The figure of a dragon coiled around Li Qingshan’s right arm, reaching the tip of his fingers and whistling out. There was a boundless dragon cry, but almost no one managed to make out its shape.
At the same time, the Traitorous Demon sword that had been knocked away swung around in the air. The demonic eye on the hilt locked onto Huang Siqin, producing a demonic glow. It was like it was trying to see him all the way through.
Huang Siqin’s heart reached his throat. A feeling of death enveloped him. He let out a sudden roar, and the white fur on him stood on end, surging with spiritual qi that formed an indestructible barrier.
The dragon arrived in a flash, piercing the huge ghost, piercing the spiritual qi, and piercing Huang Siqin’s head, leaving his face frozen in shock.
In that moment, boundless sword intent completely destroyed his sea of consciousness. He could not even detonate his golden core in time to try and take Li Qingshan down with him.
The dragon returned to Li Qingshan’s hand, coiling around and lurking there quietly.
This was the power of an arcane treasure, and one that was purely offensive in nature. However, Li Qingshan did not rely on just the arcane treasure to kill Huang Siqin in a single stroke.
Huang Siqin’s cultivation was very powerful. He was at mid or late Golden Core at the very least, and who knew how many other abilities and skills he was hiding. If Li Qingshan only used the power of the Demon Suppression Statuary, killing him would truly be difficult. Killing an opponent had never been easy at their level of cultivation.
But right from the beginning, he had lost the confidence of achieving victory. Then he recovered his confidence because of how weak Li Qingshan seemed, but in the final moment, he hesitated again. These fluctuations in his mental state were life-threatening. In particular, he was basically asking to be killed with his hesitation in the final moment.
The Traitorous Demon sword saw through his openings in a single glance, and the Demon Dragon sword cut him down in a single stroke. All of this made perfect sense.
Huang Siqin’s corpse collapsed, and Li Qingshan immediately rushed over, fishing out a hundred treasures pouch and removing a strange golden core from his body. It was a frosty white and oval in shape like an insect egg, containing great power. It must have been a special golden core condensed from the arts of shaman gu of the south!
In the end, Li Qingshan stowed Huang Siqin’s corpse into his sumeru ring, and just like that, an imposing White Hawk commander of the south had vanished from the world. It was a pity that he had croaked like this, unable to use any of his vast array of techniques or abilities. He had truly died in complete regret.
For a moment, the huge branch fell completely silent. All of the White Wolf guards were stunned. Even the cultivators who had the right to live in the canopy and spectate this battle held their breaths unconsciously.
Indistinct noise rang out below. Everyone raised their heads and wondered what had happened.
The Marquis of Serene Sea was shaken. He had a good idea about how powerful Huang Siqin was. Even he was not confident about defeating him in battle, yet he had actually been casually slain like that. Let alone escape, he could not even respond in time.
Suddenly, he realised that he had just strolled past the brink of death. If he actually began fighting earlier on impulse, that would probably be his fate too. Li Qingshan was bold enough to kill his superior the moment he got here, let alone him, the Marquis of Serene Sea. He was not arrogant, but powerful!
Those who were not bold would never take a risk like that!
Li Qingshan cleared his throat by coughing twice. Like two claps of thunder, it made everyone return to their senses.
“Nicely done!” The Marquis of Serene Sea praised loudly.
“Oh? Why’s it nice?” Li Qingshan reverted to human form and asked mischievously.
“Huang Siqin had been colluding with demonic cultivators and terrorising my South Sea commandery for all these years, with no one to eradicate him. It’s all thanks to you, fellow. You arrived like an emissary of heaven, upholding justice and maintaining righteousness. It’s fantastic!” the Marquis of Serene Sea said sincerely.
“Hahaha, eradicating the demonic and preserving the orthodoxy is my duty. You’re too kind, governor.”
“What governor? If you don’t mind, fellow, you can just call me by my name. I’m called-”
“That won’t be necessary,” Li Qingshan interrupted with a smile. What he was implying was very clear. I don’t want to know what your name is.
