Chapter 323: Within the Nine Springs

Xu Qing looked at Master Shengyun.

Master Shengyun looked back at Xu Qing.

At almost the exact same instant that Xu Qing sprang into motion, Master Shengyun suddenly shot backward at top speed. As he surged with Gold Core power, a golden crow projection emerged from his right eye, letting loose a piercing cry as it did. The golden crow was bound by countless fetters of illusory magical symbols, which stretched from the crow's body all the way back into Master Shengyun’s eye. It was a very mysterious method which allowed Master Shengyun to command an imperial-class technique, Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits, and thus be blessed by added speed from the golden crow.

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However, Xu Qing was also astoundingly fast. In the blink of an eye, he was in the Young Arbiter Sect and heading right toward Master Shengyun.

As the Seven Blood Eyes disciples charged with deadly force into the sect, intense rumbling sounds suddenly filled Moonfall Gorge. The ground shook violently, causing it to crack open. Fiery shafts of light shot up from the cracks as a massive hand erupted from the ground and stretched high into the Young Arbiter Sect. It was fully 300 meters in size and was made completely of rock. The skin of the arm connected to the hand was covered with fiery magical symbols, and the blood that ran through its veins was lava.

Intense rumbling sounds echoed out as the ground shattered and a cloud of rubble rained down.

The hand stretched up, then slammed down onto the ground, creating another huge earthquake. It pushed down, and a massive stone giant rose high, covered in fire. Thousands of meters tall, it stood up and released a mad howl as fluctuations that far surpassed the Nascent Soul level erupted from it, sending out shockwaves everywhere.

Shockingly, a pitch-black coffin was plainly visible on the giant’s chest.

And on its head were two people.

Both wore black cloaks and had masks that resembled the broken face of the god. One stood and one squatted. They were not Night Dove and the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, but both emanated terrifying fluctuations, and the eyes visible beneath their masks were cold and indifferent.

“I can’t believe they found us.”

“Our lord and master was right. Before he left, he emphasized not to underestimate any of these people.”

“Given what’s happening here, it seems highly possible the Eight Sect Coalition has sent people to our other three sanctuaries as well.”

Torchlight was a large organization that had many more members besides Night Dove and the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan. Their conclave agents were all illustrious people, although the vast majority of their membership was made up of field agents like Master Shengyun. The field agents of Torchlight didn’t qualify to be in the conclave, and thus couldn’t wear the special masks. To qualify, one had to put on a Blood-Soaked Performance and possess a Nascent Soul cultivation base at the minimum.

These two were obviously Torchlight conclave agents assigned to Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. The moment they appeared in the open, Master Seventh’s gaze locked onto them. The primary goal on this trip to root out Torchlight from the Young Arbiter Sect had already been met. It had been to force the conclave agents into the open.

Master Seventh strode forward through the air directly toward the stone giant. As it glared back at him with eyes of madness, the two figures atop its head blurred as they launched attacks. When the two parties clashed, a massive boom rang out, and a tremor passed through the giant. Then its entire right arm collapsed and it staggered backward. Grim expressions appeared on the faces of the two masked agents. Master Seventh had single-handedly struck a blow so severe that it knocked three Spirit Trove enemies backward.

Meanwhile, the shockwaves of the fight were destroying the land and the canyon, sending Young Arbiter Sect disciples flying this way and that. They looked extremely alarmed, but in reality, they weren’t in a lot of danger. The Seven Blood Eyes disciples were completely focused on the Torchlight field agents, who were clearly visible because of the black energy they exuded.

The only complication was that, in the chaos, the Torchlight agents were doing their best to flee.

Even the field agents of Torchlight were both ruthless and extraordinary individuals. And given that there were more than a thousand of them present, it wasn’t an easy task for Seven Blood Eyes to simply wipe them out. That said, the Seven Blood Eyes taboo treasure had a huge range, and therefore, the Torchlight agents couldn’t get away that easily.

Meanwhile, in the other three sanctuaries, the Dark Serenity Sect, House of Grue Hunters, and Soaring Cloud Sword Sect were also fighting conclave agents.

In all four locations, intense fighting was going on. However, all of this... was a fishing expedition. The real purpose was to see if Night Dove and his lord would appear, and if so, where! This operation wasn’t some clever trap. It was open baiting!

There were

nets above and snares below

, because all of the great powers in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture were keeping a close eye on all four of the sanctuaries. The Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society was cooperating, and even the Church of Departure had joined in. Everyone was following the lead of the Swordsage Court. And right now, everyone was waiting to see what would happen.

At the same time, everyone was on guard against Torchlight

making a feint to the east and attacking in the west

, and popping up in one of the headquarters of the sects.

Xu Qing had already started to unleash slaughter. His eyes radiated killing intent as he attacked. He wore his violet embroidered robe and had on his Violet-Heaven Supreme-Limitless Crown. His two heavenly palaces had manifested as two umbrellas above him, one with seven colors, the other pitch black. His Gold Core cultivation base fluctuations were on full display. Behind him was a golden crow letting loose a piercing cry and surrounded by a sea of flames. Xu Qing looked absolutely ruthless.

A Gold Core Torchlight agent popped up in front of him, pulsing with the aura of a single heavenly palace. Xu Qing ignored his attack, and instead thrust out his hand, which was already illusory thanks to the Gruegloom Daoseizing Art. His hand pierced right into the man’s sea of consciousness, through his heavenly palace, to his gold core. With one vicious move, Xu Qing ripped it out.

