Hell was the place where all sins were judged. It was the ultimate representation of the solemnity of punishment.
Once disciples of legalism cultivated to a certain degree, they could draw a sliver of aura from the endless hells and merge it with their cultivations for life.
When they struck, their attacks would possess the great solemnity of hell, suppressing the vigour of the enemy. Every attack would cause pain from the very depths of the enemy’s soul, stirring up their minds.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but this kind of probing is very boring!”
Li Qingshan remained composed, ignoring the pressure and enduring the pain.
Wang Pushi’s face changed. The sound of shattering ice rang out.
Li Qingshan strode forwards. He radiated with chilling coldness, leaving behind a frozen footprint with each step. His body seemed rather sluggish, but that was because he refused to expose his strength.
Without using his abilities that involved daemon qi, he unleashed the Arts of the Boundless Ocean and waves of spiritual qi surged forth in his sea of qi, purging the coldness. However, there were still slivers of coldness that continued to cling onto him, making it difficult to remove, but he ignored them.
The tea cup by Wang Pushi’s side had already turned into ice. Suddenly, cracks appeared on its surface, and it exploded loudly.
The temperature plummeted once again. The chilling coldness wormed through all openings.
The Hawkwolf guards all retreated to the edge of the hall, forced to use true qi to resist the coldness. They turned their heads away, afraid to look at Wang Pushi. Even a glance from the corner of their eye would make them shiver inside.
They were like criminals who had committed unforgivable sins standing before their judge. No matter how violent and wicked they were, they still shook in fear, afraid to confront the solemnity of law.
Crack. Crack. The sound of freezing rose and fell. Frost crawled up the columns and the entire hall.
Another sound gradually drowned out the sound of freezing, which came from Li Qingshan. It was the sound of waves. Spiritual qi tried to surge out of him and into his surroundings like the tide. His bearing did not weaken, only growing stronger instead.
Li Qingshan continued to advance step by step at a steady pace. He stared right into Wang Pushi’s eyes, paying no regard to the law.
The coldness of the Hell of Ice slips in through all openings, while my cultivation realm is above his too. The invading coldness should have injured him a long time ago, so why does he seem perfectly fine? This kid really is something else. Perhaps commander Gu’s order was not without reason.
Wang Pushi had already reached mid Foundation Establishment, obviously superior to Li Qingshan’s early Foundation Establishment. Although the difference between minor realms of cultivation were not as exaggerated as major realms of cultivation, they were still not for say.
In terms of spiritual qi, Li Qingshan possessed many advantages with his cultivation as he practised the Arts of the Boundless Ocean. As for the Wang Pushi, he was unable to demonstrate any of the advantages of his cultivation method on Li Qingshan.
Finally, Li Qingshan reached a meter away from Wang Pushi and stopped.
Two types of spiritual qi clashed violently between them, like ice sealing the ocean in winter only for the waves to smash it apart.
“Alright, just enough will do. If you continue, we might be able to stand it, but the building won’t.”
Hua Chengzan’s hands landed on Li Qingshan and Wang Pushi’s shoulders at the same time.
Both of them withdrew their spiritual qi. The armed chair that Wang Pushi originally sat on suddenly shattered into ice shrapnel.
“Commander, please issue the order!” Hua Chengzan took a step back, standing beside Li Qingshan. He was solemn for once, referring to Wang Pushi respectfully as commander.
“As commander Gu has ordered, Li Qingshan has rendered outstanding meritorious service, and his performance has been exceptional. He is hereby promoted to the Scarlet Hawk commander of the Clear River prefecture!” Wang Pushi said rather reluctantly at the end.
With that, not only did Li Qingshan become stunned, but the other Hawkwolf guards were all surprised too. They had been ordered to assemble here, but they never thought it would actually be something as major as that!
Only now did Li Qingshan understand why Wang Pushi had gathered everyone here. As it turned out, Gu Yanying had promoted him to commander.
Is it because she’s afraid I’ll go to the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, so she’s giving me some benefits? No, it’s not just benefits. I can’t simply turn down my role as a commander if I don’t want to do it. If I want to leave the Clear River prefecture, I’ll need her permission as my commander too.
Of course, Li Qingshan did not believe Gu Yanying had developed feelings for him because of his confession. She probably still only treated him as a relatively important chess piece.
Hua Chengzan clapped his hands, and Hua Chenglu in scarlet clothes walked in from a side door. She carried a brand-new set of uniform for the Scarlet Hawk commander, with a tiny, scarlet bronze hawk tablet placed on top. She smiled. “Congratulations, big brother Li. No, it should be commander Li.”
“I was wondering why old Wang was in such a bad mood. So he’s been fired!” Li Qingshan laughed.
Wang Pushi shot him a vicious glance. Hua Chengzan explained in a hurry, “Don’t talk nonsense, Qingshan. Old Wang has been promoted to a White Wolf guard. He’s going to the Ruyi commandery and leaving the mess that is the Clear River prefecture. This is fantastic news for him.”
Wang Pushi was indeed rather displeased, but it was not because of himself. Being promoted to White Wolf guard and going to the Ruyi commandery had always been his dream. He just felt like the position should have gone to Hua Chengzan instead. However, after a series of tests, he could not help but admit that Li Qingshan was indeed stronger than Hua Chengzan. He did have the ability to hold the position of commander.
“You got lucky, kid. You managed to earn commander Gu’s favour.”
“Heh. That’s called strength!”
