Chapter 92: Blood-Soaked Sealizard Island
At night on the open water, the wind could change with no warning. The weather was as unfathomable as the depths of the sea. In the sky over Sealizard Island, thunder rumbled and occasional lightning bolts could be seen. A storm was coming.
Thanks to the illumination of the lightning, it was possible to see a great slaughter underway on the tallest mountain on the island.
Three godly lizard skins were valuable enough that any rogue cultivator would risk life and limb to get them.
As the thunder boomed overhead, Xu Qing’s eyes overflowed with killing intent. Lunging forward, he body-slammed a cultivator from the Church of Departure, sending the man staggering backward.
Not bothering to wait for a counter attack, and ignoring the incoming magical techniques, Xu Qing plunged his iron skewer into the man’s chest six or seven times, piercing his heart. The man trembled with each blow. Then Xu Qing jumped away as the magical techniques arrived. They slammed into the cultivator’s corpse, ripping it to shreds.
Meanwhile, as Xu Qing backed away, four Sea Ghost nonhumans spread out to surround him. All of them were obviously powerful body cultivators.
There was also the burly man with the vicious face on his chest. Performing a double-handed incantation gesture, he summoned a huge sphere of blood that quickly transformed into a crimson bat. As the bat shot toward Xu Qing, it bared its fangs; obviously a bite from this bat would result in either severe injury or death.
Seeing the danger, Xu Qing threw out a talisman treasure that created a defensive shield. As the bat and the other Sea Ghost cultivators were held off, Xu Qing then turned toward three cultivators from the Church of Departure.
His current goal was to wipe out the people from the Church of Departure! And that was because they were the biggest threat.
The Church of Departure didn’t care about life. That applied to their enemies and to themselves. As a result, they were formidable fighters.
As Xu Qing closed in with the spectral drought demon and its sea of flames, the Church of Departure cultivators’ expressions flickered. However, they still continued with their attack, even if it meant their own injury or death.
Booms rang out as one of the three cultivator’s chests caved in. The next cultivator managed to grab hold of Xu Qing’s waist. Xu Qing stabbed him in his head, but before dying, the man grabbed the skewer, making it impossible for Xu Qing to pull it out.
The third cultivator was the first to show any sort of emotion in his eyes. It was fanaticism.
“Departure!” he howled, and his entire body burst into flames, turning into a dazzling lance that shot toward Xu Qing with shocking speed.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly as his spirit sea suddenly erupted, appearing outside of him and rushing out in all directions.
The corpses of the two Church of Departure cultivators collapsed from the force, and the other cultivators in the area who had been rushing toward Xu Qing had no chance to get out of the way, and were struck.
Taking advantage of the moment, Xu Qing spun, just barely avoiding the burning lance, which passed right by his chest.
That said, even though it didn’t stab him, it still brushed against him, shredding his clothing and slicing open his flesh.
Gasping for breath, Xu Qing backed up about fifteen meters. Stopping, he bent his legs, then launched off of one foot, shooting forward like an arrow. Leaving behind a string of afterimages, he closed in on another of the Church of Departure cultivators. This cultivator’s eyes also burned with fanaticism.
“Departure!” he howled, as he also chose to self-detonate.
There were only three people left from the Church of Departure. Of that group, one remained unmoving, while two flew toward Xu Qing at top speed. Within their cloaks, their eyes burned just like their compatriots, as they also chose to self-detonate!
Some distance away, the Sea Ghosts’ eyes were bloodshot as they looked on. They had roughly a dozen cultivators left, all of whom were unleashing trump cards, including three talisman treasures.
There were more. The surrounding rogue cultivators, including people who had rushed over from other mountains on the island, were edging forward and launching their own attacks.
From a distance, it looked like Xu Qing was in a very dangerous position. In the blink of an eye, three cultivators from the Church of Departure self-detonated, all of the Sea Ghosts attacked, and multiple talisman treasures exploded. The area around Xu Qing exploded, and waves of dirt showered over him.
And yet, before that dirt could settle, Xu Qing shot out from inside like a bolt of lightning. Surrounding him was a glowing yellow light cast by another talisman treasure. Specifically, it was a flight talisman, attached to his leg.
With that, he could achieve levels of speed surpassing anything from before. Moving at top speed, he slammed into a rogue cultivator who held a dagger.
The man screamed as his body exploded. Not pausing, Xu Qing grabbed the dagger and sped toward more surrounding enemies.
Blood still oozed out of the corners of his mouth, and his Seven Blood Eyes daoist robe was in tatters. However, the iciness in his eyes didn’t show any signs of thawing. Wherever he went, screams rang out, and bodies dropped. Blood spread out everywhere until the muddy ground reeked of gore.
Several Sea Ghost cultivators lost their heads as he dashed by them.
Amidst the brutal slaughter, the sole remaining cultivator from the Church of Departure and the Sea Ghost with the fiendish face on his chest joined forces and were able to temporarily keep Xu Qing at bay.
Shrugging off a magical attack from the two of them, Xu Qing plunged his right hand into the chest of a rogue cultivator, then threw him to the side. Flying up to a nearby boulder, he lowered himself to his haunches and glared icily at the surrounding enemies.
The remaining member of the Church of Departure was their leader.
There were four Sea Ghosts, including the man with the face on his chest.
As Xu Qing scanned the area, blood dripped off of his dagger and mixed with the blood on the ground. Xu Qing had a flight talisman, and thus could have simply flown away. But these people wanted to kill him. According to his own rules, he couldn’t just leave. He needed to eliminate any potential future threats by killing everyone present.
There were over forty corpses on the ground, and the aura of death they emanated was incredibly strong. The rogue cultivators that were still alive were all trembling, and didn’t dare to keep fighting.
