Chapter 27: Stranger Like Jade (Third Shift)
In the dark mountain forest, there was the sound of wolves howling and echoing.
However, this sound only appeared for a moment, and then gradually dissipated, as if there was an existence that was even more ferocious than them, and was walking alone.
Walking in the pitch blackness, the loss in Xu Qing's heart could not be buried fast enough, growing up in the slums, he was used to parting, but this time it was extraordinarily deep.
That feeling of inner emptiness, let his mood low, silence, the figure is also more and more depressed.
Until almost dawn, walking all night, he saw the camp under the dawn.
Inside the camp, the lights were sparse.
Xu Qing thought of the past, no matter how late he was when he came back from the forbidden zone, he could always see the lights of a residence that had always been lit for him.
But today, in that direction, one was missing forever.
The feeling of loneliness intensified, Xu Qing silently walked into the camp, walked to the darkened abode, pushed open the door and saw the dozen or so wild dogs in the yard, which were also quietly looking at him.
Looking up, the three houses were black.
There was no human presence, no light, no scent.
Yesterday's dinner was still left in the kitchen.
Xu Qing walked in, looked at the three pairs of bowls and chopsticks on the table, and after fuming for a long time, he sat there silently, bowing his head and eating the cold rice.
One bite, one bite, after slowly swallowing it, he cleaned the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, took a deep breath, and returned to his room.
Closing his eyes, he began to cultivate.
And at this moment, outside the courtyard, the purple-robed old man and his servant, were standing there, their gazes seemingly able to penetrate everything and see Xu Qing within.
They were both silent, and after a long time the purple-robed old man sighed softly.
"A sentient and righteous child."
"Seventh Master, should we give him a token?" The servant looked at the purple-robed elder.
"Let's wait until we fetch the Cloud Dream Flower that Master Park wants, from within the forbidden zone." After saying that, the purple-robed old man's body slowly dissipated, and the servant beside him nodded his head, and the same dissipated with him.
......
Just like this, the night passed.
Xu Qing, who stepped out of his room early the next morning, subconsciously looked towards Team Lei's residence, but quickly withdrew his gaze, silently going to Grandmaster Park's place for lessons, and silently returning.
Cooking a meal by himself, he still had three pairs of bowls and chopsticks on the table, and ate in silence.
From time to time, he looked up to the seat where the Lei team used to be, where ...... there was less of a person and less of the sound of words.
The whole meal, it was quiet, and the feeling of loneliness once again filled Xu Qing s heart, and was forced down by him.
After eating alone and cleaning up the dishes, he took out the food for the wild dogs and threw it in the yard.
Watching the pack of wild dogs devour, Xu Qing returned to his room and continued to meditate.
Days, like this, passed day by day, and soon it was the sixth day since the Lei Team left.
Xu Qing had already buried the loss in his heart and resumed his usual indifference, but if he looked closely, he would find that his indifference, was even colder.
In addition to going to Master Park's class, in the rest of the time, the sense of vigilance in Xu Qing's body, always present, this state is not unfamiliar to him, because of the previous six years, this ...... is his norm.
Like a lone wolf.
He also practiced more diligently than before, as if this was what would allow him to find the familiar loneliness as soon as possible, until late at night on the seventh day, Xu Qing's cultivation, broke through.
From the previous fourth layer of the Hai Shan Technique, he broke through to the fifth layer.
As the thumping sound within his body reverberated, all those wild dogs outside also felt the oppressive force, and retreated in trembling, as if Xu Qing's room existed in a way that made them fearful and awe-inspiring.
This time, the sound within Xu Qing's body lasted for a long time.
Even going by the time, it surpassed the previous.
A full half hour later, when the dirt overflowing from Xu Qing's sweat pores all over his body reached the extreme, his eyes snapped open.
The entire room appeared to flash with a fleeting purple light in this instant.
Even more so, the moment his eyes opened, Xu Qing's body echoed with clicking sounds, as if bones were growing, flesh and blood were being pulled, and a sense of tearing existed.
But all of this was still within Xu Qing's range of endurance.
