Chapter 281: Miserable World

Regarding Seventh Master's reply, Xu Qing had some doubts in his heart, but he only felt that something was a bit wrong, and he wasn't very clear about the specific matter.

However, regarding that Immortal Zixuan of the Profound Nether Sect, Xu Qing felt that it was better for him to keep his distance. He decided that he would never go near the mountain gate of the Profound Nether Sect in the future.

With such thoughts, Xu Qing closed his eyes and began to meditate.

But for some reason, his heart was a bit restless.

So Xu Qing opened his eyes, took out the Herbal Canon given by Master Bai, flipped through it for more than half an hour, and his heart completely calmed down.

Just like that, time passed, and half a month flashed by.

In this half month, besides cultivation, Xu Qing also obtained some water from the Eternal Immortal River, which he used to wash the taboo fragments he obtained from Sima Ling.

It was just that the taboo fragments themselves could emit foreign substances, so the effect of washing with river water was average.

Xu Qing pondered for a while, still not at ease with the shadow, so he didn't let it come to absorb, but continued to wash with river water. Even if the effect was ordinary, it was better than not doing it.

At the same time, as everything in the entire main city proceeded in an orderly manner, the Seven Blood Eyes' Security and Protection Special Department also ushered in their first outing task.

Patrol the distributary river channel of the Eternal Immortal River.

This distributary river water, which had been re-introduced recently, had an extremely long river channel, running through half of Yinghuang Province from the Shaosi Sect to the Eight Sect Alliance.

The patrol team had to go upstream along the river, checking the quality of the river water, while the focus was to deter petty criminals, especially those who diverted water along the way, which had to be strictly destroyed.

After all, the river channel was long and passed through countless sects and small countries. If it wasn't patrolled, after the river water was intercepted layer by layer, the part reaching the Eight Sect Alliance would be greatly reduced.

Thus, there was the river patrol.

This was a matter that the Security and Protection Special Departments of the eight sects of the Eight Sect Alliance were responsible for as a whole, distributed to each sect to rotate. Now it was the Seven Blood Eyes' turn.

Xu Qing also intended to go out to see this Yinghuang Province, but his personality was cautious, so he didn't act rashly, but asked Seventh Master.

Seventh Master gave an affirmative answer and sent Xu Qing a jade slip to cover his identity.

Getting the jade slip, Xu Qing felt much more at ease.

Thus, he covered his appearance, changed his clothes, and after adding a magic tool to change his aura, on this morning, he and the Captain brought seven or eight hundred sect disciples, took twenty large ships, and set off from the Eight Sect Alliance.

Along the way, twenty large ships moved majestically, sailing out of the Eight Sect Alliance city, and moved forward along the river channel.

The width of this distributary of the Eternal Immortal River was extremely large, and the further up it went, the more it was like this. Gradually, a river reaching the sky appeared before Xu Qing.

The river water was surging, the sound of water was loud, and the waves were rolling.

The immortal spiritual energy was rich.

In the morning, one could see immortal mist rising on the river water, smelling fresh, making people feel refreshed and happy.

This river was more than ten thousand zhang wide. Being in it felt like the sea. Ten large ships had to travel side-by-side, separated by a thousand zhang, to explore both sides.

And the ancestor of the Jin Gang Sect liked it even more here. After expressing his desire to Xu Qing, Xu Qing took out the black iron sign so that the ancestor of the Jin Gang Sect could better cultivate here.

The shadow was eerie. Even in this kind of environment, it had no effect on it. While pitch black in the sun, a part of it also spread into the river water.

Occasionally, some spiritual fish in the river water were swallowed instantly when they approached the shadow. Every time this happened, the shadow would transmit satisfied emotional fluctuations.

"Can immortal spiritual energy also be absorbed?" Xu Qing noticed.

"What a good Eternal Immortal River!" As Xu Qing was thoughtful, the Captain beside him gazed in all directions, his voice carrying a touch of emotion.

"No wonder the Eight Sect Alliance spared no cost, risking the risk of offending the Taisi Immortal Sect, to destroy the Shaosi Sect's dam and make this river flow into the Alliance."

"I don't know how vast and heaven-shaking the source of this Eternal Immortal River is. Cultivators of our generation must definitely go there once to see the scenery of mountains and rivers. If we eventually become Sword-Wielders, that would be a happy life, not in vain." The Captain stood with his hands behind his back, his hair fluttering in the wind, his voice carrying yearning.

Xu Qing looked at the Captain in surprise. From setting off in the morning until now, half a day had passed, and he hadn't seen the Captain eat an apple. His words at this moment made Xu Qing feel strange.

This kind of tone didn't seem like something the Captain could say.

So Xu Qing took out an apple, took a bite, and nodded.

He remembered that since the Profound Nether Sect matter last time, the Captain seemed to have been stimulated. Every time they met in the back, Xu Qing had a feeling of seeing Wu Jianwu on the Captain.

Today, it was even clearer.

Except for not chanting poems.

"Senior Brother, do you want an apple?" Xu Qing asked.

"In your heart, does Senior Brother only know how to eat?" In the river wind, the Captain turned his head, looked at Xu Qing deeply, and spoke indifferently.

Hearing this, Xu Qing took out an apple and threw it over.

The Captain caught it instinctively.

Xu Qing was silent.

The Captain was silent.

