Chapter 90: An Unbreakable Alliance

Some things do not need to be spoken; actions alone can represent one's stance.

Xu Qing sat cross-legged on the tree canopy. At this moment, whether in his movements or his expression, he was no different from before he had left, yet the hearts of the cultivators surrounding the basin were now worlds apart from what they had been just a moment ago.

What they had once been wary of, they were now even more wary of.

What they had once ignored, they now regarded with the utmost importance.

All of this made the atmosphere of the entire basin increasingly oppressive, until late at night, when a rumbling sound emerged from beneath the mountain, and two sea lizards comparable to the eighth level of Qi Condensation came stumbling in, changing the situation.

Their appearance drew the focused gazes of the cultivators here, but even as the sea lizards crawled into the basin and finished molting amidst hisses, no one dared to step forward to snatch the spoils; they could only watch as the five members of the Sea Ghost organization entered the basin, seemingly intent on collecting the lizard skins.

Only Xu Qing was different.

Xu Qing opened his eyes, and the moment those two sea lizards finished molting, he stood up.

His rising immediately drew the gazes of everyone in the vicinity.

Paying no mind to the eyes upon him, Xu Qing calmly leaped down from the tree canopy, his entire body turning into a blur, moving with extreme speed toward the basin.

Even though there were cultivators from the Sea Ghost organization in the basin, Xu Qing did not even glance at them, heading straight for a lizard skin. At this moment, an alien cultivator from the Sea Ghost organization stood beside this skin, and seeing Xu Qing arrive, his expression darkened.

As his eyes flickered, he suddenly raised his right hand, and his fingernails rapidly extended like sharp blades, swinging fiercely toward Xu Qing.

"My friend, this lizard skin is my Sea..."

Before the alien cultivator could finish his sentence, Xu Qing raised his hand, grabbed the palm swinging toward him, yanked it violently toward himself, and followed the momentum to rise, slamming his knee hard into the alien cultivator's chest.

A cracking sound echoed in all directions; the alien cultivator's chest instantly caved in, and cracks spread rapidly across his entire body until, with a boom, he fell apart and collapsed into a pile.

However, what collapsed was not flesh and blood, but wooden blocks.

This alien cultivator was, shockingly, not a real person, but a puppet.

The expressions of the Sea Ghost organization cultivators in the basin shifted, and as their vigilance spiked, Xu Qing had already taken one lizard skin and looked at them with cold eyes.

At this moment, not far away, all the Sea Ghost organization cultivators who had been sitting cross-legged stood up; while wary, a sense of ferocity also began to permeate the air.

The two sides stared at each other for a long while.

A burly, shirtless man in the middle of the Sea Ghost organization suddenly felt his chest flesh squirm, revealing a ferocious face.

This face resembled a newborn infant; though covered in wrinkles, it was faintly brimming with vitality, and its eyes were crimson. It stared at Xu Qing and suddenly spoke.

"My friend, you destroyed my toy, but that is nothing. As for the sea lizards here... my Sea Ghost wants half. That isn't too much to ask, is it?"

Xu Qing glanced at the face, said nothing, took the lizard skin he had obtained, turned around, returned to the tree canopy, sat cross-legged, and continued his meditation.

His goal was clear: he had come to Sea Lizard Island for sea lizard skin, not to kill. Of course, if there were obstacles in the process of obtaining the skins, that would be a different matter.

Furthermore, he was not excessively greedy.

Xu Qing knew very well that this current state was actually more favorable to him; after all, the Sea Ghost organization intimidated others, preventing other rogue cultivators from competing, which meant he would obtain more.

And while his own combat power was sufficient, these desperate people struggling between life and death surely had some trump cards, so Xu Qing felt that unnecessary killing was meaningless.

Since his goal could be achieved, he naturally agreed with the other party's proposal.

Just like that, time passed, and three days went by.

In these three days, Xu Qing made a move once more and, without any complications, directly took half of the sea lizard skins. However, deep down, he remained suspicious as to why the Sea Ghost organization had come and why the other cultivators still hadn't left.

This suspicion reached a certain height in Xu Qing's heart on the third night, when a massive boat appeared on the distant sea, its target seemingly being Sea Lizard Island itself.

This boat was a hundred zhang in size and pitch-black. Unlike the style of the Seven Blood Eyes' magic boats, it was shaped more like a maple leaf. Most strangely, when one's gaze fell upon this boat, it made one's heart turn cold, as if something as eerie as a Forbidden Zone were hidden within it.

The reason for all this was the paint on the boat.

The pitch-black color was not natural; it had been coated with some kind of blood, and it was this blood that gave Xu Qing that sense of eeriness.

"Departure Sect!"

"They actually came too!"

The location of the basin allowed the people here to see the ocean more comprehensively. At this moment, just like Xu Qing, they had all noticed the black boat approaching rapidly, and some immediately exclaimed in low voices, their words carrying deep wariness.

The dozen or so cultivators from the Sea Ghost organization also wore grave expressions, whispering to each other as if facing a formidable enemy.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes; he was not unfamiliar with the Departure Sect.

Back at the scavenger camp, the little girl's brother had been a captain in the Departure Sect's law enforcement team, and she had been taken away by him.

At that time, outside the general store, he had heard scavengers discussing the Departure Sect, their words implying that the group were all lunatics.

It wasn't until he joined the Seven Blood Eyes and reviewed files at the Catcher Division that Xu Qing gained a deeper understanding of the Departure Sect.

