The water dispersed, and Li Qingshan appeared. His true qi surged, and surprisingly enough, he had already reached the eighth layer. He was just a millimeter away from the eighth layer in the first place, and he basically spent every day cultivating since he had nothing else to do, making rapid progress as a result. With his extremely pure true qi, he broke through naturally, almost without any obstacles.
“Chu Tian, have you lost your mind?” Li Qingshan was furious. The door to the alchemy room behind him closed once more. No one had managed to see what was going on inside.
Chu Tian was protected by his true qi of the five elements, so he was unscathed. He stabilised himself mid-air and barked, “You finally have the courage to come out! What were you doing inside? What did you do to senior sister Ru Xin?’ Seeing how Li Qingshan had reached the eighth layer, he was secretly surprised. How did Li Qingshan cultivate so quickly?
Li Qingshan said, “What’s it got to do with you?”
Chu Tian said, “How doesn’t it have to do with me? Senior sister Ru Xin likes me, so anything that has to do with her has to do with me. If you have some wits about you, move aside obediently. I don’t want to fight you here. I’ll teach you a proper lesson when the time of our match arrives.”
“She likes you? What kind of crazy are you suffering from? If you don’t piss off, I’ll show you what’s what right now!” Li Qingshan said with his hands crossed. He seemed like a door god, refusing to take a step back.
Cutting off a person from his wealth was akin to killing their parents. Li Qingshan was truly filled with killing intent now. However, his brows became firmly furrowed. It had been some time since he last saw him, but Chu Tian had actually reached the ninth layer already. The rate at which his cultivation improved was truly startling. His aura was more powerful than before too. Just defeating him would be difficult, let alone stopping him. The formation alone definitely could not stop Chu Tian’s Palm of the Five Elements. Even just the shockwaves of the battle would be enough to destroy the alchemy room.
He glanced at the two girls standing behind Chu Tian nearby and questioned, “You’re just going to watch as he comes looking for another woman?”
The two girls said together, “As long as we’re in brother Tian’s heart, we’ll support him no matter what he does!”
The surrounding people all gasped in admiration, while Chu Tian became even more complacent. “You hear that? I’m not like you, trapped firmly to a single woman.” Suddenly, he remembered it was very likely that Li Qingshan had not been trapped, having already touched his woman, so his face became even more twisted.
Li Qingshan was taken aback. He had never considered that something like this was actually possible. He cursed, “No wonder you’ve come looking for her like you’ve gone mad. I wouldn’t want these spineless women either, even if you’re giving them to me!”
The expressions of the two girls changed drastically. Chu Tian’s face immediately sank. “You can insult me, but you can’t insult my women. Those who cross my bottom line must die!” True qi of the five elements completely erupted from his body. The Palm of the Five Elements erupted with blinding light and sailed through the air.
Li Qingshan extended his arms and roaring waves surged over from behind him like a tsunami.
The two of them had managed to completely piss each other off in just a few exchanges.
Chu Tian descended from above. His palm strike fell down like a mountain.
Li Qingshan raised his head. The Palm of the Five Elements had completely filled his vision, almost blanketing him; it was as unavoidable as the wrath of heaven. He stomped down and shot off. His aura surged like the ocean, but he was disadvantaged by the geography. He was just about to collide into the Palm of the Five Elements.
Suddenly, he unleashed the Wave Treading Form and shifted himself mid-air, dodging the attack.
“I knew you would be too afraid to take it on!” Chu Tian laughed madly. Ignoring Li Qingshan, he rushed straight towards the alchemy room. The more Li Qingshan tried to stop him from looking inside, the more he felt as if something was amiss.
The door was just inches away when Chu Tian suddenly felt his body tighten. Glancing down, a stream of water had wrapped around his waist firmly like a snake. He looked back quickly and saw the other end of the stream in Li Qingshan’s hand. Great waves had already arisen beneath his feet.
Everyone below heard three blasts of air. Li Qingshan had unleashed the Wave Treading Form three times consecutively while pulling Chu Tian along. He shot off like an arrow, travelling far away from Benevolence island. He managed to blow a great chasm within the still surface of the lake. In the blink of an eye, the two of them had turned into two tiny specks.
Everyone gasped inside, Both of them have become even stronger!
Chu Tian’s true qi of the five elements shuddered and shook off the water stream. He lunged towards Li Qingshan with the same, simple palm strike as before, but it was deadlier than any other technique.
Li Qingshan did not dodge. He just stood there with his arms crossed, sneering.
Chu Tian suddenly felt a great sensation of danger from behind. He quickly turned around, and a huge, vajra sword cleaved down as a golden streak of light.
Clang! With a lengthy sound, Chu Tian raised his hand up and managed to block the sword, but he was unable to block the sword qi and sword intent within the strike.
Boom! The lake water below was actually cleaved in half by the strike, churning violently with a slash that stretched for several dozen meters.
As it turned out, Li Qingshan had brought Chu Tian to somewhere near Anāsravā? island. Xiao An had already reached the tenth layer now. If there was a person in the academy whose true qi surpassed Chu Tian’s in terms of quantity, it would definitely be her.
Blood oozed out from the corner of Chu Tian’s lips, but he did not even get the chance to call them underhanded.
Li Qingshan’s fist whistled over from behind. It was not a punch, but a drill. Layers of water spun at high speeds such that it no longer seemed like water. It had become the most terrifying weapon for slaughter.
The Vortex Form!
The blood that had oozed out from the corner of Chu Tian’s lips turned into a spray as he was knocked away. He tried to stabilise himself, but golden light filled his vision.
