Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Beautiful Figure Under the Umbrella

After checking the surroundings, Xu Qing lowered his head and picked up the middle-aged cultivator’s bloodstained leather bag before sprinkling the Corpse Scattering Powder on the corpse. The mangled corpse quickly melted into blood that fused with the water on the ground and was washed away by the rain.

After doing this, Xu Qing returned to his magic boat and sat down cross-legged in the cabin. Opening the middle-aged cultivator’s leather bag, he frowned after sweeping his gaze through it. There was some random junk in it, but besides that, there were no spirit stones or cultivation resources.

There wasn’t a magic boat inside, either. The only notable items were the middle-aged cultivator’s identity token and a blood-colored jade slip. However, with the cultivator’s death, the identity token lost its light and became dull. Xu Qing couldn’t see how exactly how many contribution points were inside, nor could he transfer them to his own token.

Transferring contribution points clearly required the consent of both parties.

“His belongings should have been hidden somewhere else…” Xu Qing sighed. When he attacked previously, he’d done his utmost to kill the other party as soon as possible. There was no chance to force the middle-aged cultivator to transfer contribution points.

“Next time, I should heavily injure them first if possible?” Xu Qing thought about it and felt that doing so wasn’t very safe. Putting the identity token aside, he picked up the blood-colored jade slip, and his eyes suddenly lit up after examining it.

“Bounty?” This wasn’t a normal bounty jade slip. Instead, it seemed to have been privately issued by a third party. Inside, it contained all sorts of information about Seven Blood Pupils disciples and even listed prices for them.

One of the listed disciples was Xu Qing, and it also mentioned his nickname from back in the scavenger camp. The bounty listed for him was 50 spirit stones.

“The Vajra Sect’s ancestor!” A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. There was only one person who knew his information and would even offer a bounty of 50 spirit stones.

Clearly, the Vajra Sect’s ancestor had already found his traces and knew a bit about his situation in Seven Blood Pupils.

After all, although Antler City was a branch city of Seven Blood Pupils, the Vajra Sect held a lot of influence in that area, so it wouldn’t have been difficult to find him.

“Since the Vajra Sect’s ancestor could find all this information on me so quickly, he must have some connections in Seven Blood Pupils.”

“But because of the Seven Blood Pupils rules, he doesn’t dare to take care of me directly, so he could only issue a bounty!”

Xu Qing thought it over as he looked at the blood-colored jade slip. After fiddling around with it a little, he accepted the mission to kill himself.

“I have to hurry up and cultivate so I can kill the Vajra Sect’s ancestor as soon as possible!”

Several days passed quickly.

The rain lasted for four whole days.

On the third day, it turned into a huge storm, setting off enormous waves that seemed to want to submerge the entire port area.

However, thanks to the main city’s array formation, no matter how powerful the storm was, it couldn’t do anything to the port area. On the morning of the fifth day, the storm that had failed to wreak havoc on the main city reluctantly chose to retreat, and the wind and rain gradually lessened.

Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at the sky outside. Although it was early in the morning, the sky was gray and filled with a heavy feeling.

After organizing the pills he’d refined, he walked out of the magic boat. As he stepped onto the shore, the distinctive scent of the sea filled the air among the wind and rain, accompanied by a faintly discernible scent of blood.

Although the past four days had been stormy, the Homicide Department always worked rain or shine. Besides searching for clues about Night Dove, there was also another job to do every day.

That was to capture criminals.

In the Seven Blood Pupils main city, every time a storm arrived, the harsh weather would lead to the various departments shutting down, and most of the cultivators wouldn’t go out so much. Thus… the plundering and killing of each other in secret would always skyrocket.

According to the statistics obtained by the Seventh Peak Homicide Department, in just four days, more than 80 disciples living in the port area had died. Among the dead were 7 disciples of the Homicide Department.

As for the death toll in the other six districts, outsiders wouldn’t know the exact numbers but it obviously wouldn’t be much less.

Thanks to the storm, it was very difficult to find any clues. Moreover, in an environment like the Seven Blood Pupils main city, such things were considered insignificant and wouldn’t attract much attention. The Homicide Department was also used to it and only launched a superficial investigation.

Even though one of the senior members of Team Six died, no one asked any questions.

Over the past few days, Xu Qing had also found an opportunity to ask the captain about the old man from the inn on Banquan Road. The captain told him that the old man wasn’t a human, but he could stay in the main city thanks to his relationship with the First Peak.

Normally, they wouldn’t interfere with each other. As for those things hidden in the inn, on account of the First Peak’s face, the Homicide Department would turn a blind eye as long as no lines were crossed.

Thanks to this, Xu Qing now knew that the human race wasn’t the only one in this world. There were also many members of non-human races.

