In the afternoon.
The winter sun shone brightly in the cloudless sky, illuminating the distant Ink Mountain Range.
The Ink Mountain Range earned its name from the stark contrast of its black and white geology, devoid of any vegetation. The only inhabitants of this barren terrain were groups of ink snakes.
The two-toned rocks of the mountain range overlapped in a striking pattern, resembling an ink painting spread out across the landscape when viewed from afar.
Six people sat atop one of the peaks in this ink painting.
The group of six sat in different spots - one person sat alone, another in the center, and the remaining four at the back.
The captain sat alone, perched at the highest point with a smug expression. He sat cross-legged and gazed past Xu Qing, fixing his eyes on the four individuals behind him.
The four people at the back were Kong Xianglong, Shan He, Wang Chen, and Night Spirit. They ignored the captain and looked at Xu Qing, who was sitting in the center, with intense curiosity.
This place was the place Xu Qing and Kong Xianglong had agreed on. The latter would cooperate with Xu Qing and put on a show later.
"Then, shall we begin?" Under the anticipation of Kong Xianglong and the others, the captain calmly spoke.
Xu Qing nodded.
The captain lifted his chin and assumed an aloof posture. He took out two pill bottles and threw one to Xu Qing.
"There's a Mystic Heaven Demon Moon Pill in each pill bottle; it can change our body structure and achieve true changes in our flesh and blood. This way, after we transform into the Black Heaven Race, we can pretend to be real."
As soon as the captain spoke, Kong Xianglong raised his brows in surprise. Beside him, Shan He took a deep breath.
"Mystic Heaven Demon Moon Pill? This is a top-secret pill of the Cloth Race. It's expensive and very rare. I heard that the ingredients for every pill are from their clansmen who undergo transformations!"
Wang Chen and Night Spirit also looked at Chen Erniu with shock evident on their faces.
The captain spoke in a nonchalant manner, as if it wasn't worth mentioning.
"This pill is average. Originally, there was a better choice but the Cloth Race owes me a favor. After knowing that I have such a request, they crossed several provinces and personally delivered them to the county capital for me. They knelt for seven days and seven nights to implore me. Sigh, it's hard to refuse such feelings, so I could only accept it."
Xu Qing's expression was strange. He took the pill bottle and glanced at the captain before looking at the frowning Kong Xianglong and the others. Clearly, no one believed the captain's words.
The captain shook his head and sighed, putting on a look of unwillingness to say more about this matter. He then took out the pill from the pill bottle.
As soon as this pill appeared, it emitted a dazzling red light and a strange fragrance spread out. Xu Qing took a sniff and felt that his flesh and blood seemed to be squirming on their own.
In front of everyone, the captain swallowed this pill. After that, his body trembled and a piece of clothing could be seen forming outside his body.
This cloth was completely gray and continued to cover the captain's entire body.
After that, it suddenly shrunk. The captain's body immediately changed under the effect of the cloth. His limbs became slender and his body became small and skinny. However, his head was a little larger. His eyelids also disappeared and his eyes became large.
His hair also changed under the cover of the cloth, forming sharp spikes like hedgehogs.
Just like that, a Black Heaven Race member appeared in front of everyone.
This miraculous scene caused Kong Xianglong and the others to reveal strange gazes. Although most of them had heard of the Cloth Race having such a wondrous pill, they still found it unbelievable when they saw it with their own eyes today.
Seeing that the captain's transformation was complete, Xu Qing didn't hesitate to take out the pill. After swallowing it, he felt his flesh and blood rapidly changing as though a portion of his flesh and blood had been sent outside his body, forming clothes that looked like the Black Heaven Race.
At the next instant, in the eyes of Kong Xianglong and the others, Xu Qing's appearance changed and he also became a member of the Black Heaven Race.
He had gray skin, a small and skinny body, a large head, and a head full of sharp spike-like hair.
The clothes on his body also formed.
That cloth wasn't a Daoist robe but dark red armor that covered his entire body.
