This was the first time that Li Qingshan had heard of that phrase. He laid out his hands. “I’ve already agreed to him anyway, so who cares if he’s a…”
“Shh. Fights in the academy aren’t that simple to organise.” Hua Chenglu shushed him.
Li Qingshan saw how many people were looking over. He said gently, “Here’s not a place to speak. I have friends who are going to the Hundred Flavours restaurant with me. Do you want to come along?”
“I’ve only heard about it from my elder brother too. The school of Legalism has a gathering tonight, so I won’t be able to go along. Anyway, just be careful.”
Hao Pingyang said, “Isn’t that the younger sister of commander Hua? I never thought you’d be so familiar with the Hua family.”
“They’re all pretty nice people.”
Zhang Lanqing asked worriedly, “Are you really going to fight Chu Tian?”
“Haha, that kid is begging for a death sentence.” Hao Pingyang was completely confident in Li Qingshan. Back then, he had already been extremely impressive when he was just at the second layer, so was he supposed to be afraid of a kid at the same level of cultivation as him now that he was at the sixth layer?
Li Qingshan smiled. “Let’s go and get some grub.” Though, he did take a note of the two words, Reincarnated Celestial.
In the Hundred Flavours restaurant, they gazed at the sparkling lake under the setting sun and drank until they were tipsy. The sun had already set now. Li Qingshan returned to the Cloudwisp island.
Liu Chuanfeng was currently biting the end of his brush in deep thought. There was a single light on the table that shone brightly, illuminating the entire room.
“You’re going to fight someone?”
Li Qingshan took off his shoes before the porch and sat down before the table. “Yep. Let me take a look at how you’ve been going.”
Liu Chuanfeng was currently preparing for his new novels. Of course, it would not have anymore sexual content, so it was suitable for distribution through the various channels.
“I’ve just begun. Sigh, what’s so good about fighting? You might as well just stay home and write novels instead.” Liu Chuanfeng snatched back his draft in a hurry.
“There are two thousand spiritual stones if I win.”
“Go get him!”
“Oh right, do you know what a Reincarnated Celestial is?”
Liu Chuanfeng asked, “What’re you asking that for?”
“That Chu Tian seems to be a Reincarnated Celestial.” Li Qingshan took out a piece of pine wood and channeled true qi into it, continuing with his practise of forging artifacts.
“What! You can’t accept his challenge then!”
“Reason?”
“You know how there’s no limit to the universe, right? How there are worlds outside of this world. So-called Celestials are basically people from beyond this world, who pass away due to various reasons. However, their spirits linger, and they reincarnate here. They’re peculiar from the moment they’re born, with extraordinary appearances and tremendous fortune. And, once they awaken their innate knowledge, they’ll become even more powerful.”
“A Reincarnated Celestial. No wonder then,” Li Qingshan muttered in thought. He had seen many Qi Practitioners in the past, whether they were friends or foes, but it was truly his first time meeting someone like Chu Tian.
With Chu Tian’s mental fortitude and intelligence, it was a miracle that he could reach the sixth layer at such a young age. As it turned out, he was the same as him. They were both transmigrators. With how vast the world was, there were countless people with strange, fortuitous encounters, not just him. As a matter of fact, the worlds beyond these worlds were not even exclusive to him.
Liu Chuanfeng said, “You don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself either. When the disciples of two schools want to fight, the permissions of both school leaders is required. It’ll be fine as long as I vehemently refuse.”
“No, you will agree to it.” Li Qingshan crushed the piece of wood in his hand.
“You-”
“Don’t worry, I’ll win!” Li Qingshan took out another piece of pine wood. He refused to believe that he would be defeated by an idiot, even if he was some Reincarnated Celestial.
However, he would not be careless either. Increasing his cultivation as a Qi Practitioner would obviously be his main priority, and he had a trump card too.
Liu Chuanfeng no longer tried to convince him otherwise. He just agreed to it before talking with him a little more. Li Qingshan borrowed Liu Chuanfeng’s waist tablet and entered the cultivation formation. The faint light illuminated his surroundings.
He took out the supreme grade Cursive Sword Calligraphy from his hundred treasures pouch. This was the strongest trump card in his possession in human form. The supreme grade Cursive Sword Calligraphy had already been terrifyingly powerful before he had even condensed a sea of qi, enough to threaten ninth layer Qi Practitioners.
Now, he had condensed a sea of qi, which was a critical moment of development to Qi Practitioners. The true qi within his body was no less than ten times more powerful than the past. If he could truly refine this spiritual artifact, he truly believed that there would no longer be any Qi Practitioners that could resist a “gentle strike” of his.
TL: A reference to Gulong’s wuxia novel, Juedai Shuangjiao. It’s the same as the one in chapter 297.
By then, regardless of what trump cards Chu Tian possessed, all he had to do was unleash the Cursive Sword Calligraphy, and he could show him what was what.
Originally, he would never show anyone the supreme grade Cursive Sword Calligraphy. It would be no different from a child playing around in the busy streets while holding a handful of gold.
But now, with the increase in his strength, the relatively safe environment of the academy, and how it was unlikely for the school leaders to just steal from him, he began to consider this. He had to think about the consequences too. After all, he was a primary disciple now, while Xiao An was a supreme genius recognised by all the school leaders too, as well as the primary disciple of the school of Buddhism.
He was like a child who had finally grown into a teenager, moving from the busy streets to a school. Safety had increased drastically now, so he possessed some confidence in taking it out and showing it to others.
Li Qingshan unfurled the Cursive Sword Calligraphy and gazed at the criss-crossing inky sword slashes on there. He brought his fingers together on his right hand like a sword, subconsciously waving it around following the slashes on there. He was unable to replicate what Xiao An had achieved, immediately comprehending the sword intent within there, but he gradually felt like he was benefiting from it.
