Chapter 10

Chapter 10: New clothes

In the third month of the year, although spring was coming soon, it was still a little cold.

For those who just came out of a forbidden area, this cold was nothing. But if you were outside for a long time, your body would still feel the chill.

And at night, the cold was even icier.

Xu Qing's figure didn't stop at all even when the cold wind blew, only wrapping his animal hide coat tighter around himself.

He still had something to do, so he carefully moved through the dim camp.

On the way, some wild dogs bared their teeth and snarled at him, but after meeting his eyes, they seemed to suddenly smell the blood on his body, and they all shut up and hid.

Xu Qing looked away from the wild dogs and moved on.

When he arrived at a certain house in the middle ring, he squatted in the dark, motionlessly staring at a large house in the distance.

Next to the house was an extinguished bonfire.

Xu Qing remembered that Fat Mountain came here after separating from Horse Face, so he wanted to wait and see if the other party would come out.

An icy chill invaded his whole body, but Xu Qing's figure seemed to be made of stone, patiently waiting without moving in the slightest.

Seventh Master and his servant stood on the roof of a building behind Xu Qing. Looking at Xu Qing, Seventh Master revealed a smile.

"As expected, this little wolf cub is a natural born killer. I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen once he enters the forbidden area.” Seventh Master squatted down and watched with interest while talking to the servant beside him.

The servant smiled, crouched down beside Seventh Master, and looked at Xu Qing in the distance.

An hour later, Xu Qing frowned slightly.

After thinking about it for a while, he turned around and left. He was like a ghost, coming and going silently.

Instead of returning to Captain Thunder's residence immediately, he circled the area.

After confirming that no one was following him, Xu Qing slipped into Captain Thunder's courtyard and quietly returned to his hut.

Once in his room, he took a deep breath and rubbed his hands, as if to dispel the cold from his body.

Then he wiped off the blood on his body and sat cross-legged on the bed, thinking.

"These scavengers always go out from time to time, and Horse Four is lustful, so no one should notice his death for the time being. There’s a high probability that Fat Mountain won’t be alerted."

"But in order to be safe, I must kill Fat Mountain as soon as possible." Xu Qing narrowed his eyes.

Just like killing Savage Ox, he couldn’t allow hidden dangers that threatened his life to stay around. This was the habit he picked up from the slums.

Killing Horse Face was because the other party robbed his belongings and threatened to deal with him. Killing Fat Mountain would be for the same reason.

After pondering, Xu Qing dug out Horse Face's belongings from the leather bag and checked over them carefully.

Most of it was junk. There was an iron block the size of a palm that didn’t seem extraordinary. It was probably some material.

However, there was also more than 70 spirit coins. This was already a huge sum of money for Xu Qing, and he counted them out carefully.

He took out the White Pills again and compared his own White Pills with Horse Face’s. Both his and Horse Face’s White Pills were the same, none of them fresh and all of low quality, so he finally believed what the shopkeeper had said.

After thinking for a while, Xu Qing took one out and swallowed it, then closed his eyes.

Soon, he felt a warm current sweep through his body and finally close in on the mutation points on his left arm.

After a while, when this feeling disappeared, Xu Qing opened his eyes and immediately looked at his left arm. The two mutation points there were slightly lighter, and the tingling sensation had reduced slightly.

"It works." Xu Qing showed joy before taking out and swallowing the second pill.

The same feeling swept through his body before dissipating again, and the tingling sensation in his left arm disappeared.

A clear feeling rose from his body, as if his flesh and blood had been washed. Xu Qing felt like his strength and speed had taken another step forward.

He didn’t take the remaining White Pills. Instead, he put them back in the bag and sat down to cultivate.

The night passed silently.

Early the next morning, Xu Qing opened his eyes and got up to leave.

As soon as he opened the door of his hut, he saw Captain Thunder sitting cross-legged in the courtyard, meditating.

Xu Qing didn't bother him. He gently opened the gate of the courtyard, closed it carefully, and then walked away.

Today's wind seemed to be even colder than last night. It made people shiver when it blew on them, and even those wild dogs didn’t dare go out, hiding in their burrows away from the cold.

Xu Qing could see his own breath when he exhaled, which made him remember some unpleasant experiences from the slums.

He hated the cold.

To a homeless child sleeping outside, needing to struggle every day to survive, the cold was like a catastrophe.

Therefore, when Xu Qing passed a clothing store, he paused involuntarily and looked at the thick and clean clothes hanging in the store.

He touched his bulging leather bag before turning and entering the store.

There weren’t a lot of people in the store. Xu Qing looked seriously at the different clothes hanging on the racks.

The store owner at the counter glanced at Xu Qing and stopped paying attention. He turned to give instructions to an employee at his side.

"Go to the back and tidy up. Bring out those custom clothes that haven’t been picked up for over a month and hang them up.”

