Chapter 161: Mission Alteration
Xu Qing ignored the screaming Seazombie, whose soul power was rapidly being sucked away. Instead, he checked his surroundings and also mentally reviewed the map he had been given as part of the mission. According to the map, this particular teleportation portal was supposed to be difficult to find.
Considering that the Seazombies had been waiting there in ambush, it seemed to indicate that things in the area weren’t going very well for the sect. It was definitely not what the mission description had indicated.
After Xu Qing absorbed the souls of all the Seazombies, he looked back at the teleportation portal and thought about just reactivating it and leaving. If a mission turned out to be too different from its description, disciples had the right to give up on it.
A moment later, his heart sank. There was some strange force suppressing the teleportation portal, making it impossible to leave through it.
“Well, isn’t this interesting.”
Still in the profound radiance state, he flew up into the air. Of course, he didn’t just hover there like an idiot. He started moving, while at the same time, assessing his surroundings. All the while, he used the souls he’d absorbed to batter at his next dharma aperture. Unfortunately, with 40 open apertures, the soul power required going forward just kept getting more astonishing. An ordinary Foundation Establishment Seazombie just wasn’t enough to break one of them open. He needed more than that.
After getting an overview of the island, Xu Qing dropped down out of the ash and lava-filled sky, landing atop a tree in the jungle. The treetop had no leaves, only charred branches.
He left the profound radiance state, and when he returned to his ordinary state, he frowned. He had just seen a large number of Seazombies in the distance. It was an army, surging out of the sea and onto the shore.
And he had also seen numerous locations on the island where Seazombies lay waiting in ambush. With that many Seazombies, there had to be some who could enter the profound radiance state. And it was even possible there were Gold Core cultivators among them. It was for that reason he’d left the profound radiance state; he didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention.
There’s something unusual going on with this mission!
Xu Qing braced himself mentally. The mission description hadn’t mentioned anything about dangerous circumstances. There was no way that only twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators could hold this spot against an entire army.
Around then, his identity medallion vibrated, and he looked at it to find that the mission had been updated.
“A huge Seazombie army has suddenly assaulted the Pearl Archipelago. All escort and aid missions are being changed. The mission rewards are being doubled. Head without delay to the central part of the island you are on and help any Second Peak cultivators there to evacuate.
“Be aware that all central areas have Fifth Peak disciples on duty. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the sect will activate the grand spell formation on the Merfolk Isles, and unleash a tideflow power to destroy the restrictive spell limiting teleportations on the Pearl Archipelago. At that time, all disciples can work with the Fifth Peak cultivators to teleport to safety.”
Even as Xu Qing read the information, the mission classification changed to red, indicating that it was now an extremely dangerous mission.
I wanted a simple mission that would allow for some rest. This is annoying.
Sighing, he shot backward to collide into a Qi Condensation Seazombie who had been sneaking up on him. The Seazombie was on such a lower level than him that he instantly exploded. Not bothering to look over his shoulder, Xu Qing waved, sending his snakeneck dragon out. As it slammed into the ground below, trees shattered, revealing several dozen Seazombies who had been preparing an ambush. They were all in Qi Condensation, and thus, they exploded one by one.
That said, their presence was concerning. Ordinarily speaking, why would Qi Condensation cultivators try to ambush a Foundation Establishment cultivator? He wasn’t in the profound radiance state, but his fluctuations were that of Foundation Establishment. It didn’t take long for him to find out the answer to the question.
Within the remains of the exploded Qi Condensation cultivators, he saw white threads. They were implanted within the bodies in a way that would allow those cultivators’ minds and actions to be controlled like puppets.
Right when Xu Qing spotted the white threads, two shadowy figures suddenly shot toward him at high speed. They were both Foundation Establishment Seazombies.
One of them had a huge tumor on his arm that split open to reveal an eye. The eye glowed with white light as it stared at Xu Qing, as if it were assessing him. It reminded Xu Qing of the eye he had seen when he first teleported in. It seemed these eyes allowed Seazombies to check whether a Foundation Establishment cultivator could enter the profound radiance state.
Thankfully, Xu Qing’s shadow was still keeping his life lamp concealed.
After these two Seazombies believed that Xu Qing couldn’t enter the profound radiance state, they launched their attack.
