Every single character on the report was the size of a cup, and the handwriting was horrid. It all seemed distorted, like homework that a young child had completed mindlessly. The content only seemed to reinforce this.
“It’s very wrong for daemons to kill humans… it’s not like the Green Vine mountain is completely right either. Why do they have to hold that Herb Gathering ceremony or whatever it’s called… Of course, it’s still wrong for daemons to kill humans. They need to be punished…” It was the same few sentences written in different ways, making no clear sense and swaying both ways.
“Commander, it’s not that I don’t want to write it. Sect master Green Vine just won’t cooperate, so I don’t know what to write either. Surely I can’t just make things up!” Li Qingshan laid out his hands and said helplessly.
“I don’t care. You’ll write it even if you have to make it up! Are you the commander or am I the commander?” Wang Pushi brought out his authority as the commander and forced Li Qingshan to yield.
“That’s far too unreasonable of you!”
“Hmph, where’s your arrogance now, kid? Now you understand what more authority means, don’t you?” Wang Pushi sneered.
Li Qingshan was angered too. He slammed the desk. “There was no point in the mission in the first place! What the hell do their deaths have to do with me? It’s not like I know them. The Green Vine Elder doesn’t take me, a puny Qi Practitioner, seriously at all. Where am I supposed to find so many of my own thoughts?!”
Right as the two of them glared at each other angrily, a gentle breeze ruffled their hair. They looked back at the same time. Before they knew it, Gu Yanying was already sitting on the long bench in the corner of the room with one leg on top of the other.
“Commander Gu.” Both of them started explaining at the same time. Wang Pushi hurried over from behind the desk and bowed towards Gu Yanying.
“More authority!” Li Qingshan sighed gently and received a vicious glance from Wang Pushi.
“Little bro Qingshan, do you have any problems with the mission from me?” Gu Yanying arrived in front of the desk in a flash and picked up the thin report.
“Your m- I don’t. I just feel that ten thousand characters is too much.” Li Qingshan was unable to grasp her movements at all. Compared to her, Bloodshadow seemed like he was crawling along the ground. Even if Li Qingshan transformed, he would not be her opponent. And, faced with her mysterious speed, he probably could not even escape.
“Ten thousand characters?” Gu Yanying smiled widely. “Old Wang, you’re abusing your position to resolve personal grievances, aren’t you?”
“I would never. Your mission should have been completed with one hundred percent effort. He has let you and the kindness you’ve shown him down with this half-assed report.” Wang Pushi completely ignored Li Qingshan’s furious glare.
“You returned right after you met the Green Vine Elder?” Gu Yanying asked suddenly. Her gaze became as sharp as a hawk’s, as if she could see through the very minds of people.
“Yes.” Li Qingshan lowered his head, afraid to make eye contact with her just in case he gave himself away.
“Then you missed out on quite the show. The daemon visited the Green Vine mountain again. He almost killed the Green Vine Elder again, but Fu Qingjin interfered.” Gu Yanying leaned against the side of the table and crossed her arms.
“Commander, was the daemon slain?” Wang Pushi asked.
“He wasn’t. All he sent was a clone.”
“Just a clone possesses so much strength!”
“If his original body launched an attack, he might even end up eating Fu Qingjin too!” Gu Yanying glanced at Li Qingshan with a smile.
Li Qingshan listened quietly, but he had a feeling that Gu Yanying’s gaze had been fixed on him. Once upon a time, this had been the attention he could only hope for, but now, he felt very pressured.
Gu Yanying changed the topic. “Little bro Qingshan, tell me, just what is the daemon thinking?”
Li Qingshan said, “He wants to die.”
“Really?”
“He’s basically digging his own grave like this, defying the Treaty of Kings and disturbing the peace right now. Even daemons won’t spare him.” Li Qingshan raised his head and stared into Gu Yanying’s eyes. He could feel that Gu Yanying already knew something, as she had specially demanded for a report—a clear attempt to stir him up.
As a result, he composed himself a little. If it were a blessing, then he would not have to worry about it being a curse. But if it were a curse, it would be inevitable anyway.
Wang Pushi butted in and said, “How can it be that simple, kid? If the Dragon King of Ink Sea would hand over his clansmen so easily, he wouldn’t be one of the Ten Daemon Kings! If this is handled badly, it’ll probably lead to war.”
“The exact reason why I’m here is to handle this. No matter what the daemon is thinking, I hope he can settle down a little,” Gu Yanying said as she made her way out. Li Qingshan’s heart tensed up before he let out a sigh of relief.
However, she ended up stopping and looking back. “Oh right, be sure to rewrite it. Ten thousand characters, without a single character missing.”
Wang Pushi smiled and patted the stunned Li Qingshan’s shoulder.
……
What does Gu Yanying know? How much does she know? Should I run off and avoid this altogether? Though, it looks like she has no intentions of getting to the bottom of this, so if I just leave like this, that’ll be far too cowardly. It’ll make her laugh at me.
Speaking of which, she’s half a daemon too! Although she’s a little different from a half-daemon like me, she still might find me to be more relatable, right? Not only won’t she harm me, but she’ll even treat me very kindly and generously instead. If it weren’t for the fact that I already have a woman right now, this might have been a good opportunity to get close to her.
Stop dreaming. That woman isn’t some kind of goddess from your dreams. She has absolutely no issue with including the deaths of several tens of thousand of people in her plans. Who do you think you are to her anyway?
On Cloudwisp island, Li Qingshan stared at the verdant bamboo outside the window as his thoughts ran wild. Afterwards, he lowered his head and stared at the white paper on the table. He racked his brains and sighed painfully. “Ten thousand characters!”
