The Binding Island wasn’t very large. There were three cities and many village-like campsites on it. Xu Qing’s target was the main city, Fishbone City.
When he landed on the island, he had landed on the shore closest to this city.
“Binding City…” Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed as he sped toward the city.
Binding Island was already a mess. One could see ruins here and there which were caused by the bombardment from Old Master Seventh, the Seven Blood Eyes’ Foundation Building and Core Formation warships.
In the distance, black smoke billowed and the sounds of battle rang out from all directions. The entire island was in chaos.
Xu Qing’s gaze was reserved as he headed straight for Fishbone City. That place didn’t seem far but in reality, even with Xu Qing’s speed, it would still take him an hour to get close.
As he got closer, the vastness of the fish skeleton was revealed.
Xu Qing looked at the skeleton and could feel a powerful pressure coming from it. He couldn’t imagine how powerful this fish was when it was alive.
However, it was obvious that this pressure wasn’t a threat to the merfolk race. Perhaps this was related to their race’s characteristics.
Under this pressure, one would not be able to maintain calm and their cultivation would be suppressed by quite a bit. However, the entire world was now covered by a sea of purple light, so no matter how great the pressure of the fish skeleton was in the past, it was mostly suppressed right now.
Although the remaining pressure was still powerful, it did not have much suppression on cultivation bases.
As he got closer, Xu Qing heard the continuous rumbling in the city and also sensed the fluctuations of spells. He knew that many disciples had entered first. He directly leaped into the city.
The architectural style of the Binding City, which was built on the fish skeleton, was strange. Some of the buildings were shaped like human houses, some were strange like beehives, and some residences were plants like mushrooms or seaweed.
There were also some which were simply sunken ships and shells.
Among them, those human buildings clearly had the style of the Seven Blood Eyes. Moreover, these buildings were made of bricks and tiles. It seemed that the Seven Blood Eyes’ disciples had once come here to build for the merfolk race.
Xu Qing’s gaze didn’t stop as he ran toward the center of the city.
His destination was the Foundation Building Pagoda at the center of the city.
According to the clues given by Huang Yan, the Foundation Building holy item, the Spirit Breath Lantern, was placed in the Foundation Building Pagoda. That place was usually guarded by experts of the merfolk race.
“I have to think of a way to get it. If I can’t succeed, then I have to go to the pill vault of this city to find the Foundation Building Pill.” Xu Qing knew that time was tight, so he headed straight ahead.
However, he didn’t use the flight talisman. After all, there was still a huge difference between speeding through the city and running amok in the air. The latter was too eye-catching. Although the merfolk cultivators’ cultivation levels had been suppressed and Xu Qing was very strong, it was still inappropriate to be so eye-catching.
As Xu Qing moved forward, he got closer and closer to his destination. On the way, he also saw some Seven Blood Eyes disciples. Most of these disciples walked in the dark and corners, only focused on plundering items. Even if they killed, it was usually for benefits.
Very few focused on killing.
Even though there would occasionally be friction between these disciples because they had targeted the same valuable item, they would usually handle it immediately. After all, the city was so big, so there was no need to be calculative.
Xu Qing also saw some representative buildings that seemed to have witnessed the relationship between the Seven Blood Eyes and the merfolk race. For example, he was looking at a stone tablet.
This stone tablet was tall and completely preserved. There were a large number of names on it.
Looking at the style of the characters, this was the tombstone left behind by the Seven Blood Eyes when they came to help the merfolk race many years ago.
The stone tablet was very clean, as though it would be cleaned often.
However, upon closer inspection, under the penetration of the array formation in the sky and the stone tablet that had lost its concealment power, all the bones were gone.
Moreover, there were obvious signs of excavation…
Xu Qing looked at the stone tablet and then lifted his head to look at the many cultivators of the Seventh Peak in the sky. He understood why the higher-ups of the Seven Blood Eyes were so angry.
However, to Xu Qing, it hadn’t been long since he came to the Seven Blood Eyes. Everything was for benefits, so he didn’t have much sympathy. It was just that he instinctively hated such ungrateful actions.
He retracted his gaze and suddenly raised his right hand. Countless water droplets instantly appeared, forming a protective barrier around him, blocking the dozen or so bubbles that suddenly flew out from the stone tablet.
These bubbles instantly collapsed after coming into contact with the water droplets, forming intense fluctuations. Five merfolk cultivators rushed out from the surroundings and headed straight for Xu Qing with malevolence and cruelty.
Xu Qing coldly looked over and waved his hand. Immediately, the water curtain around him spread out, transforming into water arrows that instantly pierced through them.
Xu Qing left this place. After he left, the five merfolk cultivators’ bodies that were riddled with holes fell to the ground. The leather pouches on their bodies were rolled up by the water droplets which quickly chased after Xu Qing. Xu Qing grabbed the leather pouches and stored them. His footsteps were as fast as flying as he got closer and closer to the Foundation Building Pagoda.
Xu Qing acted the same as other disciples. He wasn’t in the mood to kill people and only wanted to reach his destination. Of course, if he encountered an ignorant person who took the initiative to provoke him, he wouldn’t mind making some profits.
Finally, an hour later, Xu Qing saw the Foundation Building Pagoda at the center of the city.
The appearance of this pagoda was different from the norm. According to the description on Huang Yan’s jade slip, this pagoda was in the shape of the merfolk god Binding.
From afar, the appearance of this pagoda was that of an old woman in a long robe. However, there were countless tentacles protruding from her body. Each of these tentacles had eyes and surrounded the surroundings. When viewed from the side, it looked like there was a ghost face on the old woman’s back.
