275 Returned in Half
Zhang San fell silent. After a long time, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“Destroyed in the Sea Corpse Race?”
“It was shattered by a Golden Core,” Xu Qing answered truthfully.
Zhang San looked at Xu Qing’s calm expression and felt that his previous judgment was wrong. This guy in front of him was as crazy as the captain.
He was only at the Foundation Building realm but he actually provoked a Golden Core and got his magic ship destroyed.
This kind of thing wasn’t something that could be encountered by just any Foundation Building cultivators. Moreover, he had returned alive.
“Where’s the captain?”
Zhang San couldn’t help but ask. He felt that since Xu Qing was like this, the captain shouldn’t be much better.
When he thought about how these two were people who had done such a huge thing in the Sea Corpse Race, it seemed reasonable for the magic ship to be gone.
“Captain…”
Xu Qing recalled the auras of the three Golden Cores that appeared in the sky when he teleported away and fell silent.
“Forget it. When I refine the magic ship for you, I’ll also make a coffin for the captain. If I can’t use it this time, it might be of use next time.”
Zhang San sighed.
Xu Qing nodded and bade farewell.
After watching Xu Qing leave, Zhang San shook his head and walked into the workshop. He thought to himself that since he was forging a coffin, he should forge two.
“These two brothers are both mad. I will prepare one for each. It’s fair and reasonable.”
Night had fallen outside. Xu Qing walked on the streets and looked at the harbor, listening to the sound of the waves. The familiar feeling made his heart relax a lot.
“Now, I have to lie low in the sect!”
Xu Qing fell silent for a moment before entering Port 176’s Homicide Department.
As the deputy director of the Homicide Department, Xu Qing’s arrival caused all the members in the department to be nervous, especially since the Homicide Department, which was established in Port 176, was the headquarters of the Black Division.
As the deputy director, Xu Qing was in charge of the Black Division.
Hence, his appearance caused all the disciples in the Homicide Department to be respectful. There were even Qi Condensation disciples from the Homicide Department guarding Xu Qing’s residence, waiting to be summoned at any time.
The mute was among them.
After Xu Qing entered the house, the mute had quickly arrived and squatted outside the gate, looking at everyone fiercely.
To him, regardless of whether they were from the Homicide Department or not, as long as anyone got too close, they would be his enemy.
Xu Qing clearly sensed the commotion outside and also sensed the mute.
“His cultivation is improving quite fast.” In Xu Qing’s eyes, the spirit sea in the mute’s body outside the house had already reached 700 feet. This meant that he had already stepped into the seventh level of the Sea Transformation Art.
Although Xu Qing paid attention to it, he didn’t have any thoughts of probing. Everyone had their own secrets, and he didn’t care about the matters of others.
Just like that, half a month slowly passed.
Xu Qing’s return was low-key, but the news still gradually spread. However, he was in the Homicide Department and had a ferocious reputation. Although he received visiting appointments one after another, very few people took the initiative to disturb him.
Other than Huang Yan, Ding Xue, and a few others.
During this half a month, many things happened on the battlefield. The war between the Seven Blood Eyes and the Sea Corpse Race had reached a new climax.
Since a week ago, both sides had launched a large-scale battle.
The Seven Blood Eyes divided into seven groups and launched an all-out attack on the seven secondary islands outside the Sea Corpse Race, wanting to break through them.
The Sea Corpse Race did their best to stop them, but the Seven Blood Eyes’ forces were divided into feint and real. Four groups were just feigning attacks. Their strategic goal wasn’t to capture but to restrain.
The remaining three groups were the true forces. Their goal was to occupy the secondary islands and use them as a springboard for the Seven Blood Eyes army to directly threaten the Sea Corpse Race’s territory.
This battle was extremely fierce.
Although Xu Qing didn’t see it with his own eyes, the dossier of the Homicide Department on this battle described it very clearly. In the end, the Seven Blood Eyes successfully took down two sub-islands.
This immediately put the Sea Corpse Race in an extreme disadvantage.
In fact, the higher-leveled cultivators also attacked many times. The war had already escalated on a large scale.
The rewards given by the Seven Blood Eyes also increased again, causing a large number of Seven Blood Eyes disciples’ eyes to enter the battlefield with greedy eyes.
The popularity of the bounty on the captain and Xu Qing had originally decreased slightly because of this battle. However, very soon, an additional bounty appeared, causing Xu Qing’s popularity to surpass the captain’s in an instant.
This additional bounty came from Dao Child Miao Chen of the Sea Corpse Race!
“Additional bounty on Xu Qing. I promise to do ten things for the one who kills Xu Qing. Anything within my ability! And for those who give accurate clues, I also promise to do one thing for them!!”
As a Dao Child of the Sea Corpse Race, Miao Chen’s combat strength was extraordinary and his reputation was extremely great. In fact, many nonhuman races had heard of him. Hence, his additional bounty immediately became a hot topic.
With so much attention placed on this, the battle between Xu Qing and Miao Chen inevitably spread. This wasn’t what Miao Chen wanted but he had no choice. To him, as long as Xu Qing was killed, everything else was secondary.
Hence, he first added a bounty, causing Xu Qing to attract more malicious gazes wherever he was. After that, he sent another message.
