Chapter 38: The Power of Life and Death

The moment the teacup was set down, outside the Camp Master's mansion, along the long street, blood permeated the air and corpses lay everywhere!

Xu Qing’s figure was like a fierce tiger; wherever he passed, blood was sure to splash, and trails of blood spread across the ground, a shocking sight. He walked, and he killed, all the way.

And before him, the Camp Master’s guards arrived rapidly from all directions, along with dozens of strangers dressed in black—they were cultivators from the caravan.

Both sides had the same target: Xu Qing.

As they drew closer, a wind blew, lifting the strands of hair in front of Xu Qing’s face. He simply slung the long sword he was not yet used to onto his back, held his dagger in hand, and his entire being seemed to merge into the wind, charging straight at a Qi Condensation sixth-layer caravan cultivator before him.

In an instant of crossing paths, a head flew into the air!

As blood rained down, more men in black and guards rushed up.

Xu Qing looked at these caravan cultivators and was dazed for a moment. He recalled that on the day the caravan arrived, the Lei team had indeed gone out to buy ingredients, but returned very quickly.

Clearly, they had seen their enemies that day and needed to leave early.

Xu Qing was silent, his killing intent growing thicker. His speed erupted fully; he did not dodge, but charged head-on.

In the distance, on a rooftop, stood two people.

These two were an old man and a middle-aged man. The former wore blue Daoist robes, while the latter was dressed in tight-fitting martial attire. The former stood with his hands behind his back, watching the scene on the street with cold eyes.

The latter was sitting there, chewing on a tendon-like cord in his mouth; looking closely, it was clearly a crossbow string.

The crossbow string was extraordinary, and ordinary iron tools could hardly cut it at all, yet in this man’s mouth, it was being bitten into segments.

"Interesting. Like me, he is a body refiner, but he only looks to be at the sixth or seventh layer. He should be more fun than that person with the cross-shaped scar on his face."

"Will you go, or shall I?" the old man asked calmly.

"This is the territory of your Jin Gang Sect, and that Camp Master is an Elder of your Jin Gang Sect, so of course, it should be you, the newly promoted Elder of the Jin Gang Sect," the middle-aged man spat out saliva mixed with bits of tendon and grinned hideously.

As the two were speaking, a roar came from the long street, followed by shrill screams echoing out, as the seven or eight guards and men in black who had surrounded Xu Qing all retreated.

One by one, their bodies staggered, spraying mouthfuls of blood. Every one of them had suffered a fatal wound, and they fell to the ground one after another, revealing Xu Qing, who walked out from the circle of their corpses!

A fur-lined coat stained by who knows how much blood, a pair of straw sandals soaked through to black, a head of long hair swaying in the wind, and a pair of... eyes as cold and gloomy as a lone wolf.

His right hand hung down, and the dagger he held had blood flowing down the blade, dripping onto the dirt one drop at a time.

The seven or eight corpses beside him all died in miserable states. It was not that Xu Qing was torturing them, but any wound to a vital point was simply wretched.

And Xu Qing’s strikes focused on killing, without any wasted movement, which caused the scavengers who saw this scene to have their minds shaken with terror once again.

Without looking at those corpses, Xu Qing remained expressionless, only the blood-lust filling his eyes, as he stepped on the dirt and sped forward.

His target was the Camp Master's mansion, still over three hundred zhang away.

As he approached, the remaining dozen or so men in black from the caravan and several Camp Master’s guards before the mansion trembled in terror, instinctively retreating.

After sprinting a few more steps, Xu Qing raised his head and looked at the two figures on the distant rooftop.

The aura of these two was the strongest he had felt since he began his slaughter, and they were also the two strongest enemies he currently faced.

Xu Qing knew very well that in today’s situation, once he chose to strike, he had to... kill to the end, and their position was the only path to the Camp Master's mansion.

So, after taking a few steps, he raised his left hand and beckoned slightly toward the two on the eaves.

"Arrogant!" The blue-robed old man narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing in them. His body swayed, and as the wind rose beneath his feet, he actually stepped through the air directly from the eaves toward Xu Qing!

This scene made the guards, the men in black, and the scavengers behind them tremble wildly in their hearts. In their understanding, only Foundation Establishment powerhouses could step through the air.

And to them, Foundation Establishment was basically like an immortal in the heavens.

Many people had never seen one in their entire lives; it could even be said that a single Foundation Establishment powerhouse could basically become the ancestor of a small sect or family like the Jin Gang Sect.

This blue-robed old man was clearly not Foundation Establishment; he had only just stepped into the eighth layer of Qi Condensation.

His stepping through the air was merely a trick related to the wind techniques he cultivated; it had no real combat value and could not last long—it was just for show.

But to others, the shock brought by this scene was still enough to stun their minds.

But Xu Qing did not care. Almost the moment the opponent arrived through the air, he secretly scattered poison powder and his body instantly lunged out.

His speed was so fast that he left an afterimage on the ground. In an instant, as the blue-robed old man’s expression changed drastically, Xu Qing had already appeared before him.

He threw a punch directly, a fierce phantom appearing on his fist, emitting a silent roar. The old man, caught in mid-air, was unable to dodge in time and could only hurriedly form seals to create a defense.

His defense shattered inch by inch with a bang, and the old man’s body was sent reeling back by Xu Qing’s punch. Furthermore, a sharp edge formed by a black iron spike flashed, whistling in pursuit of the old man.

