Outside Morning Dawn Mountain, Xu Qing squatted beside the canyon and took a look. Then, he turned around and left.
Shrill cries came from behind him. Angry roars echoed in the air, and booming sounds spread in all directions.
Soon, the figures of the Smoky Clan's puppets rushed out of the canyon. Their Divine Senses were fully unleashed at this moment. They swept the area with grief and anger.
The canyon was a mess. There were originally hundreds of Smoky Clan members, but now there were only a few left. Most of them had been killed by Xu Qing's poison.
Xu Qing's poison was simply too cruel.
Those who were still alive were howling in pain. They tried everything they could, but they couldn't change the state of their bodies. They could only watch as their mist bodies were corroded and turned into smoke. Their bodies and souls were destroyed.
As for the Dharma treasures they had set up, they had been interrupted by the poison. The poison had increased the density of the Dharma treasures, making them unable to last for long.
"Who is it?!"
Roars could be heard from outside the canyon. The seven or eight Nascent Soul realm Smoky Clan members controlled their puppets. Each of them emitted terrifying waves of energy as they anxiously searched for the culprit.
Their puppets were also rapidly rotting under the poison. Even their real bodies couldn't escape. They tried everything they could but to no avail.
Therefore, they were extremely anxious. They wanted to find the culprit and the antidote. Even though they had to hide their energy waves according to the plan, they couldn't care less. They all exploded with energy and scattered in all directions.
However, Xu Qing's concealment jade slip was given to him by Supreme Immortal Purple Profound. It wasn't something these Nascent Soul realm Cultivators could find. After releasing the poison, he left immediately after taking a look. Now, he was close to Morning Dawn Mountain.
After sensing the fluctuations in the canyon, Xu Qing was expressionless. He was going to wait until all the Smoky Clan members there were dead before heading over to investigate.
"Normally, they would die in two hours. I should be fine if I wait for six hours."
Xu Qing muttered to himself as he hurried forward. However, at that moment, a strong sense of fear suddenly exploded in his heart.
Xu Qing's expression changed. He turned around and his breathing quickened. He felt a shocking aura coming from the canyon. This aura was terrifying, but also familiar.
As the aura appeared, the environment under Abyssal Sea was also affected. The density of the Dharma treasures increased.
What made Xu Qing's heart tremble even more was that everything began to distort and become blurry.
"God!"
Xu Qing thought of the old man from the Danqing Clan, and instantly determined the source of this aura. His expression darkened, and he sped up.
He could sense that this aura did not seem to have erupted from within the canyon, but had rushed into the canyon from another direction.
"They must have been attracted by the energy fluctuations there!"
"Didn't the God Spirit Finger take Old Man Danqing to find the sun's remains? Why would it be drawn there? Is there a sun's remains in the valley?"
Xu Qing's breathing quickened. When he heard about this from the head, he did not think it was important. He knew that the difference between him and the God Spirit's finger was too big, so he did not plan on finding it.
Instead, he planned to conceal himself and report this matter to the Sword Administration Palace after completing the mission.
Moreover, the Dawn State was so big that it wasn't certain that they would run into each other.
After all, the remains of the fallen sun had long been found and taken away by the human race and various forces over the long years.
As for the vicinity of Dawn Mountain, it was even more so. It was impossible for the remains of the sun to exist.
Therefore, in such a big state like Morning Cloud State, the chances of him encountering a God Spirit Finger were not high.
"Could it be that the head and the stone lion attracted it?" Xu Qing's expression was gloomy as he looked down at the stone lion.
The stone lion immediately trembled and shook its body, as if it wanted to tell Xu Qing that none of this had anything to do with him. The head also quickly spoke.
"My Lord, it wasn't me. It really wasn't me. I don't have the ability to attract the God Spirit Finger."
The head was about to cry. It was really innocent.
Killing intent flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He made up his mind that once he was safe, he would deal with the stone lion and the head. Therefore, he retracted his gaze and rushed forward with a gloomy expression.
