"Captain, why is your body trembling?"
On the teleportation array in Antler City in the eastern part of the Nanhuang Continent.
As the teleportation light flickered, Xu Qing and the captain's figures appeared.
Xu Qing habitually hid his appearance. The captain was even more familiar with this and disguised himself as a middle-aged man. However, when he walked out of the teleportation array, his legs were clearly trembling.
Xu Qing was surprised.
"Trembling? How is that possible? You're mistaken." The captain coughed and patted his leg heavily.
Xu Qing didn't speak. He didn't need to guess to know that the captain must have done something major in the sect. Otherwise, with the captain's madness, it was impossible for him to still be trembling after arriving here.
Since the captain didn't say anything, Xu Qing didn't ask. After walking out of the teleportation array, he looked at Antler City, which was familiar but unfamiliar. The scene of him teleporting from here after burning the Diamond Sect surfaced in his mind.
Xu Qing walked forward while reminiscing.
Although this was a branch city of the Seven Blood Eyes, its location was remote and the environment was harsh, causing this place to be much dirtier and more chaotic than the Seven Blood Eyes' main city. There were some smelly rotting things everywhere on the ground. Many skinny figures sat in the corners of the streets and looked at the sky listlessly.
The entire city was filled with an oppressive atmosphere.
Xu Qing silently walked forward. He didn't encounter any ignorant people on the way. After all, although human nature was violent in this desolate place, those who could survive here weren't fools.
They could instinctively distinguish who they could bully and who they couldn't provoke.
Xu Qing and the captain gave them the feeling that they belonged to the latter type.
"Xu Qing, are you really not curious?" When they reached the city gate of Antler City, the captain couldn't help but take out an apple and take a bite. He wasn't very concerned about the surrounding environment. Instead, he was very curious that Xu Qing could really hold back from asking.
"Curious." Xu Qing didn't turn his head. After he walked out of Antler City, he looked at the land of forbidden zone that had turned into ruins after the god opened His eyes.
Antler City wasn't far from the small city he was in back then.
"You don't look curious at all… Forget it, forget it. Seeing that you were once my team member and owe me 50,000 spirit stones, I can divulge a little."
"Ancestor is playing a big game of chess! I can't say anymore. If I continue, the ancestor will probably skin me alive!" The captain looked around and said in a low voice.
Xu Qing nodded and moved forward rapidly. He wasn't going to return to the ruined city. There was nothing for him to miss there now. Moreover, the reason why he was chased by the Diamond Sect's ancestor last time was because of the strangeness there.
There was no point in going again.
As such, Xu Qing headed toward the scavenger campsite.
The captain walked beside him while looking at the surrounding wilderness. It was early spring here and the traces of snow could occasionally be seen. The wind that blew over didn't contain warmth and was freezing.
"Let me tell you, Xu Qing. Lord Sixth… He's also an old schemer. Back then on Starfish Island, he put on a good show." The captain saw that Xu Qing still didn't continue to ask and his heart itched. He couldn't help but want to show off what he had seen but he didn't dare to say it all.
Xu Qing nodded.
"Aiya, Xu Qing, it's not good to be like this." The captain was a little helpless and took a bite of the apple.
"You would never guess what I saw in the Sixth Peak. I was too shocked and surprised. This is a huge game of chess."
"As expected, the older one is, the shrewder they are. Those old fellows from our Seven Blood Eyes are toying with people."
The captain took a deep breath and sighed with emotion.
Xu Qing frowned. When he heard this, he didn't understand much. He only knew that the major thing the captain did should be related to the Sixth Peak. He thought of the captain's gaze when he looked at the Sixth Peak's mountain before and his heart skipped a beat.
"Captain, don't tell me you went to the Sixth Peak to bite something?"
The captain raised his brows in dissatisfaction.
"What do you mean by biting something? Deputy Captain, let me remind you, who talks to their superior like this!"
"I'm the director of the Homicide Department," Xu Qing calmly said.
"I'm your senior brother!" The captain finished the apple and took out a pear, looking like he had known that Xu Qing would say that.
"I haven't acknowledged a master yet," Xu Qing replied.
"Hurry up and greet your eldest highness!" The captain lifted his chin and looked disdainfully at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing fell silent. He discovered that he couldn't win against the captain this time around, so he pretended not to hear and continued forward. With his current speed, it would only take an hour to travel from Antler City to the scavenger campsite.
He leaped over a mountain peak and saw the scavenger campsite at the foot of the mountain as well as the pitch-black forest in the distance.