However, the only one he had seen so far was the old man from the inn, so he just remembered it in his heart.

At that moment, after going to the Homicide Department for roll-call, Xu Qing held an umbrella and walked on the streets.

He planned to make a trip to the pharmacy and sell the White Pills he had refined over the past few days in exchange for more medicinal herbs. Since he was carrying so many White Pills on him, Xu Qing was also more vigilant than usual.

Perhaps it was because the rain had just subsided, but there were more people in the city today than a few days ago. Soon, Xu Qing carefully arrived at his usual pharmacy.

There weren’t too many people in the pharmacy, but Xu Qing saw a familiar figure. It was Zhou Qingpeng, who had joined the sect in the same batch as him.

Zhou Qingpeng also saw Xu Qing, but he hesitated for a moment, not immediately recognizing him. After all, back then, Xu Qing was covered in dirt and wore scavenger’s clothes, so it wasn’t surprising that Zhou Qingpeng only found him a little familiar.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything to Zhou Qingpeng, instead turning to the old shopkeeper. The shopkeeper smiled when he saw Xu Qing, whom he had a deep impression of. After all, this kid wasn’t a Second Peak disciple but still knew so much about medicinal herbs, which was quite rare.

“You came just in time. I’ve got something good today.” The shopkeeper smiled and took out a leather bag that was hidden somewhere behind him. Inside, there were five withered blue insect-like creatures.

The blue creature looked quite fierce. Its mouthparts extended outwards, and it had four pairs of legs. On its back were natural patterns that looked like faces. Each face was different; some seemed to be crying, some seemed to be laughing, and some also seemed angry.

Although the creature were only the size of a palm, it was covered in sharp spikes. Especially striking was its tail, which actually had a small mouth on it.

The tiny teeth inside the mouth were clearly incredibly sharp.

At that moment, although the insect-like creatures were dried-up corpses, their ghastly appearances were still incredibly shocking.

“Ghost Desire Limulus!” Xu Qing’s expression slightly. He quickly walked forward to examine the insect-like corpses closely. Previously, he had heard Grandmaster Bai mention the Ghost Desire Limulus. This creature only lived in the deep sea and was rarely seen in the market. It was considered an obscure kind of poisonous being.

Its blue blood was extremely poisonous, but with some special concoction methods, it could turn into a wondrous healing medicine.

Zhou Qingpeng, who was checking the medicinal pills in the shop, also looked over when he heard this.

“As expected, you recognize it.” The shopkeeper smiled, and his opinion of Xu Qing became even higher. Even many of the Second Peak disciples wouldn’t recognize this obscure poisonous being.

He instantly became even more curious, wondering where this beautiful youth had learned such exquisite knowledge about medicine.

“How much?” Xu Qing’s heart was moved.

“I don’t dare to sell it.” The shopkeeper coughed and put the Ghost Desire Limuli away. When he saw that Xu Qing’s gaze was still fixed on the leather bag, he smiled and explained.

“My boss spent a lot of effort to get these, and they only arrived to day. In a while, my boss will come over to collect them, so how can I dare sell to you… I only took them out to let you admire them. After all, these are rare goods.”

Xu Qing retracted his gaze with some regret. He didn’t take out his White Pills immediately, instead waiting for Zhou Qingpeng to pay his bill and leave. After he left, Xu Qing took out the leather bag that contained his White Pills and placed it on the counter.

“I’m not here to buy herbs today. I want to sell these pills.”

“Hmm?” The shopkeeper’s eyes narrowed. He immediately opened the leather bag, and his expression instantly changed when he looked inside.

“So many White Pills?” The shopkeeper didn’t immediately take them out to inspect them, but carefully washed his hands at the side first. After that, he put on a pair of clean gloves and took out the White Pills from the leather bag.

As he placed them on the counter, his eyes revealed a hint of surprise. There were simply too many White Pills. Xu Qing had refined over 500 pills, and each of them was almost perfectly round. A medicinal aroma gushed out and permeated the entire pharmacy.

Many of the customers smelled the aroma and looked over. Xu Qing frowned slightly, and his right hand moved beside the leather bag with the black skewer in a seemingly natural manner.

At that moment, the shopkeeper finished examining the pills. He was very surprised as he took a deep look at the youth in front of him. Originally, he’d thought that the young man’s medicinal knowledge was already outstanding. Only now did he realize that his pill-refining skill was even better.

These medicinal pills were of the highest quality, and it was obvious at a glance that they had been refined successfully on the first try, with no mistakes in the refinement process. Moreover, each pill was white and translucent, containing a natural medicinal glaze that made them like white jade.

Even in the Second Peak, this skill wasn’t common. After counting the pills, the shopkeeper pondered for a moment before giving a price.

