This voice was ethereal and contained an otherworldly feeling.
It also contained coldness. The moment it entered Xu Qing's ears, it transformed into a wisp of ice water that filled his mind and spread throughout his body, causing his body to tremble.
Xu Qing's body trembled and his breath turned into white fog. His brows and hair began to freeze and his entire body stiffened. It was as though he had encountered an irresistible bizarre entity.
In fact, Xu Qing even had an illusion. It was as though cracks had appeared in the surrounding void and surrounded him, as though sealing him.
Not to mention the 44 magic apertures in his body.
He could clearly sense that the magic apertures in his body had become dead silent. It was the same for the magic power and the spirit energy vortex inside. Their circulation was extremely slow.
As for his life fires…
In this state, it was impossible for his life fires to be ignited!
This scene caused Xu Qing's mind to shake intensely. The sense of security he had obtained after forming his life fire instantly dissipated. It also made him deeply realize that to experts, suppressing the Mystic Brilliance Form was easy.
However, it wasn't that Xu Qing didn't have any strength to counterattack. The instant his entire body turned cold, he felt the warmth from his life lantern.
It didn't completely cool down because of the cold outside. Perhaps he had a chance to forcefully ignite his life fire.
This realization caused Xu Qing to be even more vigilant. He was very clear that he couldn't let anyone know about the life lantern. After confirming again that his shadow was still covering the life lantern, he took a deep breath and turned around with difficulty.
The moment he turned around, he saw two women who had appeared out of nowhere. One was middle-aged while the other was young.
The middle-aged woman wore a red lady's <anno data-annotation-id="e891e00b-fa72-49d3-b645-e10122a2d7bb">gown</anno> with exquisite patterns of butterflies and flowers embroidered on it with purple gold thread. The lining was extraordinary, like the rising sun in the sky.
However, the icy aura that couldn't be melted was as obvious as the coldness on her face, and her phoenix eyes which looked as deep as an ancient well.
It was as though whatever she looked at would turn into ice. If others stared at her for too long, their souls would be affected too.
At that moment, she was staring at Xu Qing.
The clothes she wore weren't the uniform of any peak, and Xu Qing had never seen her in the Seven Blood Eyes. However, Xu Qing knew the young girl beside her.
The young girl wore a loose light purple Daoist robe that looked like a long dress. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and she carried an ancient sword on her back. She looked valiant and heroic. At the same time, her exposed skin was fair and rosy.
She looked heroic but didn't lack gentleness. Like right now, she was smiling, causing her eyes to curve into crescent moons. She looked cute but at the same time, her eyes were crystal clear.
She was Ding Xue.
She looked at Xu Qing. As her beautiful eyes blinked, she revealed a spurious smile.
"Senior Brother Xu, this is my aunt. She's the deputy Peak Lord of our Seventh Peak and assists uncle-in-law in managing the Seventh Peak," Ding Xue said softly.
"Disciple Xu Qing greets Deputy Peak Lord."
Being stared at by Ding Xue's aunt, Xu Qing clearly felt the coldness from the inside out becoming increasingly intense. Fortunately, his foundation wasn't ordinary. Although he was strongly affected by the middle-aged woman's gaze, he could still act normally. He cupped his fists and bowed respectfully to Aunt Ding Xue.
This scene caused a hint of surprise to appear in the middle-aged woman's cold eyes. She sized up Xu Qing and calmly spoke.
"There's no need to be restrained."
After saying that, she noticed that her niece's gaze was filled with brightness as she stared at Xu Qing. As someone who had experienced this before, she naturally knew what this gaze meant. She sighed inwardly and the coldness she emitted dissipated a little. Her tone also became a little gentler.
"I summoned you here to give you a sect mission. You will temporarily be Ding Xue's Dao Protector…"
"Aunt, we're friends helping each other!" Ding Xue hurriedly spoke first. She held her aunt's hand and shook it with a cute expression.
