Early in the morning.
After a night of experimentation, Xu Qing looked at the three small bottles in front of him with satisfaction.
This was the ninth batch of little black bugs he had nurtured after a large number of experiments.
In reality, the word 'black' could no longer be used for this ninth batch. Their color was already translucent and their size was smaller than before. The difference was like the difference between an egg and a peanut.
Even in the past, the little black bugs were already invisible to the naked eye. Even with his perception, it was difficult for Xu Qing to sense them thoroughly. Now, they had become even more terrifying.
Even Xu Qing himself had to rely on the blood resonance to sense them, let alone others.
Other than that, the toxicity contained in these small bugs was much denser than before. During this period of time, Xu Qing didn't hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy poisonous grass and conduct experiments. Once these bugs entered the enemy's body, the poison they released would be several times more lethal than before.
It was the same for the anomalous substances in them. Their tenacity also mutated because Xu Qing kept sending them to the Poison Restriction Pill.
The ninth batch of black bugs after this mutation contained an extremely tenacious life force. Even in the environment inside the Poison Restriction Pill, they could survive for dozens of breaths.
"It's a pity that their intelligence isn't enough. Otherwise, if they could fake their deaths, the effect would be even better."
"They are still a little far from my goal of fusing them into the Poison Restriction Pill and nurturing them in the pill. I can't be complacent. I have to strive to make them survive in the pill."
When Xu Qing thought of this, he felt some regret. At the same time, he put away his complacency.
He felt that it wasn't impossible to complete this matter. After all, he had enough spirit stones now and he could buy those precious and extremely pricey poisonous herbs in the sect.
If he continued to nurture them, the future looked promising.
Xu Qing's eyes revealed anticipation. With a wave of his hand, he took out two fingers and observed them. He then looked at Huang Yikun, who was motionless in the cell after he fainted and was sealed by Xu Qing.
In the entire prison, only the two of them were alive.
As for Yanyan, she saw Xu Qing frowning early in the morning. Although her face was filled with reluctance, she still left tactfully. As Yanyan left, Xu Qing felt a little more comfortable.
He wasn't used to having a living stranger beside him. After he looked at the unconscious Huang Yikun, he took out a jade slip and transmitted his voice. Very soon, the door of the prison opened. The little mute ran in and bowed respectfully to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing glanced at the little mute. The other party's cultivation base had increased quickly; he was at the ninth level of Qi Condensation and was about to reach the tenth level. He took out a medicinal pill and tossed it over.
Xu Qing had seen the diligence and seriousness of the little mute during this period of time.
Holding the medicinal pill, the little mute's eyes lit up. He looked at Xu Qing and waited for instructions.
Xu Qing pointed at Huang Yikun.
"Use 20 sealing rings on him and lock him up with Sima Ling."
The little mute immediately nodded and quickly ran over to grab Huang Yikun's neck before leaving the prison in a hurry. Before he left, he slowed down and gently closed the door.
Xu Qing retracted his gaze and looked at Huang Yikun's two fingers. These two fingers were as resplendent as purple gold and emitted astonishing fluctuations, causing the Fiendish Fire Soul Devouring Art in his body to circulate on its own. It emitted flames that spread out of his body, as though reflecting the light of these two fingers.
"I don't know how to use them but I feel that they can't be used to open magic apertures. They seem more like a catalyst for the cultivation art to advance." Xu Qing fell silent and took out a jade slip to transmit his voice to the captain.
Not long later, the captain replied.
"Haha, Little Qing, that fool went to your place too, right? I thought that would happen, so I left two fingers for you."
"Let me tell you, this is the Mystic Nether Finger. It's a good thing. This Huang Yikun is indeed a heaven's chosen. He has such great determination to actually forge five of them!"
"The old man said that this thing can transform our Seventh Peak's cultivation art. He's still figuring out the specific method, but the results should be out soon. It will then become one of our Seventh Peak's exclusive cultivation arts."
When Xu Qing heard this, he no longer thought about the fingers and took out Huang Yikun's storage bag.
"This Huang Yikun seems a little poor?" Xu Qing glanced at the storage ring. It had a similar imprint like Sima Ling's, but it didn't have any gems and looked very ordinary.
This time around, there was no need for Xu Qing to instruct the shadow. It was constantly paying attention to Xu Qing and quickly moved toward the ring. When it corroded the imprint to a certain extent, it hurriedly transmitted fawning emotions and retreated.
Clearly, it remembered what Xu Qing had promised it. If it performed well, it would be given the taboo magic treasure fragment.
For the first time ever, Xu Qing revealed an admiring gaze toward the shadow.
This gaze stunned the shadow for a moment. It was so excited that its body was becoming unstable. A few cracks instantly appeared on the ground.
As for the Diamond Sect's ancestor, he was unhappy. His Lightning Spirit Body couldn't help but tremble as an intense sense of danger erupted in his mind.
Xu Qing's gaze intentionally or unintentionally swept across the black iron stick. After he retracted it, he spread out his magic power. He wiped the imprint on Huang Yikun's storage ring and sensed it with anticipation.
However, at the next instant, Xu Qing's expression turned unsightly as he frowned.
"Could this Huang Yikun be a fake heaven's chosen?" Xu Qing glanced in the direction of the prison gate, feeling very unhappy.
