Li Qingshan swung his right hand, and the broken wall was reduced to dust loudly. Fu Qingjin turned into specks of green light and circled around Li Qingshan. It condensed into Fu Qingjin’s face, which said, “You think you’re already strong enough, but actually, you’re powerless.”
“Fu Qingjin, you really like to blabber, don’t you? Life and death isn’t decided through words. Why don’t you speak with your sword?” Li Qingshan laughed aloud and swung the blood-red blade wildly, striking every single speck of green light with precision. The specks of green light split into two. Just when they were about to scatter, the blade moved like a shadow and struck them at the same time. The green light then split in half again, and the flashes from the blade split up with it.
The blade was swung violently and furiously, but Li Qingshan’s pupils remained clear and unperturbed, shining slightly with blue light. Time seemed sluggish, passing extremely slowly. The movement and trajectory of every speck of green light became extremely clear.
Clang! There was a clash of metal. The specks of green light condensed into the Green Ruins sword and collided with the blood-red blade, and Fu Qingjin flew backwards, slightly surprised. His face finally lost its sense of ease. “A mental state of intricacy!”
Fu Qingjin’s great powers did not originate from the Green Ruins sword alone. He also had access to the tremendous heritage of the Sword Collection palace. He was a disciple chosen from thousands who had undergone elite training and education.
If the Academy of the Hundred Schools and the smaller sects were akin to regular schools, then the Sword Collection palace would be a training class for geniuses. In regular schools, memorising the curriculum and being able to use the knowledge skillfully made a good student, while for the latter, completely understanding the curriculum under a teacher’s guidance would only make them qualify as a genius. It was the same realm of cultivation, but their strengths were completely different. Even if he just wielded a regular spiritual artifact sword, regular Foundation Establishment cultivators would still struggle to defeat him.
“A mental state of intricacy? Is that what you call it?”
After reaching the fourth layer of the spirit turtle, Li Qingshan could sense the beginning and end of each thought in utter tranquility, which went through countless profound processes. If he combined it with the spirit turtle’s daemon core, he could sense fate with even greater precision. If he used it with the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell, he could reflect attacks right back at his opponents. He had used it with his blade swings earlier, forcing back Fu Qingjin. He had never been able to tell whether it was just talent or something else, but he finally learnt what it was today from Fu Qingjin.
“I must admit that you are indeed an enemy that can threaten me. Against enemies like that, I normally show some respect, but that’ll be your misfortune.” Fu Qingjin’s gaze was as sharp as a sword as he extended the fingers on his left hand like a sword. At the same time, the Green Ruins sword in his right hand slanted backwards.
Li Qingshan swung down. A wave of blood-red blade aura turned violently, exploding with blood-red light and dyeing the Green Ruins Illusion completely red.
“Green Ruins Tribulation, Myriad Swords Bloom!” Fu Qingjin chanted and stabbed out. The green light collided violently with the blade aura, piercing the blade aura with a flash and moving straight towards Li Qingshan’s forehead.
Li Qingshan tilted his head to dodge and took a step forward. A Green Ruins sword suddenly shot up from where he had shifted his foot. He twisted his feet and leaned backwards, and a streak of light brushed past his face. Before his foot could even land on the ground, streaks of green light erupted from the earth. Each sword moved faster than the last.
Li Qingshan’s feet shifted gracefully, traversing through the streaks of light like a vicious tiger bounding through a jungle. He strode forward at a steady pace while his gaze remained locked on Fu Qingjin the entire time.
The streaks of light grew even thicker, so he casually swung his blade and opened a path in the forest. He sneered loudly. “My misfortune? Then I really am lucky.”
Fu Qingjin smiled. “It’s only just begun.” Forming a sword seal with his hand, he pointed upwards. Green Ruins swords flew into the air one by one and hovered there. They turned around together, pointing towards Li Qingshan and turning into a wave of sword rain. They all thrummed loudly as they fell with a whistle.
