Grayish brown bones were scattered across the black beach. Some of them had already weathered away, revealing a rough texture. Some of them seemed to have existed for a short time, with pieces of rotting flesh hanging from them.
The sea breeze blew, stirring up the sand on the ground. It piled up in the skulls of humans and beasts, swirling around.
The entire Ocean Lizard Island was reflected in Xu Qing's eyes. It was filled with gloom and cruelty. Only the red sunset that was like a red leaf falling onto the beach seemed to have covered their deaths with a tombstone.
Unfortunately, this tombstone was also red.
Xu Qing withdrew his gaze from the bones around him. As the world gradually darkened, he calmly walked into the forest. As he approached, his figure disappeared.
The moment he stepped into the forest, the night was like a pair of large hands covering him. The sky was pitch black, and the day gave way to the darkness.
Within the forest, Xu Qing's figure was like a ghost. He moved extremely quickly, moving up and down the trees. His eyes were like those of a false-toothed bird. As he moved forward, he calmly observed his surroundings.
Xu Qing was no stranger to the forest.
Although this was an island and not the forbidden zone of the past, the experience of surviving in the forest was common here. In particular, there were some common herbs among the vegetation on the ground. This allowed Xu Qing to familiarize himself with the forest. He was like a fish in water, moving nimbly in the forest.
However, he gradually discovered some special places.
Many of the trees in the forest had collapsed, and most of the collapsed areas formed a line with the sea.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. At this moment, he arrived at a place where the trees had collapsed. Standing there, he first observed his surroundings and the location of the broken trees and the direction in which they had fallen. Then, he lowered his head and swept his gaze over the ground and the broken trees.
"There are scales on the trees …" Xu Qing picked up a palm-sized grayish black chip from the broken wood on the ground. There was a faint fishy smell lingering on it.
"It's the skin of a sea lizard, and it has been there for some time."
Xu Qing already had a judgment in his mind. It was clear that the sea lizard had crawled out from the sea and walked towards the forest. Wherever it passed, the trees would be knocked down.
"There are many such paths. This means that every sea lizard that comes here to shed its skin will take a different path. This is also reasonable."
"I just don't know if the final location chosen by the sea lizard to shed its skin is random, or … there is a general area."
Xu Qing muttered to himself. He decided to follow the path that the ocean lizard had taken so long ago to see what was going on. Once he made up his mind, his speed suddenly increased. He followed the guidance of the path and sped up.
However, the vigilance in his heart grew stronger and stronger.
Xu Qing didn't know if there were any cultivators who had surpassed the Qi Condensation realm here. Although he had analyzed the situation on the way here, he knew that while the sea iguana skin was valuable, most Foundation Establishment cultivators wouldn't be interested in it.
However, he had to be on guard. After all, there were many things that could not be ignored simply by judging.
The wind blew by, carrying with it the smell of rotting vegetation. Xu Qing took a deep breath, but didn't smell anything else. Therefore, he didn't stop moving, and continued onward.
An hour later, as the sky grew darker and darker, Xu Qing leaped up into the air and squatted down on top of a tree near the mountain range. His eyes glowed with a mysterious light as he looked off into the distance.
In front of him was a tattered sea lizard skin. It was completely grayish black and very withered. It was clear that it had been there for a long time, as if it had been torn apart due to fighting.
On his way here, Xu Qing had done some research. He knew that sea lizard skin was only valuable if it was preserved in a special way right after it was shed. Otherwise, if it had been shed for too long, its spirituality would have dissipated, and it would have no value whatsoever.
This was why the struggle for sea lizard skin was so bloody. Everyone who came to the island, like Xu Qing, had to wait until the sea lizard skin was shed before fighting over it.
Muttering to himself, Xu Qing left the tree and began to explore the area.
It wasn't until he circled around the mountain range and walked along the mountain range for a while that he saw many of these sea lizard skins. At the same time, he discovered that the sea lizards shed their skins mostly near the mountain range. Furthermore, it was obvious that the higher the mountain range, the larger the number of such skins.
All of this gave him an answer.
"Sea lizards shed their skin in a specific area," he thought.
Xu Qing lifted his head and looked toward the tallest mountain range on Sea Lizard Island. His gaze grew fierce.
"That must be the true treasure of the island. Anyone who can go there must be a powerful sea lizard. Their skin is the most valuable!"
