Fu Qingjin used his last bit of spiritual energy to fly over.
Li Qingshan let out a crazed burst of laughter and swung down with his blade.
With a crack, the fracture expanded across the entire sword.
The treasured sword renowned throughout the world was severed into two pieces just like that. Green light poured out from the crack, permeating the surroundings.
Regardless of the toughness of the sword, it was unable to escape the fate of being destroyed when it sustained such forceful damage without the support of spiritual qi.
Fu Qingjin felt like a bolt of lightning had just struck him. He was thrown into a daze, spraying with blood violently.
The blood-red blade and the Green Ruins sword had clashed countless times. They had already become riddled with damage. Now, it turned to fragments with the Green Ruins sword.
Fu Qingjin flew into a frenzy, lunging over madly. This was a sword that had been passed down in the Sword Collection palace throughout the ages. This was a sword even more important than his life. If he lost this sword, what right did he still have to return to the Sword Collection palace and face the palace master, the elders, and his master!?
He took out a handful of scarlet talismans from his hundred treasures pouch. He could no longer care about whatever oath he had sworn. He wanted to drag Li Qingshan down with him.
Li Qingshan casually tossed out the hilt of the blade and struck Fu Qingjin’s chest.
With the Green Ruins sword broken, both Fu Qingjin’s body and mind suffered extremely heavy damage. His cultivation had receded drastically, so it was impossible for him to dodge or block that. He was unable to turn into green light and drift away anymore, nor did he possess a body as tough as metal.
With the sound of cracking bones, the talismans were thrown into the air.
“Fu Qingjin, that’s the end to our grievance!”
Li Qingshan held back the killing intent in his heart. Having reached a point like this, slaughter had already become pointless. Leaving Fu Qingjin to bear with the pain of losing the Green Ruins sword was the best revenge there was.
A daemon core that came from a thousand years of cultivation for a sword that had been passed down for a thousand years. This was very fair.
Fu Qingjin fainted once again.
Before they knew it, the dark clouds had gathered over once more. The battlefield under the clear skies gradually shrunk.
“We’ve failed!” Liu Zhangqing murmured. The gloominess infected all the cultivators.
This was not only a single failure. The one-sided strength the moon demon had demonstrated left everyone astounded. In this realm of cultivation, did he still have any opponents? If he wanted to massacre them all, just who could stop him?
As Gu Yanying had said, this was a battle between commanders. They had been checkmated before they even reached the end game.
“Northmoon, I order you to kill him!”
A voice seeped out from underground, clear like silk. Everyone heard it. The Spider Queen saw how Li Qingshan wanted to let Fu Qingjin go, so she issued an order.
Li Qingshan frowned. He extended his hand and scooped up the unconscious Fu Qingjin. As long as he tightened his grasp gently, a genius of the Sword Collection palace would die here.
Just as everyone thought he would follow the Spider Queen’s order and deal with this problem for good, he instead tossed Fu Qingjin towards the human cultivators in the distance, leaving everyone surprised.
Liu Zhangqing caught Fu Qingjin and glanced at Li Qingshan in surprise. “Fellow Hua Ci, please tend to him immediately!”
“I hope that even without this sword, there will be a day when you can still stand before me and take me on in a real battle.”
In his groggy state, Fu Qingjin vaguely heard a familiar voice say that.
The Spider Queen was stunned. She never expected Li Qingshan to actually defy her order. Her beautiful face twisted into a mess.
“Northmoon, I order you to kill them all, or you will face the worst punishment possible!”
Alright!
Li Qingshan unfurled his wings of wind and arrived before the cultivators in a flash. His scarlet eyes glanced past the face of every cultivator.
“Get him together, everyone! I refuse to believe we can’t even deal with one of him with all of us!” Cheng Kaishan bellowed out loudly. The cultivators were all on the verge of fighting. They flashed with light as they gripped spiritual and arcane artifacts in their hands, poised for battle at any time.
Li Qingshan stood with his arms crossed, smiling silently. Figures appeared one by one behind him. The night roamers had all gathered over, proving it was not only one of him.
