Chapter 116: Target, Foundation Establishment Tower

Juying Island is not very large; it has three cities and numerous camp-like villages on it. Xu Qing's target is Juying City, the main city among these three.

He had also been selective about where he landed on the island earlier, so the massive fish-bone city his gaze is fixed upon now is his destination.

"Juying City..." A sharp glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes, and he sped toward the city at high velocity.

Juying Island is currently in shambles; at every short distance, one can see areas of collapse and ruin, the result of the bombardment from the ships of Seventh Uncle and the Seventh Blood Sect's Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators earlier.

In the distance, black smoke billowed, and the sounds of battle from all directions were constant; the entire island was in the midst of war.

Xu Qing's gaze was restrained as he headed straight for the location of the fish bone. It did not look far, but in reality, even at Xu Qing's speed, it still took half an hour to truly approach it.

As he drew closer, the vastness of this fish bone was revealed even more astonishingly.

Xu Qing gazed at this bone; he found it hard to imagine how earth-shattering this fish must have been on the Forbidden Sea while it was alive. Even now, though dead, its pressure remained formidable.

But clearly, this pressure posed no threat to the Merfolk race itself; perhaps this was related to their racial characteristics, but it was different for other races.

Under this pressure, one's mind would ripple, and one's cultivation base would be suppressed significantly. However, since the entire world was now covered by a sea of purple light, no matter how great the fish bone's former pressure was, it was mostly suppressed at this moment.

Although the remaining portion still felt formidable, it no longer had much impact on his cultivation base.

As he approached, Xu Qing heard the constant rumbling coming from within the city and felt the fluctuations of techniques. He knew that many disciples had already rushed in ahead of him, so he moved his body, leaped up, and stepped into the city.

Juying City, built upon this fish bone, has a peculiar architectural style. Some structures are shaped like human dwellings, others are strange like beehives, and some are plants that look like mushrooms or seaweed used as residences.

There are even some that are simply sunken ships and seashells that have been set in place.

Among them, those human-style buildings clearly bear the style of the Seventh Blood Sect, and this type of building is often brick-and-tile, seemingly built by the Seventh Blood Sect for the Merfolk here in the past.

Xu Qing's gaze swept past without stopping, and he ran toward the center of the city.

His destination is the Foundation Establishment Tower at the center of this city.

According to the clues provided by Huang Yan, that Foundation Establishment holy object, the Spirit Breath Lamp, is placed inside the Foundation Establishment Tower, a place guarded strictly by Merfolk experts on ordinary days.

"I must find a way to obtain it. If I cannot succeed, then I must go to the city's elixir vault to search for Foundation Establishment Pills." Xu Qing knew time was tight, so he unleashed his full speed, creating a whistling sound as he dashed forward.

But he did not use a flight talisman; after all, there is a big difference between dashing through a city and flying in mid-air. The former is too eye-catching, and although the Merfolk cultivators had their cultivation suppressed and Xu Qing is very strong, being so conspicuous is ultimately unwise.

As he moved forward, the closer Xu Qing got to his destination, the more Seventh Blood Sect disciples he saw along the way. Most of these disciples walked in the shadows and corners, keen on scavenging for items; even when killing, it was often for the sake of profit.

Very few were focused on slaughter.

Even if they occasionally had friction over the same valuable item, it was usually a brief encounter before they moved on; after all, the city is so large that there is no need to haggle over every detail.

At the same time, Xu Qing also saw some representative buildings in the city that seemed to witness the alliance between the Seventh Blood Sect and the Merfolk, such as a stone tablet he saw just now.

This stone tablet is very tall, well-preserved, and covered with a large number of names.

Judging from the described text, this was a burial monument left behind many years ago when the Merfolk faced a crisis and the Seventh Blood Sect came to assist.

The stone tablet is very clean, as if it is often swept by people.

But looking closely, under the penetration of the sky formation, the stone tablet lost its power of concealment, and all the skeletons beneath it were gone.

And there were clear signs of excavation...

Xu Qing looked at the stone tablet, then looked up at the cultivators from the various peaks of the Seventh Blood Sect's Seventh Peak in the sky, and he understood the reason for the anger of the Seventh Blood Sect's high-level members.

