Chapter 264

As soon as Zhou Qing's words came out, the crowd boiled again.

Soon, an old man at the early stage of the Divine Transformation Realm, wearing a blue Daoist robe and looking thin, walked out and transmitted: "Daoist, in past auctions, one-colored arrays sold for at least two supreme-grade spirit stones, and at most dozens."

"This 'Wind-Thunder-Fire-Mountain Array' looks like a new product to me, the array flags are brand new and seem unused; this old man is willing to offer six supreme-grade spirit stones, what do you think?"

Zhou Qing remained calm, not showing anything, but he was happy in his heart.

After all, his price was only five supreme-grade spirit stones to sell.

After all, the materials for refining were only one supreme-grade spirit stone, and that was for two sets.

He didn't reply immediately, just nodded slightly to the old man.

Immediately following, a tall woman at the late stage of the Nascent Soul Realm with a ponytail also transmitted: "Daoist, I am willing to offer four supreme-grade spirit stones; I wonder if you are willing to part with it?"

"I am willing to offer five!" A dark-skinned, sturdy man transmitted in a muffled voice.

And just as everyone was fiercely bidding around Zhou Qing, on a giant rock in the distance, a middle-aged man was watching coldly.

His hair was messy, his face was thin, his cheekbones were slightly protruding, his skin color was a pale color that had not seen the sun for years, and his eyes were long, narrow, and ghostly cold.

He was not interested in one-colored arrays; he originally just glanced at Zhou Qing casually, but soon was stunned.

"Eh, this feeling..."

Soon, he actually caught a familiar aura from Zhou Qing for no reason.

But he was sure he had never seen this young man in front of him, and he was very strange.

But he had absolute confidence in his unique Divine Transformation realm of understanding—Wan Xiang.

This realm of understanding had no other use, but it could firmly remember all people or things that had had deep contact with him.

It was precisely because of this that he had unparalleled talent in searching for treasures.

As long as it was an object with the same aura that he had once come into contact with, within a radius of three miles, no matter how secretly it was hidden, it could not escape his keen perception.

For people, it was even more so; no matter what kind of disguise technique you used, under Wan Xiang, you would reveal your true form and have nowhere to hide.

"Interesting, it looks like an old friend of mine; let me see who you are!"

A hint of curiosity flashed in the man's eyes; after muttering to himself, his hands changed rapidly, and he began to investigate toward Zhou Qing's direction carefully.

Like this, after about half a stick of incense, he opened his eyes suddenly, full of disbelief, which soon turned into thick murderous intent.

"So it was you—"

Zhou Qing was full of joy; he really didn't expect his carefully refined one-colored array to be so favored.

Amidst the fierce bidding of the crowd, the first array was soon traded at a high price of eight supreme-grade spirit stones.

As for the second array, although the transaction price was slightly inferior to the first, it was only exchanged for five supreme-grade spirit stones, but this had already far exceeded his expectations.

After all, what he refined were only small arrays, not large arrays worth forty or fifty.

But this was already very good; in three months of refining, after deducting costs, he still made a net profit of twelve supreme-grade spirit stones.

Converted to market price, that was as high as 1,200 superior-grade spirit stones; compared to the gains of Third Zhou Shixiong and his group after working hard for a long time, it was already much more.

"The market's demand for arrays seems quite considerable; if necessary, I'll go to Lingyun Prefecture."

"On one hand, try to find news about supreme-grade wood-attribute spirit stones, and on the other hand, use this fund to purchase some rare materials."

"After successful refining, trade them to the Wan Xiang Auction House, killing two birds with one stone!"

Thinking of this, Zhou Qing was overjoyed.

"Even if Brother Wanbao is still in Haomiao Prefecture, without his relationship, I could get it for at most sixty supreme-grade spirit stones; if the materials allow, refining a two-colored array would be about right!"

After calculating this account, Zhou Qing felt full of motivation and immediately drove his sword away quickly.

But not long after, Zhou Qing, who was galloping, suddenly narrowed his eyes, and an inexplicable sense of vigilance rose from the bottom of his heart.

