Chapter 388: Netherworld Harbor
Three days later, the Captain’s hand had already grown back, and it looked as good as new. Xu Qing took note of that. It gave him a much better idea of how quickly the Captain could grow back his body parts.
Severed limbs seem to take a few days. If he loses everything from the waist down, it takes half a month. And if he loses everything beneath his head, it’s a full month.
That information would make it a lot easier to plan battle strategies when he and the Captain went on big escapades in the future.
The incident got the Captain a lot more interested in nonhumans. In fact, he took to joining Xu Qing in looking over the railing at the lands they passed. As for Wu Jianwu, it was hard to say exactly what he was thinking. Perhaps he wanted to improve his poetry. Either way, he joined them.
Time passed. After two teleportations, they left Injustice Prefecture.
Xu Qing had already seen many things he’d never seen before. The Captain learned a lot about various nonhumans.
Wu Jianwu had also benefited a lot. His poetry was just as good as it had been before, and had even improved a bit.
“In my eyes life evolves endlessly; grasp the world and cultivate the heart of the sword!”
As the wind blew past Wu Jianwu, he threw his head back and laughed heartily.
“Moron,” the Captain muttered disdainfully.
Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to the deranged Wu Jianwu. Instead, he was looking down at a raging tempest below. Great trees bent under the force of the wind, so dramatically it looked like they might snap in half.
That was the unique climate of Cloudywind Prefecture.
It was different from both Emperor-Receiving Prefecture and Injustice Prefecture. There were almost always strong winds in Cloudywind Prefecture. Because of that, the sects and clans here were generally known for speed, and usually favored body cultivation.
In addition to the wind, the prefecture was known for its dramatic difference between day and night. During the daytime, the winds were explosive. At nighttime, they turned cold and sinister. What was more, grues came out in large numbers.
Though there were nonhumans present, they were outnumbered by the mutant beasts. For example, as Xu Qing looked down at the windswept landscape, he saw a few hundred giants, all of whom were several hundred meters tall. They wore no clothing, and emanated a stench that not even the wind could dissipate. Their skin was gray, their eyes red, and their teeth blackish yellow. They didn’t seem to be very intelligent. Some moved about, others sat in place. Still others fought amongst each other like wild animals.
Many of the giants had baskets on their backs woven from tree bark. Within those baskets were countless living beings from a variety of species, all gasping for breath. They were food for the giants. In fact, some of the giants sat in front of huge stone bowls, into which they would toss their victims, then crush them into a paste with giant stone pestles. Afterwards, they would drink the sludge.
All of a sudden, Xu Qing realized Arch-Immortal Plumdark was standing next to him.
“Those,” she said, “are the cloud trolls of Cloudywind Prefecture. They’re not very intelligent. In fact, they’re almost like animals. No matter how many of them you kill, you can never rid the world of them. They just pop back into being. They eat anything alive.”
As the familiar aroma of her perfume surrounded him, he didn’t flinch or move away from her. He was used to her presence.
She had spent most of the journey belowdecks, and rarely came out. At the moment, she wasn’t acting the way she acted when they were in private. She stood off to the side in a very proper fashion.
Xu Qing quickly clasped hands in greeting.
The Captain and Wu Jianwu ducked their heads. That said, the two of them had very different reasons for doing so.
Wu Jianwu bowed his head out of reverence.
The Captain was thinking something else entirely. You’re such a player, Arch-Immortal Plumdark! Sometimes flirtatious, sometimes tantalizing, sometimes dignified. Who could possibly deal with this? Okay, little Ah Qing. You’ve got this! Keep up the good work!
With such thoughts on his mind, he gave Xu Qing an encouraging look.
Xu Qing ignored him. He wasn’t putting as much thought into the situation as the Captain was.
“The cloud trolls’ flesh has unique properties,” Arch-Immortal Plumdark said. “For one thing, we’ll need their flesh to serve as a ticket later. Why don’t the two of you go down and kill one or two?”
