Chapter 994: Assimilating Floating Fiend
Deep beneath the surface of the Forbidden Sea, Floating Fiend was in horrible shape. His face was pale, and his vision was so blurry he could barely see. He was even missing a leg. He had sustained a huge backlash from the immortal skill he had unleashed, as well as from Xu Qing’s sound authority. As a result, his leg had been severed from the depths of his soul out into his fleshly body.
Intense pain flowed through him like tide waters, filling his entire body. As far as he could remember, he had only experienced pain like this when he was a low-level cultivator. After reaching Void Returning, he never felt such pain. And yet, despite having lost a leg to unleash the immortal skill, the sense of deadly crisis hadn’t diminished in the least bit. Quite the opposite. It had sunk into the depths of his bones and grown increasingly intense along the way.
After all, he now had only one leg left. And what was worse, at some point along the way, it had started decaying, without him even noticing! The decay came from a hypertoxic poison and curse. It was Xu Qing’s godly authority of taboo poison! It was incomparably ferocious, and as it exploded through his body, his surviving leg was completely infected, and it seemed to be intent on filling his entire being, from his cultivation base to his fleshly body to his soul.
As a result, his mind spun, and he had no choice but to put everything on the line by using his own essence to slow down the taboo poison and bolster his authority of erasure in the hopes of getting rid of it. Unfortunately, his cultivation base had declined, and he was in a very poor state. Add in the fact that he was being hunted, it ensured that he had no time for cultivation and no energy to dispel the poison.
“Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!” Floating Fiend roared defiantly, his hair disheveled and his eyes filled with madness.
He knew that he didn’t have enough time. And therefore... he only had one thing left to do. His essence power erupted out with soul-severing force to cut off the lower half of himself, including his fleshly body! In an instant, his lower half exploded, turning into a cloud of poisoned blood. The upper half of him that remained looked incredibly weak, and his vision was so blurry he could hardly see a thing.
The pain from his fleshly body and the agony from his soul combined to create an endless torment. All he could do was grit his teeth, try to stay conscious, and keep fleeing.
Unfortunately, he had no hope to latch onto, and no direction in which to flee. At this point, he wasn’t even sure what he should do. Grief, bitterness, and a host of other negative emotions proliferated in him, growing more and more intense until Floating Fiend realized that something unusual was going on. By the time he realized it, it was too late.
The negative emotions became uncontrollable thoughts that exploded within him, causing his blood to surge, and attracting violet moonlight from all directions. The light seemed to be off in the distance, but an instant later... it appeared within his blood and body... where it exploded!
A scream of agony erupted from Floating Fiend’s mouth, turning into the authority of sound, and another deadly attack.
The taboo poison appeared again. It became a cycle of torment that assailed Floating Fiend as he desperately tried to flee. All he could do was keep chopping at his soul, all while continuing to use his incomplete immortal skill. Every teleportation resulted in him being ripped further into shreds.
He lost his left arm. He lost his right arm. He lost his torso. In the end... all he had left was his head! It was like a convergence of misfortune. And the misfortune became drifting dust that fell down and covered his dao heart.
Within the dust was Xu Qing’s voice. “Your patriarch has perished. Your people have died. Your body is being assimilated. Your species doesn’t exist. As of now, you are the only Vivifiend left in the Revered Ancient mainland.
“You failed to assimilate me, and thus, lost your destined opportunity to become a Summer Immortal.... Next, I’m going to assimilate you. I’m going to... take away your authority of erasure.”
The voice thrummed with the godly authority of the violet moon. The echoing sound, combined with the invasion of the taboo poison, became a growing misfortune that covered Floating Fiend’s dao heart with blinding dust. A cracking sound echoed out in Floating Fiend’s mind.
“Shut up!” he screamed, trembling. His dao heart had cracked!
“The opportunity has arrived,” Xu Qing said softly as he appeared in the water above Floating Fiend. A god had come. Boundless light emanated off of him, making him like a dazzling sun in the middle of the sea. Light spread in all directions.
Incarnated as a sun, Xu Qing illuminated the seafloor. Immortal light from the profound sun carried terrifying might and astonishing power, and all of it focused on Floating Fiend’s surviving head. The previously pitch-black seafloor was now brightly lit!
Screams of anguish and howls of grief poured out of Floating Fiend’s mouth as the light shone down on him. Meanwhile, an intense rumbling sound expanded out from the sun. It turned into the only sound present, crushing out everything else.
A pitch-black golden crow flew out from the sun. It grew larger and larger, and as the entire sea region trembled, the golden crow opened its mouth and unleashed a fire that could assimilate a myriad spirits. The fire intersected with the immortal light, covering Floating Fiend’s head.... And he was sucked into the mouth!
Xu Qing was going to assimilate Floating Fiend’s authority. Normally speaking, that wouldn’t have been an easy task, for two reasons. First, Floating Fiend wasn’t complete. Second, the difficulty level of assimilating an Imperial Sovereign’s authority was astoundingly high.
But he had sealed Floating Fiend’s memories and authority in his head, and was using the boundless assimilation fire of the golden crow. The fire burned with great intensity. The first point of difficulty had been resolved. As for the second, well, Floating Fiend’s cultivation base had already dropped.
Furthermore, inside the golden crow was a convergence of fire as well as five blood mist hurricanes, which were made of the blood of Floating Fiend’s entire species.
