Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Night of Poison

Dark clouds gradually covered the moon, and darkness enveloped the world.

Even the funeral dirge played by the howling wind didn’t dare to disturb the scene, quickly leaving. The silent mountain peak seemed to be suffused with a suffocating atmosphere.

Finally, a mournful wail pierced the night and split apart the silence.

Everyone instantly became alert.

Xu Qing’s eyes flew open.

He saw figures leaping up from all directions. Their targets were those cultivators who had obtained the lizard skins during the day. A slaughter instantly broke out.

Xu Qing didn’t pay attention to the others, only staring at the seven or eight figures rushing at him.

The hazy moonlight was unable to hide the cold gleam in Xu Qing’s eyes, and the dark night was unable to dispel the killing intent in his expression. Just as those seven or eight figures arrived, Xu Qing moved.

The attackers wanted to strike under the cover of night, but they didn’t know that Xu Qing was also waiting for night to come.

In an instant, Xu Qing’s figure disappeared from atop the tree.

Of the seven or eight cultivators that were rushing towards him, three of them suddenly trembled when they got close. One of them had their forehead pierced by a black iron skewer shining with a cruel and cold light.

Another one suddenly spurted out blood and vaguely saw Xu Qing’s figure flash past him.

The third, a fat alien cultivator, was the most miserable. As he approached the treetop, a sharp dagger appeared from behind him and brutally slashed across his neck.

His head was sent flying off his body as blood spurted out like a fountain.

Only after all this happened did ear-piercing screams ring out from the first two.

After cleanly killing three cultivators, Xu Qing suddenly backed up to strike a fourth figure, who was in the middle of casting a spell. This person was a human, and with a bang, his chest sank in. His lifeless corpse fell to the ground as blood gushed out.

This scene caused the remaining three cultivators to inhale sharply.

“You guys cast your spells, I’ll hold him back!”

A low roar came from one of the alien race cultivators. This alien cultivator was short in stature, looking like a five year old child, but the moment he stepped forward, his body swelled up, growing to a height of over three meters. He rushed towards Xu Qing with a roar.

Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change. He didn’t glance at the giant alien cultivator who was rushing toward him, nor did he pay any attention to the two alien cultivators forming hand seals in the back. Instead, he raised his right hand and clenched it violently.

Instantly, the surroundings began to buzz as drops of dew suddenly rose from the plants in all directions, instantly gathering into silk-like threads that criss-crossed into a huge net of water.

The water threads shone coldly under the moonlight, and the net that had enveloped the three cultivators suddenly shrank inwards towards Xu Qing.

As the net contracted with a swish, the expressions of the two cultivators who were casting spells changed drastically. Their spiritual energy barriers couldn’t block the water net at all, directly shattering and allowing the threads to touch their bodies directly. The water net easily sieved through their bodies, leaving behind broken pieces of flesh and blood.

The face of the giant alien cultivator rushing toward Xu Qing turned pale, and his eyes revealed horror. He was about to speak, but his entire body suddenly turned bluish-black. Clutching his throat, he let out a groan and staggered before falling to the ground, twitching a few times before falling still.

The water net sliced through him, also slicing the corpses around him as it passed.

The fat alien cultivator whose throat had been slit was clearly dead, but as the water net sliced him, he let out a miserable scream, and a small goblin-like existence flew out of his body. Obviously, his race had a life-saving method that outsiders didn’t know about.

Using some unknown method, the goblin-like being suddenly became slender and squeezed through the gaps in the net, about to escape.

Xu Qing didn’t chase. He stared coldly at the goblin-like cultivator, counting silently in his heart.

“One, two, three…”

The goblin-like cultivator trembled violently and suddenly turned to look at Xu Qing.

“Spare me…”

He only had time to say these two words before his body dissolved, starting from the tongue.

Although he lost his tongue, the severe pain coursing through him still caused him to let out a miserable scream. His screams pierced the sky and even suppressed the sounds of battle at the other three locations.

Everyone instantly looked over.

As they watched, the small goblin-like cultivator writhed on the ground, screaming in pain as his body dissolved. Finally, his body completely turned into bloody water that sank into the ground. From the time he spoke those two words to the time he died, he was unable to do anything but scream.

Sharp inhalations came from all directions, and almost everyone immediately swallowed antidotes.

Only the old man from the inn remained calm.

In fact, when Xu Qing arrived the previous day, he had already started taking antidotes regularly. After all, he had experienced Xu Qing’s terrifying poison before.

Xu Qing didn’t care about the actions of the cultivators in the surroundings. He calmly put away his weapons and picked up the leather bags of his assailants before returning to the treetop, sitting down cross-legged and closing his eyes to meditate.

Perhaps it was because this island was really the back of a terrifying sea lizard, but both the spiritual energy and heterogeneity here were very strong.

The other cultivators were active at sea for long periods of time, so they naturally were accustomed to such an environment. They had their own methods that allowed them to separate out heterogeneity temporarily, but they still had to return to shore every so often to expel the heterogeneity with pills or other methods after absorbing a lot.

But for Xu Qing, this sort of concern didn’t exist. He could freely cultivate even in such an environment, and the Forbidden Sea aura here was also useful for his Sea Transforming Scripture.

As he cultivated, although his eyes were closed, no one dared to attack him. Most of them even stayed far away from him out of fear of being poisoned.

Moreover, the other fights for the lizard skins were obviously more subdued, and the battles gradually ended.

Just like that, the night passed.