Hearing that, Xu Qing immediately jumped over the rail and flew downward.
The Captain blinked a few times, then followed. As he caught up to Xu Qing, he projected a message. “Little Ah Qing, I really think you need to reconsider my original suggestion!”
Xu Qing looked at him suspiciously.
“You know. Give in to Arch-Immortal Plumdark.”
The Captain zoomed past Xu Qing.
Xu Qing watched him go without saying a word.
The two of them dropped down to the ground.
The cloud trolls weren’t exactly very strong. They relied only on fleshly body power, and most were roughly comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator with one or two life flames. Only four or five had energy and blood fluctuations comparable to the Gold Core level. To Xu Qing and the Captain, hunting and killing beasts like that was a simple thing. With a burst of astonishing speed, Xu Qing appeared in front of one of the cloud trolls that had Gold Core battle prowess.
The troll was viciously pounding at his mortar when he noticed Xu Qing. Opening his mouth, he let loose a roar that came with a noxious stench. Then he reached out to grab Xu Qing.
Compared to the gigantic troll, Xu Qing was the size of a bug.
However, in Xu Qing’s eyes, the gigantic troll was actually the bug. He didn’t even dodge out of the way. As soon as the troll’s hand landed, it screamed as its hand exploded.
Xu Qing emerged from the gore, shooting straight up toward the troll’s forehead. He shoved his right hand out, and terrifying power smashed into the troll, spreading from its forehead to the rest of its body. It collapsed, its life force having been exterminated. The cloud troll thumped to the ground. A short distance away, the Captain had just killed another Gold Core troll.
However, before they could collect the corpses, both of them turned to look in the same direction, their eyes shining.
Off in the distance, two swords screamed through the wind.
Their target wasn’t Xu Qing and the Captain, but rather, the other cloud trolls. In the blink of an eye, three trolls screamed as flying swords pierced through their chests, killing them instantly.
At the same time, two figures flew through the wind.
One was a man, the other was a woman, but both were clad in white garments, with capes fluttering behind them. Beneath the overcast sky, those white robes seemed to have hidden flames within them.
Xu Qing instantly recognized them by their outfits. They were swordsages. What was more, Xu Qing had previously encountered the man. The Captain also recognized him. He was the same swordsage the two of them had encountered on their river patrol, the one who had chased an old devil in the Gold Core level. After fighting that old devil, he’d left him wounded for Xu Qing and the Captain to handle. [1]
The two swordsages shot through the wind toward the cloud trolls. After collecting up the corpses, they turned to look at Xu Qing and the Captain.
There were no words exchanged. The swordsages just nodded, then turned and flew back into the storm.
Xu Qing had never seen the female swordsage before. However, as she left, he noticed that she was carrying a little girl of seven or eight years old on her back.
The girl wasn’t human. She had two wriggling antennae on her forehead and a single large eye that was covered with a thick black band of cloth. The girl looked to be asleep.
As they watched the two swordsages leaving, the Captain said, “They’re not from Emperor-Receiving Prefecture.”
Xu Qing had also come to the same conclusion. Back during the recruitment event, all of the swordsages from Emperor-Receiving Prefecture had been in attendance, and these two had not been among them.
“I guess they must be out on a mission,” Xu Qing said, collecting up the cloud troll he’d killed. The other cloud trolls had already fled.
With that, the two of them flew back up to the ship. After they were back on board, the ship started moving through the storm again.
One evening half a month later, they reached the first major travel hub on their trip through Cloudywind Prefecture.
Xu Qing knew the general overview of their itinerary, but not the fine details. Only Arch-Immortal Plumdark and Master Fifth were privy to the entire plan. For safety’s sake, the detailed itinerary was being kept secret.
From up above, the travel hub looked like a big, chaotic city. There were many buildings of clay brick designed to provide shelter from the wind, as well as numerous cultivators from a variety of species.
Prominent in the city were black-garbed figures with many earrings, and evil ghosts tattooed on their faces. Visiting cultivators were always leery of them, and avoided them as much as possible.
