Chapter 23: That Blade (4300 words, count as a big chapter?)

He saw golden light!

Coming from all the blurry human figures on the walls inside the temple.

Each one of them was a small light source. At this moment, the light gathered, making the entire temple incomparably bright, but the biggest light source was not them.

It was... the main statue enshrined in the temple, that stone statue holding a stone blade!

In this golden light, Xu Qing's heart was shaken. He also saw a black mist figure standing at the temple gate. He couldn't see its appearance clearly, only a blurry human shape, twisting in the golden light.

Outside the temple behind the other party, black mist figures like this blurry human shape were dense and numerous, numbering in the hundreds, some human-shaped, some beast-shaped.

At this moment, they all emitted astonishing coldness in this instant, gathering together, turning into monstrous yin cold, as if invisibly connected to the black shadow that stepped into the temple.

Making this only black shadow that entered the temple, at this moment, under the reflection of the golden light, slowly raise its head, emit a roar that seemed to shake the soul, and take another step.

This step seemed to have an offense, seemed to have touched a taboo!

The moment it fell, Xu Qing saw with horror that the radiant stone statue holding the blade actually walked down from its place as if it were alive.

Carrying supreme majesty, carrying indescribable holiness, as if a god had descended to earth, taking large strides, and walking toward the black shadow amidst the rumbling sound on the ground.

Hand raised, blade fell, and it slashed down.

This blade was plain and unadorned, very simple, but it happened to contain some kind of Great Dao charm in this simplicity, shaking the sky and earth.

The ears couldn't hear it, but the soul could perceive the miserable sound that suddenly spread from that black shadow.

The mist evaporated in an instant, revealing a body inside that was completely rotten and dressed in rags.

It could be seen that it was an old man, and the eye sockets were empty.

The next instant, his body collapsed directly and evaporated and dissipated just like the mist.

And the black shadows outside were also affected. The black mist outside their bodies became blurry, allowing Xu Qing, with the help of the golden light's expansion, to see that among those figures, there was actually a familiar person.

That was... the Blood Shadow captain!

At this moment, he was in that group of black shadows, his thin face had no expression, and with the permeation of the golden light, his entire body seemed to be purified and dissipated.

Until half an hour later, in the dark night outside, those figures that didn't dissipate slowly retreated and finally disappeared completely.

And the golden light in the temple also gradually decreased. That god-like figure turned around, returned to its original position with light, and as the light on its body dissipated completely, it seemed to turn back into a stone statue, standing there, looking at the direction of the gate, as if waiting, as if guarding, motionless.

For a long time, everything returned to normal. Only Xu Qing, who saw all this in the stone crevice, had rapid breathing, and his eyes revealed disbelief.

The Blood Shadow captain, who had clearly died in the singing mist and was seen with his own eyes turning into dust, actually still existed.

The ordinary temple was actually radiant with golden light at night.

The motionless stone statue actually walked down like a god descending to earth, and that blade was vast and unparalleled.

At this moment, the sky outside appeared with sunlight, and a new day arrived.

It took Xu Qing a long time to calm the shock in his heart, and he silently climbed out of the stone crevice.

He looked at the light outside, looked at the human figures on the walls, and finally his gaze fell on the stone statue holding the blade.

He didn't know what kind of existence the other party was, whether it was alive or dead.

He also didn't know how long ago the era of this temple group was, or what kind of glory it had.

But everything that happened last night brought him great shock.

Especially the momentum contained when that vast blade fell, made Xu Qing deeply shocked, as if it were carved into his soul, unable to be forgotten.

He couldn't imagine that in this forbidden zone full of danger and crisis, there was actually such an area that darkness couldn't step into.

And Lei Ting hadn't told him about this matter. Perhaps... even Lei Ting didn't know.

Clearly, scenes like last night didn't appear very frequently. At the same time, there was no one in the camp who could stay in the forbidden zone for as long as he did.

So even if someone had seen it, it was a very small number, and more people slowly turned this matter into a legend that had never been verified.

Xu Qing was silent and bowed deeply to the stone statue holding the blade and the human figures around.

After thinking about it, he took out a candle from his leather bag, placed it in front of the stone statue, lit it, and then bowed again.

He turned and left the temple.

Until he walked out of the temple group, he still looked back from time to time, as if he wanted to firmly etch this place in his heart, while his mind constantly surfaced the scene of that blade falling.

This scene was incomparably clear in his mind, so much so that Xu Qing, who had left the temple group area, walked in the jungle, and his right hand was raised, instinctively wanting to imitate it.

And every imitation made him feel deeply.

If the cultivation of the Haishan Technique was to contemplate the Xiao diagram and imitate it, then Xu Qing at this moment was replacing the Xiao diagram with the scene of that blade in his mind.

