Xu Qing ignored Ning Yan’s scream of disbelief as he mentally issued a call, causing the golden crow to fly toward him. Half of it merged into Xu Qing, while the other half remained outside, causing 300-meter wings to spread out in a shocking display. Xu Qing’s aura also skyrocketed, making him pulse with an energy that could devour mountains and seas. From a distance, the golden crow surrounding Xu Qing made him look like the reincarnation of an emperor, descended into the mortal world. He now pulsed with one-soul, nine-palace strength.

And then there were his fleshly body fluctuations, which also gave off a Nascent Soul sensation. With that, he had the equivalent of two-soul, nine-palace battle prowess. Battle prowess like that was completely unheard-of in the Gold Core level.

Rumbling sounds echoed out everywhere, and the fluctuations sent out by both sides of the conflict created ripple-like waves that only served to further spread Xu Qing’s poison. The fleeing rogue cultivators didn’t even make it past the bounds of Mount Daybreak before they succumbed. Their screams echoed out over the Abyssal Sea. The ground was soon covered with puddles of black sludge. Previously, there had been over a thousand villainous cultivators. As of now, there were only about forty percent of the original number, and they were all visibly terrified.

The magical devices of Mount Daybreak were gradually repairing themselves, and unleashed more destruction. All of the prisoners in the invading force… knew that the battle was lost.

Xu Qing had come alone. But he had immediately killed two early Nascent Soul enemies, shocking everyone to the core. At the same time, the fearsome power of his taboo poison was probably the most terrifying thing on the battlefield. The term ‘poison cultivator’ was now the thing of nightmares to the rogue cultivators who still had their lives.

That said, Xu Qing didn’t let his guard down. Eyes cold, he looked up at the shadowy figure with the wings. And he kept a firm grip on the vines growing out of Ning Yan’s belly, ready to jerk him out at any moment. This shadowy figure was no ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. He pulsed with the valiant fluctuations of the late Nascent Soul stage. And the sneak attack he had just launched gave Xu Qing a first-hand taste of how incisive he was. This enemy was very reminiscent of the Demi-Immortals’ immortal puppets. However, close examination revealed some differences and deficiencies.

Xu Qing’s eyes shone with cold light as he waved the palace lord’s command medallion, which gave him control over all of Mount Daybreak’s magical devices. The weapons all shifted to point at the shadowy, winged figure.

Xu Qing quickly tried to assess how he stacked up to this enemy. Just now, killing early Nascent Soul cultivators had been as simple as turning over his hand. Once a Gold Core cultivator surpassed ten-palace battle prowess, then they were essentially the same as a cultivator with a single nascent soul, as long as you excluded matters of divine abilities, divine sense, and minor teleportations.

But Xu Qing had godsource, which could be used to counter divine abilities. In terms of the threat of divine sense, he could resist it with his third-stage golden crow and godsource. When it came to minor teleportations, Xu Qing’s fleshly body power combined with the hellspirit bloodwing gave him speed that was roughly equivalent.

It was for that reason that his first fist strike shattered the innate ability of the four-armed cultivator, that turtle-like shell. His second fist strike had then destroyed that cultivator’s fleshly body and one of his nascent souls. And his final slap had wiped out the final nascent soul.

That said, not every Nascent Soul cultivator was the same. It was similar to how some Gold Core cultivators would reach the great circle when they had six palaces, while for others, it was eight palaces. And for cultivators with life lamps, the ultimate limit could be thirteen.

For an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator, one-soul was the early stage, three-souls was the mid stage, five-souls was the late stage, and six-souls was the great circle.

That four-armed nonhuman’s cultivation base had been suppressed in the Corrections Division. As a result, though he might have eventually been able to reach the six-soul level, that didn’t matter, as he didn’t have time to do that after the prison break. Therefore, though he seemingly had two-soul power, making it seem like Xu Qing was fighting someone from a higher cultivation realm, the reality was a bit different. The four-armed cultivator was so weak that Xu Qing was able to easily crush him.

If Xu Qing had to fight an ordinary mid-Nascent Soul enemy, killing them would be quite difficult. For instance, when fighting the injured three-soul Chu Tianqun, Xu Qing had been forced to put his life on the line, and also ended up injured more badly than he ever had been before. Without Ling’er and the violet crystal, he would have died.

