Chapter 122: Three People Reunite

Inside the underwater world of Juying Island, Xu Qing moved, and excruciating pain assaulted his entire body. The wounds on his legs, arms, and abdomen tore open again from their partial healing, and blood overflowed once more, staining his tattered daoist robe anew.

Although psychic energy shielded his body, preventing seawater from touching his wounds, the pain intensified with every movement. This time, Xu Qing's injuries were too severe; even the purple crystal couldn't heal him quickly.

Dense mist churned all around him, enveloping him from all directions. Xu Qing didn't care about the alien substances within it, but he could feel the strong corpse poison present in the mist. He felt that in his current condition, encountering corpse poison would force the purple crystal to divert some of its healing power to neutralize it, hindering his recovery. Furthermore, he saw some corpses within the mist rise from the ground as if resurrected, emitting bestial roars and running through the fog.

If he were to be completely enveloped by the mist, it would be a life-or-death situation. He had to leave this place as soon as possible. Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. Gritting his teeth, he endured the intense pain, unleashing his speed, and dashed forward at an accelerated pace.

Such strenuous activity made his face even paler, but Xu Qing had no other choice at the moment. He could only forcibly ignore the pain, and in the swirling mist, he ran towards the exit, even using a flight talisman. However, his body was severely wounded, and his psychic energy was nearly depleted. Moreover, being in such a dangerous place, he had to conserve some means of counterattack. Therefore, he could only activate the flight talisman, unable to boost its speed further with his cultivation.

Time passed like this. After about fifteen minutes, Xu Qing finally broke out of the temple complex.

Looking around, it was empty except for the thin mist. Only the distant mist continuously engulfed whatever it approached. Temples and coral structures, one after another, were instantly swallowed by it. Everything in its path was rendered black.

This area was already sparsely populated, and now, not a soul could be seen. Only the resurrected corpses within the mist, like goblins and demons, echoed with their roars.

Xu Qing's expression darkened. He noticed that the same was true for the seabed direction; a denser black mist seemed to be rising from the seafloor, preventing Xu Qing from going that way. So, he stomped his foot on the ground, and his body shot forward again. With the flight talisman flashing, he continued to speed ahead.

However, he was too far from the exit. Thus, after another fifteen minutes of travel, as the mist spread around him, he was inevitably enveloped by it. Almost the instant the mist enveloped him, Xu Qing's psychic energy shield fluctuated violently, being rapidly corroded. At the same moment, visibility all around him was severely obscured.

Only the roars of the corpses grew closer from all directions. A murderous glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He suddenly raised his right hand, the black iron stick in hand, and slashed it abruptly to the side. A savage, low gurgle echoed; it was a resurrected corpse.

Unlike the Sea-Corpse Clan, this corpse was a Seven Blood Eyes disciple in life. Now, its entire body was black, as were its eyes. Even though its neck was brutally ripped open by the iron stick, and its head fell off, its hands still fiercely lunged at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing formed a hand seal with his left hand. Instantly, a water screen spread out and violently dispersed outwards. With a roar, the corpse was sent reeling back over thirty meters.

Xu Qing didn't pursue it to kill it. The roars around him were growing more numerous. A decisive look appeared on his face. He formed a hand seal with his left hand and pressed it towards the ground. Instantly, countless water droplets formed beside him, and in a flash, they coalesced into a plesiosaur.

Upon appearing, the plesiosaur rapidly expanded to about three hundred meters in size. After enveloping Xu Qing, with a low roar echoing, the plesiosaur charged forward fiercely. Any corpses blocking its path were directly knocked away by the plesiosaur.

This was Xu Qing's last resort. If the plesiosaur were to collapse again, it would be even more difficult for him to leave this place. Fortunately, the plesiosaur was also incredibly fast, and its massive body possessed formidable ramming power. Although it was continuously corroded and shrunk, the psychic energy Xu Qing stored within the plesiosaur was very abundant. This allowed the plesiosaur, sustained by this energy, to move rapidly through the mist with Xu Qing, gradually getting closer to the exit.

Along the way, he also encountered some Seven Blood Eyes disciples, each one frantically rushing forward, ignoring each other. However, just as Xu Qing was about to approach the area where the exit was located, because too many cultivators had died in battle here, before he even got close, he felt countless roars coming from ahead.

Many Seven Blood Eyes disciples who had run to this area were also inevitably blocked by the tide of corpses here. Xu Qing's expression darkened. He formed a hand seal with both hands and suddenly grabbed outwards.

Instantly, his plesiosaur rapidly contracted, suddenly shrinking as if shriveling, and the psychic energy contained within it rapidly surged into Xu Qing's body, replenishing his depleted psychic energy.

However, doing so would cause the plesiosaur to dissipate.

But at this moment, Xu Qing couldn't afford to care about much else. As the plesiosaur vanished, Xu Qing's internal psychic energy was immediately restored by more than half. Although his physical injuries were still severe, his overall combat strength had somewhat returned. As he formed a hand seal, water droplets appeared around Xu Qing, rotating directly around him. Xu Qing's body suddenly shot forward, leaping over the tide of corpses. When encountering obstacles, some of the surging water around his body would disperse, enveloping the opponents and throwing them aside.

