Wu Jianwu looked at the busy street outside the Green Spirit Pharmacy in the Bitter Life Mountains. Citizens walked to and fro freely. Lately, Wu Jianwu had been feeling very inspired in his poetry. In fact, he’d even been experimenting with using different poetry rhythms.

“Pills, pills, pills; you’re like a catkin in the hills; seeking sleep but finding thrills; now hurry up and buy some pills!”

Off to the side, Li Youfei loudly exclaimed, “Amazing poem, young sir!”

Wu Jianwu laughed heartily and was about to continue with some more poetry when Ling’er suddenly raced past him like the wind. At almost the same moment, Xu Qing, the Captain, and the Heir Apparent appeared down the street.

Ling’er threw herself right into Xu Qing’s arms.

“You’re finally back, Big Bro Xu Qing…” she said, her eyes bloodshot. She had been fretting day and night recently, to the point where even her beloved bookkeeping wasn’t enough to keep her occupied. Now that Xu Qing was back safe, her tense heart could finally start to relax.

Xu Qing smiled and tousled her hair, then looked in the direction of the Green Spirit Pharmacy. Although only a few days had passed, it seemed more like years for Xu Qing. Finally being able to return prompted a sigh of relief to escape his lips.

Striding into the medicine shop, the Captain loudly said, “I’m back, Little Spritey! Get that big booty of yours out here and give me a hug!”

Nethersprite was currently squatted down next to the stove boiling some water. For the past few days, she’d finally been able to calm down a bit, but as soon as she heard Erniu’s voice, a wave of revulsion exploded in her.

Sooner or later I’m going to eat that slutty Ox alive!!

The Heir Apparent grinned. He really loved the comforting atmosphere of the Green Spirit Pharmacy. Sitting down at his usual spot, he picked up his cup and took a sip of tea.

The parrot immediately flew over and sat on the Heir Apparent’s shoulder. Looking down at his mostly featherless body, the parrot grumbled, “Grandpa, I ran into some more bad guys recently. It was hard to say who exactly they were. They used a bag to grab me! It was outrageous. They didn’t beat me or anything, they just plucked out all my feathers!”

Ning Yan kept his head bowed as he scrubbed the floor with increasing vigor. However, after only swiping the rag back and forth a few times, he noticed Xu Qing. He stopped, a quizzical expression appeared on his face.

“Biggest Bro, w-why… why do you seem so different from before?”

Ning Yan’s words caused Wu Jianwu to look more closely at Xu Qing. Li Youfei did the same. Both were somewhat confused, as nothing about Xu Qing struck them as being very different, though he did have a bit more of a sparkle on him. Ling’er was also curious about what Ning Yan meant. The Captain chuckled proudly.

Xu Qing grinned but didn’t say anything. After looking around the shop, he noticed the chickens in the back.

“They just showed up one day,” Ling’er said quietly.

Xu Qing nodded. As everyone looked on, he walked into the back room. After sitting down cross-legged, he took a deep breath and thought back to everything he’d experienced. Then he closed his eyes and took time to study his authority and his violet moon god trove.

Right now, I could use the violet moon god trove by itself to crush a dao begetting foe…. But I still can’t get the taboo poison into my gaze. It would only work if I let the godliness take over. However, my authority seems to have other uses….

What’s more, the fleshly body strength, plus my violet moon power turned into a god trove, makes all of my other nascent souls a bit underwhelming. And that could lead to problems. I need to upgrade my other nascent souls as quickly as possible. If I somehow end up in that same state as before and start absorbing everything, they could end up damaged or worse.

***

Seven days later, the Heir Apparent said that it was time to leave. Before departing, he gave Xu Qing a dull gray ball made of some sort of metal.

“Use your violet moon power to tie this metal sphere around your waist. Don’t take it off unless absolutely, positively necessary.”

