Rumbling filled the sky, echoing back and forth as August Spirit Nethersprite’s two remaining clones fought the three swordsage elders. The shockwaves rose high into the sky, higher than it was even possible to see. Thanks to the intense fighting, they had no attention to spare on what was happening on the ground below.

As one of the three spiritual souls of the Ghost Emperor, August Spirit Nethersprite was in the first stage of Void Returning, but was actually able to fight with power comparable to the peak of the first stage. Even more amazing than that was that she had an undying ability. Unless all three of the spiritual souls and all seven of the physical souls were all killed, she essentially had endless life force.

This was one of the reasons the Swordsage Court in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture had gone for many years without making a move on the Three Spirits. They were just that hard to deal with.

But now the Swordsage Court had come, dead set on coming out victorious. Because of that, the three swordsage elders continued to fight with full force against August Spirit Nethersprite, and weren’t paying attention to anything else.

Down below, Xu Qing and the Captain lunged at the nose, one coming from the left, the other from the right.

A few dozen meters away, the red-garbed young woman gritted her teeth and kept climbing forward. When she saw her two competitors about to beat her to the punch, her heart filled with irritation. Truth be told, she hadn’t benefited much after leaving that mansion grotto, and had been planning to go to some other locations to look around. That was when August Spirit Nethersprite’s clone fell from above. After seeing that strange sight, she had unhesitatingly hurried in the direction of the clone’s head. Based on the information she was privy to, August Spirit Nethersprite’s clones were types of spirit plants whose quintessence was located in their head.

These two are wearing disguises, so I can’t tell what group they’re from. The young woman’s eyes flashed with cold light, and as she gritted her teeth, her evil ghost sickle radiated a black glow. The evil ghost’s eyes were open, and they pulsed with a mysterious glow. With the augmentation it gave, the young woman in red suddenly accelerated. Yet she was still too slow.

Xu Qing and the Captain had forced their way through the pressure to arrive right in front of the clone’s nose.

The clone was enormous; compared to its face, Xu Qing and the Captain were like tiny worms. Each one stood in front of one massive nostril, focusing fully on absorbing the clone.

The Captain absorbed like mad, gripping the nostril with both arms as an image of himself appeared in his pupils. It looked very gruish. Thanks to his vicious efforts, that particular side of the nose quickly started turning gray, unlike the rest of the skin. .𝘤𝑜𝑚

Xu Qing, not willing to be outdone, extended his right hand, which turned illusory as he used the Gruegloom Daoseizing Art on the nose. Although he couldn’t shove his hand all the way in, he was able to have a measure of success.

.

As boundless immortal power rushed into him, the shadow and Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior saw what was happening and excitedly got to work. The shadow directly spread to the skin of the clone, while the patriarch… having boasted so openly to Xu Qing that he could achieve a breakthrough in three months, was now feeling very nervous, and went all out, piercing right into August Spirit Nethersprite’s nostril.

When Xu Qing saw that, a strange expression appeared in his eyes. However, he didn’t pay much attention. What was more, beneath his clothing, his skin started to burn as the Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits totem tattoo stirred. The crow opened its eyes. However, Xu Qing kept it under control and prevented it from spreading out on its own. Instead, it extended through his arm, into the nose, whereupon it began its own absorption.

As the cry of the golden crow echoed in Xu Qing’s mind, the tattoo beneath his clothing rippled, not with thirteen tails, but with seventeen. Back when the golden crow devoured the ravagemist bird, it had developed a total of thirteen tails. After the battle with Master Shengyun, it ascended to the second stage of its development, at which time there were no changes to the tails. Instead, its general physical appearance and inner constitution transformed.

After upgrading to the second stage, it had grown rapidly. Now, seventeen tails covered most of the skin on Xu Qing’s upper half. Though his clothing covered most of that, it still emanated intense heat. Xu Qing’s eyes glittered in response to the golden crow’s advancement, and had it work all-out to absorb more of the clone.

In a very short period of time, Xu Qing’s side of the nose also turned gray. At the same time, the majestic power that poured into him caused his third heavenly palace to rapidly become more corporeal.

Previously, his third heavenly palace had been more than half corporeal. Now, with this immortal energy rushing into him, it quickly passed the level of ninety percent. It was now very close to being complete! However, that was the limit. In order to finish the process, the palace needed a gold core inside it. Each gold core required study and preparation before making it.

In many cases, cultivators would acquire them externally. Usually, Gold Core cultivators would have multiple such cores. In other words, they would use some item as a core, put it into the heavenly palace, and thus make it their life essence treasure.

Xu Qing’s life lamps had worked in just that way.

Forming one’s own gold cores was another option. Usually that relied on some sort of magical technique, and would require immense amounts of power. That was why different Gold Core cultivators chose to advance in different ways.

Xu Qing eventually wanted to take the taboo poison pill from the wish box and, just like his life lamps, turn it into one of his gold cores, which he would then use to control his third heavenly palace.

