Chapter 248: Nine High Counties
"What if I say I don't agree?" Xiao Qing's face turned completely cold, and the chill continued to emanate from her.
"Very good." Pang Qiyun said coldly, then slowly stood up and said, "Not marrying into the Pang family is your choice, I won't force you. But you are also the lieutenant of Fangliao County, and the old devil Hate Heaven's lair is in Jiugao County, which is connected to your Fangliao County. This time the Governor's Office ordered you to go to war with me, the Biyun Sect, and the Judge's Office. This is your duty, but you can't refuse."
After saying that, Pang Qiyun walked away, and the old man in black standing behind him followed him like a shadow.
But before the old man in black left, he glanced at Xiao Qing with his hawk-like eyes, without any emotion, as if he was looking at a dead person.
"Brother, what do you think about this?" Xiao Qing watched Pang Qiyun and the other two leave without showing any fear. Instead, he turned his head and asked the man behind him.
"The Pang family has clearly given you only two choices: one, marry into the Pang family; two, go to Jiugao County and die. Either the old devil Hate Heaven will kill you, or they will use a knife to kill you.
What else can I do? Of course I can only start killing people! But killing people in Fangqiao County is too obvious. They want to kill someone with a borrowed knife, and I can also kill someone with a borrowed knife. "The scarred man, Qin Ziling, walked around Xiao Qing calmly and sat in the seat where Pang Qiyun had just sat, and said lightly.
"Are you sure? Not only are there two great masters accompanying us on this trip, but many experts from the Biyun Sect, the Judge's Mansion, and the Governor's Mansion are also accompanying us. Moreover, Pang Qiyun's blood is as surging as the sea, and his skills are unfathomable. I don't think I am his opponent, and the old man behind him is also a very powerful martial artist!" Xiao Qing said solemnly.
If Pang Qiyun heard what Xiao Qing said at this time, he would definitely be extremely shocked.
Because more than two years ago, Xiao Qing had only shown the initial stage of bone refining, and now it was said that he was capable of fighting against this quasi-grandmaster, but he was just more likely to lose.
"Except for your skull, you have refined all the bones in your body, and now you have reached the threshold of a breakthrough. Even if you cannot defeat Pang Qiyun, you are only slightly inferior. When you break through and become a great martial artist in the late stage of bone refining in the near future, he will definitely not be your opponent!
As for me, if it were two years ago, I would not have been so sure. But now, I am still relatively confident. Of course, the old devil Hentian has to help, otherwise with so many masters around, I am afraid there will be some mistakes. "Qin Ziling replied.
"Brother, what is your current strength? How does it compare to the Grandmaster?" Xiao Qing was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then couldn't help but ask curiously.
"I have never really fought with the Grandmaster, so some things are hard to conclude. But once we wipe out the lair of the old demon Hatetian, if we're lucky enough, defeating old man Qingsong shouldn't be a problem." Qin Ziling thought for a moment and replied conservatively.
He successfully entered the middle stage of bone refining a year ago, and now has 120 bones to refine, which is a lot worse than Xiao Qing. But his early stage of bone refining is to refine the bones of the whole body, especially the skull, which not only adds a lot to his bone strength, but also adds a bit of spirituality.
Moreover, he cultivated five kinds of strength, integrating five kinds of strength into one. All five kinds of strength were cultivated to the limit, which was very powerful. Once it was fully released, plus the bonus of the pattern on the chest.
In terms of martial arts alone, with his explosive growth in a short period of time, Qin Ziling believed that he would not lose to the martial arts master.
However, the methods of a Qi Refining Master are much more varied than those of a Martial Arts Master, and he can borrow the power of heaven and earth. Qin Ziling couldn't make a conclusion without having fought with him.
However, his soul has now touched the threshold of the late stage of distraction. If he exerts his full strength, Qin Ziling himself cannot say for sure how powerful it will be without having fought with anyone.
In the Qi Refining stage, he has cultivated 180 phantoms of each series. Now the progress is very slow. Qin Ziling plans to cultivate 200 phantoms, gather the five series of exercises to the True Yuan realm, and then look for an opportunity to break through.
He has reached the limit in almost every step of martial arts practice, and has already reached the middle stage of bone refining. He is not going to be overly harsh on himself in Qi refining and let himself fall behind in realm.
But even so, because the Five Elements are mutually generated and restrained, reaching a mysterious balance, each of his true energy is now very pure. Qin Ziling once privately found Jin Yichen to confirm that the power of one of his true energy phantoms is almost one and a half times that of a Qi Refiner at the same level. If it reaches two hundred, it is actually about the same power as the three hundred and sixty of an ordinary person.
When he made his move at this moment, the five elements of true energy condensed into one, which was equivalent to the power of nine hundred phantoms. If converted into a Qi Refiner at the ordinary true energy realm, it would be around one thousand three hundred and fifty. Its power was already close to that of a great Qi Refiner in the late true essence stage.
Of course, Qin Ziling also has An Tian, three high-level silver corpses, and one quasi-golden corpse.
To sum up, even though the Qi Refining Master can borrow the power of heaven and earth, Qin Ziling does not think that he will lose to the Qi Refining Master.
It's just that he has always been cautious, so he didn't jump to conclusions blindly.
