Chapter 211: Controlled Completely
Xu Qing walked back into the house.
The Gruegloom cultivator lay on the floor, looking like the character 大. Other than his head, there was no flesh on his body. Only bones. Yet he wasn’t dead. A glowing red light surrounded his head, keeping him alive. Obviously, Chen Feiyuan had used a special technique to keep the Gruegloom alive while he vented his fury.
As Xu Qing approached, the Gruegloom looked at him listlessly. Xu Qing put his hand on the Gruegloom’s head and unleashed Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits. The head trembled as essence power flowed into Xu Qing.
A moment later, the Gruegloom was dead.
Shortly thereafter, in a public graveyard outside of the city, the ground exploded, sending dirt and bone fragments in all directions. A burly man with disheveled hair climbed out into the open. His expression was vicious, and his eyes gleamed with madness. Also in his eyes was unprecedented terror.
“They’re both degenerates!” he growled. This burly man was of course the ‘unkillable’ Gruegloom. He had invested a lot to prepare this body ahead of time and then put it into a state of suspended animation. It was unusual in that it had the capability to sustain a three-flame cultivation base. He’d hoped to avoid using this body, as it would be very disappointing to lose it. But right now, he was out of options.
He didn’t dare to stay inside the city anymore. It didn’t matter whether he hid in one of the eight great clans or not, he was in extreme danger. This opponent seemed able to stay as close to him as marrow was to bone. And the grue factor caused him to feel unrivaled danger. The enemy’s grue had a power that seemed similar to the Gruegloom’s, so much so that, at long last, the Gruegloom was experiencing the same dread its own victims faced.
Thinking about it all, the now-burly Gruegloom shivered. After looking around to confirm that he was outside of the Violet Lands, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He shouldn’t be able to track me down anytime soon. I’m too far away. And thus, I should be able to make my escape.
Even still, he had no idea who was after him. Face grim, he turned, ignited his life flame and entered the profound radiance state, then started moving at top speed.
After the first time I died, it took him a whole night to find me. After the second time, it took him two hours. After the third time, it was an hour....
After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, the Gruegloom’s expression flickered, and he looked over his shoulder to see a beam of light rumbling through the air in his direction. Within that beam of light was a middle-aged man who seemed to burn with scorching fire and crush everything around him with the pressure he emanated. The Gruegloom, despite having a three-flame cultivation base, still felt his eyes stinging just at the sight of it.
So fast!
He couldn’t have been more astonished. He had previously thought he understood what kind of person he was dealing with, but now he realized his assessment was off. Based on what he was feeling, this person’s power surpassed that of three flames. It was...
Four flames?
Sweat broke out on his forehead. Without the slightest hesitation, he ignited the rest of his three flames, and started barreling forward with frantic speed.
He was correct. Xu Qing did indeed have the power of four flames! With his life lamp lit, Xu Qing had power equivalent to two life flames. With his second life flame lit, he had battle prowess the same as three flames. And when you added in the fleshly body blessing of Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits, then it was only natural that his battle prowess was comparable to four flames!
The reason he had been able to track down the Gruegloom so quickly was thanks to the direction provided by his shadow.
And because Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits had absorbed some of the Gruegloom’s essence, to Xu Qing, the Gruegloom stood out like a bright torch on a dark night.
As soon as the Gruegloom resurrected, Xu Qing sensed him, and was able to reach him in the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
When Xu Qing spotted him, his eyes burned with killing intent. Given the speed he was capable of, it seemed like the Gruegloom was moving in slow motion. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing arrived and launched a palm strike at him.
Blood sprayed out of the burly Gruegloom’s mouth as he flopped out of the sky like a kite with its string cut. When he slammed into the ground, a boom erupted. As the Gruegloom struggled to his feet in the crater, Xu Qing closed in again, smashing his knee into his opponent’s chest.
Blood poured out of the burly Gruegloom’s mouth as he flopped backward. Then Xu Qing stepped onto his chest, eyes filled with animosity as he produced a dagger. He stabbed the Gruegloom once, twice, three times, four times. Seven times. Then he picked the Gruegloom up, broke his arm, then head-butted him.
The burly Gruegloom screamed. His bones were broken, and it was in a horrifically mangled state. Compared to Xu Qing, his three-flame power made him incapable of defending himself. And now, the terror and astonishment in his eyes reached new heights. It was now pure madness. Finally, he threw his head back and howled and prepared to detonate his life flames and kill Xu Qing along with himself.
However, the power of self-detonation fizzled as the shadow entered him and swept over his life flames.
The volcanic eruption inside him faded into nothing.
Because of how his profound radiance state was instantly severed, he suffered a backlash, causing popping sounds to ring out as many of his dharma apertures collapsed. He fell onto the ground, bleeding profusely. He could already guess what torment was coming, and thus, he quickly tried to smash himself in the head to kill himself.
