Chapter 292: Little Friend, Come See Me

As an unsettling atmosphere permeated Daoxuan Mountain, a gentle and calm voice descended from the heavens, echoing in all directions.

"You are all elders of the alliance; how can you harm harmony over trivial matters concerning juniors?"

The moment the voice spoke, all the cultivators present felt as if their minds were struck by divine thunder. The middle-aged man in green robes from the Grand Yan Dao Palace was the first to bow, paying his respects to the distance.

"Greetings, Alliance Leader."

Ancestor Lingyun's expression returned to normal, and he also bowed in greeting.

Blood炼zi glanced at Lingyun, then at the Grand Yan Dao Palace Ancestor, a smile unfathomable to outsiders appearing on his face, and he too bowed.

Immortal Zixuan's graceful eyebrows furrowed. After bowing, she turned and walked towards the Xuanyou Sect, disappearing within a few steps.

As everyone paid their respects, the gentle voice once again drifted down from the sky.

"But rules are rules. If they can be casually overturned, how can the rule of law within our alliance endure?"

"Daoist Lingyun, you were a bit impulsive. I will penalize you by withholding your personal alliance profit dividends for ten years."

"Daoist Daoyan, when did you start acting this way? While your past friendship with Ancestor Lingyun makes this understandable, the rules cannot be changed. You will also be penalized by withholding your personal alliance profit dividends for ten years."

"As for Daoist Blood炼zi, given your fiery temper, you will receive the same penalty."

"As for Xu Qing, as Daoist Blood炼zi previously suggested, he shall immediately be granted the status of a Dao Child. This includes an annual resource allocation of eight million spirit stones, access to all cultivation lineages of the Eight Sects, and ten free entries per year to all fortuitous lands within the Eight Sects Alliance. Furthermore, sect protection will be extended to him and publicly announced throughout Yinghuang Prefecture. I also bestow upon him the right to use projections of all forbidden artifacts of the Eight Sects Alliance."

"As for Sheng Yunzi, he is still a promising talent. Daoist Lingyun, take him back and ensure his proper recovery. My Golden Crow can help him reshape his physical body, allowing him to enter the Heavenly Palace Golden Core realm as early as possible, and his future will remain bright."

"Let us put this matter behind us. As members of one alliance, unity is paramount."

The gentle voice echoed and gradually faded away.

The Ancestor of the Grand Yan Dao Palace raised his head, casually tossing Sheng Yunzi to Ancestor Lingyun as if he were an item. Then, he turned to glance at Blood炼zi, smiled meaningfully, and departed.

Ancestor Lingyun remained silent, looking down at his unconscious grandson. A hint of regret, and even a deeper sense of painful indebtedness, appeared in his eyes. He picked up his grandson, ignored Blood炼zi, and headed directly towards the Lingyun Sword Sect.

Blood炼zi pondered for a moment, then nodded at Xu Qing, his eyes filled with appreciation, before also leaving.

Only Seventh Master walked over, arriving in front of Xu Qing and observing his injuries.

He raised his right hand and waved it, causing brilliant light to emanate and fall upon Xu Qing, rapidly healing his wounds. Then, he smiled.

"That was quite well done. Come, let's head back."

"And you," Seventh Master said, turning to glare at the Captain.

The Captain secretly grumbled, wondering when the old man had started showing such blatant favoritism. Did he not worry about hurting his fragile feelings? After all, he was also his disciple, and the eldest one at that!

The Captain sighed and dutifully followed behind Seventh Master, walking with a silent Xu Qing towards the Seven Blood Eyes Sect.

On the way, Seventh Master walked ahead, with Xu Qing and the Captain behind. The Captain nudged Xu Qing with his shoulder.

"Why aren't you talking?"

Xu Qing glanced at the Captain but remained silent.

"He'll spit blood if he talks," Seventh Master said calmly from ahead. "The boy is regretting devouring the spiritual essence of the Miemeng and is now concentrating on refining it."

Xu Qing remained silent, swallowing the blood that surged into his throat again, and continued to refine the essence.

Hearing this, the Captain's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together.

"Little Junior Brother, it's not good to hog everything."

Xu Qing paused, looking at his Senior Brother in disbelief.

"It's fine, your Senior Brother won't mind you. Want to spit some out?" The Captain's eyes gleamed.

Xu Qing remained silent and quickly walked a few steps closer to Seventh Master, distancing himself from the Captain.

The Captain's face was filled with regret.

Seventh Master glared irritably back at his eldest disciple, then turned to look at Xu Qing.

"Did you understand what just happened?"

Xu Qing nodded, then shook his head.

"Our Alliance Leader is playing a game of chess."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes.

"Unfortunately, while he's good at cultivation, his chess skills are a bit lacking," Seventh Master said with a meaningful smile.

"In short, you don't need to worry for now; you are safe. You must remember that individuals who have reached the Void Return cultivation level, especially the Void Return Ancestors of the alliance, like the Ancestor of Grand Yan Daoyan, never possess only one color."

"Their colors shift and change. Until you peel back the layers, you'll never truly know their true nature."

"An alliance, with its many sects, is ultimately driven by interests. Although at higher realms, interests may seem less significant, if you repeatedly lose, what you lose might not just be benefits, but your entire being swallowed whole."

"In this dog-eat-dog world, primitive ways of devouring are quite different from high-level ones."

"Ultimately, we are still too weak," Seventh Master shook his head.

The Captain behind him also gasped.

"Yes, we are too weak."

Xu Qing swallowed the fresh blood that surged in his mouth again, empathized, and nodded as he spoke.

"Indeed, we are too weak."

As they spoke, they arrived back at the Seven Blood Eyes Sect. Before parting, Seventh Master hesitated, then finally spoke.

