Chapter 1361: Burned By Fire
“The one you chose?” Le Tian laughed. “You think just that old daoist priest can win against my ultimate dark horse?”
Ren Aoyou and Pi Yangqiu both smiled doubtfully.
Over the past three days, they had also paid some attention to the old daoist priest. He had stuck to mining, so he was even worse off than the female cultivator called Su Tong. It really did not seem likely for him to come first. They all dismissed it as an error in judgement by Leng Yuan, and they stopped paying attention to him.
Leng Yuan said, “If you could tell what cultivation method he practises, you wouldn’t be saying that.”
Li Qingshan vented to his heart’s content and tossed the two brothers that he had beaten until they were half dead aside. Then he took their arcane treasures without holding back at all. He grabbed their two baskets of stolen magnetic ferrum too and made his way towards the exit.
“Please hold on, fellow!” Li Qingshan turned around, only to see a sagely old daoist priest, brimming with vigour, walking out from a different cave. He furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”
The old daoist priest said very politely, “Fellow, could you please leave these magnetic ferrum behind?”
Li Qingshan arched an eyebrow and lifted up the two baskets of magnetic ferrum in his hands. “You mean these?”
“No, no, no. That one over there too!” The old daoist priest pointed at the metal basket in the distance.
Li Qingshan shook his head and sighed. “That’ll be difficult, difficult, difficult, I say!”
“Fellow, you’ve said difficult three times consecutively. Are you so attached to these three baskets of magnetic ferrum that you can’t give them up? This humble daoist priest is not an unreasonable person. I’ll give you my basket in exchange!”
The old daoist priest placed down his basket. It was only half full, and the quality of the magnetic ferrum was nothing impressive either.
“It’s just some dumb rocks, so there’s nothing to be attached to.”
“Then why not?”
“The world is full of bastards like you. I want to be a good person, but it’s just too fucking hard!”
Li Qingshan’s roar echoed through the caves, filled with complaints towards this cruel world, as well as a hint of killing intent that he struggled to repress.
The old daoist priest’s face changed slightly. He began to smile. “Fellow, if you don’t want to live in this world, I can help you with that!”
Cold light flashed through his eyes as his tall, skinny figure suddenly swelled up. Rippling muscles filled his large daoist robes until they were almost about to tear. He turned into a muscle man instantly. Even his face became twisted, casually punching the wall beside him.
The wall immediately sunk in to form a great hole. A rumble rang through the entire cave system.
“The cultivation method that this humble daoist priest practises is called the Method of Essence-seizing, Qi-converting, and Placenta-hiding. I can hide away all of my vitality and nourish my soul nascence like a placenta, but when I need to, I can also convert all the power within my soul nascence into vitality, such that my body becomes indestructible while possessing endless strength. Have you ever heard about it before, fellow?”
“So it’s this cultivation method. Isn’t it a demonic art?”
Ruan Yaozhu furrowed her brows. The Method of Essence-seizing, Qi-converting, and Placenta-hiding definitely was not as simple as hiding away vitality. It could also seize the essence blood of others, converting it into placenta to nourish the golden core or soul nascence. She had even heard about certain people that specially used infants less than a year old for this cultivation method, as not only were they easy to refine, but they also possessed innate spiritual qi. It was extremely brutal and vicious.
Le Tian said in praise, “Impressive judgement, senior brother Leng! This cultivation method is about hiding away your vitality. It’s even fooled us. Junior sister Ruan, these independent cultivators from small sects aren’t like us who can search through the Myriad Heavenly Tomes of our Myriad sect for a cultivation method, so they’re really not that selective with their cultivation methods.”
Ruan Yaozhu said nothing. The old daoist priest did not just practise a demonic art. There was even a great issue with his moral alignment and disposition, such that he was even more bold and confident when it came to robbing others than the two brothers. He acted as if there was nothing wrong with what he was doing at all. However, the Myriad sect emphasised embracing all kinds of cultivators. They had never been particularly strict on the disciples they accepted, so this was not something she could change.
