Chapter 155: Dancing with the Clear Shadow

This time, Xu Qing didn't need to threaten it much; a single sentence made the Shadow tremble. In its terror, it seemed to instinctively tear itself in several places. A frantic consciousness urgently tried to transmit its thoughts to Xu Qing, as if fearing that any slowness would result in its annihilation. "Sea Corpse, eat quickly, break through, break through quickly!"

Xu Qing didn't bother to differentiate between "break through quickly" and "quickly break through" from the Shadow's panicked words, nor did he care if its frantic utterances were its true feelings. Instead, his gaze fell upon the black iron spike.

The black iron spike vibrated, and the Adamant Sect Patriarch materialized from within it. He had clearly composed himself in this short time. The moment he appeared, he immediately slapped his chest and spoke to Xu Qing with a firm tone.

"Master, rest assured! I only need to consume a few more dharma artifacts, and my spirit-artifact cultivation technique will break through. According to my humble estimation, at that time, the precious spike, under my control, can instantly achieve speed and sharpness comparable to the Mystic Radiance state."

"Although the duration won't be very long, I will certainly work even harder and never be a burden to my master. Especially since I've recently been researching how to self-detonate."

"I've thought it all through: I will share your concerns and anticipate your needs. My life is nothing. Should a critical moment arise, I will self-detonate, if necessary, to clear a path directly to the Ancient Sovereign Overlord for my master!"

The Adamant Sect Patriarch spoke with fervent passion, repeatedly slapping his chest. Even the trembling Shadow stopped shivering and stared in a daze. Xu Qing gave the Adamant Sect Patriarch a meaningful look and nodded. "I understand."

With that, Xu Qing withdrew his gaze. The Life Fire within him instantly extinguished from its burning state with a single thought. As it extinguished, Xu Qing's entire being dimmed, returning to his former state. The terrifying pressure he exuded also dissipated.

At the same time, returning from that powerful state and regaining his full senses caused Xu Qing a momentary discomfort. He even felt an impulse to reactivate the Mystic Radiance state.

But he suppressed this impulse.

In fact, it wasn't just Xu Qing; for any Foundation Establishment cultivator, the transition back from that astonishing Mystic Radiance state to their original condition would stir up emotions within them. The Mystic Radiance state is a super-burst of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's Dharma Apertures. During this burst, spiritual power and the Spirit Sea, including one's physical dharma body and everything else, experience rapid and significant enhancement. The consumption resulting from such an enhancement is, naturally, immense.

This necessitates Foundation Establishment cultivators to learn restraint and make efficient use of their Mystic Radiance state's duration. Generally, a cultivator with one Life Fire can sustain it for most of an hour. This duration is the limit; unless absolutely necessary, no one would challenge their limits with their Life Fire. Because once the Life Fire is completely depleted and extinguished under such extreme conditions, their Dharma Apertures will wither due to the severe over-exertion, becoming 'withered apertures.' Withered apertures are akin to waste, almost irreversible.

Xu Qing silently assessed himself, allowing himself to readjust to his normal state, then began to inspect his spoils of war from this engagement.

This time, four Sea Corpse race Foundation Establishment cultivators had died by his hand. What Xu Qing regretted most were the four dharma artifacts used by the teleported Life Fire Foundation Establishment cultivator when resisting his strike. At that moment, Xu Qing had just activated his Mystic Radiance state and was still in the Life Lamp state, so he couldn't precisely control the terrifying power within him, only unleashing a full-force blow. While he had shattered his opponent, those four dharma artifacts had also been torn to pieces.

"At least over a million spirit stones!" Xu Qing sighed at the thought but felt a little better after taking out the captured storage bags and inspecting them.

The storage bags of these Sea Corpse cultivators were much better than those he had encountered before, containing roughly three hundred thousand spirit stones in total. The only downside was that there was only one dharma artifact: the black-robed scholar's fan.

This fan could also enhance speed. Xu Qing looked at the Adamant Sect Patriarch nearby, who was clearly desperate for it but forcefully restraining himself, and tossed it over.

Instantly, the black iron spike hummed and directly pierced into the fan. The direction of entry was cunning: not through the fan surface but from beneath the fan ribs, leaving no obvious damage on the fan's exterior.

As it absorbed, the spiritual aura within the fan rapidly dissipated. When it finally turned dim, the Adamant Sect Patriarch contentedly pulled out the iron spike, then blew a breath onto the fan. This breath was peculiar; upon landing on the fan, the dharma artifact's dimness vanished, and it once again emitted a precious glow, appearing outwardly no different from before.

"It's just fragile!" the Adamant Sect Patriarch whispered. After saying it, he blinked, adopting a somewhat embarrassed expression, seemingly trying to convey that he wasn't a malicious person. Xu Qing, his expression unchanged, put away the fan, paying no mind to the Adamant Sect Patriarch's expression or words. At this moment, two Sea Corpse souls burst forth simultaneously within him, instantly opening his thirty-first Dharma Aperture.

"More souls are needed now!" Xu Qing felt that after his Dharma Apertures reached thirty, the required soul power became even more immense. Ordinary Foundation Establishment souls could no longer open a Dharma Aperture for him; only Life Fire souls could. Thus, after the thirty-first Dharma Aperture opened, the remaining power was insufficient to open the thirty-second.

As his spiritual power increased, Xu Qing shot forward, heading straight for the exit of the underwater world. He quickly neared it and, without slowing, burst out.

