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Chapter 544: Favor for the Phoenix’s Family (part 2)

In the continent of South Phoenix, Flame Phoenix wasn’t just the emperor of Forbidden by the Phoenix. He was the emperor of the entire continent, and by extension, the emperor of all the forbidden regions.

The fog returned, swirling and wriggling into a new shape. Strangely, no matter how the lady of the forbidden region tried, it wasn’t possible to form all three figures in full. Xu Qing’s father and mother became mere outlines before they collapsed. Grandmaster Bai was also an outline, but didn’t become clear. He also dissipated.

Xu Qing looked at the lady of the forbidden region. A moment passed. Qingqin cawed. Finally, the lady of the forbidden region spoke in a raspy voice.

“There are two human souls that were sacrificed to the Father God. They cannot be summoned back. The other soul is not in Revered Ancient.”

The lady of the forbidden region suddenly backed away, merging into the fog. Then the fog retreated into the depths of the forbidden region, where it formed a sealing power that isolated itself from the outside. Apparently, she wasn’t very pleased with how things had gone, and was now choosing to seal herself in seclusion. Along with her went the force of expulsion.

Xu Qing stood there quietly. He was not surprised that he had been unable to see the image of his father and mother. Back in Peerless City, they had been sacrificed to the broken face of the god. But he was confused by the situation with Grandmaster Bai’s soul.

Not in Revered Ancient?

Xu Qing frowned. Thinking back to Grandmaster Bai’s death, he turned to look in the direction of the Violet Lands. His last stop on this visit to South Phoenix was to pay respects to Grandmaster Bai, and also see his childhood companions who lived in the Violet Lands.

Maybe I should ask Chen Feiyuan and Tingyu about all the details of Grandmaster Bai’s death. [1]

After a moment of thought, he turned to Daoist Sima and Qingqin. He clasped hands and bowed. “Seniors, I hope you don’t mind waiting for me for a few days. I plan to have one of my spirit pets evolve here.”

Daoist Sima looked at the shadow beneath Xu Qing’s feet. Nodding, he took the swordsages back to the dreadnaught. Qingqin gave a caw, flapped his wings, and flew in the direction of the fog in the middle of the forbidden region. He was actually very interested in the lady there. The zither music twanged, and the fog roiled. Qingqin disappeared into the fog.

Xu Qing wasn’t quite sure what happened after that. However, given that Qingqin had one of Flame Phoenix’s feathers, it seemed unlikely he would be in any trouble.

Turning, he walked back in the general direction of his old laboratory. As the light of dawn appeared, he reached the spot where Squad Thunderbolt had battled the black-scaled wolves.

Sitting down cross-legged, he quietly said, “This is the spot where I sealed you. Let this mark the boundary for you today. Don’t go into the depths of the forbidden region. Don’t go into the temple complex. But you can go everywhere else. Show me how much you can grow up.” [2]

His shadow immediately spread out 300 meters. Countless eyes opened and looked at Xu Qing.

“Thanks... milord....”

The shadow faded as it spread out even farther. It left Xu Qing and began moving around and finding plants that had been mutated by the lady of the forbidden region. Seemingly inexhaustible amounts of mutagen flowed into the shadow. Chewing sounds echoed out. Plants and trees alike were nothing more than food for the shadow. It was the same with the mutant beasts. Howls echoed out, and the scavengers who heard them trembled and fled. After some thought, the shadow decided not to bother the scavengers. It wasn’t sure how Xu Qing would react to that. So it stuck to devouring mutant beasts and mutagen.

Gradually, its aura grew stronger. Slowly but surely, the plants and trees, instead of disappearing, transformed. The plants grew eyes, and the trees became coffins. It was the same with the mutant beasts. After the shadow devoured them, they would grow eyes and come back to life. It was almost as if the shadow was somehow taking over the forbidden region.

Time passed. Three days went by.

By now, about ten percent of the forbidden region pulsed with the aura of the shadow. And its appearance had changed. The shadow was stuffed and couldn’t continue. Sweeping back toward where Xu Qing was seated cross-legged, it emanated cheerful fluctuations that indicated it was close to a breakthrough.

Xu Qing opened his eyes, and they glittered coldly.

“Devouring ten percent and then trying to force a breakthrough? That won’t do any good.”

The pleased shadow shivered. “Keep going... slowly but surely... get stronger....”

“Hurry up and break through,” Xu Qing said coldly.

The shadow shivered and shrank in on itself. Then a 300-meter-tall tree appeared in front of Xu Qing. It had a thick trunk and an umbrella-like canopy. It pulsed with immense power, and emanated an extraordinary aura. There were no leaves on the tree, just countless red eyes. However, the eyes didn’t contain a hint of brutality. Only obedience. That only made the tree seem more gruish, though.

Ling’er stuck her head out of Xu Qing’s sleeve. “You’ve got this!”

Her words of encouragement caused the shadow to become even more excited. The tree branches swayed, releasing heaven-rending, earth-crushing rumbling sounds.

