Chapter 19: Fiery Eyes
After going out of the ravine, Hou Fei is immediately filled with vitality. His fiery eyes look around in excitement. Seeing a huge whale swimming by, he utters a strange cry and reaches out a hand. Various beams of light then cover that whale completely.
The whale begins to shrink extremely fast. In just a while, there is only a layer of skin left.
“Kaka, so much blood essence, it was so uncomfortable in the ravine. I’d be told off even if I killed just a few fish there. It’s really awesome out here, kaka ~~” Hou Fei waves his hands around and scratches his head. Obviously he is extremely excited.
Qin Yu is slightly shocked in his heart. Only extremely rare demonic beasts possess this blood-absorbing technique, but Hou Fei unexpectedly can also use it. He is really worthy of being a divine beast.
“Fei Fei, this underwater Xiuyao world is very cruel. Dwellers here can fight each other because of just a rude word. Since divine beasts have astonishing potential, if someone discovers that you’re a divine beast, maybe some experts will kill you immediately to prevent future troubles. So …”
“I know, big brother. Kaka, I just have to hide my identity, right? He-he.” Hou Fei blinks his fiery eyes and says laughingly.
Qin Yu has been staying in one place with Hou Fei for 3 years so he knows that he is very smart.
“Master already said that later I can’t use berserk mode to fight. I’ll hide my skills a bit more and show only 30% of my power.” After thinking for a while, Hou Fei makes a decision.
Qin Yu has also heard about Hou Fei’s berserk mode. In that state, Hou Fei is extremely frightening. He is already exceptionally outstanding in a normal state, so once he goes into berserk mode, he is simply terrifying!
“Take it.”
Qin Yu throws Hou Fei a jade identity card. Having killed quite a few Xiuyaoists, he naturally has quite a few identity cards. This identity card was taken out casually by him. After all, it will be slightly easier to act when each of them has an identity card.
“Kaka, what toy is this?” Hou Fei receives the jade identity card and looks at it from top to bottom.
“Fei Fei, this jade identity card can confirm the holder’s identity. You only need to personalize it by blood then suck it in your body. Other Xiuyaoists can know which powerhouse you belong to. In general, those from the same camp aren’t allowed to fight each other while those from different camps are. And nobody is allowed to kill someone with a Nine Demons identity card. But … these things only apply to ordinary Xiuyaoists.” At the end of his explanation, Qin Yu adds a sentence.
So what if he kills here? He will only have to face being chased by the guards of the Blood-red Cave. Of course, this will only happen if they can find out who the killer is.
As long as he kills neatly and leaves behind no clues, who can he not kill?
“I understand these rules. They show that a power struggle’s going on between those camps, right? Humph humph, I’ll also occupy a nice place sometime and recruit a bunch of subordinates. I’m going to be the boss myself!” Hou Fei is very wild and arrogant.
Qin Yu gives a smile: “Don’t aim too high. Let’s go. I’ll slowly tell you about the big powerhouses of underwater Xiuyaoists on the way. It’s not so simple to become a boss as you think.”
The 2 of them travel together. Qin Yu explains the power structure in the underwater Xiuyao world to Hou Fei and gives him some necessary basic knowledge en route. Of course, he obtained these pieces of information through using the Soul Examination a few years ago.
“Hey, you two stop. We’re the Blood-red Cave’s guards.”
Following a loud shout, a 50 strong group appears in front of Qin Yu and Hou Fei. These 50 Xiuyaoists’ power levels are not bad, but their leader, the most powerful among them, is only at the late Jindan stage, which basically means nothing to Qin Yu and Hou Fei.
“Kaka, what did you call me for, kid?” Hou Fei gives a strange laugh and stares at the thin leader.
Being stared at by Hou Fei, that leader feels his entire body’s flesh creep. His heart even trembles: “This monkey heard that I’m a guard but he doesn’t care about it at all. Judging from his aura, he must be a Yuanying expert. As for that fella beside him …” As soon as that thin Xiuyaoist sees Qin Yu, his face immediately goes pale.