Its long tongue fell to the side, as though it had transformed into a shadow of Binding.
At the hollowed out top of the pagoda which was Binding’s head, a lantern could be seen.
The distance was too far, so Xu Qing couldn’t see the details clearly. However, it seemed that there were still people meditating there, as though they were breaking through under the lantern. There were also many guards anxiously guarding outside the pagoda.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. He could tell that those people were unlucky to be undergoing the Hundred-day Foundation Building at this time. Due to this unforeseen event, there was a high chance that they wouldn’t be able to succeed.
The instant Xu Qing observed the Foundation Building Pagoda, a hint of killing intent erupted from his side. A green palm silently appeared, slashing toward Xu Qing’s neck with a sharp shell.
Xu Qin raised his brows and the cultivation base in his body erupted. The Ba shadow behind him manifested and emitted a soundless roar, forming an astonishing heat that spread in all directions.
This caused the shell that was swinging at his neck to instantly collapse. The palm that was holding the shell also retracted abruptly. As the void distorted, a translucent figure that was rapidly retreating was revealed.
Killing intent flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. He looked at the figure who was trying his best to hide but still revealed a blurry outline in the heat wave and rushed over.
After he got close, Xu Qing punched out with his right hand.
The surroundings rumbled. Xu Qing’s punch combined with the Ba shadow could injure even Foundation Building cultivators if they didn’t activate their Mystic Brilliance Form. That strange figure was clearly shocked but it was too late to dodge.
However, at the critical moment, a talisman appeared in front of the translucent cultivator and turned into a light screen to block the punch.
Boom.
The talisman’s light screen couldn’t withstand the impact and directly collapsed. After the slight pause, Xu Qing immediately moved forward but the space in front of him was empty. The other party had completely disappeared.
“Invisibility?” Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and turned to walk toward the Foundation Building Pagoda, as though he had given up. However, when he took his seventh step, his body suddenly moved and slammed behind him.
As he slammed toward the back, he also stabbed ruthlessly and continuously behind him.
The invisible figure behind him struggled and attacked him as well. However, Xu Qing’s powerful physical body allowed him to not care about these and he didn’t care even if he was injured.
At the next instant, he grabbed behind him with his left hand and slammed down. As the ground rumbled, the transparent figure that he had stabbed dozens of times and was poisoned finally revealed itself.
It had green eyes, a scale-covered body, and prominent gills. It was none other than a merfolk.
The other party looked to be a middle-aged man. Although his cultivation was at the Perfected Qi Condensation Realm, if it was any other Seven Blood Eyes disciple at the Perfected Qi Condensation Realm, it was hard to say if they could survive.
This was because to be able to withstand Xu Qing’s poison for so long before it acted up and such bizarre attacks could only mean that this person’s true cultivation was definitely not at the Qi Condensation Realm.
This was a merfolk Foundation Building cultivator!
However, with the suppression from the array formation, he was pushed down to the Perfected Qi Condensation Realm.
At that moment, his eyes were filled with disbelief. He was clearly heavily injured but he still bit the tip of his tongue and tried to counterattack. However, at the next instant, a black light flashed. The black iron stick carried an astonishingly sharp intent as it broke through the space between his brows.
After it stabbed, the black iron stick emitted a Foundation Building fluctuation that spread throughout the merfolk’s body, destroying all the organs in his body.
Seeing that the other party was completely dead, Xu Qing walked closer and pulled out the black iron stick. He then rummaged through the merfolk cultivator’s body and found a pouch.
This wasn’t an ordinary pouch. This was a storage bag!
Xu Qing’s heart sped up for a moment but he didn’t open it immediately. Instead, he kept it and rushed toward the Foundation Building Pagoda in front of him.
At the same time, in the sky, Old Master Seventh crossed his hands behind his back and looked at the distant horizon. Behind him were 13 elders and more than 100 Foundation Building cultivators. They were all standing silently.
Two huge water droplets floated on the sides of Old Master Seventh. Other than the corpse-like cultivator, there was also the merfolk ancestor sealed inside.
At this moment, the merfolk ancestor looked at the island below through the water droplet and suddenly smiled.
“Zheng Kaiyi, do you really think victory is in your grasp?!”
Almost at the instant he finished speaking, the four islands of the merfolk race started to shake. Waves of black light erupted from the surrounding sea surface and rapidly covered the islands. They instantly connected together and transformed into a large array that was like a black barrier that covered everything inside.
This black barrier kept distorting, as though it was negating the power of the Seven Blood Eyes’ array formation. Once the Seven Blood Eyes’ array formation was neutralized, the merfolk Foundation Building cultivators inside would recover their cultivation.
At that time, this competition would turn into the merfolks slaughtering the Seven Blood Eyes’ disciples!
“Zheng Kaiyi, the Sea Corpse Race should be here soon. It won’t be long before your disciples dissolve with your sect’s array formation and become sacrifices for our race!”
A black light suddenly erupted from the distant horizon and a huge vortex appeared in the sky. The aura of death that carried an incomparable chill crazily spread out from it, causing the surface of the sea to seem like it was about to freeze.
As this aura enveloped the world, a ten thousand-foot-long half-rotten crocodile crawled out.
Its yellow eyes revealed intense coldness and its body, which was filled with countless vengeful spirits, revealed malevolence. As it crawled out, one could see several figures standing on the head of the rotting crocodile. Every one of them had a shocking aura and behind them was a densely-packed cultivator army!
It was… the Sea Corpse Race!
“They’re here.” Old Master Seventh looked at all this with his usual expression and smiled.