To Xu Qing, this poison was simply too weak.

Clearly, these two opponents had very different skills when it came to the use and understanding of poison. One seemed like an apprentice, while the other seemed like a master.

Xu Qing ignored all of that. He was like a descending storm as he shot his hand out. It completely ignored the one-eyed cultivator’s defenses. As the magical devices shattered, his hand landed on his opponent’s neck.

The one-eyed cultivator let loose a shout. Releasing the power of his seven three-tribulation nascent souls, he started a minor teleportation. His goal was clear; he wanted to get away from Xu Qing. But then a host of heavenfiend clones appeared around him, like a vortex distorting the air. The resulting interference to the one-eyed cultivator’s minor teleportation caused it to slow down slightly. In a moment like this, a slight slow-down could be the difference between life and death.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing closed in and grabbed the cultivator by the throat and slammed him down onto the ground below. A boom rang out as the boulders shattered and a large crater opened up.

The one-eyed cultivator was like a rag doll that Xu Qing was holding in place, making it impossible for him to move. Eyes shining with terror, the cultivator blurted, “Please, calm yourself, Senior! This is my fault! I know what you want to ask about. I know! I know everything!!”

Xu Qing’s expression was as cold as ice. He had always been the type of person who lived by the maxim, don’t hurt me, and I won’t hurt you. Right now, his eyes were radiating so much killing intent that the one-eyed cultivator was about to pass out from terror.

“Senior, I bet you want to ask about the Moonrebel Congregation. Am I right? The red moon is by no means eternal, hope exists from time immemorial and into forever!!”

Xu Qing looked at him coldly.

The one-eyed cultivator shivered. The truth was that he had instantly recognized that Xu Qing was an outsider. And most outsiders who came to this place wanted to join the Moonrebel Congregation.

Of course, there were exceptions. But given the deadly crisis situation, the one-eyed cultivator couldn’t worry about it. All he could do was try to make the best of a bad situation. Therefore, he spoke the secret signal out loud, then searched Xu Qing’s eyes in hopes of finding clues that his guess was correct. Sadly, he couldn’t discern anything by looking at Xu Qing.

However, there was one thing he did notice: Xu Qing didn’t kill him. Therefore, he quickly continued, “Senior, I’m from the Moonrebel Congregation! We’re on the same side! You want to join, right? I can help you!”

Xu Qing’s gaze remained as cold as ever. If the Moonrebel Congregation was full of people like this, then he didn’t have any desire to join them.

“Senior, as long as you’re in the Moonrebel Congregation, all you have to do is take out a mirror—any kind will do—and say the secret signal. That will initiate the Moonrebel Congregation’s assessment test. Once you pass the test, then it doesn’t matter where you go. You can always use a mirror to instantly be sent to the Moonrebel Congregation!”

As the one-eyed cultivator finished speaking, his heart sank as he noticed a hole in his own story. And all he could do was brace himself for Xu Qing to notice the same thing.

“If that’s true,” Xu Qing said calmly, “then why did you try so hard to run away? Why not just pull out a mirror?”

The one-eyed cultivator smiled wryly. This person had instantly honed in on the very point he was worried about.

“Senior, I… I’m still in the assessment period myself. I haven’t passed it yet….” Seeing that his words hadn’t reduced the killing intent in Xu Qing’s eyes, he quickly continued, “Senior, everything I said before is true. I was blinded in one eye, Senior, that’s why I messed up!”

This one-eyed cultivator was also a ruthless individual. As he apologized, he pulled a nascent soul out of the top of his head, then presented it to Xu Qing and crushed it.

“Senior, I’m crushing my own nascent soul and offering it as an apology!”

The cultivator shivered. Blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth as his aura seemed to shrivel.

Xu Qing frowned. It all seemed like a bit of a waste. “If it’s that easy to contact the Moonrebel Congregation, then why doesn’t the Red Moon Cathedral lock down this area?”

The one-eyed cultivator looked back at Xu Qing, stunned. This information was common knowledge. Not daring to ask any questions, though, he quickly explained, “Senior, there are nine entrances to the Moonrebel Congregation in the Moonrite Region. This area is just one of them. In the past, the Red Moon Cathedral would lock such places down. However, after doing that, the entrance would just disappear, only to reappear later in another place.

“Entrances to the Moonrebel Congregation can appear randomly, so there’s no point in trying to block them. Rather, the Red Moon Cathedral leaves them in place to make it easier to keep an eye on them.”

The one-eyed cultivator was being very cautious in how he spoke to Xu Qing, and he was trying to look as cooperative as possible. In his mind, he was still trying to come up with a way to escape with his life. Noticing that Xu Qing’s face still abounded with killing intent, he gritted his teeth and took out another nascent soul.

Presenting it to Xu Qing, he crushed it. .

“Senior… I’m crushing another as an apology…. This was really all my fault.”