“How about ten spirit stones?”

Xu Qing was aware of the normal prices in the main city. One White Pill usually sold for around 30 spirit coins, and one spirit stone was equivalent to 1,000 spirit coins.

Thus, he nodded in agreement after some thought.

The shopkeeper hurriedly took out the spirit stones and passed them to Xu Qing before putting away the medicinal pills on the counter. Xu Qing glanced around at the crowd in the shop before turning to leave.

When he reached the door, he saw a young girl walking over from outside. Before she got close, a wave of medicinal aroma washed over Xu Qing.

This young girl appeared about seventeen or eighteen years old. She held a white umbrella in her hand, but more importantly, she was wearing a light orange Daoist robe!

In Seven Blood Pupils, normal mountain-foot disciples all wore gray Daoist robes. Only core disciples were permitted to wear colored robes.

For example, the core disciples of the Seventh Peak wore light purple Daoist robes.

This sort of Daoist robe represented a noble status!

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed, and he dodged to the side as he looked her over.

Beneath the white paper umbrella, the young girl’s mid-length black hair was casually draped over her shoulders. Slanted bangs brushed just over her eyelids.

Under her long eyelashes was a pair of watery eyes. Her light orange Daoist robe seemed like a long dress on her body.

Her waist was slender, and her beauty was flawless, as if she didn’t belong in the mortal world.

At that moment, the wind blew over, causing the two strands of hair by her cheeks to flutter gently and revealing her skin that was as fine and smooth as jade.

She also saw Xu Qing and swept her gaze across his face. She didn’t have the arrogance of a core disciple, instead smiling elegantly and allowing him to pass by first.

Xu Qing nodded and retracted his gaze before leaving. After he left, the medicinal fragrance wafting off the young girl quietly spread throughout the whole shop as she entered.

“Boss, you’re here. Actually, you didn’t need to come personally, I would have sent the items to you anyway.” The shopkeeper hurriedly ran over with a respectful expression.

“Uncle Peng, you don’t have to be so polite. I’m tired from refining pills up on the mountain, so I came out to relax.” The girl smiled and followed the shopkeeper to the counter.

“Of course.” The shopkeeper continued to show the utmost respect as he quickly took out the leather bag containing the Ghost Desire Limuli and handed it to the young girl.

Seeing that the shopkeeper was still so polite, the young girl helplessly shook her head. She took the bag and was about to leave when her gaze suddenly landed on the White Pills that hadn’t been fully put away yet.

She suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

Lifting her jade-like right hand, the young girl gently picked up a pill, holding it in front of her pure and flawless face and examining it carefully. A hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.

“Boss, is there a problem with this pill?” Seeing this scene, the shopkeeper, he asked cautiously.

“There’s no problem.” The girl brought the pill closer to her face and sniffed it.

“This pill is excellent, and its purity is extremely high. Such a pill is rarely seen.”

When the shopkeeper heard this, he became even more surprised.

“Boss, you’re a core disciple of the Second Peak and a Heaven’s Chosen[1] of the Pill Dao. Even you think the purity of this pill is rare? But no matter how high the purity of a White Pill is, it’s still a White Pill.”

The girl chuckled.

“Uncle Peng, you’re right. The White Pill is just a basic kind of pill. Although a purer pill is better, you can just eat a few more and get the same effect.”

“However, the pill’s purity, in a way, represents the exquisiteness of the refinement technique. That’s what I’m interested in.” The young girl sized up the pill in her hand again.

She asked the shopkeeper to take out all the White Pills in this batch. After checking them one by one, the astonishment in her eyes grew increasingly intense.

“To think that every pill is of the same quality. There are so many of them, and judging from the temperature of the pills, the earliest batch of pills was refined yesterday.”

“For every pill to be exactly the same, they must have already been refined to the extreme at the medicinal liquid stage.” The young girl muttered and got the shopkeeper to put away all the White Pills from this batch. She planned to bring them back and study them carefully.

Before she left, she thought of something and turned to ask a question.

“Uncle Peng, where did you get this batch of White Pills?”

“A disciple who just left sold them, I don’t know which peak he’s from. Boss, you should have passed him when you came in.” After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he looked outside the pharmacy. Xu Qing’s figure was long gone.

The young girl thought back for a moment and the image of a beautiful youth appeared in her mind. She nodded.

“Uncle Peng, if that person comes to sell pills again, don’t sell all the pills you get. Keep a few back for me.”

The shopkeeper hurriedly agreed. Inwardly, he was extremely shocked, as well as becoming even more curious about Xu Qing.

[1] Heaven’s Chosen refers to someone who is seemingly “chosen by heaven”, i.e. extremely talented in some sort of skill or area.

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