"The blood of the Black Heaven Race is black. Also, although there are no flaws in your auras, the language, actions, and spells of the Black Heaven Race are different from us humans." Looking at Xu Qing and Chen Erniu, Kong Xianglong suppressed his urge to participate and reminded them.
"This matter is naturally within my preparations." The captain smiled proudly and threw a black stone to Xu Qing.
"This is a black blood stone. After eating it, the color of the blood in your body will change for some time."
As he spoke, the captain swallowed it in one gulp and bit himself. Black blood seeped out of the torn flesh. Coupled with the aura on his body, it was exactly the same as the Black Heaven Race.
"As for spells…" A dark glint flashed in the captain's black eyes. The void in front of him distorted and a blurry spear rapidly formed.
After that, he waved his right hand. Immediately, his body trembled. At the next instant, countless ink snakes on this mountain crawled out from all directions and gathered together, raising their heads at the captain as though they were obeying him.
This scene instantly caused Shan He to stand up abruptly. Wang Chen and Night Spirit also gasped and revealed looks of disbelief. Kong Xianglong's eyes gleamed.
Everything was exactly the same as the Black Heaven Race in their memories. They enslaved all races and created something out of nothing.
In fact, if they hadn't seen the process of the other party's transformation with their own eyes, they would have thought that Chen Erniu was a Black Heaven Race member.
Xu Qing was also shocked.
Seeing everyone's reaction, the captain smiled mysteriously. With a wave of his hand, the snakes dispersed and the spear disappeared. He then spoke meaningfully.
"Junior Brother, this time, Eldest Senior Brother will definitely bring you to do a big job. In the future, don't randomly accept missions with others. Those military contributions are too little. Accepting missions depends on who leads the team."
Kong Xianglong snorted coldly.
Xu Qing smiled bitterly and swallowed the black stone in his hand. After causing his blood to change, he was also curious about how the captain could cast the Black Heaven Race's spell. However, when he thought of the mysteriousness of the captain, there didn't seem to be anything strange about this.
"I should be able to do it too." Xu Qing fell into deep thought and recalled the eye of the Black Heaven Race member he had studied for three days.
"Then, Junior Brother, the usual rules?" The captain swept his gaze across Kong Xianglong and the others. After that, he looked at Xu Qing and licked his lips.
Xu Qing understood immediately. A hint of hesitation appeared in his large black eyes as he nodded.
Kong Xianglong and the others were surprised when they heard this. They didn't know what the usual rules of the two meant.
Just as they were pondering, the captain suddenly took a step forward. He lifted his right hand and an ice spear appeared, piercing into Xu Qing's chest. After it pierced through, the ice spear exploded, transforming into countless sharp ice blades that directly erupted on Xu Qing's body.
In that instant, Xu Qing's entire body was covered in black blood, but the captain wasn't done yet. His right hand clenched into a fist and punched Xu Qing's right arm. After breaking it with a cracking sound, when Xu Qing inhaled, the captain quickly arrived and opened his mouth, wanting to bite him.
Xu Qing glared and instantly retreated as he spoke.
"My turn!"
"Haha, a habit, a habit. It wasn't intentional. Your turn." The captain was a little embarrassed.
Xu Qing endured the pain and his gaze was unfriendly. He instantly moved closer and a black dagger appeared in his right hand, piercing through the captain's stomach.
The captain wailed.
As blood spurted out, Xu Qing didn't stop. He slashed upward and pulled out the dagger again. He then changed directions and continued to stab. After seven to eight slashes in a row, the captain was covered in injuries. Xu Qing instinctively slashed the captain's neck.
With this strike, the captain's head almost fell off.
The captain's eyes widened and he quickly retreated, speaking in an unconvinced tone.
"The Sword Holders have been chasing us for a long time, so we have to have sword injuries!" As he spoke, he took out his command sword and stabbed Xu Qing seven to eight times.
Xu Qing endured the pain and as more blood flowed out, he spoke in a low voice.
