Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 581: The Beginnings of Moonrite’s Most Badass Medicine Shop (part 2)

Days passed.

The city was small, but there were still occasional conflicts between residents. However, Xu Qing kept to himself, and in that state of isolation, managed to avoid trouble.

The seed he had planted eventually sprouted, then quickly turned into a flourishing little sapling. It was a very strange plant, as it was slightly intelligent. Whenever Xu Qing appeared in its presence, it would tremble. In contrast, it would sway back and forth for Ling’er, causing her to laugh with delight. In response to her laughter, it would work harder to amuse her. She took to calling it Sprouty.

Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was on guard duty. For the most part, he stayed in the rafters and kept his eye on the front door.

As for the shadow.... It was not very pleased at all with how Sprouty was getting on Ling’er’s good side. On a few occasions when Ling’er and Xu Qing weren’t watching, it would show up next to Sprouty and glare murderously at it. When that happened, Sprouty would shrink in on itself and stop moving.

However, the shadow didn’t do that very often, as it had another mission. It had to leave the city and go out into the Bitter Life Mountains, and even the Greenhair Badlands in general, to find animals for Xu Qing. Thanks to the shadow’s efforts, Xu Qing’s research could continue nonstop. It would also bring back news from the area.

Those were occasions when Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior was able to prove his usefulness. He was always there to translate, although he would occasionally slip in some extra things to get the shadow in trouble. The shadow had matured quite a bit, yet still lacked experience. As a result, it only noticed what the patriarch was doing about thirty percent of the time.

Xu Qing didn’t pay much attention to it all. He had long since grown used to the two oafs and their bickering.

Regardless, thanks to the shadow and the patriarch, Xu Qing was learning a lot more about the Greenhair Badlands. For example, he now knew why the mudbrick cities were always on the mountains. There were a lot of gruish phenomena in the desert that were capable of completely wiping out entire cities. Because of that, only the mountains were safe.

For example, every so often in the desert, illusory regions would appear. Sometimes they were oases, sometimes they were floating cities, and sometimes they were other worlds. Regardless, they would move about bringing death with them wherever they went. If you entered one of those illusory regions, it wasn’t easy to get out alive. And when an illusory region finally vanished, it would leave behind bare bones that had been scraped free of all flesh and blood.

The shadow brought some information about the giant mushrooms Xu Qing had spotted before. The shadow had seen one such mushroom standing up and moving around. The mushrooms had root systems that resembled human bodies, which allowed them to rove about in the desert looking for illusory regions.

But those weren’t the most terrifying things to be found in the Greenhair Badlands. Thanks to the shadow, Xu Qing learned that the desert wasn’t always the same color.

Occasionally, the wind would turn pure white, whereupon all living beings in the desert would scramble to find refuge in the nearest mountains. If they failed, they would be in great danger, as the mountains were the only places where the wind and sand didn’t reign supreme.

Over the many years that had passed, the white wind had appeared numerous times. And occasionally, people would fail to make it to the mountains quickly enough. Although such people didn’t die, they were changed. Their bodies would be deformed, and they would become extremely ugly. Later generations would inherit those deformities. It made Xu Qing think of the people he had seen when looking around the city.

There wasn’t just a white wind. Sometimes the wind in the Greenhair Badlands would turn black. It hadn’t happened for hundreds of years at this point, but the stories about it persisted. When the black wind appeared, all living beings in the Greenhair Badlands were put into great danger. Even people who fell back to the mountains were still at risk.

That said, there were few places in the Moonrite Region that weren’t dangerous. Death was always lurking around the corner. Considering that, a black wind that came around every few hundred years wasn’t anything special.

Yet there was another type of wind. The gray wind, which was really just a legend. Xu Qing learned about it from the very first customer who came to buy medicinal pills. Supposedly, the gray wind had only appeared once in all the history of the Greenhair Badlands. What was more, it had been such a long time since it happened that nobody knew any real details about it.

Because of all that, Xu Qing got to know a lot more about the desert. In addition to his research into the curse, he also did more experiments with the mirror fragment. After a lot of tests, he was coming to a much better understanding of the Moonrebel Congregation’s test.

That one-eyed cultivator wasn’t lying about this part. Any mirror can be used in the Bitter Life Mountains to find an entrance to the Moonrebel Congregation. It also serves as the way to start the test. Only by passing the test can you get in.

Xu Qing sat in the back of the little building, looking at the mirror with determination in his eyes.

Thanks to his research, he now realized that the test to enter the Moonrebel Congregation involved three subtests.

The first subtest involved a sacrifice. It was really more like a blood tribute. Any person who wanted to enter the Moonrebel Congregation needed to kill two cultivators of the same level as themselves from the Red Moon Cathedral. By sending the corpses into the mirror, one completed the first part of the test. It made sense to Xu Qing. The first subtest was intended to prove the applicant’s strength, and also provide a measure of protection against outside forces.

