Chapter 648: The Wind Locks the Desert; Missing a Dao Son

Name:Beyond the Timescape Author:
Chapter 648: The Wind Locks the Desert; Missing a Dao Son

The gray wind blew through the gray desert, begging the question of whether people would soon start calling the Greenhair Badlands by a different name. After all, the sand was all gray now. As the wind blew, it rapidly intensified to the point of being a storm. It was a tempest containing godly might, and as it spread, it imparted the sensation that it would never die down. Even the canopy of heaven changed. It was no longer filled with red light. It was as if the entire desert had been separated out of the Moonrite Region.

For anyone outside, entering the desert would now be a very deadly risk. Even the pontiff from the Red Moon Cathedral didn’t dare to stay inside. Bedraggled and broken-down, he had no choice but to fall back. He had even lost some of his godheralds in the retreat.

Once outside the desert, the cathedral cultivators looked back into the storm.

“This place is cut off from the outside now.”

“The gray storm isn’t going away. It’s preventing anyone from going in.”

“The people inside can leave, but people on the outside have to deal with that storm if they want to go in.”

The Red Moon Cathedral finally had no choice but to label the place a forbidden region and leave it be.

The people already inside of the gray storm didn’t look any different from before, although they were all incredibly shocked.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing and everyone else left the Imperial Sovereign’s Land of God Decapitation and reappeared out in the gray wind and sand.

In the past, when Xu Qing and the Captain finished a big job, they usually had to teleport randomly to safety. But this time, there was no need for that. The gray storm was their protection. For all intents and purposes, the Captain’s deal with the black wooden door ensured that they were now in the safest location in all of the Moonrite Region.

And thus, the entire group returned to the Green Spirit Pharmacy in the mudbrick city. Everything was normal back at the medicine shop.

Patriarch Inkrule had been standing guard the entire time, and had been doing a good job of it. After everyone left earlier, he’d been feeling very nervous. And then those images appeared in his mind.... Although hardly anyone in the Moonrite Region could have recognized the people in those images, he recognized all of them instantly. And that was especially true of Xu Qing. After all of that happened, he had decided to just do his best to guard the shop. Later, the green sand transformed, and the massive basin was filled with gray sand and wind. All of that convinced him that the best course of action was just to stay where he was. He had worked hard to take good care of the chickens, fattening them up as much as he could. That included his old apprentice. When he finally spotted Xu Qing, the Heir Apparent, and everyone else on the street, he started trembling with excitement, and rushed forward to receive them.

The next day, the Green Spirit Pharmacy opened for business again. Ling’er’s face was flushed as she worked on the accounts, all while occasionally looking happily at the back room. Her cultivation base was very different from before. She had now thoroughly assimilated the destiny aura from Emperor Ancient Spirit. That was all thanks to the good fortune of that blood cocoon.

Xu Qing wasn’t the only one to benefit from good fortune. Ling’er had also been blessed thanks to the Heir Apparent and his siblings.

Ning Yan and Li Youfei went back to scrubbing the floor. The Captain resumed his guard duties and kept an eye on Nethersprite as she boiled water. Nethersprite hadn’t returned her little toy. Thus, as she boiled water, she always took every opportunity to slap and chide the skin lantern. She also had the lantern do the blowing to keep the fire hot.

Wu Jianwu was again reciting poetry. He hadn’t seen Patriarch Inkrule for quite a while, and missed him a lot. “It feels like forever since I went on my way; yet it seems like I’ve hardly been gone a day.”

Patriarch Inkrule pretended not to have heard him.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings went back to their routines. Fifth Sister was in the backyard, happily tending to the chickens. Eighth Sib clasped the Captain’s shoulder and chatted like before. However, when Xu Qing occasionally listened in, it seemed like the Captain was often getting more information out of Eighth Sib than the other way around. Whenever that happened, Princess Brightblossom would shake her head.

“Seniors, my heavenly dao formed when I experienced enlightenment of dao-severing. That’s its specialty. It’s probably also connected to slaughter and tribulation lightning. That’s why I was able to convert it into a heavenly saber.”

Xu Qing waved his hand, causing a small bluegreen dragon to fly out from the top of his head and start gliding around.

The Heir Apparent nodded. His expression unchanging, he said, “Hmm. It’s just as I thought. You used a destined opportunity to plunder enlightenment from heaven and earth.”

A short distance away, Eighth Sib’s eyebrows shot up and he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, Princess Brightblossom looked at him. A tremor passed through Eighth Sib, and he forced himself to stay silent.

Despite what the Heir Apparent had said, he was actually bewildered. He rarely made mistakes, especially considering his experience as someone with a Smoldering God cultivation base. What was more, he had observed Xu Qing’s heavenly dao quite a bit. He had seen a deep level of approval in that heavenly dao, as well as an independent spirit. Those things didn’t seem to match with what Xu Qing said about his enlightenment.

Gaining enlightenment of an illusory heavenly dao wasn’t enough. It required constant cultivation and growth to succeed. If you likened heavenly daos to a species, then heavenly daos of that level were like ordinary citizens who need to develop significantly before becoming royalty. Besides, that was something of a dead end. It didn’t matter how much a heavenly dao grew, it could never become like the heavenly daos of ancient times in the Revered Ancient mainland. They were the royalty.

But Xu Qing’s heavenly dao was somehow different. It had a deep level of approval that the Heir Apparent could sense was connected to one of the ancient heavenly daos. It seemed outrageously unbelievable. Upon sensing it, the Heir Apparent had assumed that it must have been something that Xu Qing surreptitiously plundered and added to his assets.

Princess Brightblossom muttered to herself briefly before looking at Xu Qing and his heavenly dao. “Xu Qing, did your heavenly dao experience some incredibly momentous event?”

Xu Qing was about to answer the question but didn’t have the chance.

The Captain proudly laughed and said, “Of course! It was back when little Ah Qing and I were on a big job.”

“What job?” Eighth Sib asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing worth talking about. We just gave the little bluegreen dragon a daddy, which is when it became our grandson. You see, little Ah Qing and I had a child together. Ai. It’s been such a long time since we saw our son. I’m really starting to miss him.”

The Captain looked up into the sky. All of a sudden, a rumbling in the dome of heaven seemed to respond to him.

The Heir Apparent shot to his feet. Princess Brightblossom’s expression flickered, and even Fifth Sister looked moved.

Eighth Sib gasped and looked at Chen Erniu, then Xu Qing. Finally he pointed to the sky. “That’s your son?”

Xu Qing hesitated briefly, then said, “After waking hīm, hē’ll likely be one of the ancient heavenly daos.”

The Heir Apparent sat back down and grabbed his teacup. Yet again he was starting to feel exhausted. Princess Brightblossom and Fifth Sister both sat there quietly. Eighth Sib’s jaw was hanging open.

Ning Yan continued scrubbing the floor, his heart aching with regret. I had a chance too... to be the father of a heavenly dao!