Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Karma

As the middle-aged cultivator screamed and died tragically, the Vajra Sect ancestor searching for Xu Qing deep in the city suddenly raised his head.

Foundation Establishment cultivators had extremely sharp senses. Hearing the miserable screams in the distance, the Vajra Sect ancestor’s expression instantly darkened. He rose into the air and started flying over to the source of the screams.

Although there were some mutated beasts, the Vajra Sect ancestor was a Foundation Establishment expert after all. As long as he didn’t run into those eerie existences or a huge swarm of mutated beasts, everything else was unworthy of his attention.

The strong heterogeneity might have an effect on him, but with his level of cultivation, it wouldn’t cause much trouble as long as he didn’t stay in the forbidden area for more than a month.

After confirming his direction, the Vajra Sect ancestor used the power of his cultivation to project his voice further away.

“Tie that kid down and wait for me!”

As he spoke, his airborne figure exploded forth at a shocking speed. From a distance, he looked like a shooting star whizzing through the sky.

At the same time, back at Xu Qing’s battlefield, the other Vajra Sect elder retreated without hesitation as Xu Qing approached.

He heard the ancestor’s order, but he didn’t want to die needlessly.

Even if the ancestor ended up punishing him later, he would accept it. Xu Qing’s ghastly aura was too frightening, and when the young man attacked, his eyes were full of terrifying killing intent. The elder was unwilling to take the risk.

Therefore, he decisively retreated, directly choosing to activate the flight talisman and flee hundreds of meters in an instant.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He had also heard the Vajra Sect ancestor’s distant roar, but continued to chase the elder. On the way, he picked up his iron skewer and activated the stolen flight talisman, but suddenly, his expression changed. Holding his breath, he immediately turned around and fled in the opposite direction.

The moment Xu Qing turned around, the Vajra Sect elder flying in the air had a horrified expression. A chilly aura rushed toward his face and he noticed the huge figure of a woman appear next to him.

That figure had no facial features, only a head of long hair and an enormous body wearing a long white dress.

At that moment, numerous faces suddenly appeared on the faceless woman’s dress and mournful wails echoed all around. An eerie aura pervaded the surroundings and the moon high in the sky even turned blood red.

Looking from a distance, the Vajra Sect elder was like an insignificant ant next to a giant. Under the weeping and wailing of the countless faces on the dress, the Vajra Sect elder’s body trembled violently, and his expression changed as he slowly… began to wail as well.

But as he wailed, his eyes showed extreme terror, as if the wailing was all involuntary.

Finally, his wails merged with the wailing of the countless faces on the woman in white’s dress, and white gas drilled out from the Vajra Sect elder’s seven orifices, quickly entering the faceless woman’s body. In the next moment...

The Vajra Sect elder directly dried up into a lifeless husk and fell to the ground.

At the same time, an extra face appeared on the faceless woman in white’s dress. It was the Vajra Sect elder’s face!

He was completely expressionless, but he continued to wail along with the other faces on the dress.

This scene fell into the eyes of both Xu Qing and the Vajra Sect ancestor, who had rushed over. Both of their bodies trembled in shock.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart before suddenly accelerating and sprinting back into the city.

But although Xu Qing had left, the Vajra Sect ancestor felt his scalp go numb and didn’t dare to move.

Because the faceless woman in the white dress was walking towards him.

The Vajra Sect ancestor knew very well that facing eerie existences like this, he definitely couldn’t make any sudden moves, or he would end up like that elder. Thus, he waited with fear and apprehension until the faceless woman in white passed by him and gradually disappeared into the distance.

Finally, the Vajra Sect ancestor breathed a sigh of relief. But for some reason, there was a trace of doubt in his heart.

“I’ve encountered this eerie existence twice already… Why do I have the feeling that it seems to be helping that brat…?”

“Freak!” The Vajra Sect ancestor gritted his teeth and looked over at the direction Xu Qing had fled, feeling more and more that he had to get rid of this kid. After a moment, he quickly hurried to pursue Xu Qing.

In the dark of night, all kinds of roars rose and fell, echoing in every corner of the city. Strange sounds of chewing, crying, and cold laughter filled the air.

Beneath the moonlight, ruins of walls and buildings could be seen everywhere, casting monster-like shadows, making the strange city feel even stranger.

Xu Qing was already familiar with the roars and strangeness, but his face was still pale. It felt like he was being stared at by countless malicious eyes with ice-cold gazes striking at his body.

When Xu Qing passed by the place where he had hunted a vulture that day, an ice-cold feeling swept through his entire body and his pupils instantly contracted as he looked over…

Not far away, there was an abandoned carriage stuck in the mud. However, the blood-colored doll that was supposed to be hanging on the carriage shaft had changed its position. Instead of hanging on the shaft, it sat on the carriage, with its back facing Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s scalp tingled, and he quickly took his leave.

Soon, the Vajra Sect ancestor’s pursuit brought him to the abandoned carriage. Looking around vigilantly, he saw the carriage stuck in the mud, as well as the blood-colored doll atop the carriage… facing him.

