Chapter 301

When the sunset afterglow dissipated, Xu Qing's magic ship returned to the berth. Almost as soon as he returned, he received the Captain's voice transmission.

"Little Ah Qing, how does this date feel? Come, come, come, I'm at the Immortal Pool where you got me the discount. Do you want to come over and soak, tell your Senior Brother about the process, and let Senior Brother give you some pointers with his rich experience."

"Another day." Xu Qing replied, and just as he was about to end the transmission, the Captain coughed.

"Master is also here..."

"..." Xu Qing was silent.

A moment later, in the hidden small pool of the Immortal Pool opened by Xu Xiaohui, which could overlook the large pool below, Xu Qing, the Captain, and Seventh Master, the three master and disciples, were soaking inside.

Xu Qing looked at the two with a strange expression.

Seventh Master coughed and glared at the Captain.

"Master was meditating before, you begged me bitterly to come over, what exactly is the matter!"

The Captain blinked.

Seventh Master snorted, so the Captain sighed, looked at Xu Qing with a face full of grievance.

"Little Ah Qing, you and Immortal Zixuan went out on this trip, cough, to what extent did it progress?"

Seventh Master's expression was as usual, looking not very interested.

Xu Qing looked at his master silently, and after thinking for a moment, he replied.

"Senior Zixuan taught me to play flute music."

Seventh Master's ears moved.

The Captain asked hurriedly.

"And then?"

"Then we went to pay respects to an old friend of hers, the master of that old man from the Profound Nether Sect of Taisi Due Mountain." Xu Qing did not hide it and told the story of what happened on the road.

In fact, there was nothing to hide.

"Just this?" The Captain didn't believe it.

"Yeah, when we came back, Senior Zixuan gave me the flute." Xu Qing nodded.

"What flute?" The Captain was curious.

"Seems to be called something like Willow Flute." Xu Qing replied.

Before the Captain could speak, Seventh Master took a breath.

"Willow Moon Spiritual Rhyme Flute?"

Xu Qing was a bit unfamiliar with this name, so he simply took out the flute directly.

The moment he saw this flute, Seventh Master's expression was somewhat dazed. After a long while, he stood up expressionlessly and glared at the Captain again.

"If you disturb me again when I'm meditating, I'll break your legs!"

The Captain's eyes widened, revealing intense grievance, very much like the meaning of "you old man are too unreasonable, it was clearly you who called me over and asked me to call Xu Qing."

Seventh Master coughed.

"Alright, the matter you mentioned last time is approved."

After saying this, Seventh Master spoke to Xu Qing while putting on his clothes.

"Old Fourth, you are now at four fires, the timing is about right. After I finish this period of time, I will take you out for a trip."

Seventh Master walked away with his hands behind his back.

Until Seventh Master left, the Captain's expression instantly returned to normal, without the slightest feeling of grievance, and he smiled triumphantly at Xu Qing.

"Learn from this, Little Junior Brother. You have to be like this to deal with the old man. The old man has a dark face and a hard mouth but a soft heart, so I occasionally act aggrieved, and he compromises.

But the old man was clearly embarrassed this time. In my opinion, he knows the name of this flute so well, it's eight or nine out of ten that he gave it to her back then."

Xu Qing blinked, thinking of Immortal Zixuan saying that there were too many people who gave her gifts back then and she forgot who gave her the flute, and then thinking of his master's appearance just now, he felt... this matter was very likely.

Just like that, after soaking for a while, Xu Qing also got up and prepared to leave. Before leaving, the Captain leaned there lazily, making a sound of comfort.

"Little Ah Qing, get me another jade slip later. I asked, and there's no 20% discount here. That's a rare VIP treatment. You kid are quite something."

"Where is yours?" Xu Qing asked.

"I gave it to Wu Jianwu." The Captain whispered mysteriously.

"I have something I want Wu Jianwu to help with. You'll know soon. Once I succeed, it will be amazing. At that time, I might need to go out to avoid the limelight. Also, I need you to help me put in a good word."

Xu Qing was not surprised. The Captain and Wu Jianwu had come here many times before, and he had long known about it from informants. Hearing this, he nodded. As for the Captain saying he wanted to avoid the limelight, Xu Qing felt it was normal; he could roughly guess where the Captain's target was this time.

"Eight or nine out of ten, it's that tooth." Xu Qing glanced at the Captain, left the Immortal Pool, and when he returned to the berth, it was already late at night. After sitting cross-legged, he closed his eyes and began to meditate.

During this time outside, with Immortal Zixuan there, he couldn't sink his whole heart into meditation and spent some time, so Xu Qing planned to catch up on the cultivation he had fallen behind on in the coming days.

Just like that, three days passed.

