Translator: AnubisTL
It was clear that Li Qing's promise of "handling them properly" didn't mean letting them go.
Even if he hadn't already planned to eliminate them, their admission of ties to the Spirit Pearl Divine Sect sealed their fate. Li Qing would never let them live.
The Spirit Pearl Divine Sect sought to collect the five elements spirit pearls scattered across the world. Li Qing possessed the Fire Spirit Pearl, and Su Xin carried the Water Spirit Pearl. This irreconcilable conflict made their destruction inevitable.
Hearing Li Qing's words, the cultivators from the various cultivation clans of the Southern Sky Archipelago erupted in joy.
"Thank you, Senior!"
Before they could finish their gratitude, a cold glint flashed in Li Qing's eyes. He instantly restrained a core formation realm cultivator and dragged him forward.
A golden light surged from Li Qing's eyes.
A powerful wave of divine sense erupted, forcibly shattering the cultivator's Sea of Consciousness without resistance.
In moments, a torrent of memories flooded from the cultivator's Sea of Consciousness. Li Qing coldly sifted through the information.
He quickly learned that these individuals hailed from the Southern Sky Archipelago, a chain of islands located in the Southern Heavenly Sea. The cultivation civilization there wasn't particularly advanced, with most clans maintaining their existence through familial structures.
Among them, core formation realm cultivation clans were relatively few. Including the families of the three core formation realm cultivators before him, a total of seven millennial clans ruled the archipelago.
Occasionally, nascent soul realm cultivators would also appear in the Southern Sky Archipelago.
However, the archipelago had already been secretly infiltrated by the Spirit Pearl Divine Sect and was now largely under the sect's control.
As for the core formation realm cultivator, his knowledge of the Spirit Pearl Divine Sect was limited, mainly knowing how to contact the sect's cultivators.
"I was overthinking things," he mused. "Given the Spirit Pearl Divine Sect's secretive nature, they would never casually reveal the location of their branch altars to a mere core formation realm cultivator."
He had initially hoped to extract the locations of one or two Spirit Pearl Divine Sect branch altars from the cultivator's divine sense, hoping to follow the trail and uncover more high-ranking members of the sect.
After all, Li Qing remained intrigued by the Spirit Pearl Divine Sect's secret techniques, particularly those capable of replenishing the spirituality lost from the spirit pearls. This was of paramount importance to him.
Having confirmed that nothing had been overlooked, Li Qing slightly raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air.
Crack!
The core formation realm cultivator before him exploded like a watermelon, the sound crisp and unmistakable.
"Run!"
"Senior, you promised to spare us! Whyβ"
"Ah!"
The remaining cultivators were terrified by Li Qing's ruthless methods. In a mere instant, a core formation realm cultivator had fallen, as easily as killing a chicken.
Yet Li Qing had no intention of letting them escape. He still planned to extract more information from the Sea of Consciousness of the two remaining core formation realm cultivators.
As for the foundation establishment realm cultivators, he had even less reason to spare them.
While it wasn't quite letting a tiger return to its mountain lair, he had no desire to invite future trouble.
It was best to eliminate the problem at its root.
With this thought, Li Qing tapped his fingertip four times in the air.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four scorching flames shot forth, incinerating the four cultivators into ash in the blink of an eye.
The remaining two core formation realm cultivators were equally doomed. They fled in opposite directions, hoping at least one would survive.
Alas, their escape speed was no match for Li Qing's. Even without using the Kunpeng Divine Power or Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, his natural speed alone would have been enough to catch them.
To resolve the matter swiftly and avoid complications, Li Qing activated the Kunpeng Divine Power.
Whoosh!
In an instant, he had seized both core formation realm cultivators, one in each hand, and dragged them back.
Despair clouded the old man's eyes. The Nascent Soul cultivator's power far exceeded his wildest imagination, making him utterly invincible.
The other cultivator, however, possessed a fiercer spirit. Realizing his situation was hopeless, he immediately attempted to detonate his Golden Core.
"Heh, so fond of detonating your Golden Core?" Li Qing scoffed. "If you don't want it, you could just give it away. No need to blow it up every timeβit's so undignified."
Li Qing chuckled softly, his abundant true essence surging forth to forcefully suppress the cultivator's body.
In the next moment, the Golden Core that had been stirring restlessly within the cultivator's dantian qi sea was completely subdued by Li Qing's overwhelming power.
Now in his grasp, self-detonation of the Golden Core was utterly impossible.
Such was the immense power disparity between a Nascent Soul cultivator and a core formation realm cultivator.
Before long, Li Qing effortlessly extracted the two perfectly round and full Golden Cores from the dantian qi seas of the two core formation realm cultivators, as easily as plucking something from a pocket.
He then used his divine sense to breach their Seas of Consciousness, casually extracting their memories.
Unfortunately, he didn't obtain any further intelligence about the Spirit Pearl Divine Sect. These core formation realm cultivators knew relatively little about the sect.
Undeterred, Li Qing confirmed there were no omissions before delivering swift, decisive strikes to end their lives.
With this, the entire team of cultivators from the Southern Sky Archipelago had been completely annihilated, leaving no survivors.
Clutching two Golden Cores, Li Qing approached the Terrorclaw Lizard with a playful smile. The massive reptile lay sprawled on the ground, its chest heaving violently, clearly severely injured.
Li Qing crouched down, meeting the lizard's gaze, his smile widening.
"Long time no see. How did you end up in such a state?"
"The Bone Demon Wolf, who entered the Tempering Life Spirit Pool with us, has already undergone transformation and become a king. Yet you're still languishing in the late third-tier?"
Hearing Li Qing's taunts, a flicker of resentment flashed in the Terrorclaw Lizard's eyes, but its voice remained weak as it replied, "What choice did I have? The Night Wolf King obtained a Myriad Beasts Spirit Fruit after all, granting him astonishing potential."
"Our demon race's cultivation is limited by our bloodlines, making progress far more arduous. Unlike you, whose cultivation speed is like flight itself. In such a short time, you've already reached the level of a Peerless Demon King."
In demon lore, a Peerless Demon King was equivalent to a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, standing at the true pinnacle of this realm.
In the absence of Divine Transformation experts, no being could overshadow their prestige.
"Heh, you should save your breath. Eat this Golden Core and focus on recuperating."
"I'm going to check on the Mountain Ridge Giant Elephant. I still can't believe you two are together," Li Qing said, stuffing a Golden Core into the Terrorclaw Lizard's mouth.
For demon beasts, the Golden Cores and nascent souls of human cultivators were highly nourishing treasures. Consuming them granted immense benefits.
Just as human cultivators used demon beast inner cores in their medicinal concoctions, many demon races hunted human cultivators, extracting their Golden Cores and nascent souls to devour.
The Dao was impartial; the roles of hunter and prey were in constant flux.
The Mountain Ridge Giant Elephant had completely lost consciousness. Its bloodline secret technique had been disrupted, leaving it severely wounded.
The pool the cultivators had mistaken for a Spirit Nourishing Pool was actually a spirit pool created by the Mountain Ridge Giant Elephant's bloodline secret technique. It used this pool to draw in the essence of the sun and moon, accumulating the power needed for its transformation.
Li Qing shook his head and fed the final Golden Core to the Mountain Ridge Giant Elephant, helping it dissolve the spiritual energy within.
Thus, Li Qing, who had been about to leave the demon realm, found himself staying for several more days.
(End of the Chapter)
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