Boom!
A crack-ridden hand pressed against the ground, kicking up fine particles of dust. It seemed to be even tougher than the flowing soil.
Despite wounds so severe that he was immobilised, Li Qingshan actually sat up. His body was still covered in injuries, but rainbow light flowed around him.
Gu Yanying was slightly surprised. All she felt was her waist tighten.
In the moment before the rockslide was about to swallow them, a whirlwind appeared and swept them into the night sky.
Li Qingshan stood at the top of the whirlwind, his hair fluttering around like ink. He gazed into the distance, taking in the entire landscape. The valley below had already been filled in by the rocks, almost becoming their grave. However, the vastness of the sky full of stars was no less than the glory of the nine provinces.
“This time, is our enemy the heavens?”
The pain of separation turned into fighting spirit and enthusiasm again. He was not someone who groaned and sighed.
Gu Yanying looked up at him, and her heart trembled slightly. Sure enough, he was still him!
The dust dispersed, and Li Qingshan landed slowly. His feet gave way as he collapsed on one knee. He was nowhere close to making a complete recovery from his injuries.
Gu Yanying helped him up in a hurry and remarked, “What power is it that’s beyond the laws of the world?”
“The Divine Talisman of Great Creation.”
Li Qingshan opened his hand. A multicoloured, shining talisman hovered in there. It was the central power of the school of Novels, the Divine Talisman of Great Creation.
While in the crater, he had tried all of his powers one by one. Only towards the very end did he discover the Divine Talisman of Great Creation that he had almost forgotten about. It continued to flow with light.
It was under the restraints of the laws of the world, such that it was limited to the capabilities of Qi Practitioners. It was unable to break the invisible limit of this world, but that was enough.
“I almost forgot you’re from the school of Novels. I understand now. So it’s the power of belief.”
Gu Yanying understood what was going on a little. The power of belief had always been an extremely special power. It appeared most frequently with buddhist disciples. Regardless of the world, as long as they could pray from the bottom of their heart, they could connect with gods and buddhas.
However, as a cultivation method, gathering the power of belief was far too troublesome, and it was not exactly useful in battle either. It was a consumable on top of that, so rarely did anyone take this path. At most, they would treat it as a supplementary power and forge an arcane treasure or two, such as the golden seals in the possession of the various provincial governors. If something like that ended up in a smaller world like this, they definitely could not be wielded.
From this perspective, the school of Novels truly had freaks.
“You’re lucky that you encountered me!”
From the devastating sight earlier, they could tell that they definitely would not just be facing misfortune as enemies of the world. Danger would occur wherever it might occur. If they encountered a mountain, it would crumble. If they encountered a river, it would overflow. If they ventured out on a stormy day, they would definitely be struck by lightning. If they did not possess a sufficiently powerful force, they would not even be able to survive a day.
If Gu Yanying were alone, she probably would have died there already.
“It’s called as long as you keep the ‘mountains green’, you’re not going to run out of firewood!” Gu Yanying patted Li Qingshan’s shoulder seriously.
Note: This is a horrible pun made by Gu Yanying. If you remember the origins of Li Qingshan’s name, the “Qingshan” part means green mountains. There is another saying in Chinese which is as long as you keep the mountains green, you’ll never run out of firewood. This basically means if you can get out alive, there’ll always be more opportunities in the future.
“That’s far too dry. I have no interest in dying on the same day as a humorless woman like you.”
“It would obviously be best if we don’t die. How are your wounds?” Gu Yanying smiled complacently.
“Not enough to kill me.” Li Qingshan moved his limbs around. He powered the Divine Talisman of Great Creation and continued to heal himself. He extended his hand and touched Gu Yanying’s head. Light poured out between his fingers.
“What a useful ability, but you better conserve it a little. We’re probably going to be trapped here for a very long time.”
Gu Yanying removed the bandage. Her wound had already recovered, and her head had become much clearer too. It was not a particularly severe wound, but she had absolutely no doubts that if she did not treat it in a timely fashion, it would be enough to claim her life.
“You weren’t wrong. I still have attachments, and it is not just Xiao An. I still have many debts and grievances I’ve yet to settle. I need to return to the nine provinces. How long will it take before you completely refine the kunpeng’s feather, accept the legacy in there, and take us back to the nine provinces?’
“That’s very difficult to say. This world is far too small, so it restricts all of my powers. I was probably born stronger than right now. Even if you give me an arcane artifact right now, I’ll struggle to refine it, let alone this kunpeng’s feather.”
Gu Yanying furrowed her brows. Her current state really was no better than a mortal’s. At the end of the day, it was impossible for an individual to contend against a world, even if it was a small world.
“You really are a jinx from hell. You just never have it easy.”
“I disagree. I feel like this is the luckiest place we can be. Think about it. If we were in a slightly larger world, what would happen? If we were in a world even larger than the nine provinces, what would happen then?”
“Fair enough!”
If the world was slightly larger, then it would not be as simple as a restraining force. Instead, lightning and fire would directly come for them.
If it was a world on the same level or even larger than the nine provinces, then who knew how many powerful cultivators they would draw over by descending from above in such a glorious manner. Not only would they lose the kunpeng’s feather, but their lives might have even been in danger.
It was exactly because this world was weak enough that no one had actually responded and rushed over here despite so much time having passed.
