Xu Qing wasn’t sure exactly how many delicious beasts there were in the Mountain and Sea Region. However, after arriving at the free mansion grotto the Captain had mentioned, he finally got a firsthand understanding of how supercilious the Firemoon Darkheaven people were.

During the Great Hunt, when Heavenfire City was opened up, everything was extremely expensive. After all, this location was the central core of Firemoon Darkheaven culture. The prices here were not the type that ordinary cultivators could afford. That was why Great Hunt participants were given free accommodations in the city.

That said, residents in the city were housed based on strict requirements, and were actually categorized into first-class, second-class, and third-class.

Only Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators and some of the other superior species qualified to get first-class mansion grottoes. Such mansion grottoes had individualized spirit energy, a blessing from God Mountain, and had their own private courtyards. Whether in terms of the luxury of the surroundings or the suitability for cultivation, they were the highest quality possible.

The second-class mansion grottoes were set aside for the Firemoon Darkheavens’ subsidiary species, and were much more utilitarian.

The third-class mansion grottoes were simple and crude, and were meant for inferior species from the outside who were participating in the Great Hunt. It didn’t matter that Xu Qing had placed his flag of species at the highest spot on God Mountain, thus clinching first place. He still didn’t qualify for a first- or even second-class mansion grotto. He had to pick from the third-class ones.

In some cases, the strength or weakness of a species would be reflected onto an individual member of that species. The only exception would be someone who was so incredibly strong they could rise above the reputation of their species. Unfortunately, Xu Qing was not yet at that level.

To the Firemoon Darkheaven people, any species who refused to be subsidiary to them was considered an inferior species. Not even Master Gravesparrow could do anything to change that. Nonetheless, he officially requested if he could transfer his first-class mansion grotto to Xu Qing.

The Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator in charge of the mansion grottoes was obviously not very pleased when Master Gravesparrow brought Xu Qing with him and asked to make an exception.

Frowning deeply, he said, “Absolutely not! He can stay in his assigned place or he can find somewhere else. Those are the rules here.”

The Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator tossed a command medallion to Xu Qing, then closed his eyes and ignored him.

Master Gravesparrow sighed inwardly. Looking at Xu Qing, he lowered his voice and said, “Fellow Daoist Xu, it’s getting late. Once the sun sets, the night curfew will start… and that’s coming soon.”

Xu Qing didn’t really care what kind of accommodations he had. However, after hearing about the curfew, he scanned the surroundings with divine will. Though the sun was about to set, there were still a lot of people on the streets. It didn’t seem very much like there was a curfew about to start.

“The curfew is for non-Firemoons, right?” the Captain said. He hefted the mansion grotto command medallion. “It’s free, so you have to stay there. If you don’t, it would be a big waste.”

Xu Qing retracted his divine will and nodded to Master Gravesparrow. With the Captain leading the way using the command medallion, they left.

Master Gravesparrow clasped hands and bowed, all while sighing inwardly. Having followed Xu Qing for such a long time, he was fully aware of the shocking level of his battle prowess.

It seems to me he’s only in the great circle of Spirit Trove, but he already has fourth-stage Void Returning battle prowess…. If a chosen like that was a Firemoon Darkheaven, he would be extremely popular and would be considered favored by the heavens. What a pity. It’s really too bad.

Master Gravesparrow sighed as he watched Xu Qing and the Captain disappear down the street.

Eventually the sun set and the moon rose. Xu Qing and the Captain had already found the mansion grotto he’d been assigned. In reality, it wasn’t actually a mansion grotto. It was more like a simple apartment. And it was in a remote location. That said, Xu Qing had never been one to worry much about where he stayed. Even if the apartment had been more crude, it was much better than the hovel where he had lived as a kid in the slums in South Phoenix.

Once inside, Xu Qing sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes to meditate.

The Captain also didn’t seem to care much about their accommodations. He took out a jade slip and started sending messages to unknown recipients, and in that manner, the night passed.

The next morning at dawn, the Captain winked and said, “Good morning, little Ah Qing. I asked around and found out that the second round starts in a month. We’ve got plenty of time on our hands. You just rest up while I work on gathering intelligence. I also have some personal matters to attend to.”

The Captain licked his lips and his eyes gleamed with anticipation and excitement. It reminded Xu Qing of when he was young and saw people in the scavenger basecamp walking toward the feathered tents.

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“Just be careful,” Xu Qing said.

“Don’t worry, seriously,” the Captain said, smacking his chest in the customary fashion. “Thanks to the Wordless Book of Stone, no one can possibly detect my aura.”

Rubbing his hands together, he left.

Xu Qing shook his head and went back to meditating.

A few days passed.

Xu Qing never went out, and the Captain never came back. Thanks to the time spent resting and recovering, Xu Qing’s exhaustion from all the slaughter had finally passed.

Might as well go for a walk. I wonder what kind of information I can buy about the Mountain and Sea Region.

With that, he left his residence.

During the days that had passed, more flags had appeared on God Mountain. Not one was as high as Xu Qing’s. As a result, the Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators were becoming increasingly irritated. To look up and see that flag of mountains and rivers flapping high above all the other flags filled them with discontent regarding Xu Qing. That negative attitude was plainly visible in the eyes of the people who spotted Xu Qing as he strolled through the city.

Xu Qing didn’t care. As he walked along, he heard bits and pieces of malicious conversation, but he chose to ignore them.

