Xu Qing looked at the fingers in the bubbles. Then he looked up at the Captain.

The Captain looked back at him with a sincere expression. “What do you think, little Ah Qing? We really did well, didn’t we? Hahaha!”

Xu Qing didn’t reply. He tapped into his cultivation base, causing his energy to surge. At the same time, a secret trove appeared behind him, causing everything around them to tremble. His eyes became pitch black as taboo poison spread. A sun and moon rose in his secret trove, and the heavenly dao bluegreen dragon roared as flames rose up around it. The furnace was burning.

At the same time, threads of natural laws spread through the secret trove, surrounding Xu Qing. The natural and magical laws of his secret trove were turning the entire area around him into his own personal battlefield. As he stood on that battlefield, he pulsed with a heavenly dao sensation. Things weren’t over yet, though. Mutagen flourished around him, the aura of taboo poison.

The Captain saw all of that, and though it caused his heart to sink, he plastered a glaring expression onto his face.

“Little Ah Qing! Are you telling me you don’t trust me, your Eldest Brother?”

The Captain tapped into his own cultivation base, causing a secret trove to appear behind him as well. His secret trove was different from Xu Qing’s. It didn’t contain a world, but rather, a pitch-black hell like the Nine Serenities. It echoed with howls that could shake the heart and mind, which created personal natural laws for him that spread out and squared off against Xu Qing’s magical laws.

“Apparently, little Ah Qing, I need to assert my dignity as the Eldest Brother!” The Captain waved his hand, and his eyes glittered with blue light.

However, Xu Qing wasn’t done yet. The violet moon glittered as it rose out of his secret trove and into the sky. As it rose, it cast violet moonlight down. It wasn’t made of ordinary beams of light, but rather… violet threadworms. The threadworms filled heaven and earth, sometimes revealing their original form, other times appearing as mere moonlight. It was extremely gruish.

When the light touched the Captain, his mind spun. His blue light was being covered by violet light! And yet, he was the Eldest Brother, so he quickly unleashed a new power. Faces appeared within his pupils, which also had faces in their own pupils, and so on. Blue light shone brightly, spreading out to cover him. And where it touched him, blue worms appeared, their eyes glittering with anticipation.

“The two of us haven’t fought each other in a long time, little Ah Qing. The last time was on the Forbidden Sea! Come, come. Let’s see who will win and who will—” 1

Before the Captain could even finish speaking, thunderous rumbling sounds echoed out from Xu Qing. Violet light exploded as he lifted his right hand and pointed at the sky. He was pointing directly at the broken face of the god. It was very reminiscent of the scene back in the Moon Palace when he had summoned the broken face from inside his violet crystal. It almost looked like he was doing the same thing over again. Except there was no image of the broken face inside the violet crystal…..

That said, the Captain didn’t know that. Eyelids twitching and heart racing, he swallowed his words, blinked a few times, and then laughed heartily.

“Don’t be so impulsive, little Junior Brother. I just have a bad memory, that’s all. Ahemmm.” The Captain’s hand snapped out in front of him to reveal three feathers.

“There were six, not three,” Xu Qing said, the violet light growing more intense.

The Captain’s heart rate increased yet again, all while his confidence fell. Keeping a serious look on his face, he took out three more feathers from his bag of holding. “Errrrm, right. Well, anyway, little Ah Qing, this really is all we got.”

The Captain sighed, calmed his cultivation base, and then looked helplessly at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s energy also faded away. The violet moon returned to his secret trove, the secret trove faded away, and everything went back to normal.

Seeing that, the Captain breathed an inner sigh of relief, but at the same time felt very pleased with himself. Oh, little Ah Qing. You’re just too inexperienced.

Despite all that, the Captain managed to keep a helpless expression on his face. “Little Ah Qing, how about… you take seventy percent! I was in the wrong here. I shouldn’t have been greedy.”

Xu Qing thought for a moment, then looked at the Captain. Gradually, his gaze changed. He looked bleak, even lonely. The look in his eyes caused the Captain’s heart to seize.

“Eldest Brother…” Xu Qing began softly, finally breaking his silence.

The Captain listened, trembling.

“I don’t want any of it, Eldest Brother,” he murmured in a hoarse voice. “You can have all of it. I just miss Sea-Sealing County. I’m going back now.”

With that, he slowly turned and started walking off, looking more and more lonely, more and more bleak, more and more desolate.

Apparently, the Captain didn’t realize that he had used a very similar tactic on Xu Qing in the past…. As the Captain watched Xu Qing walking away, his heart filled with guilt. He suddenly realized that he had pushed things too far. If he wanted to get greedy with random people, that was one thing, but what need was there to get greedy with his little Junior Brother? Although it was a natural instinct for him, considering how Xu Qing was reacting, the Captain had no choice but to stamp his foot.

“Little Junior Brother, I apologize!” The Captain waved his hand again, and this time, a host of feathers poured out into a pile. Terrifying godly might surged in the area, far surpassing what happened when he took out the six feathers. The majesty of this pile of feathers was astonishing to say the least. Throwing caution to the wind, the Captain yelled, “Thirty percent! This is thirty percent of Crimson Mother’s total flesh. All here! We do things the same as ever. 50

/50!”

