Chapter 36: Killing with Impunity
Crucifix’s hands were tougher than an ordinary person’s. Because of his years of archery practice, he had many thick calluses. Back during the encounter with the black-scaled wolves, he had fought for an entire day and night. Yet even then, his hands didn’t shake like they did now. It was impossible to imagine what vicious fighting he had engaged in before Xu Qing arrived.
He had clearly encountered an enemy he couldn’t deal with. Otherwise, his fingers wouldn’t be in such bad shape, and he wouldn’t be covered in wounds. Similarly, Graceful Raptor’s exhausted state showed that she’d pushed herself to the limit.
Given what Xu Qing had seen upon entering the camp, including all of the strange faces, the large number of the camp owner’s people, and the goateed man, he already knew who the enemy was.
Unfortunately, that only made him more uneasy. At his urging, Crucifix and Graceful Raptor explained the situation.
Many years ago, Sergeant Thunder wasn’t a scavenger, but rather, an ordinary citizen in a distant city. Being a talented person, he eventually ended up as a city guard. That was also when he learned how to practice cultivation. He had earned the favor of the city magistrate, and had also become engaged to his childhood sweetheart.
Life was good back then. But then a caravan showed up, and everything changed.
Not even Crucifix and Graceful Raptor knew all the details. They just knew that, some years ago, when Sergeant Thunder got drunk one night, he muttered about how he’d ‘lost everything.’ His fiancée died, and in the process of exacting revenge, his cultivation base was crippled. After barely surviving, he fled his hometown and began the painstaking process of restarting his cultivation. That was when he became a scavenger.
Decades passed until he was an old man with one foot in the grave. The sergeant had long since given up on his old life, and wanted to simply retire. Until….
He saw a certain person in a caravan that visited the scavenger basecamp. It was the person that had ruined his life, and that he thought he’d killed. Except that person wasn’t dead at all.
However, Sergeant Thunder chose not to pursue revenge, fearing that he would implicate the people close to him. Instead, he made the difficult decision to hurry off to Laughing Pines.
Unbeknownst to him, his nemesis was already aware of his existence. Some days ago, the camp owner sent people to Laughing Pines to drag Sergeant Thunder back and give him as a gift to a friend. And that friend was, of course, the very same nemesis Sergeant Thunder had from years ago.
“One of the camp owner’s people is someone whose life I saved some time ago,” Crucifix said through gritted teeth. “When Graceful Raptor and I got back two days ago, he secretly let us know what happened. Of course, as soon as we found out, we tried to rescue the sarge, but failed…. While we were at the camp owner’s place, we saw the sarge’s nemesis. It seems his cultivation base was also damaged years ago. Like the sarge, he managed to rebuild it and make advancement. He’s even beyond the sarge, although not by that much.”
“We did some asking around,” Graceful Raptor said quietly, “and found out that the caravan he’s part of is backed by a mysterious organization called Night Dove. It’s a huge group that operates countless caravans throughout South Phoenix, and visits all sorts of scavenger basecamps and small cities. They often do business with camp owners and city magistrates, especially in the trade of… living treasures.”
“Camp owner, caravan….” Xu Qing was breathing hard, and his eyes already contained powerful killing intent. He felt like there were flames inside him, burning hotter and hotter, making his eyes bloodshot, and stoking his rage sky high. Turning, he walked toward the gate.
Crucifix and Graceful Raptor immediately looked nervous.
“Kid,” Graceful Raptor said anxiously, “we need to talk about this. We should ally with some other scavengers, as this has to do with all the people going missing over the years. We—“
“No need!” Xu Qing said. He reached up and took the long sword off his back.
The sword became a cold streak of light that shot at top speed toward the courtyard gate, backed with explosive power. The courtyard gate shattered, revealing one of the camp owner’s guards outside eavesdropping.
The man had a dagger in his hands, and his eyes were wide as he looked down at the sword piercing through his torso. Then he flew back, blood spraying out of his mouth, his expression one of shock.
The sword was so powerful that, after piercing through the guard, it continued onward toward a nearby alley. There, the goateed man let loose an agonized shriek as the sword plunged into his thigh, impaling him to the ground.
The two sudden casualties caused silence to reign outside. Then shouting and yelling rose up as the seven or eight camp guards in the area rushed toward the gate.
Crucifix and Graceful Raptor looked stunned as Xu Qing shot like a lightning bolt out of the courtyard.
The moment he was outside, he grabbed the dagger out of the dead guard’s hands and took a step toward the nearest enemy. Without even looking, he walked past the guard, using the dagger to slash open his throat. Blood sprayed out like a fountain, and yet that blood couldn’t compare to the redness that filled Xu Qing’s eyes. His bloodshot eyes seemed to be looking at Sergeant Thunder in the camp, seeing his nemesis, and shaking inwardly with grief and indignation.
