380 There Must Be a Reason for the Abnormality
It was very difficult for others to notice such details. Only Xu Qing would pay attention to the shadows of others because of the strangeness of his shadow.
The instant Xu Qing looked over, his shadow immediately emitted excitement.
“Similar… type… devour…”
This time around, there was no need for the Diamond Sect’s ancestor to translate. Xu Qing already understood what the shadow wanted to express. His eyes narrowed slightly.
After a long time, he slowly spoke.
“There must be a reason for this abnormality.”
“This is especially so for the water diversion matter. It doesn’t seem like they are really going to divert it. It seems more like it’s to attract our attention.”
When the captain saw this scene, he smiled and gave the order.
“A call for help? Interesting. Men, bring the king of this small country here and ask him about the reason. This feels a little fishy. It’s not like they don’t know the rules of the alliance’s tacit approval.”
Not long later, as rays of light approached, the Seven Blood Eyes’ disciples brought a fat old man in a yellow robe to the ship. The instant he arrived, the old man’s body trembled and he knelt down with a plop.
“Immortals, please save my small country!!”
As the king cried, Xu Qing and the captain gradually learned of the reason.
This small country was called Chiri Country.
Its founder was a Foundation Building cultivator of a small sect. Because he had no hope of breaking through, he moved here and formed a family. After that, he gathered refugees and the place gradually became a small country.
Life was usually difficult but under the protection of a small sect that worshiped the Grand Affairs Misfortune Passing Mountain, they were able to live in safety. Coupled with food that contained anomalous substances, they could still carry on with their lives.
Although most of their lifespans were short, in this world, there was nothing else they could ask for.
However, all of this changed with the appearance of the tributary of the Immortal Enrichment River.
The source of the change was the Grand Affairs Misfortune Passing Mountain. The chaotic forces there were already fighting daily.
The appearance of the tributary led them to expanding their territories. A month ago, the small sect that had provided them with protection was destroyed by three nonhuman rogue cultivators.
After the sect was killed and its members eaten, these three nonhuman rogue cultivators occupied this place.
Because they revered Three Spirits Suppression Mountain, they called themselves the Little Three Spirits and demanded all the nearby small countries to send a large amount of river water in exchange for peace.
If they couldn’t deliver the quantity within the specified time, they would go to that country and eat a thousand people. In the end, the country would either be devoured or would deliver enough river water.
These Little Three Spirits had clearly learned of the tacit agreement of the Eight Sects Alliance to the human race. That was why they made such a demand.
After all, the Eight Sects Alliance wouldn’t stop mortals from collecting water.
They required a large amount of river water, but they didn’t dare to divert the water. Hence, they came up with such a plan.
“We’ve already passed the deadline. Those Little Three Spirits come here every day to eat a thousand people and leave in the morning. If the amount of river water isn’t enough tomorrow, they’ll come again. I have no choice but to divert the water to attract the attention of the immortals.” The king was also a cultivator but he was only at the Qi Condensation Realm. At this moment, his voice was trembling.
Xu Qing’s previous guess was correct. Diverting the water was their way of saving themselves.
At that moment, his gaze was deep as he glanced at the king’s shadow on the deck under the setting sun.
The left ear of the other party’s shadow was also gone.
Whether deliberately or not, the king was tilting his head slightly and due to the angle, it was even harder for others to see the missing left ear on his shadow clearly.
Only those who were looking for it could see the details of the shadow the instant the king bowed.
“Little Three Spirits?” The captain narrowed his eyes. Xu Qing’s gaze was deep. The two of them were experienced, and the captain was even more shrewd. He could naturally tell if what the king said was true or false.
In Xu Qing’s opinion, what the king said was true but it was obvious that the other party was hiding something.
However, they didn’t make a decision immediately. Instead, after asking about the location of the Little Three Spirits, they arranged for some disciples to go investigate. After waiting for a few hours, the disciples returned with news. The captain smiled and looked at Xu Qing.
“The strongest are three two-fires Foundation Building cultivators?” The captain pressed his right hand on the ship. After opening the ship’s array formation, an invisible ripple spread out and instantly swept in all directions.
The range was extremely large and the captain had adjusted it to the designated area. After relying on the array formation to investigate again and confirming that there were no Golden Core cultivators in the designated area, he nodded.
“The alliance’s detection array formation is indeed very useful. Xu Qing, why don’t we send some people to destroy those Little Three Spirits?” As he spoke, the captain arranged for the Seven Blood Eyes disciples behind him to go over and deal with this matter.
Xu Qing suddenly spoke.
“Eldest Senior Brother, I’ll go with them.”
The captain glanced at Xu Qing with a spurious smile but didn’t ask further. He then nodded.
“Do you need me to come?”
“It’s not convenient.” Xu Qing thought about it and shook his head. He didn’t plan to deliberately hide it.
Moreover, Xu Qing felt that even if the captain didn’t notice it now, he would still be able to see some clues when he recalled it later.
After all, one could never underestimate anyone.
Rather than the captain making wild guesses later, it was better to directly tell him that this was his secret.
Xu Qing’s judgment wasn’t wrong. After the captain heard Xu Qing’s words, his smile was deep and he didn’t ask further.
Xu Qing’s body swayed and he soared into the air, summoning a hundred Seven Blood Eyes disciples. The group of them headed straight for the distant Grand Affairs Misfortune Passing Mountain.
