Chapter 123: The Temple of Meegah
It was a bizarre situation.
That said, both Xu Qing and Zhang San had experienced things like this before. What was more, compared to what the Captain was doing, whatever unseen enemies were on the way didn’t count for much.
Xu Qing hadn’t looked up to many people in his life. In the slums, he had admired his teacher. In the scavenger basecamp, he had admired Sergeant Thunder and Grandmaster Bai. Now, there was another person on that list. The difference was that when it came to the Captain, what Xu Qing admired was his crazy way of living dangerously. At a moment like this, the Captain was going to the seafloor and risking his own life to get some of Joine’s flesh. It seemed like absolute insanity. As far as who the Captain really was, and what the true level of his cultivation base was, Xu Qing didn’t bother trying to speculate. There wasn’t any point.
“I hope you succeed, Captain,” Xu Qing whispered.
The Captain had given him three Foundation Establishment Pills in exchange for an incense stick’s worth of protection. So Xu Qing would keep him safe for that long. Without any hesitation, he headed toward the main entrance of the temple.
At the door, he looked out, then waved his hand, sending out a large collection of poison powder into the water. These powders weren’t colorless. Instead, there were powders of many colors: black, red, blue, green, and more, which instantly combined into a multicolored, highly poisonous cloud.
Meanwhile, the sizzling sounds and explosions from outside grew louder. Ripples appeared in the water, followed by a huge tentacle that shot directly toward Xu Qing. It moved with incredible speed, sending out pulses of energy through the water as it did. There wasn’t just one such tentacle. More followed, until there were dozens of them shooting in Xu Qing’s direction.
Eyes cold, he dodged the first tentacle, then slashed his dagger through it, completely severing it. Backing up a step, he engaged the next tentacle to reach him. Blood erupted everywhere, but there were so many tentacles trying to grab him that eventually he dropped his dagger, grabbed one of the tentacles, and pulled as hard as he could. Rumbling sounds could be heard as a huge crater opened up in the ground and a bizarre beast was dragged out into the open. As it twitched and writhed, its head appeared, complete with a vicious mouth that lunged toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing remained calm as the spectral drought demon appeared behind him, and he struck the beast with a vicious punch. A boom caused the water to explode, and the beast collapsed.
However, the fight wasn’t over. Xu Qing grabbed another tentacle, pulled the beast out into the open, and then punched it into oblivion.
Further back inside the temple, Zhang San was breathing hard as he watched. Xu Qing isn’t quite as crazy as the Captain, but he’s definitely pretty ferocious.
Zhang San wasn’t just sitting around. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing nearly invisible threads to shoot out from him toward the outside. He was also taking part in the slaughter.
More and more explosions could be heard from outside as Zhang San’s traps continued to be sprung. Many enemies fell victim to Xu Qing’s poisons and were forced to show their faces. These newcomers were Merfolk.
However, they weren’t like ordinary Merfolk. They had the ability to turn invisible, and they were also unusually fierce. As they appeared, coughing up blood and showing other signs of being poisoned, they chose not to retreat, but instead charged toward the temple entrance.
Their target wasn’t Xu Qing, but rather, the statue covered in flesh. In fact, they seemed to be going mad with the desire to stop the fluctuations coming from that flesh. However, the moment they burst into the entrance of the temple, a huge explosion occurred. They had walked right into one of Zhang San’s traps. Xu Qing wasn’t hurt at all, but the Merfolk were blown to bits.
The explosion forced the rest of the Merfolk back. As for Xu Qing, who was still struggling with the tentacles, a look of shock appeared on his face. He had just sensed some powerful fluctuations, and could tell that an intense aura was approaching the temple from under the ground.
“Elder Brother Zhang San, carry that statue out of here!” he shouted.
Zhang San reacted with lightning speed. Without the slightest hesitation, he ran back, threw the flesh-covered statue onto his shoulders, and charged out of the temple. At the same time, his right hand danced, manipulating the sharp threads to swirl around him. Exactly as he burst out of the temple, the temple collapsed, and a massive, rotting hand exploded from the ground. Although it didn’t grab anything, it did slap down onto the surface and then exert tremendous force to pull a huge, 300-meter-tall figure out of the ground. As it came up, powerful zombie poison spread out in all directions.
Shockingly, this was a zombie creature. Except, it wasn’t a single zombie, but rather, a host of zombies all bunched together. Once out into the open, it crouched on all fours like an animal before charging toward Zhang San.
Zhang San’s expression flickered. Taking the statue from his shoulder, he tossed it toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing leaped up and grabbed it, then backed up. At the same time, he used his dagger left-handed to slash at something next to him. Blood bloomed as a head tumbled down.
Meanwhile, the giant zombie shifted directions toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. Picking up speed, he fled. Meanwhile, Zhang San borrowed some of Xu Qing’s speed to hurry after him. Xu Qing wasn’t surprised by that. The moment he caught the flesh-covered statue, he had sensed a thread connecting it to Zhang San.
“What is that thing?” Zhang San asked as he got close. “It took the Captain to the bottom of the sea, but it seems to have driven the Merfolk and Seazombies mad.”
Xu Qing didn’t respond. He was thinking about what the Captain had said about an incense stick’s worth of time. He tossed the statue back to Zhang San. “Elder Brother Zhang San, you hold the line here.”
Then, eyes erupting with killing intent, Xu Qing gripped his dagger with his left hand and pulled out his black iron skewer with his right. As the spectral drought demon howled behind him, he charged toward the incoming giant zombie. He moved at top speed, and as he closed in, the spectral drought demon joined him to launch a strike. He also released plenty of poison.
