Chapter 124

Chapter 124: Xu Qing is also Crazy

Xu Qing’s heart shook as he stared at the mural. Suddenly, the black umbrella lamp depicted in the mural started shining brightly, as if it wasn’t just a drawing but instead real. The light broke out of the mural and shone in the outside world.

At the same time, the Spiritual Breath Lamp in Xu Qing’s hand shone brighter. It seemed to resonate with the light coming from the mural, suddenly exploding into a sea of light.

Xu Qing’s expression changed drastically. There was no time to back away, and his figure was instantly enveloped by the sea of light.

As the sea of light faded, it could be seen that Xu Qing… had disappeared!

A long time passed, or maybe it was just a moment.

When Xu Qing’s perception went from blurry to clear, the first thing he noticed was a terrifying pressure slamming toward him, like the roar of some peerless beast.

It was clearly only pressure, and not actual sound, but it still made Xu Qing’s ears buzz, as if his eardrums were about to collapse. Blood flowed out of his ears.

But it wasn’t just his ears. His nose also bled, and his eyes stung, making it impossible for him to open them.

His body trembled violently, as if his internal organs were vibrating.

As his body was wracked with intense pain, Xu Qing didn’t dare to touch anything. After all, he couldn’t even open his eyes.

All he could do was squat down and instinctively ready himself for action. At the same time, he scattered poison powder all around and even took out the black skewer. Without any hesitation, he released the Vajra Sect ancestor from his seal.

As soon as the seal was released, the Vajra Sect ancestor woke up and immediately wailed miserably.

“Master, I was wrong, I was really wrong… Heavens, what is this place? This…”

“Master, are you planning to leave me here to be tortured for all eternity? In the ancient books I’ve read, there are many characters who end up like this…”

“Master, I sincerely surrender. I’ll definitely obediently be your artifact spirit, please don’t kill me. I was wrong, I- I’ll confess! Actually, I buried a lot of spirit stones in a hidden place. Also, I promised a lot of money to some friends and told them to hunt you down if they ever lose contact with me.”

“Master, I’ll tell you who they are right now, I’ll kill them for you, I-”

“Shut up!” With his eyes still shut, Xu Qing gritted his teeth.

“What do you see around here? Speak!”

The Vajra Sect ancestor trembled, but he didn’t dare to disobey. His life soul was in Xu Qing’s hands, and he could be killed with just a thought.

Thus, he quickly opened his mouth and spoke in a trembling voice.

“Master, there seems to be an altar here. It’s surrounded by a sea of bones. We’re up on a cliff, and there’s a set of stairs leading down to a path. The path goes through a canyon with cliffs on both sides, and at the end is a round altar.”

“Around the altar is a huge sea of bones, and there are three terrifyingly huge statues!”

“The statues are standing side by side?” Xu Qing asked in a low voice.

“No, one is standing and two are kneeling.” The Vajra Sect ancestor didn’t know that he had just narrowly escaped death.

“Continue.” Xu Qing said.

“The one standing is a god-like giant with a nine-headed snake wrapped around its body. This… what the hell is this? I feel like I’m going to go blind just looking at it. If I weren’t an artifact spirit without a corporeal body, I might really have gone blind just now… And the other two… Master, I was wrong, I was really wrong, where the hell is this place…”

Xu Qing’s heart shook. Judging by the Vajra Sect ancestor’s words, he was really inside the world of the mural.

After thinking about it for a while, he didn’t speak, instead sealing the Vajra Sect ancestor back up into slumber. Then he waited silently for his body to recover and adapt to his surroundings.

It wasn’t until an entire incense stick’s worth of time passed that Xu Qing gradually adapted to the pressure under the ceaseless working of the purple crystal’s recovery power.

Although severe pain still wracked his body and he still felt like he was about to collapse, he managed to open his eyes and observe his surroundings.

The Vajra Sect ancestor had been telling the truth. This immense place Xu Qing was now in almost seemed like another world.

The set of stairs in front of him was made up of enormous steps, seemingly not made for humans at all. The three god-like statues ahead gave off a peerlessly majestic aura.

The unbearable pressure Xu Qing felt was coming from them.