But for some reason, she no longer worried about Li Qingshan. Instead, she felt strangely confident. She was certain that Li Qingshan could teach him a vicious lesson.
Having been provoked again and again, Li Qingshan was almost brimming with killing intent. He silently circulated the Qilin’s Conventions of Longevity and licked his slightly-dry lips. He asked the two brothers playing dead on the ground, “You want your toys back or not?”
The two brothers opened their eyes and nodded. They had already suffered a huge loss by losing the magnetic ferrum. If they lost their arcane treasures too, then they would basically be going broke.
“Then finish off that muscly old daoist for me!” Li Qingshan tossed the fan and cane back to them. The two shitty arcane treasures were not enough to interest him. He was afraid that if he kept fighting, he would lose control over his killing intent, and that would really ruin the path of the qilin. He made his way over to a rock on the side and sat down. “Hurry up!”
The two brothers grabbed their arcane treasures and leapt up. They had suffered a tragic beating, but Li Qingshan had held back, so their lives were not threatened. To Soul Nascence cultivators, the wounds of their body were not a big deal as long as their soul nascent were untouched.
With his swollen face, the fair-skinned gentleman rubbed his hands and sucked up to Li Qingshan. “Fellow- no, senior! Could you demonstrate your greatness as the bigger person and spare the two of us, as well as return the magnetic ferrum to us? We’re willing to serve you like…”
Li Qingshan simply shut his eyes. “I’m counting to three!”
The two brothers shivered inside. “You old daoist over there, why don’t you get over here and die!?”
The muscly old daoist took a step back. He never expected Li Qingshan to do something like that. All of a sudden, he was facing three Soul Nascence cultivators and the Magnetic Field Formation of the Earth Fiend was still around. He immediately realised the situation was quite disadvantageous.
“Hmph, I’ll finish off the two of you first then!”
When the muscly old daoist recalled the brothers’ miserable state from Li Qingshan’s vicious beating, he instead made up his mind. He crushed the rocks under his feet and strode over, lunging straight towards them.
The two brothers swung the cane and waved the fan. Flames surged, and winds whistled. The winds fed the flames, and the flames supported the winds, repeating the same trick. Another fire tornado shot towards the muscly old daoist.
The muscly old daoist was located in a spacious cave, unlike Li Qingshan who had been stuck in a narrow tunnel before. He had ample space to dodge, as well as many stone columns to shield himself, but he recalled what he saw earlier.
Li Qingshan had charged out of the sea of flames unscathed, which left him certain that the power of techniques had greatly diminished within Magnetic Field mountain. His current physique was definitely no less tough than Li Qingshan’s, so it made no sense that he could not achieve what Li Qingshan could. As long as he got up close, the two brothers would be completely at his whim. As a result, he held his breath and charged into the sea of fire without hesitation!
The two brothers were startled. It made them recall the situation from before. They became rather uncertain, afraid that he would also rush over and give them a fierce beating. Right as they worried, they heard the muscly old daoist’s miserable cries.
The muscly old daoist began rolling around on the ground from the heat. His tight robes and all of his hair had been burnt to a crisp. The fierce wind rained down like countless sharp blades, subjecting him to slow slicing. No, it was even more horrific than slow slicing.
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His physique was tough, but he clearly did not have bloodlines like the phoenix or the tiger demon, much less the willpower to charge through the sea of fire despite the torture.
Li Qingshan opened his eyes and took a glance. “Don’t tell me his brain is filled with muscle too? Just because I can do it doesn’t mean you can!”
The two brothers immediately relaxed and powered the wind and flames even harder. They condensed a fire snake that danced around furiously, coiling around the muscly old daoist firmly, giving him no chance to break free. As they listened to his howls, their faces were filled with sadistic pleasure, clearly venting their feelings too.
Even the direct disciples had never imagined that this battle that was supposed to be a struggle of life and death would actually conclude in such a hilarious way.
