The Smoke Race cultivators surrounding the leaf boat remained silent, ignoring the inquiries of the green-robed cultivator. They proceeded to board the ship, disregarding its defenses and freely moving around the ship's passengers.
As the expressions of all the cultivators changed, a few figures of the Smoke Race arrived at Xu Qing's side and circled him a few times. Malevolent faces appeared in the fog and kept scrutinizing him.
A long time later, the Smoke Race members left the ship and returned to the puppets. They knelt down and bowed to the puppet in the center.
"Lord, among these 35 cultivators, six of them smell wrong."
Buzzing sounds rang out from those foggy figures and the expressions of the cultivators on the ship changed again.
However, before they could do anything, at the next moment, the eyes of the seven puppets revealed a red light, especially the one in the center. Its red light was so intense that it dyed the entire leaf ship blood red.
"Kill."
A cold voice rang out from the puppet's mouth, and the kneeling figures of the Smoke Race in front of it rapidly rose into the air and gathered into six huge faces that rushed toward the leaf ship with malevolence.
The combat strength comparable to the six Heavenly Palaces erupted from these six faces.
This kind of high Golden Core combat strength was the backbone of the various races at any time. Not to mention that there was no Spirit Repository or Nihility in the entire inland of Fenghai County now. As the highest combat strength, Nascent Soul cultivators were guarding their races in this chaotic war. Hence, the high palace Golden Core was already an extremely powerful combat strength.
These six faces rushed into the leaf ship and headed straight for the six cultivators. Three of them were lone wolves, two were gathered in a group, and the last one was a green-robed cultivator from the Merchant Alliance.
Sounds of fighting erupted instantly. Even though the six of them resisted, they were clearly affected by the red light of the black puppets. Five of them were directly devoured by the six faces of the Smoke Race.
Only one escaped with a bewildered expression. However, before he could escape far, the puppet in the center instantly blurred and caught up to him. It pressed down with its palm and the surroundings trembled. The fleeing cultivator let out a mournful cry and his body shattered into pieces.
"Fake Nascent Soul." Xu Qing frowned, deep in thought.
He had already determined that the six faces of the Smoke Race weren't individuals but formed by a group of clansmen. As for the seven puppets, other than the one in the center that had the combat strength of a fake Nascent Soul, the others had combat strength of seven to eight palaces.
This level of combat strength was about the same as a team of black-clothed guards from the Holy Wave Race.
"They should be the elites of the Smoke Race."
Xu Qing suppressed his killing intent. He didn't want to be exposed as soon as he arrived. Hence, he sat there silently. However, he had long spread out the Poison Restriction in the surroundings and was ready to use it at any time.
Just as Xu Qing decided to continue hiding, the six faces of the Smoke Race floated in the air and swept their gazes toward the remaining people on the leaf ship again.
The remaining cultivators on the ship were shocked and furious. The two green-robed cultivators felt the same. They had to watch helplessly as their companion was killed. Anger appeared in their eyes but they didn't dare to say anything and could only endure it.
"Lord, the magic artifact's prompts haven't weakened. There are… still abnormalities here."
After a few breaths of silence, the puppet with the combat strength of a fake Nascent Soul calmly spoke.
"Then kill them all."
"As you command!"
When the cultivators on the leaf ship heard this, they instantly fled in all directions.
However, it was too late. The six faces formed by the members of the Smoke Race split into 12 in the blink of an eye with each of them possessing the combat strength of five palaces. As they chased after the cultivators, other than the fake Nascent Soul puppet, the other six puppets also flew out and attacked the cultivators.
With the combat strength of seven to eight Heavenly Palaces, it was easy for the puppets to kill these scattered cultivators. In the blink of an eye, mournful cries rang out from the surroundings.
What attacked Xu Qing was one of the 12 faces of the Smoke Race. This face was formed by a large number of members of the Smoke Race. It looked similar to a human and vaguely looked like a middle-aged woman. After it got close to Xu Qing, it opened its mouth and pounced upon him sinisterly. There was also a large number of foggy whiskers that spread out, forming hand seals to cast spells.
Xu Qing coldly looked at the approaching face.
The instant he looked over, the face suddenly shook and it let out a mournful cry. Even though its body was formed by fog, it couldn't escape the power of the Poison Restriction. It began to dissipate as though it was corroded.
This face rapidly retreated in horror and even collapsed on its own, turning into a large amount of fog that scattered in all directions in an attempt to neutralize the Poison Restriction. However, it still didn't have any effect. It was still being corroded intensely and its screams became even more mournful.
In the blink of an eye, it was completely destroyed.
This scene immediately attracted the shocked and furious gazes of all the Smoke Race members. Two puppets quickly arrived and attacked Xu Qing.
Xu Qing frowned slightly. He was carrying out a secret investigation, so he hadn't planned to make a move. However, since he had made a move now, according to his personality, he could only kill them all.
"If no one knows, the secret investigation will still be a secret."
Xu Qing mumbled inwardly and took out his dagger. With a sway, he disappeared. The two puppets who had arrived hit the air. They immediately knew that the situation wasn't good and were about to retreat, but Xu Qing silently appeared behind a puppet. The dagger sliced through its neck.
His cultivation base circulated violently. In an instant, the puppet's body shook and collapsed. As it shattered into pieces, a lump of gray fog flew out of it and tried to escape.
However, the shadow appeared silently and swallowed it in one gulp.
"I want them alive."
Xu Qing calmly spoke before rushing out and colliding with another puppet. That puppet also shook and exploded. The gray fog inside couldn't escape and was enveloped by the lightning erupting from the Diamond Sect's ancestor.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye, the two puppets and one face were destroyed, causing the expressions of the Smoke Race cultivators who had returned after killing the other cultivators to change.
