Book 5 - Chapter 8

B5C8: Nowhere to run

The ocean is immense and seems limitless. The islands on the ocean surface are the territory of Xiuxianists and Xiumoists while the boundless underwater world is the territory of Xiuyaoists, whose power is much greater than that of either Xiuxianists or Xiumoists.

There are 3 superpowers in the underwater world of Xiuyaoists, just like 3 big empires.

The 1st is the Azure Dragon Palace. The overlord of the palace is, of course, a divine beast azure dragon in his true form. He is called the no. 1 expert of the overseas Xiuzhen world. Even super experts among Xiuxianists and Xiumoists cannot compare with him.

The 2nd is the Nine Demons Hall, which has 9 leaders, whose true forms are Purple Demon aquatic dragons, a mutated kind of aquatic dragon. Even though they are not as strong as the Azure Dragon Palace overlord individually, as 9 brothers, they enjoy an advantage in number. Moreover, each of them is a super expert.

The 3rd is the Blue Water Mansion. The Blue Water Mansion master is a mutated divine beast — a Three-Blue-Eyed toad. His 3rd eye is extremely fearsome and has very strange offense. He is slightly weaker than the Azure Dragon Palace overlord, but because of that unusual 3rd eye, not even the Azure Dragon Palace overlord is certain of beating him.

In the underwater world of Xiuyaoists, these 3 superpowers are like 3 super empires. They occupy an area of water that is millions of li in radius each. Nobody dares to shake their positions of power so they are absolute overlords under the water.

There are small powers under these 3 superpowers.

The waters ruled by the Nine Demons Hall have a radius of 90 million li. There are 8 lesser powers in this area, all of which are under the control of the Nine Demons Hall, and the leader of which is the Blood-red Cave, which is in charge of the northernmost region, which is 8 million in radius, of the Nine Demons Hall’s territory.

“The structure is very clear, just like on the Qian Long continent. The Azure Dragon Palace, the Nine Demons Hall, and the Blue Water Mansion are very similar to 3 big dynasties. As far as the Blood-red Cave is concerned, it’s like a county subordinate to the Nine Demons Hall. And I’m currently in the waters controlled by the Blood-red Cave.”

Qin Yu’s mind is now clear.

Previously, he knew nothing about the underwater world of Xiuyaoists so naturally he was scared. A person is only afraid of the unknown. After understanding everything, even though Qin Yu knows that there are countless Xiuyao experts under the water, he has relaxed a lot mentally.

This underwater world of Xiuyaoists is obviously larger than the Qian Long continent and, moreover, there are many more experts here as well. The 2 worlds are simply not on a par with each other. Several tens random Xiuyaoists alone from the underwater world can easily wipe out the entire Qian Long continent.

A continent of mortals and an underwater world of Xiuyaoists are simply not on the same level.

“Ah, ah, it turns out this is the reason why Xiuyaoists can quickly tell that I’m an outsider.”

2 jade cards appear in his hand.

These jade cards were taken from the bodies of the 2 Xiuyaoists killed moments ago. The upper halves of the jade cards have 2 words, Nine Demons, and the lower halves of the cards have a word, Blood-red. These few words are all emitting a special aura.

In the beginning the Great Majesty of the Nine Demons Hall gave an order, that is, in the territory controlled by the Nine Demons Hall, all Xiuyaoists who have reached the Jindan stage must receive a jade identity card. In the Nine Demons Hall’s waters, Xiuyaoists who belong to the same power cannot fight each other.

There are 9 kinds of jade identity cards for Xiuyaoists in the territory of the Nine Demons Hall.

They are Nine Demons Blood-red, Nine Demons Great Shell, and so on.

There are 8 lesser powers like the Blood-red Cave in the Nine Demons Hall’s territory so naturally there are 8 kinds of jade identity cards like the Nine Demons Blood-red card. The last kind of jade identity card is the Nine Demons card. It is given to the Xiuyaoists who are directly under the Nine Demons Hall and are not controlled by the 8 powers.

No Xiuyaoists in the Nine Demons Hall’s territory are allowed to kill the ones with the Nine Demons cards. Anyone who breaks this rule will be punished by the guards of the Nine Demons Hall.

A Xiuyaoist with a Nine Demon Blood-red card is not allowed to kill another one with the same kind of jade identity card, but he can kill any Xiuyaoist who has a different kind of identity card.

The Nine Demons Hall gave this order to make the 8 lesser powers fight each other, thereby losing power. Moreover, no one can kill the Xiuyaoists controlled directly by it. So, naturally more and more Xiuyaoists have become its immediate subordinates.

There is a hint of a smile on Qin Yu’s face.

“From now on, I’ll become a member of the Blood-red Cave, which is under the Nine Demons Hall.” He personalizes a jade card by blood and sucks it in his body then conveniently throws the other card in his spatial ring.

