471 Deviant Ghost
The autumn rain contained coldness. When it landed on a person, it would silently seep into their body. It wasn’t easy to disperse and finally, it would turn into bone-piercing cold.
The tune was like this.
Xu Qing shivered uncontrollably. He thought of the pair of women’s boots he had seen walking over in the blood fog when he was at the scavenger campsite with Captain Lei in the jungle of the forbidden zone.
At that time, he, who was only a Qi Refinement rogue cultivator, had felt a similar coldness that froze his soul and sealed his body.
Now, his cultivation base was extraordinary but he still had the same feeling.
That long, ethereal and feminine singing voice seemed to have materialized and became a soul-stirring funeral tune, causing dozens of the thousand-odd cultivators in the surroundings to tilt and fall from their location.
They fell into the deep, dark pit as though they were devoured.
The remaining people’s minds shook violently and horrified expressions appeared on their faces uncontrollably. This was because the singing voice quavered.
Every letter seemed to contain countless trembling voices, as though the person singing was also afraid.
It was as though they were putting on a show for the dead.
In the entire deep pit, only the sound of this performance echoed. Moreover, even if people blocked their hearing, it was useless. This sound would reverberate in their souls and transform into anomalous substances, breeding in everyone’s minds.
In an instant, as the anomalous substances in the deep pit continued to thicken, the voice that was singing became weaker. In the end, it turned into a soft murmur that was only faintly discernible.
Everyone let out a breath of relief. However, another tune suddenly rang out.
“Previous life, you are not here; I am always in the afterlife. Who cut off lovesickness, who drew the mortal world…”
The song this time was different from before. It wasn’t that soul-stirring or cold. It was clearly a different singer but it was even more sinister, causing one’s mind to tremble. They all looked in the direction Xu Qing was in.
This was because this voice came from there!
Xu Qing abruptly turned his head and looked at the captain.
The captain’s eyes also widened as he looked at Xu Qing.
In Xu Qing’s pupils, he saw his figure and… the white-clothed figure floating behind it.
The person singing was none other than the figure who had appeared behind the captain at some point in time.
The captain narrowed his eyes and his expression was sinister. Another face appeared in his pupils and his entire body emitted a cold aura. He even widened his mouth, revealing his teeth. He suddenly turned his head and took a big bite behind him.
The sound of teeth colliding spread in all directions. One could see how ruthless this bite was.
However, the sound of singing was still there.
However, this time, the sound appeared behind another cultivator. The cultivator’s body trembled and he felt a huge life-and-death crisis. Just as he was about to crush the teleportation jade slip in his hand, at the next instant… a look of confusion appeared in his eyes and he sang a tune. His expression also became sinister.
Immediately after, his body rumbled and the anomalous substances in him instantly erupted to the extreme. He directly mutated!
His back swelled with sarcomas, and his arms became several times thicker. Bone spikes pierced through his flesh and clothes.
His legs were equally thick and exploded at the thigh area. Seven to eight tentacles that were covered in blood-colored mucus grew out from both thighs. The greatest change was his head. His entire head… transformed into a huge blue eye.
His figure suddenly disappeared and when he reappeared, he was in front of a small sect cultivator. That cultivator wasn’t ordinary either. He immediately performed a series of hand seals; flames appeared in the surroundings and enveloped the mutated cultivator.
However, it was useless. A tentacle stretched out from the flames and directly penetrated the cultivator’s mouth.
The cultivator screamed. His body was lifted high and his stomach continued to expand until it exploded.
From the location of the explosion, the tentacle that stretched into his body swung out and continued to shake, causing flesh and blood to splatter everywhere.
This scene caused everyone to gasp.
The mutated cultivator’s body swayed, displaying astonishing speed as he charged toward another person.
In an instant, screams and cries echoed endlessly.
A few breaths later, the mutated cultivator who had killed many people appeared beside Xu Qing.
The moment it appeared, it hugged Xu Qing. A ghastly mouth appeared on its stomach, wanting to devour him.
As the danger in the deep pit was revealed, the selfishness of human nature was also exposed. There were clearly more than a thousand people in the surroundings and there was not even a need for them to attack together. As long as seven to eight of them joined forces, no matter how fast this mutated cultivator was, it would be useless.
However, everyone had different thoughts. Many people took advantage of the moment when the mutated cultivator attacked others and headed straight into the depths of the deep pit, avoiding the danger here.
There were hundreds of such people. Some decisively crushed their jade talismans and chose to leave, unwilling to continue participating.
The scene was very chaotic.
Xu Qing didn’t bother with these. The instant the mutated cultivator arrived, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. He didn’t retreat but charged forward instead, instantly approaching the mutated cultivator. He then punched out.
The three Heavenly Palaces in his body and the Golden Crow erupted with strength.
The mutated cultivator let out a pained cry and retreated.
However, not long after it retreated, an ice-cold aura came from behind it. The captain silently appeared, and his eyes revealed a dark glint as he grabbed the body of the mutated cultivator. He then opened his mouth and bit down on the blue eye.
