Who knew how many battles Jia Zhen had been through in his life, so how could he fall to a sneak attack defencelessly? In that moment, at least five layers of defensive light appeared around him, both from his defensive arcane artifacts as well as defensive techniques he had cast. Even Li Qingshan probably could not smash through them with a single punch.
However, the dagger made from shadows passed through the numerous layers of defences silently, making Jia Zhen shiver inside. He wanted to dodge, but he was a step too slow. He felt his back ache as the black dagger pierced his heart.
With a plop, Jia Zhen turned into a cluster of water and dispersed after being stabbed. His original body shifted over thirty meters away, gazing at the shadow as he recovered from the shock. He became both surprised and furious. He had almost messed up a simple task, almost dying to a mysterious assassination.
The path of assassination had always been about striking when the enemy was unprepared and defeating the strong despite being the weak.
On the black altar, Ye Mingzhu, who had originally been dancing about madly, had stopped as if she had lost control over her body. Right now, all of her consciousness had been drawn away from her body, channelled into the dark shadow.
She was filled with endless delight as if she wanted to merge with the sweet curtain of night. If she possessed this power, just where couldn’t she go? However, she also understood this power did not belong to her, and it could not be maintained for too long.
However, her chances at overcoming the second heavenly tribulation had increased drastically with this experience. She had heard how a pill called the Origin Spirit pill existed in the world. If she could obtain one, then she would have a very good chance at undergoing the second heavenly tribulation and stepping into a brand-new realm of cultivation.
“Come, lightning!”
Jia Zhen pointed his feather fan at the sky furiously, and the lightning roared down.
Ye Mingzhu dismissed her thoughts. The shadow merged into the darkness once more, waiting for her opportunity to strike.
Jia Zhen glanced around cautiously, unable to cast techniques recklessly like before anymore. Li Qingshan immediately felt like a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. If this half-human, half-wolf thing could stay a little further away from him, it would be even better.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the lake, the wolf-man E Dan, enveloped in a guardian king’s avatar, waved his fists madly and struck Li Qingshan. Every single punch could smash open mountains. Even with Li Qingshan’s powerful body and tough hide, E Dan managed to smash his organs into pieces.
Li Qingshan opened his mouth and spat out, but he did not spit out blood, but a ball of flames. “Let’s go see the stars together!” He grabbed E Dan’s shoulders with a great laugh and suddenly unfurled his gorgeous wings, rushing into the air with E Dan.
The starlight scattered quietly on the sea of clouds. There was no rain there, only flickering lightning. The sound of thunder boomed out from the clouds.
Suddenly, the cloud layer erupted, and two colossal figures burst out of the sea of clouds, breaking the silence.
“There’s finally no one to disturb us anymore. Let’s have a good conversation!”
Li Qingshan planted his fist in E Dan’s face, and the guardian king avatar became riddled with cracks. E Dan tilted his face back and flew away. At the same time, he stomped down on Li Qingshan’s chest forcefully, producing a creaking of bones.
When they parted, E Dan immediately opened his huge mouth and let out a wolf howl, while Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath and unleashed a tiger roar.
The two sounds basically rang out at the same time, criss-crossing and colliding mid-air.
Boom!
The thick clouds parted, forming a great hole. It was possible to make out Moon Court lake that had become very small from there.
The light from the stars and the moon used the opening to sprinkle down on the lake pouring with rain.
Ye Liubo raised her head. She was in a state of utter joy. “I knew it. Master would never die. Master would never lose.”
Ye Liusu nodded. “Focus. Let’s use our Night Roaming God to assist him!”
“Alright!”
As a result, the two of them focused on praying, channeling their powers into the black altar.
The Night Roaming folk had once worshipped the Night Roaming God. After being forced underground and becoming a part of Spider Queen Lolth’s reign, they were forbidden from worshipping the Night Roaming God. That was until Ye Liusu united the night roamers once more and revived this faith from the ancient records, constructing an altar.
The altar could condense the power of the entire race in a single person and exhibit startling power. It could allow the Night Roaming God to possess them so that it could descend. Under Ye Mingzhu’s control, the shadow moved through the darkness and circled around Jia Zhen, sometimes close by and sometimes far away.
Jia Zhen glanced around cautiously with his brows firmly furrowed. The sneak attack earlier had destroyed the life-saving arcane artifact on him, and the remaining arcane artifacts were unable to give him any sense of safety.
As one of the seven great otherfolk races, the night roamers really do have some tricks. If I had been a regular Golden Core cultivator, I would have died from that attack from earlier. However, since you’ve failed to kill me with that sneak attack, don’t even think about touching another hair on me!
Jia Zhen suddenly raised his right hand and channeled his powers into a ring with a gemstone on his ring finger. The transparent gemstone suddenly shone brightly, illuminating a rage of five kilometers and adding splendour to the streak of moonlight from the sky.