Xu Qing’s eyes stung, and they had already begun to bleed. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to keep looking. His pupils contracted as his vision finally fell on the black umbrella lamp in the mouth of the snake wrapped around that giant figure.

The black umbrella lamp shone with brilliant light and an auspicious glow, reflecting on the worlds on the giant’s shoulders and making them seem almost alive.

Xu Qing’s breathing hastened, and his heart pounded in his chest. His mind buzzed as he stared at the black umbrella lamp with wide eyes.

“Life lamp?”

Xu Qing’s mind trembled as he recalled the captain’s description of life lamps. An indescribable longing rose up in his heart.

Although he had already guessed it to some extent, he was still shocked now that he saw it with his own eyes.

There really was a life lamp here!

If this matter got out, the great competition outside would likely come to a close immediately. All eyes would gather here, and the Seven Sects Alliance of the Ancient Hope Mainland would rush over immediately.

Compared to this single life lamp, the entire merfolk race was completely insignificant.

The merfolk race obviously had no idea that there was a life lamp here. If they did, they would have already offered it to a larger faction in exchange for protection.

If not for the strange shadow, Xu Qing wouldn’t have been able to find this place either.

As Xu Qing stared at the life lamp, waves crashed in his mind. However, he didn’t act rashly, instead taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

He lifted his hand and wiped away the blood flowing from his eyes. With the purple crystal’s recovery power circulating ceaselessly, he was already in a much better physical state than before.

A long moment later, Xu Qing had finally calmed down a little. He looked up at the lamp again and the light of determination gradually appeared in his eyes.

He slowly walked forward, reaching the edge of the cliff and looking at the huge stairs leading down to the sea of bones. But as soon as he jumped down and touched the second step, the pressure of this place, which he had gradually grown used to, suddenly multiplied.

Xu Qing’s body trembled again, and he couldn’t help but cough up a mouthful of blood. His face was extremely pale as he immediately sat down cross-legged to adjust his breathing.

Some time passed before he gradually recovered. Xu Qing gritted his teeth and continued to walk forward on the enormous step. It was difficult for him to even move, and his body trembled every time he set his foot down. He was already bleeding from his seven orifices, and his bones seemed on the verge of collapse.

Finally, he arrived at the edge of the second step. His body had already reached its limit, and his vision had turned blurry.

Xu Qing knew that he couldn’t continue. He was certain that the moment he tried to touch the third step, he would face great danger.

But as he stared at the life lamp in the distance, he felt a strong unwillingness to leave just like that. He looked down at the ground under his feet.

Light was shining from the front, so his shadow was cast behind him. Xu Qing looked at his shadow and narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly, opened his mouth and spoke.

“Wake up. Didn’t you want to extinguish a lamp? Go.”

As he spoke, Xu Qing immediately exerted control over the shadow. The shadow instantly twisted and distorted, slowly stretching forward, almost unwillingly, toward the light ahead.

Beneath the blinding light, the shadow couldn’t be seen clearly as it stretched forward. Xu Qing was only able to sense it through his perception. Soon, the shadow landed on the third step.

There was no pain.

Xu Qing’s eyes glowed, and he continued controlling the shadow to move forward, to the fourth step, then the fifth…

Finally, the shadow completely descended the giant staircase, reached the altar down below, and began moving toward the three statues in the sea of bones.

Xu Qing didn’t know how far the shadow could stretch.

However, he could feel that the farther it stretched, the more effort he needed to control it. Furthermore, it seemed to become more unstable and recalcitrant the farther away it was from him.

By the time it was right in front of the three god-like statues, the sense of instability coming from the shadow grew increasingly intense, and Xu Qing found that he was unable to force it to move forward any more.

Xu Qing’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the life lamp. Sensing the shadow refusing to move, there was nothing else he could do but activate the purple crystal. He was going to slam the shadow with the crystal’s suppressive force and see if that could force it to stretch a little further.

This was originally a last resort out of desperation. However, before the suppressive force descended, the originally unstable shadow suddenly trembled. As if pushing itself past its limit, it suddenly stretched out a distance further.

It managed to crawl over the giant’s body, reaching a distance just a single step away from the life lamp held in the snake’s mouth.

But this time, it seemed to really be at its limit. The shadow trembled visibly, as if it were on the verge of tearing apart.

