Chapter 390

Outside the ghost ship, it was pitch black, without any light, only endless cold and ice permeating the eight directions in that darkness.

Through what the shadow saw and felt, Xu Qing gazed at the nether-like void outside the ghost ship, and he suddenly recalled the talk of the Great Terror that countless cultivators feared during Foundation Establishment.

Foundation Establishment cultivators, at the moment of Foundation Establishment, seem to light their own life lamps, which will attract existences from another world.

Like the little mute from back then, who failed at this stage and had half of their body possessed. If not for Xu Qing, they would have likely perished completely.

At this moment, the netherworld outside the ghost ship, in Xu Qing's feeling, was that world.

Xu Qing was lost in thought; time flowed indistinctly here, seeming like an instant, yet also like a long time, until a piece of intense light suddenly appeared in the darkness.

This light carried scorching heat, expanding ten thousand zhang, and while tearing the darkness apart, from that torn netherworld,

it reflected a desert with blinding light.

The next instant, the ghost ship charged directly into the desert formed by the torn netherworld; the moment it shuttled inside, the ghost ship... vanished.

Everyone on the ship immediately felt a sense of falling.

"You may open your eyes." Following the voice of Immortal Immortal Zixuan, the Eight Sect Alliance disciples opened their eyes one after another, and what greeted their eyes was a burning desert.

The desert was burning, an endless sea of fire permeating the eight directions here, the sky distorted because of it, with only that red sun in the sky emitting astonishing heat.

The sun here was clearer and more massive than what Xu Qing had seen in Yinghuang Prefecture.

It was as if the sun were directly above this desert.

Or rather, this desert... was the region closest to the sun.

The ghost ship could not exist here, so it dissipated, and that was why everyone fell.

And quickly, following Immortal Zixuan's wave, a flying boat like a blue dragon appeared, causing everyone to fall into it one after another.

The next moment, the flying boat braved the scorching sun, shuttling through the sea of fire between heaven and earth, moving rapidly forward.

As for the other passengers of the ghost ship, they had their own methods; those two Sword Holders took out magic tools that looked like hats, and instead of ascending, they drilled into the earth and vanished.

"On this final leg of the journey, after flying for three days in this desert, we will reach the capital district of Fenghai Prefecture."

On the flying boat, Immortal Immortal Zixuan spoke softly.

In this scorching sun, Immortal Zixuan's voice was like a clear spring, making everyone's minds feel much more relaxed.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, his eyes revealing a strange light; in truth, although the experiences along this journey were all brief, they allowed him to see more wonders of this world.

This increase in knowledge was something Yinghuang Prefecture could not provide.

The vastness of the world seemed to have unfolded a corner for him.

And in this desert, there were alien races living—

Half a day later, as the flying boat moved forward, as areas where the flames on the ground had extinguished appeared, the flames there vanished, emitting a lot of blue smoke.

As these blue smoke wisps rose into the sky, they actually formed the outlines of human-shaped bodies.

Although still blurry, one could make out the general shapes; there were men and women, old and young.

It seemed like a tribe, living and going about their daily lives normally.

Especially in places where the blue smoke was thick, it even formed the outlines of cities.

This scene was mind-boggling to Xu Qing; most of the others were the same, only the Captain looked as if he were used to it.

When they gazed at the tribes formed by the smoke, many of the figures turned into blue smoke raised their heads to look at the flying boat in the sky.

This scene made Immortal Immortal Zixuan's expression solemn; for the first time since encountering an alien race, she floated out of the flying boat and bowed in mid-air toward the smoke city on the ground.

"Cultivators of the Yinghuang Prefecture tribe, escorting our sect's Sword Holders to the capital, borrowing the path through this place, I hope the fellow Daoists of the Yanmiao Tribe will forgive us."

After Immortal Zixuan cupped her fists, Xu Qing cupped his fists as well, and then all the disciples bowed solemnly toward the earth.

Subsequently, the smoke below rolled, and a large number of smoke figures appeared.

They gazed at the flying boat, seemingly pondering, and quickly all cupped their fists in return, and they remained at peace with each other.

At this point, Immortal Immortal Zixuan breathed a sigh of relief.

"This Yanmiao Tribe is the most troublesome tribe on this journey; they don't care about the vast majority of tribal sects, but they are still in awe of Sword Holders."