In calm endurance, another half an hour passed, and when this slowly ended, Xu Qing stood up, and the clothes on his body were actually a fraction shorter.
The slender body looked, not to say stripped, but similarly refined.
Especially his appearance, which was pure due to the lack of foreign matter in his body.
This made his original purity even more pronounced, and with his indifference, there existed a strange charm that even dirt couldn't hide.
But Xu Qing didn't care about this, he walked out of the house, and after testing his speed, he threw a punch towards the mid-air, which seemed to reverberate with the sound of muffled thunder, and its power was so great that it surpassed the previous four layers by more than a factor of two!
Even more amazing, was that when his fist fell, the spiritual energy fluctuated so strongly that it actually vaguely visualized the shadow of a mandrill, with fangs in its mouth, as if it was a stern ghost!
"This is the power of a mandrill?" Amidst the trembling of the surrounding wild dogs, Xu Qing glanced at his fist and muttered a low voice.
It was mentioned on the Hai Shan Technique that each layer increased the power of a tiger, while five tigers were one elf and two elves were one kui.
However, after pondering, Xu Qing felt that he didn't quite match the description of the Hai Shan Secrets.
Nowadays, his own strength was afraid that he had already reached the level of seven or eight tigers, and so was his speed, and he even had a certain confidence that he would have the power of two elves in advance when he had cultivated the Sea Mountain Technique to the sixth layer.
"It should be due to the efficacy of the purple crystal, as well as the slash that copied that idol within the temple."
Xu Qing murmured in his heart, looking at his right hand, slowly lifting it up after a long moment of silence, the image of the god statue's slash surfaced in his mind, and vaguely, the surrounding air currents seemed to be converging.
After a long time, Xu Qing did not continue, but instead lowered his right hand.
"Not even close."
Xu Qing could feel that his copying wasn't enough, and at this moment, he took a deep breath and was about to go back to his room, but under the moonlight, when he turned around, he looked down and saw his own shadow.
When he broke through before, all the heterogeneous qualities were merged into the shadow as usual, and at this moment, his entire body was pure from the inside out, without the slightest presence of heterogeneous qualities.
Gazing at the shadow, Xu Qing suddenly raised an idea.
"I wonder if this shadow, can it be controlled ......"
After this idea surfaced in his mind, it grew deeper and deeper, causing Xu Qing to keep gazing, mentally attempting to make the shadow's hand move, but after trying for a long time, he was still unable to do so.
This caused Xu Qing to let out a light sigh, he felt that he was being greedy, and was about to give up, but right at this moment ...... its shadow's hand, suddenly shook a little!
This scene caused Xu Qing's eyes to widen violently, and his breath caught slightly.
He was sure that it was not an eye blur, and the party's own hand did not move, so he increased his gaze and attempts.
Until a long time later, his shadow s hand, between Xu Qing s hand not lifting, slightly ...... lifted a little!
Just a moment, Xu Qing felt as if his head was about to explode, an empty space.
It took a long time before he recovered some from his headache, and under his breath, his eyes revealed an intense light.
"It can be controlled!" Xu Qing lowered his head and gave the shadow a deep look.
He knew that it was difficult to control it today, and the emptiness of his brain just now and the headache he was experiencing today were both telling him that the matter was extremely exhausting.
But he believed that as he became more skillful, as his cultivation increased, then sooner or later, one day, he would be able to flexibly manipulate his own shadow.
And at that time, the shadow ...... would become his weapon of surprise!
"I hope that day, will come soon." Xu Qing took a deep breath, rubbed his aching forehead, and returned to his room to meditate on his knees.
It wasn't until early morning that he recovered halfway, his complexion a little shriveled.
Forcing himself together, he changed into a larger pair of old clothes and hurriedly went to Grandmaster Park's tent.
Chen Feiyuan wasn't there, and Grandmaster Park hadn't come yet, the only one there was Ting Yu memorizing the medicinal pharmacopoeia, and when she saw Xu Qing coming, she casually lifted her hand in greeting and resumed her recitation.
