Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Evil Shadow

“Let’s go!” Cross glanced at Captain Thunder and retreated decisively. Luan Ya and Barbarian did the same, backing up quickly.

Narrowing his eyes, Xu Qing watched Captain Thunder walk out towards the wolves. The old man’s spiritual energy seemed to be bursting out, making the wolves hesitate.

Xu Qing didn’t move. He lifted the iron skewer in his hand slightly, and a cold light flashed over the tip of the weapon.

“Kid, do you know why Captain Thunder is the team leader?” Cross’s voice could be heard from the distance as he leapt away.

“It isn’t just because his cultivation is at the sixth level of Qi Condensation, far above the rest of us. More importantly, in times of crisis, his judgment is always accurate and his actions are appropriate for a team leader.”

While Cross was speaking, Xu Qing also heard a loud thud echoing from his location.

It was a large tree 500 meters away. Cross had used his bow to snap its trunk and knock it down.

Barbarian and Luan Ya did the same, breaking large trees and dropping them down to form a barricade. There was only one gap in the barricade, and Cross and Luan Ya didn’t hesitate to keep running.

Barbarian, who was the only team member with a shield, held his shield in one hand and his mace in the other, blocking the gap in the tree barricade like a mountain.

On the other side, Captain Thunder suddenly attacked, charging into the wolf pack with his hands giving off dazzling light.

Wherever he passed, wolves would collapse and die as soon as he touched them.

But there were just too many wolves, and Captain Thunder’s figure was soon submerged in the sea of beasts.

Only the roars and howls of the wolves could be heard when in the distance, Cross also shouted loudly.

“Kid, get over here, your time to act will come!”

Xu Qing concluded that this must be Thunder Team’s battle plan, so he stopped hesitating and ran straight to Barbarian.

Barbarian grinned and pointed to the gap in the barricade behind him. Xu Qing glanced at him, rushed through the gap, and ran to meet up with Cross and Luan Ya.

Soon, he saw a clearing where Luan Ya was getting busy.

She took out many powders and spread them all around. Then she bit her finger, using the blood to draw out a pattern on the ground that Xu Qing didn’t understand.

Luan Ya noticed Xu Qing, but there was no time to speak. She signaled to him with her eyes to hurry up and go.

Xu Qing glanced at her and then ran past without hesitation. Half a kilometer behind Luan Ya, he finally found Cross squatting down in a big tree.

“Next is half a kilometer behind me. I’ll leave it to you!”

Xu Qing nodded his head. He had already more or less figured out Thunder Team’s battle plan.

Continuing to run, he quickly found a spot half a kilometer away. After glancing around at his surroundings, he didn’t do anything to change the environment, instead hiding in the mud behind a bush.

He waited motionlessly for his prey, just like back in the ruins of the city.

Just as he hid hid himself, loud rumbles echoed from afar.

The trees were in the way, so Xu Qing couldn’t see the battle several kilometers away, but he knew that the fight must be incredibly intense.

And that was indeed the case. At that moment, the figure of Captain Thunder ran out of the wolf pack. Although he was in the sixth level of Qi Condensation, he couldn’t afford too much spiritual energy expenditure, so it was inevitable that he looked a bit harrowed.

Fortunately, he was an expert in managing his spiritual energy and still retained half his battle power. As the black-scaled wolves chased him, he retreated back to Barbarian and his barricade.

Barbarian grinned and raised his mace. Just as Captain Thunder leapt past him and through the gap, Barbarian smashed down on the incoming black-scaled wolves.

Cross, who was in a tall tree up ahead, squinted his eyes and drew his bow.

With a sharp whistling sound, arrows transformed from spiritual energy carved out marks in the sky as they flew into the wolf pack to help Barbarian.

As the wolves howled and shrieked again, Captain Thunder ran past Barbarian’s location and approached Luan Ya’s clearing. Behind him, Barbarian stood like a solitary mountain, holding back all the enemies.

Thus, the first person Xu Qing saw coming back was Captain Thunder, who dashed past Luan Ya and then Cross.

As Captain Thunder ran past Xu Qing’s hiding place, he didn’t have time to open his mouth. He just nodded and continued running, stopping half a kilometer away. Then he immediately sat down cross legged and swallowed a White Pill, meditating while preparing for the next round.

This was Thunder Team’s retreat plan.