Eventually, Dawn bit the lips of Night, and a bloody red appeared in the sky. This bloody red slowly flowed and became fainter, spreading through the entire sky.

Day broke.

Around the basin at the top of the mountain, that solitary alien cultivator who had snatched a lizard skin yesterday was still around, and there was an additional cultivator beside him. It seemed that they had reached some sort of agreement.

That additional cultivator was none other than the cultivator in the straw raincoat that Xu Qing had battled previously.

On the other hand, that group of four or five cultivators was unable to retain their lizard skin and had become lifeless corpses. They were replaced by a group of seven or eight people that included the elephant-nosed cultivator.

Only Xu Qing and the old man from Banquan Road were the same as before.

But the difference was that Xu Qing was surrounded by pieces of flesh and blood, while around the old man… there wasn’t even half a corpse.

Xu Qing glanced at the big snake beside the old man. When the snake noticed his gaze, it immediately looked back at him and nodded rapidly, as if in greeting.

Xu Qing felt that it was a little strange but didn’t think too much about it. He retracted his gaze and returned to meditation.

Behind the boulder, the old man from Banquan Road kicked the snake beside him and snorted.

“See that? He ignored you. Don’t keep thinking about that kid all the time. In this world, I am your only family.”

“Gulu, gulu.”

The big snake felt aggrieved and stared earnestly at Xu Qing on the treetop in the distance. Its expression gradually became listless. The old man sighed.

“Why are you crying? That kid doesn’t understand snake language, of course he ignored you…” After speaking, the old man suddenly felt a little regretful, because the big snake’s eyes lit up again.

“When a daughter is of age, she’ll leave the house. Even a silly snake will leave, too.”

The old man sighed helplessly and wondered whether he should look for a chance to kill Xu Qing. But when he thought about Xu Qing’s ruthlessness, he gave up on the idea.

Just like that, ten days passed.

In the past ten days, some cultivators left the mountain and others arrived. Sometimes, there were several hundred people around the basin, while sometimes there were only a few dozen.

Some were lone cultivators, some were pirates, and some were alien cultivators from other islands. As they gathered, killing and fighting continued to unfold.

During these ten days, sea lizards also appeared thrice, and each time was a bloody battle. Xu Qing was fierce and decisive when he attacked. He didn’t just snatch some sea lizard skins, but he also piled up the corpses of everyone he killed around his meditation spot.

From a distance, the big tree seemed to be dyed with blood. It was a shocking sight.

As time passed, Xu Qing’s meditation spot gradually became like a forbidden area to the others.

There were also a few people who were like Xu Qing. Whether it was the old man from Banquan Road, the cultivator in the straw raincoat and his companion, or the burly elephant-trunked cultivator, they all guarded their gains and didn’t choose to leave, as if they were waiting for something.

Sensing this, Xu Qing also didn’t leave, cultivating silently during these ten days.

The spiritual energy here was bountiful, and the heterogeneity was extremely strong. Furthermore, this sort of environment was one where he had to remain highly focused. He felt like he had returned to the jungle forbidden area at the scavenger camp.

His cultivation speed was also much faster than on the shore, and he was already near the ninth level of the Sea Transforming Scripture.

“I should be able to break through in no more than three days.”

Xu Qing continued to meditate, inhaling and exhaling as spiritual energy poured into his body from all directions. As the spiritual energy nourished his body, the heterogeneity mixed with it separated out and was sucked into the shadow. The spiritual sea inside Xu Qing’s body constantly expanded from its original 87 meters.

88 meters, 89 meters…

Two days passed in silence. When noon of the third day arrived, the spiritual sea inside Xu Qing’s body was infinitely close to 90 meters. Once it truly reached 90 meters, it would mean that his Sea Transforming Scripture had risen to the ninth level.

As for his battle prowess… With the Seven Blood Pupils’ superior cultivation technique, a disciple at the ninth level of Qi Condensation could basically sweep away all Qi Condensation opponents in the South Phoenix continent’s human race sects. It was even possible to put up a fight against a Foundation Establishment cultivator of a small sect with inferior cultivation techniques.

Moreover, Xu Qing’s Sea and Mountain Art had also reached an unprecedented level, with the terrifying Droughtdemon Shadow already surpassing the peak of Body Refinement. It could be said that once the Sea Transforming Scripture had a breakthrough, Xu Qing’s battle prowess would rise explosively.

At that time, he would be an existence that surpassed the peak of Qi Condensation, comparable to a Foundation Establishment expert in terms of pure battle prowess. Xu Qing was sure that if he fought the Vajra Sect ancestor at that time, whether at sea or on land, he would definitely suppress the other party. As for killing the Vajra Sect ancestor, it would take some more effort, but he was confident in his ability to do so.

“Tonight, I’ll break through!” Xu Qing was looking forward to that future. He was about to resume cultivating, but at that moment, heavy footsteps and whistling sounds suddenly came from the foot of the mountain.

Before anyone arrived, waves of cold and vicious intent spread over, covering the entire basin. Everyone’s expressions changed as they looked toward the foot of the mountain.

It wasn’t a sea lizard that arrived. It was… a group of cultivators!

The cultivators in the group wore disorderly rags, but they exuded immense killing intent as they brazenly walked up the mountain.

There were sixteen of them in total, and each exuded powerful spiritual energy fluctuations. Every single one of them gave off a shocking baleful aura.

“Sea Ghost!”

“It’s the Sea Ghost Association!”

"Damn it, why are they here!!"

Shouts immediately rang out from the cultivators around the basin.

Previous Chapter

Table of Contents

Next Chapter