Chapter 103

Chapter 103: Surviving a Desperate Situation

Xu Qing had never had the habit of listening to other people’s last words, nor did he have any thoughts of taking in a slave. After all, the human heart was always unpredictable. Rather than worry about being stabbed in the back in the future, it was better to just kill them now.

Only a dead enemy could be considered safe for him.

And the faster he killed them, the safer he would be.

Xu Qing had laid low for over a month and observed the unfamiliar Red Plains carefully. Since this place was too harsh and utterly barren, even the nominally-in-charge Departurist Church would only drop by occasionally.

At the same time, the nearest scavenger camp was also dozens of kilometers away. Coupled with the raging blizzard, it was likely that no one had noticed the battle between Xu Qing and the Vajra Sect.

Moreover, Xu Qing had used a talisman treasure to disguise himself, and his magic boat had been disguised the entire time back in the sect, so the only other person who knew its real appearance was Zhang San.

These were all the preparations Xu Qing could make in a short period of time. Although they weren’t perfect and there were indeed some flaws, Xu Qing knew that his plans could only be carried out smoothly because the Vajra Sect ancestor hadn’t expected him to arrive so soon.

He also underestimated the speed of Xu Qing’s growth.

Moreover, the Vajra Sect ancestor could never have imagined that Xu Qing actually possessed a divinity-powered blow that could seriously threaten a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

After all, divinity lifeforms were extremely rare and highly valuable. For the sake of this magic boat, Xu Qing not only handed over the divinity-touched lizard skins, but also spent tens of thousands of spirit stones.

With such preparations, how could he not be at an advantage!

As the blizzard howled, cold wind and snow swept out in every direction.

With the lowering of Xu Qing’s hand, the magic boat’s divinity converged to the utmost. The sharp spikes at the bow of the magic boat shone with a dazzling golden light!

Although the feather-like snowflakes seemed to form a curtain covering heaven and earth, they couldn’t cover the holiness contained in this golden light.

That holiness seemed to press down on the soul and suppress all living beings. The Vajra Sect ancestor’s mind buzzed, and the terror in his eyes seemed to turn solid. His thoughts became muddled and he seemed to lose control of his entire body.

Seeing the divinity-powered blow about to erupt, seeing his imminent erasure from this world, seeing Xu Qing not even give him a chance to speak… Determination appeared in the Vajra Sect ancestors eyes. With a violent roar, he suddenly did something that Xu Qing would never have imagined.

He actually… Before the divinity-powered blow could erupt, he actually attacked himself!

The Vajra Sect ancestor quickly raised his right hand, and right in front of Xu Qing, he struck his own forehead.

His Foundation Establishment cultivation base burst forth, and it seemed he was afraid that he couldn’t kill himself in one go; his left hand also took out a dagger and quickly stabbed through his heart.

He didn’t hold back at all, and his heart instantly collapsed from the blow.

Powered by the might of Foundation Establishment, countless sharp fragments exploded in his body.

His forehead also shattered, and everything above his neck disappeared.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. In the next moment, the headless corpse of the Vajra Sect ancestor fell from the sky…

Xu Qing’s eyes widened. He was truly astonished.

“Alien race? Playing dead?”

Looking at the battered body, he could clearly sense that there was no aura of life remaining.

Xu Qing had never seen a human with a headless corpse in such a miserable state that was only pretending to be dead.

And the Vajra Sect ancestor had never shown any signs of belonging to an alien race.

For the first time, Xu Qing hesitated to kill. He didn’t know whether he should waste the precious and limited divinity on this corpse…

Although he had killed many people ever since he was a child, this was the first time he encountered such a situation. In the end, he reigned in the divinity surging on the magic boat and decided not to use it.

Even so, he still summoned countless water droplets that shot toward the Vajra Sect ancestor’s corpse and tightened his grip on his dagger.

With a bang, the broken corpse of the Vajra Sect ancestor shattered even more, and bits and pieces of him scattered all over the ground.

