Bang!
The blood-red heart stopped beating. Black poison spread like shadows, and the heart became dyed black in the blink of an eye.
“Hehehehe!” Li Qingshan’s laughter did not stop. His expression remained completely the same. Even the way he touched her was as gentle as before. “Someone once sold my movements to Fu Qingjin of the Daemon Suppression alliance. That must have been you!”
“So what if it was me?” Ye Mingzhu turned into a shadow and merged into the darkness. Her voice drifted and echoed through the hall. “Not only is the heart not a vital point, but it can’t even heavily injure him? If I had known earlier, I would’ve gone straight for the head, the sea of consciousness!”
“I never paid much attention to you in the past, but only after this time did I discover that I really shouldn’t leave any problems waiting to erupt in the Asura Field!”
Li Qingshan sat up, and his long hair draped down, covering his face. He leaned against his knees and shook his head forcefully as if he was lamenting over his past neglect.
“It’s a pity that you’ve realised that too late. If I wait until your strength fully recovers, how would I still have the courage to attack you?”
“What you don’t understand is if you don’t attack me, how will I be able to justify killing you?”
“Hehe, and I thought you were supposed to be something else, Northmoon. So you’ve been such a worrywart. You actually gave me the opportunity to kill you for such a laughable reason. I come and go as I please. What can you do to me?”
Ye Mingzhu shivered inside, but she immediately dismissed that feeling. He did not understand her power at all right now. As long as she was not trapped in a spatial region like the Asura Field, she could completely conceal her aura and pass through any obstructions. Whether it were steel or formations, they were all nothing to her.
The way the night roamers fought, the way that night roamers survived, was the way of assassins. Defeating the strong despite being the weak was all too common. No matter how powerful the enemy’s defences were, they could kill them in a single strike. Even if they failed, they could escape.
“Liusu’s thoughts might only be a laughable reason to you, but they’re not to me. As for what I am, that’s not up for you to decide. You’ve only been flapping your gums here. Why aren’t you attacking me anymore? Are you afraid? I’ll let you take three moves for free then!”
“Let me take three moves? And it’s because of Liusu? You sure are a good son-in-law!”
“No, it’s because you offered up quite a nice service just then!”
Li Qingshan’s lips curled into a smile. Before he could even finish talking, the black edge of a blade shot towards his forehead. A black shadow appeared behind Li Qingshan, completely ignoring his tough ox hide and tenacious tiger bones and piercing his head in a single strike.
“The second move.” Li Qingshan did not move at all, completely ignoring the shadow behind him.
Ye Mingzhu was shocked. Just where were his vital points? In a clash, if the places she believed were vital points were completely useless, it could very easily influence the tides of the battle and even her fate! After hearing what he said, she sneered inside, Since you’re so arrogant, you better not blame me for being heartless!
“Roaming of a Hundred Ghosts!”
Figures walked out of the darkness. They were like thin shadows, some swollen and some with elongated limbs. They constantly twisted about like ghosts, approaching Li Qingshan on the lotus pedestal.
Li Qingshan remained seated, without budging at all. The shadows lunged over, and their heads suddenly split open, turning into huge, razor-sharp-teeth-ridden mouths that bit and tore away at Li Qingshan viciously.
However, Ye Mingzhu’s heart sank. Did he really have no vital points?
“That’s the third move. With your strength, even if I let you take another hundred moves, would it make any difference?” Li Qingshan said flatly.
Li Qingshan’s body gushed with demon qi that dispersed all of the shadows. He swelled up and reached over three meters tall, completely demonifying!
A set of vicious, scarlet armour covered every inch of his skin, only leaving behind a pair of eyes that resembled the demon heart in colour—a mixture of red and blue—staring off into the endless darkness.
The Traitorous Demon sword appeared, placed across his knees. The eye swiveled about, shining with a demonic light.
Ye Mingzhu widened her eyes. He’s been hiding his strength. What a powerful aura! This isn’t daemon qi! Only then did she suddenly realise that despite knowing him for a very long time, even spending time together in bed, she did not understand him at all. Sure enough, killing him was anything but easy!
She no longer hesitated and immediately made her way out of the hall. If she could not kill him, then she would not kill him. There was the Dragon King of Ink Sea to kill him for her anyway!
“You still want to leave?” Li Qingshan stroked the Traitorous Demon sword softly and sensed the completely-new power flowing through his body, but he still did nothing!
Ye Mingzhu had already passed through the walls and arrived outside. Right when she thought there was an entire world out there waiting for her, she ran into a black wall instead and bounced back.
“What’s this?”
Before she knew it, an imposing, pitch-black tower was standing on the lone mountain, enveloping the entire hall.
Ye Mingzhu dove into the ground, but she ran into a black floor that was made of the same material. She ran around like a headless fly, but she was unable to leave.
“It’s your demonic thoughts, as well as mine! The cultivation method that you night roamers practise is called the Night Demon scripture, which sure is a coincidence!”
Jangle! Countless pitch-black chains seemed to extend out of thin air, criss-crossing together.
Ye Mingzhu turned into a shadow. She thought she hid very well, but in the blink of an eye, countless Chains of Demon Suppression reached over, right towards her location. Alarmed, she took off into the air, but the Chains of Demon Suppression tailed right behind her, preventing her from shaking them off.
