Chapter 421

"It's mainly because my intelligence gathering costs are quite high, but don't worry, Little Ah Qing, the money is all spent where it's needed!"

The Captain's awkward laughter came from the jade slip.

"Let me tell you, if I pull this off this time, we'll be completely rich. You going out and risking your life doing missions for ten years wouldn't compare to this one time!"

"So... I need your sponsorship, Little Junior Brother."

The Captain's voice carried pride and even more longing for the future.

Xu Qing was also a bit curious upon hearing this. Based on his understanding of the Captain, this matter was indeed possible, but the degree of madness must also be immense.

So after thinking for a moment, Xu Qing agreed to the spirit stone sponsorship.

He was doing okay with spirit stones now; what he mainly lacked was military merit. So after talking to the Captain for a while, he originally intended to send them to the Captain or have the other party come to get them, but the Captain didn't know what he was busy with and had no time tonight.

Thus, the two agreed to meet at the Transformation Demon Sect tomorrow.

At the same time, Xu Qing also informed the Captain about the Sword Holding Palace allowing the use of military merit to learn the techniques of the three great sects. The Captain was quite interested after hearing this.

"There's such a thing? I haven't really heard of it."

"I see, this is the little scheme of the three great sects. Standing from the perspective of the Sword Holding Palace, they don't really want to see the Sword Holders under their command all coming from the three great sects. It's nothing now, but in the long run, it will leave some hidden dangers in the future, so they didn't promote the use of military merit to learn, but out of magnanimity, they didn't stop it either."

"But standing from the perspective of the three great sects, they naturally hope that all Sword Holders have a relationship with them, so the matter of techniques being passed on came about."

"But overall, the Sword Holding Palace is strong, and the three sects are tied to it, sharing weal and woe. This should also be the survival strategy of the three great sects."

The Captain analyzed it all, and Xu Qing nodded after hearing it; he felt the Captain made sense.

Afterward, the two agreed on tomorrow's time and ended the transmission amidst the Captain's anticipation.

Putting down the sound-transmission jade slip, Xu Qing continued to ponder the matter of the Bizarre Ghost Dao-Seizing Art's hand enhancement.

"As for merging foreign substances... actually, I don't need to limit myself to just foreign substances or poison." Xu Qing thought for a moment. As the third Tiangong in his body vibrated, the power of the Poison Prohibition spread and merged into his hands.

Instantly, his hands exuded a rich poisonous intent, and then the poison changed again, forming his own foreign substance.

Then, after the fourth Tiangong vibrated, Xu Qing's hands turned purple again, and the power of the Purple Moon permeated his hands at this moment.

"With such changes, enemies will be caught off guard in life-and-death battles, and a fatal blow can be formed at a critical moment."

Xu Qing's way of thinking about problems always started from concealment and surprise; this was related to his growth when he was young and the style of the Seventh Peak of the Seven Blood Eyes.

The night passed with Xu Qing adjusting his Bizarre Ghost Dao-Seizing Art. The next day, Xu Qing did not go to the Criminal Prison Department but requested three days of leave and went to the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect.

As one of the three great sects of Fenghai County, the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect is located in the southwest of the Capital and occupies a significant area.

Multiple teleportation arrays are open all year round, allowing the true mountain gate, which is some distance away, to maintain a close connection with the Capital.

And the mission of the branch sect here is only one: to serve the Sword Holders.

When Xu Qing arrived, he saw many Sword Holders coming and going, and the Captain had already arrived, squatting not far away, eating an apple while waving at Xu Qing.

"Little Ah Qing, here."

Xu Qing walked over.

The Captain threw him an apple.

Xu Qing caught it, took a bite, and handed the spirit ticket to the Captain.

Looking at the spirit ticket, the Captain was extremely excited. After taking a big bite of the apple, he spoke mysteriously.

"Don't worry, Little Junior Brother, according to my plan, the time for doing big things is not far off."

"How much risk is there?" Xu Qing asked.

"There is no risk at all!" The Captain looked confident.

Xu Qing nodded; he understood, this meant the risk was immense.

"I won't say more; I need to go find Wu Jianwu. This guy spent quite a few spirit stones to operate a Sword Holder candidate assessment through my connections. He has to undergo the Great Emperor's Heart-Questioning today. I gave him a crash course on the materials I had back then last night, making him feel that this money was well spent."