Next, the huge tree began to transform. It became an enormous coffin, also covered with eyes. Its aura became even more intense, and it also had a feeling of death in it. After that, the coffin transformed into a black vortex that emitted howling sounds. The shadow was now heading toward its third state.

Xu Qing stared at the vortex with keen anticipation. The shadow had its uses occasionally, after all. Therefore, after Xu Qing came to understand how terrifyingly powerful the violet crystal really was, he wanted the shadow to get stronger.

I wonder what its third form will be like.

Rumbling echoed from within the vortex as it grew larger. It went from 300 meters to 3,000, and it floated high into the sky.

It wasn’t a vertical vortex. It was horizontal, like an enormous storm cloud that filled the sky. Black rain fell from it, except, it wasn’t made of raindrops, but rather, of numerous shadows. Gradually, everything within that 3,000-meter area became pitch black, as if the entire area was completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Seeing that, Xu Qing started to get a bit excited.

Up above, Daoist Sima and the other swordsages looked on with raised eyebrows.

Eventually a huge face appeared within the vortex. The facial features were unfamiliar, but it was clearly howling in a way that made it seem like the voice was full of thunder. The face didn’t remain in place for long. After a few breaths of time, it vanished back into the vortex, while at the same time, Nascent Soul fluctuations rolled out.

The shadow’s shape changed again. Instead of a vortex, it was like a 3,000-meter black canopy up in the sky. It was almost like a blotchy stain on the dome of heaven. Excited fluctuations rolled out.

“I’m... so... strong!”

Xu Qing let out a cold harrumph.

The fluctuations transformed into those of terror.

“I’m... so... weak!”

The shadow didn’t wait for any instructions from Xu Qing, and immediately revealed some of its new powers. The 3,000-meter canopy of heaven was suddenly dotted with stars. It was almost as if that 3,000-meter section wasn’t just a blotchy stain in the sky, but rather, its own starry sky! Astonishingly, those stars were all eyes. And when the eyes blinked, those stars glittered.

“Milord... I conceal... flee... transport....”

The shadow was excitedly trying to explain what it could do.

Xu Qing frowned. From what he could tell, the shadow had transformed to look a bit more gruish, but other than that, didn’t seem to have developed any new abilities.

Sensing Xu Qing’s displeasure, the 3,000-meter canopy of heaven sent out more fluctuations.

“Eyes... possess... seal....”

“That’s it?” Xu Qing said, his eyes glittering coldly.

Shivering, the shadow loudly said, “I... can possess... gods!”

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. Standing, he looked at the 3,000-meter canopy of heaven.

“Eventually....” The eyes in the canopy of heaven blinked a few times.

Xu Qing replied in a cool tone, his face completely expressionless. “Get the hell back here.”

The shadow dropped down and returned trembling to Xu Qing.

Meanwhile, Ling’er chuckled. “Little Shadow is really trying hard, Big Bro Xu Qing!”

She looked at Xu Qing and blinked a few times.

The shadow shivered and emanated fluctuations of thankfulness. It had never experienced anything like this before. After all, the only thing it got from Xu Qing was coldness. Considering all that coldness, getting just a teeny bit of warmth left it feeling very grateful toward Ling’er. Not sure how to respond, it twisted and turned in a variety of clever ways. Ling’er laughed.

The laughter made the shadow even happier. But then it saw Xu Qing’s expressionless face, and it shivered and didn’t dare to look happy any more.

Xu Qing ignored the shadow as he flew up to the dreadnaught. As soon as he landed on the deck, Daoist Sima gave him a look. His other war comrades smiled.

Xu Qing also smiled. Thanking them, he then looked back into the depths of the forbidden region. Apparently noticing his gaze, Qingqin flew up out of the fog and let loose a contented caw. Even now, no one knew what he had been doing in the fog.

Curious, Xu Qing scanned the forbidden region, but the fog obscured everything. Qingqin seemed fine, though, so Xu Qing didn’t put any more thought into it. Before long, the dreadnaught was speeding toward the Violet Lands.

That was going to be Xu Qing’s next stop. After what happened in the forbidden region, he wanted to look more deeply into what happened leading up to Grandmaster Bai’s death. Last time he’d been there, he had only been concerned about exacting vengeance, and hadn’t looked much into the overall circumstances. Based on what the lady of the forbidden region had said, Xu Qing got the feeling that there were more mysteries to be unraveled.

1. We last saw Chen Feiyuan in chapter 210. That arc started in chapter 207, where we also saw Tingyu again after many chapters. Other chapters featuring them include 18, 21, and 29. This is probably a good point to remind everyone that Grandmaster Bai’s surname is NOT the same surname as Bai Xiaochun from AWE. Grandmaster Bai’s surname (which could also be pronounced Bo) is 伯 while Bai Xiaochun’s is 白. If you look closely, you can see that Grandmaster Bai’s surname actually contains the character 白. So if there was some situation where Grandmaster Bai was somehow connected to Bai Xiaochun, it wouldn’t be super surprising. That said, there is no inherent reason to connect the two. That’s not to mention that there have been other characters surnamed Bai in Er Gen’s novels. ?

2. Xu Qing got the shadow in the fight with the black-scaled wolves in chapter 13. ?