They would only get an answer to everything once Hua Chengzan awakened!
“What are you doing now?” Gu Yanying asked.
“I’ll assist the Golden Cicada Spirit King in ascending, and I might as well kill the Soaring Locust King in the process. Then I’ll pay a visit to the Ink sea. Oh right, I might need to pay a visit to the Sword Collection palace and weed them out. After that, I’ll have to find a way to ascend.”
Li Qingshan stroked his chin and considered the path ahead of him.
“Must you go to the Ink sea?” Gu Yanying asked.
“Why are you asking that?” Li Qingshan replied.
“Just like what you said on Great Buddha mountain, uncle isn’t a bad person either.”
Gu Yanying sighed. During the years she had spent in the Green province, the Dragon King of Ink Sea was aloof, but he had always treated her quite well. If Li Qingshan went to the Ink sea, only one of them would emerge alive. She did not want to see either of the results.
“I know! But I’ve never spared someone because of that.”
Li Qingshan shook his head with a smile. He did not have a lot of ill will towards the Dragon King of Ink Sea, but ever since he killed Mo Yu and then was killed by the Dragon King of Ink Sea, there was no more room for negotiation left. He had to face him in battle.
“Perhaps you can change the way you go about it? As long as you don’t enter the Ink sea, uncle won’t be able to do anything to you anyway.” Gu Yanying gazed at the bobbing sea of flowers.
“Haha, if the dragon king heard you say that, he wouldn’t be happy.” Li Qingshan began to laugh.
“What if I use the favour you owe me?” Gu Yanying turned around and faced him, saying seriously.
“Forget about it! You’re not that kind of person.”
“Yeah, I’ve always been a selfish and self-centred person, so I’m really not capable of something like that. Just forget about what I said earlier completely. Don’t forget, you still owe me a favour. Get ready to go through fire and water!”
Gu Yanying looked away. How stubborn!
“No problem!” Li Qingshan smiled.
Before long, Qian Rongzhi arrived at the Waterside Pavilion of Listening Wind and bowed politely towards Gu Yanying. “Master.”
Gu Yanying gave her a series of instructions and asked, “Can you do it?”
Qian Rongzhi said, “I can try, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
Li Qingshan could vaguely sense that she seemed to have changed slightly, but he was unable to describe exactly where, so he simply forgot about it. “If you can succeed, I will pay you back.”
The three of them arrived in the pavilion. Qian Rongzhi placed her right hand over Hua Chengzan’s dantian, and a gorgeous, tiny snake slithered out from her sleeve, hissing and flickering its tongue. It dove head-first into Hua Chengzan’s body.
Hua Chengzan furrowed his brows firmly as pain flooded his face, except the pain from the venomous snake was clearly much more bearable compared to the hot wind.
Li Qingshan flicked the hilt of his sword gently and waited on the side. With nothing better to do, he sent his soul sense into the sword again. The Soul Cycling sword also had a legacy of sword intent left behind by past swordmasters. The swordsmanship inside also originated from the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth, but it was nowhere near as complete as he had deduced it to be. Instead, it was subtle in its own way, compatible with the Soul Cycling sword intent.
The Ten Renowned Swords of the Sword Collection palace all had their special abilities. The Soul Cycling sword was no exception either. Just by directing the sword at the enemy, it could twist and cycle their souls, with the effect varying with the distance and the strength of the enemy. However, even a slight pause in battle could determine life or death, so it truly was a deadly weapon!
I wonder what that demonic seed looks like.
Li Qingshan used the spirit turtle to deduce. His soul sense dove inside as he tried to find the demonic seed hidden within the sword.
As time slipped by, he gradually understood the Soul Cycling sword’s structure, analysing and separating the glyphs carved within. He was not an artifact smith, but he still learned how it worked in general.
At the same time, Qian Rongzhi’s venomous snake had dove deep into Hua Chengzan’s sword embryo. She said suddenly, “I’ve found it!”
In the very depths of the sword embryo was a demonic seed, having sprouted and taken root already. The demonic nature it constantly gave off influenced Hua Chengzan’s mind, and it constantly spread and grew larger as it fed off his demonic thoughts.
Gu Yanying said, “Can you weed it out?”
“I’ll try my best.” Qian Rongzhi made the venomous snake swallow the demonic seed in a single bite.
At this moment, Li Qingshan had parted the mysteries before him and discovered the demonic seed within the Soul Cycling sword as well. He thought, Sure enough! No wonder!
Sure enough, Gu Yanying was right. It was no wonder that he had not discovered the demonic seed in the Soaring Dragon sword back then.
It was just like how nobody would be bored enough to dismantle an electrical appliance and study every single component. They only needed to read the manual, and they would know how to use it. The structure of an arcane treasure was much more complicated than an electrical application. Just learning how to use it was extremely difficult. Without the powerful deductive powers of the spirit turtle, he probably would have struggled to notice the existence of the demonic seed even if he was skilled at artifact forging.
He frowned slightly. The demonic seed was not exactly powerful, but the demonic nature it contained was extremely pure. It was impossible for the demonic seeds condensed within demonfolk of the Demon domain to reach such a level when they were first born. Even the hearts of Demon Kings paled in comparison. Just who exactly had set up this scheme?
At this moment, the demonic seed trembled and suddenly erupted. Twisted, warped demonic thoughts surged violently, filling Li Qingshan’s mind immediately. A strange, malicious laughter appeared with it.
“Who are you?” Li Qingshan shivered inside. Clearly, the Soul Cycling sword did not have a sword spirit.
“I am your master.” The voice announced, continuing to laugh away.
“Bullsh*t!” Li Qingshan cursed.
“How dare you destroy your master’s plan. Do you know what price you’ll have to pay?”
“So it’s all because of you! You better wish I don’t come across you!”
“You don’t believe me? I’ll prove it to you.”
Before it had even finished what it was saying, the Soul Cycling sword thrummed, and the moon on the hilt began to spin, emanating with clear light.
Li Qingshan suddenly receded backwards, drifting into the air. Looking down, he saw another “himself” currently drawing the Soul Cycling sword and swinging it towards Hua Chengzan on the bed.
“Qingshan!?” Gu Yanying cried out. Everything had happened far too suddenly, and Li Qingshan had struck extremely swiftly too. She could not intercept it in time.
“The Spirit Turtle Suppresses the Seas,” Li Qingshan called out and suppressed the clear light from the Soul Cycling sword, immediately regaining control over his body. The sword stopped right above Hua Chengzan’s head, continuing to thrum away. He said to Gu Yanying, “Looks like the swords from the Sword Collection palace don’t just have an issue of demonic seeds!”
The unconscious Hua Chengzan suddenly sat up. A strange, twisted smile stretched over his face as he threw himself at the sword.
Li Qingshan casually sheathed the sword and pressed down on Hua Chengzan’s head. “Suppress!”
“You… will regret this…” Hua Chengzan said that before falling back down. His face darkened slightly, enveloped in a layer of faint demon qi.
Qian Rongzhi took a step back and said with her head lowered, “The demonic seed in his sword embryo erupted. It’s already contaminated his soul. There’s nothing I can do anymore.”
“What was that just then?” Gu Yanying asked.
“I don’t know. It’s a pity that my Demon Suppression Statuary has become the Battle Demon Statuary.” Li Qingshan frowned. The Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression could suppress demonic natures, but that was internally. It suppressed everything externally. Even if he could wake up Hua Chengzan, his personality would change drastically.
“Looks like we’ll have to return to the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga and find my master for help.”
