“What’re you afraid of? It’s just a mere daemonic beast now,” said the Golden Pheasant Elder, but his voice was not particularly calm.
Not only did the Lone Grave Elder’s caution linger around, but it even grew heavier. It was impossible for a daemonic beast to burrow through the ground and arrive here.
A powerful daemon qi rushed out from the hole. The Golden Pheasant Elder’s expression changed. “A Daemon General!”
“What’re you running so fast for?” The hole spat out a clear voice. It was loud and resonant, echoing through the empty hall.
Milliped immediately loosened up, swaying his body around.
The Lone Grave Elder shut his mouth and corpse qi surged on his body. The Green Vine Elder said, “It’s an enemy. Prepare yourselves.”
A completely naked, handsome man emerged from the cave. His red hair flowed freely as his eyes shone, like charcoal fire burning within the darkness. His eyes swiveled around and looked at the three elders. “Your ground is so tough!”
There was nothing Li Qingshan could do about the many layers of formations either, so he forcefully paved a path through the mountain, making his way up to the very top.
However, this was not a new innate ability, but another use for his old ones. After becoming a Daemon General, his past three innate abilities had become much stronger. The Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell had obviously become tougher, while the Ox Demon Tramples became more refined. He could control the direction and range of the shockwave more effectively now.
The three elders found this to be absurd. In the middle of the night, a naked man had appeared in the main hall of the Green Vine mountain from the most unlikely place possible.
The main hall was the foundation of all the formations, so a gap that could not be covered by formations existed below it. However, the earth below there was even tougher than refined steel!
Li Qingshan said clearly, “I’ve come for revenge today. Prepare to die, you three old coots!”
The Green Vine Elder asked, “Is it just you?”
“Are you blind? Doesn’t he count too? You still remember him, right?” Li Qingshan tapped Milliped with his foot.
Milliped crawled up Li Qingshan happily, draping over his shoulder like a large, pink scarf.
Li Qingshan slapped his forehead. “Sigh, just go. The bit of atmosphere I’ve built up has been completely destroyed by your lack of interest.” Milliped scuttled back into the hole.
The three elders exchanged glances before laughing together. So this was why they had felt uneasy? The daemon qi he gave off was extremely powerful, but that was only compared to regular daemons. They could tell with a single glance that he had only become a Daemon General recently.
What they feared the most was still an attack from the Daemon Commander below, or a large-scale attack for vengeance. One single, mere Daemon General was actually bold enough to come knocking on the door of the Green Vine mountains, trying to cause trouble? There was no reason at all for them to turn down a daemon core delivered right before them.
“Do you know who I am?” Li Qingshan said haughtily. He had never been one to blabber. Villains who blabbered never had a good fate. However, for something like revenge, he had to make it clear to the enemy who he was and where he came from. Otherwise, even if he killed his enemy, it would be tasteless even if he did not show off.
A green vine that rapidly extended over from below his feet was their answer, eagerly bursting out of the ground one after another.
Li Qingshan leapt up, but he heard the cry of a golden pheasant overhead. The Golden Pheasant Elder swung his wings and smashed him to the ground. Immediately, he became entangled by the vines.
“The name of a wretched daemon will only defile my ears.”
Li Qingshan unleashed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell, blocking the vicious green vines. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a ball of vines, completely immobilised.
The three elders immediately recalled the black, humanoid daemon that had appeared during the Herb Gathering ceremony. It had given them an extremely deep impression.
Today, it was almost like a repeat of that day.
“So it’s you!” The Green Vine Elder laughed. Originally, he still felt slightly worried as victory seemed to have come just too easily, but now, the final shred of his worries had vanished. This daemon had gotten ahead of itself the moment it overcame the heavenly tribulation, feeling like it was capable of anything. It wanted revenge, but it had no idea about its differences compared to them.
Among the three of them, even the weakest had reached mid Foundation Establishment. There was not the slightest possibility for them to be defeated even if they fought alone.
The Lone Grave Elder did not even get the chance to do anything. He just watched on coldly.
Li Qingshan called out, “That’s impossible! How can I lose to you humans?! I’m going to blow up my daemon core and drag you down with me!”
The three elders immediately became nervous. They could still recall the power unleashed when Milliped blew up his daemon core like it had happened yesterday. The Golden Pheasant Elder retreated backwards involuntarily, while the Lone Grave Elder summoned the Ancient Bronze Corpse General to guard him.
Li Qingshan seemed to have turned into a bomb that could explode at any time.
“Wait! If you’re willing to hand over your daemon core, we’ll let you leave alive,” said the Green Vine Elder in a hurry.
“That’ll be impossible. You humans are all crafty tricksters. I will never believe you!” Li Qingshan gave off powerful daemon qi, like he was about to blow up his daemon core at any time.
The Green Vine Elder could hear how he had begun wavering, so he persuaded him patiently. “We won’t trick you. How about this? I’ll remove the green vines first to express my sincerity so that you can return to the hole!” At the same time, he exchanged glances with the Lone Grave Elder and the Golden Pheasant Elder. The moment this foolish daemon showed the slightest opening, they would move together and kill it. Once they reported this back to the Daemon Suppression alliance, they would be rewarded too.
The dense vines receded from the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell. To the three elder’s surprise, Li Qingshan turned around and rushed out of the hall.