Compared to when he had first obtained this fragment of the Cursive Sword Calligraphy in the bandit’s nest, his insight and knowledge had increased by more than tenfold. He could gradually understand many obscure things now.
Li Qingshan planned a little. He decided to get down to business first. He held the two sides of the scroll with both hands as the Gui Water true qi in his sea of qi immediately surged, gushing down his arms and into the Cursive Sword Calligraphy.
The various strokes on the Cursive Sword Calligraphy lit up one by one, far more than before and far brighter too.
Refining spiritual artifacts was a special right that only Qi Practitioners who had condensed a sea of qi possessed. It was to use their true qi to imbue the spiritual artifact with their own imprint. After doing so, the sea of qi in their dantian could resonate with the spiritual artifact itself. If they were flying swords or flying blades, then ranged control would be possible.
Of course, refining a supreme grade spiritual artifact seemed to be a little difficult for Li Qingshan right now.
After most of the strokes on the Cursive Sword Calligraphy had lit up, it stopped, and his true qi began to run out.
A blue light flashed through Li Qingshan’s eyes. Obviously, he had his reasons for refining the spiritual artifact within this formation.
Specks of light, visible with the naked eye, flickered in the formation and merged into his body.
The sea of qi that had almost run out was full once more, gushing into the Cursive Sword Calligraphy. The brilliance flooded every single stroke, lighting up Li Qingshan’s face with delight.
Just when he was about to succeed, Li Qingshan’s smile stiffened, and the process of refining the spiritual artifact halted once more, but it was not because there was insufficient true qi.
Every single stroke on the Cursive Sword Calligraphy twisted and trembled, flickering with instability.
Li Qingshan thought, Oh no! With a flip of his hand, he directed the Cursive Sword Calligraphy outwards. At the same time, the Cursive Sword Calligraphy unleashed a blinding flash and terrifyingly sharp sword qi gushed out.
The sword qi was disorderly while the sword intent was aimless, but the Cursive Sword Calligraphy felt chillingly cold in Li Qingshan’s hand. The power that a supreme grade spiritual artifact could erupt with was simply too terrifying. If it had been directed at him, it would be a miracle if he was just heavily injured if he did not transform and unleash the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell beforehand.
The light vanished with a flash, while the sword qi and sword intent were so short-lived that it seemed like they had never existed in the first place.
Time seemed to stop for a moment. With a few gentle cracks, the parts of the bamboo building suddenly slid around.
Afterwards, like some sort of mechanism had been set off, the delicate, majestic structure was reduced to thousands of pieces. The structure did not collapse. Instead, it flew apart.
Li Qingshan felt his vision open up. A fan-shaped region opened up before him. The formation was originally located at the very centre of the building, but now, he could see the bamboo forests outside.
“Heavens. What are you doing.” Liu Chuanfeng heard the disturbance and rushed over. He was utterly dumbfounded by this sight.
“I’m refining a spiritual artifact,” Li Qingshan answered honestly. He even showed him the Cursive Sword Calligraphy in his hand. He had already made up his mind on this. If he needed to, he would show the Cursive Sword Calligraphy to others, so there was no need to hide it from Liu Chuanfeng anymore. They were basically in the same boat anyway.
“T- that’s a supreme grade spiritual artifact. You were actually refining a supreme grade spiritual artifact?” Liu Chuanfeng had realised a long time ago that his primary disciple was not as poor as regular Qi Practitioners, but he was still astounded by the fact that he could produce a supreme grade spiritual artifact.
Li Qingshan said, “What, can’t I? My true qi is very pure.”
Liu Chuanfeng said, “Do you have any common sense? Let alone a sixth layer Qi Practitioner like you, even those at the tenth layer can’t refine a supreme grade spiritual artifact. This isn’t an issue of whether your true qi is pure enough. Instead, it has exceeded the abilities of Qi Practitioners. It’s something that only Foundation Establishment cultivators can accomplish.”
Li Qingshan was surprised. “But Xiao An could use the supreme grade Guardian King’s pearl the moment she received it.”
Liu Chuanfeng said, “Using is one thing, refining is another. Do you know what they call Xiao An in the academy?”
“What do they call her?”
“A deviant, a monster.”
“That’s just what mediocre people think,” Li Qingshan said disdainfully, but he also understood that he probably could not rely on breaking this trend for now, seeing how he practised the Gui Water Method of Condensing Qi.
“No wonder you’re bold enough to fight Chu Tian.” Liu Chuanfeng glanced at the half-destroyed building again. He was still shaken. He might be a tenth layer Qi Practitioner, but if he began fighting him, the person to die would definitely not be Li Qingshan. Even if he could not refine it, just how many Qi Practitioners could oppose him as long as he used it?
Li Qingshan said, “I obviously wouldn’t agree to a battle that I’m not prepared for. He has trump cards, so why can’t I have some too?”
“Sigh, looks like I need to put up another mission to get the disciples of mohism to come fix this place. The measly sum of spiritual stones the higher-ups give aren’t even enough for me to collect material in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain.” Liu Chuanfeng sighed before he wiggled his eyebrows at Li Qingshan. “Look, my dear disciple, when you win two thousand spiritual stones, why don’t you invite your master to a session of joy?”
Li Qingshan rolled his eyes. “Who’s supposed to be your dear disciple? Let me tell you, you better stop visiting places like that in the future. I’m on bad terms with the Sect of Clouds and Rain. Who knows, they might end up kidnapping you in order to get me. If that ever happens, I’m not even going to bother with their demands.”
“I have forgotten that, but don’t talk nonsense. I’m still a school leader after all, so how could they lay their hands on me?”