The doll’s eyes were dim, and its soaked red body gave it a sinister aura as it looked at the Vajra Sect ancestor.

The Vajra Sect ancestor’s pupils slightly contracted and his heart trembled. His footsteps instantly slowed down, and he slowly and carefully left the area before breathing a sigh of relief and accelerating in pursuit again.

However, he didn’t dare get too close to Xu Qing. The Vajra Sect ancestor was painfully aware of how bizarre this young man was, and at the same time, he knew that the kid had some method to make the area instantly erupt with heterogeneity. Therefore, his plan wasn’t to directly close in and attack, but use his cultivation advantage to keep an eye on the kid and only attack after dawn arrived.

Although it was somewhat a loss of face for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to be so careful when dealing with a mere Qi Condensation cultivator, the Vajra Sect ancestor still decided to put safety first in this situation.

Thus, he slowed down and followed behind Xu Qing at a leisurely pace.

Xu Qing had already noticed this. Previously, he had mentally simulated counterattack plans, and he had already primed his shadow for manual control. He was even holding Black Pills in his hands, waiting for the Vajra Sect ancestor to approach.

He was sure that after experiencing his counterattack, even if the Vajra Sect ancestor wouldn’t suffer any fatal wounds, he would at least be tied down for a short period of time, and although Xu Qing would definitely be heavily injured as he escaped, serious injuries would make his escape less suspicious and be beneficial to his successive baiting plans.

However, the Vajra Sect ancestor was just too cautious despite his Foundation Establishment cultivation, making Xu Qing even more wary.

But although the Vajra Sect ancestor didn’t approach, Xu Qing felt that his baiting plan could still be carried out, so he sped up and headed straight for the city lord’s mansion, getting closer and closer.

The city lord’s mansion was located in the center of the city. Here, the heterogeneity was at its strongest, but for some reason, there were fewer and fewer mutated beasts.

The Vajra Sect ancestor’s expression changed slightly, and a strong feeling of crisis suddenly rose in his heart.

He looked at Xu Qing’s back, then at the collapsed buildings next to him, and then he suddenly stopped.

Instead of continuing to chase, he began to retreat.

This caught Xu Qing by surprise. At the moment, he was still a few hundred meters away from the city lord’s mansion, and the Vajra Sect ancestor already had intentions of retreating.

“It’s still too late to retreat now!” Xu Qing gritted his teeth fiercely as he suddenly raised his right hand and threw out a bunch of Black Pills.

This time, Xu Qing directly threw out half of his remaining Black Pills, and as they fell to the ground, they exploded one by one!

Instantly, the surroundings seemed to turn into a huge vortex, sucking heterogeneity over from all directions. As the heterogeneity surged, it seemed to distort the surroundings, making people’s vision blur.

The amount of heterogeneity in the surroundings instantly reached an astonishing level.

The retreating Vajra Sect ancestor’s expression immediately changed. However, he also seemed to be puzzled, because Xu Qing’s body was also submerged in that dense heterogeneity.

Like this, even disregarding the issue of mutation, just the mutated beasts and eerie existences attracted over by the heterogeneity could make Xu Qing die a thousand deaths. This was tantamount to suicide.

Just as the Vajra Sect ancestor was wrapped in confusion, the city lord’s mansion hundreds of meters away suddenly shook violently. Terrifying, earth-shaking roars suddenly echoed out in all directions.

The earth trembled, and the blood-red moon in the sky seemed to blur.

The Vajra Sect ancestor’s expression changed, and he instantly felt a powerful life-and-death crisis. His pupils contracted and his body retreated rapidly. Fixedly staring at the city lord’s mansion, he watched as figures suddenly flew out of the building!

Those figures were all extremely thin, but wings formed from black flames sprouted from their backs, and their entire bodies were filled with astonishing heterogeneity. Wherever they passed, the void seemed to distort in their wake.

Just this already shocked the Vajra Sect ancestor, but soon, he paled even more and had to take a deep breath. With a loud bang, the city lord’s mansion collapsed, exposing a huge pit in the ground.

A withered figure hundreds of meters tall was crawling out of the pit, releasing a loud, sky-shaking roar!

From a distance, the slender figure seemed to look like a dead tree. The exposed part alone was hundreds of meters long, but it was obvious that it hadn’t fully crawled out and this was only its upper body.

As it waved its arms, a large number of rotting vines instantly appeared from the fingers of both its hands, shooting out and piercing into the ground.

The furthest vines even reached just in front of the Vajra Sect ancestor.

As if using the vines to leverage itself, the huge figure that looked like a dead tree began climbing out of the pit even faster.

"What the hell is this?!" The Vajra Sect ancestor felt his heart tremble wildly as he cursed in horror. His expression changed drastically, and he burst out with his full speed, retreating crazily.

But the next scene made him go even more crazy. After those winged figures flew out from the mansion, he saw them rush straight towards the heterogeneity-rich zone that kid had somehow formed with unknown means.

