The chosen from the Seven Sect Coalition were even more deeply shaken. For one thing, most of them were jealous. After all… imperial-class techniques could be encountered by chance but never searched for and found. And such techniques that were suitable for humans were as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns. That wasn’t even to mention… that this was Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits!
Years ago, the president of the Seven Sect Coalition himself had acquired the legacy of Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits, and therefore, all disciples in the Seven Sect Coalition were familiar with it. And the more familiar someone was with that technique, the more envious they would be of someone who had it. Thus, they elevated Xu Qing to be alongside the highnesses of the various mountain peaks in terms of his importance.
However, not one other chosen stuck their head out to help out the House of Grue Hunters. All of them knew that there was no way the matter was over yet, and that things were probably going to get even more complicated. No one was going to make a move until the House of Grue Hunters and the Dark Serenity Sect decided what to do. After all, the Seventh Peak’s supervisory sect was the Dark Serenity Sect. Huang Yikun was the chosen from the Dark Serenity Sect, and he had an extraordinary cultivation base. What was more, he had not yet issued any challenges, as he was taking his time to find the best opportunity.
As everyone was waiting to see what would happen, Huang Yikun happened to be reviewing Xu Qing’s information on a jade slip. He smiled.
I’ve finally found my opportunity. Going around issuing challenges along with everyone else is no way to show off how amazing the Dark Serenity Sect is. I’d originally been planning to wait until all other challenges had been settled, and then make a move. But now it seems I won’t have to do that. This Xu Qing seems like he has potential. It’d be a pity to destroy him. I’d much rather recruit him. That said, if he refuses to cooperate, then I guess I’ll have to end him.
Chuckling, he took out a transmission jade slip to send messages to the other chosen.
“I’m going to handle the situation with Xu Qing. The rest of you just wait and see how it plays out.”
While the Seven Sect Coalition chosen, the Seven Blood Eyes disciples, and the members of the nonhuman species were all paying close attention to the matter, Xu Qing himself was sitting cross-legged in his dharmaskiff.
His expression was the same as ever, completely placid.
He was well aware of what was going on outside. From the moment he chose to take action, he’d known there would be ramifications. Though he didn’t like to make himself the center of attention, given the circumstances, he’d had no choice. His hand had been forced, and thus he revealed his imperial-class technique and his special poison. He had a lot of secrets, and the reality was that not revealing them would cause people to speculate about him, and would lead to further disadvantages.
.
By selectively revealing certain things intentionally, it made it easier to keep even deeper secrets hidden.
My first layer of secrets consists of my poison and the imperial-class technique. The second layer is my life lamp. The third is my shadow and its ability to absorb mutagen. The fourth is the violet crystal.
Xu Qing took some time to think about the whole situation, then he extended his right hand, within which appeared a blue ring. There was a glittering green gemstone inset in the ring, making the thing look absolutely extraordinary.
This was Sima Ling’s ring of holding. It was different from a bag of holding. Rings of holding were more valuable and had a larger capacity. Furthermore, the fancy gem made it obvious that this ring was incredibly valuable.
Sima Ling was now a prisoner of the Violent Crimes Division, and according to the division’s rules, all of his personal items could be confiscated and disposed of however the division saw fit. Of course, those rules had to be applied judiciously. For instance, though Yanyan had been arrested, Xu Qing didn’t go to the extent of taking away her ring of holding. He simply put it into storage. Then, after she was released, she got it back.
However… Xu Qing didn’t feel that Sima Ling needed to be shown the same courtesy. Therefore, he was now studying the ring closely, and examining the sealing mark that kept it closed. This ring of holding was designed so that only the person connected to the sealing mark could open it. But that wasn’t going to pose an obstacle for Xu Qing.
“Wipe the seal out for me,” Xu Qing said quietly.
His shadow had simply been waiting for the word. It stretched out, and a moment later, the ring of holding was inundated with corrosive mutagen. It didn’t take long for the sealing mark to start fading away. After it was wiped out completely, it was easy for Xu Qing to send some dharma force inside to inspect the contents.
Despite his experience and willpower, when Xu Qing saw what was inside, his eyes began to shine. It contained entire stacks of spirit notes! Upon taking inventory, Xu Qing inhaled sharply.
“9,300,000!!” he murmured.
His eyes went wide and his heart started racing. This was a huge sum to come across, such that even Xu Qing, who was usually so calm and collected, instinctively looked around nervously. ．
And Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior, who normally wasn’t prone to outbursts, shouted, “That’s a freaking lot of money! This guy wasn’t a chosen. He’s obviously a nouveau riche playboy from Revered Ancient!!”
Xu Qing’s heart wasn’t just pounding because of the spirit stones. There was also a jade box with two pieces of flesh from a godly entity, each of them roughly the size of a head. Given the strong level of godliness, it seemed to Xu Qing that they were both from the great circle of Foundation Establishment.
Those would make a great power source for my dharmaskiff!
Xu Qing continued to examine the contents of the ring.