Almost at the same instant, the tetanus-like sword appeared quietly in his hand, and he himself stopped in mid-air.

"Daoist, you've followed for so long, aren't you tired?" Zhou Qing's expression was calm, and his sleeves fluttered in the wind.

His gaze was sharp as an eagle, staring tightly at the void behind him.

As soon as the words fell, a figure slowly emerged from the clouds behind.

It was the middle-aged man with a pale face and ghostly cold eyes.

At this moment, he was floating in mid-air, with a strange, cold aura radiating from his body.

Seeing this person, Zhou Qing couldn't help but frown.

Why did it feel like he had seen him somewhere before.

And seeing Zhou Qing like this, the man narrowed his long, narrow eyes slightly, and said in a hoarse voice: "Why, do you also feel that this seat looks somewhat familiar?"

As soon as Zhou Qing heard this, the alarm bell in his heart rang loudly.

And at this moment, he suddenly remembered who the other party was.

The Fifth Elder of the Hunyuan Sect in the Western Region of Haomiao Prefecture—Ma Cheng!

Back then, after he comprehended the domineering realm of understanding, Second Grandfather, in order to let him completely compensate for it and break through to the Divine Transformation Realm.

Specifically took him to search for those Divine Transformation Realm late-stage or Great Perfection experts who had achieved great success in their realm of understanding for life-and-death battles.

And in order to make them use lethal force, he even sent the image stones recorded in the early years.

It was precisely because of this that those people, when facing Zhou Qing, wished they could silence him, in order to let those stains in their lives be forever sealed in the past.

Zhou Qing clearly remembered that Ma Cheng, as the Fifth Elder of the Hunyuan Sect, had improper behavior, colluded secretly with the Third Elder's Dao companion, Madam Sun, and their relationship was ambiguous.

Even more, the two actually colluded and worked together to cruelly kill the Third Elder.

And all these unseen scandals were completely recorded by Second Grandfather using image stones.

It was just unexpected that the other party had actually come to the Eastern Region?

Looking at this posture, did he recognize me?

But this shouldn't be; at that time, he was carrying the Nascent Soul amplification puppet given by Second Grandfather and had transformed into the appearance of Li Hanshan; logically speaking, he shouldn't have been seen through...

But facing his questioning at this moment, Zhou Qing still forced himself to be calm, his face unchanged, and said: "What exactly is the Daoist talking about? Why can't I understand a word?"

Ma Cheng chuckled, carrying a chill, and said: "Don't understand? It doesn't matter, this seat will help you recall."

Ma Cheng said this, narrowed his eyes slightly, and a hint of resentment flashed in his ghostly cold gaze.

And then said slowly: "Many years ago, a young man who had comprehended the realm of understanding and was at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Realm, calling himself Li Hanshan, brought an image stone to the mountain gate to report."

"That image stone recorded some secrets of this seat in the past; in order to prevent the secret from leaking, this seat chased after him, wanting to silence him."

"Unfortunately, I fell into a two-colored array that the other party had prepared long ago, and my cultivation was suppressed."

Ma Cheng said this, a hint of anger and unwillingness flashing in his eyes.

"But how can the spiritual power of the Nascent Soul Realm compare to the Divine Transformation Realm? After the other party's spiritual power was exhausted, this seat originally wanted to give him a fatal blow, but outside the array, a terrifying pressure locked onto me."

Speaking of this, Ma Cheng was clearly still somewhat fearful.

Zhou Qing just listened quietly without interrupting.

"That was the pressure of the legendary Soul Severance Realm; at that moment, this seat finally understood that from the very beginning, I was just a whetstone selected by the other party."

"Although the other party gave the image stone to me when he left, and repeatedly guaranteed that there would be no other copies, how much credibility do you think this has?"

Ma Cheng finished speaking and stared tightly at Zhou Qing.

"One must know, once the secrets inside are exposed, I will be completely infamous, and I will also lose everything I have worked so hard to possess for so many years."

At this moment, his voice carried a hint of despair and madness.

"Therefore, I will never allow this to happen; it's a pity that the other party has the shadow of the Soul Severance Realm behind him, so I can only endure it."

