Chapter 828: What Do You Mean All of Them
There were 27 mountains in this forbidden region, and 26 of them were filled with Great Hunt participants who were looking in Xu Qing’s direction with very serious expressions. All were people who had carried out many instances of slaughter during their years of cultivation. But even they were shocked by what they had just seen. It was killing by isolation and killing by poison.
Killing by isolation was ruthless, while killing by poison was ferocious. The latter was especially noteworthy.
Xu Qing’s poison was ghastly to behold and truly imparted a sense of terror into those who witnessed it.
When one’s cultivation base reached a certain level, it came with natural resistance to most poisons. In many cases, it made one completely immune. Theoretically speaking, the people who had just died shouldn’t have needed to worry about poison. But today, they had witnessed a shocking poison that... surpassed what any of them thought possible.
“It stirred the local mutagen....”
“That’s no ordinary poison. That’s a godly poison!”
“I heard about a magic associated with gods. It’s called a god curse....”
“Only the magic of gods can negate god curses.”
The cultivators looked at the ninth mountain with fear in their eyes. But in addition to the fear, they also felt greed. It was somewhat contradictory. The reason was that, as Xu Qing sat down cross-legged, numerous forbidden mountains orbited overhead.
The people who had come here to lay claim to forbidden mountains included some who had already taken some forbidden mountains. Therefore, when Xu Qing killed the cultivators on the ninth mountain via isolation and poison, all of their forbidden mountains became masterless. All he had to do was wave his hand to collect them. There were a total of 22!
Given Xu Qing’s original group of five, that meant that he now had 27 miniaturized forbidden mountains orbiting overhead. Lightning crackled between them, and they emanated mighty pressure. And of course, they were extremely eye-catching.
As of this moment, Xu Qing himself was just as valuable as this entire forbidden region. The forbidden region had 27 forbidden mountains that people were ready to fight over. And yet Xu Qing alone already had 27 mountains.... As for what was easier to take, and what would be more worth it, opinions differed amongst those in the area.
In the temporary silence that followed the event, the gazes locked onto Xu Qing became increasingly aggressive and greedy. That said, nobody made a move. Nobody knew how to deal with his poison, and that was enough to keep them at bay.
Meanwhile, the Captain and Master Gravesparrow arrived at the ninth mountain next to Xu Qing. The Captain was familiar with the way Xu Qing carried out deadly slaughters, so he wasn’t really surprised at all. That being said, it had been a while since anything like this played out. It actually got him a bit excited.
As for Master Gravesparrow, he was stunned to the core, and could only stand there wordlessly. The smell of gore shook him to the core, and when he looked at Xu Qing, his expression was one of reverence. The Firemoon Darkheavens were a people who instinctively admired strength.
In the golden palace, the Firemoon noble leaned forward to look more closely at Xu Qing.
I thought the little human was a hardened killer, but I never guessed... that he was actually a fiendish killer! This Great Hunt is getting more and more interesting. I bet the little Firemoon punks down there are really getting worked up now.
The noble smiled as he pondered the poison he had just seen. I’ve never seen anything like it. Given the aura, it must have come from a god domain. And it’s quite vicious in the hands of that kid.
As the cultivators on the other mountains were looking at the 27 mountains orbiting over Xu Qing, he looked around to see how many forbidden mountains they had. There weren’t many on the back ten mountains, and the number on the others were split up randomly.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. Given how well the Captain knew Xu Qing, he noticed the look in his eyes and smiled. When he mentioned ‘all of them’ to Master Gravesparrow earlier, he hadn’t been talking about just these 27 mountains in this forbidden region. He had been talking about all of the mountains that the cultivators had as well.
A total of 213 mountains.
Most of the cultivators in the area were in the Spirit Trove level. Although there were a few in Void Returning, the highest among them was second stage.
Licking his lips, he quietly said, “How many hours until the mountains are up for grabs?”
Master Gravesparrow lowered his voice and replied, “Another twenty-six hours!”
Xu Qing nodded and closed his eyes to wait. He wasn’t an unreasonable person. In fact, being reasonable was a good habit. That was what Master Seventh had taught him. When you act reasonably, you can be calmer. Therefore, Xu Qing planned to wait for a bit, then ask everyone else present if they would be willing to just leave.
In that manner, time passed. An entire day went by in which more and more people glanced at the ninth mountain. That was especially true of the cultivators on the mountains that had been set aside. Some were also communicating via voice message. Master Gravesparrow was getting more nervous at that realization, and kept instinctively looking at the Captain. When he saw how relaxed he looked, he wasn’t sure how to react. None of this was playing out as he’d imagined it would. Though these two humans were obviously very strong, it was also obvious that, after seeing the forbidden mountains orbiting above Xu Qing’s head, the other cultivators in the area were probably calling for help.
The more time that passed, the less likely that their opponents would be limited to the cultivators present at the moment. It was entirely possible that a truly amazing chosen cultivator could show up. At a certain point, he couldn’t hold back any longer, and gave voice to his concerns.
The Captain smiled but didn’t respond.
Xu Qing just sat there with his eyes closed. That said, he kept his divine will locked onto his ancient sun as he meditated.
Eventually, when there were only about two hours left, someone chose to make a move!
