Chapter 110: Alien Land

From the sky, the four mermaid islands, now bathed in purple light and frequently experiencing bursts of killing and magical fluctuations, were arranged in the shape of a crescent moon.

These four islands, forming the crescent, were Mie Island at the very top, Juying Island and Yimeiqi in the middle, and Youzang Island at the very bottom.

Among them, Yimeiqi was the mermaid race's main island, with the other three serving as secondary islands.

Xu Qing hadn't known much about the mermaid race previously, but the jade slip Huang Yan had given him before his arrival contained extremely detailed descriptions of them.

It not only marked various valuable locations but also touched upon the mermaids' history and culture.

In mermaid culture, deceased clan members would pass through the Mie Temple to enter a peculiar world called Cloud Field, which they referred to as the Divine Realm. This was where their primordial deity from their mythology was buried.

This deity was named Mie.

This was also the origin of Mie Island's name, and thus the armor worshipped inside the Mie Island volcano was called the Armor of Mie.

Although Mie was sacred in their mythology, the deity had ultimately fallen. The mermaid race's faith required a vessel, and some of their powerful individuals also needed this vessel to cast their divine spells.

Therefore, they began to worship another entity, imbuing it with mystery, and named it Juying.

Juying Island was named after this entity.

The jade slip provided by Huang Yan also pointed out that this so-called deity, Juying, was in fact merely a divine creature from the depths of the Forbidden Sea.

It was powerful, but far from deserving the title of a deity.

As for Youzang Island, it represented relics.

The mermaid race highly valued the relics and burial goods of the deceased. They believed that the more burial goods, the more it proved the deceased's greatness in life. Thus, most deceased clan members were buried on Youzang Island, taking all their lifelong possessions with them as grave offerings.

However, they did not reject future generations excavating these items, as in their culture, for burial goods to be unearthed by a fated clan member and wielded in battle signified a form of rebirth for the deceased.

Lastly, there was Yimeiqi.

As the mermaid race's main island, it was named after the surname of their first chieftain, which was also the surname of the mermaid royal family.

These were the four mermaid islands, embodying the foundations of their culture.

These details from the jade slip surfaced in Xu Qing's mind. He also recalled what the little fatty had mentioned: the rumored clue about the Divine Temple hidden within the mermaid race's Foundation Building sacred artifact, the Spirit Breath Lamp.

According to mermaid legends, after the death of their first deity, Mie, the Mie Temple also vanished. Rumor had it that a clue to finding the Mie Temple was hidden within the Spirit Breath Lamp, but no one had discovered anything for many years.

Xu Qing didn't dwell on this; he only cared about the Spirit Breath Lamp's value. So, after this information flashed through his mind, he continued to move through the jungle without the slightest pause, pressing swiftly forward.

Moving rapidly, Xu Qing could hear distant roars and feel the fluctuations of spiritual energy.

These were the sounds of combat between the Seven Blood Eyes disciples who had arrived on the island and the mermaid race.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes slightly, swiftly scanned his surroundings, and habitually moved forward with a low crouch, navigating through tree canopies and hidden, shadowy parts of the jungle, without slowing down.

He was very familiar with the jungle.

As he rushed forward, Xu Qing finally confirmed his earlier conjectures and analysis regarding the Third Prince and the sect, knowing that no one would bother him for killing mermaids.

This brought him peace of mind. He leaped onto a tree canopy, just about to use it for leverage to move forward, when his eyes suddenly narrowed.

A sense of danger abruptly rose within him. Xu Qing instantly retreated, and the moment he did, a red branch shot out from the canopy of the large tree where he had just been.

The branch, like a tentacle, swept across in an instant.

Simultaneously, with the appearance of the branch, the large tree visibly withered, as did dozens of similar trees in the vicinity.

The moment they withered, red branches whistled from all directions, rushing straight towards Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's expression remained calm. His body moved flexibly, not immediately engaging, but instead leaping up after dodging the surrounding branches, looking towards the distant origin of these branches.

There, the ground was collapsing, and a massive, blood-colored tree was slowly rising from beneath the earth.

As it rose, red light shone, but it didn't obstruct Xu Qing's vision, allowing him to clearly see that the tree trunk was filled with numerous buried severed limbs.

There were human limbs and those of other races.

All were greenish-black.

It seemed they were buried here, their flesh and blood becoming nutrients for the tree, and simultaneously serving as points of abnormality where foreign matter was stored.

As the large tree rose, Xu Qing saw more than a dozen giant fruits growing on it.

These fruits hung on the branches, semi-transparent, and within each, a mermaid cultivator could be seen.

These mermaids had their eyes closed, and large amounts of foreign matter emanated from their bodies, flowing into the fruits, then absorbed by the tree and transferred to the countless corpses within its trunk.

This was clearly a unique method for mermaid cultivators to purify foreign matter from their bodies.

And there wasn't just one such tree. Xu Qing looked up into the distance, seeing at least seven or eight, and could imagine that the entire jungle encircling the outer areas of Juying Island contained many more of these large trees.

As Xu Qing looked into the distance, the crimson branches around him, like tentacles, whistled from all directions with intense killing intent.

But the moment they approached Xu Qing, the fastest red branch visibly withered, its red color replaced by black spots that spread rapidly as if alive, corroding everything in their path.

All of this caused the branches to suddenly rot as they approached, dropping large amounts of black viscous liquid.