Now, after having his body remolded by the god’s finger, he had made up for that deficiency. Maybe he couldn’t unleash the true abilities of a god body, but he was still about three times as strong as he had previously been in terms of fleshly body. And that gave him one-soul strength, in other words, the fleshly body of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

His greatest strength, though, were his defenses. Within his fleshly body were those countless golden threads that provided terrifying defensive capabilities to him.

With that combination, he didn’t need to use any magical techniques to tangle with a three-soul mid-Nascent Soul opponent. And if he did use magical techniques, then he could kill a four-soul expert without risk of injury.

When it came to a five-soul enemy, if Xu Qing held nothing back in the fight, he wasn’t sure what the result would be. In all likelihood, he wouldn’t be able to harm his opponent, while his opponent wouldn’t be able to touch him.

My fleshly body attacks are equivalent to the one-soul level. My golden crow adds a nascent soul, while my nine palaces are also equivalent to the one-soul level. That alone gives me three-soul strength. Add in my magical techniques, and I can definitely fight four-soul enemies! My biggest asset is my fleshly body defenses. With this body, I’m almost untouchable to most Nascent Soul opponents.

During the fighting just now, Xu Qing had been able to test out his limitations. Thus, his eyes glittered coldly as he realized that this shadowy, winged opponent was most likely capable of five-soul battle prowess.

The middle-aged woman had already flown up next to the winged nonhuman, her expression one of reverence.

“Boss, this jailer is trouble. When are the species financing this operation going to make a move? We—”

She suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black blood. Obviously, there were areas of rot spreading through her, and she was using all her strength to only partly suppress the effects. After seeing the fates of the other cultivators hit by that poison, her terror prompted her to back out of the fight.

“How amusing,” said the black-winged nonhuman, staring down coldly at Xu Qing. Seeing that Mount Daybreak’s magical devices were working again, and that the rogue cultivators were all scattering, he knew that the battle was lost. What was more, he got a very strange feeling from Xu Qing. He could sense that Xu Qing’s fleshly body was out of the ordinary, and also could tell there was something very odd about the cultivator Xu Qing was wielding like a weapon. And then there was the humanoid mountain hovering above that emanated such an astonishing pressure. Finally, there was the bluegreen dragon in the clouds, eyeing him. All of these things gave him a very bad feeling. And that wasn’t even to mention the poison mist spreading out below.

So many gruish techniques…. Plus he has daybreak light, which makes him even harder to deal with. What’s worse, those cowards financing this operation won’t dare to make a move openly until the northern and western fronts collapse. Until then, they’ll only hide like rats. Therefore….

All of these considerations caused the black-winged nonhuman’s wariness to build. After glowering briefly at Xu Qing, he grabbed the middle-aged woman, who was teetering on the verge of collapse thanks to the poison, then turned and shot off into the sky. A moment later, he collapsed into a black dot as he used a minor teleportation to vanish.

His departure signaled the end of the assault on Mount Daybreak.

Xu Qing didn’t give chase. Instead, he dropped down and took Ning Yan with him to find all of the scattered rogue cultivators. He attacked viciously and showed no mercy. Before long, blood flowed in rivers, accompanied by numerous agonized shrieks.

Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior and the shadow helped, as did the bluegreen dragon.

Only after all the enemies were dead did Xu Qing rein in all his assets, including the poison mist. Then he removed the daybreak light shell surrounding the swordsages.

The swordsages all had various injuries, but that did nothing to cover their expressions of excitement and disbelief. And their eyes were full of reverence as they clasped hands and bowed in greeting to Xu Qing.

“Greetings, Secretary-General!”

The old man Sun Hai quickly stepped forward and bowed deeply. “I am your humble servant Sun Hai. Greetings, Secretary-General!”

Thanks to the uproar amongst the prisoners, all the swordsages knew who Xu Qing was. What was more, Xu Qing had also passed along the palace lord’s orders to all swordsages in Sea-Sealing County, ensuring that his name was already widespread among the various Swordsage Courts. His title of secretary-general obviously placed him in a higher position than most ordinary swordsages, which was why it was entirely proper for Sun Hai to address himself as ‘humble servant.’

