Chapter 344: Life Is Hard

The moment they boarded the Dharma ship, Xu Qing and the captain immediately worked together to control it, speeding away into the distance.

Both felt their hearts pounding, frequently glancing back at the forbidden land.

They could see the giant inside the forbidden land struggling violently, causing the sky and earth to change color, black clouds to churn, and thunder to rumble. Yet, no matter how the giant roared, the vast net emanating from the forbidden land held it firmly captive.

Xu Qing felt a lingering fear as he watched this scene.

Beside him, the captain exhaled, sighing with emotion.

"It was just as I suspected," he mused. "The Sword Forbidden Land is indeed a place of imprisonment. This forbidden area was once called Lingyin, but after the myriad races of Fenghai County suppressed it with all their might, Lingyin became a prison."

Xu Qing was deep in thought. He had always found it strange because his Seventh Grand-Uncle had previously said this forbidden land was called Lingyin, but the captain referred to it as the Sword Forbidden Land.

As the Dharma ship whistled through the air, Yan Yan looked at the disheveled Xu Qing and the captain, hesitating for a moment.

"Brother Xu Qing, weren't you supposed to go and recover your vitality?"

"And Senior Brother, weren't you supposed to protect Brother Xu Qing?"

"How did… such a huge commotion start?" Yan Yan also felt a tremor in her heart. Earlier, when she had seen the giant appear from afar, both her mind and body had been shaken by the terrifying pressure it exuded.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing looked at the captain expressionlessly, his gaze particularly fixed on the captain's nose.

The captain blinked, showing no embarrassment, and waved his hand, throwing a fruit that had been mostly eaten towards Xu Qing.

"Junior Brother, this is what I saved for you," he said. "I really tried hard not to eat it all. Sigh, that's just how I am; whenever I find something good, you're the first person I think of."

Xu Qing took the fruit, and the moment it was in his hand, his expression changed. He looked down at it.

He could sense a very peculiar aura within the partially eaten fruit.

This aura didn't significantly affect his physical body, but after inhaling it, Xu Qing felt his spirit uplifted. He immediately understood that this item had considerable nourishing effects on the soul.

"I don't know what this thing is; I've never seen it before," the captain continued, "I just saw a bunch of big idiots worshipping it, so I snatched it and took a bite. Turns out, it's really good for the soul."

Thinking of his recent thrilling adventure and gains, the captain's spirits soared.

Xu Qing didn't mind that the captain had taken several bites out of the fruit. He put it directly into his mouth and swallowed it. Having grown up in the slums, he had even fought with dogs for half-eaten food, let alone a fruit from Second Bull.

After swallowing it, a cool sensation quickly flowed through his entire body, finally merging into his sea of consciousness, making it tremble. He felt as if it had been significantly strengthened and slightly expanded.

All of this indicated the growth of his soul. Xu Qing licked his lips and looked at the captain, about to ask some questions about the giant in the forbidden land.

"Captain…"

"None left!" Before Xu Qing could finish, the captain immediately became alert. After speaking, he seemed to realize his reaction was a bit exaggerated, so he blinked and cleared his throat.

"Xiao A'Qing, next we're going to the Sword-Wielding Court. Let me tell you, the Sword-Wielding Court is a great place."

Xu Qing looked at the captain with suspicion, scrutinizing him closely.

Xu Qing found the captain's previous behavior questionable. He narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke softly.

"Senior Brother, truthfully, if I hadn't given you that thirty percent of my Dao blood, my recent promotion might have been safer. But you are my Senior Brother…"

Hearing this, the captain sighed deeply and waved his hand, sending another fruit flying toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing raised his hand to catch it, then spoke softly, "Life is truly difficult."

"Senior Brother, life is unpredictable. Who knows, one day you might not have me as your Junior Brother anymore. If I can't walk with you in this life, I hope that when you stand at the pinnacle of the heavens, you'll glance at this world for me."

The captain was frustrated, muttering a few words to himself, thinking how quickly Xiao A'Qing had learned. He sighed again and pulled a tree branch from his storage pouch, tossing it to Xu Qing.

The branch had eight or nine fruits hanging from it.

Seeing this, Xu Qing took a breath. He had thought the captain had only taken six or seven at most, but he never expected the fellow to casually hand over an entire branch.

"Senior Brother, you didn't, by any chance, uproot and take away their fruit tree, did you?"

The captain coughed and quickly shook his head, denying it. Yan Yan, beside them, blinked and suddenly spoke.

"Life is difficult…"

"Stop, stop, stop!" The captain looked helpless and took out three more fruits, handing them to Yan Yan.

Yan Yan's face lit up. She quickly went to Xu Qing's side and offered him the fruits.

"Brother Xu Qing, these are for you."

This scene made the captain purse his lips, growing even more depressed. Xu Qing didn't take Yan Yan's fruits.

As for how many fruits the captain still had, Xu Qing didn't pay attention. After eating these seven or eight fruits, he already felt immense changes in his sea of consciousness; it became tougher, and his soul had doubled in strength compared to before.

A feeling of being full emerged in his mind.

Xu Qing understood that this was the current limit for his soul, so for the rest of their journey, he sat cross-legged and began to consolidate his breakthrough.

Time passed quickly. Half a month later, the sound of rushing river water came from beneath the Dharma ship. Looking out, they saw the confluence of the vast Immortal-Bearing Eternal River's main branch and Mount Taisi Du'e.