This liquid was equally poisonous, corroding anything it touched upon landing, even causing the soil to sizzle.

And it wasn't just this one branch that rotted; all branches approaching Xu Qing instantly decayed. The black spots on the branches didn't dissipate but followed the branches straight to their source.

From a distance, one could see the black rapidly covering these dozens of melting branches, converging from all directions towards the massive blood-colored tree.

Just as the large tree was about to be engulfed by the black, the more than ten fruits violently shook. The mermaid cultivators inside, sensing danger, opened their eyes and broke out of their shells.

However, not all mermaid cultivators could awaken and break out so quickly. Ultimately, under the encroaching blackness, only four managed to escape.

The rest... the moment the large tree was engulfed by the black, their fruits turned instantly pitch black, as if splattered with thick ink, and completely rotted.

This sight intensified the killing intent of the four mermaid cultivators. Their cultivation exploded; they were all at the Great Circle of Qi Condensation and charged towards Xu Qing.

In their eyes, Xu Qing was also at the Great Circle of Qi Condensation, with cultivation similar to theirs. However, few humans could awaken racial talents, so in battles of the same realm, non-human races often had an advantage.

Although Xu Qing's poison was sharp, they prided themselves on their physical structure and internal composition being different from humans, allowing them to ignore many human poisons.

Therefore, the four mermaid cultivators approached Xu Qing rapidly from four directions. But the moment they got close, a cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes, and his body speed suddenly accelerated.

This speed exceeded the judgment of the four mermaid cultivators. Before their expressions of horror could even fully emerge, Xu Qing's figure was already before one mermaid cultivator. His dagger swept with a cold gleam, and the moment a head flew, his body violently slammed into another mermaid cultivator.

Amidst crunching sounds, the mermaid cultivator he struck, despite having a robust physical body due to their racial talent and and possessing certain force-dissipating techniques, still couldn't withstand it. Before even a scream could escape, their body instantly caved in, bones and flesh shattering.

As flesh and blood splattered, Xu Qing's dagger flew from his hand, heading straight for the third mermaid cultivator's glabella. As it pierced through, the last mermaid cultivator's face turned pale, and their eyes showed intense terror. They dared not approach further, rapidly retreating to flee.

But it was too late.

He had only fled less than ten zhang when his body began to tremble, and countless black spots appeared.

As the black spots spread, his screams echoed in all directions, his body rapidly corroding until it melted away.

While the mermaid race's physical structure could evade some poisons, Xu Qing had specifically optimized his poison powder for this very reason, and its current use was naturally ferocious.

Having killed four, Xu Qing's expression remained calm. As he went to search their bodies for items, his heart stirred, and he looked up into the distance. Within his line of sight, a Seven Blood Eyes disciple appeared.

Xu Qing found this person somewhat unfamiliar, but the fluctuations of their Sea Transformation Scripture, nearing the Great Circle, proved they were not a fake. As he looked, the disciple also abruptly stopped.

The moment their eyes met Xu Qing's, the Seven Blood Eyes disciple's breathing hitched. It was as if encountering a powerful sea beast in the Forbidden Sea, a feeling that instantly gripped his mind, stiffening his body. It took immense willpower for him to barely move, and his eyes showed unprecedented wariness as he quickly spoke.

"Senior Brother, I mean no harm; I'm just passing by," he quickly said, immediately taking out a handful of pills and swallowing them. Then, he raised his hands to show he had no ill intentions and slowly retreated.

Xu Qing gave the person a cold glance, then, after organizing the spoils of war, he swiftly departed.

Only after confirming Xu Qing was far away did the Seven Blood Eyes disciple, whose cultivation was nearing the Great Circle, gasp, his eyes wide with horror, and his heart shaken to its core.

"If I had gotten any closer just now, or even shown a hint of malice, I might have died right here!"

He was filled with lingering fear. Xu Qing's moves and aura had truly exerted immense pressure on him, a pressure so great that for a moment, he had the illusion he wasn't facing a Qi Condensation cultivator, but rather a Foundation Building Elder from the sect.

"When did such a formidable person appear down the mountain..."

This Seven Blood Eyes disciple had been at sea for the past six months and hadn't returned, so he was unaware of Xu Qing's existence. He quickly departed, but after only a few steps, he coughed up a large mouthful of black blood. Frightened, he hastily took another handful of pills, which only then made him feel a little better.

This was also because Xu Qing's poison just now was primarily aimed at the mermaid race; otherwise, if he had used his previous poisons, this person would have certainly died upon approaching the battlefield.

"Powerful cultivation, decisive in battle, and terrifying poison arts..." The old Seven Blood Eyes disciple's eyes were filled with intense dread. He dared not follow Xu Qing's path, instead changing direction, having decided in his heart that he would never go anywhere Xu Qing went.

As time passed, the fighting continued on the four mermaid islands, with casualties on both sides. Meanwhile, Xu Qing slowly fought his way out of the jungle.

The moment he emerged from the jungle, he saw a mermaid city in the distance!

The city was very unique; it wasn't built from bricks and tiles but formed from a colossal fish skeleton.

This fish skeleton was incredibly massive, as large as one district of the Seven Blood Eyes' main city.

Xu Qing compared this with the information about Juying Island in the jade slip provided by Huang Yan, then moved swiftly towards the city.