Chapter 823: He’s Mine
The scarecrow’s experiences over the past few years had left her feeling like D-132 was nothing short of a paradise. Life there was carefree and without worries. If you died, it wasn’t a big deal, as you would come back to life. There were people to talk to there, plus, all the inmates got to work together to pull off a mystifying scam. Granted, it involved sleeping next to a god’s finger, but that thing spent most of īts own time sleeping anyway. What was more, there were always jailers coming and going that they could mess around with. Although she had occasionally thirsted for freedom, after that freedom arrived, it didn’t bring the happiness she had hoped for.
Living in the outside world was pure bitterness, and once people figured out her undying characteristics, they always came up with plenty of ways to toy with her. It was almost too horrible to endure. By now, those special characteristics were fading away. She couldn’t recover her lost limbs, and at best, could just hold on a bit longer until she, as well as the millstone, who wasn’t in much better shape, would just naturally die.
Given the rate of things, it seemed like it would only be a few dozen years until her undying characteristics were gone. When that happened, she would ultimately collapse into ashes. She was simply waiting. Waiting to die.
Thus, her eyes had long turned listless. Never in her wildest dreams could she have guessed that here in the interior of Firemoon Darkheaven territory, she would actually sense Xu Qing’s aura! It seemed unbelievable. After all... they were ridiculously far away from Sea-Sealing County.
Thus, she gaped, and then started to get excited. Using her one remaining arm, she reached over and patted the millstone. Sadly, the millstone didn’t budge.
However, her movement attracted the attention of the vendor who managed the stall. His head resembled a human cultivator, except his body was covered with white scales. What was more, he had three eyes. The center most eye was pure white, as if it were staring into a void. Astonishingly, he had a small mountain orbiting above his head. Clearly, he was participating in the Great Hunt. When he saw Xu Qing, and noticed the mountain orbiting his head, he sized him up, his eyes glittering mysteriously.
“Human? You don’t see many of your kind in Firemoon territory.”
Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever. He recognized what species this cultivator was.
Whitemarsh .
Xu Qing didn’t have a very good impression of this species. They had recently teamed up with the Nightshades in the Nightspirit Region to fight against humankind.
Forgoing any conversation, Xu Qing walked up to the scarecrow. “How much for this?”
The Whitemarsh cultivator grinned. He made a grasping motion, and the scarecrow flew over into his scaled hand. He squeezed hard, and the scarecrow let loose an agonized shriek.
“This thing has a very low level, but at the same time, is very interesting. It contains some of the characteristics of a god. It also has an undying will, which is worthy of study. What’s more, it has a soul sealed inside. A human soul. Specifically, it’s the soul of a very good-looking female cultivator. I played around to my heart’s content already, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s very valuable.”
The Whitemarsh cultivator looked at Xu Qing. Noting his facial expression, he laughed. “What, is she your friend or something? How about this? Give me that forbidden mountain of yours, and you can have her. That half of a millstone has the same origin as the scarecrow. Sadly, it’s about to fade away into nothing. If you want, I can throw it in for free.”
The Whitemarsh’s words were noticed by some of the surrounding cultivators. Many of them looked over and started whispering sarcastically among themselves.
Xu Qing had noticed some malicious gazes since he arrived in the darkmoon ward, but more than that, people seemed derisive. Because of the decline of humankind, there were powerful species who, though they didn’t dare to view humans as scum, still didn’t think very much of them. Whether it was bullying them or killing them, either were on the table.
That said, the forbidden mountain orbiting above Xu Qing’s head identified him as a participant in the Great Hunt. Because of that, most people would take him a bit more seriously. Although the rules of the Great Hunt allowed for fighting and killing among participants, that was only for people who qualified to participate. Others weren’t allowed to make any moves on participants.
Xu Qing’s facial expression remained calm despite the sarcastic whispers and derisive gazes. In the end, he shook his head and turned to leave. The price being asked for was something he couldn’t accept.
Seeing that Xu Qing was about to walk off, the Whitemarsh squeezed down harder on the scarecrow. This time, the scarecrow gritted her teeth and forced herself not to scream.
“Well, isn’t this interesting,” the Whitemarsh murmured. Chuckling, he looked at the departing Xu Qing, his eyes narrowed. At the same time, his third eye flickered with an imperceptible white glow. Within it appeared an image of four secret troves.
Spirit Trove, with four secret troves....
The Whitemarsh cultivator’s third eye returned to normal.
“Human Fellow Daoist! I could also accept a hundred catties of high-grade flesh from a godly entity. What do you say?”
Xu Qing stopped walking and thought for a moment. He could sense that once D-132 was complete, it would transform in some way. Besides, completing D-132 in general was something he had long thought about. He was the jailer assigned to D-132, and the assignment had come directly from Palace Lord Kong.
After some thought, Xu Qing took out a bag of holding. He had flesh from godly entities left over from the Moonrite Region. Although he didn’t have a lot, his reserve contained a few hundred catties. After measuring out the appropriate amount, he tossed the bag of holding to the Whitemarsh.
The Whitemarsh cultivator caught it, hefted it, and then nodded in satisfaction. With that, he tossed the scarecrow to Xu Qing. He also waved his hand to send the millstone flying over.