But for some reason, after those winged figures entered there, they quickly left and looked around, roaring. Then they all locked on to the Vajra Sect ancestor one after another and charged towards him.

"What’s going on?! Kid!!"

The Vajra Sect ancestor’s eyes flew wide open. Even though his speed was astonishing, the winged figures caught up to him very quickly. As they charged over, the Vajra Sect ancestor was forced to make a move, and his Foundation Establishment cultivation base erupted with power.

The winged figures quickly collapsed, but bizarrely, they reformed near instantly and continued to attack. In the distance, that terrifying existence trapped in the pit where the city lord’s mansion was was also about to finish climbing out.

All of this made the Vajra Sect ancestor feel like he was going crazy as he was entangled by the winged figures. On the edge of the heterogeneity-rich zone created by Xu Qing, in the ground next to a wall, there was a small crevice.

Xu Qing was carefully hiding in the crevice, vigilantly looking at the outside world.

In the city ruins, he had followed the birds’ tracks and found two safe spots. One was his burrow, and the other… was this crevice!

Back when he had fled the mutated beasts after obtaining the cultivation technique in the city lord’s mansion and suffering his chest injury, he had also hid here to escape.

Unfortunately, the crevice was too close to the city lord’s mansion, so Xu Qing ultimately chose the burrow as his temporary residence instead.

When God’s eyes opened and a calamity befell all things, nearly every living thing died. But for some unknown reason, only the birds were able to mostly survive.

In addition, they seemed to be able to instinctively find safe spots. Although they weren’t completely safe, they were places that were easily ignored by mutated beasts and eerie existences.

Of course, this was all only relative. If there was no Vajra Sect ancestor to attract attention, what Xu Qing did just now would only be courting death.

Seeing the Vajra Sect ancestor’s sorry state and noticing the huge figure struggling to climb out of the pit, Xu Qing took a deep breath. Gritting his teeth, he rushed out of the crevice, throwing Black Pills out towards the huge being in the pit and the Vajra Sect ancestor.

He threw out ten Black Pills in one go.

The Black Pills exploded one after another, and the already-rich heterogeneity seemed to pass a critical point in an instant.

Because Xu Qing left the crevice, hostile gazes refocused on him. However, as the heterogeneity exploded, their attention was attracted away. At the same time, in several places in the city, whether it was mutated beasts or eerie existences, each one of them paused and turned to the center of the city.

In the next moment, they all rushed over!

The Vajra Sect ancestor let out a roar of extreme anger. Without even turning his head, Xu Qing ran at full speed, taking advantage of the mutated beasts and eerie existences’ attention being drawn away to escape madly.

The Vajra Sect ancestor also wanted to escape, but with those winged figures entangling him, even if he wanted to leave, it wasn’t so easy. Anxiety filled his heart, and his hatred for Xu Qing grew even stronger.

Xu Qing, on the other hand, was running faster and faster through the streets. He had already left the city lord’s mansion far behind and was about to head towards the city wall when suddenly… a cold aura rushed towards his face.

He suddenly heard wailing sounds in front of him, and a faceless woman in a white dress appeared in the distance.

She seemed to be far away at first, but in the blink of an eye, she had already appeared in fron tof Xu Qing.

Her speed was so fast that Xu Qing couldn’t dodge in the slightest. At that moment, his breathing hastened and his pupils contracted. An icy chill suffused his entire body, and his mind instantly blanked out, as if frozen.

Faces quickly appeared on the dress of the faceless woman in white, all wailing miserably. Their wails echoed in Xu Qing’s mind and seemed to turn into waves of a mysterious power, causing Xu Qing’s expression to uncontrollably change. It seemed that he was about to begin wailing like those faces.

But at that moment… some of the faces suddenly stopped wailing. As they looked at Xu Qing blankly, their expressions gradually changed, and they slowly smiled. They opened their mouths as if to say something, but no sound came out.

Soon, more and more faces stopped wailing, until finally… almost half of the faces on the faceless woman’s white dress stopped wailing. They all smiled as they looked at Xu Qing with gentle expressions.

Each of them moved their lips slightly, as if whispering two words that others could not hear.

Xu Qing stared blankly at the many faces on the faceless woman’s dress smiling at him.

Before he could see clearly, the faceless woman in white walked past him and moved away, and soon, the sounds of wailing echoed out again…

Xu Qing’s frozen body also recovered its ability to move. He suddenly turned his head, and his breathing hastened as he stared blankly at the faceless woman in white who was walking further and further away. Her white figure was like a ball of burning fire in the dark night…

Just now, the smiling faces on her dress… seemed very familiar.

Xu Qing seemed to have met them before…

As a matter of fact, he remembered that one of them seemed to be the old man from the pharmacy. He had carried his corpse to be cremated in order to allow him to rest in peace.

Xu Qing was silent. Looking at the figure in the distance, he seemed to vaguely understand something. After a long time, he bowed deeply and whispered.

“Thank you.”

Those smiling faces had also mouthed these two words earlier.

“Thank you.”

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