Gong Yuan shuddered and opened her eyes. Her sea-blue eyes were filled with utter surprise, but after catching a glance of Li Qingshan, she immediately became both embarrassed and furious. As it turned out, even the demon heart in Li Qingshan’s body had been frozen over, so he obviously could not maintain his demonic armour, exposing his sturdy, naked body.
She was not an innocent girl, unable to stand the sight of naked men, but the issue was a naked man was standing right in front of her, less than a foot away. He even had a hand on her shoulder.
The corner of Li Qingshan’s lips twitched with difficulty. Who knew whether it was out of apology or complacency.
Ji Changfeng widened his eyes on the side. Never had he seen such a strange sight in his life. A naked man was standing right in front of the cold, noble Merfolk Queen, and he even had a hand on her shoulder with a strange smile on his face.
“Remove your filthy hand!” The coldness that Gong Yuan gave off grew heavier. Her voice was as cold as ice too.
Not only did Li Qingshan ignore her, but he even raised his other hand and placed it on her other shoulder.
By now, he no longer had much killing intent left. Instead, he paid more attention to the secret on her. As for Gong Yuan, she seemed furious on the surface, but he could clearly sense that her hostility had been pacified too. Moreover, he was confident that she also could sense the change in him. This was an extremely wondrous feeling.
However, if this continued, he would probably be frozen to death. He had never been the kind of person to place all of his hopes on his opponent. He had already pressed so close. All he had to do was bring his hands around her neck and release the power of tremors, and he would be able to turn the tables immediately. Gong Yuan’s body might be tough, but she could not be compared to the Corpse King from the past.
Gong Yuan frowned slightly. Her expression changed, and her chest heaved, taking in a deep breath. She suddenly took a step back and withdrew the coldness. “I’ll just spare your life today!”
Afterwards, she went off in a huff. When she walked by Li Qingshan, she even glanced at him. There was no longer any hostility left in her eyes. Instead, it was more like she was looking at some kind of rare, precious item, and this item just happened to have an element that invoked disgust in her, leaving her at a momentary loss as for what to do.
Arriving at the entrance of the hall, Xiao An moved aside without saying anything at all. Gong Yuan shot a vicious glance at her.
Elder Blue was very puzzled. His thoughts were not exactly meticulous, but he had still watched Gong Yuan grow up after all. He could clearly feel that Gong Yuan’s bearing had changed slightly, losing a hint of sunkenness and brutality. He glanced at Li Qingshan in surprise and wondered just what had happened earlier.
Only Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan were most familiar with the changes in their aura. The others struggled a little to tell what had happened.
The flames of the phoenix warmed his entire body, and the necrosis on Li Qingshan’s body healed rapidly. In the blink of an eye, his skin returned to a normal colour. He looked at his hand and smiled. He never expected an accidental discovery from trying to fight this time!
However, while he called it an accident, it was not actually one. Just like how the Fire Devouring Folk had the divine wutong tree, it made perfect sense for the water-elemented Merfolk to possess something that could assist the spirit turtle’s cultivation. After all, they had all descended from divine kingdoms. Even when they had declined now, their heritage was still unrivalled.
In the blink of an eye, the spacious Feilian hall emptied out, only leaving Li Qingshan, Xiao An, and the dumbfounded Ji Changfeng.
“That… fellow, what on earth did you do?” Ji Changfeng hesitated for a very long while, but he still could not help but ask that question.
“I used my charms, obviously!” Li Qingshan smiled.
“Erm, really?” Ji Changfeng let out a dry laugh. Li Qingshan did not possess any alarming charms to him.
“Be convinced. My charms are useless against men, but against women, they’re…”
“You better put on your clothes first!” Ji Changfeng was unable to put up with him any longer.
Li Qingshan found a set of clothes in his sumeru ring and put them on. Xiao An made her way over to help neaten his clothes.
Seeing this, Ji Changfeng immediately confirmed their relationship was not one that outsiders could pry apart! With her alluring beauty, talent, and cultivation, there was no reason for her to do something like that for a man. There was a moment when he almost believed in Li Qingshan’s so-called charms, but he immediately discarded this absurd thought.
“They’re all gone anyway. Perfect! I was just worried about not having enough to eat!”
Li Qingshan scanned around and nodded, quite satisfied. Everyone who found him disagreeable to the eye was gone, so he could do as he pleased now.
The corner of Ji Changfeng’s eye twitched. To think he was still in the mood to eat. However, after a moment of hesitation, he still ended up passing orders to restart the banquet. He had originally tried to just brush Li Qingshan aside under the mentality of not offending anyone without good reason, but now, he truly viewed Li Qingshan as an equal. He even found Li Qingshan to be slightly unfathomable.
“You’ve truly been awe-inspiring today, fellow. You’ve broadened my horizons. You’re already so impressive with just a cultivation at the second heavenly tribulation. If you undergo the third heavenly tribulation one day, wouldn’t you be invincible in the world?”
“Of course not! I’m still nowhere close! Becoming invincible is nowhere near as easy as becoming the greatest in the world. That’s being able to defeat everyone from the second in the world to the hundredth in the world all at the same time. But thank you for your auspicious blessing. I will be invincible sooner or later, haha!”
When Ji Changfeng heard what he first said, he even thought, At least this kid knows how to be modest! However, after hearing what he continued with, he was immediately left at a loss as for how to follow him up.