It wasn’t one of the cultivators waiting on any of the mountains. Instead, a figure appeared off in the distance, flying at top speed. He was covered with white scales and had a third eye on his forehead. That made it obvious what species he was. Whitemarsh. His arrival instantly attracted the attention of the other cultivators present.
“Sir Heavenhark of the Whitemarshes!”
“I can’t believe it’s him!”
“He’s one of the most famous chosen among the Whitemarshes, and from what I’ve heard, has progressed rapidly in his cultivation. In less than a sixty-year-cycle, he reached Void Returning. People say that he’s guaranteed to reach Smoldering God. He even had the outstanding luck to be able to pay a formal visit to Steward Heavencloud!”
As the other cultivators reacted in different ways, Sir Heavenhark’s aura spread out, filled with vicious ferocity that caused everything to turn gloomy and dark. He had natural laws flowing in his eyes, which also created a projected face behind him. He was in the second stage of Void Returning, and in the great circle of that stage. Shockingly, orbiting above his head were roughly a hundred forbidden mountains that emanated terrifying pressure.
After arriving, the Whitemarsh Sir Heavenhark scanned the area, then looked coldly at the ninth mountain.
Meanwhile, a few dozen Whitemarsh cultivators flew up from the surrounding mountains and joined him. After bowing in greeting, they said some things to him in hushed tones, then pointed at Xu Qing.
Voice cool, Sir Heavenhark said, “The poisoned curse of a god can be easily negated with an item connected to a god.”
He waved his hand, and a bronze incense burner appeared above his head. It abounded with a sense of ancientness, and emitted fluctuations which spread out in all directions to suppress the local mutagen. It was clearly something connected to a god. The smoke from the burner spread out for about 300 meters in all directions, creating a smoky area with Sir Heavenhark in the middle.
The other Whitemarsh cultivators’ expressions burned with zeal, and they bowed reverently.
Sir Heavenhark’s expression was the same as ever. He looked like a godchild as he strode toward Xu Qing on the ninth mountain. All gazes came to be fixed on him. He landed on the mountain, and the billowing poison mist couldn’t penetrate the smoke from his incense burner. As a result, he was able to walk through the poison uninhibited.
All of the onlookers were shaken. That included Master Gravesparrow, who had heard of this newcomer. Although Master Gravesparrow was a Firemoon Darkheaven cultivator with a high status, he had to admit that Sir Heavenhark had an even more amazing reputation. In the past hundred years, no chosen had achieved faster cultivation progress than him. Master Gravesparrow couldn’t help but look over at Xu Qing and the Captain.
The Captain seemed as relaxed as ever. And though Xu Qing’s eyes were open, he actually wasn’t looking specifically at Sir Heavenhark. Instead, he was looking at the incense burner. Only after studying it closely did his gaze fall to look at Sir Heavenhark.
Sir Heavenhark didn’t show any reaction to that. He just kept walking forward, pressure mounting around him such that his every footfall caused the mountain to shake. The poison mist just parted for him, and posed no trouble whatsoever. Killing intent and a domineering air were both very prominent on him.
However, the reality was that Sir Heavenhark was secretly shocked. He could sense that this poison was actually a lot more dangerous than he’d assumed. Although it didn’t appear to be causing any trouble for him, the reality was that it had already started to invade him. In fact, based on what he could sense through the incense burner, he knew that he would only have about one hour of protection, after which the incense burner would stop working.
This god curse is extraordinary. That said, an hour should be more than enough.
Sir Heavenhark’s eyes grew colder, and when he was about 900 meters away from Xu Qing, he suddenly accelerated, turning into a destructive meteor that shot forward. He was like a boulder crushing a drinking glass as he smashed everything in his path. The mountain shook. Plants and vegetation were reduced to ashes. And all light seemed to fade away, making that meteor the most eye-catching thing in the area.
Master Gravesparrow’s face fell, and his cultivation base surged. The Captain yawned. Xu Qing’s expression hadn’t changed at all; he simply raised his right hand and placed his finger about three inches in front of his forehead.
A mass of black markings appeared there, some thick, some thin. They seemed to represent his blood vessels, and they soon interlocked to form a vicious ghost face. All of a sudden, the ghost face resembled a lamp, which lit up with underworld fire. From a distance, it looked like there was a ghost lamp on Xu Qing’s forehead!
Sir Heavenhark was still 810 meters away.
Next, Xu Qing’s finger moved to his left shoulder. Black blood vessels converged there to form a second ghost lamp.
The underworld fire flickered as Sir Heavenhark reached a point 690 meters away. Next, Xu Qing moved his finger to his right shoulder, then his dantian region, then his legs, and finally to the spot above his heart. All of the incantation gestures were performed in the blink of an eye.
Seven lamps with the fire of the underworld were now burning within him. His aura skyrocketed as curse power emerged from the seven ghost lamps. They became seven ghost faces, each of which had a different facial expression, including joy, anger, anxiety, thoughtfulness, terror, and more. This was a taboo magic that Xu Qing had learned via imitation from Imperial Sovereign Li Zihua’s fourth son. [1]
The Seven Lamps Underworld Fire Curse! And it was the type of curse that resulted in death!
Xu Qing looked with cold eyes at Sir Heavenhark, who was now about 30 meters away.
“Extinguish the lamp, extinguish the enemy.”
1. Xu Qing encountered the Seven Lamps Underworld Fire Curse in the chapter of the same name,688 . ☜