But for Xu Qing, he has not been in the Seventh Blood Sect for long, and everything is for the sake of profit, so he did not have much empathy, though deep down he instinctively loathed this kind of ungrateful behavior.

At this moment, he withdrew his gaze, and his right hand suddenly lifted. Countless water droplets appeared instantly, forming a defense around him, blocking more than a dozen bubbles that suddenly flew in from beside the stone tablet.

These bubbles collapsed instantly upon touching the water droplets, forming intense fluctuations. As they spread, five Merfolk cultivator figures rushed out from the surroundings, charging at Xu Qing with ferocity and cruelty.

Xu Qing looked on with cold eyes and suddenly waved his hand. The water screen around him dispersed instantly, turning into water arrows containing a sharp intent, passing through them in an instant.

Xu Qing's body flickered as he left the spot. After he left, those five Merfolk cultivators were riddled with holes and fell to the ground dead. Their leather bags were swept up by the water droplets and flew rapidly toward Xu Qing, who grabbed them while running and stowed them away. He moved with great speed, getting closer and closer to the Foundation Establishment Tower.

Along the way, Xu Qing was always like this; he had no interest in killing, only in reaching his destination. Of course, if he encountered those who were blind and took the initiative to provoke him, he did not mind gaining a little more.

Finally, after half an hour, Xu Qing saw the Foundation Establishment Tower at the center of the city.

The appearance of this tower is different from the conventional ones. According to the description in Huang Yan's jade slip, this tower is modeled after the Merfolk deity, Juying.

Seen from afar, the tower looks like an old woman wearing a robe, but there are countless tentacles outside her body. Each of these tentacles has an eye growing on it, circling the four directions. At the same time, looking from the side, there seems to be a ghost face on the old woman's back.

One can see a long tongue hanging by her side, as if it had turned into Juying's shadow.

And at the top of the tower, which is the location of Juying's head, one can see a lamp inside through the hollowed-out architecture.

The distance is too great to see clearly, but it seems someone is sitting cross-legged there, as if breaking through under the lamp, and there are many guards anxiously protecting the tower from the outside.

Xu Qing's eyes narrowed; he saw that the other party was unlucky to have chosen this time for their hundred-day Foundation Establishment. Now, under these unexpected changes, it is nine out of ten that they will not succeed.

At the same time, the moment Xu Qing was observing the Foundation Establishment Tower, a murderous intent suddenly erupted from his side. A green palm, clutching a sharp, large seashell, appeared silently and slashed directly toward Xu Qing's neck.

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows, and his cultivation base erupted within him. The ghoul shadow behind him manifested and let out a silent roar, forming an astonishing, scorching power that rumbled and spread to the surroundings.

This caused the seashell aimed at his neck to collapse instantly, and the palm clutching the seashell also retracted abruptly. Amidst the distortion of the void, a semi-transparent figure was revealed, retreating rapidly.

Murderous intent flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He looked at the figure that was trying hard to hide in the heatwave but still revealed a blurry outline, and he rushed forward suddenly.

After closing the distance in an instant, Xu Qing threw a punch with his right hand.

The surroundings rumbled. Xu Qing's punch, combined with the ghoul shadow, would have shaken even a Foundation Establishment cultivator if they hadn't activated their Profound Radiance state. That eerie figure was clearly taken by surprise and was too late to dodge.

But at the critical moment, with the emergence of blue light, a talisman treasure appeared in front of the semi-transparent cultivator, directly turning into a light screen to block him.

With a boom, the talisman treasure's light could not withstand it and collapsed directly. As it recoiled, Xu Qing's speed was even faster, and he stepped forward, but the space in front was empty; the other party's figure had completely disappeared.

"Can turn invisible?" Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and turned to walk toward the Foundation Establishment Tower, seemingly giving up on the search. But when he took his seventh step, his body suddenly moved, slamming violently toward the space behind him.

As the rumbling sound rang out, a dagger appeared in his right hand. While slamming his back, he stabbed fiercely and continuously behind him with the blade.

During this time, he let the transparent figure behind him struggle and strike him repeatedly. Xu Qing's formidable physical strength meant he didn't care about this at this moment; even being injured didn't matter.