Faced with this colossal disadvantage, Cheng Kaishan’s face sank. He was unable to say anything else.
“Wait. Moon- Northmoon, what do you want to say?”
Liu Zhangqing stopped the cultivators and went up to receive him. He remembered how he had chased away a crying child in Clear River city in the past. He was not bloodthirsty.
Li Qingshan opened his mouth and let out a great yawn. He waved his hand impatiently. “Don’t bug me again in the future.”
“Yes! Let’s go!” Liu Zhangqing was taken aback at first before beaming in joy. He thanked him with a bow before turning around and telling everyone that.
Many of them were dissatisfied, but at a time like this, who was still bold enough to stay behind and play the hero? They all rode off on their artifacts. Even Cheng Kaishan left with the group, afraid to fall behind.
Underground, the Spider Queen flew into a rage. She ground her teeth. “Northmoon!”
Li Qingshan smiled and thought to himself, Lolth, don’t even think about using me as entertainment anymore. Of course, I don’t mind pleasing you in a different way.
However, as the cultivators all retreated, one person remained where he was, without budging at all. He glared at Li Qingshan. He was the greatest within the Clear River prefecture, the slovenly daoist priest, Zhou Tong.
He was wrapped in sparks as his messy daoist robes glowed with light. He seemed like a deity.
The Lightning Slaughter wooden sword in his hand flickered with lightning, like a bolt of lightning directly plucked out of the sky. He directly pointed it at Li Qingshan as he glared at him furiously.
“Fellow Zhou, don’t bite off more than you can chew!” Liu Zhangqing called.
Zhou Tong turned a deaf ear to him. “Moon demon, are you bold enough for a battle to the death with me? I’ll make you know that the Clear River prefecture has other people even without the disciple of the Sword Collection palace!”
“Alright, come at me!” Li Qingshan laughed aloud. I’ve almost forgotten, but we also have a small grievance between us. I’ll use this opportunity to settle it as well!
Rumble!
Zhou Tong pointed at the sky and electricity swam through the clouds. A bolt of heavenly lightning descended and struck Li Qingshan.
Lightning was the punishment of the heavens. Among the various different techniques, it was second to none in terms of destructive power. A bolt of lightning even thicker than a tree with countless smaller sparks wormed into Li Qingshan’s body, wreaking great havoc. His entire body became numb as even his bones shuddered.
Just as Li Qingshan wanted to use the spirit turtle’s daemon core to suppress the power of the lightning, he suddenly discovered that his body was rapidly recovering with his powerful life force as it was being destroyed. And, after recovering, a refreshing feeling overcame him, like his body had been forged.
The sea of qi in his dantian was filled with flashing lightning and thunder, constantly weaving around the spirit turtle’s daemon core. However, as Li Qingshan’s strongest defence, the daemon core could not be destroyed by a few bolts of lightning.
He actually felt like he was facing a tribulation. It was very satisfying.
“How satisfying!” Li Qingshan just stood there, allowing the lightning to rain down on him.
“I’d like to see just how long you can last!”
Zhou Tong was furious. He moved with his sword, conjuring numerous blurs to receive Li Qingshan. He appeared from every single angle as bolts of heavenly lighting slammed against Li Qingshan endlessly.
Li Qingshan stood with his arms crossed without budging at all. His head full of scarlet hair stood on end. As he shook his head, he spat out a poem.
“From whichever direction the winds leap, I remain strong, though dealt many a blow!”
Continuing like this won’t work. This bastard’s body is just too tough. Regular lightning won’t be enough to heavily injure him. The Divine Heaven Method of Lightning Wielding is powerful, but it consumes spiritual qi far too rapidly. I can’t even replenish it in time with spiritual stones. Northmoon, since you’re so arrogant, I’ll have you witness the power of true heavenly lightning!
Zhou Tong thought to himself and withdrew the numerous blurs. He performed a series of ritualistic daoist gestures and began chanting. The Lightning Slaughter sword in his hand glided up and down, and with a crackle, he produced arcs of lightning.
