Xu Qing sped through the jungle of Forbidden by the Phoenix. He moved as quickly as he could, though it caused intense pain to fill him from head to toe. The aura of decay from the taboo poison pill was still eating away at him. Though his level of resistance was much greater than when he first opened the wish box, he had been stuck inside the blood world with the poison for too long. That, plus all the other serious injuries he had sustained, left Xu Qing feeling immeasurably weak, like a lantern sputtering out of oil.

Thankfully, adding another life lamp gave him six-flame power, which made him capable of astonishing levels of speed. Despite his injuries, he was still surrounded by fire, casting light all around him. He looked like a living torch as he sped along.

Meanwhile, eyes suddenly appeared on his shadow, stretched out in front of him. They seemed curious as they looked at Xu Qing. Then a violet will erupted from Xu Qing, which violently suppressed the shadow. The shadow screamed in agony, then quickly tried to seem ingratiating.

“I might be hurt,” Xu Qing said grimly, “but I can still suppress you to death if I have to. By the way… you should cherish the credit you earned in the fight.”

The shadow quickly let loose fluctuations of subservience. Truth be told, some malicious thoughts had occurred to it after seeing Xu Qing hurt so badly. However, it was still afraid of him. That was why, during the fight with Master Shengyun, the shadow hadn’t dared to ignore the orders to cover the enemy’s dharma aperture, nor had it considered trying to sabotage the battle. That wasn’t how it normally operated given its personality. That was how it acted out of fear of Xu Qing. Fear was the way Xu Qing controlled the shadow, and within the curiosity it had just shown was a bit of maliciousness. How could it have known that Xu Qing would notice it?

In contrast, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior understood how things worked. As he followed Xu Qing, he maintained a visage of ultimate loyalty. Xu Qing noticed that and nodded. Next, he had the shadow cover his two life lamps, while simultaneously extinguishing the fire around him.

Xu Qing’s expression was gloomy. The three pursuers were still locked onto him, and if it weren’t for his six-flame speed, they would already have caught up.

“.

If I was in top shape, I could think about fighting them!

Xu Qing stopped and looked down at himself. Waves of weakness and dizziness swept through him. He bit the tip of his tongue, using the burst of pain to clear his head. Then he started moving again. He had used all of his poisons on Master Shengyun. He hadn’t held anything back, not even his beetles. The only beetles he had left were the ones that had gone dormant after devouring that immortal ice.

It was still a long way from dawn. As Xu Qing sped along, he continued to bite his tongue every so often.

I need to think of a way to shake these three dao protectors and get out of Forbidden by the Phoenix…. I’m not sure what Seven Blood Eyes is going to think of all this. I’ll need to take stock of the situation before I decide what to do next. Maybe leaving Forbidden by the Phoenix isn’t the best idea. Should I think about settling down here?

Although doing that would come at a big cost, the fact that he had acquired another life lamp made his eyes shine with determination. In a brutal, chaotic world, one had to fight to survive. Having reached the conclusion that this was definitely the best idea, he shifted directions and started heading deeper into Forbidden by the Phoenix. At the same time, he thought back to that voice which had spoken out in the moment of ultimate crisis.

Was the branding mark on the seven-colored ceramic lamp wiped out as a side-effect of that aura? Or did that voice do it on purpose?

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he thought about it. For some reason, he just couldn’t believe that it had been a complete coincidence. No, it seemed intentional.

“But why?” he murmured. He had no idea. He just kept speeding along, occasionally reaching out to grab various medicinal plants that he would eat raw. Whenever he saw plants that could be beneficial, he did that. Unfortunately, without preparing them properly, the medicinal effects wouldn’t be very strong. But it was better than nothing. Looking into his bag of holding, he realized he had a few black boluses.

It’s best to use black boluses at night, when the mutagen is strongest.

Despite the danger he was in, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. After doing some calculations, he came to the conclusion it would be about five days before he was fully recovered.

Five days…. That said, the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect is definitely going to do something. In fact, I probably don’t have more than two days. I need to lose these three dao protectors before then.

He sped up to the top of a nearby tree and checked the wind.

My only option is to use the taboo poison pill!

After once again checking the state of his injuries, he sighed. At the same time, his eyes glittered with ferocity as he took out the wish box and prepared to open it and let the wind carry the aura.

***

Meanwhile, further back in the jungle, Master Shengyun’s three dao protectors were speeding along with grim expressions on their faces. All of them wanted to kill Xu Qing. After all, Patriarch Soaring Cloud had made it clear that if they didn’t, all of them would die.

They were all shaken to the core, and could hardly believe that Master Shengyun had been defeated by Xu Qing, and his life lamp taken away. Because of that, they were being cautious in their pursuit. Furthermore, all of them had defensive magical devices at the ready, and were using wind techniques to constantly sweep the area around them. At a certain point, they ceased pursuit and huddled to confer.

