The sound of the drum thumped out, filled with poison as it spread out in all directions. It was a taboo curse magic that could invade all living things. Irregularly shaped rings of rot started spreading through the air, and it was the same with the land. As the wind screamed in all directions, a black fog formed.

The fourth son of the Imperial Sovereign stood within the miasma, looking coldly at Xu Qing, the drum in his hands swishing back and forth. The poison fog surged as if with huge waves as numerous vicious beast projections formed within it, howling loudly.

The beast projections were varied; some had bottle-shaped bodies covered with countless eyes; some looked like gruish conglomerations of swirling hair; some looked like draconic turtles covered with spikes; some were humanoid but had pāramitā lilies growing on their foreheads. 1

There were many, many varieties. All were extremely poisonous, and were not commonly seen in the era of the Imperial Sovereign’s fourth son, much less in Xu Qing’s time. Virtually all of them were actually from extinct animal species. The moment they took form, the fog surged outward, and the poison grew stronger, becoming so hypertoxic it could invade Spirit Trove experts and damage their secret troves and furnaces.

The poison raced toward Xu Qing, whose expression didn’t change at all. He didn’t seem even remotely surprised. In fact, this fight had been relatively easy for him so far.

And that was because this Imperial Sovereign’s son wasn’t turning out to be as mysterious and unpredictable as he had anticipated. He could definitely be considered a chosen cultivator, yet he had his limitations.

Xu Qing also had the essence of an imperial-class technique. And when it came to the dao of poison… Xu Qing shook his head. His eyes became pitch black as the taboo poison within him filled his gaze. He calmly looked forward. Colors flashed and winds roared. The area around him rippled and distorted, and the poison fog spasmed and started to disperse.

There were some poisons in the world that could provoke a reaction from Xu Qing. But this wasn’t one of them. On a substructural level, Xu Qing’s taboo poison was different from ordinary poisons. It was a type of mutagen, or the curse of a god, and it could invade the life force and substructure of all living beings and entities. Compared to it, the poison from the rattle-drum’s sound waves was interesting, but just couldn’t match up in terms of personhood.

The poison fog was falling apart! The Imperial Sovereign’s fourth son looked surprised. The rattle-drum stopped moving.

Xu Qing’s gaze rapidly pierced through the poison fog as he looked at the fourth son. That gaze caused all the fourth son’s hair to stand on end. A sense of deadly crisis rose up within him, yet he was no ordinary individual. Without the slightest hesitation, he shot backward, tossed the rattle-drum out in front of him, and performed an incantation gesture.

The rattle-drum, which was an extremely precious treasure, exploded, creating a sound wave full of extremely strong poison that rushed forward to block Xu Qing. It was an effective tactic. Xu Qing had no problem dispelling the drum’s poisons. But the soundwaves caused by the drum’s detonation also stopped him in place.

Taking advantage of the bought time, the fourth son shot backward about 3,000 meters. His expression was grim, as he could tell how serious the situation was. He had no choice but to admit that the person facing him had similar methods, all of which were slightly stronger than his own.

Killing intent flickered in the fourth son’s eyes. He had no interest in playing around, and was still convinced he could end this fight quickly. He quickly performed a right-handed incantation gesture, then moved his index finger toward his forehead. However, instead of touching his forehead, he held his finger a few inches in front of it.

“Bloodline Underworld Curse!”

The moment the words left his mouth, complex black designs appeared everywhere on his skin. If you looked closely, you would realize that the convoluted network of dark lines represented his blood vessels. The dark lines bulged and shifted in place on his skin, especially on his face, where they created the image of a vicious ghost face.

The fourth son’s finger touched his forehead and the ghost face there. Instantly, the ghost face lit up like a lamp. In fact, from a distance, it actually looked exactly like a lamp. The lamp had fused with his face, creating an extremely gruish sight. At the same time, his aura skyrocketed, making him grow several times stronger than before.

A sense of unease rose up in Xu Qing. Sending out more poison through his gaze, he burst into motion, heading toward his opponent at top speed.

The fourth son’s eyes narrowed. Continuing to move backward, he performed an incantation gesture with his left hand, causing the rhino to appear around him again and block the invading poison. Then he waved his hand, sending a host of hair flying forward to entangle Xu Qing and block his forward path.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly as he accelerated again, becoming a string of afterimages that pierced through everything toward the fourth son. This was speed that surpassed Spirit Trove, and was all thanks to the tempering of the Heir Apparent, which had involved Xu Qing carrying around a sun all the time.

The fourth son’s expression flickered. He opened his mouth, and a beam of white light shot out toward Xu Qing. The white light spread around him in a complex latticework, intertwining and overlapping.

Xu Qing arrived a moment later. As his secret trove manifested behind him, he clenched his fist and punched. Lands shook and mountains rocked. Booms filled the dome of heaven.

The latticework collapsed into hundreds of fragments that scattered everywhere. However, it was a mysterious magic. Unexpectedly, the fourth son appeared within every single one of those hundreds of fragments, making it very difficult to tell which version was real among all the fakes.

