“Is it that Soaring Locust King at work?”
If it were a regular locust plague, then even at its height, it would only span a single prefecture. It would affect mortals at most, so why would the Fierce King of Chu of the Green province stop the war for this? Even a regular Daemon King could not achieve that.
“It is. He somehow managed to escape from the Demon Suppression hall. It had something to do with that senior brother One Lamp who entered the eighth floor of the Demon Suppression hall with you. We never considered it back then, but given the Soaring Locust King’s hatred for the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, why would he let him go so easily?”
“I see, but no matter how strong he is, he’s still alone. Does the Green province really have no one that can deal with him?”
“You might not know, but his innate ability can produce countless clones, impossible to tell between the real and the fake. The various forces of the Green province have worked together to hunt him down numerous times, but it all ended in failure. At most, they’ll just destroy a swarm of locusts, but they can’t find where his true body is. After all, he suffered a heavy defeat before, even locked up in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga for all those years, so he’s extremely prudent.”
“Sure enough, none of the Seventy-two Daemon Kings of the past are weak. Even after being imprisoned for several thousand years, they’re well beyond what any regular Daemon King can rival. In the past, the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga only managed to imprison him. As it seems, it wasn’t out of kindness, but because they had no other choice!”
“I also only found out recently that despite the existence of so many Daemon Kings in the world, the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga only imprisons him. With millions of insects under his lead, the land becomes barren wherever he goes. All life, humans, animals, vegetation, are eaten clean. It’s said that over a hundred cities and countless villages, over ten million people in total, have already died to the mouths of the insects.”
“He’s that vicious!” Li Qingshan frowned deeply. Once a great Daemon King like that became determined to carry out a slaughter, it would not just be a matter of eating people anymore. It would be a matter of massacring cities and extinguishing entire kingdoms. It was even more terrifying than natural disasters. If they did not contain the situation as soon as possible, who knew how many more people would die in the Green province.
From Xiao An’s description, these locusts clearly were not any normal insects. If this continued, it would not be limited to mortals. Even some weaker Qi Practitioners would struggle to escape the fate of being eaten. Once that happened, the foundation of the Green province’s cultivation community would be destroyed.
“The Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga probably wants to call us back. They might have sent a message already, but the King of Yue probably intercepted it.” Xiao An’s eyes were serene.
“Seems so. Aren’t you going to ask me if I want to return?” Li Qingshan asked. At the very least, they were still disciples of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga in-name. There was over fifty thousand kilometers and countless mountains and valleys between Fire Melt mountain and the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. This was a relatively great distance even to cultivators, and they were located behind the enemy too, so the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga could not order him around.
“You’ll be returning whether you want to or not!” Xiao An smiled.
“Xiao An be the one who knows me!” Li Qingshan laughed aloud and pecked her face.
The current Green province was like a great whirlpool. Once he set foot in there, he would immediately be entangled in numerous matters.
Here, the Great Banyan Tree King was his friend, and the divine wutong tree could offer him protection, but in the Green province, the Dragon King of Ink Sea was a mortal enemy, and there was now the Soaring Locust King too.
Here, he could stand aloof from the battle through his complicated identity. The King of Southern Yue would not demand anything from him. However, once he returned to the Green province, neither his or Xiao An’s identity permitted them to remain uninvolved.
However, he had to return to the Green province, as there were still promises he had not upheld yet, kindness he had not paid back yet, and a lover he had not spent any time together with yet.
He pursued power, but it was not for the sake of evading all of this. If he remained in a vacuum, away from all people and all matters, it was pointless no matter how powerful he was!
As a result, he wanted to return. The current him was no longer the same as the person that had first come to the Mist province. He was confident he could put up a fight no matter what difficulties or enemies he faced.
“After holing up for so long, it’s time to go for a walk. Just cultivating away blindly can easily lead to bottlenecks. Oh right, how’s your cultivation going?”
“I’ve already completed the comprehension for the third layer of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty. I just lack many resources.”
“Girl, you must have a plan in your mind already. Let’s hear it.” Li Qingshan urged her.
“Do you remember the demon plague I just mentioned?” Xiao An smiled.
“Oh, I haven’t even gotten round to that. What happened exactly?”
“The source of the demon plague lies in Bone Eating city…”
Xiao An explained the full story regarding the demon plague. As it turned out, the Demon domain had opened passageways into the World of the Nine Provinces numerous times in the past to invade it. Although these passageways had all been sealed after the battle, and the world itself could regenerate, some of the larger passageways were difficult to repair. They could only be sealed up and suppressed, known as places of demon suppression.
“Bone Eating city is a place of demon suppression like that?” Li Qingshan had learnt about Bone Eating city through the Myriad Poison Ancestor a long time ago. That was basically a living city of demonfolk. There was basically nothing strange at all if the Bone Eating Shaman King did something like that.
“No, or the King of Yue’s estate wouldn’t be so powerless. The Demon Suppression hall where we once visited is a true place of demon suppression. It’s watched by your master, the Unraging monk, all year round, which instead makes it very safe. However, not all places of demon suppression are watched by large sects like the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.”
“Even if there are, the demonic sects of the Mist province are probably extremely willing to work with the demonfolk to obtain even greater power.” Li Qingshan understood that as long as there were benefits, these demonic cultivators could do anything imaginable.
“Yeah. The Mist province in particular has a large number of places of demon suppression. It’s reeking with demon qi now. The demonfolk have come again.”