"I originally thought the matter would just pass, but I didn't expect that this time coming to the Eastern Region of Lingyun Prefecture, I accidentally heard someone say that there was a genius in the Cangyan Dao Palace called Li Hanshan, but unfortunately he died early."

Ma Cheng sneered slightly, "And he was killed by Zhou Qing of the Taiqingmen, but I inquired about it, and the time of his death was seriously different from when I fought him in Haomiao Prefecture."

Zhou Qing heard this and couldn't help but sigh lightly.

If he had known, he wouldn't have used the name Li Hanshan.

And Ma Cheng continued to talk to himself: "And I also heard that a few years ago, the Qingyu Qingshu Qingshu Xian Zong here released words, saying that Zhou Qing of the Taiqingmen had obtained the inheritance of the Old Peng Wang."

"This made me think of the 'Li Hanshan' who had performed a divine ability similar to the Golden-Winged Great Peng when he fought me."

"Although it was said afterwards that it was a rumor made by the Qingyu Qingshu Qingshu Xian Zong to divert the attention of the Taiqingmen's sect destruction, I still decided to explore it."

Ma Cheng shook his head slowly, "But I didn't expect that before I even went, he delivered himself to the door; what do you say, Li Hanshan, no, I should call you Zhou Qing."

Ma Cheng finished speaking, his gaze like a torch, looking tightly at Zhou Qing.

Zhou Qing didn't expect that the other party was so keen; how long ago was this, he had almost forgotten it himself.

And that image stone was really given to you; in Second Grandfather's words, it was considered even, and no longer involved karma.

"So, you talked to me for so long just to set up an array below?" Zhou Qing sighed and opened his mouth.

As soon as the words fell, the calm ground below suddenly shot out several streaks of light, directly wrapping this area.

In an instant, it outlined a complex restriction, mist churning, exuding a nauseating, rotten stench.

And on the surface, there were even red and blue streams of light constantly flickering and flowing.

Seeing that the plan went smoothly, Ma Cheng couldn't help but show a smug smile on his face.

"That's right, it's mainly to prevent you from sending a message to that Soul Severance Realm expert, and now, you have no chance; hand over the remaining image stones, and this seat will consider leaving you a whole corpse!"

Ma Cheng said in a low voice.

Zhou Qing observed this array with interest and clicked his tongue.

It had to be said that the Hunyuan Sect was worthy of being the dominant sect in the Western Region of Haomiao Prefecture, being able to quickly suppress its sect from the beginning and establish absolute ruling status.

Take this Ma Cheng in front of him, a mere elder, actually being able to casually sacrifice such a powerful two-colored array, which was truly amazing.

Speaking of which, if he had this thing, could he directly use it to exchange for money, saving the trouble of refining it again.

"I have a question, how did you confirm that that person was me?" Zhou Qing turned his gaze to Ma Cheng and asked calmly.

Ma Cheng snorted coldly, a hint of smugness on his face, and said: "I'm not afraid to tell you, this seat's realm of understanding is somewhat special."

Zhou Qing heard this, and his heart suddenly opened up, finally understanding the reason.

In this way, he was relieved; after all, in order to compensate for the realm of understanding back then, he transformed into Li Hanshan and offended too many Sect Masters and elders.

If these people could all recognize him, then he would really have no way to heaven and no door to earth.

"Are you sure you want to make a move on me?" Zhou Qing stared tightly at Ma Cheng and asked again.

Ma Cheng snorted coldly, carrying coldness and disdain, and said: "Stop pretending; many years ago you were only at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Realm; now even if your realm of understanding is perfected, at most you have broken through to the early stage of the Divine Transformation Realm."

"And compared to an old-brand late-stage expert like this seat, the early stage of the Divine Transformation Realm is simply a world of difference; do you think you have a chance of winning?"

Ma Cheng slowly raised his right hand, and the entire array operated at extreme speed, emitting a dull roar, as if an ancient giant beast was roaring.

Countless dense black giant scorpions manifested from the array, their eyes flickering with ghostly green light, staring straight at Zhou Qing, and letting out hair-raising hisses.

