When Li Qingshan was just starting off, he had once witnessed a Peachwood Prayer Sword from the Dragon’s Gate sect. It had only been worshipped by the disciples of the sect daily, yet it possessed extremely startling power, well beyond what any martial arts practitioner was capable of. Afterwards, he also saw the great buddha that had run amok in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. If it were not for Xiao An’s Buddha Slaying sword, it was essentially invincible.
If he had suffered from this twice and still did not know to be cautious, then so much for the ape demon’s cleverness.
However, when he came to the grand hall, he was also making a gamble. He was gambling that the people of this world were unable to convert the power of belief into a killing strike. At most, they could activate it and were incapable of controlling it. This was not a power that a Qi Practitioner could control.
He had won his gamble—Since it’s masterless, let me borrow it!
Li Qingshan produced the Divine Talisman of Great Creation, which shot into the sea of gold with a streak of rainbow light, immediately becoming dyed with all sorts of colours. He called out sternly, “Create!”
The tremendous amount of power of belief surged towards him as spiritual qi. It was so dense that it was visible, gushing out of the grand hall and contending against the sun’s luminance.
The surging spiritual qi did not come from the power of belief within the Divine Talisman of Great Creation, so it was not Li Qingshan’s. However, it was not affected by the restraints of the world either.
Li Qingshan opened his mouth and took in a deep gulp, absorbing the surging spiritual qi. He powered the Ape Demon Transformation as hard as he could, converting the spiritual qi into cultivation.
The Ape Demon Transformation was quite a good fit for his disposition. He had basically finished comprehending the first layer, so the aspect he lacked right now was precisely spiritual qi and resources.
With the howl of an ape, the fur on Li Qingshan began to grow at a visible rate. His arms thickened and lengthened as his furry face and protruding jaw made him bear quite a resemblance to an ape. A tail even grew out from his bottom, such that he was closer to an ape demon than a human now.
The spiritual qi converted from a millennium of power of belief was so turbulent that Li Qingshan only absorbed a third of it forcefully before feeling absolutely full. He could not digest it in time. Even with the toughness of his body, he had already reached his limit. The surging spiritual qi began to disperse.
Li Qingshan said to the dumbfounded Hu Xian’er and the others, “Stop staring. This is a boon!”
Hu Xian’er immediately responded and began meditating. Yang Miaozhen used this opportunity to convert her Grand Profound true qi into Yi Wood true qi. Her sea of qi emptied out all of a sudden before immediately being filled with spiritual qi.
Zhang Xuanfeng no longer thought about fleeing either. She would be an idiot if she did not take advantage of this!
Tie Xiong was overjoyed. This was a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even the little daemon fox, Hu Ling’er, did not bother with maintaining her human appearance.
Seeing how even a trump card like this was powerless against Li Qingshan, the Suffering Subduing abbot collapsed on the ground. He was ashen as he called out sternly, “All monks, subjugate the demon!”
Over a dozen figures rushed in from outside, all of them innate masters. The glorious hall became filled with murderousness.
The one with the highest cultivation was a white-eyebrowed old man. He was already approaching the tenth layer of the innate realm. He lifted up a glistening buddhist staff and swung it down over Li Qingshan’s head fiercely.
“Purge the demon and protect the temple!”
All of the warrior monks surged into the hall. Their expressions were almost fanatic as they charged towards Li Qingshan without any regard.
Li Qingshan raised his head and met the great buddha’s eyes, letting out a grin. He converted the remaining power of belief into an invisible will, sweeping through the grand hall wave after wave until it spanned the entire Salvation temple.
All of the monks blanked out. In their eyes, Li Qingshan had suddenly begun to radiate with light, as dignified as a god or buddha in human form and so stern that they could not bring themselves to do anything against him. They could not help but stop.
The Suffering Subduing abbot’s face was filled with conflict, but under the constant erosion of the waves, his resistance rapidly collapsed.
The white-eyebrowed old monk’s gaze became confused. The golden staff stopped over Li Qingshan’s head, unable to progress any further.
Hu Xian’er and Yang Miaozhen both stared at Li Qingshan in infatuation, while a great sense of admiration overcame Tie Xiong.
Zhang Xuanfeng never liked Li Qingshan’s monkeyish appearance, let alone the fact that he had become even more monkey-like now. However, at this precise moment, she discovered that he was greater and more handsome than any man she had seen in her life. Sincere feelings that had never appeared before began to sprout in her heart before rapidly growing and strengthening.
Everything happened in an instant, but it silenced the entire Salvation temple. Even the cicada cries had fallen silent before anyone had noticed. Only Rāhu Xiaoming remained unfazed. He looked at everything going on in the surroundings with interest. He was basically changing their beliefs by force!
This move covered all bases and affected everyone. Its effects were similar to mesmerisation, except Li Qingshan had never learnt arts of mesmerisation at all. He did not know how to seduce and control others. He only relied on his strength to overwhelm them, almost like he had directly ravished their minds. He made men admire him and women fall in love with him.
Actually, Li Qingshan had only come up with this idea on the spot. He originally planned on converting the remaining power of belief into spiritual stone, which he could slowly absorb for cultivation afterwards. However, the power of belief did not belong to him after all. It would only end up being reduced to nothing.
By the time everything had settled down, the Suffering Subduing abbot stepped forward and prostrated on the ground with so much respect that it was like he was facing the statue of the buddha. “This lowly monk greets the hero king!”
The monks all bowed down. “Greetings, my king!”
“I’m not a demon in your eyes anymore?” Li Qingshan asked. He was also curious about the effects of this move.
“It was this lowly monk that had been slow-witted. Please punish me, my king.”
“Haha, I’ve basically treated your sickness of stubbornness. From now onwards, you are the leader of the Salvation hall.”
Li Qingshan laughed aloud. It was a pity that the entire martial arts community was not here, or he would have conquered them in one fell swoop.
“Out of benevolence, the king strikes with lightning speed, to punish the crooked and bring equality to all. I am willing to follow the king, to serve you diligently!”
“Alright, you can all get up!”
Li Qingshan waved his hand. All of the monks stood up, but in the depths of their eyes, there was still a hint of confusion.
Forcefully twisting the wills of others was not that simple. Those of great willpower and great perseverance would overcome this belief forced on them sooner or later and rediscover their true selves, but there were only a handful of people like that at the end of the day.
However, it was possible for this belief to grow deeper and deeper, so a good majority of the people here would probably spend the rest of their lives in utter respect and devotion towards him.
However, it was quite boring when he thought about it. He never liked playing a role similar to a god or a buddha. He glanced at Hu Xian’er and Yang Miaozhen deeply, Hopefully, you can break free quickly, before glancing at Zhang Xuanfeng, As for this little rebel, you better watch how I deal with you tonight.
“Hall leader Suffering Subduing, the World’s society promotes the freedom of religion. The disciples of the temple can remain here to cultivate. It’s enough if you take a few eminent monks with you and report to the north and see what society leader Gu has for you.”
“Yes. Thank you for your mercy, my king.”
The Suffering Subduing monk eased up inside. This was his entire lifetime of faith after all. If Li Qingshan made an unreasonable demand with him, it would immediately lead to the most intense conflict within him. By then, even breaking free from the beliefs was not impossible.
Li Qingshan truly was tempted to try that, but in the end, he still decided against something as pointless as that.
“Alright, take me to see the legendary daemon star!”
“Please come with me, my king. The daemon star is suppressed in the Lake of Suffering behind the grand hall.”
“I can sense it already.”
