Kong Xianglong quietly left the sword pavilion with the bag of holding.

The first glimmer of dawn was visible outside as Xu Qing watched him leave. Then he stood there looking into the sky and thinking about the wish box from that mission.

“The smell of osmanthus flowers,” he murmured. He remembered checking the wish box, and he remembered the faint scent of osmanthus inside. 1

Muffled thunder could be heard in the sky; it was the rainy season in the county capital. Before long, heavy rain blocked the rays of the sun, and everything turned gloomy. It gave early risers the strange sensation that evening had already fallen before noon had even come.

Xu Qing went back into his sword pavilion. Sitting down cross-legged, he settled his thoughts and started meditating.

His cultivation base was close to the very peak of Gold Core. All he needed was one additional heavenly palace to reach the great circle. After everything he had experienced on the battlefield, that heavenly palace was almost fully materialized. It wouldn’t be long now.

As for what to put inside of it….

Xu Qing took a moment to sense The Emperor’s Sword.

If I can’t think of anything else, then I’ll use The Emperor’s Sword.

Taking a deep breath, he continued working on breathing exercises.

In that manner, half a month flew by.

During that time, Xu Qing almost felt like he had been forgotten. 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚

He didn’t leave his sword pavilion, and almost no one came to visit. With Seventh Prince in charge of the county capital, everything had changed. It was common to see warrior cultivators from the imperial capital on the streets. The city was under military control now, and species from all over Sea-Sealing County were coming to pay respects.

The three palaces had been reorganized. With the three commanders-in-chief Seventh Prince had assigned to take over for the palace lords, they were now essentially a wing of the army. Imperial swordsages from the swordsage headquarters in the capital were now in charge of most of the departments. It was the same with the other two palaces.

Military law was even more strictly enforced. There were quite a few people who were executed publicly for breaking such laws. And they weren’t just people from Sea-Sealing County. There were even officers and soldiers from the imperial capital who were punished! Kong Xianglong discussed the matter with Xu Qing, and clearly he had mixed emotions.

Seventh Prince issued a directive to all sects and organizations in Sea-Sealing County. It was very strictly worded and clearly was not supposed to be questioned. It required all sects to perform military service, and also required the sects to permanently hand over control of their taboo treasures. The directive caused quite a stir. However, there wasn’t anybody willing to defy the orders. The nonhumans reacted similarly. In the end, they had no choice but to comply; they sent half of their supplies as tribute, and joined the allied army, which meant they had to go to war on behalf of humankind whenever requested.

Under the leadership of Kong Xianglong, the Corrections Division was being rebuilt. However, it wasn’t located in the same place as before. It was now in the Swordsage Palace.

The first batch of prisoners really were the women and children from the Yao Clan. Although there were many public demands for their execution, Kong Xianglong didn’t do anything to them. He chose to accept Xu Qing’s advice in that regard.

Though Honor Guard Sima had vouched for Zhang Siyun, that didn’t mean Zhang Siyun could avoid investigation. In the end, he chose to testify against his mother’s clan. Most people thought of it as his expression of loyalty to humankind. As a result, he wasn’t implicated in any of the Yao Clan’s crimes. After all, his surname wasn’t Yao. What was more, he was allowed to remain as a swordsage.

In the end, Seventh Prince had the final say on everything that happened in Sea-Sealing County. His subordinates weren’t just stationed in the county capital. They spread out to all the Swordsage Courts in all the prefectures. Because of the fact that they were essentially the saviors of Sea-Sealing County, they were welcomed with open arms wherever they went.

Meanwhile, a rumor started spreading. It started in the county capital, but before long, it reached all of the prefectures.

Forbidden by the Immortal really was going to be opened soon. .

Sea-Sealing County was the first place Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity had occupied after coming back from sea, and thus it was home to a very special area called Forbidden by the Immortal.

In the past, it didn’t have that name, though. It was an Immortal Estate, one of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity’s thirty-six remote operations palaces.

The Immortal Estates were all unique worlds that contained not only amazing and unique treasures, but also, strong immortal energy. Immortal energy was essentially a higher level of energy than spirit energy. The thirty-six operations palaces, or Immortal Estates, were worlds belonging to the imperial clan back in the era of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. They often contained mutant beasts, which were kept there to hunt.

After the broken face of the god arrived, everything changed. When Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity and the other emperors and sovereigns left, the thirty-six operations palaces were abandoned. Most of them fell into ruin. There were others that, as humans slowly lost one region after another, became the property of nonhumans.

In some cases, gods entered them and turned them into personal lairs, filling them with intense mutagen. The Immortal Estate in Sea-Sealing County was one of those, as there was a god sleeping inside. īts aura filled the Immortal Estate, making it rife with death. It was a place where the living couldn’t go, and thus it came to be called Forbidden by the Immortal.

Throughout all the years that had passed, humans had only opened Forbidden by the Immortal one time. Powerful experts from the Imperial Region had attempted to extract the godsource from inside, only to fail. Although they didn’t wake the god that slept inside, even in sleep that god was powerful enough to create a clone of ītself. That clone caused a massive disaster in Sea-Sealing County. In the end, the humans suppressed the clone. However, they couldn’t completely destroy it. Therefore, the imperial preceptor of humankind dismembered it.