“This place is controlled by the Ghost Tattoo Sect, which is one of the major powers in Cloudywind Prefecture. They raise evil ghosts and have vile magical techniques.”
The information came from Arch-Immortal Plumdark, who projected her words solely into Xu Qing’s mind.
Upon hearing that, Xu Qing studied the black-garbed figures more closely. He could see faint fluctuations coming off of their facial tattoos which reminded him of the ghasts he had seen in the ghast hollow.
Their arrival attracted the attention of cultivators below.
However, when Arch-Immortal Plumdark disembarked, the city went silent. Her Void Returning pressure caused the black-garbed cultivators to react with surprise. A few of the black-garbed cultivators approached to receive her formally, then led them to a tavern in the city.
Once inside the tavern, Arch-Immortal Plumdark said, “Rest for the night. Tomorrow morning when the darkness of night transforms into the light of dawn, a ghost galleon will come here to Netherworld Harbor. The next leg of our trip will be taken on the ghost galleon. At nighttime this city becomes a ghost ward, so unless you really know what you’re doing, don’t go wandering around.”
With that, she entered her room. The other disciples went into their own respective rooms, wondering about what she’d said about ghost wards and ghost galleons.
“Netherworld Harbor?” the Captain said curiously. “Ghost galleon? What are they?”
Xu Qing shook his head. He wasn’t as curious as the Captain. That said, he was interested in the ghost ward Arch-Immortal Plumdark had mentioned. It made him think of the place he’d visited back in Forbidden by the Phoenix. [2]
When night fell, as the wind whimpered outside, Xu Qing, who was seated cross-legged in meditation inside the tavern, opened his eyes. He could sense the aura changing outside. Yin and yang were switching. Life and death were transposing. He wasn’t unfamiliar with this sensation.
Standing, he walked to the window. Cracking it open, he looked outside.
The city looked completely different. Innumerable ghosts drifted in the street, vicious in appearance. It reminded him of ‘countless ghosts haunting the night.’ There were all sorts of vendor stalls visible now, all of them containing items belonging to the dead. Off in the distance, in the very middle of the city, he saw a gigantic foot hovering in the air, bound with seemingly endless chains.
The foot was green and seemed very sinister. When Xu Qing saw it, his eyes narrowed. He was getting the sensation that this green foot had the same origin as that monk’s head he’d seen in the Forbidden by the Phoenix ghost ward. [3]
That thing was cut into pieces and sent out to different ghost wards? After some thought, Xu Qing pushed the window fully open and slipped out into the night.
He had seen a lot of interesting things for sale on his last visit to a ghost ward, except he hadn’t been able to afford them. But during his time in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, he had done a lot of killing. Though he hadn’t been meticulously collecting heart-blood, he did have quite a few souls, which could also be used as currency in places like this.
In order to avoid the same annoying situation as last time, he didn’t disguise himself with his shadow. Instead, he let the aura of his three heavenly palaces and his taboo poison core seep out around him. In that manner, he started making his way through the crowds of ghosts.
Time passed. Things went well for Xu Qing, and he bought a lot of ghost poison items.
As dawn was approaching, he prepared to head back to the tavern. Before he could go far, though, he passed a vendor stall from which opera singing emerged. The ghost ward was completely silent, but this singing could be heard very clearly. It didn’t seem out of place at all, and in fact, seemed to perfectly suit the atmosphere.
“In past lives forlorn, always reborn, sever lovesickness and endlessly mourn….” [4]
The moment Xu Qing heard the song, he stopped in place and looked over.
1. The incident with the ‘old devil’ happened in chapters 282-283 ☜
2. Xu Qing visited a ghost ward in Forbidden by the Phoenix in chapter 246. ☜
3. The monk’s head was first seen in chapter 246.2, but the whole chase scene started in chapter 247. ☜
4. This song first appeared in chapter 364. It was repeated in a few subsequent chapters. ☜