The Daemon Commanders that Li Qingshan had once fought before all showed disbelief.
He had become even stronger, much stronger than when they fought with him before.
Over the past two months, Li Qingshan had been constantly refining bodies of water. As he pushed the fourth layer of the spirit turtle to the limit, he could gradually unleash the true power of the fifth layer of the ox demon bit by bit. He grew stronger with each step forward.
The wild boar daemon shrieked, “If you kill me, the dragon king will never spare you.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.”
Li Qingshan’s hands slid past his body and grabbed his wrists. He planted a foot on his chest and pulled hard.
With a tearing sound, he forcefully ripped off the two stocky arms of the wild boar daemon. Blood sprayed out like geysers.
The wild boar daemon squealed and fell down. Li Qingshan lunged over and grabbed his heels, placing his foot between his legs before pulling hard again and ripping his legs off.
The wild boar daemon had lost all of his limbs, but Li Qingshan still did not spare him. He formed a claw and dug it into his abdomen, pulling out a handful of bloody organs before punting him in the head. Brain matter splattered, and he was sent flying.
The power of tremors then emerged, and the wild boar’s entire body crackled like firecrackers. By now, all of his bones were broken, his limbs were severed, and his organs had been ripped out. He was on his last breath, only remaining alive due to his powerful life force as a Daemon Commander.
“You better piss off and go cultivate for another century!”
Even for Daemon Commanders, recovering from such severe wounds would be difficult if they did not possess any healing innate abilities.
Li Qingshan could vaguely guess who was behind this.
If he killed any of the Daemon Commanders here, he would definitely end up with the crime of murdering a clansmen, and with how he was a loner among the daemons, it was impossible for this to receive a clear resolution.
By then, the Dragon King of Ink Sea would not even have to take action. He only needed to expel him and probably both the master of the Sword Collection palace or the lord of the Green province would not mind spending some time to kill a threatening wretched daemon.
Li Qingshan obviously would not fall for this. I can’t kill you, but I can cripple and disable you. I’ll use the most brutal methods possible to make you experience the consequences of opposing me.
With how horrific it was, the Daemon Commanders all began to consider retreating, but when they remembered that person’s orders, they refused to flee.
“Let’s get him together! His daemon qi won’t be able to last too long!”
Violent booms and bellows rang out like thunder, reaching hundreds of kilometers away. Light flashed, winds surged, and blood spattered.
Li Qingshan’s daemon qi was indeed limited, and this was not within the range of his water territory, so the Water God Seal was useless. After defeating six Daemon Commanders consecutively, his daemon qi had basically run out.
However, under the Strength of the Earth, his physical strength was inexhaustible. He reverted to his original form and used his ox hide alone to endure the attacks, fighting in the most primitive way possible.
Escape was no longer possible for any Daemon Commander that ended up in his hands. They were all ripped apart.
Blood poured down like rain, dyeing the ice river red.
Li Qingshan bathed in blood as his scarlet hair danced. He fought furiously as the ice river beneath his feet broke. He could vaguely hear mad laughter that resembled a tiger’s roar rushing into the air, only to suddenly realise it was his laughter. As a result, he laughed even more violently.
“Hahahahaha!”
What clansmen? Isn’t there still endless conflict? I don’t care if you’re from the Daemon race or the Human race. I am a race of my own, and I don’t need to work with anyone. Everyone who blocks my way is my enemy. I will use these hands to rip apart all those who block my path!
The Daemon Commanders were utterly horrified. As long as they could still move, they no longer cared about anyone’s orders anymore, scattering and fleeing for their lives.
The bullfrog Daemon Commander reverted to his original form and pushed hard with his feet, leaping over fifty kilometers away.
An iron hoof descended from above, pushing him to the ground and stomping down on him.
The bullfrog Daemon Commander struggled desperately. He turned his head and spat out bubbles.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! They blew up small mountains and blasted open huge pits.
Li Qingshan pressed the bullfrog Daemon Commander’s head into the earth with his hand as his hoof gradually dug into the latter’s skin.
With a crack, the bullfrog Daemon Commander’s spine was forcefully crushed. He lay on the ground with his limbs splayed out messily.
“Do you know how I roasted frogs when I was young?”
Li Qingshan asked. Without even waiting for his reply, a black claw plunged directly into his mouth and grabbed a handful of soft tissue, pulling at it messily.
“Save me, sir Mo Yu!”
Li Qingshan felt a hint of danger. A black shadow in the sky enveloped him. Li Qingshan looked back and laughed madly. “Mo Yu, have you finally run out of patience and decided to take action?”
“Northmoon, you’ve brutally abused your own clansmen. Do you know what crimes you’ve committed?” The deathly Mo Yu unfurled his black wings and descended from above. This powerful, arrogant crown prince of the Green province daemons had become even paler now.
As Li Qingshan had expected, Mo Yu was behind everything, and this was no longer just about jealousy anymore.
Northmoon made him feel deeply threatened. Not only did he cultivate at a startling speed, but he had managed to overwhelm the Daemon Commanders of the Ruyi commandery as a Daemon General. If he were allowed to continue refining regions of water, probably even he would not be able to keep him at bay once he became a Daemon Commander. It also impacted the struggle for the throne among the Green province daemons.
“As a daemon, you make me sick to be able to say something so hypocritical! If you find me displeasing, then come kill me!” Li Qingshan stood on the bullfrog Daemon Commander beneath him, raised his hand, and spread his fingers.
