When Xu Qing asked to study the dao of poison without the slightest nervousness or apprehension, Master Seventh’s admiration grew. Throwing his head back, he laughed heartily.
“Of course there are such places. Come on, I’ll take you.” With that, he led Xu Qing out of the sect and back to the dharmaskiff.
Master Seventh didn’t need to say anything this time. Xu Qing somberly turned to the sect below and bowed deeply. Master Seventh looked pleased as he did the same thing.
Meanwhile, Ding Xue was still working on her cultivation. Apparently, her aptitude was nothing out of the ordinary, so even with the help of that soul pearl, she was still having difficulty opening her dharma apertures.
Time passed in which Master Seventh and Xu Qing focused on study. A month later, after the dharmaskiff was deep into the eastern part of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, Master Seventh felt he had reached the point where he could create a technique for Xu Qing. That was when the session of study reached its end.
Xu Qing had benefited a lot when it came to plants and vegetation, as well as the dao of poison. They had been to several evil poison sects, wherein Xu Qing had experienced some major breakthroughs thanks to their poison codices. One area where he had benefited most was understanding of planning and developing new poisons. He had learned a technique in which ‘the fleshly body is the pill furnace and the blood is a curse.’ It was a method that could be used to concoct very deadly concoctions.
However, all of that was secondary as far as Xu Qing was concerned. What really caused his eyes to light up was a small black sphere that currently rested on Master Seventh’s palm.
It was made of innumerable magical symbols that pulsed with terrifying fluctuations. What was even more amazing was that, when merely looking at it, it seemed to contain immense amounts of information, ready to pour into the mind. [1]
“Fourth Sib,” Master Seventh said solemnly, “give me the Gruegloom heart from that girl Sima Ru.” [2]
Xu Qing’s eyes turned serious. He remembered his Master telling him that the heart would be useful to him. Taking it out of his bag of holding, he handed it to his Master.
Master Seventh flicked his sleeve, sending the Gruegloom heart into the black sphere. Instantly, the black sphere started pulsing rapidly, almost like it was alive. At the same time, it emitted hair-raising howls.
“This is the technique I’ve created for you, Fourth Sib. It perfectly corresponds to your personality. It will brand itself into your mind. It’s a legacy transmission method that I picked up by studying imperial-class techniques!”
The howling from the black sphere ceased as it transformed into a black liquid. Master Seventh waved his hand, sending it toward Xu Qing.
“Lift your head!”
As Master Seventh’s words echoed out, Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at the black liquid. As soon as the liquid reached his forehead, it bored into him painfully, piercing through his skull. At the same time, it released pulses of bizarre power that converged in his mind, transforming into a black sealing mark!
Instantly, Xu Qing’s mind filled with rumblings like thunder, which spread through his entire body. He became like a tiny rowboat, rocking up and down on a violent sea.
That sealing mark wasn’t an inanimate thing. It was moving as if alive! It resembled a heart, and it beat in unison with Xu Qing’s actual heart. As the thump-thump sound rang out, massive amounts of information poured from the magical sealing symbol into his sea of consciousness. Closing his eyes, he immersed himself in enlightenment.
At the same time, Master Seventh’s voice reached him.
“Fourth Sib, each of my apprentices cultivates different techniques. All of them were custom created by me, after much research!
“This Gold Core technique of yours was devised around that Gruegloom heart, after doing research into hundreds of different Gold Core techniques. I took special note of numerous legacy techniques passed down from Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity.
“It’s very domineering, which suits your fighting methods. It’s very sinister, which suits your personal style. And it’s very brutal, which suits your killer’s mentality.
“This technique is called… the Gruegloom Daoseizing Art!
“This art will turn one of your hands from corporeal to illusory. Using that Gruegloom hand, you can reach into one of your enemy’s heavenly palaces in their sea of consciousness, seize the gold core inside, and then rip it out. After, you can assimilate its essence and add it into one of your own heavenly palaces, thus making it your own!
“In that manner, once you reach the Gold Core level, you can be stronger and more deadly! Your future path is going to focus on killing as your method of cultivation. It will be a blood-drenched road!
“As your cultivation reaches the highest level you will be able to transform into a Gruegloom state, and tap into a portion of the Grueglooms’ natural characteristics. Although the undying possession arts of the Grueglooms are an innate ability, and thus very hard to acquire, you will be able to ignore the power of certain magical techniques and enter a state which transposes reality and illusion!”
Master Seventh’s each word boomed like thunder in Xu Qing’s mind. As the magical symbol radiated immense brightness, masses of information from the Gruegloom Daoseizing Art filled Xu Qing.
It was similar to when he had learned the imperial-class technique Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits. The details were being imprinted directly into him. The symbol was like a legacy seed, ensuring that no one could ever rip the technique away from him. Though it wasn’t an imperial-class technique, it was similarly shocking.
Xu Qing’s eyes snapped open, and he struggled to control his breathing. Looking at his Master with shining eyes, he got to his feet, clasped hands and bowed deeply.
“Many thanks, Master!”
Xu Qing could already tell that this technique was matchlessly shocking, especially considering how perfectly it suited him. He wouldn’t need to change his normal fighting style. He could just continue to build on the foundation he already had.