Having reached this point in his train of thought, Xu Qing didn't hesitate any longer. He headed toward the tallest mountain peak, not stopping for even a moment. As he moved, he noticed that there were Cultivators squatting on the various mountain peaks.
They were all rogue Cultivators, with Cultivation bases at the fifth level of Qi Condensation. Although they weren't very strong, their eyes were filled with ruthlessness.
Obviously, they knew their own limits, and had chosen the shorter mountain ranges. They looked at Xu Qing with vigilance, and when they realized that he was just passing by, they breathed sighs of relief.
Xu Qing also breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that so many low-level Cultivators were gathered here indicated that his previous judgment had been correct. The chances of there being a Foundation Establishment cultivator here weren't very high.
However, he didn't let his guard down. If there really was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, then it would most likely be in the area he was heading toward.
It was in this fashion that, thanks to Xu Qing's speed, he passed through one mountain after another until he reached the tallest mountain on Sea Lizard Island. As he neared, streams of Qi exploded out from the top of the mountain, locking onto him.
Xu Qing stopped in place. After a moment of careful examination, a strange expression appeared on his face. He still couldn't sense the aura of Foundation Establishment.
Face calm, he proceeded onward. At the same time, he noticed that the mountain was covered with a large amount of shredded sea lizard skin.
From the aura emanating from the skin, he could tell that it was at least at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Condensation. That confirmed Xu Qing's judgment that sea lizards really were in the process of shedding.
As for the streams of Qi that were probing him, Xu Qing ignored them and continued onward toward the top of the mountain.
At the top of the mountain was a huge basin surrounded by trees. There were quite a few Cultivators scattered about. Their Cultivation bases were clearly higher than those of the other mountain ranges. Most were at the eighth or ninth level of Qi Condensation, and there were even a few of them at the great circle of Qi Condensation.
There really weren't any Foundation Establishment cultivators!
As for the Cultivators present, their eyes were either vicious or sinister, and filled with a thirst for blood. Clearly, they were all desperate people.
Humans weren't the majority here. Instead, Outsiders made up the majority. Some of them traveled alone, others traveled in groups.
There were also some who reeked of blood, and were clearly pirates who spent most of their time at sea.
They were all staring at Xu Qing.
As Xu Qing approached, his gaze swept over them. He immediately recognized a few of the people on the wanted list, and a strange gleam appeared in his eyes.
However, he didn't choose to make a move. Instead, he found a large tree and sat down cross-legged to rest.
Although he had come to the conclusion that there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators here, Xu Qing couldn't help but feel that if there wasn't even a single Foundation Establishment cultivator here, then the reason wasn't as simple as he thought.
After sitting down cross-legged, Xu Qing turned his gaze away from his surroundings. He was no stranger to the malicious intent of the Cultivators here. Whether it was in the slums or the scavenger camps, they were all very similar.
Therefore, he sat there calmly, preparing to cultivate. Suddenly, he frowned and looked coldly at the pirates off in the distance.
They were a small group of eight Cultivators, two of whom were humans and six of whom were Outsiders. The Outsiders all looked different. Some had tentacles growing out of their bodies, some had three eyes, and one had wings on his back.
They looked at Xu Qing with unfriendly, ferocious gazes. One of the winged Outsiders whispered something to his companion. Then, Xu Qing watched as the three-eyed Outsider stood up and began to walk toward him.
"Disciples of the Seven Bloodeyes are not welcome here," the three-eyed Outsider said with a sinister smile. "You can either get the hell out of here, or stay here and become nourishment."
As the three-eyed Outsider neared, he laughed viciously. At the same time, the ripples of the eighth level of Qi Condensation emanated out in an unbridled fashion.
Xu Qing carefully sized up the strange being in front of him, wanting to determine if the neck was a vital point. After that, he looked at the other party's companions not far away. He knew that this was the other party's way of testing him. If he was easy to bully, he would become the target of their plundering.
After a moment, Xu Qing suddenly reached behind him and made a grasping motion.
A moment later, a translucent figure appeared behind him, whose neck Xu Qing's hand had latched onto.
After a moment of intense struggle, the translucent figure became clear, revealing a blue-haired Outsider whose face was covered with scales. From his clothing, it was obvious that he was on the same side as the pirates.
