847. Going Out to Sea

“What’s wrong!”

Lin’an had only just fallen asleep when his movements woke her. She turned over unhappily, twisting her willowy waist, her tone soft and petulant, with a trace of languor.

She pressed herself against him limply and wrapped her arms around Xu Qi’an’s sturdy waist.

“I’m going out for a bit. Go back to sleep first.”

Xu Qi’an removed her two snow-white lotus-root arms.

“Where are you going!”

Lin’an sobered at once and sat upright, glaring fiercely at him with her peach-blossom eyes.

Her body was white and delicate, like flawless jade. Large patches of kiss marks still remained on her breasts.

Even that alluring, supple waist of hers was dotted with several love bites.

“I just had a nightmare. I suspect something’s gone wrong with the Confucian Sage’s seal, I need to go and have a look.”

Xu Qi’an pinched her rather plump cheek.

After their marriage, Lin’an normally didn’t keep him under strict control, but at night he had to sleep beside her and hand over his obligatory dues.

She never gave Xu Qi’an the chance to stay out all night.

The moment she heard it was serious business, she didn’t ask any more, only frowned.

After briefly soothing Lin’an with a few words, Xu Qi’an got out of bed, swiftly threw on his robe, dressed himself neatly, then collapsed into a patch of shadow and vanished from the room.

…

The night was deep. A full moon hung in the vault of heaven, spilling down its pure white radiance, with only a few sparse stars scattered about.

Outside Mount Jing City, silver waves rolled over the sea, and the sea breeze carried the sound of rushing surf.

Within the ancient and enormous palace, Sarun Agu opened his eyes. After a moment of silence, he took a step and appeared directly at the altar, beside the statue wearing the thorned crown.

At the other end of the altar, beside the Confucian Sage’s statue, stood a young man in azure robes.

“As expected, the Warlock God has broken further from the seal.”

The young man stared at the crack in the Confucian Sage’s statue, which had spread down to the lower abdomen.

“I imagine the Gu God is about the same, too,” he added.

Sarun Agu smiled.

“You came here in the dead of night because your fortune warned you?”

There was no gloating in his tone, only indifference.

As the Warlock God revived further, the Church of the Warlock God’s confidence had grown ever stronger.

They looked at everything with the same calm detachment.

Xu Qi’an didn’t answer him. His gaze shifted away from the Confucian Sage’s statue and fell upon the Warlock God.

The Warlock God stood quietly in the night, showing no reaction at all to the arrival of a first rank martial artist.

“How arrogantly dismissive.”

Xu Qi’an gave a sigh of feeling.

Sarun Agu said slowly:

“You’re out of time. By the end of the year at the latest, the Warlock God will break the seal and return to the world. The Gu God will do the same, and the Buddha will be before them.

“Xu Qi’an, the Great Feng has no Beyond-rank to stand guard over it. The Central Plains has gathered the finest fortune of the human race, and in the end, the Beyond-ranks will carve it up between themselves. You can’t stop them. Even if you become a half-step Martial God and join forces with Shenshu, how will you stop three Beyond-ranks?

“What’s more, there’s also ‘Desolation’ overseas, eyeing you like a tiger watching its prey. The gatekeeper is still in its hands.”

Xu Qi’an remained silent.

After a while, he said with self-mockery:

“I thought you’d at least try to win me over.”

Sarun Agu shook his head slightly.

“I won’t try to win over a man who’s doomed to die. You’ve gathered half of the Great Feng’s national fortune, you’re the ‘food’ the Beyond-ranks are fighting over. Perhaps you’ll perish before the Great Feng does.”

His tone was calm, as though he were simply stating a fact.

A gust of wind blew in and condensed into the form of Nalan Tianlu. The Master of Rain looked at Xu Qi’an with pity.

“You’ll probably be the shortest-lived first rank martial artist in history.”

The ‘figures’ of two Masters of Wisdom appeared in the distance, looking at Xu Qi’an with either mockery or ridicule.

