"Joining the Seven Sects Alliance is my dream!"
"Now that I have everything I need, I only need a good resume. I can't waste all my efforts because of my negligence."
"I accepted 16 missions today. Senior Brother Xu, my aptitude is ordinary, so I have to work harder. Even though I'm injured, I can't give up. This little injury is nothing!"
Ding Xue's gaze was firm.
"I can't disappoint my aunt!"
"Senior Brother Xu, can you help me complete the missions? Sorry to trouble you."
At this point, Ding Xue's voice became a little weaker. After she finished speaking, she wanted to bow but her body went limp and she was about to fall. Xu Qing instinctively went forward to help her.
Ding Xue's body fell into Xu Qing's arms. Her eyelashes trembled slightly and her breathing was clearly hurried. Her small face flushed red.
Xu Qing faintly felt that something was amiss but he didn't know how to refuse. After all, Ding Xue's injuries were real and they were really serious.
Just like that, on this day, Xu Qing helped Ding Xue to complete the 16 missions. Although Ding Xue was weak, the excitement in her heart had reached its limit.
This was the outcome she wanted. She had begged her aunt to let Xu Qing protect her because she wanted to get close to Xu Qing and form a deep-rooted friendship.
She was very clear that if she wanted to conquer Xu Qing, she couldn't be hasty.
She needed to plan slowly. It would be best if the feelings could develop over time.
That was why she had injured herself like this.
However, she also understood that this plan couldn't be used every day. The sense of need couldn't be exposed too much. Hence, after she recovered a little the next day, everything started to return to normal.
Every day, Ding Xue excitedly brought Xu Qing to run around the four islands.
Another seven to eight days passed. Ding Xue felt that the time was ripe and was about to launch her second plan.
She was confident that she could form a deeper relationship with Xu Qing with this plan. After all, she had been preparing for this for several months.
However, what disappointed her was that an uninvited guest actually came at this critical moment.
It was Zhao Zhongheng.
For some reason, Zhao Zhongheng's cultivation speed suddenly sped up after Xu Qing stepped into Foundation Building. He had reached the Perfected Qi Condensation Realm and wasn't far from attempting to reach Foundation Building.
Logically speaking, what he needed to do now was to enter seclusion to stabilize his perfected realm and start Foundation Building.
However, he had clearly heard about what had happened here, so he resolutely chose to participate in the battle. On the first day he arrived on the merfolk island, he shamelessly came to Ding Xue's side.
No matter what, he didn't leave and insisted on following.
In fact, after Ding Xue got annoyed, he even took out the mission jade slip.
He actually used some unknown method to obtain the same mission as Ding Xue. As such, Ding Xue was quite helpless.
From the start to the end, Xu Qing didn't care about this matter. It didn't matter who came. He calculated the time. There were a few more days left before the one-month duration ended.
"Zhao Zhongheng, if you insist on following, there are two rules!" Ding Xue looked at Zhao Zhongheng unhappily in front of Xu Qing.
"Firstly, you can't speak the entire time!"
"Secondly, you have to maintain a distance of 30 feet from me!"
"If you don't agree, leave. If you agree, stay!"
Zhao Zhongheng took a deep breath. When he arrived, he had already thought of this. Now, he looked at the incomparably beautiful Ding Xue with her curvy figure.
He then quickly glanced at Xu Qing, who didn't seem to notice this. He hurriedly retracted his gaze and an unprecedented determination appeared in his heart.
'No matter how high his cultivation is, how can it compare to my sincerity? Pursuing a girl isn't about fighting. What's the use of having a high cultivation level? My grandfather's cultivation level is higher. Wasn't he also dumped by my grandmother? Isn't Old Master Seventh also staying on the Seventh Peak alone? This means that a high cultivation base is of no use here!'
'My sincerity is the key to obtaining ultimate happiness. It's indestructible. The heavens can testify to it. Even if the fragmented face in the sky opens its eyes, it won't be able to destroy my sincerity.'
'If pursuing women depends on one's cultivation level, wouldn't the ancestor have a lot of wives and concubines? All the women in the sect would have been his.' The more Zhao Zhongheng thought about it, the more sense it made. His gaze became increasingly determined as he looked at the love of his life, Ding Xue, and spoke in a low voice.
"Alright!!"
Zhao Zhongheng's participation made Ding Xue very unhappy. However, to Xu Qing, it was no different, although there were a few times when he realized that Zhao Zhongheng was secretly sizing up his forehead.
This made Xu Qing feel a little strange but he didn't care too much, especially since the other party was tactful and didn't provoke him. Hence, Xu Qing ignored him most of the time.
Several days later, the three of them completed some small missions and rested for a night before gathering again. Xu Qing glanced at Zhao Zhongheng with a strange expression.
Ding Xue was also stunned when she saw Zhao Zhongheng.
She glanced at Zhao Zhongheng's brows and then turned to look at Xu Qing. Her expression slowly became strange.
Only Zhao Zhongheng's expression was as calm as ever. He lifted his head and revealed his brows to Xu Qing and Ding Xue, his heart filled with pride.
If anyone else was here, they would definitely discover that the shape of Zhao Zhongheng's brows was almost identical to Xu Qing's.
Regardless of the height, length, width at the end of the brows, and so on, they were all the same.
Xu Qing looked at Zhao Zhongheng. He suddenly understood why the other party kept peeking at his forehead a few days ago. He was looking at his eyebrows.
