The cave masters looked at one another and exchanged glances. They silently communicated with their soul senses. “What bold words! With her cultivation, she actually wants to render the fire devourers extinct!” “Even if she undergoes the second heavenly tribulation, the Fire Devouring King will burn her to a crisp.”
“You’re serious? You’re not joking?”
Li Qingshan felt rather surprised too. Originally, he was only hoping to learn about inside information regarding the Merfolk of the South sea through her. Then he would find some way to persuade the Merfolk King to provide troops to attack Fire Melt mountain. He never expected her to say she wanted to exterminate the fire devourers right off the bat. He gazed into her eyes, trying to see through her thoughts.
“This is the only thing I won’t joke about! But you need to give me some time, until I undergo the second heavenly tribulation,” said Ru Xin.
“I don’t really want to believe you, but fine! If you need anything, feel free to mention it.”
Li Qingshan raised an eyebrow. She sure had changed her mind quickly, going from vehement opposition in the beginning to vehement agreement. It sure was puzzling.
“First of all, gather as much information as possible about the recent movements of the merpeople and the fire devourers, but don’t alarm them. Don’t give away the fact that you plan to oppose Fire Melt mountain or ally yourself with the merpeople either. Apart from that, capture a few fire devourers for me. They don’t need to be particularly powerful, but keep it a secret too. It would be best if you mislead them into believing it was the handiwork of the others. Last of all, I need to gather a few items, and I need the cooperation of everyone seated.”
Ru Xin said with fervour and assurance, clearly having thought this through already.
Li Qingshan did not ask what she wanted to do. He agreed to it all and ordered the cave masters to cooperate.
The cave masters were reluctant to be ordered around by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but this was still better than throwing their lives at the fire devourers after all. Who knew just how long it would take her to undergo the second heavenly tribulation. By then, perhaps Li Qingshan would have calmed down and lost interest in attacking Fire Melt mountain.
The cave masters dispersed with their orders. Only Li Qingshan and Ru Xin remained in the dark, heavy hall.
Their eyes met. Li Qingshan wanted to speak, but he suddenly waved his hand. “Forget about it. You can tell me when you want to!”
“I’m a little tempted to tell you right now.” Ru Xin smiled.
“Then…”
“But with how keen you are to find out, I feel like I’m losing out if I tell you!” Ru Xin twirled her hair.
“Fucking hell!” Li Qingshan cursed. Then he laughed. “You’ve finally turned back to normal.” Although, she did feel a little more vicious again.
“Have I ever been abnormal?” Ru Xin blinked her eyes. She turned around and waved her hand. “I’ll go handle the matters. Kid, just sit there and wait for the results!”
Watching Ru Xin leave, Li Qingshan leaned against the armrest and poked his head forward. He asked, “What did you say to her?”
“Nothing. I just said you’re determined to attack Fire Melt mountain and obtain the divine wutong tree for cultivation, and she cheered up!”
Xiao An sat on the armrest and extended her hand, touching Li Qingshan’s cheeks.
“You don’t have to eat her now.” Li Qingshan gently scooped her up with a smile.
“I’m afraid you wouldn’t want to lose her. Hmph, who likes to nibble on rock anyway!”
……
At the same time, the Myriad Poison Ancestor traversed through the dark jungle. He moved slowly as if there was a potential trap under every single step he took. There was not a single person to be seen in the surroundings, but he could clearly sense countless prying eyes.
He remained calm and composed. He was confident the person he wanted to see would appear very soon.
Suddenly, he stopped.
The darkness became thicker, like a pool of black water surging in silence. Within the extreme darkness, even the surroundings became bizarre. The trees twisted slightly like black, drifting silhouettes, casting darkness that was even darker than darkness on the darkness.
Black, shadow-like vegetation grew around the Myriad Poison Ancestor. They were densely-packed with huge buds atop their thin stalks. The numerous buds bloomed at the same time, but they did not bloom flowers, but multiple gaping mouths. They spoke together.
“Myriad Poison, why aren’t you enjoying yourself in the south? What brings you to my Shadow palace?” Every single voice was sharp and ear-splitting, layering together in the thousands. It was enough for people to voluntarily deafen themselves just to avoid hearing the horrible sound.
Even the Myriad Poison Ancestor became slightly restless inside. He composed himself. “I want you to kill someone for me, fellow!”
“Oh? A person that I can kill, but you can’t! You should know that the Shadow palace never assassinates targets beyond the third heavenly tribulation, whether it’s humans, daemons, or otherfolk, or half-human, half-daemons, half-human, half-otherfolk, or half-otherfolk, half-daemons!”
The Shadow Queen spoke extremely quickly. The shadow formed three lines in the air, and each stroke changed into the silhouette of a human, daemon, and otherfolk before rapidly interweaving and forming so-called half-human, half-daemons, and so on.
“No, not the third heavenly tribulation. The second heavenly tribulation!”
“Oh! That’s interesting. Name?”
“Li Qingshan!” The Myriad Poison Ancestor struggled to hide his resentment.
“The King of Savages, Li Qingshan… Declined! Please return!” The Shadow Queen seemed to consider it before declining resolutely. The shadow in the air formed a cross before drifting away.
“Wait, you haven’t heard the remuneration yet!” The Myriad Poison Ancestor took a step forward and extended his hand.
The shadow plants suddenly merged into a colossal shadow monster, blocking the Myriad Poison Ancestor’s path. It roared, “Did the King of Southern Yue send you? Is he trying to drag the night roamers into the war between humans? Go back and tell him to forget about it! I bless him forever and ever, to be beheaded by his own clansmen!”
“No, this has nothing to do with the King of Southern Yue, or the Mist province and the Green province. This is my personal matter.” The Myriad Poison Ancestor hesitated before finally explaining his grievance with Li Qingshan. To him, this was a matter of burning shame that he struggled to mention.
The shadow monster laughed from time to time before saying at the end, “Infiltrating the Myriad Poison cult and killing people…”
“I suspect it to be the handiwork of that Ghost Shadow of Savage mountain!”
“Hehe, you’re talking about that child! I’ve let him catch some rest. It’s time for him to come back and continue working. Thank you for informing me about him. I will bring him back. Night roamers shouldn’t be serving humans, but I don’t think he’s capable of something like that!”
“Once you kill Li Qingshan, I’ll bear all the consequences. I’ll declare that I was behind it. If you don’t believe me, I can swear a poisonous oath and take complete responsibility for this. You’ll obtain three arcane treasures at the very least. There will also be a tremendous amount of resources in return,” the Myriad Poison Ancestor said resolutely.
The “poisonous oath” he mentioned was not an empty oath that mortals spouted. Instead, it was a binding oath of great power, but unlike the Blood Oath Scroll, it had to be sworn from the bottom of the heart.
After a moment of silence, the shadow monster receded and turned into a blurry figure. It sat in front of the Myriad Poison Ancestor, leaning against its slender arms. “Alright, let’s talk about the remuneration!”
Quite a while later, the thick darkness receded like the tide. The jungle turned back to normal.
The Myriad Poison Ancestor looked around. Even until now, he had not grasped the Shadow Queen’s location.
A brilliant moon hung in the sky, and from the branch of a huge tree, a pair of deep-blue eyes watched the Myriad Poison Ancestor fly away. She fiddled around with a dark-green sphere that resembled a tumour and smiled gently.
“Heh, he’s even offered up the treasure of his cult. This hatred sure runs deep!”