Xu Qi’an swept his gaze over Sarun Agu, Nalan Tianlu, and the two Masters of Wisdom, then looked towards the Warlock God’s statue.

“Bah!”

In an act of outright defiance, he spat, then strode away.

“If you’ve got the guts, come on over. I’ll be waiting for you in the Central Plains!”

Xu Qi’an shot into the air and, amid a piercing sonic boom, speared into the sky.

…

Southern Marches.

Within the Abyss, a thunderous roar came from the night sky. Xu Qi’an plunged fiercely down from the heights like a supersonic fighter jet.

Carrying enough kinetic force to smash down a mountain, he stirred up a vast air current. After charging into the Abyss, he came to a halt less than thirty feet from the Confucian Sage’s statue, in complete defiance of the laws of physics.

All inertia and kinetic force were drawn in and contained in an instant, and the air current subsided.

The moment Xu Qi’an landed, he immediately examined the Confucian Sage’s statue and found, as expected, that the crack had spread to the Sage’s abdomen.

This is bad. The damage to the statue in the Abyss is about the same as the one in Mount Jing City. Does that mean the Warlock God and the Gu God are roughly equal in strength…

Even in bitterness, he managed to tease out a few scraps of information about the Beyond-ranks.

“At most, by the end of the year, the Beyond-ranks will break the seal.”

Xu Qi’an stared at the Confucian Sage’s statue for a long time without speaking.

There was no Beyond-rank in the Central Plains to hold the line. The Jianzheng, who was suspected to be the gatekeeper, was sealed away. Who knows what plans he had, not to mention that he couldn’t be contacted.

At this point, there was no one he could rely on. There was no mighty backer left for him to cling to, because before he had even realised it, he himself had become the strongest figure in the Central Plains.

But even though his rate of advancement had already been astonishingly fast, trying to oppose a Beyond-rank was still like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Sigh…

A great sigh echoed through the Abyss, and Xu Qi’an’s figure had already vanished.

…

In the Imperial Palace, within the imperial study.

The night outside was pitch-black. Beyond the room, the glow of torches moved slowly as the Imperial Guards on duty passed by.

Li Lingsu yawned and looked at Xu Qi’an, who sat in the large chair opposite, and said quietly:

“It’s the middle of the night. Why have you summoned all of us here?”

To his left sat Lady Flying Swallow, Daoist Lanlian Li Miaozhen, the former Holy Maiden of the Heaven Sect. To his right sat Daoist Jinlian of the Earth Sect, his hair grizzled and his body clad in a black Daoist robe.

Then there was the tall and powerfully built al-Asura, ugly-handsome in a very ugly-handsome way, followed by Chu Yuanzhen, with a streak of white hair at his brow and a magical longsword on his back, and Hengyuan, wearing a faded homespun monk’s robe, his face full of hardship and grievance.

And Lina, who was in the imperial study for the first time, looking around in curiosity.

This was the first time all the members of the Heaven and Earth Society had gathered since Xu Qi’an’s wedding.

No one else spoke. They all looked at Xu Qi’an, waiting for him to explain.

“I’ve been to Mount Jing City and the Abyss in the Southern Marches,” Xu Qi’an said with a sigh.

“The cracks in the Confucian Sage’s statue have spread again. By the end of the year at the latest, the Beyond-ranks will return to the world.”

The members of the Heaven and Earth Society looked at each other. Unconsciously, they straightened their backs, their expressions turning grave.

By the end of the year at the latest, the great calamity would descend…

This isn’t good news. No, it should be called utterly disastrous news… Li Lingsu’s expression changed slightly.

“And you have no clue at all how to advance to Martial God.”

Huaiqing, seated behind the large desk, spoke in a low voice.

Her words deepened the anxiety of the Heaven and Earth Society’s members, making everyone frown.

“And even if you advance to half-step Martial God, it still won’t be possible to stop three Beyond-ranks.”