The Nine Demons Hall has never worried that outsiders will take these jade identity cards by force. It cannot even wait for some experts from the outside to accept them.

Once a Xiuyaoist has a jade identity card, he can sense the information about another’s jade identity card with it. If they have the same kind of identity card, this will mean they belong to the same powerhouse. If their identity cards are of different kinds, they can fight each other.

Of course, he can also fight someone from the same powerhouse as his if he is confident that he can hide this from the rule-enforcing squad or that he can resist this squad.

Previously, mainly because Qin Yu and Xiao Hei did not have jade identity cards when they dived deep into the ocean, they were quickly spotted by those Xiuyaoists.

“But … even though I’ve got a jade card, my body still doesn’t have a Xiuyao aura.” Qin Yu slightly frowns. Xiuyaoists’ auras are commonly referred to as demonic auras, which are very easily recognizable to all Xiuyaoists. This is also the reason why those Xiuyaoists were able to judge that Qin Yu was a Xiuxianist in an instant.

He feels that a complication has arisen.

Because he has a jade identity card, Xiuyaoists can sense the aura on his card. If they do not pay close attention to him then they will not be able to discover his true identity, but if they observe his aura carefully then they will notice that he does not have a demonic aura, which will put him in serious danger.

“A demonic aura.” Qin Yu frowns deeply while mumbling repeatedly.

His mind however is pondering nonstop. Xiuyaoists can recognize each other thanks to, firstly, the jade identity cards and, secondly, their demonic auras. After all, because most Xiuyaoists use their human forms, they look very similar to Xiuxianists and Xiumoists.

“That’s right, Northern Darkness!”

A faint smile appears on the corners of Qin Yu’s mouth.

The Northern Darkness is a Xiumo Secret Skill which is more difficult to practice than the Soul Examination by several levels. To perform the Northern Darkness, the user must combine his spiritual energy with his body’s elemental energy. The Northern Darkness has 2 functions. The 1st is to suppress the user’s aura and the 2nd is to accelerate his practicing progress.

If he wants to suppress his aura, he will only need to execute the skill with a little spiritual energy, and his entire aura will be swallowed up.

If he wants to speed up his practicing progress, he will have to perform the skill with a lot of spiritual energy. Not only will his entire aura be swallowed up, the natural holy energy in his vicinity will be absorbed completely as well. At that time, in the eyes of observers, the user of the Northern Darkness skill will look like a black hole, sucking in all holy energy near him.

Examining someone with the holy sense is, firstly, to examine his holy sense and, second, to examine the aura that his body sends out.

“Once I use the Northern Darkness, my aura won’t be sent out. Other people not only won’t be able to feel my aura, but even my spiritual energy as well. Perhaps the enemies will think that I practice a certain special Xiuyao technique.”

This is an eclectic solution.

Qin Yu is not a Xiuyaoist so he cannot form a demonic aura that Xiuyaoists naturally send out from their bodies. But he only needs to absorb his entire aura. If other people discover that they cannot feel his aura at all, they will generally think that he is a mysterious expert.

Qin Yu, who is pondering about practicing the Northern Darkness, simply does not notice a small green fish not far from him.

When Qin Yu examines his surroundings using his holy sense, he pays no attention to ordinary fish and shrimps and only cares about those who have at least reached the Jindan stage. This small green fish is a Xiantian level small fish, the likes of which are very commonly seen in the depths of the ocean.

……

In the Sang clan’s palace,

Sang Mo is sitting alone in the main hall, sadly drinking wine mouthful after mouthful. After spending several days searching without finding Qin Yu, he has now engaged the help of 30 experts from the Green-eyed fish clan, which can be said to have eyes everywhere in the ocean.

“Senior Sang Mo, the killer has been found.” A man whose face has green scales quickly walks into the main hall then says smilingly to Sang Mo while bowing.

Sang Mo immediately stops the cup in his hand.

“You said … the killer had been found?” His eyes glitter with killing intent.

That man from the Green-eyed fish clan says proudly: “Isn’t it only an area of 100,000 li in radius? 30 members of my clan have been searching together. Each of them controls over 1000 fish. There are countless fish at the bottom of the ocean, so who would pay attention to a common fish?”

“Ha-ha, quickly tell me where he is.” Sang Mo is elated.

The man from the Green-eyed fish clan hands over a slip of jade to Sang Mo directly. After all, it is very hard to give a clear verbal description of Qin Yu’s whereabouts. Using the holy sense to draw of sketch of Qin Yu’s location is very much simpler. As soon as Sang Mo scans the jade slip with his holy sense, he knows where Qin Yu currently is.

“Good, when the killer’s been captured, I’ll definitely thank you handsomely.” At the moment Sang Mo is extremely excited.

