Xu Qing watched as the captain's figure leaped into the huge deep pit in the fish eye location, and the captain's words seemed to fall as well. However, they did not land in the pit, but in Xu Qing's mind.
Those words stirred up waves in his mind that sent ripples continuously.
Prior to the captain's explanation, Xu Qing's understanding of the forbidden zones was that they were similar to the jungle beside the scavenger campsite, just that the deeper one went, the stranger, eerie, and dangerous it became.
Even for the Phoenix Forbidden on the other side of the Nanhuang Continent, he felt that it was just a larger forbidden zone with more ferocious beasts and bizarre existences.
But now, he understood that although his understanding wasn't wrong, it was only the tip of the iceberg.
This world was vast. The human race was only one of the races living in it. There were many nonhuman races and dangerous forbidden zones.
There were also the forbidden regions above the forbidden zone.
Forbidden regions had completely surpassed the level of the forbidden zone and were able to give birth to new races.
There was also… the Divine Realm that the captain didn't elaborate on.
"There are many experts and bizarre existences in this world." Xu Qing thought of the saber-wielding stone statue in the temple he had seen in the forbidden zone, the giant pulling the dragon carriage he had sensed at the bottom of the sea, and the true body of Sea Lizard Island.
After a long time, he turned his head and looked at the Sea Corpse Race member who was fighting against Ding Xiaohai. A deep glint appeared in his eyes.
The Sea Corpse Race that was born at the edge of the Corpse Forbidden was very strong.
At the same level of Perfected Qi Condensation Realm, if the Sea Corpse cultivator had been changed to the merfolk or human cultivators, Xu Qing wouldn't be so slow in killing them. He would have been much faster.
"What about the Foundation Building cultivators of the Sea Corpse Race?" Xu Qing was inwardly vigilant. He believed that there would definitely be other members of the Sea Corpse Race under the deep pit and there would definitely be Foundation Building cultivators among them.
Although the array formation in the sky suppressed the enemy's cultivation to the Qi Condensation Realm, Xu Qing had no choice but to be vigilant against the Sea Corpse Race.
This was more so when the array formation seemed to be becoming more and more unstable.
Xu Qing fell silent. The more he understood the mysteries of this world, the more he felt that he was too weak. The thought of reaching Foundation Building as soon as possible became even more intense.
Xu Qing drew in a deep breath and his gaze regained its sharpness. He then leaped toward the deep pit in the fish eye.
This deep pit was like a tunnel. It was wide and so deep that the end couldn't be seen.
When Xu Qing jumped in, he could only see the captain's figure descending rapidly like a small dot. He didn't control his speed, but moved with the natural falling force while checking his surroundings.
The soil around the deep pit was pitch-black. The deeper one went, the more humid it became. There was also a large amount of ringworm-like vegetation everywhere. He occasionally saw a few small black flowers that gave off a sinister aura.
The humidity continued to increase. Soon, Xu Qing heard a splashing sound coming from the captain's side. This sound didn't sound like someone had attacked him but more like he had landed on water.
Xu Qing immediately circulated his cultivation base. As he lifted his right hand, the black iron stick appeared and pierced into the soil beside him.
With the help of the iron stick, Xu Qing's speed slowly slowed down. Shortly after, he saw water below.
The surface of the water was pitch-black and he couldn't see what was inside. However, it was obvious that this passageway was far from the end. The rest of the journey would require him to sink into the water.
Xu Qing scattered some poison powder.
He waited for some time to confirm that there was nothing wrong. Just in case, he placed all the items that could be damaged by water in his storage bag. He then used the Sea Transformation Art to form a protective barrier to block the water. Only then did he sink and continue forward.
However, not long after he entered the water, Xu Qing became cautious.
He didn't see the captain's figure.
It was as though some unknown danger hidden in this pitch-black passageway devoured the captain's figure completely.
Xu Qing immediately took out a pouch filled with all kinds of poison powder from his storage bag and sent it out of his protective barrier, causing the pouch to fuse into the water. It was quickly soaked and a large amount of poison mixed into the water.
As it spread in all directions, Xu Qing grabbed the pouch and his body continued to sink.
Wherever he passed, the black seawater would turn even darker under the influence of the poison.
Perhaps it was because Xu Qing's poison was very invasive, he didn't encounter any danger on the way down. When he gradually reached the end of the tunnel, there wasn't much poison left in the pouch.
Xu Qing didn't stop. He threw the pouch to the exit of the tunnel. The pouch opened in the water, causing the remaining poison in it to be released like ink, churning rapidly in all directions.
It would be fine if there were no enemies lying in ambush there. However, if there were ambushers, this poisonous water would be enough to make them regret this choice.
At the next instant, as the poisonous water churned, miserable cries rang out. Six merfolk cultivators lying in ambush retreated in the poisonous water and their bodies turned greenish-black rapidly. As they continued to rot, a cold glint rose in Xu Qing's eyes as he rushed out of the exit.
The instant he left, he could sense waves of spell fluctuations in all directions. There were also muffled roars and shouts.
A chaotic battle was going on.
At the same time, a gorgeous and wondrous underwater world appeared in front of Xu Qing.
Compared to the surface of the island, everything here was reversed. However, if one reversed their body here and stepped on the soil on the back of the island, they could clearly see that there were countless seven-colored corals.
It was as though the entire world was made up of corals. These corals were used to build luxurious buildings everywhere and on those corals, there were a large number of sea anemone.