Li Qingshan, however, was thinking about something else. Right now, the war had only recently come to a close, yet Gu Yanying was already transferring a senior general of the war away. Clearly, she was extremely confident that the humans and daemons could not continue fighting.
And where did this confidence come from? It was probably all from him!
In the blink of an eye, Li Qingshan changed into the Scarlet Hawk commander uniform, standing with his arms behind his back. He strut around complacently with a valiant bearing. He had truly become the commander of the Clear River prefecture Hawkwolf Guard now.
Wang Pushi and Hua Chengzan retired to the side, giving him the room in the centre.
“Greetings, commander!” Almost a hundred Hawkwolf guards assembled again and bowed together, greeting him loudly.
Li Qingshan glanced past these people and thought to himself, So this is my squadron in the future? Hmm, looks like Qian Rongzhi isn’t here.
In the past when he discussed the three minor pillars of the Clear River prefecture with that protector Yan or whoever he was from the Iron Fist school, never did he think that he would become a part of them in the future. However, from his current perspective, it did not seem like a big deal at all.
The Hawkwolf guards all changed in expression as they had their own thoughts. Some of the Hawkwolf guards had even gone out drinking with Li Qingshan before. The kid from the countryside a few years ago had actually become their superior.
Hua Chengzan clapped his hands again, and a banquet of over a dozen tables was arranged to celebrate for Li Qingshan and to send Wang Pushi off. This was only the internal farewell banquet of the Hawkwolf Guard. In the future, the Academy of the Hundred Schools would definitely hold one too. Wang Pushi would not be going anywhere for now.
“Little Hua, this position should have gone to you. How about we exchange our positions?” During the banquet, Li Qingshan also realised why Wang Pushi was so unhappy, so he spoke to Hua Chengzan with a smile. He really did not care about this position.
“Do you think this is shopping, where you can exchange whatever you want?”
Hua Chengzan felt Li Qingshan’s sincerity as well, and the sliver of ill feeling in his heart completely vanished. He was quite touched by his gesture. He raised his cup and toasted. “This is called the younger generation surpassing the older. Boss Gu has an eye for talent. Hopefully you can watch my back a little in the future.”
“No problem, no problem. Though, the matters of the Hawkwolf Guard will be entirely up to you. I’m only responsible for watching over and fighting.”
Hua Chengzan smiled bitterly. “No problem, no problem.”
Following the banquet were a series of matters regarding the transition of power.
After taking on the duty of a commander, Li Qingshan was allowed to choose an item from the storage room of the Hawkwolf Guard.
I hope I can find a fragment of the Cursive Sword Calligraphy. With this perfect wish in mind, he passed through the layers of formations and finally set foot in there, but he was left deeply disappointed. After several years of war, there were not a lot of items left in there.
“Why don’t you hold on for now? Given the current situation, the Ruyi commandery might resupply us very soon.” Hua Chengzan had almost managed to sniff out something from Gu Yanying’s command. It seemed like the war had truly come to an end.
During the war, the fifteen hundred kilometers of the Clear River prefecture had become a lone island, with virtually all contact cut off from the outside world. As for the cultivators in there, they were basically forced to fight, forbidden from fleeing unless they had some special connections. Even if they managed to escape, they would be hunted down. The people inside obviously were not resupplied with any talismans or pills.
“Fair enough.” Li Qingshan nodded even though he had failed to find what he wanted.
However, Li Qingshan discovered that the position of commander did come with quite a few benefits. First of all, the treatment and remuneration he received had improved by quite a bit, but Li Qingshan did not really care about this aspect given his wealth.
What mattered the most was the elevation in status. He had gone from a lackey on the outskirts to a decision-maker. He could directly influence many important decisions of the entire Academy of the Hundred Schools, and he possessed access to many confidential pieces of information. As a system of violence that answered directly to the empire, they possessed their own information system.
These documents and pieces of information seemed disorderly and unsystematic, spanning from astronomy to geography, but at certain times, they could potentially play a critical role.
After completing the matters for the handover, it was already morning.
Li Qingshan played the role of an irresponsible boss, leaving everything up to Hua Chengzan as he returned to the Chain mountains alone.
The mental map of the Green province unfurled with a swish before locking onto the tiny Clear River prefecture.
Li Qingshan began to choose. He was choosing a suitable place for him to establish a water dwelling. His gaze first landed on the great river that flowed through the entire prefecture, meandering like a dragon.
Although it was “tiny”, the Clear River prefecture covered an area even larger than the entire Jiangnan region from Li Qingshan’s past life. As for the Clear river, it could rival great rivers like the Yangtze river or the Yellow river.
The Clear river began in the Boundless mountains. It stretched over five thousand kilometers long, and the area it covered could reach over a million square kilometers. If he could refine it, he would basically receive divine help with both cultivation and fighting.
Even if he faced a Golden Core cultivator, Li Qingshan was confident enough to maintain the upper hand.
However, Li Qingshan took out the Water God Seal and examined it according to the books he had read.
God seals were mostly divided into two types, but they could vary drastically in quality. Refining a creek could also condense a Water God Seal, but it would not be able to hold a large river. The only way about it was to use the creek as a foundation and constantly develop and strengthen the god seal.
I don’t know whether the Water God Seal can hold the waters of the Clear river. If I tried to refine it and it turns out it’s not enough to hold it, that’ll be funny. It’s not like I have any competitors right now. Let’s take it one step at a time and go slowly!
He had to choose a body of water first. He could start with the affluent of a larger river!
