Chapter 87: Don't Come and Provoke Me

Xu Qing sat cross-legged on the tree canopy, looking from afar at the location of the old man from the Banquan Road Inn, his heart extremely vigilant.

At the same time, a murderous intent flashed in the depths of his heart; the other party was someone who had made it onto his bamboo slip, but Xu Qing had always felt he lacked sufficient certainty, so he had never gone to Banquan Road.

But now that they had met... Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed.

However, considering that his main goal this time was to harvest, and the other party was not so easily killed, he suppressed his murderous intent and looked around.

Everyone here was quite extraordinary, especially among the lone cultivators, where several made even Xu Qing faintly feel a sense of danger; this was the reason why he had killed the provocative pirate at the very first moment.

Having grown up in the slums, he deeply understood that the act of hiding one's true strength had both advantages and disadvantages, and often, hiding it for too long could lead to unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, using the power of thunder to act decisively and using bloody, murderous aura to intimidate everyone was Xu Qing’s intention after arriving, and it was also his method back when he was struggling in the slums.

At the appropriate time, one must bare their fangs to warn everyone.

Don't come and provoke me!

As for why he cut off their heads, on one hand, it was for intimidation, and on the other, it was because... their heads were valuable.

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and flicked his right hand lightly, and immediately, patches of poison powder fell around him.

After doing this, he closed his eyes, meditated silently, and waited for the arrival of the sea lizards.

Xu Qing’s previous strike had indeed achieved his desired goal; everyone around was now incredibly wary of him, and while acknowledging his qualifications to be here, they were also each on guard, which caused this place to return to a state of balance.

Just like that, amidst this delicate balance, time slowly passed; one night went by, and the moment the morning sunlight of the second day spilled down, Xu Qing suddenly opened his eyes and looked down the mountain.

Almost at the same time he looked, seven or eight other gazes looked over without distinction in order.

Where everyone’s gaze reached, a booming sound came from the foot of the mountain, as if some behemoth was struggling to move forward, and this sound caused even more cultivators to take notice; a murderous atmosphere rapidly permeated the air at this moment.

Soon, within Xu Qing’s sight, he saw a lizard, a full seven or eight zhang long, reveal its figure within the mountain forest.

This lizard was entirely black, and its skin, which resembled old tree bark, revealed the traces of time; it reflected a dark sheen under the sunlight and seemed to have a gap between it and its body, as it was being shed bit by bit.

Its four claws were even more sharp, and it crawled over panting, as if every step brought some pain, yet it did not stop for even a moment.

Although its aura was weak, the fluctuation of its cultivation base, comparable to a Qi Condensation eighth-layer cultivator, still caused everyone’s breathing to tighten slightly; this sea lizard clearly could not have failed to notice that there were people here, yet it did not care in the slightest.

As it struggled to crawl toward the mountaintop, behind it, the rumbling sound did not cease; one could see trees collapsing as a second, a third, a fourth...

A total of six sea lizards appeared one after another.

"Six sea lizard skins at the Qi Condensation eighth layer!" Xu Qing’s breathing quickened slightly; he knew very well that the selling price of such skin at the Seven Blood Eyes port was as high as five or six hundred spirit stones.

At this moment, he looked at these lizards, his eyes shining with sharp light; it seemed he was not looking at exotic beasts, but at spirit stones.

But no one else acted rashly, and Xu Qing also waited silently.

Until the rumbling sound grew closer and closer, and gradually these six sea lizards struggled up to the mountaintop; after arriving at the basin where everyone was, they ignored all the cultivators around them and, under the focus of countless gazes, stepped into the basin.

After these six sea lizards stepped into the basin, they each let out a hiss, their bodies trembling violently, as if using all their strength to shed their skin.

Their hissing echoed in all directions, causing the hearts of all the watching cultivators to tremble.

The light in Xu Qing’s eyes also grew sharper; he saw that as these sea lizards struggled, the skin, which already had varying degrees of gaps from their bodies, was accelerating its separation.

The entire process lasted for half an hour.

The first sea lizard successfully shed its skin, its aura recovered, and it stepped away; from beginning to end, it did not look at the cultivators around it even once.

The lizard skin left in the basin was no longer black, but revealed a cyan glow; the patterns on it were clearly visible, and it even had a crystal-clear quality, shining there like a treasure, looking just like a sea lizard of the same size.

But still, no one made a move.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, also not moving.

After waiting for a while longer, until the second, third, and fourth sea lizards had all successively finished shedding their skins and left, the moment the last sea lizard’s skin fell, someone moved.

The person who moved was the old man from Banquan Road; his speed was so fast that he was like an arrow released from a bow, heading straight for the basin.

Following him, other cultivators around also rushed out in an instant, and their mutual murderous intent erupted with a bang at this very moment.

Xu Qing’s body also swayed, leaving an afterimage on the tree canopy; his speed was astonishing, kicking up a whistling sound as he charged into the basin.

In an instant, there were more than thirty cultivators who had entered the basin, their targets being those six sets of lizard skin, and they began a ruthless struggle and slaughter among themselves in the blink of an eye.

The booming sounds echoed to the heavens; Xu Qing was like a sword unsheathed, his sharpness fully exposed, and upon approaching, he reached directly for a set of lizard skin. Beside him, an alien cultivator wearing a straw raincoat had cold light erupt in his eyes and struck out to block him.

"Scram!" As he spoke, the alien waved his hand, and immediately, a wave of Qi Condensation ninth-layer spiritual energy radiated from him, forming pressure that bore down on Xu Qing.

Xu Qing was expressionless; he didn't even look, but raised his left hand into a fist and struck directly toward the straw-raincoat alien.