It had been like this for a while, Xu Qing had heard Ting Yu say that amongst those teenage girls who came outside a while ago, there were friends of Chen Feiyuan, so he had taken time off from time to time to go over and play.
As for Grandmaster Bai, he didn't know what he was busy with during this period of time, and would come a little later each day, and would leave soon after finishing his lessons.
Xu Qing nodded and then sat aside, taking out his own bamboo slice and silently reviewing yesterday's homework when Ting Yu, who had lowered her head after greeting him on the side, suddenly raised her head again and looked at Xu Qing suspiciously.
"Why do I feel as if there are more changes in you?"
Xu Qing didn't look up and continued to review.
Ting Yu's crystal eyes glared as she took a closer look.
Soon after, Grandmaster Park arrived, so she had no choice but to call it quits, but she swept over Xu Qing many times during the day's lessons.
If it were a different day, Master Park would have been stern, but today, he seemed to have something on his mind as well, and just lectured a few times before ignoring it.
Until he finished the lesson and laid out the content for tomorrow's assessment, Grandmaster Park left in a hurry.
After the teacher left, Xu Qing got up and was just about to leave when Ting Yu's side of his body swayed and directly stopped by the door.
Xu Qing's brows furrowed slightly as he looked towards Ting Yu.
Ting Yu also raised her head unwillingly, and on her beautiful and unassuming little face, her big, star-moon eyes glared at Xu Qing, her beautiful eyes sweeping over his height as well as his face, and she said in a trance.
"I see, you've grown taller."
"Uh-huh." Xu Qing nodded, circling around Ting Yu and wanting to leave, but Ting Yu's body shifted and blocked again, her brilliant star-like eyes carrying some curiosity.
"Kid, this face of yours is dirty every day, I don't even know what you look like, today you've changed again, no, I'm going to wipe you down and see what you really look like."
Ting Yu said, taking out her handkerchief, about to do it.
Xu Qing was repulsed, and his body was just about to back away when Ting Yu grunted.
"Kid, I helped you with your vacation, this is a favor!"
Xu Qing's movements lurched, and by the moment he paused, Ting Yu's body instantly arrived, the handkerchief in his hand moistened between fluctuations in his spiritual energy, and gently wiped at Xu Qing's face.
The cheeks that were wiped away, instantly revealing white skin, Xu Qing's heart was impatient, and he was about to force his way out.
"Kid, I'm your senior sister!" Ting Yu shouted once again, and this word senior sister, its weight was obviously extremely heavy, causing Xu Qing's body to freeze.
Ting Yu's eyes curved like crescent moons, harboring spiritual charm and cunningness, and this time, she was even faster, holding a handkerchief and wiping it around on Xu Qing's face.
Although Xu Qing's heart strongly rejected it, the word senior sister made him not dodge in the end.
Just like that, as Ting Yu wiped, Xu Qing's face, too, was slowly revealed.
And Ting Yu's movements also gradually slowed down, her eyes even widened, staring blankly at Xu Qing's appearance, and in her mind, for some reason, sunlight surfaced.
Xu Qing's face was clean for the first time in six years, which made him extremely uncomfortable, and while Ting Yu stayed there, he immediately circled around and darted out of the tent.
As the sunlight shook on his face, Xu Qing's discomfort was even more intense, and he had the feeling of walking outside naked.
So he lowered his head and picked up the mud on the ground, smearing it on his face, before he sighed in relief and felt much more comfortable in his heart, recovering his indifference and walking towards the forbidden area.
It wasn't until he left that Ting Yu inside the tent let out a long breath, murmuring and whispering.
"Hmm, not bad looking."
She said, subconsciously lifting up the tent's door and looking towards Xu Qing's distant back, her elegant and soulful little face slightly flushed as she looked around in a deer-in-the-headlights manner.
"Much better looking than Chen Feiyuan, no, Chen Feiyuan can't compare to him at all."
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Brothers and sisters, once again three chapters of updates la, ten thousand words!
I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get the best out of you, but I'm sure I'll be able to get the best out of you.