The Captain stood up.

"I'm going to see how the result turns out, to see if he also gets one zhang!"

Expectation appeared in the Captain's eyes, and he left with great interest.

Xu Qing silently looked at the Captain's back; he felt that the Captain and Wu Jianwu must have a grudge, otherwise, how could he pit the same person twice in a row.

Thus, after watching the Captain's figure go far away, Xu Qing walked into the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect.

The Grand Void Transformation Demon branch sect built in the Capital has an overall ring-shaped design. Under the surrounding circles of buildings, it forms the Grand Void Array unique to its sect.

And on every building, strange-looking fierce beasts are carved; some are ferocious and cruel, others are peaceful and auspicious. Most of them were born in forbidden zones, and there are also some alien races.

But in the understanding of the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect, these can all be used as demon seeds.

And the place to learn the Transformation Demon Art is inside the Dharma Transmission Hall.

This hall is not a large hall in the conventional sense, but one stone-structured compartment after another, each independent and not disturbing each other.

The number is nearly a hundred.

After spending a certain amount of military merit, Xu Qing was politely led to this place by a disciple of the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect and chose a compartment to walk into.

Inside the compartment, Xu Qing saw the array carved on the ground and a stone tablet.

The stone tablet was not very old, did not contain much vicissitudes, and did not have many traces of the passage of time, but the runes on it exuded an ancient charm.

Obviously, this stone tablet was a rubbing, not the original stone tablet.

But being able to be placed here, it must be that whether it is an original or not does not affect the comprehension of the technique. So after checking, Xu Qing sat cross-legged, took a deep breath while looking at the stone tablet, and determination appeared in his eyes.

"The military merit required for comprehension is not cheap. There are three days of comprehension time in total; it's best to succeed in one go!"

"I hope this Transformation Demon Art matches my judgment and can allow my Ghost Emperor Mountain... to be manifested."

Xu Qing did not hesitate. The moment he closed his eyes, his perception suddenly spread out, merging into the stone tablet in front.

The moment he touched the stone tablet, he heard roars that seemed to come from ancient times echoing in his mind.

These roars became more and more intense. The moment they drowned him like a storm, Xu Qing's body shook violently; he felt the eruption of a teleportation force.

This was completely different from the comprehension he had experienced before. Xu Qing opened his eyes abruptly, and what was presented before him was emptiness.

And the place where he was was no longer the comprehension compartment of the Grand Void Transformation Demon Sect; he had actually been teleported into the body of a translucent fish.

This fish was ten zhang in size, with black runes pasted on some parts of its body, on which crying faces were drawn. Vaguely, there was also the sound of crying echoing, and it was drifting forward in the emptiness.

In front of the fish, there was also a green lantern, exuding ghostly light, like a forest of ghostly fire in the emptiness, guiding the direction.

Xu Qing's mind shook; this scene was beyond his expectations. And just as his expression changed and he stood up from inside the fish, filled with vigilance, a voice of vicissitudes echoed within the fish.

"Trial-taker of the Transformation Demon Art."

"The place you are going to now is the true place of comprehension for the Transformation Demon Art."

"That place... is called the Grand Void Realm."

"The Grand Void Realm is a mysterious and unpredictable world fragment that our sect's ancestor discovered by accident. You will enter into a contract with the Grand Void Realm there. Once successful, you will be able to possess the ability to transform into a demon from then on."

"The Transformation Demon Art does not need comprehension; it only depends on the contract."

"What truly needs to be comprehended is the demon shadow body that you will transport into your sea of consciousness after the contract is successful. The principle of demon transformation is actually to use the power of the Grand Void Realm to help you manifest the demon in your sea of consciousness, so... there is this talk of a contract."

"Signing this contract is not necessarily successful; there is a high probability of failure, and the Grand Void Realm is cunning. Whether you can successfully contract in the end depends on your fortune."

"But please remember, this is our sect's top secret and must not be passed on; violators will be punished!"

"Regardless of success or failure, after you enter the Grand Void Realm, silently recite 'Return Fish,' and you can return here. Good luck."

Xu Qing's eyes revealed sharp light; he heard that this voice of vicissitudes was not transmitted only to him. From the other party's tone, it could be seen that this was a recording.