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows. He moved rapidly, producing a wheel of blurs with the blood-red blade. The sound of colliding metal rang out constantly.
However, the sword rain seemed to be endless. The countless Green Ruins swords arranged themselves into rings of sword formations around Li Qingshan, flying over from every angle and direction. Even when they were repelled, they would just turn around and fall back into formation.
Fu Qingjin only smiled indifferently. Li Qingshan was gradually swallowed by the Green Ruins swords.
A roar of the tiger demon pierced the clouds, and the sword formation halted. Li Qingshan unfurled his wings of wind and burst out, arriving above Fu Qingjin in a flash and swinging down.
Before his blade had even reached him, Fu Qingjin turned into specks of green light and scattered, merging with every single Green Ruins sword. The countless Green Ruins swords gathered into a long dragon, flickering with green light as it rushed over.
By imbuing the green light into the swords, Li Qingshan would struggle to harm him even with his blade in hand. Meanwhile, the Green Ruins Illusion replenished Fu Qingjin’s power endlessly while completely severing Li Qingshan’s connection to the spiritual qi of the world. His daemon qi would diminish with every bit he used.
Fu Qingjin had been undefeatable right from the beginning, which was why he had conversed with Li Qingshan at such great ease, like a hunter staring at his prey in his trap. Meanwhile, Li Qingshan was mid-air, so he could not even use his innate ability of the Strength of the Earth. He truly felt trapped.
In the face of imminent danger, Li Qingshan’s eyes suddenly became clear. He lowered the blade that he relied on to hold his ground against the Green Ruins sword, as if he had given up on the battle against Fu Qingjin. He threw a straightforward punch without any fancy tricks. It seemed to pause and swell larger with every inch it travelled. It seemed sluggish.
Fu Qingjin laughed inside, Is this his final, crazy attempt to put up a desperate fight by throwing his own flesh at the Green Ruins swords?
The moment the fist and the swords collided, something unexpected happened. The Green Ruins swords shattered one by one. The tips of the swords had not even come into contact with Li Qingshan’s fist when they were destroyed by an invisible power. The moment they shattered, even the green light within them was put out speck by speck.
Cracks rapidly expanded. Wherever they passed by, the ruins collapsed, shattering into green light. The rumbling reached fifty kilometers away, even louder than the Tiger Demon’s Fierce Roar. He seemed to strike a huge, invisible bell.
The corner of Li Qingshan’s lips curled up. He had been holding back the power of his tremors that possessed the greatest destructive power exactly for this opportunity. With his mental state of intricacy, he layered the power of tremors such that he could even take down an entire mountain.
Li Qingshan collapsed the sword dragon in a single breath, destroying the myriad swords in a single instant and forcing out the real Green Ruins sword. Li Qingshan sneered viciously and converted all of his daemon qi into the power of tremors, pouring all of it into the Green Ruins sword.
The Green Ruins sword screeched and flew back into Fu Qingjin’s hand. His shabby, faded robes had been reduced to tatters, and he was no longer graceful at all. His face had become sheet-white too, having been heavily injured. In the Green Ruins Illusion, he had originally turned his body into specks of light to avoid damage, but that instead allowed Li Qingshan to unleash the full potential of his destructive powers.
The Green Ruins sword had been damaged too, which directly affected his mind. It made him extremely surprised and furious. He stared at Li Qingshan. “What power is that?”
“Go ask the king of hell!” Li Qingshan lunged over and expanded to over a hundred feet tall, reverting to his original form. His head was as tough as metal as he brandished his sharp fangs and claws, just like a black, demonic tiger roaring out wildly. His tiger tail lifted up the blood-red blade and turned into a blurry, red streak, swinging towards Fu Qingjin’s waist. At the same time, his tiger claws lashed out, ready to unleash his power of vibrations at any time. He was covered in weapons that could kill.
“Wretched daemon!” Fu Qingjin barked, and the surrounding ruins twisted into green light. The entire Green Ruins Illusion turned into a sea of sword qi, gushing over and surrounding Li Qingshan.