Under the force of his relentless attacks, individual Seazombies fell off of the giant composite zombie, until it was falling back in retreat.
Next, Xu Qing summoned a host of water droplets to create a set of fetters to lock the giant creature in place. Then he waved his hand to summon his dharmaboat and unleash an attack of godliness. A golden beam of light appeared that seemed capable of purifying anything and everything. Shooting through the water, it landed right on the giant zombie. The giant thing trembled, then exploded into bits.
Xu Qing didn’t want to waste the godliness he had. Putting away his dharmaboat, he turned, killing intent flickering in his eyes. Then he launched himself toward the other Merfolk. His dagger danced, spreading blood everywhere. His iron skewer zipped about, piercing one Merfolk after another. Though Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was still sleeping, now that the iron skewer had a spirit automaton, it was an extraordinary and deadly weapon.
A short time later, the entire area had been cleared by Xu Qing. He was covered with blood, and he looked a bit tired, but his killing intent burned as intensely as ever.
The iron skewer was in a similar state. It pulsed with a baleful aura, as well as a hint of Foundation Establishment. From the look of it, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior would awaken soon.
Behind Xu Qing, the spectral drought demon looked around viciously as if to bear witness to the carnage.
Off to the side stood Zhang San, who was deeply shaken. He saw Xu Qing covered in blood, standing there like an unsheathed blade. And suddenly, he realized he’d made an error in judgment. Though Xu Qing wasn’t as crazy as the Captain, in terms of ferocity, he was on exactly the same level! That was especially true considering that all the bodies on the ground had their necks sliced open.
Enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn. And the Captain wasn’t back.
Xu Qing stood there silently looking at the flesh-covered statue on Zhang San’s shoulders.
They waited long enough for another half an incense stick to burn. Even Zhang San was starting to think too much time had passed. He looked a bit gloomy. Some more time passed.
Finally, Xu Qing said, “Time’s up, Elder Brother Zhang San. I have some other places to go. Take care of yourself.”
He gave Zhang San a bag of poison, told him how to use it, then turned and sped away. He hoped everything went well with the Captain, but he wasn’t going to just sit around waiting. He had more important things to take care of.
After he was far enough away that he was sure he was alone, he took out the Spirit Breath Lamp and put it into his shadow. Almost immediately, he was able to confirm which direction he needed to go. He continued moving through the huge temple complex. An hour later, he stopped in front of what appeared to be a very ordinary temple. Though it didn’t seem any different from the surrounding buildings, this was where the Spirit Breath Lamp was pointing to. After looking around and confirming he was alone, he took out some poison and scattered it around, making sure it covered the entire temple, and even drifted inside.
Even then, he didn’t just go in. He waited for a while to see if anything happened. When nothing did, he finally cautiously entered the temple. There was nothing inside other than a statue. It was not a statue of Joine. Instead, it depicted an old merman. He looked threatening without being angry, and wore a royal crown on his head. Other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything special about him.
Xu Qing looked around, even taking time to study the walls.
However, the place was indeed empty, even the walls. After finding no clues, Xu Qing took out the Spirit Breath Lamp. Nothing happened. After some thought, he ignited the lamp and walked around the entire temple, yet still didn’t notice anything noteworthy.
He put some more thought into the matter, then put the lamp into his shadow. Almost instantly, the flame changed color, turning from amber to a pale green. As the light touched the walls, Xu Qing realized they looked different.
Eyes narrowing, he walked up to one of the walls.
As he got close, and the lamplight shone more directly on the wall in front of him, it rippled. Then, to his shock, a mural appeared on the wall. It depicted a massive altar, piled high with so many bones they were like a sea. And atop that sea of bones towered three figures. Two of them were bowing, the other stood tall. One of the two bowing figures was the same old merman depicted in the statue in this temple. He looked like an emperor, regal, formidable, and out of the ordinary. On his head, he wore a royal crown covered with jewels.
The other bowing figure was an old woman with a host of tentacles wearing a robe of fish skeletons. On her back was a ghost face. It was, of course, Joine.
As for the figure to whom they bowed, it was a giant, around whom coiled a huge, nine-headed serpent. The giant wore a suit of armor covered with magical symbols. On each shoulder, he carried a separate world, and a sword floated above his head. The sword looked extremely disturbing, as if it was powerful enough to sunder the heavens and crush the earth. In fact, this figure that the Merfolk emperor and Joine were bowing to seemed very much like a god.
One of the serpentine mouths held a burning lamp.
That lamp resembled an upside-down umbrella. In that respect, it looked like the Spirit Breath Lamp. However, the feeling it let off made it seem like it was something far beyond the Spirit Breath Lamp. [1]
That difference was like the difference between an ordinary rock and a piece of fine jade.
And it exuded a royal might that ensured that anyone who looked at it would know that it was real and authentic..
1. Like I mentioned in a previous footnote, umbrellas in xianxia novels generally don’t look like traditional modern Western umbrellas. They would rather resemble ancient Chinese-style umbrellas, such as the one in this vintage drawing or this photo. In the case of the umbrella in this chapter, it’s later likened to an “imperial canopy,” in other words, the umbrella that an emperor would use, typically over his imperial carriage/chariot. Such “canopies” could just look like a regular Chinese umbrella. They might look different, though. Here are a few examples: actual photo, ancient artistic depiction, modern artistic depiction. With so many possibilities to pick from, use your imagination to decide what looks the coolest to you! ☜