“Master… Qingshan…”
Chu Danqing stood up, at a loss as to what to do. Both of them had become so foreign. They were clearly inches away, yet also beyond arm’s reach.
Sharp claws grew from the fingers on Li Qingshan’s right hand as teeth protruded from his smile. The bronze cup passed through the cool air, slowly extending towards the Dragon King of Ink Sea.
Chu Danqing seemed to hear the hollow echoing of shattering air. With every inch that the cup covered, it grew larger. It was no cup, but clearly a mountain forged from bronze, whistling down from above. The cloud patterns engraved on there seemed to become a blanketing cloud layer, almost suffocating him.
Thunk!
The Dragon King of Ink Sea raised his cup, and the two cups collided.
Chu Danqing seemed to hear a clap of thunder, making him blank out. What bronze mountain and heavy clouds? The cup was still a cup, held in Li Qingshan’s hand.
The alcohol in the cup rippled. A sliver of surprise flashed through the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s eyes.
Thrum! A ring of invisible power emanated outwards, sweeping aside all of the snow. The female servants and white cranes all dispersed. The wind settled too. The world fell silent.
Li Qingshan drank all the alcohol in the cup before casually casting it beside him. It turned to powder mid-air.
“Satisfying!”
Meanwhile, the Dragon King of Ink Sea covered his face with his sleeve and drank slowly. He placed the cup down gently in the end. The moment it left his hand, there was a crack, and a fracture ran through the cup.
“You’ve grown stronger.”
“I have.”
“But you shouldn’t have returned to the Green province.”
“Really?”
“I originally had no interest in killing you a second time, but perhaps this is the will of the heavens.”
“You’re wrong!”
“Wrong?”
“Completely wrong. Absolutely wrong! First of all, you never killed me. Whether you admit it or not, I’ve fooled you. Second of all, it’s no sh*tty will of the heavens, but my decision! I want to resolve matters once and for all with you!”
The Dragon King of Ink Sea said in thought, “That’s reasonable, which is why I have to kill you again, to settle this once and for all!”
“Then come!”
Li Qingshan widened his scarlet eyes, just like a vicious tiger. There was a blood-red flash from his hand that swung towards the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s neck.
“Don’t…”
Chu Danqing wanted to stop them, but with a jolt of the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s sleeve, he flew out of the pavilion. In the process, the Dragon King of Ink Sea took his umbrella back from him, drawing out a sword that blocked Tiger’s Fang’s bite. His movements had been as fluid as water, elegant with vulgarity.
Chu Danqing was launched mid-air. He did not hear the clash between a sword and blade, but a tiger’s roar and a dragon’s cry. They constantly surged and rose up until they reached the sky. He gazed at the pavilion with widened eyes, but he could not see the two of them. All he saw was a coiled dragon and a crouching tiger!”
“Not bad!” The Dragon King of Ink Sea stared at Li Qingshan with his dragon eyes as if he was also surprised that he had grown to such a level in such a short amount of time.
“How about this?” Li Qingshan asked. He gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands and swung it as hard as he could.
The sword suddenly bent, caving in under this tremendous strength. Blood-red light reflected in the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s eyes, and he leaned backwards. The blade swept past his face, but a strand of black hair drifted through the air.
Boom!
The blood-red light rushed out of the pavilion, destroying everything in its path. The frozen lake shattered, the mountains split apart, and it left behind a terrifying gash several thousand meters long in the ground.
Li Qingshan grabbed the strand of hair and sniffed it. He said from the bottom of his heart, “Now this is called revenge!”
Fury flashed through the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s eyes. The strand of hair suddenly twisted and turned into several dozen strands of pitch-black sword qi, shooting towards Li Qingshan’s face. Every single strand was like a full-powered attack from a great sword cultivator. With it suddenly erupting at such a close range, even Daemon Kings would suffer.
“Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell! Last Reflection of the Setting Sun!”
A hexagonal mirror surface appeared before Li Qingshan, reflecting the sword qi. They turned back into a strand of hair mid-air, merging with the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s hair again.
“Obliterate!”
Li Qingshan bellowed out and used the Tiger Demon’s Breath. Fierce winds surged and gathered. This move was violent and abrupt. He had once directly blasted the Nine-headed King’s head into pieces with it.
However, the Dragon King of Ink Sea suddenly vanished without any prior sign. Li Qingshan felt a hand press against his back. The Dragon King of Ink Sea’s voice rang out from behind, “It’s been settled!”
The hand immediately erupted with devastating power, but it also seemed fluid under the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s control, seeping in silently. It did not create any other disturbances, as natural as ink spreading through paper.
“That’s nowhere enough!” Li Qingshan stood firmly and suddenly looked back. His scarlet eyes burned like fire.
“Hmm?” The Dragon King of Ink Sea felt a membrane that actually blocked his power outside. Instead, the power of tremors emerged from Li Qingshan’s body, passing through his hand and travelling throughout his body.
Tremors of the Ox Demon!
Boom! The ground cracked. The cracks spread in all directions, and the pavilion was smashed to pieces.
The Dragon King of Ink Sea appeared in the air with a flash. He looked at his right hand, and a sliver of surprise appeared in his eyes. There was a tiny wound in the palm of his pale-white hand where black ink flowed out.
Not only had he failed to kill Li Qingshan with the palm strike, but he had even become injured instead. He had basically forgotten just how many years it had been since he experienced something like this. On top of that, the sense of power Li Qingshan gave off was already vastly different from when they first fought.
However, this was nothing to him. It could not even be regarded as a wound. With a wave of his hand, it turned back to how it was before. He gazed at Li Qingshan below. Just what were his origins?
Li Qingshan stood on the cracked ground. The skin on his back had darkened with a black handprint on there.
The Dragon King of Ink Sea had once hunted him down across thousands of kilometers, but their actual clash had only lasted a split second. He had basically been killed instantly, so he did not have an accurate understanding of the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s strength. Only now did he truly sense his strength. If it were not for the Ox Demon Forges its Hide, not only would his flesh be obliterated, but even his tiger bones would be damaged. Meanwhile, the Dragon King of Ink Sea had not even shown his true form.
Death cast a shadow on him, but his blood began to surge instead, becoming scorching and boiling. Compared to the likes of Si Qing, this was an opponent that he preferred!
Even if the enemy was powerful, even if he lost the upper hand, how could he know the outcome of a battle to the death without a battle?
“Demonification!”
Li Qingshan erupted with demon qi, which turned into a vicious-looking set of armour. He extended Tiger’s Fang towards the sky. “Come, Dragon King of Ink Sea. Let’s settle this once and for all today! Don’t even think about running. If you can’t kill me today, then you won’t get another chance in the future. Even if you run back to the Ink sea, I’ll definitely come and find you.”
“Running away?” The Dragon King of Ink Sea revealed an expression akin to a smile for the first time, putting his aloofness on full display.
!
Li Qingshan gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the sword. He suddenly unfurled his wings of wind, and the ground sank down drastically. A streak of scarlet light rushed into the air. He swung the blood-red sword aura and rose up into the sky!
The Dragon King of Ink Sea flicked his blade, which thrummed with a dragon’s cry. He did not even bother to dodge, pointing his sword straight at Li Qingshan as he fell straight down like a black meteor!
Chu Danqing opened his eyes as widely as possible. All he could see was the stirring of wind and clouds, a struggle between a tiger and a dragon!
