Chapter 570: Hunger from the Red Moon Authority

The parrot wailed in its heart, but it dared not continue cursing aloud, instead pleading with a tearful voice.

"Uncle, I really can't do it anymore, I can't go on, please spare me..."

Xu Qing glanced at the parrot.

"Uncle, I... I rely on the feathers on my body to teleport. I'm still young, I haven't even taken a mate yet. Look, I barely have any feathers left; if other birds see me, they'll mock me."

The parrot cried. It wasn't lying about this; it did indeed rely on its feathers to teleport, and in the past, it had always been very proud of its colorful plumage.

Whenever it encountered other birds, it would feel smug in its heart, looking down on those mongrel-feathered freaks.

In its own perception, it was the most beautiful bird in this world, bar none.

But now... it lowered its head to look at its bald body, and a sense of grief and indignation filled its mind.

Hearing this, Xu Qing looked up to sense the fluctuations of the pursuit in the distance, then scanned the dozen or so straggly, disheveled feathers remaining on the parrot's body.

"Aren't there still a few left?" He continued to squeeze with his right hand.

"Damn you to death!" the parrot shrieked, teleporting once more and vanishing with Xu Qing into the white sandstorm, leaving only a single feather behind that turned to dust and was scattered by the wind.

The next instant, hundreds of miles away, Xu Qing's figure appeared. Before the parrot could speak, Xu Qing squeezed again.

The shrill, miserable screams echoed continuously...

After more than a dozen times, when only the very last feather remained on the parrot's body, Xu Qing finally left the desert with the parrot's help and said "thank you" to it.

It would have been better if he hadn't said thanks; the moment he spoke, the parrot cried again.

"My feathers... how am I supposed to find a mate in the future? Other birds will definitely look down on me."

Xu Qing felt this parrot was very useful and pondered whether to talk to Wu Wu Jian about borrowing it for a few decades after returning. He just didn't know if the other's feathers would truly grow back, so he reassured it, "It's fine, they will grow back."

"Even if they do, it'll be very, very, very slow..." the parrot continued to wail.

Xu Qing was lost in thought.

As the parrot twitched, the single feather on its wing shook incessantly, and Linger felt her heart soften.

"Brother Xu Qing, Little Wu is quite pitiful, it only has one feather left. We really didn't consider its feelings."

The parrot was moved upon hearing this, and just as it was about to nod, Linger sighed softly. "It actually looks even uglier this way. How about we teleport one more time, Brother Xu Qing?"

The parrot's eyes widened at these words, and it instantly flew into a rage, roaring at Linger, "A bat with chicken feathers stuck in it, what kind of bird do you think you are!"

"You've got an older brother and a second younger brother, what number are you!"

"A monkey with diarrhea, you've ruined your guts!" The parrot had lost its mind; plus, with only one feather left, it was instantly driven mad by Linger's soft-heartedness.

Linger shrank back into Xu Qing's collar and spoke in a wronged, low voice.

"Brother Xu Qing, it's so fierce. But it's not Little Wu's fault, it's still just a child, it must be that I said the wrong thing..."

... 」

Upon hearing this, the Shadow instantly expanded with a *whoosh*, shrouding the area around the parrot and emitting an unfriendly intent.

The Jin Gang Sect Ancestor also flew out in an instant, locking onto the parrot.

The parrot's body trembled, its heart filled with even greater grief and indignation. At this moment, the only thing it thought of was returning to its father quickly; it missed its father.

Xu Qing raised his hand to stroke Linger, ignoring the parrot, and turned to look into the distance. A cold glint flashed deep in his eyes; he sensed a familiar fluctuation in that direction.

"Little Shadow," Xu Qing said calmly.

The Shadow flickered rapidly, and after sensing, its body twisted, manifesting the outline of an old man on the ground, and even conjuring two moons behind the old man, as if in pursuit.

"Li Youfei?"

Xu Qing murmured. In the Green Sand Desert, he had only left a Shadow Eye on that person, and the fluctuation he sensed now was indeed him.

After pondering for a few breaths, Xu Qing flickered and moved toward the place of the fluctuation. He hadn't killed Li Youfei back then, and after leaving the Shadow Eye, he had let the Shadow keep watch. The other party had indeed been consistent in word and deed, with more chivalry than banditry, and had not spread news of his whereabouts.

