Master Gravesparrow was both surprised and a little embarrassed at the Captain’s angry outburst. What’s wrong with this guy? I wasn’t talking about him!

All he had done was explain the rules of God Mountain, and therefore, couldn’t figure out why Xu Qing’s Eldest Brother would get so emotional. Then the speculations started…. Of course, no matter what fanciful things he imagined, he couldn’t possibly understand what was going on inside of Chen Erniu. However, it was obvious to him that the Captain was irritated in some way, so Master Gravesparrow simply put such thoughts aside and led them past the kneeling fourth statue and to the staircase beyond it.

As Xu Qing walked past the statue of the God Defiler, he couldn’t help but look over a bit more closely.

The Captain was right next to him. He rubbed his nose, looked at Xu Qing, cleared his throat, then projected a message via divine will.

“Don’t stare, little Ah Qing. How could I have guessed that after all these years, that not-man, not-woman, heaven-damned old fart Sunfire would do something as infuriating as this? Completely preposterous!”

The Captain snorted.

Xu Qing looked away from the statue as they neared the stairs. But then he couldn’t suppress his curiosity and replied to the Captain with divine will. “Eldest Brother, if Moonfire or Sunfire realize you’re here, is it possible thēy might slap you to death…?”

The Captain’s eyebrows shot up. “Why else do you think I got those Wordless words before coming here? Don’t worry. I have a foolproof plan at work. Sunfire is always asleep, and Moonfire is still digesting Crimson Mother’s flesh. As for the slutty fox, it doesn’t matter if hēr statue wakes up, as hēr true form is asleep. Besides, shē likes a good show, so shē won’t interfere randomly. We’re completely safe here.”

The Captain thumped himself on the chest.

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Xu Qing sighed and started preparing mentally for things to go awry. Taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the stairs.

The moment his foot touched the first stair, one of his over 1,800 forbidden mountains disappeared. It turned into a bright beam of light that merged into God Mountain.

As that happened, something fantastic happened to God Mountain. A host of flags appeared on it. It was a visual ranking system that stretched the entire length of the staircase. The flags were different colors and had different designs embroidered on them. They were also different sizes. The higher up the flag, the bigger it was, and the easier it was to see. In fact, even people in the city were able to see the larger flags.

Most of the flags were toward the bottom. There were tens of thousands of them. It seemed that 100 stairs was a major dividing point, as there were only about 2,000 flags after that point. Looking higher, it seemed that 500 stairs was a second dividing point, as there were only about 300 flags after that. Beyond that, the biggest flag was at about the 800th stair. It was huge and very eye-catching.

With a bit of observation, it was possible to determine that once you passed stair number 300, about eighty percent of the flags belonged to Firemoon Darkheavens. Below that point were flags from all sorts of species.

And now that Xu Qing had stepped onto the stairs, there was another flag there. It was a red flag, ordinary-sized and embroidered with mountains and rivers. However, the mountains and rivers seemed smashed and broken. That, combined with the blood-red color, made the flag seem somewhat depressing. It was the God Mountain flag that represented humankind! The moment it appeared, Xu Qing instinctively looked over at it.

At the same time, Master Gravesparrow quietly explained, “The last part of round one in the Great Hunt is to put your forbidden mountains into God Mountain. Every step you ascend will cause one of your forbidden mountains to disappear and become part of your flag of species.

“The flag of species will move with the cultivator as they ascend the stairs. When the last forbidden mountain disappears, the flag of species will be permanently located at that highest spot for that cultivator. The other flags of species are normally invisible. They only show up when someone comes to hand over their forbidden mountains.”

Master Gravesparrow’s forbidden mountain had also disappeared when he stepped onto the first stair, and another Firemoon Darkheaven flag of species had appeared on God Mountain.

“Normally speaking, one forbidden mountain is enough to pass the first round and get you into the second. Only cultivators who are trying to take first place in round one will bother to collect a lot of mountains.

“The flags of species are automatically formed by God Mountain, and conform to the characteristics of the specific species.”

Xu Qing nodded. Looking away from the human flag of species, he rose to the second stair. As he did, another mountain disappeared from over his head.

The red flag with the mountains and rivers came with him and got slightly bigger. And thus, he walked all the way to stair number 100.

At that point, the red flag with the mountains and rivers was much larger. It actually stood out compared to many of the other flags. The larger the flag got, the more obvious it was that the mountains and rivers were broken. In fact, it was also possible to see corpses littering them.

Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to that, though. Looking up the stairs at the other flags of species, he continued climbing.

200. 300. 400….

When he reached stair number 500, there were tens of thousands of flags below him, and not many above.

Because of how quickly he was ascending the stairs, all of the flags were clearly visible to everyone. And the fact that the bright red flag was getting bigger and bigger ensured that everyone was looking at it. Although many Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators had prepared themselves mentally for this, seeing it happen with their own eyes was still a shock.

