56: Chapter 56 Mutual Resentment

Qin Ling looked at that chubby magistrate, and after a moment of thought, quickly identified his identity.

"Huang Zu."

Hearing that Qin Ling actually recognized him, a flash of surprise appeared in Huang Zu's eyes, but there was much more playfulness.

"Oh? You recognize this deity?"

Qin Ling naturally did not know Huang Zu.

But before Hu Gu died earlier, she had said everything she could.

She said that the monster behind them was named Huang Zu, a peak Third-Turn, who subsisted on the flesh and blood of young boys and girls all year round.

Before their deaths, Hu Gu and Hu Fu were still threatening him, saying that Lord Huang Zu would not let him off.

Given the situation at the time, Hu Fu and the others would not report Huang Zu's strength lower than it actually was.

After all, people on the verge of death would only make their backing sound stronger to make their opponents wary.

In other words, what Hu Fu and Hu Gu said at the time—that Huang Zu was at the peak of the Third-Turn—was true.

But based on the actual situation before him, Qin Ling could figure it out.

Huang Zu must have broken through the peak of the Third-Turn not long ago and successfully stepped into the Fourth-Turn realm.

What a real pain!

Qin Ling frowned.

"Quite some good luck, actually stepping into the Fourth-Turn realm."

Although he was wary in his heart, the face of Qin Ling's divine avatar was full of flippancy.

As if the Fourth-Turn realm was nothing much.

Huang Zu did not rush to answer.

It lowered its head and looked at its hands.

From the fingertips of those chubby hands, pitch-black sharp claws were slowly extending.

It stuck out its tongue and licked the tip of its claws.

"So what if it is?"

Before its voice even faded, it moved.

Without any warning, it was so fast that only a blurred afterimage remained.

The full-strength strike of a Fourth-Turn great demon, carrying a thick demonic aura and a fishy wind, lunged straight for Qin Ling's back.

Its claw tips had already touched that layer of light-golden radiance, touching the body of that divine avatar.

"Pfft——"

The sharp claws pierced straight through that figure.

Huang Zu's mouth split open, revealing a full set of sharp fangs.

It waited for that thing to turn around, waiting to see the expression on that face.

Was it astonishment, fear, or pain?

But that figure did not turn around.

Instead, starting from the place where it was pierced, it scattered like sand.

There was no flesh and blood, no bones.

It just scattered, turning into countless tiny golden specks of light that drifted away in the dim temple hall.

Huang Zu's smile froze on its face.

It looked down at its hands; there was nothing on the sharp claws.

They were completely clean, without even a trace of blood.

It withdrew its claws and watched those golden specks of light gradually extinguish and disappear into the darkness.

The temple hall grew dark again, leaving only that ugly divine statue grinning in the dark.

"An avatar..."

Its voice squeezed out from its throat, sharp and thin.

As a Fourth-Turn realm monster, Huang Zu had seen too many divine abilities of monsters and martial artists, but it had indeed never seen such an avatar.

Just a single avatar possessed Third-Turn strength.

Then what about the true body?

It recalled the dragon scales on the offering table at the Temple of Lord Qinling mentioned by those constables, and the villagers of Qin Family Village seeing Lord Qinling heading out to sea and slaying a dragon with a single sword.

Huang Zu stood before the offering table, its hand still maintaining that previous posture, its pupils filled with wariness.

It originally wanted to ambush that damn Lord Qinling.

Taking advantage of him coming to check on Zhou Family Village to see what on earth he was.

Now it had ambushed him, but got nothing out of it, destroying only an avatar.

That avatar had dispersed, leaving nothing behind.

It still didn't know what Lord Qinling actually was or just how strong he was.

But based on what the constables said earlier, it still harbored wariness towards Lord Qinling.

Especially after witnessing today that a mere avatar of Lord Qinling possessed Third-Turn strength, it made it even more wary.

Huang Zu turned around and looked at the divine statue of the Yellow Immortal.

It couldn't go to Qin Family Village.

At least not now.

It didn't know how strong that thing's true body was.

Huang Zu stood before the offering table, looking at that somewhat human, somewhat non-human divine statue for a long time.

Then it reached out and touched that smiling face.

"Once this deity gathers the incense points,"

Its voice was very low, so low it sounded like it was speaking to itself.

"Then I will go."

It withdrew its hand, turned around, and walked into the shadows.

The temple hall quieted down once again.

Leaving only the divine statue grinning in the darkness.

In the temple of Qin Family Village, Lord Qinling's true body inside the shrine opened its eyes.

The candles in the temple suddenly flickered, and the incense ash on the offering table was blown away by an invisible wave of air.

Many emotions flashed through Qin Ling's eyes.

He sensed that his divine avatar had dissipated.

That avatar was his weakest one, having only seventy percent of his true body's strength, but it had also cost him quite a few incense points.

But now it had just been torn apart by a single claw from that Huang Zu.

A Fourth-Turn realm great demon.

Its strength was truly terrifying!

Qin Ling slowly clenched his fists, recalling what he had seen inside the temple of Zhou Family Village.

His avatar stood inside the ancestral hall of Zhou Family Village, looking at that somewhat human, somewhat non-human divine statue of the Yellow Immortal.

Huang Zu walked out from the shadows, said a few words, and then lunged forward, piercing through his avatar with a single claw.

Qin Ling slowly loosened his fists; this time he had still been careless.

He truly hadn't expected Huang Zu to be waiting for him inside the temple of Zhou Family Village.

Could it be that Zhou Ping and Zhou Hu were sent by Huang Zu?

Qin Ling closed his eyes.

He recalled Zhou Ping and Zhou Hu kneeling on the praying mat, their foreheads touching the cold stone bricks, saying, "Lord Qinling, these commoners have come to confess our crimes."

Their incense points were still there, their piety was still there, and it had never changed.

If the two of them were truly sent by Huang Zu, incense points would definitely not have appeared.

In other words, the two of them actually didn't know.

Rather, that Huang Zu had set its sights on him long ago.

But regardless, although he lost an avatar this time, he had still obtained information.

It turned out that everything behind this was because of Huang Zu.

After breaking through to the Fourth-Turn, this weasel had actually transformed into the appearance of the magistrate.

And in the name of the magistrate, made all the villages in Guanhai County worship a divine statue named after the Yellow Immortal.

Furthermore, the fleshy little weasel inside the divine statue of the Yellow Immortal was extremely bizarre.

Although he didn't know what kind of demonic arts that was, being able to perceive incense points from it showed that all of Huang Zu's actions were related to incense points.

This Huang Zu was snatching incense points from him!

A mere weasel dared to block his path?

Qin Ling slowly opened his eyes, a murderous intent flashing through them.

However, the most urgent task right now was still to raise his own cultivation level.

He wasn't afraid of Huang Zu coming to kill its way into Qin Family Village, after all, he now had a temple on the East China Sea Seabed.

He could use Teleportation to the East China Sea Seabed at any time and didn't have to worry at all about not being able to leave.

But he was certainly unwilling to give up Qin Family Village.

The incense points of a village were very important to him right now, not to mention that as his first village, he had also developed some feelings for the villagers.

If he wanted to raise his cultivation level, he needed to expand his jurisdiction.

Now there was definitely no way to make Zhou Family Village his jurisdiction.

Presently, Zhou Family Village was heavily guarded by Huang Zu, making it completely impossible to complete the invocation of Lord Qinling right under Huang Zu's nose.

Then if he wanted to expand his jurisdiction now.

He could still only start from the East China Sea Seabed.