Dark clouds gradually covered the moon and the surroundings became pitch-black.
Even the burial song slowly didn't dare to disturb the scene and hurriedly left the venue. The quiet mountain peak seemed to be tainted by an oppressive aura.
This lasted until a mournful wail filled with sharpness tore through the night and the silence.
Everyone's hearts skipped a beat.
Xu Qing opened his eyes.
He saw figures whistling up from all directions. Their target was none other than the cultivators who had obtained the lizard skins during the day. A massacre had erupted.
Xu Qing didn't pay attention to the cultivators who were attacking the other three parties who had obtained the lizard molt. He stared at the seven figures rushing toward him.
The hazy moonlight couldn't hide the cold glint in Xu Qing's eyes. The dim night couldn't dispel the killing intent in his expression. Almost at the instant these figures arrived, Xu Qing moved.
The dark night was a cover for the attackers. However, they didn't know that Xu Qing liked the dark night more than them.
Xu Qing's figure disappeared from the tree crown.
Among the seven cultivators who arrived at the same time, three of them suddenly trembled the instant they got close. The forehead of one was directly shattered and a black iron stick pierced through with cruelty and coldness.
There was also someone who spurted out blood and vaguely saw Xu Qing's figure flashing past him.
The third person was the most miserable. This was a bloated nonhuman. The instant he got close to the tree crown, a sharp dagger actually stretched out from behind him and ruthlessly slit his neck.
The force was so great that its head was separated and blood spurted out like a fountain.
It was only at this moment that an ear-piercing scream rang out from the other two.
After neatly killing three of them, Xu Qing suddenly retreated and collided with the fourth figure who was casting a spell. This person was a human cultivator. As a rumbling sound rang out, his chest caved in and he fell to the ground with blood gushing out.
The remaining three cultivators gasped in horror.
"You guys cast your spells, I'll hold him back!"
A low roar rang out from one of the nonhuman members. This nonhuman was short, like a five-year-old child. However, at this moment, his body suddenly swelled up as he took a step forward. He directly grew to more than ten feet tall and charged toward Xu Qing with a furious roar.
Xu Qing's expression was as calm as ever. He didn't care about the giant nonhuman who was approaching him or the two nonhuman cultivators who were performing hand seals behind him. Instead, he raised his right hand and clenched.
Immediately, the surroundings buzzed. Drops of dew suddenly rose from the vegetation in all directions, instantly gathering into threads that formed a ring-shaped water net.
Under the moonlight, the water threads gleamed coldly. As they enveloped the three cultivators, they suddenly shrank with Xu Qing as the center.
Whooshing sounds instantly rang out and the expressions of the two cultivators who were casting the spell changed drastically. When their bodies were touched by the water net, their spirit energy defense couldn't resist at all and directly shattered. After their bodies were rapidly penetrated by the water net, they were cut into pieces and turned into minced meat.
As for the giant nonhuman cultivator who was rushing toward Xu Qing, his face was pale and his eyes revealed horror. Just as he was about to speak, his entire body turned black and green at the next moment. He clutched his throat and staggered to the ground, twitching a few times before he died.
The water net covered him and dismembered him. At the same time, it also dismembered the corpses in the surroundings.
Among them, the bloated nonhuman whose throat had been slit was clearly dead, but he let out a mournful cry as he was dismembered. An existence like an imp flew out of his body. Clearly, nonhuman races had too many life-saving methods that outsiders didn't know about.
He used some unknown method and his body became slender. He quickly crawled out of the water net and was about to escape.
Xu Qing didn't chase after him. He stared coldly and counted inwardly.
"One, two, three…"
At the next instant, this imp-like cultivator's body trembled intensely and he abruptly turned his head to look at Xu Qing.
"Spare me…"
He only had time to say these two words before his body began to melt. The first to dissolve was his tongue.
Even though he had lost his tongue, the intense pain still caused him to let out mournful cries that pierced the surroundings and even suppressed the sounds of battle from the other three parties.
This attracted the attention of everyone present.
They watched with their own eyes as the small black person screamed and rolled on the ground in pain. In the end, its body melted alive and turned into blood. It couldn't say anything else even until its death.
Gasps rang out from all directions before quickly retracting. Almost everyone took out antidotes immediately and ate them.
Only the old man from the inn was very calm.
In reality, when Xu Qing arrived yesterday, he had already started taking antidotes. After all, he had experienced Xu Qing's poison before.
Xu Qing didn't care about the actions of the surrounding cultivators. He calmly kept the dagger and black iron stick and picked up the leather pouches of these people one by one. Finally, he returned to the top of the tree and sat cross-legged, closing his eyes to cultivate.
Perhaps it was because this island was on the back of the terrifying giant sea lizard, so the spirit energy and anomalous substances were very dense.
To other cultivators, since they could be active at sea for a long time, they were naturally used to such an environment. They had their own cultivation methods that could separate the anomalous substances. However, they often had to go ashore to use medicinal pills or other methods to expel part of the anomalous substances they absorbed after going out for a period of time.
However, to Xu Qing, he didn't have such a need, so he didn't have any worries when cultivating. Moreover, the aura of the Forbidden Sea here was also helpful to his cultivation of the Sea Transformation Art.
Although Xu Qing, who was cultivating, had his eyes closed, no one in the surroundings dared to have any designs on him. Most of them stayed far away from him, afraid that they would be poisoned.
