Xu Qing sat cross-legged on the tree crown and glanced at the location of the old man from Panquan Road. He was extremely vigilant.
At the same time, killing intent flashed in his heart. The other party was someone who was listed on his bamboo slip. It was just that Xu Qing had not been too confident of his success, so he didn't go to Panquan Road.
Now that he encountered him again… Xu Qing narrowed his eyes.
However, considering the gains were more important this time around and that the other party wouldn't be killed so easily, he suppressed his killing intent and looked around.
Every single one of the people here was extraordinary, especially among the lone wolves. A few of them even made Xu Qing feel a little threatened. This was also the reason why he wanted to kill the pirates who provoked him immediately.
Growing up in the slums, he deeply understood that there were pros and cons to hiding one's abilities. Many times, hiding something might cause unnecessary trouble.
Hence, acting decisively and using the bloody baleful aura to intimidate everyone was what Xu Qing had thought after he arrived. It was also what he had done when he was struggling in the slums.
When the time was right, he had to reveal his fangs to warn everyone.
Don't provoke me!
The reason why he cut off their heads was partly to intimidate and partly because… their heads were valuable.
Xu Qing retracted his gaze and flicked his right hand lightly. Immediately, poison powder scattered around him.
After doing this, he closed his eyes and silently meditated, waiting for the sea lizard to arrive.
Xu Qing indeed achieved his goal. Everyone in the surroundings was extremely wary of him. While they acknowledged his qualifications to come here, they were also vigilant. This caused the situation to return to equilibrium.
Just like that, amidst this wonderful balance, time slowly flowed by. A night passed. The next day, when the first rays of dawn scattered down, Xu Qing suddenly opened his eyes and looked down the mountain.
Almost at the same time he looked over, seven to eight gazes also looked over at the same time.
There was a rumbling sound coming from the foot of the mountain, as though there was a colossus moving forward with great difficulty. This sound also attracted the attention of more cultivators, and a murderous intent rapidly spread out.
Very soon, in Xu Qing's eyes, a lizard that was 70 to 80 feet long revealed its figure in the mountain jungle.
This lizard's entire body was black, and its bark-like skin revealed traces of age. Under the sunlight, the skin reflected a black glow, and there seemed to be a gap between it and the body as it was being removed bit by bit.
Its four claws were even sharper. At this moment, it was crawling over while panting. It was as though every step it took would bring some pain, but it didn't stop at all.
Although its aura was weak, the fluctuations from its body that were comparable to the eighth level of Qi Condensation still caused everyone's breathing to freeze slightly. It was impossible for the sea lizard not to sense that there was someone here, but it didn't care at all.
As it crawled toward the top of the mountain with great difficulty, the rumbling behind it didn't stop. One could see trees collapsing one after another. The second, third, fourth…
A total of six sea lizards appeared one after another.
"Six pieces of eighth level Qi Condensation sea lizard skin!" Xu Qing's breathing hastened slightly. He was very clear that the selling price of this skin in the Seven Blood Eyes' port was as high as 500 to 600 spirit stones.
At that moment, he looked at these lizards with a sharp glint in his eyes. It was as though he wasn't looking at mutated beasts but spirit stones.
However, no one, including Xu Qing, acted rashly.
When the rumbling sounds got closer and closer, the six sea lizards gradually climbed to the top of the mountain with great difficulty. When they arrived at the basin where everyone was at, they ignored all the cultivators in the surroundings and stepped into the basin under the gaze of everyone.
After these six sea lizards stepped into the basin, all of them immediately let out roars. Their bodies trembled intensely, as though they were using all their strength to shed their skin.
Their roars echoed in all directions, causing the hearts of all the cultivators who were paying attention to them to tremble.
The light in Xu Qing's eyes grew sharper and sharper. He saw that these sea lizards were struggling at this moment. Their skins, which already had a different degree of gap from their bodies, were rapidly detaching.
The entire process lasted for an hour.
The first sea lizard successfully shed its skin and recovered its aura before leaving. From the start to the end, it didn't even glance at the surrounding cultivators.
The molt of the lizard that was left in the basin was no longer black but emitted a green light. The patterns on it were clearly visible and even had a hint of translucence. It seemed to be shining with treasure light and looked like a sea lizard of the same size.
However, no one made a move.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and didn't move either.
He waited for a moment until the second, third, and fourth sea lizards finished molting and left one after another. The moment the last sea lizard shed its skin, someone moved.
The person who made a move was none other than the old man from Panquan Road. His speed was so fast that he was like an arrow that had left the bow, heading straight for the basin.
The other cultivators in the surroundings also rushed out. Their killing intent erupted explosively at this moment.
Xu Qing's body also swayed, leaving behind an afterimage on the tree crown. His speed was astonishing that it created whistling noise as he rushed into the basin.
In an instant, more than 30 cultivators entered the basin. Their target was none other than the six sets of lizard skins. In the blink of an eye, they began to mercilessly fight and kill each other.
Rumbling sounds echoed through the sky. Xu Qing's entire person was like a sword that had left its sheath, revealing its sharpness. After he got close, he directly grabbed at a lizard skin. Beside him, a nonhuman race cultivator in a straw rain cape had a cold glint in his eyes as he blocked him.
"Scram!" As he spoke, the nonhuman waved his hand. Immediately, a wave of spirit energy at the ninth level of Qi Condensation spread out from his body, forming a pressure that headed toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing was expressionless and didn't even turn his gaze. He clenched his left hand into a fist, directly punching out at the nonhuman.
The instant he punched out, the qi and blood in his body erupted with a bang, revealing the Ba shadow behind him. A malevolent intent spread in all directions and soundless roars rang out as Xu Qing's punch blasted toward the enemy.