“To think that a mere Bone Eating Shaman King can achieve something like this!” Li Qingshan had some doubts. Through the battle of Fire Melt mountain, he understood that even great cultivators were not invincible. It was not like the King of Southern Yue’s estate was an imbecile. Were they truly unable to handle a single Bone Eating Shaman King?
“The King of Southern Yue already flattened Bone Eating city a year ago. The Bone Eating Shaman King fled into the Demon domain with heavy injuries, but in my opinion, he only plays the role of a guide, allowing the Demon domain to direct their attention here again and launch another invasion when the opportunity arises. Actually, as long as the demonfolk are determined enough, they can still carve out a passageway into this world even without these places of demon suppression.”
“So he’s a traitorous guide!” Li Qingshan could not help but recall the history in his past life. Foreign invasions were often closely-tied to internal strife. The Great Xia empire had established the nine provinces and forcefully united the humans and daemons, so it was pointless for the demonfolk to invade.
Now that the world was in chaos, humans, otherfolk, and daemons were all in conflict with one another. It was completely impossible for them to unite together.
If it were the Green province, then it might have been fine. Righteous sects like the Sword Collection palace and the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga still possessed the spirit of sacrifice, to purge demons for the righteous path. However, in a land of wilderness like the Mist province where demonic cultivators ran amuck, who would be willing to risk their lives to hold off the demonfolk? The traitorous guides would probably appear wave after wave.
“Looks like the king’s estates of both provinces aren’t the only ones waiting for an opportunity to strike. Treating the nine provinces as a chessboard is just a lie. No one can anticipate the variations on this chessboard. I understand what you’re saying. Since no one’s willing to play the hero, let’s do it!”
Li Qingshan gazed at the sky. The Path of White Bone and Great Beauty was destined to have a foundation built from large-scale massacre. However, let alone the fact that he disliked slaughtering innocent people, even if he was completely unconcerned by it, indiscriminate slaughter from a logical perspective would definitely turn the entire world against him, such that he would be besieged from all sides. These invading demonfolk were the best choice as enemies.
With a clang, he drew Tiger’s Fang and pointed it at the sky.
“My great blade is already out of patience and is thirsty for blood!”
……
Several days later, a hundred kilometers north of Fire Melt mountain.
Among the endless volcanoes, an outcrop existed in the centre of a flowing river of lava. A tiny flower bloomed from the fiery-red rock. At first glance, it seemed like a dandelion, but it was clearly red like fire.
Two shamans wielded weapons on both sides of the river, confronting one another. One of them was a huge man with a head full of fiery-red hair, while the other was a skinny man with skin dark like coal, covered in fiery tattoos. They greedily stared at the red flower on the outcrop.
“Black-ass, this is the King of Savages’ territory. Do you really want to oppose me?” The burly man stifled his voice as if he would disturb something terrifying if he raised his voice slightly.
“Mongrel, half of the blood that flows in you is Fire Devouring Folk. Don’t you know that the King of Savages hates fire devourers the most? If you disturb him, he’ll crush you to paste with a single punch. You can forget about fighting over the Fire Velvet flower with me!”
The four hundred kilometers of Fire Melt mountain was a special, blessed land, which nurtured many strange and exotic treasures that did not exist elsewhere. The Fire Velvet flower was one of them. Back when the fire devourers were in prominence, no one could approach this place. Only after the fire devourers had been rendered extinct and the King of Savages had occupied the main peak for secluded cultivation did some bolder shamans and cultivators approach this place to dig up and collect items like fire spiritual stones.
Let alone the fact that Li Qingshan was completely unaware of this in the phoenix’s nest, but even if he knew, he would not care. These “strange and exotic treasures” were worthless in his eyes.
As time went on, more and more bold people appeared, constantly attempting to venture deeper into the mountains. After all, the good items increased the closer they were to the main peak. With risk came reward. Neither shamans nor demonic cultivators lacked courage in this department. On top of that, conflict existed wherever benefits existed. Who knew how many times an incident like today had occurred among the four hundred kilometers of Fire Melt mountain already.
The two of them both had their fears, but neither of them were willing to give up on this. Right as a great battle was about to erupt, a tender, clear voice suddenly rang out from behind, “You bastards, what are you doing in my home!?”
A little child dressed in colourful plumage, so perfect in appearance that he seemed like he had been carved from jade, leapt out of the lava. He swept around with his intelligent eyes, and that was enough for him to understand exactly what was going on. He said furiously, “How dare you pick my flower! I’ll kill you with a gob of my spit!”
Both the burly man and dark-skinned man were taken aback. Their faces sank. They both possessed cultivations at the first heavenly tribulation—otherwise, they would have never dared to venture deeply into the mountains. They were both regarded as very powerful in their respective tribe and sect, revered by all. Now that they had suddenly been cursed right to the face, how they felt inside went without saying.
“Where’d this little bastard come from? Are you tired of living, acting all presumptuous before me, the Fierce Fire Venerable?” the burly man bellowed. His muscles rippled, but thoughts flickered through his head rapidly, This is clearly the King of Savages’ territory. I’ve never heard about a kid like him, and he speaks so boldly given his measly age, even saying this is his home. Don’t tell me he’s the flower spirit of this Fire Velvet flower?
That would make sense. So he was merely putting on a front!
The cultivation community did not place much emphasis on physical appearance and age, but how powerful could a two or three-year-old child like him be? He had probably just been born. Most importantly, due to a certain wutong tree’s guidance, the child did not radiate with any powerful auras. His vulgar language also cancelled out the noble, divine aura he was born with.
The child did not waste any more words on them. He planted his hands on his hips, raised his chest and tilted his head backwards slightly. He let out a “harggh” in his throat, followed by a “ptui”!
