Chapter 319
Chapter 320: Revival
After hearing the answer, Bai Li Qing studied Yu Sheng again for a long moment. His face looked very serious, but he clearly had no long term plan. As always, he just had an idea and wanted to try it. Yet even without evidence, she suddenly felt a strong hunch: [Holy Revere Hermitage is in trouble.]
She thought it over before speaking: “You know the Special Affairs Bureau’s job is only to protect the Borderland. We do fight cults like the Holy Revere Hermitage, but only when the Borderland’s interests are threatened.”
“I get it,” Yu Sheng nodded, saying with a small smile: “I wasn’t expecting you to send a whole fleet to smash the Hermitage Order’s base for me anyway, and we might not even find it.”
“As you said, the Bureau alone can’t just dispatch a fleet for this,” Bai Li Qing continued, “but on the other hand, they have already threatened the Borderland’s safety, haven’t they?”
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow.
“The appearance of Mistbound City was not random. There must be a plot behind that Otherworld. If they could hide an elite ship right under the council’s nose, then they have both the motive and the ability to create more damage. That is enough to make the council act,” Bai Li Qing said slowly. “Also, for many years our biggest problem when striking the Holy Revere Hermitage was either not finding their hidden nests, or finding them but failing to catch anyone. You are the first person in history to infiltrate their flagship and take one of their ships intact. So if you ever find a clear ‘lead,’ and the coordinates are exact and conditions allow it, I can send you the maximum support under the banner of ‘defending the Borderland and clearing a potential threat.’”
Yu Sheng thought for a second, then tested the waters: “So… a higher level pull strings privilege?”
Bai Li Qing blinked at the phrase, then a faint smile tugged at her lips: “Funny way to put it. Yes, a higher level pull strings privilege. As for how much support this privilege can get you ‘out there,’ I will draft a detailed plan and a set of rules we both agree on and send it to you.”
“Great. Your word is enough,” Yu Sheng said, relaxing into his chair. “But this isn’t something we settle right away. Let’s talk about what’s in front of us first.”
Bai Li Qing looked a bit lost: “What’s in front of us?”
Yu Sheng’s smile stiffened as he pointed at the mound of manuals on the table, a stack taller than Irene: “Do I have to read all of this? I’m not doubting the professionalism here, but… does a newbie captain really have to learn this much?”
“That is a starship, not an electric scooter,” Bai Li Qing said, and the corner of her eye seemed to twitch. “At least you don’t need beginner flight training anymore. Under normal cases, to become captain of a large ship takes twenty years of growth and experience, and you need a full crew. It is far more than reading a few manuals.”
She paused, then added: “I will try to get your ship a transit license endorsed by the Borderland, and a full set of identity papers for you. That will let you travel on legal routes across eighty percent of known space. Do not forget you are flying a Heretic Warship built by the Holy Revere Hermitage. Without a high enough priority identification code, the local garrison will ‘welcome’ you the moment you enter another civilization’s zone. You might not even be allowed near most legal Youth Formgates.
“Also, you should refit the hull’s exterior, not just the interior. At least scrape off every Hermitage Order emblem. If you dock at a legal port with those marks still on, you will have big trouble.”
Yu Sheng could tell she was honestly helping him. These were all practical issues he had never thought about before. He straightened up at once and nodded hard: “No problem. Got it.”
[Right, time to act like a real captain.]
…
At the same time, in a Hotel in Boundary City that was open to “outlanders,” Xuan Che sat cross legged on the bed, as if in meditation.
An old style Spirit Mirror floated beside him. Dim light rippled across its surface, and the mirror showed a stick of incense burning.
After an unknown time, the incense burned out. A crisp bell like chime sounded from the mirror. Only then did Xuan Che open his eyes. He steadied his breath and rose.
He put the mirror away, glanced at the smoke detector on the ceiling, and looked a little regretful.
Almost in the same instant, the mirror in his hands began to hum.
Xuan Che looked down, hurriedly adjusted his face and his robes, then set the mirror carefully on the desk. He brushed his hand across the mirror, bowed deeply, and said: “Master.”
Light flowed within the mirror. Immortal Yuan Ling appeared, crane haired and child faced, an immortal’s bearing in full. The old man smiled: “Good, good. Xuan Che, how did you do what I asked? Did you meet the expert?”
“I met him,” Xuan Che answered at once. “I did everything you told me to, paid my respects, passed on the message, and since the expert doesn’t like stiff rituals, I was not overly formal. I think I left a good impression.”
“Mm. Good,” Immortal Yuan Ling nodded, then noticed the odd look on Xuan Che’s face, as if he had more to say. He asked, “What problem did you run into?”
[So many problems.]
Xuan Che’s cheek muscles twitched. He decided to report the most important thing first, at least for his own peace of mind.
