The person who stepped out looked exactly like Luo Jinsong. The moment he was out in the open, he took out a huge handful of antidote pills and swallowed them. Eyes cold, he glared at Xu Qing within the fire. Then he opened his mouth to speak, only for his face to fall again.

The sea of flames surrounding Xu Qing immediately began to die down. Over the course of two breaths of time, Xu Qing inhaled all of the fire and swallowed it down. Xu Qing became clearly visible as the fire went away. He had an odd expression on his face as he looked at Luo Jinsong holding the cosmic teapot, and an imperceptible flicker passed through his eyes. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Meng Yunbai’s voice suddenly reached Xu Qing’s ears. “The Luo Clan is in decline, but they still practice the legacy technique passed down by their heavenly marquis patriarch. It’s called the Darkheaven Rhythm Art. Whenever they use the molting rhythm, they can get a better fleshly body blessing.”

Xu Qing ignored him. Meanwhile, quite a few people at the banquet had risen to their feet and were calling out.

“Neither of you make a move!”

“This is not the proper venue for fighting!”

“I’m sure the two of you can work things out without resorting to deadly combat.”

A few people even started walking forward. What was more, the clamor of the fight had even attracted the attention of some of the guards outside the banquet hall, who were now rushing inside.

When Luo Jinsong saw that, he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Glaring coldly at Xu Qing, he made to back up.

Xu Qing didn’t stop him. Glancing at the cosmic teapot, and then back at Luo Jinsong, he calmly said, “There’s no cure for my poison.”

Luo Jinsong’s expression flickered, and he was about to take out some more antidote pills when he shivered from head to toe. Then, greenish-black coloration started spreading out over his skin again. Feeling extremely alarmed, he sent his cultivation base into full rotation, hoping to suppress the poison. Then he looked pleadingly at Seventh Prince and Princess Anhai.

Yet before he could say a word, black blood oozed out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His tongue and ears fell off, turning into black sludge as they dropped to the ground. A horrendous gurgling emerged from his throat, and then, right in front of everyone, he melted into a fetid sludge.

In only about four or five breaths of time, Luo Jinsong completely liquefied. The last thing he did was look at Princess Anhai as if begging for mercy. She didn’t react.

All of the onlookers were visibly stunned. None of them had been very impressed with Xu Qing’s ability to snatch nascent souls. He wasn’t the only person in existence that had such abilities. It was the same with his poison. When he produced that strange soul shadow, some of them had been surprised, though they didn’t show it on their faces. Even when Xu Qing beheaded Luo Jinsong, no one had reacted, as they all knew that Luo Jinsong couldn’t be killed in that way.

But now things were different. The situation with Luo Jinsong was already resolved. However, that poison was still around, and it was explosively deadly. All eyes fell on Xu Qing.

As for Meng Yunbai, he was looking at Xu Qing with a mixture of confusion and dread.

Immortal Fairy Gemspirit from the Creation Mansion had an unprecedentedly serious look on her face. Eyeing the black sludge, she suddenly said, “That poison has the curse of a god in it!”

Everyone was shaken by her words.

An unusual gleam could be seen in Seventh Prince’s eyes, and for the first time, Princess Anhai looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing, his expression placid, stepped over to the black sludge that had been Luo Jinsong. Seemingly unconcerned about dirtying his hand, he took the cosmic teapot out of the sludge. After putting it away, he turned and bowed to Seventh Prince and Princess Anhai.

“I killed this person because he insulted the soul of a hero. Palace Lord Kong lived for humankind, and for Sea-Sealing County. Even the emperor lamented his passing, and agreed for the palace lord to be enshrined and blessed by the joss flame of humanity.

“This person was the descendant of a heavenly marquis, yet he insulted a brave hero and threatened to drive Sea-Sealing County into chaos. Clearly, he had a twisted heart, and was most likely a secret member of Torchlight. Not even death can wipe out his crimes!”

