“Pockets lined with gold, I return home; I walk the night clad in brocade silk….”

Xu Qing had just arrived back at the Swordsage Palace, and was immersed in Ling’er’s singing. Eventually, he noticed his jade slip vibrating, and he listened to his Master’s message.

Looking at the little white snake, he asked, “Ling’er, do you want to go back to Seven Blood Eyes?” .

“Sure!” she replied happily. “I’m still part of the Seven Blood Eyes Intelligence Division, after all!”

After seeing how happy that made Ling’er, Xu Qing thought back to all the people he knew in Seven Blood Eyes and realized he really did want to take a trip back. He needed to tend to Master Sixth’s gravestone. It had also been a long time since he paid a visit to Sergeant Thunder’s grave, or Grandmaster Bai’s. Beyond that, there was another thing Xu Qing needed to do.

Taking out his jade slip, he replied to his Master. “Master, do you think we could swing by the Smokewights on the way back? I have a little debt to settle with them.”

From the time he was young, Xu Qing had always been the type of person to hold a grudge.

***

Three days later, a Seven Blood Eyes dreadnaught rose into the sky over the county capital. It was pitch black, had ornamental rocks and buildings on its back, and could carry a hundred thousand cultivators.

Master Seventh stood atop the highest building on the dreadnaught’s superstructure, and next to him was Xu Qing. Behind them were a thousand cultivators, all of them swordsages and veterans of the war. They were being led by Honor Guard Sima, as ordered by Palace Lord Li Yunshan and Marquis Yao. This group was Xu Qing’s guard division while he traveled through Sea-Sealing County.

Daoist Sima wasn’t just an honor guard now. He had another identity. He was Xu Qing’s dao protector. It was his responsibility to keep Xu Qing safe in all circumstances.

In addition to the Dreadnaught, there was another huge entity up in the sky, hardly visible in the clouds.

Qingqin.

He hadn’t planned to come along, but after Xu Qing indicated he would have a good meal along the way, he’d excitedly agreed. Qingqin seemed a bit impatient, and kept letting loose exasperated caws. The clouds vibrated in response, and the cries echoed out so clearly that all mortals and cultivators could hear them.

As everyone in the county capital looked on, Xu Qing, Daoist Sima, and the rest of the thousand cultivators clasped hands and bowed. Then the dreadnaught rumbled to life and shot over the horizon. As it sped over the lands of Sea-Sealing County, it left behind a streak of light and expanding ripples in the air. Qingqin gave it added speed, making it streak along like a lightning bolt. In less than a day, it passed over the border of the county capital, and soon reached a boundless desert.

As soon as they entered the desert, the majestic power of the dreadnaught combined with Qingqin’s hunger became a somber and desolate aura that blurred the sky. The intense heat of the desert instantly lessened as a result.

Killing intent rippled out from Qingqin and the dreadnaught.

That was even more the case considering that Daoist Sima and the other veteran swordsages had learned along the way that their first stop was a branch division of the Smokewights.

These swordsages had experienced the baptism of war. They had climbed mountains of corpses and swam through seas of blood, and thus viewed slaughter and death differently than before. Though they weren’t completely indifferent to such things, it took more than their mere mention to move them. That level of increased calm just made their somber and desolate aura even more striking.

As the dreadnaught sped along, the denizens of the desert trembled in fear. Not even the lightscrags dared to come out into the open.

The Smokewights in this location weren’t the only representatives of their species. Because Smokewights were made of smoke, they could be found in any location where there was smoke. However, because of the environment, there were a lot of Smokewights in this particular branch location.

After the defeat of the lieutenant governor, Xu Qing had explained to Marquis Yao how the Smokewights were connected to Torchlight. Thus, this branch had already been locked down during the half-month cleanup operation in the county.

The Smokewights had done their best to get back into the good graces of the humans. But after the suffering brought by the Lieutenant Governor’s Coup, humans needed an outlet for their pent-up emotions. That, coupled with the fact that Torchlight accomplices were now on the most wanted list, ensured that the Smokewights weren’t allowed to simply escape.

All of the Smokewight branch locations had been locked down, and few individuals managed to escape.

However, there was one specific branch location that Xu Qing had isolated to handle himself. This was the place he had visited on his trip back from Ten Entrails Tree. During that extremely critical time, he had requested use of their teleportation portal, only to have them intentionally delay him. He had not forgotten how he very respectfully waited to use the portal, only to be treated with malice. Back then, the Smokewights had just looked at him with coldness in their eyes.

Because they delayed him, Xu Qing ended up running into Chu Tianqun and being forced into a battle to the death in a minor world fragment that they controlled. Had it not been for Ling’er, Xu Qing would have died in that fight. What was more, after he came out victorious, he remembered a Smokewight out in the desert, watching him. His grudge with the Smokewights had existed ever since then. 1

As the dreadnaught screamed through the desert, Xu Qing’s eyes were as cold as ice. Sensing Xu Qing’s emotional state, Qingqin let loose ear-piercing cries.

Half a day later, they reached the Smokewight city that Xu Qing remembered so well. From a distance, it looked illusory, as if it were smoke with no physical structures in it. Of course, Smokewights existed in a state of smoke to begin with. When it came to open combat, they usually used puppets, which they normally stored in their minor worlds. However, part of the sanctions imposed by the humans involved the destruction of their minor worlds and the sealing of all their cities. Considering how powerful humans were in the county, the Smokewights hadn’t been able to fight back at all.

That was when Xu Qing had requested that this particular city be left alone. And thus, they had simmered in anxiety until this point. Now, Xu Qing’s arrival signaled their imminent destruction.

