Chapter 628: Nine Sons of the Dragon
Although the words ‘can revive all things’ were spoken with great apathy, they still struck Xu Qing to the core. That was especially true when the last part was added in about a price ‘that I pay.’ That added a level of tragedy that was difficult to put into words.
The Imperial Sovereign’s youngest daughter was born with a power of authority that was no blessing to her. She could use her own life force to ‘revive all things.’ It was extremely powerful, but also profoundly brutal. And it clearly had its limits.
The Heir Apparent reached out and put his hand in front of Fifth Sister. That was what he had done since she was young. And not just him. All of the other siblings had that custom. That included Princess Brightblossom.
“There’s no need,” the black-robed grandma said coolly. “I’m not going to live much longer anyway.”
The Heir Apparent frowned. Suddenly looking very majestic, he spoke in a domineering tone that he had avoided up to this point. “Even if you don’t live much longer, you still need to stay alive!”
He smacked his hands together, sending out a stream of life force from himself to Fifth Sister.
She shivered from head to toe as her aura grew clearly stronger. She looked at her older brother with a complicated expression, but held back from speaking.
After Princess Brightblossom did the same thing, Xu Qing decided he should help too, so he produced a drop of violet moon blood.
“Yours won’t be necessary,” the Heir Apparent said. He waved his hand, sending the drop of blood back to Xu Qing. After that, he flicked his sleeve, and they all disappeared along with the black-and-white door.
***
Three days later, a vortex appeared somewhere in the Greenhair Badlands. Xu Qing was inside, struggling to climb out. The weight of the sun was again making it very difficult for him to traverse the desert.
This time, Princess Brightblossom didn’t pull him out. She, along with the Heir Apparent and Fifth Sister, were up in the air, seated cross-legged in front of the huge black and white door.
Clearly, the door wasn’t going to open very easily. All three of them needed to continue drawing on their authority to make it happen. Thus, they had come to this spot, where the three Smoldering Gods all continued with their sorcery. Since none of them had interest to spare for Xu Qing at the moment, he decided to work on his cultivation.
This desert is actually the best place for me to get used to this sun. If I can figure out how to walk around normally here, then things will be much easier once we’re back in the Bitter Life Mountains.
What’s more, once I figure out walking, I should be able to start experimenting with flight! If I can figure out how to fly like normal, then I can upgrade my other nascent souls.
The fruit from that Spirit Trove expert had turned out to be a powerful tonic designed to push his cultivation base toward another breakthrough. However, the Heir Apparent had urged Xu Qing not to immediately consume the gift given to him by Princess Brightblossom.
Until his nascent souls got used to the weight of the sun, eating the fruit would be a waste. Though it would help his nascent souls to a degree, it would be squandering a good opportunity for tempering.
The process of getting used to the weight of the sun would bring out more of the latent potential in his nascent souls. The best option would be to push his nascent souls to their limit of growth, then use the fruit. Princess Brightblossom had not offered any disagreement to that suggestion. Because of that, Xu Qing was now immersed in cultivation.
Before long, another three days passed.
During that time, Xu Qing worked day and night with his nascent souls. He tapped into everything they had to offer, and when he overdrew on their stores, he would sink down into the desert. Once in the depths of the sand, he would start the cultivation process over. It became a cycle. As of today, he was able to walk on the surface of the desert and only sink down by about one third of a meter.
That’s my current limit. If I want to walk without sinking down, it’s possible, but only for about two hours. Then my nascent souls will reach their limit, and need to recover for a time before I try again.
As he was pondering whether there was another way to do this, he suddenly heard a very loud knocking sound from up above. Although this wasn’t the first time he had heard the knocking, this time it was much louder than before.
Xu Qing looked up into the dome of heaven.
The Heir Apparent and his two sisters all had their eyes open.
“Eight Sib’s just as irascible as ever,” the Heir Apparent said, frowning. He looked at Princess Brightblossom. “It’s about time.”
