Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Hardworking Xu Qing

Cultivation always required resources.

This was especially so after the arrival of the fragmented face of God, which caused all things to be polluted by heterogeneity. Now, resources were extremely difficult to acquire and more and more blood was shed over them.

Xu Qing’s eyes revealed thoughtfulness. He needed a huge amount of spirit stones and materials, but the profits from refining White Pills were far from enough.

“The Homicide Department gives me three spirit stones a month, and the White Pills… If I work hard, I should be able to earn 20 spirit stones in a month. That’s 23 spirit stones a month in total.”

Xu Qing frowned.

If he wanted to maintain his current cultivation speed, he had to use up one spirit stone every day for the Spirit Gathering Array. Furthermore, each of the materials he’d seen in the Sixth Peak disciple’s shop cost dozens of spirit stones.

“Each month, the berth costs 30 spirit stones, so I have to earn at least 60 spirit stones a month just to maintain my cultivation speed. If I want to upgrade my magic boat, I have to spend even more.” Thinking of this, Xu Qing opened his storage bag to check inside.

There were still 20 spirit stones remaining, which he got from the Homicide Department after killing Qing Yunzi.

“If I want to obtain more spirit stones, there are three ways. First is to go hunting in the forbidden area, second is to kill wanted criminals, and third is to go out to sea and hunt for materials myself.”

Xu Qing thought it over. If he wanted to use the first method, he had to take a trip to the First Peak. This was because the First Peak controlled all traffic to and from the forbidden area next to the sect, and disciples of other peaks even had to pay a certain fee if they wanted to enter.

As for the third method, although hunting out at sea was naturally suitable for a disciple of the Seventh Peak, their magic boat and cultivation base both needed to be at a certain level. If the magic boat wasn’t strong enough, it might be difficult to return.

Xu Qing was confident in his cultivation base, but the level of his magic boat was still too low. To upgrade it, he needed spirit stones and materials, and to get spirit stones and materials, he needed to head out to sea… this was an endless cycle.

“So the fastest method is to kill wanted criminals or plunder other disciples first. This will let me raise my cultivation base and upgrade my magic boat as fast as possible, giving me the ability to go hunt out at sea. This way, my improvement will snowball and become unstoppable!”

Xu Qing’s eyes showed a cold light. In the end, he felt that it was better to kill wanted criminals than plunder fellow disciples who didn’t provoke him.

After making a decision, Xu Qing sat down cross-legged in his Level Two magic boat, placed a spirit stone in the Spirit Gathering Array, and began to cultivate.

But before he could cultivate for a long time, Xu Qing suddenly opened his eyes. Furrowing his brows, he took out his identity token and a voice transmission message appeared inside.

“Junior Brother Xu Qing, it’s me, Zhou Qingpeng. Was that you at the pharmacy last time? You’ve changed so much, I had to think for a long time before recognizing you. I noticed that you seemed very interested in that Ghost Desire Limulus. In fact, my family is in the business of selling medicinal materials. If you want, I can ask someone to get it for you, but it’s a little expensive.”

Xu Qing listened to the message thoughtfully, realizing that Zhou Qingpeng wanted to earn some spirit stones off of him. He did want to study the poison of the Ghost Desire Limulus, so he agreed.

Six days passed quickly.

During these six days, when Xu Qing went to the Homicide Department to report for duty every day, he paid attention to the list of wanted criminals. He also made his informant hunt for more clues as well.

However… there were quite a few people in the Homicide Department who relied on this sort of information to make money, so most of it was kept as secret as possible. Even when Xu Qing occasionally obtained some information, the criminal would often have disappeared or been taken care of by the time he got there.

Xu Qing had no choice but to change his methods.

At the same time, another newbie arrived at the Homicide Department recently.

However, this newbie clearly had a powerful background. He wasn’t in the same division as Xu Qing, nor did he become an ordinary member of a patrol team. Instead, he was directly appointed as the captain of the Earth Division’s Team Three.

And this person also seemed to have some tricks up his sleeves. Less than two days after his appointment, the 20 over team members under his command had totally submitted.

However, because they were ruled by different Deputy Department Chiefs, the four divisions of the Homicide Department usually worked independently, and aside form large-scale coordinated missions, there was even often friction between them.

