After Qiongqi descended, Li Qingshan felt like his plan might have fallen through, but he still remained hopeful. What if the Bone Eating Shaman King was just an idiot? However, when the Myriad Poison Ancestor returned alone, he was forced to give up on this idiotic thought of his.
The Myriad Poison Ancestor drifted into the hall, and before Li Qingshan could even ask anything, he bowed deeply. “I’ve failed the mission. I’ve failed to trick the Bone Eating Shaman King into coming here, so please punish me, my king.”
Li Qingshan asked about what had happened, and only then did he understand why Qiongqi had suddenly arrived. He never thought it would coincide with the Bone Eating shamans’ sh*tty “Ritual of the Ten Abominations”. Was he supposed to be fortunate or unfortunate?
“You’ve done your job very well. It just means that the time for the Bone Eating Shaman King to die isn’t here yet. It’s not your fault. I’d like to see whether the Bone Eating Shaman King will run out of patience and come to attack Savage mountain in the future or not.”
Li Qingshan was still hopeful. If he could fight the Bone Eating Shaman King, he would definitely break through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, and his strength would definitely increase substantially. Practising the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine became more difficult the more he progressed, but it also became more and more powerful. A major reason for why he could clash with third heavenly tribulation cultivators right now was because of the strength and destructive power of the fifth layer of the ox demon.
“He probably won’t. The Bone Eating barbarians believe in the evil god Qiongqi. They’ll never act recklessly now that they’ve received a warning like this. The Bone Eating Shaman King also seems to have developed some qualms. He’s a little uneasy.”
“Alright then. Continue with helping Ru Xin to refine poison!”
Li Qingshan thought about it. The current situation was not suited for waging war against the Bone Eating Shaman King. He was better off making a decision after spending some time recuperating and completely recovering from the phoenix’s nirvā?a.
“If he doesn’t come to us, then we’ll just go to him in the future,” Xiao An said.
It had been quite a bountiful harvest for Xiao An this time too. A hundred thousand Bone Eating shamans and over a thousand crystal skulls could sustain her cultivation for a very long period of time.
“Yeah. Let’s cull off these damned deviants first before skinning that Qiongqi alive!”
Li Qingshan yawned. Although he had been completely renewed by the rebirth, the exhaustion after fighting did not vanish so easily. A clash between the demonic and divine within him was far more tiresome than fighting against anyone.
“Come with me.” Xiao An suddenly grabbed his hand and led him to the back of the hall.
“Where are we going?” Li Qingshan followed her to the back of the hall and discovered a simple, stone door. Behind the stone door was a tunnel that led even further into the mountain.
Li Qingshan had once probed around with his soul sense and discovered a spiritual spring in the depths of Savage mountain, which was nothing strange at all. A special, blessed land of cultivation like this was obviously complete in terms of landscape, with both mountains and water. The springs where spiritual veins resided would definitely be spiritual springs.
“You’ll know once we get there.” Xiao An pulled him along and made her way down the steps, approaching the spiritual spring.
“Alright. Whatever you want.” Li Qingshan rubbed her head in a doting fashion, but suddenly recalled she wanted him to stop doing that, but this time, she did not object to it.
They made their way to the end of the steps and were met with another stone door. Light poured through the cracks of the door. Opening it up, hot air and pure spiritual qi filled their faces. There were the gurgling sounds of water here as well.
Li Qingshan was surprised. As it turned out, the spiritual spring was a hot spring. He did not notice such a detail when he scanned it with his soul sense.
There were many volcanoes in the Mist province, particularly in the south, which even had large volcanic clusters like the Fire Melt mountains. Savage mountain was not a volcano, but the magma was extremely close to the surface, which heated up the spiritual spring.
Spiritual stone was used in the surroundings to tile a simple pool. The steam rose up to the ceiling before condensing into water droplets. Some dripped back into the pool, while others landed on the rocks, turning into steam very soon again.
It seemed like it was constantly drizzling and shrouded in thick mist. The pool water shimmered in the darkness. Even the mist glowed, which was a wonderful sight.
In the very beginning, the cave masters of Savage mountain were still able to come down and collect the water for refining medicines and forging artifacts. However, demonic cultivators were all selfish people that refused to lose out, so they always collected as much water as possible. Even if they had no use for it, they would never let it go to anyone else. The uneven allocation led to many disagreements very soon. If it were not for the Blood Oath Scroll, a battle basically would have erupted.
In order to pacify the disputes and to prevent the spiritual spring from running out, they downright sealed up the place with the Eight Point formation so that no one could access it. If they wanted some of the water, then they were forced to use a side spring with thinner spiritual qi, which offered much less value. It basically settled the disputes.
After Li Qingshan became the King of Savages, even fewer people were bold enough to ask him to access the spring. Over hundreds of years, the density of the spiritual qi there had reached an alarming level, far denser than in the hall. It could not sustain his regular cultivation, but it was fantastic for recuperation.
Xiao An said, “You can rest here.”
“This sure is a good place. It has been hiding right under my nose, and I’ve missed it the entire time. Aren’t you meticulous?”
Li Qingshan praised and parted the mist, leaping into the pool with a plop. The heat and spiritual qi wormed into his body through every single pore, and he immediately let out a great sigh of comfort, leaning against the side and spreading his arms and legs.
Suddenly, he heard clothes being taken off, and he remembered something. Looking back, he saw Xiao An emerging from the mist. She had already taken off her greyish-blue robes, only wearing white underclothes now. It was moistened by the mist very soon, becoming almost transparent. Her dark hair draped down like a waterfall, parting near her fair shoulders, which barely managed to cover up a few details. However, as she moved, her beautiful body was made partly visible, enough to drive any man crazy.
Li Qingshan could not help but sigh inside as well, She’s no longer a child. If she weren’t Xiao An…
He stopped himself from thinking any further. Xiao An had already arrived by the pool, touching the water with her slender feet and toes before sliding in like a fish. When the shallow ripples she produced reached him, he felt like his heart had just skipped a beat.
A warm, gentle body drew closer. Xiao An raised her head and looked at him. Her large eyes were no longer devoid of any feelings. They were clearly filled with deep emotions that paled to none. Even her cheeks were blushed. She was like a legendary maiden from heaven, as splendid and charming as possible.
“Qingshan, am I beautiful?” Xiao An asked. Her seaweed-like hair drifted in the water. Her voice seemed to ripple as well.
“You’re as beautiful as you can be,” Li Qingshan said seriously. She was basically so beautiful that she could not be defiled, and he was even more reluctant to defile their relationship that exceeded the regular feelings between a man and a woman.
“Really?” Xiao An’s eyes rippled with her inner joy. Even though she knew the “great beauty” was merely an appearance, an illusion, she still craved his praise.
“Really.” Li Qingshan nodded with a smile.
“Then can you give me a kiss?” Xiao An asked in an almost-innocent manner.
“No!”
Li Qingshan declined without the slightest hesitance, only to see her face immediately give way. He could not help but laugh aloud. His laughter echoed through the cavern, making the mist churn.
Hearing his laughter, Xiao An instead became rather embarrassed. It was not because of how sincere and serious she had been, but because she had done something pointless and made him laugh at her, all for nothing.
Li Qingshan lowered his head and pecked her cherry lips gently. “Are you happy now?”
Xiao An touched her lips and finally let out a satisfied smile, throwing herself into his arms.
Li Qingshan shook his head gently. Whether it was white bone or great beauty, she would always be the person he cherished the most. Then he pursed his lips. This little girl sure was getting more and more out of hand though.