For certain reasons, it wasn’t possible to take the parts of the clone away from the forbidden region, so they had been sealed at its entrance. And that entrance was none other than the famous Corrections Division in the county capital. By using a destiny sealing technique, the clone was fooled into thinking it was a spirit automaton. As a result, it was essentially tasked with keeping itself sealed.

Now, years after that incident, everyone was shocked to hear rumors about Forbidden by the Immortal being opened.

In reality, there had been talk of this happening in the past. But the governor and lieutenant governor hadn’t approved of the idea. Even Palace Lord Kong had been hesitant. It was simply too dangerous. The slightest misstep could result in complete catastrophe for Sea-Sealing County. Living beings everywhere would be in horrific danger, and would end up as food for a god. But imperial orders couldn’t be defied. And thus, all Sea-Sealing County could do was try to delay the opening. 2

Now, the person with the final say in everything was Seventh Prince. It was shortly after the rumors started spreading like mad that Seventh Prince actually issued the formal dharmic decree.

In half a month, Forbidden by the Immortal was to be opened. First to enter would be the swordsages, and they would be on a special mission. They would be laying the foundation for the second group to enter. The dharmic decree shook the entire county, and especially the county capital. Everyone was deeply alarmed.

However, due to public trust in Seventh Prince, and the mightiness of his army, people calmed down quickly enough. And then the preparations began.

Hordes of imperial troops started clearing the rubble out of the old Corrections Division. They placed sealing marks and also used the county capital’s taboo treasure to hew out a path leading to Forbidden by the Immortal.

Xu Qing didn’t know much about Forbidden by the Immortal. But being a former Corrections Division jailer, he knew a bit more than the average person. Furthermore, after making D-132 one of his heavenly palaces, he knew… that the finger therein was part of the clone of the god imprisoned in the forbidden ground. Just the finger of that clone had stupefying power. After all, the clone ītself had been so mighty that the imperial preceptor had only been able to dismember and seal īt. Destroying īt hadn’t been an option. It was easy to imagine how astonishingly powerful the actual god was.

Although there was a lot Xu Qing didn’t know, one thing he did know thanks to his experience of sealing that finger, was that the clone definitely feared the red moon. That much was obvious from how īt had reacted to the essence of his violet moon.

Obviously there were different levels of gods, and the red moon was stronger than the god in Forbidden by the Immortal! That said, just the term ‘god’ was enough to shake any cultivator to the core.

Xu Qing was on the list of people to enter Forbidden by the Immortal first. Kong Xianglong, the Captain, and most of the other Sea-Sealing swordsages were also included.

At the moment, Xu Qing was walking down the street in the county capital on the way to purchase some medicinal pills. He was also trying to establish communication with the finger in D-132. He was hoping to get some more information about Forbidden by the Immortal. After all, considering there was still a war going on, it seemed like a strange time to open the place.

Unfortunately, the god’s finger hadn’t really woken at all since īt went to sleep, and calling out to īt didn’t usually provoke any response. After buying the medicinal pills he wanted, Xu Qing thought about using the violet moon to stimulate the finger. However, before he could do anything, the finger shivered and started to wake up voluntarily.

The reason was because Xu Qing had just spotted a certain person.

Zhang Siyun.

Although his white swordsage uniform was inherently impressive, he himself was sallow, with bloodshot eyes. Overall, he looked bedraggled.

As Zhang Siyun walked down the street, he spotted Xu Qing. In the past, his heart would have filled with hatred as a result, but this time he just averted his gaze and walked off quickly in a different direction. He was being followed by a few people Xu Qing didn’t recognize. Apparently, they were keeping an eye on him.

Xu Qing didn’t react visibly to what he saw. However, inside, his heart surged with waves of astonishment, the reason being that the finger was shouting into his mind.

“The Crimson Mother parasitized him! That’s a doppelg?nger of the red moon! Crimson Mother isn’t awake now, but that won’t last long. Why aren’t you running??”

The god’s finger seemed extremely nervous and alarmed, far more so than Xu Qing was.

Xu Qing was breathing heavily, but his mind remained focused. It was a surprise to find that the god’s finger was obviously thinking very clearly this time. īt wasn’t muddled like before. Suppressing his shock, he calmly projected a message with divine will.

“Didn’t you say Crimson Mother isn’t awake?”

“It’ll happen soon! The awakening will happen soon! Er, hold on. Somethings off here…. He has a human spell formation inside of him? You humans are actually taking the initiative to help Crimson Mother possess him?? In less than a month, Crimson Mother will wake up in his body! Just what are you humans trying to accomplish? This is High God Crimson Mother we’re talking about!!!”

The god’s finger sent a stream of divine sense out, which helped Xu Qing to scan the area. Upon noticing the excavation work at the Corrections Division, īt started trembling violently.

“That’s an Immortal Estate! And it’s almost open!! A doppelg?nger of Crimson Mother? Opening an Immortal Estate? At the same time…? Y-y-you… you humans are actually trying to feed me to Crimson Mother!!”

1. I linked to the wish box chapter already, but here it is again in case you’re interested in checking the osmanthus reference. Chapter 419. ?

2. The opening of Forbidden by the Immortal was previously mentioned in chapters 355 and 358. ?

This content is taken from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