There were even more treasures and antiques in the estate than in the Salvation temple. Unfortunately, it was not enough to save its master’s life.
Li Qingshan moved everything onto the giant turtle’s back. His legs began to tremble, unable to remain standing anymore, so he crouched down on the ground and gazed at Li Qingshan for mercy.
Li Qingshan kicked him. “You shell of a bastard, get up. It’s so little, yet you can’t carry it anymore. You’re useless!”
Yang Miaozhen sympathised with the turtle and tried to persuade him. “My king, there are plenty of horse carriages here, so just stop making things difficult for him.”
“What do you know? I’m helping him with cultivation. I don’t know what kind of spiritual beast he is, but his bloodline bears the spirit of advancing despite carrying a heavy burden, so carrying something heavy is the best way for him to cultivate.” Then Li Qingshan turned to the giant turtle. “If you don’t want to get up, then just lie here and wait for your death. I’m not going to remove the stuff on you.”
The giant turtle let out a deep growl and stood up slowly again. He advanced with heavy footsteps, moving with great difficulty.
Then Li Qingshan leapt onto the giant turtle’s back. The giant turtle stopped again, unable to bear the weight. However, Li Qingshan’s voice suddenly rang out in his head.
Li Qingshan passed some of the methods of circulating qi from the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression to him. The giant turtle’s daemon qi consolidated, and his footsteps immediately became steady. He nodded towards Li Qingshan gratefully.
A series of horse carriages followed behind the giant turtle, forming a great group.
Hu Xian’er remained where she was, without budging at all, as she held the human head. Hu Ling’er remained by her side silently.
Zhang Xuanfeng asked quietly, “My king, aren’t we going to wait for her?” Abandoning this vixen would obviously be for the best.
“Time waits for no one! Don’t worry, she’ll catch up by herself. Don’t look at me like that. I’m a faithless person too, so I wonder just who will come and claim this great head of mine!”
Li Qingshan’s laughter rang out in all directions.
Even if he was faithful to the entire world, so what? Why go on about pain and regret? As a man, all he could do was bear the burden and keep advancing forwards!
When Yang Miaozhen and Zhang Xuanfeng heard that, they both felt their minds clear up. They were unable to describe the ease and liveliness they felt inside.
Hu Xian’er shuddered and let go of the head, giving it a kick. With a plop, it landed in a stream and drifted down with it. She pulled Hu Ling’er with her and caught up with the group, leaping onto the turtle’s back and throwing herself into Li Qingshan’s arms.
They travelled northward, all the way to Pegasus city. The entire city learnt of the hero king’s return and lined the streets to welcome him back.
Before he had even arrived in person, the news of his deeds had already spread through the world. The north stopped worrying too.
Arriving at the World’s society, Gu Yanying stood at the entrance in her white clothes with a folding fan in her hand, smiling. “Congratulations, you’ve recovered a bit more of your cultivation. Looks like you’ve gained quite a lot. These three must be part of the Ten Great Beauties of the World!”
There was nothing that Hu Xian’er could say. Originally, she thought her beauty was already unrivalled in the world. Even Yang Miaozhen and Zhang Xuanfeng lacked some femininity compared to her. However, when she saw the legendary leader of the World’s society, she suddenly felt ashamed. The difference in their bearing was like a fox to a hawk.
So she really is the greatest beauty of the world. He must like her very much!
“Where’s your mask?” Li Qingshan asked.
“I don’t need it anymore,” Gu Yanying said.
With the establishment of the asura army, she already possessed enough power that she did not have to worry about small issues caused by her appearance.
Li Qingshan ordered people to unload the items from the turtle’s back, and Gu Yanying’s eyes lit up. “Good, I just happen to be in need of money!” The constructions throughout the northern region required investment everywhere.
“Why have you suddenly become a miser? That’s not the breadth of mind that a kunpeng should possess.”
Li Qingshan smiled. Even he had spent at least a decade or so in poverty, but right from the day she was born, she probably had no idea what money was. Now that she had actually become so attached to it, it truly was quite funny. She was like a princess that had suddenly begun working in the fields.
“You’re not in charge, so you don’t understand the cost of things. You just toss everything to me and have fun by yourself, but you have no idea that it’s exactly money that prevents many things from occurring. Whatever, you won’t understand even if I explain it to you.”
Gu Yanying waved her hand. This was the method she was using to temper her will. The heart of a kunpeng was extremely high and distant, but if she merely tried to imitate it, she could only act with great haughtiness, which would only lead to an absolute failure. Compared to that, she was better off settling down and handling the matters slowly and surely. And from the feedback that the kunpeng’s feather had given her, her decision was correct. Before the kun became the peng, it had also spent many years submerged in the ocean.
A while later, all of the leaders of the World’s society were summoned to the discussion hall. Xue Hanfeng, the Suffering Subduing monk, and Tie Xiong were among them. Coupled with the original group from the Mountain Manor of the Divine Ape and the martial arts practitioners that had joined them from various places afterwards, it was truly an assembly of masters.
If they were evaluated using the traditional method, then the World’s society had already become the greatest society in the world, far more powerful than any sect or clan. They could unite the entire martial arts community under them.
Li Qingshan’s changes surprised everyone, but they accepted it very quickly. After all, they were not standing there because of his external appearance. They clasped their hands together and greeted him, “Greetings, my king!”
Only in Xue Bing’s eyes was there a little more bitterness. When Li Qingshan looked over, she lowered her head again and quickly reflected, We’ve known each other for less than a month, and we’ve spent less than a day together. At most, it can only be regarded as a single meeting, so why am I like this? Though, when he said he wanted to gather the Ten Great Beauties of the World, it turns out he was serious about that. In other words, I’m among them too. What a despicable man! But he sure is handsome like this.
