Li Qingshan tore through the Demon Suppression Tower with a slash of the blade in his right hand and spread the fingers of his left, reaching towards Zhu Fuzi—Gravity of the Earth!
At the same time, his scarlet eyes were like a tiger’s, reeking with malice—Nightmare Tiger’s Demonic Eye!
“Be careful, fellow!” Only now did the grandmaster realise that something was off and raise their voices.
When they forced the Unraging monk to let out Li Qingshan, the fact that he was suppressed under the tower also brought them relief. They never expected him to be able to pull people towards him with the Demon Suppression Tower between them, so none of them could react in time.
In hindsight, this was the exact move that Li Qingshan had used to save Hua Chengzan from the palace master’s blade. It was not because they had atrocious memories, but because even Qi Practitioners were capable of drawing objects to themselves from afar. They never expected it to be an innate ability.
“Wretched daemon!”
Zhu Fuzi only saw Li Qingshan rush over with a hideous grin. All of his hairs stood on end. In particular, when he met the scarlet eyes, he shivered inside. He remembered the Light Queen’s miserable fate and desperately tried to break free and escape, but the invisible force was so great that he stood no chance.
That was something that even the Myriad Poison Ancestor had failed to achieve in the past, so it was even less likely for him to achieve such a thing. Who knew how many times stronger Li Qingshan was right now compared to then.
Oh no. If I let this wretched daemon stun and frighten me, I’ll probably die for good!
“Heart of the Heavens, Heart of Mine, One with the Heavens!” Zhu Fuzi called out and went up to receive him, fully unleashing the special method of the school of Confucianism, the Three Policies of Heaven and Man. His confucian robes began to swell, radiating with righteousness and incorruptibility. He broke free from the Nightmare Tiger’s Demonic Eye, and there was no more fear on his face. He stood in the world like a gentleman from ancient times.
“The Sword is a Weapon of the Gentleman!” Zhu Fuzi raised his arm and swung down with his sword.
The slash was right and proper, gentle and glorious. There was not the sharpness of the Heaven Leaning sword or the sincerity of the Bodhidharma sword, only a sense of emotional magnanimity, wanting to give the world emotion, to give his life to the people, to continue the teachings of past sages, to bring prosperity to a myriad ages!
TL: The last four phrases, basically “to give the world emotion, to give his life to the people, to continue the teachings of past sages, to bring prosperity to a myriad ages”, are basically part of the Four Sayings of Hengqu. It’s basically four goals for confucian scholars to achieve, written by Zhang Zai, which you can read more about here.
The slashes stacked together like the continuous walls of a city, crushing down on Li Qingshan. It was both defensive and offensive, possessing no openings at all.
Zhu Fuzi stood high on the city walls, looking down at Li Qingshan from above like a general refined in scholarly pursuits. He seemed like one who could bring peace upon the world through writing, yet also quell turmoil with military might, about to lead three armies into suppressing the bandits.
TL: Ancient Chinese officials are normally divided into two categories, scholar officials and military officials. Scholar officials basically manage affairs outside of war, while military officials manage the affairs of war. Basically, the ideal official is versed in both normal administration, as well as warfare, which is why Zhu Fuzi should exhibit characteristics of both.
Everyone eased up inside and thought, Zhu Fuzi really is a grandmaster of the school of Confucianism after all. He’s already mastered the Gentleman’s Sword Style. Powered by the special method of the school of Confucianism, the Three Policies of Heaven and Man, its power has only multiplied. The ancient Evil Warding sword in his hand is no weaker than the Ten Renowned Swords of the Sword Collection palace either. He only needs to hold on for a moment, and we’ll be able to assist him in putting this wretched daemon to death.
TL: The Evil Warding sword in pinyin is the Biexie sword. If you’re familiar with Louis Cha’s wuxia novels, there’s something called the Biexie Swordplay, which is related to the Sunflower Manual used by Dongfang Bubai in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. I don’t think there’s too big of a connection here, but it’s just something worth noting.
Li Qingshan continued to unleash the Gravity of the Earth with his left hand as he wielded the blade in his right. He pulled him over casually, without any vicious movements. It even came off as slightly disrespectful.
With a flash of the blade, the Gentleman’s Sword Style crumbled, and the Evil Warding sword broke!
“Get over here!” Li Qingshan grabbed Zhu Fuzi’s head. You can make your city as impregnable as you want. I’ll ride in alone, kill my way up the city walls, and capture the commander alive!
Only now did everyone return to their senses. They immediately became afraid to use their arcane treasures and techniques, all dumbfounded now. How was this possible!? When the Light Queen had been killed with a punch, they could still say she had been caught off-guard and had fallen to the wretched daemon’s sneak attack. However, Zhu Fuzi had just used his full strength, yet he had still been captured by the daemon so easily.
Only Yue Wuyang vaguely guessed this end result. He had personally experienced the power of the Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower. The Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End was even sharper than the Ten Renowned Blades, and who knew how many times more ingenious the bladesmanship of the Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower was compared to Zhu Fuzi’s swordsmanship?
The Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower was confined by its insufficient power, so it could not completely unleash the entire blade style, yet that was still enough to almost force a Great General King like him into dire straits. After fusing with Li Qingshan, this was no longer bladesmanship that the nine provinces should have possessed. It was bladesmanship from the Asura realm, so how could Zhu Fuzi stand a chance?
