Chapter 113: Shadow Awakens

Xu Qing saw this and punched down. However, the tower's outer wall was incredibly tough, and a layer of protection instantly spread out, neutralizing the force of his punch. Yet, due to the Mermaid Race's Seven-Blood Eye formation currently active in the air, all cultivation and external forces were being forcibly suppressed to the Qi Condensation stage. This Foundation Establishment tower was no exception; its protective barrier was severely weakened. Although it neutralized Xu Qing's punch, it fluctuated violently.

Xu Qing watched this scene, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. He had no time to waste. He quickly formed a hand seal with his right hand, and the Dharma Boat beside him immediately hummed, turned, and slammed fiercely into the tower.

Xu Qing's Dharma Boat was already as sturdy as a Foundation Establishment artifact. One could say it was a Foundation Establishment Dharma Ship, lacking only a Foundation Establishment power source. With this powerful impact, the protective barrier outside the Foundation Establishment tower instantly shattered and collapsed. The tower's outer wall also cracked under the impact of Xu Qing's Dharma Boat.

Xu Qing retracted his Dharma Boat, and his body instantly shot forward, stepping directly into the tower through the damaged section.

Inside the tower, a Spirit Lamp flickered, casting Xu Qing's arriving shadow onto the wall. Xu Qing's figure didn't pause. Upon arrival, he reached for the burning Spirit Lamp. But just then, the young Mermaid in the midst of his breakthrough suddenly opened his eyes, a look of anxiety and fury on his face. He was about to speak but instead spat out a mouthful of blood. The cultivation energy within him instantly became chaotic, yet he gritted his teeth and pointed at Xu Qing. Immediately, a phantom mermaid formed behind him, striking fiercely at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing had no time to waste on him. He raised his right hand and unleashed a powerful punch, creating a storm that directly struck the phantom mermaid. The phantom instantly disintegrated. The young Mermaid behind it also coughed up blood wildly, his body sent flying to crash against the nearby wall. The wall, stripped of its protection, became ordinary and collapsed under the impact. The young Mermaid's body suddenly plummeted, his fate unknown.

Xu Qing paid no attention to the opponent. He quickly approached the Spirit Lamp and reached out to grab it.

But just then, his shadow, cast by the lamp's light, instantly distorted. For the first time ever, it moved on its own without Xu Qing's control! As Xu Qing raised his hand, his shadow also raised its hand. However, before Xu Qing could grasp the Spirit Lamp, his shadow suddenly extended further. A black hand, moving faster than Xu Qing's, instantly reached the Spirit Lamp, as if utterly disgusted by the burning light, and... snuffed it out!

Xu Qing's body stiffened abruptly. He instantly turned his head to look at the wall. His shadow had vanished from the wall after extinguishing the flame. Yet, Xu Qing's perception clearly registered the shadow's rapid retraction and its return to its normal appearance.

Xu Qing's expression darkened. He picked up the Spirit Lamp and held it. Now extinguished, the lamp looked unremarkable except for its distinctive design. However, Xu Qing's attention was no longer on the Spirit Lamp. He turned and stared coldly at his shadow, his face growing increasingly grim. The shadow's actions reminded him of the silent youth's message etched in the jade slip: "It's sleeping." Connecting the recent incident with the words from the silent youth's jade slip, Xu Qing felt as though a sleeping entity had been bothered by a sudden light, and in its impatience, instinctively reached out to put it out.

A terrifying glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. Suddenly, spiritual energy surged into the Spirit Lamp within him. After continuously gathering, with a "whoosh," the Spirit Lamp was re-ignited. Light spread around, causing Xu Qing's shadow to reappear on the wall.

The moment the lamp was re-lit, the shadow on the wall distorted under the illumination. Soon, it extended a black shadow-hand again, moving toward the Spirit Lamp in Xu Qing's hand, intending to extinguish it once more.

Xu Qing snorted coldly. His will instantly emanated, fully controlling the shadow. This made the shadow's hand pause beside the Spirit Lamp, and a faint struggle could be perceived. It seemed as though the shadow wanted to ignore Xu Qing's control and put out the light regardless.

