“You can eat it all,” Li Qingshan said casually.
Even until now, he did not sense the aura of anything alive. No matter who it was that had been sealed under the Ice Sword cliff, they seemed to have frozen to death already.
“Eat!?” Xuanyue widened her eyes in displeasure before gazing at the figure that gradually cleared up in the cocoon, considering the suggestion seriously.
The red flames were like burning blood, melting away a majority of the cocoon. A woman with white hair curled up in there, dressed in a white, graceful dress with edges adorned with furry, white feathers. Her facial features were delicate and cold, like a spirit of ice.
“If she’s alive, I could give her a taste!” Li Qingshan grinned.
“You like to eat it raw?” Xuanyue said in surprise.
Li Qingshan sniggered and gave no further explanation. “So this isn’t the Ice Sword cliff, but the Ice Axe cliff!”
The woman held an ice axe embedded with patterns of snow within its crystalline structure. However, its overall appearance was colossal and vicious-looking, a combination of the beauty of art and the violence of a weapon. It radiated with a deep, bone-chilling coldness.
Li Qingshan could tell with a single glance that the ice axe was not some regular arcane treasure. It was probably on par with the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End, and it might even have a weapon spirit.
“Meowhehe, we found an axe. Big Blacko, give it to me quick!” Xuanyue smiled.
“That’s not something you can wield.” Li Qingshan extended his hand and grabbed the hilt of the blade, coming into contact with the white-haired woman’s skin, but he discovered it was not as stiff as he imagined it to be; instead, it was extremely soft and delicate. At the same time, it was extremely cold, and it seemed to contain pure and powerful spiritual qi, which made him murmur to himself, “I might actually be able to eat her.”
“Alright, then you can keep her to eat. I want the axe!” Xuanyue cheered and leapt around.
Li Qingshan could not be bothered with responding to her. He wanted to pull the ice axe from the woman’s arms, but the axe seemed to be frozen to her body. If he pulled it away forcefully, even her body might shatter with it, which he felt somewhat reluctant to see happen. As a result, he powered the phoenix flames again in an attempt to melt away the rigid ice.
The flames burned and flowed. The woman with white hair was unscathed, but it did add some warmth to her icy-cold body. The ice axe in her arms radiated with cold light.
Suddenly, her snow-white, crystalline eyelashes trembled, and she opened her eyes. A pair of white, hazy eyes stared at him coldly as a growl rang out from the depths of her throat. “Fire! I hate fire!” She leapt out of the cocoon and swung the ice axe right down at Li Qingshan’s head.
Immediately, the fierce winds bellowed, the ice and snow roared, and the surroundings paled.
“She’s alive again!” Xuanyue was alarmed, hiding behind Li Qingshan with a flash.
“I better just let her die!”
Even Li Qingshan could not help but shiver. He extended his hands through the ice and snow, grabbing the axe with his left hand and tugging it gently while gripping the woman’s throat with his right. The power behind the swing was impressive, but compared to the huge palm strike from the great buddha and the falling seal from the Fierce King of Chu, it was nothing.
The woman with white hair put up a fierce struggle, and the ice axe trembled away too. In the blink of an eye, Li Qingshan was covered in a layer of frost, but ever since he experienced the coldness and loneliness of the water from Ruin’s End, this kind of coldness was nothing to him.
“The Spirit Turtle Suppresses the Seas!”
Li Qingshan shuddered gently, and all of the frost on him shattered. He emitted a wave of faint blue light that enveloped the ice axe and the woman. Both of them settled down.
“Kill her!” Xuanyue called out.
“I think I’ve killed a lot of people over the past two days.” Li Qingshan shook his head and was just about to do it when a pair of irises appeared in the woman’s hazy eyes. They were white as well, but they bore a crystalline pattern, shaped like snowflakes. She was slightly confused as she made out Li Qingshan’s figure, saying with an extremely feeble voice, “You’re… the one who saved me?”
Her voice was completely different from before. She gave off faint daemon qi, also very feeble, but it was extremely pure. She was clearly a Daemon King, and an extremely powerful one at that.
“Which one are you?” Li Qingshan was taken aback. He had some guesses.
“Bai Xiao’e.” The woman furrowed her brows as if it took her quite the effort to remember the name. Then she said, “Or… the Frost-feathered Moth King!” Her confusion gradually faded away, recovering her coldness and pride.
“One of the Seventy-two Daemon Kings! Ah, I’ve heard much about you, I’ve heard much about you.” Li Qingshan sighed in amazement. So an old daemon like her was actually sealed beneath the Ice Sword cliff. All of the Seventy-two Daemon Kings he had seen so far were male—apart from the Clam King of Mirage Sea that was neither man nor woman— so this was the first time he had met a female one.
“Could you let me down first?” Bai Xiao’e tried to turn her neck, but the force behind the hand was startling. She was in a feeble state, so she actually struggled to break free. She sighed to herself inside, I’ve been sealed in ice for so many years that the Daemon race has produced another member this powerful?
“You just tried to kill your saviour earlier.” Li Qingshan had no intentions of letting go.
“That wasn’t me!” Bai Xiao’e glanced at the ice axe.
“Ah, I see!” Li Qingshan let go.
Bai Xiao’e rubbed her neck. Her expression suddenly changed, lifting the ice axe high into the air again. She let out a deep growl. “Kill!”
“Tsktsk, you actually let a weapon spirit control you!” Li Qingshan stood with his arms crossed and shook his head, completely ignoring the incoming axe. Both the daemon and the axe were in a state of great feebleness. She could not pose any threat to him at all.
“Be fucking quiet!” Bai Xiao’e’s face changed, and the ice axe circled around, slamming into the ground heavily. With a great rumble, a huge crevasse appeared in the ice.
Li Qingshan stood on the edge of the cliff, glancing into the crevasse. Even the brilliant moonlight could not reach the bottom. A new problem had appeared on his path from the Green province to the Dragon province. He thought to himself, Sure enough, the strong are still strong even when weakened. None of the old daemons are weak.
Bai Xiao’e gripped the axe firmly with both hands and flew into the air. She absorbed the spiritual qi of the world and unfurled her long, pure-white wings. The moonlight twisted as a result, gathering on her body, leaving her cold and pure in appearance.
“How do we split it now?” Xuanyue peeped over Li Qingshan’s shoulder, and he shrugged. He called out at the sky, “Hey, can I discuss something with you?”
With a flash, Bai Xiao’e arrived before Li Qingshan again, pointing the axe at his nose. “Take back what you just said!”
“Is this how you treat your saviour?” Li Qingshan said.
“First of all, I haven’t been controlled by the weapon spirit, and how would a mere junior like you understand the power of a weapon spirit?” When Bai Xiao’e reached the very end, she was basically grinding her teeth. In order to subdue the Divine Axe of Profound Ice, she had paid a heavy price, so she would not let anyone judge her so easily.
“A weapon spirit? I have one too!” Li Qingshan drew the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End and gently moved the Divine Axe of Profound Ice out of his way.
The Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower roared, “How dare that bitch point a weapon at you! Why aren’t you fighting back? Are you even a man or not? And that sh*tty axe too, I’ll cut that in half too!”
The Axe Spirit of Profound Ice said, “Just by you? Asuras have all suffered defeat at my hands!”
