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Appearing very obsequious, the patriarch ceased his attempts to make the shadow more irritating to Xu Qing.

Looking at the shadow, Xu Qing said, “Why are you able to attract the attention of that giant pulling the dragon chariot? What exactly are you? And how many other things like you are out there?”

Shivering, the shadow did its best to express itself.

“Through... shadow....” Having finished speaking, it looked urgently at the patriarch.

The patriarch, still squatting next to the shadow, started whispering. After a series of blinks and nods from the shadow, the patriarch turned to Xu Qing, clasped hands, and respectfully said, “Milord, Little Shadow is trying to say that it doesn’t know what it is. From the moment it gained consciousness, it was just a shadow capable of living like a parasite in the shadows of host beings.”

At this point, the patriarch blinked a few times. A moment ago when Xu Qing had asked if there were other things out there like the shadow, he had sensed some hidden killing intent in the question.

Lowering his voice, the patriarch said, “The shadow also said that it has never sensed the existence of another being like itself. That said... your humble servant is of the opinion that there are few things in the world that are truly one-of-a-kind.

“In terms of the giant pulling the dragon chariot, the shadow also doesn’t know the details. It just knows that upon seeing the giant, it was possible to make the same sounds as it, and therefore summon it. Having thought about it myself, your humble servant thinks that the shadow might have something to do with the chariot.”

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. He only partly believed the shadow’s explanation. But given that it had already said so much, he didn’t think it would help to threaten it with more suppression.

The fact that it can attract the attention of the giant and the chariot is enough. That alone can be a trump card.

Xu Qing sat cross-legged on his dharmaskiff, looking out at the sea and mulling things over. It was already afternoon, and though the sun was bright, it was already showing signs of nearing evening. He kept thinking about what Elder Zhao had told him about the giant and the chariot. And the more he thought about it, the greater his desire grew.

If he saw the thing once, and never again, then he wouldn’t have thought much of it. But now he’d seen it twice. What was more, the shadow had the ability to bring it again. And that made Xu Qing wonder if he could devise a plan to get a destined opportunity for an imperial-class technique.

Of course, it would be incredibly difficult. Just looking at the giant and the chariot from a distance, he had felt like his soul almost couldn’t take the pressure. If he got closer, his body would probably collapse. It was a pressure that came from a higher level of life, the same thing Xu Qing had experienced in the mural in the Merfolk Isles. Though his cultivation base was higher at this point, the giant and the chariot had godliness that surpassed the mural. He couldn’t get close, much less step onto the chariot. And even if he somehow did manage to do so, if the giant looked back, then Xu Qing knew he couldn’t withstand that level of might.

I wonder how the president of the Seven Sect Coalition managed to do it back then.

Xu Qing got the feeling that unless the giant was asleep, it would be simply impossible to get onto the chariot.

“Shadow, I’ll give you a chance to atone for some of your crimes. Summon the giant and the dragon chariot to me. Then you sneak inside and make a copy of the imperial-class technique.”

The shadow immediately released fluctuations of terror. “Very... scared....”

The patriarch didn’t need any urging from Xu Qing. Looking very excited, he started communicating with the shadow. Shortly after, he had an explanation.

“Milord, Little Shadow says the giant has strange fluctuations of godliness, which make it impossible to get close to. Furthermore, the giant doesn’t have a shadow of its own, which would make it even more difficult.

“Of course, this led me to ask why the shadow summoned the giant and chariot if that’s the case. The answer is that Little Shadow hoped the might of the chariot would kill you, milord. Little Shadow can’t sustain that level of pressure for very long, and it knew that if you died, it would mean freedom for it. Ai, Little Shadow, how could you be so muddle-headed?”

Hearing that, Xu Qing thought back to when the shadow had attacked him, and immediately suppressed the shadow. The shadow screamed, then sent out emotions of both terror and pleading.

Looking away from the shadow, Xu Qing stared out at the sky as it gradually crept toward dusk. Many thoughts ran through his head. Eventually, the sun set and the sky grew dark. That was when Xu Qing thought back to the first time he saw the dragon chariot, and also the time he saw countless ghosts haunting the night on his first time out at sea.

“There is a fantastic symphony in the endless sea; mortals are unable to hear it; it accompanies Crimson Yang the golden crow; countless movements become a song; it is called Natural Sounds Welcome the Moon.

“The god loved it; the god’s eyes gazed upon it; the endless sea became forbidden; countless movements became sinister.”

