Chapter 93

Chapter 93: Like a Phoenix

As rain continued to pour down, Xu Qing’s figure appeared on the beach.

He walked past the skeletons that had been buried in sand or washed away by the rain, looking out at the sea.

As the waves churned under the pouring rain, the sea seemed to hide innumerable dangers.

Xu Qing recalled the Departurist Church’s boat, which was already nowhere to be seen.

He knew that no Foundation Establishment cultivator dared to approach Sea Lizard Island, nor would they even dare to linger in the surrounding waters. However, Xu Qing felt that if there was indeed a Foundation Establishment cultivator with malicious intentions, they would most likely be camping in the outer perimeter.

Either waiting for Qi Condensation cultivators to leave Sea Lizard Island with a full harvest of sea lizard skins for them to snatch, or waiting for the return of their own people.

Xu Qing wasn’t sure whether or not the people from the Sea Ghost Association and Departurist Church had Foundation Establishment cultivators waiting in the back. However, if there was indeed someone, then they would most likely have already received information about him. After all, in the chaotic battle, there was no way for him to ensure that absolutely no one had sent a voice transmission out.

Thus, Xu Qing decided not to leave immediately. Instead, he sat down cross-legged and meditated silently, recuperating his cultivation and recovering his stamina.

Halfway through his recovery, he opened his eyes under the pouring rain and looked into the distance with a cold gaze.

“If there’s a Foundation Establishment cultivator…” Xu Qing weighed the matter in his heart and suppressed his killing intent.

He wasn’t sure how many Foundation Establishment enemies there were, so he didn’t want to fight unless it was absolutely necessary.

After thinking it over, Xu Qing summoned his magic boat. With a wave of his hand, a click came from the magic boat. It didn’t change at all, but a small skiff fell out from inside.

This skiff was arranged by Zhang San. If the magic boat collapsed in a moment of crisis, it could be used to escape.

Its internal structure was completely different from the normal magic boats of the Seventh Peak, and its offense and defense were almost nonexistent. However, Zhang San had refined it with speed in mind, and once it accelerated to its peak, its speed would reach double that of the original magic boat for a certain period of time.

However, relying on it to remain at sea for a long period of time was very dangerous.

Xu Qing stared at it for a moment before determination gleamed in his eyes. He pulled out the control jade slip and set it to autonomous sailing. After designating its direction, he activated the barrier and watched it sail into the distance.

Enduring his heartache, Xu Qing turned around and stepped into the skiff. As he was about to leave, Xu Qing turned his head and looked back at Sea Lizard Island.

Under the pouring rain, the island was pitch-black. As the wind howled, the plants on the island rustled, as if they were whispering to each other about the bloody battle that had taken place.

Wind blowing on a rainy night, movement in the mountains but the people are silent.

After a while, Xu Qing lowered his head and bowed deeply toward the island.

“I’ve disturbed Senior.”

After speaking, he turned around without hesitation and sank into the sea with the skiff.

As soon as the skiff sank beneath the waves, Xu Qing withdrew all his aura and enveloped the skiff in the body of the dragonwhale.

Under the night rain, Xu Qing’s skiff sped forward underwater.

This was the method of escape that Xu Qing had thought of. He left his magic boat exposed and sent it one direction while his true self was concealed in the skiff and fled in another. This way, he could avoid being locked on to by any Foundation Establishment cultivators who were waiting nearby.

As he disappeared into the distance, the tranquil island suddenly shook and slowly sank… Seawater instantly flooded it, washing away the bloodstains that the rain couldn’t clear quickly.

A moment later, when the island surfaced once more, there were no traces of blood anywhere to be found. Even those fallen trees and shattered rocks had mysteriously recovered to their previous untouched state.

In the depths of the sea beneath the island, two enormous eyes slowly opened, looking at the skiff in the distance with an indifferent gaze. After staring for a long time… they closed again.

An hour passed.

Inside the skiff speeding through the depths of the sea, Xu Qing suddenly opened his eyes from his recuperation and took out the magic boat’s control jade slip. His eyes slowly narrowed.

The jade slip had shattered.

In other words, the magic boat that had been sailing autonomously had been destroyed.

“Sure enough, there was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

“Then, should I dive deeper and remain hidden to wait for the Foundation Establishment cultivator to leave… or should I speed up and escape now?”

