“What are you doing here?” 

The sect leader glared at Xu Qing, his heart pounding with shock. Actually, he wasn’t sure if he could believe his eyes. But the young man in front of him wore a black jerkin, had wild and messy hair, and was covered in grime. What was more, his jerkin was deeply stained with blood and carried a baleful aura.

His messy hair and the grime on his face made it difficult to clearly see his facial features. But when the poison wind lifted the hair from his face, it was impossible to miss his indescribably cold eyes.

The moment the sect leader made eye contact, he felt a frigid coldness filling his heart.

Having seen Xu Qing’s portrait, the moment the sect leader laid eyes on him, he recalled his scavenger moniker.

“You’re the Kid!!”

He was well aware that the sect patriarch as well as two grand elders were out chasing this very person, as were a whole host of sect disciples. But now… the patriarch and grand elders had yet to return, and the boy they were chasing had unexpectedly shown up at their front door.

Fear welled up in the sect leader, but there was no time to think about the matter at the moment. He instantly started an incantation gesture, causing a rushing wind to spring up and drive away the poison. At the same time, the wind swelled into a wave of air that shot toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing assessed the situation coldly. Ignoring the sect leader, he simply jumped out of the way of the attack, then sped off in another direction, continuing to throw out black boluses.

As booms echoed out, the sect leader felt the bizarre effects of the black boluses, and his face fell. Stamping his foot, he shot after Xu Qing.

However, Xu Qing wasn’t interested in fighting him. He dodged again, then used the flight talisman for speed, continuing to meander through the sect. As a result, the sect leader was also forced to use a flight talisman.

From a distance, it was possible to see the sect leader chasing Xu Qing, sending out attacks that caused explosions left and right.

Xu Qing threw out another black bolus, which exploded, and then he threw out another.

“Dammit!” the sect leader raged. He wanted to do something to stop Xu Qing, but they were both using flight talismans with the same top speed, so the sect leader couldn’t catch up.

Before long, the constant explosions of black boluses ensured that the entire Golden Vajra Warrior Sect was filled with vortexes, and shocking levels of mutagen were rushing toward it from all sides. In fact, it almost resembled a forbidden region.

By the time Xu Qing ran out of pills, the entire sect… was one massive vortex. As the vortex spun, and the mutagen rushed in, the sky was obscured. The mutagen became something like a roiling fog that filled the entire area. Howls and screams rang out from within the fog, as the disciples therein were overwhelmed with astonishment.

Furthermore, there just weren’t enough disciples to deal with the poison wind, and therefore, the poison powder circulated and became part of the fog.

In all corners of the sect, plants and vegetation withered and died, and even rocks started hissing and melting.

Agonized shrieks could be heard everywhere.

The Golden Vajra Warrior Sect was in a really bad state. The combination of the mutagen and the poison was simply terrifying.

Furthermore, it all happened in the space of a hundred breaths of time, so quickly that nobody could possibly react fast enough.

The sect was in such chaos that many disciples were tripping over each other to flee. The poison-negating pills they’d taken weren’t strong enough to deal with the poison, so blood oozed out of their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as they screamed piteously.

Some tried to go into hiding, but it didn’t do any good.

Echoing over everything were the enraged shouts of the sect leader as he chased Xu Qing.

As the sect descended into absolute madness, Xu Qing sped up and then disappeared in a flash. As the search for him continued, a flicker of fire suddenly appeared within the fog. Those who could see it felt their scalps tingling in shock. The sect leader was astonished, and was forced to abandon his pursuit to lead disciples to put out the fire.

Unfortunately… there wasn’t just one fire. Flames flickered in numerous locations, and quickly spread into a massive conflagration.

“Kid!!” the sect leader howled, his voice thrumming with hatred. Unfortunately, there was no time to search for Xu Qing, as he was wrapped up dealing with the fires.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing was visiting one beautiful sect building after another. He would go inside, rifle around and take any valuables he found, then set the place on fire before moving on. He kept a very quick pace.

At a certain point, he noticed a building far more extravagant and beautiful than the others. There also happened to be a plaque above the door, inscribed with the name of the building.

Treasure Pavilion?

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing clenched his hand into a fist and launched a blow at the door. The door of the Treasure Pavilion shattered, and poison gas rushed inside. Xu Qing followed, and looked around to see that the walls were covered in shelves. Arrayed on those shelves were all sorts of medicinal pills, spirit coins, and prized treasures.

As Xu Qing looked around, his heart started pounding. He quickly started grabbing everything he could.

Just before he was about to leave, he noticed that the poison gas was seeping into a part of the wall that normally wasn’t visible. Looking closer, he saw the very faint outline of a door.

Xu Qing’s eyebrows shot up. Stepping forward, he kicked the door. The outline of the door became more obvious as a result, but it didn’t break. Making a faint expression of surprise, Xu Qing clenched his hand into a fist. Cracking sounds rang out from within him, and the spectral hobgoblin appeared. Roaring soundlessly, it combined its fist with his, and he unleashed another blow.

Another boom rang out, and the door collapsed, revealing a hidden room behind it.

There was only one thing inside the room: a cloth bag the size of his palm.

Shocked, he reached out to grab it.

However, in that very moment, numerous beams of light erupted from the bag, shooting down to form a symbol on the ground. Then, the complicated symbol glittered as it projected a host of wind blades around the bag.

Xu Qing pulled his hand back and took a close look at the wind blades and the bag they protected. It seemed obvious that this was some sort of precious item.

What is this thing?

Frowning at the spirit power fluctuations that came off of it, he finally snorted coldly, took out a black bolus, and crushed it.

Mutagen rushed into the area, filling the secret room. The symbol on the ground glittered, but wasn’t able to defend against the corrosion caused by the mutagen. It dimmed, then cracking sounds could be heard as the symbol was destroyed.