With victory within his grasp, Le Tian smiled widely. “Senior brother Leng, I must confess that I admire the sharpness of your judgement. This old daoist priest is a wicked fellow. Unfortunately, he’s not particularly clever. At the end of the day, my dark horse is still a little smarter!”
Leng Yuan seemed to grow even colder. Originally, with the old daoist’s Method of Essence-seizing, Qi-converting, and Placenta-hiding, just standing in the distance and hurling rocks would guarantee him an easy victory over the brothers, and he might have been Li Qingshan’s opponent too. However, he never expected him to be so stupid that he would try and take on the techniques from two Soul Nascence cultivators with his body alone, even without any true qi. He was an absolute idiot.
Pi Yangqiu said, “Senior brother Le, congratulations! You’ve finally won a match.”
Le Tian’s smile eased up slightly. “At least I haven’t lost. I never expected junior sister Ruan to be the biggest winner this time. Sure enough, beginner’s luck!”
Ruan Yaozhu said seriously, “Senior brother Le, I’m not trying to win against you. I just want you to know that human nature is not as wicked as you think it is.”
Le Tian raised his hands in forfeit. “Alright, alright. The winner takes all. Anything that the victor says is right!”
The two brothers burned the muscly old daoist until he was charred-black and half dead. His muscles began to shrink again, and the smell of roast meat permeated the cave.
Li Qingshan said, “Alright, spare his life. You can take his magnetic ferrum.”
The eyes of the two brothers lit up as they thanked him profusely.
The fair-skinned gentleman asked cautiously, “Fellow, the Magnetic Field Formation of the Earth Fiend didn’t come easily. Why don’t you guard this place with us for a little longer? We’re willing to split half of everything we get with you.”
Li Qingshan glanced at him indifferently, “Why would I give half to you?”
The fair-skinned gentleman said awkwardly, “Fair enough, fair enough.”
At this moment, Su Tong walked up and praised him highly. “Fellow, you are endowed with courage and wit, and your cultivation is impressive. It’s no wonder you’re not afraid of danger. You have my admiration!”
Li Qingshan said, “It’s just a trifle, nothing worth mentioning.”
“Perhaps it’s just a trifle to you, fellow, but to them, it’s a major matter of life and death!”
Su Tong waved her hand towards her back. The cultivators were still submerged in the horrific sight of incinerating someone alive. They all returned to their senses and thanked Li Qingshan, carefully making their way around the charred body.
Zhu Yingcai hid in the crowd. He felt a great mix of emotion as Li Qingshan had not noticed his existence at all.
Li Qingshan picked up the metal basket again, carrying a basket of magnetic ferrum in each hand as he made his way out of the mountain. With a pretty female cultivator by his side and over a hundred cultivators tailing behind him, he felt quite like an inspecting leader.
He left behind the two brothers who guarded the half-full basket of magnetic ferrum as they eyed each other. Both of them became wary. Li Qingshan would obviously place first in the test this time, while Su Tong would be second place. Now, all that remained was third place.
“Big brother, it’s just the position of an attendant. With our cultivation, just how difficult can it be to go from a servant to an attendant? Let’s not let something like this ruin our relationship.”
“You’re right, younger brother, so just let your big brother have it this time!” The dark-skinned fiend grabbed the basket.
The fair-skinned gentleman grabbed the other end firmly. The basket was hoisted up into the air. “Big brother, you can’t do that. It’s always been the elder brother who lets his younger brother have the good stuff. Since when has it been the other way round?”
“You need to show some respect for seniority!”
“We’ll split it fairly.”
……
As the brothers bickered, Li Qingshan had almost made his way out of the caves. The light before him became brighter and brighter as the moist sea wind flowed into the caves, bringing a slight, salty smell.
After making his way out of the pitch-black caves and arriving beneath the resplendent sun, an azure ocean unfurled before him. However, the seawater near the shore was black. Magnetic Field mountain was like a black dragon diving into the ocean. Three large ships docked quietly in the black water.
