Xu Qing ignored Yanyan. His research into the black beetles had still not yielded the results he sought. The way they ate the target from the outside in was definitely not what he wanted.

I think I need to pick between two possible directions of research. One is big beetles, and the other is small ones….

After some thought, he picked the latter.

That would be the key to killing silently. After making some adjustments to his methods, he continued with his work. He felt good about the decision. It was like he was a scholar doing research, constantly adjusting his methods as he sought the answer to the question.

In addition to zombie poison, he added other types of poisons he had created over the past two years. Although those poisons seemed ordinary in nature, when the beetles ate them, they gave them a powerful ability to resist poisons.

If this works, then I’m going to have created a truly unique new kind of poison. A living poison.

Compared with all the other poisons he had invented already, this one definitely stacked up on top.

Of course, as time passed, Xu Qing went through spirit stones like crazy, and that didn’t make him happy. He had purchased numerous medicinal plants in his efforts, including some that were very expensive. In the end, he focused on poison plants, which he fed to the little black beetles. At the same time, his constant experimentation allowed him to identify certain plants that caused the black beetles to grow smaller.

Unfortunately his methods weren’t perfect. Because he constantly had to adjust dosages, he also constantly needed subjects to experiment on. The Earth Bureau prisoners were all dead, and Xu Qing had the feeling the Heaven Bureau prisoners wouldn’t keep him going for very long. It was frustrating, because he was reaching a critical point in the process.

I wonder if I should go out to sea….

After some thought, he gave up on that idea, and instead took out his identity medallion to post some missions for the Violent Crimes Division.

Shortly thereafter, the constables in the Seventh Peak’s Violent Crimes Division went mad in the Port District, arresting people left and right.

Whatever criminals were still in the Port District were scared out of their minds. Almost overnight, countless criminals were caught, which resulted in the Port District suddenly becoming a much safer place.

Upon seeing how well Xu Qing was doing, the Captain, not wanting to be outdone, sent the Intelligence Division into overdrive to root out traitors. When it came to the small fish who hadn’t done much, the Captain just punished them and gave them a warning. He was more interested in the big fish. But as a result, the Port District was really becoming an orderly place.

Almost overnight, Xu Qing and the Captain had become even more famous than before. That said, the Captain was famous for being like a mad dog, while Xu Qing… was a fiend! Word had gotten out about him using the criminals for experimentation, and thus, Xu Qing was feared much more than the Captain was.

Despite that, Xu Qing still wasn’t done with his experiments, and therefore, he set his sights on the Violent Crimes Divisions from the other peaks in the sect. Unfortunately, most of them refused to cooperate.

It was only the First Peak’s Violent Crimes Division that agreed to send him some prisoners. Because of that, Xu Qing finally had to send his subordinates into other districts to look for criminals.

Operating out of one’s jurisdiction was generally considered taboo, but Xu Qing couldn’t worry about that. Seeing that Xu Qing was going out of his jurisdiction, the Captain decided to do the same thing.

Because of that, the Intelligence Divisions and Violent Crimes Divisions in the other six peaks started to get irritated, and thus started similar activities of their own. All of Seven Blood Eyes was now wrapped up in the spirit of competition.

Another half a month went by, and the Seven Blood Eyes’ main army finally reached the Seazombies’ main island. The end of the war was approaching. At that point, the Intelligence Divisions and Violent Crimes Divisions finally started to calm down. The biggest reason was that Xu Qing finally decided he had enough prisoners to work with. As for his research with the black beetles, it had reached the point where he was now feeding them black boluses.

Now, instead of a single bottle of beetles, he had five bottles of them. Each bottle was filled with what appeared to be a black liquid, but was in reality a host of small beetles. These ones were even smaller than the original beetles Xu Qing had acquired. On an individual basis, they were too small to see with the naked eye. But their fundamental nature hadn’t changed. They were still black, and when they congregated together, they resembled a black cloud.

Most important was that they were deadly. After plenty of testing, Xu Qing had confirmed that they would proliferate inside a victim, then eat them from the inside out. During the process, they would release large amounts of mutagen and poison.

They were very difficult to get rid of, as once inside someone, they would burrow deep into their bones.

In fact, Xu Qing was certain that, if he had used these beetles during his fight with Yanyan, she would have died in agony within the space of a few breaths of time.

With an asset like this, Xu Qing felt confident that he could pose a threat to a Gold Core cultivator.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have any Gold Core prisoners to experiment on, so he couldn’t be absolutely sure of how effective the beetles would be. But Xu Qing was very pleased that spending so much money on medicinal plants had ended with this result.

