Chapter 37: Kill Without Exception

The hands of Shizi are tougher than others; because he pulls a bowstring year-round, there are many hard calluses upon them.

When he encountered the black-scaled wolf pack that day, facing a day and a night of slaughter, his hands did not tremble as they do now; one can imagine what kind of brutal battle the other party experienced while Xu Qing was away.

And it must be that he encountered someone he could not resist, which is why his fingers are like this while he himself also suffered heavy injuries; the sense of exhaustion emanating from the weakened Luan Ya also clearly revealed that she had already given her all.

Combined with the reactions of the crowd when he entered the camp, the many unfamiliar faces, and the large number of the Camp Master’s men outside his residence, along with the cold gaze of that man with the three-pronged mustache.

All of this made Xu Qing already know who the enemy was.

But the more this was the case, the stronger the unease in his heart became, and under his questioning, Shizi and Luan Ya also told him the reason in low voices!

In his early years, Team Leader Lei was not a scavenger, but an ordinary person in a city far from here.

Because of his aptitude, he once served as a guard in the city where he lived, and he obtained his cultivation method at that time; he was also highly regarded by the City Lord and had a childhood sweetheart as his fiancée.

Everything was beautiful, but all of this changed with the arrival of a caravan.

Shizi and Luan Ya did not know exactly what happened; they only heard Team Leader Lei mutter once after getting drunk many years later that everything was gone.

His fiancée died, his own cultivation base was crippled after he completed his revenge, and he survived by the skin of his teeth, left his home, struggled to cultivate again, and became a scavenger.

Decades passed, and he turned into an old man at the end of his life.

Team Leader Lei, who originally had the intention of retiring, had already let go of everything, until...

He saw the foreign caravan in the camp and saw a person in the caravan.

The person who destroyed everything he had, the person he thought he had already killed—the other party did not die and had lived until now.

But Team Leader Lei did not choose to continue his revenge, seemingly worried about implicating others, so he bitterly chose to escape and hurried to Songtao City.

But he did not know that his enemy had already learned of his existence, so a few days ago, the Camp Master arranged for men to capture Team Leader Lei from Songtao City and send him to his collaborator—that is, Team Leader Lei’s enemy from his early years—as a gift.

"Someone at the Camp Master’s place had their life saved by me; after Luan Ya and I returned two days ago, he secretly informed us, and that is how we found out. We immediately went to try to save him, but we failed..."

"But at the Camp Master’s place, I saw Team Leader Lei’s enemy. The other party’s foundation had also once collapsed and, like Team Leader Lei, he cultivated back up; although he is higher than Team Leader Lei, it is not by much." Shizi said, gritting his teeth.

"We have also scouted this caravan a bit; behind them is a mysterious organization called Night Dove."

"This organization is very large, with countless scattered caravans walking through every scavenger camp and small city in the entire Nanhuangzhou, trading with Camp Masters and City Lords to buy people to be... Treasure-Raising Vessels." Luan Ya whispered.

"Camp Master, caravan..." Xu Qing’s breathing was rapid, and the killing intent in his eyes was intense to the extreme.

He felt as if a raging fire was burning crazily inside his body, causing bloodshot eyes to appear, and an even more monstrous anger surged; he turned and walked directly toward the gate.

Behind him, Shizi and Luan Ya were somewhat anxious, and Luan Ya spoke urgently.

"Kid, we need to plan this carefully; we need to unite other scavengers. This involves disappearances over many years, we..."

"No need!" The moment Xu Qing’s words were spoken, he raised his right hand, grabbed the long sword on his back, and swung it fiercely.

Immediately, the long sword turned into a cold light, heading straight for the courtyard gate like a long rainbow; as it entered in an instant, the great force contained within it erupted with a boom.

The courtyard gate shattered into pieces, revealing a guard of the Camp Master who had been eavesdropping behind it.

This person held a dagger, his eyes wide, his chest pierced through by the long sword; he fell to the ground, blood spraying out as his expression was filled with terror.

And that long sword, containing too much power, pierced through the guard’s body and headed straight for the alley entrance in the distance; amidst the screams of the man with the three-pronged mustache, it pierced into his thigh like lightning, pinning him deeply to the ground.

The casualties of the two caused the outside world to erupt with roars and low growls after a brief silence; the seven or eight guards of the Camp Master’s mansion surrounding this place approached one after another.

As the expressions of Shizi and Luan Ya changed, Xu Qing’s entire person rushed out like a bolt of lightning.

The moment he stepped out of the gate, his right hand grabbed the dagger of the dead guard, and in one step, he was in front of one person.

Without even looking, the moment he walked past him, he raised the dagger and slashed it across the man’s neck; blood erupted and scarlet splattered, but it was not as red as Xu Qing’s eyes at this moment.

In his blood-colored eyes, it seemed as if Team Leader Lei appeared, watching his enemy from back then with his own eyes, the bitterness and grief he had to endure despite the turmoil in his heart.

This made Xu Qing’s killing intent even stronger; he turned abruptly and threw a punch directly, landing on the chest of a guard who had leaped from behind him to attack.

With a muffled boom, this person bled from his seven orifices, his internal organs collapsed, and his body rolled backward like a kite with a broken string, landing on the ground.

At the same time, three more people lunged over with killing intent.