Mo Yu stood in the air, staring into Li Qingshan’s eyes. Li Qingshan stared right back at him without holding back. Black feathers began to drift down from above, leaving behind smears of black.
Li Qingshan dared not be careless. Since Mo Yu could become the crown prince of the Green province daemons, he was definitely much more powerful than regular Daemon Commanders. He would not be surprised at all if he possessed the ability to contend with regular Daemon Kings.
He was ready, poised for any attacks that would rain down on him at any time, but the feathers did not fly over and attack him. They simply drifted through the air as if the entire sky had been dyed black. It was filled with an ominous feeling.
The vegetation on the ground immediately died, their vitality severed, but they maintained a false, verdant impression. They would only wither completely several days later. The wild rabbits hibernating deep underground would never wake up again either.
Li Qingshan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He clearly possessed boundless strength, yet in that moment, he felt like he was unable to support his body anymore. With a bang, one of his knees dropped to the ground as if his soul had separated from his body.
His heartbeat became slower and slower, his breathing gradually stopped, and his thought processes halted too.
This was the feeling of death!
“Gaze of Death!”
One of Mo Yu’s innate abilities could directly bypass all of the enemy’s defences and directly extinguish their flames of life. People killed by him would all be unscathed. They all seemed like they had suddenly died on the spot.
“You’re actually stupid enough to exchange gazes with me! I’ll simply kill you right here and then seek punishment from the king!”
While daemons did possess an iron rule that prevented them from killing one another, leading to severe punishment if they broke it, but rules and laws had always just been used to restrict the weak.
Suddenly, a cry rose up from soft to loud. It possessed beauty that could not be described with words.
The phoenix wings suddenly expanded to several dozen meters across, and the phoenix that had become rather haggard under the spirit turtle’s suppression blazed with dazzling flames of life under the threat of death.
The sky full of feathers vanished together. As it turned out, it was merely an illusion.
Mo Yu was mildly surprised. He had never seen a Daemon General who could put up a struggle against his Gaze of Death. Northmoon’s body contained a powerful life force that clung on persistently.
“But do you really think you can escape from your fate of certain death like this?”
His black irises flowed like liquid, filling his entire eye. In the blink of an eye, there was not a shred of white left in Mo Yu’s eyes. They were filled with a terrifying, eerie aura.
The raging flames of life immediately dimmed like a black veil had covered it, suppressing and extinguishing it.
Black feathers drifted through the sky again like black snow.
This was a clash between life and death, a battle between the phoenix and the crow.
The phoenix was a divine bird, but it was far too young and feeble right now such that it was inferior to the crow in strength.
“You better stop, the two of you!”
A voice rang out, and with a flash, Gu Yanying appeared between Mo Yu and Li Qingshan, blocking their vision of each other and ending their clash.
“Yanying, move aside.” Mo Yu frowned.
Gu Yanying raised her hand, and a circular Ink Dragon talisman dropped down. The Ink Dragon talisman that an ink dragon seemed to be coiled around suddenly sprung alive. It opened its eyes and looked at Li Qingshan first—Li Qingshan experienced intense pressure, the dignified pressure of a king—before looking at Mo Yu.
“Stop where you should.”
No one knew who he was directing those words towards, but since the boss of the Green province daemons had told them to stop where they should, both Li Qingshan and Mo Yu were forced to stop.
“You will die!” Mo Yu’s lips pulled backwards, revealing that eerie, mask-like smile before producing a strange, sharp cry like a crow. “Caw!” His daemon qi plummeted.
Li Qingshan shivered, but nothing seemed wrong to him.
Seeing how Li Qingshan was perfectly fine, Mo Yu frowned again. He spread out his black feathers and vanished into the distorting, collapsing darkness.
Gu Yanying stowed the Ink Dragon talisman away and yawned. She said with her soul sense, “Oi, I’m the White Hawk commander of the Ruyi commandery after all. It’s time for you to run.”
“What did he do to me?”
“The Death Bringer Curse. It’s his most terrifying innate ability. It directly reduces the target’s lifespan depending on their strength and race. That caw of his earlier took away a century of life from you at the very least, but it seems like your lifespan is plenty long.”
Li Qingshan was stunned. Mo Yu’s ability sure was strange and powerful. If he used it on daemons, then so be it, but if a human cultivator lost a century of life all of a sudden, that was even more terrifying than being stabbed ten times. In particular, a few older cultivators might even die on the spot.
But as it seemed, Mo Yu also had to pay a price to use this move. He could not use it consecutively, or he would be invincible if he simply cawed a bunch of times the moment he saw people.
This extremely terrifying innate ability was not particularly effective against Li Qingshan. Like the Chinese saying, “A millennia a tortoise, ten millennia a turtle.” even he had no idea how long an almost-godlike spirit turtle’s life span was. Moreover, the phoenix was a symbol of eternal life.
However, losing a hundred years of life for no reason still left Li Qingshan with a horrible taste in his mouth. Then he asked, “How do I undo the curse?”
“That’s very simple. Kill him.”
“If it weren’t for you, I could have killed him,” Li Qingshan said. However, he also understood that just with the innate ability Mo Yu had used when he left alone, killing him would not be that easy.
“And what benefit would that bring you? You better run. I’m about to take action!”