In Huang Yikun's storage ring, other than a few bottles and jade slips, there was not even a single magic artifact, and even the spirit tickets amounted to less than 100,000 spirit stones. As for the other items Xu Qing was looking forward to, there were none of them.
Xu Qing felt that any Foundation Building cultivator in the Seven Blood Eyes was richer than Huang Yikun.
However, when Xu Qing's gaze landed on those two fingers, he had an answer.
"Did he spend his entire life's savings on those five fingers…" Xu Qing recalled the arrogance on Huang Yikun's face when he showed off the five fingers.
He felt that there was a high chance that this was the case.
"What a pitiful person. He actually took the initiative to reveal his treasure in front of the captain." Xu Qing shook his head. After he took out the bottles from the storage ring and checked them one by one, a hint of relief finally appeared in his eyes.
Most of these pills were used for healing. However, there was a small bottle inside that contained a pill that Xu Qing was familiar with. It was none other than the pill that opened the magic apertures in Sima Ling's ring.
Xu Qing immediately took out the pill and checked it. After confirming that it was the same as what he had eaten before, he directly threw it into his mouth. He knew that this pill was extraordinary and guessed that this pill should be something that heaven's chosens used to break the limit at critical moments.
However, Xu Qing felt that rather than keeping it for the future, it was better to eat it now.
At the next instant, his body rumbled. He had been constantly refining his soul and cultivating, so his 89th magic aperture was already mostly opened. Under the effect of this pill, it instantly opened and transmitted even more magic power through Xu Qing's entire body.
There were still a lot of medicinal effects remaining. At this moment, they headed straight for the 90th magic aperture. As they bombarded it, Xu Qing's body trembled. He clearly felt the 90th magic aperture shaking intensely and cracks had already begun to appear. These cracks occupied about 10% of the aperture.
Very soon, more and more cracks appeared. 20%, 30%, 40%…
Xu Qing's breathing was hurried. Gradually, the cracks on the 90th magic aperture reached 60%. At this moment, there was not much medicinal effect left. In the end, it barely reached 70% before the medicinal effect dissipated.
Xu Qing's eyes were a little red. At that moment, he could clearly sense the astonishing magic power contained in the 90th magic aperture. He also felt that starting from the 60th magic aperture, sparks were being emitted from the 29.5 magic apertures.
These sparks continued to gather, as though they wanted to form Xu Qing's third ball of life fire. However, because he had only opened half of the 90th magic aperture, although the third ball of life fire was continuously condensing, it was still unable to form in the end.
Previously, Xu Qing was already feeling a little anxious. Now that he was only a little away from the third ball of life fire, his anxiety became even more intense.
"I have to open it today!" Xu Qing gritted his teeth fiercely and took out a jade slip to issue a decree.
"Send all the Night Doves captured by the other departments over!"
Following Xu Qing's order, all the members of the Homicide Department were mobilized. They escorted the Night Doves from various prisons and sent them to Port 176. The prison of Port 176 seemed to have become a huge black hole and all the Night Doves that were sent in seemed to be devoured.
Just like that, the Night Dove criminals in the various districts were continuously sent in. When dusk arrived, as the setting sun shone brightly in the sky, Xu Qing, who was sitting cross-legged in Port 176's prison, suddenly opened his eyes.
The instant he opened his eyes, an intense purple light erupted from his eyes. The magic apertures in his body from 61st to 90th rumbled like a huge furnace, emitting powerful flames that continuously gathered in his body.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn out, the third ball of life fire formed in Xu Qing's body!
The moment the third ball of life fire appeared, it was as though heavenly lightning was roaming in Xu Qing's body. As they continued to explode, his entire body trembled and he emitted an incomparably terrifying power of flames that swept in all directions, causing the surrounding cages to instantly turn to ashes and the walls to turn into black crystals.
However, Xu Qing had long set up a large number of array formations here. The prison itself also had array formations, so the energy fluctuations here didn't spread out.
Under the all-out burning of the three balls of life fire in his body, the Heavenly Palace was faintly revealed above the life fires, revealing almost 10% of the area. From this 10% of the revealed parts, the Heavenly Palace was vast and majestic. It was carved with railings and jade bricks, and had an astonishing aura. There seemed to be auspicious beasts dancing faintly, looking illusory and unreal.
Xu Qing guessed that the Heavenly Palace… was related to the Golden Core!
Burn the life fires, illuminate the Heavenly Palace.
As for what the Heavenly Palace was exactly, Xu Qing didn't know. However, he knew that there was a high chance that these eight words referred to the process of a Foundation Building cultivator transforming into a Golden Core.
"Three balls of life fire…" Xu Qing lifted his head. The Golden Crow behind him transformed and danced, letting out a soundless cry. Its tail flames spread in the surroundings and fused with the flames emitted by the life fires outside Xu Qing, transforming into an inferno.
There were also feather-shaped sparks dancing past Xu Qing.
If there was an artist who could draw this scene, it would definitely be a masterpiece.
If an outsider was here and saw this scene, their hearts would definitely be in turmoil. This was because Xu Qing, who was in the flames, clearly didn't emit any pressure but just his gaze was enough to shake the mind of every Foundation Building cultivator.
In fact, as Xu Qing's gaze moved, there was actually a peerless intent in it like Saintly Star's!
Three balls of life fire, a life lantern, and an emperor-level cultivation art.
This was… the combat strength of five fires!
In addition to his poison, even six fires might not be able to fight him!
Such might was naturally peerless.