The moment this punch was thrown, his blood energy erupted with a roar, and the shadow of the Ba appeared behind him, its ferocious intent spreading in all directions, accompanied by a silent roar that surged toward the enemy along with Xu Qing’s punch.

The straw-raincoat alien’s expression changed abruptly; he had already judged that this Seven Blood Eyes disciple’s cultivation was not bad, but now that he had struck, the moment he saw the Ba shadow, his heart skipped a beat.

"Blood energy manifesting as a shadow, you are at the Great Perfection of Body Refining!"

As he spoke, he retreated violently, but it was too late; as Xu Qing’s fist landed, a boom erupted, and the straw-raincoat alien’s entire body shook wildly, blood spraying out.

Yet he was also extraordinary; not knowing what method he employed, his body blurred, and in the next instant, he appeared in the distance, spraying blood again. His straw raincoat collapsed for the most part, revealing the blue skin underneath. As he looked up at Xu Qing, his eyes revealed unprecedented wariness.

Xu Qing had no time to pay attention to him; at this moment, he grabbed the lizard skin in front of him, and after putting it away, he swayed, intending to snatch a second set. But the moment he was about to act again, a low roar came from afar.

"Are you trying to get us all killed?!"

Xu Qing turned his head abruptly and saw a loose cultivator in the distance who, seemingly because he was too late to participate in the snatching of the lizard skins, had set his sights on the last sea lizard that was about to leave.

But he was angrily blocked by an alien giant with a long nose like an elephant’s trunk.

"You damn fellow, do you know that if a single lizard dies here, we will all die?"

The giant was filled with rage and blasted the loose cultivator away. The people around also looked at that loose cultivator one after another, their eyes filled with intense murderous intent.

The loose cultivator’s expression changed, and he spoke rapidly while retreating.

"It’s just a sea lizard, how could it possibly cause our deaths!"

"Are you a newcomer? Do you know why there are no Foundation Establishment cultivators here, and why no Foundation Establishment cultivators dare to pass through these nearby waters? Do you really think what we are standing on is just an island? I tell you, this island is nothing more than a small bump on the back of a giant lizard!" The elephant-trunk alien’s eyes were filled with thick murderous intent.

"Why are there so many sea lizards here? Because they are all the offspring of this giant lizard. To protect its offspring, it does not allow any outsiders above the Qi Condensation realm to appear nearby, and it does not allow any cultivators to attack the sea lizards here. You are on its body right now, trying to kill its offspring—are you tired of living? If it gets angry, we will all die!"

"

"And the reason we Qi Condensation cultivators can come here is only because such an existence doesn't care about us!"

As he spoke, the elephant-trunk alien had already attacked, and other loose cultivators who hadn't snatched any lizard skin also attacked with greed in their eyes.

In an instant, screams rang out; that loose cultivator was besieged and died miserably, and all the items on his body were instantly divided by those who had attacked.

After hearing their words, Xu Qing also took a breath, finally understanding why he hadn't seen any Foundation Establishment cultivators along the way. He lowered his head to look at the ground beneath his feet, then silently charged out, heading straight for the group of cultivators fighting over the lizard skins.

Cold light flashed as he drew his dagger; wherever he passed, anyone who blocked him was instantly killed. The cold wind blew, lifting Xu Qing’s hair and revealing the sharpness in his eyes.

In the end, he snatched a second set of lizard skin from the hands of three cultivators. By now, the other four sets also had owners, and each was extremely bloody, standing their ground through slaughter to intimidate others.

Among them, the one who had obtained two sets like Xu Qing was the old man from Banquan Road; as for the other two sets, one was snatched by a lone alien, and the other was occupied by a group of four or five people.

Everyone was filled with mutual murderous intent, but they restrained themselves and did not continue to fight at this moment.

Xu Qing’s gaze swept across the surroundings and met the eyes of the old man from Banquan Road, noticing the large snake behind him.

At this moment, the large snake, upon seeing Xu Qing’s gaze, hurriedly nodded at him.

Xu Qing ignored it, his gaze touching and then moving away. He gave up on attacking, his body suddenly retreated, and he returned to the tree canopy, sitting down cross-legged.

The other three parties clearly breathed a sigh of relief and also retreated.

The area around the basin slowly returned to calm, but faintly, hostile gazes from those cultivators who hadn't snatched any lizard skin swept over Xu Qing and the others.

At the old man’s location, he sat there and took a puff from his pipe, looking quite satisfied, but soon he remembered something and hurriedly rummaged through his pockets to take out an antidote pill and swallowed it.

He ignored the gurgling sound from the side.

It wasn't until the large snake bumped into his body that the old man spoke in a low, impatient voice.

"Remind him, my foot! That’s a wolf that eats people without spitting out the bones and kills without blinking; does he need me to remind him? Do you think he didn't know someone would make a move at night?"

"I say, you white-eyed snake, why are you so concerned about him? Sigh, I’ve been so good to you, raising you up, why don't you care about my old bones? I think I must have been poisoned just now."

While the old man was feeling dissatisfied, Xu Qing on the distant tree canopy slowly narrowed his eyes, cold light flickering within them; he was also sizing up those with hostile gazes, focusing on the pockets on their bodies.

Afterwards, he licked his lips and placed even more poison powder around him.

The day slowly passed.

Night fell.

Pale moonlight spilled over the earth, and the desolate bushes gave birth to countless eerie shadows under the moonlight, swaying with the wind, looking like ghosts and demons dancing under the gloomy moon.

The cold night could no longer hide the permeation of murderous intent.

The dim moonlight could no longer contain the greed of all living beings.

And so, the desolate sea breeze blew the funeral song in advance at this moment.

There will be a third update later!

Not going out to play, time to write, time to write!