"What if the person who ordered the clothes comes back?" The employee seemed to be new and hesitated for a while.

"Comes back? People are always going missing in this camp. Some die in the forbidden area, and some just disappear inexplicably. The only ones who can come back are ghosts. Hurry up."

The shopkeeper waved his hand impatiently, and the employee hurried to the back room.

Soon, before Xu Qing had picked out any clothes, the employee came back out carrying a pile of clothes. As he hung them up, Xu Qing glanced over and noticed a dark fur coat.

It was one of the custom-ordered clothes that was never picked up.

A stick of incense’s worth of time later, when Xu Qing walked out of the shop, he was wearing that dark fur coat.

Compared to Xu Qing’s previous clothes, this coat wasn’t too heavy and insulated heat very well.

The only problem was that because Xu Qing was thin and small, the large coat looked somewhat incongruous on him.

But Xu Qing was very satisfied, and he carefully avoided dirt on the road as he walked.

Just as he was looking for Fat Mountain, he noticed cluttered noises coming from outside the camp. At the same time, many scavengers in the camp came out to watch, looking in the direction of the sound.

Xu Qing also looked over.

Gradually, he saw that a convoy of more than ten carriages was heading here in an imposing manner.

The people sitting on the carriages, despite being no more than guards and coachmen, were dressed lavishly. They had bright eyes and healthy complexions, and most of them had powerful spiritual energy fluctuations rolling off of them.

Xu Qing couldn’t see the people inside the carriages, but he could guess that they must be very distinguished figures.

Xu Qing heard from Captain Thunder that similar convoys would often come to the camp, either to peddle wares or to purchase seven-leaf grass to refine into White Pills.

Fat Mountain was also part of the onlooking crowd. After Xu Qing saw him, he no longer paid attention to the convoy. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at Fat Mountain and began to follow him.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of the convoy’s arrival, the scavenger camp was very lively all day, and an impromptu market even formed. Xu Qing never found an opportunity to kill.

Late at night, he watched Fat Mountain return to the large house again, so he put away the dagger in his sleeve and turned to leave.

Although he didn't have a chance to make a move that day, Xu Qing was very patient. After returning to his room, he cultivated while wearing his newly bought coat, and he didn't take it off even when he was sleeping.

It was only when the next day came, when he was heading out to wait for an opportunity to kill again, that he took off the fur coat carefully and put on his ragged animal hide coat.

Looking at the new coat, Xu Qing felt that he had been a little reckless yesterday.

Now, wearing a tattered hide coat, Xu Qing walked around in the camp, passing by a crowded market. He seemed to be looking at the convoy, but he was actually looking for Fat Mountain.

In the distance, Seventh Master was sitting on a roof with his servant. He glanced at the convoy, then looked at Xu Qing, and asked the servant beside him casually.

"Did Grandmaster Bai receive the letter?"

"Seventh Master, the letter has been sent, but Grandmaster Bai said that he has been ill recently..."

"Ill? He's a doctor, he's... Hey, I remember that this kid was wearing a new outfit yesterday, why did he change it back today?" Seventh Master noticed Xu Qing's clothes while he was talking, and was surprised for a moment.

While Seventh Master was puzzled, Xu Qing lurked in the crowd, and he locked on to Fat Mountain with the corner of his eye.

Just like that, as Xu Qing continued to watch Fat Mountain, night fell.

That night, Fat Mountain changed direction for some unknown reason. Instead of going back to the house, he actually walked towards the outer ring of the camp in the darkness of night.

The place he went was relatively isolated.

"He noticed me?" Xu Qing frowned. His eyes narrowed and gradually grew colder.

He didn’t follow immediately, but looked around first. When he was sure that the other party was definitely all alone, he went on a roundabout path and arrived at the outer ring before Fat Mountain.

After confirming that there was no ambush, his eyes grew even colder as he hid in the dark.

Soon, Fat Mountain also arrived, and his footsteps suddenly stopped.

"Little brat, I already noticed someone was following me yesterday. Come out, this place is suitable for dealing with your corpse. If you don’t dare to come out, I won't be alone next time. Even if Captain Thunder protects you, our Blood Shadow Team can still make you pay the price.”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. Since the other party already spoke to this point, there was no need to hide, so he walked out of the darkness.

"Horse Four didn't go out secretly, you killed him. But he underestimated you." Fat Mountain grinned and looked at Xu Qing.

"But it doesn't matter, I've thought he was unpleasant for a long time. Even if you didn't kill him, I was also planning to kill him the next time we went out, so thanks for that. But although I don't care if he lives or dies, there was something in his bag that should be with you now, right?”

Fat Mountain looked at the bag at Xu Qing’s waist with greed in his eyes. Before Xu Qing could answer, the fatty’s body flickered, and his round body burst out with a speed that unexpectedly surpassed the second level of Qi Condensation.