Xu Qing thought it over and chose the latter option.

He didn’t want to stay here and wait for death. After all, there was still terrifying danger under the sea. If his pursuer stayed in the area for a long time, he would be in an extremely passive position.

He didn’t want to bet his life on hoping for the other party to leave quickly.

Thus, the skiff instantly sped up and he restrained his aura even more.

Fortunately, the seawater itself helped conceal his aura. Moreover, since Xu Qing didn’t fear heterogeneity, he could dive deeper into the sea, which in turn allowed his aura to be concealed even more.

The only thing he needed to worry about was whether the skiff itself could bear the depths.

But Xu Qing knew that this wasn’t the time to think about that. He controlled the skiff to sink down while moving faster and faster. After a while, Xu Qing’s pupils contracted.

He felt a sense of intense danger coming from the surface of the sea, as if someone was searching for him.

Xu Qing silently sank a little deeper and continued to advance.

But the sense of danger didn’t disappear, and the skiff was gradually unable to bear the pressure at the bottom of the sea. Seeing heterogeneity invade it and knowing that it would become unusable soon if he continued to push it, Xu Qing frowned and put the skiff away. He directly enveloped his body inside that of the Forbidden Sea Dragonwhale before continuing to move forward.

The night passed just like that.

The sense of danger coming from the surface of the sea gradually diminished, but it didn’t go away completely. It was as if some unknown method had been used to lock on to Xu Qing’s aura.

Thus, Xu Qing didn’t dare to be the slightest bit careless. Gritting his teeth, he was about to sink deeper down into the sea in order to escape.

But at that moment, Xu Qing’s heart trembled. An indescribable pressure suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping the entire sea region.

From his position in the depths, Xu Qing couldn’t see what was happening on the surface, but he could sense how terrifying this pressure was.

This wasn’t something that could come from a Foundation Establishment cultivator. It was more like the aura of some behemoth in the sky. At the same moment that this pressure appeared, Xu Qing felt the aura lock on him turn chaotic, as if its owner was fleeing in a panic.

Xu Qing was shocked, but he quickly took the opportunity to speed up, fleeing at full speed until he was far, far away. Soon, he no longer felt the aura lock. He hesitated for a while before continuing to flee through the depths of the sea.

However, he knew that he couldn’t stay like this for too long. He might not have encountered any crises under the sea yet, but the longer he stayed down here, the more danger he would be in.

Thus, after reconfirming that the sense of danger on the surface of the sea had completely disappeared, Xu Qing cautiously floated upward. As soon as his eyes peeked above the surface, he quickly looked around. In the next instant, all his attention was caught by a scene in the sky.

Morning should have arrived already, but the sky was pitch-black.

And the reason the sky was pitch-black was because of an immense black cloud.

This black cloud was unimaginably large, measuring hundreds of kilometers and blotting out the sun.

The sea region Xu Qing was in was completely covered by its shadow.

Howling wind and rumbling thunder continuously reverberated from this black cloud, and there were even streaks of lightning swimming within. It shook the heavens and earth, as if heavenly tribulation was descending.

Wherever it passed, the sea would instantly stir up a storm, as if bowing down in respect!

But what shocked Xu Qing most of all was that this black cloud seemed to contain an unimaginable existence. The tiny part of its body that was exposed exuded a crushing pressure that originated from an existence on a completely different level of life. Xu Qing’s whole body became stiff, a rumbling echoed in his soul, and his mind turned completely blank.

Only his eyes continued working, allowing him to clearly see the outline of that terrifying existence within the black cloud.

It was an enormous creature that looked like a phoenix with black flames burning all over its body!

A pheasant’s head, a snake’s neck, a swallow’s beak, a turtle’s shell, and a fish’s tail!

The body inside the black flames shone with five colors, and it was dazzling to the point that even the black cloud surrounding it couldn’t cover up its light at all. As it soared in the sky, a divine aura emanated from it.

It even had some vague similarity to the fragmented face of God.

Obviously, it was thanks to this phoenix-like creature that Xu Qing’s pursuers were forced to give up and run away.

Rumbles spread throughout heaven and earth, and the black clouds slowly flew far away. As sunlight finally shone down on him, Xu Qing gradually recovered and couldn’t help but breathe in.

