Since it could claim such a blessed land, the Clear Court sect was obviously not without a foundation. The master of the Clear Court sect, Yang Pinghu, was known as the Lord of Clear Court. He had already reached late Foundation Establishment. Although a gap still existed between him and Zhou Tong who was at peak Foundation Establishment, he was still confident about holding off even the moon demon to a certain degree with the many formations around the island and his cultivation.
“Master, there’s bad news! Bad news!”
This day, Yang Pinghu happened to be in his dwelling, cultivating arduously, and the calls of a disciple rang out from outside. He was rather displeased, but he still stopped cultivating and opened the door. If not for something urgent, his disciples would have never disturbed him.
“What’s wrong? What’s made you so frantic?”
“There’s daemon qi in the lake.”
“What’s so strange about that? There are daemons in the lake, so there’ll obviously be daemon…” Yang Pinghu furrowed his brows unhappily. With the immensity of Clear Court lake, aquatic creatures would often accumulate sufficient spiritual qi and turn into daemons. His Clear Court sect had stood here for a thousand years. They had slain plenty of daemons in the past, so why would they be afraid of some measly daemon qi?
However, when he casually scanned around with his soul sense, he was left surprised. He understood why his disciple had become so frantic. The daemon qi did not come from a certain location. Instead, it pervaded the entire lake, surrounding the island from all directions.
With how immense the daemon qi is, it belongs to a Daemon General at the very least. But what’s he scattering his daemon qi so much for? Is he trying to refine Clear Court lake? That’s impossible, unless… unless he has a Water God Seal!
As the master of a sect and as someone who had lived several decades longer than Li Qingshan, he was extremely rich in knowledge and experience. With a single thought, he guessed roughly what was going on. He became even sterner.
If a daemon water god really appears in Clear Court lake, then will there still be any room left for me and my sect? Hmph, you better get through me first if you want to become a water god!
Yang Pinghu would not be venturing out and taking on the Daemon General in a battle to the death. As long as the formations of the Clear Court sect remained intact, the Daemon General would not be able to refine Clear Court lake completely and become a water god.
But as he thought about it, he did not find it sufficient, so he also contacted the Academy of the Hundred Schools and the various larger sects. Surely they could not turn a blind eye to a matter so big.
……
The process of refining Clear Court lake was much more difficult than refining a mere river.
Li Qingshan spent over half a month, yet he had not even refined half of Clear Court lake. Gazing at the lone, towering island in the distance, Li Qingshan rubbed his chin. There was no chance for him to deceive anyone with this, so he did it out in the open. He wanted to see who was bold enough to stop him.
As for the “holdout” right in front of him, if they were willing to move obediently, then so be it. If they were not, there would definitely be some forceful dismantling.
“Get out here, those inside!” Li Qingshan burst out of the water and rode on the tips of the waves as he called out loudly.
His bellow was like a bolt of lightning, striking the formation on the edge of the Clear Court sect and kicking up a wave thirty meters high. The thick mist that lingered all year round showed signs of dispersing.
“Oh no, it’s the moon demon!”
The voice rang through the entire island. Yang Pinghu saw a red figure, and his expression changed drastically. Originally, he thought it was some water element Daemon General taking advantage of the situation to make some trouble, but he never thought it would be the moon demon in person.
“I’ll give you five minutes to dismantle the formation and get the hell out of here. Once the five minutes passes, I’ll personally destroy the formation. By then, I’ll feed the entire Clear Court sect to the fishes!”
“Don’t panic, everyone. The moon demon is alone. Our formations won’t be destroyed so easily. Reinforcements will arrive very soon.” Yang Pinghu comforted his disciples before calling out loudly, “Moon demon, don’t even think about this! How dare you attempt something condemned by the world and try to take the position of a water god for yourself. You’ll definitely die a horrible death in the future. If you’re clever, backing away right now is still not too late.”
Li Qingshan only replied with a single word, “Ten!”
Yang Pinghu’s eyebrows leapt up. Didn’t he say five minutes?
“Nine!” Li Qingshan laid on his side on the wave, propping up his head with one hand. He was completely unconcerned.
“Master, let’s just flee. He even managed to destroy a Duality Formation of Disintegration!”
“Shut up!” Yang Pinghu barked. A person’s renown was as important as a tree’s shadow. He also felt greatly pressured.
“Eight!” Li Qingshan had no intentions of relying on intimidation alone. He counted even faster, filled with impatience, as if he was in a hurry to finish counting so that he could carry out a massacre.
“Fellow Yang, you have to hold on! You can’t let the moon demon get away with what he wants! We’re hurrying over to reinforce you right now!” At this moment, the academy sent back a message. It was Liu Zhangqing.
As the prefect of the Clear River prefecture, how could Liu Zhangqing simply watch as a daemon became a water god in his territory? He had already gathered the school leaders as an emergency to discuss their counterplan.
Yang Pinghu’s expression became even uglier. Hold on? For how long? Right now? How fast is that? He is about to finish counting. He had some confidence in his formations, but what if they were not enough?
Even if they managed to stop him this time, what was he supposed to do when the army of night roamers came the next time?
“Six, five, four, three, two, one.” Li Qingshan finished counting in a single breath and leapt up from the top of the wave. His body swelled rapidly in the air.
With a great boom, he kicked up towering waves.
A colossal figure landed in the lake. His scarlet hair flowed like a waterfall as his eyes shone like fire. His distinct muscles seemed to be cast from iron as he stood with the size and weight of a mountain, yet also possessing violent explosive power. He was already standing in a relatively deeper part of the lake, yet it only reached up to his waist.