Without any hesitation, Xu Qing grabbed the cloth bag, then turned and fled.

Outside, he looked around at the chaos in the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect, including the howls of grief, the mutagen, the poison gas, and the fires raging. The flight talisman glittered as he flew into the sky, his facial expression as cold as ever.

He knew full well that he’d only gained an advantage in his sneak attack because the patriarch wasn’t in the sect. The longer he stayed around, the more dangerous things would get.

His goal had been to show up, kill as many people as possible, destroy as much of the headquarters as he could, and steal anything he could get his hands on. Having accomplished those things, he decided to make his getaway.

However, that was when a howl of rage echoed out, and the disheveled sect leader flew toward him and attacked.

Xu Qing’s eyes flickered with killing intent as he unleashed the power of the seventh level of the Sea and Mountain Incantation. The spectral hobgoblin appeared, and he launched a punch at the incoming sect leader.

A boom echoed out, and the sect leader was shoved backward. Then, just as he was about to press the attack, he saw a violet saber forming behind Xu Qing. The heavenly saber slashed down, directly toward the sect leader.

Looking shocked, the sect leader fell back into the poison wind and the mutagen fog, with the violet saber following him.

Xu Qing didn’t continue the attack. Eyes flashing, he backed up, then turned into a beam of light that shot away at high speed.

Before he could make his way off into the distance, though, seven figures emerged from the fog and launched vicious attacks.

The immense power of the attacks shattered the air where Xu Qing had just been hovering, causing massive rumbling sounds to echo out. This seemed to be a strength similar to the Foundation Establishment level!

If Xu Qing chose to engage instead of dodge, he would have been hit directly by the attack.

These seven figures were old men whose faces were now pale, with blood oozing out of their mouths. The attack they had just launched was a combination move accomplished by means of a secret magic. Right now, they were eyeing Xu Qing and trying to decide whether or not to chase him.

“Dharma Protectors!” the sect leader said. “Don’t give chase!” The sect leader staggered out of the fog. One of his arms had been severed, and the stump was dripping blood. His face was ashen, and it looked like he could hardly stay on his feet. “That criminal is too cautious. I can’t believe he didn’t press the attack against me earlier. Right now our priority is to clear the poison wind and mutagen from the sect. Then we wait for the patriarch to return!”

The sect leader was feeling very frustrated. He had intentionally sustained injury in the hopes of luring Xu Qing into a fight. In the end, he failed.

Meanwhile, the seven dharma protectors kept their mouths shut. Some of them helped the sect leader, while the other stared blankly at the chaos in the sect, then sighed and hurried forward to help.

Slowly but sure, the day passed.

By the time evening came, the sect was mostly clear of poison and mutagen. As for the former, it mostly came down to the disciples’ wind-type magical techniques. As for the latter… they had to destroy masses of spirit coins and use the resulting pure spirit power to dilute the mutagen.

It was a huge loss.

The sect headquarters… was in shambles. Even the grand hall atop the mountain was in ruins, and most of the buildings were collapsed or damaged by fire. Restoring things to their former glory was going to be expensive. Even worse, every surviving disciple was polluted with high levels of mutagen. Most were greenish-black from head to toe, and purifying them would take massive amounts of white boluses and dustpurging pills.

The sect leader and the dharma protectors were irritated and exhausted when, off in the distance, a beam of light appeared.

Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior had returned.

He was in bad shape. He had numerous wounds, his hair was disheveled, and he looked furious. After fighting his way out of the forbidden region, he had already promised that he would pay any price to see the Kid dead.

Then he spotted the sect headquarters in the distance, and he gaped in astonishment before speeding forward and looked down at the ruins.

When the disciples saw their patriarch, they wept.

“Patriarch….”

“Patriarch, when you were gone, the Kid came and ran rampant in the sect. Lots of disciples were killed or injured.”

“Patriarch, that goddamn criminal cleared out our Treasure Pavilion! And what he didn’t take, he polluted with mutagen!”

“Patriarch, the Kid has no humanity! So many disciples are poisoned, and we can’t dispel the poison!”

Only the sect leader and dharma protectors didn’t join in.

As the wails of the disciples filled the air, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior looked at his destroyed sect, the injured disciples, the sect leader with his severed arm, and the injured dharma protectors. The patriarch slowly started trembling. His face went from ashen white to burning red, and finally, to a livid green color. Staggering in place, he coughed up a massive mouthful of blood.

Panting, he clenched his hands tightly into fists, and his eyes became so bloodshot he looked like he was ready to eat someone alive. Throwing his head back, he howled, “I’m going to kill you!”

His voice echoed like thunder, but it didn’t quite reach all the way to the teleportation portal in the city of Antlerville.

Xu Qing stood there in line at the massive portal. The portal itself was constructed atop an octagonal altar, and was covered with complex magical symbols. Every time it activated, brilliant, colorful light rose high into the sky. The portal guards all had extraordinary cultivation bases, and they kept cold eyes on everyone in the line. Based on their disposition, it seemed they were ready to instantly slaughter anyone who acted out of line.

Eventually, everyone in front of Xu Qing teleported away, and he was next in line.

He walked up to the altar and into the middle of all the complex magical symbols. Then he looked out at the surrounding lands that had been his home for all these years. The setting sun cast gentle light over the lands. The breeze in the seventh month was warm, causing his hair to sway as he looked around.

He looked in the direction of the city ruins. He looked in the direction of the scavenger basecamp. Finally, he looked coldly in the direction of the Golden Vajra Warrior Sect.

“This isn’t over,” he murmured. His eyes glittered coldly as the teleportation portal activated, and brilliant light rose high, washing over him until he disappeared.

A moment later, the light vanished, and Xu Qing was nowhere to be seen.