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“It was smashed by a Gold Core expert,” Xu Qing replied truthfully.

Zhang San studied Xu Qing’s level expression and decided that his previous assessment was incorrect. This guy was definitely just as crazy as the Captain. He, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, was so amazing that he lost his dharmaskiff to the attack of a Gold Core cultivator. Usually... a Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn’t even survive an encounter with a Gold Core cultivator.

“What about the Captain?” Zhang San asked. If Xu Qing had returned in this state, then surely the Captain must have suffered just as badly. Considering what the two of them had accomplished, it made sense that the Captain probably lost his dharmaskiff also.

“The Captain...?” Xu Qing thought back to the circumstances when he teleported to safety, and how he had sensed three Gold Core auras.

“Never mind,” Zhang San said with a sigh. “I’ll make the Captain a new coffin while I’m working on your dharmaskiff. Maybe I won’t need to use it this time, but I will eventually.”

Xu Qing nodded, said his farewells, and left.

Zhang San watched him go, then shook his head and walked over to his dharmaskiff workshop, trying to decide if he should make a second coffin while he was at it.

Since I have two crazy bros, I might as well make a coffin each. That’s only fair.

***

As night fell, Xu Qing walked along the harbor, listening to the crashing of the waves and enjoying the feeling of being relaxed.

Going forward, I’ll just lie low in the sect until the fuss dies down.

With that, he headed to Harbor 176’s Violent Crimes Division. As a deputy director, his arrival caused no small amount of anxiety among his subordinates. And that was especially true of the harbor’s newly founded Celestial Bureau.

Xu Qing’s responsibility as a deputy director was to oversee that specific bureau. All of the constables greeted him with respect when he entered, and there were even some Qi Condensation disciples who took it upon themselves to stand guard outside of his office.

The Mute was one of them.

Almost as soon as Xu Qing entered his office, the Mute rushed over, squatted outside the door, and glared around murderously at anyone who got close. It didn’t matter who it was, even if they worked in the Violent Crimes Division, he treated them as an enemy.

When Xu Qing noticed the commotion outside, he realized it was the Mute.

He’s made rapid progress.

The Mute’s spirit sea was already around 210 meters, which indicated that he was in the seventh level of the Seaforming Scripture. Xu Qing didn’t even consider trying to determine how the Mute was progressing so quickly. Everyone had their secrets, and he had no interest in prying.

Time slipped by slowly but surely. Half a month.

Xu Qing kept a low profile, but word eventually spread of his return. Though he stayed in the Violent Crimes Division, and had a very fierce reputation, people started making appointments to visit him. That said, few of them were strangers. Most were people like Huang Yan, Ding Xue, and others he knew.

During the half month that passed, the situation on the battlefield changed significantly. The fighting between Seven Blood Eyes and the Seazombies reached a fever pitch.

About a week before, a massive battle was fought in which Seven Blood Eyes split their forces into seven groups to assault the Seazombies’ seven fortified islands. The goal was seemingly to take them all and then advance to the main island, the Seazombie ancestral land. The Seazombies held nothing back to stop them. However, Seven Blood Eyes’ assault wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Four of their advances were actually feints intended to pin down the enemy, not take control of territory. The other three advances were the real focus, with the goal of taking those three fortified islands and then using them as springboards to reach the main island. It was a vicious and brutal battle that shook heaven and earth. Though Xu Qing wasn’t there to witness it personally, the Violent Crimes Division had reports from the battlefield, and they described everything in detail. Eventually, the Seven Blood Eyes forces managed to successfully take two of the fortified islands. The end result was not ideal for the Seazombies, and some of their top experts took to the field. The scope of the fighting had already reached a very high level. Seven Blood Eyes offered even bigger rewards for missions, causing the disciples’ eyes to light with even more ferocity.

Because of how the war was ramping up, interest in the bounty on Xu Qing and the Captain died down. That said, one of the bounty rewards was unexpectedly increased, and it caused Xu Qing to be more of a hot topic than the Captain.

That new bounty reward was added by the Seazombies’ dao child, Vastworld!

Bounty reward increase: I, the dao child of the Seazombies, will perform ten tasks for anyone who kills Xu Qing. As long as those tasks are within my ability to accomplish, I will do them! And anyone who provides accurate clues leading to Xu Qing’s death at my hands will be rewarded with one task!!

As the dao child of the Seazombies, Vastworld’s battle prowess was exceptional, and he was also relatively famous. As a result, many nonhumans heard about the bounty, and were very interested in it.

Because of this, stories about Xu Qing fighting Vastworld started to spread. That wasn’t exactly what Vastworld had wanted, but it was impossible to avoid. All he cared about was killing Xu Qing; everything else was of little consequence. Thanks to that increased bounty reward, many malicious eyes came to be fixed on Xu Qing. Shortly after the initial reward increase, Vastworld sent Xu Qing a personal message.

“Xu Qing, do you dare fight me, a dao child? No help from any bystanders. Just you and me!”

