At the end of the day, Hua Chenglu still had the mind of a child. She was amazed by the sight of the otherfolk, Mu Kui.
“Nice sword. What’s it called?” Hua Chengzan had seen plenty of high grade spiritual artifacts before, but he also understood their value. Regular Qi Practitioners would be doing quite well if they possessed one at the eighth or ninth layers.
Li Qingshan said, “I obtained this out of pure luck. I don’t know it’s name. Oh right, what do you think about Small Stream as its name?”
“There aren’t any decent names for it. It’s just a clear stream.”
Li Qingshan said, “Alright, then I’ll name it the Clear Stream sword.”
High grade spiritual artifacts were nice, but they were nothing in his eyes. Right now, he could even produce the money to buy a supreme grade spiritual artifact. However, there was no need for him to be so wasteful. Starting off with the Clear Stream sword was already extremely impressive.
It was just a clear stream right now, but it would definitely become a great river.
Hua Chengzan asked, “Where’s Xiao An?”
Li Qingshan said, “She’s still sleeping!” In reality, Xiao An had originally been beside them, but upon sensing their arrival, she had fled back into the building.
Hua Chengzan knew that Li Qingshan had already made up his mind. He would not be sending Xiao An to the Sect of Clouds and Rain, so he said nothing more, “Have you decided on which school you’re going to join?”
“Don’t you want me to join the school of Legalism?”
“If you want to, I’ll obviously be very happy for you to join, but if you don’t want to, I won’t force you.”
“The matters of tomorrow are for tomorrow to decide!”
……
“Tomorrow” arrived very soon. A very light, spring drizzle fell from the sky, which made the air moist and cool. Everything in the surroundings seemed so fresh. Perhaps due to practising Gui Water True Qi, Li Qingshan liked this weather very much now.
The climate of the Clear River prefecture was similar to the Jiangnan in his former life. Looking down from below the clouds, the streams of water merged together on the ground. Many farmers were currently planting seedlings in the rice fields. It gave off a watery charm.
Seeing the tiny, low-hanging cloud fly through the sky, the farmers were not surprised at all. The existence of cultivators was not a secret in this world.
As people who lived near Clear River city, their insight was much broader than others who lived in Qingyang or Jiaping city. They had grown accustomed to it all. Compared to this, planting the seedlings was more important, as it would determine their harvest for the year.
Only the children would raise their heads and point at the cloud. Some of them even ran along with the cloud for a while. Dreams shone in their eyes.
Today was the entrance examination of the Academy of the Hundred Schools. Li Qingshan did not travel with Hua Chenglu and the others. Apart from Hua Chenglu and Yu Zijian, the Hua family had other members that would be attending the Academy of the Hundred Schools this year too. There was no point in sticking with them, so he just agreed to rendezvous with them before the Academy of the Hundred Schools.
The Academy of the Hundred Schools was located around fifty kilometers from the prefectural city. It was not far, nor was it close. It would take him under two hours to reach by flying.
Li Qingshan was in no hurry. He travelled a part of the journey slowly. Suddenly, he sensed a sharp, murderous aura press over from the ground.
On the ground was a small mountain range. There were no traces of human activity within a range of several dozen kilometers. It was a good place for an ambush.
A man with peppered hair in fancy violet robes stood proudly on top of one of those mountains. His cultivation was at the startling tenth layer. He was the vice sect master of the Sect of Clouds and Rain, Wei Zhongyuan.
He was dissatisfied with Qiu Haitang’s decision. He had to avenge his son. Without much effort, he found out that Li Qingshan was staying in the Hua family and was about to go to the Academy of the Hundred Schools. He was not bold enough to demand for the Hua family to hand him over, and there was nothing he could do to Li Qingshan once he joined the academy.
As a result, he made up his mind to launch an ambush on Li Qingshan’s way there. Even if he could not capture Li Qingshan alive and get the whole story from him, he still wanted to kill him. Only then would he be satisfied. The only thing he worried about was that Li Qingshan would be travelling together with the Hua family, but now that he saw Li Qingshan had appeared alone, he beamed with joy, and his murderous aura erupted.
Currently, his furious eyes were teeming with malice, and his violet robes ruffled despite the absence of any breeze. He was imposing, just like a mountain.
Li Qingshan realised it was a tenth layer Qi Practitioner with a single glance. Although he did not know it was Wei Zhongyuan, he had basically guessed it already. He halted and called out, “Are you the vice sect master of the Sect of Clouds and Rain, Wei Zhongyuan?”
“Get down here!” Wei Zhongyuan raised his hand, and white true qi gathered in his palm, shooting into the sky as a white blast.
The white light immediately made Li Qingshan think of Hao Pingyan’s Yellow Dragon’s Cannon of Devouring Light. The white light moved with startling speed. Dodging it would be difficult even if he was on the ground, let alone when he was in the sky like right now.
He was surprised, but he did not become flustered. He scooped up Xiao An and leapt. The white blast tore through the cloud, surprising him secretly.
He fell towards the ground. He required time to use the Cloud Riding technique and Mist Wielding technique, and Wei Zhongyuan clearly would not be giving him this time.
Wei Zhongyuan swung his arms backwards. The rock below his feet shattered, kicking up soil. He had already taken off like a cannonball, heading right towards Li Qingshan.
He extended his right hand, striking out again. He was trying to capture Li Qingshan alive.
However, at this moment, Li Qingshan suddenly vanished.
“An Invisibility talisman? Mere trickery.” Wei Zhongyuan snorted coldly, but his expression soon changed slightly. Li Qingshan’s aura had completely vanished as well. Despite his cultivation at the tenth layer, he was unable to detect him.
He raised his arms and launched over a hundred consecutive punches at where Li Qingshan might have landed. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! With a string of explosions, a layer of the small mountain was directly carved away, filling the surroundings with dust. However, there were no traces of Li Qingshan. His frown grew deeper.
Being able to hide his body was nothing, but in order to erase his aura so cleanly, he must have practised some sort of secret technique. This kid would definitely become a huge problem in the future.
As a result, he held his breath and concentrated his mind. No matter what secret technique it was, his aura would definitely leak out once he used a technique.
Even kicking up a slightly unnatural breeze could allow him to sense Li Qingshan and get him through his invisibility.
Li Qingshan had obviously used the Glazed Mirror of Invisibility to hide himself. Seeing how Wei Zhongyuan lurked below like an angered lion, he knew that something was amiss, so he unfurled the Clear Stream sword.
The Clear Stream sword hovered in the air, and he stood on it. Although he was nowhere close to sword riding, supporting his own weight was not too difficult.
The only thing he needed to think about was how to deal with Wei Zhongyuan. If regular Qi Practitioners were confronted with such a terrifying enemy, they would definitely be thinking about how they could escape, but Li Qingshan was contemplating on how he could kill him. A tenth layer Qi Practitioner’s hundred treasures pouch would increase his confidence in breaking through to Daemon General.
While the location right now seemed like wilderness, he was just too close to both the Academy of the Hundred Schools and Clear River city. Transforming was extremely dangerous.
But right now, he was the one standing in the light, with Wei Zhongyuan lurking in the shadows. With Xiao An’s assistance, as well as almost ten supreme grade talismans and the Cursive Sword Calligraphy, it was not necessarily impossible. Oh right, he also had the art of controlling swords that he had recently learnt.
The Clear Stream sword produced a green flash as it stabbed towards the back of Wei Zhongyuan’s neck.
Wei Zhongyuan turned around in a hurry. He smiled viciously. “I’ve found you.”