Therefore, Xu Qing had later put away his killing intent, letting the Shadow continue to watch while he immersed himself in researching curses.

Since they had met now, and the other was being hunted by cultivators of the Red Moon Temple, Xu Qing decided to go over and take a look. Most importantly, two lone Red Moon divine slaves—such an opportunity was rare.

And after researching so many beast curses, Xu Qing also wanted to study the bodies of the Temple cultivators.

"According to my ponderings over the past half-year, perhaps there are no curses inside the bodies of Red Moon Temple cultivators? Or perhaps the curses are few, and the greater possibility is that I can absorb them..."

Xu Qing licked his lips and hid in the wind, preparing to hunt.

Dozens of miles away, at the edge of the Green Sand Desert, a flesh-and-blood monster was speeding along.

Its body was massive, a full five zhang tall like a mountain of meat, with over a dozen arms growing on it, and seven or eight tumors like heads.

On one of the tumors hanging over its chest, there was actually a face that had been mangled beyond recognition.

Looking at the details, one could tell it was indeed Li Youfei.

It was just that at this moment, his face was pale, his aura weak, his body severely mutated, and his injuries were equally dire. It seemed that every breath of cultivation base circulation caused him excruciating pain in his internal organs, and blood would spray out from time to time, impossible to control.

Especially at the position of his chest, there was a piercing wound, and many of his bones were shattered.

Even more astonishing was that there were a large number of dandelions on his body, and they were frantically absorbing his vitality.

Strips of flesh kept growing out of his body, dragging along the ground, and they were still spreading and growing.

All of this made his entire person look extremely eerie.

This was the result of being inside the white sand.

And behind him, in the white wind and sand, two red figures were pursuing him at a leisurely pace.

The aura of Nascent Soul cultivation base radiated from them, surrounded by red mist. The blessing from the power of the Red Moon Crimson Mother allowed these two divine slaves of the Temple to be as normal as could be within the white wind and sand.

They could clearly have caught up quickly, but they were currently full of leisure, as if walking a dog.

"Li Youfei, run faster, the edge of the desert is right ahead."

"Step out of the boundary, and you won't have to be tortured by this Bai Mu's wind. Just a few dozen more miles, almost there."

"However, even if you escape from here, the curse of my Lord on your body is on the verge of erupting. Remember to tell me in a moment whether the pain of my Lord's curse erupting is worse, or if this Bai Mu's wind is worse."

"Or, beg us, and maybe we'll show some kindness and end you directly."

These two Temple divine slaves revealed cruel intentions in their eyes. They had encountered Li Youfei in the white wind by chance; the other's reputation was somewhat known in their Temple.

After all, over these years, this person had continuously killed those loose cultivators who tried to attach themselves to the Temple. Although it hadn't caused any major trouble, it was very disgusting.

However, this kind of small fry was suitable for fishing, so the big shots didn't bother to make a move before the fish took the bait, and this person was good at hiding, so he had been able to live until now.

But to these two divine slaves, this Li Youfei still had some value.

If they could torture him to death alive and force his curse to erupt, then the remains he turned into could be exchanged for things at the Temple.

That was why the scene from before had occurred.

And at this moment, Li Youfei's heart was filled with despair. He knew he was doomed. This white sandstorm, although it had helped him avoid the people he had offended in the Bitter Life Mountain Range and kept them from continuing the pursuit, had also brought him great harm.

His already injured body was becoming increasingly weak, and the appearance of the Red Moon Temple divine slaves caused the last glimmer of vitality in his heart to dim as well.

"Can't escape..." Li Youfei smiled miserably in his heart. He had experienced many twists and turns in the Bitter Life Mountain Range over these years, all to join the Reverse Moon Temple, but divine slaves were hard to kill, and lone ones were even rarer.

He had always been one short, until he recently discovered that a disciple of the strongest loose cultivator in the Bitter Life Mountain Range had secretly become a divine slave, so he risked an ambush.

But after killing him, before he could take the corpse away, the other's master descended with spiritual sense, causing his own body to collapse.

And then, they tracked his true form.

If not for the appearance of the white wind, which blocked the traces, his true form would have surely died.

In the end, he had no choice but to flee into the wind. Having reached this point, and feeling incomparably desperate in his heart, a ruthless and resolute look appeared in his eyes.