The exchange of blows between them was also clearly affected, and the battle gradually ended.
Just like this, a night passed.
In the sky, Dawn bit through Night's lips, leaving a bloody stain in the sky. This blood stain slowly flowed and grew fainter until it spread through the entire sky.
Around the mountain basin, the lone nonhuman who had snatched the lizard skin yesterday was still there. There was also another one beside him. It seemed that they had reached some agreement.
The additional person was none other than the cultivator in the straw rain cape who fought with Xu Qing yesterday.
As for the other side, the group of five cultivators clearly weren't able to keep the lizard skin and were turned into corpses. They were replaced by seven to eight people led by the elephant-nosed burly nonhuman.
Only Xu Qing and the old man from Panquan Road were still the same.
However, the difference was that Xu Qing's surroundings were covered in minced meat, and the latter… did not have even a corpse in his surroundings.
Xu Qing glanced at the large snake beside the old man. After the other party sensed him, it immediately looked at him and nodded repeatedly, as though it was greeting him.
Xu Qing felt that it was a little strange but he didn't think too much about it. He retracted his gaze and continued to meditate with his eyes closed.
Behind the boulder where the old man from Panquan Road was, he kicked the large snake beside him and snorted.
"Did you see that? He is ignoring you, so don't keep thinking about that kid. I'm your only family in this world."
"Gurgle, gurgle."
The large snake felt a little aggrieved. It stared eagerly at Xu Qing in the distance, and its expression gradually became listless. The old man saw this scene and sighed.
"Why are you crying again? You, sigh, that brat doesn't understand snake language, so he ignored you…" After saying that, the old man felt some regret, and the snake's eyes instantly lit up again.
"When a girl grows, she can't be kept. Even a silly snake can't be kept."
The old man was helpless. He wondered if he should find an opportunity to kill Xu Qing here. However, when he thought of the other party's ruthlessness, he still dispelled this thought.
Just like that, ten days passed slowly.
In these ten days, some of the cultivators on the mountain peak left while others arrived. When there were a lot of people, there were over a hundred cultivators in the surroundings of the basin, and when there were few, there were dozens .
Some were lone wolves, some were pirates, and some were nonhumans from other islands. Battles and slaughters continued to occur.
During this time, the sea lizards appeared three times. Each time, it was a massacre. Xu Qing's attacks were ruthless and decisive. Not only did he snatch some sea lizard skins, but he also piled up everyone he killed around the tree.
From afar, the large tree seemed to be dyed red with blood. It was a shocking sight.
As the intimidation continued to accumulate, the place Xu Qing was in was already a forbidden zone to others.
There were also a few like Xu Qing. Regardless of whether it was the old man from Panquan Road, the cultivator in the straw rain cape and his companion, or the elephant-nosed burly nonhuman, they all kept their gains and didn't choose to leave. It was as though they were waiting for something.
Xu Qing also sensed this. Hence, he didn't leave but cultivated silently in these ten days.
The spirit energy here was vigorous and the anomalous substances were dense. And this environment where he had to be in a highly focused state made him feel as though he had returned to the jungle in the forbidden zone. His cultivation speed clearly increased by a lot.
Right now, he wasn't far from the ninth level of the Sea Transformation Art.
"I should be able to break through in three days at most."
Xu Qing mumbled and continued to cultivate. Traces of spirit energy gushed in from all directions and entered his body. While nourishing his entire body, it also fused the anomalous substances into his shadow, causing the 870-foot-high spirit sea in his body to continue expanding.
880 feet, 890 feet…
Two days passed. When the third day arrived, at noon, the spirit sea fluctuations in Xu Qing's body were already infinitely close to 900 feet. Once it reached 900 feet, it meant that his Sea Transformation Art had stepped into the ninth level.
Disciples who cultivated this Seven Blood Eyes cultivation art to the ninth level could basically sweep through most of the same realm opponents from the human sects in the Nanhuang Continent. They might even be able to fight Foundation Building cultivators from small sects with inferior cultivation arts.
Needless to say, Xu Qing's body refinement from the Mountains and Seas Art had also reached an unprecedented level, forming the terrifying Ba shadow. It could be said that once he broke through to the Sea Transformation Art, Xu Qing's combat strength would erupt once again.
At that time, he would be an existence that surpassed the peak of Qi Condensation. He could completely be considered a Foundation Building expert. For example, Xu Qing was confident that he could suppress the Diamond Sect's ancestor regardless of whether it was on the sea or land. As for killing him, he would definitely be able to do it with some effort.
"I can break through tonight!" Xu Qing's eyes revealed anticipation. Just as he was about to continue cultivating, dense footsteps and whistling sounds suddenly rang out from the foot of the mountain.
Before the people arrived, waves of cold and savage intent spread out, enveloping the entire basin. This caused the expressions of everyone here to change as they looked down the mountain.
The ones who came… weren't sea lizards but a group of cultivators!
A group of malevolent figures in disheveled clothes, shockingly savage and filled with extreme killing intent.
There were a total of 16 of them, and every one of them emitted powerful cultivation fluctuations. The intensity of the murderous aura on each of them was astonishing.
"Sea Ghost!"
"It's the Sea Ghost Organization!"
"Damn it, why are they here!!"
Exclamations immediately rang out in the surroundings.