The one-eyed cultivator was now very pale in the face. Crushing two of his own nascent souls was a very serious injury to himself, and he was already much weaker and even gasping for breath. Yet he was still trying to highlight his sincerity.

The sight of it caused Ling’er’s heart to soften. “Big Bro Xu Qing, I feel so bad for this guy. Maybe you should extract his other nascent souls and check to see if he’s being sincere. If he’s not, just get it over with.”

Xu Qing agreed that it was for the best. It was not his style to simply free people who had tried to harm him. Before the one-eyed cultivator could say anything further, Xu Qing used his Gruegloom abilities to reach in and extract five nascent souls. He crushed them. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the heavenfate from the five nascent souls swept into Xu Qing. In the blink of an eye, they became heavenfiend clones that pulsed with baleful auras.

Meanwhile, the one-eyed cultivator let loose a miserable shriek. Having lost all of his nascent souls, he was already teetering on the verge of death. .

Xu Qing had confirmed that there wasn’t some trick at play, so he got things over with. By means of a dagger to the throat.

The one-eyed cultivator’s body collapsed into ashes. Although he had seemed human, from very early on, Xu Qing had been able to tell that he was a nonhuman. That said, his species had nothing to do with why Xu Qing killed him. If Xu Qing had been the weaker party, he would have been the one suffering. Ling’er would have been taken away, and would have undergone an even crueler fate.

After handling the situation, Xu Qing collected his enemy’s bag of holding and then shot off into the distance.

***

A few hundred kilometers from where the fight had just played out, there was a mansion grotto carved out of stone. Inside of it, an old man sat cross-legged in meditation. His clothing covered most of him, but his face was revealed, and it was full of wrinkles.

His eyes suddenly shot open, and he coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. He swayed to the side before reaching out to support himself against the wall. But he couldn’t control what was happening inside him, and coughed up more blood. After seven or eight mouthfuls, he shivered uncontrollably. Eyes shining with terror, he looked off in a certain direction.

I escaped a catastrophe. But what a price I had to pay… my traction avatar….

The old man was a member of the Traction species, who had an innate ability that allowed them to turn dead enemies into mummies. By adding their own blood to such a mummy, and then using certain refining techniques, they could turn it into a ‘traction avatar.’ Traction avatars were essentially like clones, except even more lifelike, to the point where they were almost indistinguishable as doppelg?ngers.

Normally speaking, this old man used his Traction abilities to his own benefit. It was also one of the key ways he could evade powerful experts. Unfortunately, the traction avatar he had just lost was his primary ensorcelled avatar. It was connected to his mind and heart, and its destruction left him severely injured. His internal organs had all been badly damaged.

What was more, he didn’t recall ever having met a powerful expert like this one. The mere memory caused his heart to pound with dread.

This isn’t going to work. That guy is smart enough that he probably spotted the clues.

Gritting his teeth, he ignored his injuries and started moving. He didn’t dare to stay in one place, and could only hope that he would be able to get far enough away to find a good hiding spot.

***

About two hours later, Xu Qing appeared outside of that very same mansion grotto. After sending his shadow in to scout, he entered. Looking at the blood everywhere, he snorted coldly.

After the initial incident, something had seemed off. The nascent souls he had harvested didn’t contain the right amount of heavenfate, and as a result, the heavenfiend clones they made had too much baleful energy. That made him think of the random assortment of magical devices his opponent had used, and how he had witnessed him transform his opponent into a desiccated corpse and seal him in a nascent soul. After that, Xu Qing came to suspect that he hadn’t killed the true form of his enemy.

Different species had their own unique characteristics. That also counted for innate abilities and gruish skills. Just about anything was possible. Therefore, Xu Qing had cast his senses out and used the new heavenfiend clones to detect the presence of his enemy.

“He ran away quickly,” Xu Qing murmured. Walking outside he looked around. His opponent hadn’t left behind traces of his passage, and with the ever present green wind, not even the heavenfiend clones could lock onto him now.

He got lucky. I guess I’ll have to wait until next time to kill him. Xu Qing turned and left. After traveling for a while, he found a remote mountain hollow without any other cultivators nearby.

He was currently contemplating how much, if any, of the information the one-eyed cultivator had given him was true. Back in the heat of the moment, the man had obviously been primarily concerned with keeping himself alive and also protecting his true identity and abilities. In moments like that, most people would say some true things in the hopes of keeping their secrets safe. Telling outright lies could lead to the other person suspecting everything they were saying.

Given that logic, I bet there’s some truth to what he said. I might as well do some experimentation!

Eyes gleaming with determination, he took out a mirror fragment.

He still had fragments of some of the Mirrorlings he had killed, which he had kept with the intention of studying them later. Based on what the one-eyed cultivator had said, it seemed worth it to experiment with them now.

“The red moon is by no means eternal, hope exists from time immemorial and into forever!”

Almost the same moment that Xu Qing spoke the words, the mirror fragment vibrated, and then a majestic will entered his mind.

This content is taken from 𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