An even more loud scream rang out from the mouth on the mutated cultivator’s stomach. Xu Qing arrived and punched again.
Finally, with a loud bang, the mutated cultivator’s body exploded into pieces, scattering toward the deep pit below.
At that moment, there were only dozens of cultivators left. The others had either teleported away or had already moved down.
“Little Qing, let’s split up. We have to hurry up.” The captain spat to the side, looking like it didn’t taste good.
Xu Qing nodded and the two of them immediately fell down.
They were very fast. As he sped, Xu Qing saw the disciples of the various forces who had left earlier.
These people were all fighting now. Some of their opponents were the white figures that had appeared earlier, while others were mutated cultivators who had been possessed by these figures.
There were many of them and most of them were fighting fiercely.
To dare to come to this trial, they naturally had some methods, and they were on the winning side.
However, due to having no time to teleport away, many disciples died.
This qualification test was indeed incomparably dangerous.
Xu Qing avoided these disputes. The deeper he went, the more intense the coldness. The feeling of oppression also became increasingly powerful and suffocating.
In the end, he could even hear his rumbling heartbeat. Moreover, his vision had become blurry and he couldn’t see clearly.
It would take a while for him to get used to it. When he saw his surroundings clearly again, Xu Qing noticed that some cave forks would occasionally appear on the surrounding mud walls. Clearly, there wasn’t only one path in this underground world.
However, the stench didn’t decrease because of the forks. Instead, it became even stronger.
In addition, Xu Qing hadn’t seen a single fragment needed to obtain the qualifications to participate in the Sword Holder’s trial.
He understood that this was because too many people had left earlier. Naturally, all the fragments that could be easily found had been taken out.
Xu Qing looked around. With a sway of his body, he landed at the edge of a deep pit where the soil was protruding. He stood there and looked above.
The sounds of the battle above could be heard faintly. Occasionally, droplets of blood would fall. As for the cold air below, it was intense and the sound of singing was still faintly discernible.
The captain was no longer around. The two of them had agreed earlier that they would act separately. After all, they were searching for items, and the efficiency of splitting up would be higher.
“I won’t go to other paths. I’ll follow this place to its end.”
Xu Qing leaped up, continuing to whistle down.
Gradually, he got deeper and deeper and the surroundings became darker. When the sense of enclosed space became even more obvious, Xu Qing suddenly paused. He took a few steps back and hung in the air, looking ahead.
There was a fork in the cave there.
A figure stood at the edge.
That figure was an old man wearing a black robe. He didn’t emit any aura, as though he had fused with the surrounding darkness. It was very easy to ignore him.
His hands were hanging down. Upon closer inspection, Xu Qing noticed that all ten fingers of his hands had long black fingernails that were very sharp.
His back was facing Xu Qing and his face couldn’t be seen.
He could only see that his body was slightly tilted, as though he was listening to the singing sounds coming from the bottom of the deep pit. He seemed to be listening very seriously.
However, in this ghost cave, the appearance of this figure would make anyone who saw him vigilant.
Xu Qing stared at the figure. His gaze first swept past this sinister figure before looking at the soil beside the other party. There were three fragments stabbed into the soil!
These three fragments were what Xu Qing needed.
Xu Qing fell silent. He didn’t believe that no one had passed by this place but the fragments were still there. From this, he could determine that the other disciples who passed by this place were either dead or didn’t dare to make a move and couldn’t obtain the fragments.
Xu Qing thought about it and first checked his surroundings. After confirming that there were no ambushes here, he transmitted his divine sense to the shadow.
At the next instant, the shadow extended and quickly approached the old man who was listening to the song. It rolled up a fragment and was about to pull it back.
However, at this moment, the old man lifted his hand and pressed it on the fragment with such great force that the soil rumbled.
After that, he turned his head and an expressionless green face was reflected in Xu Qing’s eyes.
It was like a zombie.
His empty eyes emitted waves of red light as he stared fixedly at Xu Qing. The corners of his mouth gradually split open, revealing sharp teeth.
At the next instant, a fiendish intent erupted as he rushed toward Xu Qing.
His fingernails seemed to have cut through the void, emitting a sharp sound of air being torn apart as he grabbed fiercely at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. The instant the fishy smell hit his face, his upper body leaned back.
Seeing the zombie old man’s pitch-black right hand whistling past in front of him, Xu Qing took advantage of the situation and fell. He twisted his body, with his head below and his right foot above, and all his cultivation base erupted. The power of his physical body gathered in his right foot and he kicked fiercely at the old man’s chin!
Boom!
The zombie old man’s head cracked and distorted irregularly. His body was even kicked back hundreds of feet by Xu Qing’s kick.
At the same time, the shadow quickly swept up the three fragments and headed straight for Xu Qing.
However, at the next instant, the zombie old man’s head suddenly swayed and he turned his head back. The red light in his eyes intensified and his hostility soared to the extreme. Raging anomalous substances rose from his entire body.
Waves of beast-like roars rang out from his mouth as his speed erupted, heading toward Xu Qing malevolently.
He instantly got close and bit Xu Qing’s neck.