Daoist Jinlian let out a sigh.

“And there’s also ‘Desolation’ overseas. If it wants to devour the Jianzheng, then it must destroy the Great Feng.”

Al-Asura gave the reminder.

After that, no one spoke. The conversation was completely dead.

This was a dead end, even more hopeless than back when the Jianzheng had been sealed and the Yunzhou rebel army had advanced with unstoppable force.

At least back then, there had been ways to turn the situation around. There had been Luo Yuheng, al-Asura, Xu Qi’an’s power of all living beings, and so on.

But now, once battle touched the Beyond-rank level, being beyond-mortal only earned one an entry ticket. It was nowhere near enough to influence the overall situation.

What were they supposed to do?

Even with someone as intelligent as Huaiqing, and someone as exceptionally sharp as Chu Yuanzhen… in any case, apart from Lina, the members of the Heaven and Earth Society were no fools, yet none of them could think of a way to break the deadlock.

Before absolute power, all schemes were nothing but crooked tricks.

Xu Qi’an broke the silence and said:

“A road has to be walked one step at a time. My current goal is to advance to half-step Martial God. Tomorrow, I’ll set sail. Three months at most. Three months from now, whether I’ve advanced to half-step Martial God or not, I’ll come back.”

Song Qing had already deciphered the formation the Jianzheng had left behind and had engraved it into an array disc for Xu Qi’an.

So long as he could find a suitable target to “devour”, he could activate the array disc and use it to help refine the target’s life essence.

Xu Qi’an continued:

“We still don’t know what the great calamity actually is, but knowing who the enemy is, that’s enough. I’ll handle the Beyond-ranks with Shenshu, you don’t need to concern yourselves with that.

“But the beyond-mortals of the Buddhist sect and the beyond-mortals of the Church of the Warlock God, you’ll need to handle them.

“Brother Chu, I hope that by the time I return, you’ll have stepped onto your own path and advanced to beyond-mortal. Al-Asura, you’re only a hair’s breadth away from first rank. How you break through, and which path you choose, you’ll have to weigh for yourself.

“Daoist Jinlian, you’ve already returned to your peak and reached the great perfection of second rank. Is there any hope of surviving the tribulation? And Master Hengyuan, don’t waste your Executioner Phala. If you don’t know how to refine or use it, you can ask al-Asura for advice.

“Everyone, time is short. Improve yourselves as quickly as possible.

“If after three months I still can’t advance to half-step Martial God, I hope all of you will leave Jiuzhou and put out to sea to seek refuge.

“As for the Holy Son, the Heaven Sect has sealed off the mountain and cut itself off from the mortal world. You’re the Holy Son of the Heaven Sect, you ought to still be able to go back. Take your companions up the mountain and seek refuge there.”

With matters put this bluntly, even Li Lingsu had no mood left for banter. He nodded silently.

Xu Qi’an rose and cupped his fists to the others.

“See you in three months!”

The members of the Heaven and Earth Society rose in silence and said softly:

“Take care!”

…

The next day.

Within the bedchamber of the Wanyao Empress, deep in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

The silver-haired Yao enchantress, with her graceful figure and infinitely alluring back, sat before her dressing table. As she drew her brows, she gave a tinkling laugh.

“A map of overseas? Where would such a thing come from? We Yao have never had the habit of drawing maps.”

Her nine fluffy fox tails trailed across the floor like a beautiful white skirt.

Several dozen feet behind her, Xu Qi’an frowned, thinking to himself that she was having him on. When they’d spoken earlier through Fuxiang, she’d clearly agreed.

The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox turned around. Her long jade-like legs were pressed neatly together without the slightest gap, and she smiled seductively.

“I shall personally accompany you overseas!

“If Silver Gong Xu grows lonely on the journey, I can even warm your bed and help relieve your boredom.”

Her smile seemed able to snare men’s souls, bewitching and enchantingly seductive.

847. Going Out to Sea

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