Chapter 217: White Li Soul Pill

Time passed.

At Port 176 of Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing sat cross-legged on the deck of his Dharma Ship. As the vessel swayed, he gazed at the distant world. It was sunrise, and red clouds ascended on the horizon, as if flames were engulfing the sky. Xu Qing watched in silence.

Half a month had passed since the annihilation of the Sea Star Race. Over this period, the storm ignited by the Sea Star Race incident continued to rage. As Seven Blood Eyes publicized the atrocities of the Sea Star Race and Bai Li, a Candled Illumination member behind them, and as one clan after another discovered the reasons for their geniuses' disappearances, their fury towards the Sea Star Race and Candled Illumination intensified immensely.

Though the Sea Star Race was destroyed, its three allied races still existed. Thus, Seven Blood Eyes didn't need to act. The clans who had lost their geniuses mobilized, heading to these three races. There, they found large numbers of horsehair worms and abundant evidence. Consequently, those three severely weakened races were swiftly obliterated by other clans.

Six Master's intervention further elevated Seven Blood Eyes' reputation, particularly with its Sixth Peak mountain-body war fortress, which instilled fear in many clans. However, after analysis, most believed that while the mountain-body was formidable, its internal power source was somewhat ordinary. Although it could support the movement of a war fortress-like mountain, it was clearly weaker in terms of suppression. Some even speculated afterward that had it not been for the Human Race Battle Flag, Six Master would likely have found it very difficult to suppress that Candled Illumination member in the end. Nevertheless, the annihilation of the Sea Star Race and the refining of Candled Illumination member Bai Li were undeniable facts. Thus, Seven Blood Eyes' strength once again deeply impressed other clans.

As for Xu Qing, on the day Six Master refined the entire Sea Star Race, he brought them back to Seven Blood Eyes. Upon their return, both Six Master and Xu Qing were silent. Neither of them experienced the imagined satisfaction of personally slaying their enemies. Instead, they became calm, with a subtle melancholy lingering deep in their hearts. But life had to go on, and the journey of life had to continue.

"Teacher, may you rest in peace." Xu Qing sat on the Dharma Ship's deck, picked up a wine gourd from beside him, turned and raised it towards the direction of Purple Earth, then took a large gulp and closed his eyes.

The moment his eyes closed, a rumble echoed within him. Sixty-five Dharma Apertures blazed like furnaces, and vast quantities of remnant souls were being refined within them. These remnant souls belonged to the Sea Star Race. Though they were formless and like mere scraps, their sheer number meant that, accumulated, they provided some assistance for Xu Qing to open his Dharma Apertures. Among these numerous souls, there was also a unique wisp of soul, suppressed within one of Xu Qing's Dharma Apertures, ceaselessly burned by flames day and night. This soul belonged to the cultivator from the Guizao Race. After being captured by Shadow, he finally broke down under several days of torture upon Xu Qing's return, and Xu Qing successfully extracted his soul.

However, the Golden Crow Refining All Souls still hadn't extracted the talent of this Guizao Race. It wasn't that the Emperor-level cultivation method was ineffective, but rather that the quantity was too small. To extract a race's talent, a large number of that race's members needed to be refined. But that didn't matter. Xu Qing didn't care about that; he only cared about one thing: making this cultivator suffer.

However, this race's soul also had a unique characteristic: its soul power could slowly recover on its own, even when suppressed and refined. "Six Master extracted the part of the Sea Star Race that was integrated into the mountain, refined it into a candle, and lit it before his son's cenotaph. I cannot do that, but I can suppress this soul for all eternity, making it unable to die, continuously providing me with soul power. One day, I will be able to seize its talent," Xu Qing murmured softly. Whether it was due to the soul's unique ability to continuously provide soul power, or his hatred for this Guizao Race cultivator, Xu Qing would not simply devour it in one go.

As the rumbling echoed within him, apart from the suppressed soul, the other remnant souls transformed into a force, surging towards the sixty-sixth Dharma Aperture. Instantly, the sixty-sixth Dharma Aperture opened, and as spiritual power spread throughout his body, Xu Qing's breakthrough did not end. The next moment, the sixty-seventh Dharma Aperture instantly opened. The remaining power continued to gather at the location of the sixty-eighth Dharma Aperture, circling for a long time before finally breaking it open. Xu Qing's entire body trembled, and his aura and spiritual power noticeably increased. He had long felt that opening Dharma Apertures after the second Life Fire was far more difficult than before, and the Sea Star Race's souls were incomplete, thus only able to provide him with enough power to open three apertures.