He soon found that it contained four finger-sized crystals, all of which exuded powerful fluctuations. Sealed within them was some sort of mist. Taking them out to examine them, he realized that the swirling mist inside formed distinct images. One was a headless ox, one was a distorted ball of black hair, and one was a hand. Sealed in the final crystal was an eye. Just looking at the collection, Xu Qing was shaken, as he could sense a strong grue aura.
Disciples from the Third Peak make deals with grues, and it’s the same with the House of Grue Hunters. These sealed items are actually grues….
After some thought, Xu Qing realized why Sima Ling didn’t use any of these things.
He had been hit by Xu Qing’s poison, causing the mutagen within him to rise rapidly. Because of that, the sealed grues became unusually aggressive. If Sima Ling had brought them out under those circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have been able to use them against Xu Qing, and would instead have made things worse for himself.
There were more things in Sima Ling’s ring of holding. There were five medicinal pills that Xu Qing, given his skill with plants and vegetation, was very excited to see. Simply inhaling their fragrance caused his dharma apertures to stir vigorously. What was more, it seemed like his 84th dharma aperture, which was unopened, seemed to quiver.
A medicinal pill for opening dharma apertures?
Xu Qing struggled to breathe steadily, and his eyes shone brightly.
He currently had 83 dharma apertures open, putting him only 7 away from being able to ignite three life flames!
Sima Ling’s ring of holding didn’t just contain those items. It also had about seven or eight magical devices. However, after examining them, Xu Qing realized they were all designed for use in controlling grues, and needed to be combined with special techniques to work properly. There were some jade slips, but they were all protected by warding spells. From what Xu Qing could tell, those spells were placed by the sect to prevent their techniques from being revealed to outsiders. He tried breaking them with his shadow, but it didn’t work well. There were a bunch of other random objects. After rifling through them, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he noticed a wooden box off in the corner of the ring’s dimensional space. It was black and exuded a strong mutagen aura. However, there was no sign of it containing a grue.
Something dead??After some thought, he opened the box.
The moment he did, spectacularly strong mutagen poured out. It vastly exceeded any mutagen from a forbidden region, such that any mortal who touched it would instantly experience mutation and then die. Even average cultivators who encountered it would immediately find their mutagen levels skyrocketing.
In Xu Qing’s case, his shadow just started devouring it madly. Eventually, the mutagen coming from the box was significantly reduced, whereupon the shadow burped and shrank back to its spot.
There was still mutagen coming out of the box, but nothing like before.
The object in the box that had previously been exuding such strong mutagen was a palm-sized chunk of metal. It was rusty and didn’t look special at all. However, Xu Qing’s expression flickered when he looked at it, as he could sense an astonishing will contained in the piece of metal, something that imparted the same feeling as staring up at the river of stars in the dome of heaven. It was as if something was imprisoned inside. And the force keeping it imprisoned was mutagen!
Upon studying it more closely, Xu Qing found that this mutagen was different from the mutagen he was familiar with from the forbidden regions he’d been in. In fact, this piece of metal actually resembled a very small forbidden region.
The mutagen was coming from it!
In other words, if this piece of metal were much, much larger, it would turn into a region of its own. It would be a forbidden region!
“What is this thing?!” Xu Qing breathed, looking confused.
Meanwhile, the shadow, sensing that there was still mutagen coming out of the piece of metal, stretched out. After covering the piece of metal, it shivered, then sent out strong emotional fluctuations filled with deep longing.
“Fragmented… piece….”
Xu Qing slammed the lid of the box shut.
After the mutagen was cut off, the shadow seemed almost frantic. However, because of the violet light in Xu Qing’s chest, it didn’t dare to act out of turn.
“What is it?” he said.
“Allow me, milord! I’ll handle this!” Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior immediately manifested a projection of himself and squatted next to the shadow. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
The shadow’s eyes burned with animosity as it glared at the patriarch. It had regained much of its intelligence, and thinking back to everything that had happened, it had long since come to despise the patriarch. As far as it was concerned, the patriarch was its enemy. Furthermore, it needed to be very careful. Otherwise, it would do all the hard work, and the idiot patriarch would get all the credit.
Meanwhile, the patriarch was chuckling coldly in his heart. However, he was careful to keep an amiable look on his face.
“Come, my beloved shadow. Come, come. Let’s have a nice little chat.”
The shadow seemed inclined to refuse, but without something to possess, it had no ability to communicate properly. And considering how coldly Xu Qing was looking at it, it knew it had no choice. Though it wasn’t happy about the situation, it had to start explaining things to the patriarch.
After the process was done, the patriarch looked incredulous. Voice trembling, he quietly said, “Milord, I was wrong. This guy isn’t a nouveau riche playboy. He’s a freaking god of wealth! According to Little Shadow, this thing… is a fragmented piece of a taboo treasure! The shadow is convinced that if it absorbs enough of it, then it can… unleash some of the power of the taboo treasure!”