Chapter 473: The Wind Sweeping Through the Tower Heralds a Rising Storm in the Mountains
Emperor Ancient Spirit’s voice shook heaven and earth. Yet the emperor seemed worried that the fluctuations might actually kill Xu Qing, and thus constrained the godly might and ripping power.
Xu Qing, who had been at his very limit, breathed a sigh of relief. After staggering backward a few paces, he turned to leave. Right before he did, he glanced at the green dragons made from destiny aura, and then thought about that sense of longing he’d detected from Ling’er when she saw them. Feeling a twinge of nervousness, he pointed at the nearest one.
“Oh illustrious Ancient Emperor, please lend me some destiny aura. Later on, I’ll offer repayment with something of equal value.”
The Ancient Spirit’s godly might, which had just been retracting, suddenly shivered, and the huge eye stared down coldly at Xu Qing with increasing majesty.
“I’m asking for a loan, not a gift,” Xu Qing noted.
The gigantic eye looked at the red spots in the sky, then back at Xu Qing, and finally at his heavenly dao bluegreen dragon. A moment passed, and then a green dragon of destiny shivered and shot toward Xu Qing. Xu Qing grabbed it, whereupon the dragon turned into a green crystal. It was delicate and beautiful, making it obvious it was a precious treasure.
Next, a low-pitched roar erupted from the gigantic eye.
“Screw off, NOW!”
With that, the eye closed and ceased looking at Xu Qing.
Without hesitation, Xu Qing sped off the mountain of flesh and out of the imperial palace. The wing on his back flapped, and he became a beam of light that shot off at incredible speed.
In order to prevent any unexpected situations, he did not return the violet moon to his fourth heavenly palace, but he did cover the signal with a poison mist. Occasionally, he checked the situation above. He was worried about the red moon coming, but also worried that Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eye would open again.
With those two concerns constantly on his mind, he maintained top speed as he returned along the same path he had originally followed to the palace.
During the days that followed, he didn’t run into any evil souls. Eventually, he found the spot where he had landed. Perhaps because he had covered up the signal, or perhaps because of efforts made by Emperor Ancient Spirit, the violet moon in the sky had faded significantly, and the red spots had blurred to the point where they were hardly visible.
Without a pause, Xu Qing started flying upward.
As the lands beneath him grew smaller and smaller, he felt an increasingly strong gravitational force pulling on him. But with a lot of effort, he broke free. At that point, he returned the violet moon to his heavenly palace, and retracted the taboo poison. After waiting for a long, nervous moment to see if anything would happen, he shot up into the Spirit Abyss and grabbed onto the cliff-like wall. It pulsed with a frigid cold as he started climbing up. Meanwhile, the violet crystal worked hard to heal his injuries.
The trip down had been easy. But going up, he had to deal with the constant downward tug. And not only was he injured, but also he didn’t dare use the violet moon to resist that tug. Therefore, he had to just struggle up along the wall.
In that manner, time passed.
He would occasionally stop to rest. About six hours later, he saw the altar above him, as well as the innkeeper from Plankspring Way, sitting on the edge and constantly working through incantation gestures in an attempt to open a path to Xu Qing.
After only glancing for a moment at the innkeeper, Xu Qing’s gaze shifted to the cave, where he saw Ling’er in her white garments, sitting there cross-legged. He breathed a sigh of relief.
She no longer looked as pale as death. She was breathing steadily, and her face was flush with life force. That said, her soul had been out of her body for a significant time, so at the moment, she was gathering her strength. It would take time before she would regain consciousness. Surrounding her were various magical defenses erected by the innkeeper to keep her safe.
Even as Xu Qing was studying Ling’er, the innkeeper failed at his attempt to open a path. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he looked over the edge of the altar into the spirit abyss. There he saw Xu Qing crawling slowly up the wall.
“Y-you... you came back on your own?” The innkeeper looked like he’d seen a ghost. Truth be told, he had repeatedly attempted to use his magic to get to Xu Qing, and had even asked for help from the Wood Spirits, only to fail over and over again. What was more, he knew deep in his heart that even if he succeeded, he probably wouldn’t be able to save Xu Qing, not considering that Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eye had opened.
Because of that, he had been fretting this entire time. For one thing, he was worried that he had sent Xu Qing to his death to save Ling’er, and that left him with deeply conflicted emotions. Beyond that, he was worried about what Ling’er would do after she woke up and found out that Xu Qing wasn’t coming back. But even as he had stewed in deep anxiety, he suddenly saw Xu Qing crawling out of the Spirit Abyss.
“But that was Emperor Ancient Spirit...!” he murmured, looking visibly stunned.
Xu Qing hopped onto the altar. The innkeeper inhaled sharply, and was about to say something when Xu Qing waved his hand dismissively. Still gasping for breath, Xu Qing took out the green crystal of destiny aura and handed it to the innkeeper.
