Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Don’t Mess With Me

Sitting cross-legged on top of the tree, Xu Qing glanced at the old man from the inn on Banquan Road across the basin and became extremely vigilant.

At the same time, killing intent rose up in his heart. The old man was someone who was listed on the enemy side of his bamboo slip. However, Xu Qing wasn’t confident in success, so he had never gone to find him on Banquan Road.

But now that they met here… Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed.

However, since he was here for something else this time and the old man definitely wouldn’t be so easy to kill, he suppressed his killing intent and scanned the surroundings.

Everyone here was very strong, and there were a few solitary cultivators that made Xu Qing faintly feel danger. This was also one of the reasons he decided to wipe out the pirates immediately.

Growing up in the slums, he deeply understood that keeping a low profile had both advantages and disadvantages. In many cases, keeping a low profile would bring him unnecessary trouble.

Thus, after arriving, Xu Qing was determined to act decisively and ruthlessly, teaching a lesson in blood in order to deter the others. In fact, this was also how he survived in the slums.

When the time was right, he had to bare his fangs as a warning to everyone.

Don't mess with me!

He cut off the pirates’ heads partly to deter others, but also because… these heads were worth money.

Xu Qing retracted his gaze and lightly flicked his right hand, scattering poison powder all around him.

After that, he closed his eyes and meditated silently, awaiting the arrival of the sea lizards.

Xu Qing’s attack just now did indeed have the desired effect. Everyone around him had become extremely wary and recognized his right to be here, and the are gradually returned to an equilibrium.

Just like that, the night passed. When the morning sun rose the next day, Xu Qing suddenly opened his eyes and looked over at the foot of the mountain.

Almost in the same moment, seven or eight gazes also looked over.

Booms reverberated from the foot of the mountain, as if some giant was lumbering forward with difficulty. These loud sounds attracted the attention of more and more cultivators, and the air rapidly filled with killing intent.

Soon, Xu Qing saw a huge lizard around two dozen meters long appear from the jungle.

This lizard was completely black, and its bark-like skin revealed traces of time. As sunlight reflected off of its black skin, there seemed to be a gap between the skin and the body. Clearly, its skin was sloughing off little by little.

The lizard’s four claws were extremely sharp, raking into the ground as it crawled slowly. It breathed heavily, as if every step brought it agonizing pain, but it didn’t stop at all.

Although its aura was weak, its spiritual energy fluctuations were still comparable to the eighth level of Qi Condensation, causing everyone to hold their breath for a moment. It was obviously impossible for the sea lizard not to notice that there were already people here, but it didn’t care at all.

As it struggled to climb toward the top of the mountain, booming sounds continued to echo out behind it, and Xu Qing could see trees falling as more lizards lumbered near. Two, three, four…

A total of six sea lizards appeared one after another.

“Six skins of sea lizards at the eighth level of Qi Condensation!” Xu Qing’s breathing hastened slightly. In the Seven Blood Pupils main city, these sorts of skins were sold for as much as 500 to 600 spirit stones.

As he looked at the sea lizards, his eyes sparkled. It was as if he was not looking at dangerous mutated beasts, but huge piles of spirit stones.

But none of the others acted rashly, and Xu Qing also continued to wait silently.

As the booming sounds neared, the six sea lizards gradually forced themselves to the top of the mountain. When they reached the basin at the top, they ignored the cultivators all around them, stepping into the basin under the surrounding cultivators’ rapt attention.

After stepping into the basin, the six sea lizards roared and their bodies trembled violently as they shed their skin with all their might.

Their roars echoed in all directions, causing the hearts of the surrounding cultivators to tremble.

The light in Xu Qing’s eyes became sharper and sharper. He watched the sea lizards struggling as their skin separated from their bodies at an increasing rate.

The process lasted an entire hour.

The first sea lizard successfully shed its skin, stabilized its breathing, and lumbered away. From beginning to end, it didn’t even spare a glance at the cultivators in the surroundings.

The shed skin left in the basin was no longer black but glowed with a cyan light. Translucent mystical patterns were clearly visible on it, and it shone with the light of a treasure. It looked just like a sea lizard of the same size.

However, no one moved.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He also didn’t move.

After waiting for a while, the second, third, and fourth sea lizards finished shedding their skin and left one after another. Finally, the moment that the fifth sea lizard left, someone made a move.

This person was the old man from Banquan Road. His figure shot towards the basin like an arrow loosed from the bow.

Immediately afterwards, the rest of the cultivators in the surroundings also rushed out, and explosive killing intent erupted outwards instantly.

Xu Qing also moved, leaving an afterimage on the treetop as he pierced the air at an astonishing speed.

In an instant, more than 30 cultivators had entered the basin, and their targets were those six sets of shed skins. In the blink of an eye, they began to ruthlessly fight and kill each other.

Booms echoed through the air. Xu Qing was like a sword that had been unsheathed, revealing a peerless sharpness. In an instant, he arrived within the basin and directly grabbed a lizard skin. A nearby alien cultivator wearing a straw raincoat moved to block him.

“Screw off!” The alien cultivator waved his hand and spiritual energy fluctuations of the ninth level of Qi Condensation spread out, pressing down towards Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change. Without even turning his head, he raised his left hand and punched out towards the alien cultivator in the straw raincoat.

As soon as he swung his fist, the qi and blood in his body burst forth, and the Droughtdemon Shadow appeared behind him. A violent aura spread in all directions, and the Droughtdemon Shadow let out a silent roar as it followed Xu Qing’s fist to collide with the enemy.

The alien cultivator in the straw raincoat’s expression changed drastically. He had estimated that the Seven Blood Pupils cultivator in front of him had a strong cultivation base, but when he saw the Droughtdemon Shadow, his heart skipped a beat.