He did not dare to use the power of poison and kept it all inside. Although the power of poison had the ability to conceal itself, which was obvious on the purple moon, that was because the crimson moon was not nearby. Therefore, the power of poison was like a signal that was blocked.
Now, he was not sure if it would have the opposite effect if he used it.
Xu Qing was anxious. He used all his strength to activate the concealment jade slip, but in just a few dozen breaths of time, the energy fluctuations behind him suddenly intensified. The blurriness and distortion around him were also more intense than before.
The palpitating feeling instantly erupted to the extreme. A terrifying divine sense spread out from the fog behind Xu Qing, covering the entire area.
It enveloped Xu Qing.
Rumbling filled the air, and everything grew blurry as an astonishing finger, three hundred meters long, suddenly appeared in front of Xu Qing.
Xu Qing's body shook. Every part of his body trembled violently, transmitting a monstrous sense of crisis to him.
He even began to show signs of separating and becoming independent. He constantly twisted, as if he wanted to escape in all directions.
Xu Qing didn't hesitate. The power of poison and purple moon exploded out, covering his entire body as he rapidly retreated.
But it was useless.
This time, it was different from when it was in the Punishment Department. Inside the Punishment Department, the finger had been suppressed. But now, it was free. Although it had been severely injured when it broke out of the prison, it was still not something that Xu Qing could resist.
Almost as soon as Xu Qing's Divine Right spread out and his divinity rose, his mind began to roar. He lost control of his body under the power of the God Spirit Finger's divine sense and was pulled toward it.
The power of the God Spirit Finger ignored everything about Xu Qing. It pulled him behind, where he was piled together with a group of despairing outsiders.
The stone lion and the head were among them.
The latter screamed.
"Boss, boss, it's me. It's me. I'm the head. We're cellmates …"
The finger ignored the head and didn't respond to its screams. It raised its fingertip and seemed to sense the direction of Morning Glow Mountain. It hesitated.
In the end, it didn't approach. Instead, it disappeared and reappeared far away. It shifted again, heading toward other places with living beings.
Behind it, there were more than five hundred cultivators caught. Many of them were from the Smoky Clan.
Xu Qing's arrival didn't attract any attention. All the cultivators' thoughts were filled with despair and fear.
Their bodies were also incomparably strange.
Almost none of them were complete.
They were divided into countless pieces. Their eyes, noses, ears, internal organs, and limbs were all independent.
It was the same for the Smoky Clan. The mist was divided into countless parts.
However, under the power of the God Spirit Finger, they were all piled together and couldn't leave. Therefore, the various parts of their bodies were all leaning against each other.
It was a very strange and ominous scene.
Xu Qing's expression was ugly. His mind was still buzzing, but he didn't give up. He quickly circulated the two Godly Rights in his body and used all his strength to suppress the body that was about to separate.
Under his suppression, he barely managed to keep his body intact. When he raised his head with difficulty and looked ahead, he could only see a haze and countless pieces of mist rapidly passing by.
Xu Qing knew that the God Spirit Finger was moving him at high speed.
"What is this God Spirit Finger trying to do?" Xu Qing forced himself to calm down and quickly searched for a way to escape.
"Back then, the Penal Division's suppression method relied on luck …" Xu Qing's mind raced. Suddenly, a rumble came from all directions. In the next instant, the God Spirit Finger stopped.
The huge contrast between movement and stillness caused many cultivators' organs to explode. Xu Qing also spat out blood.
Fortunately, he had divine origin and an extraordinary physical body. Although his body was covered in cracks, it was still intact.
He could barely see his surroundings.
A piece of rotten flesh that was thousands of feet wide entered Xu Qing's eyes.
An old man with a worried expression stood on the piece of flesh. It was the old man from the Danqing Clan.
Before Xu Qing could continue inspecting, his body, along with a large number of organs from the cultivators around him, was thrown directly toward the piece of flesh.
