Chapter 213: Blood-Soaked Garments
Xu Qing had been keeping his killing intent bottled up for a long time. From the moment he found out Grandmaster Bai had been assassinated, insane rage had filled him, seeking a release. Seeking slaughter.
But that wasn’t possible at the time. He had suppressed the killing intent, and forced himself to remain calm. It was the same in the Violet Lands. He had been very cautious, and had forced himself not to outright kill the culprit when he found him.
Instead, he had unleashed torment on him, all with the goal of finding out who the mastermind was. He had eventually found the clue he needed. And now he didn’t need to suppress the killing intent. Instead, he let it erupt.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of one of the Seastar cultivators.
She had two life flames, but as Xu Qing neared, they flickered wildly, as though they might wink out at any moment. Then, it was with extreme animosity and utter madness that he shoved his hand right into her abdomen. Slipping his fingers around one of her life flames, he crushed it out of existence!
A boom rang out, along with a tragic scream. In her entire life, this Seastar cultivator had never experienced pain on the same level as having one of her life flames destroyed.
But Xu Qing wasn’t done yet. Wrenching his hand to the side, he grabbed her other life flame and dragged it out of her in a spray of blood. As it was destroyed, the Seastar cultivator’s dharma apertures all exploded.
An even more anguish screamed rang out, but it rapidly grew weak. Blood spilled out of her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, yet Xu Qing’s killing intent had not lessened. He head-butted her viciously, causing her delicately beautiful face to explode like a smashed piece of fruit.
Xu Qing was soaked in blood as he grimly turned his head to look at the remaining two Seastar cultivators, including the princess. Behind him, the golden crow let loose a piercing, vicious cry. It attempted to absorb the fresh corpse but there was nothing there to absorb, so then it turned its brutal gaze onto the princess. Beneath the moonlight, Xu Qing’s baleful aura made him seem like a ferocious god, while the golden crow seemed like an apex beast, its energy causing heaven and earth to shake violently.
The Seastar princess’ face was pale, and her eyes shone with terror. “Xu Qing, this whole thing—”
“Get out of here, Princess!!” the other Seastar cultivator shouted. His entire body burst with light as his life flame burned and his dharma apertures all erupted. A force of self-detonation began to build, while at the same time, he performed an incantation gesture to tap into the three discs that had been set up in the area. The three discs erupted with a shocking aura, creating numerous bolts of lightning that shot up into the air like a net, surrounding Xu Qing.
Seeing that, the Seastar princess gritted her teeth, turned, and dashed toward the sea. She knew that if she went back to Seven Blood Eyes, she would never leave.
However, just before she reached the water, a huge sea turtle suddenly burst out in front of her, its eyes flashing with terror and despair. At the same time, it growled cruelly as it snapped its mouth in the princess’ direction. An iron skewer flew from Xu Qing toward her like a black streak through the air. In the blink of an eye, the sea turtle slammed into the princess, while at the same time, the skewer hit her from the other direction.
As that happened, killing intent flared in Xu Qing’s eyes as the lightning net from the three discs tightened around him. That was when the power of Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits surged within him.
He looked up, and the golden crow behind him howled and shot forth like an arrow from a bow, its phoenix-like tail trailing black flames. It slammed into the net, and the net collapsed. Then cracking sounds rang out as the three discs exploded into bits.
Xu Qing was unstoppable! He was currently unleashing every scrap of four-flame battle prowess possible. Because of that, trifling two-flame cultivators and their magical devices simply couldn’t stand up to him.
Xu Qing then vanished, only to reappear in front of the Seastar cultivator trying to self-detonate. Reaching out, he put his hand on the cultivator’s head. Unimaginable terror and despair filled the cultivator’s eyes as Xu Qing then unleashed the power of absorption. Balefire erupted, extracting the Seastar cultivator’s soul. The pain caused him to scream shrilly. Then he began trembling violently as Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits also began to absorb him.
Energy and blood shot out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. In the space of only two breaths of time, the Seastar cultivator became a desiccated corpse that toppled over and collapsed into ashes.
Meanwhile, the sea turtle and the iron skewer had blocked the path of the Seastar princess, whose face was now as pale as death. Only moments had passed, yet all of her fellow Seastars were dead. Turning, she saw Xu Qing walking toward her, surging with a baleful aura. Terror pushed her mind toward the breaking point.
