“Junior sister!” “Senior sister!”
The first and third senior brothers were both surprised. They never thought she would take action on a whim. When they set down this trap, they had planned to capture Chu Danqing and coerce him if he refused to oblige. However, Li Qingshan’s arrival had destroyed their plans right from the beginning.
They were not exactly afraid of how powerful Li Qingshan was. Instead, they were worried about his identity as a Scarlet Hawk commander. As soon as they began fighting, it would be opposing the Hawkwolf Guard. There was also that unfathomable commander Gu who he seemed to be in good graces with.
“The two of you can stop being so fussy like a woman. Ruthlessness is the mark of a truly great man. If you want the secret to the Painting Tomb, you better take action now. We’ll kill this bastard Li Qingshan, and then we’ll capture Chu Danqing. I have plenty of ways to make him spit out the truth!”
The first senior brother and third senior brother exchanged glances. Their eyes surged with killing intent. However, when they met Li Qingshan’s calm and indifferent gaze, they both shivered inside and backed out of the formation.
The first senior brother said, “We can discuss everything calmly. Why must we fall out with each other? Commander Li, do you understand the situation you’re in now? When my junior sister is set off, no one can stop her!”
Li Qingshan said, “If I were to say I had changed my mind and no longer plan on becoming involved, will you let me leave in one piece?”
Chu Danqing was just about to fish out his painting scrolls. When he heard that, he could not help but widen his eyes. Don’t tell me he wants to abandon me because the situation looks bad!
“Don’t even think about it!” The second senior sister bellowed, and the hundred beasts roared together, leading to a gust of foul air and shaking up the mountains. It was a startling sight to behold. Li Qingshan simply stood with his arms behind his back, unfazed like before.
“About this…” The first senior brother hesitated, while the third senior brother became troubled too.
Li Qingshan evaluated the three of them instinctively. The first senior brother was level-headed and afraid to take risks. The third senior brother was flexible and slippery, thus lacking backbone and rigidity. Instead, the second senior sister was the most vengeful and possessed the greatest offensive power.
However, the primary methods of the school of Painting involved controlling the creatures in the paintings. This was equivalent to the difference between a commander and a military general. Intellect triumphed over courage, so the first senior brother and third senior brother were still a little stronger. When they began fighting, he had to kill them first.
The second senior sister continued to fan the flames. “He knows of the existence of the Painting Tomb. We can’t let him leave here alive, or even if we find out about the secret of the Painting Tomb, we’ll still be in trouble. Even if this gets divulged, we can still seek refuge from prince Si Qing. We can just say he attacked us first!”
The first and third senior brothers were finally persuaded. Taking this risk was worth it for the secret of the Painting Tomb!
The first senior brother let out a long sigh. “We’ve already reached a point of no return, just like how an arrow on a drawn bow must be shot!”
An evil smile appeared on the third senior brother’s slippery face. “Commander Li, don’t blame us for being cruel. You insisted on getting involved with this, seeking your own doom.”
Since the three of them had already made up their minds, when they looked at Li Qingshan and Chu Danqing again, they were like sitting ducks in their eyes, posing absolutely no threat at all.
If the three of them worked together, coupled with the Hundred Beasts Formation Diagram and the scrolls they had accumulated, they would possess a crushing advantage. No matter how vicious and how powerful Li Qingshan’s techniques and arcane artifacts were, only death would await him.
The second senior sister said, “Since your strike earlier was unable to kill me, then I’ll kill you. If you drop to your knees right now and give me a hundred bows, followed by a hundred slaps across your face, I can still consider sparing your life.”
“If I wanted to kill you all, it would be as easy as butchering chickens.” Li Qingshan let out a wide smile before bringing his hand in front of him. Light glimmered between his fingers.
“What are you holding in your hand?”
“It’s just a recording stone. A copy of what you’ve said has already been saved. I’ll basically be able to explain myself now with commander Gu.”
Li Qingshan stowed the recording stone away in his hundred treasures pouch. He never planned on discussing with them peacefully in the first place before he had even come to the meeting with Chu Danqing.
“Do you think you can still live?”
Li Qingshan did not answer. He patted Chu Danqing’s shoulder. “Stow the paintings away. All you have to do is focus on protecting yourself.”
“Ah!”
“Trust me.”
Chu Danqing stowed his painting away, only leaving behind a few defensive paintings that formed impenetrable walls around him. Li Qingshan also activated his defensive arcane artifacts and cast down a few defensive techniques, enveloping him and Chu Danqing.
“And I was wondering what you were capable of! Looks like you just want to hole up like a turtle!” The second senior sister let out a shrill laugh.
The first senior brother said, “Let’s not waste anymore time, just in case it leads to unnecessary trouble. Let’s do it!”
The hundred beasts lunged over, as well as the venomous insects and vicious beasts the three of them had summoned from other paintings. It filled their vision and swallowed them.
It had to be mentioned that painters truly did have outstanding aspects. As long as they had enough time, it was completely possible for them to build up an army. The painter stood alone, so he could only try and take out the painter first, but this was no longer possible now that he was trapped in the formation.
Li Qingshan raised his head slightly and wrinkled his nose, determining the location of the three people. If he only used what he was capable of as a human cultivator, he was confident he could break out of the formation, but the situation would definitely be extremely dangerous. He would not be able to look out for Chu Danqing, and he was reluctant to have another person learn about this secret of his.
Before anyone had realised it, he was already holding a thin talisman between two fingers on his right hand, a violet talisman!
He raised his right hand gently, and the violet talisman floated out. Under the control of his soul sense, it slipped through the cracks between the vicious beasts unbelievably, reaching mid-air before shattering and erupting!
A scarlet ball the size of a human head suddenly expanded by a hundred times, rising up from the mountains like a red sun. The scarlet light swallowed up all the beasts one by one. Before this violent power, the measly strength of early Foundation Establishment basically seemed insignificant. The impressive Hundred Beasts Formation Diagram lasted for a moment before being reduced to ashes.
The red sun shone brilliantly, illuminating the entire sky. Time seemed to come to a standstill in that moment. It felt like quite a long while had passed before they heard the thunderous boom.
A wave of air whistled past. The thick trees and shrubs were easily uprooted, torn apart in the air. The residual shockwave also bent and broke numerous trees, and many of the lush mountains seemed like they had been flattened.
Chu Danqing’s head rang, temporarily blinded in both eyes. As he waited for his vision to slowly recover, he discovered a portion of the mountain beneath him had been shaved off. The defensive techniques Li Qingshan had used, as well as his several defensive paintings, had all been reduced to ashes. He was shocked. This is the power of a violet talisman!
Talismans were divided into yellow, scarlet, and violet. Violet talismans were the most valuable, as only Soul Nascence cultivators could create them. Basically only Golden Core cultivators possessed them, and it was virtually impossible for Foundation Establishment cultivators to obtain them. It went without saying how precious they were.
The power they possessed was obviously extremely great. In the past, when Gu Yanying clashed with the Soaring Dragon Elder, they had each used a violet talisman. Li Qingshan had only managed to get his hands on a few after killing a swathe of Golden Core cultivators. He never had the opportunity to use them, so now that he casually used one, the effects were quite nice.
The greatest downside with talismans was they had no concept of friend or foe and were difficult to control. If it were not for the hundred beasts on them that served as meat shields, probably even Chu Danqing would have been injured.
“Qingshan!”
Chu Danqing raised his head, searching for Li Qingshan’s trace. He happened to see Li Qingshan smash through the first senior brother’s panic-stricken face with a punch before flicking his finger and shooting a translucent bead of water, piercing the third senior brother’s round head.