“Qi and Blood Form a Shadow! You’re at the peak of Body Refinement!”

As he spoke, he retreated rapidly, but it was already too late. Xu Qing’s fist fell with a bang, and the alien cultivator in the straw raincoat felt his whole body shake violently as he spurted out blood.

But he wasn’t an ordinary cultivator, either. Xu Qing didn’t know what method he used, but the next moment, that alien cultivator in the straw raincoat appeared in the distance, coughing up more blood. The straw raincoat had mostly collapsed, revealing a blue-skinned body within. When he looked up at Xu Qing, an unprecedented terror appeared in his eyes.

Xu Qing didn’t have the time to pay the alien cultivator any mind. Grabbing the lizard skin, he quickly put it away with a wave of his hand and was about to head for a second one. But just as he moved to snatch a second lizard skin, he heard a furious growl a distance away.

“Are you trying to kill us?!”

Xu Qing turned his head and saw that there was a loose cultivator in the distance who seemed to have been too slow to snatch any lizard skins and thus moved to attack the sixth, final sea lizard, which was about to leave.

However, he was blocked by a furious burly alien race cultivator whose nose was long like an elephant’s.

“Bastard! Don’t you know that if a single lizard dies here, we’ll all die with it?!”

The burly man was utterly furious as he blasted that loose cultivator away. Everyone else also looked at the loose cultivator with strong killing intent in their eyes.

The loose cultivator’s complexion changed, and he quickly spoke as he retreated.

“It’s just a sea lizard, how could it cause our deaths?”

“This is your first time here, isn’t it? Did you never wonder why there are no Foundation Establishment cultivators here, or why no Foundation Establishment cultivators dare to even approach this sea region? Did you really think that this is just an island? Let me tell you, this Sea Lizard Island… is really just a small ridge on the back of a giant sea lizard!” The elephant-trunked alien cultivator’s eyes were full of killing intent.

“Did you never wonder why there are so many sea lizards here? It’s because they are all the offspring of this giant lizard. In order to protect its offspring, it doesn’t allow anyone beyond Qi Condensation to approach, and it doesn’t allow us cultivators to attack the sea lizards. You’re on its back right now, and you actually want to kill its offspring? Are you tired of living? Once it gets angry, all of us will die!!”

“The only reason we Qi Condensation cultivators can come here is because it doesn’t care about us!”

As he spoke, the elephant-trunked alien cultivator had already attacked There were other loose cultivators who hadn’t managed to grab a lizard skin, and they all attacked together with eyes full of greed.

In an instant, screams rang out, and that loose cultivator died miserably. All the belongings on his body were instantly divvied up by the crowd.

Xu Qing took a deep breath after hearing the elephant-trunked alien cultivator’s words and finally understood why he hadn’t seen any Foundation Establishment cultivators on the way. He glanced down at the ground beneath his feet before rushing out into a group of cultivators fighting over a lizard skin.

Cold light flashed as he pulled out his dagger. Wherever he went, he would kill anyone in his way instantly. A cold wind blew and lifted Xu Qing’s hair, revealing the sharpness in his eyes.

In the end, he snatched a second lizard skin from the hands of three other cultivators. By now, the other four lizard skins had found their owners, and each of them was covered in blood. These cultivators had distinguished themselves from the others through slaughter, deterring anyone else from having ideas.

Two of the lizard skins had been taken by the old man from Banquan Road. As for the other two, one had been obtained by a lone alien race cultivator, and the other was taken by a group of four or five humans.

All of them were filled with killing intent, but they held themselves back and stopped attacking.

Xu Qing scanned the surroundings and looked at the old man from Banquan Road, paying special attention to the big snake behind the old man.

When it noticed Xu Qing’s gaze, the big snake quickly nodded at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing ignored it. The sharpness in his eyes dissipated and he gave up on attacking, instead stepping back suddenly and returning to the top of the tree before sitting down cross-legged.

The other three parties were obviously relieved and also pulled back.

The basin slowly returned to a state of calm, but faint malicious gazes swept across Xu Qing and the others. These gazes came from the cultivators who hadn’t been able to snatch a lizard skin.

Behind the boulder, the old man was sitting down to rest. He picked up his pipe and took a puff, looking very satisfied. However, he soon remembered something and hurriedly rummaged through his pockets, taking out an antidote to swallow.

He ignored the gurgling sounds of the snake from the side.

It wasn’t until the big snake bumped him with its head that the old man finally whispered impatiently.

“Warn my ass, that kid’s a wolf who eats people without spitting out the bones and kills without blinking an eye. I should warn him? Do you think he doesn’t know that someone’s going to make a move when night comes?”

“I say, you ungrateful[1] snake, why do you care about him so much? Sigh, I’m the one who raised you, and I’m always good to you, why don’t you seem to care about this old bag of bones at all? Maybe I should have just let myself be poisoned just now.”

While the old man was muttering in dissatisfaction, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes on the treetop. A cold light flickered in his eyes as he looked at those people who were giving him malicious gazes, especially their pockets.

Licking his lips, he scattered some more poison powder around him.

The day passed slowly, and night fell.

Pale moonlight scattered down on the earth. Under the illumination of the moonlight, the silent jungle cast countless mysterious shadows on the ground, swaying in the wind. The shadows seemed like ghosts or demons dancing under the eerie moonlight.

The cold night chill gradually failed to hide the killing intent filling the air.

The dim moonlight gradually failed to contain the greed of all living beings.

Thus, as the bleak sea breeze blew, it was like the prelude to a funeral dirge.

[1] – He literally calls it a “white-eyed snake”, which is most likely a modification of the phrase 白眼狼, or white-eyed wolf – it refers to an ungrateful person.

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