Lei Lie stepped forward and said, “The king has overwhelmed the martial arts alliance and subdued the Snow Mountain sect and the Salvation temple. There’s no longer a single sect or clan that dares to oppose our World’s society now. Why don’t we just travel down south with an army and conquer the world?”
Gu Yanying asked, “What do you all think?”
Out of the people in the hall with the highest cultivations, the two protectors were besotted with swordsmanship, so they had no opinion about this matter. Xue Hanfeng had originally been worried about the World’s society using the disciples of the Snow Mountain sect as cannon fodder for the war, but as it seemed now, Li Qingshan alone with his blade could finish off the remaining three clans and five sects, so there was absolutely nothing for him to worry about. As a result, he remained silent as well.
“Amitābha. I would object. The situation in the north has yet to settle down, so rashly invading the south will only throw the world into chaos and result in countless casualties. It would be unfitting to the king’s path of justice and righteousness.”
“Bald ass, I think you’re still only thinking about the martial arts alliance. Like how undue delays lead to problems, who knows what kind of trouble it’ll lead to if we give the martial arts alliance an opportunity to catch their breaths,” Lei Lie said coldly.
The Salvation temple had played a direct role in the Demon Lord of Seven Slaughters’ death back then, or why would the daemon star have ended up in the Lake of Suffering?
“Be quiet!” Li Qingshan slammed the table and cursed. “Damned brat, you sure know how to talk now. This is a place to discuss public matters. If you want personal revenge, you’re more than welcome to challenge the Suffering Subduing hall leader to a separate battle elsewhere. Do you really think you can use the might of others just because you yourself are powerless against him?”
“Then I’ll challenge him to a separate battle! Do you think I’m scared of him?” Lei Lie turned red.
“Internal conflict is forbidden in the World’s society. Hall leader Lie, you insulted the Suffering Subduing hall leader, so go and receive fifty beatings as punishment,” said Gu Yanying.
“Yes, society leader.” Lei Lie lowered his head and accepted the orders. His fury completely vanished. Even a blind man could notice his strange behaviour. Even when he knew he had no chance, he was simply unable to disobey her.
Meanwhile, Xue Hanfeng had noticed the strange behaviour of his daughter a long time ago, which left him sighing inside. The two leaders both possessed unrivalled appearances. Just who could escape from their charms and who could resist their power?
“The Suffering Subduing hall leader has raised a valid point. We can conquer the world through martial prowess, but we won’t be able to avoid a great massacre, which will make many people lose faith in the World’s society or even doubt the hero king’s path of justice and righteousness. Only by achieving something great in the north can we disprove the rumour that the world descends into chaos with the arrival of the daemon star. I hereby take an oath that as long as the people of the world refuse to submit, the World’s society will never make them submit by force!”
“Wise be the society leader. You have my admiration! I’ll be honest, I once believed in this rumour as well. Then I witnessed the hero king’s justice and the society leader’s breadth of mind. Only then did I notice my own shallowness. I’m willing to work like a horse, to give this world clarity such that everyone is equal, good is rewarded, and evil receives its punishment!”
The Suffering Subduing monk’s expression was filled with a sacred devotion, which made Li Qingshan feel rather strange inside. His path of justice was out of both public and personal interests, but on the contrary, he was not as serious about it as the monk. He had no idea whether it was due to the mental influence of the power of belief. However, Gu Yanying’s decision had clearly increased his loyalty to them.
Li Qingshan thoroughly agreed with what Gu Yanying had said too. The use of force had always been the swiftest method, but it was also the most unstable. In this world, instability would be magnified to the extreme.
Conquering the world was easy, but what about afterwards?
He could basically imagine that under the urgings of the will of the heavens, the organisations of resistance would spring up endlessly everywhere. If they suppressed them through force, it would only lead to even more hatred and opposition until it completely devolved into a tyrannical rule.
It was just as Laozi had said, “He who takes upon himself the humiliation of the people is fit to rule them, and he who takes upon the country’s disasters deserves to be king!”
In his past life, a certain country already seemed like heaven in the eyes of other countries, yet their citizens were still filled with complaints.
Right now, this world was like a huge piece of bait on a lure to them. If they swallowed it forcefully, it would definitely hook onto their throats.
Compared to that, they would be better off leaving the martial arts alliance around. It was better to keep the enemy outside than among them. In the end, even if they grew into a problem, at least this all could be resolved by the blade even if their bad luck was through the roof.
The two of them reached an agreement, and the others obviously had no objections. When everyone dispersed, Li Qingshan grabbed Xue Bing’s hand. “Sure enough, you’ve begun practising the cultivation method I gave you. Looks like you’ve still ended up agreeing to it. How do I look right now?”
“Please show some self-respect, my king!” Xue Bing’s face turned bright red as she sought help from Xue Hanbing.
Xue Hanfeng smiled wryly. My dear daughter, if you’re determined to resist, I’ll draw my sword and challenge him to a battle right now. No matter how powerful Li Qingshan is, we can just die together at most, but look at you right now! What am I supposed to do?
However, he could not simply stand there and watch without doing anything, so he also said, “Please show some self-respect, my king!” Afterwards, he strode off just like that!
My dear daughter, please “endure” this for the sake of the Snow Mountain sect!
“Father!” Xue Bing truly was tempted to cry, but she found no tears. Li Qingshan laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to go back on your word?”
Gu Yanying scolded him. “Li Qingshan, you’ve gone out and messed around for such a long time. Get your ass back to writing!”