Xu Qing’s expression darkened as he sent his shadow flying out, along with a host of heavenfiend clones, to invade the latticework and find the true body.

Meanwhile, within the latticework, the Imperial Sovereign’s fourth son reached up and put his finger on his shoulder. At that spot, the black veins merged together to form a second burning lamp. Next, he touched the other shoulder, then his dantian region, then his legs, and finally, his heart. All of the incantation gestures were performed in the blink of an eye.

Seven mysterious lamps alive with underworld fire were now burning within the fourth son’s body. And every single lamp caused his aura to skyrocket. His entire person seemed to burn, causing his energy to surge, and sending terrifying fluctuations everywhere.

At the same time, Xu Qing’s shadow and heavenfiend clones were spreading through the latticework looking for the hidden fourth son. Rumbling sounds echoed out as latticework exploded left and right.

Finally, the fourth son stepped out into the open, his body aflame. He waved his finger, and the sky shattered. The air collapsed, and the surrounding heavenfiend clones were ripped to shreds.

“I underestimated you,” he said coolly. “Whether in your time period or my own, in this cultivation level, you… have exceptional talent.”

His right hand danced through the air, causing the seven lamps to sway. That swaying motion caused a sensation of intense danger to fill Xu Qing. He had no choice but to stop in place, a serious expression on his face. He had never heard of any kind of magic like this before. It wasn’t a divine ability from his own time period, but rather, a taboo magic that came from Imperial Sovereign Li Zihua.

Of all Li Zihua sons and daughters, only his fourth son had been able to cultivate it successfully, due to a variety of unique factors.

This taboo magic had a name. It was… Seven Lamps Underworld Fire Curse!

The reason it was considered taboo was that, in addition to being able to significantly boost the strength of the user, it was also a curse. And it was the type of curse that resulted in death! Extinguishing the lamps extinguished the enemy!

As killing intent blazed in the Imperial Sovereign’s fourth son, he opened his mouth to speak.

Xu Qing didn’t know the details of this magic. But at the same time, he didn’t like to waste words. Regardless of what his opponent said, he wouldn’t trust it. Thus, he planned to force the fourth son’s hand, and give him no choice but to unleash his trump card as quickly as possible.

Seeing that, the fourth son laughed coldly. Acting in response to his thoughts, the seven lamps within him swayed, and projections of Xu Qing appeared within the flames. It was as if his mind was trapped within the fire of the lamps.

As Xu Qing neared, the fourth son directly extinguished one of the seven lamps. As a result, Xu Qing’s five yin organs and six yang organs experienced a burst of pain. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and his body rapidly deteriorated as if with age. His clothing started rotting, the flame of his life force faded, and his expression flickered. At the same time, the fourth son extinguished the second lamp.

Cracks spread out over Xu Qing’s skin, and blood oozed out. His hair withered and fell out, his cultivation base declined, and a sensation of imminent death filled him.

Next came the third, fourth, and fifth lamps…. In the shortest of moments, six of the seven lamps had been extinguished.

Xu Qing fell out of the sky and slammed into the ground. Sweat poured off of him like rain, and gruishly, the sweat contained corrosive properties that started melting his body. Indescribable pain filled Xu Qing, causing his expression to turn blank. As the sensation of death filled him, the noxious odor surrounding him grew intense. Indecision filled him. Apprehension. Terror. All sorts of negative emotions.

The fourth son looked at Xu Qing from above and coolly said, “You might have exceptional talent. But insects will always be insects.”

With that, he extinguished the final lamp. When that happened, Xu Qing’s aura was suddenly wiped out.

“It’s over,” the fourth son said, turning to leave. But then his expression flickered, and he turned to look at Xu Qing’s corpse. And what he saw was the manifestation of five life lamps. They were like sundials, and all the gnomons were pointing in the same direction. Then they turned back, and the time surrounding Xu Qing went backward.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing rose into the air, and the deadly effects of the curse vanished. His melted flesh recovered, and he hovered in the same spot as before, completely unharmed. This was the divine ability that came with his sundial life lamps!

“You!” the fourth son blurted, his pupils constricting and his heart starting to pound. “You have an Imperial Sovereign’s bloodline?”

Xu Qing took a deep breath and looked squarely at his enemy. He had just died. And if he hadn’t used his life lamp divine ability at exactly the right moment, that would have been permanent. That process of dying had given him a very detailed understanding of how the seven lamps magic worked.

“That’s a nice magic,” he said softly, licking his lips. “Very nice.”

Daybreak light erupted from him, illuminating the surroundings with seven colors. And as the light formed, it gradually took the shape of seven lamps burning with underworld fire. It was a copy! Using the daybreak light’s method of myriad magics, he had copied the Seven Lamps Underworld Fire Curse!

1. The ‘pāramitā lily’ is what I translated as ‘resurrection lily’ in ISSTH. Honestly, if I could go back in time I probably wouldn’t call it ‘resurrection lily.’ In any case, the concept of pāramitā is so ubiquitous in Chinese mythology and fantasy novels that seeing this kind of flower doesn’t inherently imply some sort of connection to ISSTH or other stories. ?

This chapter is updatd by f(r)eewbn(o)vel.com