As Xu Qing’s words rang out, the black tempest rumbled and spread out to cover the area. Bolts of lightning snaked back and forth, casting electric light everywhere.

The shadow was already incomparably excited, and was trembling. It was deeply moved. As of this moment, it felt like all of its hard work and loyalty were paying off. Its lord and master hadn’t abandoned it. It didn’t matter that three of its white-robed captors were in the great circle of the Nascent Soul level, or that the leader was a Spirit Trove expert. Its lord and master had still come to rescue it. It quickly sent out some emotional fluctuations to convey its thankfulness, as well as explain the humiliation and pain it felt. It also started struggling even harder.

The figure in the tempest strode forward, and as it neared, terrifying pressure built up.

The white wind would show up in the Greenhair Badlands every so often. In contrast, it had been hundreds of years since a black wind appeared. Yet right now, the group of white-robed cultivators could clearly see the black tempest in front of them, and it filled their hearts with bewilderment. What was more, they all could see how the dandelions and the sand would change color and become part of that black tempest. It was exactly like the legendary black wind that everyone talked about. In their shock, some of them were already starting to back away from the figure in the tempest.

These people were a very unique species. Their mission was to guard the desert. What was more, all of the beasts in the desert were kept by them as pets. That was why they had targeted the shadow. Over the last half a year or so, the shadow had been constantly coming out and capturing animals, thus attracting the attention of this species. However, because there was no white wind, they had to abide by the ancient treaties and stay in hiding beneath the surface of the sand.

Their species’ ancient records gave them insight into the shadow’s powers, and therefore, once the white wind appeared, they sent out a squad to track down the shadow. After finding it, they used a holy weapon to pin it to the ground.

Originally, they had assumed their mission was complete. All they needed to do was take the shadow back to be punished.

However, the leader didn’t want to end things like that. He could tell that the shadow had a master, and wanted to take advantage of their time in the open to capture both the shadow and its master. But the arrival of this black tempest had him and his squad feeling very uneasy. For generations, their species had lived beneath the sands of the desert, and were innately immune to the white wind. What was more, they understood more about the desert than any outsider. Because of that, they knew all about the white and black winds.

The squad leader looked at the figure in the tempest, and could tell that he didn’t have very strong cultivation base fluctuations. But the black tempest made him leery.

As a result, they didn’t blindly take action. Instead, they started communicating with hand signs that only their species understood. Then, the leader spoke.

“Sire, over the past half year, this vile spirit of yours has been killing our pets, harming the desert environment, and stealing our food. This behavior is considered wicked beyond redemption to our species, so we were given the mission of capturing it. What’s more, our patriarchs and other leaders tasked us with asking you a question, Sire. Why are you doing this? Our species has no quarrel with you. We demand that you compensate us!”

The figure in the tempest stopped in place.

Xu Qing was a reasonable person, and what these people were saying seemed to make sense. After a moment of consideration, he said, “That’s fine. What do you want?”

The white-robed cultivators’ eyes narrowed. This was not what they had expected at all.

“First. You have to pay us back for the pets we lost. You killed 153 of them, and each one is worth 100,000 spirit stones! Second. You have to let us take the vile spirit with us.”

When the shadow heard that, it seemed to become terrified. Only a moment later, it seemed to notice something unusual nearby. A fraction of a second, later, it pretended it hadn’t noticed anything, and continued to howl in grief and terror.

The figure in the tempest shook his head. “I can’t afford that. Can you accept a bit less?”

The white-robed cultivators stared back at Xu Qing.

“If you tell us how you made that tempest,” the leader said, “then we can cut the price by thirty percent. But we won’t give back the vile spirit.”

Xu Qing thought about it. He couldn’t afford that many spirit stones, even after the discount. It seemed that he wasn’t being the unreasonable one. And since the other party was being unreasonable, then he didn’t see the need to compensate them. As calm as ever, he took another step forward.

The moment he moved, the white robed cultivators jumped into the air and simultaneously performed incantation gestures. The white wind grew more intense as a result, with large amounts of white sand flying toward the black tempest.

The leader was thinking, We haven’t been out in a while. Are all the cultivators out here as dumb as this nowadays? I can’t believe we’re actually getting a chance to fight!

As he and the other members of his species sprang into motion together, the white wind blew with astonishing intensity, whipping the sand into the shape of a huge worm that lunged toward the figure in the black tempest.

When they slammed into each other, a loud boom rang out.

However, because the white-robed cultivators were paying such close attention to the black tempest, they didn’t realize something unusual had just happened to the shadow. Someone had appeared invisibly next to it. And that person was squatting next to the shadow, and was closely examining the dagger pinning it to the ground.

