Chapter 128

Chapter 128: Silly Girl

With the reverberation of Seventh Master’s voice, the Seventh Peak’s great competition came to a close.

This time, the merfolk race had no chance to submit. More than half of them had died, and their experts were all enslaved and suppressed. All the riches on the four islands was looted. However, for a race like the merfolk, it was obvious that they had some more treasures hidden away.

However, these treasures had nothing to do with mountain-foot Qi Condensation disciples.

Although there was the sky-sealing array, there were definitely many hidden places that couldn’t be detected by those in Qi Condensation. Up next would definitely be a feast for the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Seventh Peak.

“Our Seven Blood Pupils really won big this time, killing a bunch of birds with one stone.”

The captain on Zhang San’s back laughed. Then, as if his laughter had opened up his wounds again, he quickly took out the apple he hadn’t finished eating earlier and took a bite. After taking a bite, his expression relaxed, as if the apple could reduce his pain.

“Oh, how many?” Zhang San asked curiously.

“First, there’s the great competition, which is the surface-level arrangement. The mountain-foot disciples will plunder the merfolk race’s islands first, then it will be the Foundation Establishment cultivators’ turn. The Core Formation cultivators will take whatever the Foundation Establishment ones missed, and finally those oldies will come out and take everything left.”

“Like that, all of the merfolk race’s wealth that’s been collected for so many years will be taken away. This is the first bird.”

“As for the hidden arrangement, the merfolk race was used as bait to trick the sea corpse race into opening a portal. Thanks to that, our ancestor, who was extremely hungry after his breakthrough, was able to have a full meal. This is the second bird.”

“Plus, this assault will cow those other alien races all around. Seven Blood Pupils’ prestige will rise even higher after this. This is the third bird. Clever, right?”

“As for the fourth bird… The merfolk race’s territory is strategically important, right between Seven Blood Pupils and the sea corpse race. Once we occupy this place, we can use it as a springboard to launch an attack on the sea corpse race. I expect war to come soon.”

Xu Qing listened closely to the captain’s analysis. Before, he hadn’t known much about the situation, but now he felt his understanding improve. However, he still had a question that puzzled him.

“How come the ancestor’s breakthrough made him hungry?”

“You don't want to know.” The captain gave Xu Qing a meaningful look.

At the same time, the satisfied Seventh master in the sky glanced down at the ground. With a wave of his hand, the greatwing beneath him let loose a mighty roar and spat a stream of purple light directly downward.

As the stream of light descended, it suddenly expanded outward, turning into a sea of purple light. The sea of light covered the four islands, ready to teleport everyone within.

Rumbles echoed out as the teleportation started, and Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief. Including him, all the mountain-foot disciples in merfolk territory disappeared without a trace, returning to Seven Blood Pupils.

After they left, the eyes of those Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sky all lit up.

Seventh Master looked at them and smiled.

"Go!"

With that, the hundred-over Foundation Establishment cultivators all turned into long arcs of light that shot toward the four islands. Naturally, if there were no benefits to be had, they wouldn’t have come here in the first place.

Before, they didn’t do anything because the great competition was ongoing, and all the participants were mere Qi Condensation juniors. But now, all of them had bright gazes as they quickly dispersed across the four islands to search and plunder.

At the same time, a sea of purple light appeared in the central altar in the Seven Blood Pupils main city. It formed a huge circle in the air, from which the figures of Seventh Peak disciples fell to the ground.

Looking around, Xu Qing found that less than two thousand people had returned alive. All of them exuded a powerful baleful aura.

“There were over 4,000 here when I left. More than half died...”

After the teleportation, Xu Qing was no longer near Zhang San and the captain. Glancing around at the less than 2,000 disciples remaining, he had a better understanding of Seven Blood Pupils’ cruelty.

But he also noticed that aside from the baleful aura, everyone who had returned alive had excited expressions. Clearly, they had made huge gains this time. Xu Qing even saw the little fatty Huang Yan in the crowd.

Huang Yan had gone to a different island than Xu Qing during the great competition. As he stood there, he had a proud expression, and seven or eight storage bags were hanging off his waist.