The Outsider's eyes filled with terror, and he was about to fight back when Xu Qing's hand tightened. A cracking sound could be heard as the Outsider's neck was crushed.
Things weren't over yet. The power of the Sea Transformation Scripture poured into the Outsider, and in the blink of an eye, Xu Qing controlled the Outsider's blood to burst out of his body, causing it to explode.
Blood and gore covered the ground, but not a speck of it touched Xu Qing.
The organs of the Outsider were different from those of Humans. Xu Qing didn't care which part of the body was a vital point. If he destroyed it, he could kill it all the same.
As he slaughtered the Outsider, Xu Qing's eyes didn't flicker in the slightest, as if he were crushing an ant. He continued to stare coldly at the three-eyed Outsider.
The three-eyed Outsider's body trembled, and he began to pant. Behind him, the faces of his companions flickered, and they all turned extremely vigilant.
"This is a misunderstanding."
The three-eyed Outsider took a deep breath. Sensing that Xu Qing wasn't someone to be trifled with, he began to back up.
However, he didn't know who Xu Qing was, and didn't know that Xu Qing's principle was to do everything in his power to kill anyone who threatened his life. Therefore, as soon as the three-eyed Outsider began to back up, Xu Qing made his move.
His speed exploded, and he turned into a blur. Even as the three-eyed Outsider's face fell, and he waved his hand to form a spirit power shield, Xu Qing closed in and punched out.
A boom could be heard as the three-eyed Outsider's spirit power shield shattered into pieces. The Outsider's pupils constricted, and he was about to open his mouth to speak when Xu Qing's fist slammed into his chest like a hot knife through butter.
The punch caused the three-eyed Outsider's body to tremble violently. His chest caved in, and all of his organs exploded.
Off in the distance, the faces of the pirates flickered, and they shot to their feet, preparing to attack. However, Xu Qing was even faster than they were. In fact, as soon as he killed the first Outsider, he had already decided that he was going to completely eradicate the pirates.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing moved with shocking speed. As the rogue cultivators and Outsiders watched on, he slaughtered his way into the group of pirates. Miserable shrieks rang out, and the sound of magical techniques colliding could be heard.
In the blink of an eye, six of the pirates had been killed or injured. The remaining alien with wings had an unprecedented look of terror on his face. He soared into the air and tried to escape, but in the next moment, a sharp dagger whistled through the air and directly pierced between his eyebrows. His body fell from midair and landed on the ground with a bang.
Everything was over.
Gasps could be heard coming from the mouths of the surrounding Cultivators. As of this moment, their eyes were filled with incomparable seriousness as they looked fearfully at the expressionless Xu Qing emerging from the corpses of the pirates.
Xu Qing ignored all of the gazes as he used his dagger to cut off the heads of the pirates. Then he walked over to his resting place, where he hung the heads on a tree as a symbol.
Having done all of this, Xu Qing sat down cross-legged and looked over at the other end of the basin, where a huge snake head could be seen. Beneath the head of the snake was a familiar figure.
"He's here too!"
Xu Qing's heart was filled with vigilance. He knew that there was something strange about this person, so he narrowed his eyes and looked over at the huge snake behind him.
This figure was none other than the old man from the Banquan Road Inn. When he saw Xu Qing, he felt a bit depressed.
"What is this kid doing here too!?"
The two of them exchanged glances across the basin, but then looked away.
"What bad luck," said the old man softly. The coiled up snake's eyes lit up.
"Purr, purr."
"What are you talking about, Senior Brother? It's not like he can understand your purr." The old man glared at the snake.
"Purr, purr."
"What the hell?
Are you going to ask him if he likes snakes or snake gall?
Are you crazy? Is there a need to ask that? Didn't you notice just now? He glanced at your gall bladder again. "
"Purr!"
"You don't believe me?" The old man was speechless.
"Purr, purr."
"I'm not going to help you ask. Didn't you secretly sign up for the Seventh Summit's intelligence division behind my back? Go back and check how many snakes this kid has killed."
The old man could not be bothered with the snake beside him. He felt that ever since the snake saw Xu Qing, it seemed to have been possessed and had something wrong with its brain.
"You insisted that he was looking at your figure, hehe."
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'Should I update more during the weekend or go out to play for a while …'