A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes as he chased after the fleeing nonhuman. His shadow then spread out invisibly, opening a large mouth that others couldn't see. With unprecedented desire and madness, it ruthlessly moved toward the fleeing nonhuman.
The nonhuman was about to counterattack but the huge difference in cultivation between them made it impossible for him to resist. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing caught up and grabbed his neck.
No matter how he struggled, it was useless. He only felt endless flames flowing into his body crazily through Xu Qing's hand. At the same time, Xu Qing's shadow also carried endless cruelty and desire as it directly covered the nonhuman's shadow.
A scream that outsiders couldn't hear came out from the nonhuman's shadow.
"Kill everyone here and wait for me on the ship." Xu Qing left behind a sentence. He then grabbed the nonhuman in his hand and exited from the hole above.
At that moment, it was already night outside. Xu Qing held the nonhuman and arrived at the top of a mountain in the distance. After looking around, he coldly looked at the shadow of the nonhuman who was trembling and whose eyes were filled with despair.
Its shadow was distorting as it struggled intensely. In Xu Qing's eyes, his shadow was also mixed in. Both sides were constantly devouring and biting each other, as though they were life-and-death enemies.
An evil and crazy aura spread out from the nonhuman's shadow. This feeling was the same as when Xu Qing first saw the shadow in the jungle of the scavenger campsite.
It was filled with savageness and ferocity.
It was only after Xu Qing suppressed and tamed the shadow many times that this ferocity dissipated and it became obedient. However, Xu Qing knew that its disobedience was still lying deep within it.
'As expected, although a bizarre entity like the shadow is extremely rare in this world, there are still others.' Xu Qing muttered inwardly. His gaze moved away from the shadow and landed on the nonhuman.
The other party should be the same as him. At some point in the past, they were invaded by the shadow. However, the difference was that he was the master and the other party was the slave.
'If it wasn't for the purple crystal, I would probably not be me the moment I encountered the shadow.' Xu Qing mumbled. This was because he noticed that the anomalous substances in the nonhuman's body were no different from other cultivators, unlike him who didn't have any anomalous substances.
Clearly, this was one of the differences of being the master or the slave.
If one couldn't suppress the shadow, they could only be controlled by it and become its vessel.
At that moment, Xu Qing glanced at his shadow that was still fighting and biting. A purple light flashed in his body and the suppression instantly blasted out.
This time, he didn't attack his shadow but the nonhuman's shadow.
The purple crystal clearly had a powerful suppressive effect on bizarre entities like shadows. Amidst the silent shouts, the nonhuman's shadow emitted a blood-curdling scream that only Xu Qing and the nonhuman could hear.
The shadow was instantly excited and cheered. As for the nonhuman's shadow, it became ferocious and crazy. It pounced toward Xu Qing, wanting to devour him.
Xu Qing's expression was cold. With a wave of his hand, purple light flickered and suppressed it 17 times in a row.
Every time, it would cause the shadow of the nonhuman to let out a sharp cry. In the end, it revealed fear and retreated weakly. However, before it could retreat far, the purple light on Xu Qing's chest rapidly gathered and suppressed it again.
This time, the suppression didn't dissipate immediately. Instead, Xu Qing pressed the nonhuman's shadow on the ground, preventing it from escaping. It struggled and screamed miserably, even emitting begging emotions.
As for the shadow, it was clearly the first time it had seen this tragic thing happen to someone else. This seemed to give it a strange feeling and it inexplicably sent flattering emotions to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing squatted down and carefully checked the nonhuman's shadow. Its shape was the same as his shadow. At that moment, its shape had changed into a tree and the eyes on it were filled with fear.
Xu Qing thought about it and weighed whether he should seal the other party in the purple crystal like the shadow. However, he… couldn't do it. He placed his hand on the shadow. His hand entered the shadow and felt the coldness. He tried to activate the crystal at the same time but he still couldn't do it.
After some thought, Xu Qing waved his hand and the black iron stick flew out, instantly piercing through the nonhuman's head. This nonhuman directly died.
Xu Qing recalled that it was only after the black-scaled wolf died that its shadow counterattacked. Now that he had killed that nonhuman, he tried to subdue it again but he still couldn't do it.
However, the shadow didn't know this. It seemed to have realized Xu Qing's thoughts and instantly trembled, emitting anxious clear fluctuations.
"Master… I'm good… Don't…"
The Diamond Sect's ancestor, who was inside the iron stick, resisted the urge to translate when he saw this scene.
Xu Qing glanced at his shadow. After pondering for a moment, he calmly spoke.
"Seeing that you've made contributions before, I won't seal it to replace you today. Remember, the contributions from before have been offset. If you don't make more contributions… I'll replace you." Xu Qing's voice was calm but when it was heard by the shadow, it trembled and shook its head crazily.
