The sea-like demonic clouds suddenly began to rage. Blood rain poured, blanketing the land.
Li Qingshan’s soul shook. When he called him traitor, it seemed to erupt in his mind. The divine might crushed down like it was tangible.
His vision blurred as the taotie beast face filled his eyes. Its vicious and malicious expression possessed great terror and great might, viciously slamming against his mind. He was like a lamb to the slaughterhouse, unable to offer up any resistance.
It was just inches away! The corner of his lips with jagged teeth sticking out suddenly split open, reaching up to his earlobes and forming an abyssal mouth. From his behaviour, it seemed more like he was trying to suck him inside than swallow him in a single gulp.
This sight was just so similar to when he butchered Heretic God Baitun, but this time, he had become the prey.
In that crucial moment, he drew the sword from its sheath with a clang. The flash illuminated the gloomy clouds, slicing through the suffocating divine might and slashing resolutely towards the abyssal mouth.
Time seemed to freeze. Li Qingshan did not look at the taotie beast face, but the ancient bronze sword in his hand. The edge repelled the sky full of rain slowly, giving off a strange colour, one side inscribed with mountains, rivers, and trees and the other side inscribed with the sun, moon, and stars. Suddenly, he understood the truth it was hiding.
The mountains, rivers, and trees represented the earth. The sun, moon, and stars represented the heavens.
With a sword in time, he was the ruler of both the heavens and the earth. This was the legendary sword of the path of sages, the Sword of Xuanyuan!
Boom!
The taotie beast face swallowed half the building in a single gulp, but he earned a slash across its face too. He became even more angered. “Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!”
Li Qingshan rapidly plummeted, smashing through several dozen storeys one after another with a great rumble as if he had received several dozen heavy blows. Afterwards, he smashed into the building’s thick foundations. Only then did he stop falling. He suddenly vomited up blood. His organs had ruptured.
The residual might spread out beneath him. Even the thick and sturdy foundations were unable to withstand such a colossal impact. The remaining half of the building immediately collapsed, burying him under the rubble.
In the dark underground, a pair of scarlet eyes shimmered. There were some sighs but also some excitement. I see now!
If brother ox was the Flame Emperor and had been called the insulting name Chiyou, then the man draped in bear skin should have been the Yellow Emperor. He originally belonged to the Youxiong tribe, which was only known as the Xuanyuan tribe afterwards. It was a branch and transformation of the Shennong tribe.
After witnessing the magnificent battlefield of the Battle of Mending Heaven recently, he never thought he would be drawn into the aftermath of the Battle of Zhuolu now.
It was no wonder why Taotie would suddenly fly into a rage. If he had guessed correctly, the exact person who banished him to the Demon domain was the Yellow Emperor.
In other words, the man draped in bear skin who wielded a bow and arrows, claiming to “hunt oxen”, the original owner of this “ancient bronze sword”.
Li Qingshan, the mad ox, had rampaged through the eighteen layers of hell and stirred up quite the disturbance. He even attracted a king of Yanluo over, so of course, it would reach the emperor’s ears.
As such, he immediately found him, but for some reason, not only did he decide against killing him, he instead invited him to join the Youxiong tribe. He even gave the Sword of Xuanyuan as a keepsake, conferring him the land.
And he had accepted all of it. Even though he did so unintentionally, he truly did deserve to be called a traitor!
He smiled self-deprecatingly. “Li Qingshan, oh Li Qingshan. I didn’t expect such a handsome fellow like you to become a counter-revolutionary too!”
At the same time, the corpse of a demonfolk flew over, into the abyssal mouth. Millions of demonfolk corpses surged into the sky like the tide, all swallowed by the taotie beast face. The rest of his body grew, including his four limbs.
With a boom, a huge, black foot fell and crushed a building. A humanoid figure three thousand metres tall stood in the world, wearing a bronze mask on his face. That was the taotie beast face.
“Get out here!”
A huge claw directly plunged into the depths of the ground, where Li Qingshan was located. It grabbed all of the rubble and crushed it to powder in an instant.
The moment his fingers closed, Li Qingshan rushed into the air and called out, “Shut up! I’m not a traitor!”
“And you still won’t admit it!?”
Taotie held onto the rock firmly in his hand, swinging his arm and throwing it violently.
The huge boulder that resembled a miniature mountain immediately crossed terminal velocity, lighting up like a meteor with a long, flaming tail. It hurtled towards Li Qingshan with unbelievable speed.
Li Qingshan made up his mind, advancing instead of retreating. He used the great strength of the ox demon to throw a punch.
Boom! The boulder shattered into pieces. Some flew into the air while others shot towards the city, piercing over a dozen buildings and lighting a great fire before tipping and collapsing slowly, filling the air with dust.
Li Qingshan stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the giant nearby. He said calmly, “None of this is as you think it is. If I really was a traitor, why would I come here and walk right into the enemy’s territory?”
He held his hand that had punched through the rock behind him. Even when he gripped it firmly with his other hand, it continued to shake uncontrollably. Inside, his bones had shattered like the boulder.
After all, this was a Demon God. Even if it was only an embodiment, his power was far greater than his. This tremendous difference could not be made up with just a Sword of Xuanyuan.
If he could not convince Demon God Taotie today, then there would definitely be an arduous battle.
“Who knows what you’re scheming?”
Demon God Taotie growled, but he did not continue. Just then, in a daze, the demeanour that Li Qingshan demonstrated made him think of the chief. This was the person chosen by the chief after all.
However, it might have been a false impression as well. Even if he refused to admit it, that man who banished him here also possessed the same demeanour.
“Scheme?” Li Qingshan laughed and confessed, “That has never been my speciality. How can I get you to trust me? Senior?”
“Set aside the sword and return to the Jinyun Food hall with me, or I’ll crush you to pieces and obliterate your soul!”
“Unfortunately, I can’t agree to either of those.”
Li Qingshan shook his head. The two of them had already started off with animosity. The reason why Taotie had suddenly become so friendly was all because he viewed him as a clansman. Now that this identity of his was under suspicion, even accused of being a traitor, the friendliness completely vanished.
Under these circumstances, it was impossible for him to set aside his weapon, subject himself to his whim, and place his life in his hands just to win over Demon God Taotie’s trust.
“And, I hate it when others threaten me!”
“Then only death awaits you!”
Demon God Taotie swung his arm. Several hundred buildings collapsed behind him as countless pieces of steel were drawn out, twisting and forming a short spear in his hand.
Raising the short spear, arching his back, and bending his knees slightly, his colossal body actually seemed extremely light. All of his aura and divine might was withdrawn. Even his fury and hatred seemed to vanish.
Behind the bronze mask, a pair of dark eyes gazed at Li Qingshan quietly. That was his most ancient and most primitive fighting form.
Li Qingshan could not help but hold his breath, sensing unprecedented danger. The spirit turtle revealed to him the fate of almost certain death, begging him to avoid this battle.
However, the newly-awakened divine dragon cried away, high-spirited and excited, urging him to go against the flow. The tiger demon had run out of patience a long time ago too, growling in desire of all slaughter, rather willing to be destroyed than to submit.
As a result, he sucked in a deep breath and pointed the sword at Taotie.
“Then come!”
