“I can do it.” Xu Qing saw the other party’s unspoken meaning and said in a deep voice.

Cross didn’t say anything and left. An instant later, the wolf pack came surging over.

The wind that kicked up blew past Xu Qing’s face, bringing along a stench. The ten or so wolves who were at the very front had pitch-black bodies and crimson eyes that emitted viciousness and craziness.

Clearly, the first cycle of Thunder Team’s battle arrangement had caused these wolves to suffer quite a bit of casualties. Stimulated by the blood, these black-scaled wolves became incomparably berserk.

At this moment, they seemed to not have noticed the hidden Xu Qing and wanted to chase after Cross.

However, the instant they got near, a dagger suddenly flew out. With a whooshing sound, the dagger pierced into the forehead of the black-scaled wolf at the very front.

It was with such great strength that the dagger instantly pierced through the wolf’s head.

This black-scaled wolf let out an agonizing cry and died instantly. As his corpse landed due to inertia, Xu Qing’s figure shot out like a bolt of lightning.

The raven-black iron stick flashed with a cold gleam, fiercely piercing into the eyes of another black-scaled wolf, penetrating the head. After that, Xu Qing’s body swung and he clenched his left hand into a fist, smashing it toward the third wolf at the back who was pouncing on him for a sneak attack.

The wolf head was instantly smashed and blood splattered all over Xu Qing.

After killing the third wolf, Xu Qing’s figure moved once again.

His speed was perfectly displayed at this moment.

He was extremely agile, like a massacring rakshasa*. He was moving through the wolf pack with an icy gaze, attacking decisively.

As the black iron stick gleamed, many black-scaled wolves’ agonizing howls rang out and spread to the surroundings.

Blood from more and more wolves got onto him and his hands were also dyed red. Although it felt sticky, his grip on the iron stick was still firm. At this moment, even the color of the iron stick had turned crimson.

However, because the wolf pack was scattered, some still managed to pass by him.

Some of their claws and fangs also left marks on his body.

However, with Xu Qing’s speed, he managed to charge out and somehow stopped the wolf pack. As for his injuries… his purple crystal’s terrifying recovery abilities displayed amazing effects during this battle.

All of his external injuries quickly healed in a few breaths’ worth of time. Even the wounds that were more serious stopped bleeding.

Because his entire body was covered by wolves’ blood, other people wouldn’t be able to see this clearly.

Compared to his wounds’ recovery, his stamina recovery was even more terrifying. Hence, his battle prowess was sustained to a shocking extent.

Gradually, his surroundings were covered by wolf corpses. At this moment, the coldness in his eyes deepened, and his battle duration exceeded everyone else’s, causing the wolf pack to show a hint of being somewhat intimidated.

When seen from afar, when the sunlight streamed through the densely-packed tree leaves and landed on his body that was covered in blood, the refracted light seemed to turn him into a blood glow.

This scene was also seen by Captain Lei who was 200 zhangs away, as well as Cross who was at a vantage point.

The two of them were shocked by Xu Qing’s ruthlessness and tenacity.

“Kid, retreat!” Captain Lei suddenly said.

Xu Qing still had some strength left, but he could also feel the serious depletion of his spiritual energy.

Although the purple crystal could recover his stamina and heal his injuries, the consumption of spirit energy couldn’t be compensated.

Fortunately, he was a body refiner, unlike Luan Tooth who wouldn’t be able to act the moment she exhausted her spirit energy.

However, he was still affected somewhat, and this caused him to have no choice but to absorb the spirit energy from the surroundings that had dense anomalous substances in them. At this moment, the piercing pain in his arm’s mutation points became increasingly intense.

Therefore, after hearing Captain Lei’s words, Xu Qing didn’t hesitate and immediately backed off.

The instant he did so, a black-scaled wolf with eyes that weren’t completely red but had one black eye instead, leaped up and pounced toward Xu Qing.

Upon seeing this, a cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes, and his iron stick transformed into a bloody arc that suddenly pierced through the wolf’s head. He then wanted to continue retreating, but at this moment…

Under the spotted sunlight, he had no idea if what he saw was an illusion, but the shadow of this fallen black-scaled wolf seemed to have become distorted.