"And Immortal Zixuan..." As Seventh Master spoke these words, the Captain immediately pricked up his ears and hurried a few steps closer.

Xu Qing closed his mouth, saying nothing.

"Fourth junior, maintain good relations with her," Seventh Master said with a touch of melancholy, patting Xu Qing's shoulder before turning to leave.

The Captain looked at Seventh Master's melancholic expression, and his eyes slowly widened as an explosive thought surfaced in his mind.

"Could it be..."

Xu Qing ignored the Captain, his body transforming into a long rainbow as he left the Seven Blood Eyes Sect's main gate and flew directly towards his berth. The Captain, meanwhile, was still processing and evaluating the credibility of the shocking news in his mind, and for a moment, he did not pursue Xu Qing. This rare tranquility allowed Xu Qing to retrieve his magic boat upon reaching his berth, step into the cabin, sit cross-legged, and quickly enter meditation.

He had ingested too much of the spiritual essence and blood formed from Sheng Yunzi's Miemeng cultivation. His body felt temporarily overstuffed and struggled to adapt. While he was fully engaged in digestion, the totem on his back constantly emitted a scorching sensation, with the Golden Crow ravenously absorbing the energy.

A terrifying fluctuation was brewing within the Golden Crow totem, growing stronger every moment. This sensation made Xu Qing keenly aware of the changes that occurred after imperial-level cultivation techniques mutually devoured each other.

"The effect of devouring an imperial-level cultivation technique is truly astonishing."

He could feel that the Golden Crow, which originally had only nine phoenix tails and a seemingly majestic body, was still somewhat immature. But now, the Golden Crow totem's tail had gained a tenth, and an eleventh was also forming.

Concurrently, its body had grown significantly larger than before, especially the radiance in its eyes, which shone as brilliantly as the sun and moon. Its aura was similarly intense, subtly radiating an ancient, primeval sense.

The heat it emitted also surpassed its previous intensity; even Xu Qing felt his entire body affected, becoming increasingly hot. Steam even rose around him as he sat cross-legged.

This heat caused a certain degree of distortion around him, a startling sight that also heightened Xu Qing's anticipation for his Golden Crow.

Thus, time slowly passed, and three days quickly went by.

Xu Qing finally absorbed half of the blood containing the Miemeng's spiritual essence. He no longer felt the constant urge to suppress blood from surging out as before, though the sensation of fullness in his body remained very strong.

The Golden Crow's tails had also reached thirteen, and the totem had even spread from his back to his front, making Xu Qing appear even more ethereal and supernatural.

The same applied to the fiery power; he could clearly perceive his physical body becoming increasingly astonishing.

At this point, Xu Qing finally sighed in relief. Knowing that absorbing the remaining half of the Miemeng blood would take time, he took advantage of the leisure to retrieve an item from his storage bag.

This was a piece of black wood, specifically a fragment of Sheng Yunzi's magical artifact.

Upon closer inspection, Xu Qing noticed something different: the wooden fragment appeared subtly larger than when he first saw it, as if a small additional piece had been incorporated and fused with it.

Unlike Xu Qing's fragment of a forbidden artifact, which exuded a strong ethereal quality, this wooden fragment, while also possessing ethereal qualities, had significantly less, indicating it had not been used particularly frequently and was well-maintained.

Staring at the black wooden fragment, Xu Qing focused his mind on examining and studying it. Moments later, he imprinted his spiritual consciousness upon it and activated it within the cabin.

Instantly, the bizarre black door materialized, resembling the underworld or the source of all evil. Under Xu Qing's watchful gaze, this black wooden door slowly creaked open towards him, and the surrounding eerie, icy aura immediately intensified.

The next moment, light surged forth, transforming into a freezing beam that directly struck Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's body trembled. The Golden Crow on his back moved across him, radiating fiery power to counteract the chill, yet he still felt his life essence being sealed under the freezing force.

"Sheng Yunzi once said this door was called the Profound Spirit Eternal Will Gate, right?"

"And this wooden fragment of the door was refined twice by Sheng Yunzi? What does 'refined' mean?" Xu Qing pondered, then picked up his jade slip to send a message to his master for clarification.

Soon, Seventh Master provided an answer.

Xu Qing's eyes narrowed.

"It turns out that finding fragments of the same magical artifact and assembling them counts as refinement. Finding a second piece is second refinement, and a third piece is third refinement!"

"After refinement, more formidable changes occur. I wonder how the contents of this door would manifest if opened to others." Xu Qing raised his hand, dispelled the ice seal on himself, and then made the wooden door vanish.

He knew clearly that if Sheng Yunzi had already performed the second refinement on this item back at the Phoenix Taboo Dao Temple in South Phoenix Continent, it would have been very difficult for him to resist the freezing power within this door, even with his shadow fully suppressing Sheng Yunzi's cultivation.

"It can freeze life essence..." Xu Qing murmured. He suddenly became very curious what would happen if this door were opened to the Captain.

Just as Xu Qing was researching the Profound Spirit Eternal Will Gate, a voice that made him incredibly nervous came from his communication jade slip.

"Little one, come see me. Elder Sister has something to ask you."

Xu Qing took a deep breath. Among the people he least wanted to see in Seven Blood Eyes, Immortal Zixuan ranked prominently. However, regardless of his feelings, Immortal Zixuan had saved him earlier. After a moment of silence, Xu Qing knew he couldn't refuse, so he braced himself, got up, and found it was already late when he stepped out of the cabin.

"It's too late to pay respects to an elder... Hmm, I'll go tomorrow."

Just as Xu Qing thought this and was about to turn, the voice of Immortal Zixuan, seductive in its charm, soft in its allure, like a trickling spring or heavenly music from an immortal abode, came from his communication jade slip again the very next moment.

"Come now."