This was strange.
However, Xu Qing and Zhang San had each seen similar things. In fact, compared to what their captain had done just now, these invisible enemies outside didn't seem to be much.
There were not many people who were admired by Xu Qing. The teacher from the slums, Captain Lei from the campsite, and Grandmaster Bai who had taught him about herbs and plants were people he admired from the depths of his heart.
But now… there was another one.
Xu Qing admired the captain's madness in playing with his life.
To dare to go into the deep sea at this moment and risk his life to plunder the flesh and blood of Binding… Only people who were completely crazy could do such a thing. As for the captain's true identity and cultivation, Xu Qing didn't want to guess anymore. It was meaningless.
"I hope the captain can succeed," Xu Qing said softly.
The captain had given him the Foundation Building Pills in exchange for him guarding this place for fifteen minutes. He would keep his promise. He headed straight for the temple's gate.
Xu Qing glanced at the empty space outside. He then lifted his right hand and waved it fiercely. Immediately, a large amount of poison powder spread out, merging into the seawater and rapidly spreading out.
This time, the poison powder wasn't colorless but had many different colors. Black, red, blue, and green. After they fused together, they transformed into different colors and their intensity increased by a lot.
In the blink of an eye, sizzling sounds rang out from the originally empty outside world. There were also intense fluctuations that distorted outside the temple.
After that, a fleshy tentacle as thick as a thigh suddenly crawled out from the empty space in front of Xu Qing and lashed out at him.
Its speed was so fast that ripples appeared wherever it passed. Moreover, there were more than one tentacle. The tentacles appeared one after another from other places, and rushed toward Xu Qing in unison.
A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. After he dodged a tentacle that charged at him, he slashed it down with the dagger, cutting it into two.
He then attacked the other approaching tentacles.
In an instant, flesh and blood splattered everywhere. Because there were too many tentacles, Xu Qing's dagger was entangled. He simply let go of the dagger and grabbed the tentacle in front of him, pulling it ruthlessly.
The ground collapsed as a strange ferocious beast that looked like a tadpole was pulled out. The large head at the end of it revealed a sinister huge mouth. It twisted its body and bit at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing's expression was calm. The Ba shadow instantly manifested and he punched fiercely at the incoming big-headed ferocious beast.
The seawater seemed to explode and the big-headed ferocious beast instantly collapsed.
This wasn't the end. Xu Qing rushed toward another tentacle and punched out again.
Zhang San, who was in the temple, couldn't help but gasp.
"Although he can't compare to the captain's madness, this Xu Qing is quite fierce…" Zhang San muttered. He wasn't idle either. He performed a series of hand seals and the fine threads outside his body instantly rushed out of the temple.
He could also kill enemies.
The rumbling of the mechanisms outside became even more frequent. The places where Zhang San had buried the mechanisms collapsed one after another. Under Xu Qing's mixed poisons, the figures were dyed with colors and revealed themselves.
They were all merfolks.
However, they were different from ordinary merfolk. They seemed to possess a certain degree of concealment and were even more ferocious. All of them spat out blood and there were traces of poison on their bodies, but they didn't retreat. They continued to charge straight for the entrance of the temple.
Their target wasn't Xu Qing but… the piece of meat inside the statue in the temple.
It was as though the appearance of this piece of meat could lead to some unknown effects, causing them to frantically try to stop it.
However, the instant these merfolk cultivators got close to the entrance of the temple, a rumbling sound suddenly erupted.
Zhang San had buried a large number of traps at the entrance. Xu Qing was fine when he passed by them, but when these merfolk got close, the ground directly exploded.
The violent impact swept out, causing the merfolk race to retreat one after another. At the same time, Xu Qing, who was fighting against the tentacles, suddenly had a change in expression.
He sensed a terrifying aura approaching the temple from the ground.
"Senior Brother Zhang, carry the statue out!" Xu Qing immediately let out a low roar.
Zhang San also reacted extremely quickly. He didn't hesitate to carry the flesh and blood statue and rush out of the temple. As he waved his right hand, the threads surrounding him spun sharply.
The instant he rushed out of the temple, the entire temple collapsed. A rotting large hand stretched out from the ground. Since it missed, it slapped the ground and using the leverage, a thousand-foot-long figure crawled out.
Thick corpse poison spread out with its appearance.
This figure was actually a corpse, and it was formed from a large number of corpses that had fused together. Its hands and feet slapped the ground malevolently as it charged forward like a wild beast, rushing toward Zhang San.
Zhang San quickly threw the statue he was carrying toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing leaped up and carried the flesh and blood statue with one hand. As he retreated, he held the dagger in his left hand and slashed the empty space beside him. Immediately, fresh blood spurted out and a head floated down from the concealment.
At the same time, the giant corpse in the distance also changed its direction and roared as it charged toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and his speed erupted as he sped into the distance. At the same time, Zhang San seemed to have gained leverage and his body was suddenly pulled closer to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing wasn't surprised. When he caught the flesh and blood statue, he sensed a thread on it. It was Zhang San's thread.
"What is this thing that can allow the captain to enter the deep sea? It even caused these merfolk and sea corpses to go crazy as soon as it was formed." Zhang San approached with a shocked expression.
Xu Qing didn't have an answer, but he remembered the captain's words. Protect the statue for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. He threw the flesh and blood statue to Zhang San.
"Senior Brother Zhang, guard here." After saying that, killing intent erupted from Xu Qing's eyes. He held the dagger in his left hand and the black iron stick in his right. The Ba shadow behind him roared and rushed toward the approaching giant corpse.
