Chapter 478: Clues Left by the Palace Lord

Chapter 478: Clues Left by the Palace Lord

That night, the palace lords from the Administration and Justice Palaces left for the northern front.

After that, Palace Lord Kong led 100,000 swordsages off to the west with great fanfare. That group of 100,000 included the best of the best from the Sea-Sealing County for the past centuries. The elite cultivators in that group represented all the prefectures in the county. Each one had passed the most difficult of assessments to become a swordsage. All had been on countless missions, and had gone through grueling training to hone their killing ability and toughness. In fact, you could say that they represented the heart of Sea-Sealing County.

And on this day, they took to the field. 100,000 swordsages. Just like the oath they had sworn, they headed to the western front with decisiveness and tenacity.

Xu Qing stood on a mountain outside the county capital, watching them go. He had already concealed his aura. The cold wind caused his garment to flap, and sent his long hair swaying behind him. After watching the swordsage army leave, his expression turned fierce. Turning, he shot in the direction of Daybreak Prefecture. He was like a lone wolf stalking through the night.

“Daybreak Prefecture....” he murmured. As he sped along with his guard up, his heart pounded.

After all, Mount Daybreak was in Daybreak Prefecture. His most deep-seated desire upon reaching the county capital was to eventually travel to Mount Daybreak. Never could he have imagined that he would end up going there like this.

As he flew, he took out the jade slip from Palace Lord Kong and studied the contents. The palace lord had explained a lot before they parted, and had made his way of thinking very clear. The governor’s sudden death was extremely strange, and there was no telling who the secret traitor was.

As he studied the information in the jade slip, Xu Qing suddenly stopped in place and struggled to control his breathing.

The lightmost fatehavoc pill?

Despite everything Xu Qing knew about the dao of medicine, he had never heard of such a pill.

Palace Lord Kong’s jade slip gave a detailed description of it. It was a taboo pill that had been outlawed during the time of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. The reason for the ban on the pill was that top experts from countless species had absolutely detested it. A lightmost fatehavoc pill wouldn’t do anything to an ordinary cultivator. However, it was a pill that was extremely dangerous to government leaders, as it had the potential to kill them almost instantly.

The reason for that was related to destiny aura: the pill could cause a deadly eruption in destiny aura power. And the more destiny aura was gathered in someone, the more powerful the effect would be.

The pill was originally created to resist the rule of the Ancient Spirits, and was created using the light of a perished sun. It resurfaced in the days of Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity, and was used to assassinate many humans who had destiny aura, as well as many nonhuman political leaders. There were even three nonhuman emperors who were killed with it.

It didn’t matter if someone was human or nonhuman, as long as they were an important leader, they would naturally gather the destiny aura of their species. Destiny aura would give a person something like the mandate of heaven. But at the same time, it could be turned into something that would wreak havoc on someone’s fate, and ultimately destroy them with terrifying power. During the half-month that Palace Lord Kong had been investigating the governor’s death, the clues he had uncovered pointed to the possibility of a lightmost fatehavoc pill being involved.

Xu Qing’s pupils constricted as the information from the jade slip entered his mind. Witness the birth of this content, streaming forth from n0v!lbin★

“Based on my investigation, there are many possibilities as to why the governor died. However, among those many possibilities... only a few of them can account for what happened in the Corrections Division.

“Imprisoned in the Corrections Division was the clone of the god sleeping in Forbidden by the Immortal. The method of imprisonment involved converting destiny aura into a power of forced amnesia. In other words, the clone believed itself to be the spirit automaton of the Corrections Division.

“Whoever continues my investigation should study the files of D-132. For all intents and purposes, D-132 was the epitome of the Corrections Division, and a miniature representation of the entire prison. Feel free to consult my secretary-general, Xu Qing, who was the most recent guard in D-132, and who I’ve been grooming as my successor. He’s trustworthy.

The rumbling sounds that filled the sky were a constant reminder to Xu Qing that a bitter war was being fought.

Looking down from the sky, he continued on his way.

Two more days passed.

If he traveled through the night, he would reach the border of Daybreak Prefecture. As the sun set, and the sun wind blew, Xu Qing landed near a village.

Something seemed off about the place. It looked different from other villages that Xu Qing had seen. For example, the trees weren’t growing out of the ground. Instead, they floated in the air. There was a flock of birds overhead, and though the feathers of their wings rippled, they weren’t actually moving. They seemed stuck in place. And they were being hurt by the sun wind.

The situation on the ground was even more freakish. The buildings were all upside down. Some parts of the village would disappear, then appear again a moment later. At the entrance of the village was a hairless dog with a human face, looking at Xu Qing with bared teeth, growling.

Xu Qing took in the scene as the sun set and darkness spread.

Once it was dark, everything changed again. It went back to normal, and resembled any old village. The dog at the entrance was now a muscular oaf. He grinned at Xu Qing with blackish-yellow teeth and beckoned at him to enter the village.

Xu Qing’s face remained expressionless. He had no time to waste, and thus, he just circled around the village and continued on his way.

But then, the village behind him trembled, and then the buildings grew legs, stood up, and rushed toward him.

Xu Qing stopped in place and turned around. All the buildings dropped in place. The village oaf was still there, grinning and waving at him. As he grinned gruishly, the entire village emanated pure malice.

Xu Qing walked back toward the village.

His shadow stretched behind him, emitting fluctuations of excitement. It sounded like it was salivating.

“Hungry... so hungry....”

That made Xu Qing think back to when he was in Emperor Ancient Spirit’s major world, when the shadow had tried to eat some of the evil souls, only to end up vomiting.

Xu Qing decided he ought to reward the shadow for its loyalty, and therefore walked a bit more quickly toward the village. It only took a few moments for him to reach the grinning oaf.

Seeing Xu Qing approaching, the oaf was about to open his mouth when the shadow suddenly lunged toward him. The shadow enveloped him, and the oaf disappeared.

As crunching sounds rang out, the entire village trembled. Numerous eyes popped up on the buildings and trees. They looked at Xu Qing, then closed.

“Eat,” Xu Qing said coolly, standing there with arms crossed.

1. Some readers might remember that daybreak light was described obliquely in chapter 392. ?