Overhead, the dark clouds became brighter and brighter, but no lightning fell. The rumbling thunder was like a colossal beast building up energy.
A figure wrapped in lightning rose up from Zhou Tong’s body. His mouth protruded like a hawk’s with a pair of wings on his back. He wielded a mallet in one hand and a chisel in the other. It resembled the form of the legendary Lord of Thunder.
Although this was a world of cultivators, no one dared to claim they were god. Even the most powerful soul nascence cultivators lacked the right to. He was borrowing the power of gods, which only demonstrated how terrifying the attack was.
The spirit turtle’s daemon core immediately let out an omen of warning. If he could endure the power of lightning, then it was forging. If he could not, only death would await him.
“Lord of Thunder…” Zhou Tong roared out furiously with the vague rumbling of thunder. However, before he could even say “Strikes the Daemon”, Li Qingshan, who had been playing the role of a living target obediently the entire time, arrived with a flash and grinned.
“Give it here!”
“Be careful, fellow Zhou!”
Zhou Tong was just about to unleash his ultimate move, so he was immobilised. All he could do was watch as Li Qingshan grabbed the Lightning Slaughter sword and forcefully ripped it out of his hands with brute strength.
Rumble! The dark clouds in the sky erupted with a string of lightning, turning the landscape white and drowning out the startled cry.
Having lost Zhou Tong’s control, the terrifying move of the “Lord of Thunder Strikes the Daemon” ended without resolving properly.
“Do you really think I’ll let you rough me up as you please?” Li Qingshan said with hidden meaning. He weighed the Lightning Slaughter sword in his hand and said, “I’ll spare your life, but let me keep this to fiddle around with!”
Although the Lightning Slaughter was an item connected to the slovenly daoist priest’s life, his power to control the sword remotely obviously paled in comparison to Li Qingshan’s fourth layer of the ox demon.
Zhou Tong stared at the Lightning Slaughter sword in Li Qingshan’s hand. Overcome with humiliation and fury, his face became twisted. He was forcefully dragged away by Liu Zhangqing. He did not put up much of a struggle, as he knew if he continued, he would only be inviting humiliation.
Never would he think that the disaster he faced today would be connected with the karma he had sown several years ago.
Li Qingshan pointed out. “Is there anyone else who refuses to accept this? I’ll specially deal with the discontent today!”
“Let me try out this daemon!” Cheng Kaishan called out.
“But if you do plan on continuing, I’m going to start killing.” Li Qingshan rubbed his fingers and glanced at Cheng Kaishan indifferently.
Cheng Kaishan felt all his hairs stand on end. He saw how Li Qingshan had no intention to kill, which was why he contemplated taking on the moon demon in battle. Even if he was defeated, it would not exactly be humiliating. However, when he heard Li Qingshan say that, he immediately became filled with regret.
“Fellow Cheng, keep your cool. The daemons have the advantage. We must consider the greater picture!”
“Fine. Today, I’ll spare-” Cheng Kaishan immediately used this to get out of the situation without humiliating himself. Originally, he wanted to say “I’ll spare you.” but upon further thought, if he ended up angering the moon demon with that, it would probably be difficult to pull out, so he simply shut up unhappily.
“Mighty be sir Northmoon!”
Among the celebratory cheers of the night roamers, the cultivators all flew away in low spirits.
Just when Li Qingshan gave up on stopping the war, the war had instead approached a premature end due to his will.
With all these grievances resolved, he was filled with utmost delight.
However, he understood that the chaos was nowhere close to coming to an end. Once the game of chess came to an end, the chess players could finally break free from their final restraints and enter the stage gloriously.
His troubles had only just begun. Whether it was the Sword Collection palace that had lost its sword or Wen Zhengming who had lost his disciple, they all viewed him as a mortal enemy. However, these matters were still far away in the distance.
Ye Liubo said anxiously, “Master, how do you plan on dealing with ma’am Spider Queen’s side of things?”
Li Qingshan gazed at the sky. Gu Yanying had already vanished. He lowered his head and smiled.
“I’ll go see her right now!”
