays...? After the Ancient Emperors left, the immortal net collapsed, and it became a lot weaker.”
His voice thrummed with reminiscence and ancient time. Xu Qing started following, one booming step after another. The wind blew as they walked off into the distance, carrying their voices and surrounding them.
“Senior, someone told me that the places the Ancient Emperors went off to are called holy lands?”
“Do the hiding spots of cowards deserve to be called holy? The Ancient Emperors... got old. And when you get old, you cling to life.”
“Oh. In that case, where did the cowards go?”
“Hahaha! Every year on the twelfth day of the sixth month of the human calendar, look into the sky toward the north. You’ll notice an unusual star there. That’s where you’ll find one of the coward lands, the one closest to Revered Ancient.”
“How many coward lands are there?”
“In the year they departed, there were as many of them as there were Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns who left. Including the ones from all of the countless species that existed, there were probably over a hundred. The Ancient Emperors even offered one to my father, but he refused to accept it.”
As the night deepened, booming sounds rang out, and the conversation continued between the old man and the young one.
Eventually, dawn arrived.
The red moon continued to cast its light over the horizon. It felt like the countdown to death. However, at least there was some light in the canopy of heaven over the Moonrite Region. The only downside was that it was blood-colored light. When the magical light sources that were used during the day in the Bitter Life Mountains were lit, they now were tinged with red.
Within that faint light, it was possible to see that there was a very unique mountain at the far end of the mountain range. It was roughly the same height as all the other mountains, and was connected to them as well. However, upon nearing, Xu Qing came to realize that it actually wasn’t a mountain. It was a gigantic, petrified tree. Everything beneath the crown of the tree was buried in the desert sands. As for the crown itself, it had been filled in with so much sand and rock that it looked like a mountain.
Looking at the gigantic tree which was now a mountain, the Heir Apparent said, “It’s a joytravel tree, and is actually an ancient mutant beast. There are a lot of trees like this in this region, but most people don’t notice them. And fewer people know that this specific tree was actually planted by my third sister. I was with her to bear witness to that. But now... everything and everyone from that time are gone. And the tree has been dead for years.”
Xu Qing looked at the distant tree and noticed some cultivators in red robes flying around it in circles. They almost looked like flies. Most were Nascent Soul cultivators, with only one in dao begetting, and one in full Spirit Trove. They were obviously from the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple in the Bitter Life Mountains.
“There was a Void Returning godherald, but my third sister most likely ate him already. The others are here for you to test out your authority. I hope that you can have them taken care of before my third sister and I come out.”
The Heir Apparent blurred, then vanished.
Xu Qing looked at the metal sphere at his waist, then closed his eyes. Circulating the power of the violet moon, he forced numerous droplets of blood out of his skin, until they were swirling around him in a blood-colored vortex. As the vortex spun, it surrounded him, eventually turning into an expanding blood-colored lake that started moving forward.
Wherever it passed, boulders would shatter, and trees would be stained red. The blood lake emanated something gruish and inauspicious in all directions. It was shocking and ghastly, and immediately attracted the attention of the cathedral cultivators.
“What is that thing?!”
All of them began to tremble to varying degrees. It was an instinctual reaction that came from their life force, and also the source of their faith. What was more, it affected their own internal blood flow.
Their blood... went out of control! It was as if their blood had a will of its own and wanted to break free. If their hearts wanted to stop that blood, their hearts would be shattered. If their flesh wanted to stop it, their flesh would be shredded. If their souls wanted to stop it, their souls would be eradicated.
It was as if, at this moment, Xu Qing couldn’t be looked at directly!
Therefore, the moment that the group of cathedral cultivators looked at him, the roughly dozen Nascent Soul experts let loose bloodcurdling screams. Then, popping sounds rang out as cracks spread out over their bodies, out of which sprayed masses of blood. That blood almost seemed to be cheering as it shot toward the blood-colored lake.
The cathedral cultivators instinctively started backing up and trying to take back control of their blood. Such efforts failed, and their bodies continued cracking apart. From a distance, it looked like the sky was filled with blood-colored flower petals.
Among those cultivators was an old man in the dao begetting phase. His face was a mask of astonishment as he felt himself trembling, and the blood inside him going crazy.
The middle-aged godservant with a fully formed secret trove had a look of unprecedented seriousness on his face.
As they backed up, the blood-colored lake rose up into the air. Rumbling sounds echoed out as it then flew forward. Every drop of blood in the lake had Xu Qing’s face in it. And those countless faces formed a much larger face that looked around apathetically. At the same time, a god trove appeared.
