Chapter 83: Poisonous Night

In the sky, dark clouds gradually obscured the moon, and the Forbidden Sea turned pitch black. Even the mournful chants slowly faded away, and an oppressive aura seemed to permeate the quiet mountaintop.

Then, a sharp, piercing wail sliced through the night, shattering the silence.

Everyone's attention was instantly heightened.

Xu Qing opened his eyes.

He saw figures swiftly rising from all directions, targeting the cultivators who had obtained the lizard skin earlier that day. Carnage erupted.

Xu Qing paid no mind to the fate of the cultivators from the other three groups who had acquired lizard skins. His gaze was fixed on the seven or eight figures rapidly charging towards him.

The hazy moonlight couldn't obscure the cold glint in Xu Qing's eyes, nor could the dim night dissipate the killing intent on his face. Xu Qing moved almost the instant these figures arrived.

The darkness of the night served as a cover for the attackers, but they didn't know that Xu Qing preferred the night even more than they did.

In a flash, Xu Qing's figure vanished from the treetop.

Of the seven or eight cultivators who arrived simultaneously, three shuddered the instant they got close. One's forehead instantly shattered, as a black iron skewer, brutal and cold, pierced straight through it. A second one vaguely saw Xu Qing's figure flash past as blood spurted. The third met the most tragic fate. This was a corpulent alien; the instant it neared the treetop, a sharp dagger suddenly extended from behind it, viciously slitting its throat.

The force was so immense that its head was severed from its body, and blood gushed forth.

It was only then that ear-piercing screams erupted from the other two.

After cleanly dispatching three, Xu Qing abruptly recoiled, crashing into the fourth figure, who was in the midst of casting a spell. This was a human cultivator; with a resounding thud, his chest caved in, and he collapsed, blood gushing forth.

The remaining three cultivators, upon witnessing this scene, gasped sharply.

"You cast your spells, I'll hold him off!"

A low roar emanated from one of the aliens. This alien was small, like a five-year-old child, but as it stepped forward, its body abruptly swelled, instantly transforming into a giant over three meters tall, and it charged Xu Qing with a furious roar.

Xu Qing's expression was unchanged. He ignored the giant alien cultivator rushing him, and the two alien cultivators behind it who were forming hand seals. Instead, he raised his right hand and abruptly clenched his fist.

Instantly, a hum vibrated around him. Droplets of dew suddenly rose from the surrounding vegetation, instantly converging into countless threads, weaving into a circular water net.

Under the moonlight, the water threads gleamed with a cold light. As they enveloped the three cultivators, they rapidly contracted, centered on Xu Qing.

A whooshing sound instantly erupted. The expressions of the two spell-casting cultivators drastically changed. As the water net touched their bodies, their spiritual energy defenses shattered instantly, unable to offer any resistance. Their bodies, swiftly penetrated by the water net, were torn to shreds, becoming a scattered mess of flesh.

As for the giant alien cultivator charging Xu Qing at this moment, his face paled, and his eyes widened in terror. Just as he was about to speak, his entire body turned black and blue the next instant. He whimpered, clutching his throat, stumbled, and fell to the ground, convulsed a few times, and breathed his last.

The water net swept past, dismembering him and similarly dismembering the previous corpses nearby.

Among them, the corpulent alien whose throat was slit, though clearly dead, let out a shrill scream during its dismemberment. A goblin-like entity flew out from its body, clearly demonstrating that as an alien, it possessed many unknown ways to preserve its life. It was unclear what method it employed, but its body became slender, quickly slipped out of the water net, and was poised to escape.

Xu Qing didn't pursue, watching coldly, and silently counted in his mind.

"One, two, three..."

The next moment, this goblin-like cultivator's body trembled violently, and it sharply turned to look at Xu Qing.

"Let me go..."

He only managed these two words before his body instantly began to melt. His tongue was the first to dissolve. Even without a tongue, the intense pain still provoked a piercing shriek. It tore through the sky at that moment, even overpowering the roaring sounds of combat from the other three groups.

The gaze of everyone present was drawn towards it.

Before their very eyes, the black midget screamed and writhed in pain on the ground, until its body was slowly dissolved, turning into a pool of blood, unable to utter another word until it died.

Gasps of shock echoed from all directions, then quickly subsided. Almost everyone immediately took out and consumed antitoxins.

Only the old man from the inn remained composed. In fact, he had already started taking antitoxins when Xu Qing arrived yesterday, as he had experienced Xu Qing's poison firsthand.

Xu Qing paid no attention to the reactions of the surrounding cultivators. He calmly put away his dagger and iron skewer, then picked up the leather pouches of the fallen, one by one. Finally, he returned to the treetop, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes to meditate.

Perhaps because this island rested on the back of that terrifying giant lizard, both spiritual energy and foreign essence were exceptionally abundant. For most other cultivators, being able to thrive long-term at sea meant they naturally adapted to this environment. They had their own cultivation methods to convert and separate foreign essence, but often, after a period at sea, they would need to go ashore to purge some of the foreign essence from their bodies using elixirs or other methods.

But Xu Qing had no such need, so he could cultivate without worry. The aura of the Forbidden Sea here also aided his cultivation of the Sea Transformation Scripture.

Xu Qing, in meditation, though his eyes were closed, no one dared to target him. Most kept a wide berth, fearing contamination. Their ongoing skirmishes were visibly affected, gradually ceasing.

Thus, a night passed.

