Chapter 420: An Acrid Odor Overwhelms; A Sea of Poison Spreads
Xu Qing was right. He was good at fighting groups. Once he unleashed the poison from his third heavenly palace, shocking death would result. In fact, from the moment Xu Qing had acquired that taboo poison core until now, he had never tapped into its full potential. Even now, he was keeping control of it carefully.
After all, that poison did not distinguish between enemies and allies. It wouldn’t hurt Xu Qing, but it could be deadly even to Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior and his shadow.
Despite keeping it under a level of control, it was still absolutely astonishing to the Holytide Black Guard cultivators. In the shortest of moments, three of the five-palace cultivators screamed in terror as their bodies disintegrated. The skin of their face melted, their bodies turned into blood, and their eyeballs fell out of their eye sockets. Despite all of that, they didn’t feel any pain. That was the terrifying thing about the poison of Xu Qing’s taboo poison core. It caused the body to rot away without the victim being able to sense anything. By the time any pain hit them, the poison was deep in the marrow.
As those screams of terror echoed out, Xu Qing was like a wind of death. He appeared in front of a six-palace cultivator, and his dagger slashed a throat. A swishing sound could be heard, and then blood sprayed. As the head tumbled down, Xu Qing kicked it, turning it into a string of afterimages that sped toward another Holytide Black Guard cultivator. There it exploded, sending out poisoned blood in all directions.
The cultivator backed up, shocked, but he wasn’t fast enough to escape death.
Face expressionless, Xu Qing took a step forward, exploding with the full fleshly body power of seven palaces. Violent winds erupted all around him such that, from a distance, it resembled a hurricane.
Xu Qing himself was like a weapon that slammed into the Black Guard cultivator. Blood exploded in all directions.
At the same time, poison continued to infect surrounding cultivators. Another three Black Guard cultivators screamed as their bodies started rotting. In the shortest of moments, their bodies became bloody liquid that splashed onto the ground below.
The other surrounding enemies were shaking with unmitigated terror.
“This poison is too strong!”
“Everybody run!”
It wasn’t just the Black Guard cultivators who were scattering. Kong Xianglong, Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit were visibly taken aback. They and the people they were fighting all subconsciously put more distance between themselves and Xu Qing.
Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever. The more he spent time with this poison, the more he felt like he could control it. Next, he appeared like a phantom right in front of the ninth Holytide cultivator he had faced so far, one with seven heavenly palaces. Without hesitation, he threw his dagger out with full force. However, this particular Black Guard cultivator was extraordinary, erupting with fleshly body power, he grabbed the dagger to stop its momentum.
However, the moment he touched it, needles shot out from the shroud that made the hilt. The Black Guard cultivator’s face fell as intense pain swept up his arm and all the way to his heart, mind, and soul. Unable to release the dagger, he could only watch as it stabbed into his throat and then jerked to the side.
That ability was a secret power of the dagger that Xu Qing had never needed to use before. The downside to it was that whenever he used the dagger, he had to endure the stabbing pain that resulted from holding it. Thankfully he had long since grown used to that sensation, and hardly noticed it.
Pulling the dagger out of the cultivator’s throat, Xu Qing was about to continue fighting when his expression flickered and he stepped to the side just in time to avoid a flying sword. Turning, he saw a seven-palace enemy unleashing an imperial-class technique. A huge black hand stretched out from behind him, heading with deadly momentum toward Xu Qing.
This time, Xu Qing didn’t need to do anything. Two six-palace cultivators grinned gruishly, then lunged toward their seven-palace comrade. As they did, each shouted the same thing.
“My lord and master says hello!”
Then they self-detonated. The gruish scene caused all of the other Holytide Black Guard cultivators’ faces to fall.
The massive explosion caused by the two self-detonating six-palace cultivators smashed into the seven-palace cultivator, causing blood to spray out of his mouth. Then he looked visibly shocked as he reached out to grab a black iron skewer that had shot toward him out of nowhere. However, though he grabbed it, he simply couldn’t control the skewer with its endless red lightning. It stabbed right into his head, sending a tremor through his entire body.
Then Xu Qing’s dagger flew through the air and stabbed into his heart. Pulling out of him, it then stabbed back into him, seven times in a row, each blow extremely brutal.
As the screams echoed out, Xu Qing came to the conclusion he’d done enough with his poison. The surrounding Black Guard cultivators were all melting, terror on their faces as they realized their cultivation bases were powerless to help them.
That should do it. The shadow eye on his forehead transformed back into a coffin. It opened, and Xu Qing stepped out. At the same time, he made sure to loudly use the code phrase so as not to reveal his Shadow Fusion Secret Magic.