So even though the Earth Division Team Three’s captain had changed, the other divisions originally wouldn’t have cared. However, the appointment of this specific newbie raised some waves.

That was because… the new captain of Earth Division Team Three wasn’t a human.

In fact, Xu Qing had seen them once from a distance and immediately recognized him as the nonhuman youth who had been standing behind the Third Highness in the majestic ship several days ago.

Back then, when the nonhuman youth saw the Third Highness hugging the two nonhuman women, Xu Qing had noticed the disdain in his eyes.

His identity was quickly dug up by various people who were paying attention to the Homicide Department. Xu Qing had heard about it from the other members of Team Six and learned that the youth was actually a member of the merfolk race.

Although the merfolk weren’t of the human race, they were still allies with Seven Blood Pupils and there were many business dealings between them. Apparently, the new Earth Division Team Three captain was someone with a high status in the merfolk race.

After the Third Highness brought him back, he decided to join Seven Blood Pupils, so the Third Highness arranged a spot for him in the Homicide Department.

As for who exactly the Third Highness was, Xu Qing had already confirmed his guesses after asking around.

The Peak Lord of Seven Blood Pupils’ Seventh Peak had three direct disciples, two men and one woman.

Each of these people was like a prince or princess in the Seventh Peak. A single sentence from them would make countless Seventh Peak disciples lower their heads. In fact, their authority wasn’t limited to the Seventh Peak; for direct disciples of any Peak Lord, it was the same throughout the entirety of Seven Blood Pupils.

And the Peak Lord of the Seventh Peak in particular was incredibly talented. His fame resounded through the whole South Phoenix continent, his battle prowess was overwhelmingly powerful, and his influence and authority were also mighty. His direct disciples naturally had extremely high positions in Seven Blood Pupils.

Among them, the First Highness was always in seclusion, apparently attacking a cultivation bottleneck. No one had seen him for many years, but Xu Qing had heard the members of Team Six discuss him. This First Highness was extremely mysterious and had terrifyingly powerful battle prowess.

When they were in Foundation Establishment, they had killed many people in the same cultivation realm and slaughtered several small races. Even among the entire Seven Blood Pupils, the First Highness of the Seventh Peak ranked second among all the peaks’ direct disciples.

During that discussion, the captain had pointed something out while eating an apple.

“Generally speaking, that kind of person isn’t actually bloodthirsty but has a somewhat extreme personality. If their reverse scale is touched, they’ll naturally carry out a massacre.”

When Xu Qing heard these words, he nodded in agreement.

As for the Second Highness, who was a woman, when the Team Six members talked about her, they all revealed fearful expressions. Compared with the mysterious First Highness whom few people had seen in recent years, there were too many people who had seen the Second Highness.

Normally, she could be found wandering around the port area. Her personality was headstrong, and she always acted decisively, making her famous for her overbearing actions. Her physique was incredibly strong, and once she was enraged, even the Seventh Peak’s elders would have a headache.

“She’s sick in the head and needs to be cured.” The captain whispered on the side.

Among the Peak Lord’s disciples, the most popular one was the Third Highness.

Apart from being a pervert, the Third Highness had almost no shortcomings. He wore a smile on his face every day, never put on airs in front of his fellow disciples, and was extremely generous.

He always did his best to solve whatever issues the disciples brought to his attention. In particular, he seemed very familiar with the nonhuman races out at sea, helping to maintain good relations and even being called the ambassador of Seventh Peak by many disciples.

His love affairs were also a hot topic among the disciples.

The captain of Team Six seemed to want to say something, but for some reason, he didn’t comment and just took two bites of the apple in his hand, smiling around at the team members.

Although Xu Qing listened carefully to the team members’ discussions, he didn’t pay too much attention. Neither the young man from the merfolk race nor the three highness of the Seventh Peak had anything to do with him.

During this period of time, Xu Qing was focused on finding wanted criminals. In fact, he recently found a different approach to locating them.

That was to just sit in one spot and wait for his prey.

That night, it was Xu Qing’s turn to patrol.

The night sky was dark and the wind was strong. Weak rays of moonlight scattered sparsely, and the humid sea breeze filled every corner of the city, as if bearing witness to the dark side of the city at night.