As they closed in, one of them performed an incantation gesture to summon a huge battle-ax with a black dragon coiled around it, which stared at Xu Qing with vicious eyes. The other summoned a host of puppetized great circle Qi Condensation Seazombies, each of which stared at Xu Qing with glowing eyes as they spread out to surround him. At the same time, both Seazombies pulled out magical devices which vastly increased their destructive capabilities.
They were apparently skilled at performing magical attacks in combination with each other. As they unleashed their dharma force, a skeletal hand formed over Xu Qing, pulsing with power that bordered on the profound radiance state as it crushed down toward him.
Xu Qing took it all in, quickly checked the surroundings to make sure it was safe, then ignited his life lamp! It didn’t matter that these opponents didn’t have the profound radiance state. Xu Qing was going all out, like a lion pouncing on a hare. The last thing he wanted to do was fail where failure was least expected.
It was like a volcano erupting within him as dazzling light spread out to cover him. Terrifying force radiated out, smashing into everything around him with mountain-toppling, sea-draining force.
The attacking Foundation Establishment Seazombies’ faces fell, and their pupils constricted.
As for the Seazombie with the eye on his arm, his mind reeled as that eye suddenly emitted bright red light. That was a warning that this Seven Blood Eyes cultivator was extremely dangerous!
However, the warning came too late.
With Xu Qing’s life lamp lit, these two Seazombies were trembling so badly it seemed like they might collapse....
The skeletal hand they had summoned didn’t have a chance to even reach Xu Qing before it started emitting cracking sounds. In the blink of an eye, it was so damaged it was obviously about to explode. The Qi Condensation puppets burst into flames and were wiped out of existence. The battle-ax flying toward Xu Qing turned bright red, as if it were about to melt, and the eyes of the coiling dragon changed from vicious to terrified.
The two Seazombies were already scared out of their minds. How could they ever have predicted that the cultivator they had already scanned and thought to be safe, would actually be able to enter the profound radiance state?
And this terrifying power obviously surpassed the level of a single life flame. This was the power of two life flames, in other words, mid-Foundation Establishment. And they knew full well how terrifying of a level that was.
Not all Foundation Establishment cultivators were the same. Those who had a life flame, and those who did not, were different. And the difference between one life flame and two... was poles apart.
It was possible for Qi Condensation cultivators in a lower level to fight a cultivator in a higher level of Qi Condensation. But in Foundation Establishment, the terrifying difference between levels made that impossible. There weren’t many Foundation Establishment cultivators who had cultivated their way to having two life flames. As a result, people like that generally had high positions.
And none of them were random people no one had ever heard about. The only person who could fight someone like that was another cultivator with two life flames.
These terrified Seazombies now wanted nothing more than to simply flee.
To Xu Qing, everything was moving in slow motion. Reaching out to the two shocked Seazombies, he made a grasping motion with his right hand.
The battle-ax shattered. The black dragon screamed as it crumbled into ashes. The skeletal hand crumbled.
The two terrified Seazombies were wrapped up with massive force that dragged them toward Xu Qing. That force was so strong that cracking sounds rang out from inside their bodies. A moment later, black balefire erupted from Xu Qing and engulfed them. They didn’t even have time to scream. Their dharma apertures collapsed, their bodies exploded, and their flesh and blood became a haze as their souls were sucked into Xu Qing. Turning, he left.
Everything happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint.
And after Xu Qing disappeared, the area went still, as if nothing had just happened. The ground was dry, the plants and vegetation gone. The skeletal hand and the battle-ax were nowhere to be seen, and the Seazombies had turned into dust that mixed with the black ash falling from the sky.
Xu Qing was moving in the profound radiance state, like a lightning bolt crossing the island toward the central area.
He could accept a change in the mission. Circumstances on a battlefield could transform very quickly, and often in ways that no one could predict or control. However, the fact that the mission had been amended so quickly went to show that the overall situation was still under the control of Seven Blood Eyes.
Therefore, he would carry out the mission to help the Second Peak cultivators evacuate. As for the other disciples who had accepted the same mission as him, he didn’t care about them. He knew that he only had the time it takes an incense stick to burn. And thus, he didn’t hold anything back. In only ten breaths of time, he caught sight of the central valley.