She suddenly thought back to when Xu Qing fought that girl in black from Eastnether Isle, and the fiendish reputation he had garnered in the Violent Crimes Division. She also thought back to his beautiful face, which she had gazed at so many times when she went to visit him.
Everything overlapping, merging together into a reality filled with unspeakable horror. She flew backward, but not fast enough. Her shock gave Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior the opening he needed to send the iron skewer stabbing through her abdomen. Then it spun around and stabbed toward her again.
As a scream escaped her lips, the sea turtle opened its mouth, bit down on her elbow, and ripped her arm off. It chewed, a mad expression on its face, but terror deep in its eyes.
The sea turtle was the Gruegloom cultivator, which he had possessed after dying in the starfish form. However, before it could flee, it suddenly found that it couldn’t control this new body at all. It was a familiar sensation, but there was nothing it could do but watch in despair as it turned around and swam back to the shore.
And now, the Seastar princess, who had been stabbed through multiple times, and seemed to be on the verge of total mental collapse, looked at Xu Qing. Trembling, she piteously wept and said, “Xu Qing, I’m a victim in this too. I also—”
Before she could say anything else, Xu Qing slapped her, causing her face to swell up, sending teeth flying and cracking her skull. The slap also seemed to damage her thinking ability, and caused her limbs to start twitching spasmodically. The slap also extinguished two of her life flames. Before she could recover, he stepped toward her and slapped her again. She screamed as the other side of her face swelled up, and more teeth flew out intermixed with blood. This time, her skull seemed almost completely shattered.
Also, her final life flame exploded out of existence. Then Xu Qing stepped forward and viciously planted his foot onto the wounds on her abdomen. Blood sprayed out of her mouth as all of her dharma apertures shattered, and her cultivation base was crippled.
The pain caused her to teeter on the verge of passing out. But then Xu Qing shoved a medicinal pill into her mouth, ensuring that her life force would last longer, and preventing her from going unconscious.
She lay there screaming from the pain, her face twisting and distorting. As of now, there was no terror in her eyes. Only madness and malice. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Xu Qing punched her, turning her mouth into a mangled mess.
Coldly eying her, Xu Qing took a deep breath and waved his hand, causing the bluegreen dragon to quickly consume the sea turtle and then float up into the air. Meanwhile, Xu Qing grabbed the Seastar princess and started walking, dragging her behind him.
The grains of beach sand were like knives, slicing agonizingly through the Seastar princess’ wounded flesh, and making her pain even more intense than it had been just from the destruction of her dharma apertures. At this point, her screams almost seemed animalistic.
As Xu Qing walked, he left behind a long, bloody streak in the sand.
As the streak of blood grew longer and longer, the screams grew weaker and weaker. Eventually, Xu Qing was nearing the border created by the Seven Blood Eyes Formation.
When he spotted the city, he said, “Xu Qing, member of the Seven Blood Eyes Echelon and director of the Seventh Peak’s Violent Crimes Division, reporting for duty. The Seastar people have rebelled. I hereby request that the sect’s grand spell formation prevent all Seastar cultivators from teleporting away. Furthermore, do not let them send any messages!”
The spell formation rumbled to life as if to assess his request. But then, the voice of an old man spoke from the Sixth Peak.
“Request granted!”
As the voice echoed left and right, the Seven Blood Eyes Formation activated, creating a force of suppression. Meanwhile, numerous figures flew toward Xu Qing from inside the sect.
The fastest among them was Master Sixth, who seemed to span the distance with a single step. His Nascent Soul cultivation base was like a burning sun to Xu Qing, creating maddening scorching heat all around him.
“What did you find out, Xu Qing?”
Xu Qing took a deep breath as he forced himself to acclimate to the immense pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Clasping hands, he said, “Master Sixth, a soulsearch will be most efficient!”
With that, Xu Qing threw the princess onto the ground in front of Master Sixth. Master Sixth was struggling to control his breathing. Any of the other peaklords would have been much more hesitant to perform a soulsearch simply because Xu Qing suggested it. But he was different. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out, clamped his hand onto the Seastar princess’ head, and began a soulsearch!
Shortly thereafter, the Captain arrived with a handful of others. Looking very serious as he took stock of the situation, he walked over to Xu Qing. He noted the screaming Seastar princess, and also saw the baleful aura that surrounded the expressionless Xu Qing. He clasped Xu Qing’s shoulder.
“Your Elder Brother will bear this burden with you, little Ah Qing!”