Xu Qing returned and immediately used his voice transmission jade slip to inform Fairy Zi Xuan.
This was Zi Xuan's request to him and Chen Erniu on the way to the county capital from the Eight Sects Alliance.
After all, they were in foreign lands and danger could descend at any time. Zi Xuan's true mission in guarding the branch sect was to add another layer of protection to the Sword Holders of the Eight Sects Alliance.
The voice transmission ended and Xu Qing returned to his Sword Pavilion. He didn't enter immediately but checked the surroundings. After confirming that there were no traces of his arrangements being triggered, he walked in.
This was a habit that had been engraved in his bones.
In the Sword Pavilion, Xu Qing took a deep breath and recalled the entire process of this mission, analyzing if he had done anything wrong. It was only when night fell outside that he ended the review.
However, the figure of the youth lying on the verge of death in the killing array was deeply engraved in his memory.
"His father should be that true spy…" Xu Qing mumbled.
He didn't know if that mysterious spy treated the youth as an abandoned pawn to become one of the diversions that concealed his tracks.
Or maybe there were even more existences like the youth.
Or perhaps, the spy intentionally made himself a target to mask the true information he wanted to transmit and hid it among others.
Everything was unknown.
Xu Qing thought for a while before shaking his head. After that, he recalled the black-clothed guard with eight palaces whom he had killed.
"With my current combat strength, I can kill cultivators with eight palaces if I go all out. However, for the nine palaces… it will be difficult." Xu Qing fell silent. He knew that the combat strength of the eight palaces was basically the limit of the vast majority of four life fires aptitudes.
Of course, there might be even more monstrous existences among them. Although they hadn't opened the 121st magic aperture, they might have grasped two emperor-level cultivation arts or possessed life lanterns.
Such a person had the possibility of possessing the combat strength of nine palaces.
"Other than that, there's a high chance that those cultivators who have reached the limit of the Heavenly Palaces will also attempt to break through and step into the Nascent Soul realm." Xu Qing's eyes revealed a hint of contemplation.
It wasn't that easy to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, so many people at the extreme of the Golden Core realm were in the Nascent Formation realm. The process was a little mysterious, so they were mostly known as half-step Nascent Soul cultivators or fake Nascent Soul cultivators.
Xu Qing had also made a judgment about this fake Nascent Soul's combat strength through this mission.
"It surpasses the eight palaces and nine palaces and is infinitely close to the ten Heavenly Palaces!"
"I'm still too weak. I have to speed up my cultivation. Also, I have to make a trip to the Demon Transformation Sect as soon as possible to learn the demon transformation technique." Xu Qing felt that if his analysis wasn't wrong, the demon transformation technique could to a certain extent manifest the Ghost Emperor in his sea of consciousness.
"I wonder how much the Ghost Emperor can enhance me after manifesting." Xu Qing's heart was filled with anticipation.
"I hope everything goes smoothly. If that's the case, perhaps I'll have a Ghost Emperor Palace in the future!"
"My limit is ten Heavenly Palaces. I've already completed five of them. As for the remaining five… the Sword Palace can be considered one. If this Ghost Emperor Palace is possible, I'm short of three choices."
Xu Qing thought about it.
"Oh right, there's also the intrinsic mosasaur."
Xu Qing took a deep breath and ended his analysis and contemplation.
"Then, the most urgent thing in front of me now is military contributions. I took half a month off previously and there are still seven days left. There's no point in returning early."
Xu Qing's eyes revealed desire. Whether to learn the demon transformation technique or go to Mount Morning Glow, he needed military contributions.
Everything depended on military contributions.
"There should be quite a lot of military contributions for this mission but it's still not enough…" Xu Qing took out his command sword and began to search for missions. Very soon, he found a capture mission in the county capital.
He checked his injuries and walked out of the Sword Pavilion to earn military contributions.
Just like that, days passed.
Xu Qing had never heard anyone mention the follow-up to their mission.
He didn't know who the real spy was, nor did he know if the other party had been successfully rescued.
Everything came to an end as the mission ended.
Seven days later, Xu Qing, who was immersed in earning military contributions, received a urging from the Prison Department. His vacation was over.
Hence, he could only stop earning military contributions and go to the Prison Department to work early in the morning.
As he walked on the steps of the Prison Department, Xu Qing felt the familiar coldness. He greeted the few Pawns from Area D he encountered while still pondering about the military contributions.
When he reached the entrance of D132's cell, he pushed the cell gate open and walked in.
After not coming for half a month, the prisoners here were no different from before.
The cloud beast was still eating its tentacles, and the human woman was still coaxing the straw doll in her arms to sleep. The old man from the Painting Race had a kind look in his eyes as he shouted good morning. The millstone was spinning. Only the head's eyelids rolled back and sighed.
"It just stopped for half a month. Why are you back again?"
As usual, after Xu Qing expressionlessly checked the prisoners one by one, he returned to the place where he had been meditating. Just as he sat down, he suddenly frowned and looked around.
Today, he didn't see the little boy.
This situation was a little abnormal. In his memory, every time he came, the little boy would be the first to appear.
"Where's the luck?" Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at the cage where the Painting Race's old man was.
The old man from the Painting Race bowed and spoke in a low voice.
"Luck… there seems to be a problem. I haven't seen it for a few days."
Xu Qing frowned and spread out his perception throughout the cell. He then got up and searched every cage.
Finally, he stopped in a corner and saw the little boy lying there on the verge of death.