Chapter 94: Like a Phoenix, Like an Eagle (5000 words)

Half an hour later, amidst the falling rain, Xu Qing's figure, braving the rain curtain, appeared on the beach.

He walked past skeletons buried in the sand and washed out by the rain, looking out at the sea from the shore.

The sea in the rain curtain had rising and falling wind and waves, as if hiding infinite dangers.

Xu Qing thought of the Litu Sect's boat; it was no longer visible.

He knew that no Foundation Establishment cultivator dared to come to this island, nor did they dare to linger in the nearby sea area, but Xu Qing felt that if there really were Foundation Establishment cultivators with malicious intent, then the greatest possibility was that they were lurking in the further periphery.

Waiting for the Qi Condensation cultivators returning fully loaded from Sea Lizard Island to hunt and seize the lizard skins, or waiting for the return of those dispatched.

Xu Qing was not sure if the people from the Sea Ghost organization and the Litu Sect who came this time were followed by Foundation Establishment cultivators, but if there were, they had likely already received the information by now. After all, in the chaotic battle just now, it was impossible for him to block all the news.

So after pondering, Xu Qing did not leave immediately but sat cross-legged, meditating here silently to regulate his cultivation base and restore his physical strength.

Until he had recovered more than half, he opened his eyes in the rain, looked at the distant sea, and cold light filled his eyes.

"If there really is a Foundation Establishment cultivator..." After weighing it in his heart, Xu Qing suppressed his killing intent.

He was not sure how many Foundation Establishment cultivators the opponent had, so he didn't want to continue the bloody battle unless it was a last resort.

After pondering, Xu Qing walked to the seaside and took out the magic boat. With a wave of his right hand, the magic boat emitted a 'Crack, crack' sound. Its exterior remained the same, but a very small flying boat fell out from underneath.

This flying boat was set up by Zhang San inside, for the purpose of escaping after the magic boat collapsed in case of a crisis.

It was not the sect's standard magic boat, and its internal structure was also different. It couldn't be compared in terms of protection and attack, but under Zhang San's refining, it was heavily reinforced for speed. Once unleashed to the extreme, it could erupt with more than double the top speed of the original magic boat within a certain period.

It was just that long-term sea voyages with this were very dangerous.

Xu Qing stared for a moment, determination appearing in his eyes. He took down the magic boat's control jade slip and adjusted it, setting the boat to sail on its own. He set the route for the return trip, turned on all its defenses, and watched it sail away.

Watching the departing magic boat, Xu Qing endured the heartache, turned around, and stepped into the flying boat on the side.

Standing on the flying boat, the moment he prepared to leave Sea Lizard Island, Xu Qing looked back at this island.

The island in the rain curtain was dim, and the plants inside made sounds in the blowing wind and rain, as if whispering, as if discussing this bloody battle.

Rain night, wind rises, mountain moves, people are quiet.

Xu Qing looked at all this, and after a long while, he lowered his head and bowed deeply toward the island.

"Sorry for the disturbance, senior."

After saying this, he turned around and, without any hesitation, controlled the flying boat to sink into the sea.

The moment the flying boat submerged into the sea surface, Xu Qing restrained all his aura, and the Long Jing came to shroud him.

Afterward, in the night rain outside, Xu Qing rode the boat under the sea and galloped forward.

This was the method Xu Qing could think of: two boats, one bright and one dark, moving away from different directions, to avoid the possible Foundation Establishment lock-on to the greatest extent.

And at this moment, as he moved away, this island, which was relatively silent in the rain, suddenly shook and slowly sank... The seawater rolled away, instantly washing the bloodstains that the rain could not quickly clear away clean.

Until a moment later, when this island floated out again, no trace of blood was left on it, and the collapsed trees and shattered mountain rocks also strangely recovered as before.

Only deep in the seabed under the island, a pair of huge eyes slowly opened at this moment, indifferently watching the departing flying boat, and after a long time... closed again.

Half an hour later.

Inside the flying boat with astonishing speed under the sea, Xu Qing, who was sitting there regulating his cultivation base, opened his eyes suddenly, took out the magic boat's control jade slip, and his eyes slowly narrowed.

The jade slip was shattered.

This meant that the magic boat sailing on its own according to the return direction on the sea had already collapsed.