“That’s for Ling’er.”
The innkeeper instinctively caught it. When he looked down and saw what it was, his eyes went wide, and his head spun.
“Ancestral emperor destiny aura!!” he blurted. He gripped it tightly, his heart racing as he contemplated how valuable that crystal was. In fact, to descendants of the Ancient Spirits, it was priceless. If Ling’er absorbed that ancestral emperor destiny aura, not only would it make her bloodline stronger, but also, it would suppress the curse within her to a much greater extent. Back in the era of the Ancient Spirits, only the imperial clan had access to personalized destiny auras like this. With it, Ling’er’s cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds.
When Xu Qing saw the innkeeper’s reaction he relaxed a bit. Looking over at Ling’er seated in meditation, he thought about everything that just happened beneath the Spirit Abyss.
“Ling’er’s bloodline essence was damaged,” the innkeeper explained. “It will take her at least a month before she can awaken. But with this ancestral emperor destiny aura, her bloodline won’t just recover. It will reach a higher level.”
Xu Qing nodded. As waves of exhaustion rose within him, he took out a talisman of black iron. “Do you recognize this?”
The talisman was round and covered with complex magical symbols. It radiated black light and frigid coldness, as well as teleportation fluctuations. Xu Qing had acquired it from one of the zombies he’d killed. Sensing that it was something amazing, he’d kept it.
“That’s a spirit abyss talisman!” the innkeeper said. “I mentioned that kind of talisman before. They’re very rare. When you activate it by infusing it with your dharma force, you’ll be teleported back into the Spirit Abyss. Even more amazing is that, in the moment of teleportation, you can set your destination by merely visualizing it.”
As far as the innkeeper was concerned, this Xu Qing was a completely different person than before. Even now, he had no idea how he’d managed to escape such a deadly situation.
Xu Qing nodded and put the spirit abyss talisman away. Looking one final time at Ling’er, he turned to leave.
“Y-you’re... you’re not going to wait for Ling’er?” the innkeeper asked hesitantly.
“I’m not in good shape,” Xu Qing answered quietly. “I can’t stay. We’ll see each other again later on.” With that, he started climbing the stairs up.
The innkeeper watched him go, all the while thinking back to what he’d seen after opening that crevice. Xu Qing had stood there, protecting Ling’er from godly might.
The bratty punk has a lot of faults and isn’t exactly charming. But... he knows the difference between gratitude and grudges. Plus, he’s obviously sentimental and has a sense of justice!
***
It was evening outside, and the red sky of evening looked like blood.
When Xu Qing flew up into the air, the wind caused his clothing to flap. With a bit of anxiety in his eyes, he looked in the direction of the county capital.
One reason he’d left the altar so quickly was that he had no idea if there would be further ramifications because of how he’d summoned the red moon. Another reason... was that the sense of unease and crisis had become incomparably intense after he left the Spirit Abyss.
Don’t tell me it has something to do with the red moon.
With a thousand thoughts running through his head, he started on his way back. However, he had only traveled a short distance out of the basin when the ground suddenly heaved!
Countless trees swayed as something like an invisible shockwave swept through the area. Cracking sounds rang out from distant mountains and crevices opened up on them. Colors flashed in the sky, and a boom rang out that echoed through half of Sea-Sealing County. And it came from the direction of the county capital, as if... something there had exploded.
The residual echoes were like heavenly thunder that smashed through the red evening sky. Black clouds sprang into being in the sky, spreading out like ripples in a pond. In the shortest of moments, the evening vanished, to be replaced by the darkness of night!
Xu Qing felt immense shock as he sensed and saw all of those things. Being in midair, he was shoved backward by the shockwave. As that happened, he looked in the direction of the distant county capital, and saw a massive, glowing white figure.
It looked like an old man, so enormous he could prop up heaven and earth. He radiated terrifying power, and was surrounded by countless minor worlds that were constantly forming and collapsing. Although he couldn’t compare to a god, based on what Xu Qing could sense, he obviously surpassed the palace lord.
The old man’s eyes seemed filled with a reluctance to say farewell as he looked down at Sea-Sealing County. Black spots appeared on his body, more and more of them, growing and clumping together. Eventually, they spread out to cover him. The old man opened his mouth as if to speak...
But he wasn’t able to. The darkness of night consumed him, and he slowly vanished. Without a sound... he perished!
Thunder crashed deafeningly. Then rain started to fall, pelting the basin, the mountains, the soil, the plants, and all of the living beings in Sea-Sealing County. The rain also hit Xu Qing. As he hovered there in the wind and rain, his mind was in chaos.
He had seen that old man from a distance a few times in the county capital.
“The governor...” he murmured, his expression one of complete incredulity.
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