Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Fiend Arrives on the Island

Broken grayish-brown bones were scattered across the black sand of the beach. Some of them were already eroded, showing a rough sand-like texture, while others seemed to have only been left recently, with pieces of rotting meat still hanging off them.

When the sea breeze blew, the sand on the beach was stirred up and blown around, piling up in the skulls of humans and beasts and making them tumble in the breeze.

In Xu Qing’s eyes, the entire Sea Lizard Island was suffused with a gloomy and brutal aura. The afterglow of sunset falling on the beach was like a red autumn leaf falling down to shroud their corpses.

Unfortunately, this shroud was also red.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze from the bones in the surroundings. As dusk gradually turned into night, he walked calmly towards the jungle and disappeared inside.

The moment he stepped into the jungle, night arrived. It was like a pair of giant hands had covered the world, turning the sky pitch-black and forcing the sun to give way.

In the jungle, Xu Qing’s figure was like a ghost. He moved extremely fast, flashing from tree to tree, and his sharp gaze was like that of a false-tooth bird. As he proceeded forward, he calmly observed his surroundings.

Xu Qing was no stranger to jungles.

Although this was an island and not the forbidden area from back then, his experiences in that jungle still served him well here. The plants on the ground were similar, and there were also many recognizable medicinal herbs, making Xu Qing feel a sense of familiarity. He was like a fish in water as he shuttled agilely through the trees.

Gradually, he noticed something peculiar.

In this jungle, many trees had fallen, and if he looked at the damaged areas, most of them were straight lines connected to the sea.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes as he arrived at a spot where trees had fallen. As he stood there, he carefully noted down which trees had fallen and the direction they had fallen in before lowering his head to take a closer look at the fallen trees on the ground.

“There are scales on the trees…” Xu Qing picked up a palm-sized gray-black scale from the broken wood scattered on the ground. A faint fishy smell lingered on it.

“This is from a sea lizard’s shed skin, and it’s already been around for a while.” Xu Qing quickly came to a conclusion. Clearly, as the sea lizards crawled out of the sea and passed through the jungle, the trees in their paths would get knocked over like this.

“There are many areas like this, meaning that every sea lizard who comes here to shed its skin takes a different path. That makes sense.”

“I just don’t know whether the sea lizards also choose random locations to shed their skin or whether… there is a fixed general location.”

Xu Qing thought it over and decided to follow the path of fallen trees to sea where the sea lizard ended up. After making a decision, he accelerated rapidly, becoming faster and faster as he sped through the path of fallen trees.

But as his speed increased, so too did his vigilance.

Xu Qing didn’t know if there were any cultivators here that surpassed Qi Condensation. On the way, he had thought it over and concluded that although sea lizard skins were expensive, they probably weren’t so attractive to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

But he still had to keep his guard up. After all, his limited judgment wasn’t sufficient to completely dismiss such a threat to his life.

At that moment, wind blew through the jungle, carrying the smell of rotting plants. Xu Qing took a deep breath but couldn’t smell anything else, so he continued to advance without stopping.

An hour later, the sky was becoming darker and darker, and Xu Qing was squatting on top of a tree near the mountains. A faint light shone in his eyes as he stared at a place not far away.

There was a broken piece of shed sea lizard skin in front of him. It was grayish-black and very dry. It had clearly been there for a long time already, apparently having been broken in a fight.

Xu Qing knew from the sea records that sea lizard skin was only valuable if it was preserved with a special method just after being shed from the sea lizard.

This was also why fights over sea lizard skin were bound to be bloody. Everyone had to hold themselves back and wait for the moment the sea lizard skin was being sloughed off before fighting.

A pondering expression appeared on Xu Qing’s face. He left the treetop and began to explore a wider area.

Soon, he had fully explored the area around the mountains and even gone a certain distance into the mountains, seeing many similar sea lizard skins. At the same time, he found that most of the sea lizards shed their skins near the mountains, and the higher the mountain was, the more shed skins there were.

All of this let him come to a conclusion internally.

“Sea lizards will shed their skin after finding a certain area, and it looks like they prefer higher elevations?”

Xu Qing raised his head and looked at the tallest mountain on Sea Lizard Island, his gaze turning sharp.