Under the resplendent light, a black figure appeared vaguely, constantly twisting under the light like it had sunken into mud.
“Yin, yang, and the five elements promote and regulate one another. There are no techniques that cannot be defeated!” Jia Zhen said. The pure-white light condensed into a long spear in his right hand, which he hurtled at the shadow.
The shadow swung its dagger and cut apart the spear, causing it to shatter in the air. However, its darkness had become slightly thinner.
At the end of the day, night roamers still pursued the way of assassination, where they would flee as soon as their strike failed. It was impossible for Jia Zhen to maintain this radiance forever. He would have to give way some time, which was the assassin’s opportunity. However, a direct confrontation like this was not what they were adept at either.
At this moment, E Dan rushed through the clouds and descended from above. Many parts of the golden avatar around him were twisted and distorted, riddled with cracks and on the brink of shattering.
A scarlet streak of light flew about around him, constantly smashing into his body, producing great, resonant booms. With each collision, the golden avatar collapsed slightly, and the cracks grew denser.
That was Li Qingshan. He had reverted to his form of scarlet hair and pupils. He pushed his speed to the limit. Although E Dan could fly as well, he was clearly not as nimble as the winged Li Qingshan. Fighting in the air, he basically could not fight back at all, so he rushed back down without any regard.
E Dan’s eyes flashed. He saw the black altar, understanding it to be the source of the black shadow, so he targeted the Moon Court dwelling.
Boom!
E Dan slammed his head against the Moon Court dwelling, and the sound from the collision drowned out all of the thunder. His golden avatar completely shattered, destroying several formations in a single stroke. The remaining formations shook and crumbled, on the verge of shattering too.
Li Qingshan’s eyes lit up, using the opportunity to take off and fly towards the dwelling.
During his clash with E Dan, he seemed like he had firmly grasped the upper hand, but the situation had already become rather dangerous. Whether it was the wings of wind and fire or the power of tremors, they possessed alarming might, but that was all on the precondition of consuming vast amounts of daemon qi. He had never tried to use the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell to defend exactly because of this reason.
Once his daemon qi ran out, basically all of his innate abilities would be rendered unusable. Even if he possessed endless physical strength, he would still be a sitting duck. He could even face the danger of dying. Daemon General happened to be where his bottleneck was after all. He had always been waiting for an opportunity to retrieve the Water God Seal. Once he did, he could advance and retreat freely. Jia Zhen and E Dan would be powerless against him too.
“Stop him! Don’t let him take back the Water God Seal!”
Jia Zhen quickly repelled the shadow that had already become extremely thin and waved his feather fan at Li Qingshan. Bands of pure-white light wrapped around his hands and feet. At the same time, E Dan lunged back violently, unleashing a swipe with his huge claw.
Li Qingshan suddenly took out an item, targeted E Dan with it, and snickered.
“The Asura Field!” Jia Zhen and E Dan cried out involuntarily at the same time.
A blood-red swirl spiraled out of the Asura Field. E Dan was unable to react in time, hurling into the swirl head-first and vanishing.
Li Qingshan broke free from the restraints and crossed through the remaining formations, entering the Moon Court dwelling and landing heavily on the sandy shore. He scooped up Li’l Red in a single stroke and smacked his belly, making him spit out the Water God Seal. Afterwards, he took a quick glance at the area between his legs.
“Fuck, another male! So much for giving you such a feminine name like Li’l Red. You can go mess around with Li’l Blue in the future!” He tossed “him” onto the sandy ground indignantly.
“Northmoon, so it really was you!” Jia Zhen’s face sank. Northmoon had retrieved the Water God Seal. They had already lost half the battle.
“So what if it was me?”
Li Qingshan turned around and smiled, swallowing the Water God Seal in a single gulp. He immediately felt endless water spiritual qi channelling into his body and spreading throughout him. His daemon qi recovered rapidly, and he felt refreshed.
Jia Zhen threatened him. “The Asura Field belongs to the imperial clan. Do you know the consequences for trying to claim it for yourself? You even offended Mo Yu. Even the Dragon King of Ink Sea won’t protect you. You really are even more foolish than I imagined you to be.”
“The Water God Seal belongs to me. Do you know the consequences of trying to claim it for yourself? You even offended your grandfather. Even your grandmother won’t protect you. You ask who your grandfather is? It’s obviously still me. You really are even more foolish than I imagined you to be.” Li Qingshan completely dismissed Jia Zhen’s threats with disdain.
Jia Zhen’s face changed. “Wretched daemon, you have no idea of death and danger!”
Li Qingshan barked, “Cut the bullsh*t. Are you bold enough to face me in the Asura Field? Would you like to see me smash in your sh*tty heads in there? Or should I just smash in your sh*tty head here first?”
