Chapter 981: Incoming Dragon Chariot
Outside of the continent of South Phoenix, in the depths of the Forbidden Sea, an enormous snake-shaped sea beast was pursuing its prey along the dark seafloor. Moving with astonishing speed, it opened its huge mouth and swallowed its prey whole. Then it let loose a howl of contentment. Its cry echoed out across the seafloor.
Xu Qing suddenly appeared out of that very sound. The moment he did, his body swelled up until he couldn’t sustain the force, and he exploded. An instant later, the light of the sealing mark within him glittered, and he was back, this time back as his normal size. Only after coughing up seven or eight mouthfuls of blood did he manage to stabilize himself.
Expression grim, he looked down at his fleshly body. He was covered with cracks that oozed immortal mercury, which made him very horrid to behold. His soul was fractured and looked extremely weak through and through. As a result, Xu Qing’s vision was blurred. As he looked around, everything looked twisted and distorted. Given how deep he was at the bottom of the sea, those distortions looked like demonic monsters, grimacing and scowling at him.
However, the weakness and dizziness only lasted for a moment before Xu Qing suppressed it. The distortions also vanished.
Unfortunately, the danger wasn’t gone. Xu Qing knew that time was of the utmost value to him right now, so without any hesitation he tapped into the power of the violet crystal, causing a surge of recovery to sweep through him.
At the same time, he took out some of the broken face’s blood and drank a mouthful. Instantly, the blood caused intense rumbling sounds to fill him. As a result, the cracks ceased to spread out across him as quickly.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing took out Flame Phoenix’s feather to send a message. But yet again, a cracking sound echoed out. His message had been interrupted, and couldn’t be sent.
It’s not just a sealing lock. That Imperial Sovereign also has a precious treasure keeping me isolated from the outside world.
Xu Qing’s expression was grim. He knew that in his current state, there was no way he could make a complete getaway. And his fleshly body could only sustain a few more blows.
I need to think of a way to get out of here. And if I can’t... then time is definitely of the utmost importance!
He was currently in the inner sea, so the bigger the commotion being made, the greater the likelihood that someone would notice what was happening.
As for the sealing marks left in place by his master, they were there to protect his soul. If they were forced open... Xu Qing knew that the power of the broken face would cause his soul to disperse. That thought, coupled with the pain from both his fleshly body and soul, caused Xu Qing to feel colder than he had felt in a long time. Having tasted that coldness, he once again entered sound and followed his senses in the direction of the dragon chariot.
Maybe borrowing the strength of the chariot is my ticket to escaping!
The moment Xu Qing vanished, he heard Floating Fiend’s voice.
“Erase.”
The word was like a nightmare. The moment it echoed out, it filled an area that went far beyond Xu Qing’s current location. Not only was all sound erased, but countless sea beasts simply ceased to exist. Xu Qing appeared again, blood spraying out of his mouth.
***
Behind him, Floating Fiend strode in his direction. Every step he took caused the seafloor to tremble. Each stride caused natural and magical laws to bend according to his will. It was as if heaven itself were trying to kill Xu Qing!
Then Floating Fiend’s voice echoed out again. “The magical laws here are telling me that when you killed my son, you attacked in this way.”
Xu Qing heard the words, but before he could take control of the sound, it was gone, thanks to the authority of erasure. At the same time, the cracks started spreading out on his fleshly body again. More than ever, he felt like he was about to explode.
At that moment of crisis, blinding light suddenly erupted from Xu Qing as he turned into a sun. The dazzling light spread out, then converged into a beam. Moving with speed far greater than anything than before, he used a light evasion technique to shoot off into the distance. An instant later, there was no sign that it had even been present to begin with.
“Immortal light?” Floating Fiend murmured as he appeared on the spot Xu Qing had just disappeared from. He looked off into the distance and shook his head. He’s still within my range, though. That said, this human clearly has a lot of karmic connections.... With that much fate stirring in response to him, I can tell that killing him will bring some big negative consequences.