Xu Qing's expression was as calm as ever and his posture didn't change, but there were waves in his mind. On one hand, he didn't expect Ding Xue's background to be so great. On the other hand, the power emitted by the cultivation base of this deputy peak lord gave him a similar feeling to the few peak lords he saw before.
This contact also allowed Xu Qing to have a clearer sense of how terrifying a peak lord was.
As Ding Xue acted coquettishly, the middle-aged woman's cold expression melted a little. A hint of doting rose in her eyes as she patted Ding Xue's head and spoke to Xu Qing.
"Xu Qing, you and Ding Xue are friends. I'm not talking to you as the deputy peak lord but as an elder. This is the frontline and it's not very safe. Ding Xue must participate in this war. I have something important to do and it's hard for me to be distracted. I'm worried about her safety and need you to protect her for a month. What do you think?"
"After you're done, I'll give you the right to withdraw from the war at any time and three disorder teleportation talismans."
Upon hearing the words 'disorder teleportation talisman', Xu Qing's heart instantly raced.
He knew that the disorder teleportation talisman was a type of jade talisman. Its value was so great that it surpassed many magic artifacts. Any one of them cost more than 700,000 to 800,000 spirit stones.
Moreover, this item was extremely rare. It would immediately be fought over and bought by others the moment it appeared. Xu Qing had seen one in the Bright Artifact Pavilion in the Sixth Peak's Pengming District, but it wasn't for sale.
The effect of this item was equivalent to gaining a second life. It could immediately teleport the user from the vast majority of areas. However, there was no pattern to the destination of teleportation. It could teleport the user in the vicinity or thousands of kilometers away.
This matter was clearly suggested by Ding Xue. Otherwise, if she really looked for someone to protect her with three disorderly teleportation talismans as the reward, there would be a lot of experts fighting for it.
Hence, Xu Qing glanced at Ding Xue.
Seeing Xu Qing's gaze landing on her, Ding Xue blushed and smiled sweetly.
The middle-aged woman shook her head. A hint of helplessness flashed in her deep phoenix eyes. After placing a storage bag in Ding Xue's hand, she calmly spoke.
"You guys decide." With that, she turned and left.
Seeing that her aunt had left, Ding Xue hurriedly ran to Xu Qing's side and spoke.
"Senior Brother Xu Qing, that's my aunt. She usually doesn't stay in the Seven Blood Eyes but in the Western Reef Archipelago. Back then, when you sent me off on the sea, the one I wanted to introduce you to was her."
"That day, Zhao Zhongheng insisted on following me. My aunt is a good person. She gave him an alchemy pill. If you had come with me, she would have given it to you. Zhao Zhongheng used that pill to form the Forbidden Sea Dragonwhale. That fellow got the benefit for free."
Xu Qing did not speak.
A long time later, he looked at Ding Xue and asked.
"The peak lord of the Seventh Peak is your…"
"He's my uncle-in-law." Ding Xue smiled.
Xu Qing fell silent again.
"However, there are some contradictions in ideals between my aunt and uncle-in-law. Hence, many years ago, my aunt moved out of the Seven Blood Eyes to live in the Western Reef Archipelago. She came here only because of the war."
"Senior Brother Xu Qing, can you protect me this time? I actually came here to increase my qualifications. The sect also has assessments for core disciples, and my uncle-in-law plans to send me to the Seven Sects Alliance. This requires my resume to be more realistic and good-looking. In addition, I'm planning to focus on vegetation in the future, so Senior Brother Xu Qing, can you also help me tutor during this period of time?"
Ding Xue didn't hide anything and told Xu Qing what she needed. At the same time, she handed over the storage bag. It was obvious that regardless of whether Xu Qing agreed or not, she would give the disorder teleportation talismans to him.
Xu Qing looked at the storage bag and then at the expectant Ding Xue.