Xu Qing obviously was aware of both the bounty increase and the message, but he ignored them. In his opinion, this dao child Vastworld was a bit of an idiot. Whether back in the slums or in Seven Blood Eyes, Xu Qing had never been interested in dueling. He preferred to slip through the shadows and slit his opponent’s throat. That was a much more clean and efficient method.

During the half month that passed, quite a few things happened in the sect. One of the biggest... was that a huge museum was being built in Harbor 176. Although the details about the museum construction were kept under wraps, it was such a momentous thing that word eventually leaked.

Once that happened, Zhang San ceased any efforts to keep it a secret, and instead started promoting it everywhere. Before long, everyone in the sect knew about it. There was going to be a new museum in Harbor 176, and there would only be one exhibit inside. And that exhibit... was the nose of the seventh zombie ancestor’s divine likeness!

Any Seven Blood Eyes disciple would be able to look at it, and nonhuman cultivators would be invited to do so as well.

The news caused a huge stir in the sect. And when the Seazombies heard about it, they went insane with fury. There really couldn’t have been anything more humiliating to them than that.

Sir Bloodsmelter heard about the matter, and was very pleased. In fact, he was so happy that he personally penned a scroll of calligraphy and had it sent down to be hung in the museum. The scroll had four characters on it.

“Nose With Living Flame.”

Zhang San immediately sent a message to Xu Qing about it. That prompted Xu Qing to finally leave the Violent Crimes Division and visit the nearly completed museum. When he saw the zombie ancestor’s huge nose, and the calligraphy scroll hanging above it, he gaped in surprise.

Zhang San stood next to him, a very serious expression on his face.

“What does the patriarch mean by that?” Xu Qing asked. He looked at Zhang San.

“Does he... want us to set it on fire?” Zhang San muttered noncommittally. “Or make it look like it’s surrounded by flames?”

Right then, Xu Qing suddenly sensed something behind him, and spun to look at a spot outside the museum.

Zhang San was stunned. “What’s wrong?”

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing extended his right hand, within which was a dagger. He slashed the dagger out, and it made a swishing sound. Also, an exclamation of surprise echoed out from the spot where the dagger had slashed through the air.

“Hey!”

Along with the voice came a sound like wind, brushing past Xu Qing. Face completely expressionless, he ignited his two life flames, and as intense heat rippled out in all directions, he spun and launched a fist strike.

As rumbling sounds echoed out, Xu Qing backed up several paces and looked at a nearby spot of empty air that was rippling slightly as it also backed away from him.

“Chen Erniu,” Xu Qing said.

“That’s Director to you, buddy!” a flustered voice said. And yet the Captain still didn’t reveal himself.

Off to the side, Zhang San recognized the Captain’s voice, and looked excitedly at the spot of rippling air. “Captain, you’re back!”

“Of course I am. It’s not like I was in any danger. I got chased by a few dozen Gold Core experts, that’s all. Escaping from them was as easy as blowing some dust off my shoulder. I even swung by the front lines on my way back.”

An apple suddenly appeared in midair, and then a crunch rang out as the Captain took a bite.

“Why are you still invisible?” Zhang San asked curiously.

Xu Qing and Zhang San couldn’t see it, but the Captain only had one arm left. His waist was injured so badly his lower half was about to fall off. And he was covered in countless other wounds, some of which pierced all the way through him. His face was in really bad condition as well. It was battered and swollen, and all his hair appeared to have been burned off.

Ignoring the pain he felt from head to toe, he forced one of his swollen eyes open as he grinned and said, “I’m just used to it at this point. Being invisible is great. Very convenient for a lot of things. And as your superior, being invisible really highlights my position of authority.” To emphasize his words, he took a huge bite of his apple, then casually continued, “Anyway, after I ran circles around those dozens of Gold Core experts, I also figured I should go find the first zombie ancestor statue and pee on it. Sadly, the thing was too big to take with me, otherwise I would have brought it here so you could pee on it too.

“Another reason I’m invisible is for Deputy Director Xu’s sake. You see, I can get in and out of Seazombie territory with my eyes closed. But Deputy Director Xu can’t. So to make sure he made it out safely, I went so far as to visit the Seazombie’s royal palace.

“If I hadn’t been in a hurry to come back and find the two of you, I would have gone by the place where the Seazombie patriarch gets healing done, to see if there was anything there worth doing.”

As the Captain proudly said all of these things, his face was so swollen he looked like a pig, and he was in so much pain he could hardly endure it. His injuries seemed about as bad as the ones he’d received in the Joine incident, although the truth was that they were worse. He had barely made it back alive, but given his status as a superior, he obviously couldn’t come out on the bottom.

Glancing at Xu Qing, he said, “Deputy Director Xu, as your superior, it was my pleasure to help you. This time. Just remember that you owe me 50,000 spirit stones now. And don’t forget to pay me back.”

Xu Qing didn’t respond. However, he did look down at the Captain’s shadow, which wasn’t visible to anyone other than Xu Qing.

The Captain obviously had only one arm and one leg, and was trembling from head to toe as he ate his apple.