“Xu Qing, do you dare to come to the battlefield and fight me? It will be just between you and me, and no one else will interfere!”
Xu Qing naturally saw these two messages but he ignored them. He felt that this Dao Child Miao Chen was stupid.
Regardless of whether it was his attitude toward life in the slums or the experience in the Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing wasn’t interested in such a duel.
He preferred to ambush and slit the neck of the enemy. It was clean and efficient.
During this half a month, many things happened at the sect. The most significant event… was the construction of a huge museum in Port 176.
Although this matter was hidden at the start, it was too significant and couldn’t be hidden at all.
Moreover, Zhang San no longer hid anything. Instead, he added fuel to the fire. Very soon, all the cultivators at the sect knew that there was only one item in the museum at Port 176.
That was… the nose piece of the Seventh Ancestral Corpse Statue of the Sea Corpse Race!
This nose piece would be open for exhibition when the museum opened.
Anyone could come and take a look.
As soon as this news was leaked, the Seven Blood Eyes was shaken. Even the Sea Corpse Race heard about it and went crazy with anger. There was nothing that made them feel more humiliated than this.
The Seven Blood Eyes’ ancestor naturally heard of this and was quite happy with it. In fact, he even wrote a few words and got someone to teleport back to the sect from the battlefield to hang in the museum.
There were only three words in this calligraphy.
“Light the Nose.”
Xu Qing received Zhang San’s voice transmission and arrived at the museum that was about to be completed. When he saw the huge nose piece and the words hanging above it, he was stunned.
Zhang San also had a solemn expression.
“What does the ancestor’s words mean?” Xu Qing looked at Zhang San.
“Uhh… is he telling us to burn it with fire? Make it look like it is being burned?” Zhang San muttered in uncertainty.
Just as Xu Qing was about to speak, he suddenly sensed something and looked outside the museum. It was empty.
“What’s wrong?” Zhang San was stunned.
Xu Qing stared there and narrowed his eyes. At the next instant, he suddenly lifted his right hand and a dagger appeared in it. He ruthlessly slashed to the side and the sound of tearing rang out, accompanied by a surprised voice.
“Eh!”
As the sound appeared, the whistling sound of wind rang out from behind Xu Qing. Xu Qing’s expressionless body instantly erupted with two balls of life fire, forming a heat wave that churned in all directions. At the same time, he turned around and punched.
A rumbling sound rang out as Xu Qing took a few steps back. He looked at the empty space not far away. There seemed to be a figure amidst the distortion of the void there and he was also sent a few steps back.
“Chen Erniu.” Xu Qing looked at the distorted area and slowly spoke.
“Call me director!” An exasperated voice came out from there, but the captain’s figure didn’t appear. Zhang San also recognized the captain’s voice and looked in the direction of the distortion in surprise.
“Captain, you’re back!”
“Of course, there wasn’t much danger this time. It was just dozens of Golden Cores chasing after me, but I managed to escape effortlessly. I even went to the battlefield of the Sea Corpse Race and returned from there.”
The captain’s voice rang out from the void. After that, an apple appeared in the air and was bitten.
“Why are you still invisible?” Zhang San was curious.
In the void that Xu Qing and Zhang San couldn’t see, a figure stood there. This person only had one leg and one arm left. His waist was almost broken and there were countless wounds on his body. Several of them even pierced through his body.
His face was bruised and swollen like it was disfigured. His hair was also charred. He was the captain.
He endured the intense pain in his entire body and tried his best to open his swollen eyes, and spoke proudly.
“Its become a habit. I think the invisibility state is not bad. It’s convenient for me to do many things. Also, as your superior, this state can highlight my identity.”
As he spoke, he deliberately held the apple and opened his swollen mouth with all his might. He calmly continued to eat and spoke casually.
“Those dozen or so Golden Core cultivators were toyed around by me. I even had the time to take a look at the First Ancestral Corpse Statue and pee there. Unfortunately, that thing is too big and I can’t move it. Otherwise, I planned to move it back and let you guys pee at it.”
“Moreover, the reason why I’m like this is to take care of Deputy Director Xu. I can enter and exit the Sea Corpse Race with my eyes closed, but Deputy Director Xu can’t. In order to cover for him, I even went to the Sea Corpse Race’s palace to take a look.”
“If it wasn’t for the fact that I came back in a hurry to find you guys, I planned to take a look at the place where the Sea Corpse Race’s ancestor is recuperating and see if I could get anything from him.”
As the captain spoke proudly, his expression twisted from the pain. His injuries seemed to be similar to when he snatched Binding’s flesh, but in reality, his body was about to break into pieces.
Clearly, it wasn’t easy for him to escape alive this time around. However, as a superior, his dignity didn’t allow him to admit it. After he finished speaking, he glanced at Xu Qing and spoke again.
“Deputy Director Xu, I’ve helped you so much this time. Remember to return the 50,000 spirit stones you owe me.”
Xu Qing silently listened to the captain’s words. He lowered his head and looked at the ground. Outsiders couldn’t see the shadow that only he could sense.
At that moment, the shadow was in the shape of a human with a leg and an arm. Its entire body was trembling as it ate an apple.