Chapter 283

A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes, and his body chased after him in an instant. His shadow spread out invisibly, opening a massive mouth unseen by others, and with a desire and madness so intense it was unprecedented, it fiercely swallowed toward the fleeing alien.

The alien was just about to counterattack, but the massive gap in cultivation between them made it impossible for him to resist. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing caught up and grabbed him by the neck.

No matter how he struggled, it was to no avail. He only felt infinite flames surging into his body along Xu Qing's hand. At the same time, Xu Qing's shadow, now carrying endless cruelty and desire, directly covered the alien's shadow.

A roar, unheard by others, suddenly erupted from within the shadow.

"Kill everyone here, wait for me at the ship." Xu Qing left behind these words, grabbed the alien in his hand, and headed straight for the location of the cave heaven above. Amidst the solemn acknowledgments of the Seven Blood Eyes disciples, he left the place in an instant.

It was already night outside. Xu Qing grabbed the alien, his speed astonishing, and reached the top of a distant mountain. After checking his surroundings, he lowered his head, coldly watching the alien—who was trembling and filled with despair—and its shadow under the moonlight.

Its shadow twisted, struggling constantly. In Xu Qing's eyes, his own shadow was also inside, the two sides constantly devouring and biting each other, as if they were mortal enemies.

A wave of evil and madness emanated from the alien's shadow. This feeling was the same as when Xu Qing first saw the Little Shadow in the forest at the scavenger camp.

It was filled with savagery and ferocity.

It wasn't until the Little Shadow was suppressed and tamed by Xu Qing many times later that this wildness dissipated, becoming submissive. However, Xu Qing knew that the rebelliousness in its bones remained.

"Sure enough, while such weirdness like shadows is extremely rare in this world, it is not non-existent." Xu Qing murmured in his heart, moving his gaze from the shadow to the alien cultivator.

The other party must have been invaded by a shadow at some point in the past, just like him, but the difference was that he was the master, while the other was the slave.

"If not for the purple crystal, I fear that the moment I encountered the shadow in the scavenger camp forest that day, I would no longer be myself." Xu Qing murmured, because he saw that inside this alien's body, the strange substances were no different from other cultivators.

It did not have the complete absence of strange substances that he possessed.

Clearly, this was one of the differences between master and slave.

If one cannot suppress the shadow, one can only be controlled by it, like its true shell; it can wear it whenever it wants.

At this moment, Xu Qing glanced at his own shadow, which was still fighting and biting while remaining on top. A purple light flashed within his body, and the power of suppression slammed down instantly.

This time, it wasn't hitting the Little Shadow, but striking the alien's shadow.

The purple crystal clearly possessed a powerful suppressive force against such weirdness as shadows. Amidst the rumbling, the alien's shadow directly emitted a scream that only Xu Qing and the alien could hear.

The Little Shadow was instantly invigorated and cheered, while the alien's shadow, filled with insane ferocity, suddenly lunged toward Xu Qing, attempting to devour him.

Xu Qing's expression was icy. With a wave of his hand, the purple light shone, suppressing it again. He suppressed it seventeen times in a row.

Each time, the alien's shadow let out a shrill scream, eventually revealing terror and flying backward in weakness. But before it could retreat far, the purple light on Xu Qing's chest gathered rapidly, suppressing it once more.

This time, the suppression did not dissipate immediately. Instead, Xu Qing controlled it to pin the alien's shadow to the ground, making it unable to escape. It screamed while struggling, and even emitted a sense of pleading.

Beside them, the Little Shadow was clearly seeing the tragedy that had happened to itself appear on someone else for the first time. This seemed to trigger some very strange feelings, and it inexplicably sent a wave of fawning emotional fluctuations toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing squatted down and carefully examined the alien's shadow pinned under the moonlight. Its shape was the same as his own shadow, both currently transformed into the form of a tree, covered in eyes. Now, every eye radiated fear.

Xu Qing thought for a moment, weighing in his heart whether to seal the other party in the purple crystal just like the Little Shadow. But he... couldn't. So he raised his hand and reached into the alien's shadow. While feeling the coldness, he tried to trigger the crystal, but still couldn't do it.

After pondering, Xu Qing waved his hand, and the black iron skewer flew out, instantly piercing through the alien's skull. The alien died immediately.

Xu Qing remembered that it was only after the black-scaled wolf died that its shadow counterattacked. Now that he had destroyed the alien, he tried to subdue it again, but still couldn't.

But the Little Shadow didn't know this. It seemed to react to Xu Qing's thoughts and immediately shivered, emitting an anxious and clear fluctuation.

"Master... I'm good... no..."

The Old Ancestor of the Jin Gang Sect, inside the iron skewer, watched this scene and resisted the urge to translate.

Xu Qing turned his head to look at the Little Shadow, and after a moment of contemplation, he spoke indifferently.

"In consideration of your past contributions, I will not seal it to replace you today. Remember, your previous merits have been offset. If there are no further contributions, next time... I will replace you." Xu Qing's voice was calm, but as it fell into the Little Shadow's heart, it trembled all over, shaking its head frantically while shivering.

