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Performing an incantation gesture to tap into the natural laws, he found the first on the list, who was a Wingflyer. Currently, he was hiding in a subterranean cave, seated cross-legged in meditation. A moment later, the ground around him collapsed, opening up his hiding spot. The Wingflyer looked up in shock. Though he reacted quickly, the power weighing down on him made his resistance useless. A massive force locked on to him and dragged him up into the air. There was no point in trying to refuse or fight back.

With the laws at Xu Qing’s command, plus his cultivation base and battle prowess, he could easily smash any inmate.

Outside of the prison world, this Wingflyer could crush Xu Qing to death with one swat of his hand. But now, Xu Qing had him by the neck.

“Exalted one.”

Inwardly, the Wingflyer cultivator felt deeply vexed. However, he was careful to plaster a fawning expression onto his face.

Xu Qing didn’t respond. Eyes as cold as ice, he inspected the Wingflyer, then tossed him down. Next, he tossed some medicinal pills onto the ground in front of him. Those medicinal pills all contained immense amounts of spirit energy. On the outside, they would be considered good pills. But in the prison world, they were vastly more precious. When the Wingflyer saw them, he was stunned. That said, his eyes flickered with a mixture of pleasure and hesitancy. He knew full well that when unexpected things happened, there was usually a catch. He looked nervously at Xu Qing.

“Exalted one, this....”

“Either you eat them,” Xu Qing said calmly, “or I beat you to a pulp and force them down your throat.”

Perverse energy surged within the Wingflyer, yet he forced it under control. He knew what would happen if he didn’t obey orders. Gritting his teeth, he picked up the pills and put them in his mouth. That said, he tried to play things safe by consuming them slowly, one at a time.

Frowning, Xu Qing thrust out his palm, causing a rumbling sound. When the force hit the Wingflyer, he screamed as his body nearly collapsed, and he fell to the ground, panting.

That was just a weakness on the part of his fleshly body. When the spirit energy from the pills poured into him, he quickly recovered. However, Xu Qing could tell it wasn’t enough, so he threw a few more pills into his mouth.

As the pills dissolved, powerful fluctuations started rolling off of the Wingflyer.

This inmate had been convicted when he was already at the limit of Nascent Soul. In the years since then, he had hovered on the brink of a breakthrough. Unfortunately, reaching the Spirit Trove level required a heavenly dao, which he did not have access to, and therefore, could not achieve a breakthrough.

However... whether one was going to succeed or fail, the natural laws of heaven and earth would still form a heavenly tribulation.

The Wingflyer cultivator was surprised at the fluctuations, and by now, he could guess what Xu Qing was doing. He was about to open his mouth to speak when winds screamed in the dome of heaven, and tribulation clouds began to build up. The Wingflyer shrieked, jumped to his feet, and fled, all the while viciously trying to suppress his cultivation base in the hopes of getting rid of the heavenly tribulation. Before he could do much, a tremor passed through him and he stopped moving. His facial expression became one of exaggerated devotion, while his eyes glittered with terror.

Lurching around, he dropped down and kowtowed to Xu Qing. “Milord... I’m willing... to... die!”

The lack of smooth speech confirmed that the shadow didn’t have complete control over him. The Wingflyer was obviously fighting back, until that look of devotion faded away. As his expression twisted and distorted, and looked like he was about to break free.

That was when booming thunder filled the sky as countless lightning bolts formed a dao-severing heavenly saber that dropped toward the nonhuman.

The moment before it hit, the shadow fled. The Wingflyer went back to normal, but by this time, there was no way it could evade the tribulation. A scream escaped its mouth as the heavenly saber chopped down. A huge boom echoed out.

Xu Qing sat down cross-legged where he stood. Ignoring the Wingflyer, he focused on seeking enlightenment of the heavenly saber.

After three hundred breaths of time passed, it was over. The tribulation clouds dispersed, the heavenly saber faded away, and a thoughtful look appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. A short time later, he got to his feet and went to a different part of the district to find the next cultivator on his list.

In that manner, days passed.

Xu Qing sought enlightenment over and over again until he finally reached the day when he had his appointment with Ning Yan.

***

It was evening outside, and the dome of heaven shone with orange light that flowed like water onto the rooftops and open squares of the Swordsage Palace’s Archives Branch. There were quite a few swordsages lined up there. All of them were adjunct swordsages from various prefectures.

Each and every one looked very nervous as they waited, including Ning Yan. He kept looking off into the distance, clearly worried about how everything would turn out. He had been waiting for quite a long time already.

Behind a wide table at the front of the line was a middle-aged swordsage with a somber expression on his face. He had a Gold Core cultivation base, and eyes that shone like lightning, revealing that he was originally from the Supreme Ancient Lightning Order. After looking over the eight adjunct swordsages, he said, “The other adjunct swordsages already filed their recommendations. You’re the only ones left. Do the lot of you actually have people from your home prefecture willing to vouch for you?”

The adjunct swordsages all had bitter expressions on their faces. Some seemed like they wanted to speak, others held their tongue.

As for Ning Yan, he anxiously nodded, clasped hands to the middle-aged swordsage, and said, “If possible, could you wait just a moment? My guarantor should be here shortly.”

The middle-aged swordsage frowned. “Oh? Who is it?”

Ning Yan held back from saying Xu Qing’s name. All of a sudden, he was wondering if Xu Qing had been serious. If he mentioned Xu Qing’s name, but then he didn’t show up, Ning Yan would definitely become a laughingstock. During the event to fill the vacant swordsage spots, he had been competing with other adjunct swordsages from other prefectures. Of course, there had been some fierce competition to take the first place spot, which had resulted in some friction.

