Chapter 432

"Hmm?" The Captain was stunned, not understanding the meaning of Xu Qing speaking like this suddenly, so he became surprised.

"What does it have to do with me? What's the situation? Little Ah Qing, showing off to me? If it weren't for that letter of mine..."

Xu Qing glanced at the Captain.

The Captain coughed.

"If it weren't for that letter of yours..."

Then his expression straightened, and he spoke solemnly.

"Speaking of this, I have to criticize you. I actually wanted to tell you a long time ago: cultivators of our generation need to be solitary. Only in this way can we have an iron-like will, can we make our own beliefs complete, and can we calmly face all confusion!"

"Women, heh, are they as delicious as apples?" The Captain bit into the apple fiercely, his expression revealing a touch of disdain.

"They are the mountains and boulders blocking our progress, the shackles and hell affecting our sword-drawing. You must be cautious about this matter; don't learn from Old Three. I advised you to submit to Immortal Zixuan before, but that was mostly a joke."

Xu Qing was moved upon hearing this and thought carefully. He felt the Captain's words made sense and nodded in agreement, lost in thought.

"Senior Brother is right. Then I won't introduce you to Immortal Zixuan's close friend."

The Captain was stunned, his eyes widened, and he didn't even eat the apple.

"What did you say? Introduce her to me?"

Xu Qing nodded, his expression somewhat embarrassed.

"Senior Brother, I was wrong. Originally, that Senior Li Shitao from the Fengxing Palace asked me to introduce friends around me. It was my narrow-mindedness; this will affect your will and beliefs, Senior Brother."

"Li Shitao? The name sounds pretty good. That... is she good-looking?" The Captain suddenly spoke.

"She's alright." Xu Qing was surprised and nodded.

The Captain's spirit lifted, but he tried hard to restrain himself. He stood up, put his hands behind his back, and sighed, full of nostalgia.

"Little Junior Brother... your Senior Brother has been solitary for twenty-six years; it's been a bit too long."

The Captain turned his head and looked at Xu Qing.

"Cultivators of our generation need to be solitary." Xu Qing hesitated.

"For cultivators of our generation, companions, techniques, wealth, and land—companions come first!" The Captain said seriously.

"The mountains and boulders blocking our progress." Xu Qing hesitated.

"If you don't understand this mountain, how can you finally step over it!" The Captain said righteously.

"The shackles and hell affecting our sword-drawing?" Xu Qing looked at the Captain.

The Captain's expression was compassionate as he looked at the world outside the Sword Pavilion's window and sighed softly.

"If I don't enter hell, who will?"

Xu Qing watched the Captain silently. The Captain felt no embarrassment and looked at Xu Qing with a thick skin.

After a long while, Xu Qing sighed and nodded.

"Captain, you should eat more pomelo next time."

The Captain was incomparably excited, not minding Xu Qing mentioning pomelo again. He ran to Xu Qing's side, raised his right hand, took out three large apples, handed them to Xu Qing, and was beaming with joy.

"Little Junior Brother, Senior Brother didn't dote on you in vain. Cough, waiting for your good news." Saying this, the Captain left happily.

Watching the Senior Brother's departing back, Xu Qing's eyes revealed contemplation. Although the Senior Brother's words were inconsistent, Xu Qing still felt that the other party's previous statement made some sense.

"Only with a calm heart can one be firm." Xu Qing muttered, closed his eyes, focused, and sank into meditation.

In the blink of an eye, four days passed.

During these four days, Xu Qing dispelled all distracting thoughts, calmed the ripples that had arisen in his heart, restored the state of mind he had in Yinghuang Prefecture, and immersed himself wholeheartedly in adapting to the descent of the small world's rules.

Finally, late in the night of the fourth day, he successfully honed his endurance time to two thousand breaths.

"I can go and try."

After a short rest, Xu Qing's eyes revealed a sharp light. He didn't go off duty immediately but entered the mural world again within this ninetieth floor.

Walking in the void, Xu Qing was familiar with the path and reached the eggshell-like light screen. With a dash forward, he shuttled through and appeared above that small world, amidst the clouds and mist.

A huge pressure descended immediately, as if mountains were falling, and a sense of invisible shackles entwining him arose spontaneously.

Xu Qing's body shook, and creaking sounds came from his body, but his expression did not change at all.

This was the place where he usually honed himself.

And he was already incomparably familiar with this kind of rule descent and the feeling of mountains suppressing him.

In the past, he would stop here, but today he didn't stop at all and took a step forward.

