871 The Wind Blows, but the Fire Isn’t Extinguished
Ten days later.
This was especially so for his eyes.
His cultivation base far exceeded that of before. Among his 13 nascent souls, other than the Golden Crow and Purple Moon, the others had also improved greatly. Although they hadn’t reached the perfected first tribulation, they weren’t far from it.
“That lump of heavenly mandate is extremely precious.”
A deep glint appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. If he was given a few more lumps of heavenly mandate like that, he was certain that all his nascent souls would reach the perfected first tribulation.
“As expected of the heavenly mandates of a Spirit Repository cultivator. Even though she was only at the initial Dao Nurturing stage, the depth of her heavenly mandate isn’t something a Nascent Soul cultivator can compare to.”
Xu Qing mumbled inwardly as his eyes gleamed. His soul had finally completely recovered during these ten days of recuperation.
In addition, he could clearly sense that his recovered soul was slightly more refined than before.
“After I return the eyeball, I’ll leave this place!”
Xu Qing looked at the Heavenly Fire Sea below. There must be many secrets in this sea area.
For example, was there another sealed place under the sea or in the depths of the Heavenly Fire Sea, where the source of the flames flowing in the crack in the sky was? He had yet to go there.
“I won’t explore it for now. More than half a year has passed. I have to meet up with Eldest Senior Brother as soon as possible.”
Xu Qing looked at his wrist. There was a ring-shaped mark there. It was formed by Ling’er.
This was the agreement Xu Qing had made with Ling’er before he left the human city in the mine.
Due to the dangers of the places Xu Qing cultivated in, Ling’er chose to transform into a mark and sleep. This way, the degree of safety would be greater.
Now, the danger was resolved. At the thought of returning to the city in the mines, a smile appeared on Xu Qing’s face as he gently knocked on the mark.
“Ling’er, wake up.”
“We are going to the mine.”
The mark flickered a few times and Ling’er crawled out. Her eyes were hazy from sleep. After hearing Xu Qing’s words, her eyes lit up and she instantly sobered up.
“Are we going back? That’s great. Brother Xu Qing, should we stay for a while more this time?”
“Then let’s stay for half a month.”
Hearing the laughter, Xu Qing’s mood also relaxed.
The nervousness he felt at the bottom of the sea earlier was slowly appeased. However, Xu Qing was very cautious. He knew the status of the human race here and also knew that he couldn’t expose that mineshaft.
Hence, while flying, he paid special attention to this point.
After confirming that there were no traces left, Xu Qing left the Heavenly Fire Sea and headed straight for the mineshaft.
On his way, he stopped once and looked down at the ground, where a small red flower was growing in the cracks of the rocks.
This small flower grew alone, swaying in the hot wind.
This was the first time Xu Qing had seen vegetation in this area.
It was very difficult for vegetation to exist in this special climate. Only some special plants would bloom after the heavenly fire crossing the sky phenomenon was over.
For example, this little flower was one of them.
It was a precious medicinal herb.
There was an introduction of it in Grandmaster Bai’s medical book. It was called the fire spirit flower and it only grew in hot places.
Looking at this fire spirit flower, Xu Qing was surprised. He landed and plucked it, placing it in a small transparent bottle.
“Panyan asked about this flower before.” Xu Qing smiled. After he kept it, he continued moving.
He moved while hiding his traces. After three days, Xu Qing finally saw the mineshaft from afar.
When he thought of Duanmu Zang and the student he had accepted, Xu Qing sighed with emotion.
“It’s a pity that I don’t have a way to neutralize the curse at the moment, but give me some time and I can give it a try.”
Xu Qing mumbled inwardly and walked over. However, when he was 10,000 feet away from the abandoned mineshaft, Xu Qing suddenly stopped in his tracks. His pupils narrowed as he focused his gaze and looked 10,000 feet away.
That place was a little different from when he left.
There was originally a large amount of rubble piled up at the entrance of the mineshaft. Moreover, it melted under the heavenly fire and became one body. There were only a few gaps that could be used to enter and exit.
However, at that moment, the entrance of the mineshaft was in pieces.
This scene caused Xu Qing’s heart to tremble. Ling’er also saw everything. Her swaying body stopped and her voice trembled slightly.
“Brother Xu Qing…”
As he approached the entrance of the mine, a strong smell of blood wafted out from inside the mine, reaching his nostrils and entering Ling’er’s senses.
Ling’er trembled.
Xu Qing’s breathing was hurried. He circulated his cultivation base and rushed forward.
The smell of blood in the mine was even stronger.
After speeding for dozens of breaths, he stopped in his tracks and saw seven to eight corpses on the ground in front of him.
Xu Qing fell silent and walked over step by step, looking at the corpses.
He recognized them.
These corpses belonged to the humans in the city. They were all guards with some cultivation.
Xu Qing closed his eyes. When he opened them, a cold glint appeared in his eyes as he rushed forward again. On the way, he saw more and more corpses. When he reached the end, there was a huge hole in the wall.
The first layer of the tomb was now a mess and filled with traces of fighting.