From here he could see black fog enveloping the forbidden zone's forest. Bolts of lightning filled the air and occasionally landed in the forbidden zone, emitting rumbling sounds.
The captain glanced at the forbidden zone in the distance and revealed a hint of surprise.
"This forbidden zone is very large, and there are divinity fluctuations inside!"
Xu Qing nodded. In the past, his cultivation was too weak and he didn't know about divinity. Now that he had returned and was standing here, he could clearly sense the divinity fluctuations in the forbidden zone in the distance.
Xu Qing retracted his gaze and stared at the scavenger campsite below. That place was still chaotic and he could faintly hear unscrupulous laughter from inside.
He walked forward. The captain coughed at the side.
"Little Qing, Senior Brother was humoring you earlier but you don't have to be discouraged. This matter is too big, so I can't tell you."
"This matter involves the battlefield. You don't know but when I entered the Sixth Peak and saw it, I was stunned."
"In addition, I think the future development of the Seven Blood Eyes should be very good under the lead of such a group of old schemers…"
"Are you really not curious? How about this, say a few good words and I'll risk being skinned alive to tell you."
On the way down the mountain, the captain was clearly the one with the secrets and kept wanting to make Xu Qing curious. However, in the end, his intention to show off made him even more anxious than Xu Qing.
Xu Qing remained silent as he walked into the scavenger campsite.
What greeted his eyes was similar to what he remembered. The ground was covered in filth and the surroundings were in ruins. The scavengers wore leather coats. Some were covered in filth and some had scars on their faces.
The arrival of Xu Qing and the captain caused the noisy scavenger campsite to slowly fall silent. Most of the scavengers retreated a little and revealed fawning expressions.
However, Xu Qing knew that behind these fawning expressions, they were observing if they could rob them.
Xu Qing swept his gaze over them, but didn't see any familiar figures. Two years was no different from a lifetime to most scavengers.
He walked around until he arrived at the house he used to stay in.
This house had already been occupied by someone else.
After a long while, Xu Qing sighed softly and turned to leave. The captain also glanced at this house and understood that this should be Xu Qing's residence back then. At this moment, when he was walking beside Xu Qing and was about to leave with him, the captain suddenly saw a tent.
There was a feather hanging on the tent.
Unlike Xu Qing's childhood, the captain clearly didn't know what this feathered tent meant in the scavenger campsite and the slums. However, very soon, he saw someone walking out while tying his trouser.
"I see. It's similar to the brothel, but the scavenger campsite uses feathers as the signboard." The captain came to a realization and was about to retract his gaze. However, at the next instant, he stared at the feather again and then looked at Xu Qing.
"Xu Qing, back then on the merfolk island, after you saw that half of my body was gone, you said that you wanted to give me a feather…" The captain's eyes widened.
Xu Qing glanced at him and took out an apple. He took a bite and continued walking.
The captain snorted and glanced at the feather again. He then turned and ran over. It was unknown how he communicated with them but when he caught up to Xu Qing, there were already seven to eight feathers in his hand.
"This is a good thing. I'll give one to Zhang San when we get back."
Xu Qing walked out of the scavenger campsite. As he walked toward the forbidden zone, he glanced at the feathers in the captain's hand. When he was about to reach the forbidden zone, he suddenly asked.
"Captain, what did you see on the Sixth Peak?"
A smile appeared on the captain's face. He had been waiting for Xu Qing to say this. Moreover, he had been holding it in for the entire journey, so he didn't hide it. After he kept the feathers, he looked around and spoke in a low voice.
"Before I tell you this answer, recall the sect's war route this time."
"First, the Seventh Peak held the competition on the merfolk island. This lured the Sea Corpse Race. The ancestor suddenly appeared after making a breakthrough… After that, the merfolk island was set up as the frontline command center."
"We then declared war on the Sea Corpse Race and spread forward step by step. We captured the sub islands and are now attacking the Sea Corpse Race's main island."
"Just like that, a line was formed on the Forbidden Sea, causing the Seven Blood Eyes, which was originally very far from the Wanggu Continent, to become very close to the Wanggu Continent…"
Xu Qing's eyes narrowed.
"Then what exactly is the sect's goal? Is fighting the Sea Corpse Race all of it? Is it possible that fighting the Sea Corpse Race… is just a segment to complete the deeper strategic goal?"
The captain spoke softly.
"In the Sixth Peak, I saw a statue of an Ancestral Corpse that doesn't belong to one of the nine ancestral corpse statues of the Sea Corpse Race… It is the power source of the Sixth Peak's war fortress."