Because of the requirements, people from the Red Moon Cathedral who wanted to infiltrate the Moonrebel Congregation would have to pay a heavy price to do so. What was more, the higher the cultivation base, the more difficult it would be. And that was just the first subtest. If someone completed the first subtest, but failed the subsequent subtests, then it would all be a big waste. That was why the subtests were ordered in that way.

The second subtest to enter the Moonrebel Congregation was an expression of faith. As for the third subtest, Xu Qing wasn’t sure about the details. His intention was to get the first subtest out of the way.

With such thoughts in mind, he looked up into the hazy dome of heaven. Eyes shining with determination, he put the mirror fragment away and then left the medicine shop.

His target destination wasn’t the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple in the Bitter Life Mountains. He knew that he couldn’t afford to underestimate the church temple in these mountains.

All in all, the blood tribute was a hard requirement to get into the Moonrebel Congregation. For all intents and purposes, anyone who wanted to get in was forced to first deal with the Red Moon Cathedral. Only fools would fail to exercise caution in such a situation. Based on Xu Qing’s previous dealings with the Red Moon Cathedral, he figured it was highly likely the cathedral would set traps for people just like himself.

Of course, everyone had their own way of thinking, and it seemed unlikely to Xu Qing that the people trying to get into the Moonrebel Congregation would be idiots. In all likelihood, most of them would search for cathedral cultivators outside of the desert.

Regardless, Xu Qing wanted to play it safe.

After putting on the immortal skill mask, and also using his Gruegloom abilities, he left the mountains and started combing the desert for animals with the same cultivation base as himself.

Just like that, days passed.

There were all types of animals in the desert. And while the shadow had been hunting on Xu Qing’s behalf, it had noted where some of the most dangerous areas were. As a result, Xu Qing knew exactly where to go.

Two days later, in a region full of quicksand, rumbling booms echoed out as a huge red worm burrowed out of the ground. It emanated fluctuations equivalent to the Nascent Soul level, and was howling in grief. Beneath it, Xu Qing shot forward and launched a blow with his right hand. The red worm was blasted in two, with each part dropping to the ground twitching. Xu Qing collected it and then proceeded on his way.

Five days later, a huge scorpion that was dozens of meters in length burst out of the ground. A shadowy figure chased it, flanked by countless heavenfiend clones. The scorpion let loose a grating cry as it realized it couldn’t escape. Booms rang out for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. After that, the shadowy form resolved into Xu Qing. Turning, he headed back toward the Bitter Life Mountains.

About half a day later, he was back in the medicine shop. It was business as usual for Ling’er, although she’d been worried about Xu Qing being gone. Now that he was back, she breathed a sigh of relief and flashed a bright smile.

Xu Qing tousled her hair, then went into the back and sat down cross-legged. There, he activated a defensive spell formation, produced the mirror, and took a deep breath. He wasn’t interested in ambushing cultivators from the Red Moon Cathedral. If his true identity was revealed as a result, it could lead to big trouble.

Instead, he planned to use his own methods to ‘create’ a cultivator from the Red Moon Cathedral. One of the reasons he had spent so much time doing research was that he was hoping to fool the Moonrebel Congregation’s test.

All of my experiments have proven that the test isn’t proctored by a person. It’s more like a machine. However, since my blessing provokes the curse, I have to do it all very quickly.

After blinking a few times, he took out the scorpion and the worm, both of whom were barely alive. Without any hesitation, he blessed them with the power of the violet moon. It was very similar to what he’d done with Mu Ye.

In the blink of an eye, the two animals shivered. As the image of a violet moon appeared on both of them, the curse inside of them stirred. Thankfully, Xu Qing was very quick. Before any flare-up could occur, he threw them into the mirror.

The mirror was small, and they were big. But as soon as they touched it, the mirror exuded a gravitational force that sucked them inside.

Xu Qing backed up a few steps. Although he had done a lot of experimentation, and was confident that this would work, he still felt a little nervous as he kept his eyes on the mirror. The mirror trembled as it floated in midair, glittering a bit as if it were deciding what to do. Ten breaths of time passed in which Xu Qing’s heart started racing. Then a boundless will emerged from the mirror.

“You pass!”

Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

The truth was that he didn’t want to use a cheap trick like this. But it was just too dangerous to go hunting people from the Red Moon Cathedral, especially when they would be on the lookout for that. Even the slightest mistake could lead to a lot of trouble. Besides, leaving the Greenhair Badlands would waste a lot of time. Probably half a year. Considering that, his own plan seemed a lot better.

I’d say using such a special way to pass the first subtest probably doesn’t count as cheating.

Thinking back to the education he had received from his Master, he decided that he had definitely made the right decision.