“Hehe, to think there would actually be someone bold enough to ask me for directions!”
An old man looked back. His face was a sunken green as he revealed a row of yellow teeth with his smile.
“Who’re you? If you don’t know, I can ask someone else.”
“Kid, you actually don’t know who I am? Get ready to go back and prepare for your funeral!” The old man swung his hand that resembled chicken claws.
“So you’re a madman! Damned heavens, you’re making trouble for me even when I’m asking for directions!”
Li Qingshan cursed. There was a street full of people, yet the one he stopped just happened to be crazy. His luck was horrible.
If he knew who the old man was, he would know his luck was not merely horrible. Instead, he was unlucky to the extreme.
The old man was the leader of the Five Poisons cult, a master of the demonic path of equal renown to the Demon Lord of Seven Slaughters and the Daemon Maiden of Illusionary Dance in the past. He roamed the martial arts community with his poison arts and was infamous for his diabolic nature.
Ever since the martial arts alliance destroyed the Five Poisons cult, he had gone into hiding. Now that the martial arts community was in chaos, he has returned to the jianghu. This time, he had infiltrated Xuanwu city to do something alarming and major. With the swing of his hand earlier, he had already poisoned Li Qingshan.
“You’re cursing at me? Originally, I thought I’d give you some time to prepare for your funeral, but you can just die right now!”
The leader of the Five Poisons cult’s face sank, and he unleashed his poison arts.
Li Qingshan felt his palm grow numb. His hand turned slightly green, and the colour rapidly spread. He knew he was poisoned, which infuriated him. He was only asking for some directions. He had not provoked anyone, yet this happened to him.
“If you listen to what I say, perhaps you can still preserve your life, or…”
Before the leader of the Five Poisons cult could finish what he was saying, he suddenly realised he was immobilised. He was hit in the face by a slap, causing him to spit out a mouthful of yellow teeth.
“Why don’t you keep poisoning me, huh?!”
Li Qingshan pushed over the cult leader and gave him a beating, sealing up all of his acupoints in the process before lifting him up from the ground. “Where’s the Myriad Flower parlour?”
The leader of the Five Poisons cult extended his trembling, rat-claw-like hands and pointed in one direction. He shot a glance at Li Qingshan that was filled with viciousness. He never imagined that after spending his entire life roaming the jianghu, where even the martial arts alliance was powerless against him, he would actually make a blunder here. Fortunately, Li Qingshan did not know who he was.
Once the poison kicks in, I’ll have you die a horrible death!
“Fucking hell, still glaring at me!” Li Qingshan raised his hand and gave him another slap. He hoisted up the leader of the Five Poisons cult and strode away. “If you’re lying to me, you better watch what I’ll do to you!”
……
“Greetings, great alliance leader!”
In the discussion hall of the martial arts alliance, Zhang Yuntian sat on the throne solemnly as everyone bowed towards him. He had become the second great alliance leader in history, but he felt anything but happy inside…
Once everyone finished bowing, he took out the letter from the pigeon and announced, “I’ve just received news that Li Qingshan has already ventured down south alone. He’s making his way straight for Xuanwu city- No, he might be here already.”
With that, there was a series of cries. Everyone’s faces changed.
The innate masters that had once seen Li Qingshan all looked towards the entrance at the same time. Only when they saw that Li Qingshan was nowhere to be seen did they relax slightly, but they had clearly become restless.
“What do we do?”
“How bold of that demon!”
“He probably fears nothing! After all, courage comes with great skill!”
“Let’s close the city gates quickly. We can’t let him sneak into the city!”
Zhang Yuntian shook his head. If they could stop Li Qingshan with some city walls, what would be so frightening about him? They had clearly lost their composure and become frantic. The people here bore no resemblance to the martial arts masters that dominated the world anymore. They were basically no different from a group of country bumpkins that paled at the mention of something fearful.
The leader of the Abstruse temple said, “With how composed the alliance leader is, don’t tell me you’ve already thought of a great plan against the demon?”
“In my knowledge, his target is not here, but the Myriad Flower parlour in the city.”
“The Myriad Flower parlour?”
“Yes, he hasn’t come for us, but for Hu Xian’er.”
“Amitābha, he truly is a lecherous folk!”
Everyone could not help but ease up with that.
“But who knows if he’ll come for us or not if he hears we’re holding a martial arts gathering.”
Zhang Yuntian changed the conversation topic, and the atmosphere became tense again.
“What should we do now? Alliance leader, please give us orders!”
“This matter affects the fate of everyone, so it’s not something I can decide alone. There are only two paths in front of us right now. Either we rush to the Myriad Flower parlour right now, take Li Qingshan on in a great battle, and leave our fates up to the heavens to decide, or we hold our ground, set up an ambush, and wait for him to walk into the trap himself,” Zhang Yuntian said indifferently.
The first path was throwing their lives at him, a so-called “head-to-head” clash. They would be gambling that Li Qingshan’s physical strength would run out first. However, even if they managed to win somehow, despite how severe the losses would be, many of the people present had seen how quickly Li Qingshan could move when he flew over the river. If he wanted to leave, who could stop him? Even if they died in the end, they probably would have died for nothing.
As for the second path, it was as clear as day to everyone that while it sounded fancy, like “setting up an ambush and waiting for him to walk into the trap himself”, it really was just crossing their fingers and hoping Li Qingshan would downright ignore them, praying that he would not come for them. Otherwise, it would be no different from the first path.
This was a last resort. Everyone present had a sense of pride and reputation about them. They could not scramble away when they had not even caught a glimpse of him. Otherwise, what would they look like in the eyes of the public?
The hall sank into an awkward silence. They looked at one another, all rather embarrassed.
……
Around dusk, rows and rows of large, red lanterns were hung high up around the entrance of the Myriad Flower parlour. A mixture of the smell of alcohol and food, coupled with perfume and cosmetics, filled his nose. Li Qingshan’s belly began to grumble again. He was still carrying the leader of the Five Poisons cult, which immediately raised a lot of attention, but they all became submerged in the fun in the blink of an eye.
“Y- you’re fine!?” the leader of the Five Poisons cult exclaimed in surprise. Li Qingshan should have died from poison a long time ago.
“Hmph, do you think that puny poison of yours can do anything to me?” Li Qingshan had used a bit of power of belief to nullify it. No matter how ingenious the schemes of the will of heavens were, the effects were still very limited. Then he said, “Your martial arts isn’t half bad, so you should have some reputation in the martial arts community! How’s this? Why don’t you join and follow me instead?”
“I- I- Who are you exactly?”
“Haha, you actually don’t know who I am.”
Li Qingshan stepped into the Myriad Flower parlour, only to see that the entire place was filled. The only open space was a high platform in the centre.
A waitress came up to him and said, “Sir, we’re full today, so please come back another day!”
“Where’s Hu Xian’er? Get her to come out. Her fortunes are here!” Li Qingshan scanned around, only to see a familiar person upstairs. He could not help but smile. “Go fetch some meat and alcohol first. Someone has saved a good seat for me.”
“Who do you think you are? How dare you call lady Xian’er by her full name!” The people in the parlour were immediately infuriated.
“All of you, shut up!”
A furious roar deafened everyone; the true qi it contained left them startled. However, that did not come from Li Qingshan.
Under everyone’s gazes, an old man made his way downstairs slowly. His face was so sunken that it seemed like he was grieving for his father’s death. He directly arrived before Li Qingshan and bowed deeply. “This subordinate greets the king!”
He was the old man who had been sent to the Snow Mountain sect as a persuasive speaker.