Here, the river surged violently, churning like the sea as it cut through the great canyon of Mount Taisi Du'e, splitting the mountain range into two sections. Numerous waterfalls cascaded down, making the scene appear like a majestic painting.

This was Yan Yan's first time seeing such a grand vista, and she was captivated by it.

Xu Qing had been here before with the captain on a river patrol mission, so he merely glanced at it before retracting his gaze. He then took out the strip of shroud cloth imbued with immortal spiritual energy.

This was a fragment of a forbidden magical artifact. One could imagine that the complete artifact must have been an entire shroud.

Black blood stained the grey cloth strip, making it ominous, yet it also emanated an incredibly rich immortal spiritual aura. After Xu Qing examined it, he felt a stinging sensation in his palm once more.

Xu Qing's eyes gleamed with curiosity. The functions of forbidden magical artifact fragments were varied, perhaps due to their incomplete state, making them difficult to discern through divine sense. One had to physically test them.

Some, like the black wooden block and the small mirror, had obvious effects and were easily perceived, but the ability of this cloth strip was somewhat complex.

After studying it, Xu Qing suddenly activated the protection of his Boundless Crown. When he touched the cloth strip again, he found that its invisible sting ignored the protection and still pierced his palm.

*Ignores protection?* Xu Qing's mind stirred. He thought of the Red Lady's Ghost Scythe.

After a moment, Xu Qing took out the dagger artifact blank the captain had given him. This black blank emitted a sharp glow, and the eye-like pattern on it appeared eerie.

Originally, Xu Qing planned to find a suitable material for the dagger's handle after returning to the sect, but now, looking at the cloth strip, he had a new idea.

After some thought, Xu Qing decided it was worth a try. He wrapped the cloth strip around the end of the dagger, coiling it tightly to form a simple handle.

Once done, Xu Qing held it in his hand. The stinging sensation was intense, but Xu Qing recovered quickly and was adept at enduring pain, so his expression remained normal.

His right hand, gripping the long handle, was firm as an iron vice.

Next, he raised his left hand and gently touched the dagger's blade and tip. The moment he made contact, the stinging sensation reappeared, as if the cloth strip's ability had been transferred to the dagger.

"Just as I thought!" Xu Qing suddenly spoke. "Yan Yan, activate your protection."

Yan Yan had been watching Xu Qing intently. Without hesitation, she immediately activated the protective jade slip given to her by her grandmother. The moment a layer of defense formed, Xu Qing moved.

The dagger in his hand instantly approached. The moment it touched Yan Yan's protective spiritual barrier, the dagger bypassed the defense, piercing directly through it and moving towards Yan Yan's neck.

Yan Yan didn't dodge at all; she trusted Xu Qing completely.

The next instant, Xu Qing withdrew his right hand. As he felt satisfied, the captain, witnessing the entire event from the side, spoke in surprise.

"This cloth strip is extraordinary."

Xu Qing nodded and continued his research. Once he was absolutely certain that combining these two items would greatly increase their power, he looked down at his shadow.

Xu Qing believed there would inevitably come a day when his shadow would be exposed. Given this, it would be best to prepare in advance.

So, under Xu Qing's divine sense, a wisp of his shadow discreetly dispersed and gathered on the dagger's eye.

As it integrated, the eye appeared normal at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to come alive.

If you stared at it, you would feel as if it were staring back at you.

Next, he needed to devise an incantation as a preliminary step for when the shadow integration secret art was revealed.

Xu Qing felt he wasn't good at coming up with incantations, so he sent a divine thought to the Vajra Sect Grandmaster.

Soon, the Vajra Sect Grandmaster, well-versed in storytelling, had devised a passage.

"Shadow prison's ban,Ghost child's command.Immortal arts break spirits,Heaven and earth, my will demands."

Xu Qing murmured to himself, feeling that these four lines were a bit strange, but he couldn't think of anything better at the moment, so he didn't use them immediately. This left the Vajra Sect Grandmaster feeling a little regretful.

These four lines contained some of his subtle schemes.

"Little Shadow, oh Little Shadow, you dare to contend with me? Hmph, has this Grandmaster's many years of reading been for naught? I'll show you your Grandmaster's true capabilities later."

Meanwhile, as the Dharma ship left the main area of the Immortal-Bearing Eternal River and sped north, the color of the land gradually changed from black to white snow. The temperature also dropped significantly here. After several days, they even encountered a snowstorm. Snowflakes, large as goose feathers, drifted down, blanketing the ground and accumulating on the Dharma ship in the sky, as if adorning it with a white coat.

The world ahead was blurred, covered by the wind and snow. This sudden snowfall grew heavier and heavier until it became a blizzard.

The wailing wind echoed in all directions, and an icy chill spread through the land with the snowflakes.

Xu Qing was no stranger to snow.

In his earlier years, winter's wind and snow had been a test of survival for him, but he had rarely seen snowfall this heavy.

"We've finally reached the Northern Ice Plains," the captain said, his voice echoing amidst the wailing wind and snow. "At this speed, in at most two months, we'll reach the end of Yinghuang Province, which is where the Grand Primeval Pillar of Seclusion is located. That's also the headquarters of Yinghuang Province's Sword-Wielding Court." The captain's eyes gleamed with anticipation.