Moving forward with the mountains on his back.

Every step he took, a thunderous roar came from between heaven and earth, as if mountains and rocks were falling to the ground. The momentum was grand, and heaven and earth changed color, with wind rising and clouds surging.

This scene looked astonishing, but in reality, it was because Xu Qing could not lift heavy things as if they were light. He was bearing the rules of a realm, so every step he took would cause a drastic change in heaven and earth.

Wherever he passed, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and the surrounding clouds and mist rolled, looking extremely astonishing.

As Xu Qing walked, the hidden alien races on the ground all changed their expressions after seeing Xu Qing.

Although they also knew that Xu Qing's performance had not reached the state of lifting heavy things as if they were light, they understood that the more this was the case, the more dangerous it was.

Because he could not fully control the rules he was bearing, it was inevitable that they would leak out...

The facts were indeed so. Just as Xu Qing's body descended into mid-air, seven or eight types of weather appeared around him—sometimes acid rain, sometimes thunderstorms, sometimes gale winds...

The ground beneath his feet was also affected; plains changed into mountains, and mountains changed into lakes, constantly changing and unable to stabilize, only settling down after he left.

And in this process, the prisoners existing there... were in bad luck.

So when Xu Qing looked down, the first thing he saw was a large number of prisoners rushing out from various hiding places on the ground, each filled with terror and fleeing in panic.

Of course, there were also some prisoners who had died too many times and were about to completely lose their memories. Their eyes held light, and they actually rushed straight towards Xu Qing, wanting to use his leaking rules to commit suicide.

After committing suicide, they would not be reset, which could also be considered a form of relief.

Xu Qing frowned, raised his right hand, pressed it downwards, and spoke calmly.

"Within my surroundings in this realm, no flying and no approaching!"

As soon as he spoke, the invisible rules of this realm he was carrying on his body trembled suddenly. The next instant, creaking sounds came from heaven and earth, and invisible silk threads radiated from all living things, spreading from everything in heaven and earth, finally gathering around Xu Qing.

New rules were established.

Those prisoners who wanted to commit suicide were immediately repelled as soon as their bodies approached, finding it difficult to get close at all, and even more unable to fly.

They would have to wait until Xu Qing left to recover.

After finishing this, Xu Qing calculated the time, knowing he couldn't delay too long, so he gritted his teeth, raised his footsteps, and rushed forward rapidly.

Along the way, creaking sounds came from his body continuously, and he even operated the laws to make the ground beneath his feet shrink, gaining faster speed.

Finally, he arrived at the plain where the group of Near-Immortal clan prisoners was located.

This was the first thing he had to do during this descent.

After arriving here, he immediately changed the rules, raised his right hand, and grabbed. Suddenly, two Near-Immortal clan prisoners inside rose into the air, were wrapped by Xu Qing, and taken far away.

Arriving at an uninhabited place, he followed the method used on the Near-Immortal clan prisoners in the Ding District, performed the same operation on these two Near-Immortal clan members with Nascent Soul cultivation, and successfully planted his own malevolent Qi. Xu Qing's eyes revealed contemplation.

"If their memories are not wiped, the possibility of them becoming Immortal Puppets will also decrease... but the Near-Immortal clan members are not stupid. If Near-Immortal clan prisoners suddenly appear with wiped memories after three hundred years, they will definitely be suspicious. So I can't go too far, and I can't be too absolute."

Xu Qing pondered for a while and simply sent one of these two unconscious Near-Immortal clan members back to the original place, while throwing the other one outside.

"I often come to observe during this period. Before this Near-Immortal clan member outside completely loses his memory, I will send him back, only letting his memory be partially wiped."

Xu Qing had just finished doing this, throwing that Near-Immortal clan member into the wilderness, and was about to proceed to the second thing, when his expression stirred and he turned his head suddenly.

Five hundred feet behind him, someone had appeared at some point!

This person was also wearing a jailer's Daoist robe and was one of the Bing District jailers. He was staring coldly at Xu Qing, then looked at the Near-Immortal clan member in the wilderness, a ghostly light appearing in his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Xu Qing looked at this Bing District jailer who had appeared, feeling the other party's Nascent Soul cultivation fluctuations.

He had seen the other party but had never spoken to him.

Facing this person's inquiry, Xu Qing was thoughtful, looked at this area, and his expression revealed a touch of apology.

"I am conducting an experiment."

That jailer looked coldly at Xu Qing, then swept his gaze over the Near-Immortal clan member on the ground who was about to wake up, and spoke coldly.

