Chapter 757: Who’s Playing Go?

As the terrifying aura spread out, the isolated dimension filled with infinite fluctuations. The lake water rose up, the air distorted, and the rain vibrated. Clouds appeared in the sky of the dimension, rapidly swirling into a rumbling vortex. It connected with the mist coming off the lake, thereby linking heaven and earth like a tornado. A ghastly pressure weighed down on everything as rain poured down in torrents.

Thanks to the spinning tornado and the terrifying aura, the black talisman shivered. Cracks spread out across it, and they leaked pitch-black blood.

Similarly, cracks appeared on the long street, which was now a talisman. The mist seethed, releasing a terrifying power that surpassed either of the two talismans. Then something unimaginable happened.

A blurry face appeared on the talisman, glaring at Xu Qing in the mist. Though its facial features weren’t clear, its grim expression was intense. At the same time, the fifty-two chains stretching out of the lake water began to sway. As howling sounds emerged from the mist, seven of them started collapsing!

Rumbling sounds emerged from the lake water as the chains shattered and turned into ash. The threads of water coming out of the lake were also ripped to pieces.

Seeing that, the face in the black talisman scowled defiantly and then spoke in a gruish voice.

“The Dao Paragon asks: water fiends cross over, eradicating ghosts and driving out monsters, but how can it be done? We do answer: they who ignore our orders lose their heads!”

A sound like the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves echoed out in all directions. The water rippled violently as a saber emerged from it, which aimed at Xu Qing and then slashed down. It moved with incredible speed, slicing through raindrops, cutting apart the air, and shattering space with destructive power. At the same time, the black talisman burst into green flames that bolstered it as it tried to seal Xu Qing.

The street-talisman also erupted with power as it closed in on Xu Qing.

Xu Qing, who was the focus of everything, was in the middle of the violently churning mists. Trembling, he threw his head back and unleashed a roar that hardly sounded human. Indescribable pain wracked him in both body and soul. It felt like his god body was being ripped apart, causing poisonous gas to spill out everywhere. In the blink of an eye, all of the chains emitted cracking noises, and seven more of them collapsed.

Forty of the nails that had stabbed into him were forced out, where they spun off to the side amidst loud popping sounds. Then they sped out of the mist toward the water saber. Loud pinging sounds could be heard as forty holes were punched into the saber. Then the nails continued toward the black talisman and the street-talisman. They pierced through them.

The black talisman was now riddled with damage, and the street-talisman lost an entire section. As a result, the sealing power within them diminished, and the mist seethed more violently. Intense rumbling sounds echoed out continuously as the remaining chains, threads, and nails collapsed one after another.

The dilapidated water saber continued forward, but couldn’t reach the mist before shattering. In the end, the final chain, the final thread, and the final nail collapsed, and the mist expanded explosively. Then, as more rumbling sounds could be heard, the mist contracted, shrinking in on itself to reveal a shocking figure.

Ancient. Dark. Deadly. Those were the sensations this figure emanated. There was no skin visible, only black armor. That included the head. Especially terrifying was that, in the location of the eyes were two glowing balls of netherworld fire. The figure seemed icy cold and completely fear-inspiring. Black streams of mist rose from the armor, gathering behind it to form a massive black cloak. As the vortex in the canopy of heaven covered everything, boundless poison and decay filtered down. This figure looked like a fiend or devil!

This was Xu Qing in his second-level god state. In this state, all living beings would wither and die in his presence. That also applied to the yin-yang water fiend strategy.

Xu Qing looked up and started walking forward. Everything trembled. Appearing in front of the black talisman, he reached out with an armored hand. The talisman burst into flames, emitting black streams of smoke like black dragons. They roared and snapped at Xu Qing, but before they could even get close, they emitted agonized shrieks.

In Xu Qing’s current state, his poison was so incisive that it could infect all things. The black dragons screamed as they collapsed into nothing. Xu Qing, with this pitch-black helmet and armor, with only the eyes visible as glowing netherworld fire, ignored the screaming dragons as his hand clamped down onto the talisman. A cracking sound rang out as the talisman collapsed, and the dragons turned into black ink that fell into the water below.

Xu Qing knew that he couldn’t stay in this state for very long, so after destroying the talisman, he turned his cold gaze onto the street.

At the far end of the dilapidated street was a shadowy figure. It was very gruish, as it wasn’t made from flesh and blood, but rather, from black paper. It stood at the end of the street-talisman, its painted eyes glimmering with cold light as it stared at Xu Qing.

