In the sky, Li Qingshan sat on a cloud with his legs crossed. He could sense that the power of belief was gathering much faster in his Divine Talisman of Great Creation.
If belief was a power, then the people in the city below gradually began to believe in the existence of a fictitious being.
“Let’s go. To the next stop!”
Li Qingshan travelled around. He had carefully chosen all of these missions. He had accepted many, covering a large range, but they were extremely simple too. He basically only hunted down people of the jianghu.
This was not because he could not complete harder missions. There were probably no Qi Practitioners that he and Xiao An could not beat. However, the main reason for all this was for the character he had written to stand out. Various issues would arise once Qi Practitioners became involved, and it would no longer be within the domain of regular people either.
Even if he cut down the master of the Sword Collection palace right now, the common people would not know who he was! Beating up those local tyrants and aristocrats who ran amuck and abused the common people were what regular people loved to see.
Gradually, the image of a teenage hero was established in the extensive hearts of the common people.
Yes, a teenager. Li Qingshan had originally decided on a half-grown child, but the child would grow with the rumors. He would be different every time he conjured him, appearing in this world in a form that lived up to everyone’s expectations.
He was mentioned within every household, and the patches on the teenager’s clothes either multiplied or lessened as a result. The colour of his waistband would vary too. The brush in his right hand would always remain, but sometimes he would be holding a reed flute or a gourd in his left hand.
His final form was determined by thousands of thoughts of belief and faith.
At the same time, the power of belief within the Divine Talisman of Great Creation multiplied. The teenage hero became more realistic, more vivid, and stronger.
His eyes even twinkled with a light that was no different from a living person’s, which left Li Qingshan secretly amazed over the wonders of the art from the school of Novels.
Of course, he still lacked the ability of independent thought, so he was not a living person. All he could do was behave like a machine and utter some predetermined phrases. At times that mattered, Li Qingshan would have to secretly control him like a wooden puppet.
However, Li Qingshan could sense what limited him was no longer the quantity of power of belief, but the level of his Divine Talisman of Great Creation.
And, the level of the Divine Talisman of Great Creation was limited by his cultivation as a Qi Practitioner. Only when he underwent the heavenly tribulation and converted his true qi into spiritual qi could he reestablish the Divine Talisman of Great Creation, granting it even greater power. By then, perhaps he really could conjure something like a living child that could communicate with others.
……
On the top of the highest building in the city, Zhao Lingshu stood with his arms crossed, staring coldly at a figure that rode away on a tiger. He leapt down, and a pair of metal wings unfolded on his back, gliding through the air in pursuit.
With a whoosh, he kicked up a great gust of wind and descended from the sky, landing before the young man.
“Who are you? Why are you blocking my path?” said the teenager in an exaggerated manner; it was like he was acting out a show.
Zhao Lingshu said coldly, “Which painter do you study under, copying others by trying to uphold justice and eliminate the crooked? Your tricks can fool regular people, but they can’t fool me.”
“Who are you? Why are you blocking my path?” said the teenager in the same exaggerated manner like he was acting out a show.
“Do you know what the people you killed on Jade Altar mountain are to me?” Zhao Lingshu furrowed his brows. He was born in a bandit’s nest. His father and brothers were all bandits. Due to his talent of being able to practise qi, he was chosen by the leader of the Six Directions association, a renowned gang within the Clear River prefecture. He was taken in as a disciple. After many years of arduous cultivation, he had reached the seventh layer, but he never expected he would discover all his relatives dead, without a single trace left, when he returned home triumphantly.
“Who are you? Why are you blocking my path?” The teenager repeated his words once again in an exaggerated manner like he was acting out a show.
If Zhao Lingshu had played video games before, he would definitely find this sight extremely familiar. Unfortunately, while the teenager seemed no different from a real person, and he could unleash many powerful moves, he was still not a person at the end of the day.
It was exactly because he had never played them before that Zhao Lingshu lost his temper. “The people you killed were all my family! I want you to die!”
Shwing! He drew the sword on his back, and it swept over to the teenager’s neck like a bolt of lightning, like a dragon swimming through the air.
Zhao Lingshu could already see the moment when the young man was beheaded. He had not come for revenge out of hot-headedness. Instead, he had secretly undertaken quite a lot of investigation. The teenager possessed the abilities of the school of Painting, but the paintings he produced were at the third or fourth layer at most. There was no reason for him to fear.
Sure enough, the teenager remained in a daze as he watched the sword fly over. He did not react at all.
Just when he was about to exact his revenge. Zhao Lingshi instead felt a certain loneliness of being aloof from the world. As a cultivator, he was destined to walk a path of solitude. Farewell, father. Farewell, brothers. Please bless me in the afterlife!
However, the flying sword ended up stabbing nothing. The teenager had vanished into thin air, and the huge tiger was squashed into a thin piece of paper, flying into the air. Zhao Lingshu was taken aback.
“Oi, what’s wrong with you?”
A man in black descended from the sky on a white cloud with a child as he called out at Zhao Lingshu.
Li Qingshan had just been distracted for a moment as he conversed with Xiao An, yet as soon as he looked back, he saw a sword flying over. He immediately dispersed the power of belief and recalled the huge tiger.
Zhao Lingshu said coldly, “So you were secretly behind everything?”
Xiao An had always been alert, so she told Li Qingshan what had happened.
“I was wondering why the sh*tty bandits of Jade Altar mountain were so arrogant. As it turns out, you’re backing them.” Only now did Li Qingshan understand the full story, which made him furious. He had quite an impression of the place, as he saved over a dozen women from the bandit’s nest. All of them had been toyed with to a point where they almost bore no human resemblance. Some of them had even lost their minds.
