As the middle-aged Cultivator died tragically and his bloodcurdling scream reverberated through the air, the Vajra Sect Patriarch, who had been searching for Xu Qing in the city, jerked his head up.
As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, his five senses were extremely sharp. When he heard the bloodcurdling scream in the distance, his face instantly darkened, and he leaped into the air, heading in the direction of the sound.
Although there were strange beasts in the area, he was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator after all. As long as he didn't run into some strange entity or a large group of strange beasts, he didn't care.
Even if the density of the strange substance affected him, given his cultivation base, as long as he stayed in the forbidden zone for less than a month, it wouldn't cause too much trouble.
Therefore, after ascertaining the direction, the Vajra Sect Patriarch roared, using the power of his cultivation base to transmit his voice even further.
"Hold that kid back and wait for me!"
Even as he spoke, his speed suddenly increased. From a distance, he looked like a shooting star piercing through the sky.
At the same time, the other Vajra Sect Elder on the battlefield retreated without hesitation the instant Xu Qing approached.
He had heard the Patriarch's roar, but he didn't want to die a meaningless death here.
Even if the Patriarch punished him afterward, he would accept it. Xu Qing's murderous aura was simply too strong. When he attacked viciously, the murderous intent in his eyes made him unwilling to take the risk.
Therefore, he retreated at top speed. He even used a flight talisman, retreating several hundred feet in the blink of an eye.
Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. He had also heard the Vajra Sect Patriarch's roar from afar, but he didn't stop. He immediately gave chase, picking up his metal skewer and was about to use a flight talisman when his expression suddenly changed. His breath caught in his throat, and he turned around without hesitation and sped off in the opposite direction.
The moment Xu Qing turned around, the Vajra Sect Elder, who was flying through the air, suddenly had a look of astonishment on his face. He felt a cold, sinister aura wash over him, and noticed a huge figure appear next to him.
The figure had no facial features. Only a head of long, flowing hair could be seen. It seemed to be a woman, and the figure beneath the face was enormous. She wore a long, white dress.
At that moment, a large number of faces appeared densely on the faceless woman's long dress. Shrill sobs instantly filled the area, and a boundless, bizarre aura filled the air. Even the moon in the sky had turned blood-red.
From afar, the Vajra Sect elder's figure was like an ant before the giant. He was insignificant, and under the gazes of the countless faces on the faceless woman in white, the Vajra Sect elder's body trembled violently. His expression changed, and he began to cry as well.
Yet as he cried, his eyes were filled with extreme fear. It was as if he could not control his crying.
When his cries fused with the cries of the countless faces on the faceless woman in the white dress and became indistinguishable, waves of white aura spread out from the Vajra Sect elder's seven orifices and rapidly entered the faceless woman in the white dress. The next moment …
The Vajra Sect elder's body was reduced to a dried corpse. His aura was completely gone as he fell to the ground.
At the same time, another face appeared on the faceless woman's body. It was the Vajra Sect's elder.
His face was expressionless. He appeared on the white dress and wept.
This scene was witnessed by Xu Qing and the Vajra Sect's old ancestor who was rushing over. Both of them trembled.
Xu Qing took a deep breath and suppressed the shock in his heart. He suddenly sped up and rushed into the city.
However, although Xu Qing could leave, the Vajra Sect's old ancestor who was rushing over from afar felt his scalp go numb. He did not dare to move.
This was because the faceless woman in white was walking towards him.
The Vajra Sect's old ancestor knew very well that he could not move quickly when facing such an existence. Otherwise, he would end up like his elder. Therefore, amidst his fear and apprehension, the faceless woman in white passed by him and gradually left.
It was only then that the Vajra Sect's old ancestor breathed a sigh of relief. However, for some reason, a trace of doubt arose in his heart.
"I've encountered this strange existence twice … Why do I have a feeling that it's helping that little brat …"
"Strange!"
The Vajra Sect's old ancestor gritted his teeth and looked in the direction Xu Qing had left. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had to eliminate the other party. At this moment, he rushed out and gave chase.
In the dark night, all sorts of roars rose and fell, echoing in every corner of the city. The sounds of chewing, sobbing, and cold laughter filled the air.
Under the moonlight, the broken walls and dilapidated buildings seemed to have turned into demons, causing the strange feeling in the city to become even more intense.
Even though Xu Qing, who was speeding through the city, was already familiar with the roars and strangeness of the city, his face was still pale. He felt as if he was being stared at by countless malicious gazes. These gazes had turned into icy coldness that seemed to be invading his body.
When his entire body became increasingly cold, Xu Qing passed by the place where he had hunted the vulture that day. His gaze swept over it, and his pupils instantly shrank …
Not far away, next to the abandoned carriage that had sunk into the mud, the blood-colored doll that should have been hanging on the shaft of the carriage had actually changed its position. It was no longer hanging there, but placed on the carriage. Its back was facing Xu Qing, so he could not see its front.
Xu Qing's scalp tightened, and he quickly left the place.
It didn't take long for the Diamond Sect's Patriarch to catch up. He looked around vigilantly and saw the carriage, as well as the blood-colored doll that was sitting on top of it, facing him directly.