The expression of the nonhuman changed drastically. Previously, he had already determined that the cultivation base of this Seven Blood Eyes disciple in front of him was extraordinary. However, now that the latter had attacked, his heart skipped a beat the instant he saw the Ba shadow.
"Blood Qi turning into shadow, your body refinement has reached the perfected realm!"
He resolutely retreated. However, it was still too late. As Xu Qing's fist landed, a rumbling sound rang out. The body of the nonhuman in the straw rain cape trembled violently and fresh blood spurted out.
However, he wasn't ordinary either. It was unknown what method he used but his body blurred and he appeared in the distance in the next instant. He spat out another mouthful of blood and half of his straw rain cape collapsed, revealing his blue skin. When he lifted his head, he looked at Xu Qing with unprecedented fear in his eyes.
Xu Qing didn't have the time to care about the other party. At that moment, he grabbed the lizard skin in front of him and was about to snatch the second set. However, just as he was about to get it, a low roar rang out from afar.
"You want to kill us?!"
Xu Qing abruptly turned his head, and saw a rogue cultivator in the distance who was not able to reach the basin in time and had focused his attention on the last sea lizard that was about to leave.
However, he was stopped angrily by a burly nonhuman whose nose was as long as an elephant's.
"You damn fellow, do you know that once a sea lizard dies here, we'll all die?"
The burly dude was filled with anger and blasted the rogue cultivator away. At this moment, the surrounding people also looked at the rogue cultivator with intense killing intent in their eyes.
The rogue cultivator's expression changed and he quickly spoke as he retreated.
"Isn't it just a sea lizard? How could it cause our deaths?!"
"Are you new here? Do you know why there are no Foundation Building cultivators here and why no Foundation Building cultivators dare to pass by the nearby sea area? Do you really think that we're just standing on an island? Let me tell you, this island is just a small protruding part on the back of a huge sea lizard!" The elephant-nosed nonhuman's eyes were filled with killing intent.
"Why are there so many sea lizards here? It's because they are all the descendants of this giant sea lizard. In order to protect its descendants, it doesn't allow any foreign cultivators above the Qi Condensation Realm to appear in the surroundings. It doesn't allow any cultivators here to attack the sea lizards. You're on its body now and you want to kill its descendants? Have you lived enough? If it's angered, we'll all die!!"
"As for us Qi Condensation cultivators, the only reason we can arrive is because such existences don't care about us!"
As he spoke, the elephant-nosed nonhuman had already attacked. There were also other rogue cultivators who didn't manage to snatch the sea lizard skins. Their gazes were filled with greed as they attacked together.
In an instant, a blood-curdling scream rang out. The rogue cultivator died miserably under the siege and all the items on his body were instantly divided up by everyone.
After Xu Qing heard their words, he took a deep breath and finally understood why he didn't see any Foundation Building cultivators on his way here. He lowered his head and looked at the ground. He then silently rushed out and headed straight for the group of cultivators fighting for the lizard skins.
A cold light flashed as he took out the dagger. He would instantly kill anyone who obstructed him. The cold wind blew and lifted Xu Qing's hair, revealing the sharpness in his eyes.
In the end, he snatched the second lizard skin from three cultivators. By that time, the other four skins also found their owners. Moreover, each of them was incomparably bloody. They had gained a foothold from the slaughter and intimidated others.
Among them, the one who obtained two sets like Xu Qing was the old man from Panquan Road. As for the other two sets, one was snatched away by a lone nonhuman and the other was obtained by a group of five people.
Killing intent permeated the air, but they restrained themselves from continuing to attack.
Xu Qing swept his gaze across the surroundings and exchanged glances with the old man from Panquan Road. He then noticed the large snake behind the other party.
When the giant snake saw Xu Qing's gaze, it hurriedly nodded at him.
Xu Qing didn't care. His gaze dissipated at the first contact and he gave up on attacking. He suddenly retreated and returned to the tree crown, sitting cross-legged.
The other three parties clearly heaved a sigh of relief and retreated.
The surroundings of the basin slowly returned to calm. However, one could faintly see numerous unfriendly gazes sweeping past Xu Qing and the others from the eyes of those cultivators who didn't manage to snatch the lizard skins.
The old man was resting behind the boulder. He picked up the pipe and took a puff, looking very satisfied. However, he quickly thought of something and hurriedly rummaged through his pocket to take out an antidote before swallowing it.
He ignored the gurgling sounds at the side.
Only after the large snake knocked into his body did the old man speak in an impatient low voice.
"Remind my ass. That's a wolf who eats people and kills without batting an eyelid. Does he need me to remind him? You think he doesn't know that someone will attack at night?"
"I say, you white-eyed snake, why are you so concerned about him? Sigh, I've treated you so well and raised you. Why aren't you concerned about me, an old bag of bones? I think I should have been poisoned just now."
While the old man was feeling dissatisfied, Xu Qing, who was on the treetop in the distance, slowly narrowed his eyes. There was a cold glint in them as he sized up those people with unfriendly gazes. His focus was on the pockets on their bodies.
He licked his lips and scattered more poison powder to the surroundings.
The day slowly passed.
Night fell.
The pale moonlight shone on the ground. Under the illumination of the moonlight, the desolate bushes produced countless mysterious shadows that swayed in the wind. From afar, they looked like demons, ghosts, and monsters dancing under the eerie moonlight.
The cold night slowly couldn't hide the killing intent that permeated the air.
The dim moonlight gradually couldn't contain the greed of all living beings.
Hence, the desolate sea breeze started the funeral song in advance.
