The moment they were on the dharmaship, they sent it speeding off into the distance.1

Both Xu Qing and the Captain were feeling very jumpy as they occasionally looked back in the direction of the forbidden ground. They saw the giant struggling, causing the clouds to churn and lightning to crash as he fought back against the web of restriction.0

Xu Qing’s heart pounded with lingering fear.0

Off to the side, the Captain sighed ruefully. “It’s just as I suspected. Forbidden by the Sword is actually Imprisoned by the Sword! Actually, in the past, this forbidden ground was called Spiritsound. Later, after the species of Sea-Sealing County suppressed it, it changed from Spiritsound to Imprisoned by the Sword.”0

Xu Qing listened thoughtfully. He had been curious about that as well, as he remembered Master Seventh saying that the forbidden ground was called Spiritsound, whereas the Captain had called it Forbidden by the Sword. 0

As the dharmaship sped along, Yanyan looked at the bedraggled Xu Qing and Captain. After hesitating a moment, she said, “Big Bro Xu Qing, didn’t you go to recover your life force? And Eldest Brother, didn’t you go to stand guard over Big Bro Xu Qing? How… did you end up causing such a big stir?”0

Yanyan was also feeling lingering fear. She’d seen that huge giant, and had been so terrified she felt shaken to the core.0

Upon hearing her words, Xu Qing expressionlessly looked at the Captain, specifically, his nose.0

The Captain blinked a few times. Not looking embarrassed at all, he tossed a half-eaten fruit to Xu Qing.0

“I saved that for you, little Junior Brother. It took effort not to eat the whole thing. Ai. That’s just how I am as a person. Whenever I run into nice things, I always think of my little Junior Brother.”0

Xu Qing caught the fruit, whereupon his expression flickered. He looked at it.0

Within that half-eaten fruit was some sort of unique aura. It didn’t seem to have much effect on the fleshly body. However, after inhaling its aroma, Xu Qing felt his mind stirring. That was all he needed to realize that this fruit had a nourishing effect on the soul.0

“I don’t know much about that thingy,” the Captain said, his eyebrows dancing up and down as he recalled his escapade. “I’ve never seen it before. I just saw those oafs worshiping it, so I stole it and took a bite. It’s definitely a big help to the soul.”0

Xu Qing didn’t mind that the Captain had already taken some bites out of the fruit. Having grown up in the slums, he had even stolen half-eaten food from dogs. Given that, eating after the Captain wasn’t a big deal at all. He put it in his mouth and swallowed it. He felt something cool and refreshing flowing through him, settling in his sea of consciousness and causing it to tremble. Then it expanded slightly and grew more solid. Those were signs of the soul growing stronger. Xu Qing licked his lips, then looked at the Captain and prepared to ask some questions about that giant in the forbidden ground.0

“Captain—”0

“Nope, I don’t have any more!” the Captain interrupted. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized he probably shouldn’t have snapped. Blinking a few times, he cleared his throat and said, “Little Ah Qing, we need to head to the Swordsage Court next. You listen to me. That place is amazing.”0

Xu Qing eyed the Captain suspiciously. There definitely seemed to be something strange going on here. Eyes narrowing he quietly said, “Eldest Brother, if I hadn’t given you thirty percent of that dao blood, then my breakthrough would have been a lot safer. But you are my Eldest Brother after all….”1

The Captain sighed, then tossed another fruit to Xu Qing.0

Xu Qing caught it. “Life is so hard sometimes. Eldest Brother, the world is a fickle place, so the day might eventually come when you don’t have a little Junior Brother like me around. If I’m not able to travel the world with you, I hope that when you reach the peak of everything, and stand in the dome of heaven, you can take a moment to look down at everything below… for my sake.”1

Sheesh, little Ah Qing really is a fast learner. Sighing again, the Captain took out a branch from his bag of holding and tossed it to Xu Qing.1

The branch had nine fruits on it.0

Xu Qing nearly gasped at the sight of the branch. He had previously assumed the Captain probably took six or seven fruits. It was a complete surprise to have him hand over an entire branch.0

“Eldest Brother, you didn’t take their entire fruit tree, did you?”0

The Captain cleared his throat and vigorously shook his head.0

Yanyan blinked a few times and said, “Life is so hard….”0

“Fine, fine, FINE!” Looking supremely helpless, the Captain took out three fruits and gave them to Yanyan.0

Yanyan smiled happily, rushed over to Xu Qing, and handed him the fruits. “Here you go, Big Bro Xu Qing.”0

Seeing that, the Captain’s eyes went wide, and he felt more depressed than ever. Xu Qing hadn’t even asked Yanyan for those fruits!0

Xu Qing didn’t care how many total fruits the Captain had. After eating all the ones he had, he felt some dramatic transformations to his sea of consciousness. His soul also seemed much stronger. He suddenly felt stuffed.0

