Chapter 889: The Perfect Specimen
As the raspy voice entered Xu Qing’s mind, he looked down slightly. “Sire, I’m afraid your humble servant is too weak to be of any help in your fight with Hellfei.”
“That’s the precise reason I need your help, young friend,” the heavenly dao said. Its voice seemed very old, but at the same time, pleading.
“My fight with the evil spirit is taking place in the starry sky, but the struggle is also in the myriad worlds, as we vie for heavenfate and daosoil.
“This world is the origin of Northyear, and is also where the evil Hellfei first appeared. It contains Hellfei’s original dao shadow form, which has already usurped most of the heavenly dao authority here. Young friend, can you please lure out the Hellfei’s dao shadow form and kill it at least a hundred times?
“Every time it dies, it will drain some of Hellfei’s essence power. That will be a big help in the fight in the starry sky, as it will give me an opportunity to use heavenfate!
“I’m ashamed that I haven’t been able to live up to the immortal emperor’s mission to protect the living beings here. I’m struggling on death’s door, and only hope that I can use this opportunity to end things in mutual destruction. My life will end, and my dao will be complete. The responsibility of the heavenly dao will be met, meeting with the immortal emperor’s grace.
“In return, young friend... when Hellfei and I die, I will bestow upon you Hellfei’s lone eye. Your trove is lacking a heavenly dao, and also contains a unique will. Hellfei’s eye was born out of resentment of the catastrophe wrought by the gods. You could call that eye the source of resentment against the gods. And it will benefit you a lot.
“What’s more, it’s the only way for you to get out of here.”
Xu Qing said nothing. He just looked up at the misty sky.
That mist contained poison, and it poured down into heaven and earth like a waterfall. Though it didn’t initially seem very impressive, it was still majestic enough to be called sky-obscuring and sun-blocking.
The words of Greenwood, who claimed to be the heavenly dao of this world, seemed to make sense. Xu Qing knew that his second god trove was made of taboo poison, which meant that living things could have the personhood to serve as its heavenly dao.
As Xu Qing had come to understand clearly over the years, on a substructural level, the taboo poison was the curse of a god. That was why he had decided to take a risk and enter the seventh vortex. If the hidden rancorous energy here was really because of how the living beings hated the destruction wreaked by the gods, then to a certain degree, it did meet the qualifications to be the heavenly dao of the taboo poison god trove.
He could confirm that both from the fluctuations coming from the god trove and also from what he had seen of Hellfei out in the starry sky.
But....
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered for a moment before he calmly said, “Fine, I’ll do it.”
“Many thanks to you, young friend. I’m not able to say much to you right now, as I must concentrate on fighting Hellfei. Just provoke some fluctuations from this place and attack with deadly force. Hellfei’s form will definitely try to interfere. When you accomplish this task of mine, I promise that Greenwood will never forget you!”
Countless motes of light rose up everywhere, which seemed to be representations of Greenwood’s divine will. Gathering together, they shot up into the sky.
After they disappeared, Xu Qing, who still stood atop the listing tower, looked down. His expression contained neither joy nor sorrow. It was as profound as deep waters, and lacked any confusion. He looked very closely at the stone stele in front of him.
A moment passed, and he waved his right hand, dispelling the power of the stone stele. The historical stele collapsed, reverting into a pile of dusty rubble.
Xu Qing took a deep breath and sat down on the tower. According to Greenwood, he was supposed to catch the attention of Hellfei’s dao shadow form, then attack it with destructive force.
“There’s no need to make things so complicated,” he murmured. His eyes turned black, his second trove gate rumbled, and the power of taboo poison gathered in his eyes.
Wherever he looked, taboo poison flourished. He looked at the ruins, and everything blurred from buildings to roads. Taboo poison became a mist that spread out everywhere, spreading ripples and distortions. He looked at the lands, and the gray soil turned as black as if ink were being splattered onto it. The black steam that rose up joined the existing poisonous mist.
He looked into the dome of heaven, and the sky seethed as the mist there was joined by the poison mist. They didn’t mix, and in fact, the reaction was like cool water poured into a vat of boiling oil. Everywhere Xu Qing looked, the curse of a god arrived.
Heaven and earth rumbled. Winds screamed. The mists went wild.
Before long, everything he looked at was covered with a taboo poison mist. As it gathered around the listing tower, it began to reject the world’s local mist, until there was a clear demarcation between the two. Rumbling sounds echoed out everywhere.
There were two vortexes in the sky. One was in the middle, and it was made of Xu Qing’s taboo poison. The other vortex surrounded the first, and was made of the world’s poison, which was also spinning dramatically. The two vortexes rotated opposite of each other, causing an intense grating sound to spread out, accompanied by the crash of lightning.
As time passed, things grew more intense and violent. Winds screamed left and right, filling the world. From a distance, it looked like the world was falling apart.