With his muscular chest and a rarely seen hairstyle that is only 1 cun long, Qin Yu has a steely air about him. Moreover, his entire body is covered in a black robe, which is flapping, and is absorbing all of the energies around him like a black hole while giving off not the slightest amount of his aura.
The thin Xiuyaoist’s heart trembles even more when he sees Qin Yu’s eyes.
“Lordly, frosty and brutal as well!”
The thin Xiuyaoist quickly makes a judgment about Qin Yu’s character. Having been able to become the leader of a squad, he is rather insightful.
“Didn’t you hear your grandpa’s question?” Hou Fei’s strange voice rises again.
The thin Xiuyaoist instantly looks at Hou Fei. A bit terrified by the latter’s stare, he says at once: “Seniors, I am searching for a Xiuxianist according to an order of the Blood-red Cave. This Xiuxianist’s aura is forthright, his body doesn’t have any demonic energy, and his own energy is very hot and pure! If the two of you know something about him, could you please tell this junior?”
This thin Xiuyaoist is very respectful at the moment and even talks about some characteristics of the Xiuxianist.
A faint smile appears on the corners of Qin Yu’s mouth.
Forthright?
When Qin Yu just went underwater, his aura was really forthright. This coupled with his blazing and pure energy indeed made him very recognizable. However, now that he has succeeded in practicing the Northern Darkness, his aura and the air about him have totally changed to the opposites.
“Hmm … all of you can sod off.” Hou Fei says while waving his hand.
The thin Xiuyaoist is delighted at once. Paying basically no attention to Hou Fei’s disdain, he bows and says: “Then I take my leave.” After saying, he immediately says to his subordinates: “Let’s go search the southern area. Be quick.” He then leads them away.
He knows very well that even though there is a rule that forbids Xiuyaoists of the same camp from fighting each other, some just do not care about it.
If the corpses are removed and no traces are left behind, no one will know anything.
“Heh-heh, a bunch of cowards, yet just now they even wanted to taste our flesh.” Hou Fei’s fiery eyes flash with a red light. On one side, Qin Yu gives a smile. Once, when he was chatting with Uncle Lan long ago, Uncle Lan said that this Fiery-eyed Aquatic Monkey is obstinate and unruly by nature, and at the same time, he is innately violent and combative.
“Fei Fei, where’d you think we should go?”
With his eyes glittering, Hou Fei says: “Do you still have to ask? Just now didn’t you say that in the common places within the territory of the Blood-red Cave, Xiuyaoists are scattered everywhere, and only the Blood-red Ridge has a great number of Xiuyaoists? Let’s just go there!”
Qin Yu frowns.
The Blood-red Ridge? It is the Blood-red Cave’s headquarters. Half of the Xiuyaoists within 8 million li of this place concentrate here.
Knowing there is a tiger on a mountain, brave people tend to ascend it!
“Good, the Blood-red Ridge, let’s go there.”
Qin Yu’s robe flutters while his eyes shine brilliantly. Hou Fei beside him also lets out a strange cry in excitement. Afterwards, side by side, the 2 of them head for the Blood-red Ridge extremely fast. Qin Yu’s black robe flaps as he goes through the water. His ice-cold eyes then suddenly flash with fierceness.
The Blood-red Ridge?
Perhaps not even Sang Mo will be able to identify him when facing him. Moreover, what is there for him to be afraid of? If worst comes to worst, he and Hou Fei will just go on a killing spree in the Blood-red Ridge. As a powerful indi
vidual, he must act a bit wild and impulsively. If he went against his heart’s content, it would be the same as giving up the dangerous path of practice.
******
The 2 of them travel at extremely high speeds. Qin Yu’s Flaming Sword was originally forged from In-rock Flaming Iron. Later in Lei Mountain House, Qin Yu had to blend a dark-natured crystal and a metallic-natured crystal with it to be able to upgrade it to a high-grade holy weapon.