Once he stepped into Gold Core, he would instantly be able to use the technique.
It was late at night, and as the wind blew Master Seventh’s white hair back, he stood there looking at Xu Qing, a faint smile on his face.
“Don’t rush to be happy,” he said coolly. “The technique is incredibly domineering, and you could easily lose yourself in it. The divine will from numerous gold cores could dispel your mind, causing you to transform into a psychotic murderer.
“If you want to cultivate this technique, you’ll need something else to serve as a support. You’ll need something to prop up your soul, to make sure that the wills of the gold cores you seize won’t affect you negatively. And that’s why our next stop is a place I mentioned to you before. It’s… the South Tor Ghost Mountain!”
Xu Qing immediately thought back to the time he’d seen his Master painting a map, with a person near the South Tor Ghost Mountain meditating. His Master had mentioned that the South Tor Ghost Mountain could possibly be a land of good fortune for Xu Qing. Back then, Master Seventh had only just begun planning Xu Qing’s personal technique. [3]
Realizing that, Xu Qing felt even more grateful than before.
“Let’s go,” Master Seventh said. “When we get to the South Tor Ghost Mountain… you’ll implant a god into your heart!”
There were obviously deep implications in Master Seventh’s words. Before Xu Qing could ask any questions, he flicked his sleeve, and the dharmaskiff rumbled to life. Considering they had already been traveling east, the South Tor Ghost Mountain wasn’t very far.
Along the way, Ding Xue opened her eyes. She had finally opened her 30th dharma aperture and ignited her first life flame. It was with much excitement that she rushed to the prow and entered the profound radiance state.
Looking at her, Xu Qing sighed and thought back to how difficult it had been for him to open his first life flame. In contrast, the doting Master Seventh had given a soul pearl to Ding Xue without any fanfare at all. All of a sudden, Xu Qing realized what it must feel like to be the Captain.
Master Seventh glared at him. “Girls should get love. Boys should get tough love!”
Hearing that, Ding Xue covered her mouth and laughed softly. Producing her snack box, she opened it and handed a pastry to Master Seventh, who took it in delight. Then Ding Xue surreptitiously handed a larger pastry to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing took it, then glanced at Master Seventh. .𝘤𝘰𝑚
Master Seventh glared back at him.
Xu Qing didn’t say anything. Taking a bite, he closed his eyes to meditate. On the one hand, he took time to get used to the new technique, while also contemplating his 121st dharma aperture.
Perhaps because of Master Seventh’s presence, Ding Xue seemed more aloof when it came to Xu Qing. She didn’t offer him spirit notes in exchange for answers to her questions. But she still seemed lively, and the dharmaskiff frequently resounded with her melodious voice and Master Seventh’s hearty laughter.
The closer they got to the South Tor Ghost Mountain, however, the less Ding Xue talked. Master Seventh’s laughter eventually ceased. And that was because… the lands turned bleak and miserable.
Crumbling ruins and dead vegetation stretched out as far as the eye could see. Carrion birds picked at rotting corpses, and a sinister, gruish air filled the place. The sensation of pain and suffering was stifling as it weighed down everywhere, even on the little dharmaskiff.
Eventually, Xu Qing caught sight of a huge mountain off in the distance. It was massive, reaching high into the sky. Looking closely at it, it resembled a gargantuan human form, seated cross-legged in meditation! Its facial features were hard to make out considering how much dirt covered it. But it seemed vicious. It wore a suit of armor, and had a huge bladed weapon in its hands. A world rested on each of its shoulders.
It looked like a vicious god.
Seeing it, Xu Qing was deeply shaken as he was overwhelmed with the sensation that he wasn’t looking at a mountain, but rather, at a massive ghostly figure. That sensation would be stronger the higher one’s cultivation base. And mortals who looked at it wouldn’t see anything other than a mountain, and would certainly not be deeply shaken.
To Xu Qing, that figure radiated terrifying pressure, and the armor seemed to contain deadly, destructive power.
The two worlds on his shoulders were very lifelike, and seemed to contain innumerable demonic devils, all of them shocking and ghastly.
This was Emperor-Receiving Prefecture’s South Tor Ghost Mountain.
As for the evil god, he was also known as the South Tor Ghost Emperor.
The two worlds on his shoulders might have once been glorious and radiant. But now they were home to countless vicious beings. The Ghost Mountain worshiped seven fiends, and was one of the six great powers in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture.
“Your task, Fourth Sib, is to put this god into your heart, to be the protector against all extraneous thoughts from the gold cores you’ll absorb in the future. If you can do that, then you can cultivate the technique I gave you. If you cannot, then I’ll have to give you a different Gold Core technique.”
1. The ‘information’ here is more than just random information. There’s a magical element to it. I follow a guy on Twitter (er… X?) who’s a Westerner that has actually studied deeply into real-life Daoist magic. Here is a link to a tweet from him explaining what this ‘information’ is. And just in case that tweet goes down, here is a screenshot of it. This is something cool to keep in mind whenever you’re reading xianxia stuff that talks about “information” being imparted (as it relates to magical techniques and whatnot.) 👈
2. Xu Qing ripped out the heart in 👈
3. Master Seventh mentioned the South Tor Ghost Mountain in 👈