But as soon as he inhaled, that extremely terrifying existence in the distance suddenly turned its head and glanced at a distant sea region.

With its single glance, the sea surface dozens of kilometers away from Xu Qing instantly exploded. Raging waves rose, and a storm instantly whipped up. The heterogeneity surged, as if it was being sucked over from all directions.

Even though Xu Qing was far away, his body still trembled with the waves and his mind rumbled.

That phoenix-like being quickly withdrew its gaze, and the black clouds disappeared into the horizon with the rumbles of thunder.

It was a long time before the churning sea calmed down. Xu Qing let out a long breath. His face was pale, and as he looked into the distance, his mind shook.

The sensation that the divine bird had left him with was unprecedented on this voyage. Even that giant pulling the bronze dragon carriage at the bottom of the sea seemed inferior.

“What is it? It’s flying in the direction of the South Phoenix Continent…” Xu Qing muttered and suddenly realized something.

“The word ‘phoenix’ in ‘South Phoenix Continent’…”

Back in Seven Blood Pupils, Xu Qing had looked through many records in the Homicide Department. The Truth Mountain Range south of Seven Blood Pupils split the South Phoenix Continent in two, and the human race occupied only 30%. The other 70% of the entire South Phoenix Continent was taken up by…

"The largest forbidden area in South Phoenix, Phoenix Forbidden..."

Xu Qing’s mind shook, and a faint conjecture appeared in his heart. After a while, he took a deep breath and suppressed this conjecture. He would ask around and look for information to confirm it after he got back.

With that in mind, Xu Qing sank down into the sea again. After several hours, he realized that no one was chasing him, so he returned to the surface of the sea. He took out the skiff and jumped on, accelerating forward.

Soon, three days had passed. Xu Qing was extremely vigilant the entire way and checked himself countless times to make sure that the aura lock had really disappeared before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

He guessed that the phoenix’s appearance had unknowingly helped him, making it so that his pursuers could no longer detect him and causing them to lose his trail.

However, Xu Qing didn’t dare to relax too much. Although he didn’t travel under the sea, he still moved extremely fast, not hesitating to use up spirit stones to boost the speed of the skiff.

In these three days, most of his injuries had finally healed. His complexion was no longer pale, and the mental fatigue caused by the massacre on the island had disappeared.

When he recalled the earlier massacre, despite the power of his cultivation base, he still felt a sense of exhaustion that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Fortunately, his harvest this time was extremely astonishing, making Xu Qing have a satisfied look on his face.

Aside from the three divinity-touched lizard skins, he also obtained more than a dozen eight- and ninth-level Qi Condensation lizard skins, and even more skins from lizards of lower cultivation levels.

He had also obtained some heavy treasures and other miscellaneous items.

Moreover, he even obtained three talisman treasures. Although they were almost completely faded and couldn’t be used more than a few more times, they were still extremely valuable.

As for spirit stones… Xu Qing found that he had obtained over 4,000 of them.

Most loose cultivators were very poor. The only reason Xu Qing obtained so many spirit stones was because he slaughtered everyone on the island and looted all their corpses. In particular, the Sea Ghost Association cultivators had the most on them.

As for the Departurist Church cultivators, when Xu Qing checked their bodies for loot, he found that for some reason, all of them were poor. This made him feel a little regretful.

But when he thought about everything he had gained this time, Xu Qing no longer cared about the Departurist Church cultivators’ poverty.

“Even if I don’t count the divinity-touched lizard skins, all of this should be worth around 20,000 spirit stones.” Xu Qing sat down on the deck and counted his spoils as he controlled the skiff to speed toward the Seven Blood Pupils main city.

The improvement in his cultivation base and the benefits he obtained from this sea voyage allowed Xu Qing to freely spend spirit stones to speed up the skiff.

His many days out at sea also made Xu Qing feel an even deeper awe toward this Forbidden Sea.

Now that his pockets were full, there was only one thought in his mind – return as soon as possible.

Thus, with his liberal usage of spirit stones, the skiff’s speed was at its peak, more than double the speed of his magic boat when he had first set sail. Xu Qing judged that he could return to the sect in three days at most.

For the rest of the journey, since it was close to the shore of the South Phoenix Continent, Xu Qing didn’t encounter too much danger. When he was half a day away from the port of Seven Blood Pupils, he saw one of the sect’s boats.