Xu Qing’s voice didn’t thrum with emotion. His expression was neutral, and after speaking, he rose from his bow, turned, and walked back toward Kong Xianglong.

Zhang Qifan was standing next to Kong Xianglong, but Xu Qing ignored him.

Xu Qing didn’t address what was really going on. Instead, he used his actions to let everyone know they couldn’t manipulate him and Kong Xianglong. Whatever issues you people have with each other, you handle them. Leave us out of it.

It was also a clear message that touching Sea-Sealing County’s soft spot would come with a price.

A smile appeared on Seventh Prince’s face. Princess Anhai’s gaze hardened slightly. Everyone else had serious expressions on their faces. Now all of them knew a bit about Xu Qing’s personality. And they were all thinking the same thing.

Best not provoke this guy.

As for Luo Jinsong, the truth was that none of them really cared about him or the fact that he was dead. That was his issue.

Everyone watched as Xu Qing walked to the door. He stopped there, turned to look at Seventh Prince, and after a moment of thought, said, “Your Majesty Seventh Prince, is there any chance Sea-Sealing County can have those three prefectures back?”

Seventh Prince didn’t respond immediately. Next to him, Princess Anhai’s eyes flickered with an imperceptible smile. Picking up her drinking vessel, she took a sip.

A moment passed, and then Seventh Prince smiled amiably. “There are still some problems with bandits in those three prefectures. Once they’re cleared out, Sea-Sealing County can have them back.”

This was not how he had planned for things to end up. But given how events played out, there was no way he could outright refuse Xu Qing. Xu Qing had taken Luo Jinsong’s behavior as an outright instigation, and that actually fell in line with what the prince wanted. Therefore, he had decided to back down a bit in regards to the three prefectures. Although he hadn’t given an explicit timetable of when he would return them, he had made his stance clear.

Xu Qing clasped hands respectfully, then turned and left with Kong Xianglong. During the entire time, neither of them had looked once at Zhang Qifan.

It was hard to tell what Zhang Qifan was thinking, as he didn’t reveal anything via his facial expression. He just returned to his seat and took a drink of alcohol.

The banquet resumed. The chatting and laughing returned. It was as if nothing had happened. However, people would occasionally glance at the black sludge on the ground, and they would feel deeply shaken.

Later that evening, Princess Anhai departed to rest, and that marked the end of the banquet.

Soon, the only person left in the large banquet hall was Seventh Prince. As he sat there calmly sipping alcohol, he smiled.

I set the stage for you perfectly, my sister. And as it turned out, you planned a whole little play for me to watch. Except, given how smart you are, how could you botch it up so badly?

Seventh Prince’s eyes narrowed as he fiddled with his drinking vessel. Then, his expression hardened, and his eyes shone with cold light.

“Checks and balances!” he murmured.

***

Seven days passed.

The official ceremony marking the return of the Holytides would begin soon. During that time, Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong never left the Sea-Sealing County garrison. Xu Qing spent some of that time studying the cosmic teapot he’d taken from Luo Jinsong.

Specifically, he was interested in the fire. It was obviously a very special fire. As soon as Xu Qing sensed how terrifying it was, he carefully avoided it. But he hadn’t been able to completely avoid it, and the burning of that fire had provoked a change in the violet crystal. The violet crystal had actually reached out to absorb the fire. And afterward, a flash of light emerged from the crystal.

That light seemed to illuminate Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness. Though it only flashed once, when it happened, one of the spokes on the black umbrella life lamp had vanished, as if it melted!

That was the reason Xu Qing had taken special note of the teapot. There had been no time to look closely at the teapot in the heat of the moment, so he had waited until he was back in the garrison to go into seclusion and study it.

Meng Yunbai came to pay a visit, and Immortal Fairy Gemspirit submitted a request to do the same. Xu Qing politely refused to see them. For one thing, he didn’t have much spare time. What was more, he didn’t want to get dragged into the intrigue of the imperial capital.