Xu Qing’s killing intent grew stronger. Spinning, he launched a fist that slammed into the chest of a guard behind him. A boom rang out as blood oozed out of the man’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and his internal organs shattered. Then he flew backward like a kite with its string cut before flopping onto the ground.
At the same time, three guards charged toward Xu Qing. Of that group, two were in the fifth level and one was in the sixth. But as they neared, Xu Qing waved his right hand, and his iron skewer flew out.
It pierced one of the men’s skulls. Then Xu Qing bent over, as agile as a cat, and jumped forward, his dagger slashing through the other man’s throat as he leaped toward the sixth-level guard.
CRACK!
The sixth-level guard reacted fast, putting up a spirit power barrier that blocked the dagger. However, the man wasn’t strong enough to stand up to Xu Qing’s strength. Xu Qing pushed against the barrier, shoving the man backward across the ground until he slammed into the wall behind him. To the shock of the sixth-level guard, the dagger pierced through the spirit power barrier and stabbed into his throat. In fact, the force was so great that the wall behind the man collapsed.
Standing there, Xu Qing slowly turned, his eyes burning with murder.
The remaining handful of camp guards trembled, their eyes wide. Even though all of them had sixth-level cultivation bases, they slowly backed away from him. The goateed man’s screaming ceased, and his face drained of blood as his anxiety built.
And the slaughter wasn’t over yet.
Xu Qing lunged forward again, and the terrified camp guards tried to run, but it was too late. Xu Qing was just too fast. With his left hand he punched the head of one of the guards, and it exploded. Then he moved with specter-like agility to appear next to another guard. His dagger flashed. Then he moved again, appearing in front of a third guard.
Trembling, the man let out a desperate howl and jumped forward, wrapping his arms around Xu Qing. Apparently, the man wanted to end this fight in mutual death.
However, the only thing waiting for him was Xu Qing’s head, which smashed forward. The camp guard’s skull caved in, and he died. Xu Qing took a step back, only to run into another guard.
The dagger in his hand stabbed backward. Once. Twice. Three times.
Only when a wall stopped his blows did Xu Qing look around.
Thumping sounds rang out as all the camp guards in the area dropped to the ground, dead. And none of them had died with corpses intact!
After killing so many people, blood was splattered everywhere. In the late afternoon sun, it was a truly ghastly sight.
Sunlight hit Xu Qing, and all the blood combined made him seem like a devil.
The slaughter here attracted the attention of many of the scavengers living nearby, who stepped out of their residences and stared in shock at the scene.
“It’s the Kid!”
“How… how is he so strong?”
“All of those bodies are people who work for the camp owner. Is this an insurrection?”
Crucifix and Graceful Raptor walked out, supporting each other as they did. When they saw the corpses everywhere, and Xu Qing illuminated in the sun and covered in blood, they were deeply shaken.
Amidst the uproar, Xu Qing walked toward the trembling goateed man, retrieving his dagger and skewer along the way. Soon, he reached the goateed man and stood above him.
The goateed man trembled, and sweat poured down his face. Though he was in pain, it couldn’t surpass the terror he felt in his heart. He tried to struggle, but the long sword stabbing through his thigh made it impossible for him to move. Despair in his eyes, he squealed, “Kid, listen to me, you don’t—“
Xu Qing grabbed the hilt of the sword and wrenched the weapon upward.
It sliced through the goateed man’s leg, into his belly, and out his chin. Blood erupted along with an agonized shriek as the goateed man was split in two.
With this accomplished, Xu Qing stood there with an expressionless face, but surrounded by roiling killing intent. As the sun reflected off the pools of blood, he started walking.
All the scavengers in front of him trembled and backed away. They had seen vicious acts, but usually it was adults who perpetrated them. And most of the perpetrators were outlaws. Xu Qing was only a teenager, and yet had carried out his slaughter with complete calmness. Furthermore, it seemed he wasn’t finished. It was truly a rare sight.
“He’s going… toward the camp owner’s mansion!”
When people realized where he was heading, they let out exclamations of shock. All of them were stunned, and without any coordinated agreement, all started walking after Xu Qing. From a distance, it looked like Xu Qing was leading a big group of people to the camp owner’s mansion. As word spread, and more scavengers heard about what was happening, the crowd increased in size.
Meanwhile, the top experts among the camp guards and caravan strangers were closing in on Xu Qing, ready to kill him.
Inside the mansion, the camp owner was drinking some tea. At the table with him was an icily arrogant old man wearing a brocade robe. The two of them were chatting.
“Don’t worry, Mister Sun. In the time it takes an incense stick to burn, this matter will be resolved. Even when scavengers act like this, they aren’t on the same level as sect cultivators like us. I’d been planning to groom the Kid a bit further, and possibly recommend him for the sect. But given how stubborn he’s being, it’s probably better to just cut him down.”
The old man in the brocaded robe took a sip of tea, then put the cup down and said, “I’d rather have him alive.”