“I present the ghostly spirit netherworld magic; rivers, lakes, suns, m—”

Xu Qing didn’t wait for the confusing words to be fully spoken. Without hesitation, he launched himself toward the paper person with terrifying speed.

The paper person’s facial expression didn’t change as he bent backward and merged into the talisman. There, he continued speaking.

“—moons, mountains, rivers, stars, and heavenly bodies are all within my command. I let bright be bright, and dark be dark. Let the curse be enforced like law forthwith!”

By the time Xu Qing arrived, the voice was already dispersing. At the same time, the street-talisman rippled, with both ends curling up and racing toward Xu Qing.

They were like two waves backed by terrifying force.

Seeing that, Xu Qing extended his right hand and then shoved it downward. When it hit the surface of the water, the entire dimension trembled, and everything began to decay.

The water turned black as even the natural laws were infected. Everything became a part of the poison, and thus, under Xu Qing’s control. The vortex descended, connecting to the poison mist, and then crushing down onto the paper person.

A boom rang out like the clanging of a bell, accompanied by a sound like shattering glass. The sealing of the yin-yang water fiends collapsed.

The world returned to normal. The street was a street. The rain water fell down.

At the same time, strips of black paper fell down, mixing with the rain. Xu Qing reached out and grabbed a handful of them. His body returned to normal, and now that he was leaving his god state, blood oozed out of his mouth.

Whistling sounds reached his ear. This fight had taken place in the middle of the imperial capital, and though magical techniques had been used to conceal it, it was a given that it would be noticed eventually.

Xu Qing didn’t move. Keeping his guard up, he looked around, all while taking out a jade slip and sending some voice messages.

Moments later, several swordsages arrived. They were assigned to patrol this area, so they were the first to show up. When they saw the bits of black paper falling down around Xu Qing, their expression flickered and they exchanged glances. Clearly, something big had just occurred!

After all, this was the imperial capital. Attempted assassinations were a big deal, especially considering the target was Xu Qing. That made this entire thing even uglier.

The swordsages immediately began looking for clues.

Before long, two prismatic beams of light appeared, shooting through the air toward the street where Xu Qing stood. One was Plumdark, the other was Li Yunshan.

When Xu Qing saw the two of them, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Yunshan’s expression was grim as he scanned the area. Plumdark looked furious, though after confirming Xu Qing wasn’t hurt, her expression softened. Li Yunshan opened his mouth to speak, but Xu Qing shook his head.

“I’ll explain in private.”

Li Yunshan nodded. Escorted by the two of them, Xu Qing went back to Ningyan’s mansion. The trip went without incident.

Once inside, they activated all of the defenses. The Captain, who had been gone for a few days but was now back, had a very serious expression on his face. He, along with Plumdark and Li Yunshan, looked at Xu Qing.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“It was a well-laid trap,” Xu Qing said calmly. “Meng Yunbai invited me to go with him to the Red Dust Pavilion. He knew the general way I would return, so he’s definitely a suspect. In the Red Dust Pavilion, I met the junior emperor from the Star Emperor Preeminence Sect. He and I had a bit of a conflict, so he’s also on the list. Everyone else that was there, including Huang Kun, should be looked into. That said, they’re too obvious as suspects.

“There are probably other forces lurking in the shadows as well, possibly with different reasons for attempting an assassination. Seventh Prince obviously has a motive.

“The assassin was a paper person without any life force. He looked more like an avatar of some sort, with a cultivation base beyond Spirit Trove. It was actually Void Returning.... What’s more, the magical technique he used was, by his own words, a dao curse. It involved ghostly spirits. That said, it was all too obvious, and seems like a possible misdirection.

“Additionally, there are some things about the assassination attempt that seem suspicious.

“First, why try to kill me here in the imperial capital? If I died, it would be a bad thing for many parties here. That said, those parties seemed slow to notice what was going on.

“Second, although the assassin seemed strong, whoever orchestrated this had to know about my Dawning Sun, as well as all of my various accomplishments. Why would they only deploy a single assassin?

“Third, during the fighting, I got the impression that the assassin was expecting to die. He wanted me to use my Dawning Sun. That said, I’m not sure if the assassin wanted me to think that, or if it was just a random thought.”

Xu Qing went into a detailed explanation of every aspect of the assassination attempt. When he was done, he held out his hand, within which was a piece of black paper.

“In the end, I feel like this assassination attempt wasn’t actually an attempt to kill me. I think it was an attempt to turn me into a game piece, and guide me into a course of action to benefit the mastermind.”