Next, Xu Qing used his Gruegloom Daoseizing Art. Bursting into motion, he turned his right hand semitransparent and stabbed it into the chest of a six-palace enemy.
The cultivator struggled, but it didn’t do any good. Xu Qing ripped his gold cores out of him. As he absorbed them, blood droplets rained down everywhere. As miserable screams rang out, the golden crow appeared behind him. It now had forty-two flaming tails that brought brilliance to the predawn darkness. The golden crow’s eyes shone brightly as Xu Qing, still absorbing the gold cores, sent it to the black hand formed by the Black Guard’s imperial-class technique. Not to be outdone, his shadow stretched out.
The cultivator was being absorbed in three ways.
A moment later, his imperial-class technique collapsed, his body withered up, and his heavenly palaces were completely destroyed. Anyone watching this would be astonished to the core; Xu Qing’s method of fighting was incomparably ferocious.
That said, Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit weren’t far behind him. Duskspirit had transformed into a gigantic cyclops with green fur. This was a greater demon unique to the Supreme Void Demonization Sect, and its single eye burned with dark soul fire. Her torso was very demonic, as she had four fleshy growths that looked like giant fingers. At the end of each finger was a vicious face that would devour enemies. And if any of the fingers were destroyed, they would grow back moments later.
Sir Mountain-River was surrounded by a mist of blood. He was wounded all over, except it was because he specialized in taking injuries for his companions. His technique was bloodline-related, and it ensured that the more wounds he received, the stronger he got. Right now, he seemed to ignore any injuries. As he devolved into madness, his eyes filled with killing intent and nothing else.
Wang Chen’s dwarf was also going all out. It was covered with lightning, and even had a life lamp of lightning over its head, giving it incredible speed. Then he suddenly changed shape. Instead of being a dwarf, he looked like a tall young man. However, his entire body was covered with black totem tattoos that resembled sealing marks. One by one, they began releasing terrifying auras and fluctuations.
With every tattoo sealing mark he opened, a nonhuman doppelgänger would appear. Lightborn. Rockdevils. Garmentfolk. The Smokewight was also there. With all of those doppelgängers, he was fighting to the death with the two eight-palace Black Guard cultivators. They all had magical treasure fragments as well, so though they weren’t truly a match for the eight-palace cultivators, they could at least buy time at the expense of being wounded.
Kong Xianglong was making an even bigger scene. The gold dragon behind him roared, making him look like a god from heaven descended into the mortal world. He was also surrounded by the garment of blood. As he fought the three half-Nascent Soul cultivators, heaven shook, and the earth quaked violently. He was a mere Gold Core cultivator, yet was surrounded by half-Nascent Soul enemies. Even still, he didn’t seem to be at a disadvantage, and instead, was incomparably mighty.
“This is the Swordsage Palace’s Hell Squad for this generation!” one of the Black Guard cultivators shouted. Terrified, the enemies scattered.
Before they could get very far, they started toppling over, blood spraying out of their mouths as their bodies rotted into bloody sludge.
Xu Qing continued attacking. The golden crow let loose a joyful cry as it continued devouring the enemy. And Xu Qing’s Gruegloom hand extracted one gold core after another. Unfortunately, his attack rate couldn’t match the speed of his poison. By the time he personally killed his nineteenth Black Guard cultivator, there were only seven left.
Three were fighting Kong Xianglong. Two were fighting Sir Mountain-River and the others.
The remaining two... were almost completely rotted away. Together, they staggered over to Xu Qing, flopped to their knees, and looked up at him, their eyes filled with despair and terror. Then, they spoke the same thing in fanatical voices.
“Milord, please take these as gifts for you exalted swordsages!”
With that, they stabbed their hands into their own heavenly palaces, ripped out their gold cores, and held them high overhead. Xu Qing used his Gruegloom hand to absorb them. Then he reached out, put his hands onto the heads of the terrified Black Guard cultivators, and twisted forcefully. Cracks rang out as their heads turned to face the opposite directions. Then their bodies sagged down, dead. Until the moment they died, their mouths were twisted in gruish smiles.
Everyone present was a killer who couldn’t possibly be afraid of the act of killing itself. But whether it was the way the enemy despaired as they rotted away, or their terror as they apparently killed themselves, this was far more terrifying and gruish than anything they had ever seen.
Every single person present, whether a friend or a foe, was shaken by the sight of Xu Qing. He currently stood in the middle of a gory sludge. There were no corpses around him, as they had all melted into liquid. The golden crow glittered behind him, crying out loudly, its phoenix-like feathers trailing flames as it soared. The wind stirred Xu Qing’s long hair, revealing eyes that were unsurpassably calm.