This was especially so for the fake Nascent Soul puppet. The red light in its eyes became even more intense. Just as it was about to give the order, miserable cries rang out from the faces formed by the clansmen around it.
The 11 faces all let out mournful cries. Their bodies continued to corrode and dissipate. The expressions of the Smoke Race inside revealed pain as they wailed in horror.
Nothing they did worked. Their fog bodies visibly lost their life force and turned into smoke.
"You!!" The fake Nascent Soul puppet's body trembled and it turned to flee. The other four puppets beside it also instantly fled.
But it was too late.
Xu Qing immediately appeared in front of the fake Nascent Soul puppet.
He could even kill a true Nascent Soul cultivator, let alone a fake Nascent Soul cultivator.
The eight Heavenly Palaces in Xu Qing's body erupted and the power of the Poison Restriction spread out. Although the power of the Purple Moon didn't spread out, it gathered on his finger and bombarded the fake Nascent Soul puppet.
The puppet's entire body shook violently. The shadow arrived and enveloped Xu Qing, causing his physical strength to instantly surpass ten palaces. Even an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be injured after getting hit by such an extreme physical body. As for the fake Nascent Soul…
Under Xu Qing's punch, the fake Nascent Soul puppet exploded. Xu Qing's right hand entered the puppet and grabbed a ball of white fog.
This fog rapidly distorted and transformed into the face of a young girl, revealing horror. Just as she was about to speak, Xu Qing ruthlessly squeezed her. Half of her body collapsed and she fainted.
After doing this, Xu Qing turned his head and his gaze landed on the last four puppets. They were all in a sorry state now. They were being restrained by the shadow, the Diamond Sect's ancestor, the head, and the stone lion.
Xu Qing walked over expressionlessly. Under his attack, all four puppets collapsed and the gray fog inside were captured alive.
The reason why he didn't kill them was because Xu Qing wanted to know what the other party was looking for and how they found the abnormalities.
Xu Qing had felt that something was amiss when he was at the port.
"What is your Smoke Race looking for?" Xu Qing sat cross-legged on the leaf ship and held a gray ball of fog in his hand, and calmly asked.
The leaf ship under him was clearly a living creature. At that moment, it was trembling.
As for the gray fog in his hand, it rapidly distorted and transformed into a face. It stared fixedly at Xu Qing without saying a word.
Xu Qing didn't waste time on it. The Poison Restriction in his body spread out and the foggy face instantly let out a mournful cry. The despair in the voice caused the other Smoke Race members in the surroundings who were captured alive by Xu Qing to shiver even more.
A moment later, the foggy face's body and soul were destroyed. Xu Qing grabbed the second member of the Smoke Race and calmly asked the same question.
The other party hesitated.
Xu Qing threw it to the shadow.
"Eat."
The shadow excitedly opened its mouth and swallowed fiercely. It even deliberately let out an ear-piercing chewing sound. Accompanied by the grinding sounds and the miserable cries, the other Smoke Race members looked at Xu Qing as though they were looking at the King of Hell.
Xu Qing grabbed the third member of the Smoke Race. This time, before he asked, the gray-colored Smoke Race member hurriedly spoke.
"It's a mission given by the upper echelons. They asked us to search for and kill those with abnormal reactions inside and outside the Morning Glow Province. During this period of time, we cannot let them approach the depths of the province."
"As for the method we use to detect abnormalities, it's through auras… We can smell the auras of cultivators with human bloodlines. Even if it's just a little, we can still smell it."
Xu Qing was stunned. The stone lion, head, and the Diamond Sect's ancestor instinctively looked at Xu Qing. They remembered that the Smoke Race didn't seem to smell any abnormality from Xu Qing.
Xu Qing fell into deep thought and interrogated the other gray Smoke Race members. The answer he obtained was the same. They only knew that this was a mission issued by the upper echelons of the race, but didn't know the reason for it.
Even though Xu Qing tortured them, the answer was the same.
Hence, Xu Qing looked at the last member of the Smoke Race, the white fog girl in the fake Nascent Soul puppet.
The young girl had already woken up. After being stared at by Xu Qing, she trembled and opened her eyes.
"I also only know those…"
Xu Qing waved his hand and was about to throw her to the Diamond Sect's ancestor for interrogation. However, the shadow at the side hurriedly revealed a clear desire, as though it was telling Xu Qing that it could do it too.
Xu Qing thought about it and threw her to the shadow.
"Interrogate."
The shadow was excited. As the Diamond Sect's ancestor's heart trembled and felt an intense sense of danger, the shadow opened its mouth and swallowed the white fog girl.
It was unknown how the torture was done, but it only lasted for seven to eight minutes. When the shadow spat out the white fog girl again, unprecedented fear appeared in the eyes of the girl. In fact, her consciousness was a little blurry. Her fog body shivered violently and she let out a hurried and miserable cry.
"I'll talk, I'll talk. It was the human race's Marquis Yao who looked for my race and entrusted our race…"
Just as the foggy girl said this, her body seemed to have triggered some restriction. Before she could finish speaking, her body and soul were destroyed, turning into smoke that dissipated in all directions.
When Xu Qing heard this, a huge commotion stirred in his mind.
Ten breaths later, he calmed his emotions and looked at the place where the fog girl had dissipated. A look of contemplation appeared in his eyes.
"Marquis Yao?"
A long time later, Xu Qing suppressed this matter in his mind and patted the large leaf ship under him.
"To Mount Morning Glow. I'm in a hurry."
The leaf ship shuddered and its four legs that were as thin as poles trembled as it moved forward.