“It’s Xu Qing!”

“I saw him earlier and could tell he was walking toward God Mountain….”

“What hubris! I can’t believe a human is hoisting their flag of species so high in our Great Hunt!”

“It’s all the fault of our species’ chosen cultivators! None of them even tried to stop him. Well, there was Tuo Shishan, but all he did was compete in sealing magic. If one of them had just stepped in, then this human wouldn’t look so cocky!”

The Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators were obviously not very happy, and their antagonism was only growing stronger. Around that time, Xu Qing reached stair number 500. As he stood there with clouds drifting past, he looked up at the handful of flags higher up the stairs.

More than 1,300 stairs to go!

He started climbing again as fast as he could. Soon he reached stair number 600. Then 700. Eventually, he reached what was previously the highest stair with a flag on it. He didn’t stop. The red flag had now surpassed all of the Firemoon Darkheavens’ flags of species, and was the most prominent flag on the mountain. And Xu Qing still had more stairs to climb!

900 stairs. 1,000 stairs.

He moved quickly, and the red flag moved with him.

More and more Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators were watching. As the red flag with the mountains and rivers got higher and higher, their hearts burned with increasing humiliation. As a superior species, it was only natural that the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators were a proud lot. But in a moment like this, that sense of solidarity and pride as a species would only lead to increased shame.

What was more, the humans’ flag of species wasn’t just visible to ordinary cultivators. The Firemoon leadership in Heavenfire City were all able to look up and see that flag with the mountains and rivers. Many an odd facial expression could be seen.

In particular, there was the Firemoon noble from the palace in the forbidden region. When he looked at Xu Qing on God Mountain, and sensed the hostility from the cultivators of his species, he smiled broadly.

Time passed, and the flag of mountains and rivers got higher and higher. 1,200 stairs. 1,400 stairs. 1,600 stairs….

Finally, high above the clouds, on stair number 1,873, the red flag with mountains and rivers flapped in the wind. It was fully 3,000 meters wide, and was far beyond any of the other flags! Everyone could tell that countless heroic cultivators had been surpassed. And this seemed to be only a harbinger of what was to come! Nothing like this had ever happened in all of the Great Hunts that had occurred throughout the years. Never had a human taken first place in the first round.

As the humans’ flag of species flapped in the wind, Heavenfire City below was completely silent. Countless eyes were fixed on the red flag with mountains and rivers that was now clearly visible on God Mountain.

Xu Qing looked at the flag with a slightly dazed expression. He wasn’t really sure how to describe his feelings. Eventually, he turned around and walked back down. As he descended, he could hear a commotion building in the city below. He didn’t pay any attention to that. At the bottom of the staircase, he found the Captain waiting for him.

The Captain grinned. “What did it feel like to stand there?”

Xu Qing looked back at God Mountain. He shook his head. “Sadly, I couldn’t make it all the way to the top.”

The Captain laughed. “You did well enough. You’ve already pissed off the Firemoon Darkheavens to the point where they hate you. After all, you just planted your flag on their mountain.

“But the Firemoon Darkheaven leaders have achieved their goal. The reason they permitted you to show up and slaughter people left and right is that they want to light a fire under the current generation of cultivators here.

“To make a pack of wild dogs more vicious, you need a wolf to come in and rile things up. That’s what’ll really set them off. You, my friend, are the wolf. Or, as I like to put it, the one who stirs crap up. As you can well imagine, there are going to be a lot of people watching you in the second and third rounds. Which is fine, right? That way you can have plenty of enemies to kill along the way!”

“You come up with some great analogies, Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing said coolly.

The Captain blinked a few times. Truth be told, he felt very pleased with himself at his perfect analogies.

“Let’s go,” the Captain said. “Little Gravesparrow just told me that we’ll have some downtime before the second round. We need to find a place to stay. Sadly, things here are really expensive.

“The upside is that all participants in the Great Hunt get a free mansion grotto. And of course, I can stay with you. We definitely can’t let something like that go to waste. By the way, I also found out that the second round will be just as I expected.

“The Great Hunt will continue in the Mountain and Sea Region!” 1

The Captain licked his lips. “Believe you me, little Ah Qing, there are a lot of very delicious beasts in the Mountains and Sea Region. Once you have a taste, you’ll never forget it!”

1. The “mountain and sea” reference here contains the same “mountain and sea” characters from I Shall Seal the Heavens. However, that doesn’t inherently imply a connection. For one thing, we already had a “mountain and sea” reference in this very novel. Secondarily, the author draws very heavily on the Classic of Mountains and Seas throughout his various works. I’m not saying definitively that there’s no connection. But the mere mention is not sufficient to link the two. ☜