At the moment of contact, the piece of flesh wriggled and split open, wrapping all the organs inside. Some were partially exposed, while others were completely devoured.
They quickly fused into one.
The stone lion and the head were also inside.
Waves of anguished wails came from the wrapped cultivators. Some were voices, some were divine thoughts, and all of them contained endless pain.
Most of Xu Qing's body was covered by the piece of flesh. As the miserable wails echoed around him, his mind was in turmoil.
This was because he didn't feel any pain from being corroded. Instead, the moment his body was wrapped up by the piece of flesh, he felt the Golden Crow behind him give off pleasant surprise and an incomparably strong desire.
"This is … the remains of the sun?!"
Xu Qing's eyes widened. As his mind rumbled, he suddenly turned to look at the old man from the Danqing Clan.
At this moment, the old man from the Danqing Clan noticed the head and stone lion, as well as Xu Qing.
They looked at each other.
"Haha, we're reunited …" Only the head's face was exposed, and it looked at the old man from the Danqing Clan.
The old man from the Danqing Clan didn't pay attention to the head. He looked at Xu Qing with a strange gaze and wanted to get closer.
"Lord Guardian?"
Xu Qing suddenly said, "You've done a meritorious deed!"
The old man from the Danqing Clan stopped.
Xu Qing's words caused the old man from the Danqing Clan to reveal a dark light in his eyes.
He carefully sized up Xu Qing a few times. In his eyes, the Lord Guardian in front of him did not have the slightest trace of fear. That kind of calm expression was as if this was not the place where he was a prisoner, but had returned to Dingsan'er.
This scene forced the suspicious old man from the Danqing Clan to temporarily suppress his thoughts. He felt that something was wrong, so he looked at the head.
However, before he could speak, the godly finger in the air buzzed and directly appeared before the old man from the Danqing Clan. A powerful and terrifying divine sense locked onto him.
The old man from the Danqing Clan did his best to not tremble. He squeezed out a fawning smile.
"Great Lord Chosen by the Heavens, you're the god of the sky that has awakened on the skeleton of the sun. You're destined to unite the Ancient Gazing World and reach the highest level."
The pressure from the godly finger clearly lessened. It let out a roar that echoed in the minds of the cultivators present.
The old man from the Danqing Clan couldn't control his body well and trembled. However, he didn't show any of it. He still had the same pious expression as he chanted.
"Lord Chosen by the Heavens, the day of your awakening is near. The paint that will create your body is already half complete. If it were any other ordinary god, it would be enough to draw their body, but you're the Chosen by the Heavens. I must draw the most perfect body in the world for you.
"You cannot be blasphemed.
"So … I still need some life to make this flesh's vitality worthy of the great Lord Chosen by the Heavens."
The godly finger buzzed as if it was a bit irritated. Some of the wounds on its body opened up due to the vibration.
However, it didn't care. After circling a few times in the sky, the surroundings distorted and blurred. It suddenly disappeared into the distance again.
Seeing this, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. Thoughts spun rapidly in his mind. He knew very well that his current state was a life-threatening crisis, but it was also a great opportunity.
He could feel the Golden Crow totem behind him constantly heating up and revealing a strong desire. However, Xu Qing firmly suppressed it, not allowing it to spread out at all.
It wasn't time yet.
Seeing the conversation between the old man from the Danqing Clan and the godly finger, Xu Qing's first feeling was that there was something wrong with the godly finger's condition …
"It seems to be a bit delirious?"
Xu Qing quickly analyzed in his mind. Then, he put himself in the old man's shoes and tried to understand his thoughts and state of mind when facing all these problems.
"Head, why are you here too?
Did you not hide well and get found by the Lord Guardian? "
After the godly finger left, the old man from the Danqing Clan let out a sigh of relief. Then, he looked at the head that only had his face exposed. He walked over and patted it.
"Why should I answer you? Kill me if you can. We're on the same side. Do you think I'm afraid of you?"
The head glared, but the old man from the Danqing Clan didn't seem angry at all. He smiled and patted it hard.
