Xu Qing looked on coldly. This was his first time seeing a Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator, and he knew what the Captain was getting at. This was not a member of a subsidiary species, but an actual representative of the Firemoon Darkheavens. Given what the Captain had said earlier about the sealing mark, it seemed logical to conclude that this was the person who had created it.

Although Xu Qing had never seen Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators in person, he had learned a lot about them from the ancient records in the Xeno-Immortal School. Therefore, he knew that because of how rare Firemoon Darkheavens were in comparison to the subsidiary species they ruled, every single member was considered highly esteemed in their lands. That much had been obvious during their travels with Grand Prince, who was only half-Firemoon.

Firemoon Darkheavens were similarly respected even outside of their own territory. No one would dare to offend a Firemoon Darkheaven, and because of that, their cultivators were always very confident and domineering, regardless of where they went. The source of their confidence was the strength of their species. And right now, that was even more the case inside of Firemoon territory.

Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as a face appeared in the sky above Xu Qing and the Captain. Then the accompanying meteor slammed into the ground. The forbidden region shook violently, and incredible pressure weighed down.

“Humans?”

The words caused wild colors to flash in heaven and earth. It was as if they contained power that activated natural laws, which settled onto Xu Qing and the Captain to exert control over them. In fact, the two of them could sense something about to rip them to shreds.

The Captain’s eyes shone with blue light, while inside, he was very excited. Xu Qing’s expression was as calm as if he were looking at a corpse. Little Shadow, who was in the middle of devouring the forbidden region, only paused for a moment, then continued with the devouring.

When the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator noticed that the two humans hardly reacted at all to his arrival, his eyes flickered with impatience. He had actually just arrived in this location, specifically because of the forbidden mountain. He was participating in the Great Hunt, and thus needed forbidden mountains. The more the better. Considering how fierce the competition was, he’d ordered some of his subsidiary species servants to travel to nearby forbidden regions and imprint them with his sealing mark. That sealing mark indicated that this area belonged to him, and anyone who tried to steal it from him would face death and destruction at his hands.

On his journey to those various forbidden regions, he had experienced both successes and failures. As a result, he was in a foul mood. And now, here he was in this specific forbidden region, only to encounter two trespassing humans. Still looking annoyed, he clenched his right hand into a fist and launched a punch at Xu Qing and the Captain.

That blow seemed casual, but the Firemoon Darkheaven unleashed it with immense rage. Everything trembled as a huge golden fist appeared in midair, some 30,000 meters in size.

The astonishing energy and aura kicked up a violent tempest that shook the entire forbidden region. As the fist fell, the Captain laughed heartily and lunged forward with his bloated body.

“Perfect timing! Now I can test out how this fleshly body blessing works!”

The Captain, like a huge mountain of flesh, screamed through the air until he slammed into the golden fist. A deafening boom rang out in all directions. The Captain dropped to the ground and bounced a few times. At the same time, the fist shattered into pieces.

“That’s all?” the Captain said, looking up proudly.

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Xu Qing looked over at him and could sense that it wasn’t just the Captain’s fleshly body that had become stronger. It was hard to say when it happened, but he now pulsed with the might of Void Returning.

He undid more seals? Also, it seems like Eldest Brother is intentionally trying to piss off this Firemoon cultivator.

Meanwhile, the Captain hollered up into the sky, “Bring it on!”

The Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator seemed surprised as he looked at the Captain. Then, seemingly taking the situation more seriously than before, he lifted his right hand and took a deep breath. That breath caused a wild wind to spring up. All of the mutagen and spirit energy, as well as the nearby natural and magical laws, rushed into his mouth. Rumbling sounds echoed out as he became the center of a shocking vortex. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

After inhaling deeply, the Firemoon Darkheaven grew to double his previous size, then he launched another fist strike. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the air shattered. Then a golden mountain that was vastly larger than the fist appeared and dropped toward the Captain.

The Captain looked up in disdain as he once again shot forward to meet the attack.

A boom rang out as the Captain tumbled down. However, the mountain also collapsed.

This time the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator had a very serious look in his eyes as he glared down at the Captain. He was about to speak, but before he could, the Captain interrupted.

“Way, way too weak!” The Captain burst out laughing.

That laughter caused killing intent to surge in the eyes of the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator. Opening his mouth, he inhaled again, this time affecting an even larger area. Everything for 500 kilometers in all directions, including mutagen and spirit energy, swirled toward him in a huge vortex. He inhaled.

Meanwhile, the Captain slammed into the ground and bounced back up. Being also blessed with speed, he accelerated dramatically, and in the blink of an eye, was right in front of the vortex of mutagen and spirit energy.

Looking almost grateful, the Captain opened his mouth and viciously inhaled in the direction of the Firemoon Darkheaven. Instantly, the 500-kilometer vortex became like a gigantic deflating balloon as the Captain devoured more than half of it. As that happened, his body expanded rapidly. His hair turned golden as did his eyes, making him look exactly like a Firemoon Darkheaven.

The Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator’s expression flickered, and he backed up rapidly.

“You’re not human!”

“You’re the one who’s not human!” the Captain said, glaring. “Your whole family isn’t human. All you can do is hit people and curse them, huh? This is just the Firemoon Darkheaven specialty move called Nine Breaths Submission, right? When you use it, every breath you take causes your body to expand. What, just because I can devour some things means I’m not human?

“Well, I’m not the one who said it. By the way, why can you only take three breaths? That’s definitely not enough. Try again!”

Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever. He had sensed all along that there was something unusual about the Captain’s behavior. Now he realized it must be because the Captain could use some Firemoon techniques. Now that Xu Qing knew that, everything made sense.

After all the time they had spent together over the years, Xu Qing was very used to how the Captain operated. In fact, if one day the Captain told him that he was actually a full-on god, Xu Qing wouldn’t be too surprised.

Therefore, Xu Qing stopped paying attention to the fight and went back to moving the mountain.

Meanwhile, the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator looked down grimly at the Captain and said, “You’re probably the most interesting human I’ve ever encountered. Fine. Since you’ve obviously mastered the Nine Breaths Submission technique, then perhaps you’re familiar with our innate ability. Can you do that too?”

With that, the cultivator lifted his hand to his forehead and pushed down. Instantly, his energy and blood surged, creating a blood mist that swept through the canopy of heaven. The sky vibrated as a vortex formed, complete with crashing bolts of blood-colored lightning. Within that vortex appeared something that would shock anyone who saw it. It was an unknown location in a great void. And within it was an enormous kunpeng bird! 1

A heavenly dao aura pulsed off it, and not an ordinary one at that. It was… one of the ancient heavenly daos of Revered Ancient! It was bound with countless chains, every single one of which was stabbed into its body. There was also a chain that served as an enormous whip that floated behind it and lashed it constantly.

It had innumerable wounds covering its body, making it look incredibly ghastly. Every lash of the whip sounded like the crack of heavenly thunder, and it provoked moans of agony from the ancient heavenly dao. It contained unimaginable pain, as well as a longing for death so intense it was difficult to put into words. The sound surpassed all natural and magical laws as it swept over Xu Qing and the Captain. Whatever it touched caused a sympathetic resonance, which carried with it pain and the desire to die.

This was the innate ability of the Firemoon Darkheaven people. In the past, they didn’t have an innate ability as a species, just extremely powerful fleshly bodies. But as the generations passed, that changed. As they grew more powerful, they generated a brand new innate ability.

They could capture and enslave ancient heavenly daos, and by whipping them could provoke howls of anguish. In turn, that anguish became destiny aura that bolstered their species. In terms of how many heavenly daos they had chained up like this, only their leaders and gods knew.

The anguished cry from the heavenly dao ignored cultivation base or any other obstacle. It directly hit Xu Qing and the Captain, filling them with a sensation of pain and the desire to die.

However… Xu Qing’s expression remained neutral, and the Captain was actually laughing sarcastically.

“Son!”

The Firemoon Darkheaven clearly misunderstood, as the coldness in his eyes grew more intense. But then, a crisp squeal echoed out from the void beyond the vortex. That sound contained astonishing personhood, and it immediately negated the kunpeng’s agony and caused the vortex in the canopy of heaven to collapse.

The Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator’s body went out of control, and he coughed up a massive mouthful of blood. Eyes filing with astonishment, he blurted, “What was that? What is that thing?!”

Gasping for breath, he started backing up at top speed. He had no desire to continue this fight. The good-looking human didn’t seem very impressive, but the extremely bloated and fat one was absolutely terrifying. Without any hesitation, he chose to flee.

The Captain, meanwhile, shouted, “Don’t go! Let’s fight a bit more!”

Frowning, Xu Qing said, “Stop fooling around, Eldest Brother.”

Xu Qing reached out with his right hand and made a grasping gesture. A black flame appeared out of nowhere, which rapidly became a sea of flames. Then a cry rang out from the golden crow tattoo on Xu Qing as it shot out into the form of a black spear. Intense rumbling sounds echoed out as the spear shot forth like a black dragon that could destroy the world.

In the blink of an eye, it was flying through the air. It looked like a spear and looked like a golden crow. Trailing fire behind it, it shot toward the fleeing Firemoon Darkheaven.

1. I’m sure many of you are familiar with kun and peng, or the “kunpeng,” which is a mythological creature (or you could think of it as two creatures). It has a fish form and a bird form. In ISSTH, I translated it as “roc.” Ten years ago when I started working on ISSTH, I was much more inclined to localize the translations. Though I still localize (and in fact its official WW policy to localize as best as possible when it makes sense), there are some areas in which my stance has changed over the years. And thus, in this instance I’m transliterating this mythological creature as “kunpeng” instead of calling it a roc. ☜