Jia Zhen sneered. “Do you think I’m as foolish as you? You think you can keep E Dan trapped with this Asura Field that had just been refined? Of course, you’re welcome to flee, but I’ll massacre all the night roamers on the island, as well as all the daemons under your command! Are any of them particularly familiar with you? I’ll give them some special treatment!”
“Then it looks like I have to shove you in there too!” Murderousness and malice erupted from Li Qingshan like a tsunami, ready to strike at any time.
“I’m afraid you don’t have the energy to spare!” Jia Zhen’s figure suddenly split into two, and then into four, and then into almost a hundred in the end, scattering into the surroundings and talking together.
How crafty!
Li Qingshan cursed inside. If he used the spirit turtle to divine, finding the real Jia Zhen would be nothing difficult. However, he currently had his right hand behind his back, maintaining the Asura Field. Jia Zhen was right. If he could keep E Dan trapped so easily and then finish off Jia Zhen in a one-on-one battle, he would have done so long ago. The battle earlier would have never happened.
Right now, the surface of the Asura Field was constantly rising and falling. E Dan rampaged around inside, about to break out at any time. Instead, it took Li Qingshan tremendous amounts of effort and daemon qi to control the Asura Field and keep E Dan suppressed.
Having been refined recently, the Asura Field was like a newborn baby. It possessed the potential to become an arcane treasure, but it did not have much combat capacity right now. After all, its original form, the Dragon Arena, had never been used for battle in the first place.
The two of them faced one another with the remaining formations between them. Jia Zhen was waiting for E Dan to emerge, while Li Qingshan was trying to come up with a counterplan. For a moment, they entered a stalemate.
“Northmoon, looks like you’re in trouble!”
Suddenly, an extremely familiar voice rang out. Li Qingshan glanced backwards, only to see Lolth in her black tight suit standing on a rock nearby. Her vermillion lips curled slightly, completely as if she was watching a show. She clearly had no plans of lending any assistance.
“Since you’re here, then cut the bullsh*t. Help me out. I can run away whenever I want to. Do you think they’ll spare you then? They’ll probably fuck you a hundred times!”
Li Qingshan’s eyes lit up, approaching Lolth as he spoke. As long as Lolth managed to keep E Dan busy in the Asura Field for a moment, he would be able to finish off Jia Zhen first.
He did not doubt Lolth’s powers. She was still a carapaced Daemon Commander after all, and she possessed a powerful, defensive innate ability. E Dan was vicious, but he lacked an attack like the Tremors of the Ox Demon. It would not be so easy for him to butcher Lolth.
“Hah, I never imagined there would be a time when you would ask me for help. Why should I help you? And what benefit will I get from helping you? Tell me! I want to watch you die!” Lolth smiled in an extremely bewitching way, looking down on Li Qingshan right before her. She recovered some of her prideful mannerisms as a queen.
Li Qingshan stared right into her eyes and licked his lips. “Yeah, if I win, I’ll fuck you a hundred and one times to pay you back for your kindness!”
Lolth exclaimed furiously and in surprise, “What!?”
“Get in there!” Li Qingshan flapped his wings and lunged over, casting the Asura Field over her.
Lolth never expected Li Qingshan to still attack her while he was facing off against a powerful enemy, nor did she know what an Asura Field was capable of. Before she could even respond, she had already vanished into the blood-red swirl, and the fluctuations in the Asura Field immediately stopped. Clearly, E Dan had already received this gift.
As for whether they would fight or not, Li Qingshan was not worried at all. If a frenzied wolf and venomous spider were locked up in a cage, there definitely would not be a different result.
As a result, he casually stowed the Asura Field away and turned around, saying to Jia Zhen, “I want to make a bet with you!”
“Betting on what?” The numerous Jia Zhens spoke together, and their voices layered and echoed on top of one another.
“I want to bet there’s an idiot between us!” Li Qingshan gazed at the many Jia Zhens.
“Who are you betting on?”
“Obviously you! Dead people can’t use their heads!”
Li Qingshan leapt up, lunging straight towards the real Jia Zhen. He had only said that so he could use the spirit turtle to determine where the real Jia Zhen was.
Tsunami-like waves rose up from the turbulent lake, sweeping straight towards Jia Zhen. As the true master of the Water God Seal, only Li Qingshan could unleash its true powers.
“Oh no!”
Jia Zhen used an escape technique without the slightest hesitation, turning into a streak of light and shooting off into the distance. He only needed to hold on for a while longer, until E Dan killed the Daemon Commander and broke out of the Asura Field. If they worked together, they would still be undefeatable.
However, as he thought about that, he saw Northmoon arrive right beside him. He actually flew no slower than the streak of light.