The Old Ancestor of the Jin Gang Sect inside the black iron skewer watched this scene, his heart blooming with joy, and he felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction, his eyes also glowing.

Xu Qing frowned.

The Little Shadow realized, and immediately blinked. Then it nodded and shook its head. Clearly, in this extreme tension, the instinctive reaction regarding right and wrong that the Old Ancestor of the Jin Gang Sect had planted in it long ago was influencing its behavior.

Fortunately, it still had emotional fluctuations.

At this moment, it began to make frantic promises.

Xu Qing nodded and spoke slowly.

"Swallow it." As he spoke, Xu Qing stood up, but the suppression was not lifted. Thus, amidst the continuous screaming of the alien's shadow, the Little Shadow opened its massive mouth and devoured it frantically.

The entire process lasted for the time it takes to burn an incense stick. The alien's shadow had been completely devoured clean by Xu Qing's shadow. Afterward, it let out a satisfied burp and sent a sense of fawning toward Xu Qing.

And clearly, its own fluctuations were much stronger than before. Not only did more eyes appear that hadn't opened yet but had revealed slits, but some flower buds had also bloomed on this tree shadow.

"Time... absorb... strong..."

Noticing Xu Qing looking at it, the Little Shadow hurriedly sent out divine sense fluctuations.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and looked toward the distant Mountain of the Three Spirits. This harvest made him feel satisfied. With a flicker, he turned into a long rainbow and headed straight into the distance.

Not long after, Xu Qing arrived at the Eternal River of Immortals and returned to the large ship, where he saw the Captain.

The ruler of that small nation was no longer on the ship, and the disciples who had accompanied Xu Qing earlier had also long since returned.

"Finished?" The Captain looked at Xu Qing with a half-smile.

Xu Qing nodded.

"That's good." The Captain didn't continue to ask. He stretched, lay on the deck with his hands behind his head, and gazed at the night sky.

Xu Qing sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to breathe.

The night wind blew, lifting their hair. As the ship moved forward, the sound of the river water was like a performance of nature, circling with the wind, drifting further and further away.

Time passed, and a month flashed by. The large ship of the Security Division had already completed half of its river patrol. The reason it was so fast was that the Alliance's ships themselves were quite astonishing; not only did they possess attack and defense capabilities, but their speed was equally impressive.

Another reason was that small sects and nations with the guts to divert the flow were, after all, rare. And since this wasn't the Alliance's first patrol, everything was relatively peaceful, and the speed naturally increased.

Xu Qing's cultivation was the same. His 102nd magic aperture was finally opened on this day, giving him a bit more magic power.

As for the Captain, ever since he ate a few spirit fish half a month ago, he had fallen in love with the taste. He ate various fish in different ways every day. Xu Qing ate a few times and found the taste was indeed quite good.

Thus, the entire fleet began to catch fish to eat.

At this moment, the Captain sat beside Xu Qing, winking and gesturing.

"Little Ah Qing..."

Xu Qing opened his eyes helplessly and waved his hand, releasing a cluster of malevolent souls. The Captain hurriedly placed the fish on it, skillfully grilling them, and sounds of excitement came from his mouth.

"The cultivation technique I practice has nothing to do with fire. Even if I can form fire techniques, the taste is much worse when used to grill fish. It's still your malevolent fire, Little Ah Qing, that makes this spirit fish taste unique."

Xu Qing ignored him and was about to close his eyes to continue meditating, but suddenly his expression shifted. The Captain also suddenly raised his head, and both looked toward the sky simultaneously.

In the distant sky, there were two long rainbows, one chasing the other, speeding along.

The person in front was an old man with red hair. The flesh on his chest was a bloody mess, indicating he was injured.

His face was black and full of wrinkles. Because of his skin color and the cruelty in his gaze, he looked very ferocious. As he fled, two black heavenly palaces above his head emitted an aura that shook all directions, which was extremely astonishing.

Wherever he passed, there was a small alien nation below. With a fierce wave of his right hand, nearly ten thousand aliens flew out from the small nation. One by one, in despair, they bled from their seven orifices. The blood surged upward, turning into a river of blood that rushed toward the sky. When it landed in the red-haired, black-faced old man's hand, it turned into a blood elixir, which he swallowed in one gulp. The injury on his chest visibly recovered a bit.

Just as he was about to continue, a monstrous sword qi came from behind him, causing the old demon to let out a low roar. He had no choice but to give up and accelerate his escape.

And those aliens who had had most of their blood extracted fell to the ground, some dead and some injured.

The one who emitted the sword qi was a young man wearing a white robe. Twenty-seven large swords circled behind him, forming a ring, constantly rotating and emitting streaks of sword qi to bombard the old demon in front.

As for the young man himself, he was handsome, with eyebrows like sword blades and eyes like stars. As he strode forward, his long hair fluttered. But what was most eye-catching about him was the totem embroidered on his robe.

This totem was a purple thorn flower!

"A purple thorn flower! This is a Sword-Wielding Officer!" The Captain saw this scene and was instantly invigorated.

Third update!

Also, Senior Yanhui came to Shanghai today. Let's see if this Little Mengxin can drink him under the table tonight. Ahem, I think I can.