Chapter 163 The Innate Purification Constitution

  Han Ming had been silently watching Xiao Qi from above until a whole night passed and the sky began to brighten slightly.

  Xiao Qi slowly raised his head, wiped his face carelessly with his sleeve, and took out the chicken leg he had been reluctant to eat from his storage bag. Before this, he had only been eating the coarse food provided by the mercenaries.

  "With over a hundred gold coins on him, yet he's too stingy to buy food..." Han Ming watched Xiao Qi's every move quietly.

  Xiao Qi whimpered as he bit into the chicken leg, big tears rolling down onto the meat and being swallowed along with it.

  After a while, Xiao Qi finished the chicken leg, slowly stood up, rubbed his little hands on his face forcefully several times, and put on an innocent smile.

  Han Ming had seen all kinds of people, and he could tell that Xiao Qi's smile was absolutely genuine. It was a kind of perseverance and unremitting pursuit of hope.

  Xiao Qi untied a small water bag from his waist and washed his face with the water he held in his hand.

  Han Ming was amazed to find that Xiao Qi's originally dirty little face instantly became like a diamond hidden in the mud, with the surface dirt washed away.

  So magical...

  Han Ming quietly followed Xiao Qi all the way to a small mercenary guild.

  "I'll pay a hundred gold coins! Who will take me to the Ghost City!"

  Xiao Qi shouted loudly at the entrance of the mercenary guild.

  The crowded and chaotic mercenary guild suddenly became quiet, and people turned their heads to look at the little guy standing at the door.

  "Do you really mean to pay a hundred gold coins?"

  A man with a hooked nose, narrow eyes, and upturned corners of his eyes walked over. Just from his appearance, it was obvious that he wasn't a good person.

  "Yes!"

  "Okay, I'll take the job."

  Xiao Qi nodded and asked, "How strong are you?"

  The man with the hooked nose said proudly, "I'm a fifth-stage great warrior. No one in this mercenary guild is stronger than me."

  Upon hearing this, Xiao Qi was overjoyed and quickly continued to ask, "Do you have companions?"

  "Yes!"

  "Then let's set off!"

  The man with the hooked nose laughed and said, "Let's go!"

  The man with the hooked nose then called three more companions. Together with Xiao Qi, the five of them set off for the Ghost Domain.

  Han Ming observed from the shadows and thought to himself that the overall strength level of these mercenaries had indeed improved a lot. All four of them were second-stage great warriors.

  Another two days passed, and Xiao Qi followed the group into the Ghost City again.

  This time, the journey was much simpler. Han Ming stayed in the shadows the whole time without once lending a hand, and the whole group smoothly arrived in front of the huge palace.

  "Is this the place?"

  The man with the hooked nose pointed to the huge palace and asked.

  "Yeah, yeah, that's right! This is it!"

  The man with the hooked nose slowly rubbed his chin with two fingers and suddenly burst into laughter.

  "Guys, let's retreat!"

  Upon hearing this, Xiao Qi was immediately stunned and quickly stopped them, "You said you'd take me in. Why are you going back on your word all of a sudden?"

  The man with the hooked nose had no intention of leaving at all; he was just pretending to leave.

  "It's too dangerous here. If you want to go in, you'll have to pay another fifty gold coins."

  Upon hearing this, Xiao Qi hesitated, clutching his little hands together and saying softly, "No, no, didn't we agree on a hundred gold coins..."

  The man with the hooked nose raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, saying, "No? If there's no more, then forget it. Let's retreat!"

  "Hey, wait! I have it, I'll give it to you!"

  Xiao Qi's face fell as he took out a small cloth bag from inside his clothes, poured out the gold coins one by one, carefully counted out fifty gold coins, and reluctantly handed them to the man with the hooked nose. Then he put the remaining ten or so gold coins back into his pocket, swallowing hard.

  "That's more like it! Let's go!"

  The man with the hooked nose smiled satisfiedly, and the group headed towards the palace.

  Just like last time, a dozen skeleton soldiers emerged from the ground. But this time, these mercenaries were much stronger than before, and they defeated all the skeleton soldiers in an instant.

  Xiao Qi's eyes sparkled with excitement, looking like they had finally found the right people this time!

  The group advanced another dozen steps when suddenly a larger group of skeleton soldiers emerged from the ground.

  "Damn it! Second-stage first-rank skeleton soldiers!" The man with the hooked nose panicked, "How could there be skeleton soldiers of this strength here? What kind of place is this!?"

  The man with the hooked nose, in a fit of rage, grabbed Xiao Qi by the collar and lifted him up, "Tell me, what place is this!"

  Xiao Qi was terrified and said in panic, "I... I don't know."

  "Don't know? You brought us here without knowing? Don't play tricks on me, kid!!"

  The man with the hooked nose waved Xiao Qi around in his hand, threatening to throw him into the midst of the skeleton soldiers.

  Xiao Qi was scared to tears.

  Han Ming squinted in the shadows, thinking to himself that this scene seemed somewhat familiar. Skeleton soldiers guarding in batches, obviously similar to the Water Temple. But the strength of these skeleton soldiers was much stronger than those in the Water Temple. The red skeleton he had encountered before was at most around second-stage sixth-rank.

