Chapter 853: Mountain and Sea Region
Out of an abundance of caution, Xu Qing chose not to fly through the sky. Instead, he made his way through the rainforest itself, using it as part of his cover. He also had Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior circle around him to keep an eye on things.
In that manner, five days went by. During that time, Xu Qing spotted a handful of cultivators participating in the Great Hunt. He noticed a few who had issued challenges to him. At the moment, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with them. Before they could detect him, he moved on.
He spotted quite a few beasts in the rainforest. Some lived in the trees, others hid in the muddy soil. There was no end to them.
Some were very gruish in appearance. For instance, there was one occasion in which the mountains trembled as a long-armed giant strode by in front of him. He saw suns that had arms and legs, some large and some small, and they held hands as they raced around. He saw gigantic singing centipedes, as well as mushrooms that followed him around after they saw him, hopping up and down. He saw a huge tree that actually turned out to be the nose of some bizarre creature sleeping in the ground.
On one occasion, the wind caused Xu Qing’s eyes to widen. That wind... seemed intangible, but the reality was that it was evidence of invisible entities. If Xu Qing’s senses hadn’t been as sharp, he wouldn’t have noticed what he was dealing with, and would have been knocked to the ground. They were demonic grues, and a lot of them. There were flying heads, walking skeletons, and an intense coldness filled with singing. They were all invisible.
From what Xu Qing could tell, this Mountain and Sea Region was a very unusual world, the beasts of which had abilities and appearances that upended common sense.
There were headless animals. Hair that shot out of the mud. And there were also ancient, dilapidated temples inhabited by withered, faceless beings that carried stone steles on their backs.
At the moment, Xu Qing had just encountered a rippling sea of multicolored flowers in the middle of the rainforest. Any plants or animals that ventured into the undulating sea would be devoured, and would ultimately become part of the sea.
Close examination revealed that the sea of flowers was actually made of a host of colorful toads. The ripples that flowed across the sea were caused by toads jumping.
But that wasn’t what made the area truly terrifying. In the very middle of the sea was a crumbling divine likeness upon which a host of frogs sat. The bare-chested statue depicted a man with four heads, all of which had their eyes closed. With one hand, he cradled a baby at his chest, and with the other hand, he stroked his chin. A sound like snoring drifted out over the sea of flowers.
The statue was in such bad shape that about half of it was missing. That included parts of the four heads as well as the infant he was holding.
Xu Qing spotted the statue from a distance, and his gaze hardened. Over the past five days of travel, he had encountered seventeen divine likenesses. Each looked different, but all of them filled him with a sense of danger. It was the same with the temples. The statues were in such bad shape that it looked as if they had been deliberately damaged. In fact, the one he was looking at now was the most complete statue he had seen so far.
What happened back in the day here in the Mountain and Sea Region...? Why are there so many temples and so many damaged statues...?
Feeling more curious than ever, Xu Qing skirted the sea of flowers before continuing on his way. About an incense stick’s worth of time later, his expression flickered, and he shot backward and up into the air.
The moment he did, the air shattered in the spot he had just occupied, and a huge black hole appeared. The black hole hadn’t appeared randomly. It came from the ground.
Laying in the swampy forest floor was a massive divine likeness some 30,000 meters from end to end. It was badly broken, but its head was clearly visible. What was more, its mouth wasn’t damaged at all. And it was breathing. Every breath it took would cause that black hole to appear. What was more, it exuded the threat of a higher level of life.
Xu Qing had an extraordinary cultivation base and shocking battle prowess. He even had his god states. But this aura seemed so dangerous that he had no choice but to avoid the area.
Meanwhile, the trembling voice of the god’s finger echoed out from D-132.
“Th-this... this....”
Xu Qing’s heart thumped. “Keep talking.”
The finger shivered and then quietly continued, “There are dead gods here. And not just a few. A lot.... Holy crap. How come I’ve never heard about anything like this before?”
Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior zipped over and transmitted a message with divine will. “Could it be because you were actually asleep when your true form arrived? Later, after you parted ways, you were suppressed and sleeping....”
The god’s finger considered the question, and seemed about to offer a retort. However, the finger knew how important the patriarch was to Xu Qing. In fact, the patriarch was more important than the finger. So the finger just snorted and held back from responding.