“That place should have this island’s real treasures. Only the strongest sea lizards will be able to go there, and their skins will also be the most valuable!”

Xu Qing no longer hesitated and headed straight towards the peak of the tallest mountain at full speed. As he advanced, he noticed the figures of cultivators waiting on other mountain peaks.

These cultivators were mostly loose cultivators, and their cultivation bases were around the fifth level of Qi Condensation. Although they weren’t very strong, the ruthlessness in their eyes was clearly visible.

And they obviously knew themselves well, only choosing the shorter mountains to camp on. They stared vigilantly when Xu Qing arrived and breathed a sigh of relief after realizing that he was only passing by.

Xu Qing also breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing so many low-level cultivators gathered here, he felt that his previous judgment was correct. Most likely, there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators here.

But he didn’t relax too much. If there were any Foundation Establishment cultivators on the island, they would most likely be at the place he was headed to.

Just like that, Xu Qing traversed mountain after mountain and finally arrived at the tallest mountain on Sea Lizard Island. As soon as he arrived, wisps of aura immediately locked on to him from the peak of the mountain.

Xu Qing paused. After sensing carefully, his expression turned a little strange. He still didn’t sense the aura of Foundation Establishment.

Thus, his expression became calm as he advanced, noticing a large number of broken sea lizard skins on this mountain.

The auras emanating from these sea lizard skins were at least at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Condensation, allowing Xu Qing to confirm his previous conjecture that sea lizards tried to find higher elevations to shed their skins.

As for the probing wisps of aura, Xu Qing didn’t bother paying attention to them. He quickly arrived at the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain was a huge basin surrounded by trees, and there were many cultivators scattered around. Their cultivation bases were clearly much higher than those on the other mountains. Most of the cultivators here were at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Condensation, and there were even a few at the peak of Qi Condensation.

There were indeed no Foundation Establishment cultivators!

Each of the cultivators here was clearly a fugitive on the run. Their expression ranged from savage to chilling to bloodthirsty.

And humans were actually in the minority here. The majority of cultivators were from various alien races, some alone and some grouped together.

There were also some who gave off a fishy smell. They were clearly pirates who were out at sea all year round.

They all stared at Xu Qing.

When Xu Qing arrived, he swept his gaze over everyone here and immediately recognized a few people from the bounty list. A strange light appeared in his eyes.

However, he didn’t make a move in the end. Instead, he walked over to a big tree and sat down cross-legged in meditation.

Although everything he had seen led him to conclude that there was no Foundation Establishment cultivator here, Xu Qing felt that even if there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators, the reason behind it might not be as simple as he thought.

After sitting down, Xu Qing retracted his gaze from the surroundings. He was no stranger to this sort of hostile environment. It was pretty much the same in both the slums and the scavenger camp.

Thus, he just sat there calmly and prepared to cultivate. But at that moment, he frowned slightly, looking up with a cold gaze at the few pirates who were still looking over at him.

These pirates were a small group of eight cultivators. Two were humans while six were from alien races, and the alien cultivators had varied appearances. Some had tentacles all over their bodies, some had three eyes on their faces, and one person had wings coming from his back.

Their gazes as they looked at Xu Qing were unfriendly and full of viciousness. The winged alien cultivator whispered to his companions, and Xu Qing saw one of the three-eyed alien cultivators got up and walk towards him.

“Seven Blood Pupils disciples are not welcome here. Either scram immediately or stay here and end up as nourishment.” The three-eyed alien cultivator sneered as he approached, releasing his eighth-level Qi Condensation cultivation base with full force.

Xu Qing looked seriously at the alien race youth in front of him, trying to determine if his neck was a vital point. After that, he looked at the group of pirates not far away, knowing that this was a probe. If he allowed himself to be bullied, then he would definitely become their target.

Narrowing his eyes, Xu Qing suddenly raised his right hand and grabbed the air behind him.

In the next moment, a translucent figure suddenly appeared behind him, its neck firmly in Xu Qing’s grasp.

As it struggled violently, the translucent figure quickly became clear. It was an alien race youth with blue hair and scales on his face. Judging from his clothes, he was clearly with the group of pirates.

Panic appeared in the alien youth’s eyes, and he was about to fight back when Xu Qing tightly clenched his right hand. With a crack, the alien youth’s neck was snapped.

