459 Establishing Power
A cold glint appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. As he lifted his right hand, a figure was grabbed by the neck from the void behind him and pulled out fiercely.
The figure struggled but it was useless. At the next instant, it revealed itself clearly. It was still Li Ziliang but his face was rapidly turning black.
Xu Qing’s hand had poison.
The moment he touched Li Ziliang, the other party was already poisoned and was rotting.
At that moment, the fleeing Li Ziliang’s body turned blurry and dissipated.
“How did you know I was here! Impossible! Moreover, you don’t have any doubts even now. You… what exactly did you experience in the past? How can your determination be so firm!!”
Li Ziliang, whose neck was grabbed by Xu Qing, revealed horror and disbelief in his eyes as he cried out involuntarily.
If it were the opponents he had encountered before, most of their expressions would have changed and they would have chased after him regardless of the cost to silence him. After all, everyone had secrets, and it would be obvious to them that their secrets had been seen through.
His words were half-truths which could easily make the others be filled with doubts. When others heard them, they would instinctively have distracting thoughts. Their attention would also be on his fleeing figure and they would chase after him.
This was his goal!
Li Ziliang didn’t have any deduction power and didn’t know any divination techniques at all. However, the spells of the Grand Affairs Immortal Sect were mysterious and focused on domain.
However, he hadn’t cultivated the domain yet and had only reached the level of will.
The so-called will wasn’t a literal meaning but an even more complicated one. The word ‘will’ encompassed emotions.
To be precise, what he cultivated was doubt. As long as the enemy had doubts when facing him, he could instantly sense them and turn them into his trump card that could burn the enemy’s soul.
In the past, he had used this move to kill many people. Other than when he used it against the Dao Child Zhang Siyun, no one else had been able to avoid it.
He originally thought that today would be the same. As long as Xu Qing had distracting thoughts, he could unleash his trump card. As long as Xu Qing rushed out and targeted his clone, he could secretly attack. Coupled with his trump card, it would be a fatal blow.
However, today, he encountered a second failure.
He survived the first time, but he wouldn’t be able to survive this failure.
Xu Qing didn’t have the habit of explaining to the enemy. At that moment, amidst Li Ziliang’s struggle, his right hand instantly turned transparent and directly entered the other party’s Heavenly Palace. With a pull, he took out four crystal-like golden cores.
An ear splitting scream spread in all directions. At this moment of life-and-death crisis, despair appeared in Li Ziliang’s eyes as he spoke anxiously.
“Someone asked me to probe you. That’s why I challenged you previously. Xu Qing, don’t kill me. You just have to let me leave and I’ll tell you who it is…”
Xu Qing’s expression was calm. A dagger manifested in his left hand and he sliced open Li Ziliang’s neck.
Blood splattered everywhere and flowed down.
It stained his clothes and scattered on the ground. Compared to the white snow, the pool of blood was very eye-catching.
Li Ziliang clutched his neck and looked at Xu Qing in a daze. His eyes were filled with disbelief, as though he couldn’t understand why Xu Qing didn’t stop and let him speak.
After all, if it was anyone else, they would at least ask.
Although he didn’t dare to say who that person was, he could deliberately mystify things and say other names to lure the disaster away. Moreover, he had already thought of who to refer, such as Saintly Star’s father or Xu Qing’s fellow disciples.
It would naturally be best if he succeeded. If he didn’t, he could also use this to exchange for the other party’s doubts and complete the fatal blow he hadn’t been able to carry out.
However, Xu Qing actually didn’t have any intention of listening, causing all his plans to be for naught.
Hence, at this moment, resentment appeared in his eyes. However, this resentment had no roots. In the end, as his body fell, everything turned into eternal regret.
Actually, he already regretted it.
He regretted being greedy for the benefits that person had given him and helping the other party probe Xu Qing. He challenged him many times and even detained his fellow disciples and demanded him to apologize, just to force him to fight.
He regretted being greedy and thinking that he had a chance of winning this battle.
He regretted even more. He shouldn’t have cared about his face and accepted this life-and-death battle.
However, this still couldn’t compare to his confusion. Even until his death, he didn’t know why Xu Qing didn’t have the slightest doubt from the start to the end.
Now, everything had become regret and the past.
The world was pitch-black in front of him, as though someone had closed a curtain for him.
The scene outside the city was quiet.
Only sporadic snowflakes were stirred up by the wind and slowly fell from the sky, floating on the corpse and covering the blood.
Very soon… the blood could no longer be seen. Only Li Ziliang’s corpse remained motionless.
Xu Qing’s expression was calm. He had heard the other party’s words and both believed and didn’t believe it.
He believed that someone had indeed instigated it because this matched his previous analysis.
However, he didn’t believe anything else.
At the end of the day, it was because Xu Qing trusted too few people. Hence, most of the time, he only trusted himself.
This was because it was obvious that the person who could arrange for Li Ziliang to probe was someone who the latter couldn’t refuse. If the latter really said the other party’s name, even if Li Ziliang survived, his future would be very miserable.
Hence, there was a high chance that the name he said would be fake.