“How dare you, wretched daemon!” Zhu Fuzi was absolutely shocked inside. A strange power of tremors flowed through his entire body, shattering his bones and immobilising him. He could not maintain his bearing as a gentleman anymore.
“Is bald ass something the likes of you can call him?” Li Qingshan bellowed and slashed down with his blade.
Blood-red light poured out, and Zhu Fuzi suddenly felt like his vision had been split in half. He saw the other half of his body, as well as the shocked faces of the grandmasters in the surroundings.
Everything had happened in a single instant. With a pull, a grasp, a bellow, and a slash, Li Qingshan had cut down Zhu Fuzi before everyone’s eyes!
All of them recalled what Li Qingshan had said, “If you end up dying to my blade, don’t even think about grumbling in the afterlife!”
No, I definitely won’t die here!
A white soul nascence flew out, fleeing into the distance frantically, but a huge hand tailed after it closely like a net. “You think you can leave?”
“Freeze!” the grandmaster from the school of Names called out and unleashed the Freezing curse.
Li Qingshan halted.
“Don’t get cocky, wretched daemon!” Go, fellow Zhu!”
The grandmasters took action together, unleashing the special techniques of their various schools.
Li Qingshan shuddered, but as soon as he broke free from the Freezing curse, a boundless expanse of fields unfurled around him. He discovered that he was standing in a golden sea of wheat that reached up to his waist. A few white wisps of clouds drifted through the blue sky as the warm wind kicked up waves in the wheat. A scorching yet refreshing smell filled the air, bringing him peace, yet also making him drowsy.
“This is my Secret Realm of Fields and Gardens. Your murderousness is too heavy, fellow, so you’re welcome to catch a break here and admire the scenery of the fields and gardens!” An old voice rang out from the sky.
“You’re the great cultivator of the school of Agriculture?” Li Qingshan asked.
“I’m just an old man who tends to the fields. Rainfall of Heaven, Nature’s Bloom!”
The grandmaster of the school of Agriculture ordered, and the scenery in the Secret Realm of Fields and Gardens suddenly changed. Countless vicious plants sprouted from the ground, shooting towards Li Qingshan.
“Is this your so-called scenery of the fields and gardens?” Li Qingshan sneered.
“You’ve caused your own demise, so don’t blame others. Fellows, please strike immediately and purge the daemon!”
Before he had finished talking, the strings of an instrument thrummed. Immediately, murderousness filled the air like an army of thousands was charging over.
It was the grandmaster of the school of Music’s pipa. It was not as grand and vast as the buddhist hymns and chanting, but it was sharp like blades, reaping through the fluctuating wheat and slicing towards Li Qingshan.
The blue sky dimmed. Wind surged and dark clouds gathered, followed by the sudden rumbling of thunder.
A daoist priest with a prominent head ornament dressed in a feathered cloak stood in the air, wielding a peachwood sword. Lightning coiled around his sword. He swung the sword in an arc, pointing it at Li Qingshan. “Lend me your assistance, Lord of Thunder! Heavenly Lightning Slays the Daemon!”
A colossal figure wrapped in lightning faded into existence. It had a pair of wings on its back, a sharp mouth, and a thin face. It wielded a wedge in one hand and a chisel in the other, slamming them together violently.
The world lit up, and a bolt of lightning sliced down over Li Qingshan.
This was the most powerful lightning technique of the school of Daoism. The past leader of the school of Daoism from the Academy of the Hundred Schools had practised this cultivation method, but compared to the grandmaster of the school of Daoism, it had been like child’s play.
It was as if the Lord of Thunder had actually descended, enforcing the laws on behalf of the heavens and slaying the wicked daemon!
“I want to kill him. Who can stop me?”
Li Qingshan slashed down!
A New Starting Point!
It’s already past twelve, but my month of May still isn’t over. I’m still around ten thousand characters away from a hundred and twenty thousand. We agreed on this at the start of the month.
Please give me a little more time. Since it’s a promise, I have to uphold it!
Of course, I don’t need something as long as ten thousand years.
These two days, I need to adjust myself slightly. Earlier, even just typing up this felt extremely difficult. My head seems to be frozen.
The experience from these few days is difficult to describe. I went from writing chapter by chapter, to paragraph by paragraph, and then to sentence by sentence. Today, I’ve already reached character by character.
I’ve never been the fast type, and I’ll probably never experience the delight of pumping out several thousand characters in an hour, so all I can do is try my best. Not only can’t I do anything else, I can’t even think about it, just in case it messes with my mood.
Apart from the usual deeds I need to do each day, it’s just refining the plot and slaving away at the keyboard, day in and day out. I spend much more time on the former than the latter.
I don’t dare to touch alcohol, but I have been smoking very intensely. In the past, I rarely ever smoked. I was thinking about taking a photo of the used cigarettes in the ashtray and posting it on weibo, but I decided against it after some thought. It’s Children’s Day, so I can’t misguide the little ones.
Though, I actually feel very happy. Originally, I only wanted to uphold a promise, which makes perfect sense. That’s something I should do. However, with each bit of effort I put in, you all pay me back ten fold, a hundred fold, so it really is very nice. It feels a hundred times better than missing releases.
This is Li Qingshan’s new starting point, as well as Legend of the Great Sage’s new starting point. I’ll continue asking for monthly votes, subscriptions, and recommendations. I’ll ask for them all!
Let’s go, all the way to beyond the Nine Heavens!
And finally, stable releases really are more important than mass releases!