However, once he gained benefits in the Netherworld Sect, Qin Ziling had full confidence.
Because in the corpse-raising ring, the four heads have been drawing the evil energy of Xin metal into their bodies every day for more than two years to refine their golden bodies. They have reached a very critical stage and all they need is a final boost of supplementation.
Once he gets benefits from the Netherworld Sect and the four heads break through to become golden corpses, Qin Ziling will have an extra master-level clone. Together with An Tian and the other three silver corpses, he will be fully confident.
"Isn't that perfect?" Xiao Qing said.
"That's true. If the Governor's Office didn't give you an order, your initiative to ask for battle would have seemed abrupt and easily aroused people's suspicion. Now is a good opportunity. You can go with them with a legitimate reason." Qin Ziling nodded.
"Are you still pretending to be my follower?" Xiao Qing asked.
"There are two great Qi Refining masters traveling with you this time. If I pretend to be your follower and go with you, and someone tries to test me, I'll probably be exposed." Qin Ziling said.
"You plan to follow them secretly with your spirit? I'm afraid that's not appropriate." Xiao Qing frowned slightly upon hearing this and said, "With the cultivation level of Judge Zhuge Yunjin and Old Man Qingsong, if your spirit spy on them from a close distance, you will definitely be discovered. If the distance is too far, you won't be able to know the specific changes in the situation in time."
Of course, Xiao Qing now clearly knows that Qin Ziling is a spiritual cultivator.
However, Xiao Qing was determined and focused only on martial arts. He was not willing to be distracted, so he did not follow Qin Ziling to learn the way of spiritual cultivation.
However, every loss has its own gain. Because of this, Xiao Qing has made rapid progress in martial arts in the past two years. Now he has reached the threshold of the late stage of bone refining, and he is refining all 177 bones in the body except the skull.
Once you enter the late stage of bone refining, you will immediately reach the level of a quasi-grandmaster.
"There is a method in the way of spirit and soul called the art of possession, so I will have to inconvenience you on this trip." Qin Ziling said with a smile.
"My blood is as flaming as fire, I'm afraid you'll possess me..." Xiao Qing said in surprise.
"There are two types of possession. One type of possession is to temporarily control the other party's mind and body. This will inevitably cause the other party to resist strongly. If the other party is strong, his soul will definitely be damaged. If he is as strong as you, even if my soul exerts its full strength, I will not be able to possess and control you.
There is also a kind of possession that is just a literal possession, which is equivalent to lurking in the other person's body, and has no control over the other person's mind and body. This method can generally only be used on the weak, because only the weak can't feel it, while the strong can feel that there is a spirit trying to possess them, and they will definitely resist with all their strength. "Qin Ziling explained.
"I understand. I will definitely not resist you. But my body is like a furnace. Even if I don't resist, will it have no effect on your soul?" Xiao Qing said.
"There will definitely be some damage. But with my current spiritual cultivation, I can still bear this damage. In this way, I can see your every move as if I saw it with my own eyes even if I am twenty or thirty miles away, and I can discuss it with you at any time." Qin Ziling replied.
"Then it's foolproof!" Xiao Qing nodded, with murderous intent flashing in the depths of his eyes.
Just now, Pang Qiyun actually dared to speak to her like that. How could she let him continue to live?
…
Two days later, Jiugao County.
In the cold wind, a convoy was moving forward on the official road.
There were bells hanging around the necks of the horses pulling the carts, and from time to time there were tinkling sounds that could be heard, carrying far away in the wind.
There was a wolf-tooth flag on the car with the word "Gu" embroidered on it.
There were more than forty riders on both sides of the convoy, all wearing tight cloaks, carrying sabers and double spears. They all looked very tough, with surging blood and vigorous energy. From afar, one could feel the fierce and murderous aura coming towards them.
From time to time, one could see ragged civilians fleeing towards Fangqiao County on both sides of the official road.
On the abandoned fields on both sides of the official road, one could often see frozen corpses and white bones in the winter sun.
"I heard a long time ago that Jiugao County has suffered from floods and locust plagues for years, and the people in many places have no harvest. However, the government not only did not open the granaries and distribute disaster relief supplies, but also continued to increase taxes, making the people's lives miserable. Many places have bones exposed in the wild, and no roosters crow for thousands of miles. I didn't believe it at first, but after all this journey, I realized that it is even worse than before!"
In a large carriage in the middle, protected by the bodyguards, sat a heroic young woman and a middle-aged woman with an elegant temperament and a hint of majesty.
The middle-aged woman lifted the car curtain and looked at the scene outside, revealing a complex expression of compassion and anger.
"Jiugao County was once as prosperous and wealthy as Qinghe County, but now it has come to this end. I think natural disasters are secondary, and the main reason is man-made disasters. In addition to the government, this man-made disaster should also have a lot to do with the Netherworld Cult behind the scenes.
The Netherworld Cult practices forced plunder, or directly devours human blood and souls to enhance its own strength, or uses human blood and souls to refine into blood-replenishing pills or powerful evil magic weapons. The more chaotic the Jiugao County is, the more people die, and the more beneficial it is for the Netherworld Cult to grow stronger. "Xiao Qing said calmly, but there was a chill emanating from his body, and there was a flash of murderous intent in his eyes.
