Strongboulder’s body rippling with muscles constantly gave off a fierce, powerful bearing. The three years of battle had allowed him to completely unleash his nature, and his strength had grown. His shining eyes were congealed from killing and battle intent as he grinned viciously, revealing his pale-white teeth, as if he had been feeding on humans.
“Everyone, back away!” Ye Liusu spread out her arms like she was protecting her people as she ordered loudly, but it was already too late. The formation was unable to stop the Rock of Slaughter’s wondrous power. The eyes of half the night roamers in the village became scarlet red as they lunged at their own clansmen.
Ye Liubo waved her hand, and the bright yellow piece of embroidery Li Qingshan had bestowed to her wrapped up the night roamers, sending them far away from Strongboulder.
“Sir Strongboulder, please contain your power. This is sir Northmoon’s territory.” Ye Liusu clasped her hands. Strongboulder gave her a greater headache than what any human cultivator could.
“Don’t you have ears? I’ve come exactly for him!” Strongboulder swaggered forward, stopped by the formation.
“Sir Northmoon is currently in seclusion. He may not be able to see you.”
“He’s bold enough to even defy the Spider Queen’s orders?” A man with a rosy face and delicate features in a cloak strolled over from behind Strongboulder. He seemed to move at a leisurely pace, but it only took him a blink of an eye to be right in their faces. As he spoke, he revealed his sharp canines.
“Sir Bloodshadow.” Ye Liusu could sense that the situation was bad. She tried to stand her ground. “If it’s just for the Spider Queen’s orders, why would the two sirs have to come here together and in person?”
“Ye Liusu, your actions have always displeased the Spider Queen. Not only are you avoiding battle by remaining passive, but you’ve even engaged in trade with humans. If it were not for the bit of merit that bastard Northmoon has earned, we would have come to destroy you a long time ago.” Bloodshadow’s daemon qi filled the cavern. Just the pressure of the daemon qi made the formation tremble. Over the past three years, who knew how much fresh blood he had drunk. His strength had increased too.
“We haven’t been avoiding battle by remaining passive. We’re building up strength.” Ye Liusu justified herself powerlessly.
“Is this a toy you exchanged from the humans?” Strongboulder knocked the barrier. Suddenly, he flew into a rage and punched the barrier. The entire cavern trembled as stalactites fell down from above. The barrier immediately became riddled with cracks.
“Please calm down, sir Strongboulder!” Ye Liusu lowered the formation in a hurry. The formation could not stop them, and even if it could, would she be bold enough to oppose these two daemons? After three years of administration, she had once believed she had become powerful enough, even finding no issue with Li Qingshan’s secluded cultivation, as she would be able to go about her affairs freely.
But only in that instant did she realise her feebleness. Strongboulder and Bloodshadow’s combined efforts could destroy everything she had built up over the past three years in a single instant, as easily as how they destroyed human cities.
“We don’t care whether you’re avoiding battle or building up strength. We only have one message to pass on. The Spider Queen’s patience is limited!”
Bloodshadow sneered while Strongboulder smiled viciously. It was time for them to pay back Northmoon for the humiliation he had caused them due to their defeat!
The two daemons rushed over and alarmed all the night roamers. The personal guards under Ye Liusu’s lead all rushed over together. They looked at one another, but they did not stop them.
The two daemons arrived in the central cavern that Li Qingshan resided in. Because the night roamers had been afraid to disturb Li Qingshan, only here remained the same as three years ago.
Within the sea of Blue Butterfly flowers, Li Qingshan’s mirror clone sat on the stone bed. Milliped curled up nearby and ingested spiritual qi. He had recovered a lot of his strength, becoming much larger than before. When he saw Strongboulder stride over, he lunged out, spitting out a pink gas.
Strongboulder’s figure suddenly pulled upwards, turning into a large stone giant and stepping down on Milliped before immediately turning back. He could transform at will. He went up and reached towards Li Qingshan’s neck. “Wake up!”
“Master!” Ye Liubo cried out. It crossed a great distance and reached Li Qingshan’s ears.
Li Qingshan slowly opened his firmly-shut eyes. His ruby-like eyes glistened. “It’s you?”
Bloodshadow said from one side, “Where’s your original body? The Spider Queen wants to see you. We want to see you too, to settle an old debt!”
“Lift your foot!” Li Qingshan saw Milliped struggling under Strongboulder’s foot, and his gaze suddenly coldened.
“Are you angry? If you are, then hurry up and come. I’ve already become far too impatient to fight you.”
“If you take too long, your servants are all going to die.” Bloodshadow waved his hand, and a night roamer guard began to twitch all over. Bright-red blood oozed rapidly out from every single pore of his, flying into Bloodshadow’s hand. He extended his tongue and licked it.
Rings of light, like ripples, radiated from Li Qingshan. All the night roamers the light reached felt tranquility blossom inside. The light moved through Strongboulder’s arm and reached his body.
Strongboulder suddenly sensed the battle and killing intent that raged within him eternally settle down, which took him by surprise. He took a step back and released Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan’s figure flickered in the centre of the ripples, sometimes blurry and sometimes clear. Yet, he also seemed like a reflection in the ripples. Only his daemon qi constantly rose up.