But at that moment, an illusory soul shadow suddenly rose up out of the corpse. This soul shadow was vague and blurry, and it shivered as the cold wind blew. It looked like it could dissipate at any time.

Looking closely, although it was very blurry, the appearance of the Vajra Sect ancestor was faintly visible. However, this soul shadow didn’t look dead or dying. Instead, there was a sense of liveliness.

This was a bizarre contradiction. It was obviously blurry and fading, but in Xu Qing’s perception, it gave off a clear feeling of life.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed, and killing intent rose up within him again. But at that moment, the Vajra Sect ancestor’s soul shadow suddenly flickered, and he moved at an extremely high speed… straight to the black skewer that had fallen on the ground nearby.

He seemed to instantly travel through the void, and in an instant, he reappeared right next to the iron skewer. There was an anxious look on his face, as if he was racing with his life on the line, fearing that Xu Qing would kill him before he got close to the black skewer.

In the blink of an eye, the soul shadow completely fused into the iron skewer. Suddenly, the black skewer trembled intensely. The black sheen covering its body grew even thicker, and an intense chill erupted from it.

There was even faint light spreading in all directions, as if an ordinary item had ascended into a treasure!!

This was the second time Xu Qing became completely stunned in this battle.

After joining Seven Blood Pupils, his understanding of the cultivation world was no longer as half-baked as before. As he looked at the black skewer, his breathing hastened slightly. He could tell at a glance what had happened.

“Artifact spirit?”

In this world, there were many differences between heavy treasures and magic treasures, and one of them was… heavy treasures had no artifact spirit while magic treasures did.

Of course, this didn’t mean that a heavy treasure with an artifact spirit would automatically become a magic treasure, but once there was one, it would have the possibility to become a magic treasure in the future!

Xu Qing fell silent. He grabbed at the air, and the black skewer immediately flew into his hand. Holding it in his hand, he observed it coldly for a long time. His right hand would sometimes squeeze tightly and sometimes relax. After a few times, he became even quieter.

His black skewer indeed had an artifact spirit, and this artifact spirit… was the Vajra Sect ancestor.

Somehow, the Vajra Sect ancestor had managed to turn into a soul body after killing himself, then turned himself into an artifact spirit took the initiative to enter the iron skewer…

"Get out!" Xu Qing shouted with slight agitation.

Immediately, the iron skewer trembled and the illusory shadow of the Vajra Sect ancestor emerged above it. Seeing Xu Qing’s expression, his body trembled and he immediately smiled apologetically.

“For what matter has Master summoned this little one?”

His words were very fluent, and his flattering expression wasn’t stiff at all. It was as if he had practiced them for a long time, and that was indeed the case… The Vajra Sect ancestor had been cautious all his life and always did things steadily. He liked to read ancient books, and others thought that he’d gone crazy.

But he himself didn’t think so. He knew very well that in this chaotic world, someone like him who couldn’t even enter the Profound Brilliance state was nothing. Moreover, his sect was just the right size to become a whetstone for those people with great fortune mentioned in the ancient books.

In the countless ancient books the Vajra Sect ancestor had read, every such whetstone would end up dying miserably. Not a single one survived, making him terrified and worried about his future.

However, he was reluctant to just give up on everything and live a life of seclusion.

Thus, although he felt that he wouldn’t be so unlucky, the Vajra Sect ancestor still made preparations many years ago. He secretly cultivated an incomplete spell that he’d found in a ruin when he was young.

Normal people would definitely not cultivate this incomplete spell.

That was because it only had one use – to sacrifice oneself and turn into an existence similar to an artifact spirit.

Moreover, the failure rate was extremely high, and once a person failed, their soul would scatter.

However, the Vajra Sect ancestor placed great importance on this incomplete spell, thinking that it would eventually be able to save his life.

