A man in white bearing a tally stick descended from above on an auspicious cloud, cupping his hands gracefully towards Li Qingshan from afar.
Little bro!?
Li Qingshan stroked his chin—if he had a chin. He found the term of reference to be extremely intriguing yet also extremely mysterious.
The asure light stopped. It turned out to be a simple-looking sword with its wonders hidden away internally. The blood of the Heretic God of Hundun filled the air, but even it was unable to corrupt it at all.
Normally, Li Qingshan would have rushed up already and tried to place the sword under his control, but right now, he did nothing because he noticed that the Heretic God of Hundun’s tendrils immediately withered away and fell to the ground after being cut apart, losing all signs of life.
There were no Human Immortals capable of that. He was a True Immortal!
Heavily injured, the Heretic God of Hundun did not shrink back out of fear; instead, it let out a furious howl. Countless nodules appeared where the tendrils were severed, and its body wriggled violently, actually trying to squeeze out of the demon cavern.
Li Qingshan immediately shut the demon cavern and sent it back to Hundun’s dominion. If a regular Heretic God took on an attack like that, they would probably perish on the spot, but it actually only ended up being heavily injured. He still wanted to use such a capable lackey a few more times!
As a result, he cupped his hands towards the True Immortal. “With old bro’s abilities, do you even need me to spare anyone?”
“Old bro!”
The man in white smiled as if he was very content with that term of reference. He stroked his beard and was about to speak up when Chao Tianjiao rushed over and grabbed him by the sleeve. “Master, why are you so late? This bastard of a brat has even destroyed Myriad city!”
Li Qingshan thought, Sure enough, the man in white is the legendary Elder of Heavenly Tomes.
The ancestral hall of the Myriad sect that had already been reduced to ruins once hung the portraits of the great sect master and the two sect masters. After becoming the first senior brother, Li Qingshan had paid a visit there too. The portrait depicted a drowsy-looking old man catching a snooze with a rock in his arms with two children standing beside him, one carrying a sword and the other bearing a brush.
Now that Li Qingshan recalled it, the old man in the portrait seemed to glance at him back then. He had completely failed to notice it, but he no longer had any doubts now.
The man in white before him was much younger in appearance and properly dressed, but his demeanor and bearing was identical to the painting’s. They were both dressed in ceremonial, white clothes, unadorned in appearance and handsome and striking in expression.
Each and every one of these True Immortals possessed boundless power, sharing the same longevity as the world. Even turning into a child was nothing strange, let alone just becoming a few decades younger.
The only thing that left Li Qingshan puzzled was, Why wasn’t that slash directed at me?
“Stop with the nonsense, my disciple. This little bro is a little bit of a bastard, but he’s no brat. He’s the honoured guest of the heavenly emperor.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes became slightly stern and tugged his sleeve out of her hand.
“Heavenly emperor! Honoured guest!?”
Even after arriving at beyond the Nine Heavens, the heavenly emperor was still as distant as the heavens to Chao Tianjiao. She had only ever seen him once from afar. Never did she think that the man she had once ridden on would actually be connected to the heavenly emperor some day.
She widened her eyes. “Don’t be senile, master. Why would the heavenly emperor care about someone like him? Not only did he fall as a demonfolk, he even became the lord of the Demon domain…”
Earning an opportunity to mock Chao Tianjiao, Li Qingshan immediately regrew his head and laughed. “Tianjiao, haven’t you heard of a common saying among the people before? If you want a role in the government, be prepared to commit all sorts of crimes, whether it’s murder, arson, or enlisting bandits!”
He was not surprised by this. The man draped in bear skin had personally gifted him the Sword of Xuanyuan and even bestowed all the land beneath the heavens to him, which was why Demon God Taotie had fallen into such a rage, wanting to slay this traitor of the Shennong tribe.
However, he had doubts about that too. Why didn’t that man cut me down?
Chao Tianjiao immediately became irritated but also silenced. This matter had to do with the heavenly emperor. Li Qingshan could talk nonsense as the chief criminal, but as a divine general of the heavenly palace, she could not speak recklessly. All she could do was glare at Li Qingshan, except her emotions were rather mixed inside.
If he was favoured by the heavenly emperor and was made a formal god of the heavenly palace, wouldn’t she have to bow to him when she saw him again in the future?
However, if she had the choice, she would rather not have him as an enemy.
Suddenly, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance’s island-sized body vanished with a great rumble. The ground immediately began to collapse as millions of tonnes of soil fell into the ocean, producing tremendous waves.
A figure flew over and arrived before the Elder of Heavenly Tomes. “Master, you’ve returned! Sigh, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have accepted this wretch. Your city… my books…”
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance no longer seemed stoic at all. He was basically like a kid who had committed a huge mistake yet also suffered grievances, finally waiting until the adults in his family came home. He was both ashamed and saddened. As he spoke, his voice actually turned to sobs as he began shedding tears.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes glanced at Li Qingshan. His gaze was as bright as lightning, except the pressure he gave off at that instant made the world dim. Even the tremendous waves were flattened.
Li Qingshan shifted his gaze silently, acting like nothing had happened. He did not fear the might of True Immortals. He just felt like he did not have reason on his side.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes rubbed the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance’s head and sighed. “You fool, don’t cry, don’t cry. Fate is unpredictable, so who knows what would happen? This crisis was bound to unfold on Myriad city. As for your books…” He smiled with a hint of cunning in his eyes. “Look at what this is.”
He took out a painting scroll from his sleeve and unfurled it. It depicted a Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes.
Li Qingshan gazed into the painting. Of course, that was not just a painting, but a world of its own. The Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes inside was as real as it could be. It was not just a Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes either. Through the windows, there were neat rows of bookshelves. Countless books were stored in there. The sunlight illuminated the pavilion, exposing the drifting dust in the air, like it was a certain quiet and ordinary morning.
Instead of calling it a perfect replication of the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes, it was better to describe it as the Elder of Heavenly Tomes having used some sort of technique to preserve the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes from a certain instant in the long river of time, painting it into the paper.
Now these are the methods of True Immortals!
It reminded Li Qingshan of the handiwork of the school of Painting from the Academy of the Hundred Schools in the past, but who knew how many times more wondrous this was. Perhaps only the Five Absolutes Immortal who painted the Dragon King of Ink Sea could rival this.
Li Qingshan’s heart skipped a beat. Hold on, the Five Absolutes Immortal…
He had already become a god, and he had completed the Spirit Turtle Transformation. He understood the fate entailed in matters with just the slightest thought, allowing him to sense something for himself. At that moment, he seemed to sense the trembling of the string of fate.
Right when he was about to ask about this, the Elder of Heavenly Tomes seemed to sense it, and he gazed at him deeply. “Please give me a moment, little bro. Let me handle some internal affairs and save this disciple of mine before having a deep conversation with you.”
As it turned out, Li Liehuo almost could not hold on for much longer after this short while.
Li Qingshan nodded and said nothing more.
He could clearly sense that the Myriad sect had already been reduced to nothing, but with this great sect master’s appearance, he had become the owner of this world, naturally putting everything into order. Meanwhile, he was merely a vile guest. No matter how friendly and polite the owner was, no one could steal his thunder.
Even if his main body was present, he was not particularly confident that he could defeat him.
Just how many more opponents like this does the heavens have?
The tiger within him growled with its head lowered.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes took this into account and praised inside, Sigh, he really is a person chosen by him. Each and every one of them is outstanding! Hehe, I almost forgot, didn’t our majety choose him as well?
Of course, he could never mention that. He was better off if he forgot about it entirely.
