Chapter 990: And Now, I’m the Hunter
When Xu Qing saw the clay people and the shrine coming over the horizon, he knew exactly who was on the way. And upon seeing Erniu, all of the exhaustion Xu Qing felt after having been hunted and experiencing the assimilation process... faded away.
An instant later, the clay people were hovering in midair overhead.
Erniu excitedly stepped out of the procession and dropped down next to Xu Qing. There, he punched Xu Qing softly on the shoulder, causing a stream of warm power to flow through Xu Qing. When Erniu sensed how weak Xu Qing was, and detected the evidence of how many times he had exploded, he said nothing. He just winked and laughed.
“Little Junior Brother, tell me, when you were running for your life, were you thinking of me? Let me guess. Whenever I’m not around, you have a hard time stomaching food. You don’t sleep well. You just can’t get used to life like that! I bet your cultivation even gets boring. No matter what you did, you felt like something was missing.
“Did I guess correctly? Well, did I? Hahaha! Come on, there’s no need to feel embarrassed. It’s fine! Just muster up the gumption to tell the truth!”
Erniu was clearly feeling very pleased with himself, and yet, he didn’t forget to butter up Yu Liuchen while he was at it. Turning, he bowed deeply and plastered a very flattering look onto his face. “Well now, this handsome and elegant individual, who has such a noble demeanor and an imposing bearing, could only be the legendary Senior with the most noble of spirits, Yu Liuchen. In his presence, the glory of heaven and earth fades, while the starry sky glitters brightly for his sake. I am your humble servant Chen Erniu. Greetings, Senior!”
As Yu Liuchen sat there with teacup in hand, hē looked Erniu up and down, blinked a few times, and then smiled as if in amusement. “Xu Qing, this Eldest Brother of yours really held nothing back. He was the first one to realize that you went missing, and he sent jade slip messages to about half of the east of Revered Ancient.”
When Xu Qing saw his Eldest Brother and heard Yu Liuchen’s words, a smile broke out on his face for the first time in a long while. He was about to say something when the shrine up above glittered.
A wind blew, and the shrine’s curtain parted, revealing a clay fox within. The clay fox initially seemed like an inanimate object, but in the blink of an eye, it filled with such color that it seemed to be alive. And then it really became alive as it transformed into a bewitchingly charming young woman who stepped out of the shrine and into the bamboo forest.
Her ample bosom swayed with her as she walked, while her hourglass figure and astonishing curves were enough to cause anyone’s heart to start racing. There were few other words that could describe her other than: perfect. She wore gauzy red clothing that only half-covered her, and looked like it might fall off at any moment. Her skin was so fair it was almost translucent, and her curvaceous body was so attractive that anyone who looked at her would be overwhelmed with the desire to be with her.Once in the bamboo forest, she stepped over to Xu Qing’s side and then spoke in a languid voice that dripped with charm. “You gave your primal yang to someone else behind my back, you naughty little boy. Because of that, I wasn’t planning to come rescue you.”
Xu Qing didn’t react to her words. Instead, he put on a brave face and bowed in greeting. “Well met, Senior.”
The clay fox snorted coldly. Then she looked him up and down. She seemed pleased. “I have to admit that Niu’er was right, though. Now that you have this new body, you basically have all your primal yang back.”
Erniu cleared his throat and smacked his chest. “That’s right! I might try to trick other people, but I would never try to trick you, ma’am. What’s more, now that my little Junior Brother has a new body, he’s definitely going to be more passionate than before. Look, this body of his is virtually bursting at the seams. That energy and blood is burning sky-high!”
He looked at Xu Qing and blinked a few times.
Xu Qing said nothing in response to Erniu’s strange words.
“Ah, whatever,” the clay fox said. “I’m not going to quibble with you.” It seemed that her heart had started racing in response to what Erniu just said, and she even licked her lips instinctively as she looked Xu Qing up and down again.
“How slutty,” Yu Liuchen said coolly.
Starfire paid no heed to hīs words, and instead turned to look at Floating Fiend with eyes so cold they seemed to be a gaze on a dead man. “So you’re the filthy imbecile that conspired to take Xu Qing’s fleshly body?”
Erniu also looked at Floating Fiend, his eyes filled with icy killing intent. Erniu wasn’t sure how much killing intent others felt toward Floating Fiend. But at this moment, his desire to put Floating Fiend to death couldn’t have been more intense. Though he had seemed relaxed up to this point, and had bragged a bit to Xu Qing, the reality was that he just wanted to ease some of Xu Qing’s exhaustion after a period of such intense danger.