It then rapidly extended out of the ground toward where Xu Qing was at.

Right now, the sunlight on the ground was mottled and not strong, so he was unable to ascertain what he was seeing at the first instant. At the next moment, that shadow came into contact with his body.

After that, Xu Qing’s body violently trembled.

An evil intent that was hard to describe wanted to invade his entire body.

However, at this moment, something happened to the purple crystal, which hadn’t done anything thus far other than providing recovery abilities.

At this moment, it suddenly vibrated and a cold stream erupted from it.

With the eruption, the feeling of being invaded by evil intent instantly disappeared.

This cold stream came quickly but also vanished equally quickly, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye. The purple crystal then returned to how it normally was, remaining completely motionless.

Xu Qing was stunned, but he didn’t have time to overthink it for now. After his body recovered, he quickly backed off. The scene earlier had happened in an instant, so neither Captain Lei nor Cross, who was far away, noticed anything amiss.

Right now, as Xu Qing retreated, Captain Lei came over. His gaze still had hints of astonishment in them.

“You’ve done a good job. Hurry up and go to the back to get some rest.”

“The black-scaled wolves prowl the depths of the forbidden zone. They like places with a high density of anomalous substances, and the outer areas have lower anomalous substance density in comparison. Therefore, no matter why they came here, they don’t like this place. As long as they aren’t able to win after a prolonged fight, they’ll definitely leave.”

After saying that, Captain Lei erupted forth with all of his spirit energy and charged out toward the black-scaled wolves that were chasing Xu Qing.

Barbaric Ghost’s figure also arrived rapidly. He had clearly been waiting at the back for a very long time, so he grew anxious. When he saw Xu Qing covered in blood as well as the countless wolf corpses not far away, he inhaled and went forward, wanting to help Xu Qing.

“I’m fine.” Xu Qing didn’t let Barbaric Ghost help him but turned to take a look at Captain Lei instead. He then quickly left under Barbaric Ghost’s respectful gaze.

When he passed by Luan Tooth, she seemed to have received the news as well, and her gaze had a hint of shock in them when looking at Xu Qing. After giving it some thought, she took out a leather pouch and tossed it to him.

Xu Qing took it and felt the shape of alchemy pills inside. He understood what they were and thus thanked Luan Tooth. He then quickly left under Luan Tooth’s gaze until he saw Cross.

Cross was on a tree and didn’t make a sound. He nodded at Xu Qing with apparent recognition in his eyes.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything either and gently nodded as a gesture. After he went to the very back, he found a place to sit down. He then exhaled a breath of turbid air and took out three white pills to swallow.

As the alchemy pills melted, he started to absorb spirit energy from the surroundings for replenishment.

Time flowed by, and Xu Qing opened his eyes an hour later. His mental fatigue seemed to have eased a little, but he still had a hint of perplexity in his gaze. He noticed that the anomalous substances in his body… didn’t seem to be much.

Therefore, he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. Now, the perplexity in his eyes instantly turned into shock.

To think that… he had one fewer mutation point on his arm!

However, his cultivation realm was clearly at the second level of Body Refinement. Moreover, after having experienced the killings earlier, not only was he not weakened, but he seemed to have become stronger after his recovery.

He remembered very clearly that he had passively absorbed spirit energy during the slaughter, and he had felt piercing pain from the two mutation points on his arm.

As for the white pills, it wasn’t as if Xu Qing hadn’t eaten them before. Their effects shouldn’t be this amazing. However, there didn’t seem to be any other explanations for his situation.

Other than… what had taken place in the instant the purple crystal released a cold stream.

“Shadow, evil intent, crystal erupting cold stream…”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and recalled the strange scene from earlier.

He was certain that it wasn’t his eyes playing tricks on him when he saw a shadow coming into contact with him. It wasn’t an illusion from the scattered sunlight either.

Therefore, he carefully thought back on the scene of the crystal erupting with a cold stream. It was as if at that instant, the evil intent that attacked him was washed off and absorbed into the crystal.

“Was it eaten up?” Xu Qing guessed, feeling a little surprised.

Footnote:

[1] Rakshasa is a type of demon or goblin in Hindu mythology.