He had yet to see any of those legendary heroic outlaws who upheld justice and fought for righteousness.
“Regular people are no different from ants. They can’t escape their fate of being toyed with and slaughtered. Since you’ve admitted to it, you can go die!” Zhao Lingshu controlled the sword with his fingers, and it shot over with lightning speed.
The aura Li Qingshan gave off was only at the seventh layer, and the child beside him was just a mortal. He had absolute confidence in slaughtering the two of them then and there. Although the entire matter had surprised him slightly, everything was still within his control. When he saw how Li Qingshan tried to catch his sword with his hand, he even sneered.
“Chop through it!”
Li Qingshan casually caught the flying sword. “I think you’re no different from an ant too!”
Zhao Lingshu urged the sword on, and the flying sword thrummed, but it did not even budge in Li Qingshan’s hand. He was shocked. He understood he had run into a powerful opponent now, and he was actually an uncommon Body Practitioner. With a flap of his metal wings, he took flight. Fortunately, he still had this pair of mohist Dual Metal wings that his master had bestowed to him. He could fly through the air freely, allowing him to remain invincible.
However, in the blink of an eye, Li Qingshan had leapt into the air too. He moved even faster than the flying sword, which made Zhao Lingshu pale in fright.
As Zhao Lingshu pulled back in a hurry, he said, “Why must we go at each other’s throats over some regular people? I’ve already thought it through. Ever since I’ve embarked on a path of cultivation, I should cut off these feelings of attachment to the mundane world. I shouldn’t have any connection to them anymore. I have to thank you for helping me sever this tie. I’m Zhao Lingshu of the Six Directions society. May I ask for your esteemed name?”
“Die, ant!”
Li Qingshan used the Wave Treading Form and suddenly sped up. He arrived before Zhao Lingshu in the blink of an eye. He formed a tiger’s claw with his right hand and easily pierced his protective true qi, clawing through his skin and ribs and gripping his warm heart before conveniently plucking it out.
It was quite a sensation to use the Tiger Demon Digs out the Heart on cultivators.
I’m actually going to die here! Zhao Lingshu’s eyes suddenly dilated. My path of cultivation has only just begun…
He used his final bit of strength to crush a talisman for requesting help.
He was given to Xiao An as a snack, and there were a few useful items in his hundred treasures pouch, with this pair of metal wings in particular. They were quite interesting.
As for Zhao Lingshu’s request for help, Li Qingshan was not bothered by it at all. During the year he spent in the Academy of the Hundred Thoughts, he gained an understanding of all the renowned sects in the Clear River prefecture.
The Six Directions society was a gang similar to the Iron Fist school in nature. He had even forgotten whether their leader was a ninth or tenth layer Qi Practitioner, but what mattered was he definitely was not a Foundation Establishment cultivator. In the eyes of people of the jianghu, they were a terrifying titan, but to Li Qingshan and Xiao An, they were just a group of self-propelled hundred treasures pouches and an express family meal delivery service. The only thing they would fear would be if they did not end up coming.
Li Qingshan even considered whether to watch over this place and wait for them to deliver themselves to him. However, who knew whether this would succeed or not and proper business took priority after all. He was still in a hurry to head back and go on a date with Han Qiongzhi!
He leapt up and rode off on a cloud.
Two hours later, an old man arrived in this region of wilderness and looked around. He was the leader of the Six Directions association. His cultivation had already reached the ninth layer, almost reaching the peak of Qi Practitioners.
If Li Qingshan had known he would come so quickly, he would probably regret not waiting here for a while.
Their hearts were connected as master and disciple. The old man could sense that Zhao Lingshu was probably already done for. He became furious. His most talented disciple had actually died here! All his years of nurturing had gone to waste.
As for revenge? He would be better off forgetting about it! There were no traces of fighting on the ground. A person who could silently kill Zhao Lingshu was not someone he could afford to provoke.
Gangs like his seemed glorious, able to obtain all the riches and women of the mundane world, but throughout the entire cultivation world, they were truly bottom dwellers. They could not afford to offend either disciples of sects or the Academy of the Hundred Thoughts without good reason. The slightest carelessness could lead to the destruction of their entire gang. He took pity on his disciple for possessing wild ambitions, but horrendous luck.
A month later, the Divine Talisman of Great Creation shone brilliantly. The light blurred the glyphs on there such that it seemed like a blue sun, illuminating his entire sea of qi.
Li Qingshan smiled in satisfaction, but just this was still not enough. However, he had already scattered his seeds in the ground, so he only needed to wait for it to bloom and fruit. He still had around three months, so it should be enough.
Li Qingshan stood before the bustling Hawkwolf Guard and raised his head to look at the vice commander’s room below the hawk. He smiled resplendently. “Qiongzhi, I’m here!”
He actually felt slightly excited. This was after all the first time he had gone on a date in the eighteen years after reincarnating. Xiao An had returned to Anāsravā? island with the painting of corpses, giving him plenty of time.
On the Lake of Dragons and Snakes rippling with blue waves, it was a bright and beautiful spring day. Li Qingshan laid back under a cabin leisurely with a beauty beside him. Her eyes were filled with tenderness, and her valiant demeanour was replaced with gentleness too. Her smooth, rosy lips seemed tender and almost juicy. They opened and closed a few times, letting out a gentle and melodious voice.
“If Gu Yanying and I were in danger at the same time, who would you save first?”
