By the time the sound of the flute came to an end, the sky had already darkened. After undergoing another evolution and breakthrough, the blood-red swirl in the sky of the Asura Field gradually dispersed, revealing the faint, red sky. It waited for the next battle to the death.
Li Qingshan was about to leave the Asura Field and enter secluded cultivation so that he could break through to Golden Core. Suddenly, he felt a scorching gaze land on him from far below.
Ye Mingzhu found a suitable place to consolidate her cultivation, while Ye Liusu led everyone to rebuild their homes. Everyone had their jobs. They would only raise their heads from time to time and gaze at the depths of the canopy.
Only Ye Liubo sat on a branch with her legs crossed, staring straight at him. She had been listening closely to the flute, like it was music from immortals. That was better described as reverence towards a god than feelings of love.
Li Qingshan smiled, leaping down from the great banyan tree. He flapped his phoenix wings gently and produced a beautiful arc, gliding over the rainforest and scooping her up, flying off to the mountains in the distance.
“Looks like it’s time for me to uphold my promise.” Li Qingshan lowered his head and smiled at her in his arms.
“Master!” Ye Liubo exclaimed excitedly, hanging onto him firmly.
“You better just call me by my name!”
“But I prefer master.”
“Up to you.”
Ye Liusu watched as he flew away from the great banyan tree and the rainforest. She felt a little bitter inside, but also happy for Ye Liubo. In the end, she instead felt relieved. When she listened to his flute earlier, she felt just how distant they were, and they would only grow more distant. He would never belong to a single woman.
Wind whistled past her ears. Ye Liubo understood the strangeness of this world, but in his arms, never had she felt so at peace. She also felt indescribable joy. Nothing had even happened yet, but her eyes had already drifted away slightly.
They flew through the desert that was experiencing a sandstorm where the asura were currently fighting. Several asura were fighting against one another for the sake of their status. When they saw Li Qingshan fly past, they all stopped swinging their weapons and stood sternly. That battle had already demonstrated to them who the indisputable ruler of this place was.
Li Qingshan saluted them with a smile, only to see the asura greet him back with the same salute, making him shake his head with a smile helplessly. He continued on his way and only came to a stop in front of the snow mountain. He landed softly at the foot of the mountain. He could see the lake in the distance from here.
“Do you like it here?”
“I do.” Ye Liubo bit her lip ,and her breathing began rather ragged. Her body began to heat up.
Li Qingshan placed her on the pure-white ground and gently caressed her face before sliding down with his fingers. Her armour shattered open silently, and her voluptuous breasts leapt out, jiggling slightly. He continued downwards, and her thigh guards shattered too.
Her beautiful body was on full display before him, only leaving behind a pair of long boots. The beautiful patterns special to night roamers eased up, and her dark-blue skin formed an extremely distinct contrast against the snowy ground.
Ye Liubo looked at him eagerly and helplessly like a lamb about to be slaughtered. She murmured, “Master.”
Towards this cute “pet” who offered everything she had up to him without holding back at all, Li Qingshan was instead not in much of a hurry. He teased her patiently out of interest. His index finger slid between her breasts and reached her delicate belly button, poking it gently.
Ye Liusu trembled all over and let out a pleasant moan. Her round thighs overlapped, rubbing against one another gently. Even Li Qingshan had never expected her to be aroused so easily, so he teasingly said, “How lewd!”
Ye Liubo furrowed her brows and grumbled, “It’s all because of you, master…”
“Don’t talk back!”
Li Qingshan smiled as he poked her pouting lips with his index finger before immediately sinking into warmth. She raised her head and sucked on the finger as her soft, smooth tongue rolled over, licking and sucking away like she was tasting some delicacy. Her eyes were blurred and filled with joy, both passionate and careful, like the most devoted fanatic trying to please her god.
Li Qingshan felt his lust being ignited and the caressing became more passionate. He fiddled around with a mound of softness as he extended a hand beneath her, only to discover it was even moister than her mouth. All he heard was an elated moan. “Master!” It was filled with desire.
As a result, Li Qingshan stopped hesitating and approached her.
……
Before the joy from making love had even dispersed, he had already returned to the dark centre of the mountain. Li Qingshan shook his head and took in a deep breath before lighting some incense, taking a shower, changing his clothes, and calming the mind. He made the most abundant preparations.
Sitting down with his legs crossed, he closed his eyes. Everything that had happened recently—from the Exhibition Matches of the Nine Prefectures to killing E Dan, everything including the battles, the conversations, the hatred, the gratitude, the hostility, the kindness, and so on—flashed across his eyes, containing everyone and all the matters involved.
Fury and joy, helplessness and desire surged through him at the same time. His eyes gradually became as calm as water, making everything settle down. Perhaps because he had eaten the Fruit of Wisdom, his mind became especially clear.
In the end, all the people and matters faded away. Only the spiritual qi bobbed up and down in his sea of qi. It was only inches away, yet it seemed as deep and vast as the ocean.
The time was right. It was about time for him to take this step.
He took out an Origin Spirit pill, ingested it, and refined it.
A strange feeling dispersed through his body. The sea of qi that had originally been peaceful suddenly began to surge restlessly. At the same time, his sea of consciousness began to surge as well as if it wanted to expand even further away, yet also like it wanted to contract into an Ocean pearl.