"Today, since you bumped into this seat's hands, don't even think about leaving alive. The matter of the image stone must not have any mistakes."

"Only by completely erasing you can we eliminate future troubles!"

Ma Cheng gritted his teeth and said, the murderous intent in his eyes becoming more intense; as his right hand fell, the array roared and directly launched an attack on Zhou Qing.

Zhou Qing shook his head slightly, a hint of helpless bitter smile on his face, and said: "You are too conceited, and you talk too much; besides, who said I was at the early stage of the Divine Transformation Realm!"

Zhou Qing's words fell, and a majestic aura belonging to the mid-stage of the Divine Transformation Realm erupted.

This made Ma Cheng's face change drastically, and he blurted out subconsciously: "How is this possible!"

"There are many impossible things in this world!" Zhou Qing shouted loudly, and the tetanus sword in his hand roared with thunder instantly.

Several thick thunderbolts roared out like dragons, and then headed straight for Ma Cheng...

An hour later, in a mountain forest, the two-colored array originally formed by black smoke kept fading in color until it completely disappeared.

Replacing it was a scene of devastation, with traces of fierce fighting everywhere.

The ground was torn into hideous gullies, trees were leaning, and broken branches and leaves were scattered all over the ground.

Various poisonous mists permeated the air, exuding a pungent smell that made people want to vomit.

However, at this time, in the central position, there was a golden figure with wings, holding Ma Cheng's corpse in one hand.

"Please, please let, let me go..."

Ma Cheng's primordial spirit was trapped in a cage constructed of thunder, his face twisted, and his eyes full of pleading.

At this moment, he no longer had half the prestige and arrogance he had when he was an elder of the Hunyuan Sect.

He never expected that the young man who was only at the Nascent Soul Realm in his eyes back then would transform in the blink of an eye and become a mid-stage Divine Transformation Realm expert.

Mid-stage is mid-stage, but the combat power was terrifying beyond imagination, having completely crushed him.

He was a bit confused about who was the newcomer and who was the senior.

That terrifying thunder sword energy, the Suanni divine ability, the Jin Wu divine ability, and the terrifyingly defensive Jin Peng technique.

Each one made him so powerless; finally, he used a forbidden technique by using his lifespan as a catalyst, and only then did he break one of his arms.

But strangely, the broken bone radiated golden light and healed itself in just a blink of an eye.

Tell me, is this still a human?

At that time, he was already on the verge of collapse; after all, in his cognition, perhaps only those legendary ancient divine beasts with immortal bodies could possess such heaven-defying self-healing ability.

And that two-colored array, that was something he had spent countless hard work and resources to buy from Master Wu Tiangang with great difficulty.

But this person not only easily found the flaws in the array, but could even use it to control it and turn it against him; do you dare to believe this?

But facing Ma Cheng's pleading, Zhou Qing's black hair danced wildly, his eyes like cold stars, staring sharply at him, without the slightest pity in his eyes.

But at this moment, he slowly turned his face to look into the distance.

There, two monks, one big and one small, were putting their hands together, quietly watching him.

It was precisely because he noticed that outsiders had come that Zhou Qing accelerated the pace of the battle; fortunately, the other party did not participate in the slightest throughout the process.

Zhou Qing became vigilant, stayed on the two monks for a while, then looked at Ma Cheng again, and said: "To tell you the truth, I really didn't leave any copies; you are overthinking."

"I, I believe..." Ma Cheng's breath was weak, his eyes full of fear and regret.

Zhou Qing stared calmly at Ma Cheng and said slowly: "But I don't like to leave any follow-up trouble for myself, especially since you still have such strong murderous intent toward me."

After speaking, thunder raged in Zhou Qing's hand, and streaks of thick thunder shuttled through the cage like wild dragons.

Until the other party turned into a wisp of green smoke amidst shrill screams and dissipated in heaven and earth.

At the same time, Zhou Qing's right hand surged with Jin Wu fire, exuding a scorching and pure aura, instantly wrapping Ma Cheng's corpse.

It was burned to ashes in a moment, truly achieving total annihilation.

Subsequently, a storage bag fell down and was collected by Zhou Qing with quick eyes and fast hands.