The Departure Sect was one of the four largest human forces in the Nanhuangzhou, ranked alongside the Purple Earth, the Seven Blood Eyes, and the Truth Words. Their doctrine advocated following the ancient emperors and masters to depart from this world of the end-times.

Their teachings constantly claimed that the holy land opened up by the ancient emperors and masters was full of beauty, without famine, cold, or slaughter, and filled with pure spiritual energy.

And that one day in the future, the holy land would open its gates to the end-times world and welcome all who believed in them.

This was the faith of the Departure Sect. At the same time, in the eyes of the Departure Sect, all who did not share this faith were heretics who must be punished and stripped of their right to live.

And such extreme dogma naturally brought together a group of fanatics.

"I wonder how she is doing now."

Xu Qing whispered in his heart, thinking of the candy the little girl had once given him, but he quickly returned from his memories and stared at the approaching Departure Sect boat on the distant sea.

"What exactly is going to happen on this Sea Lizard Island?"

As Xu Qing's suspicions deepened, the old man from Banquan Road, hiding behind the rocks of the basin, sighed upon seeing the arrival of the Departure Sect.

"It's over. This time, with the Sea Ghost and the Departure Sect arriving one after another, they must be here for the same purpose as me."

The old man from Banquan Road slapped his forehead in distress. Beside him, the big snake made a gurgling sound. The old man glanced at the snake and pondered for a moment.

"You have a point."

After saying this, the old man swayed his body and stood up abruptly, heading straight for the tree canopy where Xu Qing was. The big snake followed rapidly behind him, its expression seemingly excited, though this excitement was something few could discern.

His movement immediately drew the side-glances of the cultivators around the basin.

The Sea Ghost cultivators also looked over, but with the Departure Sect about to arrive, they were in no mood to stop him.

Thus, very quickly, while Xu Qing was narrowing his eyes and staring at the other's neck, the old man and the big snake arrived ten zhang away from his location.

"Kid, let's negotiate. Don't release any poison. If you disperse the poison here, I'll tell you something."

Xu Qing looked at the old man, roughly guessing his purpose, so he raised his hand and waved it, as if dispersing the poison gas.

Seeing Xu Qing's action, the old man breathed a sigh of relief and stepped into the ten-zhang range.

After walking a few steps, he carefully stopped when he was still three zhang away from Xu Qing and spoke in a low voice.

"Kid, are you wondering why both the Sea Ghost and the Departure Sect have come?"

"I won't waste words; I'll tell you the answer directly. According to seasonal calculations, there is a very high probability of Foundation Establishment sea lizards molting during this period. The skin of a Foundation Establishment sea lizard is astonishingly valuable; early-stage is worth two thousand spirit stones, mid-stage five thousand, and late-stage at least ten thousand."

"I am alone and weak, so I came to find you to form an alliance and cooperate, making us each other's most unbreakable allies. You and I will join forces to snatch this resource and split it fifty-fifty. We will entrust our backs to each other!"

The old man from Banquan Road spoke with great passion and speed. After finishing, he looked at Xu Qing, but his expression quickly changed. He hurriedly took out a large handful of elixirs, swallowed them, and pointed at Xu Qing, cursing angrily.

"You brat, didn't you say you wouldn't release poison!"

"I didn't release any poison; it was already permeating here." Xu Qing pondered the information in the old man's words and explained casually.

"Damn it, then why did you wave your hand just now!" The old man was even angrier.

"You were the one who asked me to disperse the poison gas." Xu Qing frowned.

"...Then did you disperse it?" The old man stared with wide eyes.

"My poison cannot be dispersed." Xu Qing felt a bit impatient. The other party was on his bamboo slip; if it weren't for the chaotic forces here making it inconvenient to act, he would have wanted to kill the old man right there.

The old man was speechless. He looked at Xu Qing for a long while before letting out a long sigh.

"I feel like I can't communicate with you! Your meaning is that you can't disperse the poison, but to comfort me, you made a fake gesture?"

Xu Qing looked at the old man coldly and said nothing.

Veins bulged on the old man's forehead. The big snake beside him saw this and quickly made a gurgling sound.

The old man gritted his teeth, swallowed another handful of elixirs, and glared at Xu Qing.

"Alliance, do you agree or not?"

"Fine." Xu Qing replied without hesitation.

Seeing Xu Qing agree so quickly, the old man sighed and was about to speak, but at that moment, the Departure Sect's boat in the distance had already reached the shore.

Figures emerged from the boat, about seven or eight of them, and stepped into the jungle.

Under the moonlight, their features were unclear; one could only see their black robes, and even their heads were wrapped. A murderous, bloody aura surged. One by one, they moved with extreme speed, and upon entering the jungle, they headed straight for the mountain where the basin was located.

"The Departure Sect are all lunatics. There have always been rumors on the sea that they secretly control some islands and seem to be conducting some kind of eerie research, but the locations are hidden, and few outsiders have ever been able to reach them." The old man from Banquan Road looked grim and spoke gloomily.

Hearing this, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and looked over.

I've written nearly 340,000 words. Based on the current daily update volume, it is expected to be around 440,000 to 450,000 words before the official launch.

I don't know if any other authors have posted this many words before launching; maybe there are, I'm not sure.

But to all the handsome guys and beautiful ladies, I have tried my best~~

But to all the handsome guys and pretty girls, I have already done my best~~