Wu Gen said, “A shameless degenerate.”
Hua Chengzan said, “Shh, be quiet!”
“What’s so scary about him? Let’s head over!”
Between the bamboo was a bamboo building. Two strange, stone, humanoid statues held lanterns at the entrance, giving off the feeling of a foreign land. The stream flowed into a bamboo basket on the side.
Li Qingshan entered the building with Hua Chengzan. There were around a dozen young men and women currently drinking happily.
All of them were Qi Practitioners, and none of them were below the sixth layer.
Seeing Hua Chengzan walk in, a young man with some whiskers and fair skin grabbed Hua Chengzan by the sleeve. “Senior brother, you ran off before you were even done drinking. What’s that supposed to mean? You need to be punished with three additional cups.”
Everyone kicked up a fuss together. “Three additional cups!” There were also people who asked, “Who’re they?”
Hua Chengzan said, “Alright, alright, alright. Don’t fuss around. Let me introduce these two friends to you. This one is Li Qingshan and she’s Qian Rongzhi. They’re both joining our school of Legalism.”
“These people are all the talents of our school of Legalism in the Clear River prefecture. They might seem a little unbearable, as they are a bit unbearable. I’m not going to introduce them one by one, but let’s all get along in the future!”
Before he was done, everyone had already begun mocking him, “You’re unbearable.”
Before he had come here, Li Qingshan had already learnt a little about the school of Legalism from the Book of All. The current leader of the school of Legalism was the Scarlet Hawk commander, Wang Pushi.
The Academy of the Hundred Schools was not completely cut off from the outside world. Instead, it had an extremely close connection throughout the many levels of the Great Xia empire. The disciples there had great freedom. As long as they had paid their fees, they could do whatever they wanted. Of course, the fees were large amounts of spiritual stones.
This freedom was exactly what Li Qingshan wanted. The rules were not rigid and restrictive like sects. It was relatively more convenient if he wanted to head out to handle some matters.
Some disciples of legalism would study in the academy while doing their job as a Hawkwolf guard, which was possible as long as they killed a few figures on the blacklist every now and then.
The current primary disciple of legalism was Hua Chengzan, which made it even more difficult for Li Qingshan to decline. The people before him must have been the elites among the school of Legalism. They were unable to disguise their aggressive pride that came with their young age.
Li Qingshan clasped his hands at everyone, but most of them ignored him. However, when Qian Rongzhi emerged from behind and bowed gracefully, it made the eyes of a lot of the men present light up.
“Alright, Wu Gen. I was wondering why you didn’t come find us in the past few days. You said you had a friend coming into town, but turns out you’re just hiding a beauty to yourself.”
“Quit your bullsh*t.” Wu Gen refused to admit it, but his smile grew even wider.
Everyone saw Xiao An and praised her too. For a moment, the atmosphere was boisterous.
Hua Chengzan pulled Li Qingshan with him to sit down. He poured him some alcohol and smiled. “Just wait a moment. Your enemy will be arriving very soon.”
The others became rather surprised by the treatment that Li Qingshan received. Although Hu Chengzan treated everyone courteously, he was probably prouder than everyone else here. It was very rare for him to be so close with someone.
Li Qingshan said, “Let’s just hope we don’t blaze with hatred when we see our enemies.”
Hua Chengzan patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry.”
Li Qingshan smiled. Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind from behind and his body stiffened. Hua Chengzan patted his hand with a smile, as if he was telling him to relax.
A woman wrapped her arms around Hua Chengzan and Li Qingshan’s necks from behind. A pretty face appeared between them and smiled. “What enemy?”
Li Qingshan felt something soft press against his back as fragrance assaulted his nose. He was slightly surprised, as this woman was not a disciple of the Sect of Clouds and Rain drinking with everyone else, but a disciple of the school of Legalism. Her cultivation was even higher than Wu Gen’s, at the ninth layer. She was only second to Hua Chengzan among the disciples of legalism.