Just how vast was the world? If you include all the powerful cultivators from the various races across the nine provinces and four seas, I probably can’t even make it into the top one hundred. As for reaching the so-called realm of being “invincible in the world”, there has not been a single person that has achieved it throughout history.
If Li Qingshan had said this to him two hours earlier, he definitely would have mocked him a little, but now that he was faced with Li Qingshan’s approving expression of “you have pretty sharp eyes,” all he could do was lift his cup and give a toast.
“That’s truly some lofty aspirations. How admirable! Let’s drink!” Before long, Ji Changfeng could not stay put for much longer either. “I’ve drunk quite a lot today. My liquor capacity is also rather weak…”
“That’s fine. You can go and rest, fellow. There’s no need to be so polite!” Li Qingshan rested his head against his hand and held a cup of alcohol in his hand, sitting back in the main seat and leisurely enjoying the song and dance below.
As a result, only Li Qingshan and Xiao An remained in the spacious hall before long, so he simply waved his hand and dismissed the performing women as well.
“How clean! They’re all gone now!” Li Qingshan communicated with his soul sense, lifting up his cup and clinking it gently against Xiao An’s as she sat in his lap, drinking it all in one gulp.
“Why?” Xiao An took his cup from him with one hand and replaced it with her own cup.
Li Qingshan polished it off in another gulp. “The aura that Gong Yuan gives off is extremely special. It seems to be very beneficial to the spirit turtle, and the aura of the spirit turtle seems to be beneficial to her too.”
“You want to dual cultivate with her?”
“Of course! She’s a queen after all!” Li Qingshan pinched Xiao An’s cheeks. “Hehe, I’m just joking. She’s definitely a real piece of work. If it weren’t for the fact that she doesn’t have the confidence to capture me, she definitely would have taken action and interrogated me about my secrets. Not to mention that a queen of Merfolk would never dual cultivate with a human. Even if she’s willing, I won’t agree to it.”
He was lustful, but he did not go as far as being blinded by lust and thinking with his crotch. Gong Yuan and Lolth were different. Not only was she extremely powerful, but the organisation behind her was extremely large too. If he slept with Lolth, then he slept with Lolth, but becoming overly involved with Gong Yuan definitely brought no benefits.
“You’re completely overestimating yourself.” Xiao An turned her head away from him in disagreement.
Li Qingshan rolled his eyes in response. Then, he answered furiously, “Damned girl, you even stood in front of me naked, and didn’t I still hold on?”
“That’s because you’re a coward!” Xiao An pouted.
“You dare to say I’m a coward?” Li Qingshan shot a glance at her.
“I’ve already said it.” Xiao An shot a glance back at him.
“Whatever. You win, alright?” Li Qingshan pulled her into his arms helplessly and said in thought, “I didn’t really have an idea what I’d want from the merpeople, but at least I have an objective now. I need to find a way to contact Ru Xin.”
At this moment, the banquets for regular cultivators and merpeople on Fore-mast mountain and Mizzen-mast island approached an end. The goods that the merpeople had brought ashore had been properly handled and sorted too.
The feasts ended, and the sea fair formally began.
“C’mon, let’s go out for a stroll too!” Li Qingshan stood up and said to Xiao An.
……
Walking among the antique buildings and pavilions, everything beside him was a dazzling array of goods, but none of them were particularly expensive. It was just a warm up. The auction in three days’ time was the main event of this sea fair.
Because low level cultivators formed the majority, it was still extremely busy, but wherever Li Qingshan and Xiao An went, it would fall silent.
Cultivators avoided them from afar. If they could not avoid them, then they lowered their heads, maintaining a respectful attitude towards them. Only when they had walked far away would they begin a quiet discussion. Everything that had happened in the Feilian hall had already spread from mouth to mouth. The South sea cultivation community had basically accepted the King of Savages’ might. However, Xiao An was still the one who drew the most attention. The sight of her descending from the sky had already become an unforgettable memory to many people.
Li Qingshan and Xiao An strolled around, and sure enough, there was not anything worth noting. They arrived on the balcony outside the buildings and stood near the railing, gazing into the distance.
The rain continued to pour down, landing on the South sea like a carpet. The waves constantly surged towards the shore, smashing apart and splashing against the rock and reef.
“Swashing waves beat on the shore, rolling up a thousand heaps of snow. To match the hills and the river so fair, how many heroes brave of yore made a great show!” Li Qingshan recited slowly.
“Little Li the second, we can still be friends if you never recite another poem in your life!”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out in his head. On the balcony one floor below, Ru Xin also stood by the railing, gazing at the night rain.
“What’s your relationship with Gong Yuan?” Li Qingshan originally had a head full of questions, but the first one to reach his mouth was gossip.
Ru Xin fell silent for a moment. “Next question!”
“What cultivation method does she practise?” Li Qingshan could tell she was not in a good mood, so he cut right to the chase.
“All Waters to Ruin’s End. It’s a cultivation method passed down from the divine kingdom. The legends say that Ruin’s End is the place where all waters gather. It’s a mysterious world…” Ru Xin introduced the cultivation method to him.
When Li Qingshan heard “Ruin’s End”, he felt an extremely close connection, so he followed up and asked, “Do you know this cultivation method?”
Ru Xin fell silent for another moment before spitting out two words, “I do!”
ps: 大家太棒了，瞬间就26名了，昨天稍微休息了一下，今天继续努力，晚上还有一更!
