Shen Yushu rushed into the Hundred Herbs garden like he was enchanted, but he did not find any trace of Ruan Yaozhu when he looked around. All he saw was a black shadow blocking his way. “Hmm? Why’s there a mountain here?”
Suddenly, he heard Li Qinghan’s name, and he leapt in fright inside. Looking up, all he saw was Wan Jianfeng in a person’s hand. He cried out, “Senior brother Wan!”
Only now did he seem to realise something. His face turned pale-white, and he lifted his head slowly and stiffly, following the arm that held Wan Jianfeng. With that, he finally saw that the black mountain was actually alive.
Endless pressure descended from above. Shen Yushu’s knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground.
“It can’t be… you can’t be… impossible…”
Li Qingshan only glanced at Shen Yushu. He did not pay much attention to this clown at all.
“Li Qingshan, how dare you still return!”
Wan Jianfeng tried to struggle, but he was unable to break free from the huge, black hand. His heart sank completely. If the Li Qingshan before him was a clone, then he could still put up a fight, but this Li Qingshan definitely possessed the power of a Human Immortal, no, Heretic God. That was well beyond anything he could stand up to right now. Just the pressure he gave off had almost made him suffocate.
“If I didn’t come back, you’d be in over your heads. Junior brother Wan, do you want to die, or do you want to live?”
“So what if I want to die? And so what if I want to live?”
“If you want to die, I’ll send you off right now and ensure that you’re as dead as you can be, your soul and body both erased from existence.” Li Qingshan closed his fingers around him as his eyes shone with red.
At that moment, Wan Jianfeng felt like an endless sea of blood had swallowed him. He was unable to breathe.
“If you want to live, then submit to me! I can assist you in undergoing the sixth heavenly tribulation and becoming a Human Immortal!”
At this moment, there was still far more green in the Hundred Herbs garden than the yellow. There was still a tremendous amount of spiritual qi that he could draw from.
As a Yang Soul cultivator at the very peak, only half a step away from the realm of Human Immortals, Wan Jianfeng could trigger the sixth heavenly tribulation as long as he received some guidance from Li Qingshan. Then he only needed to be filled up with spiritual qi like Ruan Yaozhu.
“If you really can assist me in undergoing the sixth heavenly tribulation, I’ll definitely submit to you.” Wan Jianfeng’s eyes lit up as if he was very interested, but he thought inside, As long as I undergo the sixth heavenly tribulation, do you really think the likes of you can still control me?
Li Qingshan saw through his thoughts in a single glance and laughed. “You think I’m a fool?” Suddenly, his smile vanished. “Junior brother Wan, go ahead and do it!”
“Li Qingshan, humans and demons have never been able to coexist. Even if my sword is shattered and I perish, I will never side with demonfolk!”
The sword on Wan Jianfeng’s back emerged from its sheath and thrummed like a dragon, rising up into the air like a sun and making the entire Hundred Herbs garden seem like daytime.
At the same time, he projected out his Yang Soul and dove into the blinding light, merging with the sword.
One with the sword!
Immediately, all of the white light condensed, only leaving behind a hazy layer enveloping the sword.
Wan Jianfeng was aware that he only had one opportunity to strike, so he unleashed the strongest move he knew, pouring all his heart into the attack.
The attack consolidated without being unleashed, and his Yang Soul was already very damaged. If he wanted to harm the enemy, he had to harm himself first. The moment when the attack reached its peak would be when the Yang Soul shattered.
This strike was one that could threaten Heretic Gods!
By now, Wan Jianfeng no longer hoped to escape. He only hoped to injure Li Qingshan, to live up to his name as a sword cultivator.
Needle-like light reflected in Li Qingshan’s eyes. He felt slightly moved as if he had been deterred by the might of the sword.
Afterwards, he extended his right hand and lifted two fingers, bringing them together gently mid-air and catching the sword.
“Nice sword technique with even more impressive determination, but you take too long.”
