Chapter 16: The Monarch Asks for the Return Date, but There Is No Date (Third update, 5600 words)

Under the afterglow, the youth's figure made Fire Crow's heart shake.

If it weren't for him being a veteran scavenger, if it were a newcomer, I'm afraid that even if his cultivation clearly exceeded the other party, he would still be intimidated by the other party's spirit at this moment.

Even for him, there were fluctuations in his heart, but they were quickly suppressed by his ruthless cruelty like a desperado and the anger of being injured, and his eyes revealed strong killing intent.

"Little wolf cub, I will pull out your teeth one by one as my trophy."

Fire Crow spoke in a low voice, and at the same time, he tore off his clothes, revealing his thin upper body.

He didn't care about the missing ear and the hole in his chest, and both hands pinched a spell. Following the flushing of his face, a fire ball even larger than before appeared suddenly.

Xu Qing's eyes shrank, and his body flashed and moved suddenly.

"Scatter!" Fire Crow shouted low, and immediately the large fire ball in his hand separated and transformed into five, heading straight for Xu Qing.

The sound of roaring echoed in an instant, the ground was covered by flames, and Xu Qing's figure rushed out again in the burning. It was still two consecutive punches, collapsing the barrier.

Although it was hard to avoid being forced back by the impact, the injuries were more, and the high temperature of the flames caused continuous burns, but his speed didn't decrease by half, and the killing intent didn't lower in the slightest.

Just like that, with this combat method of not sparing his own injuries, he and Fire Crow fought fiercely in this jungle.

The more they fought, the more intense it became.

Xu Qing was indeed not Fire Crow's opponent.

Whether it was the spiritual energy barrier or the fire ball, both were very unfavorable to him, the former making it very difficult for him to kill at close range, and the latter posing a huge threat to him.

But Xu Qing's recovery power was astonishing, which allowed him to recover rapidly after being injured, not affecting his combat power.

His physical strength was also abundant. Although the long-term pain from the body would form mental torture, he had long since developed endurance beyond ordinary people in the slums.

Most importantly... the spiritual energy containing rich exotic quality had no influence on Xu Qing, but for Fire Crow, it was completely different.

His ear injury was still okay, but the chest injury was becoming more and more malignant, and the most critical thing was his spiritual energy...

Even with the cultivation of the fifth layer of Qi Condensation, he couldn't bear such consumption and could only passively absorb spiritual energy to replenish it.

And the fierce battle and the pressure Xu Qing brought him made him have no time to relax at all. In this way, the exotic quality in his body increased continuously, accumulating more and more.

Very quickly, Fire Crow changed from the initial anger to being somewhat nervous, and until the end, anxiety actually appeared in his expression.

He had already sensed that something was wrong with himself, and also sensed that this youth in front of him had problems!

Changing to any third layer, even if it wasn't the third layer but the fifth layer like him, under the bombardment of such fire balls, it was absolutely impossible to endure until now, and he should have long since turned into a dried corpse.

He asked himself that even he couldn't do this.

But this youth in front of him, although his injuries looked serious and were becoming more and more, from beginning to end, his speed and strength hadn't decreased in the slightest.

This made the unease in Fire Crow's heart grow even stronger.

And the continuous increase of exotic quality in his body, the trend of approaching the brink of alienation, made Fire Crow even more short of breath.

"Fire Crow, you piece of trash, finish it quickly!!"

In the distance, the Blood Shadow captain fighting the Lei Team had to be distracted to pay attention here. At this moment, seeing this scene, a roar came.

He wanted to help, but the obstruction formed by the Lei Team's strike made it impossible for him to pass at all. At this moment, he could only be anxious.

And the Lei Team had long since seen that Xu Qing's tactic was to drag Fire Crow to alienation.

Although he didn't know why the other party was confident, and why he could perform as usual in pain, everyone had their own secrets. The Lei Team understood this point, and he had his own too.

So he didn't have the idea of exploring, and what he could do was not let this Blood Shadow captain go to help.

The battle was still going on.

Three more fire balls were roared out, but they still couldn't do anything to Xu Qing. Fire Crow was scolded by his captain again, and the anxiety in his heart erupted completely, forming a kind of madness.

He raised his right hand and hammered his chest fiercely, spitting out a large mouthful of fresh blood. Before it fell, his left hand waved rapidly, catching some.

A sound of incantation was emitted from his mouth, and the blood in his hand turned black rapidly.

Xu Qing's eyes shrank, sensing a stronger crisis. His body flashed and rushed out, about to interrupt the other party's spellcasting.

But this time, Fire Crow's spell unfolded extremely fast. The moment Xu Qing's body moved, Fire Crow raised his head suddenly, his expression twisted, cruelty in his eyes, and he waved his right hand fiercely.

Immediately, the black blood in his hand expanded and transformed into a blood ball the size of a human head.