With a bang.

The black iron spike was blocked by a shield.

As the shield shattered into pieces, the force of the spike dissipated, revealing the blue-robed old man behind the shield, who was spitting blood and in an extremely wretched state.

The old man’s expression was ugly and he was about to speak, but the expressionless Xu Qing stomped his right foot on the ground, and his body approached again with a boom.

The old man’s eyes constricted, fury filling him. As he suddenly raised his hands, a wild wind instantly appeared around him, sweeping in all directions.

He even inhaled sharply, and those winds surged into his mouth, causing his face to flush red while his eyes revealed a cruel, murderous intent, just as he was about to exhale.

But the next instant, his expression changed drastically, his eyes bulged, his skin turned visibly pitch-black, showing signs of poisoning, and his body trembled violently.

"You..."

Before he could finish his words, Xu Qing, without a moment’s pause, had arrived in an instant.

The dagger in his hand, under the force of his speed, turned red as if burning, like a branding iron, and slashed fiercely across the old man’s neck.

Blood gushed, a shrill scream rang out, and his head was grabbed by Xu Qing’s left hand, separating it from his body as he continued forward.

It all happened too fast!

The next instant, Xu Qing threw the blue-purple poisoned dagger toward the middle-aged man, who had stood up on the eaves with an extremely ugly expression and intense wariness in his eyes.

Then he raised his left hand and, just as before, beckoned to him.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

Whether it was the scavengers, the guards, or those from the caravan, all of them had their hearts churned by monstrous waves, one by one dumbfounded, and an indescribable tremor surfaced throughout their bodies.

"Too... too strong..."

"Is it poison... what a fierce poison!" someone among the scavengers muttered tremblingly.

The middle-aged man on the eaves breathed rapidly.

"Are the people of the Jin Gang Sect all trash? To think they would still show off when it's time to fight!!"

He knew very well that the blue-robed old man could not be this weak; the opponent’s wind technique was quite astonishing, but the mistake was the showy display of stepping through the air, which lost him the initiative, and he had underestimated the enemy, failing to notice the poison and actually inhaling a stomach full of it.

Ultimately, it was the comfort of sect life that made them far inferior to scavengers in terms of ruthlessness and agility, which were honed through the struggle for survival.

Thinking of this, the middle-aged man immediately took out seven or eight detoxifying pills from his person and swallowed them in one breath.

Then he gritted his teeth fiercely, and a cracking sound immediately came from his entire body.

His already burly frame became even more robust, and he took a long stride, leaping directly from the eaves like a goshawk, charging toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing kept his head down, the black hair in front of his face covering his eyes. His body also sped forward, getting closer and closer to the enemy.

Until the next instant, their figures erupted in speed simultaneously and collided directly.

With a boom, the middle-aged man’s entire body shook, his expression revealing even greater terror. The hair in front of Xu Qing’s face was lifted by the impact of the wind, revealing the sharp gaze within his blood-red eyes.

He felt the astonishing power from his opponent, but it was still inferior to his own, and his recovery was even stronger. At this moment, killing intent erupted in his eyes, the power within his body surged, and he threw another punch!

The battle between body refiners was simple and brutal.

They kept colliding on this long street.

As the roaring sounds spread in all directions, the resulting shockwaves caused houses to collapse one after another.

Gradually, the middle-aged cultivator’s breathing became rapid, his face turned pale, his body trembled, veins bulged all over his body, and bloodshot eyes filled with an inability to hide his inner fear and despair.

In terms of power and speed, he was inferior to Xu Qing, not to mention recovery.

So the entire process lasted only thirty-some breaths before his fist collapsed directly, becoming a bloody mess.

His arm could not withstand it either, being crushed by the great force from Xu Qing, shattering into pieces. As blood and bone fragments scattered and a shrill scream rang out, Xu Qing’s body leaped, and he slammed his knee fiercely into the middle-aged man’s forehead.

With a bang, the sound of bone and flesh being crushed replaced the scream, and the latter’s voice stopped abruptly as he died.

Xu Qing did not even glance at him, his eyes still filled with intense killing intent. Stepping over the middle-aged man’s fallen corpse, he leaped up and headed straight for... the Camp Master's mansion!

The guards outside the Camp Master's mansion and those from the caravan had long since been intimidated, their courage shattered.

Seeing Xu Qing, covered in blood and as fierce as a demon god, charging toward them, the desire to survive outweighed everything else. No one knew who was the first to flee in all directions, and in the blink of an eye, they had all scattered.

Thus, in the eyes of the scavengers who had gathered from the entire camp, their shock reaching its peak, Xu Qing’s figure stirred up a whistling wind as he headed straight for... the gate of the Camp Master's mansion.

And just as he approached, the gate collapsed with a boom. As it shattered from the inside out, a fist reached out and collided directly with the arriving Xu Qing.

With a loud boom, Xu Qing’s body retreated for the first time.

After taking three steps back, he raised his head, his hawk-like eyes coldly staring at the Camp Master, who was dressed in golden robes and had an extremely ugly expression, as he walked out from the shattered gate.

And behind him, a gloomy old man in brocade clothes with a mean-looking face!

In the old man’s hand, he was actually dragging a figure familiar to Xu Qing!

The moment he saw that figure, Xu Qing’s body shook violently, and indescribable emotions churned intensely in his heart.

That was, the Lei team.

On the verge of death.