"This tribe is born under the scorching sun, natural assassins; their figures can merge into all kinds of auras, they are incredibly strange, you must be doubly careful if you encounter them in the future, do not easily make enemies, and build good relations whenever possible," Immortal Immortal Zixuan exhorted.

Xu Qing nodded, gazing at the smoke city on the land behind, firmly remembering the characteristics of this tribe.

During the rest of the journey, Xu Qing and his group saw many strange and peculiar tribes in this desert.

Until one day later, the color of the desert changed; it was no longer yellow-red, but slowly crystallized...

In this way, it formed reflections, and lights of various colors intertwined; although gorgeous, it was extremely blinding; if one's cultivation was insufficient and one looked for too long, one's eyes would go blind.

And the flying boat traveling between heaven and earth was like shuttling through a sea of light.

It was at this moment that Xu Qing saw those two Sword Holders again.

Clearly, this desert was the destination of these two Sword Holders; at this moment, on the crystallized earth, in that sea of light, they were battling with invisible existences. Sword light overflowed, the sounds were astonishing, and waves of spell fluctuations spread out.

Beside them, the alien little girl who had once been lying on the female Sword Holder's back—at this moment, the black blindfold on this little girl's eyes had been removed, and she was raising her head, staring directly at the sun here that could burn everything.

Her eyes carried light and were filled with strangeness, seemingly able to absorb

sunlight, making her own eyes brighter and brighter.

The two antennae on her forehead swayed, weaving one rune after another, merging into her eyes.

But this process clearly could not be interrupted, so those two Sword Holders were protecting her.

What was stopping her from absorbing the sunlight was a type of invisible existence.

They seemed to have merged with the light; one could only see the light around them flowing, and in other places, it was more intense and distorted frequently.

"Those are Light Monsters!" On the flying boat, Immortal Immortal Zixuan gazed at this scene and spoke slowly.

"When light gains intelligence, it becomes a Light Monster; they mostly live in places where sunlight is intense, they have no tracks themselves, in reality, they are light, so they are difficult to deal with and hard to kill; only when night falls do they dissipate."

When Immortal Zixuan's words came out, the two Sword Holders on the ground were clearly losing; it seemed they had underestimated the difficulty of this mission, and at this moment, both were injured. Xu Qing looked at the Captain. The Captain looked at Xu Qing.

"Senior, this person once helped us, the disciple wishes to go down and assist." Xu Qing bowed toward Immortal Immortal Zixuan.

"Do you need my help?" Immortal Zixuan asked softly.

"My Senior Brother and I can handle it; if we are not a match, we will trouble Senior again." Xu Qing spoke calmly, and after Immortal Zixuan nodded, his body flickered and he left the flying boat.

The Captain coughed. "Actually, Senior, you could make a move now..."

Immortal Zixuan glared at the Captain, who shrank his head and hurriedly flew out, following Xu Qing one after the other, heading straight for the earth.

Noticing the arrival of the two, the two Sword Holders who were battling revealed gratitude, and the male Sword Holder whom Xu Qing and the others had met in Yinghuang Prefecture spoke rapidly.

"Many thanks to the two fellow Daoists; the number of these Light Monsters is greater than similar missions we have encountered in the past; please trouble the two of you to help us protect this Twilight Tribe child."

Xu Qing nodded, his speed extremely fast, arriving in an instant; the moment he landed, he felt a killing intent surging toward him from the sea of light before his eyes, its speed astonishing.

A sharp light flashed in Xu Qing's eyes, and the poison elixir within his Third Heavenly Palace vibrated, emitting a poison-prohibition intent that permeated his entire body.

The next moment, a shrill scream came from the sea of light in front of him, and then one could see a beam of light turn pitch black and dissipate rapidly.

This scene made the eyes of the two Sword Holders light up; at the same time, there was something even more astonishing on the Captain's side; his body flashed with blue light, and in an instant, an endless cold intent spread outward. This cold was extremely terrifying; where it covered, places without light appeared, pitch-black places appeared, as if his cold could freeze light—light could be frozen.

After being frozen, it could not flow and could not move, so it naturally caused its surroundings to turn pitch black.