Just as Xu Qing was thinking rapidly in his heart, he suddenly narrowed his eyes, seeing a huge one-eyed stone statue appear in the emptiness in the distance.

There was a regular hole in the chest of the stone statue, piercing through its body.

As for the face of the stone statue, it was blurry; only the wide-open mouth was relatively clear, looking like the entrance to a world from afar.

At the same time, the fish Xu Qing was in leaped and arrived directly in front of the stone statue.

Here, the translucent fish's body twitched, and it spat out a bubble. Xu Qing's body was inside this bubble, entering the mouth of the stone statue.

The next instant, what was presented before Xu Qing was a world beyond his imagination.

This world was permeated with thin mist, and from the mist came bursts of whispering sounds. What made people feel even more eerie and bizarre was a huge white object slowly drifting past Xu Qing.

That white object, the first thing that entered Xu Qing's eyes, was a piece of wave-like folds, and then it became larger and larger, finally presenting itself completely.

It was actually a huge brain!

Not only were there folds on it, but there was also a clear central sulcus, and at the same time, two slightly smaller brown cerebellums beside the dark brainstem.

It looked shocking.

It floated in the mist, and one could see veins and nerve-like threads beneath the brain, like messy branches.

Such brains were not the only ones in this world of mist.

Xu Qing's pupils contracted. Looking out, the number of brain trees in the mist was extremely large. They floated up and down in the mist. At this moment, there were hundreds appearing around him, and there were even more in the depths of the mist.

The overall number could not be counted.

And every brain tree here was wriggling, and the whispering sounds were precisely what they were emitting.

"Another one came."

"Shh, keep it down, don't scare him away."

"There is another one in the distance; I don't know if they know each other."

"I don't know, but I think this one looks delicious. I heard the Void race is going to start a war; we need to be careful."

"Come, choose me, let's sign a contract."

"Do you want to transform into a demon? I can help you achieve it, as long as you... give me a piece of your memory."

"Any piece of memory can be tried to be sacrificed to me. As long as I am satisfied, I will sign a contract with you."

All the voices sounded like they were speaking with their voices lowered right in his ear, bizarre to the extreme.

Xu Qing's expression was gloomy. This was the first time he had encountered such a technique comprehension. At this moment, as he looked coldly at the surroundings, a brain tree drifted toward him.

"They are all lying to you, they all want to eat you empty. Sign a contract with me; you just need to raise your hand and let me touch it. I only want a small piece of your memory. Give it to me, I'm so hungry, give it to me quickly, give it to me quickly..."

That brain emitted a mental voice, exuding longing and greed. While speaking, the brain was still wriggling rapidly, extremely disgusting.

"Don't believe it, it has deceived many people. Before, it ate one of your companions until they had no memory left, forgetting that they had to sign a contract with it."

"Yes, it is very cunning. Choose me, I will only eat a little, give it to me, give it to me."

"Choose me... I'm so hungry, I want to eat. If you don't give it to me, I won't let you leave!"

The voices around suddenly increased. Dozens of brains rushed toward Xu Qing, surrounding him, exuding longing while also exuding undisguised malice and greed.

Xu Qing was silent. He thought of the content of the words of vicissitudes on the way here.

This is a strange fragment world called the Grand Void. Signing a contract with this place can unfold the Transformation Demon Art. And now, looking at the method of signing a contract, it is to let one of the brain trees eat a piece of one's own memory, and it also needs to be satisfied.

This is the cunning part, because whether they are satisfied or not is up to them.

"Memory, huh..." Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and suddenly looked at the brain that exuded the strongest malice, speaking softly.

"I choose you."

As he spoke, Xu Qing raised his hand.

That constantly wriggling brain arrived in an instant, touching Xu Qing's palm.

"Then, which piece of memory are you going to give me..." As the words were transmitted, an evil and greedy consciousness rushed toward Xu Qing's mind, but it seemed unable to choose actively; it needed Xu Qing to allow the memory to be released.

"I will give you the memory of my awakening in Ding-132, things I cannot remember myself. Let's see if you can remember it. Taste it well." Xu Qing's eyes were cold as he spoke softly.

The next instant, the brain touching his palm suddenly trembled as it sensed it.