Chapter 1034

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Protagonist:

Xu Zhangqing

Three days later, Qin Baili and Li Chuan each gathered their men from the Seven Peaks.

Plus Mo Sha, who stubbornly followed along, more than six hundred people in total, aboard a pitch-black enormous flying ship, set sail from the Qingmu Sect Mountain Gate and tore through the void toward the Northern Domain.

This flying ship was an old item from Xuanming Peak's inventory, its hull covered in dark green Nether Patterns, flying silently and shuttling through the clouds like a ghost.

However, just as they flew past the Eastern Region Border and entered the wasteland stretching between the Eastern Region and the Northern Domain, trouble came knocking.

It was deep in the night, and the flying ship skimmed over a coniferous forest.

Suddenly, Mo Sha rose from the ship side, his gaze fixed tightly on the dense forest below.

He had not yet had time to speak a warning when three black shadows shot out from the woods, moving so fast they tore sharp sonic booms in the air.

One went straight for Mo Sha, two split to attack Qin Baili and Li Chuan, the three coordinating with tacit understanding—clearly not ordinary loose cultivators or calamity cultivators.

Moreover, the attackers were wrapped in black mist, their faces indiscernible.

Only a pair of gloomy pupils could be vaguely seen in the darkness.

Their strikes were ruthless, every move aimed at vital points, and the cultivation methods they used were neither orthodox nor the brute force of Northern Domain foreign races, carrying a gloomy, strange evil cultivator aura.

It seemed they had been waiting here for some time.

"Hmph!"

Qin Baili saw it all and couldn't even be bothered to draw his sword.

He stood at the ship side, his right hand casually resting on the sword hilt; when that black shadow closed to within three feet of him, he lightly pushed the sword guard with his thumb, and a snow-bright sword light burst from the scabbard, then vanished in a flash.

The attacking black shadow suddenly froze in mid-air, the black mist cleanly split in two by the sword light, revealing a withered man.

His whole body was covered in black veins, his pupils dilated, his entire person as if drained of essence blood by something, shriveled like a wind-dried corpse.

Li Chuan's side was even more direct; he didn't even draw the Corpse King Sword, merely releasing dark red killing intent from his entire body, which transformed into a giant handprint that seized the black shadow attacking him.

The moment his five fingers closed, the sound of shattering bones rang out like popping beans; the black shadow didn't even have time to scream before its flesh and blood were pinched into a ball of mud.

The last black shadow saw the situation was bad and turned to flee.

Qin Baili didn't even look, striking back with another sword.

Sword light poured down like moonlight, spanning the vast sky, piercing the fleeing black shadow from behind.

From the ambush to the end, it took no more than three breaths, and the flying ship didn't even stop.

Qin Baili sheathed his sword, his face under the mask showing no expression, and said lightly: "Someone is watching this line to the Northern Domain."

Li Chuan nodded: "Looks like someone doesn't want us to contact the foreign races."

Mo Sha stood at the side, looking at the corpse below, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

That black mist, those black veins, that strange evil cultivator aura—he vaguely felt he had seen them before, but couldn't remember where.

As time passed, the flying ship crossed the wasteland and entered the Northern Domain's territory.

The scenery between heaven and earth suddenly changed.

Heavy leaden clouds pressed overhead, sunlight completely obscured.

Beneath their feet was a boundless desert; dry winds blew, making a "whoosh whoosh" sound.

Several huge beast bones lay scattered on the ground, their skeletons covered in a layer of yellow sand, making it impossible to tell how many years they had been dead.

After arriving in the Northern Domain, Mo Sha voluntarily took on the task of contacting them, wanting to try once more.

He first went to find the elders of several large tribes he had dealt with before, laying out the Qingmu Sect's conditions again, his tone more sincere than last time, his attitude better than last time, even repeating over and over the threat of Demon God Kong Fang, the casualties at the Eastern Region Border, and the principle of mutual dependence.

After hearing this, some elders coldly smiled, some stayed silent, and some flicked their sleeves and left after saying, "Foreign race matters are none of an outsider's business."

The response from the large tribes was remarkably consistent.

No cooperation, no submission, no concession.

Mo Sha was not discouraged and went to find the small tribes scattered along the border instead.

This time, the treatment was somewhat better.

At least, someone was willing to pour him a bowl of bitter water.

The small tribes lived bitter lives, squeezed by the large tribes into the most barren borderlands, not even allotted a decent hunting ground.

They had long coveted the Eastern Region's pills and spirit stones, but when Mo Sha laid out the cooperation terms, these people began to hesitate again.

They feared retaliation from the large tribes and were unsure whether the Qingmu Sect, a power far away at the edge of the sky, could truly establish a foothold in the Northern Domain.

After three days of travel, Mo Sha had visited over a dozen large and small tribes within a radius of several thousand li.

In the end, only four small tribes were willing to cooperate, totaling fewer than two thousand people.

When he brought back this pitiful result to the temporary camp, his expression was even gloomier than before departure.

After hearing Mo Sha's report, Qin Baili shrugged: "As expected."

Li Chuan didn't even open his eyelids, after all, he only listened to Xu Zhangqing's orders.

The night deepened.

Compared to the daytime heat, the night was much cooler.

Suddenly, Qin Baili's eyes hidden beneath his mask snapped open.

Almost simultaneously, Li Chuan rose from the shadows, his hand already on the Corpse King Sword.

Both of their divine senses had detected the situation nearby—many people were approaching.

Not long after, countless pairs of eyes lit up around the temporary camp.

These eyes glowed red in the night, attempting to encircle the temporary camp.

Qin Baili and the others looked closely and discovered it was several large tribes, united with a dozen or so medium and small tribes, who had gathered tens of thousands of people, taking advantage of the night to encircle them from all sides, planning to wipe out this group of foreign cultivators in one fell swoop.

"Kill them all!"

In the darkness, someone shouted in the Foreign Race's barbaric tongue, the voice coarse and excited, like hyenas scenting blood.

"A bunch of fools!"

Qin Baili let out a cold smile, his right hand resting on the sword hilt.

In an instant, sword light brightened.

Not one streak, but a whole expanse.

A vast stretch of sword light, like moonlight pouring down, swept out in all directions from the center of the camp.

No sword formation, no sword qi taking shape, just the purest, most primitive sword light.

So fast the trajectory couldn't be seen, so sharp even the air was sliced open.

Where the sword light passed through, the several rows of figures charging at the very front fell in unison like harvested wheat, fresh blood splashing onto the ground, transforming into a large patch of "red flowers".

Li Chuan moved as well.

He drew the Corpse King Sword; the patterns on the sword body glared blindingly in the night, a nauseating killing qi surged wildly from the sword body, then transformed into dozens of dark red tentacles, spreading out in all directions.

Once these tentacles coiled around living things, they began frantically extracting life force; the Foreign Race members entangled saw their skin wither and shrivel at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Flesh and blood dissolved, bones turned brittle.

In merely a single breath, the whole person transformed into a dried corpse!