The center of the sea anemone was red and its grayish-white tentacles were like sharp teeth. It also had barbed tentacles that extended and swayed in the sea.
These tentacles were of different lengths. Some were hundreds of feet long and some were ten to twenty feet long. There was light flowing on them, causing the entire world under the sea to look extremely gorgeous.
In the direction of the bottom of the sea, there were countless translucent eggs floating. Each of these eggs was the size of a seven or eight-year-old child. One could see the children of the merfolk race inside.
This place was the undersea world that the merfolk race had built on the back of the island. It was also where their true foundation was. As Xu Qing noticed all this clearly, he also saw the battles that were everywhere.
A large number of Seven Blood Eyes disciples were snatching the corals and all the valuable items here. As for the merfolk cultivators, they fought back ferociously.
Because they were under the sea, the blood fused into the seawater and turned into balls of blood mist. Xu Qing had not finished observing the whole situation when a cold glint flashed in his eyes and he slammed back fiercely, colliding with a merfolk cultivator who wanted to launch a sneak attack.
The flesh and bones of the merfolk cultivator shattered, emitting a large amount of blood mist. A sea anemone at the side suddenly opened its mouth and bit at Xu Qing.
The tentacles in the surroundings rapidly moved toward him, but as soon as they got close, they withered. It was the same for the sea anemone. Before it could bite down, it withered and turned pitch-black.
Ignoring the sea anemone, Xu Qing continued to survey his surroundings while moving forward.
On the underwater battlefield, the merfolk race wasn't the only one fighting against the Seven Blood Eyes' disciples. Xu Qing also saw the cultivators of the Sea Corpse Race. With a glance, there were about a hundred Sea Corpse Race members scattered around.
Every one of them was very savage. Seven to eight of them even had fluctuations that were infinitely close to the Foundation Building realm. More than five Seven Blood Eyes disciples were needed to suppress one of them.
Xu Qing suddenly lifted his right hand and the black iron stick rushed out, heading straight for a figure rushing toward him from the left. Under the other party's horror, it pierced through the space between his brows and returned to Xu Qing's side.
Xu Qing didn't stop and continued speeding.
He did not take the initiative to attack. Killing wasn't his priority on this trip. After coming to this underwater world, he judged the approximate location of the fluctuations he had sensed from the Spirit Breath Lantern.
He wanted to leave this battlefield and take a look at that place to confirm if there was really the item he was hoping for.
Just as Xu Qing was shuttling through the battlefield, he suddenly felt a sense of danger.
Xu Qing stopped in his tracks and looked into the distance.
Almost at the same time he looked over, dozens of different merfolks appeared at the edge of the battlefield.
These merfolks were wearing white robes and the fluctuations emitted by their bodies were very strange. It wasn't anomalous substances or spirit energy but something indescribable. After Xu Qing sensed it, he thought of the divinity contained in his magic boat.
His eyes narrowed.
And beside every such merfolk, there were some ferocious and strange beasts!
Some of these strange beasts were in human form but their bodies were slender. They were dozens of feet tall and looked like bamboo sticks. However, their heads were huge and their green skin emitted a strange aura.
There were also those who looked completely like giants but had two heads filled with cruelty. As they walked forward, they were also biting each other.
There were also huge eyeballs that were covered in pustules. However, there was an extremely long tongue in their pupils.
There were also some rotting small sharks with countless rotting weapons stabbed into their bodies.
"Divine priest!" The introduction of a type of special cultivator among the merfolk cultivators in the little fatty's jade slip appeared in Xu Qing's mind.
There were very few such cultivators and they called themselves divine priests. Their spells weren't spirit energy but borrowed from the gods they believed in, so they were named divine arts.
And those strange beasts were the manifestation of their divine arts!
Their appearance brought a huge impact on the battlefield, causing some chaos among the Seven Blood Eyes' disciples. However, the Seven Blood Eyes' disciples were ferocious people who had experienced the Gu nurturing. There were many who had their eyes on these divine priests.
After all, in the merfolk race, the hierarchy of the divine priests was extremely high and their wealth exceeded that of ordinary cultivators.
Xu Qing didn't participate in this. He retracted his gaze from those divine priests and was about to leave. However, at that moment, a strange expression appeared on his face.
He saw a miserable-looking corpse crawling rapidly on the battlefield not far away.
This corpse was covered in blood and its entire body was covered in shocking wounds.
It would occasionally crawl and pause. When it passed by the corpses of the merfolk and Seven Blood Eyes cultivators, the corpse would rummage through them with familiarity. After taking the items, it continued to crawl.
If it encountered a powerful enemy, the corpse would immediately lie motionless and pretend to be dead. However, if the person's cultivation was ordinary, the moment they passed by, the corpse would suddenly sneak attack. After killing the target, it would quickly run to another side and continue pretending to be a corpse…
Although the other party's disguise was very good, Xu Qing still recognized him.
"Senior Brother Zhang San…"
The moment Xu Qing saw Zhang San, there was an energy fluctuation behind him. Xu Qing rushed forward and abruptly turned around. Just as he was about to throw the black iron stick in his right hand, an anxious voice rang out.
"It's me, Deputy Captain Xu."
It was the captain.
However… the current captain was a little different from what Xu Qing had seen outside.
His body was greenish-black and there were familiar signs of poisoning. His lips were purple and he was swallowing antidotes as he walked.
