Chapter 406: A Mysterious Clue

Xu Qing was in mid-air, also returning to the Sword Pavilion. Being vigilant all the way, he naturally noticed Qingqiu.

But he guessed the reason, so cold light flashed in his eyes, and without pausing, he headed straight for the ground.

Qingqiu also guessed the reason at this moment, but the ghost-evil in her mind was still screaming, which made her even more irritable. She whispered to the ghost-evil in her heart.

"If you keep nagging, I will perish together with you!"

The ghost-evil fell silent instantly.

Just like that, Qingqiu and Xu Qing landed one after another on the ground where the Sword Pavilions of the outermost layer were located. They were a thousand feet apart, their gazes met again, and then both frowned and stepped into their respective Sword Pavilions.

Their Sword Pavilions were adjacent.

This matter couldn't be said to be overly coincidental. After all, there were fifty-one newly promoted Sword Holders this time, and they all built their Sword Pavilions one after another in the same period, so it was natural for them to be close to each other.

Of course, the point was that Xu Qing's personality didn't like liveliness, so he didn't build a Sword Pavilion for the first few days, but only set it up yesterday.

As for Qingqiu, she was also solitary by nature, so the possibility of them becoming neighbors naturally increased.

However, to Xu Qing, this was just a small matter. Returning to the Sword Pavilion at this moment, he first checked the surroundings, determined there was no problem, and then sat cross-legged, beginning to study the Emperor Sword he had gained insight into.

The Emperor Sword within his sea of consciousness was somewhat different from when he had just succeeded in gaining insight. At this moment, its light was no longer dazzling, but after having a foundation, it revealed a sense of heaviness.

It also emitted strands of sword qi.

The sword qi was not scattered in disorder, but circled around the Emperor Sword, like strands of silk, forming circle after circle.

A total of eleven circles.

Xu Qing noticed that the twelfth circle also existed, but only half of it.

Clearly, as time passed, it wouldn't take long before it was complete.

"This is the nourishment of the Emperor Sword."

Xu Qing calculated the time. Calculating one day from the time he succeeded in gaining insight until now, it should be able to form more than a hundred circles of sword qi every day.

The more sword qi, the greater the power of this sword.

"In a year, it can form thirty or forty thousand circles. In a hundred years..." Xu Qing estimated in his heart and felt it was too far away.

"However, even if it hasn't been nourished for that long, normally unfolding this Emperor Sword should also be very sharp."

Xu Qing felt the sharpness of the Emperor Sword in his sea of consciousness and suddenly thought of the Golden Dragon manifested by the Imperial-level technique of Kong Xianglong that he had seen.

At that time, the Emperor Sword was held in the Golden Dragon's mouth.

Xu Qing was lost in thought. The totem behind his back was immediately activated. With a heat, light brightened inside the Sword Pavilion, and the Jin Wu's figure manifested from behind him, circling and flying in the surroundings.

As streaks of burning phoenix feathers drifted down, incomparably beautiful, Xu Qing drew the Emperor Sword within his sea of consciousness, making it gradually rise from his crown.

Until it appeared completely, the Jin Wu let out a happy hiss, flew over abruptly, opened its mouth, and directly held the Emperor Sword. Afterward, its whole body shook, its body as if changed, appearing with a sense of sword qi.

Those tails were even more so, containing a sense of sword qi in their dance.

The power was also much stronger.

"So it turns out that Imperial-level cultivation techniques can merge with each other in this way..." Xu Qing was lost in thought, but he felt that more of it should be that the Emperor Sword itself contained some kind of characteristic.

Xu Qing researched for a while, not sure about this guess of his, but sensing that the Jin Wu was sharper, and the Emperor Sword's nourishment was not affected, he withdrew his thoughts and took out the Su Elixir bought from the pharmacy to continue his research.

Time passed. Soon, heavy rain fell outside. In the sound of the rain, Xu Qing's research on the Su Elixir became increasingly thorough.