Li Qingshan clenched his fists and moved his shoulders about, stirring up the lakewater. He took a step forward, radiating with malice.
As the disciples of the Clear Court sect stared at the black, incoming figure, they all shivered inside as they became ashen.
Yang Pinghu’s face paled slightly. He said to himself inside, Don’t be afraid. You’re a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, and you possess a geographic advantage. The moon demon is only a Daemon General.
“Alright, I’ll go! Please just promise you won’t harm the disciples of my Clear Court sect!”
Yang Pinghu bellowed out and flew up from the island, arriving in the sky. He stopped on the edge of the formation so that he could escape back into it at any time. His face was filled with grief, indignation, and helplessness as if he would stay behind for a battle to the death with Li Qingshan if it were not for the safety of his disciples.
“Piss off.”
Li Qingshan waved his hand impatiently as his voice boomed thunderously. Destroying the formation was not difficult, but he did not want to waste daemon qi and drag out the time he spent refining the Clear River prefecture. Who knew when Spider Queen Lolth would challenge him.
Right when Yang Pinghu wanted to collect the formation banners, Li Qingshan said, “Wait! You can go, but leave the formations behind. Don’t touch the puppets and turrets you’ve constructed here either.”
Yang Pinghu’s face changed, but under the stare of the scarlet eyes, he chose not to touch a single item on the island in the end. He handed the formation discs and the other items for controlling the formations to Li Qingshan before scurrying away with his disciples.
Li Qingshan circled around the island and felt very satisfied. The island was very vast, and the structures on there were elegant and exquisite, yet also possessing a great sense of style. Additionally, there were many special plants and animals on the island for people to admire.
The Clear Court sect had only managed to build up to such a scale after a thousand years, yet it had all fallen into Li Qingshan’s hands so easily now. He had plans on turning this place into his water dwelling. Although he was of the water element, his original form was not an aquatic lifeform after all, so he did not particularly like living in water.
As long as he possessed the god seal, it was not like he could not cultivate on the island.
Li Qingshan admired his spoils quickly. Just when he was about to continue refining the lake, he suddenly raised an eyebrow and sneered. “You’re asking to die!”
Yang Pinghu understood very well. Right now, many sects in the Clear River prefecture had been destroyed, so there were plenty of alternative places for cultivation. Protecting his own life was more important. If anyone wanted to oppose the moon demon, they were more than welcome to do so, but he would not be doing something so stupid.
But now that he had finally escaped, he felt deep resentment after his delight and relief died down. Never had he endured such humiliation in his life. His cultivation dwelling had been forcefully stolen from him after all, so how could he not be resentful? As a result, he ground his teeth.
“Damned moon demon. Once I overcome the next heavenly tribulation and reach Golden Core, I’ll definitely cut you into pieces. Only then can I pacify my hatred.”
If that were all he did, then so be it. It was not like Li Qingshan could hear him, and even if he did, he would not care too much either. However, right when he was about to leave Clear Court lake, he grew more furious the more he thought about it. Suddenly, he came up with an idea and sent his disciples away first before landing on the shore of the lake alone.
Yang Pinghu extended his arms and water spiritual qi extended to the depths of the lake, dispersing the daemon qi that pervaded the water.
He was also of the water element, possessing the ability to refine Clear Court lake. However, he did not have a Water God Seal, so no matter how much effort he put in, it would be useless. He would only be able to cause some troubles for Li Qingshan.
He only had a single objective. Even if he could not harm Li Qingshan, he wanted to properly irritate him and vent a little.
The other aspect to this was so that he could give the Academy of the Hundred Schools and the Daemon Suppression alliance an explanation. He obviously had quite the confidence to be bold enough to do this. He was very far from the centre of the lake. Even if Li Qingshan managed to sense it, he would have fled already.
With my cultivation at late Foundation Establishment and such a large distance between us, what can the moon demon do to me?
Just as he thought about that, he saw a scarlet figure shoot across the surface of the lake, gliding over.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The surface of the lake exploded violently after the scarlet figure flew past, leaving behind a gully thirty meters deep.
“How can he move so quickly!” Yang Pinghu was alarmed. He pulled out a bident and rode away on it in a hurry. He was afraid to remain for even a second longer.
The Dragon Seizing bident was a heirloom arcane artifact of the Clear Court sect. Although it was of inferior quality, it could still allow him to fly much faster than regular spiritual artifacts.
However, Li Qingshan’s regular speed could already rival Daemon Commanders. Combined with his wings of wind, even though it made turns more difficult, his speed for moving in straight lines was so fast that even the Spider Queen struggled to react in time.
Three thousand meters, three hundred meters, thirty meters. The distance between them rapidly closed.
Yang Pinghu was filled with utmost regret. If he had known earlier, why would he have done something so unnecessary? However, he also knew it was too late for regret now. He bellowed out, “I’ll kill you!” He had no time to use any techniques at all. Three scarlet talismans flew out.
Boom! Boom! Boom! With those three sounds, three enormous fireballs swallowed Li Qingshan, but in the next second, Li Qingshan’s figure burst out of the flames. His scarlet eyes shone like fire as he radiated with malice.
“I spared your life, yet you still tried to cause trouble! Die!”
The Dragon Seizing bident turned into a blue streak of light, shooting towards Li Qingshan. However, before it could even unleash its power as an arcane artifact, Li Qingshan seized it in one hand. His other hand reached towards Yang Pinghu’s head.
Another scarlet talisman was ignited, turning into a golden barrier—shattered! His protective spiritual qi surged out violently—shattered!
Five fingers gripped his skull and with a crack—shattered!