However, given how many people could see him here, he didn’t want to take out the taboo pill. After thinking the matter over, Xu Qing decided to send more immortal energy into his fourth heavenly palace. Except he quickly realized that was a bad idea. The fourth heavenly palace couldn’t accept any immortal energy, as if there were something blocking the way to it. The immortal energy converged around his fourth heavenly palace, piling up but unable to enter it. Apparently, advancement had to be made in increments, and one heavenly palace had to be complete before a second could be worked on. Until then, it was completely illusory.

That was fine with Xu Qing. If he couldn’t put the energy into his next palace, he would just store it in his sea of consciousness. After he put the taboo poison pill into his third palace, then he would have all that energy ready for the fourth. Without hesitation, he began absorbing even more energy, sending it rushing into his sea of consciousness.

However, that was when something unexpected happened. As the immortal energy grew in his sea of consciousness, the Ghost Emperor mountain therein suddenly twitched. And then it exuded a massive gravitational force, and started sucking in the immortal energy like mad. As that happened, the Ghost Emperor mountain started shining even more brightly, while at the same time, the previously empty face began to fill with vague details.

And those details… were immediately recognizable to Xu Qing. They were his own facial features!

At least, that was what it seemed at this stage when the features were not completely clear. Either way, it was startling. That said, he didn’t put too much thought to it at the moment, and instead kept absorbing the energy.

Eventually, the spot where his hand had penetrated the nose was completely gray, and that effect was spreading as more immortal energy rushed into the Ghost Emperor mountain.

There was something unusual about this Ghost Emperor mountain. From what Xu Qing could sense, it was somewhat different from the actual Ghost Emperor mountain that he had observed. Though it originated from the real mountain, the version in Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness, after being developed by him, was an independent thing…. Most importantly, it was becoming corporeal, and was linked to him in countless ways.

That was a big shock, and he immediately decided that he would have to ask his Master about what was happening.

While Xu Qing was wrapped up in such thoughts, the Captain was madly absorbing immortal energy, causing the gray color to quickly spread over the entire nose.

That was when the young woman in red arrived. Glaring coldly at Xu Qing and the Captain, she climbed over to the clone’s forehead and started her own absorbing efforts. She took the immortal energy in a very ferocious manner. And a projection of the evil ghost emerged from her scythe, and also started absorbing energy. Meanwhile, a strange image appeared behind her.

Shockingly, it looked like a lake of blood! It emanated a boundless killing intent and an intensely baleful aura, as if the lake contained vicious evil that was difficult to put into words.

The moment the lake appeared, Xu Qing looked at it. The golden crow within him also looked straight at the lake of blood. The golden crow’s reaction was very telling to Xu Qing.

That’s an imperial-class technique. And from the fluctuations, it’s not first stage, it’s second stage!

Meanwhile, the Captain looked over, eyes shining, and quietly said, “Legend has it that, countless years ago, the Arbiter of Destiny, leader of the Church of Departure, came from the holy lands and gave an imperial-class technique to each of the nine factions of the church, which has adherents among all species and who worship different Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns.

“Gaining enlightenment is a very demanding process, and thus only a small number of people ever succeed. Among the faction who adhere to Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, the technique is called the Serenity-Hell Blood-Sea Dao. One characteristic of the technique is that you make sacrifices to the holy lands. That’s not necessarily unique. But what is unique is that each sacrifice becomes more dangerous and likely to kill you!”

The young woman in red glared icily at the Captain, but didn’t say anything as she continued absorbing energy. The Captain’s eyes narrowed and he sped up his absorption efforts. Xu Qing did the same. In that manner, the three of them went crazy on August Spirit Nethersprite’s clone. Before long, the entire nose and all of the forehead were gray. Then the patches of gray met and spread to the rest of the face, until it looked like the face of a dead person. In fact, it was even possible to see black patches popping up here and there.

When that happened, Xu Qing pulled his hand out. It seemed like the right time to go. The fact that the clone’s face was turning pitch black was just too eye-catching.

Xu Qing looked at the Captain and gave him a look indicating that they should leave.

The Captain saw Xu Qing’s look, then glanced at the young woman in red, and was glad that there was someone here to take the blame for this instead of him. The Captain released his grip on the nose, and the force of expulsion immediately sent him tumbling away. Xu Qing was about to do the same when…

All of a sudden, a golden light erupted from the clone’s nose, and a gold drop of liquid appeared.

“Void Returning dao blood!!” the Captain shrieked. He instantly went crazy trying to fight his way back to the nose, but there was no way he could do that in a short time.

Shaken, Xu Qing noticed that the Ghost Emperor mountain inside of him was trembling in response to the golden drop of blood.

The young woman in red breathed heavily, and her eyes shone with light as she jumped in the direction of the blood. She moved quickly.

But Xu Qing moved even more quickly.