Chapter 43

Chapter 43: Chief Shadow Great Accomplishment

Inside Xu Qing’s burrow in the city ruins, the ground was covered with bird feathers and the air was filled with a foul smell.

Those rocks and miscellaneous items he had used to block the gaps in the burrow had already been severely corroded by heterogeneity.

And compared to when he left, quite a bit of dust had built up.

After the forbidden area was fully formed, scavengers often came to explore it one after another, but Xu Qing’s hideout was clearly too well-hidden, so no one had arrived after he left.

Because of that, the stagnant scent of dust and decay continuously passed into Xu Qing’s nostrils. However, he didn’t care at all.

At that moment, Xu Qing was sitting cross-legged in meditation, and the Sea and Mountain Art circulated at full power in his body. As his momentum rose, he strove for the seventh level with all his strength.

Outside, the sound of roars and mournful shrieks mixed with shocking wails and echoed continuously, making Xu Qing enter a trance.

It was as if he had returned to half a year ago.

Back then, when God’s eyes opened and the blood rain began to fall, Xu Qing was struggling to survive in the lonely city full of corpses.

Xu Qing was silent.

After a while, he pushed the past events to the back of his mind and completely immersed himself in cultivation. As he circulated his cultivation base, the spiritual energy around him slowly gathered and rushed into his body through his pores.

Banging sounds gradually reverberated in his body, becoming louder and louder until a rumbling sound resounded in his mind.

As the rumbling rang out, black impurities were secreted from the pores all over his body, becoming denser and denser by the second.

And as these impurities were secreted, Xu Qing’s body seemed to burst with incredible power.

His blood vessels bulged, his muscles constantly compressed after being torn apart, and even his bones creaked and groaned.

Two hours later, a final boom resounded in Xu Qing’s mind, and his eyes suddenly opened. Rays of purple light immediately burst out from his pupils.

And behind him, the Chief Shadow manifested again.

But this time… the Chief Shadow was completely different from before!

Its whole body had become darker and more muscular, and atop its head, there was no longer just one but two horns, like a bull. The horns spiraled to a point and black lightning faintly flickered at their tips.

Its face had become even more ghastly. When its blood-stained mouth opened, it seemed to be able to devour evil ghosts whole.

In addition, its claws had become even sharper. Combined with its purple pupils, it exuded terrifying viciousness.

Extremely powerful fluctuations spread from the Chief Shadow and seemed to want to penetrate the walls of the burrow, shocking all directions.

Chief Shadow, great accomplishment!

This was a transformation that could only occur when the Sea and Mountain Art was cultivated to perfection. If it was someone else who had cultivated to this point, they would already be a body refiner in the great circle of Qi Condensation, with no more room for improvement. But for Xu Qing, this was still just the seventh level.

Xu Qing’s own body had also changed greatly. It had clearly become tougher and more slender, and the purple light in his eyes lasted longer than before.

In particular, his face was...

If he was already extremely beautiful when he was only in the sixth level of the Sea and Mountain Art, then with the purple light in his eyes right now, even though his face was still covered with dirt, Xu Qing’s appearance could almost be considered fatally beautiful.

But Xu Qing didn’t care about that. What he cared the most about was the newfound power bursting from his body.

Soon, he lowered his head and looked at the veins bulging on his clenched fist and arms.

As the purple light in his eyes slowly faded, he could already clearly feel his new power…

More than twice as much as before!

“The power of a Chief?” Xu Qing muttered before surveying his surroundings.

It was pitch black outside, and there was no light in the burrow. Although Xu Qing could barely see in the darkness, there was no shadow.

But he could still perceive the shadow’s existence. After thinking about it, he tried to control the shadow again.

After a stick of incense’s worth of time, Xu Qing’s eyes showed excitement and surprise.

He could feel that his control over the shadow was much better than before, and he was even capable of subtle adjustments to allow some of the shadow’s heterogeneity to return to his body.

