Below the towering building, inside the gloomy secret room.
Li Qingshan sat with his legs crossed. He placed the smallest daemon core into his mouth and swallowed it.
Something like that did not melt away like regular pills. It took tremendous effort to refine, which was why he had delayed it until now.
Now, the Divine Talisman of Great Creation had finally changed the situation, and he did not have to worry about exhausting his power of belief anymore. As such, he made an attempt.
He silently powered the Divine Talisman of Great Creation, converting all of his power of belief into spiritual qi and enveloping the core. It formed a hazy ball of light that shook in his belly.
He was unable to look inside his body, but Li Qingshan had become extremely familiar with the refinement process a long time ago, so he gathered his focus and ensured his control was as precise as possible, drawing out the energy sliver by sliver. If this scene was magnified a hundred times, it would be possible to see thousands of silver threads rising up from the daemon core. Every single thread was even thinner than a strand of hair.
It should have been very easy to digest and absorb, but this world refused to let that happen. As soon as the threads of energy left the daemon core, it immediately dissipated, merging with the spiritual qi of the world and forming an extremely sturdy shackle.
It seemed to be telling him that all of his attempts at recovering his powers were futile.
Li Qingshan had been anticipating this, so he was not surprised at all. He continued to draw out the power within the daemon core. His target was not to recover his strength through these daemons cores, but to unlock a brand-new power that truly belonged to him, a power that he would struggle to cultivate in the nine provinces, an opportunity that he had almost forgotten about.
Gu Yanying climbed up to the terrace at the very top of the building. The mountain winds were chilling, sweeping past her ears sharply. Originally, this was her favourite sound, but now, she was forced to wrap herself firmly in a cloak. She gripped the kunpeng’s feather in her hand. Her cheeks that had turned red from the cold formed another smile as she imagined the day she would turn into a kunpeng and reach the other side of these stars.
This was her cultivation. Taking Li Qingshan’s suggestion into account, she tried to get the kunpeng’s feather to recognise her will. In the very end, she would conform with it and obtain the legacy, turning into a peng and soaring off to the heavens!
Perhaps one day, I’ll be able to fly even higher than the guy in the cellar!
After who knew how long, Li Qingshan finally refined the first daemon core, but not only had he obtained no energy at all, it had instead exhausted a tremendous amount of power of belief.
He did not give up. He took out the second daemon core and swallowed it.
Time trickled by. Eventually, only a single daemon core remained in Li Qingshan’s possession, which also happened to be the White Ape King’s. If he still did not succeed, then all of his efforts would go to waste. He was slightly stern as well, but he was filled with anticipation. He could sense he was only inches away from reaching his goal.
……
The courtyard flickered with swords cries. A group of beautiful women in magnificent clothes wielded swords, all under the lead of the woman in red that Li Qingshan had bestowed the Fierce Fire sword to. She was dressed in a set of fiery-red clothes as she stood with her sword in hand, serving as the instructor.
Originally, she was called Yuan Feihong, but she removed the “Yuan” part without any hesitation after the White Ape King’s death. As such, only “Feihong” remained.
Originally, she might have changed her name to Li Feihong or Gu Feihong. Although the two manor lords had shown her kindness, she was quite reluctant. Instead, she had heard how that old demon woman insisted on changing her surname to theirs shamelessly, only to be rebuked by the manor lords. Just imagining her expression back then was hilarious.
“Sis Feihong, is this move right?”
“You idiot, you’ve already copied out that book so many times, so how do you still not understand such a simple move?”
“Just copying out the book makes me dizzy and nauseous. Why would I still care about what is written inside?”
“Alright, I’ll demonstrate it again for you. Watch closely.”
Feihong could not help but recall how the manor lord had suddenly summoned everyone a few days ago. At first, they thought they were going to be eating, talking, and having some fun, but the end result was they made them copy out the book. Because of how she owed them, she paid great attention to copying out the book—apart from the parts regarding the White Ape King’s glorious achievements—and the end result was her mastering the thirty pages of the sword manual. None of the others had the same patience, unfortunately.
“Sigh, I’d rather serve the manor lord than copy out the book again. Even now, my hand still hurts a little!”
“Hehe, you little whore. I think you’re eager for that to happen!”
“I am eager. The manor lord is so powerful and so kind. He’s way better than that furry old monkey.”
“The manor lord has the vice manor lord. He’ll never come to us!”
“Yeah, I can’t even imagine someone as beautiful as her. I can’t even get envious.”
“But I heard that the manor lord and the vice manor lord sleep in separate beds. What do you think their relationship is exactly?”
“I think…”
“Be quiet!” Feihong roared out, raising the Fierce Fire sword and cutting through a boulder in the courtyard. “You bunch of foolish women, do you still remember what Hou Hongtao said? No one treats you like people, and you don’t even treat yourselves as people. All of you, focus on practising the sword! I’ll kick whoever that doesn’t practise off the mountain!”
“Yuan Feihong, do you really think you’re that great? You’re not the caretaker, so what gives you the right to order us around? Do you think you can swagger around now just because the manor lord bestowed a sword to you?”
“Yeah, with our appearances, we can get by comfortably no matter where we are. Do we really have to spend all day fighting and killing like a group of stinky men? The White Ape King and Hou Hongtao were so impressive, yet weren’t they still killed? Yeah, the sun and the wind is far too harsh on our skin. This is our blessing, unlike certain people who don’t know how to be grateful for this.”
“C’mon, we’re not practising anymore!”
They threw their swords on the ground, producing a series of clanks.
“You… fools!” Feihong gritted her teeth.
“Hmph, practising the sword so arduously, only to be killed? Who’s supposed to be the fool?”
“You’re going as well!?”
“Sis Feihong, don’t force us. We’re really not made for this. May you become a supreme master soon!”
In the blink of an eye, only she remained standing in the courtyard. She trembled in anger, but when she looked at the tall building again, she gradually calmed down. She wondered how the two manor lords were doing.
She could never forget that furious roar. If she’s not a person, what are you supposed to be? She always longed for that natural graceful figure that stood in the world alone too.
However, when she thought about what those foolish women had said, it was not without reason either. No one liked to kill or be killed. She was no different. Touching her face, her skin seemed to have become slightly coarser compared to before. Was she really the fool?
……
A great sigh rang out in the gloomy secret room. Li Qingshan stood up slowly with a rather heavy heart. The final daemon core had been exhausted, and it had still ended in failure. He had exhausted tremendous amounts of power of belief for nothing.
His goal that originally felt only inches away suddenly felt well beyond his reach, worlds away from him.
It was not that he could not accept this failure, but he could not help but feel a little gloomy. He emerged from the building alone.
The brilliant moon hung in the sky. All of its incompleteness had already vanished, turning into a full moon.
Gu Yanying stood on the top of the building and faltered. Right now, what he needed was not consolation.
He had put in all of his effort, yet he obtained nothing. This feeling was truly difficult to bear, but it was even more important that he bore it himself, as this was the exact path he was taking. It was not completely impossible for him to realise that all his efforts and sacrifices right from the beginning had been for nothing. By then, even a man of mediocrity could claim his life of mediocrity was better, and what was he supposed to do?