No matter how fast she was, avoiding the pursuit of so many chains in such a narrow space was rather difficult. Suddenly, a huge net woven from chains fell towards her.
She was not bold enough to see whether the net could touch her. The shadows twisted into extremely thin strands, passing through the gaps of the net. However, she felt her waist tighten. The net tightened with that, and her body came to a halt. Countless Chains of Demon Suppression wrapped over. No matter how she struggled, she was unable to break free.
Li Qingshan remained seated on the lotus pedestal the entire time. In front of him was a ball woven from chains with a black shadow rampaging about inside.
“Why don’t you return to your true shape?” Li Qingshan dispersed the Demon Suppression Tower with a wave of his hand.
“Spare me, master! I’ll never do it again!”
Ye Mingzhu turned back and pleaded for mercy in a panic. Only now did she understand that everything was within his plans. Her so-called opportunity to kill him and escape had never existed in the first place!
Li Qingshan stood up and shook himself.
Crack!
The scarlet-red armour fractured, which rapidly spread into a series of cracks. The vicious-looking, shining, heavy armour that covered his body suddenly became like eroded rock, covered in cracks and shattering apart.
Like the hatching of an eye, it revealed his new form. He was much smaller, only a little taller than a regular person. He was still clad in armour, but there was a dark-blue hue to it that flowed about like clouds and water. The curved visor even covered his face, obscuring his appearance, but there were ripples of water, raging about like waves and rising and falling like tides. Vortex-like patterns appeared on his joints, which actually seemed aesthetically beautiful.
After completely melting away the Ocean pearl, the Demon Suppression Statuary finally went from being an empty husk to the real thing, revealing the true Demon Commander form unique to Li Qingshan!
“Originally, I thought you could make me do something. How disappointing!”
The visor opened up and revealed a face that Ye Mingzhu found extremely unfamiliar. It bore some resemblance to Li Qingshan’s original appearance, except it was not as sharp and distinct. It seemed much more mellow, but there were stripes that resembled a beast’s on his cheeks. As he spoke, he revealed his sharp fangs.
“Master, please spare me for the sake of Liusu! I’ll definitely serve you well! Otherwise, I’ll blow up the Night Demon core, and there’ll be nothing that you can do!”
“If I were to say as long as you hand over the Night Demon core, I’ll spare you life, what would you choose?”
Ye Mingzhu became conflicted. If she handed over the Night Demon core, then she would lose the last thing that she could rely on, but if she did not hand it over, then she would be dead for sure. She considered it and said, “As long as you swear…”
Before she could even finish, there was a flash from a sword, and Ye Mingzhu’s head fell to the ground, still with a stunned expression.
“If you only tried to run away and did not try to assassinate me, perhaps I would have spared you! Look at the situation you’re in, yet you’re still trying to threaten me! You’ve really been asking for this!”
Li Qingshan stowed the Traitorous Demon sword away. He held a black bead in his hand. The faces of demons and ghosts seemed to constantly fade in and out of the bead. It was the Night Demon core. Then he stowed Ye Mingzhu’s corpse into his hundred treasures pouch and turned back into his child-like form. Afterwards, he waved his hand and called Ye Liusu and Ye Liubo out, saying, “Ye Mingzhu tried to assassinate me. I’ve already killed her!”
“What!” Ye Liusu and Ye Liubo were both shocked.
“She said she needed to see me for something important, and she had to see me in person, outside the Asura Field. After seeing me, she saw how my strength had not recovered yet, so she began to have other thoughts!”
Ye Liubo fumed and said, “When I saw her earlier today, I knew there was something wrong with her expression. So she was probing master’s strength!”
“Mother!” Ye Liusu murmured sorrowfully.
Ye Liusu did not doubt him. If he did not want her to know, he could have just said Ye Mingzhu had escaped. There was no need for him to tell her at all. However, doing something like that happened to suit Ye Mingzhu.
A deep sense of regret filled her. It’s all my fault. I was the one who told her too much! If I hadn’t told her that he was currently weakened, she would have never done anything with how cautious she is. And clearly, there’s not a lot of truth to that piece of information!
“I personally believe I’ve done nothing to the night roamers, yet this is the payback I get. It really does disappoint me. When the time is right, I will be migrating the night roamers out of there!”
“Master, are you trying to discard us?” Ye Liusu blurted out. Ye Liubo’s expression changed drastically too. Did he develop suspicions towards night roamers as a whole because of the incident with Ye Mingzhu?
“Not you, but everyone apart from you. You two are without a doubt the only ones I care about among the night roamers. The fates of the others have nothing to do with me. I can’t be bothered with oppressing them and amusing myself with them like Lolth, so why don’t we just go our own ways?”
Ye Liubo stopped worrying, but Ye Liusu knelt down. “Please reconsider, master!”
The greatest difference between her and Ye Mingzhu was their ideals. Ye Mingzhu only had to consider for herself. When it mattered, she could even cast her daughter to the back of her mind and completely ignore the consequences if she fled.
However, Ye Liusu considered the developments of the entire race. Originally, everything had been progressing very smoothly. All she had to do was wait until the day he became a Daemon King, and the night roamers that followed him would obviously be able to stand tall in the world.
She could not help but admit that because of her very deep feelings for him and her unconditional trust in him, her personal feelings and ideals had merged together. All of it gathered on him, yet it was being forcefully torn apart now. That was far more terrifying than losing Ye Mingzhu!