As Xu Qing accepted the ball, he studied it briefly. There was something familiar about it that he couldn’t place. The moment he clasped his fingers around it, a boundless and indescribable force erupted from within it. It was suddenly so heavy that Xu Qing’s hand sank down, and his entire body trembled.

A moment later, Xu Qing instinctively released the power of his god body. Rumbling sounds echoed out, and a sixty-meter-tall projection appeared in the middle of the backyard. Only being bolstered in that manner could Xu Qing manage to successfully hold up the metal sphere. Of course, the weight of the ball wasn’t being sustained just by his body. He also had his nascent souls and his actual soul to share the weight. Even still, that weight was so great that Xu Qing immediately started sinking down into the rocky surface of the mountain.

Cracks spread out in the ground around him until he was nearly down to his waist. The chickens scattered in terror, leaving behind a cloud of feathers. Xu Qing was visibly moved.

Now he realized what this metal sphere was. It was the very same sun that he and the Captain had dredged up out of the Yin Sacrifice River. And the Heir Apparent had been inside of it.

“This…” Xu Qing said, inhaling sharply. He looked at the Heir Apparent.

“I’m loaning the thing to you while we travel. You can’t use your god body to share the weight. You can only use the violet moon power to hang it on your waist. Going forward, use the violet moon power and your other nascent souls to carry it. That will ensure that your violet moon power doesn’t get out of control. And with your other nascent souls working hard, your cultivation base will improve slowly but surely.

“Alright, I’ll wait for you outside the entrance of the shop. You take your time to walk out. Control your strength otherwise you’ll destroy the shop. And I’m not helping you in any way.”

Clasping his hands behind his back, the Heir Apparent walked out the main entrance.

Outside, there was now another person standing next to the exit in addition to Wu Jianwu. He was an old man, tall and burly, with dignified features. He almost looked like a door god. His extraordinary aura spread out, and his eyes contained numerous dao lineaments swirling about. Shockingly, that was the sign of the first stage of Void Returning. However, this Void Returning expert was clad in the rough hemp garment of a shopkeeper’s assistant. And he seemed to be sticking very close to Wu Jianwu.

As Wu Jianwu attempted to avoid even looking at him, the old man opened his mouth and solemnly said, “Pills, pills, pills; you’re like a catkin in the hills….”

He sounded sorrowful and even hopeless as he spouted the poetry. Then the old man noticed the Heir Apparent walking out. A tremor passed through him, and he wiped the grief off his face and replaced it with respect. Feeling terrified, he clasped hands and bowed.

“Senior!”

The Heir Apparent snorted coldly. Ignoring the old man, he floated up into the air and waited for Xu Qing.

Wu Jianwu blinked a few times and then fervently launched into some more poetry.

Trembling in fear, the old man repeated every line of Wu Jianwu’s poetry. He couldn’t help but think back to what happened three days ago….

Less than a week ago, he was still the number one rogue cultivator in the Bitter Life Mountains. People respectfully called him Patriarch Inkrule, and he was one of the main points of contact for the Red Moon Cathedral in this area.

Given that the red moon was about to rise, he had decided that he needed to finally join the Red Moon Cathedral. But everything changed after he sent his apprentice to scout the Green Spirit Pharmacy, only for him to go missing.

Given his experience in life, he knew that there was more to the Green Spirit Pharmacy than met the eye. But even he, the type of person who would seek revenge over the smallest grievance, decided to avoid the area, especially given that Li Youfei had been spotted. He didn’t even go personally to look for his missing apprentice.

Instead, he used a type of magic available in the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple to try to find out what was going on. Never could he have imagined that, before he could even finish using that special magic, he would suddenly lose consciousness. When he woke up, he was in the backyard of the Green Spirit Pharmacy, in the form of a chicken. That was where he found his apprentice….

Of course, the entire experience terrified him. After all, he had been unleashing that special magic from within the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple. And yet that hadn’t stopped the gruish event from unfolding.