It had to be said that here, the terrifying degree of the Captain's cold power exceeded Xu Qing's.

The addition of the two of them lightened the burden on the two Sword Holders, and soon the crisis here was slowly resolved.

The surrounding Light Monsters all felt how troublesome they were and scattered one after another.

"Many thanks to the two fellow Daoists!" The two Sword Holders were both at the Golden Core Three Palaces level; at this moment, looking at Xu Qing and the Captain, although grateful, they could not help but remain guarded in their hearts.

This was instinct.

In this world, if one did not have this instinct, one would surely die early.

The one whom the two had met in Yinghuang Prefecture with Xu Qing was filled with shock in his heart at this moment.

He had seen geniuses and outstanding talents, but these two before him—he remembered they were only at Foundation Establishment back then, yet now they had reached a level equivalent to his own, and looking at their strikes, their combat power was clearly even stronger.

"The grace of the gift that day, we have not yet thanked you; today, it was just a matter of convenience." Xu Qing cupped his fists in return and spoke earnestly.

"That's right, besides, my Junior Brother and I are Sword Holders; seeing this, we naturally had to help." The Captain laughed, pointing out his and Xu Qing's identities.

Hearing this, the two Sword Holders' expressions became serious, and each took out their command swords.

Xu Qing and the Captain took theirs out as well; the four command swords shone with brilliant light, and the two Sword Holders, seeing this scene, clearly relaxed, and their guardedness greatly diminished.

"I am Chen Tinghao, and this is my beloved granddaughter Liying; this time, many thanks to you both; my Daoist partner and I were a bit careless in taking on this mission."

Chen Tinghao sighed with emotion, then took out a jade slip and handed it to Xu Qing.

"Half of the military merits for this mission will be split with you; do not refuse; this is the way we Sword Holders interact—great comrades, a friendship between gentlemen!"

Seeing this, Xu Qing and the Captain did not decline; after taking the jade slip, the four of them chatted while waiting for the Twilight Tribe girl to absorb the sunlight.

Chen Tinghao and his partner learned that Xu Qing and the others were going to the capital to report for duty, and at the same time, Xu Qing and the others learned about the other party's mission this time.

The Twilight Tribe was one of the allies, belonging to a rare, benevolent race.

Their talent was being able to absorb sunlight with their eyes, and then they would travel to regions without a sun, where they would sell their eyeballs.

This time, Chen Tinghao and his partner had received a mission to escort this little girl to absorb sunlight here, because the sunlight was most intense here.

Time passed quickly; the girl finished absorbing, closed her eyes again, and after putting on the black silk ribbon, she became somewhat weak and was carried on the back of Chen Tinghao's partner.

Because they were returning to the capital, at the invitation of Xu Qing and the Captain, the two chose to step onto the flying boat with them.

On the flying boat, Chen Tinghao and his partner first paid their respects to Immortal Immortal Zixuan, being very respectful.

Regarding their arrival, Immortal Zixuan expressed her welcome; she hoped that Xu Qing could make more Sword Holder friends before entering the capital.

However, her cultivation was too high; if she stayed here, Chen Tinghao and his partner would be under great pressure, so after welcoming them, she returned to the cabin, smiling before leaving and asking Xu Qing to act as the host to entertain them.

Both sides carried friendliness, so getting along was naturally pleasant.

While the flying boat was heading toward the capital, Chen Tinghao returned the favor, introducing the affairs of the capital in detail to Xu Qing and the Captain.

"The capital is the core of Fenghai Prefecture, basically..."

"Every major power in every prefecture has established a branch sect in the capital, but they are at the very bottom of the entire capital system, let's call them the sixth tier; above them is the fifth tier, the various offices of the capital system."

"Above them are the three major sect powers of Fenghai Prefecture and one clan; they are the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect, the Ancient Thunder Pulse, the Blood Cold Gate, and the Yao Hou Dao Mansion!"

"The Yao Hou Dao Mansion is the most special; the ancestor who founded the clan was one of the thirty-six Heavenly Marquises of our clan in the past, and was bestowed the word 'Dao' by the Ancient Emperor Xuanyou, which is why they can continue their clan and use the title of Dao Mansion."

Chen Tinghao's voice gradually echoed as the flying boat sped along.

They were getting closer and closer to the capital.