It was a battleship, and it was rapidly approaching him.

Although the battleship looked like those belonging to the Seventh Peak’s Coast Defense Department, Xu Qing didn’t relax his vigilance. Beneath the sea, the plesiosaur dragonwhale swam in circles, ready to attack at any moment. At the same time, he noticed five dragonwhales swimming beneath the Coast Defense Department battleship.

Moreover, one of them was different from the others. It still looked like a dragonwhale, but some of its features were similar to a megalodon.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed and his vigilance increased.

Soon, the battleship broke the waves and gradually approached. Xu Qing clearly saw its entire appearance.

The huge hull was engraved with array formations that exuded terrifying fluctuations, and there were more than 80 spikes on it that seemed to be capable of unleashing shocking power. On the deck, there were more than 30 disciples of Seventh Peak.

With all of this together, the battleship possessed formidable battle prowess.

“We’re the Coast Defense Department of Seven Blood Pupils’ Seventh Peak. Boat up ahead, report your identity.” A dignified voice rang out from the Coast Defense Department’s battleship as it approached.

“Seventh Peak’s Homicide Department, Xu Qing.” Xu Qing looked at the battleship and replied calmly.

The more than 30 cultivators on the battleship were deferentially standing around a young man. The gray Daoist robe on his body fluttered in the wind, and his gaze was like lightning. Extraordinary fluctuations at the peak of Qi Condensation rolled off his body.

When he looked at Xu Qing on the skiff, a sharp light flashed through his eyes.

“Xu Qing?” After Xu Qing reported his name, a familiar voice rang out from the 30 people on the battleship. Soon, a person stepped out from the crowd. It was Zhou Qingpeng.

His expression was filled with surprise. After greeting Xu Qing, he turned around and respectfully whispered a few words to the young man at the peak of Qi Condensation.

The young man nodded expressionlessly.

Zhou Qingpeng clasped his fists and leaped off the battleship, landing on Xu Qing’s skiff with a smile on his face.

“Xu Qing, I didn’t expect that we would meet here. Are you returning from a sea voyage?”

“I set out some time ago. I’m heading back to the sect now.” Xu Qing looked at the young man on the battleship.

“That’s my boss, Ding Xiaohai from the Coast Defense Department.” Zhou Qingpeng spoke proudly before glancing at Xu Qing’s skiff.

“What happened to you? How did your boat become so shabby… The Coast Defense Department has the right to inspect all boats, but from the looks of your boat, we can just forget about it.” Zhou Qingpeng smiled and talked a little bit more. As Xu Qing congratulated him, he cupped his fists and prepared to return to the battleship.

Before leaving, he seemed to remember something and whispered to Xu Qing in a low voice.

“By the way, Xu Qing, after you return, don’t go out to sea again for a while. Our Coast Defense Department has been notified that the bottom of the sea has been a little chaotic recently. I heard from my boss that some terrifying existences have appeared.”

As Zhou Qingpeng spoke, his expression revealed some fear. He didn’t say anything more and returned to the battleship.

"Terrifying existences?" Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. His expression was solemn as he cupped his fists in thanks to Zhou Qingpeng.

Soon, the Coast Defense Department battleship rumbled, turned, and gradually left.

As Xu Qing watched it leave into the distance, the peak Qi Condensation cultivator on the battleship, Ding Xiaohai, glanced at Xu Qing’s skiff, then at the plesiosaur swimming beneath it. He turned to the nearby Zhou Qingpeng and spoke lightly.

"Zhou Qingpeng, your friend isn’t simple."

Zhou Qingpeng was taken aback. Suddenly, he whispered in a low voice.

“Senior Brother Ding, during the Homicide Department’s raid against Night Dove previously, it was rumored that there was a non-captain who killed an enemy chief…”

“It’s him.” There was a profound meaning in Ding Xiaohai’s gaze.

Hearing this, Zhou Qingpeng couldn’t help but fall into a daze, turning to look at Xu Qing’s skiff in the distance.

He could faintly see the figure of a youth standing tall on the skiff. Wind howled and waves bobbed up and down, but they couldn’t shake his body in the slightest.

Previous Chapter

Table of Contents

Next Chapter