After noticing Xu Qing, the little fatty ran over excitedly.

“How was your harvest? Good? I gained a lot this time.”

Xu Qing nodded in response. However, his whole body still tingled, and an uncontrollable feeling of exhaustion swept through him.

The little fatty was about to continue speaking, but a figure suddenly walked out of the sea of light in the sky. As soon as this figure appeared, vast cultivation fluctuations immediately pressed down in all directions. All the disciples fell silent and raised their heads.

Xu Qing also looked upward. He recognized this figure; it was Zhao Zhongheng’s grandfather, the Seventh Peak’s third elder.

“There are still matters to deal with regarding the merfolk race, and the peak lord must wait for the ancestor to return. Thus, this old man will be the one announcing the results of the great competition.”

“Your identity tokens have recorded the points you gained for killing merfolk cultivators. As for whatever you gained on the islands, you can rest assured that the tokens have no functionality to record or even know of such things. No matter what you gained, it is your own business, and the sect won’t care about it at all. All our great competitions have been like this.”

“I’m only going to announce the first place winner.”

“Ding Xiaohai, step forward!”

After the third elder spoke, Ding Xiaohai stepped out of the crowd. His Daoist robe was in tatters, and he was clearly heavily injured, to the point that he had to rely on a flight talisman to just barely rise into the air.

“Ding Xiaohai wins first place in this great competition. You are granted the status of core disciple and may wear a light purple robe from now on. You now have the right to live on the mountain, but the cave abodes on the mountain are expensive, and you’ll have to buy one yourself!”

The third elder’s words echoed in all directions like the rumbling of thunder.

Ding Xiaohai instantly became excited, cupping his fists and bowing deeply toward the sky.

“Many thanks to the sect!”

The third elder looked at Ding Xiaohai, who had often been called the number one person in the mountain-foot, with appreciation in his eyes.

He appreciated this disciple who had fought for the glory of the sect. However, admiration was just admiration. The third elder didn’t have any thoughts of showing favor to Ding Xiaohai, and Ding Xiaohai had thanked the sect, not him.

From the sect’s perspective, such a disciple was very good. In order to obtain first place, he had risked his life and doggedly pursued enemies with all his strength.

But from a personal perspective, the third elder felt that this Ding Xiaohai was too stubborn and attached too much importance to reputation. He actually gave up on a rare opportunity to plunder the merfolk’s resources and instead fought seriously for the number one spot. A person like this probably wouldn’t last long in this chaotic era.

And it was meaningless to show favor to a person who wasn’t going to live long. In this chaotic era, the ability to keep a low profile and conceal oneself was the most important thing.

Most of the time, people who showed off their talents wouldn’t have good ends. In this regard, the third elder actually more admired that kid named Xu Qing, who had reached the point of almost breaking through without making any waves.

As Ding Xiaohai’s excited words of thanks rang out, the disciples with their bulging pockets all joined in and gave their congratulations.

"Congratulations, Senior Brother Ding!"

"Congratulations, Senior Brother Ding!!" Among the crowd, Xu Qing heard the voice of the captain. The fatty next to him also shouted congratulations, then turned and muttered to Xu Qing emotionally.

“Senior Brother Ding is a good man. He only went to kill the enemies and never tried to fight with us for resources. It would be great if all the other disciples were like Senior Brother Ding.”

Xu Qing raised his head and looked at Ding Xiaohai. His expression was completely placid.

In this world, everyone had their own way of life. Some valued profit above everything, while some valued glory more. There was no right or wrong in this.

Ding Xiaohai’s cultivation base was already on the edge of breakthrough. As soon as he broke through to Foundation Establishment, he would be allowed to wear a dark purple robe and have status above all core disciples.

But perhaps the status of a core disciple was a personal obsession of his.

Xu Qing didn’t judge him for that, although he personally didn’t care about such things.

He was only in Seven Blood Pupils for the benefits. Right now, he was extremely eager to break through and establish his foundation. On the one hand, only by becoming stronger could he live a better life.

On the other… he was quite interested in the share of Seven Blood Pupils’ monthly income.