"Sure enough, there is a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"Then should I dive deeper and hide, waiting for the Foundation Establishment cultivator to search fruitlessly and leave, or should I accelerate and flee at this time."

Xu Qing pondered and chose the latter.

He didn't want to stay here and wait for death. After all, the crisis under the sea was equally terrifying. If the other party didn't leave for a long time, he would become extremely passive.

He didn't want to place his life on the option of when the other party would leave.

So while controlling the flying boat to speed up, he also restrained his own aura to a greater extent.

Fortunately, with the seawater blocking, the aura would naturally be covered up a lot, and coupled with the fact that Xu Qing was not afraid of alien substances, this allowed him to dive deeper, making the aura blocked to a greater degree.

The only thing that needed to be considered was whether the flying boat itself could withstand it.

But Xu Qing knew that this was not the time to ponder this question. Under his control, his flying boat moved rapidly on the seabed. Not long after, Xu Qing's eyes shrank.

He felt a crisis coming from the direction of the sea surface, as if it was probing and searching.

Xu Qing sank deeper silently and continued to move forward.

But that sense of crisis always existed, and the flying boat was also unable to withstand the pressure under the sea and the invasion of alien substances. Seeing that it would be unusable if he continued, Xu Qing frowned, simply put away the flying boat, immersed himself in the Forbidden Sea Long Jing's body, and moved forward again.

Just like this, time passed, and a night went by.

The sense of crisis from the sea gradually decreased, but a few wisps still existed, as if they had used some method to lock onto Xu Qing.

This made Xu Qing not dare to be careless in the slightest. Gritting his teeth, he was about to rush to the deeper part of the seabed, wanting to avoid the lock-on.

And just at this moment, Xu Qing's mind suddenly shook. An indescribable pressure suddenly descended from the sky, shrouding the vast sea in all directions.

Xu Qing couldn't see the situation on the sea surface under the sea, but he could strongly feel the terror of this pressure.

This was not something that could be formed by Foundation Establishment; it was more like a behemoth in the sky radiating its aura. And at the same time as this pressure appeared, those auras that seemed to have locked onto him also instantly became chaotic, as if fleeing in panic.

Xu Qing was shocked and took this opportunity to accelerate and gallop. Until he rushed out of a very far range and could no longer feel the aura lock-on, he hesitated for a moment and continued to move forward under the sea.

But he knew that he couldn't be like this for long. The crisis under the sea might not have appeared at this moment, but long-term diving would definitely be more dangerous.

So after a while, after confirming three times that there was no sense of danger on the sea, Xu Qing carefully rose. The moment a small half of his head was exposed to the sea surface, he looked around quickly, but the next moment he was attracted by a scene in the sky, all his attention focused.

The sky at this moment should have been early morning, but now it had turned pitch black.

The reason for the sky turning black was a vast black cloud.

The range of this black cloud was too large, reaching hundreds of miles, blocking the sky and the sun.

The sea area where Xu Qing was located was currently shrouded in its shadow.

The sound of wind and thunder, the sound of rumbling, constantly emerged from this black cloud, and there were even flashes of lightning wandering inside, earth-shattering, as if it were a heavenly tribulation.

Wherever it passed, the sea raised storms, as if bowing to this existence in the sky!

If it were just this, it would be fine. What made Xu Qing horrified was that inside this moving black cloud, it actually contained an unimaginable existence. A part of its body that was exposed seemed to possess the crushing of a life level, making Xu Qing's whole body's flesh and blood stiff, his soul rumbling, and his mind blank.

Only his eyes could move, allowing him to see the blurry appearance of that terrifying existence in the black cloud.

That was a huge creature burning with black flames all over its body, like a phoenix, like an eagle!

Phoenix head, snake neck, swallow chin, turtle back, fish tail!

Inside the black flames, the color of its whole body was five-colored, dazzling to the extreme, as if the black flames couldn't cover it in the slightest. At this moment, it was soaring in the black cloud in the sky, full of sacred intent.

Even faintly, it actually had some similarities in divine charm with the God's Remnant Face.

Clearly, it was its appearance that forced those unknown cultivators who had malicious intent toward Xu Qing to give up searching at this moment and avoid it one after another.

At this moment, heaven and earth rumbled, and the black cloud galloped and slowly moved away from the sky, revealing the bright sky behind the cloud layer. Xu Qing's body also gradually recovered, instinctively taking a breath.

