Chapter 216: A Road of Blood
High in the dome of heaven, Master Sixth laughed. However, it was a laughter of pain and mourning, filled with indescribable grief that, over the years of being bottled up, had turned into madness. The Seastar patriarch had been crushed over and over again in his hands. But the patriarch had a gruish divine ability to be reborn after being destroyed. And that ability was driving Master Sixth into even deeper madness. The deeper his pain and grief, the more his killing intent raged to heaven. Apparently, he was skinning the patriarch alive, sending down chunks of bloody flesh to be incinerated by the fires below. Yet his hatred had not been sated.
Down below, Xu Qing’s eyes were completely bloodshot. He was also in a state of madness. From the moment he landed on the island until he reached the ancestral temple, any Seastar he saw ended up dead.
He waved his right hand, causing a dagger of balefire to appear, which he slashed through the throat of a Seastar cultivator. A head flew, and Xu Qing stepped forward to deal with another Seastar cultivator. His dagger plunged into the enemy’s chest over and over again. Then it flew through the air to sink into the throat of a third Seastar cultivator. Then Xu Qing stepped over and slashed out with another dagger. Another head rolled. Yet again, within the corpse, Xu Qing saw what appeared to be threads made of silver worms, which were now severed.
In some cases the threads were made of many worms entwined together. In other cases a thread was made of a single worm. It was a very gruish sight. It seemed as if all the Seastar cultivators had them. Xu Qing had seen them in every Seastar he killed, and upon collecting some, found that they tried to burrow into him. Thankfully, his tough flesh made that impossible, and he ultimately incinerated them. Except, the threadworms had a very strong life force, and ordinary fire from within Xu Qing wasn’t strong enough to destroy them. He had been forced to use the golden crow.
Beyond the gruish threadworms’ toughness, it seemed to Xu Qing that they could influence the Seastar cultivators’ will and soul. Part of the reason for coming to that conclusion was that he had noticed the threadworms glittering in the eyes of some of the Seastar cultivators. Whenever they glittered, the Seastar cultivators seemed to go absolutely insane, and would attack without regard to their own lives.
Furthermore, upon devouring Seastar souls with balefire, Xu Qing came to realize that their souls were incomplete and damaged, as if they had already been partially devoured. It was the same with their energy, blood, and essence. Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits benefited from all that, but only minimally.
The Seastars looked ordinary on the surface, but had been largely devoured by some other force.
Master Sixth was right. There’s a lot more going on with the Seastars than any of us knew.
That said, it didn’t matter much to Xu Qing. He blurred into motion, the golden crow following behind him. Slaughtering six Seastar cultivators in a row, he absorbed them. At the same time, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior sent the iron skewer stabbing through one enemy after another. With every stab, thunder boomed, shaking the life force of the enemy.
The shadow spread out as well. One after another, eyes appeared in the shadows of the Seastar cultivators and began to ravenously devour them. In many cases, before the devouring was complete, Xu Qing or the patriarch would kill the target. That said, the shadow didn’t give up. And occasionally, it managed to fully possess one of the enemy. When that happened, the possessed Seastar would throw its head back and laugh uproariously before rushing into the nearest group of Seastars and self-detonating.
All of that... was what Xu Qing led the attack with. What was truly frightening to the Captain as he watched from further back was the black cloud that surrounded Xu Qing. The beetles that made up the cloud seemed able to conquer every obstacle in their path. It didn’t matter if it was coral trees or Seastar cultivators, they would ravenously devour them. Bloodcurdling shrieks rang out constantly. The black beetles even devoured the threadworms, although it took them a lot of effort to do so.
Regardless, Xu Qing was releasing all of his pent-up fury. Eventually, he slaughtered his way to the ancestral temple, leaving behind a wake of blood and bones.
Four figures sat cross-legged outside the temple. All of them looked up at the same time, and when they did, blue veins bulged on their faces. They were Seastar cultivators, but they were different from the others. The first difference was in their aura; all of them surpassed the three-flame level, though they weren’t fully in the four-flame level. Second of all, the bulging veins visible on their faces wriggled. Apparently, there were huge threadworms inside of them, moving about.