Like always, the gambling houses and brothels were bustling with activity, with an endless stream of people coming and going. Occasionally, figures in dark clothing could be seen traversing the roofs and walls of buildings.

Spiritual energy fluctuations occasionally appeared in some alleys. Under the sparse moonlight, it seemed as if all kinds of ghosts and demons were slowly rearing their heads in the city.

But all the noise would go silent as a certain figure walked by.

Only after the figure left did everything return to normal.

This figure was none other than Xu Qing.

Ever since the time he dragged Qing Yunzi across half the city last time, this would happen whenever he went on patrol.

His accomplishments were no secret in the main city. He had been able to capture Qing Yunzi, a ninth-level Qi Condensation cultivator, alive. Even if Qing Yunzi was only from a small sect, to be able to capture him without giving him the chance to escape, and dragging him around in such a miserable state… all of this represented incredible battle prowess.

Furthermore, Xu Qing had been able to leave safely after confronting the innkeeper outside the Banquan Road inn. This was enough to show that the Homicide Department’s newbie shouldn’t be provoked lightly.

This was also part of the reason why Xu Qing couldn’t find any other wanted criminals.

But it didn’t matter. Xu Qing felt that he had discovered a viable new method. Walking in the shadows of the streets, he came to Banquan Road and looked at the open inn not far away.

His body seemed to merge with the night as he stood still beneath the nearby eaves, waiting silently.

Since he couldn’t find any wanted criminals, he might as well wait for them to appear on their own.

Patience was something Xu Qing had in abundance. Although he considered that doing this might offend the old innkeeper, earning spirit stones was more important. Besides, Xu Qing felt that with his current combat prowess, fighting the innkeeper wasn’t an impossible task.

Just like that, time passed quickly. Soon, four hours passed, and just before dawn arrived, a figure ran over silently from the distance, heading for the inn.

This person was a skinny middle-aged man with beady eyes and a long beard. Along with his pointed chin, he looked just like a rat.

At that moment, his beady eyes were filled with vigilance. Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the inn’s entrance, his heart relaxed and he sighed with relief as he quickly moved toward the inn.

“This Seven Blood Pupils main city is truly wonderful, especially these inns that stay open at night. It’s a good place to hide from the law, except that it’s really too expensive.”

“80 spirit coins on the first day, 160 on the second, doubling every day… It looks like I’ll have to go to a smaller town in a few days again. Unfortunately, those commoners in small towns don’t have any money. All they do is cry out in misery.” The skinny middle-aged man muttered. He was only a few meters away from the inn and was about to step inside.

However, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew from behind him, and an ice-cold voice entered his ears.

"Rat Daoist?"

The skinny middle-aged man’s pupils contracted, and the hairs all over his body all stood up. Without hesitation, he swung his right hand behind him as if scattering powder and his body exploded with speed as he sprinted forward.

Unfortunately, he was still too slow. Just as he raised his right hand, a dagger appeared on his neck and sliced it open!

In the next moment, as blood spurted out, the skinny middle-aged man trembled all voer. His arms and legs twitched, and he gurgled but couldn’t speak. After struggling to turn around, he saw the expressionless face of Xu Qing behind him.

Those powders were nothing to Xu Qing.

“Rat Daoist, a member of the Departurist Church who’s good at using bewilderment medicine. He has a twisted mind and enjoys killing ordinary mortals for fun. Half a year ago, Purple Earth declared a bounty of 15 spirit stones on his head.”

Xu Qing didn’t look at the Rat Daoist who was breathing his last, but instead looked up at the inn, where the old innkeeper was standing with a gloomy face, and recited the contents of the bounty jade slip.

“Don’t read it out, I already know he’s a wanted criminal.” The old man said darkly.

Xu Qing remained silent, cutting off the head of the Rat Daoist and plundering his leather bag before kicking the now headless corpse.

With a bang, the corpse landed at the door to the inn.

“He didn’t enter the inn, so I didn’t break your rules. You don’t need to pay for the corpse, I will give it to you for free.”

As he spoke, Xu Qing quickly took a few steps backward until he reached a safe distance. He carried the head of the Rat Daoist as he walked away quickly.

“I still need 45 more spirit stones this month...”

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