“Master, you have actually seen the expert with your own eyes.”
“Oh? What do you mean?”
“Do you remember the human head that appeared in my alchemy furnace that day?”
Immortal Yuan Ling: “…?”
The master and disciple stared at each other through the mirror in silence.
“It was him,” Xuan Che said with a bitter smile.
It was the first time he had ever seen such shock, confusion, and disbelief on his master’s face. After half a minute, Immortal Yuan Ling finally spoke, his voice tight: “Xuan Che, when you met him, did you offend him?”
“No,” Xuan Che answered right away, then added, “I was surprised, but I remembered your warnings.”
Only then did Immortal Yuan Ling seem to relax a little. He gathered his thoughts, then asked with a subtle look: “Then… what about where the expert lives? What kind of person is he?”
Hearing this, Xuan Che opened his mouth but did not go on. His expression grew even stranger.
Immortal Yuan Ling noticed. He rarely saw his steady, mature disciple act like this. He frowned: “What’s the snag?”
“It is not a real snag. I am trying to think how to report it,” Xuan Che said, quickly putting his expression in order. In his head, keywords began to scroll by: [A house that is a world in itself; a whole family living inside an Otherworld; a noisy home with not a single normal “person”; a Fox Immortal from another world stewing an Elixir in a pressure cooker that says hello from the bowl; the Fox Immortal keeps two Guardian Spirit Birds whose cultivation looks higher than the Celestial Crane you raised for hundreds of years; the Fox Immortal can pluck off her tails and fire them; the expert has an Alice’s Doll with a build of 66.6 cm × 4; together we took down a den of evil; the expert also used a fox tail to launch himself…]
As those keywords ran through his mind twice, Xuan Che felt his Dao heart start to buzz. [If I say all this straight to Master, his Dao heart will shake too, and then the Copper Headed Belt will break the void and fly here from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain…]
The voice from the mirror cut off his wild thoughts: “No need to worry. Strange things by the expert’s side are not surprising. I am not a bumpkin. Speak freely.”
Xuan Che calmed down and took a light breath: “Here is what happened. First, the expert’s residence is an Otherworld, and he also has a cave dwelling that is an Otherworld…”
He then described in full what he had seen and heard around Yu Sheng, only leaving out, for now, the matter of the Holy Revere Hermitage. That was a major issue and needed a careful report later.
By the time he was halfway through, Immortal Yuan Ling’s expression had turned very serious. He stroked his beard and watched Xuan Che’s condition closely. When his disciple finally finished, the old man frowned and broke the silence: “Xuan Che, come closer. Yes, open your mouth. Ah.”
Xuan Che obeyed without thinking. He then heard his master ask: “What Elixir did you eat today? When you take heavenly pills, did you use spiritual power to help refining? What about last night? Before you set out, did you eat something you should not? There are Ghost Fog Mushrooms on the back mountain. If you ate them, did you stir fry them first?”
Xuan Che finally understood and could only laugh and cry: “Master, I did not take the wrong medicine. What I said just now…”
“All true?”
“All true.”
Immortal Yuan Ling kept stroking his beard and fell into thought on the far side of the mirror.
After a long while, under Xuan Che’s worried gaze, the immortal suddenly drew a sharp breath and sighed: “Ah, the expert. No wonder he could fight the Dark Angels. He is truly extraordinary. Xuan Che, this trip of yours may bring you a great chance.”
Hearing this, Xuan Che bowed: “Speaking of a great chance, the expert and I ran into something else. It is serious and may affect Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.”
Immortal Yuan Ling’s face turned stern at once: “Hm?”
“We ran into the Holy Revere Hermitage…”
…
Deep within the Pillar of Order, inside the Holy Sarcophagus Chamber.
A black iron coffin stood at a forty five degree angle on a platform webbed with pipes and cables. It gave off a low, steady hum. Dim red lights on the platform and the coffin lid pulsed slowly, like breathing.
All at once, the hum within the Holy Coffin Apparatus stopped.
Even the other machines in the room fell silent.
For a few seconds, the whole chamber was still.
Then, with a soft hiss of vents and the clack of gears, the heavy lid of the Holy Coffin slowly opened.
A tall, slim figure rose from the Holy Coffin.
The Artificial Saintess stepped out of the container, walked down from the platform, and stood there in the empty Holy Sarcophagus Chamber, motionless like a statue.
She made no other move. No change of expression. No words. A steel Doll built only for killing, she showed no emotion even at the moment of Resurrection.
She simply stood there, for a long, long time. Then she seemed to “feel” something and tilted her head a little to the side.
The next second, writhing darkness wrapped around her. In the blink of an eye, she vanished from the Holy Sarcophagus Chamber.