Of course, it was only when there were such astonishing benefits up for grabs that Xu Qing would reveal his true capabilities. Normally, he preferred to conceal himself.

After the sect rewarded Ding Xiaohai, the third elder returned to the purple sea of light and teleported back to merfolk territory. The disciples all dispersed one after another, and Xu Qing also left.

Although he was extremely tired, Xu Qing didn’t dare to stay in Seven Blood Pupils for too long. He had just gained too much this time.

If he was exposed, the whole of Seven Blood Pupils would definitely be shocked.

After all… a Life Lamp was something that even the great sects on Ancient Hope Mainland would go crazy over.

Thus, Xu Qing immediately went to the port area and sold all his miscellaneous items, exchanging them for spirit stones.

He also purchased some talisman treasures, then went to a shop that specialized in array formations. With the contribution points he’d gained from killing merfolk in the great competition, he bought five sets of expensive defensive formations.

The price of these formations was astonishing, but their effects were equally astonishing. Just one set could protect someone from the attacks of a Foundation Establishment cultivator for a significant period of time. Of course, that was only if the Foundation Establishment cultivator didn’t enter the Profound Brilliance state.

Moreover, the formations had a certain degree of self-recovery power. As long as there were enough spirit stones, the protection would persist.

Naturally, the protection would become even stronger with five overlapping sets.

These five sets of formations cost Xu Qing 90% of the contribution points he had obtained from the great competition, but he felt that it was completely worth it. Then he went to the pharmacy he frequented and purchased a lot of medicinal herbs and poisonous plants.

After that, Xu Qing’s preparations were almost complete. The only thing he still needed to do was get his magic boat fixed.

“I’ll decide after hearing how long it will take to repair the magic boat. If it’s less than a day, I’ll wait. If it’s more… I can’t wait too long.” Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He had to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

As long as he held on to a Life Lamp, one more day without entering Foundation Establishment was one more day without peace of mind.

And he couldn’t break through in the sect, either. After all, he wasn’t sure if the process of integrating the Life Lamp while he broke through would release fluctuations that could be perceived by others.

He couldn’t gamble on this sort of serious matter.

Moreover, when he was on Juying Island, he had seen an unlucky merfolk cultivator encounter an accident during their breakthrough. Although it would be nearly impossible for a similar incident to happen in Seven Blood Pupils, he still had to be on guard.

Since he had the Spiritual Breath Lamp to shelter him, Xu Qing felt that it would be fine for him to establish his foundation in secret outside the sect. Thus, he headed straight toward the Transportation Department to find Zhang San.

The sky was already darkening by the time Xu Qing started moving toward the Transportation Department. Inside the inn on Banquan Road, the old innkeeper was rubbing some wounds on the snake’s scales with a distressed expression.

“Ah, you… you actually went behind my back and swallowed a Transformation Pill. Is that something that can be eaten carelessly? It’s too early for you to transform. You can only transform for a few days at a time with the help of the pill, but if you eat too many, all your cultivation will be in vain. You’ll be crippled for the rest of your life!!”

“Silly snake. You wanted to participate in the Seventh Peak’s great competition that much? Don’t you know how dangerous that was?”

The old man was full of heartache. He angrily rebuked as he applied medicine to the snake’s wounds.

“Gulu gulu, gu gulu.” The big snake, on the other hand, seemed very happy. It rubbed the old man with its head and gurgled proudly.

“Huh? No, I didn’t lie to you. That little Xu bastard really was looking at your gallbladd- eh? Wait, don’t tell me you went to the great competition just to go see him?!” The old man immediately glared angrily.

"Gulu gulu!" The big snake cried out a few times, unconvinced.

The old man looked at the big snake and sighed. He lifted his hand and stroked the snake’s head, speaking gently like an elderly father talking to his daughter.

“Silly girl, so what if he said that snake gallbladder is too bitter? Doesn’t that just mean he’s eaten it before? And what’s more, he must have eaten more than one…”

The big snake stilled and fell into a daze. Gradually, its eyes turned red, as if it was about to cry.

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