Chapter 265: The Birth of a Taboo!
Smiling, Third Elder Brother continued, “That’s another reason why I sent my beloved mermaid girlfriend to her ancestors right in front of you.”
Off to the side, the Captain smiled enigmatically. He knew that Third Sib wasn’t the kind of person who wasted words. The reason he was saying all this was in the hopes of warming Xu Qing up to him.
Xu Qing looked at Third Elder Brother and thought back to that time in the harbor when he gently crushed the mermaid’s head. Back then, he’d been struck with how dangerous Third Elder Brother seemed. Even now, that sense of danger still remained. [1]
But if I had to fight him to the death, I’d probably survive. With those thoughts on his mind, he clasped hands and bowed.
Still smiling, Third Elder Brother took out a stack of spirit notes and offered them to Xu Qing. “Here, take this. A gift to mark this day. Back at Sealizard Island, you weren’t my Junior Brother, so I messed with you a bit. I hope you don’t mind. I guess I owe you for that.”
Xu Qing glanced at Third Elder Brother. He clearly remembered how there had been an aura that locked onto him when he fled Sealizard Island. He had never identified who it was that was chasing him, but later on he’d suspected it had something to do with Third Elder Brother. [2]
He was actually surprised that Third Elder Brother had just admitted the truth so casually. He looked down at the spirit notes and realized that they were worth 500,000 spirit stones. That was certainly appropriate for a show of good faith. Nodding, he accepted them.
Third Elder Brother breathed a sigh of relief when Xu Qing accepted the spirit notes. He enjoyed how things were on the Seventh Peak, and wanted to keep things as they were. What was more, he got the feeling that this new Junior Brother Xu Qing was the kind of person who would hold a grudge for life, and wouldn’t rest until his enemies were dead. That was not the kind of person Third Elder Brother wanted to provoke. He was about to say something further when a roar of rage echoed through the sky, so loud that even the deaf could hear it. Lands shook and mountains rocked as shockwaves rolled out in all directions.
“Are you looking to die, Sir Bloodsmelter?”
Everyone looked up.
Sword energy swept through the sky as if to slice apart the dome of heaven. Numerous sword projections flew about with destructive force. Just looking at it all, Xu Qing’s eyes stung. What was more, he also saw a very familiar withered hand appear. It was like the hand of a deity, filled with terrifying godliness, sending out fluctuations that transformed magical laws. As a result, numerous indistinct figures appeared around the hand, as if generations of sages and saints had been summoned to bless it. It seemed capable of plucking stars out of the sky, of destroying heaven and earth. Energy surged into the clouds as the hand stretched out.
The air shattered, turning into a raging sea of blood, and the indistinct figures around the hand started chanting. Immense pressure began to build up.
Xu Qing’s pupils constricted.
Meanwhile, the blood-red streams that Sir Bloodsmelter had produced were equally shocking. Each was like an undying devil. As the sages and saints descended and the sea of swords weighed down, those ferocious devils stood strong. Cackling laughter rang out as the blood-red streams swept about viciously, like snakes of blood. Wherever they passed, sword energy collapsed, and sword projections shattered. Finally, they transformed into the vicious head of a draconic snake that attacked the withered hand.
Heaven and earth trembled, and thunderous booms rang out as the hand collapsed. Patriarch Soaring Cloud shot backward in the face of the gigantic blood-colored snake head. Then, that head transformed back into Sir Bloodsmelter, his eyes burning with killing intent. Laughing, he said, “Fellow Daoist Soaring Cloud, you’re only a thousand years older than me.”
“You’re from a subsidiary sect, and you will be crushed, Sir Bloodsmelter! This is your last chance. Hand over Xu Qing and return our life lamp. Follow the orders from the Seven Sect Coalition. If you do, then things can go back to normal, and Seven Blood Eyes can manage your own affairs without much interference from the coalition!”
Patriarch Soaring Cloud’s eyes shone with cold light as he performed a right-handed incantation gesture then pointed out in front of him. Instantly, a sea of blood trembled in the sky, and it was barely possible to see the image of a huge blood tree inside of it.