With a boom, the head collapsed.
The old man from the Danqing Clan squatted there with his smile unchanged. He turned to look at Xu Qing with deep meaning in his eyes.
"Lord Garrison Guard, you haven't finished your sentence. What did I do for you?"
"Let me think. Lord Guardian, are you trying to tell me that you were caught by the godly spirit on purpose and that you weren't alone? That there are many experts from Fenghai County in Morning Dawn State, such as the palace lord, Marquis Yao, and the county minister. Their goal is to capture the godly spirit finger?
"And you're here to become a coordinate. That's why those important figures have already discovered this place. And you're saying that I did it because I delayed the godly spirit finger and bought precious time for you to find this place?
"But Lord Guardian, I'm not a three-year-old child. Do you think I'll believe your words?"
The old man from the Danqing Clan licked his lips. While his eyes were filled with hostility, he raised his right hand and dug out the shattered pieces of flesh from the head.
Soon, the head regrew. Just as it was about to curse, the old man from the Danqing Clan spoke with a smile.
"Head, we're all on the same side. I killed you to save you. Stop messing around. Also, thank you for helping me bring the Lord Guardian here. You're right. We're about to be reunited."
The head sneered with mockery in its eyes. It didn't accept or deny it. Instead, it rolled away to find the stone lion.
The old man from the Danqing Clan ignored the head. He squatted down beside Xu Qing and licked his lips.
"Lord Guardian, what? Did I hit the nail on the head?"
Xu Qing didn't pay attention to the old man from the Danqing Clan. He looked around expressionlessly and sensed that there was a restriction here to prevent people from escaping.
The restriction had been set down by the godly spirit finger and was very difficult to break.
After checking, Xu Qing's gaze landed on the old man from the Danqing Clan.
He calmly said, "You don't need to test me like this. If you want to live, then quickly tell me everything."
The old man from the Danqing Clan raised his eyebrows.
The head in the distance sneered as it looked for the stone lion.
"Old man, you're usually so smart. Why are you so stupid now? We're all reunited here. Either you finish drawing the body for the finger and we all die, or we all hurry up and think of a way to live. Why are you still testing me and wasting time? Aren't you tired?"
The head's words caused old man Danqing to sigh in his heart. In truth, this was what he was worried about. He was marked and couldn't escape. There were restrictions around him, and the words he had said just now were to test the waters and make sure everything was true …
However, he also knew that this was impossible. Even if Xu Qing admitted it, he would feel like he had been deceived. Thus, he sighed while feeling conflicted.
"What can you do? We're all going to die..."
Xu Qing suddenly said, "Retreat!"
The old man from the Danqing Clan looked at Xu Qing and was about to speak, but Xu Qing ignored him. He had already seen through all of this, and through the conversation between the old man and the finger, he had verified his guess.
For someone who was about to drown, even if they were given a straw, they would immediately grab it. However, the straw had to be real and not too perfunctory.
Now, the time was about right. Especially with the collapse of the Punishment Division, Xu Qing's memories of Dingsan'er had recovered too much. He was very sure that he had never used the power of the Golden Crow in front of Dingsan'er and the other prisoners.
He had mostly used the position of a god.
Thus, the old man from the Danqing Clan didn't know that he had the Golden Crow.
They had escaped in a hurry, so it was impossible for them to know too much about him. Although the strange head might know, the old man from the Danqing Clan most likely didn't know.
However, this wasn't important.
If he didn't know, the effect would naturally be the best. However, even if he knew, Xu Qing had other methods to deal with it.
Thinking of this, Xu Qing stopped suppressing the Golden Crow behind him. In an instant, the fiery power behind him erupted, and the Golden Crow spread out into the flesh of the sun corpse.
The entire sun corpse suddenly trembled at this moment, as if it had come alive.
Rumbles rang out in the surroundings. When the blur and distortion became even more obvious, a heatwave erupted from Xu Qing's body and spread out in all directions. The old man's expression changed drastically. He quickly retreated and looked at Xu Qing in shock and bewilderment.