Most importantly, as they resided within the Seventy-two Pentads formation, Li Qingshan only needed to use a bit of the formation’s power to make Wan Jianfeng’s attack collapse.
Wan Jianfeng’s ultimate attack crumbled before it was even launched. He felt extremely discontent inside, bellowing, “Li Qingshan, you’re underhanded! I’d rather die than submit to you!”
“That’s not for you to decide.”
Li Qingshan’s eyes became deep and pitch-black, like a pair of bottomless abysses. Wan Jianfeng felt like his mind had been drawn out from the sword and sucked inside.
Within the bottomless abysses was endless darkness. Within the endless darkness were countless whisperings, both young and old, male and female, filled with the worship of the greatest intensity, the most fervent of faith.
In the beginning, these voices were still almost inaudible, but they became a loud ruckus in the blink of an eye and mountainous booms in the next instant.
That was the belief and faith of all the living creatures of the Demon domain, worshipping their supreme ruler who would free them from the endless sins and limitless suffering—Li Qingshan.
Wan Jianfeng could not help but develop some worship too, recalling Li Qingshan’s mighty demeanor when he led the army outside Black Cloud city, almost about to prostrate himself towards him too. However, his heart suddenly shuddered, and he roared furiously, “No, I will never worship you!”
The battle outside Black Cloud city had an extremely large impact on Wan Jianfeng. It was not because it was a near brush with death, but because both Li Liehuo and Li Qingshan had demonstrated fighting spirit far greater than his. Even some of the regular soldiers were more determined to die than a great sword cultivator like him, which was basically an absolute insult. It also allowed him to understand why he had never been able to undergo the sixth heavenly tribulation. That was why he used the pain to temper himself, to develop this sword technique that embraced death to drag the enemy down with him.
Wan Jianfeng would rather die than become Li Qingshan’s follower, but he knew that he would be swallowed by the mountainous voices sooner or later if this continued. He immediately made up his mind, ready to blow up his Yang Soul.
The thoughts of Yang Soul cultivators moved at lightning speed. They only needed a single thought to make all the power stored in their Yang Souls lose control and detonate. It was an artificial form of cultivation deviation that was virtually unstoppable.
However, Li Qingshan was well-prepared. “What are the three of you waiting for?”
Three black shadows ignored the blinding glow and threw themselves into Wan Jianfeng’s Yang Soul. They were the three kleśa-māra that Li Qingshan had tamed.
Wan Jianfeng’s desire to die immediately dulled, while his desire to live flared like fire.
If a person was a country, then the will of the people was the ruler. At this moment, faced with the incursion of enemies, the ruler was prepared to fight to the death when three “great loyal subjects” suddenly appeared in the imperial court, each and every one of them suggesting surrender. As such, the ruler’s determination was swayed.
After all, the desire to live was a person’s greatest instinct.
A while later, the three kleśa-māra left Wan Jianfeng’s Yang Soul. They were all haggard and exhausted, like they had spent a lot of effort.
Li Qingshan had only made them disturb Wan Jianfeng, but he forbade them from killing him, so the power they used up could not be replenished. However, none of them had any complaints. Being able to die for Li Qingshan was the greatest honour.
Li Qingshan opened his fingers again. Wan Jianfeng separated from his sword, returning to his body. He immediately fell out of the air, holding the sword in both hands in a reverse grip and bowing deeply towards Li Qingshan. He said both fearfully and sincerely, “Please punish me, my king. Earlier, I was ignorant of the bigger picture and the greater cause, which was why I resisted the king.”
Li Qingshan sighed. “If this was the past, I’d definitely grant you death!”
“That’s the fate I deserve!” As Wan Jianfeng said that, he was prepared to commit suicide.
“So be it.” Li Qingshan immediately lost interest in talking with him. He said indifferently, “Wan Jianfeng, not only am I going to alleviate you of your crimes, but I’m even going to help you undergo the sixth heavenly tribulation too.”
Wan Jianfeng was brought to tears out of gratitude. “I am unworthy of the king’s generosity.”