“This brat is good with poisons. We have to be careful!”

“That’s right. He definitely fights dirty, so we can’t be careless.”

They were no fools. Xu Qing might be injured, but he had nearly killed Master Shengyun. Given that, they knew that they couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.

***

Xu Qing sensed that they had suddenly stopped moving. He breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, his eyes glittered.

If the three pursuers split up, then his plan was to try to ambush one of them, and take them out, even if he got hurt in the process. If they didn’t split up, then he would use the aura of the taboo poison pill. Even if they used wind techniques to dispel the aura, the slightest mistake on their part would yield him some results. Either way, he was ready to act.

Looking down at his hands, he saw flesh slowly starting to cover the bones. Bending into a crouch, he shot into motion.

***

Eventually, when the sky was just starting to turn bright, one of the three pursuing Gold Core experts suddenly did a double take when he noticed a patch of rotting flesh on one of his companion’s faces.

“Your face!” he said, reflexively reaching up to his own face to check it for evidence of poison. When he found none, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Dammit!” said the infected dao protector. Eyes flickering with cold light, he quickly tried to suppress the poison, but it did no good. Ultimately, he had to do the same thing as Master Shengyun, and pull out some medicinal pills designed to bolster life force.

“I can’t believe this!” he said. “This is a very gruish poison. Hard to suppress. We’ve been so careful, but we still fell for his tricks!”

The other two dao protectors’ eyes shone with determination.

“If we’re not careful, and he manages to keep poisoning us, we’ll?fail where failure is least expected!”

“We have to hit him fast and hard!”

After exchanging glances, they gritted their teeth and used various methods to accelerate rapidly. Moving upwards of thirty percent faster than before, they became three beams of light that shot forward at top speed.

***

When Xu Qing sensed what was happening, his eyes flickered coldly.

He still had one trump card left. He could stimulate the taboo poison pill, unleashing it dramatically to kill everything around him.

It wouldn’t be easy to do that, and he wasn’t even sure he could. But with Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits and his life lamps, even if he couldn’t release the full potential of the pill, he should be able to unleash enough of it to be inimitably terrifying. In the destruction that would follow, he doubted the three pursuers would survive.

Should I risk it…?

It was a trump card that would probably end up killing him, so he couldn’t help but calculate the chances of making it out alive.

The odds aren’t in my favor.

He once again checked his injuries. His hands were close to being whole again. Though they still looked bad, they were at least usable.

“Gotta keep running!” He started moving. However, after only taking a few steps, he slowed down and stopped. Pupils constricting, he looked ahead of him in the jungle.

He saw a shadowy figure there.

An old man.

He wore a violet robe, and though he had wrinkles on his face, his eyes shone brightly. He seemed scholarly and refined. As he stood there in the jungle, he seemed out of harmony with the surrounding shadows. In fact, ripples spread out from him that seemed to draw the sunlight toward him.

Between his fingers was a black Go piece with which he fiddled. Looking at Xu Qing, he took in all of his injuries, then said, “Put away the poison.”

Xu Qing bowed his head and put away his poison. Though he was on guard, he didn’t need to guess who this person was, and knew he had no option other than to do as instructed.

This old man was none other than the seventh peaklord of the Seven Blood Eyes. He was Master Seventh.

Despite having put away the wish box, Xu Qing kept a sliver of dharma force on it, just in case he needed to open it suddenly.

When Xu Qing put away the poison, Master Seventh blurred, then reappeared right behind Xu Qing, between him and the approaching Gold Core experts.

As they burst onto the scene, their expressions flickered, and they stopped in place, panting for breath. All of a sudden, they seemed nervous, and they even edged backward. If they were in Seven Blood Eyes, they wouldn’t have acted like this. They knew that Seven Blood Eyes wouldn’t dare to act against them publicly. But they were in a forbidden ground now, and none of them dared to take any risks.

After a moment of hesitation, the Gold Core expert in the middle clasped hands, bowed, and said, “Well met, Seventh Peaklord. This child instigated a huge calamity. He injured a chosen from our Soaring Cloud Sword Sect and stole our sect’s life lamp. On orders from Patriarch Soaring Cloud himself, we’re to arrest him. Please forgive us for any inconvenience, Master Seventh.”

Master Seventh looked at the three of them, then waved his hand. In the blink of an eye, a shocking force swept out of nowhere, becoming a huge mouth that bore down on the three dao protectors. As their faces fell, the mouth chomped down on them and consumed them!

Brutal crunching sounds then echoed out into the silence of the forest.

Xu Qing shivered and looked at Master Seventh. He opened his mouth to speak, except he couldn’t think of what to say. Master Seventh clasped his hands behind his back and started walking.

“What are you staring at? Let’s get moving. I have a Go game to finish.”.