That wasn’t the end. The power of the Sea Transforming Scripture poured in, and in the blink of an eye, all the blood in the alien youth’s body was controlled by Xu Qing to burst out, causing the alien youth’s body to explode with a bang.

Flesh and blood scattered all over the place, but not a single drop stained Xu Qing’s body.

The internal organs of alien races were different from humans, and Xu Qing didn’t want to waste time locating the vitals. In any case, they would still be dead if he just destroyed their entire body.

When he killed the alien youth, Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, as if he was merely stepping on an ant. He continued to stare indifferently at the three-eyed alien cultivator in front of him.

The three-eyed alien cultivator trembled slightly and his breathing hastened. The expressions of the companions behind him also changed, and the group of pirates instantly became extremely vigilant.

“It’s a misunderstanding.” The three-eyed alien cultivator took a deep breath and realized Xu Qing wasn’t easy to mess with. Thus, he spoke in low voice before backing away.

But he didn’t know Xu Qing, and he didn’t know that Xu Qing’s principle was to kill any existence that threatened his life. Just as the three-eyed alien cultivator stepped backwards in retreat, Xu Qing moved.

He instantly exploded with speed, leaving afterimages as he charged out. The three-eyed alien cultivator’s expression changed drastically, and he waved his hand to summon his spiritual energy barrier, but Xu Qing had already arrived in front of him, and a fist was bearing down.

With a boom, the three-eyed alien cultivator’s spiritual energy barrier collapsed. The alien cultivator’s pupils contracted, and he was about to open his mouth, but Xu Qing’s fist had already landed on his chest.

With one punch, the three-eyed alien cultivator’s body trembled violently, his chest sank in, and all the organs in his body directly collapsed.

The expressions of the pirates not far away had changed completely. They stood up one by one, about to strike, but Xu Qing was even faster than them. In fact, when he killed the first pirate, he had already decided to kill the rest, too, weeding out this trouble by the roots.

Xu Qing’s speed was astonishing. In the blink of an eye, he rushed into the pirate group, and mournful screams as well as the sound of spells colliding with each other immediately rang out as the surrounding cultivators looked on in shock.

After mere moments, six of the pirates had been killed, and the remaining one, the winged alien race cultivator, was about to flee into the air with unprecedented panic in his expression. However, a sharp dagger instantly whizzed through the air, directly piercing his brow. His dead body fell from mid-air and landed with a bang.

It was all over.

The surrounding cultivators all inhaled sharply, and their expressions became extremely solemn. As they looked at Xu Qing, who stood among the corpses of the pirates, their eyes filled with dread.

Ignoring the gazes from the surroundings, Xu Qing cut off the pirates’ heads one by one with his dagger. He returned to the spot he had chosen earlier and hung the pirates’ heads on the tree.

After that, Xu Qing sat down cross-legged and looked towards the other end of the basin, where there was a large boulder. Behind the boulder, there was a huge snake head, and beneath the snake head was a familiar figure.

“He’s also here!” Vigilance filled Xu Qing’s heart. He knew that there was something strange about the other party. Narrowing his eyes, he also glanced at the huge snake.

This familiar figure was none other than the old man from the inn on Banquan Road. When he saw Xu Qing, he felt his heart deflate.

"Why is this kid here too?!"

The two of them looked at each other across the basin but quickly retracted their gazes.

“Unlucky.” The old man muttered in a low voice. However, the huge snake’s eyes lit up.

“Gulu gulu.”

“What ‘hello, senior brother’, he can’t understand your gurgles.” The old man shot the snake a furious glare.

“Gululu, gulu.”

“What? You want to ask if he likes snakes or likes to eat snake gallbladder? You’re crazy, you even need to ask? Didn’t you see him look at your gallbladder just now?”

“Gulu!”

“You don’t believe me?” The old man was speechless.

“Gu, gulu.”

“I won’t help you ask. Didn’t you secretly join the Seventh Peak’s Intelligence Department behind my back? Go back and find out how many snakes this kid has killed.”

The old man didn’t bother paying any more attention to the huge snake beside him. He felt that ever since seeing this Xu Qing kid, the snake seemed to have turned stupid.

“Keep on insisting that he was admiring your figure. Heh.”

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