The Marquis of Serene Sea said awkwardly, “Fair enough, fair enough! I’d like to invite you to my estate so that I can live up to my responsibility as the local leader to welcome you, commander!”
“Alright!” Then Li Qingshan turned around and asked the White Wolf commanders, “Is there a place to communicate with the superiors here?”
“There is! There’s a long-distance transmission room here!”
“Then help me report that the White Hawk commander Huang Siqin was colluding with demonic cultivators and has already been slain by the White Wolf commander Li Qingshan. He’s currently still investigating whether others have been colluding with demonic cultivators or not.” Li Qingshan paused and looked around. All of the White Wolf guards shivered. Then he added, “Don’t forget to ask the great commander to promote me to White Hawk commander.”
The corner of the Marquis of Serene Sea’s eye twitched. Isn’t that a little too obvious?
The Marquis of Serene Sea invited Li Qingshan and Xiao An to the top of the huge tree, to a pavilion composed of twisted branches. They could see the sea of trees from there. The breeze was gentle, the birds twittered, and the scenery was beautiful.
Li Qingshan tasted the delicacies and fine alcohol as he admired the local song and dance. It was filled with features of the south, possessing an exotic charm.
Sitting at the banquet, the Marquis of Serene Sea apologised to Li Qingshan again, so Li Qingshan forgave him generously, expressing that he did not look like the type that would collude with demonic cultivators!
The Marquis of Serene Sea smiled apologetically, carefully probing out Li Qingshan’s bottom line. Actually, what he wanted to ask the most was whether the dragon figure that had appeared for a flash earlier was an arcane treasure or not. However, upon further consideration, he did not ask that, both because he was afraid of offending Li Qingshan and also because he already knew the answer. If it was not an arcane treasure, how could it pierce Huang Siqin’s defences so easily?
He really is a prodigy from a large sect of the Green province. He even has an arcane treasure. Even I, the Marquis of Serene Sea, only have the Seal of Mountains and Rivers that bears some resemblance to an arcane treasure. If news of this gets out, he’ll definitely become a target for all. Everyone will want to steal it from him.
But upon further consideration, the Marquis of Serene Sea decided to keep his mouth shut. If he were up against a normal person, refusing to admit he divulged the news was enough. After all, they could not fall out with him over some suspicion. However, this unreasonable ruffian Li Qingshan probably would not listen to his explanations at all. As long as he had even the slightest bit of suspicion, all he had to do was utter, “You look like you collude with demonic cultivators.” and it would be bold enough to kill him!
Anyways, this person is far too ostentatious! I better avoid him for now and wait until the day he digs his own grave!
……
Outside the Mist capital, in the Hawkwolf Guard.
An attendant rushed to the back of the mountain and arrived before a towering tree. The tree stooped over a thousand meters tall. It was not particularly conspicuous, but the attendant bowed politely towards the tree.
“Commander, there’s been a report from the South Sea commandery!”
“What’s the matter?”
The huge tree suddenly opened a pair of eyes. A tiny Gold Hawk tablet hung from a branch high up, glistening with light.
“There’s been a report from the South Sea commandery that the White Hawk commander Huang Siqin has been colluding with demonic cultivators. He’s already been executed by Li Qingshan, and the others are still under investigation. He requests to be promoted to White Hawk commander!”
“Oh? Looks like he’s very suited for the south!”
If this were the Green province, a White Wolf commander killing a White Hawk commander would definitely lead to a huge uproar. It was even possible for them to be taken back to the headquarters of the Hawkwolf Guard in the Dragon province for investigation.
However, this was the Mist province. The South Sea commandery was to the very south of the Mist province, a place of utter chaos. Huang Siqin was not a White Hawk commander completely loyal to the Hawkwolf Guard either. If someone said he was colluding with demonic cultivators, there was no need for any investigations at all. This was a secret that everyone in the southern region knew about. It would be a great crime in the Green province, but it was absolutely nothing in the Mist province.