The sensations conflicted as polar opposites, yet they were also extremely harmonious, allowing Li Qingshan to see the existence of that gate.
He silently practised the Arts of the Boundless Ocean. He was in no hurry to break through. He silently comprehended the effects of the Origin Spirit pill, as well as the true essence of the ocean.
A while later, the effects faded away, and the first Origin Spirit pill had been wasted away like that. Even Golden Core cultivators would find that rather wasteful, but he simply took out a second Origin Spirit pill calmly. However, he did not ingest it immediately. Instead, he sat there quietly, allowing time to pass by.
Suddenly, a mysterious power activated the Minor Formation of Five Elements Inversion, making it operate away at full strength. However, even the wondrous formation could not block the probing of the power. It gradually passed through the fate that was as chaotic as a maze, going straight for him.
He held his breath and waited, making the spirit turtle dive into the sea abyss and hole up in its shell, entering a world of its own. After passing through the formation, the power became rather feeble. It searched around for quite a while longer, but it was unable to grasp anything, so it returned fruitlessly.
In the Dragon province, the Platform of Astronomy glowed faintly. Its surroundings were engraved with the celestial bodies and their passage through time. On the very top was a large eight trigrams diagram, and in the centre sat a healthy old man in graceful clothes with a special astronomic hat on his head.
A while later, the old man opened his eyes. They were completely black without any irises, but they were clear like a tranquil pond. The sky full of stars was reflected in them. He murmured to himself, “A difficult person to find. Yeah, the Minor Formation of Five Elements Inversion.”
If he had to find him by divination, it was not exactly impossible. At the very least, he could determine his location, but he would have to pay a corresponding price. The dead damned disciple of the Beast King was still nowhere near enough for him to do that. If Si Qing himself had died, then that was more like it.
“I might not be able to find you, but does that mean I can’t find the Minor Formation of Five Elements Inversion?”
The sky full of stars in the old man’s eyes flashed. As a formation that specially blocked divination, the Minor Formation of Five Elements Inversion did not have any abilities to defend or trap enemies. It was not a common formation, and it fetched for quite a price. There were not a lot of people who possessed one.
To a powerful naturalist from the school of Yin-yang like him, a defensive measure like this was also a lead and an opening.
A while later, a figure appeared before his eyes, going from blurry to clear. It was Gu Yanying. She smiled back at him, clasped her hands and bowed.
This girl. The old man shook his head and made his way off the Platform of Astronomy. The moment he left the Platform of Astronomy, he suddenly hunched over from his tall, straight posture, and his clear eyes became turbid. Even the ruddiness on his face faded away, growing many wrinkled and gullies on his face out of nowhere. He placed his hands behind his back and slowly walked over, like a mortal.
The Beast King, Si Qing, and Jia Zhen were currently waiting beneath the Platform of Astronomy. When they saw the old man, even the Beast King lowered his head and bowed, “Sir supervisor, how are the results?”
“Can’t find him.” The old man glanced at them. Suddenly, a sliver of surprise flashed through his eyes. In that moment, the power of the Platform of Astronomy had yet to completely disperse. However, he remained unfazed, turning around and leaving, but he walked very slowly, so the Beast King caught up to him with a single step. “You should be able to find where he is at the very least, right? I don’t want anything else. I just want to know where his true body is hiding.”
“I can’t find him means I can’t find him.” The old man waved his hand.
The three of them were very taken aback. They understood the old man’s abilities very well, let alone the fact that he had even used an arcane treasure like the Platform of Astronomy. Logically speaking, he should have even been able to calculate that wretched daemon Northmoon’s time of birth, the eight characters of his horoscope, his identity, and his origins, so why was he unable to calculate his location?
For this divination, the Beast King had paid a huge price, only to receive a result like this, so how could he accept it? He frowned, and his dignified face seemed even more threatening, but before this old man, his furious temper was completely useless.
The old man stopped and looked back. His turbid eyes cleared up like before. “Oh right, I have a word of advice for the three of you.”
The three of them dared not ignore him. They all listened closely.
The old man did not say some profound prophecy. “Some matters in the world seem unresolved despite being already resolved, so it would be better to just leave them unresolved.”
……
At this moment, Li Qingshan ate the second Origin Spirit pill. He still did not use it to breakthrough, choosing to observe quietly instead. Afterwards, he ate a third one and a fourth one. When he reached the fifth Origin Spirit pill, over a month had already passed.
He checked the fifth Origin Spirit pill in his hand and stowed it away before continuing to meditate until the effects of the fourth Origin Spirit pill completely faded away. Afterwards, he devoted himself to practising the Arts of the Boundless Ocean until he could circulate through the first to the sixth layer at will, without any irregularities. It took him almost another two months.
He used the Origin Spirit pill to find the existence of this gate, but he did not plan on breaking through with the Origin Spirit pill. Finally, with his own power, he reached this step, so it was obviously much more difficult.
But he was in no hurry. He meditated patiently for another two months. It sounded like an extremely lengthy period of time, but it was like a moment as he cultivated. It was as if he was submerged in a dream. Eventually, dawn arrived one day. He opened his eyes, waking up from the dream. The surging spirit qi began to gather in his sea of qi, condensing into an Ocean pearl.
At the same time, the furious roar of lightning rang out by his ears.
Li Qingshan smiled.
