When Xu Qing saw how bright the Captain’s eyes were shining, he was just about to nod in agreement when a cold snort suddenly swept over them.

“Check what out? And since when did I become ‘the old man’?”

Xu Qing inhaled sharply, and the Captain’s face fell. Both of them turned to look in the direction of the familiar voice.

The air there rippled as Master Seventh suddenly appeared.

“This is today’s second lesson,” Master Seventh said coolly. “Sometimes, what you can see with your eyes isn’t real. Going forward, you should move a good distance away before discussing business.”

Xu Qing bowed his head and said nothing. The Captain appeared to be on the verge of tears. How could he ever have guessed that his Master, who had very obviously left, would actually be hiding nearby?

“Anyway,” Master Seventh continued, “I was thinking about how Fourth Sib’s cultivation base is on the verge of a breakthrough, so I came back to provide a reminder. Fourth Sib, it shouldn’t be hard for you to break through from Gold Core to Nascent Soul. However, in the Heavenfate Nascent Soul level, cultivation involves provoking five instances of heavenfate tribulation. Each one will make you a lot stronger.”

Xu Qing nodded. This information conformed to what he had already learned in the past.

“However, the increase of battle prowess in the Nascent Soul level is of secondary importance. Of more importance is using those tribulations to build up heavenfate for use later in the Spirit Trove level. Based on my experience, if you deploy multiple nascent souls in each tribulation, then despite the fact that tribulation will be more powerful than normal, the resulting success will bring in more heavenfate. If you encounter good fortune in Forbidden by the Immortal, that’s fine, but don’t provoke any tribulation. I’ll explain more about the details later on.”

At that point, Master Seventh gave one final glare at the Captain, then turned and vanished.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, considered the advice, which contained some new information.

As he did that, the Captain blinked a few times, grabbed his arm, and pulled him a good distance away.

There, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Master really does treat us well, wouldn’t you say, little Ah Qing? I definitely received some enlightenment during today’s lesson.”

“Me too,” Xu Qing said convincingly.

The Captain nodded. “We’ll probably never be able to pay back Master’s love. Not in this life anyway!”

“The two of us need to work as hard as possible,” Xu Qing said solemnly, “so that one day in the future, we can keep Master safe!”

The Captain’s face lit up. “That’s right, little Junior Brother! We definitely need to make that our goal!”

The Captain and Xu Qing continued walking along, all the while exchanging such words. A few hours later, they looked at each other.

“He’s probably gone, right?” the Captain said.

“Most likely…” replied Xu Qing, looking around.

“The old man really does pop in and out randomly!” the Captain said with a wry smile. Lowering his voice, he continued, “Let’s get out of here and go back to that spot I mentioned before. There’s definitely some good stuff there!”

The two of them flew off at top speed.

Time slipped by slowly but surely.

Three days had passed since the opening of Forbidden by the Immortal. During that time, the first wave of hundreds of thousands of cultivators had already carved out a safe space of roughly five hundred kilometers. That was like a drop of water in the ocean compared to Forbidden by the Immortal as a whole. In fact, even when just considering the eastern district, it barely counted for one percent of the area. The place was just that large.

Considering Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity had thirty-six operations palaces in the past, it made sense that they were all considered minor worlds. What was more, because this one had a god sleeping inside of it, it had never been fully explored. Despite the invasion of mutagen, there were countless unique treasures, ancient records, and reserve powers to be found.

That was especially true given that, in Revered Ancient, great efforts had been made to study and research mutagen. As a result, there were many methods that could be used to disperse mutagen, such as those used to purify taboo treasures.

That was why the imperial capital highly valued Forbidden by the Immortal, and didn’t intend for it to be opened for only a short time. The plan was for the exploration to last for several months, and gradually get closer and closer to the imperial hall in the very center of the forbidden ground.

Of course, that was all based on the presumption that there wouldn’t always be a god inside.

Right now, the Captain and Xu Qing were about 50 kilometers away from the safe zone, resting atop the roof of a palace hall.

During the days that had passed, they had explored quite a few locations and made some significant gains. They had seen a lot of buildings that were fading from existence, presumably because of the seal on the forbidden ground having been broken.

They had run into a few dangerous situations. For example, the place the Captain had originally gone to had been so infused with mutagen that the only thing left behind was the head of a huge statue. When the two of them got close to the statue, it rushed toward them. It turned out to be a very hazardous incident that they barely escaped from. Thankfully, the concealment blessing from Master Seventh turned out to be very effective, and facilitated their escape. It left the Captain sighing repeatedly. The feeling of being able to see a juicy piece of meat right in front of him, but being unable to eat it, left him with increasingly bloodshot eyes.

They experienced a lot of ups and downs until they eventually reached this very promising-looking palace hall. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get inside.

After multiple failed attempts, they went about five kilometers away to a safer palace hall, where they rested on the roof to try to come up with another plan.

The Captain was grinding his teeth as he discarded plan after plan. “This place is just too big, little Ah Qing. And we don’t have enough in the way of intelligence reports. I’m convinced there’s some treasure in that palace hall, otherwise, why would those four flesh-covered statues be standing guard over it?”