In the sky, dawn bit the lip of night, leaving a streak of blood across the horizon. This crimson streak slowly spread, growing fainter and fainter, until it suffused the entire sky.

The day dawned.

Around the mountain basin, the lone alien who had snatched the lizard's shed skin yesterday was still present. He now had an additional companion, seemingly having reached an agreement. This new companion was precisely the straw-hatted cultivator who had contended with Xu Qing for the loot yesterday.

As for the other group, the group of four or five cultivators evidently hadn't managed to keep the lizard skin. They had become corpses, replaced by the elephant-nosed brute and seven or eight companions.

Only Xu Qing and the old man from Banquan Road remained unchanged. The difference was, however, that Xu Qing's surroundings were littered with minced flesh, while the old man... had not a single corpse around him.

Xu Qing glanced at the large snake beside the old man. Upon sensing his gaze, it immediately looked at him, nodding repeatedly, as if greeting him. Xu Qing found it somewhat strange, but didn't dwell on it. He withdrew his gaze and continued his meditation with closed eyes.

From behind the rock where the old man from Banquan Road was seated, he kicked the large snake beside him and snorted. "See? He's ignoring you. So stop always thinking about that kid. In this world, I'm your only family."

The snake made a low, rumbling sound.

The large snake looked somewhat wronged, gazing wistfully at Xu Qing on the distant treetop. Its expression gradually turned listless. The old man saw this and sighed. "Why are you about to cry now? That kid doesn't understand snake speech, that's why he didn't respond to you..." As he finished speaking, the old man felt a pang of regret. The large snake's eyes, however, immediately brightened again.

"A grown girl won't stay with her family, and neither will a foolish snake."

The old man was helpless. He pondered finding an opportunity to kill Xu Qing right then and there, but the moment he recalled Xu Qing's ruthlessness, he dismissed the thought.

Time slowly passed. Soon, ten days had gone by.

During these ten days, cultivators on the mountain came and went. At its peak, there were over a hundred cultivators around the basin; at its least, there were still dozens. Some were lone cultivators, some were pirates, and others were aliens from different islands. Killing and contention, due to the constant turnover of cultivators here, constantly occurred.

During this period, sea lizards appeared three times. Each time sparked a murderous struggle. Xu Qing's actions were ruthless and decisive. He not only seized some sea lizard skins, but also piled all those he had slain around his meditation spot. From afar, the large tree itself seemed stained crimson, a gruesome sight.

And as the deterrence he created steadily accumulated, the area where Xu Qing was became a forbidden zone to others.

There were a few others like Xu Qing. Whether it was the old man from Banquan Road, the straw-hatted cultivator who had fought Xu Qing and his companion, or the elephant-nosed brute, all of them retained their gains and chose not to depart, seemingly awaiting something. Xu Qing also noticed this. Therefore, he also didn't leave, but instead cultivated quietly during these ten days.

The spiritual energy here was active, and the foreign essence was potent. Especially this environment of intense mental focus made him feel as if he had returned to the scavenger's forbidden zone jungle, greatly accelerating his cultivation speed. He was now not far from the ninth level of the Sea Transformation Scripture.

"Three days at most, and I should be able to break through," Xu Qing murmured to himself, continuing to meditate and absorb energy. Wisps of spiritual energy surged in from all directions, penetrating his body, nourishing his entire body while also integrating the foreign essence into his shadow. This caused Xu Qing's spiritual sea, once eighty-seven zhang, to continuously expand.

Eighty-eight zhang, eighty-nine zhang...

Two days passed. By noon of the third day, the spiritual sea fluctuations within Xu Qing's body had approached ninety zhang. Once it reached ninety zhang, it would signify his Sea Transformation Scripture had entered the ninth level.

Moreover, a disciple cultivating the Seven Blood Eyes technique who reaches the ninth level can essentially sweep through most human sects of the Southern Phoenix Continent at the same cultivation stage. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators from minor sects with inferior techniques would not be impossible to fight. Not to mention Xu Qing's own Sea Mountain Art body refinement, which had also reached an unprecedented level, forming a terrifying Ba shadow. It could be said that once the Sea Transformation Scripture breaks through, Xu Qing's combat power would explode once more. At that point, he would possess combat power beyond the peak of Qi Condensation, and could be considered a Foundation Establishment expert. Against someone like the Vajra Sect Patriarch, Xu Qing was confident that whether at sea or on land, after a skirmish, he could definitely suppress them. As for killing them, it would take some time, but he would certainly achieve it.

"Tonight, I can break through!" Anticipation gleamed in Xu Qing's eyes. Just as he was about to resume his cultivation, at that very moment, dense footsteps and a whooshing sound suddenly echoed from down the mountain.

Before they even arrived, waves of cold, brutal intent permeated the air, enveloping the entire basin, causing everyone present to change their expressions and look down the mountain.

What arrived... was not sea lizards, but a group of cultivators! A group of figures, haphazardly dressed, shockingly brutal, with immense killing intent, brazen and grotesque.

Sixteen in total. Each exuded powerful cultivation fluctuations, and the heavy murderous aura emanating from each was enough to shock anyone.

"Sea Ghosts!"

"It's the Sea Ghost organization!"

"Damn it, how did they get here!!"

Exclamations of alarm immediately erupted from around the basin.

***

If a triple update amounts to eleven thousand characters, doesn't that show how dedicated this newbie is to all you handsome guys and lovely ladies? Wishing everyone a happy weekend!