Xu Qing opened his eyes, took out a jade box from his robes, and opened it, his gaze falling upon its contents. Inside the jade box was a black pill. Grotesque soul shadows appeared on the pill, emitting silent roars and howls, as if wanting to break free from the pill's confines and escape to the heavens, but clearly unable to do so. This was an incredibly precious high-grade Soul Pill!

For cultivators practicing the Baleful Fire Devouring Soul Scripture, souls were the fuel for opening Dharma Apertures, thus requiring extensive killing and soul extraction to continuously improve their cultivation. However, killing was often slow, which led to the creation of Soul Pills like this one. Often, just one pill could grant a cultivator a large amount of soul power. For instance, the pill that Wu Jianwu of the First Peak once threw was also a Soul Pill, but of an extremely low grade. As for Xu Qing's pill, Six Master had personally refined a portion extracted from Bai Li's soul and gifted it to him upon returning to the sect.

Only a very small portion was extracted. Six Master was blunt: he needed a large number of souls to replenish the power of his Dharma artifacts, so he could only give Xu Qing one. However, he also told Xu Qing that he owed him a favor. Xu Qing didn't dwell on this. The reason this revenge had been so smooth was primarily due to Six Master's intervention, so even if he hadn't given him a Soul Pill, Xu Qing would have found it reasonable. Not to mention the protection Six Master had given him; although largely consumed during the battle with Bai Li, it was still usable and its value alone already surpassed that of the Soul Pill.

Xu Qing pulled his thoughts back, picked up the Soul Pill, and without hesitation, tossed it into his mouth, chewing it bite by bite. The remnant souls within emitted shrill screams, but ultimately could not escape their fate of being devoured. Under the burning baleful fire within Xu Qing's body, they became a surge of power for opening Dharma Apertures, directly rushing towards the sixty-ninth Dharma Aperture.

In an instant, Xu Qing's body trembled slightly as the sixty-ninth Dharma Aperture opened, followed by the seventieth, then seventy-first... The power of one Soul Pill was exceptionally vast, such that even after opening the seventy-first Dharma Aperture within Xu Qing's body, there was still residual energy. Soon, the seventy-second Dharma Aperture opened, followed by the seventy-third, seventy-fourth, and seventy-fifth Dharma Apertures. It didn't stop there. The seventy-sixth, seventy-seventh, and seventy-eighth Dharma Apertures were instantly broken open! The Soul Pill, refined from Bai Li's remnant soul, possessed astonishing power.

Finally, as thumping sounds echoed within Xu Qing's body, the moment he opened his eyes, purple light flashed within them, and his seventy-ninth Dharma Aperture suddenly opened! A terrifying aura circulated around him, and astonishing spiritual power surged within him. The surrounding seawater rippled, and Xu Qing's cultivation significantly improved at that instant. "It actually opened eleven Dharma Apertures... I fear this Soul Pill contains more than just Bai Li's remnant soul!" Xu Qing was a little startled, vaguely guessing that Six Master's 'refining with remnant souls' likely included the remnant souls of the other four clans' ancestors, as well as a large number of their cultivators' remnant souls. Although the four clans were mostly devoured, their base number was vast. Thus, even a small portion of remnant souls extracted from them, when gathered, would naturally possess terrifying power.

"Only eleven more Dharma Apertures, and I can ignite my third Life Fire!" Xu Qing whispered softly. He then checked his storage bag. The two wish boxes inside, ever since he learned how to open them, had been nurtured in his spare time and were now not far from completion.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and looked up, staring into the distance towards the South Phoenix Continent behind him. After dealing with all matters, he felt a longing for Captain Lei. Meanwhile, over the past half month, the war between Seven Blood Eyes and the Sea Corpse Race had also seen some changes. First, there was Third Prince, who had accomplished something astounding. Since the start of the war, Xu Qing had not seen Third Prince. It wasn't until this recent event that he learned Third Prince had undertaken a defection mission right at the beginning of the conflict. Xu Qing didn't know how Third Prince had managed it, but he had successfully incited three important allies of the Sea Corpse Race to defect, causing these three clans to turn against the Sea Corpse Race on their home battleground. This instantly altered the previously stalemated and draining situation between the Sea Corpse Race and Seven Blood Eyes on their home territory, leading to signs of collapse.

