I Can Upgrade Everything Infinitely-Chapter 68 - 67: The Pursuit Arrives

"Coming, sir."

The inn was called the Halfway Inn. The attendant was a swarthy, skinny young man, and the Shopkeeper was a middle-aged man with graying hair.

"A night’s stay is one tael of silver,"

the attendant said.

"Fine."

Xu Qing nodded, took out a tael of broken silver from his robes, and casually placed it on the counter. After the Shopkeeper confirmed it was correct, he took out the room key and had the attendant lead Xu Qing to his room.

"This way, sir."

The attendant said with a smile.

"Mm."

Xu Qing followed him.

The guest rooms were on the second floor. With the attendant leading the way, they arrived in no time. He unlocked the door, and Xu Qing went inside to rest.

"Sir, if you need anything, just call for me,"

the attendant said.

"Alright."

Xu Qing nodded.

Then, the attendant left.

「Inside the room.」

Xu Qing rested for a moment, then sat cross-legged on the bed and closed his eyes to rest his mind. Time slowly passed, and the sky outside grew completely dark.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

Suddenly, Xu Qing’s eyes snapped open. Inside his robes, his Copper Coin Sword, which had already reached Level 10, began to vibrate faintly and emit a wave of heat.

A faint burning sensation followed.

’Are they here?’

Xu Qing mused.

Without hesitation, Xu Qing opened the Jade Box and took out a jin of White Jade Tiger Meat. He quickly devoured the entire pound of raw meat.

And so, Xu Qing felt a warm current spread throughout his body. His Essence, Qi, and Spirit began to recover rapidly as he waited quietly.

RUMBLE...

Xu Qing heard the sound of thunder. He looked out the window to see that a thick layer of dark clouds had gathered in the black sky, with lightning streaking through them.

CRACK! CRACK!

Each flash of lightning brought a brief moment of light to the dark world.

ROAR...

The next moment, a torrential downpour began, as if a celestial being had emptied the heavenly river onto the mortal world. The storm had come so suddenly tonight.

"It’s raining."

Xu Qing’s expression was calm.

「The scene changes.」

「At the entrance of the inn.」

A slender woman in palace attire, holding a black umbrella, walked into the inn against the fierce storm.

"Guest, please, come in quickly."

The attendant hurried over. "The rain outside is too heavy."

"Thank you."

The woman’s voice was sweet, like a singing lark. Her face was veiled by a light white gauze, hiding her features, but the pair of beautiful eyes she revealed were still enchantingly lovely.

At that moment, all the customers eating on the first floor of the inn turned to look, their gazes all falling upon the woman.

Among them, several men had frivolous expressions on their faces.

But they only looked.

After all, for such a peerless beauty to dare travel alone at night, to even enter an inn like this without a single guard...

Well, this situation pointed to one of two possibilities.

First, the peerless beauty was a naive fool who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth, daring to go out alone, ignorant of the world’s dangers.

Second, the peerless beauty was herself an extremely powerful expert.

"Are you here for a room?"

the attendant asked.

"No."

The woman in palace attire shook her head, her tone calm. "I am here to find someone."

"Find someone?"

The attendant was taken aback for a moment.

"Hahaha..."

Just then, a burly man stood up, put his right foot on his stool, and said, "Beauty, you’re not here looking for me, are you?"

"Come, come, come into my arms. I’ll let you experience what true earthly pleasure is. I guarantee you won’t want to leave."

"Hahaha..."

Instantly, several others around him also burst out laughing.

But their laughter was filled with filth and obscenities.

"This... this..."

The attendant was a little scared and worried.

PFFT!

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, a large amount of blood spurted from the burly man’s face. His entire face, skin and all, seemed to have been completely sliced off by an invisible blade.

"AHHH!!!"

A horrifying scream echoed throughout the first floor of the inn.

SWISH!

The peeled-off face sailed through the air in a graceful arc, landing directly in the woman’s hand. Incredibly, there wasn’t a single drop of blood on the skin.

"This face is too poor. It doesn’t even qualify to be made into a mask."

The woman shook her head, a hint of contempt in her voice. She looked at the screaming man and said calmly, "It seems you are not the one I’m looking for."

"Demon... demoness..."

"Be careful!"

"!!!"

Instantly, everyone’s expression changed drastically.

PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!!!

Blood splattered.

The woman in palace attire raised her jade-like hand. From her palm, invisible threads shot out, spreading continuously.

In an instant, face after face was peeled off by the invisible threads. The people present screamed endlessly, completely unable to resist.

In the blink of an eye, almost everyone was on the ground, screaming. Though their faces had been flayed, none of them were dead, only in extreme agony.

"You... you..."