The flower in the mirror, the moon in the water, were just reflections—Watermirror’s Image. The mirror could shatter, and the water could be disturbed, but the flower and moon would remain the same. Since his original body had changed, his reflection altered too.
This was Li Qingshan’s deepened comprehension of this innate ability, achieved after reaching the fourth layer of the spirit turtle and condensing the essence of the spirit turtle.
His mirror clone would not vanish because it had run out of daemon qi anymore. As long as he used this innate ability again, his mirror image would recover its original form, like flattening out the water ripples and allowing the bright moon to be reflected again.
The mirror clone right now seemed like he had just reused the Watermirror’s Image. As his original body strengthened, the daemon qi of his mirror clone strengthened too. And, the original Watermirror Image only possessed thirty percent of his strength, which had become forty percent now.
In that instant, the strength of Li Qingshan’s mirror clone multiplied.
“And I had thought it would be something impressive. Looks like this is all there is to it.” Bloodshadown sneered.
Even with his multiplied daemon qi, a huge difference still existed from these two powerful daemons who had grown stronger.
Bloodshadow curled his hand at Li Qingshan, and Li Qingshan’s blood immediately began to surge, as if it wanted to burst out of his body. He only uttered a single word, “Suppress!”, and the blood immediately settled down.
Bloodshadow’s face twisted viciously, and his canines protruded. He extended his right hand and wrenched it back. He refused to believe that he could not even deal with a clone of Northmoon after three years of cultivation.
Countless light-blue hexagons rose up from Li Qingshan, circling around him in a dazzling array and randomly reflecting everyone before finally coming to a stop. It formed a smooth barrier of light, which completely isolated Li Qingshan from Bloodshadow’s ability to control blood.
This was still the same innate ability he had grasped first, the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell. However, with his breakthrough to the fourth layer, especially after obtaining the full cultivation method from his sea of consciousness, his comprehension of it had reached a whole new level.
Most of the spirit turtle’s mystical abilities had to do with its turtle shell. By hiding within its shell, it created a whole world of its own, allowing the world to change and time to flow around it while completely unaffected. No matter how profound the heavenly secrets were or how wondrous the techniques were, was there anything that could bypass a spirit turtle’s shell and affect the spirit turtle itself?
In the instant the spirit turtle opened its eyes, Li Qingshan’s severance from the surroundings had surpassed what Bloodshadow could overcome. As a matter of fact, it was no longer an issue of daemon qi quantity.
Bloodshadow was taken aback. His ability was actually useless.
“So much for fancy tricks! Eat my fist!” Strongboulder recovered his battle intent and murderousness and threw a punch. He was certain the fragile barrier would shatter under his punch. With his fearsome physical prowess, there were no tricks that could be used in a frontal clash like that.
The barrier of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell was as smooth as a mirror. Strongboulder clearly saw himself on the other side of the attack, but he did not worry at all. It was clearly just a reflection. When that thought flashed through his head, his punch landed on the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell, colliding perfectly with the punch in the mirror.
Strongboulder was dumbfounded, as he clearly sensed a legitimate force emerge from his reflection, blocking his punch perfectly. Although it was slightly weaker than him, it did nullify most of the force in his punch.
Strongboulder and Bloodshadow were both shocked. The strength and ability they were most confident in were actually useless before Northmoon. Most importantly, standing before them right now was not Northmoon in the flesh, but just a clone.
Just what had he attained through cultivation in the past three years?
“You can’t even deal with my clone, and you want my original body to come? Alright then, just you wait. I will make you pay for what you’ve just done.” Seeing how Bloodshadow and Strongboulder were about to lash out again, Li Qingshan dispersed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell and just sat down on the ground.
Actually, he had already come up with a rough idea of the move he had just used during his three years of secluded cultivation. However, he had only been able to unleash it now. These two innate abilities of the spirit turtle were linked together in the first place.
In particular, the Watermirror’s Image had many aspects worth considering. It definitely was not as simple as a mere clone technique. However, this move required tremendous mental effort, so he could not use it at will. This was why he refused to give them an opportunity to continue fighting after establishing his strength.
Bloodshadow was surprised and unsettled inside. Suddenly, he no longer felt so confident about the cultivation he had developed over the past three years. He dared not dismiss the statement that Li Qingshan had spat out anymore either. He did not exactly regret killing the night roamer guard. He just felt slightly uneasy.
“Alright. I’d like to see just how powerful your original body is!” Strongboulder became even more riled up by that and was convinced he could not waste his strength on a clone. As a result, he just glared at the seated Li Qingshan.
Just Li Qingshan’s clone had managed to keep the two powerful Daemon Generals at bay. Various thoughts flickered through the eyes of all the night roamer princesses. This was the person they had sworn loyalty to. Their loyalty was not sincere, only considering the interests of their clans, but at a time like this, they could not help but succumb to the power he had demonstrated.
“Master!” Ye Liubo cried out happily and lunged over, throwing herself into Li Qingshan’s arms and unleashing a series of kisses.
Ye Liusu let out a sigh of relief. Aside from her relief, she felt slightly at ease too. From what Bloodshadow had just said, she already understood that everything she had created over these three years had already reached the moment of life or death. The Spider Queen only needed to pass a single order, and everything would go up in flames.
Although I won’t run away from my responsibilities, this is already beyond what I can bear.
Master, please come back!