Bubbles were boiling inside, carrying astonishing power, whistling toward Xu Qing.

"Go to hell!" Fire Crow roared hideously.

Perhaps it was because this spell was too exhausting, and coupled with the continuous violent rise of exotic quality in his body, his legs also trembled somewhat weakly at this moment.

Xu Qing's killing intent erupted suddenly. Just like the Lei Team's judgment, he was indeed prepared to drag the other party to alienation, but there was also a difference.

That was Xu Qing had never given up the thought of killing him in advance during this process.

Although his dagger and iron skewer were no longer in his hands, he had been looking for a chance for a fatal strike.

This chance, at this moment, following Fire Crow's weakness, appeared.

Almost the moment the black blood ball whistled over, the speed of Xu Qing's forward body increased suddenly.

He didn't rush toward Fire Crow in a straight line, but shifted his direction slightly, arriving at the place where Man Gui's corpse was.

His corpse was full of traces of being burned under the previous fire ball range of Fire Crow, but here, besides the corpse, there were... Man Gui's weapons!

A mace, a refined steel shield shattered into one large and one small piece.

Xu Qing's target was precisely that large piece of shield.

His figure arrived in an instant, grabbing the heavy refined steel shield fiercely. While his thin and small body was covered by the shield, his body also rushed out in an instant, heading straight for Fire Crow behind the black blood ball.

The roar echoed, Fire Crow's blood ball touched Xu Qing here, smashing onto the shield, transforming into countless black blood splashing.

That refined steel shield also couldn't withstand it and shattered in an instant, splitting into four pieces, but it still bore the majority of the power.

Making Xu Qing behind it, although he also got some black blood on his body, it wasn't fatal. At this moment, he gritted his teeth, his speed didn't decrease, and without pausing in the slightest, he transformed into a residual mark, approaching Fire Crow like an arrow.

Fire Crow's eyes revealed mockery, not dodging, and both hands pinched a spell. Immediately, the black blood scattered behind Xu Qing was flying into the sky drop by drop, as if it wouldn't take long before it could all rise into the sky and shoot out like blood arrows.

All of this left Xu Qing with no place to retreat, but he hadn't planned to retreat either.

Following the approach, his left hand clenched into a fist, but what struck was his right hand, and he threw a punch.

Bang!

The spiritual energy barrier outside Fire Crow's body appeared with cracks, and in Xu Qing's right fist, fresh blood splashed at this moment, mixed with some flesh and blood with scales.

Not waiting for Fire Crow to see clearly, Xu Qing's eyes were red, and he threw a second punch.

With a bang, the barrier shattered into four pieces. The huge impact expanded from within, pushing Xu Qing's body, making him unable to get any closer like before, and he was about to be pushed away.

Fire Crow's eyes revealed even thicker mockery, but at this moment!

Xu Qing's body actually had a few more bits of remaining strength out of thin air.

In the impact of the barrier shattering into four pieces, he didn't retreat as he once did.

Instead, he rushed forward fiercely, carrying the impact, stretched out his right hand, and grabbed fiercely at the bloody and fleshy place on Fire Crow's chest that had been pierced by the iron skewer.

It seemed the extra strength only allowed Xu Qing to possess this one grab, although he grabbed open Fire Crow's wound, he couldn't cause a fatal strike to him, and could only retreat rapidly at this moment.

And Fire Crow's expression also changed, his body staggering backward.

Sensing Xu Qing's grab, he didn't pose too much threat to himself, and he grinned hideously, just about to cast a spell to make the black blood shoot out.

But the next instant, his expression changed again, and he lowered his head suddenly.

At the bloody and fleshy place on his chest, there... were actually some broken tooth fragments and flesh mud with scales.

At the same time, at the wound position, the flesh and blood were corroding, and bursts of poisonous blood overflowed from within, rotting the skin wherever it passed.

Unbearable intense pain emerged strongly at this moment, making Fire Crow emit a miserable scream, his expression revealing unprecedented horror.

While retreating continuously, he saw Xu Qing crouching in the distance, and in the palm of his right hand that he had stretched out, he shook off a lot of the same flesh mud and broken teeth.

If these flesh mud and broken teeth could be pieced together, they would form the shape of a snake head.

It was precisely the poisonous snake head Xu Qing used to treat the corpse.

And his left hand trembled slightly at this moment, slowly stretching out. After the amber fragments fell, the Ghost-Faced Scorpion tail that had deeply pierced into his palm was revealed!

The former made his palm contain intense poison, and the latter made him possess the remaining strength to strike under the barrier's impact!

"You..." Fire Crow trembled, and in his wailing, he couldn't even speak, let alone cast a spell.

Intense fear of death was revealed in his eyes. He struggled to wipe off the poisonous blood on his body, but the poisonous blood overflowed in large quantities, making his physical strength and vitality flow away rapidly.