The attendant was so scared his face was drained of color. He trembled all over, collapsing into a heap on the floor. The inn’s Shopkeeper was also terrified.

"Still not coming out?"

The woman ignored the crowd and looked up at the second floor of the inn. She had known all along that Xu Qing was here. "Since you won’t come down, I’ll have to come up and find you."

CLANG!

The next moment, a cold Sword Light flashed, slicing through the air from a room on the second floor. The flash of light was brilliant and contained an extremely strong Mighty Power.

"A fine welcome."

The woman waved her jade-like hand. The faces she had just peeled off flew into the air. As if imbued with Spirituality, blood-red lines appeared on them and drained the screaming people on the floor dry, turning them into gruesome, desiccated corpses.

Then, the faces quickly overlapped and condensed, forming a lifelike mask that floated in the air. It could even speak, like a Fierce Ghost.

DANG!

With a crisp ring, the mask shot forward and blocked the cold Sword Light. Their initial clash was merely a probe, with no clear victor.

SWISH!

The mask of faces flew back to the woman’s side, hovering by her right shoulder and emitting wisps of bloody, malevolent energy.

「At the top of the stairs.」

Xu Qing appeared.

"Xu Qing."

The woman looked up. Though she wore a light veil, one could still faintly glimpse her exquisite, beautiful face, like a Fairy who did not partake of the mortal world’s vulgarities.

However, beside this Fairy floated a mask of human faces, emitting a bloody, malevolent aura. It shattered the Perfect atmosphere, adding a kind of Demon Fiend’s stunning beauty.

"So you did follow me."

Xu Qing held his Level 10 Wandering Dragon Sword, looking down at her from his higher position. He recognized her at a glance—the woman in palace attire was none other than Jiang Feiying.

Apparently, Jiang Feiying had known when Xu Qing left Qingbei Town. But she hadn’t stopped him, instead allowing him to leave.

The reason was simple.

It wasn’t convenient for Jiang Feiying to act within Qingbei Town. If she made a move, she would alert the Government Office, which would likely lead to unnecessary trouble. But once Xu Qing was outside the town, there were no such concerns.

Furthermore, Jiang Feiying was one of the masterminds behind the disaster outside the town. She was also one of those who had obtained a piece of the Deceitful Flesh Lingzhi. Her true strength had already reached a Realm comparable to the second step of the Martial Dao: Immortal.

Keep in mind, over half a year ago, Jiang Feiying had already begun distributing congee outside the town. Into the congee, she had mixed a special concoction she prepared.

In the end, by the time winter arrived, tens of thousands of refugees and vagrants had gathered outside Qingbei Town. She triggered a cataclysm, using their lives to refine the Deceitful Flesh Lingzhi.

However, Jiang Feiying’s actions naturally didn’t escape the notice of the other experts in Qingbei Town. They didn’t stop her, but instead moved to snatch the Deceitful Flesh Lingzhi the moment it was Refined.

In the end, Jiang Feiying only managed to obtain one-seventh of the Deceitful Flesh Lingzhi. Over the course of more than half the winter, she absorbed and refined her entire share, but only managed to create 1,007 masks, just one short of 1,008.

As long as she succeeded, the ’1,008’ masks would fuse into one, her Thousand Forms Divine Skill would reach Great Success, and Jiang Feiying would be able to break through her limits and step into the Second Realm: Extraordinary.

Also, the reason Jiang Feiying targeted Xu Qing was simple: he possessed an Evil Ghost Mask. Jiang Feiying had sensed it back then, so she sent a white-robed ghost shadow she controlled to test him, but Xu Qing ended up destroying it.

The reason Jiang Feiying didn’t make another move afterward was that she needed to focus all her attention on her plans and the refining of the Deceitful Flesh Lingzhi. That was her top priority.

In addition, it was a critical time, and she didn’t want to cause any complications by acting within the town.

Now, Jiang Feiying had only obtained one-seventh of the Deceitful Flesh Lingzhi, which wasn’t enough to help her fully break through. So, she turned her attention back to Xu Qing, wanting to get the Evil Ghost Mask in his hands, refine it into the one thousand and eighth mask, and help her Thousand Forms Divine Skill achieve complete Great Success.

"If you surrender without a fight, I can make your death a little easier,"

Jiang Feiying said, her tone calm.

"Heh."

Xu Qing gave a cold laugh. "Who would have thought that the renowned Miss Jiang the Elder of the Jiang Family in Qingbei Town would turn out to be a true demoness."

"Go!"

SWISH!

Jiang Feiying snorted. With a wave of her jade-like hand, the freshly refined mask of human faces let out a strange cry and lunged at Xu Qing like a Fierce Ghost.