As he stood in the gore, Xu Qing looked up at Sir Mountain-River and the others, who were still stalling the two eight-palace cultivators. Then he moved in their direction, accelerating rapidly. At the same time, his third heavenly palace erupted with a gravitational force that caused all of the taboo poison in the area to rapidly reconverge directly around him. Everything around him turned black, like a dense mist filled with innumerable beetles.
Sir Mountain-River and the others were visibly shaken, and the two eight-palace cultivators were appalled. Surrounded by the black mist, Xu Qing approached.
His arrival split the battlefield, and before anyone could do anything, he descended on one of the eight-palace Black Guard cultivators. The mist surrounded them, so dense that no one could see inside. But they could hear shouting, and they could sense astonishing shockwaves.
All of a sudden, Sir Mountain-River and the others weren’t facing two eight-palace cultivators, but instead, one. The tide of battle had turned.
After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, the vicious Kong Xianglong finally managed to rip one of the half-Nascent Soul enemies to shreds. Sir Mountain-River and the others had also felled their opponent. The latter could be described as freakish hellions. Though they weren’t on the same level as Kong Xianglong, they still had peak seven-palace battle prowess. By combining their efforts and pulling out their trump cards, they slaughtered an eight-palace Holytide Black Guard cultivator, and survived with only injuries.
Around that time, an anguished scream rang out from Xu Qing’s black mist. Then footsteps could be heard before Xu Qing strode out into the open.
His eyes shone with a strange, thoughtful light. Wounds criss-crossed his entire body. His chest was a mangled mass of flesh and blood. He had a huge chunk cut out of his waist. His legs trembled. His neck bled profusely from a wound that looked like a bite mark. His mouth was covered with blood, and the hand that held his dagger hung limply at an unnatural angle.
As he walked, he spat some blood onto the ground and tossed down an eyeball that he had been holding. The poison mist behind him then flowed toward him and merged into his body.
As it disappeared, it revealed the battleground behind him, and a figure standing there. It was the Black Guard cultivator he had been fighting. His body was mostly dissolved. His belly had been ripped open and his gold cores extracted. His heavenly palaces were destroyed. He only had one eyeball left, and it revealed the incredulity he had experienced before death.
Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit looked at him, their eyes shining.
Xu Qing looked up at them, spat out another mouthful of blood, and then quietly said, “Sorry to keep you waiting. Killing that one was hard.”
Behind him, the Black Guard cultivator fell onto his face.
Given Xu Qing’s current battle prowess, killing an eight-palace cultivator like that was indeed difficult. During that life-or-death battle, he had used every tool he had at his disposal. Even still, his opponent had viciously bit a chunk out of his neck.
That said, he had benefited a lot. What was more, he had indeed sensed the aura of the red moon on his opponent, which was why he had a thoughtful look on his face when the fighting was over. Now wasn’t the time to contemplate that, though, as an anguished cry rang out from the dome of heaven.
The second half-Nascent Soul cultivator’s neck had just been snapped by Kong Xianglong.
The lone remaining half-Nascent Soul cultivator looked absolutely terrified. It wasn’t just Kong Xianglong he feared. All of these swordsages were ferocious. Therefore, it was without any hesitation that he turned and fled.
Grinning viciously, Kong Xianglong gave chase. Meanwhile, Xu Qing calmly slammed his fist onto his broken leg. A crack rang out as the bone set. Then he joined the chase.
Because of that, the approval in the eyes of Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit grew even deeper. All of them had even more serious injuries, yet they ignored them as they joined the chase as well, their killing intent burning.
If they were going to return the favor of a gift to the Black Guard, then they were going to kill everyone. They weren’t far from the border, and the half-Nascent Soul expert had actually laid eyes on it when the swordsages caught up.
All five of them attacked at the same time. With Kong Xianglong there to keep things in control, there was no question how it would play out. A massive boom rang out as the half-Nascent Soul cultivator exploded into bloody chunks that rained down onto the border itself. The moment he died, an explosive aura erupted on the other side of the border, and a figure blurred in their direction.
“Swordsages!” a voice howled angrily.
In response, Kong Xianglong shouted back, “Hey you, bozo! We’re standing in Sea-Sealing County. Any nonhuman Nascent Soul cultivator who crosses this border will be instantly killed by Sea-Sealing County’s taboo treasure! Feel free to come on over, bitch!”
Then Kong Xianglong turned and sped in the opposite direction. Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit were already fleeing. Xu Qing fled even faster.
A moment later, a middle-aged Holytide cultivator wearing the black uniform of the Black Guard appeared on the border. His face was extremely unsightly as he gritted his teeth and looked at the fleeing Kong Xianglong and the others. Killing intent boiled in his eyes, and yet, he didn’t dare to step across that border!