Yet Xu Qing remained on the tower, his expression placid, his gaze fixed on the sky. The storm winds caused his hair and garments to flap wildly. He looked almost like an immortal or a god.
All of a sudden, a bellow echoed out like that of an ox, deafening and terrifying.
It pulsed with thunderclaps rife with natural and magical laws. Wherever that sound reached, the sky ceased collapsing and the earth no longer crumbled. Even the vortexes stopped moving.
The wind went still!
But the mist seethed, falling from the sky like a waterfall or a flower blooming in reverse. Within it was a creature. It had the body of an ox, with a white face that featured a single eye with a vertical pupil. Its tail was a ferocious snake. Wherever it went, pestilence surrounded it, making it like an ancient source of poison that could spread plagues everywhere. When it went through the sky, the sky rotted. When it went across the lands, even the air was eaten away.
A poison plague spread everywhere and rushed toward Xu Qing with killing intent. It looked exactly like the version of Hellfei Xu Qing had seen out in the starry sky, except much, much smaller.
If a mortal could see this beast, they would be terrified to the core. But it was different for Xu Qing. He could see that though it had a very astonishing poison, this dao shadow form of Hellfei only had battle prowess equivalent to the first-stage of Void Returning.
Xu Qing wasn’t actually surprised at that. As Hellfei’s roiling poison closed in on him, he snapped his right hand out in front of him. Heaven and earth trembled as countless soul threads emerged, connecting in midair to make a huge hand. Then, like the hand of a god, it thrust forward with crushing momentum. Its fingers closed, and the Hellfei which would have struck terror into the hearts of a mortal was crushed out of existence.
However, as the hand of soul threads opened back up, about thirty percent of them shivered as they transformed from being red into being black! And they started pulsing with a rancorous energy.
That energy spread rapidly out into the rest of the hand.
It was fei poison!
For the first time, Xu Qing’s eyes glittered in surprise. Ignoring the hand in midair, he reached out with his free hand and closed the fingers on each other. Instantly, one of the black soul threads flew over to him.
Xu Qing had deeply studied the dao of poison, and also had plentiful practical experience. Therefore, as soon as he looked closely at the black soul thread in his hand, it only took a moment of thought before he inhaled deeply. The black thread was sucked into him.
All of a sudden, Xu Qing’s expression changed. He looked slightly dazed. At the same time, a violent reaction began to build up within him. He quickly suppressed it by sending taboo poison throughout his body. As a result, the black soul thread was purified, then faded away.
Xu Qing’s expression turned even more quizzical.
This poison actually targets godliness!
He already had a deep understanding of Hellfei’s poison. Because that poison was born out of resentment of the gods, it could infect godliness. It could make godliness lose its majesty, and cause its personhood to decline. It was a rare poison that was actually designed to target gods.
The soul thread Xu Qing had just studied closely was only a solitary thread, yet the poison had still destabilized the godly nature, human nature, and animal nature within it.
“How interesting.” Xu Qing licked his lips. It was his first time encountering something that was on roughly the same level as his taboo poison. Although they weren’t exactly the same on all levels, its method of targeting godliness was very unique.
He unleashed the taboo poison in his gaze. Looking at the hand of soul threads, he sent the taboo poison to clash with the fei poison. The hand became the battleground.
Heaven and earth rumbled again in response to Hellfei dying. Mist converged again, and Hellfei started forming again. When it was complete, its battle prowess was greater than before. Howling, it charged toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing reached out with his right hand and made a grasping gesture. This time, it wasn’t soul threads that converged. Rather, he tapped into his battle prowess to grab Hellfei and drag it over. Hellfei struggled, but couldn’t do anything other than spit out poison mist. However, Xu Qing wasn’t interested in studying Hellfei’s poison. As soon as it was in front of him, he slashed down with a saber, splitting open its body to study it. He wanted to see Hellfei’s physical makeup, as well as the makeup of its soul, to see if he could understand its poison on a substructural level.
Even Hellfei was shocked by this development. It struggled even more mightily, but the difference between the two was so immense that it was powerless to do anything to Xu Qing other than use poison.
And its poison was indeed formidable. After it had spat out seven or eight mouthfuls that could infect godliness, Xu Qing frowned. He waved his hand, and his black spear appeared, which he stabbed through Hellfei’s head, killing it again.
It has an illusory form, with a blurred soul. It really was born from resentment. And yet the way the resentment circulates within it is very interesting.... I need to do some more dissections to understand what it’s really like inside.
His eyes glittered with anticipation as he looked at the spot where Hellfei had died. After a few breaths of time passed, another version of Hellfei appeared in front of Xu Qing. It was about to roar, but then Xu Qing’s hand shot out. He quickly began slicing it apart, separating its torso, its snake tail, and its limbs. And then, with the true spirit of a student, he started studying it....