At that moment, his spiritual energy fluctuations grew much stronger, and a magical wind sprung up out of nowhere, driving Fat Mountain’s round body straight at Xu Qing like a flying ball.

This wasn’t the second level of Qi Condensation; his spiritual energy fluctuations revealed that he was already at the third.

Due to this, as well as having seen a certain something in Horse Four’s leather bag, Fat Mountain had the confidence and intention to deal with Xu Qing all alone.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. This was the first time he had a head-to-head battle with a cultivator. The wind around the enemy’s body was clearly created by spiritual energy, but Xu Qing believed in his own strength and speed.

So at the moment when the other party arrived, Xu Qing rushed out, and with his full speed, his figure almost left afterimages in the air.

In the blink of an eye, he dodged past Fat Mountain’s body. Taking advantage of Fat Mountain’s astonishment, Xu Qing suddenly appeared behind him, raising his right hand and exploding out with all his strength as he punched.

This was the first time that Xu Qing had used all of his combat power. The punch made a loud sound, and when it landed on Fat Mountain, there was a loud bang.

Fat Mountain’s whole body trembled violently. The wind barrier outside his body shattered inch by inch, his internal organs shook, and blood spurted out of his mouth as he saw the thick murderous intent in Xu Qing’s eyes.

Xu Qing pulled out the iron skewer and raised it in the air. Appearing next to the staggering and retreating Fat Mountain in a flash, he swung the iron skewer to pierce through the other party’s head.

But in the next instant, Xu Qing's complexion changed slightly, and his body quickly retreated.

Just as he stepped back, a sinister light flashed through Fat Mountain’s eyes.

Two black lines suddenly flew out of his ears one after the other, whistling through the air straight to Xu Qing’s face.

These two black lines were winged black centipedes, and they were extremely fast. They had almost touched him by the time Xu Qing drew his dagger and cut them down.

When he killed the second one, it was less than seven inches away from Xu Qing's eyes.

This dangerous scene made Xu Qing's eyes even more murderous, and he rushed again.

Thanks to Xu Qing being forced to retreat, Fat Mountain had a little time to recover.

At this moment, his chubby body quickly retreated and he waved his hand. His face instantly flushed red as he spat out a poisonous mist directly towards Xu Qing.

The mist covered a wide area, and it quickly rolled towards Xu Qing. Everywhere it passed, there was a sizzling sound on the ground. Evidently, the poison was extremely strong.

After doing this, Fat Mountain’s face was pale and his belly became smaller. As he continued retreating, his eyes were fierce and his heart beat rapidly.

Xu Qing's strength was beyond his expectations.

He didn't expect that despite his third-level Qi Condensation cultivation and his poison attack, he was still almost killed in a single blow.

This poisonous mist was his trump card. If even this didn’t work, he would have no choice but to call for help.

It was just that if he called for help, he probably wouldn’t be able to keep that item of Horse Four’s for himself.

In fact, he still had a taboo item that he hadn’t used. It would have huge side effects, but he still took it out at this moment. It was a piece of amber.

Hesitating, he looked over at the area where the mist had covered Xu Qing.

But the moment he looked over, the mist rapidly billowed outwards, and the figure of Xu Qing flew out in an instant.

Xu Qing’s speed was so fast that Fat Mountain couldn’t react in time. His right hand was about to crush the amber, his mouth was prepared to shout for help, but it was all too late.

An incomparably sharp black iron skewer arrived in an instant, carrying with it incredible force that allowed it to pierce directly through his head. Blood splattered, landing on Xu Qing nearby.

Fat Mountain’s body stiffened. He tried to turn his head but found that he couldn’t. His corpse fell down slowly and was motionless.

Rather than check Fat Mountain’s body, Xu Qing panted and looked around with vigilance.

This place was remote, so after confirming that the fight hadn’t attracted attention, he quickly approached Fat Mountain’s body and took his leather bag.

He was about to stab him with the snake fangs, but Xu Qing noticed that Fat Mountain’s right hand seemed to be holding something. Opening the corpse’s fingers, Xu Qing saw a piece of cracked amber.

This amber seemed normal, except for the fact that there was a scorpion tail inside.

Xu Qing carefully put it away, cleaned up the corpse in a practiced manner, and left quickly after the corpse turned into blood.

As he walked, he wiped the blood off his body and disappeared into the night.

Seventh Master and his servant came out of the darkness at this moment.

Looking at the place where Xu Qing disappeared, Seventh Master seemed to not be very concerned about the battle between Xu Qing and Fat Mountain. But after thinking for a while, he showed an expression of sudden realization.

"I see. That kid didn't wear his new coat because he was afraid of getting blood on it. He must be really poor to cherish his new clothes so much.”

The servant beside him also breathed a sigh of relief.

All day long, Seventh Master kept wondering why this kid wasn’t wearing his new coat. Now that he finally had his answer, the servant didn’t have to keep hearing that question and thinking about the reason each time.

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