“It seems he’s still not fully conscious yet,” Princess Brightblossom said coolly, her face completely expressionless. “Let’s just do the same thing we used to do when we were kids. Give him a good beating.”
“That’s fine,” the Heir Apparent said. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, and he pointed at the door.
Princess Brightblossom and Fifth Sister did the same.
Upon seeing three Smoldering Gods take action, Xu Qing quickly hurried off into the distance. Given the conversation he’d overheard, he didn’t think it was a good idea to stay too close. As it turned out, he was exactly right.
After he’d run about five kilometers away, the knocking sound grew even more intense. It was as if some terrifying entity had turned the dome of heaven into a drum, and was repeatedly striking it.
The deafening sound shattered the sand and caused cracks to appear in the air. However, there was something unique about the Greenhair Badlands that was different from anything beyond its borders. For some reason, it naturally masked the fluctuations of the knocking.
Xu Qing noticed that and came to the conclusion that it must be one of the reasons the Heir Apparent had chosen this spot.
Five kilometers might be a bit too close....
The power of the violet moon erupted, causing blood to spread out in a vortex around him and giving him a huge boost to speed.
The Heir Apparent had not indicated for him to use violet moon power, but Xu Qing felt that it would be fine to use a little at this moment.
Before long, Xu Qing was about 50 kilometers away. Feeling a bit more at ease, he turned around and looked at the sky in the distance. The limits of his eyesight made it so that he couldn’t see the Heir Apparent and his sisters. But he could make out the huge door, which radiated scintillating light that shone into the sky and illuminated the surrounding lands.
The knocking grew even more urgent and more shocking. Unexpectedly, it even affected Xu Qing’s heart, causing it to pound beyond his control.
As fear crept into Xu Qing’s heart, he called on the authority provided by his violet moon power, causing the blood-colored vortex around him to fight back.
Meanwhile, as the Heir Apparent and his sisters worked, the black-and-white door emitted a piercing, grating sound as the door itself opened by a crack. Green mist rushed out from inside, as if the door had been sealed for so long that merely cracking it open allowed the energy inside to explode out.
Now the sky had a green tinge, as did the lands below. And as the mist proliferated, a burly, unclothed figure could just barely be seen inside. He threw his head back and roared. He clearly possessed stupefying power; despite how far away Xu Qing was, he could still sense it. It caused a burst of inexplicable rage to suddenly erupt in his heart. It was a fury beyond the comparison of anything else.
There didn’t seem to be any reason for the sudden surge of emotion, as if it had come out of nowhere.
It wasn’t just Xu Qing. All of the wild beasts in the desert also experienced a sudden swell of rage. Even the normally docile sandworms were suddenly viciously angry.
Everything was affected.
Thankfully, the blood vortex spinning around Xu Qing allowed him to recover quickly. As he backed up again, he realized he now knew a bit about the authority wielded by the Imperial Sovereign’s eighth son.
“Violent rage!” he murmured.
Meanwhile, a cold harrumph could be heard off in the distance.
“What the hell are you howling for?” The Heir Apparent clenched his right hand into a fist. However, he seemed worried that the blow would be too much, so in the end, he only used a single finger. Everything around him rippled and distorted, and the howling figure suddenly stopped in place and trembled underneath the sudden increase in pressure.
But then the figure looked up, his expression fierce and full of even more rage than before.
“Give me—”
The burly figure’s violent fury pulsed like massive waves, and it seemed to be building to a crescendo. However, that was when Princess Brightblossom frowned.
“Heir Apparent, you’re being too soft.”
She walked right up in front of the huge figure, reached out with her right hand, and pushed.
The massive figure spasmed. Ripples and distortions spread through him, transforming him into a ball of flesh that slammed down onto the ground below.
The ground vibrated as a huge crater appeared.
Before the ball of flesh could struggle, Princess Brightblossom threw her hands apart, causing it to be ripped in two.
