Chapter 107

Chapter 107: Junior Brother Xu Qing, are you there?

Outside the room, the mute youth was trembling, and inside, the captain had a curious look on his face.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and didn’t speak. However, he noticed that the mute youth had only panicked upon seeing the shadow.

Under Xu Qing’s impassive gaze, the mute youth trembled more and more. His hands were clenched tightly into fists, and sweat poured down his whole body. Clear creaking sounds were coming from his legs.

They were the sounds of bones rubbing against muscles, fighting against each other over what to do.

It seemed that his innermost instincts were clashing against his rational mind.

If this went on, every single second would be unimaginable torture for him.

Xu Qing retracted his gaze with narrowed eyes. Standing up, he cupped his fists toward the captain and walked over to the door.

As he approached, the terror in the mute youth’s eyes became stronger and stronger, but he didn’t dare to move at all. Right now, the mute youth’s state was similar to that of Xu Qing when he had encountered those eerie existences back in the forbidden area.

When Xu Qing walked past him, the mute youth seemed to be drowning in endless terror. His whole body twitched violently, and he even started foaming at the mouth.

Xu Qing frowned. He didn’t release any pressure, nor did he reveal any killing intent. After giving the mute youth a meaningful glance, he walked out of the room and left.

With Xu Qing’s departure, the mute youth’s terror faded like a tide, and his body soon stopped trembling. His complexion mostly recovered, but his eyes still held lingering fear. He didn’t dare to turn his head and look at the departing Xu Qing.

The captain watched this scene with a strange light in his eyes. Biting into his apple, he walked over to the mute youth and circled him once. He spoke with some surprise.

"You know him?"

The mute youth shook his head.

“You don’t know him? Then why are you afraid of him?”

The captain’s expression became even more curious. This mute youth had been in the Homicide Department for half a month already. During this half a month, he was just like Xu Qing back then, handing in the heads of many wanted criminals.

Moreover, he was extremely fierce, just like a little wolfdog. He regarded everyone with hostility and vigilance.

Today was the first time that the captain saw this mute youth look so terrified.

Although he heard the captain’s question, the mute youth kept his mouth tightly shut and didn’t speak.

The more the mute youth refused to speak, the more interested the captain became. He even forgot to continue eating his apple. After glancing at the mute youth a few times, the captain’s eyes suddenly flashed, and an astonishing baleful aura erupted from his body.

It didn’t spread out too much, only enough to lock on to the mute youth.

The horrifying baleful aura instantly caused the mute youth’s body to tense up, and his face paled as his body trembled. However… unlike before, there was no fear in his eyes, only an increasingly unyielding gaze.

Soon, the captain withdrew his baleful aura and sighed.

“How about this, you tell me why you’re so afraid of him, and I’ll go to the department chief and get you a promotion?”

The mute youth remained silent.

“Ah, I forgot you can’t speak. Write it down then.”

The mute youth shook his head. The determination in his eyes seemed to say that he wouldn’t say it even if he died.

In the end, the captain had no choice but to wave the mute youth away. He sat back down on the chair and resumed eating his apple as thoughts flickered in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing stepped out of the Homicide Department and glanced back in the direction of the Black Division before lowering his head and staring at his own shadow.

Earlier, he had clearly sensed that the thing that terrified the mute youth so much was precisely this shadow.

“He can sense it?” A cold light flashed through Xu Qing’s eyes as he muttered.

Retracting his gaze, he remembered what the captain had said about still owing spirit stones. Xu Qing took out his bamboo slip and crossed out the question mark behind the captain’s name again.

Of the names on the bamboo slip, the Vajra sect ancestor had been crossed out, the merfolk youth had also been crossed out, and the Banquan Road innkeeper was still on it. The captain was there, too, but there were several crossed-out question marks behind his name.

As he stared at the row of crossed out question marks, Xu Qing fell silent. After a while, he also carved down the words ‘third highness’ and added a question mark behind them.

After putting the bamboo slip away, he went to a pharmacy in the city.

This wasn’t the one he sold pills to before. It was a bigger store that even sold Foundation Establishment Pills.

However, the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill was so ridiculous that even Xu Qing, who had recently come into some wealth, inhaled sharply.

“100,000 spirit stones…” Xu Qing silently returned to his berth.

Although his cultivation base and battle prowess had both reached an astonishing level, Xu Qing’s vigilance never diminished. Before taking out his magic boat, he carefully checked the surroundings as always.

After confirming that there was nothing strange, he quickly summoned the magic boat and stepped on board, immediately activating the protective barrier. He walked directly into the small medicine room inside the cabin and sat down cross-legged. A purple light suddenly shone from his chest.

He drew out the power of the purple crystal and immediately suppressed the normal-looking shadow beneath him.

After striking out with the suppressive force three times in a row, Xu Qing finally stopped. This was already a habit of his.

Xu Qing didn’t know what exactly the shadow was, but that wasn’t important. It was enough as long as he suppressed it regularly.

After finishing his routine, Xu Qing began to refine poisons.

“The Seventh Peak’s great competition…” As he refined, Xu Qing’s thoughts turned to the great competition.

His cultivation was already at the peak of Qi Condensation. Although he felt that his spiritual sea could continue to expand, Xu Qing knew that he had to make his preparations for Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

He didn’t know too much about breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, but he knew that the Foundation Establishment Pill was necessary for increasing the probability of success, and it was safest to use more than one pill.