Xu Qing took a deep breath. The recovery of the purple crystal in the Fatty Shan battle let him know that he could resolve poison.

The fact that his right hand stained with snake poison wasn't corroded explained everything.

This was the fatal strike he had prepared for Fire Crow.

At this moment, his body stood up and rushed straight toward Fire Crow.

Seeing Xu Qing arrive, the horror in Fire Crow's eyes turned into despair. He struggled to retreat backward, and his mouth emitted even more painful wails.

"Captain, save me!!"

This tragic scene made the Blood Shadow captain fighting the Lei Team open his eyes wide. He wanted to save him, but the obstruction formed by the Lei Team's strike made it impossible for him to pass at all.

He could only watch helplessly as Xu Qing's figure approached Fire Crow rapidly.

And in this approach, the injury of Fire Crow's body and the collapse of his mentality made the rich exotic quality accumulated in his body impossible to suppress anymore.

Before Xu Qing could completely approach, he stiffened suddenly in despair, the exotic quality spread throughout his body, and with a bang... he transformed into a blood mist.

Some people alienate and leave behind blue-black corpses, while others explode and become blood mist.

Xu Qing paused his footsteps, looking at the place where Fire Crow had transformed into blood mist, turned his head, and looked coldly at the Blood Shadow captain fighting the Lei Team.

At this moment, the setting sun fell, but the afterglow of the firmament was different from the past; it didn't welcome the darkness, and the entire sky was filled with a strange red.

Under this red, Xu Qing's figure was also rendered. He stood there covered in wounds, and his cold and sharp gaze seemed to emit a pressure that was hard to describe.

This pressure made the Blood Shadow captain, whose cultivation exceeded his, also have intense heart and mind vibrations.

It was really because Fire Crow's death was too miserable, and the impact on the Blood Shadow captain's heart was huge.

And the long battle with the Lei Team, coupled with the strangeness on Xu Qing's body, all made the Blood Shadow captain feel uneasy in his heart. At this moment, his gaze flashed, and the moment Xu Qing looked over, he threw a punch to blast open the Lei Team and retreated rapidly without hesitation.

He didn't want to fight anymore.

The Lei Team wanted to chase, but when he looked up and saw the strange red in the sky, his expression changed suddenly, his emotions seemed to have fluctuations, he spat out fresh blood, his body became more blue-black, and he was tottering.

Xu Qing walked over quickly and supported the Lei Team.

In the Lei Team's panting, Xu Qing placed him under a large tree to the side, looked up at the Blood Shadow captain galloping in the jungle in the distance, and killing intent flashed in his eyes.

"Don't chase him alone. The Blood Shadow team has been wiped out, and he is no longer a climate. Especially this red in the sky, I seem to have seen it before..."

The Lei Team grabbed Xu Qing and looked up at the firmament fixedly.

"He is a hidden danger." Xu Qing spoke slowly.

He didn't like any hidden danger, and in this Forbidden Zone jungle, Xu Qing felt he had the confidence to drag this Blood Shadow captain to death just like dragging Fire Crow to death, but the Lei Team's words made him instinctively look up and look at the firmament.

Just at this moment...

A singing voice that rose faintly like a sigh drifted over in this jungle.

All the roars of fierce beasts in the Forbidden Zone jungle disappeared at this instant.

In the silent jungle, this singing voice became even clearer.

As if a woman was grieving for her husband's departure, following the echo, there was even more faint red mist appearing from the direction where the Blood Shadow captain was galloping.

Rolling everything in the surroundings, it spread out.

Xu Qing's body shook violently, and the Lei Team, who was sitting under the large tree to the side, also trembled instantly. Both of them looked at the place where the singing voice came from.

It was just that the former was incomparably vigilant, while the latter... had some trance in his eyes.

That singing voice drifted continuously, falling into Xu Qing's ears, making his whole body feel an indescribable icy cold, as if he were in the icy bloody rain of the ruined city back then.

Even though he was now at Body Tempering third layer, he couldn't bear it, his teeth began to chatter, and his body lost the ability to move.

Xu Qing's heart and mind roared, and his brain couldn't help but recall the taboos of the Forbidden Zone that Shi Zi had said when entering the Forbidden Zone.

And in the place they were watching, the Blood Shadow captain's body also stopped, and he was clearly trembling.

As if something invisible was approaching him, making him lose the strength to escape.

Under Xu Qing's own eyes, wisps of white gas flew out from the Blood Shadow captain's seven orifices along with his trembling, and merged into the bloody mist that was drifting over.

And the Blood Shadow captain's body rotted and withered rapidly in this process, until he turned into a dried corpse and shattered into dust, not leaving half a bit.

The mist covered the place where he was and drifted toward Xu Qing and the Lei Team's side.