Those lines were from the sea annals, and they described ‘countless ghosts haunting the night.’

As Xu Qing recalled them, his heart started beating, and new thoughts occurred to him.

Elder Zhao said that the dragon chariot is actually the sun’s imperial carriage. In that case, the young man in the engraving must be the sun. And that engraving describes how he transforms into the sun.

That conforms to what was described in the sea annals. The sun was a golden crow that normally assumed the form of a young person, riding through the sky on a dragon chariot during the day as the embodiment of the sun. Then, at night, the dragon chariot would return, and in his palace, the golden crow would listen to countless harmonic movements that welcomed the moon with the sounds of nature.

If all that is true, then the giant must have accompanied the sun to listen to that symphony. And now, despite having perished, he still pulls that chariot across the Forbidden Sea. If some of the giant’s instincts remain, then if he hears that symphony of natural sounds welcoming the moon, won’t he lose himself in the music...?

Having reached this point in his train of thought, Xu Qing’s eyes shone with anticipation.

If he wanted to make this plan a reality, then he would have to find countless ghosts haunting the night, and at the same time, have a way to collect their music. That last aspect was the most important, and it made Xu Qing look down at his bag of holding, within which was that recording bottle. Once he had captured the music, then he would have to find the giant and the chariot.

The Forbidden Sea was vast, and the giant and chariot were on the seafloor. Anyone who caught a glimpse of them would be considered lucky, and searching for them was basically impossible.

Assuming I’m correct, then I’m surely not the first person to have realized this. Perhaps the president of the Seven Sect Coalition got the technique in a similar way. Regardless, it doesn’t matter if other people have thought of this idea, does it? Even if they did, they would have to search for the giant and chariot, whereas I can call them to me with my shadow. One method is active, one is passive, and the difference between the two in the chances of success is immense.

Even still, he felt like he needed to carry out his plan as soon as possible. For all he knew, there was someone out there already trying to do the same thing as him.

Xu Qing also remembered Elder Zhao saying that whenever the dragon chariot found someone to inherit its legacy, and that person gained enlightenment of the imperial-class technique, then the giant would go to sleep somewhere on the seafloor. Years later, after building up enough power to impart the legacy again, it would reappear.

This seems to indicate that the legacy of that high-level technique cannot be imparted onto a chosen successor, but rather, can only be acquired in this way. I suppose that can’t be proven until later, though.

At this point, Xu Qing was determined to try out his idea.

“The first thing to do,” he murmured, “is find countless ghosts haunting the night!”

He knew that the haunting would only occur at nighttime, and wouldn’t last for very long. And thus, it was without the slightest hesitation that he sent his dharmaskiff flying out over the Forbidden Sea in search of the ghosts.

Days passed, and Xu Qing’s search proved fruitless. After all, the Forbidden Sea was massive. Searching for ghosts haunting the night was like fishing a needle from the sea, and was fully dependent on luck. However, Xu Qing was patient.

During the month that passed, he got more familiar with the usage of the black iron skewer. With Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior having transformed into a lightning spirit, the skewer was now astonishingly faster and more deadly. Now that the skewer was covered with lightning symbols, it burst with power that shocked even Xu Qing. And its speed surpassed that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a single life flame, and approached the level of one with two flames. Although it wasn’t exactly the same as two flames, when combined with Xu Qing’s cultivation base, it made his battle prowess reach an amazing level.

In addition to that, Xu Qing could clearly sense the abilities of his shadow. He had the ability to control its power to devour other shadows, and had tested it on a giantfang shark. After his shadow devoured the shark’s shadow, the shark viciously bit itself in half.

It was a bizarre sight that left Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior astonished, and also musing that he was glad he was a spirit automaton with no shadow. The only downside was that the devouring process was slow.

In addition, the shadow could also produce shadow eyes, much to Xu Qing’s delight. Under his control, the shadow could produce over a hundred shadow eyes, and when attached to different sea beasts, they gave Xu Qing the ability to see far and wide. For the most part, he attached shadow eyes to nocturnal sea beasts. That way, he had a better chance of finding ghosts haunting the night. Another month passed.

On one particular night as Xu Qing was monitoring things through his shadow, his heart thumped as he focused on one shadow eye in particular.

Through that eye, it was possible to see countless ghostly specters rising up from the water in one particular region of the sea.

“Countless ghosts haunting the night!”