Xu Qing said nothing. He knew why Kong Xianglong felt so bleak and lonely.

Back in Forbidden by the Immortal, Xu Qing himself had felt similarly upon hearing his Master’s analysis of the situation. Palace Lord Kong, the governor, and all of Sea-Sealing County were essentially game pieces in a huge game of Go. Everything leading up to Palace Lord Kong’s death on the battlefield made that abundantly clear.

That said, the palace lord had lived a life of bravery and courage, and had been a “larger than life” figure. Dying in battle for the sake of humanity was something he’d done without a single regret. Apparently, he had already come to a conclusion about what was happening. But as long as he could guarantee the safety of his people, his family, his subordinates, and especially his grandson, and the fact that his death would not have an overall negative effect, then he had been more than happy to offer salvation to Sea-Sealing County.

“As long as Sea-Sealing County lives, I won’t hesitate to sacrifice myself for it.”

Xu Qing had thought back to Palace Lord Kong’s words many times, and pondered how decisive he had been in his final moments. 1

Sure enough, right after Palace Lord Kong died, an army arrived led by Seventh Prince. The prince saved the day, and became a popular hero as a result.

How could Kong Xianglong not have mixed emotions after realizing the truth of it all? But in the end, he made a similar choice as his grandfather. He states his hope that humans would achieve a great victory in the war. By doing so, he honored his grandfather’s sacrifice.

Sighing, Xu Qing turned and went to his sword pavilion. The Captain followed.

Along the way, the Captain didn’t say anything. Once they were in, they sat down cross-legged, and the Captain squeezed Xu Qing’s shoulder.

“Little Ah Qing, you—”

“Wait. No!” Xu Qing interrupted, looking up. His eyes glittered with a mysterious light.

The Captain’s eyes narrowed.

“Master was right,” Xu Qing continued, “but there’s more to the story….. That white jade hand. I’ve seen it before!” Thinking back to past events, he confirmed that he was right.

The Captain didn’t say anything.

Back in Forbidden by the Immortal, he had seen both of the hands of white jade. One was big, one was small. The small one was obviously created by his Master, after having done research on that experimental god body. The big question was who summoned the larger hand. Up to this point, the Captain hadn’t brought it up, as he was worried about upsetting Xu Qing.

There was no expression on Xu Qing’s face as he bowed his head and said nothing further.

The Captain sighed. There were certain things his Master had explained to him, and because of that, he could guess what was bothering Xu Qing. Therefore, the best thing he could do was sit there and offer company. Eventually, the sun rose. Seeing that Xu Qing was still not saying anything, the Captain cleared his throat.

“Little Junior Brother, why do you think Master hasn’t come back yet?”

Xu Qing shook his head.

“Little Junior Brother, based on how well I know the old man, I suspect that he’s probably here already.”

Xu Qing suddenly looked up, his eyes flickering.

“Trust me, little Ah Qing. Master loves eavesdropping. Back before we had you around, I experienced that firsthand. I bet Master was actually here in the sword pavilion before we got here. Either that, or he left a message here for us.”

The Captain had actually brought this up in the hopes of just getting Xu Qing to start talking. But as he blathered on, his eyes widened as he realized what he was saying made a lot of sense. Inhaling sharply, he shot to his feet and looked around. 𝘳𝑎.𝗇t

Fixating on one corner of the room, he hurried over, clasped hands, and bowed excitedly. “Master! Master, you can come out now. I see you!”

Xu Qing looked on suspiciously. He had been in a rotten mood before, but the Captain’s antics had already squashed that bad mood.

Unfortunately, no matter how the Captain bowed, nothing happened. The Captain blinked a few times, then went to another corner in the room. There, he continued bowing.

“Hahaha! Truth be told, Master, I didn’t see you before. But I can sense your aura! As you know, sir, I’m very sensitive to such things.”

Nothing happened in that corner of the room either.

As Xu Qing watched quizzically, the Captain looked around, thought for a moment, and then turned to Xu Qing.

“Little Junior Brother, do you still have that mask Master gave you?”

Xu Qing inhaled sharply as he realized what the Captain was getting at. Taking the semitransparent immortal skill mask out of his bag of holding, he put it down to the side, then got to his feet and bowed to it.

The Captain also somberly clasped hands and bowed.

A long moment passed in which nothing happened. The two of them looked at each other.

“Maybe you’re overthinking this, Eldest Brother….”

“Trust me, I know our Master.” The Captain looked supremely confident. However, as time passed, and morning turned to afternoon, and then afternoon turned into evening, things remained the same in the sword pavilion. Master Seventh never showed his face. Nor did they receive any message from him.

Xu Qing looked hesitantly at the Captain.

The Captain looked at the mask and gritted his teeth.

“We have no choice at this point, little Junior Brother. I have to resort to a trump card!”

As Xu Qing watched attentively, the Captain cleared his throat.

“Okay, little Junior Brother,” he said loudly, “I have a secret I want to reveal to you. Do you want to know why I’m so keen on helping girls resolve their issues with having too many gifts? It’s because many years ago, there’s an old person that both of us know—you know who I’m talking about, but I’m not going to mention the name out loud—who gave a bunch of gifts to a female cultivator. Later on, he went back in the middle of the night, bringing me along, to take back the—”

“Shut UP!” a voice interrupted angrily from the semitransparent mask.