He analyzed several Su Elixirs and finally saw the refining method of this elixir.

"The technique is very exquisite, but that is not the key. The reason why this elixir's power to dissipate alien quality has risen greatly is because there are some extremely strange medicinal herbs inside."

Xu Qing couldn't distinguish what they were. This made him think of what the County Chancellor had said about all things turning according to the environment. Clearly, these unknown medicinal herbs inside were transformed by the County Chancellor using his method.

Xu Qing took one and swallowed it. After carefully sensing it again, he determined that this elixir's effect was extraordinary, feeling admiration in his heart, but he vaguely felt that this Su Elixir existed with some flaws and was not perfect.

But he was powerless to change it. To a certain extent, this elixir could already be considered to have pioneered a path in medicine.

While sighing with emotion, the sky outside was dim, rain still falling, looking somewhat gloomy. Although it was early morning, it had a sense of dusk.

Xu Qing raised his head to look, closed his eyes to meditate and rest for a while, got up, walked out of the Sword Pavilion, and went to the Prison Division in the rain.

In the rain, as he approached the Prison Division, Xu Qing remembered his two accidents, his eyes brewing with sharp light.

"Today, I must find the secret of Ding-One-Three-Two. If not... then I will slaughter all the prisoners of Ding-One-Three-Two!"

In the rain, Xu Qing walked on the ground where water splashed, stepped into puddles, stepped into the invisible barrier of the Prison Division, and walked into the Prison Division.

Although it was heavy rain outside, it couldn't penetrate the barrier and couldn't fall into the Prison Division, but it ultimately still gave people a sense of dampness.

In this dampness rushing toward his face, Xu Qing's expression was calm, walking downward circle by circle along the stairs.

On the way, he saw several guards he had met. After greeting each other, Xu Qing didn't immediately head to District Ding-One-Three-Two.

He went to the prison cell located on the thirty-fifth floor, where he found Old Li, who was processing a prisoner's corpse.

Old Li was the middle-aged guard who had led the way and introduced him on Xu Qing's first day at the Prison Division.

"Senior, I have something I want to consult you about." Seeing Old Li, Xu Qing cupped his fists and bowed.

For a newcomer like Xu Qing, Old Li was also willing to make friends, so he threw the corpse in his hand into a deep pit outside the stairs, turned his head, and looked at Xu Qing with a smile.

"What is it?"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment and asked about which of the overseers of Ding-One-Three-Two hadn't died inexplicably, and whether any of them were still in the Prison Division.

"There are!"

Old Li recalled and nodded.

"That Ding-One-Three-Two is evil. I remember Chen Boli was the last overseer a hundred years ago. He worked for three years before changing prison cells. He is now on the seventy-seventh floor."

"However, this Chen Boli's personality has become strange since he was the overseer of Ding-One-Three-Two. He doesn't want to communicate with others on weekdays. If you want to find him, you have to bring something. Xu Qing, do you have any items that are hard enough to sharpen a knife?"

Xu Qing rummaged through his storage bag and found the table and chairs he had harvested in the cave dwelling of the Youjing Spirit Venerable. He felt this was hard enough, so he nodded.

"That's easy to handle. I'll take you."

Old Li smiled and took Xu Qing to the seventy-seventh floor, where they found an old man with a face full of pockmarks.

This old man was squatting in a corner, with walls behind and on both sides, as if this could make him feel safe. Being in the darkness, he looked somewhat ferocious and terrifying.

At this moment, he was sharpening a knife with force.

As the blade rubbed back and forth on the whetstone, a harsh sound echoed in the surroundings, entering the heart and mind, making people uncomfortable.

After noticing the arrival of Xu Qing and the other, the old man raised his head, looked gloomily, with a "strangers keep away" appearance.

"Brother Chen, this is Xu Qing, a newcomer, the new overseer of Ding-One-Three-Two. He has something to consult you about." After Old Li introduced him, he greeted Xu Qing and left, as if he didn't want to stay here for long either.