That meant that his soul had reached its limit. As they continued to travel, he sat down cross-legged and began stabilizing himself after the breakthrough.0

Before long, half a month had passed. That was when they heard running water beneath the dharmaship. Looking over the edge, they saw the mighty mainstem of the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River, where it intersected with the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains. The water raged as loudly as the sea as it rushed through a huge gorge that split the Supreme Arbiter Salvation Mountains in two. There were many waterfalls in that spot, making it as beautiful as a painting.0

It was Yanyan’s first time seeing anything as beautiful as that, and she was completely entranced.0

Xu Qing had seen this place on their previous river patrol, so after glancing at it, he took out the shroud, which pulsed with immortal energy. It was really a fragment of a taboo treasure, so one could only imagine what the full treasure must have been like. The gray cloth was stained with black blood, making it impossible to even imagine what it looked like as a whole, but the powerful immortal energy was something Xu Qing simply couldn’t ignore.0

Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed. Fragments of taboo treasures had all sorts of uses. But perhaps because of their dilapidated nature, it wasn’t possible to determine such usages by means of divine will. One had to experiment. It had been fairly obvious what to do with the black piece of wood, or the little mirror. But this strip of cloth was more complicated.0 ｂ𝚍ｎｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏｍ

After studying it, Xu Qing activated the defenses of his Supreme-Limitless Crown, then once again touched the strip of cloth. Despite the defenses being in place, the countless needles still stabbed into his skin.0

It can bypass defenses? Shaken, he thought back to the red-garbed young woman and her evil ghost scythe.0

After some thought, Xu Qing took out the embryonic dagger the Captain had given him, which emanated a black glow and was covered with gruish decorations.0

Previously, Xu Qing had been thinking of waiting until he got back to the sect, then finding an appropriate object to serve as the hilt of the blade. But this strip of cloth gave him a new idea.0

He thought about it some more, then decided to do an experiment. By wrapping the cloth around the end of the blade, he created a simple hilt. Having accomplished these things, he gripped the dagger properly. He immediately felt pain, but he had good recovery capability and a high pain tolerance. Therefore, his facial expression didn’t change.0

With his right hand, he held the hilt as tightly as possible.0

Then he gently pushed the tip of the blade against his left hand. As soon as it touched his skin, he felt a stabbing sensation. Apparently, the effect of the shroud passed into the blade itself.0

“As expected!” he said. “Yanyan, activate your defenses.”0

She had been observing him the entire time, so when she heard his words, she didn’t hesitate for a moment to comply. She took out a jade slip her grandmother had given her and activated it, causing a defensive shield to appear around her.0

Xu Qing immediately thrust the dagger forward. It passed right through Yanyan’s defensive shield, then stopped at her throat.0

Yanyan didn’t flinch at all. Obviously she completely trusted Xu Qing.0

Xu Qing pulled the dagger back, looking very pleased.0

The Captain had also been watching, and he exclaimed, “That’s no ordinary piece of cloth!”0

Xu Qing nodded. He did some more experiments to confirm that the two different items really did have amazing effects when combined. He had the feeling that the secret of his shadow was going to be revealed eventually, and when that happened, he needed to be ready.0

He sent out some divine will, and the shadow, without revealing itself physically, sent a stream of itself to form an eye on the dagger. The eye looked normal at first, but if you looked at it closely, you would find that it seemed alive. If you looked at it, it would look back at you.0

I need to think of a code phrase I can use to indicate I’m going to use the Shadow Fusion Secret Magic.0

The only problem was that coming up with rhymes and mnemonics wasn’t Xu Qing’s forte. Therefore, he asked Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior to help. It didn’t take long for the well-read patriarch to come up with something.0

“The shadow bans, the ghost commands; the immortal declines, the world is mine.”2

Xu Qing repeated the lines inwardly. They seemed a bit odd, but at the moment he couldn’t think of anything better, so he decided not to use them for now. That left the patriarch feeling a bit disappointed.0

The four lines were actually a little scheme in disguise.0

Ohhh, Little Shadow. You want to fight me? Hmmmphh! It wasn’t for nothing that I read novels for years. You just wait and see what I have in store for you!0

Meanwhile, the dharmaship left the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River behind and kept going north. Gradually, the color of the surrounding terrain changed from black to white. As the temperature dropped and days passed, their surroundings became full of snow and wind. Snowflakes fluttered everywhere, piling in heaps atop the dharmaship’s defenses, almost like a white blanket. It became difficult to see their surroundings clearly. The snow fell harder, until it was clearly a storm. The wind screamed, and everything was cold and icy.0

Xu Qing wasn’t unfamiliar with snow. In his early years, winter had been a deadly challenge. That said, he hadn’t seen many big snowstorms like this.0

“We’re finally in the northern tundra,” the Captain said, his voice rising above the wind. “At this speed, it should only take about two more months until we reach the border of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. That’s where the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar is. And that’s where we’ll find the main headquarters of the Swordsage Court.”