Chapter 160: Hooking a Fiendish Killer
Xu Qing’s kill count soon reached a much better-looking state. He was at over 3,000, and most of them were thanks to the shadow. At that point, Xu Qing figured he was in a good place, and didn’t dare to push his luck any further.
If he recorded too many fake kills, it would be too suspicious. Upon checking the sect’s kill list, he saw that even among the most vicious disciples, virtually none had more than 10,000. There were only seven or eight who had more than 7,000, with a larger group that had around 5,000.
Xu Qing suspected that those high kill counts must be from people using special methods, or perhaps killing a lot of Qi Condensation enemies. Without some such explanation, such high numbers seemed ridiculously exaggerated and unrealistic.
After all, Seazombies weren’t weak by any stretch of the imagination.
The person occupying the top spot on the list was Wu Jianwu. His kill count was so high that Xu Qing couldn’t help but suspect that it was a fake number. Considering that, though, it seemed unlikely that his own numbers would be investigated. There were others with far more suspicious numbers. That said, there were people on the list whom he knew were ferocious fighters. The number two spot was occupied by Second Highness, who had killed over 8,000 enemies. [1]
After some more thought, Xu Qing wondered if the sect was fine with such ridiculous numbers to either improve morale, urge the disciples to fight harder, or make Seven Blood Eyes seem impressive.
Regardless, now that he was done padding his numbers, he started looking for an actual mission for himself. After all the hard work he’d put in lately, he was feeling a bit tired, and was hoping to find something simple.
It didn’t take long for an escort mission to catch Xu Qing’s eye.
Second Peak cultivators were known for their pill concocting. However, they didn’t just concoct pills for healing and boosting the cultivation base. They also concocted poison pills, or medicines with random and unusual properties. There was also a category of pill they would make that were known as taboo pills.
Generally speaking, taboo pills were made for war purposes; once they were unleashed, their terrifying and lethal effects were difficult to deal with. Some could cause instant mutation, some could attract mutagen, and some could provoke meteorological phenomena. Every taboo pill had different effects, and every pill was used in a different way.
What was more, taboo pills had to be buried immediately after being concocted. Therefore, in most cases, the Second Peak disciples would concoct a partial taboo pill in the sect, then find a good place on the battlefield to finish the concocting process.
This escort mission was being assigned because there were a lot of small islands surrounding the Merfolk Isles, many of which had volcanoes that served perfectly as locations for Second Peak disciples to concoct pills.
Of course, the Seazombies also valued such locations, and would do everything possible to break through the battle lines, reach those islands, and interrupt the Second Peak disciples’ efforts. And thus, this urgent mission was calling for Foundation Establishment cultivators to buy time for the Second Peak disciples to move from one location to another as they concocted and buried their pills.
The listed mission reward was 300,000 spirit stones.
When Xu Qing saw that, he was intrigued. An escort mission seemed a lot more reasonable than a mission to join the chaotic fighting on the battlefield. As he pondered whether to accept it, the twenty open positions in the mission began to fill up. When he saw that there were less than half of the open slots available, he accepted the mission. He immediately received a small portion of the spirit stone reward upfront. Then he was given the location of the teleportation portal to go to the mission area, as well as some other instructions.
After looking over the information, Xu Qing headed to the teleportation portal, and soon disappeared within the glittering light.
***
To the southwest of the Merfolk Isles were a series of large islands stretched out in a row like a pearl necklace. The islands had been there for a long time, and though they were very large, the volcanoes that covered them made them unsuitable for habitation. On the Seven Blood Eyes sea charts, these islands were called the Pearl Archipelago. The volcanoes in the Pearl Archipelago were active, belching out black smoke that caused ash to fall down like snow, and burning lava to fall like rain. The ash and lava that covered the Pearl Archipelago made the place seem like the Yellow Springs.
Meanwhile, waves surged around the islands as figures rushed toward the shore at high speed.
Those figures were, of course, Seazombies. When they climbed on shore, fierce fighting broke out, and booms rippled across the islands. Dharma force fluctuations rolled out, and mutagen surged.
On one of the islands in the middle of the archipelago, a large force of Seazombies had already slaughtered their way to the central region. In that central region was a valley where the ground was covered with black ash. Occasionally, lava would spray down into the valley, forcing the people there to keep their defensive shields active.
The people there were all Seven Blood Eyes disciples, most of them from the Second Peak. They looked very anxious as they watched a group of Fifth Peak disciples trying to repair a spell formation nearby.
The Second Peak disciples had come here to bury taboo pills near the subterranean earthflame. The fierce Seazombie assault had come seemingly out of nowhere. In fact, they had just buried their taboo pills, and hadn’t even had a chance to make any adjustments. Because of the assault, they had no choice but to leave the area.
Unfortunately, once the Seazombie army appeared, the teleportation portals stopped working correctly. They now only allowed for incoming teleportations, not outgoing. As far as these disciples could tell, the Pearl Archipelago was a trap laid by the Seazombies.
And they were right. The large Seazombie army assaulting the Merfolk Isles was actually a feint to allow for the real operation to take place in the Pearl Archipelago. If they succeeded, then they could establish a command base here, and then use it to deploy troops against Seven Blood Eyes much more easily.
