Xu Qing sped along, moving dozens of meters with each step, quickly leaving behind the young man who had previously been in seventh place.

That young man watched him go, feeling both anxious and powerless.

The disparity between us… is just too great.

He knew that Xu Qing was strong. After all, Xu Qing had been the first to reach 3,000 meters. He also knew he couldn’t compare to Xu Qing. But he had never imagined that Xu Qing would be so terrifyingly beyond him. As far as he was concerned, being able to move so quickly while at such a great height was outrageous and nearly unbelievable. Thanks to the rancorous will attacks from the pillar, he was trembling in both body and soul. And his sea of consciousness felt like it was being ripped apart.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, was moving upward without any trouble at all. After having refined his Ghost Emperor mountain, its capacity increased significantly. Eventually, the rancorous souls appeared in his sea of consciousness every thirty meters. They took all sorts of shapes and forms, but Xu Qing could tell that most were nonhuman. The humans among them were the minority.

Before, he had taken his time studying them before crushing them. But now, his eyes glittered with cold light as he crushed them with impunity! The Ghost Emperor mountain in his sea of consciousness shone with bright light, and rocked back and forth, becoming almost like a god that wiped the rancorous souls out of existence.

Moving up at top speed, Xu Qing soon reached 4,200 meters. Before long, he was at 4,500 meters.

That was where the black-garbed young man from the Church of Departure was. The young man was going all out as he climbed higher and higher. His eyes were even bloodshot. However, compared to Xu Qing, he was moving very slow.

Xu Qing whizzed up from behind him and then passed him.

The young man looked over as he passed, and his eyes turned cold. Letting loose a shout, he quickly moved up by several dozen meters in an attempt to pass Xu Qing. But then his sea of consciousness shivered, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. He couldn’t move any further, and was forced to tightly grip the protruding totem, then simply watch bitterly as Xu Qing kept moving higher.

Before he joined the Church of Departure, he was considered a chosen cultivator in his hometown. He had surpassed many of his peers, and had done the same after joining the church. He had long believed that he was a true chosen, and that he qualified to become one of the Ancient Emperors and Imperial Sovereigns. It was for his own future that he had joined the Church of Departure. It was only after joining a sect that he came to realize there are always more talented people out there, just as there are always higher heavens out there.

It had been a big blow to him. He had hoped to take advantage of his young age to join the Swordsage Court. Unfortunately for him, Emperor-Receiving Prefecture as a whole was vastly larger than the Church of Departure, and that meant that there were even more chosen cultivators to deal with. All he could do now was watch as Xu Qing climbed higher and higher.

4,500 meters. 4,650 meters. 4,800 meters!

Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to the people he passed. He was now in sixth place, and just ahead of him was Sima Ru.

She was panting for breath as she ascended one meter after another. Her eyes shone with determination, and she had a tenacious expression on her face. She didn’t spare a single glance for Xu Qing as he approached.

Xu Qing didn’t speak any more than she did. He just passed her and took fifth place.

Behind him, Sima Ru gripped the totem, her hand trembling and her teeth gritted.

Xu Qing still had not slowed down. Having passed Sima Ru, he soon reached 5,100 meters. There was someone there; it was the young woman with a cold demeanor from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. She was currently in fourth place.

Her jaw was clenched and both of her hands were slick with blood. Determination filled her eyes as she slowly crawled up. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she kept going slower and slower. She was obviously very close to her limit.

She saw Xu Qing. Xu Qing saw her.

In her bedraggled state, the speed Xu Qing was capable of made her breathe unsteadily. And she could do nothing but glare as he raced past her to reach 5,400 meters.

That was the first location where Xu Qing sustained a berserk attack of rancorous will that pushed his Ghost Emperor mountain toward the point of being full. Normally speaking, he would have stopped right then and there. But he chose not to. Instead, he continued.

Ahead of him were three people. There was the young man with the nose ring, the pock-faced fellow whose identity Xu Qing had already deduced, and… red-garbed Qing Qiu who had already passed 5,700 meters and was about to reach 6,000.

Upon spotting Xu Qing, she leaped into motion, becoming the first to reach 6,000 meters. That caused the crowd to burst into cheering.

That said, she was too high to really hear the crowd. And she was surrounded by whipping winds that drove away all such sounds. Of even greater significance was the intense rancorous will that screamed into her mind and forced her to maintain full concentration. She was feeling a lot of pressure because of Xu Qing. The fact that he was now only 600 meters away caused her to grind her teeth. Meanwhile, her evil ghost scythe glowed with a red light that surrounded her. Blue veins bulged out on her forehead as she moved up with another burst of speed.