The center of this layer had collapsed.
Further down, a silent city was revealed.
The blue curtain in the sky had already shattered into pieces and was mercilessly torn apart, scattering onto the city.
It was the same for the white clouds.
Corpses were scattered everywhere. There were men, women, and children.
Their deaths were very tragic. Some had their bodies cut off, some had half of their bodies turned into minced meat, and some had their bodies torn into pieces. It was obvious that their bodies had been shattered by some violent force.
The laughter from before had now turned into dead silence.
The warmth and friendship in his memories had now turned cold.
The tomb had truly become a tomb.
Most of the houses had collapsed and the stench of blood was present everywhere.
Ling’er instantly flew out and headed straight for the city. Fishbone, where the Diamond Sect’s ancestor was, also rushed forward while trembling. After they rushed into the city, they both stopped there.
At the next moment, Ling’er started crying. The Diamond Sect’s ancestor’s body manifested and his eyes were red.
Xu Qing silently walked closer and looked at the familiar city and everything. His heart ached and there seemed to be a shocking roar echoing in his mind.
Xu Qing had seen death many times.
However, he couldn’t get used to all of this, nor could he get used to this scene.
The scenes of the two months he had lived here surfaced in his mind, transforming into the source of the intense pain.
“Brother Xu Qing, they… they…” Ling’er flew over. Her crying revealed extreme sorrow. She had seen the familiar elder sisters and aunties among those corpses.
She couldn’t accept that the people who had smiled and taught her how to cook a few months ago had now become torn corpses.
The Diamond Sect’s ancestor instantly returned to Xu Qing’s side and looked at him. His eyes revealed anger and pleading. He had seen his audience among those corpses.
Xu Qing was expressionless and an endless chill rose from his body. He didn’t say a word and carefully observed his surroundings, confirming the time of the deaths and the details.
“There are more than 100,000 people and less than 1,000 corpses in total.”
“This means that most of the people should still be alive.”
“It’s impossible for the capturers to move fast with so many people.”
“According to the decaying extent of the corpses, the time of death should have been five days ago…”
“With Duanmu Zang’s cultivation and the arrangements here, the ones who can find this place and move so many people have to be the two races’ alliance.”
“The Red Moon Shrine has arrived… Duanmu Zang once said that the temple needs the various races to send tributes every once in a while…”
Xu Qing turned around and waved his right hand. He instantly kept Ling’er and the Diamond Sect’s ancestor and rushed out.
“Brother Xu Qing, we…” Ling’er’s heart was in a mess. Sadness and anxiety filled her heart.
“We’ll go find them,” Xu Qing said softly. The coldness in his eyes had already become extremely dense.
He used his fastest speed to rush out of the mine and observed the outside world, searching for traces.
However, after five days under the high temperature here, all traces were very faint. The only effective clue was to go to the holy city of the two races.
However, this place was very far from the holy city and there was more than one path. Moreover, it was unknown if the two races would send the humans to the holy city.
In addition, once Xu Qing’s judgment was wrong and this wasn’t done by the two races, he would lose the best time to rescue them.
Just as Xu Qing was pondering, Ling’er wiped her tears. Her eyes were filled with determination as she spoke.
“Brother Xu Qing, I can find the traces. This is the tomb of the Ancient Spirit Race. They have lived here for many years and their bodies are tainted with the aura of the Ancient Spirit Race. I can find them!”
Saying that, Ling’er’s body shook, heading straight into the air. In an instant, her whole body emitted a rainbow-colored light. As the light surrounded her body, her form gradually changed, and soon, a tall figure appeared before Xu Qing.
This figure’s entire body was blurry and its details couldn’t be seen clearly. However, there were dragon and snake phantoms surrounding it and roaring.
“The south!”
Ling’er’s voice was ethereal and echoed in all directions.
Xu Qing didn’t hesitate at all and brought Ling’er straight to the south.
At that moment, 5,000 kilometers south of where Xu Qing was, a long convoy was moving at a low altitude.
There were ten huge iron cages in this convoy. Each of them was like a small mountain and was pulled by giant beasts.
In the metal cages, there were countless humans piled up like goods. Those at the bottom had already died and were crushed into meat paste, but most of them were still alive.
However, the eyes of those who were alive were listless and numb. They were better off dead than alive. Humans were inferior to animals.
The ones escorting this convoy were none other than the cultivators of the two races.
In order to ensure that most of these mortals survived, they couldn’t move quickly. They could only rely on this method to escort them.
As for teleportation, it was impossible for the two races to spend too much money to save this little time.
At that moment, the cultivators from the two races who were escorting the cages with complicated expressions were sitting on a carriage and chatting occasionally.
“We’re almost at the holy city. There are seven more days.”
“This mission is a tiring one. However, the number of these humans is a little unexpected. There are actually so many of them.”
“It’s a good thing to have more. This way, our tributes and foreigners obtained elsewhere will be enough.”
As they spoke, a few Heavenly Mask Race members took out a few human corpses and ate them.
The sound of flesh and bones being crushed echoed in all directions in this dim world.
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