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“Daddy, come home....”

The voice seemed full of longing and deep emotion. As it echoed out of the tunnel, it seemed to be calling out to anyone nearby who could hear it. It was so clear and distinct it was possible to visualize the boy uttering the words.

After further consideration, Xu Qing determined that there were no dangerous fluctuations in the tunnel. Also, he didn’t sense the frigid cold of grues. However, just to be safe, he ignited his life flame and entered the profound radiance state. Despite the fact that the month time-limit for the mission was almost up, this was his first time entering the profound radiance state in the presence of Ding Xue. So far, none of the dangers they had faced required it.

As his energy erupted, Ding Xue and Zhao Zhongheng gasped and instinctively backed away, shielding their eyes from the painful light.

Ding Xue had it a bit better off. Though she had to close her eyes, she felt more excited than astonished. As for Zhao Zhongheng, his expression flickered; he had been mentally prepared for this moment, but now that it was here, felt like he was going to collapse from disappointment.

Who says standing in the light makes you a hero? I have true sincerity on my side. I’m different from everyone else!

Xu Qing had no idea what Ding Xue and Zhao Zhongheng were thinking, nor did he care. Now that his profound radiance state was active, he didn’t hesitate to go right into the tunnel. He moved at top speed, shooting down the tunnel, causing explosive popping sounds to ring out as he did. At the same time, he confirmed that the mutagen and zombie poison in the place really was fading away. It was almost like it was dead. As he pondered that, he burst out the other end of the tunnel like a lightning bolt.

He found himself in a simple room that was obviously constructed as a hiding place.

There was a Seazombie huddled in the corner who looked like an old human man. He was dead. He had a number of ghastly wounds on him, and his dantian region was a mass of shredded flesh. That was obviously the fatal blow that had killed him, as it seemed to pierce all the way through his body. This corpse was obviously the source of the mutagen and the zombie poison. Although the Seazombie was dead, he still emitted some faint fluctuations.

After looking him over, Xu Qing determined that, at the very least, he had possessed one life flame. The Seazombie had obviously sustained mortal wounds in the fighting, but had still climbed down into this hiding spot. Unfortunately for him, he never had a chance to escape, nor did he have any way to recover from his wounds. It seemed doubtful that he’d been dead for very long, which was why there was still mutagen in the tunnel when they opened it.

Xu Qing left the profound radiance state.

This Seazombie’s facial expression was different from other Seazombies Xu Qing had encountered. Though his skin was rotting, it couldn’t hide the bewilderment he had experienced before dying.

What was more, his hands were tightly clasped around a small bronze bottle. It was as if, in the moments before dying, that bottle had been the most important thing to him. It was an old, battered bottle, opened, and the voice Xu Qing had heard was coming out of it.

“Daddy, come home....”

The voice spoke softly, yet was full of longing and emotion.

As this old Seazombie lay dying, he had opened this bottle and listened to those words repeating over and over again. Apparently, it was the voice of a relative....

Xu Qing looked at the bottle, then studied his surroundings further to make sure there was nothing dangerous around. Around then, he heard footsteps behind him.

Zhao Zhongheng and Ding Xue had come through the tunnel after coming to the conclusion there was nothing dangerous inside. Ding Xue had been most anxious, and had hurried through the tunnel first. Zhao Zhongheng had had no choice but to follow.

Upon seeing Xu Qing standing there, Ding Xue breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked around and noticed the bottle.

“That’s a recording bottle,” she said in surprise. There were many things that ordinary cultivators wouldn’t recognize that she knew a lot about. Seeing Xu Qing glance at her, she quickly continued, “Recording bottles are ancient items that you don’t see very often. To some people, they’re literally priceless, while other people think they’re useless. They only have one function. They can capture sound. Afterward, you can open the bottle and hear whatever sound you captured.

“The sound quality is perfect, just like the original. That’s the amazing thing about them. However, the recording doesn’t last long once you start listening to it. After a while, it fades away, and then you need to capture a new sound.”

Looking at the bottle clasped tightly in the Seazombie’s hand, something suddenly seemed to click in her mind. “Seazombies can come from different species. The special method used to resurrect and zombify them removes most of their memories, leaving them with only scraps of their old life. However, those memory scraps don’t do them any good. After being resurrected and zombified, they become brutal and ruthless. Their connection to their previous life is severed, and in most cases, they have no physical object to connect them to the past.

“But if this bottle belonged to him, then maybe this Seazombie was different. If the bottle tied him to the past, then he must have been reluctant to part with it. Perhaps it was his obsession. As for the voice in the bottle, maybe it was his son. Although, I guess it doesn’t matter what his life was like before. In the end, he ended up as a Seazombie.”

Ding Xue didn’t speak with a lot of conviction, as she couldn’t be sure if any of her conjectures were true. After she finished speaking, she looked at Xu Qing.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he said, shaking his head. He waved his hand, and the bottle flew to him. The voice from the bottle was very weak now, and a moment later, it spoke one last time and then went silent.

Ding Xue exchanged a glance with Zhao Zhongheng. Any other person who she looked at that way wouldn’t understand the meaning behind the look. But Zhao Zhongheng understood. He immediately walked over to the Seazombie, searched him, and found a bag of holding.

Then the three of them left through the tunnel.

As for the bottle, Xu Qing closed it and stashed it with his belongings.

Ding Xue notified the sect of the hiding spot they’d found, which meant she could mark the mission as completed. As for the bag of holding, it didn’t contain much. There were a few random items, but no magical devices or jade talismans.

There were a few hundred spirit stones, three or four spirit notes, and nothing else. Perhaps this Seazombie had been poor, or perhaps he kept his riches stored somewhere else.