'Is this person crazy?' Xu Qing recalled Elder Zhao's evaluation of his grandson and felt that it made sense.
Ding Xue sighed.
She felt that Zhao Zhongheng was possessed. Some eyebrows felt different on different people's faces. Senior Brother Xu naturally looked better the more she looked at him.
She felt that this Zhao Zhongheng was actually fine previously. However, no matter how she looked at him now, he looked really strange. He was like a chicken with two peacock feathers stuck in it.
Zhao Zhongheng clearly didn't think so. He was very smug on the way. He felt that Ding Xue was clearly looking at him much more than before.
Hence, he began to stare at Xu Qing's nose.
Xu Qing remained silent.
Just like that, the three of them lived in peace in the following days, other than Zhao Zhongheng's appearance gradually changing slightly and the traces of the changes being conspicuous.
What surprised Xu Qing was that Zhao Zhongheng's transformation wasn't just these. When the latter presented Ding Xue with a gift, he actually gave two portions.
Ding Xue was also very surprised by this.
Looking at Xu Qing and Ding Xue's expressions, Zhao Zhongheng felt even more smug.
He felt that the meaning of his seclusion this time was far-reaching because he understood something.
Since he loved someone, he had to love her dog as well.
Since he had chosen to spend his entire life pursuing her, he had to be tolerant enough to accommodate the passersby in her life.
So, why would he act narrow minded and only give her?
As such, he gifted her two portions!
Letting her give it to the passerby also showed how different he was from others.
Zhao Zhongheng felt that he had understood everything.
Hence, amidst the sublimation of his heart, on this day, Ding Xue checked a secret passage that was filled with anomalous substances and opened it. When the anomalous substances dissipated, Zhao Zhongheng, who was at the side, handed two medicine boxes to Ding Xue.
Ding Xue took them and opened one in surprise.
"Peeling anomaly pills. This is a secret pill of the Second Peak. It's not sold outside and is rarely seen."
Zhao Zhongheng smiled and nodded.
Ding Xue had a strange expression on her face as she looked at the two medicinal pills in her hand.
"Senior Brother Xu Qing, thank you for helping me these few days and even tutoring me in herbs. I don't think Senior Brother will have any use for this pill, but because it's rare, Senior Brother can use it for research."
As she spoke, Ding Xue smiled sweetly at Xu Qing and passed a medicinal pill to him.
"Moreover, this is also the reward you should receive for taking care of Zhao Zhongheng these few days."
Xu Qing thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he took it.
Zhao Zhongheng's breathing hastened slightly but he quickly smiled again and nodded at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing glanced at the medicinal pill and was about to store it when his expression suddenly froze. He abruptly looked at the secret passage that had been opened and walked to the side of it.
"Both of you, step back a little."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ding Xue quickly reacted and retreated. Zhao Zhongheng also hurriedly retreated.
Seeing that Ding Xue and Zhao Zhongheng had retreated far away, Xu Qing stared at the secret passage in front of him.
The location of this secret passage was under a collapsed house. Moreover, it was obvious that it had been dug out recently to escape.
Some runic arrangements could be seen in the surroundings. Although they had lost their effect now, they should be mainly used for concealment.
The passage wasn't big and could only fit one person. As it was opened, it emitted a chill that fused with the warm current from the outside world, forming some fog.
In this fog, other than the dense anomalous substances, some corpse poison slowly floated out.
Xu Qing was vigilant. This mission was accepted by Ding Xue. The mission description was to find the hiding places of the Sea Corpse Race in the merfolk islands. They had searched several places before but they didn't find anything.
Right now, they were in a small city on Hidden Island. Ding Xue had used a special magic artifact to sense the fluctuations of the increase in anomalous substances here.
That's how they found this passage.
Xu Qing originally didn't care much. According to his experience in killing the Sea Corpse Race, even if there were really some members of the Sea Corpse Race hiding on the merfolk islands, they weren't something a Qi Condensation cultivator like Ding Xue could find.
The detection of special magic artifacts wasn't of much use. Unless the Sea Corpse Race cultivator deliberately exposed their traces, there were too many ways to conceal the anomalous substances and their aura.
Hence, in Xu Qing's opinion, the mission the sect gave to Qi Condensation core disciples was actually just for show, to let them adapt to the rhythm of the war.
As for danger, there wasn't much.
However, after Ding Xue opened the secret passage just now, as the anomalous substances spread out, Xu Qing sensed that something was wrong. The anomalous substances coming out of the passage contained corpse poison.
"Could it be that Ding Xue really found a Sea Corpse Race member?"
Xu Qing's gaze was like lightning as he scattered some poison powder into the secret passage to neutralize the corpse poison inside. At the same time, he also sensed that the corpse poison here seemed to have lost its vitality and its toxicity was greatly reduced.
While Xu Qing was pondering, a weak voice suddenly rang out from the secret passage.
"Father, hurry up and go home…"
This voice was like the pleading of a little boy, filled with deep longing. It was extremely realistic. The moment it entered Xu Qing's ears, he felt as though he had really seen a little boy.
This scene caused Xu Qing's eyes to narrow abruptly. Ding Xue and Zhao Zhongheng, who were behind him, also heard it. Their expressions changed drastically.
"Bizarre entity?" Zhao Zhongheng's breathing was hurried.