The next instant, he turned around, lifted his left hand, and grabbed behind him, swinging it directly in front. As the ground rumbled, the transparent figure, which had been stabbed dozens of times by him and had its cultivation base shaken away and been poisoned by a potent toxin after being thrown, was finally revealed.

Green eyes, a body full of scales, and those obvious gills—it was indeed a Merfolk.

The other party looked middle-aged, and although his cultivation was at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation, if any other Great Perfection Seventh Blood Sect disciple had encountered him, their life or death would have been uncertain.

Because he could withstand Xu Qing's poison for so long before it finally took effect, and his attacks were so eerie, it could only mean that this person's true cultivation was definitely not Qi Condensation.

This is a Merfolk Foundation Establishment cultivator!

He had only become a Great Perfection of Qi Condensation because his realm was suppressed by the formation.

At this moment, his eyes were filled with disbelief. Even though he was heavily wounded, he bit the tip of his tongue, wanting to counterattack. But the next instant, a black light flashed; the black iron spike, carrying an astonishing whistling sound and sharpness, directly broke through his glabella and pierced inside.

Furthermore, after piercing through, a Foundation Establishment fluctuation radiated from within the black iron spike, spreading throughout the Merfolk's entire body and destroying all the organs within him.

Seeing that the other party was dead, Xu Qing walked over, pulled out the black iron spike, and rummaged through the Merfolk cultivator's body to find a bag.

This was no ordinary leather bag; this was a storage bag!

Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat. He did not open it immediately but put it away and rushed toward the Foundation Establishment Tower ahead.

At the same time, in the sky, Seventh Uncle stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distant horizon. Behind him stood thirteen Elders and over a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, all standing in silence.

And on both sides of Seventh Uncle floated two giant water orbs. Inside them, sealed alongside the corpse-like cultivators, was the Merfolk ancestor.

At this moment, the Merfolk ancestor looked through the water orb at the island below and suddenly laughed.

"Zheng Zheng Kaiyi, do you really think you have the victory in your grasp!"

Almost the instant his words were spoken, the four Merfolk islands below shook violently. Bursts of black light suddenly erupted from the surrounding sea, covering the islands at high speed, and in an instant, they connected together, forming a grand formation like a black cover, shrouding everything inside.

This black light cover twisted constantly, seemingly neutralizing the power of the Seventh Blood Sect's formation. Once the Seventh Blood Sect's formation was dissolved, the Merfolk Foundation Establishment cultivators inside would recover their cultivation.

By that time, this grand competition would turn into a slaughter of the Seventh Blood Sect disciples by the Merfolk!

"Zheng Zheng Kaiyi, the Sea Corpse race must be on their way now; they should be arriving soon. And these disciples of yours will not take long to become sacrifices for our race as your sect's formation dissolves!"

The instant the Merfolk ancestor spoke with a grim smile, black light suddenly erupted in the distant sky. A massive vortex appeared in the sky, and an aura of death, carrying incomparable chill, spread crazily from within, making the sea surface seem as if it were about to freeze.

As this aura shrouded the world, a thousand-foot-long, semi-decayed giant crocodile crawled out from within with a low roar.

Its yellow eyes revealed coldness, and its body, filled with countless vengeful spirits, revealed ferocity. As it crawled out, one could see several figures standing on top of the decayed crocodile, each with an earth-shattering aura, and behind them was a dense army of cultivators!

It was exactly... the Sea Corpse race!

"Finally here." Seventh Uncle watched all this, his expression as usual, and he smiled slightly.

I don't know which character portrait everyone would like to see next. Whichever one you like, I will have someone contact an artist to draw it and start a poll.

Xu Qing (Seventh Blood Sect version)

Veteran reader of storybooks, Jin Gang Sect ancestor

Fruit fanatic, Captain

Pure love, Snake-Snake

Angel investor, Zhang San

I can refine elixirs, Gu Gu Muqing

Little rich girl, Ding Xue

Self-respecting and determined, Li Li Zimei

Forever gentle, Third Prince

Six-path Heavenly Dog, Huang Yan

Bitter and infatuated, Zhao Zhao Zhongheng

Profound and unfathomable, Seventh Uncle

Shameless, Innkeeper old man

Mastermind behind the scenes, Little Newbie

Unknowingly, how did I write so many characters...