Gathered alongside Ning Yan were three young men who he’d had problems with. When they saw him holding back from mentioning his guarantor’s name, their eyes flickered with scorn. Though it wasn’t very obvious, Ning Yan could see it. It was something he couldn’t easily accept.

One of that group of young men even chuckled under his breath and quietly said, “He took first place, yet nobody will vouch for him. That alone tells you what kind of person he is.”

Ning Yan said nothing.

The middle-aged swordsage didn’t react. Impetuous talk among youngsters wasn’t anything surprising. After all, all sorts of personalities could be found among new swordsages, including the silent type and the direct type. After they became swordsages, their personalities would change some.

Flipping through Ning Yan’s paperwork, he noticed that he was from Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, which caused him to look up.

“Aren’t you from the same prefecture as Xu Qing?”

Ning Yan nodded.

The three swordsages who had it out for Ning Yang heard that and laughed softly.

“Big Bro Xu Qing got a 30,000-meter pillar of light, so if he won’t vouch for this guy, it just shows he’s got some major problems.”

“He worked so hard to take first place. For what?”

“Do you people have a death wish?” Ning Yan growled. The provocation from these three, coupled with the anxiety of the situation in general, made it difficult to suppress the perverse energy building within him.

“What, you want to have a duel right here and now?” one of them said. The three young men clearly bore some ill will as they glared at Ning Yan. They were obviously trying to get a rise out of him.

Ning Yan gritted his teeth as that perverse energy started to pulse in his eyes.

The middle-aged swordsage from the Archives Branch just looked at them. Whenever the adjunct swordsages got their assignments, things like this happened. It was only natural for events like this to occur in places where lots of humans gathered.

“If you have a problem with each other,” he said coolly, “you can get the hell out of here and not come back till you’ve solved it.”

The three young men immediately flew up into the air. One of them pointed down at Ning Yan and said, “You won the top spot, didn’t you? What, scared to fight?

“That’s not it,” another of them said. “Ning Yan wouldn’t dare to back down from a fight. He’s just waiting for his guarantor to show up. That’s why he won’t fight us. Isn’t that right, Ning Yan? See, I already came up with a good excuse for you.”

Ning Yan’s eyes flickered with cold light, and he was just about to fly up into the air when a calm voice echoed out.

“I got wrapped up in something, Ning Yan. Sorry for being late.”

Along with the voice, a figure appeared above, flying toward them at high speed. The evening sun shone down on long, flowing hair and a white uniform that perfectly complimented his good looks, making everyone present look at him. It was none other than Xu Qing. Xu Qing didn’t make promises lightly, and when he made one, he would follow through. Since he had agreed to vouch for Ning Yan, he would vouch for him. And he hadn’t intentionally delayed things. The truth was that he had been so focused on gaining enlightenment of that dao-severing saber that he accidentally came late.

There were some things about Ning Yan that he didn’t like very much. However, since the Captain needed Ning Yan, then Xu Qing was to give him another shot based on how he acted going forward.

Xu Qing’s arrival caused the other adjunct swordsages to shiver. Eyes glittering with respect and admiration, they clasped hands and bowed in greeting. The three young men who had been causing trouble for Ning Yan similarly bowed their heads and didn’t dare run their mouths any further. The truth was that Xu Qing was already quite well-known in the Swordsage Palace. People said he was one of the freakish hellions of the latest batch of new swordsages. What was more, he was friends with all the other people who were also considered freakish hellions. Provoking one member of that group would be the same as provoking the entire group.

Considering that all of them had been assigned important posts, there wasn’t anybody who would dare to offend them.

Meanwhile, the swordsage from the Archives Branch laughed heartily and rose to his feet to welcome Xu Qing.

This man had been present when Xu Qing, Kong Xianglong, and the others went to lock horns with the Yao Clan at the Swordsage Palace. Given the connection he had to Xu Qing, and also based on other things he had heard about Xu Qing and his friends, he admired him greatly.

Ning Yan was fairly bursting with excitement as he stepped forward. Nothing could have sounded more beautiful to Ning Yan in that moment than Xu Qing’s voice. His heart overflowed with gratitude.

Xu Qing looked at Ning Yan and nodded. Then he turned to the middle-aged swordsage and clasped hands respectfully.

“Sorry for any trouble I caused, Big Bro Zhou. I’m here to vouch for Ning Yan.”

The swordsage surnamed Zhou noted that Xu Qing had called him by his surname, and it caused his eyes to shine brightly. There’s more than one reason Kong Xianglong and his friends accepted Xu Qing. One factor is the 30,000-meter pillar of light. The other factor is the way he conducts himself.

After all, there had been quite a few swordsages who showed up at the Hall of Regulations that day. Though this swordsage had run into Xu Qing on a subsequent occasion, and had also been introduced to the entire group, there hadn’t been much time. The fact that Xu Qing remembered his surname despite all that was very impressive.

Laughing heartily, he said, “Brother Xu Qing’s recommendation confirms that Ning Yan has an upright temperament and good moral character.” With that, he formally approved Ning Yan’s application. Eyes flashing, he looked at Ning Yan. “Ning Yan, I hope that after you become a true swordsage, you show loyalty to the very end. Do not do anything to lose face for Brother Xu Qing.”

“Yes, sir,” Ning Yan said.

Xu Qing didn’t stay for long. He exchanged a few more words with the swordsage surnamed Zhou, then took his leave. He was going back to the Corrections Division to continue seeking enlightenment.

When he was back, it was as he was passing Level 9 that he heard the voice of the palace lord some distance away.

“Just because people call you an amazing chosen doesn’t mean you have the right to get cocky. As far as I’m concerned, Kong Xianglong, you’re nothing but a new swordsage, still wet behind the ears!”