Xu Qing gasped. The Captain flashed a pleased look at Xu Qing, then dropped to the ground in front of the mask, plastering a pained expression onto his face.

“Master, you scared me! I was deeply concerned about your safety, so I had no choice but to use this method to confirm your whereabouts. Now that I know you’re fine, I can rest at ease!”

“I said to shut up, fool!” Master Seventh roared from within the mask. “I’m fleeing for my life here!!”

Xu Qing’s expression turned serious. The Captain’s face fell, and he refrained from making a sound. Worried, both of them just waited, not saying a word. Tension mounted. Xu Qing was starting to get really worried, and the Captain’s expression turned so serious he started looking somewhat vicious.

An entire night passed. The following morning at dawn the mask twitched, then floated up from the ground. As Xu Qing and the Captain looked on nervously, Master Seventh’s voice again spoke from the mouth. He sounded hoarse.

“I got away. Finally. I just took one little bone! Was there really a need for a full-on manhunt?”

Upon hearing Master Seventh’s words, both Xu Qing and the Captain breathed deep sighs of relief.

“The two of you need to find an opportunity to get back to Seven Blood Eyes. I really made out like a bandit this time. I’m going to refine this bone and create some amazing treasures with it. I mean, it’s the bone of a god! An actual, authentic item from a real god!

“Hm…. Actually, the two of you should wait a bit before coming back to the sect, otherwise you might blow our cover. How about this? Come back in about a month. By that time I should be nearly done with refining the bone.

“By the way, going forward, I can’t afford any distractions. The two of you better not stir up any trouble. Incidentally, Big Sib, you need to devour this mask and hide its aura in your belly! Alright, I need to go now. I’m going to find a place to hole up for a bit. See you back in Seven Blood Eyes.”

When Master Seventh finished speaking, the mask clattered to the ground.

“Eldest Brother, do you think Master’s okay…?” Xu Qing asked, looking at the Captain.

The Captain chuckled, picked up the mask, and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing it up and swallowing it, he burped and looked at Xu Qing.

“The fact the old man could give such a detailed message goes to show that he’s alive and kicking. He’s fine. Don’t worry. Master might not measure up to me when it comes to pulling off big jobs, but when it comes to fleeing…. Let’s just say I’ve never seen anyone as good as him. Think about it! What kind of person does it take to research an experimental god body that has the power of time in it, or create such powerful concealment magics?”

The Captain sighed inwardly. He wasn’t trying to pull a fast one; he really did have full confidence in his Master. With that, the Captain looked outside to check the time, and was about to say something further when his transmission jade slip vibrated.

Xu Qing watched as the Captain, his eyes glittering, licked his lips and grinned.

“I need to take off, little Ah Qing. Lady Peachy is looking for me.”

The Captain hurried away toward the Administration Palace. Along the way, he bought a peach. After taking a bite, he used the eyeball in his palm almost like a mirror to check his appearance. After confirming his good looks, he sped up.

Xu Qing watched the Captain go and mentally wished him luck. Then he glanced back at his now-empty sword pavilion. Earlier, he had been in a bad mood because of Torchlight, but now he’d reached a state of equilibrium.

In a month, I’ll be back in Seven Blood Eyes, and I can ask Arch-Immortal Plumdark about everything that happened. .

Thinking about the timescape bottle, he sighed inwardly. Shortly thereafter, he closed his eyes in meditation to stabilize his cultivation base. When that work was done, he took out the bottle of pallid boluses that Kong Xianglong had given him. Back when the Captain consumed the pills, Xu Qing had noticed another fragrance that seemed familiar. He knew he’d encountered it before. However, after telling Kong Xianglong the details of Master Seventh’s analysis, he hadn’t been in the mood to dig into the matter.

Now that his mood was stable, he figured it was a good time to check the pill again. It seemed unlikely to be important, but given his cautious personality, he didn’t want to just ignore it. After opening the bottle, he inhaled the fragrance to confirm what medicinal plants were in the ingredients.

There are a lot of plant fragrances….

One by one, he began identifying the different smells, taking time to repeatedly inhale the fragrance of the pill as he did. It took some time, but he finally identified that unique and familiar fragrance. It was very faint, to the point where he wouldn’t have noticed it unless he had his remolded god body.

It’s… the fragrance of osmanthus flowers?

All of a sudden, his pupils constricted, and he looked down at the pallid boluses. His expression became one of complete and utter incredulity.

“It’s the fragrance of osmanthus flowers!” Xu Qing felt like his mind was being struck by countless lightning bolts. In order to confirm that he was right, he crushed the pallid bolus into a powder, then carefully analyzed it. The fragrance of osmanthus flowers grew even stronger. For a long moment he sat there in a daze, medicinal powder dribbling off of his fingers.

It’s the same fragrance from that empty wish box….

Waves of astonishment rolled through Xu Qing’s mind and heart as he realized why the smell was familiar. Back on the mission with Kong Xianglong, they had recovered an empty wish box.

When he handled that wish box, he had noticed the fragrance of osmanthus flowers. And it was the exact same fragrance that was in the pallid bolus! 2

Over the years, pallid boluses had become one of the necessities of life for cultivators and mortals in the county capital. Countless people had consumed them!

1. Palace Lord Kong uttered those words in chapter 507.1. ?

2. Xu Qing noticed the osmanthus flower fragrance in chapter 419. The Wish box was also mentioned in chapter 511, and the osmanthus fragrance was mentioned in chapter 512. ?

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