"Are you sleeping, or just pretending to sleep!" Xu Qing said coldly. Simultaneously, he activated the purple crystal, generating a suppressive force that bore down heavily on the struggling shadow under his control. Xu Qing was very familiar with suppression; he occasionally performed routine suppressions, usually five or six times. But this time, as the rumbling echoed, Xu Qing suppressed the shadow thirteen times in one go. Under his suppression, the shadow trembled violently and grew increasingly dim.

Xu Qing's expression remained impassive, and he didn't stop. He suppressed it over twenty more times until the shadow twisted and shivered, even showing signs of fragmentation, before he finally paused. But this alone wasn't enough for Xu Qing. He stared coldly at the shadow, extended the lit Spirit Lamp towards it, and simultaneously released his control over it.

This time, however, the uncontrolled shadow dared not extinguish the lamp again. It trembled even more violently, not even daring to dodge, allowing the lamp's light to draw near.

Xu Qing's expression remained cold. He simply placed the Spirit Lamp entirely within the shadow. The lamp's light, within the shadow, changed color from dim yellow to an eerie dark green, brimming with strangeness. The shadow's trembling also reached its peak, yet it still dared not resist.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, about to speak, but suddenly his expression shifted. He looked down at the Spirit Lamp in his hand. When he had held the lamp moments ago, whether extinguished or lit, it hadn't shown any particularly strange changes. But now, placed inside the shadow, it faintly emitted a subtle fluctuation. At the same time, another fluctuation seemed to emanate from beneath the ground; the two fluctuations resonated with each other.

Xu Qing's expression changed. He immediately removed the Spirit Lamp from the shadow. The moment it was taken out, the fluctuation vanished as if it had never existed, and the lamp seemed to return to its ordinary state.

Xu Qing pondered. Amidst the shadow's trembling, he put the lamp back in. The fluctuation reappeared, and the guidance was very clear.

"This is..." Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He suddenly recalled the rumor about the clues to the Temple of Mier, mentioned in the jade slip given by the chubby kid. This made him form some conjectures.

Lost in thought, Xu Qing glanced coldly at the shadow. Regardless of whether it could understand, he spoke in a low voice: "You can go back to sleep now." After speaking, Xu Qing memorized the precise location indicated by the underground fluctuation. He extinguished the Spirit Lamp in his hand, put it away, then turned and leaped off the Foundation Establishment tower.

As he landed, he quickly scanned the surroundings, searching for the young Mermaid who had fallen earlier. The Mermaid had failed his Foundation Establishment at a critical moment and taken a blow from Xu Qing; he would be severely wounded, if not dead. Xu Qing's gaze swept over the area, landing on the ground not far away. A body lay there—it was indeed the young Mermaid. Clearly, the backlash from his failed Foundation Establishment had been too much for him. He hadn't crawled far after landing before he had breathed his last.

Still uneasy, Xu Qing launched several spells while descending and even scattered some poison powder. Only after confirming that the Mermaid wasn't feigning death did he approach, quickly crouching down to retrieve a storage bag from the body.

"His status isn't simple. He must have prepared Foundation Establishment Pills for his breakthrough. I hope he hasn't used them all." Xu Qing's heart stirred. He quickly opened the bag, smiled upon seeing its contents, put it away, and was about to leave.

But just then... applause echoed from not far away. Xu Qing abruptly turned his head and saw a figure approaching, applauding while holding half a small apple in his mouth. It was the Captain!

"Wow, Vice-Captain Xu, did you kill all these? Looks like you got a huge haul. You probably took that Spirit Lamp, didn't you?"

"I was a step too late," Xu Qing replied calmly, though his heart was on guard, his expression revealing nothing. At the same time, he wondered how the Captain managed to speak with an apple in his mouth.

Noticing Xu Qing's gaze, the Captain's expression didn't change at all. He took a bite of the apple, let it fall from his mouth, then deftly caught it with his right hand. He gave Xu Qing a showy look, then glanced at the sharp metal fragments on the surrounding corpses. "This is Dharma Boat damage, isn't it? Zhang San really invested a lot in your Dharma Boat, huh? By the way, when are you going to repay the two thousand spirit stones you owe me?"