Qin Yu only needs to give the Flaming Sword a thought, it will turn black immediately and give off a dark aura. He can totally make it turn red and emit flames as well. And he can change its color to gold too.
When riding on a black Flaming Sword, Qin Yu, also robed in black, looks very icy indeed.
“Kaka, interesting, interesting.” Hou Fei’s fiery eyes unexpectedly shoot a dim red light into the distance. This is the 1st time that he has gone out so he is naturally very excited because he sees many underwater creatures that he has never seen before.
Suddenly --
“Stop, big brother.” At this moment, the red light shot out from Hou Fei’s fiery eyes becomes much clearer and shines directly on a rock at the bottom of the ocean.
“What are you doing?” Qin Yu stops and looks at Hou Fei. He knows that he must have been told to stop for some reason because Hou Fei also has some special abilities.
Hou Fei bares his teeth, looking very proud of himself: “Big brother, this is one thing you don’t know about. My fiery eyes have a special ability. The more powerful I am, the more formidable they become. Now they can already discover some natural treasures.”
Qin Yu’s heart beats faster.
The fiery eyes can discover treasures?
“Kaka, break for me!” Hou Fei reaches out a hand while laughing strangely. His black stick suddenly appears and lengthens at the same time. It hits that rock with a loud noise. The rock is immediately shattered and its fragments are sent flying in all directions. However, there is surprisingly a glowing red pebble in the center of the shattered rock.
Qin Yu makes a sweep with his holy sense.
“It’s unexpectedly a piece of high-grade warm jade. A piece of jade formed inside a rock, this is a good treasure.” He has realized instantly that this kind of high-grade warm jade has quite a few specially good effects, for example, when put on a corpse, it will prevent the corpse from ever decaying.
Moreover, if put on the body of a living person, it will calm his mind down, which is extremely useful to practitioners. And it can also be made into talismans and holy weapons.
“How’s that, big brother? Are my fiery eyes formidable?” Hou Fei is very proud of himself.
“They’re really outstanding.” Qin Yu praises. Hou Fei is very strange. He unexpectedly does not want this piece of warm jade, throwing it directly to Qin Yu. Because of this, Qin Yu even thinks that Hou Fei does not like treasures, but as they continue to go forwards on their journey, he gradually realizes that he was wrong.
The distance left between them and the Blood-red Ridge is not long, only more than 800,000 li. Along the way, Hou Fei unexpectedly discovers 7 more treasures, 5 of which he gives to Qin Yu and keeps the other 2 for himself.
Only now does Qin Yu realize that Hou Fei likes some ores that can be forged into weapons but has no interest in precious mushrooms and rare grasses. He does not even like warm jade, gravelly crystals, moonlight yin crystals and so on.
When Qin Yu and Hou Fei are about to reach the Blood-red Ridge, the master of the Blood-red Cave comes out from a closed-door training session again.
……
In the main hall of the Blood-red Cave,
Sitting in the master seat, Cha Hong has a very unpleasant expression at the moment. He is still unable to open that black jade case and that most basic Dust Removing Seal alone has taken him over 100 years. He has just left that secret room.
It will take him about another year to open the case.
When he went through closed-door training in the past, his mind was calm because he knew that there was still a long way to go. But now, when he has reached the final juncture, he becomes worried about gain and loss. Sometimes he is afraid that the 3 superpowers, Nine Demons Hall, Azure Dragon Palace and Blue Water Mansion, will know about the case, and sometimes he is afraid that someone among his subordinates will know about it and betray him.
“Cave master.”
Below him, the 13 guardians bows and says simultaneously. All of the Blood-red Cave’s guardians are experts. The weakest among them is only at the late Jindan stage, but this guardian can even rival ordinary Yuanying stage Xiuyaoists in terms of actual offense.