Following the approach of the mist, Xu Qing's body trembled, and he finally saw the source of the Blood Shadow captain's death. That was... a pair of bright red women's boots, very tattered.

"This is..." Xu Qing's breathing was rapid, his eyes widened, and he saw those boots appearing in front of the mist in the distance, moving on the mud on their own, walking toward them step by step.

The boots were empty... only the grieving singing voice was getting closer and closer.

It was as if a woman without a body was wearing these red boots, singing while walking.

The singing voice became clearer and clearer, and the bloody boots stepped on the mud, the direction precisely toward Xu Qing.

This strange scene made Xu Qing's eyes shrink strongly. His body wanted to move, but he couldn't do it.

As if the ice had frozen everything about him, making his teeth emit chattering sounds, watching helplessly as those bloody boots walked to half a zhang away from him step by step...

The threat of death covered all thoughts in Xu Qing's heart at this instant. He wanted to retreat, but was powerless, only in the large amount of bloodshot eyes that appeared, revealing his intense struggle at this moment.

And those bloody shoes were about to take another step toward him, but just at this moment... a trembling voice came from beside Xu Qing; it was the Lei Team.

"Taohong... is it you..." The voice was hoarse, carrying a trembling tone, and even more a trace of uncertainty.

The moment this sentence appeared, the strange singing voice stopped abruptly.

The boots that were about to be lifted paused slightly, and actually changed direction slowly, as if the woman standing there had turned around at this moment and looked at the Lei Team.

Seeing this scene, the Lei Team's body trembled clearly, his breathing was more rapid than ever before, and his exhausted body burst out with remaining strength at this moment. His eyes revealed light like never before, staring tightly at the emptiness on the boots.

As if

Separated from him by the void, by the world, by yin and yang, they gazed at each other.

Strong as Lei Ting was, tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes at this moment.

"Are you… back?" He raised his trembling hand, as if to grasp something, and those red boots also slowly lifted, walking to stand before Lei Ting, bending slightly.

It was as if that invisible woman was gently crouching down before Lei Ting, allowing Lei Ting's trembling hand to touch her face.

But Lei Ting's hand brushed through the void, touching nothing, falling into emptiness, and the tears… increased even more.

Only the murmurs from his mouth were desolate in this sorrow.

Until a long while later, as if a woman's soft sigh came from the void, those red boots slowly stopped bending and gradually retreated.

Not until they had retreated three zhang away did they change direction, bypassing Xu Qing and heading into the distance with the red mist behind them.

You ask for the date of return, but there is no date.

The mist hides the lingering feelings, the smoke song drifts far away.

The singing continued to drift out, seemingly filled with more bitterness and melancholy amidst the resentment, moving further and further away.

And the blood-colored mist also bypassed them from here, as if flowing, spreading toward the distance.

Until the singing became weaker and weaker, until… the mist completely vanished, and the singing also slowly dissipated.

At this moment, Xu Qing's body finally regained the ability to move; his breathing was rapid, his eyes filled with shock, and his first reaction was to turn around abruptly and look at Lei Ting, who was sitting there.

At this moment, Lei Ting was staring blankly into the distance, tears flowing silently within his vacant eyes.

Xu Qing was silent; the words he had originally intended to ask could not be spoken at this moment.

Until a long while later, Lei Ting murmured softly.

"Are you very curious?"

Xu Qing nodded silently.

"Zhang San told you before that I am one of the few people who have heard the singing." Lei Ting looked into the distance, whispering slowly.

"Do you know, the singing in this forbidden zone is very strange; most who hear it die, and those who can survive the singing are extremely rare."

"But once someone can survive, that person will receive a 'gift' from this forbidden zone, which will allow them, the next time they hear the singing… to see the person they most want to see in their life."

"I originally thought this was just a legend. And for the sake of this legend, I waited silently at the camp outside for decades, until my hair turned white…"

"Until today, I saw it."

As Lei Ting said this, his whole person seemed to age significantly all at once, the wrinkles on his face piling up, and a sense of weakness permeated his body.

"Do you also have someone you are separated from by life and death, someone you want to see… If you do, don't learn from me, don't wait here…"

"Even if you see them, it is ultimately… all for nothing…" Lei Ting murmured bitterly, closing his eyes, tears unable to stop as they crossed the folds on his face, dripping onto his lapels.

Xu Qing was silent, raising his head to look at the place where the singing had vanished, a trace of reminiscence gradually emerging from the depths of his eyes.

He also had someone he wanted to see.

Someone he missed very much, very much, very much.

While writing this chapter, I also asked myself, I also have relatives I want to see…

I won't say such melancholy words anymore, brothers and sisters, this outburst of nearly fifteen thousand words is almost equal to the amount of my previous five-chapter outbursts.

Monthly tickets, collections, recommendations, do you have any, my lords?