Li Qingshan did not end up choosing to leave the academy. No matter what Gu Yanying was thinking, she did not seem to hold any bad intentions. He had a feeling that if she really did decide on dealing with him, he would be doomed even if he fled to the world of daemons.
His human identity brought him far too many benefits. If he abandoned it, his cultivation speed would drop drastically. That would be unforgivable. Even if it came with some risk, he would still maintain his identity without hesitation.
“My dear disciple, are you writing a novel?” Liu Chuanfeng shuffled over and poured him some tea, showing great enthusiasm.
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“This is a report for the Hawkwolf Guard.” Li Qingshan told him the whole story.
“How difficult can that be? I’ll help you out. I’m best at something like this.” Liu Chuanfeng patted his chest.
“Alright then.” Li Qingshan was taken aback.
Liu Chuanfeng immediately sat down. With a splash of ink, the brush took off in his hand. Within two hours, a report of ten thousand characters emerged fresh off the press.
“Here. You just have to copy it out, and you’ll be good.”
“Thank you.” Li Qingshan accepted it and had a read. The content covered a great extent, and the personal arguments went into great detail. With flowery language, it ventured deeply into the meaning behind the Treaty of King’s existence and the conflicting relationship between humans and daemons. Li Qingshan found it to be very inspirational, and he began to admire Liu Chuanfeng a little more too.
“Then, my dear disciple, I want to discuss something with you,” Liu Chuanfeng rubbed his hands and said with embarrassment.
“What’s the matter?”
“Can you lend me some spiritual stones?” Liu Chuanfeng filled up Li Qingshan’s cup again.
“What do you need spiritual stones for? Don’t tell me you’re going to the Parlour of Clouds and Rain again?”
“I’m not. I want to buy a True Spirit pill so that I can establish a foundation.” Liu Chuanfeng had constantly tried to establish a foundation in the past few months, but it never ended in success. The main issue was he was very poor and unable to afford a True Spirit pill. Although he had already restored some of his dignity as the leader of the school of Novels, novels could not turn into spiritual stones unfortunately, which was why he was still very poor and unable to afford True Spirit pills.
The power of belief he had gathered could be used for cultivation, but it was useless for breakthroughs. Just when he was distressed, he saw Li Qingshan return and immediately remembered that this disciple of his seemed to be quite wealthy.
Li Qingshan was taken aback. To think that a mighty school leader would be reduced to such a state one day. He sure was pitiful.
“If you can’t, then just forget about it.” Liu Chuanfeng reddened. Since when did school leaders borrow spiritual stones from their disciples? He had no idea when he would be able to return it either.
“I can’t lend you spiritual stones, but I can lend you two True Spirit pills!” Li Qingshan said after some thought.
“R- really?” Liu Chuanfeng sank into dejection when he heard the first half, but after hearing the whole thing, he actually struggled to believe his ears. Since when did Qi Practitioners who were willing to lend out True Spirit pills exist?
“Of course.” As he said that, Li Qingshan had already taken out two embroidered boxes and placed them on the table.
“A- are you really giving them to me?” Liu Chuanfeng gulped. He opened a box, and sure enough, a True Spirit pill he had been dreaming of for a very long time laid inside, glistening with light in an extremely tempting manner.
“I’m not giving them away. You’ll have to return them in the future.” Li Qingshan reiterated.
“Alright, alright. I’ll definitely return it. I’ll return it before you need them!” Liu Chuanfeng was deeply touched. Although Li Qingshan had never mentioned it, he could imagine just how much effort it had taken for Li Qingshan to obtain these two True Spirit pills to prepare for his breakthrough in the future. Now, he was lending them to him for free without the slightest hesitation, without even writing up a deed. What level of trust was that?
He felt a lump in his throat. He placed his hand on Li Qingshan’s shoulder. “Qingshan, to be able to have a disciple like you under me, I truly am the most fortunate master in the world!”
“You don’t have to be like this. If you successfully establish a foundation, the entire school of Novels will benefit. I’ll benefit from your glory too.”
Li Qingshan still had around forty True Spirit pills on him, so lending out two was perfectly fine.
As for Liu Chuanfeng potentially reneging on the debt, he had not even considered it. However, it was not because of his trust in Liu Chuanfeng’s moral character, but because of his trust in his own strength. If he refused to pay it back, he could pay it back with his life instead—You bastard, I helped you out of kindness, yet you actually screwed me over instead! Die!
“Oh right, don’t let anyone else know that they’re from me, or you’ll have to return four pills.” It would be better if fewer people knew he possessed True Spirit pills.
“Alright, I won’t tell anyone!” Liu Chuanfeng’s eye rims had already reddened from emotion as he said with a trembling voice. His dear disciple was clearly trying to keep this a secret so that he, a school leader, would not have to embarrass himself! What care! What consideration!
“Qingshan, I’m going to go!” Liu Chuanfeng said nothing else. He stood up and made his way out. A translucent tear even slid down from the corner of his eyes.
“Do you really have to be so extra?” Li Qingshan muttered to himself as he scratched his head.
“What’s so extra?” A familiar voice rang out from outside the window.
“Qiongzhi!” Li Qingshan looked over, and a familiar face grinned at him from the window. Who else could it be apart from Han Qiongzhi?
“Oi, kid, you haven’t done anything unspeakable behind my back recently, have you? You better come clean. I’ve heard about it all already!” Han Qiongzhi held back her excitement and said with fake seriousness.
