Chapter 74

Chapter 74: Grim Reaper

The scorching noon sun shone high in the sky, hanging right in front of the fragmented face of God. It emitted a dazzling light, making it difficult for mortals to lift their heads and look at it directly.

Behind the sun, God on high loomed above all beings. To them, He was an existence that surpassed time and space. Whether it was day or night, reality or dreams, past or future, He was always there.

Witnessing the changes in the world, witnessing all life and death, and witnessing the cruel and chaotic era that had arisen due to His arrival.

The heat radiating from the sun seemed to be negatively affected by the fragmented face of God and became full of malice, as if unwilling to comply with the Heavenly Dao and quietly leave for the coming winter.

It frantically released all its heat, invading every corner of the Seven Blood Pupils main city as if it was trying to evaporate all living things.

Even in the shade of trees and beneath the eaves, it permeated invisibly. Even if the sea breeze blew, it could not be dispersed, like a poison that seeped deep into the bone.

Just like… the corner of Xu Qing’s Daoist robe.

The corner of the robe seemed normal, but looking closely there was some powder on it. By now, the powder had mostly evaporated.

The evaporated powder was like the scorching heat affected by the fragmented face of God. It was malicious and violent as it invaded Xu Qing’s body beneath the Daoist robe.

This invasion was extremely fast and revealed a sense of greed.

From start to end, this invasion only took a few breaths of time.

Xu Qing lowered his head and glanced at the corner of his robe with a calm expression. His eyes narrowed as he walked towards his berth.

The powder on the corner of his clothes had been left when he fought the merfolk youth just now. If it was anyone else, they might have found it difficult to detect even at this point.

After all, this poison was colorless and odorless. To a certain extent, it might not even be considered poison.

However, Xu Qing was skilled in the Dao of Medicine. This powder instantly brought to mind at least seven or eight different kinds of medicinal primers. He needed to go back and analyze carefully before he could determine which one it was.

But no matter what, after coming into contact with the merfolk youth several times, Xu Qing’s killing intent surged.

“It’s time to kill the fish.”

Xu Qing muttered and walked to his berth. As soon as he summoned his magic boat and stepped inside, he activated the barrier at full force to isolate all sounds from the outside world, making the inside of the magic boat completely silent.

Sitting down cross-legged in the cabin, Xu Qing directly tore off the corner of his Daoist robe.

Holding it in his hand, he lifted it up to take a closer look. He formed a seal with his left hand, and a ball of flames instantly floated up from his palm.

Although the Sea Transforming Scripture focused on water, it was normal for magic arts cultivators to practice a variety of different spells for support.

This was explained in detail in the Sea Transforming Scripture’s jade slip.

At that moment, Xu Qing waved his left hand and the fireball flew to that corner of his robe that had been torn off. It enveloped the cloth and began to incinerate it.

Sizzling sounds spread, and a faint smoke drifted out.

As the fire burned, Xu Qing’s face flickered between light and shadow.

He watched the burning cloth continuously twist, and the red lattices from the burning edges rapidly criss-crossed the entire corner. Wherever they passed, this corner of his gray robe would turn to ash.

A few breaths later, the corner of his robe was completely incinerated, and the flames slowly extinguished.

Xu Qing looked at the ashes in his palm and smelled the dispersing smoke.

“This is the blood of the Ghost Desire Limulus. It’s poison, but it’s also not poison.”

Grandmaster Bai’s pharmacopoeia had records of the Ghost Desire Limulus. Apparently, it was an extremely rare creature that lived in the deep sea. Xu Qing had two of them, but he hadn’t found any auxiliary herbs, so he never touched them.

He knew that after processing its blood, it could become a holy medicine for healing injuries. However, if it was processed in other ways according to the yin-yang dual extremes method, it could also give off an aura that disgusted most mutated beasts.

“And there’s also… Enlightenment Grass.” Xu Qing closed his eyes. After analyzing carefully, he opened them again. His eyes were like deep, dark pools, glowing with an incomparably cold light.

Although Grandmaster Bai’s pharmacopoeia didn’t mention what would happen when Ghost Desire Limulus blood was mixed with Enlightenment Grass, according to Xu Qing’s knowledge of medicine, the Enlightenment Grass would greatly magnify the disgust mutated beasts felt towards the aura of the Ghost Desire Limulus blood.

A slight disgust would make mutated beasts avoid it, but if it became severe, it would attract their killing intent.

