Chapter 208: Between Thumb and Palm

Xu Qing walked into the house.

However, he was not yet dead. A red light pulsed through his bones, sustaining his life.

Clearly, Chen Feiyuan possessed a special method to make him endure the full force of his wrath. As Xu Qing approached, the Cryptic Race cultivator opened his eyelids, his eyes lifelessly staring at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing raised his hand and pressed it against the cultivator's forehead. The Golden Crow Refines All Souls technique instantly erupted. As the cultivator's head trembled, more of his primal essence was drawn out and absorbed by Xu Qing.

The next instant, the Cryptic Race cultivator died immediately.

At the same time, outside the capital city of Zitu, in a mass grave, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted. The ground was violently torn open, scattering soil and shattered bones, as a disheveled middle-aged man slowly emerged from within.

His expression was ferocious, and madness gleamed in his eyes, yet deep within that madness lay an unprecedented terror.

“They’re all freaks!”

This man was none other than the Cryptic Race cultivator, the one who claimed to be immortal!

This body was one he had cultivated beforehand at considerable cost, nurturing it and keeping it dormant until now. It was a relatively perfect vessel, capable of fully manifesting his three-flame cultivation.

Originally, he had not wanted to use this body, as its destruction would also affect him significantly. But now, he had no choice.

He dared not remain within the city.

Whether inside the Eight Great Families' territory or outside, he felt extreme danger. The relentless pursuit of his opponent, bone-deep and chilling, made his heart tremble, and the various bizarre abilities displayed particularly instilled in him an unprecedented sense of crisis.

Furthermore, to some extent, that strange ability seemed strikingly similar to his own, which made the Cryptic Race cultivator understand the feelings of those he had assassinated.

Everywhere!

At this thought, the man shuddered, quickly scanning his surroundings. Only after confirming he was at the maximum range his abilities allowed from the capital of Zitu did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“This time, they shouldn’t find me so quickly. Especially at this distance, I’ll most likely be able to escape.”

Even now, he had no idea of his opponent's identity. His expression grim, he turned and fled at top speed, even activating his life flame and entering the Profound Radiance State to increase his speed further.

“After my first death, it took him a whole night to find me. The second time, an hour. The third time, half an hour…”

A stick of incense later, the Cryptic Race man, who was speeding along, suddenly changed his expression. As he spun his head, he saw a long rainbow on the distant horizon, approaching him with earth-shattering momentum.

The figure within the long rainbow appeared middle-aged, and it seemed as if an entire continent was burning within his body. His aura boomed in all directions, capable of suppressing eternity.

Even with his three-flame cultivation, a single glance made his eyes sting with pain.

“So fast!”

An unprecedented horror made the man gasp. He had made certain judgments about Xu Qing before, but now he realized all his assessments were inaccurate.

The aura his opponent displayed now felt as if it surpassed the three-flame realm. It was…

“Four-flame?”

Sweat beaded on the man’s forehead. Without the slightest hesitation, his three life flames burned with full power, causing his speed to explode as he frantically rushed into the distance.

He was not mistaken. The Xu Qing pursuing him indeed possessed the power of four flames!

The lighting of his Life Lamp had granted Xu Qing two-flame battle prowess. With the ascent of his second life flame, his battle prowess reached three flames. Coupled with the physical enhancement from the Golden Crow Refines All Souls technique, his battle prowess naturally rivaled that of a four-flame cultivator!

The reason he caught up so quickly was that Xu Qing no longer needed his shadow to guide his direction.

As the primal essence devoured by the Golden Crow Refines All Souls technique integrated into Xu Qing's body, the Cryptic Race cultivator appeared as clear as a torch in the dark night to Xu Qing's perception.

Therefore, the moment the opponent resurrected, he immediately detected it and rushed over, arriving within a stick of incense.

The instant he saw his opponent, Xu Qing's eyes blazed with killing intent, and he surged forward.

He was so fast that everything else seemed to slow down in his vision, including the man's speed. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing was upon him, striking down with a direct palm.

With a roar, the man spurted blood, his body violently slammed into the ground like a broken-stringed kite.

The earth rumbled and caved in. As the man was about to get up from within the crater, Xu Qing's figure already arrived, forcefully thrusting his knee into the man's chest.

The man once again gushed blood. As his body curled backward, Xu Qing had already closed in, his eyes filled with hatred. A dagger appeared in his right hand, and he plunged it in.

Then came the second, third, and fourth stabs. After a total of seven stabs, he abruptly severed the man's right arm, then smashed his forehead forcefully.

The man shrieked, his skull shattered. His entire body was a wreck. Before Xu Qing, his three-flame power offered no chance of resistance, and the terror and shock in his eyes reached their peak.

Then, transforming into madness, he roared skyward. The moment Xu Qing neared, he charged directly, his life flames abruptly about to self-destruct.

However, before the aura of his self-destruction could even spread, the shadow had already merged with his body, pouncing towards his three life flames.

In an instant, the volcano within the man's body was directly extinguished.

His body was forcefully torn from the Profound Radiance State, resulting in a massive backlash. With popping sounds throughout his body, multiple spiritual apertures collapsed.

His entire being, a bloody mess, fell towards the ground.