That person was Xu Qing.

The figure in the tempest was actually a projection of Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.

The fact that these people managed to trap the shadow indicated to Xu Qing that they were nobody to take lightly. He had assumed from the beginning that there would be complications, which was why he’d had Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior take point in the tempest and keep the enemy’s attention focused elsewhere.

Concealed in invisibility, he’d come here. He had hoped to just secretly free the shadow. Unfortunately, the golden dagger was an extraordinary item, and the aura on it didn’t just suppress the shadow; it also left Xu Qing feeling jumpy with fear.

He could tell that the dagger was controlled by means of blood, and anyone without the right bloodline would have a hard time doing anything with it. The dim light it exuded allowed it to sense the world around it, and if the wrong person tried to touch it, they would be rejected.

And thus, he squatted off to the side trying to figure out how to remove it.

Without the right bloodline, I can’t pull it out. I would be discovered, and would also have to deal with a backlash. The dim light flickering on it connects to the user. But during the moment in which it switches between light and dark, as long as I’m fast enough, I should be able to reach in and grab it. I’ll only have one chance. In that case… I’ll have to freeze time!

As Xu Qing’s eyes glittered, booms rang out not too far away. The black tempest was being ripped apart by the white worm. The figure inside backed up, transforming into a fish bone before disappearing off into the desert. At the same time, the power of Xu Qing’s sundials exploded.

It locked onto the dagger and froze it in place!

As the dim light on the dagger flickered back and forth between dark and light, it suddenly stopped in a moment of darkness. Xu Qing’s hand then shot out and grabbed the dagger. His cultivation base erupted, as did his fleshly body power. Using both, he pulled as hard as he could.

In the blink of an eye, the dagger was out of the shadow. The shadow issued a sound like a cheer, and as the dandelions faded away from it, it shot back to its spot beneath Xu Qing’s feet.

Having done that, Xu Qing put the dagger into his bag of holding, and without a backward glance, fled at top speed. Having already circled around, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior joined him.

Meanwhile, the moment the black tempest collapsed, the white-robed cultivators realized something was going on with the shadow. Their faces fell.

“It was a trick!”

Despite their astonishment, they quickly gave chase. Instantly, terrifying Spirit Trove fluctuations rolled out across the desert. Meanwhile, the top experts from their species sensed what was going on, and rushed to help.

In that moment of crisis, the parrot prepared to flee for his life. He didn’t care whether Xu Qing lived or died, and was actually feeling very pleased with himself. He had accomplished his task, after all. You poisoned me, fool! So don’t even think of getting help from me. If you want to court death, then that has nothing to do with me!

However, just when he was about to flee via teleportation, Xu Qing reached out and grabbed him.

“Teleport me away,” he said calmly.

The shocked parrot was already cursing in his heart, but had no choice other than to begin a teleportation. However, it didn’t quite act fast enough.

Xu Qing squeezed a bit harder, and the parrot let loose a squawk. One of his feathers collapsed into ashes, and then the power of teleportation surged out. They vanished. Only the ashes of the feather remained behind, drifting away with the wind.

A moment later, a massive boom rang out as a vortex appeared in that spot. Astonishing fluctuations rolled out, filled with intense rage. It didn’t just happen in that spot. There were other vortexes in other nearby spots, all of them searching for the same thing. 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮

As it turned out, the parrot had exaggerated his teleportation abilities to a certain degree. He wasn’t capable of teleporting very long distances. Only a few hundred kilometers away, the parrot and Xu Qing popped into existence.

Xu Qing wasn’t actually surprised, and had actually assumed something like this would happen. The moment they materialized, he squeezed down hard on the parrot.

The parrot let out a yelp and used another feather to initiate a second teleportation.

The process continued after that. At Xu Qing’s urging, the parrot would howl in grief as he lost a feather and teleported further away, taking Xu Qing racing toward the edge of the desert. Eventually, the parrot stopped howling so much, and instead started cursing.

“You’re not even human, are you? You’re completely deranged! You’re more of an animal than I am! Y-y-you… you schmuck! I’d tell you to go to hell, but all dogs go to heaven! This is outrageous! Duck you, motherclucker! I’m gonna die! Heeeelp!”

After a few dozen additional teleportations, they were getting close to the edge of the desert. The parrot could hardly breathe. “Stop, I beg of you! I’m still just a kid! I can’t handle this….”

He was now trembling with fear, and barely had any feathers left, leaving him looking naked. As he looked in terror at the expressionless Xu Qing, he came to the conclusion that he was the most diabolical monster in existence. A terrifying nightmare.

“Bastard!”

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