Among these three, two were at the fifth level and one was at the sixth level, but the moment they approached, Xu Qing waved his right hand, and the black iron skewer flew out instantly.

It pierced directly through one person’s skull; as he hunched his body, the cold light of the dagger in his hand flashed, and he appeared in front of the sixth-level guard, slashing fiercely at his neck.

A click sounded.

This sixth-level guard’s reaction was also swift; a spiritual energy barrier immediately manifested to block Xu Qing’s dagger, but it could not block his strength.

With his eyes blood-red, Xu Qing pushed fiercely, actually pushing this person’s body to retreat continuously; amidst a roar, he was pushed directly against the wall by Xu Qing, who pressed down with force.

Under the horror of this sixth-level guard, the dagger cut through his spiritual energy barrier and pierced into his neck, instantly penetrating it; the force was so great that the wall behind the sixth-level corpse also collapsed with a boom.

Xu Qing, standing there, turned his head, the killing intent in his eyes seemingly turned into substance.

It made the remaining three or five guards of the Camp Master tremble in their hearts, their eyes shrinking; even though their cultivation bases were all at the sixth level, they still trembled and retreated one after another.

Even the screams of the man with the three-pronged mustache stopped for a moment, his complexion uncontrollably turning pale and anxious.

But the slaughter was far from over.

Xu Qing’s body lunged fiercely; the three or five guards had a roar in their minds and were just about to accelerate their retreat, but it was too late.

Xu Qing’s speed was too fast; after approaching in an instant, his left hand landed directly on the top of a guard’s head, and after shattering it with a bang, his body appeared eerily beside another person like a ghost; as the dagger in his hand swept past, he flickered again and arrived in front of the third person.

This person trembled and let out a desperate roar, opening his arms to hug Xu Qing, seemingly wanting to perish together.

But waiting for him was a fierce collision from Xu Qing’s forehead.

The roar stopped abruptly; the guard’s forehead caved in directly, and as he died, Xu Qing’s body retreated abruptly, crashing into another person.

The dagger in his hand stabbed repeatedly behind him, one slash, two slashes, three slashes...

Until he slammed this person against yet another wall, only then did he raise his head.

Thumping sounds rang out; all the guards in this place fell to the ground, all dead, with no bodies left intact!

Having killed many people in a row, blood sprinkled the ground; under the afternoon sun approaching sunset, the bloodstains on the ground were reflected in a shocking manner.

Refracting onto Xu Qing, it made his whole body suffused with blood, combined with his own blood energy, making him look like a demon god.

Moreover, because of the slaughter here, many scavengers living nearby also walked out immediately, gasping as they looked at this place.

"It’s the kid!!"

"He... how is he so strong!"

"Those who died are all the Camp Master’s men; he is going to oppose the Camp Master!"

Shizi and Luan Ya also walked out, supporting each other; looking at the corpses all over the ground, looking at Xu Qing’s figure and the blood everywhere under the sun, their minds also trembled violently.

And amidst this uproar, Xu Qing walked toward the trembling man with the three-pronged mustache; on the way, he retrieved his dagger and iron skewer until he walked in front of the man.

The man with the three-pronged mustache shivered, cold sweat dripping continuously; it seemed that the severe pain in his body at this moment could not surpass the terror in his heart. He wanted to struggle, but the long sword pinning his thigh made him unable to move in the slightest, and he could only speak in a shrill voice, his eyes filled with despair.

"Kid, you want to rebel..."

Xu Qing grabbed the long sword on his leg and slashed upward fiercely.

The sharp blade followed the thigh of the man with the three-pronged mustache, swept across his stomach and chin; as blood sprayed out, the man, who had been gutted alive, twitched violently, screamed miserably, and died!

After doing all this, Xu Qing was expressionless, with only killing intent rising; amidst the blood light reflected on the ground by the sun, he walked forward step by step.

The scavengers in front of him who were watching all this also had their minds trembling; seeing Xu Qing arrive, they immediately retreated to make way.

They had seen ruthless people, but most were adults and outlaws; for a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy like Xu Qing to be able to kill so calmly, and looking at his appearance, seemingly not yet finished, it was extremely rare.

"The direction he is going... is the Camp Master’s mansion!"

Heavy breathing, as everyone saw the direction Xu Qing was going, immediately turned into a roar in their minds, causing all the scavengers to follow behind him in unison.

Looking from afar, Xu Qing walked alone at the very front, rushing toward the Camp Master’s mansion at high speed.

And behind him, a large number of scavengers followed quickly, and even more scavengers who heard about this matter gathered as well.

Besides this, the Camp Master’s mansion also had guards and strangers from the caravan suddenly approaching Xu Qing, among whom were experts, seemingly wanting to kill him!

And at this moment in the Camp Master’s mansion, the Camp Master was drinking tea and chatting and laughing with an old man beside him who was wearing a brocade robe and had a mean and arrogant face.

"Mr. Sun, don’t worry; within the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, the matter will be resolved. No matter how the scavengers are, they are not the opponents of us sect cultivators. I originally intended to cultivate this kid well; if he could be used well, I would recommend him to the sect, but since he is so blind, just kill him."

"Alive is better." The old man in the brocade robe picked up his teacup, sipped it, and spoke indifferently after putting it down.