A guardian king blocked his trajectory. Wielding its sword with both hands, it raised it once again before swinging down swiftly. The attack was even fiercer than before.
Their teamwork was flawless, as if they could read each other’s minds. They beat up Chu Tian to the point where he could not even catch his breath. All he could do was watch on helplessly as he was pushed towards dire straits step by step.
Finally, he felt danger for his life. He reached towards his hundred treasures pouch in a hurry. He wanted to use that, but how was he supposed to make it in time?
The sword changed direction mid-stroke, going from a slash to a smack. The wrathful avatar of the guardian king subsided.
With a bang, Chu Tian shot off like a broken kite, falling into the Lake of Dragons and Snakes with a huge splash.
Li Qingshan nodded towards Xiao An, and she expressed back at him, You have me here, so go deal with your matters!
Li Qingshan glanced down. An injured Chu Tian posed no threat, so he turned around swiftly. “What a fool!” He strode away by treading on waves.
If he had problems, he would look for Xiao An. Dealing with Chu Tian alone was rather difficult, so he just worked with her. This had always been a trump card of his, and it had never disappointed him before. The Palm of the Five Elements was a very powerful cultivation method, but it was not more powerful than the Guardian King’s Scripture of Demon Subdual. You might practise five kinds of true qi, but Xiao An practises seven!
At this moment, a few figures flew over from the neighbouring islands. The various school leaders had reacted to this. The One Thought master and Liu Zhangqing were obviously among them.
Li Qingshan rushed back to the alchemy room and said to everyone, “You better all disperse!” Then he entered the alchemy room again.
Everyone had yet to return to their senses. In such a neat and quick fashion, the super genius Chu Tian had just been taught a lesson like this?
“Sigh, Chu Tian only knows how to harass people like us. Out of the three who fought earlier, who wasn’t a genius? A genius has been taught a lesson by two other geniuses working together, so this outcome is expected.”
“I thought Chu Tian could have his revenge after reaching the ninth layer, but I never thought Li Qingshan cultivated so quickly too. He has reached the eighth layer in such a short amount of time. Looks like there’s no hope for Chu Tian to get his revenge.”
As they discussed, someone whispered, “Don’t tell me he’s reached the eighth layer so quickly because of dual cultivation!”
If Li Qingshan were outside right now, he would definitely consider choking this person to death. As a result, the suspicions and rumors became even more widespread.
Xiao An was scolded a little by the One Thought master, but what else could he do to this junior sister of his?
As for Chu Tian, he was brought back by Liu Zhangqing and locked up. After all, he was the one who started everything this time. He had broken the rules forbidding fighting in the academy. Moreover, even if he fought, so be it. He even lost in such an ugly manner, which completely embarrassed Liu Zhangqing as a school leader.
Chu Tian gritted his teeth in hatred, almost fainting out of anger. He was tempted to use that right now for revenge, but while he was arrogant, he was not a complete fool after all. If he brought that out, it would immediately be taken away from him.
Surprisingly enough, his cautiousness was rather similar to Li Qingshan’s.
Li Qingshan returned to the alchemy room and sat down beside Ru Xin quietly. An hour later, the cauldron opened.
Twelve perfectly round, shining True Spirit pills sat within the cauldron silently. Both of them smiled in relief.
Li Qingshan was just about to pass more Blue Butterfly flowers over to her, but Ru Xin waved her hand. “Let’s just stop here this time! Are you really trying to work me like a slave?”
As she said that, she felt like her body was deflating. Across all these days, she had used pills to replace food and used cultivation to maintain her mental condition. She had refined pills for days and nights on end, so she had truly become utterly exhausted.
“Then we’ll continue in the future!” Li Qingshan checked his hundred treasures pouch. There were still a lot of Blue Butterfly flowers remaining. He had basically gained a clear understanding of their value now. This startling amount of wealth would be enough for him to spend for a very long time.
“Let’s split the goods!” Ru Xin smiled. She was exhausted, but she was unable to hide her joy. She had made some startling returns this time, and she had improved her alchemy by quite a lot too.
Checking the number, Ru Xin had refined almost a hundred True Spirit pills across these twenty-three days. It was split into two piles in the end. Li Qingshan received over sixty of them, while Ru Xin received over twenty of them.
Like a money grubber, Ru Xin carefully inspected the True Spirit pills many times before finally stowing them away in her hundred treasures pouch. She explained why she had chosen to stop here.
“With these True Spirit pills, I’m certain that I’ll soon reach Foundation Establishment successfully. By then, the success rate will definitely be higher than right now if I power the Crystal Resin cauldron as a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”
“Then it’ll be my turn to congratulate you.” Li Qingshan extended his right hand.
Ru Xin held his hand and shook it gently. She beat him to it. “For a smooth cooperation.”
Li Qingshan smiled. He directly gave twenty True Spirit pills to her. “Help me exchange them into pills for cultivation. The more the better.”
“You’re not afraid I’ll rip you off?” Ru Xin smiled. If she fell out with him over twenty True Spirit pills, it would not be embarrassing even if news made it out.
Li Qingshan said, “Not really.”
“As long as you’re not afraid. Don’t worry, they won’t go for less than the market price whether they’re sold or exchanged.” Ru Xin accepted the True Spirit pills without asking why Li Qingshan needed so many pills for cultivation. What, was he supposed to gulp them down and his cultivation would grow like that? Unbeknownst to her, she had accidentally guessed the actual answer.
“Rest up properly. I’ll be awaiting the good news.” Li Qingshan waved his hand and left through the door.