At this moment, Xu Qing's expression didn't change at all, but a large amount of golden patterns appeared on his face.
These patterns spread from the totem on his back to his entire body.
At this moment, the astonishing power from the sun corpse was being crazily absorbed by the Golden Crow, and it was continuously gathering towards Xu Qing.
The heavens and earth trembled, and the ground showed signs of tumbling. The fog above also turned into a whirlpool, and its aura was shocking.
Xu Qing's heart raced. Through the excitement and desire transmitted by the Golden Crow, he clearly knew that this was a huge opportunity for him.
However, he needed time. This sumptuous feast for the Golden Crow was very difficult to complete in a short time. The flesh of the sun corpse was too big.
This scene made old man Danqing and the head, who had taken a lot of effort to get the stone lion out, gasp. However, the latter was a bit fake.
"Absorbing the flesh of the sun …" muttered old man Danqing. His eyes shone with a strange light.
"Back then, when we were at DS-132, I felt that the fluctuations from the Lord Guardian's body were unusual. I didn't expect it to be related to the sun!"
"I know. My Lord, you heard that the God Spirit Finger was looking for the sun corpse here, so you deliberately came here to make the God Spirit Finger take you here, right?"
"But how did you know that I would trick the God Spirit Finger into capturing people?
Yes, this is very easy to explain. After so many years, the sun corpse must have lost its vitality, and the way to replenish it is naturally through life! "
"Yes, that's right!"
"Brilliant, really brilliant!"
"My Lord, I admire your ability to scheme against the God Spirit Finger. I understand now. That's why you said that I made a contribution. Yes, I did make a contribution!"
"My Lord, since you were able to calculate this, you must have a way to escape. That's right!"
The more old man Danqing spoke, the more excited he became.
The head blinked, and there was confusion in its eyes.
After Xu Qing went up to Morning Dawn Mountain, it and the stone lion were shrouded by the shadow. When it reappeared, it encountered Xu Qing invading the valley with poison. Then, the God Spirit Finger came, so it didn't know what had happened during that time.
At this moment, when it heard the old man's words, the head trembled. It suddenly felt that the old man's words made sense. Otherwise, why would Xu Qing not go to the battlefield during wartime but come to Morning Dawn State?
However, it faintly felt that something was wrong.
Xu Qing's expression was calm, and he didn't show any emotion. As he absorbed the power of the sun corpse with all his strength, he glanced at old man Danqing and the head.
He automatically ignored the head, but Xu Qing had some doubts about old man Danqing. The other party's cooperation was too perfect. From the beginning to the end, it seemed like he was attacking himself.
Even if a drowning person was desperate to survive, it would be very difficult to do so.
While Xu Qing was thinking about this, old man Danqing knelt down with a thump.
"Lord Guardian, please take into account that old servant Ding San Er cautiously and conscientiously reminded you, as well as this meritorious service, please save me.
"That evil finger wanted me to draw a body for it, but I didn't dare to draw it. After I drew it, it would definitely eat me. I could feel its hunger, so I used the reason that I couldn't use it as paint to delay for a long time. Finally, you came."
Xu Qing coldly looked at the old man Danqing. He couldn't see any clues from his expression. There was nothing wrong with his expression and words.
However, Xu Qing didn't believe that this matter would be so simple.
In particular, when he looked at the sun corpse, he saw that it was no longer wailing. Instead, it had completely melted and been absorbed by the sun corpse.
They had all been tricked to death by old man Danqing in order to survive.
However, since the old man was so cooperative, Xu Qing had no reason to expose him. He needed time. On one hand, he needed to absorb the sun corpse, and on the other hand, he needed to wait for the finger to return.
Regardless of whether or not there was anything wrong with the old man Danqing, he couldn't let the old man seize the initiative here. The opportunity to seize the initiative was the moment the finger returned.
Thinking of this, Xu Qing calmly spoke.
"I need time."
—
Two in One