As they caught sight of Xu Qing, he laid eyes on the person seated cross-legged in front of the pill furnace behind them in the temple. It was a middle-aged cultivator in a long, green robe embroidered with golden thread. The complex design emanated a noble aura, which was augmented by the imperial crown the man wore. He had a Gold Core cultivation base, as well as a starfish symbol on his forehead.
The cultivator seemed threatening without being angry, and was ignoring the mass slaughter going on outside. He remained seated in place, his eyes closed as he sent energy into the pill furnace. It was as if he didn’t care at all if his people were wiped out of existence. The only thing that mattered to him was the pill in the furnace.
This man was the chieftain of the Seastar people, and was the son of the Seastar patriarch who was suffering up above.
When Xu Qing’s gaze fell on the man, the killing intent in his heart erupted to greater heights.
Meanwhile, the four Seastar cultivators on guard outside rose to their feet. Their eyes did not contain any emotions. However, within their pupils were white threads as thick as chopsticks. As one, they entered the profound radiance state, revealing the battle prowess of three life flames as they closed in on Xu Qing.
Each of them had a cancerous growth on their back that resembled a starfish, which bolstered their fleshly body power. Howling, they all unleashed fist strikes! Their fists caused everything in the area to ripple and distort as wild power raged.
Xu Qing didn’t attempt to evade the attack. He stood in place, eyes closed as the golden crow’s feathers of black flame spread out like an imperial robe. Its flaming tail became a cape, and its head was like an imperial crown that settled on Xu Qing’s head. A wild and domineering aura pulsed out of Xu Qing, making him seem like a young emperor. Then his eyes opened.
A boom rang out as the four incoming Seastar cultivators found that their fists couldn’t come close to harming Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits. Instead, the power of their attacks created a backlash that sent all of them skidding backward.
Before they could think about fleeing, Xu Qing took a step forward, reached out with his right hand, and completely ignoring the fact that his opponent was in the profound radiance state, grabbed the Seastar’s throat. He tightened his fingers, and a crunch rang out. Then the iron skewer stabbed through the Seastar seven or eight times.
After that, Xu Qing loosened his grip. As he did, the cape of flames behind him flared, transforming into a beam that shot toward the second retreating Seastar. A thump rang out as it slammed into the cultivator, who let loose an agonized shriek. He continued to flee, but Xu Qing was faster, slamming into him and causing the Seastar’s head to explode.
Things weren’t over yet, though. A cloud of black beetles swarmed over the third retreating Seastar, burrowing into his skin and devouring him. More bloodcurdling screams rang out.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing reached the fourth and final Seastar cultivator, who could do nothing but watch in horror as a golden crow shot out from Xu Qing, spreading balefire all over him and immolating him.
All of this happened in the briefest spans of time. In the blink of an eye, four Seastars died. Their energy and blood was taken, their souls were extracted, and their flesh devoured. Sadly, they were like pieces of meat that had been left in an icebox for years on end. They lacked nutrients and flavor, and were as useful as chicken bones.
Xu Qing waved his hand, and the corpses collapsed into ash and were blown away in the wind. He wasn’t interested in them. His eyes were dead set on the Seastar chieftain sitting in front of the pill furnace.
Meanwhile, the Captain caught up with Xu Qing. Holding an apple that, for some reason, was now black, he took a bite and looked at the chieftain.
Grinning, he said, “Wowww, little Junior Brother. The way you’re looking at this guy, he might as well already be dead!”
However, at that exact moment, the Seastar chieftain’s eyes snapped open, and they glittered like lightning!
Xu Qing’s mind spun as a tempestuous pressure swept over him. Thankfully, the pendant hanging around his neck dispelled most of the pressure.
The Captain took a few steps back, magical symbols glittering in his eyes. Expression turning a bit crazy, he licked his lips, revealing that he had some black apple flesh stuck in his teeth.
“Xu Qing, why don’t we work together to kill this guy.”
Xu Qing nodded. Then the two of them rushed toward the Seastar chieftain in the temple.
The chieftain looked at them with a strange light in his eyes. Then he laughed. “Interesting. Who could have guessed that two runts like you, having run into a Gold Core cultivator in a little place like this, would charge into a fight? I still have enough time to play around.”