Xu Qing flicked his sleeve to collect the scarecrow and the millstone. Then he turned and left.
The Whitemarsh watched Xu Qing walking off, then licked his lips and started packing up his wares.
Meanwhile, as Xu Qing walked along, he put the scarecrow and millstone into D-132. The moment they appeared inside, the head, the stone lion, and Sir Inkwell all got excited to varying degrees. The god’s finger let loose some energy that immediately healed the scarecrow and restored the missing half of the millstone.
“Reunion time!” the head said, laughing.
Next, D-132 shivered. With all the inmates back, the cell block that had been cursed by misfortune was now whole. And instantly, a sensation of transformation rose up. Seeing that, Xu Qing retracted his divine will. After briefly looking over his shoulder at the Whitemarsh’s vendor stall, he continued on his way.
Four hours later, Xu Qing and the Captain met back up.
The Captain looked nervous, pleased, and also a bit guilty. Grabbing Xu Qing by the arm, he hurried down the street.
“I hooked seven or eight fish,” he said. “And some of them I wasn’t even trying to hook. What about you, little Ah Qing? Get anything good?”
“I got something,” Xu Qing replied.
“Something? Like what, something big?” The Captain blinked a few times.
Xu Qing nodded.
The Captain looked thrilled. However, neither said anything further as they left the darkmoon ward, making it seem like they were in a big hurry as they did so. After they were some distance away, time passed. They were keeping their speed within the realm of what Spirit Trove cultivators were capable of. Half a day later, no one had caught up to them.
The Captain was surprised. “No way! Since when did the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators become so well-behaved? Don’t tell me I didn’t make things obvious enough? Or maybe I was too obvious!”
Sighing regretfully, he looked over his shoulder.
Xu Qing looked off into the distance himself. He also couldn’t sense any signs of pursuers.
“There’s another possibility. Maybe someone did something to scare off other pursuers. You know, sort of like how that forbidden region was marked.”
Xu Qing lifted his right sleeve and placed some taboo poison onto it. What had looked like an ordinary sleeve moments ago now had a finger-nail sized mark on it, just barely visible.
“This was ‘secretly’ put here by a Whitemarsh cultivator who’s participating in the Great Hunt. He checked my cultivation base, and detected my four secret troves. As for him, he’s in the great circle of Spirit Trove. If we just wait a bit longer, another forbidden mountain will be delivered right to us.”
Xu Qing flew over to a nearby mountain peak, where he sat down to wait.
The Captain’s eyes glittered. Licking his lips, he joined Xu Qing and stared up into the canopy of heaven.
About two hours later, the Captain’s eyes lit up when he noticed three beams of light shooting over the horizon. They moved with rapid speed, and it seemed they were homing in on something specific. After coming over the horizon, they moved directly toward Xu Qing. When they were about 3,000 meters away, they stopped moving, revealing three figures.
They were all Whitemarsh cultivators. On the right side was the very same vendor who had sold Xu Qing the scarecrow. In the middle was a cultivator with much nicer clothing than the others, and an aura that surpassed the vendor. He was in the first stage of Void Returning. The final person was in the great circle of Spirit Trove.
The vendor pointed at Xu Qing, then turned and said a few things to the Void Returning Whitemarsh. Smiling just as he had back at the darkmoon ward, he said, “It doesn’t matter that you were fishing in the darkmoon ward, humans. As soon as I laid eyes on you, I planned to get some friends to help me deal with you.
“The forbidden mountain above your head sealed your fate. Furthermore, though I have no idea how you rank among humans, I don’t mind giving you some news about humankind, free of charge.”
The Whitemarsh’s eyes never left the forbidden mountain above Xu Qing. He licked his lips. “You humans suffered a huge defeat on the northwestern front. Your imperial preceptor managed to keep things under control, but the Saia high priest already showed up to provide backup. I also heard that the Shadowfiend species was persuaded to join the fighting.
“Your northwestern territory is in great danger. As for the Nightshade front lines, though you humans have kept my species pinned down, and though your Sea-Sealing County forces will soon take all of the Nightspirit Region, the reality is... we wanted you to pin us down.
“Human casualties on the two lines of battle are severe. Now, think of what would happen if someone tied both of your hands behind your back, then tried to stab you in the heart. Could you avoid the blow?” The Whitemarsh grinned broadly. “In fact, even as I speak these words, it’s possible that hundreds of humans have died on the battlefield.”
The Whitemarsh looked closely to see Xu Qing’s reaction. Clearly, he had a reason for providing this news; he wanted to draw Xu Qing and the Captain off the mountain peak.
Given that he could sense their movements through the mark he’d left on Xu Qing, and considering his cautious nature, he had already come to the conclusion that they might have set up a trap for him. Xu Qing and the Captain, who had plenty of experience in such things, knew that as well.
“He’s mine,” Xu Qing said calmly.
The Captain smiled. “I’ll take care of the other two. I haven’t sampled Whitemarsh flesh for a long time!”
The two of them vanished. And then, brilliant light suddenly appeared all around the three Whitemarsh cultivators.