Chapter 70

Time passed, and October was more than halfway over.

It should have been the season of Cold Dew, but because the Seven Blood Eyes' geographical location was near the sea, the daytime was still hot.

Only when night fell did the wind become cold, and the sea was the same, as if the gloom buried at the bottom of the sea permeated with the moonlight, penetrated the sea surface, shrouded the world, and seeped into the bodies of everyone practicing at night, letting them experience the malice of winter in advance.

At this moment, the night wind blew, and the moonlight spilled onto the harbor, spreading across every inch of the bluestone road, and also falling on Xu Qing, who had finished his day's work and was walking toward his berth with vigilance.

Xu Qing stepped on the moonlight, his figure straight, his gray robe swaying as he moved forward, seemingly dancing with his long hair. Seen from afar, it looked like a scroll of a lonely shadow under the moon.

Only the cold in the night wind made Xu Qing instinctively feel a bit cold.

It wasn't his body that was cold, but the memories left behind in the slums.

Just like the traces left by smoke and fire on a scroll, even if the entire scroll was finished, even if it was covered with ink and mounted so that outsiders couldn't see it, the scroll itself knew that the traces still existed.

In the cold wind, Xu Qing exhaled, and his pace quickened a bit.

Since the last gathering with Zhou Qingpeng and the others, half a month had already passed.

During this half month, Xu Qing had been on duty at the Homicide Department every day as usual. He hadn't waited for the promotion Zhou Qingpeng spoke of, nor did he care.

Because for Xu Qing, cultivation was his priority at this stage.

His Sea Transformation Scripture had already reached the peak of the seventh layer, and the breakthrough was not far off.

The Mountain Secret Technique was the same, about to reach the eighth layer.

This made Xu Qing very expectant.

He felt that according to his current combat power, once both the Sea Transformation Scripture and the Mountain Secret Technique broke through to the eighth layer, facing himself before he came to the Seven Blood Eyes, he would most likely be able to achieve an instant kill without taking any damage.

Even if he encountered the Jin Gang Sect Ancestor again, Xu Qing felt that after reaching the eighth layer, although he still wouldn't be able to beat the other, if he cooperated with the shadow, going all out in a sneak attack, he would have a certain chance to contend with the other for a few moves.

"Soon..."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. The enemies he most urgently needed to kill now, besides the Jin Gang Sect Ancestor, were that mermaid youth.

For the former, he felt it wouldn't take too long before he possessed the power to kill him; for the latter, he was already looking for an opportunity.

It was just a pity that for this half month, he had been cautiously following the mermaid youth almost every day, looking for an opportunity to kill him, but the other's protectors were always there, making it difficult to make a move.

Occasionally, there was one time when the other went out alone as the captain said, but he used a treasure that covered his aura and figure, leaving no trace of himself.

Xu Qing found it difficult to search, but he still had patience. After analyzing it, he realized he had to find a way to leave some marks on the other.

"Next time I encounter such an opponent, I must leave a mark in advance."

Xu Qing muttered, just like when he learned to dispose of corpses, he kept this matter in his heart and continued to move forward.

Soon, he arrived at the berth of the 79th Harbor.

And along this way, Xu Qing didn't encounter any malicious gazes, and no one came to disturb him at night.

Although he hadn't been in the Seven Blood Eyes for very long, Xu Qing had gradually killed his way to some fame. Such fame caused the number of people who had designs on him to decrease significantly, and most were extremely cautious.

At this moment, as Xu Qing released his magic boat, a massive boat instantly appeared out of thin air. When it landed on the sea surface, a roaring sound of hitting the water came, and it even stirred up waves that scattered in all directions.

Looking at it, the boat body, over twenty zhang long and over three zhang wide, had an astonishing momentum.

The pitch-black deck radiated a dark glow under the moonlight, and the cold light emitted by the dense scales on the outside seemed to blend together. Combined with the huge, ferocious crocodile head at the bow, this magic boat seemed to have truly transformed into a giant crocodile.

Especially inside the crocodile head's wide-open mouth, the countless sharp teeth and the ghostly glow in its eyes added even more deterrence.

And looking closely, one could see that the scales on the outside of the boat body were of a higher level than before, and even on the inside, which outsiders couldn't see, they were also covered with scales.

There was even a special boat bone that ran through the entire boat body, forming a stronger support than ever before.

There was also wind circling around, making this magic boat, which was like a giant beast, emit bursts of deterrent aura, especially the cabin, which was now much larger. The rooms inside were also like this; there were places to rest, places to practice, and Xu Qing had even built an exclusive herb room.

Besides this, in this boat body, one could occasionally see a streak of cyan flowing light, moving like a living thing. Wherever it passed, it made the magic boat even stronger.

Most importantly, on this deck, there was a huge groove. Although there was nothing inside, the array was dense, clearly reserved in advance.

These were the level-six magic boat that Xu Qing had built with mid-rank materials after spending over a hundred spirit stones!

And that reserved groove had cost him an additional ten spirit stones.