The man from the Green-eyed fish clan says with a smile: “I’ll go with you, Senior Sang Mo. Even if he moves, I can tell you his whereabouts clearly.”

“Very good, then follow me.”

Right after saying, Sang Mo shoots out of the palace like a red beam of light, rushing extremely fast towards Qin Yu’s location. That man from the Green-eyed fish clan goes with him side by side. Sang Mo also begins to tell his clan’s members to gather in that area through his transmitter.

“This time I won’t let him escape no matter what!” Sang Mo’s eyes glitter with fierceness. His killing intent is moving around his body nonstop.

……

Qin Yu gets into the rocks of a seamount and starts to try practicing the Xiumo skill Northern Darkness.

The Soul Examination only uses spiritual energy so it was very simple for him to practice, but the Northern Darkness combines spiritual energy with the body’s elemental energy so Qin Yu will have to mix his stellar energy and his spiritual energy together.

He draws out a stream of stellar energy from his dantian and a stream of spiritual energy from his head then makes them come into contact with each other.

“Combine? How to combine?”

Qin Yu discovers that his stellar energy and spiritual energy are 2 totally different kinds of energy. There is simply no way to combine them because spiritual energy can even go through stellar energy. Spiritual energy is immaterial whereas stellar energy is physical.

“No wonder the book says the Northern Darkness is extremely hard to learn. The author was only able to create it after reaching the Dujie stage.” Qin Yu slightly frowns.

Spiritual energy and stellar energy are basically 2 completely different things, so heaven only knows how the author was able to combine them.

……

“Senior Sang Mo, my young just sent me a message that the killer is in a seamount 300 li to the southwest. It seems he’s practicing.” The man from the Green-eyed fish clan says to Sang Mo smilingly in a confident manner.

Sang Mo’s eyes glitter. There are more than 20 members of his clan behind him. Meanwhile, the Sang clan’s members in several other directions are also attempting to surround Qin Yu.

“300 li, very good.”

Sang Mo feels his whole body’s blood starting to boil. As soon as he remembers how his son’s head was penetrated and shattered and his son’s jindan was snatched, he cannot control his fury.

“Go!”

With his robe flapping, Sang Mo speeds up by a notch, rushing straight towards Qin Yu’s current location. On one side, the man from the Green-eyed fish clan and over 20 members of the Sang clan also rush in Qin Yu’s direction after him.

Only 300 li, to Xiuyaoists, this is really a very short distance.

Before long, there are only several tens li left between Sang Mo and Qin Yu.

In the seamount, Qin Yu, whose holy sense has always been on high alert, suddenly changes his countenance. His holy sense has detected that Sang Mo and quite a few experts are rushing towards him in the northeast. Luckily for Qin Yu, his holy sense has become a bit stronger and its range has also enlarged quite a bit.

Seeing Sang Mo hurrying in a straight line and Sang Mo’s expression, Qin Yu is 90% sure that Sang Mo knows where he is.

Simply having no time to think about how the enemies know his location, Qin Yu leaves the seamount extremely fast. Standing on his flying sword and using the Body Weapon Unification technique, he immediately flees south. Sang Mo is not chasing in his true form so his speed is naturally not as fast as Qin Yu’s.

……

“No good, the killer seems to have noticed us. He’s running south.” The man from the Green-eyed fish clan becomes very anxious at once.

Sang Mo’s face changes color.

The man from the Green-eyed fish clan continues: “The killer’s speed is extremely fast. My young simply can’t keep up with him. Perhaps the fish controlled by the other members of my clan can detect the killer, but these members are still in the Sang clan’s palace.”

Sang Mo did not think that Qin Yu would be able to detect him so he only brought a man from the Green-eyed fish clan with him.

“Never mind, I’ve arranged my clan’s members in the other directions.”

Killing intent starts to come out from Sang Mo’s face. At the same time, with a fluttering movement of his robe, Sang Mo transforms into a huge red octopus. With a shake of his 8 tentacles, he immediately chases south like a beam of light. Compared to Qin Yu, who is using the Body Weapon Unification, he is even slightly faster.

……

Qin Yu is rushing south extremely fast but then he suddenly stops.

“There’s someone!”

His holy sense has detected 10-odd octopuses several tens li away from him. Even though there are only 10-odd of them at the moment, who is to say many more will not come. Based on this and the fact that just now Sang Mo was rushing straight towards him, Qin Yu makes a judgment.

“Sang Mo knows where I am. Plus, a circle has even been formed around me.”

After Qin Yu stopped for a while, his holy sense discovers that a huge red octopus is rushing towards him from a distance of several tens li behind him.

“It’s Sang Mo.” Qin Yu’s countenance instantly changes.

End of b5c8.