Xu Qing didn’t need any of it, and was happy to just keep the bottle. He had no idea if he would ever find a use for such an item, but it seemed marvelous and he had the feeling it could come in useful.

Zhao Zhongheng and Ding Xue were both from rich families, so the contents of the bag of holding weren’t very impressive. However, they split them evenly anyway. After all, profit was profit. Now that the location of the hiding spot had been reported, the sect would send other disciples to handle any follow-up matters.

With that, Xu Qing’s month-long mission ended.

Of course, Ding Xue was very depressed that Zhao Zhongheng had shown up and ruined everything. As Xu Qing was taking his leave, she hurried over to him.

“Elder Brother Xu, the front lines are dangerous. You have to be careful. Remember, put safety first. My cultivation base is weak, so there’s nothing I can give you to help. But I’ll talk with my aunt and make sure she looks out for you. If you run into any situation you can’t deal with, you get in touch with her immediately, okay?

“Oh, another thing, Elder Brother Xu. Thanks for all of your help. I’m going to work really hard to learn everything I can about plants and vegetation, and then join the Seven Sect Coalition. When that time comes, Elder Brother, maybe I can help you out with plants and vegetation.”

Looking very earnest, she said one final thing. “Truth be told, the Second Peak’s dao of plants and vegetation isn’t that great. I’m definitely going to surpass the Second Peak disciples eventually.”

“Many thanks,” Xu Qing said. “Take care of yourself. And keep up the good work.”

The truth was that he was a bit touched by her words. She sounded very sincere. During the month he had worked with her, he could tell that she’d had something on her mind that she never talked about. But overall, she was a good person. Also, she was enthusiastic about learning new things, which he very much approved of. He hadn’t had much of a chance to interact with the Second Peak, so he had no way of knowing if her assessment of their dao of plants and vegetation was correct, but it seemed possible. Clasping hands to her, he turned and left.

She watched reluctantly as he disappeared. Then she turned and glared at Zhao Zhongheng briefly before snorting coldly and leaving the Merfolk Isles. She knew full well that the danger on the front lines was too great, and her cultivation base was too low.

As Zhao Zhongheng watched her go, the determination never left his eyes. He was still confident that he had the right outlook.

Cultivation base isn’t important. My sincerity and genuineness will win out over everything. That Xu Qing has a high cultivation base. But he just said goodbye and left without looking back. I’m not like that. I’ll always stay with you, my Elder Sister.

With such thoughts on his mind, Zhao Zhongheng took a deep breath and followed Ding Xue, ignoring how irritated she seemed.

Xu Qing did not leave the Merfolk Isles. Thanks to the mission with Ding Xue, he now had three entropic teleportation talismans, as well as a dharmic decree from the vice-peaklord, which meant that he could decline to participate in the frontline war effort without even needing to submit an application. He could even do that while in the middle of a mission.

In other words, he could go back to the sect headquarters any time he wanted. That said, he could still support the war, just not necessarily on the front lines. If he did that, his kill count and contributions to the war effort wouldn’t suffer. In other words, it gave him a lot of freedom of choice.

Not even Gold Core elders could issue dharmic decrees like this. Only someone similar to a peaklord had that authority. Xu Qing was well aware that the vice-peaklord had given him this gift at the behest of Ding Xue.

It’s a big favor. I’ll definitely repay Ding Xue later on.

Having made that decision, Xu Qing took out his identity medallion and started looking through the missions again.

He didn’t plan to go back to the sect immediately. Thanks to wasting a whole month as Ding Xue’s dao protector, his standings in the war rankings had dropped below seventy. That said, he didn’t think it would be hard to climb back up. He wanted to be in the top fifty to earn the right to summon a projection of the sect’s magical treasure.

Going forward, he once again immersed himself in taking one mission after another. He would kill Seazombies, absorb their souls, and sometimes bolster his kill count with his shadow.

Eventually, he rose above the sixtieth rank, which meant he was very close to being in the top fifty. One day when he had just turned in a mission and was about to select a new one, his expression flickered and he looked down toward his feet.

Then his eyes glittered, and then he burst into motion and headed to a remote area. There, he calmly said, “What do you want to say?”

Moments ago, he had detected fluctuations of emotion coming from his shadow. It took some struggle, but his shadow conveyed to him, “Upgrade... quiet... safe... breakthrough....”

Xu Qing’s pupils constricted.

During this whole war with the Seazombies, his shadow had proved very helpful. After consuming many Seazombies, it was now on the verge of a breakthrough. Xu Qing was actually looking forward to that.

After forming his life flame, both the shadow and Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior had fallen behind. That said, he was still on guard against both of them, especially the shadow.

As the shadow conveyed that message to him, the black iron skewer shivered, and then the patriarch said, “Milord, your humble servant needs to report that he is also close to a breakthrough. I also need a quiet, safe place to do so. However, because of cultivating spirit automaton techniques, and also some other random things, my breakthrough will be different. It will provoke Soul-Cleansing Heavenly Lightning!! Once I break through, I’ll have something similar to the profound radiance state. I’ll be almost unstoppable!”

Although the patriarch’s words were spoken with utmost confidence, he was actually feeling extremely anxious. He wasn’t exactly on the breakthrough point, yet felt that he couldn’t wait any longer. After all, if the shadow broke through before him, then given his current state, he would rank second between the two of them. In other words, he would be of little value or interest to Xu Qing. And if that happened, then he had the feeling it wouldn’t be long before he became cannon fodder. So he decided to put everything on the line.

Xu Qing looked at the iron skewer, then the shadow. He had already made his decision.