The doll's eyes were inlaid with darkness, and its entire body was wet red, giving it a strange appearance. It was glaring eerily at the Diamond Sect's Patriarch.
The Diamond Sect's Patriarch's pupils shrank slightly, and his hair stood on end. He instantly slowed down and cautiously left the area. Only then did he heave a sigh of relief and speed up once again.
However, he didn't pursue or get too close. He had already realized that the young man in front of him was strange. At the same time, he also knew that the young man had the means to instantly increase the heterogeneity in his body. Therefore, he didn't plan to get too close and forcefully attack. Instead, he planned to use his cultivation base to keep an eye on the young man, and wait until daybreak to kill him.
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, having to deal with a Qi Condensation cultivator so cautiously would be detrimental to his reputation. However, under such circumstances, the Diamond Sect's Patriarch still decided to play it safe.
Therefore, he slowed down and followed at a moderate pace.
Up ahead, Xu Qing also noticed this. He had already simulated a counterattack in his mind, and he had also completed the preliminary preparations for Shadow Control. He even held the black pellet in his hand, waiting for the young man to get close.
He was confident that the young man wouldn't be able to escape in a short period of time, even if it wasn't fatal. Although he would also be severely injured by the young man, it would be more realistic for him to escape after being severely injured. It wouldn't be easy to arouse suspicion, and it would be more convenient for the next step of his plan to lure the young man out.
However, the Diamond Sect's Patriarch was still so cautious despite being a Foundation Establishment cultivator. This made Xu Qing even more vigilant.
However, although the young man didn't get close, Xu Qing felt that his plan to lure the young man out still had to be carried out. Therefore, he increased his speed and headed straight for the City Lord's residence.
He was getting closer and closer.
The City Lord's residence was located in the central area of the city. The heterogeneity there was thicker than in other areas, but the number of mutated beasts was decreasing for some reason.
This change made the Diamond Sect's Patriarch's expression change slightly. The sense of danger in his heart was very strong at this moment.
He raised his head and looked at Fang Xuqing's back, then at the collapsed building beside him. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
He didn't continue the chase, but instead began to retreat.
Xu Qing didn't expect this. He was still a hundred feet away from the City Lord's residence, but the Diamond Sect's Patriarch was actually retreating.
"It's still a little too late to retreat now!"
Xu Qing gritted his teeth and suddenly waved his right hand. Immediately, a large amount of black pellets scattered in all directions.
This time, in order to achieve his goal, Xu Qing used up half of his remaining black pellets. They landed in all directions and exploded together!
In an instant, the area seemed to have turned into a huge vortex, causing heterogeneity to surge in from all directions. It affected the void and distorted the surroundings, causing everything within sight to become blurry.
The heterogeneity was so dense that it reached an astonishing level.
This scene made the retreating Diamond Sect's Patriarch's expression change. However, he was even more puzzled because Xu Qing's body was also in the midst of that dense heterogeneity.
If this continued, not to mention the problem of mutation, just the strange beasts and Anomalies attracted by the foreign substance would cause Xu Qing to die without a burial ground. This was equivalent to suicide.
Just as the Diamond Sect's Patriarch was puzzled, the City Lord's residence a hundred feet away suddenly shook violently. Earth-shattering, terrifying roars suddenly spread in all directions.
The earth trembled and the blood moon in the sky turned blurry.
The Diamond Sect's Patriarch's expression changed. The sense of imminent danger instantly intensified. His pupils shrank and he rapidly retreated. His eyes were fixed on a figure flying out from a building that looked like the City Lord's residence!
Those figures were extremely thin but had black flaming wings. The heterogeneity on their bodies was shockingly dense. Everywhere they passed, the void seemed to distort.
This scene alarmed the Diamond Sect's Patriarch to begin with. What made his face turn pale and he gasp was that the City Lord's residence collapsed with a loud rumble.
A huge hole was revealed in the ground.
A shriveled figure that was a hundred feet tall crawled out of the hole with a roar that shook the heavens!
From afar, the figure was thin and long like a withered tree. The exposed part was a hundred feet long, but it was obvious that it had not fully crawled out. It seemed like only the upper half of its body was visible.
Therefore, it waved its arms and a large number of rotten vines spread out from its ten fingers. They shot out in all directions and pierced the ground.
The furthest ones even pierced the front of the Diamond Sect's Patriarch.
As if using this as a support point, the huge withered tree-like figure was climbing out at a faster pace.
"What the f * ck is this?!"
The Diamond Sect's Patriarch's heart trembled violently as he cursed in horror. His expression changed drastically like never before as he retreated at full speed.
However, what made him even more frantic was that he saw those winged figures that were attracted by the heterogeneity. After they rushed out of the City Lord's residence, their target was the heterogeneity rich zone formed by the child through some unknown means.
However, for some reason, after those winged figures rushed into that zone, they quickly came out again. They roared and looked around, then locked onto the Patriarch's location and rushed over.
"What's going on?!