"This is my guard area. You should have told me in advance. And the County Chancellor has an order that Near-Immortal clan prisoners are exempt from the suffering of memory loss... Let today's matter be the only time."

After speaking, he turned around, flickered, and left the place without stopping him.

After all, everyone was a jailer. Although Xu Qing's cultivation was not Nascent Soul, he still had the right to handle prisoners. Although this matter went against the regulations, there was no grudge between them, and the other party's expression had revealed an apology, so he couldn't be bothered to be pedantic.

Xu Qing also knew he had been careless; this action was not appropriate, and the reasoning was not settled.

In fact, he would not have made this mistake, as he had done exactly this in the Ding District.

But he had just started trying to patrol today and had not yet been assigned an area and time, so it was inevitable that he would be negligent about who was responsible for this area.

"My apologies." Xu Qing's expression was solemn as he cupped his fists in a salute to the departing jailer.

The departing jailer waved his hand with his back to Xu Qing, and the slight displeasure in his heart dissipated for the most part.

Until the other party's figure could no longer be seen, Xu Qing turned and left. He originally had a second thing to do, which was to find the three Black Heaven clan members and leave marks on them to observe.

But at this moment, he changed his mind and did not go looking for them. Instead, his body rose into the air, and amidst the continuous thunderous explosions of heaven and earth, he left this small world.

As the feeling of the rules descending on his body dissipated, Xu Qing exhaled a long breath and walked back to the Prison Division.

After appearing in the Prison Division, Xu Qing immediately found Ghost Hand and informed him that he could endure the laws and could patrol independently.

In the corner of this ninetieth floor, lying on a rocking chair and drinking, Ghost Hand looked up upon hearing this and sized Xu Qing up.

"So fast?" Ghost Hand's expression was surprised. He pinched a finger at the mural, and suddenly, a soft light radiated from within the mural. The original picture inside blurred, forming a new scene.

The scene showed Xu Qing patrolling inside, but it only revealed his figure just after descending and did not reveal his subsequent handling of the Near-Immortal clan members.

"You kid are not bad, you can do it." Ghost Hand didn't look much, waved his hand to disperse the scene, and threw a token to Xu Qing.

"You are responsible for guarding the East Thirteen area."

Xu Qing took the token, said yes solemnly, then thought for a moment and spoke softly.

"This subordinate released a Near-Immortal clan member in the small world, preparing to conduct an experiment..."

"Small matter." Ghost Hand laughed. He naturally knew about this matter. As the Prison Master, he was very clear about things within the Boundary Prison and understood even better that the jailers under him were actually not honest, and all kinds of private matters were common.

But in the final analysis, they were all Sword-Holders without malicious intent; at most, it was just for personal convenience.

For this kind of thing, he turned a blind eye.

After all, even he occasionally did this.

And Xu Qing being able to take the initiative to say it made him very happy.

Seeing this, Xu Qing knew he had done the right thing.

For some things, there was no point in hiding them, as it would only cause unnecessary suspicion. So after pondering, he spoke again.

"Senior, I want to go see those Black Heaven clan members."

Ghost Hand laughed and pointed at the jade slip in Xu Qing's hand.

"When I explained it to you last time, I could see you had quite an interest. You can go see the place you guard yourself."

Xu Qing was stunned upon hearing this, bowed deeply to Ghost Hand, and turned to leave.

Watching the departing Xu Qing, Ghost Hand took a sip of wine, his eyes revealing appreciation.

He truly appreciated Xu Qing, whether it was the initial method of poisoning the Sick Ghost, or the later comprehension and the politeness he always maintained—this was very rare.

Now that he had Golden Core cultivation and could patrol independently, everything showed Xu Qing's extraordinariness.

More importantly, there was his ten-thousand-foot brilliance and the guard duty arranged for Ding Yisaner; the latter... he was very clear about the meaning within.

So he arranged those Black Heaven clan members in the place Xu Qing guarded, because if he gave them to any old-timer, everyone would have thoughts in their hearts; after all, the Black Heaven clan was rarely seen, and everyone had great interest.

And by giving them to a newcomer with ten-thousand-foot brilliance, it was hard for others to say anything. Moreover, this was also conducive to Xu Qing becoming familiar with other colleagues in the Bing District.

"Kid, you must strive hard. That East Thirteen area has a not-so-small stroke of good fortune today." Ghost Hand took a big gulp of wine, lay on the rocking chair, and hummed a little tune.