Late at night on the third day, Xu Qing, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes, revealing a touch of expectation in his eyes. He felt a movement in his storage bag.

It came from the bottle containing the small black insects that had eaten the Immortal Jelly.

Xu Qing took out the bottle, first sensed it, and after confirming it was fine, opened it.

There was nothing in the bottle, and Xu Qing checked the surroundings and didn't feel anything either.

But there was a faint, strong sense of crisis permeating near him.

Xu Qing's expression was as usual. He raised his left hand and cut his right palm. Fresh blood overflowed instantly, and the wound healed in an instant, but the blood that flowed out was enough.

The next instant, the air flowed, and a group of invisible existences that were difficult to perceive even with perception rushed from the surroundings toward the blood on Xu Qing's palm. Under Xu Qing's observation, the blood on his palm visibly shrank and finally disappeared.

With the disappearance of the blood, in Xu Qing's perception, he finally felt the existence of the small black insects.

After absorbing the Immortal Jelly, these small black insects had reached a considerable level in terms of concealment, so much so that Xu Qing couldn't perceive them before.

But after all, they were all fed by Xu Qing with his own blood, and their bodies contained Xu Qing's poison. Although they hadn't drunk blood for a long time, their instincts still existed.

And at this moment, after devouring Xu Qing's blood, the connection between them became clear again.

"A total of three hundred and seventy-one." Xu Qing swept his gaze across the surroundings, satisfied in his heart.

But he understood that these were just the beginning. Next, he still needed to feed them continuously, and these small insects were also hungry because they hadn't eaten poison for a long time.

So the next day, Xu Qing left the berth and bought poison and poisonous herbs in every pharmacy in the main city of the Eight Sect Alliance. He had the status of a Daoist, and he had a quota of eight million spirit stones every year, so he didn't feel heartache at all when buying poisonous herbs.

In one day, he bought a large amount of poisonous herbs, many of which were rare and uncommon poisons, and even some finished poison pills. After buying all these, Xu Qing began to feed the small black insects.

Xu Qing originally planned to feed them gradually.

But those small black insects of his were clearly extremely hungry. At first, Xu Qing was worried that they couldn't bear it, so he controlled the rhythm of feeding.

But later, he simply put the poisonous herbs and poison pills he bought there, and his small black insects rushed up and devoured them crazily.

Just like that, seven days passed. The small black insects ate more and more poisonous herbs, and the spirit stones spent every day were like flowing water. But at the same time, the poison contained in the bodies of these small black insects, perhaps because the Immortal Jelly was completely absorbed by them, became more and more ferocious.

Even an ordinary Heavenly Palace Golden Core, if bitten by them and drilled into the body, would surely die suddenly.

This made Xu Qing take a breath, and then he took out his own Poison Prohibition Pill and began to complete the plan he had formulated when he was in the Nanhuang Continent. He wanted to cultivate small black insects that could live in poison pills.

It was just that this process was still not particularly smooth. Although the small black insects had mutations and were more ferocious than before, the poison of the poison pill was too terrifying. They could only persist for a longer time, but they still couldn't live in it completely.

However, Xu Qing was already very satisfied because he discovered that this batch of small black insects could actually faintly devour some of the poison of the Poison Prohibition Pill and keep it in their bodies.

Although the time could not be too long and they had to spit it out every few days, otherwise they would rot and become fly ash, but... being able to do this was enough to make Xu Qing's combat power soar.

He could finally use the Poison Prohibition Pill to a limited extent as his trump card, instead of a means of perishing together.

This made Xu Qing very excited, so he started a new round of procurement. This time, what he purchased was no longer poisonous herbs and poisons, but living ferocious beasts.

In the Nanhuang Continent, there were death row prisoners in the Capture Ferocious Department as a hotbed for him to breed small black insects. Here in the Eight Sect Alliance, the department he was responsible for had no prison, but the Eight Sect Alliance was not short of ferocious beasts.

After Xu Qing tried it, he found that although the effect was not as good as death row prisoners, it was acceptable. So in the following time, the shrill roars of various wild beasts in his magic ship were constantly isolated within the protection.

Just like that, a month passed.

The number of Xu Qing's small black insects finally changed from the previous three hundred to more than three thousand. When he put them in three small bottles and collected them, he received Seventh Master's voice transmission.

"Seeing you buying poisonous herbs and ferocious beasts recently, I guess you are refining poison again. How is it going now? If you are not in a hurry, I will take you out for a trip to get you a Golden Core cultivation technique, and by the way, see if you can go fishing."

"Now that many people know you have two life lamps, whether it's the Lingyun Sword Sect or some malice from the outside world, this time going out will attract them and wipe out a wave, so that you can be more at ease when you go out alone in the future."