I’m certain that these little black beetles can progress even further.?I hope that one of these days I can find a Gold Core cultivator to test my beetles on.

His eyes glittered coldly at the thought, as he knew that doing so would require putting his life on the line.

Xu Qing had also fed some of his blood to the little beetles, which would allow him to directly control them.

The beetles would poison opponents, but Xu Qing had poisoned the beetles! The beetles would need to occasionally feed on a bit of his blood, otherwise they would die violently. Because of that, despite the fact that the beetles weren’t really intelligent, they would instinctively protect Xu Qing. After all, if Xu Qing didn’t stay alive, neither would they.

The beetles also need to eat large amounts of medicinal and poisonous plants. That was a big drain on Xu Qing’s finances. Before, he had thought of himself as being quite rich, but now, it wouldn’t be long before he went broke.

That said, he had picked up another asset in all of this, and that was Yanyan. 𝗼𝐯𝐥.𝗻𝐭

She no longer cursed him, and instead sat quietly in the cell block in the Celestial Bureau. When new prisoners came for Xu Qing to experiment on, she would watch him, and that strange look in her eyes grew more intense.

On numerous occasions, she offered to help Xu Qing, and it was obvious from her expression that she was serious.

Xu Qing wasn’t sure what to make of that. In any case, as his spirit stones dwindled, he started to get more and more nervous. Zhang San still needed more time to fully develop their harbor, and thus, it would be a while before Xu Qing got a split of the profit.

That got Xu Qing thinking about the magical devices that Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior only absorbed in part. What remained behind were defective magical devices, and now Xu Qing was contemplating trying to sell them on the black market.

However, even as he was weighing that possibility, a bright red jade slip flew from the battlefield into the Seventh Peak’s Intelligence Division.

When a jade slip was red, it indicated it contained information about an urgent matter. Only peaklords could send messages like that, and even when they were sent from the distant battlefield, they would arrive at the sect only moments later.

To date, only three other red jade slips had been sent from the battlefield, and they were always related to monumental war issues that required action in the sect.

But this time… the message had nothing to do with the war. It had been sent by Master Seventh, and after the Captain read the message, his face fell. After a long moment of thought, he put down his apple, and got to his feet to find Xu Qing. But then he hesitated. A long moment passed. Finally, he sighed, left the Intelligence Division, and made his way to Xu Qing’s dharmaskiff.

When the Captain arrived, Xu Qing was organizing his collection of magical devices, and was just getting ready to leave.

At first, Xu Qing didn’t find the Captain’s sudden arrival very noteworthy. But then he saw the uncharacteristically serious look on the Captain’s face.

“Captain?”

“Xu Qing.” The Captain hesitated, looking at Xu Qing as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed. He was starting to get the sense something was wrong.

“Xu Qing, the old man gave me a mission to assign to someone.” The Captain didn’t say anything for a few breaths of time. Then his eyes hardened with determination, and he lowered his voice.

“The mission requires leaving Seven Blood Eyes and going to the Violet Lands. It’s a very urgent mission. The old man is stuck on the battlefield, otherwise he would go. He told me to ask you first, and see if you would personally handle the matter.”

Xu Qing’s expression was grim. He obviously knew who the Captain meant when he mentioned ‘the old man.’

“There’s no need to beat around the bush, Captain. What’s going on?”

The Captain gave Xu Qing a long look, then handed him the red jade slip.

Xu Qing took it, sent some dharma force inside, and then studied the message.

“My dear friend Grandmaster Bai was assassinated today in the Violet Lands….”

Xu Qing suddenly felt like the whole world was spinning, and he staggered backward. His face drained of blood, and veins bulged out on his head and neck. As he stood there holding the jade slip, his hands trembled. He was clearly trying hard to stay in control, yet his breath came harsh and ragged.

Deep inside, he felt like this couldn’t be happening. It seemed so unreal that he closed his eyes. Within that darkness, he suddenly saw a tent, and heard a raspy voice coming from inside.

“Kid, you answer!”

“From now on, don’t stand outside the tent. And don’t bring those random medicinal plants either. Henceforth, you’ll be attending class inside.”

“Remember this…. The world is a tavern for living beings. And the timescape is an old guest. As long as we don’t die, we’ll meet again. I hope that when we do, you’ll have made something of yourself.”

Within that darkness, the tent ripped to shreds and dissolved into ashes. It was gone, but the voice would still echo in his mind for all eternity.

“As long we don’t die, we’ll meet again,” Xu Qing murmured. The words almost stuck in his mouth. He opened his eyes.

In the truest sense possible, Grandmaster Bai was his very first teacher, who had changed his life forever.