His speed was so fast that he got close in an instant. As rumbling sounds erupted into the sky, Xu Qing's Ba shadow punched out continuously. At this moment, his poison was also released on a large scale.
Wherever he passed, bodies would rot and fall to the ground with mournful cries. As for the huge corpse, it also retreated repeatedly under Xu Qing's bombardment.
Finally, under Xu Qing's control, countless water droplets formed a restriction. The moment they trapped the huge corpse, a cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. With a wave of his hand, his magic boat appeared and the divine power attack instantly shot out.
A golden pillar of light that seemed to be able to purify everything broke through the seawater and landed on the giant corpse.
Amidst the rumbling, the corpse trembled and shattered into pieces.
Xu Qing wasn't willing to waste the divinity. He quickly kept the magic boat, and charged toward the other merfolks in the surroundings.
He brandished the dagger and blood filled the air. There was also the black iron stick whistling around him, directly piercing through the merfolks. Although the Diamond Sect's ancestor was still in a deep sleep after being sealed and wasn't awakened by Xu Qing, after this iron stick gained an artifact spirit, it had become extraordinary and its lethality was high.
A moment later, this area… was completely cleared out by Xu Qing.
His entire body was covered in blood and he clearly felt some fatigue. However, the killing intent in his eyes was still intense.
As the baleful aura permeated the air, a hint of Foundation Building intent was also faintly emitted from the black iron stick, as though the Diamond Sect's ancestor was about to awaken.
As for the Ba shadow behind Xu Qing, it stood there malevolently, as though it was bearing witness to this massacre.
Zhang San's heart trembled at this scene.
He looked at the blood on the ground and then at Xu Qing's blade-like figure. He suddenly felt that his previous judgment was wrong. This Xu Qing in front of him might not be as mad as the captain but in terms of cruelty… he was the same as the captain!
Most of the corpses on the ground had their necks slit…
The time it took for an incense stick to burn was up.
However, the captain didn't return.
Xu Qing fell silent. He glanced at the flesh and blood statue that Zhang San was carrying and waited for another half an incense stick of time.
As for Zhang San, he also sensed that a lot of time had passed and his expression was a little gloomy.
"Senior Brother Zhang San, the time has passed. I have another area to go to. Take care," Xu Qing said softly. He gave Zhang San a bag of poison and told him how to use it. After that, he walked into the distance.
He hoped that his captain would be successful but he wouldn't wait for too long. In this merfolk world, Xu Qing had more important things to do.
He rushed out with his full speed. When he reached a place with no one around, he took out the Spirit Breath Lantern and placed it in his shadow to sense the location. Very soon, Xu Qing confirmed the precise location. He then kept the Spirit Breath Lantern and sped into the depths of the temple cluster.
Time slowly passed. The range of this cluster of temples was very large. After an hour, Xu Qing stopped in his tracks and lifted his head to look at a very ordinary temple in front of him.
This temple was no different from the surrounding temples but the location guided by the Spirit Breath Lantern's spirit fluctuations was here.
Xu Qing warily surveyed his surroundings. After confirming that this place was empty and with no obstacles, he quickly scattered a large amount of poison in the surroundings, enveloping the entire temple as well as spreading more inside it.
Xu Qing didn't act rashly. Instead, he hid and waited silently. Only after he discovered that there was nothing strange did he rush into the temple. The moment he stepped in, he quickly observed his surroundings.
The interior of the temple was empty except for a statue.
This statue wasn't of Binding but an elderly merfolk. He had a dignified expression and a crown on his head. There did not seem to be anything remarkable about him.
Xu Qing swept his gaze over and looked at the walls of the temple.
However, just like the emptiness here, the walls were no different. Xu Qing searched for a long time but didn't find anything here. He took out the Spirit Breath Lantern and checked his surroundings again. It was still the same.
Xu Qing thought about it and lit the Spirit Breath Lantern. He walked one round around the temple but still didn't find anything.
Xu Qing muttered to himself and placed the lantern in his shadow.
In an instant, the color of the lamp changed from a dim yellow to a dark green. The light illuminated the surroundings and a portion of it landed on the wall. There seemed to be some changes there.
Xu Qing slowly moved closer.
As he got closer, the green light slowly illuminated a larger area on the wall. Gradually, the wall distorted. As Xu Qing's mind trembled, a mural appeared on the entire wall from the original blank space.
This mural was of a vast scene. The scene seemed to show the location of a huge altar. There were countless bones around it that formed a sea, and on this sea of bones, there were three towering figures.
Two of them lowered their heads and bowed, while the other stood tall.
Among the two people paying their respects, the one on the right was the merfolk old man in the temple. However, in the mural, he was like the emperor, even more dignified. His majestic body stood there with extraordinary might, and the crown on his head was embedded with a gem.
On the other side was an old woman in a fishbone robe that was covered in tentacles. There was also a malevolent ghost face on her back. It was none other than Binding.
The figure they worshiped was a giant with nine-headed snakes coiled around its body.
This giant wore armor that was filled with countless runes. He carried two worlds on his shoulders and a large sword floated above his head. This large sword gave off a soul-stirring feeling, as though once it landed, it could split heaven and earth apart.
He who was being worshiped by the merfolk emperor and Binding seemed more like a god.
On his body, a snake head held a burning lantern in its mouth.
The shape of this lantern was a black umbrella placed upside down. Its appearance was the same as the Spirit Breath Lantern but it gave off a completely different feeling like they were not on the same level.
The difference was like a rock and a beautiful jade.
It also contained supreme imperial might, causing everyone who saw it to be able to tell at a glance that this was the genuine item.