"No money."

Xu Qing looked at the small apple in the Captain's hand. With an expressionless face, he took a much larger apple from his own pocket and began eating it.

The Captain froze. He looked at the large apple in Xu Qing's hand, then at his own small one, as if his apple suddenly didn't taste as good. He cleared his throat. "Stop acting, your acting skills are terrible, and I even taught you! You just took a Spirit Lamp, what's there to hide? I don't care for that thing; I wouldn't even take it if you gave it to me. It's not a Life Lamp anyway." The Captain's tone was a bit sour.

Xu Qing didn't reply.

"Why aren't you asking me what a Life Lamp is?" the Captain asked, surprised.

Xu Qing looked at the Captain and asked, "What is a Life Lamp?"

The Captain sighed. "Since you're my teammate and you owe me two thousand spirit stones, I'll tell you.

"A Spirit Lamp is actually a counterfeit, a very poor imitation of a Life Lamp.

"You should know about a Foundation Establishment cultivator's Profound Brilliance State, right? That's a high-burst state achieved by igniting the Life Fires within one's body. A cultivator can have at most three Life Fires.

"Forming the first Life Fire signifies the early Foundation Establishment stage. The second signifies the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, and the appearance of the third Life Fire means late Foundation Establishment. At this point, theoretically, one can attempt Core Formation.

"As for four Life Fires, that requires immense fortuitous encounters. And the Profound Brilliance State related to Life Fires has always been this way, even before the Divine Fragment arrived.

"But there's a special class of people—the direct descendants of ancient imperial rulers. Their path is completely different from ordinary cultivators. During Foundation Establishment, due to their unparalleled bloodline and imperial-grade cultivation techniques, what they manifest isn't Life Fire, but a Life Lamp!

"A single Life Lamp, mind you, holds the power equivalent to two Life Fires!

"Life Fires are rootless, while Life Lamps have a foundation. The former is like willow catkins, the latter like a bedrock. The superiority is immediately apparent.

"If you have one Life Lamp in your body, you can fight above your rank. With two, you'd basically have no opponent at the Foundation Establishment stage and would be qualified for Core Formation. With three, you'd be the top cultivator among all races below the Golden Core stage—unless, of course, your opponent also has Life Lamps.

"In this era, since the ancient imperial rulers departed multiple epochs ago, no one has been able to cultivate Life Lamps anymore. Only a few peerless grand prodigies on the Vast Ancient Continent, relying on their backgrounds and immense opportunities, manage to acquire a Life Lamp.

"The Life Lamps they obtain are inherited from the deceased descendants of ancient imperial rulers. When a person with a Life Lamp dies, the Life Lamp disperses, and others can acquire it and integrate it into their bodies to become their own Life Lamp.

"Of course, you don't need to worry about all that. Just consider it general information. Life Lamps are legendary items, extremely rare. Any single one could cause major sects on the Vast Ancient Continent to take action."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. If you want to achieve Foundation Establishment, you should try to get more Foundation Establishment Pills. You're in luck though, I happen to know the Mermaid Race has a large pill vault, and it should contain plenty of Foundation Establishment Pills. Come with me; there's nothing good left on the surface of this Mermaid Island.

"The real treasures are in the underwater world below. Hurry up, Zhang San probably already slipped in." The Captain licked his lips, his eyes gleaming, and pointed towards the ground.

Xu Qing's heart was shaken by the Captain's discourse on Life Lamps. He thought of the Spirit Lamp's guiding power, and his heart involuntarily pounded a few times faster.

"A Life Lamp?"

---

Dear readers,

Tonight at midnight, *Beyond the Era* will be officially available!

This book has reached 440,000 characters today. Time truly flies.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a massive update.

Tonight at midnight, a huge update is coming!!!

Er Gen has also recorded a video message for the release, which will be published tonight.

And in August, Er Gen plans to officially compete for the rankings. In August, I want to be number one.

Can we, cultivators of our generation, still fight?