Even when Xu Qing finally sent the suppressive force, the shadow couldn’t make it any further. It even showed signs of retreating, as if it really couldn’t bear it anymore.

This made Xu Qing narrow his eyes. He had never trusted the shadow, and he didn’t know if the pitiful appearance being put on right now was genuine or deliberate. Starring at the shadow, he spoke in a low voice.

“If I can’t get the lamp, then once I leave… Even if I’m about to die, I’ll suppress you to death first!”

Xu Qing’s voice was very calm.

However, his words seemed to contain the most terrifying threat possible for the shadow. It trembled violently and tried its hardest to cross the gap, but it clearly could go no further and was about to be torn apart.

Sensing this scene, Xu Qing finally believed that the shadow had reached its limit. His eyes showed determination, and he first pulled out all his defensive talisman treasures before summoning his magic boat and activating its barrier with full power.

Climbing on board the magic boat, he took out a large number of spirit stones and placed them into the grooves of the array in order to power up the barrier even more.

Finally, he took a deep breath and moved the magic boat forward, appearing in the air just above the third step.

As soon as he moved forward inside the magic boat, the shadow also moved a step forward and made contact with the life lamp in the snake’s mouth.

But before Xu Qing could do anything else, a monstrous pressure erupted, roaring toward him.

His magic boat was unable to bear it at all. The first to collapse were the defensive sails that Zhang San had innovated. They were instantly torn apart and the boat was sent flying backward.

Second was the protective barrier, which collapsed and exploded a moment later. All the spirit stones he had added seemed to be useless, and the boat was knocked backward even faster.

Third was the bow of the ship. Divinity from the sea lizard skin burst out, but it was still unable to resolve this pressure. The bow was immediately torn apart, as well as the front half of the whole ship.

After wrecking the boat, the pressure fell on Xu Qing’s talisman treasures.

The talisman treasures flickered rapidly to block the pressure, but the runes on them dimmed almost instantly. Their protection disappeared and the remaining pressure landed directly on Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s whole body trembled violently, as if he had been hammered by a mountain, and he coughed up a huge mouthful of blood.

Almost all his bones shattered instantly, and his flesh and blood broke down. At that moment, his magic boat was finally forced back to the limit of the world. Light shone around him, and Xu Qing and a broken magic boat were suddenly shot out of the mural back into the temple in Juying Island’s underwater world.

The force with which they were sent flying was so great that even after crashing into the wall and breaking it open, Xu Qing’s magic boat still drew a gash hundreds of meters long in the ground before coming to a stop.

Blood poured out of Xu Qing’s mouth incessantly, and bones poked out from broken flesh all over his body. Of those bones, many were cracked and shattered.

There was a huge gash on his stomach that seemed to almost split his body. Only a small part of his robe was left, and all in all, he was in an extremely miserable state.

Large amounts of blood poured out of his body and filled the surroundings. Xu Qing’s vision blurred, and his injuries were unprecedentedly severe, but his right hand was firmly holding a certain object.

It was… the life lamp that the shadow had brought back from the world in the mural!

“Can’t pass out!”

Xu Qing bit his tongue to stay awake, and took out a large number of pills from his storage bag with difficulty. Rather than swallow them, he directly pressed them on his wounds. Then he scattered poison powder all around him.

He didn’t have time to check the life lamp carefully, so he quickly put it in the storage bead he had gotten from the Vajra Sect ancestor.

He was worried that this wasn’t secure enough, so he put the storage bead in a storage bag. Still feeling worried, he put the storage bag in another storage bag. With so many layers of separation, the aura of the life lamp was completely hidden, unable to be felt at all.

There was still some divinity left in the run-down magic boat. Xu Qing didn’t have time to feel any heartache as he immediately turned the divinity into a barrier that concealed his surroundings.

After that, Xu Qing spat out another mouthful of blood. He felt a strong sense of weakness in his body. More than that, he could feel the call of death…

The purple crystal emitted a bright light that continuously flowed throughout his body, gradually healing his wounds.

But the recovery brought with it even more severe pain that left Xu Qing unable to stifle his groans. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself not to fall unconscious as he waited in suffering for the purple crystal to finish healing him.

Previous Chapter

Table of Contents

Next Chapter