In this manner, Xu Qing flew onward. Corpses in his path were enveloped by his water droplets, forming water spheres that couldn't interfere with him. After a moment, Xu Qing finally saw the exit and was about to leap towards it. But just then, Xu Qing suddenly turned his head and saw a figure frantically rushing from another direction. As this person ran, they kept throwing out mechanisms that would explode upon contact. While explosions echoed, a person carried on their back emitted a familiar voice.

"Zhang San, keep going! Yes, throw them like that, blow them up! Oh, you're throwing in the wrong direction, you should throw over there!" The one running was Zhang San; the one speaking was the Captain.

Zhang San looked breathless, as if he was running for his life. The Captain, whom he carried, seemed oblivious to the environment, constantly commenting amidst his laughter. "Shut up!" Zhang San snapped.

"Huh, Zhang San, how dare you speak to your former captain like that!" The Captain grumbled, taking a bite of an apple. "Say another word, and I'll throw you down and run by myself. Brother San, keep it up!"

Xu Qing's expression was a little strange. He glanced at the rapidly approaching Zhang San and the Captain, who had no lower body, on his back. In his heart, he once again gained a deeper understanding of the Captain's madness. At the same time, Zhang San also saw Xu Qing. His eyes immediately lit up. He quickly threw a silk thread that shot through the air, directly wrapping around Xu Qing. Using the momentum, he leaped vigorously and quickly approached.

"Oh, Vice-Captain Xu, what grand feat did you accomplish to get yourself into this state? So weak... Could it be that you went to the Mermaid Princess's chambers and were completely drained?" The Captain also saw Xu Qing, and after noticing Xu Qing's numerous injuries and tattered daoist robe, his eyes lit up. "Can it grow back?"

Xu Qing didn't respond. Instead, he glanced at the Captain's half-body, and calmly spoke. "No problem, this is nothing. I'll be bouncing around again once I get back." The Captain replied proudly.

"Alright, then I'll give you a feather later," Xu Qing said indifferently.

"A feather? Why would you give me a feather?" The Captain was momentarily stunned.

"What are you two chatting about? Let's go!" Zhang San, on the side, was anxious. He thought both Xu Qing and the Captain were abnormal. It was so dangerous here, yet the two of them were still chatting.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze from the Captain's half-body, and flashed away. Zhang San quickly threw out a silk thread, wrapped it around something, and used the momentum to speed forward. In this manner, their two and a half figures rapidly approached the exit. The next instant, they directly plunged inside and disappeared.

Not long after, the surrounding black mist engulfed the area with a roar.

The entire underwater world was completely enveloped by the mist. But the churning of the mist didn't stop. Along the island's ground, through the passage, and every other location, it continued to surge onto the island.

Inside the passage connecting the seabed and the island, Xu Qing's speed was extremely fast. The poison here had now almost completely dissipated. Xu Qing didn't know if it had naturally dispersed or if it had spread to other places. In just about seven or eight minutes, his body burst through the water surface with a roar. The moment he leaped up, his flight talisman fully activated, transforming into a long rainbow streaking directly upwards.

Zhang San did the same, taking out a flight talisman and following closely behind. Only the Captain's voice, still filled with surprise, continuously echoed. "Xu Qing, what's with the feather?" Xu Qing didn't speak.

"Vice-Captain Xu, you still owe me eight thousand spirit stones! What's with the feather?"

Xu Qing didn't even glance back. He whistled as he directly burst out of the passage. Upon stepping outside, he felt a fierce wind assaulting his face. He immediately looked around, and his expression drastically changed. Zhang San was the same; after bursting out, he noticed his surroundings, and his face changed. The outside world was in chaos, with strong winds raging.

Streams of black mist rotated, flowing upwards against the current, connecting with the formation in the sky, like waterspouts. Looking out, there were eight of them in total, with two on each island.

On the ground, countless threads of black energy continuously merged into these eight waterspout-like swirling mists, making them increasingly astonishing. Even as Xu Qing and the two others watched, the swirling mist not far from them began to undergo a drastic change.

Its upper end surprisingly began to fork, these forks quickly transformed into snake heads, a total of nine heads. After rapidly forming, they let out deafening roars towards the ground. These roars shook the heavens and earth, causing the ground to tremble.

It was as if they contained endless alien substances and corpse poison, which were now being unleashed with their roars. And their cultivation and combat power were rapidly rising, seemingly having broken through the Seven Blood Eyes' formation, reaching the Core Formation stage in an instant, and still climbing.

The pressure created by this scene made Xu Qing's mind reel. He recognized this great snake; it was precisely the snake he had seen coiling around the giant in the mural.

At the same time, the other seven swirling mists were also behaving similarly, all gradually forming the appearance of great snakes. As they roared and bellowed, the alien substances across the entire Mermaid Race's four islands became incredibly intense.