Even though he repeatedly confirmed that there was not going to be any issues, Xu Qing’s personality still made him summon more people.
Looking at Xu Qing’s back view, the captain’s eyes revealed satisfaction.
“Little Qing indeed doesn’t treat me as an outsider. In that case, I won’t be overly curious. Everyone has their own secrets.”
The captain took out an apple and glanced at the shadow under the trembling king’s feet and the missing left ear. He chuckled and called for the fleet to stop sailing, waiting for Xu Qing to return.
At that moment, in the air above the Grand Affairs Misfortune Passing Mountain, Xu Qing was whistling over with more than a hundred Seven Blood Eyes disciples from the various peaks.
30% of these team members were at the Perfected Qi Condensation Realm and the rest were at the Foundation Building Realm.
Those who could join the Special Security Department were naturally not ordinary people. They selected the best among the best. Although most of them hadn’t formed their life fire, there were about 20 people with one ball of life fire. There were six people with two fires and one with three fires.
The little mute was among them. His cultivation was at the Perfected Qi Condensation Realm but his ferocity was extremely great. When he fought, he didn’t care about his life. Among Qi Condensation cultivators, he could already be considered an outstanding talent.
With such a scale, unless they encountered a Golden Core with two palaces or more, they would be able to sweep through the enemies.
As he got closer, the Grand Affairs Misfortune Passing Mountain was clearly reflected in Xu Qing’s eyes. There were countless mountains in this mountain range and it was filled with dense forests. Under the illumination of the dusk, the forests seemed to be hiding demons and monsters.
The sunlight wasn’t even able to pass through the trees to the ground, causing it to be pitch-black.
Some of the ground was muddy, and some had cracks that hid countless dangers and bizarre entities.
As soon as he got close, Xu Qing heard the bizarre fluctuations made by the dense forest in the distance. This fluctuation was very far away and wasn’t the target of his trip. However, Xu Qing only glanced at it and a malicious intent instantly rose from that direction, enveloping the surroundings of Xu Qing and the others.
Xu Qing’s expression was as calm as ever. The shadow under his feet grinned.
Almost at the instant its mouth split open, the malice formed by the bizarre entity instantly disappeared. It was as though it was shocked and disappeared without a trace.
Xu Qing continued to fly toward his destination. Gradually, a stench spread out from the dense forest of the black mountain. One could see the heads of many humanoid beasts and nonhuman races hanging on the trees here. Blood dripped onto the rotting bones under the trees.
There were also swamps on the ground formed from the blood and flesh.
Everything was imitating the acts of the Three Spirits Suppression Mountain. Xu Qing frowned and coldly looked at the middle of the mountain in the distance. There was a large cave there and the commotion from there spread in the wind.
There were some malevolent-looking nonhumans carrying charred human and beast corpses as they walked into the cave.
This scene caused Xu Qing’s eyes to turn increasingly cold as he calmly spoke.
“Kill. Other than the main culprits, don’t leave a single one alive!”
“Yes!” After the hundred-odd disciples behind him spoke in unison, they transformed into rainbows that headed straight ahead and instantly arrived at the entrance of the cave.
The nonhumans carrying the food were shocked. Before they could make a sound, their heads had already flown up into the air.
The person who attacked was the little mute. He held a dagger in his hand and licked the blood from the dagger. He then crouched down and moved forward at an extremely fast speed, heading straight for the cave.
The others also rushed in. In an instant, furious roars rang out from the cave, and shouts and cries echoed.
Xu Qing was expressionless as he walked over step by step. The black iron stick floated beside him and his shadow spread out on the ground.
As Xu Qing stepped into the cave which was now filled with corpses.
Occasionally, the Diamond Sect’s ancestor would let out a sinister laugh and control the iron stick to penetrate the corpses. Every time this happened, the penetrated corpse would scream and die completely.
Clearly, they were pretending to be dead.
The shadow didn’t bother with these people who were pretending to be dead. It emitted an intense desire and pointed the way, bringing Xu Qing deeper into the cave.
As the sounds of fighting in front of him disappeared, Xu Qing walked to the deepest part of the cave.
There was a huge space here. One could see a ten-foot-long hole above from which the night sky was visible.
There were a large number of shattered tables, food, and corpses of nonhumans on the ground.
All the disciples of the Special Security Department were here. They captured more than 20 nonhumans alive and made them kneel.
Fear appeared in the eyes of these nonhumans. Among them, three had two balls of life fire and were heavily injured. They looked at Xu Qing who was walking toward them in fear.
“Upper Sect, we…” The one who spoke was a cultivator with flames as hair and scales all over his body. He was also one of the Little Three Spirits.
Xu Qing didn’t bother with him and waved his hand. Before the nonhuman could finish speaking, his head exploded.
This scene caused the other subdued nonhumans to gasp in fear. They were extremely afraid and didn’t dare to speak.
Xu Qing also didn’t speak. His calm gaze swept past the shadows of these nonhumans one by one and finally gathered on a nonhuman with wings on his back.
This nonhuman was also one of the Little Three Spirits.
He trembled as he looked at Xu Qing. Just as he was about to speak, his expression suddenly distorted. Somehow, he broke free from the restraints and stood up, fleeing straight for the cave exit above.
His speed was extremely fast.
However, his eyes revealed disbelief and horror. It was as though what controlled his body was no longer his own will.
It wasn’t Xu Qing’s shadow either.
It was the shadow of the nonhuman himself!