Captain Thunder, the strongest expert, would block first. Then Barbarian would block the second wave. After he was exhausted, he would retreat, and the task of blocking the wolves would be handed over to Luan Ya, and then Cross.

Then the cycle would repeat, so they all had some time to rest.

This was the most suitable battle tactic for a team in the heterogeneity-rich forbidden area.

Among them, the most tiring jobs went to Captain Thunder and Cross.

The former blocked for the longest period of time, killing the most wolves and buying more time for the team members in the back.

The latter not only had his own turn to block wolves, but he also needed to give support from up high and make sure each team member could retreat safely.

It could be said that the arrangement of each member was very important, and the most important thing was their mutual understanding and trust in one another!

“This is a scavenger team…”

Xu Qing’s eyes were firm, and he continued to hide motionlessly. As time passed, he soon saw Barbarian’s huge frame rushing over, panting with exhaustion.

After a while, he also saw Luan Ya run by with a pale face, clutching her chest.

Finally, Cross also ran over.

His stern face seemed to be as normal, but Xu Qing could feel that the spiritual energy fluctuations coming from his body were almost exhausted.

When passing by, Cross seemed a little hesitant.

“I can do it.” Knowing Cross’s unspoken question, Xu Qing spoke in a low voice.

Cross didn’t respond. He quickly ran past, and soon the howling wolves arrived.

A gust of wind blew the stench of their breath into Xu Qing’s face. The jet black wolves seemed to be in a frenzy, and their eyes were blood red as they exuded ferocity and madness. The dozen wolves leading the charge seemed to be particularly incensed.

Obviously, the first round of the Thunder Team’s combat arrangement had caused the wolf pack a lot of casualties. Under the stimulation of blood, these wolves became even more aggressive.

They didn’t seem to notice the hidden Xu Qing, instead all rushing to chase after Cross.

But just as they arrived, a dagger suddenly flew out and directly penetrated the forehead of the leading wolf.

The strength behind the dagger was so great that it flew through the wolf’s skull in an instant.

The black-scaled wolf at the front let out a shrill howl and died. As its corpse fell to the ground, Xu Qing’s figure rushed out so fast that he left afterimages.

The black skewer in his hands gleamed with a cold light as he stabbed through the eye of another black-scaled wolf. After piercing the skulls of two wolves in quick succession, his left hand formed a fist and he punched out at a third wolf that was sneaking up behind him.

The wolf’s skull shattered instantly, and its blood splattered all over Xu Qing.

After killing three wolves in an instant, Xu Qing’s body flickered, and he burst out with his full speed.

Wandering nimbly through the wolf pack, he slaughtered wolves one after another like a demon.

As the black skewer’s sharp point speared out, the dying howls of wolves spread all over the area.

More and more wolf blood splattered on Xu Qing’s body, and his hands were already dyed bright red. Although the iron skewer was also covered in red blood, his grip on it remained as firm as ever.

But there were too many wolves, after all, and some of them managed to jump past him.

There were also some small-fries that managed to leave minor wounds on his body.

But with Xu Qing’s speed, he could still barely catch up to and stop the former, and as for the latter… the terrifying power of recovery granted by the purple crystal showed a miraculous effect in this battle.

Any flesh wounds healed within a few breaths, and even more serious injuries didn’t bleed.

Of course, since his whole body was covered with wolf blood, outsiders couldn’t tell that such a thing was happening.

Compared with the healing of injuries, the recovery of his stamina was even more terrifying. It allowed him to fight at his peak prowess endlessly without knowing exhaustion.

Gradually, wolf corpses piled up in his surroundings, and his eyes grew colder and colder. He had already lasted longer than the other four, and the wolves slowly began to appear shocked.

Rays of sunlight penetrated the canopy of leaves, scattering down on Xu Qing's body. The way the sunlight reflected off the blood on his body made him look like a ray of blood himself.

Captain Thunder, five hundred meters away, and Cross, standing up high even further ahead, watched this scene with their hearts pounding. They were obviously astonished by Xu Qing’s ruthlessness and tenacity.

“Kid, fall back!” Captain Thunder said suddenly.

Xu Qing still had stamina to spare, but he also felt that he was running low on spiritual energy.

Although the purple crystal could recover stamina and heal injuries, it couldn’t compensate for the loss of spiritual energy.