A squelching sound could be heard as the two pieces separated, then sped in a circle and slammed loudly into each other. A rumbling shockwave swept out.
However, things weren’t over yet. The two parts of the ball of flesh hit each other with such force that they ripped apart again. This time, the ball turned into four pieces, which all circled around and then slammed into each other again. Next, eight pieces appeared. After that, sixteen. Then thirty-two....
Meanwhile, Princess Brightblossom just stood there, her face expressionless as she waved her hand back and forth.
The Heir Apparent stood by, chuckling softly. Fifth Sister had an uncharacteristic smile on her face, as if this scene brought back memories of good times in the past.
Xu Qing watched with divine sense. He was now getting a much better idea of Princess Brightblossom’s strength and style. Eventually, an anguished howl erupted from the ball of flesh, which had now been smashed into sixty-four pieces.
“Sis, I’m awake! Stop hitting me! I’m really awake!”
Princess Brightblossom didn’t respond with a single word. She waved her hand again, causing a hundred and twenty-eight chunks of flesh to explode out in every direction. She seemed ready to continue, but the voice once again let loose a shout.
“Big Brother! Fifth Sister! Hurry up and tell Third Sister that this is my fault! I didn’t have control before!”
In response to the terrified cry, Princess Brightblossom snorted coldly. She waved her hand again, but instead of another explosion, the one hundred and twenty-eight pieces of flesh converged and took the shape of a burly young man. He was so muscular he looked like a small mountain. The violent rage from before was gone, and instead, he seemed ingratiating.
Sounding very excited, the Imperial Sovereign’s eighth son said, “Big Brother! Third Sister! Fifth Sister! Is father awake now? Crimson Mother’s been cut down, right? Hahaha! The old man is finally free!” But after looking up into the sky and sensing his surroundings, he looked stunned. “What’s going on? Father isn’t awake? Crimson Mother is still around? Huh? And that red moon godchild too? What gall!”
The burly young man suddenly noticed Xu Qing off in the distance. Eyes filling with violent rage, he instinctively reached out with his right hand and made a grasping gesture.
Shocked, Xu Qing felt himself being locked in place. In fact, it almost felt like the air around him was going to collapse and crush him. Then he was wrenched through the air until he was right in front of the burly young man.
“That’s your eldest brother’s apprentice,” Princess Brightblossom said coolly, “a benefactor who helped us free you.”
A tremor passed through the burly young man. Suddenly moving with great tenderness, he put Xu Qing down and straightened out his clothing. Laughing heartily, he said, “Well, hello, young friend!”
His smile seemed both vicious and insane, especially when coupled with his bloodshot eyes and terrifying fluctuations. It reminded Xu Qing of the feeling he’d experienced from the god’s eye in the ghast hollow. He also felt a lot of pressure weighing down on him. [1]
“He’s been muddle-headed since he was young,” the Heir Apparent explained. “ Someone beat him so badly it damaged his brain. Don’t take offense, Xu Qing.”
He extended his right hand in the direction of the black-and-white door. It melted, flowing into his hand, where he kneaded it into a tall, gray hat. He tossed the hat to Xu Qing.
“This door started out as a gift from an Ancient Emperor to my father. A morning glory. It’s an amazing thing. Wear it, and it will help temper your soul.”
Xu Qing took it hesitantly, thought about it for a moment, then put it on his head. Rumbling sounds filled his soul, and he experienced the same feeling as when first accepting the sun. The only difference was that it affected his soul this time. Xu Qing’s vision blurred, his soul shook, and the world seemed to overlap in front of him. Even his divine sense trembled. He inhaled sharply, then gritted his teeth to try to get used to the sensation.
Meanwhile, the Heir Apparent said, “Third Sister. Eighth Sib. Baby Sister. This kid has a medicine shop near here. It’s a really cozy place. I’d like to take you there for a bit.”
1. The eye in the ghast hollow was inchapter 369 . ☜