As the Captain spoke, Xu Qing was looking off in the direction of the safe zone. That area had mostly been cleared of mutagen, thanks to the spell formations that had been set up. And it caused light to shine up into the dark sky from that spot. The surrounding mutagen constantly tried to work its way back in, and eventually it would succeed, but not at the moment. On the inside of the glimmering shield created by the spell formations were numerous strange-looking buildings. They were towering pyramids made from spirit stones, and they emanated shocking fluctuations that linked all of them into one huge formation. Small squads of people came in and out constantly; they were groups who, like Xu Qing and the Captain, were on exploratory missions. All of the palaces within the 500-kilometer safe zone had already been cleared out, and had been integrated into the spell formation.

Even more shocking than all of that were the nine 30,000-meter white crystals that hung in the air like floating mountains. Generalissimo Bloodhorror had brought those huge crystals, and originally they hadn’t been that big. They had grown over the three days into that shocking size. They floated in midair like black holes sucking in all the surrounding mutagen. More precisely put, they were filtering the mutagen. In other words, they sucked in mutagen then dispersed it. It was an endless cycle that, as it propagated, left tiny golden markings on the crystals.

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment. It must be taking the god vitality out of the mutagen.

Based on the expanded knowledge and sense of judgment imparted by his Master, Xu Qing’s conclusion was that the crystals were being prepared for use on the front lines of the war.

“Forget those things,” the Captain said, sitting up suddenly. “They’re not important to us right now. I just got a new idea, little Ah Qing!” .

Xu Qing looked away from the crystals and at the Captain. “You’re still thinking about that palace?”

“Of course! We’ve seen a lot of palaces over the past few days, and the ones that aren’t guarded are complete trash. The ones that have a single guardian statue are better. But this is the only one we’ve found with four guardian statues! Compared to a sleeping god, it probably doesn’t count for much. But since we’re here, we need to do our best to get some good stuff!”

The Captain licked his lips as his eyes glittered with a crazy look.

Xu Qing thought back to the palace and the four flesh-covered statues that guarded each of its sides. The statues were alive, and only small portions of them had dissipated. The fluctuations they released were completely terrifying. The palace they were guarding was unusual in appearance because of its square shape. Also, Xu Qing remembered that the roof had countless finger-width ventilation holes in it. The strange thing about those holes was that the encroaching flesh clearly avoided them. Xu Qing had no idea what might be inside the palace. His shadow couldn’t get inside; he’d tried, and something inside the palace prevented surveillance.

“After the red moon awakens and devours the sleeping god, it should be a lot easier to get inside. Does it have to be now?” Xu Qing looked at the Captain.

“When that happens, a lot more people are going to be inside exploring,” the Captain replied. “At that point, even if we get what’s inside, we might not be able to keep our hands on it. And once the palace starts crumbling, we’ll be out of time. Besides, little Ah Qing, my intuition is telling me that the treasure inside there is incredible!”

The Captain licked his lips.

“My plan is simple, little Ah Qing. In a moment, we’ll head over there again. Just like last time, you absorb the surrounding mutagen and get the attention of the statues. Once the four of them are chasing after you, I’ll go in and loot the place!”

“Last time you couldn’t even get the door open,” Xu Qing pointed out. On the previous attempt Xu Qing had put himself in danger to create the distraction, except the Captain didn’t work hard enough to get inside.

Eyes bloodshot, the Captain gritted his teeth and said, “It’ll be different this time. I have a new way to open that door!”

Seeing how determined the Captain was, Xu Qing finally nodded. “I’ll give you thirty breaths of time.”

“No problem!” Grabbing Xu Qing by the arm, he dragged Xu Qing in the direction of the palace hall.

Making sure to stay concealed, they headed toward the square-shaped palace hall. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, they arrived. Seeing the four, flesh-covered statues, and sensing their terrifying fluctuations, caused both Xu Qing and the Captain to breathe a bit more heavily. After exchanging a glance, they split up.

Xu Qing quickly loosened the restrictions on his absorption powers, causing the surrounding mutagen to rush toward him. When it entered him, it created a pleasant, even intoxicating sensation. His soul felt like it was floating, and his fleshly body was getting stronger. On an instinctive level, he wanted that mutagen to just keep pouring into him. People without great willpower would find it hard to avoid becoming lost in the sensation. Thankfully, Xu Qing had the perseverance to remain cool and collected. As he absorbed the mutagen, the golden threads within him trembled with longing. Slowly but surely, Xu Qing felt himself transforming.

Meanwhile, the four statues outside the palace hall slowly looked up. The flesh-covered faces’ features flickered, and their eyes glowed red. Then they all started moving at the same time.

Xu Qing quickly took out the mask from his Master. Speeding along, he kept absorbing mutagen, all the while counting down in his head. After a bit more than ten breaths of time had passed, he felt a sudden sensation of critical catastrophe from above. Without any hesitation, he put the mask on his face, then threw himself down onto the flesh-covered ground and burrowed inside. There, he remained unmoving. The mask covered all traces of his existence.

Intense rumbling sounds echoed out, and terrifying fluctuations spread everywhere. The statues were clearly searching for him.

However, Xu Qing had the mask on and he wasn’t moving. In that state of concealment, the four statutes didn’t even recognize his existence. He and the Captain had tested out how the mask worked with the statues. As long as they were a distance from the hall, it worked normally. But if they were close to the hall, they would eventually sense him. That was a big difference from the other guardian statues they had encountered at other palaces. And it was one way that this palace hall was very unique.

Hopefully the Captain makes it work.

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