"Since we were chased for a long time, we don't have time to rest. Our wounds have started rotting." As he spoke, he began to release poison. At the next instant, the captain screamed miserably. The wounds on his body were rotting.
"We have been hiding everywhere. The spirit energy here is insufficient and we're in a very weakened state!" The captain continued to attack.
"The Black Heaven Race doesn't like sunlight. After a long time, their bodies will be corroded!" Xu Qing took a deep breath and attacked again.
Just like that, the two of them exchanged blows. This scene caused Kong Xianglong and the other three to be dumbfounded. After a while, the four of them gasped and instinctively looked at each other.
"That serious?"
"Xu Qing once said that he and his eldest senior brother experienced many life-and-death situations…" Shan He said in a low voice.
Everyone agreed deeply.
A long time later, the captain grabbed the dagger Xu Qing stabbed over and spoke weakly.
"Little Qing, we… this should be enough. If we continue, we'll really be gone."
Xu Qing panted. One of his hands pressed down on the ice blade that the captain stabbed over.
"This should be enough."
The two of them stopped at the same time. The captain looked at the sky.
As dusk settled in, the sky turned a deep shade of red, resembling bloodstains. Far off in the distance, dust billowed into the air and the ground trembled with the roars of ferocious beasts.
"The target convoy has arrived. Junior Brother, it's our turn to perform. Although we have a plan, we'll need to adapt to the situation!" As he spoke, the captain stood up and clutched his stomach while fleeing rapidly.
Xu Qing's expression turned solemn as he looked over at Kong Xianglong and the others. After cupping his fists, he turned and fled at full speed toward the sky.
Kong Xianglong and the other three were invigorated. After personally witnessing Xu Qing and Chen Erniu's actions, their expressions changed and endless admiration rose in their hearts.
They were much more shocked because the two had worked extremely hard to hurt each other earlier. They felt that Xu Qing and Chen Erniu were serious, so they also became serious.
Their expressions revealed balefulness and cruelty as they rose into the air and chased after the captain and Xu Qing.
"Let's see where you can escape to in our human territory!"
"They're heavily injured and won't be able to hold on for long!"
"Everyone, be careful. The Black Heaven Race is good at enslavement. There must be a reason why they fled in this direction."
In order to make it more realistic, Night Spirit crushed a jade slip. In an instant, a beam of light soared into the sky and exploded, forming the shape of a sword.
That was the symbol of the Sword Holder.
At that moment, a convoy was moving forward majestically 50 kilometers away.
There were no less than a few hundred carriages in it, and each of them was about a thousand feet in size. They were covered in black canvas and were being dragged by four-legged behemoths with red skin.
On every four-legged behemoth, there was a cultivator from the Holy Wave Race. They didn't have Nascent Soul cultivators and most of them were in the Foundation Building realm. As for the Golden Cores, there were about ten of them.
Most of them had two or three palaces.
Three of them had four palaces. As for the strongest, he was a youth. He wore a brocade robe and had an extraordinary appearance. The black line between his brows was especially clear. Clearly, his bloodline wasn't ordinary and he possessed the combat strength of six palaces.
They were the convoy from the Zenith Nation, one of the 36 cities around the True Immortal Ten Guts in the Great Wilderness East County of the Holy Wave Large Region.
They came to Fenghai County with the clearance token given by the Yao family to transport the mica stones.
This stone was special and couldn't be placed in a storage bag. Hence, it needed a convoy.
The Yao family's token also allowed them to have a certain degree of unimpeded travel in Fenghai County. However, they were also aware about the conflict with the human race, so if the strength of the person who came was too high, it would attract too much attention.
On the contrary, it was better to not possess much threat.
After all, they were here to transport, not to kill. Now that they had collected the mica stones, the convoy sped all the way without stopping at all, rushing toward the border.
Just as they were about to reach the Ink Mountain Range, as the sky rumbled and the Sword Holder's signal appeared, there was immediately some commotion in the convoy.
The youth with extraordinary appearance and temperament suddenly lifted his head and coldly looked at the sky.
"Sword Holder?"