Although this was useless, it indirectly proved that his control over the shadow was much more flexible.

Xu Qing was confident that with his current combat power, if he fought the camp owner once more, he wouldn’t even need to use the heavenly blade strike. Just one punch… could break the camp owner’s, and eighth-level body refiner’s, arm.

“But unfortunately, the gap between me and the Vajra Sect ancestor is still too big.”

Xu Qing shook his head. Although he hadn’t really fought the Vajra Sect ancestor, the fist projections he faced during his escape made him clearly aware of the enormous gap between them.

Even if the shadow could catch his opponent by surprise, Xu Qing was certain that with his current power, it was completely impossible to fight a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“However, if I encounter those two ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivators, I’ll be able to kill them.”

A cold light flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes as he looked over at the burrow entrance to see outside.

The roars and strange shrieks entered his ears one after another, sometimes far and sometimes near, forming a stark contrast with the silence inside the burrow.

This scene made Xu Qing feel as if he had returned to half a year ago. He instinctively took out the iron skewer and held it tightly, pondering his next move.

If he left now, there was a high probability that he could reach Antler City without and problems.

But… Xu Qing was a little unwilling. Killing intent flashed in his eyes.

“If I don’t kill those people… they’ll be a hidden danger, and that will make me uneasy.” Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and a map of the city appeared in his mind.

He was extremely familiar with this city.

Right now, streets outlined themselves in his mind one by one, and whether it was the rest areas of mutated beasts or the shelters of the birds, everything appeared clearly as he began to analyze his options.

"The City Lord's mansion!" After a while, Xu Qing whispered. His eyes were full of coldness.

First, he would just try to leave the city. If he didn’t meet anyone from the Vajra sect on the way, that would be that. But if he did encounter someone, he would fight back according to his plan.

Listening to the roars outside, after they faded away, Xu Qing decisively removed the miscellanies blocking the entrance and slowly left the burrow.

The gap at the entrance was quite narrow, and now that Xu Qing had grown a little, it was a bit difficult to squeeze through. However, his expression didn’t change as he forced himself out of the gap. Even if some scratches appeared on his body, the injuries would quickly heal.

After leaving, Xu Qing vigilantly glanced around before carefully moving through the darkness of the city ruins.

He was even more careful than when he was in the depths of the jungle forbidden area next to the scavenger camp.

Actually, compared to the jungle, the night of the city had more mutated beasts and eerie existences.

Fortunately, Xu Qing understood the layout of the city very well. Although he encountered a few dangers along the way, with his speed and familiarity with the city, he was able to smoothly avoid most of them.

If it was really impossible to avoid something, he would take care of it as fast as possible before moving on.

Just like that, Xu Qing walked in the strong heterogeneity of the city for more than two hours. Just as he approached the boundary, he suddenly heard a roar in the distance.

This roar made Xu Qing’s eyes narrow.

His wolf-like gaze sharpened as he swiftly looked toward the place where the sound came from. After a stick of incense’s worth of time, he saw two figures being chased by seven or eight mutated beasts.

These two were the elders of the Vajra Sect.

They had arrived at the city some time after Xu Qing and the ancestor entered.

It was already late by the time they arrived, so after weighing their options, the chose not to enter deep inside the city, instead hiding and waiting near the boundary.

However, there were too many mutated beasts and eerie existences in the city, and the two elders didn’t know to follow the birds to find safe hiding spots, so they inevitably encountered some.

Since the elders didn’t want to cause a disturbance and attract more mutated beasts, they avoided everything they could and only attacked once they couldn’t run anymore.

Their cautious behavior and impressive strength allowed them to deal with all the problems that came their way, including the chasing mutated beasts right now.

As they ran, they were about to throw off the mutated beasts chasing them, but suddenly, a cold light shot over from the distance.

It was so fast that it seemed like an arrow leaving the string, whizzing straight towards the Vajra Sect elder in the lead.

