The Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon trembled violently like a true dragon putting up a furious struggle.
Sword qi whistled as golden light shot off in all directions, piercing his organs and penetrating his body, leaving behind a series of bloody holes.
However, among the roaring flames that the blood turned into, his hands remained firm around the hilt. He smiled away madly as if victory was within his grasp.
He still could not use any innate abilities, basically completely relying on his body alone to wear down the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon’s edge, finally grasping this opportunity. A fiery warmth emerged from his chest. The Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens sat there, providing him with endless power. This was the most primitive and most basic power.
Wielding his body as the hilt of the sword, he trapped the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon, but that was all he was capable of. He could not triumph over it. It was only a matter of time before his body collapsed.
As a result, he grinned and threw himself back into the Heaven Climbing Vine.
As Xiao An and the other two waited silently, they suddenly sensed a powerful sword qi. A person and a sword rushed out from the Heaven Climbing Vine, falling into the ocean like a meteor and kicking up great waves.
“Qingshan!”
It was just a split second, but the three of them all saw Li Qingshan’s horrific shape, riddled with wounds with a sword through his body. They thought he had encountered a terrifying enemy and had been beaten back from the Human realm.
Right as they were about to charge over, Li Qingshan emerged from the bottom of the ocean step by step. His horrific wounds healed rapidly. He gripped the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon firmly with his right hand and flicked the edge. “You’re behaving now!”
In the Human realm, it was virtually impossible for him to subdue this Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon in a short amount of time. Instead, it was very likely for him to be finished off by the sword. As a result, he returned to the World of the Five Continents without any hesitation.
This was his territory. As the god of the world, even if Si Long arrived in person again, he would have to kneel down to him, let alone a measly sword.
“Looks like we were right. Up above there is Si Long’s dwelling, and there are no other enemies around. That’s fantastic news!”
After an explanation from Li Qingshan, Gu Yanying became eager to venture up as well.
“There might be some other dangers. I’ve already adjusted slightly to the laws of the Human realm, so I’ll go up and take another look.”
Li Qingshan planted the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon in a rock before making his way towards the Heaven Climbing Vine again.
Gu Yanying said, “Then we’ll be troubling you.”
“Women can just wait at the back. Paving a path is the work of men!”
He purposely glanced at Rāhu Xiaoming, but he never expected Rāhu Xiaoming to be completely calm. Instead, he drew out the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon leisurely and studied it with a smile. “Paving a path for me is your honour!”
Li Qingshan was taken aback by that before smiling. “That’s right! It’s my honour to be able to pave a path for you!”
Only those who paved a path with their own two hands were worthy of being followed by others.
He obviously had to pave the path to the Nine Heavens personally.
As a result, he entered the Human realm a third time…
……
The Demon domain.
A valiant man with a striking appearance rode on a sword under the black sun. Suddenly, he came to a halt as his face twisted slightly.
“Li Qingshan, how dare you… how dare you… I will definitely return to the Human realm and take back everything that belongs to me!”
“Si Long, I’m hungry. Go and find something to eat.” Qian Rongzhi’s lethargic voice rang out from the rhombus-shaped gemstone on his forehead.
“What do you want to eat?” Si Long calmed down again and asked softly.
“I think Demon Emperors will do. I miss the taste of that master of the Sword Collection palace very much!”
On that day, after obtaining enough information, the two of them basically overwhelmed Sikong Cangjian immediately even without any agreement beforehand. Then they coerced him with the tortures of the Venomous Snake hell. After searching his soul, they completely devoured him, erasing all possible traces.
“We’ve already attracted the attention of the higher-ups of the Demon domain. Even with my abilities to conceal myself, we can’t create any greater commotions.”
“That’s very reasonable, but I just want to eat.”
After a moment of silence, Si Long said, “As you wish.”
……
When Li Qingshan arrived on the grey altar once again, right in front of the grey column, he finally had the time to observe his surroundings.
He remained vigilant as he studied his surroundings. This was a glorious hall on par with an imperial palace.
The spiritual qi was dense like liquid. In the World of the Five Continents, the glow it gave off probably could be seen from hundreds of kilometres away, but here, it only gave off an undetectable haze.
He could vaguely sense some kind of formation in operation, far more ingenious and subtle than any of the formations he had seen before. Its power went without saying. Fortunately, it had never attacked him, or Li Qingshan would have to retreat to the World of the Five Continents, completely giving up on this path. He would have to find a different way into the Human realm.
Protective formations normally guarded against any external intruders, but basically all formations were most lethal in their interior.
Apart from that, there were no other ambushes or attacks. Perhaps Si Long thought that it was enough to just have the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon watching this place.
After all, all he was guarding against were stowaways that climbed up the Heaven Climbing Vine. Even with Li Qingshan’s current strength, he was in danger of being killed. If it had been a different third heavenly tribulation Daemon King or great cultivator, they basically would have been butchered instantly.
However, he did not act recklessly either. He stood on the altar cautiously so that he could return to the Heaven Climbing Vine at any moment, absorbing the pure spiritual qi as he adjusted to the laws of the Human realm.
Time trickled by. The small world inside his body slowly began to operate again, but it was extremely difficult. That directly affected the strength of all of his innate abilities, including the toughness of his body and his regeneration. It was all restrained. He would struggle to demonstrate the same destructive power as he did in the World of the Five Continents.
However, this restraint was not bad at all. Instead, it was good news, just like how only tremendous pressure could force out the effects of various spiritual herbs during the process of alchemy so that they could be condensed into tiny pills in the very end.
Now, the world was like a cauldron, helping him refine his essence and condense his power.
Whenever he took in a breath of spiritual qi and exhaled a breath of used air, his aura would become slightly more pure. The effects it had on cultivation could not be compared to when he cultivated in the World of the Five Continents.
As for the power of his abilities and techniques, they had always just been a manifestation. It was like how it was always easier to kick up fierce winds than great waves. If he were buried up to his head in soil, then even moving about would be extremely difficult.
He could not help but think of the time when he first ended up in the World of the Five Continents. The spiritual qi was clearly so sparse, yet the power of the techniques he cast through the Divine Talisman of Great Creation was surprisingly great.
It was exactly because of the laws of the world that such dense spiritual qi was not pouring with light.
Without this restraint, without this environment, probably everyone in the Human realm would be able to cultivate. Every living object could become a daemon. There would not be any mortals or wild beasts around.
As the god of the World of the Five Continents, Li Qingshan had personally experienced the change in the laws of the world as the world expanded. The feeling it gave him was as if it was alive, maintaining a certain quality throughout, just like how a tiger could not grow into an elephant or a whale no matter how much it ate. It would only grow into a larger tiger.
No matter how large the World of the Five Continents became, no matter how dense the spiritual qi became, not everyone would be able to cultivate and not every wild beast would become a daemon. Cultivators were both blessed children of the world, loved by nature, as well as rebellious children that wanted to betray the world.
It was as if a paramount law existed beyond the six realms of sa?sāra and the trichiliocosm, such that all the worlds maintained a certain similarity.
He could not help but think of the illusionary sun he saw above the World of the Nine Provinces. Was the sun in the Human realm real?
But that did not matter. One day, he would see the true sun.
As a result, he sucked in a deep breath and stepped off the great altar.