Of course, Sun Hai was more than a little surprised. Having just recently reached Nascent Soul, he knew exactly how strong the enemy prisoners had been. Even just the three Nascent Soul nonhumans who had been part of the initial assault had been too difficult for him to defend against, and that wasn’t to mention the final five-soul enemy who showed up at the last minute. To most ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators, a five-soul cultivation base was a peak level of power. A person like that would be the nucleus of most ordinary sects and organizations.

Generally speaking, chosen cultivators, as well as ordinary cultivators with three flames and six palaces, made up the majority of the cultivators in a sect. After such people reached Nascent Soul, their limit would be the six-soul level. Given that, it made sense that five-soul cultivators were nothing to look down on.

Yet Xu Qing had just killed two early-Nascent Soul enemies, and had even prompted a five-soul expert to simply flee rather than fight him. That level of battle prowess in a mere Gold Core cultivator was dazzlingly impressive.

Sun Hai’s assessment of the situation was absolutely correct. Were it not for Xu Qing choosing to come check on Mount Daybreak, then the mountain would have been destroyed. Though it might seem coincidental, the reality was that similar things were happening across Sea-Sealing County right now.

“News doesn’t reach us in a very timely manner,” Sun Hai said. “All we know is that, after some defeats on the northern and western fronts, no less than three Swordsage Courts fell to treacherous species who got their hands on formation-breaking devices. Many rogue cultivators were involved in those events. Thankfully, none of the human sects taking part in the war effort were implicated.

“There are definitely even more nonhuman species that are part of the conspiracy, but they won’t show their faces right now. As long as humankind holds strong on the northern and western fronts, they won’t dare make an open move against any Swordsage Court. Their ultimate goal is obvious. They’re hoping to have a blood tribute ready to pay to the Holytides if their invasion is successful.

“We can only hope that humankind ends up surviving this tribulation. Then we can put these traitorous, backstabbing nonhumans to death!”

Xu Qing stood there looking taciturn. Dawn was breaking, driving away the darkness of light. As the sun touched Mount Daybreak, it became incomparably dazzling. The aftermath of the battle didn’t reduce the splendor of the mountain, and the seven-colored light was as beautiful as always.

“Everything will be fine,” Xu Qing said softly as the seven-colored light illuminated him.

Three days later, the spell formation was back in working order. After it was activated, Xu Qing left Mount Daybreak. He had come alone, but on his return trip, he had Ning Yan with him. One reason for leaving so quickly was that he had already found all the clues he needed. The other reason… was that he had received a dharmic decree from the palace lord.

“Xu Qing, regardless of the progress on your investigation, I want you to drop everything and return to the county capital to handle some matters related to the war.

“The situation on the western and northern fronts is extremely critical. We need troops, and we need supplies, right away. I’m not able to go back myself, so I want you to represent me. Work with the lieutenant governor to handle everything in the county capital!

“The command medallion I gave you will provide you with complete authorization to act with all my power!”

The palace lord sounded completely exhausted. However, as his words echoed out, a beam of golden light fell from the net above. It landed on the command medallion, and cracking sounds rang out as it was fully activated.

“Yes, sir!” Xu Qing replied somberly. He didn’t ask any questions about the situation on the battlefield. He could tell from the dharmic decree that the situation was urgent. The fighting must have reached an extremely critical juncture. Had it not, the palace lord wouldn’t have made the arrangement he did. He would have simply issued orders for troops and supplies however he saw fit.

What was more, the fact that the palace lord told Xu Qing to abandon the investigation went to show how important the mission was. 𝙡𝙞𝒓𝙚𝓪𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The palace lord doesn’t fully trust anyone. Not Marquis Yao on the northern front or the two palace lords from the Administration Palace or the Justice Palace. Not even the lieutenant governor. He doesn’t trust any of them. That’s why he wants me to handle the matter of troops and supplies.

It seems like he’s sending me to ‘work with’ the lieutenant governor, but in reality, I’ll be keeping an eye on things. Most likely, the palace lord will have other contingencies in place. Other people helping him.

Feeling very anxious about what was going on, Xu Qing took Ning Yan and left Mount Daybreak.

Thankfully, this trip hadn’t been a waste. Shortly before the palace lord’s message arrived on the third day, Xu Qing and Sun Hai uncovered an important bit of information.

This contnt is taken from 𝑙𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ𝓂