Li Qingshan stepped on Shen Xihua’s head and breathed in deeply. He said in a deep voice, “Out of the women you speak of, three of them have committed suicide. I don’t know about the others, but let me warn you. Don’t piss me off!”
“Yes… yes…” Shen Xihua murmured. He was willing to face a second layer Qi Practitioner with his strength at the first layer. Even if he could not defeat them, he could still escape, but only then did he realise that he was wrong. The step was so fast that he could not react at all.
As for the heavy, murderous aura, he found it to be even more stifling than the pressure on his head.
Li Qingshan gradually lifted his foot. “Consider it!”
Shen Xihua kept his head lowered for quite a while before raising it. “Are you going to spare me if I do?”
Li Qingshan said, “I’m not here to discuss with you. You can accept it or turn it down. You are welcome to try your luck.”
Under Li Qingshan’s contemptible gaze, Shen Xihua said, “I accept.”
Li Qingshan smiled and personally helped him up. “You could have just said that from the beginning.” He had no plans to spare Shen Xihua. However, since he planned to use him, he could not express this intention of ‘I’ll definitely kill you’. Otherwise, that would not be called gallantry, but idiocy.
Shen Xihua’s expression eased up slightly. Li Qingshan saw how his facial features were neat and dignified. He must have been handsome when he was young. “You came from a well-off family, basically a clan. Why did you do all of those things?”
Shen Xihua said, “I was ignorant in my youth. I was ignorant. Sir, when would you like for these people to be gathered here?”
Li Qingshan said, “The sooner the better.”
Shen Xihua said, “I don’t really know some of them, and there are a few others who have their own plans as well. Even if I do invite them, they won’t necessarily come!”
Li Qingshan said, “That’ll depend on your ability as the Island Lord of Cherishing Flowers then. And, it doesn’t have to be them. You are welcome to invite all of your good friends who have committed crimes with no conscience at all. The more the better. If there are too few and the gathering is far too cheerless, I might end up becoming upset.”
Shen Xihua’s heart shivered. The person before him was young, but he was definitely not a soft-hearted figure. Otherwise, he would have never been able to come up with such a terrifying scheme. Now, all he could do was follow through with the plan reluctantly.
He invited Li Qingshan to stay in a smaller building near the lake and ordered his people to serve him carefully and not to disturb him.
The next day, an invitation card was delivered into Li Qingshan’s hands. After receiving Li Qingshan’s approval, several dozen copies were made and sent off. They reached the hands of the various masters on the blacklist.
This was the news on the jianghu, The powerful unorthodox master, the Island Lord of Cherishing Flowers, who has fallen silent for quite some time, has obtained a bottle of pills. These pills can allow martial arts masters to reach the innate realm. He wants to sell it to a group of masters, so he invites everyone to the Island of Cherishing Flowers on the eighth of the eighth month, at the beginning of autumn. You will contend against one another for it. The event will be called the Pill Seizing Gathering.
Li Qingshan sighed inside. This was basically what happened when he obtained the spiritual ginseng in the past. Shen Xihua was already an innate master, so he obviously could not use this pill, but to other first-rate masters, this was an irresistible event. Even if they found it to be suspicious, they would still come and check it out. After casting his bait, he could wait quietly for the fish to bite.
From that day onwards, Shen Xihua would visit him in person daily. He was extremely considerate for his needs.
Li Qingshan meditated and practised qi every day, without setting a foot outside his residence. The only thing the people on the island knew was that he was a valued guest of the island lord; they were afraid of disturbing him. Combined with the fact that they would sometimes hear him muttering to himself, they found it to be extremely strange and were even more reluctant to approach him.
As a result, Li Qingshan just meditated and practised qi regardless of day or night, ingesting the Qi Gathering pills like water and converting it into daemon qi and true qi. In less than ten days, he had already ingested two hundred of them.
The effects were extremely obvious. On the second of the eighth month, his Innate Method of Practising Qi finally broke through to the fifth layer. His true qi became even more powerful as they constantly raged through the Yang Heel meridian. His ability to sense the spiritual qi of the world through his Fengchi acupoint became even sharper as well. It was like a blurry image that gradually cleared up. He was able to distinguish the meaning within the image bit by bit.
Although he had not reverted to his daemon form, it must have grown by quite a lot as well!
Li Qingshan left his residence. The sky was gloomy. It had begun drizzling three days ago.
The heat of summer receded and coolness gradually set in. It was almost autumn.
The eighth of the eighth was an auspicious day, while autumn was primarily about desolation, which made it an even better time to kill.
Li Qingshan already felt rather eager. He threw a punch and true qi pierced the air, erupting with splashes on the surface of the lake. He looked back. When he saw Xiao An leaning on the rail, he could not help but smile. Looking at his body of white bones, he thought of some things. Before all of this, there were still some preparations he needed to make.
During the morning of the third, Shen Xihua visited once again.
Li Qingshan said, “Go prepare some clothes for children.” Xiao An would be rebuilding his body, but it was obviously impossible for him to rebuild his clothes as well. He needed clothing.
Shen Xihua found the request to be rather strange, but he dared not think too much about it. “Clothes for children? What size? Is it for a boy or a girl?”
“A boy around seven or eight years old. Don’t worry too much about the exact size,” Li Qingshan said. He felt rather excited inside. He felt like a father who was about to welcome his child into the world.