The ancient shears once again appeared in front of Floating Fiend, which quickly severed all of the threads coming off Xu Qing. However, there were some that, when the shears made contact with them, provoked a grating sound from the shears. Also, it looked more ancient, and even started showing spots of rust. Apparently, even the terrifying and mysterious shears had to pay a price for cutting those threads.
But at the same time, I can sense that if I do erase them, then... the might of the authority will replenish me. And his fleshly body... no wonder my son died trying to get it. Karma like this, plus such flesh and blood... it’s like a destined opportunity covered with poisoned thorns that need to slowly be peeled away. I can’t rush things. Especially with the threads. I don’t want to destroy my shears in the process. I need to handle this matter with finesse.
With such thoughts in mind, Floating Fiend advanced like a hunter, focusing all of his might on the prey.
***
Some tens of thousands of kilometers away, Xu Qing appeared again, the might of an Imperial Sovereign bearing down on him from behind.
Gritting his teeth, he sent light glittering out, then again used Light Evasion to flee. Light Evasion was a divine ability from the Profound Sun Immortal Light Magic. It was capable of unleashing astonishing speed, but it required two streams of light.
Xu Qing’s immortal light only had one stream which wasn’t enough to power the technique. Therefore, he chose to burn soul threads, thus emitting soul light. By adding that to the immortal light, he could just barely manage to pull off the technique.
It was a desperate move, and it wouldn’t work for long. He did it five or six times in a row. But whether it was on the surface of the water or on the seafloor, his situation never changed. It was as if there were nets above and snares below , no matter where he went. He couldn’t break free, and it didn’t seem possible to send messages.
Even more bizarre was that Xu Qing felt as though his existence was in the process of being erased. He realized this when he noticed that the sea beasts couldn’t detect him. He saw a lot of nonhuman islands on the surface of the water, plus many boats, as well as plenty of Seven Blood Eyes disciples. And yet no one detected even a trace of him.
There was one instance in which he landed on the deck of a Seven Blood Eyes boat, and yet, it was almost as if he was in a different dimension. It was as if he was invisible.
The realization caused Xu Qing’s heart to sink. In fact, as he got deeper into the sea, his complexion became increasingly unhealthy, and he seemed weaker and weaker. Gritting his teeth, he kept moving.
He once again tapped into his soul threads, which resulted in him dropping from his previous level of 50,000,000 to about half of that number. Despite that, he was still unable to escape past Floating Fiend’s range. The next time he appeared in the open, he felt the might of an Imperial Sovereign closing in from behind him.
However... Xu Qing had reached his target destination.
Rumbling sounds could be heard from the seafloor up ahead, along with the sound of footsteps. Those sounds seemed to be completely ignoring the authority of erasure. A terrifying pressure and aura spread madly from the seafloor, prompting Imperial Sovereign Floating Fiend to look down in that direction.
“Well who could have guessed?” Floating Fiend said calmly. “It’s the dragon chariot of the crown prince of the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk, plus his corpse of a servant. No wonder I couldn’t sense this until I saw it personally. The crown prince of the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk....
“According to our species’ records, this particular crown prince from ancient times agreed to be incarnated as a sun, while his sister incarnated as a moon. Together, they took turns illuminating Revered Ancient.
“That lasted until Eminent Desolation came, and both of them perished. The servant also perished, turning into nothing but a corpse. The dragon chariot and the corpse. You think those are your ticket to surviving?”
Xu Qing didn’t respond. The moment he sensed the chariot, his eyes lit up with a crazy light. Then, black fire appeared around him, turning into a sea of flames. He quickly turned into an enormous golden crow. Within his claws was the severed hand of the musician as he shot toward the chariot and dragon.
Xu Qing was gambling. He was gambling on the fact that he had the same origin as the golden crow and the chariot, and also had the severed hand. He was gambling on karma, and gambling... that he wouldn’t encounter too much resistance when trying to approach.
All of a sudden, the severed hand’s eye opened, and the fingers began to move. Natural Sounds Welcome the Moon drifted out.