In this imitation, his cultivation base broke through unknowingly, and the Haishan Technique advanced to the fourth layer!

Perhaps because of imitating that blade, this improvement not only doubled his strength and speed, but also had some breakthroughs in terms of spirit.

This breakthrough made Xu Qing's thoughts more acute, and at the same time, as his right hand was raised and fell, it actually faintly had a little bit of the flavor of the god statue's blade.

This made Xu Qing very pleasantly surprised.

Gradually, two days passed. Perhaps because he was in the outer area, or perhaps because of the deterrence of that night in the temple, he didn't encounter weird footsteps on his way back.

As for the beasts here, Xu Qing encountered some.

But the improvement in cultivation increased his ability to save his life, and he was quite smooth under caution.

Although the Destiny Flower and the scar-removing stone were not found, his harvest of Seven-Leaf Grass was not small. If he went back and sold it, he could exchange it for quite a few spirit coins.

At this moment, as dusk was about to fall, Xu Qing also saw the world outside the jungle. He was about to walk out, but his footsteps suddenly paused. He looked down at a grass beside him.

The appearance of this grass had some similarities with the Destiny Flower, but even with his meager knowledge of grass and wood, after careful inspection, he could identify that this was not the Destiny Flower.

However, Xu Qing thought for a while, looked around with a guilty conscience, hesitated for a while, and finally picked it and put it into his leather bag.

Running all the way, he left the jungle, and when he returned to the camp, it was already night.

The pitch-black camp was rarely lively at this time, especially in the area where the tents had feathers, where there was wanton panting mixed in the playfulness.

Xu Qing didn't pay attention to these. When he returned to his residence, he had just pushed open the courtyard door when he saw Lei Ting walking out of the house.

Noticing that Xu Qing was disheveled but there was nothing wrong, Lei Ting felt relieved.

"Why did you go for so long?"

"Went to the temple." Under the moonlight and the lights of the house, Xu Qing saw the red bloodshot eyes in Lei Ting's eyes and the fatigue on his expression.

Clearly, he hadn't rested well during this period, and the reason... he had already realized, so his heart felt a bit warm.

"Temple?" Lei Ting was somewhat surprised. He didn't expect Xu Qing to run so far. At this moment, he beckoned him into the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and in Xu Qing's wait, brought out the already prepared food.

The food was still hot, with no signs of being moved. Xu Qing was stunned.

He knew very well that Lei Ting didn't know when he would return, so he could have hot food and dishes the moment he returned, which could only explain one thing.

The other party... had prepared food every day, waiting for him.

Xu Qing stood up silently to get the bowls and chopsticks. It was still three sets, still two side by side, and then he sat down and ate.

It was very fragrant, with a special taste that the taste buds couldn't feel, only the heart could experience.

Lei Ting ate very little. Most of the time, he was either drinking or looking at Xu Qing, with a smile on his face.

"Eat more. You are still growing. If you don't eat more, you might just be this tall in the future."

This sentence made Xu Qing lower his head. Half an hour later, he said "en," ate more obediently, and then told Lei Ting about what he had seen in the temple.

Lei Ting was originally drinking wine sip by sip, but soon he was attracted by Xu Qing's experience. Until Xu Qing finished speaking, he took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"I've heard people talk about this matter before, but that was a long time ago. Some people seem to have seen a similar scene, but like the singing, it eventually became a legend."

"Thinking about it now, it seems it happened not long after the singing appeared." Lei Ting murmured, suddenly thinking of something, and sadness slowly appeared in his memories.

Looking at Lei Ting, Xu Qing knew what he was thinking of and suddenly felt a bit self-blaming. He felt he shouldn't have said this matter, so he fell silent.

Half an hour later, Lei Ting recovered. Seeing the reason for Xu Qing's silence, he smiled.

"You kid are too sensitive. I... am not as fragile as you imagine."

Lei Ting said, drank a large gulp of wine, changed the topic, and told Xu Qing about the interesting things in the camp recently.

He was talking while drinking, and Xu Qing was listening while eating.

It was as if they were... family to each other.

Late at night, sitting there drinking, watching Xu Qing wash the bowls and chopsticks clean, Lei Ting smiled, stood up, and returned to his room.

Xu Qing also returned to his room. After entering, he saw that the bedding had been changed to new ones, and it was spread out from the previous rolled state, and it still carried the smell of having been sun-dried.

Xu Qing looked up at Lei Ting's room next door. Half an hour later, he walked over and wanted to sit on it, but after looking down at his clothes and the dirt on his hands, he still rolled up the bedding, sat on the bed board, and closed his eyes to cultivate.

In the morning, Xu Qing opened his eyes.

