Chapter 76: Killing Fish!

The night wind, like a blood-stained sickle blade, carried a fishy stench and dampness, borne by the messenger of death as it wandered through every corner of the city.

In the darkness, the figure of this death messenger moved wantonly; amidst the horn of killing intent, it seemed to merge with all the shadows in the city, constantly gathering and dispersing, as if fearless, and enough to drive any life that wished to struggle into despair.

Until... in this permeation and advancement, it encountered someone in a dark and remote corner.

It was a figure wearing a gray robe; in the dark night, his back seemed impenetrable by blades or needles, and the chill he exuded seemed to block out the starlight in the sky.

It was suffocating.

This moment was like a rushing river meeting the sea, like a greedy pack of jackals meeting a wolf king.

Its footsteps stopped, its formless body quiet in all directions, watching in silence, until the gray figure slowly turned his head, revealing a calmness like a black pool within his cold eyes.

It smiled.

As if it had found faith, as if it had found a kindred spirit, it carried the sickle of death, cheering around the gray figure, lifting his long hair, blowing his long robe.

"The wind is a bit strong tonight," Xu Qing whispered softly, turning his head to continue gazing at the houses in the darkness in the distance.

The house in his eyes looked like a coffin, permeated with heaviness in the night; it was the residence of the merman youth he had tracked down during this period.

Unlike the disciples of the Seventh Peak, he did not seem qualified to own a magic boat, so he had to choose a place to stay on the shore, living with his attendants.

Xu Qing watched calmly, unhurried and patient; in this dark night, his steady, light breathing sounded like ice water winding its way, long and deep.

He was waiting.

The marked aura told Xu Qing accurately that the person he was waiting for was right here.

And judging by the pattern of the other party's solo outings last time, it should be about time for this fish to go out, especially today... the other party was in a very bad mood.

Therefore, Xu Qing felt that there was a high probability he would be able to wait for him tonight.

Time passed; an hour later, when the moon in the sky was once again covered by dark clouds and a gust of night wind blew, the house, already buried in darkness, emitted a whistling sound of wind resistance.

This sound made the coffin-like house appear even more desolate, like a hoarse moan before death, echoing in the quiet night sky.

A figure appeared on the high wall of the house.

The gray Daoist robe could not conceal the fishy smell radiating from his entire body, and his green, gem-like eyes seemed unable to change his sinister nature.

In the wind, the fluttering of his wide robes seemed to be a hollow display of strength, forming a silhouette, but the thin layer looked more like peeled human skin.

He was the merman youth.

Today, his mood was extremely foul; the events of the day made him feel he had been greatly humiliated.

"So what if you are the eldest princess of the Seventh Peak? Sooner or later, I will cripple you and use your body to feed ghost-realm maggots!" The merman youth gritted his teeth; his unhappiness made him choose to go out a few days early, as he felt he had to vent.

And the way to vent, he had already had his two sisters arrange: not women, but children.

This was a hobby he could not let many people know about; he enjoyed torturing and killing children of other races to gain joy for himself.

At this moment, his body flickered and he walked into the dark night.

As he moved forward, his figure slowly blurred and eventually disappeared; both vision and perception would lose their lock at this moment, as if he did not exist for this instant.

But the scent mark would not disappear.

Xu Qing raised his head, watching the other's figure disappear, his expression calm, stepping into the dark night silently.

The wind grew stronger, like the confrontation between a blade and the air, echoing continuously in this quiet night.

Half an hour later, in the corner of an alley, the void twisted, and the merman youth's figure manifested again. The moment his figure appeared, he sensed a crisis and his body suddenly recoiled.

But it was too late; a thick water curtain instantly appeared behind him and manifested all around, directly shrouding the alley. The moment it was completely sealed, a low roar came from the water curtain in front of him.

A giant whale formed by a technique bulged within the water curtain, taking shape rapidly.

Exuding coldness and killing intent, it opened its huge mouth toward the merman youth, revealing sharp teeth, and with an incomparably fierce momentum, it suddenly swallowed.

The merman youth's gaze was sharp.

"Interesting. Since I'm in a bad mood today, I'll play with you."