But just at the moment when this breath was just inhaled into his mouth, inside the black cloud in the distant sky, that terrifying existence to the extreme suddenly turned its head and looked at the distant sea surface.

With this look, a large area of the sea surface tens of miles away from Xu Qing instantly rose, huge waves towered, storms were rolled up, and the alien substances suddenly became thick, as if being drawn and gathered.

Even though Xu Qing was far away and couldn't see clearly, his body still swayed with the waves, and his mind rumbled.

And that Phoenix Eagle soon withdrew its gaze, hid in the black cloud, and amidst the rolling thunder, disappeared into the distant horizon.

For a long time, when the waves of the sea calmed down, Xu Qing let out a long breath. His face was pale, looking at the distant heaven and earth, his mind shaken.

The feeling this divine bird gave him was unprecedented before going out to sea this time. Even the giant pulling the bronze dragon chariot deep under the sea earlier, in Xu Qing's perception, didn't seem to be as good as this divine bird.

"What is it? The direction it flew is Nanhuangzhou..." Xu Qing muttered, suddenly realizing a point.

"The 'Huang' character in Nanhuangzhou..."

In the Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing had read many classics and files in the Arresting Division. He thought of the Seven Blood Eyes' name for the forbidden area on the other side of the Truth Mountain Range, which was extremely large and occupied 70% of the entire Nanhuangzhou area.

"The largest forbidden area in Nanhuangzhou, Huang Forbidden..."

Xu Qing's heart was shaken, and he faintly had a guess. After a moment, he took a deep breath, suppressed this guess, and prepared to ask and search for information to confirm it after returning.

With such thoughts, Xu Qing sank into the sea again. After galloping for several hours, he noticed that no one was chasing him, only then did he return to the sea surface, took out the flying boat, jumped on it, and controlled the flying boat to accelerate and flee.

Soon three days passed. Xu Qing was incomparably careful all the way, probed many times, and finally completely confirmed that the aura that had locked onto him had really disappeared, only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He guessed in his heart that it should be the appearance of the Phoenix that invisibly gave him some help, making those cultivators with malicious intent unable to clearly probe him and losing his trail.

But Xu Qing didn't dare to be careless. Although he no longer dived into the sea, his speed was still extremely fast, not sparing even the consumption of spirit stones.

And in these three days, his injuries finally healed more than half, his face was no longer pale, and the fatigue brought by the slaughter had also dissipated.

Recalling the previous slaughter, even he, with his not-bad cultivation and combat power, still felt a fatigue he hadn't felt for a long time that day. Fortunately, the harvest this time was astonishing, which made satisfaction appear in Xu Qing's expression.

His harvest, besides the three divine lizard sloughs, also included over a dozen lizard sloughs of the eighth and ninth layers of Qi Condensation. As for the low-level lizard sloughs, there were even more.

Besides that, heavy treasures and other items were also numerous.

He even obtained three talisman treasures. Although the handwriting was blurry and they couldn't be used many times, the value was not small.

As for spirit stones... Xu Qing calculated, there were probably over four thousand.

Loose cultivators were mostly poor. The reason Xu Qing harvested so much was because he killed everyone on the island and took them from the corpses. The main contributor to the value was the Sea Ghost organization.

As for the Litu Sect, Xu Qing had checked their pockets. For some reason, they all looked very poor, which made Xu Qing feel a bit regretful.

But thinking of his harvest this time, Xu Qing didn't care about the Litu Sect's poverty.

"Excluding the divine lizard sloughs, there is a harvest of nearly twenty thousand spirit stones." Xu Qing sat on the deck, finished counting the spoils, and controlled the flying boat to break through the waves toward the direction of the Seven Blood Eyes.

The improvement of his cultivation base and the harvest from going out to sea this time allowed Xu Qing not to care about the consumption of spirit stones for the flying boat on this return trip.

And the days of going out to sea also made Xu Qing's awe of this sea deeper.

Now that his pockets were full, he only had one thought, and that was to return as soon as possible.

So with the blessing of a large number of spirit stones, his flying boat operated to the limit, and the speed was more than double that of when he came. According to Xu Qing's judgment, at most three more days, he would be able to return to the sect.

And for the next journey, because he was close to the offshore of Nanhuangzhou, Xu Qing didn't encounter any major danger. Until there was still half a day of sea journey left before returning to the Seven Blood Eyes port, he saw a boat of the same sect.