Before long, he followed the passage to the outside world. The moment he appeared, he saw countless Seven Blood Eyes cultivators soaring through the sky. The atmosphere of war on the Mermaid Race island was incredibly dense. The rumbling sounds echoed in the distance, while astonishing fluctuations resonated in the sky. Xu Qing's expression turned serious as he looked up towards the higher sky.

There, more than ten figures of high-ranking Seven Blood Eyes members were battling some Sea Corpse race individuals. The war intent on the distant sea was even stronger, with fierce fighting between both sides' cultivators. At the same time, rows of dharma artifacts constructed on the four islands unleashed torrents of light in various colors, striking the battlefield. Swords also flew out from the Sword Nurturing Pool, howling across the heavens and earth. The formations were similar.

Clearly, this war had reached a critical juncture. The counterattack from the Sea Corpse race was fierce, a fact further proven by the countless blinking missions in his identity token.

Xu Qing poured spiritual power into his token and immediately checked it. Countless missions appeared, mostly related to the front line, with extremely generous rewards. In the war mission list, which offered a Core Formation opportunity for killing ten thousand enemies, seven or eight individuals were already close to this goal. While Xu Qing rapidly reviewed these, he also submitted and completed the mission to search for teleportation arrays. However, he did not immediately choose his next task.

He knew very well that the most important thing before him now was how to explain possessing two Life Fires.

Unless he chose, for a considerable period, not to display two Life Fires in front of Seven Blood Eyes disciples, fighting with only one and revealing the second only in moments of life-or-death crisis.

Otherwise, he needed to prepare the groundwork in advance. Even if he only revealed two Life Fires at critical junctures, too many unforeseen circumstances could arise, making it hard to consistently avoid revealing them in front of Seven Blood Eyes disciples.

And once exposed, although he could explain it by "devouring souls in battle," and the risk wasn't massive, the chance of attracting attention wasn't absolute. However, it ultimately couldn't withstand scrutiny and posed a potential risk. The solution was also simple.

Xu Qing checked his identity token. It showed he had killed fifteen Sea Corpse Foundation Establishment cultivators and zero Qi Condensation cultivators.

"Too few," Xu Qing shook his head. With such low battle achievements, anyone with intent could easily discover anomalies with a single investigation. So, Xu Qing found a secluded spot, confirmed no one was around, and looked down at the Shadow, speaking calmly.

"Didn't you emit Sea Corpse aura before? Do it again for me." The Shadow seemed somewhat surprised, forming a question mark at Xu Qing's feet. "Do as you're told!" The Adamant Sect Patriarch seized the opportunity and quickly reprimanded it.

The Shadow felt aggrieved. After a moment, it emitted a wisp of Sea Corpse aura, but the moment it appeared, the purple crystal within Xu Qing violently suppressed it, instantly crushing that wisp. Then, amidst the Shadow's terror and confusion, Xu Qing checked his identity token and found that his Qi Condensation kill count had changed from zero to one.

"It was indeed as I had judged." Xu Qing's eyes lit up. When he had previously seen the Shadow emit Sea Corpse aura, he had wondered how the identity token recorded kill counts. Now, he was very satisfied with the test results.

The identity token was, after all, an inanimate object, and its recording method was relatively simple, using the collapse of aura and fluctuations as its judgment criteria. Under normal circumstances, this was not an issue, and it was not easy to tamper with. As for multiple people attacking together or a strong offensive, there was likely a different set of judgment criteria; though not perfect, it was generally acceptable. However, Xu Qing's peculiar Shadow was somewhat unique.

This was the solution Xu Qing had conceived. He planned to take on a large number of missions. On one hand, he would genuinely fight to refine souls and open apertures; on the other, he would rely on the Shadow to pad his battle achievements. Whether it was Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment kills, as long as the numbers were high enough, his combat power with two Life Fires would have a reasonable explanation. Especially during wartime, few people would pay close attention to him, and the Sea Corpse race was numerous, so padding his achievements, as long as it wasn't too excessive, would almost certainly have no loopholes. The only thing to consider was how many times the Shadow could withstand suppression.

Xu Qing only considered this for a moment before dismissing it. He figured that since the Shadow hadn't died after being suppressed so many times, it probably wouldn't "kick the bucket" so easily.

So, for the next two months, Xu Qing embarked on a frenzy of missions. Most of the time, he only used one Life Fire for combat, only activating his Life Lamp instantly when fighting alone.

But he was also wary of his identity token. When activating his Life Lamp, he would use the Shadow to obscure his identity token. At the same time, for every mission, he massively padded his battle achievements. He forcefully required the Shadow to occasionally display a wisp of Foundation Establishment aura and fluctuations, but it was only aura, without combat power.

This seemed to be the limit of the Shadow's current ability, which also added Foundation Establishment kills to Xu Qing's battle achievements. The Shadow's misery was so shocking that even the Adamant Sect Patriarch was horrified. Although it had nothing to do with him, for some reason, he was also terrified.

Several times, the Shadow truly seemed on the verge of collapse, but Xu Qing's genuine battle achievements during these two months were also considerable, allowing the Shadow to absorb them and barely sustain itself. Simultaneously, under Xu Qing's training, the Shadow's combat power seemed to have grown stronger than before, which greatly surprised Xu Qing. Xu Qing's Dharma Apertures also opened one after another, reaching forty.