It immediately crushed the cathedral cultivators.
Howls of anguish rang out as the Nascent Soul cultivators completely failed to prevent their blood from spraying out. Seemingly endless volumes of blood flowed out of their eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and pores. Once outside of them, the blood turned into sharp blades.
Those countless blades then turned on the dao begetting old man and the middle-aged Spirit Trove cultivator. The two of them looked around with numb terror. Both of them attempted to flee.
Unfortunately, there was a massive difference between dao begetting and Spirit Trove. The Spirit Trove cultivator summoned his secret trove, which expanded outward. His heavenly dao roared, altering the magical laws around him. Then he tried to break free.
Deafening booms rang out as the Spirit Trove cultivator managed to smash through the blades.
The dao begetting old man was too slow. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded. He fought viciously, and summoned his illusory secret trove. But it did no good. The sea of blood around him became a rapidly spinning vortex that sucked him inside. Terrified, the old man performed incantation gesture after incantation gesture, and even used magical devices. Nothing worked! The boundless and unfathomable blood sea swept over him. Then the blood burrowed into him, provoking a miserable scream to erupt from his mouth. From a distance, it was an appalling sight!
A moment later, the sea of blood vanished, having completely burrowed into the old man. He shivered, and his eyes shone with despair. Apparently, his body couldn’t contain all of that, as he exploded a moment later.
The blood rushed back out into the open, turning into the apathetic face of Xu Qing. The face turned to look at the Spirit Trove cultivator.
This is probably going to be a tough fight. I wonder how I match up to a cultivator with a full secret trove. I guess I’m going to find out!
Xu Qing’s mind and heart thrummed with the desire to do battle. As the sea of blood spread out and his god trove pulsed with destructive power, he raced toward the Spirit Trove enemy.
***
Inside the joytravel tree, two pairs of eyes were looking outside. They were currently in a massive cave temple. Numerous roots spread out into the cave, where they clumped together in midair to form a cocoon. Dazzling light shone out through the many cracks on the surface of the cocoon, painting the entire area in bright color.
The Heir Apparent stood next to the shining cocoon. Smiling, he said, “Third Sister, you saw a lot of chosen throughout the years. What do you think about this quasi-apprentice of mine?”
“He’s your apprentice?” a cold voice replied from within the cocoon. “Did he agree to actually address you as Master? Given how old you are, why are you still going around trying to steal other people’s apprentices? Are you that shameless?”
There were very few people who qualified to speak to the Heir Apparent like that, but one of them was his third sister. The Heir Apparent wasn’t taken aback by her words. She was his big sister, so she was supposed to be cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
“Well, I’ve taught him a thing or two already. And I helped him a lot. In order to help improve his cultivation base, I even gave him a little gift.” The Heir Apparent continued to smile approvingly as he watched Xu Qing fighting.
“You call that a gift?” the cold voice said. A moment later, the shining cocoon exploded, and a figure emerged. That figure immediately left the mountain, appearing in midair just in front of the Spirit Trove cultivator Xu Qing was pursuing.
The Spirit Trove cultivator didn’t even have time to react when a delicate and beautiful finger suddenly appeared and touched his forehead. Rumbling sounds rang out and a tremor passed through the Spirit Trove cultivator. Then he transformed into a tree, which rapidly grew taller until it produced a fruit.
Xu Qing in his sea-of-blood form stopped. Then he formed back into his normal shape, and he looked hesitantly at the woman in front of him.
She had a face so beautiful it could topple kingdoms, but within that graceful elegance was a radiant, heroic spirit. Her cheeks were as rosy as the sunset, and her hair was bound into a simple bun adorned with a few glistening pearls. Those pearls, despite their beauty, couldn’t compare to her sparkling eyes. They glimmered like stars, were as azure blue as the sky, and seemed capable of captivating generation after generation of admirers. It was no exaggeration to say that her physical appearance was like that of flowers blooming in spring, while her spirit was like the autumn frost on the leaves of a tree.
She reached out her fair hand to pluck the fruit off the Spirit Trove tree. With a glance at the Heir Apparent, who had followed her out, she handed the fruit to Xu Qing.
“Now this is a gift,” she said. “I was in a bit of a rush last time, sweetie, so I didn’t have anything ready. This time, allow me to give you this gift to mark our meeting.”
1. Xu Qing first felt the ‘weight’ of the Corrections Division’s minor world inchapter 429 -431 . He started to train in that environment in chapter in434 , and that process went on for a while. ☜