Where's the child?! "
All of this made the Diamond Sect's Patriarch's eyes widen. No matter how fast he was, they quickly caught up to him. Amidst the rumbling, the Diamond Sect's Patriarch was forced to attack. He had no choice but to fully unleash his Foundation Establishment cultivation base.
Only then did the winged figures that rushed over collapse. However, the strange thing was that they recovered in an instant and continued to rush over. In the distance, in the giant cave where the City Lord's residence was located, the terrifying existence was about to crawl out completely.
The threat of death made the Diamond Sect's Patriarch even more frantic. At that very moment, while he was being entangled, there was a crack in the ground beside the wall at the edge of the heterogeneity rich zone.
At that moment, Xu Qing was carefully hiding in the crack, vigilantly looking outside through the crack.
When he was in the ruined city, he followed the tracks of the flying birds and discovered a total of two safe shelters. One was his cave, and the other … was this crack!
This crack was also the place where he had escaped the pursuit of the strange beasts after his chest was severely injured when he obtained the cultivation method from the City Lord's residence.
However, this place was too close to the City Lord's residence, which was why Xu Qing didn't choose this place as his temporary residence.
Under the calamity of the opening of the eyes of the gods, all living things could not escape death. Only the flying birds … for some unknown reason, most of them survived.
At the same time, they seemed to be able to instinctively find some places. Although they weren't absolutely safe, they were like blind spots that could be easily overlooked by the strange beasts and the strange beasts.
Of course, this was only relative. If the Diamond Sect's Patriarch wasn't there to attract the attention of the strange beasts, then what Xu Qing did just now would be suicide.
At that moment, when he saw the Diamond Sect's Patriarch in such a sorry state and noticed the gigantic figure struggling to crawl out of the giant pit in the City Lord's residence, Xu Qing sucked in a breath. However, he soon gritted his teeth and rushed out. He threw another black core at the Diamond Sect's Patriarch who was being chased in the distance.
In one breath, he threw more than ten black cores.
The black cores landed on the ground and exploded. The strange substance in this place was already shockingly dense to begin with, and as the black cores exploded, it seemed to have broken through a certain threshold in an instant.
In the blink of an eye … the malicious gazes that had gathered on Xu Qing when he left the crack immediately shifted away and looked towards the area where the strange substance was denser. At the same time, the strange beasts and the strange beasts in many places in the city all stopped and looked in that direction.
In the next moment, they sped away!
At the same time that the Diamond Sect's Patriarch roared in extreme anger, Xu Qing didn't even look back. He took advantage of the moment when the strange beasts and the strange beasts were attracted by the strange substance to escape at full speed.
The Diamond Sect's Patriarch wanted to escape as well, but the winged figures kept him busy. Even if he wanted to retreat, it was inevitable that he would be delayed. At that moment, he was even more anxious than before, and his hatred for Xu Qing was incredibly strong.
At that moment, Xu Qing was moving faster and faster on the streets in the distance. He had already pulled away from the City Lord's residence and was about to head in the direction of the city walls, but at that moment … a sinister and cold aura rushed towards him.
The sound of weeping echoed in front of him as a faceless woman in a white dress walked towards him from the distance.
At first glance, she was still some distance away, but at the second glance, she was already right in front of Xu Qing.
She moved so quickly that Xu Qing had no way of dodging. His breathing quickened, and his pupils constricted. His body was instantly covered by an icy chill, and his mind went blank. It was as if he had been sealed in ice.
As for the faceless woman who was walking towards him, countless faces appeared on her body. All of them were weeping miserably. Their cries entered Xu Qing's mind and turned into ripples. Xu Qing's expression changed uncontrollably, and it looked like he was about to cry just like those faces.
But at that moment … some of the faces on the faceless woman in the white dress suddenly stopped crying. They stared blankly at Xu Qing, and their expressions gradually changed. Slowly, smiles appeared on their faces, and they opened their mouths as if to say something, but no sound came out.
Soon, more and more faces stopped crying. In the end … more than half of the faces on the faceless woman in the white dress actually stopped crying. All of them looked at Xu Qing, and smiles appeared on their faces. Their expressions were gentle.
Their lips moved slightly, as if they were softly saying two words that no one else could hear.
Xu Qing stood there in a daze as he stared blankly at the numerous faces on the huge faceless woman in front of him.
Before he could see everything clearly, the faceless woman in the white dress moved away and walked past him. Once she was far away, the sounds of weeping once again echoed out ….
Xu Qing's stiff body also recovered at this moment. His breathing quickened as he turned his head and stared blankly at the faceless woman in the white dress, who was walking further and further away. Her white figure was like a burning flame in the dark night …
Just now, the smiling faces on her body … seemed very familiar to Xu Qing.
It was like deja vu ….
That was especially true of one of the faces. He remembered that it was the person he had carried to be cremated and put to rest … the old man from the pharmacy.
Xu Qing was silent as he looked at the woman walking off into the distance. He seemed to understand something. After a long time, he lowered his head and bowed deeply.
"Thank you," he murmured.
The smiling faces from before were also saying those two words.
"Thank you."
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This chapter was nearly 5,000 words long.