Xu Qing didn’t pay attention to the patriarch. He was thinking back to all the divine likenesses he had seen so far. Looking out into the rainforest, he took a deep breath. The aura here didn’t seem unusual. But considering how skilled Xu Qing was in medicinal matters, he detected the lingering aroma of blood.
It came from the mud, the plants, the rocks, and in fact, from everything.... It was as if everything in this world reeked of blood.
A great battle was fought here.... A lot of gods died. But who were they fighting?
Xu Qing only knew some surface-level information about the Firemoon Darkheavens. There was a lot he didn’t know, and therefore, he had no way to come up with a theory.
After one last look at the huge statue on the ground, he prepared to go around it. But then he heard screaming winds as eight beams of light appeared in the distance. Just like Xu Qing, they were planning to travel in midair and skirt the huge statue.
But then they saw Xu Qing.
Xu Qing saw them.
They included Firemoon cultivators as well as subsidiary species. There was one Saia present. Apparently, they had formed a small team out of convenience.
After spotting him, the entire team reacted with shock. They stopped in place and then backed up a good distance. A moment later, the Firemoon cultivator who was their leader bowed to Xu Qing, then changed directions and left. The other members of the team also bowed, then followed their leader. The Saia’s eyes glittered, but he quickly ducked his head and bowed like the others. They had all witnessed the fight outside the city a few days ago, and it had been so shocking that they didn’t dare to get close to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing looked at them coldly. Seeing that none of them had tamed any mutant beasts yet, he saw no reason to attack them. Turning, he flew on toward his destination.
When the fleeing cultivators realized that Xu Qing had disappeared, they breathed sighs of relief. Then they exchanged glances, and could see the hesitation in each other’s eyes.
Only the Saia didn’t hesitate for an instant. Taking out a transmission jade slip, he prepared to send a voice message.
And yet, the instant he pulled out the jade slip, a cold voice spoke out of thin air next to him.
“What are you doing?”
All of the cultivators’ faces fell, especially the Saia. Gasping, he tried to quickly send a voice message, but he was too late. A hand reached out and grabbed his hand. It clenched down, causing the jade slip to shatter, along with the hand itself, creating a paste of blood and bits of jade.
A scream of pain erupted from the Saia cultivator’s mouth. Xu Qing appeared in his fourth-level god state, and he grabbed the Saia by the neck.
The other cultivators backed up, trembling. However, they weren’t able to flee, as blood-red tentacles had snaked out from Xu Qing to block their path. With the slightest twitch, those tentacles could stab through their foreheads.
They all stopped in place and looked at Xu Qing.
“Everyone else bowed when they saw me, which makes sense,” Xu Qing said calmly. “But you, Saia, had an odd look on your face. Most noteworthy... was that your expression was wrong. Now I remember why. You issued me a fighting challenge earlier.”
Although Xu Qing had left earlier, a strange urge of caution had prompted him to come back to check on the cultivators he’d just left. That was what led to him seeing the Saia about to send a voice message.
“Tell me who you planned to message,” Xu Qing said quietly.
A look of alarm filled the Saia’s eyes, and he opened his mouth to speak.
Before he could, the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator blurted, “I can tell you, Fellow Daoist Xu! Five days ago, Master Stillwinter sent out a message asking for information about your whereabouts. He said that anybody who spotted you was to send him a message. This Saia cultivator presumably has reasons for wanting to send that very message.”
This Firemoon Darkheaven was an intelligent person, and didn’t want to be dragged into the suicidal Saia’s actions. He knew that Xu Qing was a decisive killer, and he also knew that if the Saia cultivator was the one to answer the question, the rest of them could easily end up dead. Therefore, he chose to speak up first, and hopefully, have a better chance at surviving. The other cultivators in the group quickly chimed in with similar information.
Xu Qing looked at the trembling, terrified Saia. He had his answer. His right hand tightened, and a popping sound rang out as the Saia was killed in body and soul.
The other cultivators stopped talking and looked at Xu Qing, trembling from head to toe. Xu Qing looked at them briefly, then waved his hand to send taboo poison seeds into them. When they sensed what was happening, their faces went pale.
“If you don’t cause trouble,” Xu Qing said coolly, “then you can come find me after the second round. I’ll get rid of the poison.”
With that, he turned and vanished.
The other cultivators stood there silently and helplessly. After a short time, they also turned and left.
After they were gone, Xu Qing appeared again. He frowned. “Master Stillwinter, huh?”