If Seven Blood Eyes sent forces to deal with the Pearl Archipelago, then the Seazombies could easily turn their feint on the Merfolk Isles into the main assault. All of the spell formations on the island were being affected. Furthermore, the Seazombies were going so far as to destroy some of the teleportation portals, while keeping others intact. Apparently, they wanted to guard a tree stump waiting for rabbits; if any Seven Blood Eyes cultivators teleported in through those portals, they would attack and kill them to earn battle credit.
In the northwest part of that one particular island, there was a deep valley in the middle of the island where a teleportation portal currently glittered with bright light. Surrounding the portal were several dozen Seazombie cultivators.
The leader of the Seazombies here was an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, a nonhuman with three eyes. Keeping those eyes fixed on the teleportation portal, he shouted,
“Everybody get ready. Keep a close eye on the dharma force fluctuations. If a cultivator with a life flame starts to come through, destroy the portal instantly. Hopefully no one like that appears, because I really want to rack up some merit points.”
The Foundation Establishment cultivator looked at the glittering teleportation portal with keen anticipation.
The truth was that when the Seven Blood Eyes patriarch unexpectedly invaded the Seazombies after his cultivation base breakthrough, he ended up seriously injuring their patriarch. And that threw the entire Seazombie people into chaos. If it wasn’t for the fact that some of their sleeping old-timers awakened to take control, the Seazombies might have been wiped out. After that, Seven Blood Eyes set up their main command base in the Merfolk Isles. Subsequent attempts by the Seazombies to retake the Merfolk Isles had all failed.
In the hopes of eking out a victory, the Seazombie leadership were offering amazing rewards, including the chance to upgrade their life force. All that was required to get those rewards was enough merit points, and that had whipped the Seazombie cultivators into a frenzy.
The Seazombie cultivator waiting in ambush by this teleportation portal was no exception. However, he was also cautious, and was worried that a Foundation Establishment cultivator with the profound radiance state would come through. Thus, he had brought along a magical device that could read fluctuations.
In fact, right next to him was an enormous eyeball that had eight tentacles, each of which had dug into the forehead of a Qi Condensation Seazombie in the great circle. The eyeball was slowly absorbing them to assess what was happening with the portal.
Suddenly, the eyeball shone with white light.
Seeing that, the Foundation Establishment Seazombie grinned viciously and prepared to jump toward the portal. However, that was when, just as a figure became visible in the portal, a stream of black light shot out from within. It moved with such incredible speed that, in the blink of an eye, it was right in front of the Foundation Establishment Seazombie.
Shocked, the Seazombie lurched backward. But at the same time, the black blur doubled its speed, carrying with it the tinkling of a bell that seemed to affect the soul. The Seazombie cultivator shivered.
Then the black blur stabbed into the Seazombie’s chest and came out the other side.
Meanwhile, as the figure in the teleportation portal grew more distinct, the giant eyeball glittered, not with white light, but with red light.
“Red dharma force!” shrieked the wounded Seazombie. “Destroy the formation!”
The moment the order left his lips, the surrounding Seazombies attacked the teleportation portal. Unfortunately for them, it was right then that the roar of a dragon echoed out from the formation. A snakeneck dragon shot out, growing larger by the moment until it was 300 meters in length. Rumbling sounds echoed out as it bore the brunt of all the incoming magical techniques, ensuring that none of them hit the teleportation portal.
At that point, the figure coming through the portal became clear. It was none other than Xu Qing. Instead of stepping off the portal immediately, he looked around.
He saw the shocked Foundation Establishment Seazombie, and the dozen or so Qi Condensation Seazombies. It was obvious that he was being ambushed, and yet, that wasn’t much of a surprise to him. He had come in as prepared and vigilant as always. Given that he had recently done the exact same thing these Seazombies were doing, it was no wonder that he’d made preparations before teleporting in.
Having sized up the area, the volcanic force within him exploded, and he entered the profound radiance state. As intense flames spread out from him, bringing incredibly high heat, the surroundings rippled and distorted.
As a result, the huge eye exploded, and the eight Qi Condensation Seazombies connected to it screamed and coughed up mouthfuls of blood. The other Qi Condensation Seazombies in the area also let loose agonized shrieks. Given how far their cultivation bases were below Xu Qing, to them, he was on a completely different level of existence. It was similar to how he had felt when he first met Third Elder.
Of course, he currently wasn’t on the level of Third Elder, but then again, these Seazombies weren’t comparable to his level back then.
As the screams echoed out, Xu Qing burst into motion, arriving right in front of the wounded Foundation Establishment Seazombie.
The Seazombie was so shocked that, before he could even turn around, Xu Qing’s hand had latched onto the top of his head. Then, black fire raged out to consume him. The Seazombie struggled. Unfortunately, Xu Qing’s life lamp exerted terrifying pressure, and this Seazombie didn’t even have a life flame. His eyes went wide as his dharma apertures rumbled and his cultivation base was thrown into chaos. Then, black balefire surged into him.
He let loose another agonized shriek. He was strong. So strong, in fact, that back when Xu Qing didn’t have a life flame, a fight between the two of them would have gone a different way. But right now, the Seazombie had no hope.
To Xu Qing, Foundation Establishment cultivators with no life flame were as weak as wild chickens.
1. Wu Jianwu is the disciple who got that wonderful wish box in chapter 147. ☜