Because he had his eye on a material, which was a small piece of a giant whale's skull. Once put in, it could allow his magic boat to break through from level six in terms of sturdiness and reach the peak of level seven.

It was just that this giant whale's skull was too expensive, belonging to one of the secondary high-rank materials for magic boats.

The price was naturally astonishing, requiring a full two hundred spirit stones.

This price was already extremely exaggerated. Xu Qing had gone to see it many times these past few days and secretly gritted his teeth, deciding to save money to buy it.

"Once my cultivation breaks through to the eighth layer, and once I buy the giant whale's skull and make the magic boat reach level seven... I will set sail!"

Xu Qing muttered. After making a decision, he stepped onto the magic boat, entered the place of cultivation, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and closed his eyes to practice.

The sea breeze blew all night. In the early morning, it seemed tired and gradually dissipated powerlessly. As the sunlight fell, Xu Qing opened his eyes and began a new day of duty.

Without the operation to search for the Night Doves, the work of the Homicide Department was mostly idle, only occasionally would the Patrol Department come to apply for assistance for things they couldn't handle.

For example, today, just after Xu Qing arrived at the Homicide Department and checked in at the courtyard of the Sixth Team of the Mysterious Department, he received an assistance application from the Patrol Department.

Not many people were dispatched; including the captain, there were six people in total.

After walking out of the Homicide Department, under the captain's introduction, Xu Qing and the other team members also learned that the target of this assistance patrol was the Dispatch Department.

The Dispatch Department and the Water Intake Department were considered large departments in the entire harbor area. The former was responsible for the dispatch and arrangement of incoming and outgoing boats, while the latter was like the arm of the dispatch, responsible for guiding boats from the outside into the harbor.

Therefore, in every harbor, there was a branch. Today, they were going to the 96th Harbor.

The water intake and dispatch of this 96th Harbor had recently had intense conflicts. Now, over a hundred people from the Water Intake Department were gathering at the Dispatch Department, seemingly in a standoff, so the Dispatch Department reported to the patrol to mediate, and the patrol felt it was tricky, so they applied for assistance from the Homicide Department.

After hearing the captain's mission introduction, among the accompanying team members, someone spoke with a mocking expression.

"It seems the focus of the conflict is the extra reward that should have been given to the 96th Harbor's Water Intake Department this month. The 96th Harbor's dispatch only gave one-tenth of what it used to be. No one would agree to this."

"The disciples of these two departments, Dispatch and Water Intake, besides their daily salary, because water intake is often helping dispatch do things, and dispatch has many extra earnings, so every harbor's dispatch must give extra rewards to water intake on time."

Hearing this, Xu Qing also had a rough understanding of this matter.

"This matter, it's the 96th Harbor's dispatch. A new person in charge was changed some time ago, that core disciple Zhao Zhongheng."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and didn't speak.

"This core disciple, as soon as he took office, forcefully changed the rules. It is said that the monthly water intake reward changed from the original fifty-fifty split to a ninety-ten split, so the disciples of the Water Intake Department were furious."

Xu Qing listened to everyone's discussion. While lost in thought, their group arrived at the 96th Harbor's Dispatch Department. Looking from afar, the Dispatch Department's design looked like a ship's sail spread on the ground, with buildings of various sizes standing, and quite a few magic boats parked to the side.

In front of the Dispatch Department's main gate, over a hundred people from Water Intake were currently blocking the gate, in a standoff with the Dispatch Department disciples inside the gate. The sound of arguing kept coming out, and the sense of swords drawn and bows bent became increasingly intense, with more disciples watching from all around.

Inside, there were also Patrol Department disciples who were mediating, but both sides refused to give in, so the difficulty of mediation was extremely high.

With just a little spark, both sides, in this tense atmosphere, were very likely to start fighting directly.

So, after seeing the Homicide Department arrive, the Patrol Department disciples breathed a sigh of relief, and the onlookers outside also cleared a path, allowing the Homicide Department to approach.

The captain, who was eating an apple, didn't look at the two sides with swords drawn and bows bent or the Patrol Department disciples who were mediating with difficulty, but found a place in a corner not far away to sit and watch the fun.

The Homicide Department's mission was to go and calm things down after both sides really started killing each other. Now that they hadn't started killing, they didn't need to pay attention.

Other team members were the same. Xu Qing, following the crowd, sat down as well. After his gaze swept over both sides, he didn't see Zhao Zhongheng, but he saw an acquaintance.

This person was standing at the very front of the Water Intake Department crowd, a little fatty.

It was none other than Huang Yan, who had generously given him the Spirit-Condensing Leaf at the pharmacy that day.

"You bastards of the Dispatch Department, doing this is cutting off the livelihood of our 96th Harbor's Water Intake disciples. Without that reward, our cultivation and boat refining will slow down. In this main city where there is a crisis at every moment, how are we supposed to live? You are trying to kill us! Since it's death either way, then we'll kill you first!"