As he spoke, he raised his hands to cast a spell, but at that moment, the shadows that had merged with the darkness instantly scattered like ropes, arriving rapidly from all directions and wrapping directly around the merman youth's arms, covering his palms and preventing him from completing his hand seals.

Furthermore, while covering his palms, the shadows spread rapidly toward his neck.

And whether it was his hands or the skin touched by the shadows at this moment, a heart-piercing pain surged, as if they were being rapidly corroded. This scene was too sudden, and the merman youth's expression changed drastically for the first time.

The intense life-and-death crisis and the sharp pain made his breathing rapid. As he struggled, the whale manifested by the water curtain in front of him had already reached him, swallowing him with astonishing momentum.

But the moment the whale swallowed, the merman youth let out a roar, and a blue light erupted from his body. The beam was like a sharp thorn, attempting to drive away the shadows on his body while shooting out in all directions.

It collided directly with the incoming whale; the whale collapsed with a boom, but it did not scatter, and the remaining force still struck like sea waves, falling with a roar.

The merman youth's body shook, he recoiled, and blood sprayed out. Taking advantage of the time the blue light slowed the eerie shadows, he showed a ferocious and cruel expression, just about to open his storage bag.

But at this moment, the shadows permeating his body erupted again, once more wrapping around his hands to stop his actions, and continued to spread rapidly over his entire body.

This scene left the merman youth completely horrified, and at this moment, a black cold light whistled from the darkness, heading straight for his brow.

Behind this cold light, he saw a figure... a gray figure shooting out from the water curtain in front!

The speed was so fast it was like a dark bolt of lightning.

It was also a youth, black hair fluttering, expressionless, only the light in his eyes was calm yet exuded incomparable coldness.

Around him, wind swirled, as if transformed into a sickle, as if a messenger of death existed beside him, grinning as it lifted a black cloak, rushing over along with the figure.

"It's you!"

The merman youth recognized Xu Qing. In the life-and-death crisis, he suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a silver light.

This silver light grew in the wind, instantly turning into a giant flying wheel, whistling toward the black iron spike in front. The two collided instantly, producing a huge sound of weapons clashing.

Because the force contained was too great, both the flying wheel and the black iron spike were deflected in the collision, crashing to the side, and could not block the renewed clash of gazes between the merman youth and Xu Qing.

The moment their gazes met, Xu Qing approached directly. At the same time, the gills on the merman youth's face suddenly bulged, turning into sharp thorns growing on his face, making his expression ferocious as he opened his mouth and spat out a blue bead.

"Die!" The merman youth let out a low roar, and the blue bead instantly erupted with an even more astonishing beam of light, directly shrouding the approaching Xu Qing.

He was very confident; under this innate ability of his, unless it was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even a Qi Condensation Great Perfection cultivator would rarely survive. Thus, a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth as he was about to continue suppressing the eerie shadows on his body.

But the next moment, his expression changed completely with the roar inside the blue beam of light in front, even revealing horror.

In front of him, covered by the blue beam of light, a giant figure stood up against the light, standing tall and upright.

That figure was pitch black, with a single horn on its head, as ferocious as a fierce ghost, and its entire body was covered in rows of sharp thorns, as if it were the leader of ten thousand ghosts.

At this moment, it was letting out a silent roar toward the blue light, its large hand raised, covering the light, and grabbing down.

It was... the Ghost Shadow!

Under this giant black Ghost Shadow was Xu Qing, expressionless, rushing toward the merman youth at high speed.

His body had many wounds from the beam of light, but they were healing rapidly to the naked eye, and the killing intent in his eyes erupted completely at this moment.

Whether it was the merman youth stealing credit earlier or the attack in the shop, Xu Qing had never gone all out; the shadow had never moved, the Ghost Shadow had never manifested, and his recovery ability had never been shown.

His sharpness was only revealed in the moment of killing.

"Qi and blood manifesting as a shadow! And your cultivation! Impossible, your recovery ability, this..." The merman youth's expression revealed unprecedented horror, the life-and-death crisis turning into terror in his eyes, his words becoming incoherent.

