59

Chen Zhu'er wanted to send a "Ten Thousand Mile Transmission Talisman" to the Xu family on Haichang Island, but the talisman only contained coded messages; even the sound was strictly forbidden.

Even a fool could tell that the talisman wouldn't fly directly to the Xu family's Haichang Island.

"If Foundation Establishment cultivators were this stupid, they'd be dead in a mass grave by now," Qing Chen thought to himself.

Since this woman had already sent a coded message explaining the garrison situation some time ago,

he could simply send a vague, innocuous message later, just to appease her.

As he pondered this, a muffled thud suddenly came from the cell.

Turning his head, he saw Mayor Chen slumped against the wall, shouting, "Give me a quick death..."

"Father! Father!" Chen Zhu'er from the next cell suddenly screamed madly, banging her head against the iron bars, appearing insane.

Qing Chen frowned, knowing that the father and daughter were no longer of any use.

Having obtained a considerable amount of spirit stones and pills, he unusually acted as a 'good guy,' sending Mayor Chen to his death with a single sword strike, suffering little to no torment himself.

As for Chen Zhu'er, although her cultivation had been destroyed, her spiritual energy and physical body, nurtured over several years, still held considerable value.

With the intention of freeing her, Qing Chen used the Brahma Aperture Blood Refining Secret Technique from the *Brahma Demon Refining Art*, refining Chen Zhu'er alive into her essence blood.

That was a kind of liberation.

After dealing with Chen Zhu'er, he turned to look at the torture chamber next door, where several constables were still cursing and swearing.

Qing Chen didn't go in; he simply stood at the doorway, flicking his fingers lightly. A small fireball flew over with a "whoosh," igniting upon touching his clothes before going silent within seconds.

After the fire died down, only the smell of burning remained. He glanced at it, turned, and left, settling his accounts.

"Sigh, actually, I want to be a good person." Qingchen rubbed his nose, not saying it aloud, but only letting it pass through his mind.

...

After dealing with some of the prisoners, Qingchen retrieved a small wooden boat from Mayor Chen's warehouse. Rowing it wasn't too difficult.

The protective array of Huangzhu Island was still glowing with a pale white light.

From the seaside, it looked like an inverted bowl, completely blocking out any life from the island.

Although Qingchen knew water escape techniques, those consumed spiritual energy; rowing was much more convenient.

Although he currently had over ninety spirit stones, he tried to conserve them as much as possible, using his resources wisely.

After rowing for about an hour, the seawater changed from light blue to deep blue, and finally, the silhouette of a small island appeared in the distance.

Qingchen moored the boat at the shore and circled the island.

The island was about a hundred zhang wide, with no other people in sight, only a few black reefs standing on the shore.

He named the island Hundred-Foot Island.

He took out the array plate of the 'Mysterious Tracking Warning Array' from his storage bag. It was a palm-sized bronze plate, engraved with dense patterns.

He buried the array plate in the sand near the sea, and then planted four array flags with small bells around it. They wouldn't ring in the wind, but would move when a demonic beast approached.

Next, he took out a jade bottle containing various kinds of essence blood and poured a little into a white porcelain bowl.

As soon as he put it down, the pungent smell of blood spread with the sea breeze, thick like an impenetrable fog.

Qingchen hid behind a reef, covered in cool, green moss that felt pleasant against his back.

His hand rested on the hilt of his spirit sword, his eyes fixed on the bowl of essence blood!

He wasn't familiar with the habits of early-stage Tier 1 demonic beasts, so he first used one-twentieth of the amount in the jade bottle to test the waters.

Not long after, a sudden "splash" came from the sea, and a two-foot-long black-skinned crab crawled ashore.

Its shell was quite thick, and its two large pincers cracked with a "crack."

It crawled towards the white porcelain bowl.

Just as it stepped into the array area, Qingchen's spirit sword suddenly drew its sheath. A flash of light, and one of the crab's large pincers fell to the ground with a thud, still twitching.

Before it could react, the tip of the sword had already pierced its shell, and dark brown fluid gushed out.

For the next half hour, only ordinary sea beasts like this appeared.

There were ten-foot-long eels and inkfish with hard shells.

Qingchen was getting a little tired of killing. He piled the corpses in the formation, looked at the bowl of essence blood, and frowned:

"Could it be that the amount of essence blood isn't enough? Why are all these ordinary sea beasts coming?"

He took out a jade bottle and poured in some more essence blood, doubling the amount of [Martial Artist Essence Blood] in the porcelain bowl.

This time, he waited even more cautiously, afraid of missing any movement.

Finally, after a while, the sea began to churn. It wasn't the wind; something was moving underwater.

Qingchen gripped his sword hilt tightly, his eyes fixed on the churning water.

"Splash!"

A beam of blue light suddenly shot out from the sea.

It was a blue-scaled fish, nearly ten feet long. Its scales shone brightly in the sunlight, and when its tail lashed out, a "smack" could be heard, like a whip striking the water.

A low-grade first-tier demonic beast, a blue-scaled fish!

The demonic beast was enormous; although only its heart, abdomen, and other flesh and blood possessed sufficient spiritual energy, it was still enough!

Even at his current Qi Refining Level 3 cultivation stage, with relentless training, it could be used for two months.

Qing Chen's heart tightened. Before the blue-scaled fish could return to the water, it plunged headlong into the Maze-Tracing Warning Array.

Suddenly, the small bells within the array jingled, and pale white mist billowed out, enveloping the blue-scaled fish.

The fish thrashed wildly within the array, its tail whipping the mist, but it couldn't break free.

The Maze-Tracing Warning Array covered an area of ​​several dozen feet, like a dense fog maze, making escape difficult.

Seeing this, Qing Chen quickly stepped forward and retrieved the essence blood from the jade bowl to prevent attracting other demonic beasts.

He could handle one now; more would be troublesome.

Then, he summoned his spirit sword, its light like a snake, striking directly at the blue-scaled fish's side.

"Clang!" The sword tip struck the scales, but bounced back.

The blue-scaled fish, in pain, lashed out with its tail. Qingchen quickly jumped back, narrowly escaping.

The scales were harder than he had expected.

He didn't fight head-on again, but instead manipulated his spirit sword to circle the blue-scaled fish, specifically targeting the gaps in its scales.

Soon, blood flowed from the blue-scaled fish's side, staining the seawater a pale red.

Its movements slowed, then suddenly stopped.

A certain spot on its scales glowed brighter and brighter, as if it were burning.

"Not good!" Qingchen's heart skipped a beat. This was the demonic beast's final, desperate attack.

Sure enough, the blue-scaled fish slammed into the array wall with a loud "boom," causing the pale white mist to sway and the array plate in the sand to vibrate.

Qingchen quickly pulled out a low-grade spirit stone and slammed it into the array plate, causing the mist to thicken further.

He took a deep breath, channeling his spiritual energy into the sword, instantly brightening its light.

He had already shaved off several scales from the blue-scaled fish's heart and burned a wound with a low-grade first-tier talisman; now, the sword light hurtled straight there.

The blue-scaled fish sensed the danger, but it was in a state of exhaustion and stagnation, and it was too late to dodge.

The sword light pierced through its back with a "whoosh."

Its body stiffened for a moment, the blue light gradually dimmed, and finally, it crashed into the seawater with a "thud," slowly sinking to the bottom.