Seventh Master had told Xu Qing about this matter before. Xu Qing did not hesitate and followed his master's order.

At the same time, in the north of Yinghuang Province, at the end of Taisi Due Mountain, it was white, wind and snow filled the air, and the cold was biting. Not only was the mountain covered with white snow all year round, but the earth was also the same.

The living environment here was extremely harsh and not suitable for ordinary people to survive. Only in the marginal areas would there be some small ordinary countries, and deep in the ice sheet, it was difficult to see human traces for ten thousand miles.

But there was a huge pillar that seemed to support heaven and earth standing in that extreme north.

This pillar was pitch black, and the blizzard and strong wind could not shake it in the slightest. Looking up, one could not see where its end was.

Only when one got close could one see that this pillar was a full thousand feet thick, but its height was still unknown.

Countless runes and totems were carved on it, emitting a vast power that was difficult to describe.

It made everyone who saw it feel small and want to worship.

Moreover, a monstrous fighting spirit radiated from this pillar, containing incomparable cruelty, as if it could shatter everything.

This was the Primordial Profound Nether Pillar!

Looking around, there were countless dome tents around this Primordial Profound Nether Pillar, a full hundreds of thousands, forming a special city.

There were no ordinary people inside, only cultivators from all directions. They gathered here to practice with the Primordial Profound Nether Pillar.

Because this pillar was strange, if the fluctuations it emitted were perceived by people for a long time, divine symbols containing fighting spirit would form in their hearts. Through these symbols, they could polish their will and improve their cultivation.

In addition... this Primordial Profound Nether Pillar contained countless inheritances. Anyone could climb it at any time. The higher one walked, the greater the inheritance gained.

Therefore, this formed the sixth major force in Yinghuang Province.

Of course, there was another more important reason, and that was... this place was where the Sword Holders' Sword Court in Yinghuang Province was located.

The Sword Court was built at the highest point of this Primordial Profound Nether Pillar. Behind those countless clouds and mists, above the firmament, at the end of this pillar, a palace stood there.

This palace was different. It was not built of bricks, tiles, or beautiful jade, but was built by swords one by one. Countless swords were intertwined to form this Jiangong.

Between the Primordial Profound Nether Pillar and the palace, it was as if the former supported the latter, and it was also as if... the latter was suppressing the former.

Because it was not very clear on the ground, but here, one could faintly see that this Primordial Profound Nether Pillar was vibrating slightly, as if someone was summoning it, making it want to pull itself out of the ground.

But it was suppressed by the Jiangong and could only vibrate, unable to move a single bit.

At this moment, in this Jiangong, a discussion of the great powers of the Sword Court was taking place!

There were nine cultivators participating in this discussion. They were all wearing white robes, and their appearances could not be seen, but each of them emitted terrifying fluctuations, and the eyes occasionally revealed from the white robes also contained supreme majesty.

It seemed that the life and death of a sect or a religion could be completely decided by these nine people.

Because these nine were the highest-level Sword Holders in the Yinghuang Province Sword Court. Even a powerful sect like the Taisi Immortal Sect had to listen to and cooperate with their edicts in name.

Because they represented the orthodox human race, and were the location of the government office of the Sword Holder Department, one of the five departments of the human race, set up in Yinghuang Province.

Because behind them was the inherited ancient country left by the Profound Nether Ancient Emperor after he left the Imperial Capital Domain. Even if the human race was weak now, and the once-ruling Wanggu had become only one domain and seven counties left, it was still one of the major clans.

There was still... a Human Emperor on the throne.

At this moment, in the Sword Court, a voice echoed.

"Two things. First, the new round of Sword Holder entrance examinations is about to begin. An edict came from the Jiangong in Fenghai County. The Great Era is coming, and geniuses of all races are appearing frequently. It is a crisis and also an opportunity. Let the Sword Courts of all provinces raise the threshold for this entrance examination. We Sword Holders only want heaven-gifted talents."

"The second thing, in recent years, the Primordial Profound Nether Pillar has been vibrating more and more intensely. Our report has also received a response. According to the deduction in the County Palace, it is consistent with our judgment. That Ghost Venerable in Yinghuang Province has signs of awakening. The County Palace asked us to handle this matter as soon as possible."

"If it is to awaken, then in recent years, the Three Spirits Suppressing Dao Mountain and the Southern Peak Seven Killings, formed by the three souls and seven spirits of this Ghost Venerable, have had their cultivation advancing by leaps and bounds."

"This matter will be carried out according to our previous discussion. The awakening of this Ghost Venerable requires the return of the three souls and seven spirits. Suppressing one soul is not very effective, so we need to plan to suppress one soul and capture it to this place."

"In this way, the Ghost Venerable cannot be complete and will find it difficult to awaken."