Xu Qing frowned.
He needed to eliminate anyone who had attacked him today. Even someone whose cultivation base was weaker than his was a potential calamity.
At this point, the sole survivor from the Church of Departure, their leader, suddenly spoke. “I just want one lizard skin. Give it to me, and once I report back to my superiors, you’ll earn the friendship of the Church of Departure!”
“I want one too,” said the face on the chest of the burly Sea Ghost. “If you don’t cooperate, you’re going to have a hard time making it out of here alive.”
Ignoring them, Xu Qing tapped into the flight talisman to speed toward the fleeing rogue cultivators who had attacked him earlier. Moments later, their heads flew off their shoulders.
Seeing this, the Church of Departure cultivator and the burly Sea Ghost again joined forces and launched an attack.
The Church of Departure cultivator’s black hood flew back, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with cold eyes and an astonishing aura. His energy surpassed the great circle of Qi Condensation, and was very close to that of Foundation Establishment. As he waved his hand, a black fog rolled out that turned into the shape of a huge gravestone. It was covered with cracks and was surrounded by numerous vicious souls. However, the souls were vague and difficult to see clearly, making it clear that this man couldn’t fully utilize this technique. Regardless, the gravestone of black fog shot right toward Xu Qing.
Meanwhile, the burly Sea Ghost howled as his body shriveled up, while at the same time, the vicious face surged with blood-colored light. The redness of its eyes spread to the entire face, and then it spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood instantly transformed into a flying sword that pulsed with a baleful aura as it shot toward Xu Qing.
The other Sea Ghost cultivators also used trump cards to attack Xu Qing.
In that critical moment, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed and he lifted his right hand over his head. Violet light flickered, swirling around overhead to make the shape of a huge saber.
It was thirty meters long, nine meters wide, made from violet light, and oppressively sharp!
It was like a heavenly saber hovering in midair, and thrummed with an indescribable harmonious dao, as though the saber contained magical laws of both heaven and earth.
The moment the saber appeared, the burly Sea Ghost’s face fell, and he gasped, “Qi Condensation enlightenment can produce daoist magic?? This is freaking... something Qi Condensation can produce???”
He immediately fell back in terror.
The leader of the Church of Departure was also shaken, and his face was pale.
That was when Xu Qing, his face completely expressionless, dropped his hand.
An intense rumbling echoed out as the violet saber fell from the sky, slashing into the basin and destroying everything in its path!
The blood-colored flying sword shattered. The black tombstone exploded. Everything shook as the entire basin was sliced into two parts. As for the leader of the Church of Departure, he stared in shock at Xu Qing as he was ripped apart, blood spraying everywhere.
The burly Sea Ghost trembled visibly, and a look of despair appeared in his eyes. He wanted to look down at his waist, but before he could, the blade slashed through him, cutting him in half. He was dead, as was the face on his chest.
Also torn to shreds were all the other Sea Ghost cultivators.
A moment later, everything in the basin went silent. The only sound that would be heard was the thunder in the sky. The rain... had finally started falling.
The raindrops plopped onto the ground, but it wouldn’t be easy to cleanse the blood.
Xu Qing stood there, panting and covered with wounds. Though most of the wounds were already healing, there were some that were so deep it didn’t seem they would stitch up. This had not been an easy battle for him, especially considering how many opponents he had to deal with.
Turning, he noticed the trembling nonhuman in the woven rush raincoat, and the trunked cultivator.
“We didn’t attack you!”
“We never made a single move against you!!”
The two of them were shaking uncontrollably.
Xu Qing didn’t respond. Off to the side were more of the rogue cultivators who had attacked him, and were now fleeing in confusion. He didn’t chase them. He just watched closely as, before they could get far, they screamed, their bodies turning greenish-black as they fell over dead.
The trunked cultivator and the nonhuman in the raincoat trembled even harder.
Ignoring the two of them, Xu Qing turned and made a grasping gesture with his right hand. His iron skewer flew into his hand. Then he waved his hand again, and the skewer shot back and forth among all the corpses. He needed to make sure none of them were just pretending to be dead.
The cultivator in the raincoat and the trunked man backed up slowly. When they were sure Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to them, they started running. It wasn’t until they were a good distance away in the jungle that they breathed sighs of relief.
However, not even they could suppress the greed in their hearts, and both of them surreptitiously took out jade slips that they could use to send messages to their leader. They were worried that if they waited too long, Xu Qing would get away.
However, before they could even send their messages, two streams of light screamed toward them. Looks of surprise appeared briefly on their faces before their throats were slashed open. They fell to the ground, dead.
Xu Qing looked away calmly. He knew that even though there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators on Sealizard Island, that didn’t mean they weren’t hiding out at sea. The two cultivators he had just killed had been about to send out messages, and he had no doubts it was for that purpose. Ordinary people wouldn’t stop to send messages in a moment like that.
While checking to make sure everyone was dead, Xu Qing also organized all of the loot.
Before long, he looked up suddenly, and his shadow shot toward three rogue cultivators who were only pretending to be dead. The shadow wrapped around their necks and hoisted them into the air.
Before they could plead for mercy, snapping sounds rang out as their necks were crushed.
Meanwhile, the dead face on the chest of the burly Sea Ghost suddenly opened its eyes, and a small blood-colored imp emerged from it. It was obviously some unusual method to evade death. In the blink of an eye, the imp shot out to the open sea, and fled off into the distance.
Watching coldly, Xu Qing said only one thing.
“Forbidden Sea dragonwhale!”
The sea off the coast of Sealizard Island erupted as a 300-meter-long snakeneck dragon shot up and devoured the blood-colored imp in a single bite!
Then it splashed down beneath the surface and disappeared, leaving behind only rolling waves.
The rain fell harder.