The knife-sharpening old man didn't speak, remaining gloomy. His gaze moved away from Old Li's back and fell on Xu Qing.

Xu Qing cupped his fists and bowed, then took out the table and chairs of the Youjing from his storage bag and placed them on the side.

"Senior, these items are very hard."

He could sense the old man's cultivation base; it was not simple.

The old man scanned the table and chairs, raised his right hand, grabbed them, touched them, and then rubbed the knife in his hand on them. His expression revealed satisfaction.

"What do you want to ask? Is it how to avoid accidental death?"

Xu Qing's eyes sharpened. Through this sentence from the other party, he felt his previous judgment was correct, so he cupped his fists and bowed.

"Please enlighten me, Senior."

"Have you already felt the matter of bad luck?" The old man looked Xu Qing up and down carefully and asked a question.

Xu Qing nodded.

The old man's expression moved slightly, and he placed the knife in his hand on the side.

"It seems that the ominousness accumulated in Ding-One-Three-Two is already incomparably thick, actually reacting on you so quickly."

"Actually, avoiding accidental death is very simple. As long as you don't leave the Prison Division, or if your life is hard enough. I am not the latter, so during my tenure, I never left the Prison Division. This is also what the previous overseer told me."

The old man looked at Xu Qing, his gaze like looking at a dead person.

"You have to be careful. Generally, those who have bad luck and ominousness appear on them don't live past a month."

Xu Qing was silent. After a long moment, he spoke slowly.

"Senior, is the ominousness you speak of coming from the prisoners of Ding-One-Three-Two? Do they have anything special? But this is District Ding of the Prison Division. If these prisoners really had this ability, they should be imprisoned in deeper prison cells."

The old man nodded, then shook his head.

"The prisoners of Ding-One-Three-Two are not strange themselves, but after being imprisoned inside, they successfully survived, and only then did they become ominous. Of course, this is my judgment. I feel they have already become a part of the ominousness."

"And the real ominousness might be Ding-One-Three-Two itself, or it might be a prisoner inside who has usurped the master's role. But the Palace Master has never paid attention to it, so I think the former possibility is greater."

"Is the head of 237 asking you to throw it into the Cloud Beast's room?"

"Don't listen to it. Someone has tried, it's useless."

As the old man spoke, he began to comment on the prisoners of District Ding-One-Three-Two for Xu Qing, each one described in great detail.

"The thirteenth prisoner, that is the head. It does have some ability, but not much. Don't listen to it talk for too long, otherwise, you will be affected."

"The last one is the Danqing Race. Those twenty-two figures in the painting are all part of it. This one has been imprisoned the longest, but it is also the quietest. During my tenure, I never saw it go out."

Just as the old man said this, Xu Qing's eyes sharpened abruptly.

"Senior, in the painting of the Danqing Race, isn't it painted with twenty-three people of four generations living under one roof?"

"Twenty-three? Impossible, it's twenty-two." Hearing this, the old man's eyes also contracted.

Xu Qing was silent for a long moment, nodded, asked about some details, and then placed some spirit stones on the side and left.

Watching Xu Qing's back, the old man suddenly spoke.

"Xu Qing, all the overseers who go to District Ding-One-Three-Two are people valued by the Palace Master; it is his old man's test. I heard people say that besides many secrets, there is also a huge fortuitous encounter hidden there. Unfortunately, I didn't find it."

"If you don't want to die accidentally, go to the ninth floor to register and change to another prison cell to suppress. Every newcomer has one chance to change cells."

"After changing, you will be fine, but your traces will not be kept on the list of successive overseers of Ding-One-Three-Two."

"And regarding the mystery of Ding-One-Three-Two, I once heard an overseer say a sentence, and I will give it to you as well."

"When you think you have discovered everything, in reality, there is more waiting for you." ===== CHAPTER 407 =====