The entire species had been assimilated! This was Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits.
The Forbidden Sea rumbled, the sky outside flashed with wild colors, and the clouds seethed. Countless lightning bolts crashed through the sky, and heavenly daos were visible overhead. Then, an authority aura unique to cultivators erupted within the golden crow.
Next, the golden crow let loose a piercing cry as it sped toward Xu Qing and entered into him through his right eye.
Xu Qing then closed his eyes. A few breaths of time passed. Then he opened his eyes, and intense rumbling sounds echoed out. His right eye now glittered with essence power, and a dao lineament was visible there. The lineament’s mere presence caused rumbling sounds to fill heaven and earth.
It was the authority of erasure! That authority was unique to the cultivator system, and it was the only thing like it that Xu Qing currently possessed.
When it appeared, Xu Qing shivered from head to toe. Immortal mercury flowed out all over him, turning into globs of silver liquid. The authority lineament also spread out!
During the time in which Floating Fiend had chased him, Xu Qing had exploded over and over again, and had lost a large quantity of immortal mercury. Later, his body was stitched back together, but he still lacked the immortal mercury, leaving his fleshly body in an inharmonious state that got worse on a daily basis.
But now, with this authority, the immortal mercury was back, spreading out from his right eye. The authority came from an Imperial Sovereign in the cultivator system. Immortal mercury was also something from the cultivator system. In some respects, the two had the same origin.
The latter was only useful as a temporary binding agent; Xu Qing needed to quickly cultivate large amounts of immortal light to make his body complete and perfect. That was because the immortal mercury was inherently an outside object, and couldn’t fully fuse with him.
But now, things were different. That authority was a replacement for the immortal mercury! As a result, his body, which had the flesh of Eminent Desolation as its foundation, and had lineaments of authority, was being bathed in immortal light! It was being made much stronger!
That sensation of near-perfection which he had experienced appeared in his mind. His eyes shone. He knew his path, and that understanding was even more firmly set than before. The road behind him was flawless, and even if the road ahead had thorns and thistles to overcome, he was confident he could tread it to completion.
As that occurred, supernatural phenomena appeared in the sky over the Forbidden Sea! Heavenly daos of Revered Ancient appeared, intense rumbling echoed out, and ripples spread through heaven and earth. It was accurate to say that there were thousands of bright colors, and boundless auspicious light. It was an offering of congratulations from Revered Ancient!
The scene immediately attracted the attention of numerous groups on the Forbidden Sea. Everyone was shaken deeply. The vast majority of those who noticed didn’t realize the significance of what they were seeing. However, the Heir Apparent and his siblings were shaken to the core.
An offering of congratulations from Revered Ancient.... According to the legends, the only thing that could cause Revered Ancient to offer congratulations would be the appearance of an unprecedented talent that hasn’t been seen from ancient times until now!
As the Heir Apparent and his siblings were moved, the empress observed the situation with shining eyes. Xu Qing acquired authority while still in Void Returning! Presumably, that was the true goal of that Master of his!
The empress looked thoughtfully in the direction of South Phoenix.
***
In South Phoenix, in a private chamber in the Seventh Peak of Seven Blood Eyes, was Master Seventh, who had been in seclusion ever since forming a new body for Xu Qing. He opened his eyes.
Fourth Sib has not let me down at all. He managed to take that authority away, and is using its power to replace the immortal mercury.... That authority of erasure is the perfect complement for his current fleshly body state. It looks like I have one less thing to worry about. Now, next on the list is....
Master Seventh slowly looked up, and his gaze pierced through the dome of heaven and into the starry sky. It passed the holy lands that were whizzing toward Revered Ancient, and eventually reached a statue with a terrifying aura.
Master Seventh suddenly looked very serious. Such a familiar aura.... Master...? Are you the one that’s returning?
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
***
Time passed.
A few days later, news about the eradication of the Vivifiend holy land spread through Revered Ancient. Numerous organizations were surprised by the news. And of course, it was a deep shock to the other holy lands.
But then, something even more shocking happened. Dharmic decrees were issued by humankind and the Firemoon Darkheavens. Combined, they formed the most paramount will possible in Revered Ancient.
“The Vivifiend holy land had evil intentions! And they committed two heinous crimes.
“Their first crime was using the guise of benevolence to parasitize many species on the Forbidden Sea. It was an act devoid of conscience, and would lead anyone to bristle with anger. The evidence is incontrovertible!
“Their second crime was that they conspired against the imperial tutor of humankind, who is also the Grand Darkheaven of the Firemoons. Their entire species endorsed this vile, atrocious act, and were more than happy to protect the perpetrator. They had no intention of ever changing, and enjoyed watching the imperial tutor being tormented. The perpetrator’s intentions were worthy of the death penalty, his actions were worthy of the death penalty, and his species was worthy of the death penalty.
“From the moment the holy lands arrived, we here in Revered Ancient were careful to uphold peace and harmony. We never intended to wage war. But the actions of the holy lands have been ruthless, unrestrained, and tyrannical. As the saying goes, the falling of one leaf heralds the coming of autumn ! In order to ensure that no similar crimes are perpetrated, we hereby notify all holy lands in the east of Revered Ancient that they have three days to leave!
“In three days, any who remain behind will be considered enemies of the east!”