After a while, the two squatted at the bow of the ship and ate together.

While eating, the Captain sighed.

"Why did Immortal Zixuan treat you like that? Where am I inferior? I'm not inferior... I checked later that Immortal Zixuan was very famous throughout Yinghuang Province when she was young, beautiful beyond compare, and most of those bad reputations were maliciously spread by pursuers after they failed."

Xu Qing didn't speak, gazing at both sides of the shore, his mind recalling the description of both sides of this Eternal Immortal River in the archives.

One side was the Taisi Du'e Mountain Range formed by ten thousand mountains, pitch black, like the spine of a giant beast, with no end in sight. Inside were countless demons, ghosts, eerie things, rogue cultivators, and sects, a chaotic mix of dragons and snakes, as cruel as a living hell.

One side was the endless wasteland and evil land, rich in foreign substances, withered trees forming forests, and even more countless ethnic groups and small countries. Each small country often had to offer sacrifices or rely on some cultivators and forces to exist. Suffering was added to suffering.

Xu Qing pondered the content of the archives. The Captain finished the apple, took out another one, took a bite, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly looked into the distance.

Xu Qing also looked up instantly.

At the same time, in their voice transmission jade slips, information sent by the disciples on the scouting ship ahead came.

"There are mortals ahead, staying by the river."

Because the distance was far, the disciples on the large ships behind couldn't see the scene in the distance, but in the eyes of Xu Qing and the Captain, everything in the distance was clearly visible.

After seeing clearly, their expressions were each complicated.

Xu Qing saw a large number of mortal refugees, old and young, men and women. Most of them were blue-black, with extremely rich foreign substances, and they were not far from alienation.

Most were thin as skeletons, their eyes without spirit, and some even had difficulty walking, supported by relatives, to be able to move slowly.

These people numbered in the hundreds. At this moment, they gathered on the shore, pulling into a long line, using river water to wash their bodies.

Relying on the immortal spiritual energy of the river water, they suppressed their state of being at the end of their rope.

There were even some whose bodies were rotten, lying on the shore, fed river water slowly by people using stone bowls.

There were even a few children in the crowd, crying, seemingly because the washing of the river water made them suffer unbearable pain.

This scene of human misery was just a small corner of all living beings and this world.

And upon seeing the Alliance's large ships, these mortals revealed terror in their eyes, trembling.

Xu Qing looked at all this and spoke softly.

"Send some pills over."

"Yes!" The Security and Protection Special Department disciples following him immediately brought people to fly over and gifted the low-level pills they had prepared before departure to these suffering people.

"There is not much we can do. This world is like this, and the internal strife of the human race is serious, a plate of loose sand." The Captain sighed.

"I know." Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and gazed into the distance.

"If you see you can help, help a little, within your power."

The Captain turned his head and looked at Xu Qing deeply, then waved his hand, and dozens of spiritual fish flew out of the river water and landed on the shore.

Spiritual fish, like pills, were faster than river water in dissipating foreign substances.

"Little A-Qing, maybe this is the reason the old man likes you, and also the reason I am willing to contact you." The Captain patted Xu Qing's shoulder.

Xu Qing didn't speak.

Time passed slowly, and the voyage continued. Half a month flashed by.

In these half a month on the road, the misery on the shore like the past was everywhere. Xu Qing saw mortals, rogue cultivators, and even more alien races and small countries.

They were all washing their own foreign substances on the river bank, each of them very miserable, with even more disabled people, and most of them were clearly about to be alienated.

This river channel, forcibly opened by the Eight Sect Alliance, although it made the Eight Sect Alliance profit, it also fulfilled countless small countries and ethnic groups along the river, giving them a glimmer of hope in this painful life.

And the Eight Sect Alliance was tacit about this. As long as they didn't divert the river water, they wouldn't stop it, tacitly allowing the suffering people along the way to obtain vitality here.

At the same time, Xu Qing and his party would give out the low-level pills they had prepared along the way. This behavior was different from other sects. This was what Seventh Master had instructed before departure.

Such a journey lasted for a long time. Xu Qing also began to cultivate. Only the Captain couldn't sit still, occasionally fishing, occasionally going ashore, and occasionally catching some small beasts back.

Until this day, the scouting ship ahead sent information that they encountered a matter they didn't know how to handle.

Xu Qing got up from cultivation. When he walked out of the cabin, he saw the Captain standing at the bow of the ship, gazing into the distance.

"It's the first time encountering this kind of situation. If it were a cultivator, I would just suppress and kill, but it happens not to be."

"All the population of a small country, almost forty or fifty thousand people, are transporting river water together... and are still digging the river channel..."

Xu Qing heard the Captain's words, walked to the bow, and looked as well.

Looking at the distance, on the shore in the distance, tens of thousands of people were pushing wooden wheelbarrows, transporting buckets of river water away. Those doing these things were sallow and thin poor people, and there were some mortal soldiers around, whipping and scolding.

There were even some who were digging open the ground, making the river water divert.

Far away, the convoy spread to the distance, where a small country could be seen faintly.

After Xu Qing swept over, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he looked at the sallow and thin poor people again.

At this moment, under the sunset, the shadows pulled out by those poor people were long, and these shadows looked normal, but under Xu Qing's attention, it seemed... they were all missing an ear.

Left ear.

Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. ===== CHAPTER 282 =====