Xu Qing felt that it wasn’t worth it to exchange a fake name for a life.
This was his personality and habit. When he sensed danger but couldn’t find the owner of that malicious intent, breaking their claws and teeth in a ruthless manner was also a form of deterrence.
As for the answer to Li Ziliang’s doubts, it was actually very simple.
Xu Qing believed in himself, his judgment, and his memories.
“Xu Qing, I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Do you still remember the hatred between us…”
This was Li Ziliang’s first sentence. However, he didn’t know that Xu Qing’s enemies were all engraved on the bamboo slip. He often took a look at it and wouldn’t forget his enemies even if he forgot everything else.
“I know why you don’t recognize me. Your body… you were actually…”
This second sentence could not stir up the slightest ripple in Xu Qing’s emotions. This was because it had become a habit for him to hide secrets.
This gave him confidence in his secrets. Unless the other party directly pointed it out, he wouldn’t be moved at all.
At the end of the day, it wasn’t that Li Ziliang’s will seed technique wasn’t powerful enough, but he didn’t understand Xu Qing and couldn’t say the words that could truly stir Xu Qing’s heart.
“Flashy,” Xu Qing said calmly. This was the only thing he said since the battle began.
After a short period of silence, an uproar broke out in Absolute Beginning Separation City. Waves of exclamations rang out from the mouths of the disciples of the various forces who were standing in the air.
“Dead?”
“This… this is too fast! He shattered the Heavenly Palaces and slit his throat with a single strike!”
“He really dares!!”
“We can’t afford to offend this Xu Qing. This person is really ruthless. He killed Li Ziliang the moment he attacked… How ruthless! As expected of the only person in the Eight Sects Alliance who enjoys the treatment of a Dao Child!”
Gasps continuously rang out and discussions erupted. The disciples from the various forces and rogue cultivators here were all shocked.
They were shocked by Xu Qing’s speed and ruthlessness. They couldn’t see through the Bizarre Nether Dao Snatching Art but they could see the withering of Li Ziliang’s corpse and the ear splitting scream before he died.
This allowed them to imagine how painful it was for Li Ziliang at that time.
The coldness of that strike caused one to instinctively feel a chill in their hearts. It was as though Xu Qing, who was standing there, had become a fiend in their eyes.
All of this caused everyone’s expressions to turn solemn, especially the Golden Core cultivators. They looked at Xu Qing with deep fear.
Even the experts leading the teams from the various forces paid attention to this battle. Many of them looked at the bases of the Grand Affairs Immortal Sect and the Eight Sects Alliance.
The Grand Affairs Immortal Sect was silent.
It was the same for the Eight Sects Alliance.
They were all waiting. Even though this matter was clear and there had been precedents before, they still had to wait for the Sword Holding Court to give their conclusion.
Not long later, a cold voice rang out from above the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar.
“What a daring and decisive kid!”
“If it was a peaceful era, with your personality, you definitely wouldn’t be able to live for long. But now… what my Sword Holding Court needs is such a wolf cub!”
“The Seven Blood Eyes has produced a good seedling.”
“Kid, I’m looking forward to your results in the assessment!”
The voice echoed in all directions, and Xue Lianzi’s laughter rang out from the Eight Sects Alliance.
“Xu Qing, thank the lord for his appreciation.”
Xu Qing felt a little hesitant about this evaluation of daring. A guess rose in his mind and he bowed to the sky.
“Thank you, Lord!”
As the Sword Holding Court had spoken, this matter was also decided. After all, although there had been no deaths until now in this assessment, it had happened in the past.
Although the Sword Holding Court didn’t tacitly agree or advocate it, if there were deaths outside the city, it wouldn’t be considered a violation of the rules.
Xue Lianzi knew this, and so did the Grand Affairs Immortal Sect.
The thoughts of a large sect wouldn’t be shallow. Very soon, cultivators from the Grand Affairs Immortal Sect arrived and took away Li Ziliang’s corpse.
Xu Qing also stepped into the Absolute Beginning Separation City again. However, this time, his step was different from before.
Previously, his words and actions weren’t paid too much attention. Most of them were private discussions about him avoiding the challenges. Now, wherever he passed, he received reverence and people made way for him.
No one thought that he was avoiding the challenges anymore. Instead, they understood why he had rejected those challenges previously. It was because the eagle was naturally not interested in the challenge from the sparrow.
On the Absolute Beginning Separation Pillar, in front of the Sword Holding Court’s palace, two Sword Holders stood there. One of them was an old man and the other was a middle-aged man. At that moment, they were looking at the ground below and their gazes were on Xu Qing.
If Xu Qing was here, he would be able to recognize these two.
The old man was one of the three people who fought against the Spirit Venerable Nether Fairy back then. The middle-aged man also appeared on the campaign against Three Spirits Suppression Mountain. He was the mighty and extraordinary second stage Nihility cultivator who fought against Spirit Venerable Embryonic Light.
“Is it this kid?” This imposing and extraordinary middle-aged man was also wearing an official’s uniform. He glanced at Xu Qing on the ground and calmly spoke.