And after doing all this, he immediately mobilized the spare spiritual power in the golden flower, and the whole person returned to his peak state.

Only then did he look at the pair of monks again.

At this time, the two monks, one big and one small, walked over, nodded slightly to Zhou Qing first, and then sat cross-legged, starting to chant the transcendence scriptures.

Zhou Qing retreated vigilantly, full of confusion.

How is this somewhat different from what he imagined.

Aren't monks compassionate? When he killed Ma Cheng, they didn't stop him.

After killing him, they came over to chant scriptures for transcendence?

And this little monk is extraordinary; he looks only seven or eight years old, but he has already cultivated to the early stage of the Jin Dan Realm.

One must know, when he was in his teens, he was only at the Qi Condensation Realm, and even Third Zhou Shixiong only broke through from Jin Dan to Nascent Soul many years ago.

And this big monk, his aura is restrained, as if returning to simplicity, and with his vision, he couldn't see through it at all.

Seeing that the two ignored him, Zhou Qing hurriedly left carefully.

These two monks appeared too strangely, and their strength was unfathomable; it was better for him not to get entangled too much.

After a long time, the big monk opened his eyes with compassion and said "Amitabha" to Ma Cheng's corpse, which had turned into flying ash.

"Master, you could have saved that benefactor? Why did you watch him be wiped out by another benefactor?"

The little monk also ended the transcendence at this time, stood up and asked curiously.

The big monk sighed slightly, turned to look in the direction Zhou Qing left, his eyes deep and calm, and said slowly.

"Disciple, all things in the world have cause and effect; we practitioners, although we uphold the concept of compassion, cannot casually intervene in the established causal trajectory of others."

"Just like just now, if I had forcibly intervened, it would seem like saving, but in reality, it might break the subtle balance of the world and trigger more uncontrollable chain reactions."

"Causal karma is complex and intertwined, affecting the whole body with one move."

"If you change the fate of others at will just because of a moment of compassion, you might inadvertently bring disaster to more people."

The little monk nodded thoughtfully.

The big monk suddenly smiled: "Besides, life and death are not the end; transcending his soul and helping him transcend is also the duty of us monks."

"The path of cultivation is to comprehend the truth in this complex cause and effect; only by following nature can one see the original heart and find the path of liberation."

The little monk heard this, his eyes lit up, and said: "Master, disciple understands; comprehension is just the beginning, practice is the key; this is also the truth you taught me this morning."

The big monk smiled with relief, raised his hand and gently touched the little monk's head, and said: "Good, good!"

"Then Master, where are we going next?" The little monk asked.

The big monk looked forward again and said: "Spirit Skull Mountain, I heard that many people died there too; after the transcendence is finished, let's go and beg for alms from the five major sects of the Eastern Region."

For the sake of caution, Zhou Qing did not return to the sect first, but quietly circled back to Spirit Skull Mountain, put on a black robe, and found a corner to sit cross-legged.

And kept releasing his spiritual sense to observe the surroundings.

Just like this, after waiting for a full day, after confirming there was no danger, just as he was about to drive his sword to set off, he suddenly saw two familiar figures walking over unhurriedly.

The people who came were the two monks, one big and one small.

Before, he was still worried that the other party would covet the "Di Huang Jing," but now it seemed he had thought too much.

After a short hesitation, Zhou Qing sat down slowly again and adjusted his sitting posture, making himself look more composed.

But his gaze was locked tightly on the two monks, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes.

Soon, the two bald heads attracted the attention of others, and they cast strange looks one after another.

But the two monks seemed not to notice, still walking toward the abyss with calm expressions.

They didn't stop until they reached the edge.

The little monk frowned slightly, his young face full of confusion, and said crisply: "Master, there doesn't seem to be that much resentment!"

The big monk also showed confusion; wasn't it said that a mystical realm appeared here and many people died?

But looking around now, except for the few gaunt tomb guards, there was only the lingering aura of the Soul Severance Realm's obsession.

"Strange—" The big monk reached out and touched his shiny bald head, and looked around at the people again.

Could it be that the rumor was wrong?

(End of chapter)