He and Kong Xianglong gave a full report to Li Yunshan. He reached the same conclusions as them, but also had some deeper insights that he shared.

“Seventh Prince obviously didn’t just invite us to observe the Holytide return ceremony. I bet he was trying to figure out why Princess Anhai suddenly showed up to visit.

“As for the way you killed Luo Jinsong, Xu Qing, I’d say you handled it beautifully. He insulted Palace Lord Kong, and not even death could wipe out that crime. I’ll report all of this to Marquis Yao. Given what he’s capable of, and the fact that we’re ultimately in the right here, I doubt there will be any ramifications.”

On the seventh day, the ceremony began. There was a lot of pomp and formality. Representatives from the imperial capital came to read an imperial decree, and the four Holytide emperors came in person. The Holytide ancestral emperor attended as a projection.

Their arrival caused wild colors to flash in the sky, and kicked up a huge wind. Immense pressure weighed down on what had once been Ten Entrails of the True Immortal.

It was the pressure of a Smoldering God. Time and space both seemed affected, and that was only because of a mere projection of a Smoldering God.

Xu Qing felt like he was facing an actual god, although the feeling was different and hard to describe.

As the ceremony played out, Li Yunshan whispered, “Smoldering Gods… continuous and unending, impossible to be named; they return to non-existence. They are called the forms of that which are without form; the image of non-existence. Meet them and you do not see their beginning; follow them and you do not see their end.” 1

Xu Qing looked up into the dome of heaven. He saw the four Holytide emperors, as well as the figure behind them, which seemed capable of propping up all heaven and earth. Its head was not visible, nor were its feet, as if it was too big to actually exist.

The Holytide’s ancestral emperor didn’t stay for long. After hearing the imperial edict being read, he vanished.

The imperial edict heaped approval and praise on the Holytide ancestral emperor. What was more, he was bestowed with the very same title as his ancestor. He was appointed as the new Grand Duke Holytide. The Holytide Region would not be renamed. However, it would be half of its original size. The other half would be a new area called the Deep Blue Region. With the exception of Sea-Sealing County, the new region was to be administered by Seventh Prince’s army. Princess Anhai would also assist in carrying out government affairs.

When the ceremony ended, Xu Qing and everyone else returned to Sea-Sealing County.

However, before they left, one other thing happened. Seventh Prince took the initiative to return the three prefectures to Sea-Sealing County. What was more, he added an additional four prefectures. Because of that, Sea-Sealing County henceforth had seventeen prefectures.

The matter was initiated by Seventh Prince and approved by Princess Anhai.

Meanwhile, Moongazing Prefecture, which was the prefecture Sea-Sealing County had secretly taken over, was handed over to be part of the Deep Blue Region. Xu Qing wasn’t really sure of all the details of what happened. Although Marquis Yao had previously explained that Moongazing Prefecture would eventually be handed over, he wasn’t sure of exactly why. It was all the work of Marquis Yao and Master Seventh. However, the imperial edict did make it clear how things would develop going forward into the future.

With Princess Anhai part of the Deep Blue Region, the big picture was changing.

1. Li Yunshan is actually quoting the Dao De Jing here. Or at least, his dialogue is an exact quote from Dao De Jing. Whether or not he’s supposed to be actually quoting the real-life daoist text is… up to you. Whenever there are poems, quotes from books etc. that have existing translations, I like to use those existing translations if it makes sense. So the portion here is taken almost directly from the “Dao De Jing by Lao Zi, A Minimalist Translation, by Bruce R. Linnell, PhD, 2015” which is available to read for free on Project Gutenberg. Here’s the link to the original translation if you’re interested in reading the context. The quote is specifically from chapter 14. I made some slight changes to make sure it makes sense in context, but for the most part, the translation is from Dr. Linnel’s work. In case you’re completely unfamiliar with the Dao De Jing, here’s a link to the wikipedia article about it. ?

𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