In fact, there were few people in the world who had been more anxious than him. And when he sensed how weak Xu Qing was and how many times he exploded, his heart burned with flames of rage. And that rage wasn’t just directed toward Floating Fiend. He was also angry with the empress.
I’m not the only one who had a goddamned plan at work. Therefore... the fact that this whole thing went so south is something I sure as hell am not going to forget!
As Erniu snorted coldly in his heart, he looked at Floating Fiend with more and more killing intent.
Floating Fiend shivered and felt like he was about to collapse mentally. The woman who had just arrived was also a god. What was more... he detected a bit of the aura of an Altar God. That indicated that this god was at the ultimate peak of Flawless God. His despair ran as deep as the sea, and he knew that there was no escaping this situation. He just hoped he could die quickly. That was his only hope. Except that earlier, self-detonating hadn’t done a thing.
The only way out of this will be to get one of these gods to kill me outright....
Having reached the conclusion that this was definitely the best idea, he suddenly lunged toward Xu Qing as if to attack him with full force. In reality, he was just hoping to die.
Xu Qing, his face completely calm, didn’t attempt to dodge. He just looked coldly at Floating Fiend closing in on him.
Starfire reached out and gently tapped Floating Fiend’s forehead.
A rumbling sound echoed out as Floating Fiend’s cultivation base shattered. A tremor passed through him, and he deflated like a popped balloon. In an instant, he was emaciated and weak in both aura and fleshly body. However, he wasn’t dead.
Then Starfire spoke, and the words caused his withered body to shake uncontrollably. “What we see here isn’t the full you, right? That’s why you’re trying to get yourself killed.”
Starfire was absolutely correct. Floating Fiend wasn’t here in full. It was only part of him. After sensing the karma connected to Xu Qing, he had obviously made certain preparations. He had also taken precautions in case he failed and ended up dying. Specifically, during the chase, he had used an immortal skill that had been passed down in his species.
It was a very gruish immortal skill that involved inscribing one's memories into a seed that could be planted in another life form. When activated, the memories would erupt, and in a process very similar to reincarnation, he would take over that other life form and become a new version of himself! If his plan went smoothly, then he wouldn’t have any need to activate the immortal skill. But if things didn’t go smoothly... then after he died, the skill would activate. In that case, even if he did perish, he would essentially be resurrected.
Right now, he wanted to activate the immortal skill, except that even dying now seemed like a luxury.
Xu Qing’s eyes looked both cold and thoughtful as he walked toward Floating Fiend, who was now completely incapable of fighting back, thanks to High God Starfire.
As he neared, Floating Fiend managed to look up at the human he had very nearly assimilated. It took effort, but he managed to grin in a very scornful manner, and even put some killing intent into his eyes. He didn’t speak, but he made his attitude clear via his facial expression. He was telling Xu Qing: “Without help from others, you would have become a part of me. You... are nothing.”
Xu Qing understood what that look meant. And he also understood the reason for the look. Floating Fiend wanted to die. Therefore, upon nearing, he took Floating Fiend’s bag of holding, then lifted his hand. A dagger appeared there, which he stabbed into Floating Fiend’s body.
Blood flowed out. Face completely expressionless, Xu Qing pulled the dagger out, then stabbed it again. And again. And again, until he stabbed him eight times. From the moment he first saw Floating Fiend until now, nine days had passed. But he only stabbed him eight times.
As blood flowed down Floating Fiend, and his aura fragmented, Xu Qing’s shadow slowly covered him.
Xu Qing issued a command via divine will, and Little Shadow opened its mouth and started devouring Floating Fiend’s shadow. At the same time, the god vine emerged from Xu Qing and viciously burrowed into Floating Fiend and started chewing him up from the inside.
Floating Fiend shook as a look of indescribable pain filled his bloodshot eyes. He shrieked in astonishment, and yet, managed to hold back from expressing pain. He wanted to die. But death was slow in coming.
As his fleshly body experienced torment, Xu Qing lifted his right hand, put his hand on the top of Floating Fiend’s head, and started... to assimilate his soul! He had practically no soul threads left, and he needed to replenish them. There could hardly be something more suitable than the soul of an Imperial Sovereign.