This person was not the one whom Xu Qing had fought before, but the other one who had come with the Vajra Sect ancestor.

His expression changed immediately, and he pushed forward with both hands. Suddenly, an ice shield appeared around him as well as a barrier of spiritual energy.

However, the cold light was so powerful that it instantly pierced through the ice shield and directly stabbed into the spiritual energy barrier.

The elder’s spiritual energy warped and trembled, and his barrier showed signs of shattering; however, it still managed to block the attack. He clearly saw that the cold light that attacked him was a black iron skewer!

The Vajra Sect elder’s pupils contracted, and he suddenly turned his head to look at his companion. He reached out to take action but was still too late.

The moment the black iron skewer attacked him, a black shadow from a nearby alley suddenly shot out like a bolt of lightning, instantly charging toward the other elder.

It was Xu Qing!

The previous attack with the iron skewer was just a diversion. The one Xu Qing was really trying to kill was the middle-aged man whose left foot had been smashed by his blade strike!

Xu Qing’s speed erupted with full force, and he was much faster than when he was at the sixth level of the Sea and Mountain Art. Wind whistled as he sprinted over at high speed, and he arrived next to the injured elder in an instant.

The middle-aged elder had been injured, and the heterogeneity in the forbidden area was too strong, stopping him from using the flying talisman. Thus, compared with his companion, his movements were slightly shaky.

At this moment, a strong sense of a life-and-death crisis erupted from his heart and his eyes widened. His body suddenly backed up in an attempt to dodge, but how could Xu Qing give up this chance? The moment Xu Qing closed in, he instantly leaped up and punched out with his right fist.

Whether it was speed or strength, Xu Qing had put all his power into this punch.

The vicious Chief Shadow manifested behind him, gathering its power into Xu Qing’s fist as it let out a silent roar that shocked all directions.

As Xu Qing punched out, the air itself seemed to explode. Cracking sounds rang out, and the ferocious Chief Shadow seemed to bring a suppressive force as the punch landed on the middle-aged cultivator’s chest.

The middle-aged cultivator’s protective barrier shattered instantly, and Xu Qing’s fist crushed his chest like a piece of broken bamboo.

A sky-shaking boom rang out and echoed through the quiet city.

The middle-aged cultivator let out a mournful scream as he spewed blood crazily. His chest had sunken in and his internal organs seemed on the verge of collapse as he was flung back uncontrollably like a kite with a broken string.

However, he was, after all, a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Condensation. He forcibly restrained his panicked expression and suppressed his injuries as the flight rune on his right leg suddenly flashed, causing his falling body to suddenly twist. He was about to soar into the air and escape.

But suddenly, a cold light rose from beneath him, and a longsword shot towards him, directly chopping at his right leg.

Blood erupted and the middle-aged elder’s screams echoed in all directions. His right leg, to which the flight talisman was attached, was instantly removed from his body.

Before the elder could land, Xu Qing flexed his legs and rushed out again. The moment he moved, a storm of ice blades came from the other elder and pierced the location he had just left.

As he passed the other elder, Xu Qing didn’t look behind him at all and directly caught up to the falling middle-aged elder. To the elder’s despair, he punched out decisively with his right hand.

The Chief Shadow roared and merged into his fist, ferociously rushing towards the middle-aged cultivator.

Xu Qing’s punch directly struck the elder’s forehead.

With a bang, the middle-aged elder’s body trembled wildly as his head bust open. Blood splashed everywhere. He died!

His corpse fell to the ground, and the pursuing mutated beasts instantly set upon it, tearing it apart.

Without the slightest pause, Xu Qing ripped the flight talisman off the elder’s severed right leg. He turned around and looked coldly at the remaining Vajra Sect elder, whose face was pale and had a horrified expression.

Xu Qing licked his lips, and his wolf-like eyes flashed coldly as he rushed towards the remaining elder.

Kill!

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