This incident also triggered a series of chain reactions. On one hand, it significantly boosted Seven Blood Eyes' morale, leading to a string of victories. On the other hand, the Ancient Sovereign Continent, especially the Seven Sect Alliance, seemed caught off guard by the sudden shift in the war. It was clear that the Seven Sect Alliance hoped to see Seven Blood Eyes and the Sea Corpse Race wear each other down. Thus, they initially adopted a wait-and-see approach to the war. It wasn't until Seven Blood Eyes fought its way to the Sea Corpse Race's home territory that they became alarmed, because the Sea Corpse Race's home territory was very close to the Ancient Sovereign Continent. To be precise, the Sea Corpse Race's home territory, its subsidiary islands, and the Mermaid Race's island formed a line connecting the Ancient Sovereign Continent with Seven Blood Eyes.

Until Third Prince's defection plan succeeded, the Seven Sect Alliance had been closely monitoring the war, hoping it would drag on and wear down Seven Blood Eyes. However, Third Prince's success changed their stance. Subsequently, the Seven Sect Alliance began to interfere in the war. Following this, rumors about the war began circulating within Seven Blood Eyes. Some speculated that the war was nearing its end, and that the Seven Sect Alliance's interference would make it difficult for Seven Blood Eyes to continue its offensive. Xu Qing didn't pay attention to these rumors.

He was preparing to go out, to return to the Scavenger's Camp and the Restricted Zone, to visit Captain Lei's grave, and incidentally, to see if he could find any trace of Cross and Luan Ya. Two years had passed; he wondered how the two of them were doing now.

Xu Qing gazed into the distance, stood up, put away his Dharma Ship, and walked towards the teleportation array. On the way, he saw the Captain at a fruit stall, haggling with the vendor, and finally, with a pained heart, paying a few spirit coins to buy a bag of apples. Seeing Xu Qing, the Captain tossed an apple over, then took one for himself and took a bite. He looked Xu Qing up and down, smiling as he said, "Going out? Take me with you, take me with me."

Xu Qing took the apple. He didn't believe it was a coincidence meeting the Captain, so he showed suspicion in his eyes. The Captain coughed, and while eating his apple, sighed. "No choice, the old man gave me a mission to follow and protect you until he returns. I guess the old man is a bit anxious. You said you'd take on disciples, but you had to set up all those trials and tests. Now look, he's in a hurry, and he can't return because of the war." The Captain shrugged, selling out Seventh Master without hesitation. Xu Qing's expression turned strange. After thinking for a moment, he didn't refuse.

After all, the Sea Corpse Race's bounty was still active, and Chen Feiyuan had previously informed him of Purple Earth's malice during their trip there. So, having the Captain accompany him would increase his safety when traveling. However, it might also mean more craziness.

"I'm going home," Xu Qing said, looking at the Captain. "Going home, huh? Then I guess I'm a guest, haha! Come on, let's go! I've been bored staying in the sect lately. Let's go for a stroll," the Captain said, even more enthusiastic than Xu Qing, quickly walking towards the teleportation array. "Did you do something? Are you trying to escape trouble?" Xu Qing asked, surprised. "How could that be!" The Captain immediately shook his head. After arriving at the teleportation array, he asked Xu Qing for the specific address and instantly adjusted the teleportation. While Xu Qing was still suspicious, their figures vanished within the array.

Shortly after the Captain departed, an angry roar came from the Sixth Peak. "Chen Erniu, you little bastard, what haven't you gnawed on?!" With the roar, a divine sense instantly burst forth from the Sixth Peak, sweeping across the entire main city, searching for the Captain's figure. It was clearly fruitless. Thus, behind the main hall on the Sixth Peak, in the mountain forest, Six Master looked with a grim expression at a concealed burrow hole before him. Only a sequence cultivator could do such a thing on the Sixth Peak, and it had to be one of the top two or three, who had the authority to prevent the formation from triggering an alarm. This burrow was very deep, winding into the interior of the Sixth Peak's mountain-body, which was the core power source of the Sixth Peak's mountain-body as a war fortress.

The Sixth Peak's core power source was a secret, enveloped in a mist that made it difficult to discern what it truly was. However, in Six Master's eyes, everything was clearly visible. He saw a deep tooth mark on the core power source's toe, with a noticeable piece missing. Eighth Master took a deep breath, his anger burning. He then looked up again at the power source shrouded in mist. "This kid probably saw it, and probably guessed it too... But I should know my place, know what to say and what not to say. After all, when you suppressed Bai Li that day, you strongly resisted using the core power... If I blab it out, the Ancestor will skin me alive."