The next day, Shen Xihua delivered over a dozen sets of clothes of various colours and styles. They were all made from silk of the highest quality. He even brought many toys for children.
Li Qingshan smiled. He thought about how Xiao An was no ordinary child, so why would he play with these wooden toys? However, he did not mention it. He told Shen Xihua to continue preparing for the ‘Pill Seizing Gathering’.
He was determined to go through with this ‘Pill Seizing Gathering’. However, he soon thought of how a great scheme like this that could overturn the entire jianghu tended to be the specialty of villains. And, his thought of killing everyone in the gathering had an even more villainous vibe.
However, he felt fantastic. It was a wonderful time since Xiao An was about to gain a new life. He sighed emotionally just like a poet. “With death comes birth.” Afterwards, he gained some understanding towards the true meaning behind the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty.
After Shen Xihua left, Xiao An emerged from behind the curtains. He gently caressed the beautiful silk clothing with his bone fingers as he imagined how he would look like when he wore them. He raised his head and their eyes met. There was silence. The only sounds present were the pitter-patter of rain outside the window. However, the two of them felt silent joy inside.
Afterwards, Xiao An began to play with those toys happily, the pinwheels, spinning tops, and bamboo dragonflies.
It surprised Li Qingshan. Afterwards, he thought about how he did not show enough care and concern for Xiao An. Thinking further, he realised that the thing that he seemed to do the most with Xiao An was killing people.
Killing people was not necessarily a bad thing. In this cruel world, it should have been a crucial skill for survival. Adult beasts had to teach younger beasts the art of hunting.
That was how Li Qingshan comforted himself to avoid too much self-guilt. Afterwards, he just sat there and leaned his head against his hand. He thought deeply into the issue of Xiao An’s education. He needed to take him out to see the world more often in the future so that he could feel nature and all those things!
Afterwards, he could not help but begin grinning. He felt warmth. The world was very cruel, but he was not alone.
……
Even a lion would use its full strength to catch a rabbit. The day before the eighth, Li Qingshan finished ingesting all of his Qi Gathering pills such that he was at his peak condition.
By tomorrow, once those bastards all gather in the hall, what am I supposed to say as an opening line?
For the sake of my personal happiness, please die, you twisted lot!
Seems even more villainous.
……
“Am I pretty?” The West Gate Granny asked.
“Y- you are!” A naked man covered in tattoos that depicted nine dragons lowered his head and called out in fright. The blood of his companions slowly flowed beneath his feet. Just because they laughed when they saw this ugly, old woman, they ended up falling apart into pieces.
“Then why aren’t you looking at me?” The West Gate Granny said with a sunken voice.
The man slowly raised his head before becoming stunned. He had never seen such a beautiful woman before. Her cold eyes and nobility shook up his mind, almost making him lose control of himself.
The portrait of a man suddenly appeared before him. The voice that was as beautiful as an oriole’s song asked, “Have you seen this person before?”
He shook his head in a daze, blaming himself for being unable to help her at all.
“Then you can go die!” The shrivelled mouth spat out these brutal words.
The man immediately shattered his own skull with a palm strike. Even before he died, he still gazed at the West Gate Granny with infatuation. He smiled. Originally, he thought that he would only be a pirate for the rest of his life, but he had never thought he would be able to die for the person he loved. He felt happiness from the bottom of his heart.
My life… was all worth it.
Leaving the den of the Water Snake gang, the West Gate Granny said furiously, “Just where did the brat go?”
In the past few days, she followed the most optimal path for Li Qingshan, but she failed to find any signs of him. She completely lost track of him.
Finally, she could not help herself anymore and lost her temper, causing a great massacre. Behind her, the corpses of the Water Snake gang lay strewn on the ground. They would never be able to attack and rob people on the rivers again. Every single one of them smiled happily, dying for the sake of love.
A teenager in red took out a vermillion invitation card from the bosom of the leader and handed it to the West Gate Granny.
The West Gate Granny looked at the invitation card. After a while of thought, she revealed a sunken smile. “I see. This kid has got some brains. I’ve underestimated him. Let’s go to Lakeside city.”
On the eighth of the eighth, near Lakeside city on the Island of Cherishing Flowers
Li Qingshan tidied up his thoughts and took out his knicked Wind-entwining blade, hanging it on his waist. He looked out the window and saw many small boats moving through the wind and rain, stopping at the wharf. Many people emerged from them.
Most of them carried weapons and were vicious-looking. He could tell with a single glance that they were not kind folk. They matched up with the resources from Li Qingshan’s file one by one.
These unorthodox masters were worried about this being a trap, and they were wary of one another, so they all brought their best subordinates, just in case. However, unbeknownst to them, someone within the shade of the green willows was counting them like sheep.
Two hundred and eighty one… Three hundred and forty two… Five hundred and fifty seven.
This lasted until night time. The number had already exceeded Li Qingshan’s expectations.
The island was decorated with lanterns and streamers, with a feast set up in the hall. With Shen Xihua as the host, these martial arts masters gathered in the hall. It was quite the banquet.
Shen Xihua smiled and spoke cheerfully, without giving away anything at all.
Some people said impatiently, “Island lord Shen, where are the pills? Please take them out and show us!”