Regarding the exact process of entering Foundation Establishment, the sect kept that information in reserve. Reading about it cost a ridiculous amount of contribution points.

If you didn’t want to spend the contribution points, you could also try and buy it off someone else.

After thinking about it, Xu Qing decided that he would find some time to wake up the Vajra Sect ancestor and ask about it.

“Foundation Establishment Pills are too expensive. I can’t afford them, so I’ll have to enter the great competition and snatch them.” After making his decision, Xu Qing began to meditate.

Outside, the afterglow of the setting sun scattered down, seemingly spreading an orange glaze over the entire port area. Its light dyed every building, and even the clouds in the sky were glowing red.

Under the light of this setting sun, there was a beautiful woman dressed in a light purple Daoist robe and carrying an ancient bronze sword on her back. She was walking toward Dock 79.

With her tall and straight figure, her striking and beautiful appearance, her hair tied up in a ponytail, and the ancient sword on her back, she looked valiant and heroic. When the identity of a core disciple was added to that, she gave off a unique charm.

Wherever she passed, all the disciples bowed their heads to pay respects, and many of them had unfathomable feelings appear in their hearts.

She seemed to be in a very good mood, nodding to all the disciples she passed on the way. It wasn’t until she entered Dock 79 that her footsteps paused. Her pretty face slightly flushed, and her heartbeat seemed to quicken.

After taking a few deep breaths, she started moving again, walking straight to Xu Qing’s berth.

Soon, she stood in front of the berth, looking at the somewhat familiar magic boat. Her expression radiated joy, as if she was recalling some happy memories as she called out loudly.

“Junior Brother Xu Qing, are you there?”

Although Dock 79 was normally pretty quiet, there were still quite a few people coming and going. Moreover, light purple Daoist robes were extremely conspicuous down at the foot of the mountain, so as soon as this woman appeared, she already attracted the attention of the surrounding disciples.

When she called out to Xu Qing’s magic boat, the eyes of all the disciples there widened.

Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the woman’s black hair fluttered in the wind, and her wide Daoist robe rippled, outlining her graceful figure and heart-stirring curves.

As rays of sunlight fell on her beautiful and flawless face, it might have been because of the red afterglow, or it might have been that she was blushing, but her face became rosy, and her eyes seemed to light up.

“It’s the core disciple, Senior Sister Ding Xue!”

“Why is she here… She’s looking for Senior Brother Xu Qing? Ah, it would be great if she was here for me.”

As everyone in the surroundings was feeling a little bitter, Xu Qing opened his eyes inside the magic boat. Frowning slightly, he stood up from his cross-legged position and walked out, looking at the woman on the shore.

“Senior Sister Ding.” Xu Qing said calmly. He was somewhat displeased at being disturbed.

“Junior Brother Xu Qing, I came back a while ago, but you weren’t here. I know that it’s a little rude to disturb you, but I’ve thought about many questions regarding plants and vegetation during this period of time, so I wanted to ask you to clear my doubts.”

Ding Xue spoke quickly as she looked at Xu Qing. While she was speaking, she immediately took out a spirit ticket and held it aloft.

“I’ve troubled Junior Brother Xu.”

Xu Qing wanted to refuse, but when he saw the spirit ticket, he paused. Although he could be considered wealthy now, there was a lot to prepare for his Foundation Establishment, and the price of each item was astonishing. Besides, 100 spirit stones wasn’t a small amount.

Thus, he ended up nodding and took a few steps back, lowering the protective barrier.

Xu Qing couldn’t be at ease outside the magic boat, but inside, with the trace of divinity and all of his poisons, he was very secure.

Seeing Xu Qing lower the magic boat’s barrier, Ding Xue became very happy. With a graceful leap, she boarded the magic boat and stood in front of Xu Qing.

“Junior Brother Xu, where did you go? I heard you came back a while ago.” Ding Xue smiled as she spoke to Xu Qing.

“Senior Sister Ding, if you have any questions, please ask.” Xu Qing didn’t answer her. It wasn’t that he particularly disliked Ding Xue, who had been very diligent when they were at sea, but he still instinctively didn’t want to get too close to her.

Senior Sister Ding didn’t mind Xu Qing’s wariness. She quickly asked some questions about plants and vegetation that she had prepared earlier.

After listening to her questions and thinking them over, Xu Qing answered them seriously.

For the sake of the hundred spirit stones, he was willing to speak in detail.

The sea breeze blew, and the ruddy afterglow scattered down on the magic boat, bathing the man and woman inside with its light. This scene seemed to give off a special sort of charm.

Seeing this, the surrounding disciples felt even more bitter in their hearts.

At the same time, in the main city, a young man in a light purple Daoist robe was anxiously running toward Dock 79, not caring at all about keeping up the image of a core disciple.

“Senior Sister, how could you be so muddle-headed, we were getting along just fine a few days ago, so you… why did you go look for him again?”

This person was none other than Zhao Zhongheng.

He was extremely worried when he thought about how his senior sister had looked at Xu Qing when they were out at sea. Moreover, back then, Xu Qing didn’t even ask for money at the very end of the trip.

Didn’t this mean that detestable person was catching feelings? Zhao Zhongheng became extremely flustered.

"No, I have to hurry over!!"

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