“Stop him!” The Green Vine Elder took out a staff of green vines and pointed it at Li Qingshan. Vines burst out of the ground, swaying about demonically.
Li Qingshan came to a screeching halt and leapt gently, brushing past a vine that had almost wrapped around his foot before turning quickly. He constantly changed directions without the slightest pattern at all, leaving behind a path of vines that twisted about.
Just when the door was right in front of him, the Ancient Bronze Corpse General descended from above as it surged with black corpse qi, landing in front of the door heavily. It spread its arms and lunged towards Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan wanted to pull back, but his surroundings had already become filled with green vines. Looking up, the sharp claws of a golden pheasant fell down towards his head.
“Still want to run?” The Lone Grave Elder extended a finger and emitted a streak of pitch-black light. It passed through the cracks between the vines and struck Li Qingshan accurately.
Li Qingshan’s body softened. He had already been enveloped by the claws of the golden pheasant. Resplendent golden light illuminated the gloomy hall. He squinted his eyes, and all he spotted was a sharp beak pecking over viciously.
Just when the Green Vine Elder revealed a smile of relief, the feeling of danger he had experienced over the past few days suddenly reached the maximum. Silently, a long, slender blade of ice pierced his body.
“Humans are all crafty tricksters.” Li Qingshan smiled as he gripped the hilt of the blade, revealing his sharp canine teeth.
Even a lion would use its full strength to catch a rabbit. With Li Qingshan’s personality, why would he become careless and begin to look down on three Foundation Establishment cultivators just because he had undergone the heavenly tribulation?
Right from the very beginning, he had been planning a surprise attack. Originally, he planned on killing the three elders one by one, but he had never expected them to be gathered together. Combined with the formation, he was unable to launch a surprise attack. However, if there was no opportunity, then he would make one. As a result, Li Qingshan used his mirror image to distract the enemies, which would allow him to suddenly strike and kill the most troublesome Green Vine Elder.
The Green Vine Elder lowered his head and looked at the blade before looking at Li Qingshan. Disbelief filled his eyes. Just when he tried to use his spiritual qi, the blade twisted and slashed out behind Li Qingshan. It left behind a streak of light in the air, which blinded the Lone Grave Elder and the Golden Pheasant Elder.
“Green Vine!”
The slender blade kicked up a fierce gale, which swept out in all directions. Everything covered by the thin streak, whether it was the huge pillars that held up the hall or the countless extending green vines, was cut apart.
The Green Vine Elder’s body had already been reduced to two pieces, falling to the ground.
“How dare you actually-” The Lone Grave Elder’s corpse-like expression moved. However, before he could even finish speaking, the fiendishly handsome face appeared right before him, interrupting him with a smile. “How dare I actually what?”
The Lone Grave Elder’s heart sunk completely. The smile came with the familiar scent of death. He seemed no different in appearance, but his strength was worlds apart from his clone. The existence before him was startlingly strong. It was not strength that Daemon Generals who had just emerged from a heavenly tribulation should have possessed.
The ice blade did not stop. With Li Qingshan’s right hand as the centre, it produced a beautiful semicircle.
Corpse qi erupted!
The Lone Grave Elder bellowed out and black corpse qi sprayed out from his sleeves as he retreated to the edge of the hall. He lowered his head in shock to look at the wound on his chest. The blade had cut through his protective corpse qi easily. If it were not for the blast of corpse qi, he would have followed in the Green Vine Elder’s footsteps already.
A ball of corpse qi, as black as mud, lingered around. It came in contact with a pillar, and a portion immediately vanished like it had been ripped away by an invisible beast.
With a series of loud creakings, the top half of the pillar collapsed with a portion of the ceiling. Before it had even reached the ground, the corpse qi had eaten it away. All inanimate objects would suffer this fate. If a living creature became contaminated with a bit of it, it would probably be reduced to a puddle of liquid in the blink of an eye.
With a cry, the golden pheasant unfurled its wings and unleashed several hundred feathers, shooting into the corpse qi as several hundred streaks of golden light.
There was a shining flash, and the corpse qi parted into two. Li Qingshan emerged with the ice blade. He smiled at the Lone Grave Elder. “Nice reactions.”
A ray of moonlight landed on him, adding a tint of silvery-blue to him. His handsome face and perfect body seemed even less alive now. Instead, he seemed like the statue of a god from legends.
From the beginning to the end, he had not given off a single sliver of daemon qi.
Lanterns lit up one by one on the Green Vine mountain. Many disciples of the Green Vine mountain emerged from their residences and looked at the main hall.
“What’s going on?” “Let’s go take a look!”
Yu Shukuang yawned. “It’s so late. What’s going on now?”
Several hundred streaks of golden light rained down towards Li Qingshan as the golden pheasant lunged forward.
“Lone Grave, let’s work together and kill this daemon swiftly!”
With a hurried clang, Li Qingshan swung the ice blade, producing an arc. It landed on every single feather with great precision such that they shot back with even greater speed than when they first came.
The accompanying gust of wind from the swing ripped through the main hall viciously like countless blades and axes, destroying all obstacles.
Li Qingshan raised his head at the pheasant’s claw. He did not dodge, nor did he block. All he did was throw a punch.
The disciples of the Green Vine elder saw hundreds of streaks of golden light shoot straight up. A golden pheasant burst through the roof, having been sent flying. Its golden glow had dimmed; it was now in horrible shape.