The Diamond Sect's ancestor was overjoyed. He felt an indescribable satisfaction and his eyes lit up.
Xu Qing frowned.
The shadow reacted and hurriedly blinked. After that, it nodded and shook its head. Clearly, amidst its extreme nervousness, its instinctive reaction to what meant yes and no after being brainwashed by the Diamond Sect's ancestor back then affected its actions.
Fortunately, it could emit its emotions.
At this moment, it promised crazily.
Only then did Xu Qing nod and slowly speak.
"Devour it." As he spoke, Xu Qing stood up but he didn't remove the suppression. Hence, amidst the nonhuman's shadow's screams, the shadow opened its mouth and devoured crazily.
The entire process lasted for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The shadow of the nonhuman was completely devoured by Xu Qing's shadow. After that, it burped and sent a fawning emotion to Xu Qing.
Moreover, it was obvious that its energy fluctuations were much stronger than before. There were more eyes on it now. They weren't completely open and only revealed a slight gap. There were also some flower buds in the shadow tree.
"Time… absorption… strong…"
Noticing that Xu Qing was looking at it, the shadow hurriedly sent out a divine sense fluctuation.
Xu Qing retracted his gaze and looked at the mountain of the Little Three Spirits in the distance. He felt that the harvest this time was okay. He turned into a ray of light as he headed straight for the distance.
Not long later, Xu Qing arrived at the Immortal Enrichment River's tributary and returned to the large ship.
The king of that small country was no longer on the ship. The disciples who had accompanied Xu Qing earlier had long returned.
"Finished?" The captain glanced at Xu Qing with a spurious smile.
Xu Qing nodded.
"That's good." The captain didn't continue asking. He stretched his back and lay on the deck with his hands as the pillow, looking at the night sky.
Xu Qing sat down and closed his eyes to cultivate.
The night wind blew over, blowing their hair. As the boat moved forward, the sound of the river was like a performance of nature, drifting further and further away with the wind.
Time flowed by and in the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed. The large ships of the Special Security Department had already completed half of the patrolling of the river. The reason why it was so fast was because the Alliance's ships were quite amazing. Not only did it possess offensive and defensive abilities, but it was also extremely fast.
Also, small sects and small countries that truly had the guts to divert the river were rare after all. Moreover, this wasn't the Alliance's first patrol, so everything was considered peaceful and their speed naturally increased.
It was the same for Xu Qing's cultivation. His 102nd magic aperture was finally opened on this day, allowing his magic power to increase a little.
As for the captain, ever since he ate a few spirit fishes half a month ago, he had fallen in love with their taste. Every day, he would eat all kinds of fish in different ways. Xu Qing ate a few times and discovered that the taste was indeed quite good.
Hence, the entire fleet began to fish for food.
At that moment, the captain sat beside Xu Qing and winked.
"Little Qing…"
Xu Qing helplessly opened his eyes. With a wave of his hand, a lump of fiendish fire spread out. The captain hurriedly placed the fishes on them and skillfully roasted them. His voice was filled with excitement.
"The cultivation art I cultivate has nothing to do with fire. Even if I can use a fire spell, the taste of the fish roasted with it falls by a lot. Instead, your fiendish fire gives quite an unique taste to these spirit fishes."
Xu Qing was about to close his eyes and continue meditating when his expression suddenly changed. The captain also abruptly lifted his head and the two of them looked at the sky at the same time.
In the distant sky, there were two rays of light flying, with one chasing the other.
The person in front was a red-haired old man. The old man's chest was badly mangled and there were injuries all over him.
His black face was covered in wrinkles. Due to his skin color and the cruelty in his gaze, he looked very sinister. While fleeing, the two black Heavenly Palaces above his head emitted an astonishing aura that shook the surroundings.
When he flew over a small nonhuman race country, he waved his hand. Immediately, nearly ten thousand nonhumans flew out of the small country. All of them bled from their seven orifices and their blood gushed up, transforming into a river of blood that headed straight for the sky. When it landed in the hand of the red-haired, black-faced old man, it transformed into a blood pill that he swallowed in one gulp. The wounds on his chest healed a little.
Just as he was about to continue, a sword qi surged over from behind him, causing the old demon to let out a low shout. He had no choice but to give up and speed up his escape.
As for the nonhumans who had lost more than half of their blood, they fell to the ground one after another. Some were dead and some were injured.
The person who sent out the sword qi was a youth in a white robe. The 27 large swords on his back circled around him and kept spinning, emitting sword qi that bombarded the old demon.
This youth had a handsome appearance. His brows were like the edge of a sword and his eyes were like the stars. As he moved, his long hair fluttered in the wind. The most eye-catching thing about him was the pattern embroidered on his robe.
This pattern was a redbud flower!
"Redbud flower! He is a Sword Holder!" The captain was instantly excited.