Xu Qing stopped walking. Adjusting his facial expression, he turned around and looked at the Captain. Eyes shining with sincere gratitude, he softly said, “Eldest Brother!”

Breathing a sigh of relief, the Captain quickly waved at Xu Qing to come over and collect the loot. Soon, the two of them were standing next to the pile of flesh. After dividing it cleanly in half, the Captain gave Xu Qing a special leather bag of holding to store it in. The flesh of a god couldn’t be kept inside an ordinary storage device. As for the bags the Captain used for that purpose, they appeared to be made from his own skin….

Seeing the actual results of all the hard work in the Moonrite Region, Xu Qing actually started to get excited.

Sensing the sudden change in Xu Qing’s mood, the Captain looked over suspiciously at him. “Little Junior Brother, were you pulling a fast one on me just now? Why does this whole situation seem so familiar….?”

Xu Qing quickly suppressed his excitement. Looking the Captain very sincerely in the eyes, he shook his head.

The Captain hesitated, as something seemed very strange about the situation. Finally, he blinked a few times. Hey, I can do the same thing!

Suddenly, his facial expression became one of loneliness. He opened his mouth to speak.

But then, Xu Qing’s expression became pure bitterness.

The two of them looked at each other silently.

Finally, the Captain sighed.

“You’ve picked up some bad habits, little Ah Qing….” He cleared his throat. “Well, anyway, down to business. There’s no way our rewards could possibly be limited to just this. There’s more.” After looking around again to make sure they were alone, he lowered his voice. “Everything so far is from Crimson Mother. But we got something from Li Zihua as well. Hē promised to come back later on and give us a god world!”

Hearing that caused Xu Qing’s gaze to harden. “A god world?”

“A god world!” the Captain said, nodding earnestly.

At first, Xu Qing wasn’t inclined to believe the Captain. However, the Captain seemed very serious. Although Xu Qing had some suspicions, he didn’t give voice to them. And with that, they had a friendly discussion. Xu Qing ultimately didn’t want Zhang Siyun’s flesh and blood. However, he did take the violet thorn from the vine that had been wrapped around Zhang Siyun.

The Captain was fine with that distribution. After everything was split up, the Captain’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at Xu Qing.

“Little Ah Qing, we’re pretty much done here in the Moonrite Region. Just wait for me for a couple days. My ex-wife hasn’t returned any of my messages, but I know shē’s still around. I’m going to find hēr to catch up on old times. Once I return, we can head back to Sea-Sealing County!”

Licking his lips, the Captain waved and vanished off into the distance.

After watching the Captain leave, Xu Qing settled down cross-legged. The area had been sealed by the both of them, using the Captain’s blood, making it a very suitable place for a session of secluded cultivation. What was more, the Heir Apparent and his siblings were watching over the Moonrite Region now, so things were relatively safe.

Not bothering with anything else, Xu Qing looked down at the violet thorn in his hand. It glittered with a light that looked very similar to what the violet crystal emanated. Most importantly, holding that violet thorn caused the violet crystal to pulse with distinctive fluctuations.

They must have the same origin.

Eyes shining with determination, he tapped into the violet crystal. Violet light surged around him, spreading to cover him and everything in the area. Then, the violet thorn glittered as he absorbed it. Violet light scattered as Xu Qing looked at his empty hand. Eyes gleaming, he focused on the violet crystal.

The crystal didn’t look very different compared to before. Except… the inside of the crystal didn’t have a gauzy mist like it usually did. Instead, there was a vortex. The vortex spun silently. There was no way to tell where it led.

Xu Qing wasn’t very sure what this change meant. He inspected the violet crystal with divine sense, but the vortex seemed to go on forever. No matter how far he sent his divine sense into it, he couldn’t find the end. However, as he got deeper, he felt a sensation of danger. It was almost as if there were gazes inside that were shifting in his direction. After a short time, he retracted his divine sense. He didn’t want to do anything rash.

Taking a deep breath, he took out the bag the Captain had given him.

Crimson Mother’s flesh can provide powerful nourishment for other gods. But it can be considered massive good fortune for me as well. The only question is how much it will benefit my cultivation base to put it in my secret trove and burn it in the heavenly dao furnace.

His heart filled with anticipation. After everything he had experienced in the Moonrite Region, and after personally witnessing a battle between gods… Xu Qing was more determined than ever to become stronger.

That was especially true considering… what Li Zihua’s fourth son had said to him before dying.

“Could it be that my past is actually your future…?”

Xu Qing sat there quietly as his secret trove thrummed behind him. His eyes glittered coldly. Only by getting stronger could he qualify to search for the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan and kill him. Only by getting stronger could he delve into the secrets of this world, and uncover the truth about everything. Only by getting stronger could he qualify to turn everything around!

Xu Qing hefted the bag and put it into his secret trove!

1. The Captain and Xu Qing’s fight on the Forbidden Sea started in chapter 182. ☜