However, there was someone else who suddenly accelerated dramatically, and that was… the pock-faced middle-aged man. He was surrounded by frigid coldness that caused ice to form around him on the pillar. Thanks to his burst of speed, he became the second person to reach 6,000 meters.

The third was the young man with the nose ring, and the fourth was Xu Qing.

Though the Ghost Emperor mountain was close to being full, Xu Qing didn’t slow down. Actually, being able to rely on the mountain had made his mind and soul more resilient, which itself allowed him to keep climbing.

Although it seemed like he had succeeded because of the mountain, the truth was that cultivators who could climb this high had to have their own special methods of success.

Xu Qing sailed past the young man with the nose ring. As he did, the young man glared at him defiantly, then gritted his teeth, performed an incantation gesture and pointed in Xu Qing’s direction. It seemed to be a transference technique of some sort, as vast quantities of rancorous will poured out of him and headed toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly. In the entire time he had been climbing the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar, this was the first time someone had made a move against him.

The young man’s strange transference technique caused the shrill howling in Xu Qing’s ears to grow louder. Then, rancorous will surged into his sea of consciousness, quickly turning into a massive winged nonhuman with the head of an eagle and the body of a human. It was pitch-black and emanated terrifying fluctuations as it let loose a destructive howl into Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness.

Because of how full the Ghost Emperor mountain was, it couldn’t emit blinding light. Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness began vibrating, but that lasted for only a moment, until he snorted coldly and tapped into his poison core in his third heavenly palace.

The howling rancorous spirit suddenly did a double take, then blurted, “God domain!”

Before Xu Qing could even crush the soul, it collapsed and burrowed out of him. Apparently, it was fleeing, as it rushed right back toward the young man with the nose ring.

As it bored into the young man, he shivered. In the blink of an eye, his sea of consciousness was thrown into chaos. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and before he could do more than blink, he was shoved off of the pillar.

He was injured, but wouldn’t die. However, he realized he had done something potentially fatal, and thus, he didn’t dare to look in Xu Qing’s direction, and just flew away, his face pale.

Xu Qing glanced at him coldly before continuing his climb. Taking first place was more important; he could deal with the young man later.

Moving quickly, Xu Qing passed 6,000 meters. 150 meters ahead of him was the pock-faced man, and 300 meters away was Qing Qiu.

Just as Xu Qing was assessing what was above him, the pock-faced man looked over his shoulder. Their eyes met.

“Long time no see, Captain,” Xu Qing said calmly. During the past month, every time he saw a disciple from the Dark Serenity Sect it made him think of that letter, and filled him with the desire to give the Captain a good thrashing.

The Captain cleared his throat and then chuckled. “Want to have another competition, little Ah Qing? If you win, I’ll let you beat me up. But if you lose, then you have to pay me the money you owe and then obediently take me with you to see Arch-Immortal Plumdark and settle things. Otherwise, I won’t dare return to the sect or see the patriarch. Without a freaking home to go back to, my life is going to turn into pure suffering.”

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly. He could tell that the Captain was being serious, so he gave him a serious nod in return.

Their first competition had been back in the Forbidden Sea. The loser had been forced to dress up like a woman, specifically, a Seazombie princess. 1

This was their second competition.

As the two of them came to an agreement, Qing Qiu, who was much higher up, was listening to a divine will message from her evil ghost scythe.

“That’s them. Mad Dog and Ghost Hand are both right behind you. I just heard them talking about competing to see which of them would take first place. It’s absolutely ridiculous and completely presumptuous. It’s like you don’t even exist to them! How can you hold back? Why don’t you just turn around and take them down with you in mutual destruction?”

“You’re always going on and on about mutual destruction!” Qing Qiu growled. “Can you just shut up for once?” Her eyes shone crimson, and red light surrounded her as she accelerated, quickly reaching the 6,600 meter point.

However, that was when the Captain started moving. Blue light erupted from him, illuminating the dome of heaven and everything around him. What was more, it was just barely possible to see the veins beneath his skin. In fact, if you could pierce through his skin and look directly at his blood, you would see that it wasn’t red, but rather, blue. Within his pupils were faces. And within the pupils of those faces’ eyes were more faces. Layer after layer, they made a deeply nefarious feeling that came with incredible speed.

In one leap, he went 300 meters! With three leaps, he passed Qing Qiu and reached 6,900 meters!

Up above, the swordsage elders seemed shocked as they looked at the Captain.

“A forbidden nightmare magic! A dao of spirit-sealing!”

“Some almighty being sealed an unknown entity in that kid! Whoever that almighty being was, they were so powerful! And the daoist magic was concealed, making it impossible to see what’s sealed inside!”

1. Their first competition was in 👈