Xu Qing admired Ding Xue's diligence and eagerness to learn. Moreover, regardless of whether it was for the other party's Foundation Building jade slips back then or the three disorder teleportation talismans now, he had no reason to refuse. Ding Xue's actions also made him feel comfortable.
Xu Qing nodded and took the storage bag. There were three jade talismans that emitted a gentle glow inside. The magic power on them was abundant.
"That's great. Thank you, Senior Brother Xu Qing." Ding Xue was very excited. After that, she tried to hold Xu Qing's arm naturally, but Xu Qing dodged her.
Ding Xue didn't reveal any abnormalities. She still smiled sweetly and brought Xu Qing to a teleportation point, leaving the core command center.
For the rest of the time, other than returning to her aunt's place at night, she usually followed Xu Qing and completed her resume at the frontline on the merfolk islands.
However, Ding Xue was very smart. Although she was the one who fought for this opportunity for Xu Qing and had some selfish motives, she didn't make it too obvious. Instead, she dragged Xu Qing to accept some special missions.
From Ding Xue, Xu Qing also knew that the missions of core disciples were different from theirs.
The mission rewards for core disciples were even richer while the danger was clearly reduced. Most of them could be completed on the islands.
However, correspondingly, as a core disciple, their connection to the sect was extremely great.
If the Seven Blood Eyes encountered an irresolvable calamity one day, disciples like Xu Qing could leave calmly and not be pursued.
However, core disciples would definitely be eliminated.
As such, there were pros and cons to becoming a core disciple.
Xu Qing wasn't envious of it. He felt that his current state was quite good. In the following days, he would bring Ding Xue to complete all kinds of small missions she accepted every day.
For example, sending important supplies from one island to another, doing some aftermath work, tabulating some casualties, and so on.
Basically, they were all safe and easy missions.
When he was free, Ding Xue would ask him about herbs. Every time, she would give him spirit stones as a payment for the knowledge.
Although Xu Qing felt that 100 to 200 spirit stones each time wasn't as precious as before, he still abided by the concept of gathering sand to form a tower.
Seven to eight days later, the difficulty of the missions Ding Xue accepted slowly increased.
For example, searching for some merfolk rebels and the hiding places of the Sea Corpse Race in the islands.
The danger level of such a mission was already relatively high, but this was the frontline command center after all, so the difficulty was limited.
The sect could quickly send reinforcements if there were any issues, so these missions were very suitable for the core disciples to train.
Ding Xue seemed to attach great importance to her resume. She often took on these missions that contained a certain level of danger without being afraid of injuries.
In fact, the more dangerous it was, the faster she would accept it.
However, under Xu Qing's meticulous protection, Ding Xue was always safe and sound.
This made Ding Xue a little anxious.
This didn't match her plan.
She felt even more anxious when she realized that the month was almost over. She made a decision. One morning, when she met Xu Qing again, she suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood.
Her face was pale and her body was on the verge of collapse, as though she would fall at any moment.
Xu Qing was stunned. He sized up Ding Xue a few times and was a little moved.
He sensed that Ding Xue's cultivation base was chaotic and her qi movements had formed a ball, blocking many of her meridians. It would be very difficult for her to recover in a short period.
"Senior Brother Xu, it's all my fault. I was too anxious."
"I felt that I was too weak and wanted to break through to the great circle of perfection as soon as possible, but something went wrong with my cultivation last night and I suffered a backlash."
Ding Xue stood with difficulty and spoke bitterly.
"My aunt also went to the battlefield and isn't here."
"You should rest for a few days. When your injuries recover, you can take on the missions." Xu Qing comforted.
"No!!"
Ding Xue panicked and hurriedly rejected him. She thought to herself that if she really went back to rest, wouldn't her injuries be in vain?
<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="e891e00b-fa72-49d3-b645-e10122a2d7bb">Here, this is a casual gown worn by royal concubines or princesses</li></ol></annotations>",