He was even more astonished when he laid eyes on the Heir Apparent. It only took a glance for him to know he was dealing with a living Smoldering God, which caused a boundless tempest to smash into his mind like an ocean of lightning.

After that, he had begged and pleaded until a girl named Ling’er mentioned that they could use another host at the front door. And thus, he became the Green Spirit Pharmacy’s second host.

As Patriarch Inkrule groveled, Xu Qing struggled to extricate himself from the ground in the backyard. He was very careful in how he did it. After some hard work, he managed to get his foot back up and not shatter the ground. It was a very simple action, but given his current state, it was extremely difficult. The metal sphere was astoundingly heavy.

In the moments that passed, Xu Qing forced himself to acclimate. He also forced his nascent souls to get used to the weight. After that, he slowly reined in his god body, shrinking down from a height of sixty meters down to thirty.

The more he shrank down, the less he was able to distribute the weight. And thus, a moment later, creaking sounds echoed in his body before the ground shattered beneath his feet and he sank down. Ashen-faced, he struggled back out of the ground. His violet moon nascent soul was doing fairly well, but his other twelve nascent souls hurt so badly they felt like they might collapse. That was especially true of the golden crow.

After taking a moment to get used to the sensation, Xu Qing’s eyes shone brightly. This method actually works pretty well.

As long as it was effective, he was willing to persist. He continued to work hard for another two hours. At that point, he felt comfortable shrinking his body down to about fifteen meters. Rumbling sounds echoed out loudly.

Xu Qing disappeared, and the spot where he had been standing was now a crater.

Things continued like that until nighttime. Xu Qing had sunk down into the ground many times. But along the way, he managed to get his body back to normal size.

With the metal sphere hanging from his waist, he was able to lurch forward like a wooden marionette. He had to focus all of his strength to take even a single step, and sweat flowed down him in rivulets.

In the end, he managed to slowly walk through the Green Spirit Pharmacy. Every step he took caused the place to creak, and sent dust flying about. Ling’er, Ning Yan, Nethersprite, and everyone else watched with mouths agape. Eventually, he reached the front door, leaving behind a series of footsteps and a lot of cracks in the floor. The stove used to boil the water had fallen over, and part of Ling’er’s counter was crushed. Ning Yan looked furious. After all, he was in charge of keeping the floor clean….

Xu Qing looked at him apologetically, then struggled to keep walking. As more rumbling sounds filled the air, he managed to walk outside. Behind him, the creaking sounds grew even more loud. Clearly, the Green Spirit Pharmacy was now tilted a bit to the side.

“Senior,” Xu Qing said, his face completely expressionless.

The Heir Apparent glanced at the shop, smiled, and then turned to leave. “Let’s go.”

Xu Qing looked at the Heir Apparent casually leaving, and started walking after him. Loud thumps rang out with each step. The ground trembled, and surrounding buildings rocked back and forth. Deep footsteps appeared in the street….

“Senior, where are we going?”

“Not far,” the Heir Apparent answered. “We’re going to see someone here in the Bitter Life Mountains that you’ve met before. My third sister. This is where she chose to settle down and heal. She recently reached out to me to explain that some flies have been buzzing around bothering her. I told her not to kill them. They’ll be perfect to test out the limits of your authority.”

Xu Qing nodded. He had long been wondering why the Heir Apparent had wanted to come to the Bitter Life Mountains. He had guessed that there had to be another reason besides tempering Xu Qing. Hearing the explanation wasn’t much of a shock.

However, he still wondered… why was everyone so focused on the Bitter Life Mountains? The Captain. Princess Brightblossom. What was so special about this place?

Xu Qing couldn’t fly in the air. He could only struggle forward on foot. Sometimes he ran into places where the ground wasn’t very solid, and he sank down….

In fact, that had just happened a moment ago, prompting the Heir Apparent to squat at the edge of the resulting pit and assess the situation.

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