"Even if I die, I'm taking one with me!" Li Youfei's killing intent was intense, and he was about to devise a plan to lure the two Red Moon divine slaves behind him closer, but just at this moment, a shrill scream suddenly came from behind him.

This cry was filled with terror; even the howling of the wind could not suppress it, and it echoed in all directions. Li Youfei was stunned and instinctively turned his head, seeing a scene that made his pupils shrink!

Inside the white wind behind him, a huge palm had appeared quite abruptly. This palm was entirely purple and a full person's size, and it actually grabbed one of the Temple divine slaves, instantly dragging him into the wind.

The entire process was incomparably fast. That divine slave couldn't struggle in the slightest, with only shrill screams being emitted, and as he was pulled into the wind, the divine slave's body withered rapidly, as if his vitality had been devoured.

And the other divine slave beside him had a drastically changed expression, as if he had sensed something unbelievable; his body trembled violently, and horror appeared in his eyes.

Li Youfei's breathing was rapid. He didn't know the specific reason for this scene, but he understood that this was a chance to escape death. Therefore, without hesitation, ignoring the severity of his injuries, he exploded his entire cultivation base and rushed forward at high speed.

In an instant, he widened the distance, fleeing madly and moving far away from this place.

And within this storm, the other divine slave had no intention of paying attention to the fleeing Li Youfei. At this moment, monstrous waves rose in his heart. In that instant just now, he had sensed the aura and fluctuations of the Crimson Mother, and the degree of richness surpassed everything he had ever seen in any divine servant; even the divine envoys were not as strong.

"A god!"

This divine slave's heart trembled to the extreme, and the blood and cultivation base within his body were vibrating. As one who had been blessed, he clearly knew that his perception could not be wrong.

The hand that killed his companion emitted the very aura of his Lord's god.

At this moment, as his body trembled, shocked by that aura, an ethereal voice drifted over from the wind.

"My servant, come to me... come..."

Li Youfei could not hear the voice in the sandstorm; at this moment, he had already moved far away from this place, continuously approaching the edge.

But that divine slave heard it clearly. His body shivered, and the Crimson Mother's aura contained in the direction the voice came from made his body seem to lose all ability to resist in this instant.

In this shivering, he instinctively walked toward that direction, step by step, walking into the wind and being submerged by the white.

After a long time, a person walked out of the sandstorm.

Purple light shone in his eyes, and wherever he passed, the fluctuations from the Purple Moon spread out. In the white wind, this purple scene was just like the descent of a god.

Until he had walked out more than ten zhang, the purple light in Xu Qing's eyes slowly dissipated, and he let out a burp.

"It is indeed as I judged. The curses within these Temple cultivators are transformed into blessings, becoming the source of their faith. The more they believe in the Red Moon Crimson Mother, the richer this power of blessing becomes, allowing them to use it to summon the corresponding Red Moon power."

"In this way, for me... devouring their power of faith can increase my Purple Moon divine authority."

"Although the amount is not much, it... is very fragrant."

Xu Qing licked his lips. Devouring a divine slave with Nascent Soul cultivation was not that complicated for him. Because of the existence of faith, he only needed to emit his own Purple Moon divine authority, and the other party would be like food wanting to leave, walking over by themselves.

"But if it were a divine servant with Xiang Linger Aperture cultivation, it wouldn't be so easy." Xu Qing recalled the woman in red he had encountered under the Heavenly Fire Sea and sighed in his heart.

"Furthermore, I cannot do this to the sentient beings of the Moon-Festival Domain, because the curses within their bodies have not been transformed into faith in the Red Moon Crimson Mother."

Xu Qing walked forward while pondering, and a sound of dry sores gradually came from within his body, followed by a sense of hunger, as if the bit of Red Moon faith he had eaten had triggered an instinct, giving him an urge to continue devouring.

Xu Qing paused his steps, and after sensing it, he frowned.

"Having consumed their faith, why would this kind of hunger appear..."

Xu Qing pondered, but this feeling of hunger was not very intense; he quickly suppressed it, quickened his pace, and disappeared into the wind and sand.

Half a day later, at the edge of this Green Sand Desert, Xu Qing followed the trail of the Shadow Eye and saw a rotting mountain of flesh.

It was none other than Li Youfei.