And the strongest among them is even approaching Cha Hong in power. Cha Ge was a vice master but he was much weaker than the strongest guardian.
“Has that Xiuxianist been captured?”
Cha Hong’s voice comes down from above. What can the 13 guardians and the remaining vice master on the lower part of the main hall possibly say?
“Big brother, that Xiuxianist is very cunning. I’ve already investigated the few Xiuxian schools within 8 million li of this place, but the energy of none of them is burning hot and pure like the Xiuxianist’s.” Cha Po takes a forward step, bows and says.
Sang Mo also takes a step forwards, saying: “Cave master, that Xiuxianist is very cunning. For the last 3 years, there have been no traces of him. I’m wondering if he has gone into another power’s territory.”
“Humph!”
Cha Hong casts a glance at Sang Mo with his ice-cold eyes. Sang Mo’s heart immediately trembles.
“We’ve been hunting for that Xiuxianist for 3 years. There are 8 powers under the Nine Demons Hall. I even asked the other powers’ cave masters to help me hunt for him, but even now there are still no traces of him. The other powers’ territories and the Nine Demons Hall’s territory cover an area of 90 million li in radius. Do you think a Xiuxianist could travel 90 million li in just 3 years?”
Cha Hong is merely one of the 8 cave masters under the Nine Demons Hall so he was only able to engage the help of the other 7 cave masters at best. As for the 2 superpowers Azure Dragon Palace and Blue Water Mansion, he is simply ineligible to ask them to do anything.
“Sang Mo, I remember you mentioned a black eagle last time?” Cha Hong suddenly says.
Sang Mo answers at once: “Cave master, that day, when I was dealing with that Xiuxianist, there was a black eagle with him. It seems there’s a very good relationship between them because they were trying hard to give each other a chance to run away.”
Sang Mo of course remembers clearly what happened during the fight that day. He knows Xiao Hei and Qin Yu were trying to create a chance to escape for each other.
“Oh?”
On the upper part of the hall, Cha Hong utters a word then says no more. All the other Xiuyaoists do not dare to make a sound. After a long time, Cha Hong suddenly says: “Spread my order. From now on, not only will you have to hunt for that Xiuxianist, but also for that black eagle. Remember, it’s to hunt and capture, and not to kill.
“Yes!”
The 13 guardians and the vice master take the order in unison.
With a wave of his large sleeve, Cha Hong immediately disappears from the main hall. The 13 guardians and the vice master know very well that he often undergoes closed-door training. Occasionally he will come out for a while, but will continue to undergo closed-door training afterwards, and he hates being disturbed during his training sessions the most.
“After catching the black eagle, the Xiuxianist will definitely come out. Isn’t there a good relationship between them?” Cha Hong’s eyes flash with coldness. He then enters the secret room.
To avenge his brother’s death is very important, but it cannot compare with his black jade case. At the moment, after searching for treasures along the way, Qin Yu and Hou Fei have finally arrived in the Blood-red Cave’s headquarters -- the Blood-red Ridge.
Chapter 20: Guardians
The Blood-
red Cave’s territory is 8 million li in radius and the Blood-red Ridge is at the center of it. Half of the territory’s Xiuyaoists concentrate in this place so it is obviously much more flourishing and beautiful than many other places at the bottom of the ocean.
By now, Qin Yu and Hou Fei have already entered the Blood-red Ridge.
There are approximately 100,000 Xiuyaoists in the 8 million li radius area controlled by the Blood-red Cave. Because only 1 in 1000 Xiuyaoists can reach the Yuanying stage, there are only about 100 Yuanying stage experts within 8 million li of the Blood-red Cave. However, most experts hide in their own caves.
The Blood-red Ridge is actually a huge mountain range at the bottom of the ocean. Various caves and palaces have been built on many peaks of the mountain range. Generally, there are 10-odd Xiuyaoists in a palace. At the same time, there are also several thousand Xiantian-level demonic beasts ready to listen to their orders.
Stellar Transformations Page 93