Because disgust, when taken to the extreme, would turn into hatred.

Thus, after mixing these two ingredients, they would form a special medicinal liquid.

Those who came into contact with it would have their body contaminated by its aura, and it would invade their flesh and blood.

Because it wasn’t poisonous in itself, there would be no symptoms. In fact, it even had a slight nourishing effect on the body. Thus, it was almost impossible to detect, and it was even more difficult to dispel. Moreover, it would last for at least several years.

Its effect was to attract extreme disgust from mutated beasts. When Xu Qing first participated in the Thunder Team’s operation in the scavenger camp’s jungle forbidden area, the small vial of medicine planted in Barbarian’s leather bag was this sort of medicine.

Well, although the medicine in Barbarian’s vial back then had the same kind of effect as the medicine on Xu Qing right now, the difference between the ingredients was like that between heaven and earth.

“If I stay in the sect, I won’t be in too much danger. But if I were to go out to sea…” Xu Qing was very clear that if he went out to sea with this aura on him, he would definitely never return.

This method of killing left no traces, and his corpse was likely to never be found. It was like a sinister poisonous snake, and it would still work for a very long time. If it wasn’t Xu Qing, who was skilled in the Dao of Medicine, then someone else might have died without even knowing their true enemy.

“I wonder if you can manage to detect *my* poison.” Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed coldly. The merfolk youth had poisoned him, but in reality, the merfolk youth was nothing more than the mantis hunting the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. When Xu Qing had attacked earlier… he had also poisoned the merfolk youth!

This poison was also harmless, and it was also a mark.

However, the poison the merfolk youth marked him with was for the unknown mutated beasts in the great sea, while the poison Xu Qing marked the merfolk youth with was for… the grim reaper on the shore.

Xu Qing’s expression was calm. He put the burnt ashes away and then opened his storage bag, glancing at the medicinal pills inside before lifting his head to sweep his gaze across the medicine cabinets all around the cabin.

In fact, he wasn’t good at detoxification in the first place. Moreover, this aura wasn’t even poison proper, so the purple crystal’s recovery power couldn’t help him.

But although Xu Qing wasn’t good at detoxification, he was good at poison.

Xu Qing calmly took out some poison powder and poisonous pills, expressionlessly placing them into his mouth and swallowing them down before mixing seven to eight kinds of poison powders together and inhaling the resultant mixture into his body.

The next moment, his body trembled violently and sweat slowly appeared on his forehead; however, he endured the pain and continued to sit cross-legged as the poison raged within his body. In his heart, killing intent continued to brew, but outwardly, he was utterly placid, like the calm before the storm.

The poison within his body seemed to be burning, burning his internal organs, burning his bones, and burning his very flesh and blood.

Since he couldn’t dispel the aura of the Ghost Desire Limulus and Enlightenment Grass concoction, he might as well destroy it with his own poison. After that, he could rely on the purple crystal to help him recover.

This process lasted for a full four hours.

When dusk arrived, Xu Qing slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were bloodshot, and the poison in his body had been completely dispelled thanks to his astonishing recovery ability. At the same time, the aura of the Ghost Desire Limulus had also disappeared.

After carefully checking himself, Xu Qing raised his head and looked at the sun setting outside the cabin. Deeply gazing into the sunset, he murmured.

"Soon, I'll be able to sleep well."

He got up silently and washed himself before closing his eyes.

After a while, the sun in the sky seemed to give way to the moon, and the sky began to darken.

The scattered stars in the night sky were like little fireflies in a graveyard, insignificant and nothing more than decoration.

This was a suitable night for murder.

Xu Qing opened his eyes and quietly hid the black skewer up his sleeve before sharpening the dagger and shoving it into his shoe.

After that, he checked his inventory of poisons and calmly organized everything before stepping out of the magic boat. His body erupted with speed and he disappeared into the distance.

Moonlight scattered on the ground, giving off a cold glow and reflecting an agile silhouette. The silhouette was the of a youth, moving silently and swiftly like the wind, and the moonlight reflecting in his wolf-like eyes made his gaze seem even colder.

The sea breeze blew over, carrying a chill. As it blew by the youth, it lifted his long robe and caused his black hair to flutter. However, it couldn’t disperse the unique aura of his mark that spread through the main city.

In the end, it turned into a howling sound by the youth’s ears, like a bugle that stoked his killing intent.

He was going to kill.

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