The first round was almost over, and there wasn’t any point in getting into fights without the possibility of getting more forbidden mountains. Besides… there were just too many people saying malicious things. Maybe he could kill some of them, but he definitely couldn’t kill all of them. Quite a few people stepped out to challenge him, but he didn’t think that any of them were worth it.

“Hey, human! Xu Qing!” All of a sudden, a jade slip flew out of the crowd to hover in front of him. Behind it, a young member of one of the Firemoons’ subsidiary species stepped out and stared coldly at Xu Qing. “How dare you walk around this holy city! I hereby challenge you to a fight to the death!”

Xu Qing looked at him, saw nothing of value, and kept walking.

The young man hadn’t actually been interested in fighting to the death. He was just taking advantage of the moment to earn some notoriety. He chuckled coldly as he watched Xu Qing walk away.

Similar challenges occurred frequently, and it was starting to annoy Xu Qing. That feeling intensified when he realized that the shops in the city were also categorized into grades and ranks, and there were some who refused to do business with him. The revulsion and malice being shown to him, and all the challenges, caused his gaze to turn ice-cold. He knew full well that all he had to do was take out the identity medallion from the clay fox, and he could resolve any such situations instantly. That medallion would allow him to enter any shop and buy anything he wanted.

But after glancing at God Mountain, he decided not to use the medallion. Instead, he sent a voice message to Master Gravesparrow. Then he returned to his residence. He was only there for a short time before Master Gravesparrow arrived with a host of information about the Mountain and Sea Region.

They hadn’t seen each other for a few days. After handing over the information, Master Gravesparrow bowed and left with a complicated look on his face. Xu Qing took note of that expression. It wasn’t hard to put himself in Master Gravesparrow’s shoes and understand the general reason for his disposition. He was a Firemoon Darkheaven, but he had spent a lot of time following around two humans that everyone seemed to hate. Presumably, he had dealt with the same type of sarcastic comments that Xu Qing had heard over the past few days.

As Xu Qing thought back to everything he had experienced so far in this city, he felt even more irritated. Finally, he started studying the jade slips Master Gravesparrow had brought with the information about the second round of the Great Hunt.

The second round would be held in the Mountain and Sea Region. It was a special location because it wasn’t inhabited by cultivators from any species. Instead, it was full of innumerable mutant beasts. Some lived isolated lives, while others roved about in groups.

For countless years, the Firemoon Darkheavens had been relocating beasts into the region, where they bred and proliferated. All sorts of mutant variations existed, including gruish creatures and animals that couldn’t be found anywhere else. For instance, the ‘ghost chariot’ Xu Qing and the Captain saw sometime before came from there.

The jade slip about the Mountain and Sea Region didn’t contain any information about how the region came to be. There were only a few scattered passages that hinted at the origin, and they related to some of the oldest legends of the Firemoon Darkheaven people.

That said, Xu Qing wasn’t particularly curious about such things. He mostly wanted to know about the most famous beasts from the place, as well as information about their habitats. After perusing the information, Xu Qing identified the top-ranked beast.

It was called a ‘ninedawns.’

It had a special place in Firemoon Darkheaven culture. Throughout the entire history of their species, there had only been one instance in which someone tamed a ninedawns. Specifically, it was the very first ancestral chief of the Firemoon Darkheavens, who was also the grand steward who led them to prominence. His mount was a ninedawns. After that time period, no one had ever succeeded in taming one.

Because of that, Firemoon Darkheaven cultivators held the ninedawns in the highest regard. Some even said that whoever tamed a ninedawns would earn the respect of the entire species, and would be worshiped by all the subsidiary species. There were a lot of stories about the ninedawns. However, none of them contained very many details. In fact, it wasn’t even clear if the ninedawns was a solitary species or if they lived in groups.

According to the jade slip, there were some old-timers among the Firemoon cultivators who knew how to tame a ninedawns. However, their gods had set forth very specific rules regarding the Mountain and Sea Region.

Specifically, it wasn’t permitted to go into the region except on special occasions. In fact, it was only during the Great Hunt that their gods would open the place. That was when the Great Hunt participants could go in and find mutant beasts to tame as mounts. Because of that limitation, it had been many, many years since a ninedawns was even seen.

The ninedawns were known to live in a location that had come to be called the Ninedawns Forbidden Lands. According to the jade slip, it was an extremely dangerous location that few people made it out alive.1

Ninedawns?

After going through all the information about the ninedawns, Xu Qing had the lingering feeling that some of the information was contradictory.

There’s definitely more to this story. But what…?

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment.

What kind of beasts are these ninedawns? Do they really have something to do with nine lanterns? 2

1. The Ninedawns Forbidden Lands does not follow the same naming convention as the forbidden regions or forbidden grounds. However, it does contain the same ‘forbidden’ character, thus my translation choice. As for what exactly it is, you’ll have to wait to find out…. ☜

2. The final line is a reference to the information the Captain gave Xu Qing in chapter 822. The top-voted comment for this passage was a screenshot from the Er Gen novel A World Worth Protecting chapter 955, in which the protagonist Wang Baole encountered a young man with violet hair surnamed Xu who had nine lanterns floating around him. Most readers believe that this young man was Xu Qing, and that the nine lanterns here are somehow related to that. ☜frёeweɓηovel.coɱ