This was the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo treasure. Though it wasn’t the real thing, only a projection, it was still incredibly powerful.
“Without much interference?” Sir Bloodsmelter said. He laughed. “For thousands of years, my sect has paid a sixty percent yearly tithe to the coalition. You conscript all of our top chosen disciples. You force them to either surrender and pay allegiance, or be sent on dangerous missions that lead to certain death.
“Our sect techniques are throwaways from the coalition, and they all contain fatal flaws. If we somehow acquire new techniques, you take them away!
“You can override our sect’s grand spell formation any time you wish. If our peaklords do something you don’t like, you force them to accept assignments on the mainland, where they disappear, perhaps into death.”
As Sir Bloodsmelter spoke, the disciples of the seven mountain peaks listened anxiously, their gazes growing sharper and sharper.
As for Patriarch Soaring Cloud, he frowned in response. “When drinking water, don’t forget who dug the well! Seven Blood Eyes was founded by coalition disciples and coalition funds. That’s the only reason your sect was able to grow. What, now you want to just be free? Now you want to forget favors and violate justice?”
Hearing this, Sir Bloodsmelter smiled broadly, though it was a smile that contained incredulity.
“Favors? Let’s talk about favors. 3,000 years ago, the battle in Forbidden by the Zombie. 2,700 years ago, the War of Soulstream. 2,000 years ago, the battle with the Cloudpeople. 1,700 years ago, the big war with the Heartsouls…. To this day, Seven Blood Eyes has fought more than six hundred battles and wars for your Seven Sect Coalition!.
“There have been countless deaths. Our bones litter the lands! We give the wounded disciples medicinal pills, and the dead disciples burials. But have we ever asked compensation from the Seven Sect Coalition for that? Every time our sect is about to prosper, war comes, and we decline. And whatever gains made from the war are meager!
“Over the past several thousand years, this sect has been brought to the brink of destruction seventy-nine times. Did your Seven Sect Coalition ever help us out on such occasions? Successive generations of patriarchs have requested aid. In fact, our third generation patriarch literally kowtowed to you and pleaded for help. Did you ever once pay attention?
“Every single time, the patriarchs of Seven Blood Eyes have to be cautious and conscientious. They lick their wounds and work hard to recover from the losses of war. Then, once things are starting to go well again, your coalition starts conscripting our best disciples again!
“Don’t tell me that the lives of Seven Blood Eyes aren’t worth anything! Do they exist just to die for you while you sit back and relax, Soaring Cloud? I, Sir Bloodsmelter, am asking this question to the Seven Sect Coalition. And I’m asking it of all heaven and earth!
“Has Seven Blood Eyes repaid you well enough for these ‘favors’?
“Has Seven Blood Eyes wiped out the debt incurred by these ‘favors’?
“You bleed us dry, always citing the ‘favor’ of how you helped us get started, and then telling us we have to abide by things because we owe you. You sit there, high and mighty, and say that if we in Seven Blood Eyes don’t die for you, that we’re ‘forgetting favors.’ You say that if we don’t pay our dues to you, that we’re ‘violating justice.’
“Could it be that your ‘favors’ boil down to Seven Blood Eyes being enslaved to you for generation after generation? Will it just keep going like that until the epoch ends and the apocalypse comes!?”
Sir Bloodsmelter’s words rang out loud and clear, shaking all seven of the mountain peaks in Seven Blood Eyes.
Patriarch Soaring Cloud’s expression was grim. He was fully aware of the situation with Seven Blood Eyes. But in the end, profit determined one’s position in life.
“There’s no need for speeches. People who forget favors always come up with plenty of excuses.”
Sir Bloodsmelter laughed. “Ah, what an impressive supervisory sect. How amazing you are to use ‘favors’ to enhance your own prestige and power. As it turns out, you are the ones who drink water, and forget who dug the well. Well, in that case, starting today… Seven Blood Eyes is going to become a supervisory sect!”