“Grant his request!”
……
As a result, Li Qingshan was promoted at a startling pace, becoming the new White Hawk commander of the South Sea commandery.
“Heh, if you wanna hold a post as an official, you really gotta commit murder, arson, and enlist rebels into your ranks!”
Li Qingshan changed into the uniform of a White Hawk commander, standing tall and gracefully. A tiny, silver hawk hung from his waist as he smiled at Xiao An.
Now, he would be waiting for various kinds of people to come kill him so that he could enjoy the warm welcome from the locals of the South sea.
However, no matter how he waited, he did not even catch the glimpse of an enemy. Even the master of the White Wolf guard he had smashed to death did not come to avenge his disciple. His days here were basically even more peaceful than when he was in the Green province.
Li Qingshan was utterly puzzled. Was this still the danger-ridden south? He felt like he had misunderstood something, so he visited the Marquis of Serene Sea’s estate again.
“Congratulations on being promoted to White Hawk commander! May I ask what has brought you here today?” The Marquis of Serene Sea asked cautiously.
“Governor, tell me, why hasn’t anyone come to kill me?” Li Qingshan sat down without any invitation and asked with a frown.
The Marquis of Serene Sea was left at a loss. What kind of question was that? He even seemed distressed about that. He asked carefully, “Why would anyone come to kill you?”
“Look, I’m from an orthodox sect. That day, I even claimed I wanted to purge demons and maintain justice, saying that those who abide by me will prosper and those who defy me will die! News of this should have spread, right? What are these demonic cultivators waiting for before they come and kill me?”
“You want them to come and kill you?” The Marquis of Serene Sea was left as his wit’s end.
“Of course. Why else would I say all that? Huhu, how embarrassing would it be if I were to name them one by one?”
“Why do you want this?”
The Marquis of Serene Sea looked at Li Qingshan with a gaze like he was looking at a monster. As it turned out, he had intentionally said that to mock the demonic cultivators of the South Sea commandery so that he could provoke them and have them come to kill him.
What was wrong with him?
“I want to kill people! It doesn’t even have to be people. Anything works,” Li Qingshan said at complete ease.
With everything that had happened so far, he did not want to hide his true intentions anymore and ramble on some nonsense about upholding justice. His main objective of coming to the South Sea commandery was to fight to his heart’s content so that the tiger demon’s desire for slaughter could be completely satiated!
“Isn’t the first precept of buddhism to refrain from taking life?” The Marquis of Serene Sea was left stunned for a good moment.
Li Qingshan chuckled. “Eradicating the demonic and preserving the orthodoxy, eradicating the demonic and preserving the orthodoxy!”
The Marquis of Serene Sea was very tempted to say, You don’t need to explain anymore. You’ve been smothered and inhibited by the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga! The south that was a zone of danger in the eyes of others was a place for him to vent.
As a result, he let out a long sigh. “There probably won’t be anyone trying to kill you any time soon!”
“Why? I heard that Huang Siqin had quite a lot of friends? Don’t tell me none of them have any loyalty to him?”
The Marquis of Serene Sea let out a dry cough. He was also technically one of Huang Siqin’s “friends”. After beating around the bush, Li Qingshan finally understood why no one was making trouble for him.
First of all, the great strength he had demonstrated when killing Huang Siqin was already enough to deter most demonic cultivators. Even with Huang Siqin’s network, a person dying was far all too common. This was the south. No one would be willing to work for a corpse’s sake.
Li Qingshan’s words and actions that he believed to be highly provocative achieved exactly the opposite effect. With how arrogant and brutal he was, killing people without even batting an eye, he was clearly a demon himself. Even the cultivation method he practised reeked with demon qi. Even if he was a disciple of an orthodox sect, he was merely one of them in disguise.
As a result, the demonic powerhouses and demonic organisations capable of threatening Li Qingshan felt that they could try befriending or roping him in instead.
“That’s a thing?” Li Qingshan was astounded.