“It’s just far too weak. Don’t tell me they’re rushing over on horseback?”
Li Qingshan never imagined he would actually guess correctly. A large group of men were rushing over here at this exact moment on horseback.
“Actually, I have a feeling that it’s exactly because I considered these things when I was traversing through outer space that it brought us to this small world. I told you, it likes me. As long as I can get out of here, I can definitely refine it.”
“Without the kunpeng’s feather, how are we supposed to get out of here? If your thoughts really can control it, why didn’t you think of returning to the nine provinces?” Li Qingshan questioned.
“Err, of course, this is all my speculation. It’s not exactly accurate,” Gu Yanying said seriously.
Actually, if she wanted to keep the kunpeng’s feather, she was probably better off staying here than returning to the nine provinces. However, the fall of an asteroid had still been far too conspicuous.
“I believe you. Hand it over!” Li Qingshan reached for the kunpeng’s feather.
“Hey, what are you doing? This is my…” Gu Yanying put up a fierce struggle, but how could she stand a chance against Li Qingshan’s brute force? He forcefully pried open her hands and took away the kunpeng’s feather, which earned him a glare. “Li Qingshan!”
“How’s that?” Li Qingshan fiddled around with the kunpeng’s feather and tried to analyse it with the Divine Talisman of Great Creation. Sure enough, apart from resonating with the phoenix slightly, it faced the violent rejection of the spirit turtle, ox demon, and tiger demon.
That was expected. It had always been difficult to merge together the most powerful of bloodlines. The figures of the four remaining transformations of the demonic and divine did not include the existence of a kunpeng either.
“If you’ve seen enough, then give it back!” Gu Yanying huddled up close to him in a rather nervous manner.
Li Qingshan grinned inside. No matter how graceful and composed she seemed, it was just because she had yet to encounter something dear to her.
He bellowed out as a result, “You short-sighted woman! The kunpeng’s feather is so extraordinary, yet you actually treat it like a regular arcane artifact or treasure. If it possessed intelligence, it definitely would have flown into a rage already. Your powers might be restrained, and you might feel absolutely feeble, but in the eyes of the owner of this feather, does your strength really make such a great difference?”
Gu Yanying shuddered and suddenly lost all of her strength, making her feel feeble as never before. With what Li Qingshan said, she suddenly felt like she saw a glimmer.
“Originally, you were a frog in a well. Now, you’ve just become a bug in a well, but when a hawk soars through the sky, it probably won’t even notice you, whether you’re a frog or a bug.” Li Qingshan held the kunpeng’s feather between his fingers confidently. “If there really is a legacy inside, then the standard it uses to measure its successor definitely isn’t strength, but something else!”
He was talking from his experiences. A black ox had once accompanied a kid from the mountains for his entire childhood, and it was not because of how powerful he was.
“That’s… reasonable!”
Gu Yanying’s eyes lit up, filled with undisguised admiration. Even when he saved her life earlier, she had not been so excited. She clasped her hands. “Thank you. My sights are still too narrow after all. I’ve made such a great deal out of my own strength for nothing.”
“Deal with it quickly then!”
“Definitely!” Gu Yanying took the feather back from Li Qingshan eagerly.
“We’re back to the original problem. I hope I can return to the nine provinces as soon as possible,” said Li Qingshan.
“I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news right now. Which one do you want to hear first? I better just tell you the bad news first! When it traversed through space with us, it used up all of the powers it originally possessed. Although it’s currently recovering slowly through a method that I don’t understand, it’s really, really slow. It’ll probably take a century!”
“A century!” Li Qingshan frowned hard.
“Or two centuries. We need to gather enough power for our next journey through outer space.”
“Then what about the good news? Hold on, I know what it is!”
The good news abruptly came to Li Qingshan. The flow of time in large worlds and small worlds was different, and they might differ drastically. Even something like a day in heaven being a year in the mortal realm was common.
According to the clues that brother ox had left behind, the temporal ratio between beyond the Nine Heavens and the nine provinces was very likely to be a day to a decade. The disparity between this small world and the nine provinces probably was not that great, but it definitely was not small either.
As a result, a century would not be too long. It might even just be equivalent to a single period of secluded cultivation in the nine provinces.
“This world is restraining us and trying to destroy us, but it’s given us what we need the most, time! I need time to obtain the kunpeng’s legacy, while you need time to train and toughen up mentally. After all, you’ve cultivated far too quickly. The so-called feats that would even take geniuses a millennia has only taken you a tenth of the time, but some things can’t be made up for through talent.”
“That is indeed good news!”
Li Qingshan nodded. Gu Yanying was extremely right about that. Many of the times, advantages existed alongside disadvantages.
Concepts like disposition, comprehension, and toughening up sounded abstract, but they had an extremely great influence on a cultivator. So-called bottlenecks basically all arose from these concepts.
In the past, the great dream he had faced with the Clam King of Mirage Sea had benefited him greatly. Now that he mentioned it, it was slightly similar to his current predicament. He had also lost all of his powers and had to face pain and various setbacks, but that had still been a dream after all. Right now, he would have to face an actual world. What he would get out of it would definitely be much deeper.
To the mediocre, staying here was a waste of time, as they would not be able to cultivate at all. But to them, this was the perfect place of training.