Floating Fiend shook violently as his soul collapsed and was assimilated, bringing pain that far surpassed anything from his fleshly body. He wanted to fight back, but the suppression from High God Starfire shattered any ability to resist. He was like a piece of fish meat that could do nothing but allow Xu Qing to assimilate him. In fact, it was almost exactly how he had been trying to assimilate Xu Qing earlier. The roles had been reversed.
Time passed. The assimilation continued. Xu Qing’s soul threads formed anew. The pain turned into a sea of despair, until Floating Fiend couldn’t suppress it any more. Face distorting, he unleashed a howl of anguish.
Xu Qing’s expression remained placid in the face of the howling. Eventually, his soul threads were fully recovered. At that point, he turned to look at Erniu.
Erniu naturally knew what that look meant. Licking his lips, he stepped forward and clamped his hand onto the trembling Floating Fiend. In the blink of an eye, the image of the Heavenly Dog appeared, voracious and full of killing intent. Its jaws snapped.
Floating Fiend’s screams grew shriller. After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, Floating Fiend’s soul was so shattered that only a bit of it was left keeping his life force from dispersing. The soul of an Imperial Sovereign was too much for Xu Qing and Erniu to contain. Therefore, Starfire helped them to take the portion they currently couldn’t eat and convert it into a host of soul pearls. The sparkling and translucent soul pearls were so impressive that even one would send a host of cultivators into a frenzy.
However, Xu Qing’s revenge wasn’t over yet. Having assimilated the soul, his eyes glittered with coldness as he unleashed the Profound Sun Immortal Light Magic. As a sun, he rose up into the air, becoming a golden crow that spat fires of assimilation onto Floating Fiend. The fire, combined with the magic of the immortal light, was completely terrifying. Eventually, the golden crow devoured the entire fleshly body to burn and assimilate it internally. Xu Qing wanted to see if he could actually assimilate Floating Fiend’s authority of erasure.
Now that Floating Fiend’s fleshly body had been devoured, the only thing left behind were the dilapidated shears.
Xu Qing collected the shears up, his eyes shining with ferocity. You want to assimilate me? Fine. I’ll assimilate every scrap of you! When it was done, Xu Qing turned to Yu Liuchen and Starfire. He bowed.
Yu Liuchen put down hīs cup of tea.
“You owe me a favor,” hē said coolly. “Once you’ve taken care of certain matters, I’ll come looking for you.”
With that, hē disappeared along with the bamboo forest. After hē was gone, the surroundings turned into... a majestic desert.
High God Starfire looked at the spot where Floating Fiend had disappeared and sighed. “Do you need me to help you find the rest of that filthy thing?”
Xu Qing shook his head. “I’ll always remember your kindness, High God. I can handle what’s next.”
Starfire smiled and then said some words that were very similar to those spoken by Yu Liuchen, except with a very different meaning. “That’s fine. I suppose you owe me a favor now. After you take care of certain matters, I’ll come looking for you, okay?”
High God Starfire licked hēr lips and seemed more charming than ever.
Xu Qing hesitated.
The god swayed back to the shrine and turned into a clay fox. Then the clay people carried the shrine back up into the sky and off into the distance.
The desert was now empty except for Xu Qing and Erniu.
Erniu looked at Xu Qing and grinned. “What are you going to do next, little Ah Qing?”
Xu Qing’s heart was full of icy killing intent. Looking in the direction of the Forbidden Sea, he narrowed his eyes and spoke in a voice like a blade. “He still owes me. Now, I’m going to be the one hunting him.”
***
On the seafloor in the Forbidden Sea, a snakeneck dragon swirled along hunting for prey. However, just as it opened its mouth to devour its target, it suddenly shivered as five-colored light built up in its eyes. Memories that weren’t its own erupted in its mind, becoming a tempest that swept through its fleshly body with devastating force. It exploded in a bloody haze.
A moment later, the chunks of flesh converged back into a humanoid shape. Its eyes opened, and though they looked blank at first, they quickly became lucid, and then grim.
Looks like my true form failed!
The person who had formed from the exploded snakeneck dragon looked around. He suddenly felt uneasy.
Which of the people connected to that brat by karma ended up killing my true form...? Regardless, I’m obviously very weak now. I’m not even as strong as an Imperial Sovereign. I guess I need to follow my original plan and find a place to hide out.
Suppressing his anxiety, he raced off to find a hiding spot.
Deathblade's Thoughts
Many thanks to Mlovell for the review!