The horror in his eyes intensified, as if he had guessed the torture he was about to endure. He swung his only movable left hand towards his forehead, attempting to commit suicide.

But a black iron skewer arrived instantly, piercing directly into his raised left hand.

Preventing his suicide, Xu Qing arrived once more, his eyes filled with killing intent. Behind him, a neigh resounded, and the Golden Crow materialized, soaring across the sky and fiercely sucking towards the man.

The Cryptic Race cultivator's entire body trembled violently. The instant his mind was shaken, his vital energy exploded outward, carrying with it his primal essence, which was swallowed in one gulp by the Golden Crow.

Next, Xu Qing's finger pierced directly into his pupil, shattering his eyeball and destroying his skull.

In the moment before death, a voice that was like a nightmare to him, calmly reached his ears.

“Don’t give me the answer I want so quickly. I want to play a few more times. We… will see each other again soon.”

The next instant, in a wilderness outside the capital city of Zitu, a rabbit suddenly leaped up from the bushes, moving incredibly fast and sprinting desperately into the distance.

However, in less than half a stick of incense, a black dot appeared in the sky. This dot moved with astonishing speed, heading directly for the rabbit.

It was a vulture, which approached instantly, not to seize but to collide head-on with the rabbit, turning it into a bloody mess. Before they both perished, a cackling sound emanated from within the vulture.

“Say hello.”

The rabbit died.

In the blink of an eye, in another location, a snake slowly climbed beneath a withered tree.

But in less than half a stick of incense, a black iron skewer whistled from the distance, instantly piercing through the snake and pinning it to the ground.

Before the snake died, fear lingered in its eyes. Then, in the distant sky, a soaring eagle paused, then spread its wings and accelerated.

But what awaited it was the materialization and devourance by the Golden Crow.

And for the rest of the time, scenes like these constantly unfolded across the wilderness.

Even as the Cryptic Race cultivator displayed his talents to the extreme, using one host body after another to try and escape.

However, what awaited him was either a sudden black iron skewer, various creatures also possessed by him, or encountering Xu Qing directly.

All of this pushed him to the brink of mental collapse. Each successive death, though not consuming a large amount of his essence, was unbearable as the number of deaths increased.

Especially when facing Xu Qing, each death made him feel as if he was losing something vital. Until finally, when he possessed a coyote, he found that he couldn't merge immediately and encountered some resistance. That's when panic set in.

“He’s absorbing my talent!!”

This discovery sent massive waves of terror through the Cryptic Race cultivator's mind.

Thus, the moment Xu Qing caught him again and was about to absorb and refine him, he hastily cried out.

“Three more times at most, and I’ll be truly dead! If I die, you won’t find the cultivator behind this!!”

Xu Qing's palm met him in response.

With a crash, the coyote disintegrated. A wisp of its primal essence was absorbed by the Golden Crow just before its death.

Thirty breaths later, a crow in the sky urgently began to speak.

“You’re from the Seven Blood Eyes! I can sense the fluctuations of your cultivation method. I can tell you about the cultivator behind this, but I want to see Sixth Master. I’ll only tell him!!”

In the blink of an eye, the black iron skewer pierced through. Xu Qing, expressionless, watched the crow's corpse. After lowering his head to sense, he headed straight for the ground, stomping his right foot forcefully. The earth immediately cracked open, revealing a fissure and, within it, a pangolin hiding inside.

The pangolin suddenly trembled, its eyes showing despair, as it transmitted a frantic thought.

“Come on, kill me! If I die, you’ll never know the answer! Take me to the Seven Blood Eyes, take me to see Sixth Master! I’ll only tell him!!”

Xu Qing raised his right hand and swiftly struck.

The pangolin's expression was frantic. Though its mind was on the verge of collapse and the threat of death was unprecedented, it still refused to speak.

Until the next instant, Xu Qing's palm paused. He grabbed it, holding it before him, and gazed at it coldly.

After a while, Xu Qing withdrew his gaze. Holding the pangolin, he walked towards the teleportation point that the captain had specifically opened for him. It wasn't far from this location, and Xu Qing arrived there shortly.

The location was a valley. Xu Qing walked in expressionlessly. There was a dilapidated teleportation array there. Standing on it now, Xu Qing took out his identity token, pressed it onto the array, and waited in silence.

Soon after, the teleportation array suddenly glowed, and the transfer initiated.

However, the instant the teleportation array activated, the pangolin in Xu Qing's hand suddenly trembled, its body instantly withered, and it died. Simultaneously with its death, the teleportation array flashed, and it seemed a transfer had formed, allowing someone to teleport away before Xu Qing.

It was precisely the Cryptic Race cultivator. He had clearly been feigning earlier, intending to use Xu Qing's activation of the teleportation to escape using a special method.

Furthermore, he had used some unknown method to obscure his teleportation destination, making it impossible for outsiders to know the exact location.

Moments later, the teleportation light dissipated, with Xu Qing still inside.

Although his opponent had clearly escaped, Xu Qing's expression showed no surprise or anger. His gaze was calm as he looked down at the pangolin corpse in his hand before discarding it.

He then closed his eyes to sense for a moment. After waiting briefly, Xu Qing opened his eyes, a deep light appearing within them.

“I’m in a hurry. I hope you meet your contact person quickly.”