Fortunately, Xu Qing was a body refiner. If he was a pure magic arts cultivator like Luan Ya, he’d be completely useless once he ran out of spiritual energy.

But he was still a cultivator after all, and he eventually had to start absorbing the heterogeneity-rich spiritual energy of the surroundings. By this time, the mutation points in his left arm were stinging more and more.

So after hearing Captain Thunder’s words, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate and immediately retreated.

But just as he pulled back, a black-scaled wolf that only had one eye jumped out and ran at him.

Xu Qing’s eyes shone coldly, and the iron skewer in his hand turned into a bloody streak, penetrating the wolf’s skull in an instant. He was about to continue retreating, but suddenly…

It might have been a trick of the light, but the shadow of the fallen black-scaled wolf seemed to twist.

Unexpectedly, it rapidly spread over to Xu Qing.

Because the sunlight here was scattered and weak, Xu Qing didn’t notice it right away. In the next instant, the shadow had already fused with his own.

Xu Qing’s body shook violently.

An indescribably evil will invaded his body in an instant.

But once it entered his chest, the purple crystal, which usually remained still and only provided him improved recovery, suddenly shook.

A cold current spread through Xu Qing’s body starting from his chest, and as the current spread, the feeling of being invaded by an evil will disappeared instantly.

The cold current appeared suddenly and disappeared just as suddenly. A moment later, the purple crystal resumed its dormant state, as if it had never moved in the first place.

Xu Qing was stunned for a moment, but he didn’t have time to think about it. After regaining his balance, he continued to sprint backwards. Everything just now had happened in an instant, so neither Captain Thunder or Cross in the distance noticed anything.

At that moment, while Xu Qing was retreating, Captain Thunder stepped forward. It was clear from his eyes that he was quite surprised.

“You did well, go to the back and rest.

“The black-scaled wolves usually live near the depths of the forbidden area and prefer places with strong heterogeneity. The heterogeneity in the outer areas is relatively lighter, so even if they appear here, if they can’t catch any prey quickly they’ll surely leave on their own.”

After he finished speaking, spiritual energy burst out of Captain Thunder’s body as he strode forward, charging towards the wolf pack behind Xu Qing.

Barbarian also hurried over quickly. He had obviously been anxious after waiting for such a long time. When he saw Xu Qing’s blood-covered body and the piles of wolf corpses not far away, he quickly went forward to support Xu Qing.

“I’m fine.” Xu Qing didn’t accept Barbarian’s help. He looked back at Captain Thunder and eventually ran past under Barbarian’s respectful gaze.

When he passed by Luan Ya, it seemed like she had heard some things. After seeing Xu Qing, her face revealed an expression of shock, and she took out a leather bag and threw it to him.

Xu Qing grabbed the leather bag and felt that there were medicinal pills inside. Thanking Luan Ya, he ran farther until he saw Cross.

Cross was sitting silently atop a tree. When he saw Xu Qing, he gave an approving nod.

Xu Qing didn’t speak and nodded back. After running another half kilometer, he found a spot and sat down. Letting out a sigh of relief, he took out three White Pills and swallowed them.

As the pills melted, he began to absorb the spiritual energy from the surroundings to recover.

Time passed. After half an hour, Xu Qing’s eyes opened again. He had relieved his exhaustion, but there was a hint of confusion in his eyes. He discovered that the heterogeneity in his body seemed… weaker.

When he rolled up his left sleeve to take a look, the confusion in his eyes instantly turned into astonishment.

There was actually one less mutation point on his arm!

But his cultivation was obviously at the second level of body refining, and after going through the previous battle, it had improved even more after recovering.

And he remembered clearly that when he was absorbing spiritual energy while fighting earlier, the two mutation points on his arm tingled strongly.

As for the White Pills, Xu Qing had eaten them before, and the effect definitely wasn’t so marvelous. But at this moment, it was the only explanation he could think of.

Except… the sudden cold current sent by the purple crystal earlier.

“Shadow, evil will, crystal’s cold current…”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, recalling the strange scene from before.

He was sure that when the shadow touched him, it wasn’t some illusion or trick of the light.

So he carefully recalled the scene of the crystal releasing a cold current. It seemed like at that moment, the evil will that invaded him was swept away by the cold current and absorbed into the crystal.

“It ate it?” Xu Qing guessed with some surprise.

Previous Chapter

Table of Contents

Next Chapter