That was a warship, sailing toward him at high speed.

Although this warship looked like it belonged to the Sea Defense Division of the Seventh Peak, Xu Qing was still vigilant in his heart. The snake-necked dragon wandered under the sea, ready to fight at any time. At the same time, he also noticed that there were five Dragon Whales under the Sea Defense Division warship in the seabed.

And one of them looked a bit different; it looked like a Long Jing, but in reality, it was somewhat similar to a Great Tooth Shark.

This made Xu Qing's heart tighten, and he became even more vigilant.

Not long after, following the rolling of the sea waves, the warship gradually approached and was clearly reflected in Xu Qing's eyes.

The huge ship body was engraved with magic arrays radiating terrifying fluctuations, and there were over eighty magic thorns around the ship body that seemed to be able to stimulate astonishing power. As for the deck, over thirty Seventh Peak disciples could be seen.

All of this made this warship possess formidable combat power.

"Seven Blood Eyes Seventh Peak, Sea Defense Division on duty. Boat in front, report your identity." A majestic voice came from the Sea Defense Division warship as they approached each other.

"Seventh Peak Arresting Division, Xu Qing." Xu Qing looked at the Sea Defense Division warship and spoke calmly.

The over thirty cultivators on the Sea Defense Division warship were clearly surrounding one person. The person they surrounded was a youth. A gray Daoist robe fluttered with the wind on him, his gaze was like electricity, carrying strong pressure, and the fluctuation of the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation on his body was quite extraordinary.

At this moment, he looked at Xu Qing in the flying boat, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"Xu Qing?" After Xu Qing reported his name, a familiar voice came from behind the over thirty people on the Sea Defense Division warship. Soon, a person walked out from behind the crowd; it was Zhou Qingpeng.

He had surprise in his expression. After greeting Xu Qing, he turned around and whispered a few words respectfully to the youth at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation.

The youth nodded expressionlessly.

Zhou Qingpeng cupped his fists, jumped up from the warship with joy, landed on Xu Qing's flying boat, and laughed.

"Xu Qing, I didn't expect us to meet at sea. Are you returning from going out to sea?"

"I've been out for some time, preparing to return to the sect." Xu Qing looked at the youth on the Sea Defense Division warship.

"That's my boss, Ding Xiaohai of the Sea Defense Division." Zhou Qingpeng said proudly, then glanced at Xu Qing's flying boat.

"What happened to you? How come the boat has become so shabby... Originally, the Sea Defense Division has the right to inspect all boats, but yours will be skipped." Zhou Qingpeng smiled, chatted with Xu Qing for a few more sentences, and amidst Xu Qing's congratulations, he cupped his fists and prepared to go back.

Before leaving, he seemed to remember something and spoke to Xu Qing in a low voice.

"By the way, Xu Qing, don't go out to sea for a while after you go back. Our Sea Defense Division has received a notice that the seabed has been a bit uneasy recently. I heard from my boss that it seems some terrifying existences have appeared."

Zhou Qingpeng said this with lingering fear in his expression, didn't say more, turned around, flickered, and returned to the warship.

"Terrifying existences?" Xu Qing's eyes tightened, his expression heavy, and he cupped his fists to thank Zhou Qingpeng who had returned to the warship.

Soon, the Sea Defense Division warship emitted a wailing sound, changed direction, and gradually moved away.

And as Xu Qing watched, at this moment on the Sea Defense Division warship, Ding Xiaohai, who was at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation, turned his head to look at Xu Qing's flying boat in the distance, then looked at the snake-necked dragon looming in the sea under the flying boat, and spoke lightly to Zhou Qingpeng who was reporting beside him.

"Zhou Qingpeng, this peer of yours is not simple."

Zhou Qingpeng was stunned and said in a low voice.

"Senior Brother Ding, when the Arresting Division's Night Dove operation was happening before, it was rumored that a person killed the enemy chief without being a captain..."

"It is this person." Ding Xiaohai had some deep meaning in his eyes.

Zhou Qingpeng heard this, his expression couldn't help but be dazed, and he turned to look at Xu Qing's flying boat in the distance.

Faintly, he could see the figure of the youth on the flying boat, standing there, wind and waves rising and falling, but it was difficult to shake him in the slightest.

Plenty and satisfying~~ ===== CHAPTER 95 =====