Hua Chengzan said, “Stop frightening people. If he punched you, you probably wouldn’t be able to take it.”
“He’s able to bring himself to do something like that?” The woman turned towards Li Qingshan. “You’re able to bring yourself to do something like that?”
Her vermillion lips were inches away as the smell of alcohol assaulted Li Qingshan’s nose. With that, the feeling on his shoulder grew clearer. Li Qingshan coughed gently. “Even if I can bring myself to do something like that, I’d miss.”
“You’re actually able to bring yourself to do that?” The woman stared into his eyes and drew closer to him.
And I definitely wouldn’t miss, thought Li Qingshan.
Hua Chengzan introduced, “Han Qiongzhi, the secondary disciple of legalism, the young miss of the Han family.”
Han Qiongzhi said, “If you put it like that, you’ll make me angry. What young miss of the Han family? You can just call me senior sister! Oh right, hasn’t my little brother come today?”
Hua Chengzan said, “He never comes to places like this. It’s not like you don’t know. Now go. Don’t get in the way of my drinking.”
Han Qiongzhi said, “No, I refuse. They’re all gathering around the new girl, so of course, I have to gather around the new guy.”
As expected, Qian Rongzhi had completely joined in with the disciples of legalism now. Han Qiongzhi suddenly sensed a gaze look over. She turned around and saw Xiao An staring straight at her. She raised an eyebrow and said with displeasure, “Kid, what’re you looking at?”
“She’s not looking at anyone.” Li Qingshan’s voice coldened slightly as he scooped up Xiao An. He lowered his head and asked her, “Do you want to eat anything?”
“Oh? Pretty cocky are we?” Han Qiongzhi raised her voice and attracted quite a few gazes.
Hua Chengzan thought, Oh no. Han Qiongzhi had always been headstrong, but she never liked being brushed off.
“You’re just a bumpkin-” Before Han Qiongzhi could finish talking, Hua Chengzan had shoved a cup of alcohol into her mouth. “Go drink your wine!”
Han Qiongzhi said unhappily, “Exactly why s-” However, she could see how Hua Chengzan’s gaze was warning her despite still smiling. Her anger immediately subsided, and she snatched the cup. “Fine then.”
“Senior sister has been taught a lesson by big bro Hua again!” A female disciple of legalism teased from nearby.
“I’ll rip your mouth out!” Han Qiongzhi glared at Li Qingshan before going off to mess around with that girl.
Hua Chengzan said, “That’s just how her personality is like. She has no ill will towards you.”
Li Qingshan smiled. “That’s fine. Among ninth layer Qi Practitioners, her personality is one of the better ones I’ve seen.” Her personality was so horrible that he almost wanted to kill her.
“If you can yield to her a little, it’ll be very beneficial to you in the Academy of the Hundred Schools, no, the Clear River prefecture. Seeing how she doesn’t dislike you, you might even get the chance to become the son-in-law of the Han family!”
Li Qingshan smiled. “You’d better make use of an opportunity like that yourself, brother Hua!”
Hua Chengzan chuckled. There was a laugh from outside. “He has had far too many opportunities like that. Even if he wants to, he can’t make use of them all.”
The voice was slightly husky, but extremely feminine, while the laughter was infectious, enough to make people feel joy for some reason.
Li Qingshan looked out the door. A woman stepped in. She held a circular fan with peach blossoms, covering half of her dimpled face. Li Qingshan’s eyes widened. She seemed like a sweet maiden around fifteen or sixteen years of age, but the charm and bearing she gave off made her seem like a mature madam. Her body was startlingly curvaceous. Her erect chest pushed her clothes to the limits, her waist pulled together thinly, and her round bottom filled her dress. As she looked around with her beautiful eyes, she had already attracted everyone’s attention.
Li Qingshan had seen quite a few supreme beauties before, but he still gasped in amazement slightly inside. With such grace, who else could she be apart from the sect master of the Sect of Clouds and Rain?