Qingqin led the charge with an excited caw. Magenta light flared, smashing through all barriers. Then three heads shot forth and began absorbing everything. Anguished howls rang out as smoke streamed into Qingqin’s mouths. He let loose an exuberant cry.

Next, Daoist Sima gave orders to the swordsages, and a thousand beams of light shot into the Smokewight forces.

Xu Qing stood on the dreadnaught, watching coldly. He did not have a heart that overflowed with pity. As soon as the Smokewights began colluding with Torchlight, their fate had been sealed. It didn’t matter if it was because they had been paid off, or because they were hoping to gain from the relationship in the future. The Smokewights had chosen to help Torchlight fight against humankind. From that point, they should have been prepared to pay for any failure with their own blood. It was a brutal world in which people lived by the maxim ‘an eye for an eye.’

The extermination didn’t take long. After all, this was only one branch of the larger species. Considering the extreme level of force at play, there was no way they could fight back. Four hours later, the smoke cleared, and there was nothing left of the Smokewight city.

Qingqin didn’t seem sated, and gave Xu Qing a caw that seemed to be a request for more food…. Xu Qing considered it, then nodded. Enlivened, Qingqin flew off over the horizon. The dreadnaught followed.

On the way to the teleportation portal, Xu Qing took a bamboo slip out of his bag of holding and scratched the Smokewights off the list.

Off to the side, Master Seventh looked at the bamboo slip and noticed ‘Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan’ carved at the top of the list. He also noted how many names had been crossed off, and then his eyes stopped at one particular name that hadn’t been crossed off.

‘The Captain.’ Behind it were a host of question marks, many of which were crossed out.

Master Seventh wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Pointing at the Captain’s name, he asked, “What’s that all about?”

Xu Qing looked at the Captain’s name, reached up to cross it off, then paused. “Crossing a name off means that person is dead, so… it would be unlucky to cross this one off.” He put the bamboo slip away. Then he took a look at his iron skewer. The skewer vibrated in a show of respect.

“Master, what happened to that fish bone?” Xu Qing felt like Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior and the shadow had fallen so far behind him in battle prowess that it seemed like a good idea to replace them.

The patriarch could sense what Xu Qing was thinking. The skewer vibrated more strongly. At the same time, the shadow rippled and emanated emotional fluctuations of fear and pleading. Xu Qing ignored them.

Ling’er could sense what was going on, and looked curiously at the shadow. The shadow shivered. Changing strategies, it sent fawning fluctuations toward Ling’er.

Meanwhile, Master Seventh smiled. He had long since become aware of all the various assets possessed by his apprentice. And ever since finding out Xu Qing had the finger of a god, he generally wouldn’t be surprised by anything.

“I broke the fish bone into three parts, and I’m still ensorcelling them. I’d say it’ll take another half month before it’s done. What a pity we lost the three fish bones Bai Xiaozhuo had.” 𝘳.𝑐𝘰

Of course, Master Seventh had long since inquired about the details of what happened after Xu Qing and Bai Xiaozhuo teleported off the altar, and Xu Qing had explained everything in detail.

And thus, the shadow continued to cozy up to Ling’er, even going so far as to take a variety of shapes to amuse her. As Ling’er laughed contentedly, the dreadnaught flew over the desert and eventually reached the teleportation portal leading toward Emperor-Receiving Prefecture.

Two days later, Xu Qing caught sight of Emperor-Receiving Prefecture’s northern tundra.

The wind here was colder than in the county capital. There were many more snowflakes, drifting down from the sky, covering the lands and heavily reducing visibility.

However, there were several thousand people standing in the snowy wind. As the dreadnaught got closer, those people became clearly visible. In front of them was the grand elder of the Swordsage Court. Expression somber, he clasped hands and bowed.

“We offer respectful greetings, Lieutenant Governor.”

The thousands of people behind him also bowed. Etiquette had to be followed.

Master Seventh was no longer the sect leader of Seven Blood Eyes, he was the lieutenant governor.

There weren’t just swordsages in the crowd, there were also many sect cultivators. They had been organized into two groups. One group wore black daoist robes embroidered with blood-red threads. They were from the Church of Departure. The other group wore golden daoist robes that seemed extremely luxurious, and pulsed with immortal energy. They were from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. It didn’t matter if the cultivators’ daoist robes pulsed with death and blood, or refinement that surpassed mortality, they all had extremely respectful expressions on their faces.

Master Seventh’s facial expression remained the same as ever, and he didn’t seem moved at all by the deference shown to him. He seemed like a person who, after many years of life, wasn’t concerned about putting on an ostentatious display upon returning home from afar.

Xu Qing noted his Master’s reaction, and felt even more admiration than before. He also felt that he could be more like his Master in that regard.

“Master, Little Junior Brother….” someone called from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society forces. Then a person emerged wearing a Seven Blood Eyes daoist robe. He had a tall hat with the character ‘forbidden’ on it, was unusually thin, and had dark circles under his eyes.

Xu Qing recognized him immediately. It was Third Elder Brother. However, his physical appearance caused Xu Qing to inhale sharply. He was skinnier than before, to the point of being gaunt. It seemed like all the energy had been sucked out of him, leaving him as little more than a husk. What was more, Third Elder Brother was flanked by… eight young women, all of whom were cradling infants. 2

Master Seventh, his face expressionless, calmly said, “This is just too much!”

From the coldness In Master Seventh’s voice, Xu Qing could tell that he was really angry.

1. The Smokewights delayed him in chapter 459. He saw a Smokewight watching him in the desert in chapter 466. ?

2. Third Elder Brother, who was originally known as the third highness, first appeared in chapter 62. Some key chapters about him include 98, 236, 241, and 270. ?

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