  "Damn it! If you play tricks on me, I'll kill you!" The man with the hooked nose threw Xiao Qi to the ground and joined the other companions in fighting the second-stage skeleton soldiers.

  After a meal's time passed, all four mercenaries were sitting on the ground, panting heavily. Each of them had several new wounds.

  After resting for a while, they stood up and tentatively moved forward.

  "Boss, I remember now. We seem to have been here before, but back then... there shouldn't have been such a huge palace, nor these strange skeleton soldiers..." A mercenary whispered.

  "I know! That's why I want to go in and take a look." The man with the hooked nose had a dark face.

  When the group was only thirty meters away from the huge palace, the ground began to shift again.

  This time, a group of second-stage fifth-rank skeleton soldiers emerged from underground. These skeleton soldiers were almost identical to the huge red skeleton soldier Han Ming had seen in the Water Temple, only much smaller in size.

  "Damn it!! We can't win! Everyone, run for your lives!!"

  The man with the hooked nose was truly scared this time. Second-stage fifth-rank skeleton soldiers, on par with his own strength. This battle was simply unwinnable.

  Hiss...

  Han Ming watched the group of red skeleton soldiers in front of him, his mind racing.

  Skeleton soldiers were the most natural form of undead, products of deceased creatures absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and reviving.

  Undead, similar to demon soldiers, yet different.

  Undead almost all lack the ability to think for themselves and can continuously revive and reassemble their bodies. They were once human, orc, or other magical beasts. After revival, they had no intelligence and moved stiffly. Demon soldiers, on the other hand, were special products of the demon realm. Although both were creatures that revived after death, demon soldiers revived by absorbing special energies from the demon realm and mostly retained their consciousness. They could be killed, and their bodies could not reassemble. To put it simply, undead were like beasts, while demon soldiers were like magical beasts. They looked similar but belonged to completely different species.

  But it was said that demon soldiers originally evolved from undead. In other words, undead were the ancestors of demon soldiers, the unevolved part of demon soldiers. The elders of the elf race once led a large number of undead into the depths of the demon realm underground. After a long period of evolution, those undead gained intelligence but lost the ability to reassemble their bodies, eventually becoming demon soldiers. The biggest difference was that demon soldiers could speak, think, and reproduce offspring.

  "A mutated form of undead, a new species..." Han Ming muttered to himself.

  "Don't go, please don't go, I'll give you more money, another ten gold coins, whatever you want, I'll give it to you," Xiao Qi cried and begged.

  "Get lost, you stinky kid! If you want to die, go ahead, but don't drag us down with you!" The man with the hooked nose kicked Xiao Qi away and led his three subordinates to flee.

  Wah...

  Xiao Qi burst into loud crying.

  The skeleton soldiers were getting closer and closer to Xiao Qi, about to collide with him.

  Han Ming's hands glinted with several ice crystals, ready to shoot out at any moment.

  "I'll fight you all!!"

  Xiao Qi cried out, picked up a long stick from the ground, closed his eyes tightly, and waved it at the skeleton soldiers.

  Just as Han Ming was about to intervene, a miraculous scene occurred.

  Several faint white lights suddenly shot out from Xiao Qi's body. The white light was gentle and tender, like a woman's hands caressing the skeleton soldiers.

  Upon being hit by the white light, the skeleton soldiers made hissing sounds and shattered into pieces, unable to get up again.

  Seeing this scene, Han Ming was so shocked that he almost fell to the ground.

  "This... this... this is! A purification constitution! An innate purification constitution!!"

  Han Ming finally remembered. Ancient books had recorded some humans with special constitutions, and Xiao Qi's innate purification constitution was among them. This constitution was said to be blessed by heaven, possessing the ability to purify all filth in the world, a natural nemesis to undead and demon soldiers.

  Han Ming stared at Xiao Qi in a daze, his heart filled with both shock and joy.

  This kid... amazing! With him around, fighting against the demon army would undoubtedly become easier.

  Xiao Qi waved the stick for a while, and gradually, no more sounds reached his ears. He hurriedly opened his eyes and saw that there was nothing in front of him.

  "Ah! This..."

  Xiao Qi was stunned by the scene before him. After a moment of shock, he broke into tears of joy.

  "Mommy, Mommy, I'm coming!"

  Overjoyed, Xiao Qi ran towards the palace.

  The ground shook again, and a group of skeleton soldiers emerged twenty meters away from the palace. These skeleton soldiers already had some flesh on them but still looked completely mindless.

  "Die! Die!" Xiao Qi closed his eyes again and waved the stick, his body emitting faint light once more.

  But this time, all that emerged were third-stage first-rank skeleton soldiers. After the first few were dissolved by Xiao Qi's white light, it seemed that the white light on his body had been exhausted.

  "Bad!"

  Seeing the white light on Xiao Qi's body disappear and the skeleton soldiers' weapons about to fall on his head, Han Ming quickly shouted softly and dashed towards Xiao Qi. His hands flicked out several streams of light blue water vapor, freezing all the skeleton soldiers into ice sculptures.