However, he became even more cautious. There was not a single Foundation Establishment cultivator that he could afford to treat lightly.
“Big sis Qiu, what brings you here?” The fair-skinned disciple of legalism with thin whiskers rushed over. He desired her inside, but he refused to show any of that on the surface.
Qiu Haitang smiled and spoke gracefully, greeting everyone. When she saw Qian Rongzhi, she paused. Qian Rongzhi lowered her head in a hurry, but she only sneered inside.
In the end, Qiu Haitang’s gaze landed on Li Qingshan, but it moved onto Xiao An without stopping. She touched her fan and exclaimed, “The Aspect of Heavenly Fragrance and Beauty! As expected, that’s my impressive disciple. Thanks, Chengzan.”
With a fragrant breeze, Qiu Haitang had already arrived before her in the blink of an eye. She said to Xiao An, “Kid, come with me!”
Li Qingshan growled, “Don’t even think about it!”
Qiu Haitang waved her fan like she was shooing away a fly. “You must be Li Qingshan. For brother Hua’s sake, I’ll clean your slate with my Sect of Clouds and Rain.”
All Li Qingshan saw was the images on the fan begin to move and change as the world spun around him. He used the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression in a hurry to compose himself. He was about to strike.
A slender, pale hand extended over from the side, emerging like a butterfly from a bush and grabbing Qiu Haitang’s hand. The fan immediately stopped.
“Haitang, you can’t just abduct people the moment that you see them. You need to ask whether they’re willing to leave with you or not.” Hua Chengzan frowned. He did not know what the Aspect of Heavenly Fragrance and Beauty meant to the Sect of Clouds and Rain. He had not even managed to say everything he had prepared. She had come to take Xiao An away the moment she appeared, even using her arts of charm in the process.
Qiu Haitang was surprised, but not because of Hua Chengzan. She had been expecting Hua Chengzan to stop her. It was not particularly surprising for Li Qingshan to be able to keep his composure either. Instead, she had basically used all of her arts of charm on the child, yet she actually managed to remain unfazed. It was rather unbelievable to her.
However, she was not discouraged. For a moment, her eyes rippled like water, producing many illusions as she asked softly, “Are you willing to leave with big sister?”
Xiao An said crisply, “I don’t want to.”
Qiu Haitang’s expression changed slightly.
Li Qingshan said, “You heard her!” He had to make the Sect of Clouds and Rain give up first.
Hua Chengzan said, “Haitang, it looks like you’re not destined to take her as your disciple, so please just give up on it. I brought Qingshan here to resolve his misunderstandings with the Sect of Clouds and Rain.”
Only then did everyone learn the reason why Hua Chengzan had brought Li Qingshan here.
“If that’s the case, let’s calculate the total debts. Li Qingshan, I suspect you to be connected to the deaths of a few disciples from my sect.” Qiu Haitang’s expression changed once more.
In Li Qingshan’s eyes, she had immediately gone from being a charming beauty to a vicious fiend, enough to stun people. However, he only sneered. Tempting him with the arts of charm might have been somewhat effective, but she was nowhere close to being enough to frighten him.
If he was even afraid of that, then wouldn’t he frighten himself to death once he transformed and checked the mirror? Actually, he was very satisfied with his appearance as a daemon.
Li Qingshan said, “That’s right. I did kill the procuress in Jiaping city’s Parlour of Clouds and Rain. However, she was working with Zhuo Zhibo, and she infringed upon me first. She also abducted innocent girls and forced them into prostitution. I executed her as a criminal according to the laws of Great Xia. The district magistrate ruled over this case too. What do you have to say about it?”
Everyone was stunned. They never imagined that Li Qingshan would actually kill a member of the Sect of Clouds and Rain, and he was even bold enough to stand up against a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He was basically out of his mind. They were extremely familiar with Qiu Haitang, all calling her “big sis Qiu”, so when they looked at Li Qingshan again, their gazes were rather hostile.