Except, a black skewer appeared, stabbing through his hand and preventing him from landing the blow.
As his suicide attempt failed, Xu Qing arrived, killing intent swirling in his eyes. A sharp cry pierced the air as a golden crow appeared, gracefully gliding through the air before it started viciously absorbing the Gruegloom.
The Gruegloom shivered as his energy and blood swept out of him toward the golden crow, within which was his essence.
Then, Xu Qing stabbed his finger into the Gruegloom’s eye and shattered his skull.
In the moment before dying, a calm but nightmarish voice reached the Gruegloom’s ear.
“Don’t be too quick to tell me what I want to know. This is fun.... See you soon.”
An instant later, in the wilderness outside the Violet Lands capital city, a rabbit suddenly jumped out of the undergrowth and started racing away at top speed.
However, after less time passed than it takes half an incense stick to burn, a black dot appeared in the sky that raced in the direction of the rabbit.
It was a cinereous vulture. Instead of trying to capture the rabbit, however, it slammed into it, causing it to explode into a mass of blood and gore. The vulture also died, but just before it did, a cruel voice echoed out from within it. [1]
“Hello.”
Moments after the rabbit died, a snake started wriggling out of a tree. After a fraction of an incense stick’s worth of time passed, a black iron skewer shot through the air and nailed the snake to the tree. As terror still flickered in the eyes of the dead snake, a goshawk in the air started flapping its wings even harder than before. The only thing that awaited it was a golden crow.
As time passed, similar scenes played out over and over in the wilderness. It didn’t matter that the Gruegloom was using his innate ability to its ultimate limits. Every single time, he ran into a black iron skewer, or a golden crow, or another possessed animal, or Xu Qing himself. His mind was growing unstable. He had died over and over again. Each instance of dying drained him only a small bit. But when added on top of each other, the effect grew more and more pronounced.
And every time it happened, he felt like he was losing more and more of himself. Eventually it reached the point that, when he was trying to possess a coyote, he experienced interference.
He’s taking away my innate ability!
When the Gruegloom cultivator realized that, it shook him to the core. Then Xu Qing caught him and started absorbing him.
“I only have three more times!” he blurted. “Then I’ll die for real! And if I die you’ll never find out who’s behind this!!”
The only response he got was a palm strike from Xu Qing. He exploded, and before he died, a sliver of his essence was taken by the golden crow.
After thirty breaths of time passed, a black crow in the sky called out, “You’re from Seven Blood Eyes, right? I can tell from the fluctuations of your techniques. I’m willing to say who the mastermind is. But I’ll only tell Master Sixth!!”
In the blink of an eye, the iron skewer pierced the crow, and Xu Qing watched expressionlessly as it dropped out of the sky. Then Xu Qing looked down at the ground for a moment before landing and stamping his foot. Cracks spread out over the surface of the ground, revealing a pangolin huddling below.
Fear filled the pangolin’s eyes as it frantically transmitted divine will.
“Bring it on! Put me to death. Once I’m dead, you’ll never get answers. Take me to Seven Blood Eyes to see Master Sixth and tell everything!!”
Xu Qing pulled his hand back and then smacked the pangolin.
Insanity filled the Gruegloom pangolin’s eyes, and his mind was on the verge of collapse. Yet despite the sense of impending doom that filled him, he refused to talk.
Xu Qing’s hand stopped briefly, then he grabbed the pangolin and examined it coldly.
Only a moment later, Xu Qing started moving toward the teleport spot the Captain had prepared. It wasn’t far away, so it only took him a moment to reach it. It was a mountainous valley, within which was an abandoned teleportation portal. Stepping onto it, Xu Qing produced his identity medallion and touched it to the surface. Then he waited.
A short time passed, then the portal activated, and the teleportation began.
At that exact moment, the pangolin in Xu Qing’s hands shivered and went limp. In an instant, it died. However, right before it died, a new light of teleportation glittered, as if someone had teleported away from that spot before the portal fully activated.
The Gruegloom cultivator had clearly been bluffing. He only wanted Xu Qing to go to a teleportation portal knowing that he had a special way to make a clean getaway. And of course, he had used some unknown method to teleport away to a location no one could possibly identify.
After that, the teleportation light disappeared, and Xu Qing was still standing there.
The Gruegloom cultivator had disappeared, but Xu Qing didn’t seem surprised. Nor was he angry. Glancing down at the dead pangolin, he tossed it to the side.
Then he closed his eyes for a moment. After, he opened them, and they glittered with a profound light.
“I’m in a bit of a hurry,” he murmured. “Don’t waste time going to meet the mastermind.”
1. The cinereous vulture is a Eurasian vulture species. ☜