Huang Yan seemed to be the representative of the 96th Harbor's Water Intake. Although he wore a gray robe, he held his head high and chest out, looking not at all intimidated. His expression revealed cruelty, his voice was sharp, and he shouted with a red face and thick neck.

Standing in front of him, at the gate of the Dispatch Department, was a middle-aged man. This person was also wearing a gray Daoist robe. He was not from the 96th Harbor's dispatch, but Zhao Zhongheng's attendant.

This matter was proposed by Zhao Zhongheng. Since a problem arose, the other's status naturally wouldn't allow him to come out and solve it personally, so he arranged for an attendant to come and handle it.

At this moment, this middle-aged cultivator's eyes revealed a cold glint, and there was even more deep displeasure. He had followed Zhao Zhongheng for a long time. Although he was an attendant, he usually met mountain-base disciples who were very respectful to him, and he had seen many other core disciples, so he had long forgotten his own status and was very dismissive of these gray-robed disciples in his heart.

Especially since he knew his master wouldn't change the rules, he put on a forceful attitude at this moment.

"Within one stick of incense, if you don't want to die, get out immediately!"

As soon as his words came out, the disciples of the Water Intake Department were filled with killing intent, and the Dispatch Department side, seeing this, also had cold glints flashing in their eyes.

For the disciples of the various departments in the Seven Blood Eyes main city who had killed their way out of wolf dens and didn't rely on others to stand firm, slaughter... they were no strangers to it.

"Let us get out? Get out of your grandfather's!" Huang Yan's eyes widened, and he rammed over directly. He was fast and heavy, and at this moment, amidst a roar, he started fighting.

The next instant, the disciples of Water Intake and Dispatch, who had long been in a tense atmosphere, started fighting directly at the gate.

The roar echoed, and the technique fluctuations spread in all directions. The chaotic battle of hundreds of people was staged directly before Xu Qing's eyes, with blood splashing and shrill cries spreading everywhere.

The Patrol Department disciples responsible for mediation retreated one after another, while Xu Qing and the others still sat there.

Xu Qing glanced at the captain to the side. The captain was eating an apple, looking very interested in the chaotic battle ahead, occasionally cheering a few times.

"There are too many of them, it's a bit dangerous to fight chaotically. Let's wait until they've killed enough, then go and calm it down. Besides, the slaughter between two departments... the sect is also unwilling to see it, and they will likely come out to stop it."

The captain whispered to the team members beside him after cheering.

And at this moment, both sides in the chaotic battle had already suffered casualties. Amidst the even more intense roars and roars, Xu Qing saw Huang Yan in the crowd, his eyes red, attacking frantically. With his cultivation at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation, his outburst possessed very strong lethality.

And just at this moment, Xu Qing saw that in the crowd of the Dispatch Department, the middle-aged man who had been in a standoff with Huang Yan earlier was retreating rapidly. His gaze toward Huang Yan was filled with venom. Taking advantage of Huang Yan's back being turned, he suddenly waved his hand, and a willow-leaf flying knife flew out from his sleeve.

This knife was made of a special material, somewhat transparent, and extremely fast. There was a faint blue glow on it, as if it were poisoned, and it flew straight toward Huang Yan's neck.

Huang Yan was in the middle of the chaotic battle and didn't notice it for a moment. Seeing the flying knife approaching, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and flicked his right hand lightly. A drop of water instantly formed out of thin air and flew out at an astonishing speed, landing directly on the willow-leaf flying knife.

The force of the water drop was extremely great. With a bang, the flying knife shifted its direction and grazed past Huang Yan's face.

Huang Yan's expression changed. First, he looked at Xu Qing and nodded, then his expression turned ferocious, his gaze fell on the middle-aged cultivator, and he roared and rushed over directly.

"Damn it!" The middle-aged cultivator immediately retreated, but it was too late. He was chased down by Huang Yan after a few leaps and rammed into fiercely.

The sound of breaking bones was drowned out by the chaotic battle all around. One could only see the middle-aged cultivator's expression twisting as he fought back rapidly.

The chaotic battle continued, and there were more casualties.

At this moment, the captain to the side swept a glance at Xu Qing, smiling yet not smiling.

Xu Qing didn't speak and withdrew his gaze from Huang Yan. His previous action was because Huang Yan had generously given him the Spirit-Condensing Leaf that day.

And soon, as the slaughter between the two departments became increasingly tragic, a low shout came from afar like a thunderclap, roaring over.

"All stop!"

As the words were spoken, a figure stepped through the air from afar. A powerful and terrifying aura fell from the sky at this moment, suppressing all directions, making all the disciples on the ground feel their hearts shake wildly, and they all stopped fighting.

"Time to work." The captain whispered, stood up, put on the appearance of law enforcement, his expression solemn. Xu Qing and the other team members also stood up.

The moment they stood up, the figure in the sky approached rapidly and landed in mid-air, turning into a young man wearing a deep purple Daoist robe.

This young man was plain-looking, his eyes didn't have much fluctuation, but the momentum on his body was astonishing. At this moment, standing in mid-air, he looked coldly at the disciples of both sides on the ground who had stopped.