He wanted to open his storage bag, wanted to use a jade slip to send a message for help, but at this moment the shadows seemed alive, sensing his thoughts, wrapping his hands tightly, making him unable to lift them or take any items. Xu Qing did not waste a single moment, having already approached, his right hand flashing with cold light as a dagger appeared.

Looking at the dagger, the merman youth let out a crazy roar, not caring that the shadows were now wrapped around his neck, nor having time to care that the covered parts were being strongly corroded. At the critical moment, his body suddenly flickered.

His legs lifted rapidly, blurring in an instant, turning into a black fish tail, slamming toward the incoming Xu Qing with all his might. At this moment, his bloodline talent also erupted fully, forming a phantom merman figure outside his body, merging with his tail to form a powerful strike.

Xu Qing's expression did not change in the slightest, his speed undiminished. In an instant, he approached, his left hand raised to punch, the Ghost Shadow behind him roaring, merging as well, and falling simultaneously.

Skin tore and flesh ripped, flesh and blood collapsed.

The giant fish tail was torn to pieces, and the merman phantom was also crushed and exploded by the Ghost Shadow's punch.

The ground around them shook violently, and a shrill scream came from the merman youth's mouth, but the water curtain around them was too thick, and his voice was tightly sealed within the alley.

"Curse!"

Amidst this scream, the merman youth, who had lost his lower body, had blood-red eyes. As he roared, the flesh and blood of his collapsed fish tail seemed to possess vitality, burning one after another, suddenly gathering from all directions toward where Xu Qing was. The speed was extremely fast, shrouding him in an instant.

Although this gathering speed was fast, it was not faster than Xu Qing. Almost the moment the flesh and blood shrouded him, his body, due to the extremity of his speed, left behind an afterimage that was covered by the merman's flesh-and-blood curse.

As for his true body, it now appeared behind the merman youth. Before the empty fish tail flesh and blood could chase after him, amidst the merman youth's horror, a cold dagger had already fallen before his neck.

"Xu Qing, I..."

The merman youth's body trembled, his voice sharp and rapid, but he had no chance to continue speaking. After saying three words, following the touch of the coldness on the dagger...

Xu Qing slashed fiercely; he did not have the habit of listening to last words.

The familiar sound of cutting echoed.

Blood sprayed instantly, and the twitching of the merman youth's body became intense to the extreme at this moment, like a fish with half its neck chopped off on a cutting board.

His eyes widened, wanting to turn back, but he could not do so. Until after a few gasping breaths, just before his body fell and his consciousness was about to dissipate, he finally saw Xu Qing's face above him.

"My clothes, you dirtied them," Xu Qing said softly; this was the only sentence he had spoken from beginning to end.

"You..."

Blood was still overflowing from the merman youth's neck. As he trembled, he slowly stopped breathing. In his still-open eyes remained a lingering attachment to the world, and also disbelief, as if no matter what, he had never expected that he, a heaven-proud youth, would actually die here.

He died of breathlessness.

Xu Qing's expression was calm. He took off the talisman treasure that had boosted his speed on his leg, picked up the storage bag the merman youth had never been able to open, and turned to walk out of the alley. The shadow left on the merman youth's corpse retreated rapidly, returning to Xu Qing's feet.

Until he reached the alley entrance, Xu Qing's footsteps did not stop, nor did he turn back to look; he simply raised his right hand and squeezed hard behind him.

Immediately, the water curtain that had shrouded the alley and sealed the place shook violently and began to move.

From large to small, from outside to inside, centered on the merman's corpse, it compressed instantly with astonishing speed. Finally, with a bang, the pressure from the surrounding water curtain gathered on the merman youth's corpse.

In this sound, the merman's corpse, along with the minced meat in the alley, completely collapsed, leaving nothing behind, body and soul destroyed.

Xu Qing walked away.

The water curtain slowly fell, turning into water droplets, landing in the quiet alley, washing away everything.

It made the ground clean, made all the bloodiness dissipate, and even allowed the morning sun, slowly rising in the distance, to fall smoothly into this place, refracting the puddles on the ground and emitting dazzling light.

From dark to dawn, for the firmament, it was just an instant; for people, it was the same.

Like life and death.