After crushing and absorbing it, he moved on to a nonhuman chosen cultivator with four life flames. That chosen cultivator was famous among his people, but when Xu Qing hit him, he collapsed under a single blow, his body being shredded so badly he was unrecognizable.

Not even looking at him, Xu Qing had the golden crow devour him, then shot forward. In his right hand was a dagger of balefire which he thrust toward a burly Gold Core cultivator with a single heavenly palace. As he neared, the burly man’s face fell, and he backed up. Meanwhile, a two-palace cultivator some distance away closed in at high speed.

Xu Qing accelerated, reaching a speed even faster than before. In the blink of an eye, he was on top of the burly man. He slashed his dagger viciously through the air, and the burly man’s head flew off!

A moment later, the two-palace cultivator arrived and let loose an attack. Xu Qing looked up, his eyes flickering with killing intent as his Violet-Heaven Supreme-Limitless Crown released fluctuations of defense, blocking the attack. Then he clenched his hand into a fist and launched a punch!

Blood sprayed out of the two-palace cultivator’s mouth. His cultivation base was in the same level as Xu Qing, but his fleshly body wasn’t close to being the same. As the golden crow let loose a piercing cry, the man tried to back up. He was too late.

Xu Qing’s expression was cold as he grabbed the two-palace cultivator. In that moment of intense crisis, the two-palace cultivator whipped out a life-saving item to defend himself. However, Xu Qing completely ignored that and launched a vicious attack with his head.

One head-butt. Two. Three!

He also released poisons, including his beetles, which had some of the power of the taboo poison pill. Almost instantly, the two-palace cultivator’s skin started to melt. And then Xu Qing’s head slammed into him again. Blood sprayed everywhere along with a bloodcurdling scream.

Xu Qing’s hand pierced into the two-palace cultivator’s sea of consciousness, and the heavenly palaces therein. He grabbed the man’s gold cores, ripped them out, and then decapitated him. Then he continued across the battlefield at high speed. Any Torchlight agents that got close to him died, regardless of the level of their cultivation base. After all, no one higher than the three-palace level was there to stop him.

Blood sprayed as his dagger lopped off heads. Before long, there were dozens of heads rolling on the ground behind him, with headless corpses toppling down next to them. It was very shocking and ghastly.

Xu Qing radiated energy, blood, and a baleful aura that shocked anyone who saw him. Next in line was a three-flame Foundation Establishment cultivator. When Xu Qing slammed into him, he exploded into a mist of gore. Xu Qing emerged from the gore like an asura, not slowing down for even a moment as he cut down all Torchlight field agents who got in his way.

When Xu Qing spotted Gold Core enemies with three heavenly palaces, he avoided them. After all, there were Seven Blood Eyes elders present to handle them.

The battlefield was full of chaos, but Xu Qing’s gaze was devoid of chaos, and was fixed solely on Master Shengyun. Every move he made was ruthlessly efficient, and thus he pierced across the field of battle and closed in relentlessly. His killing intent grew even stronger.

Meanwhile, Master Shengyun’s expression was unsightly as he continued to flee.

Xu Qing closed in, his eyes wild, the golden crow behind him crying out loudly. As he neared, the golden crow suddenly seemed larger and more majestic. Rising high, it looked at everything below, then dove down. Xu Qing accelerated until he was only about 600 meters from Master Shengyun. To a Gold Core cultivator, 600 meters was a distance that could be crossed in the shortest of moments. Xu Qing was little more than a string of afterimages as he sped across that distance and appeared right in front of Master Shengyun.

Master Shengyun’s face turned vicious. Knowing that flight wasn’t an option, he tapped into the power of his heavenly palace. The golden crow behind him cried out as he performed an incantation gesture and shoved his hand in Xu Qing’s direction. Countless beams of sword light shot out, creating a sea of swords.

Xu Qing didn’t bother looking at them. His fist blasted through the sea of swords and landed right on Master Shengyun’s chest.

Master Shengyun’s defenses popped up to block the blow.

As that happened, Xu Qing thought about Master Sixth dying. He thought about what happened in the rain that night. And though the person in front of him wasn’t the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan, it caused his killing intent to burn to new heights. And it needed an outlet. Eyes bloodshot, Xu Qing launched a second punch, then a third, a fourth, and a fifth.... Each punch was stronger than the last. Each punch was backed by all of the power of his fleshly body and cultivation base. And they all contained some of his black beetles.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Booms echoed out as Master Shengyun staggered backward. He had defenses, but Xu Qing’s successive fist strikes caused them to ripple and distort. The physical resonance created by the attacks still caused problems for him, and soon he was uncontrollably coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

Xu Qing attacked like an unstoppable tempest, not giving any pause for rest. He summoned his heavenly saber and slashed it down. He tapped into the Ninefold Tsunami, sending wild walls of sea water forth.

Master Shengyun was visibly stunned.

Finally, Xu Qing’s eyes were completely bloodshot as he threw a final fist strike. At that point, the beetles had corroded Master Shengyun’s defenses enough that they were done for.

Xu Qing’s fist landed. The defenses exploded, and Xu Qing’s fist hit Master Shengyun’s chest. It was the final fist strike of Within the Nine Springs!

A tremor passed through Master Shengyun, and blood sprayed out of his mouth along with a frenzied shriek. Then a series of booms rang out inside of him.

His 121st dharma aperture exploded!

His eighth heavenly palace, still in its illusory state, shattered!

One fist had struck a mighty blow!