Thus, he had never stopped cultivating it, and he seemed to have some talent in this aspect…

If there came a day in the future where he was really about to be killed, it would be difficult for him to win his enemy’s trust with things like verbally promising to submit or even swearing an oath on his Dao.

Even if they let him live after planting a life-and-death talisman on his body, it still wasn’t safe. He would most likely be discarded as cannon fodder.

Thus, the safest method was to become the artifact spirit of the enemy’s weapon.

After all, there was almost no cultivator who didn’t want an artifact spirit.

As he read more ancient books, this thought became stronger and stronger…

Now, the incomplete spell he had cultivated all his life was finally useful today, and he saw a glimmer of hope in a situation that he originally definitely couldn’t survive.

With the Vajra Sect ancestor’s flattery, Xu Qing became more and more frustrated. It was the first time he had encountered such a situation. He wanted to just kill, but an artifact spirit was too precious…

“How did you become an artifact spirit?” Xu Qing asked coldly.

The Vajra Sect ancestor hurriedly wore an expression of flattery and spoke loudly.

“Many years ago, this little one had a dream. In the dream, I saw my future self, and I saw that I would meet my fated lord. Under him, this cruel and desolate world became awash with gentleness. I was moved and vowed to follow him. Thus, when I woke up, I spent money to purchase an incomplete spell and cultivated it so that I could become an artifact spirit.”

“For this day, I have always been prepared!”

"Speak human words." Xu Qing's eyes turned cold, and killing intent rose in his eyes. The Vajra Sect ancestor shuddered and thought to himself that he was smart to have killed himself before this kid could take revenge.

Taking advantage of Xu Qing’s surprise, he had been able to transform into an artifact spirit and thus managed to save himself from a dangerous situation.

It couldn’t be helped. The little wolf cub in front of him had no intention of taking in a slave at all and was completely set on killing him. If the Vajra Sect ancestor had hesitated even a little bit just now, he would probably already be dead.

After barely surviving the crisis, the Vajra Sect ancestor was exhausted, feeling that he really didn’t have it easy.

Thus, he quickly responded to Xu Qing with the real truth. After that, he cast a spell and split off a wisp of his life soul, which he handed to Xu Qing as a sign of his submission.

Xu Qing glanced at the wisp of the Vajra Sect ancestor’s life soul, then at the black skewer. The killing intent in his eyes sometimes surged and sometimes receded. With a fearful and apprehensive look on his face, the Vajra Sect ancestor hurriedly spoke some words to express his loyalty.

“Master, my little life is worthless, and I’m already an artifact spirit. Although I can allow master’s weapon to become sharper and have unlimited growth, although a Foundation Establishment artifact spirit like me can continuously improve your heavy treasure, although I still have many, many uses in the future, master can kill me with a word at any time.”

“Master, there’s no need to be in a hurry to kill me. I still have a pill that’s about to form. It’s very useful. After eating it, master’s cultivation will improve a lot.”

“Also, there’s a treasure vault under my sect. Inside, there’s a crossbow that’s specially designed to be used on a magic boat of the Seven Blood Pupils. I don’t have a magic boat, so I can’t use it. I was originally planning to send it to someone as a gift…”

“Also, master, we have to leave quickly. A fellow Daoist who I invited a few days ago will arrive tomorrow. Plus, envoys from the Departurist Church will be arriving in the near future.”

The Vajra Sect ancestor knew very well that since he chose to submit, he must submit completely. That was the only way for him to survive.

Xu Qing was expressionless. With a wave of his hand, he put away the Vajra Sect ancestor’s life soul and grabbed at the air, causing the storage bag on the Vajra Sect ancestor’s corpse to fly over. He was about to destroy the corpse, but the Vajra Sect ancestor hurriedly stopped him.

“Master, master, that… that storage bag is just a front, it’s not real. There’s still a real one on my body that I hid with a talisman treasure.”

Xu Qing cast a deep look at the Vajra Sect ancestor.

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