Just about to leave the room, but after thinking about it, he went to the washroom, endured the discomfort, and washed his hands.

After making his hands clean and white, he took a deep breath, walked out of the room, and headed straight for the tent where the caravan physician was located.

He knew he couldn't go too early, and he couldn't bear to go too late.

The former, Master Bai hadn't started class yet, the latter... he was worried about not hearing the previous content.

Just like that, under Xu Qing's calculation, when he arrived outside Master Bai's tent, it was the moment the examination sound came from inside.

Xu Qing was very happy in his heart, stood there silently, and paid attention to listening.

"Green Lotus Dew, also known as Green Lotus Dew, is the flower bud of the Nymphaeaceae plant lotus. It is a fragrant water obtained by the special method of warm fire. Its function is to soothe the lungs and treat fire-induced coughing and blood..."

The girl's voice in the tent was as usual. Xu Qing listened until he was engrossed. Time passed unknowingly, and soon more than an hour went by. Until the tent suddenly opened, Master Bai stood there and looked at him.

"What is it?" Master Bai's gaze was not sharp, but it also had majesty. Xu Qing was very nervous. He bit the bullet, took out the medicinal herb he had picked on the way back from his leather bag, lowered his head, and said softly.

"Master Bai, I... I want to ask if this is the Destiny Flower."

As soon as these words came out, Master Bai was stunned for a moment.

His gaze swept over, and his expression carried some strangeness. He also looked at the young boy's hands that were much cleaner than before. Half an hour later, amidst Xu Qing's increasing nervousness, he spoke slowly.

"This one, is not."

Xu Qing bowed hurriedly and left quickly. On the way, he also breathed a sigh of relief, but his heart was still somewhat uneasy, so he looked back at the tent and found that Master Bai was also standing there.

Noticing the young boy's gaze, Master Bai nodded.

Seeing this scene, Xu Qing paused his footsteps, bowed deeply again, and then left.

Watching Xu Qing's figure go far away, Master Bai turned and walked into the tent. At this moment, the guards and the young boy and girl who were originally in the tent seemed to have petrified and didn't move at all.

At the position where Master Bai had sat before, a table was placed at some point, on which were some delicacies and fine wines, and beside it was an old man in a purple robe, with an old servant in gray clothes behind him.

Seeing Master Bai walk in, the purple-robed old man laughed heartily.

"Master Bai, how is it?"

"How is what."

Master Bai didn't seem to have the slightest surprise at the sudden appearance of this purple-robed old man, nor did he worry about the motionless crowd around him. He sat opposite the purple-robed old man and picked up the wine gourd to take a sip.

"I'm asking how that kid is. I told you last time that while I was waiting for you, I found a good seedling." The purple-robed old man said with a smile.

"A good seedling? It's one thing for this kid to eavesdrop the first time, but this time, in order to eavesdrop, he actually found a random medicinal herb and asked me if it was the Destiny Flower. If this continues, I estimate that he will be afraid to use the excuse of asking about medicinal herbs every day to eavesdrop. If it weren't for you telling me about him, I would have driven him away long ago."

Master Bai stared and snorted at the purple-robed old man.

The purple-robed old man laughed heartily.

"You, you have a sharp tongue but a soft heart. With your stinky temper, if you didn't truly feel that he was a teachable talent, no one's greeting would be of any use."

Master Bai snorted coldly, didn't refute, but asked a question.

"Are you planning to take him back to the Seven Blood Children? Your place is full of smoke and miasma, wasting a seedling of a scholar!"

"How is it wasted? What's the use of a scholar? In this world, cultivation is the truth!" The purple-robed old man raised his eyebrows and responded.

"Scholars are useless? Why did you come here to wait for me, a secular person, and invite me to your Seven Blood Children again and again?" Master Bai said angrily.

"You are different..." The purple-robed old man smiled sheepishly.

"How am I different!" Master Bai stared at the purple-robed old man with a stinky temper.

The purple-robed old man was helpless and patted his forehead.

"Oh, I remember there's something I haven't done. Master Bai, I'll go first. I'll come find you to drink tomorrow."

After finishing, the purple-robed old man got up and was about to leave, but before leaving, he looked back at Master Bai and said a sentence earnestly.

"Master Bai, if you really feel that the kid is a teachable talent, teach him more knowledge. Let him have a chance to become a scholar with cultivation in the Seven Blood Children."

After finishing, the purple-robed old man left with the old servant beside him. Until he was gone, the stillness in the tent instantly recovered, but no one noticed their own abnormality just now.

The guards were still on duty, the young boy was still annoyed, and the girl was still proud.

Only Master Bai looked up at the direction Xu Qing had left before, pondering in his eyes. ===== CHAPTER 24 =====