Patriarch Soaring Cloud’s eyes turned incredibly sharp. “Your sect isn’t worthy.”
“See what happens next before you decide.” Sir Bloodsmelter waved his right hand and pointed to the sky. “Open the portal to the Seazombie ancestral land!”
As the words left his mouth, winds swept through the sky, and heaven and earth shook. At the same time, beyond Seastar Island, the Merfolk Isles, and the various Seazombie fortified islands, was the Seazombie ancestral land, which also trembled.
Half of those ancestral lands had been ceded to Seven Blood Eyes. That was where the Seven Blood Eyes army still was, having not yet returned to the sect. That was where Seven Blood Eyes had built a huge teleportation portal to transport the zombie ancestor statues. In fact, those two statues had already been moved to the teleportation portal, and stood there tall and imposing. Now, the teleportation portal suddenly glowed with immense light. The clouds parted as if being dragged apart by invisible hands.
As the light of teleportation glittered, intense rumbling sounds rolled out everywhere. The rumbling sounds didn’t come from the two zombie ancestor statues by the teleportation portal. Instead… they came from the sky as something was teleported in.
Five beams of light became visible.
They were so dazzling they were difficult to see. As they closed in, they attracted the attention of all the cultivators in the Seazombie ancestral land. All of them were shaken, and looks of disbelief could be seen everywhere.
And that was because, inside of those beams of light, astonishingly, were… five unfamiliar zombie ancestor statues! They were not from the nine statues that had originally existed with the Seazombies. They were different statues! The statues seemed incredibly ancient, as if they had seen many things from ancient times until now. They were covered with cracks, yet were obviously not made from ordinary stone. And it was only when in the Seazombie lands that they would emit dazzling light. That was one of the marvelous properties of the Seazombie divine likenesses. They were only powerful in one specific location.
When the five statues arrived, they slammed down, causing the earth to quake violently, and filling the Seazombie lands with intense rumbling sounds.
Now, it was possible to see that there were a total of fourteen zombie ancestor statues in the Seazombie ancestral land. Seven were located in various parts of the ancestral land, while the other seven were arrayed by the teleportation portal leading to Seven Blood Eyes.
As the teleportation portal thrummed, the seven statues glowed brightly, then sent out powerful fluctuations. It was like they were seven massive power sources! At the same time, above each of the seven statues… seven blood-colored vortexes appeared. They were seven eyes! They were all closed, but as they appeared, they caused a violent tsunami to sweep out across the sea. All nonhumans, all sea beasts, and everything else trembled in absolute astonishment. And that was because… this was not the aura of an ordinary magical treasure. This was something approaching the level of a taboo treasure!
As the matchlessly fierce aura became more intense, the air screamed above the closed eyes as something else appeared. It was an ancient bronze mirror, fully 30,000 meters in size! [3]
It hovered vertically in the air, rotating slowly in a circle. It could face north to the Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, south to Seven Blood Eyes, east to Forbidden by the Zombie, and west to the Sea of Endlessness. Everything was within its range!
And wherever it pointed, people would feel struck down to their soul, and would shiver in terror! As the power sources that were the seven zombie ancestor statues fed into the mirror, it pulsed with a taboo aura. Seven Blood Eyes’ taboo treasure had formed!
1. The incident with the mermaid and Third Elder Brother was in chapter 98. ☜
2. There were clues in chapters 98 and 99 that pointed to Third Elder Brother being the person who chased Xu Qing after the Sealizard Island incident. The actual chase part happened in chapter 93. ☜
3. Being a fantasy world, the mirror is likely very fancy and cool-looking. However, it’s based on ancient Chinese bronze/copper mirrors, which were generally circular (but not always a perfect circle), with ornate designs on the back, with a highly polished metallic surface on the other side that served as the reflective part. This is the same style of mirror as the special mirror Meng Hao uses in ISSTH. That said, there is no indication these mirrors are supposed to be connected, other than the fact that they are both mirrors and both made of bronze/copper. Here is a photo gallery with a few examples of what ancient Chinese mirrors looked like. ☜