The gentle night breeze made his scarlet hair drift through the air.
Li Qingshan gazed at the stars, and in a daze, he saw Han Qiongzhi’s fuming face. He smiled gently and let go of Ye Liusu, standing up. He looked back at the western horizon and saw a streak of light fly over.
Li Qingshan leapt up, arriving in the air and blocking Hua Chengzan’s way.
“You’ve come again.”
“We agree to your conditions. We can give you the Watermirror disc, but you have to give us the Lightning Slaughter sword first.” Hua Chengzan was slightly surprised before calming down. As soon as he finished, he saw Li Qingshan wave his hand and toss out the Lightning Slaughter wooden sword.
“Aren’t you afraid we’ll change our minds?”
Li Qingshan said, “Only if you have plans of never leaving the Academy of the Hundred Schools again.”
Hua Chengzan sighed gently. This was the confidence that came with absolute strength. Afterwards, he removed the Watermirror disc from his hundred treasures pouch. The Watermirror disc reflected the moonlight in the sky, which seemed like a full moon being held in Hua Chengzan’s hands. It radiated with bright and pure light.
Li Qingshan’s eyes lit up, and he smiled. “How good is this? Everyone can coexist in peace, taking what we need and cultivating in peace.” He accepted the Watermirror disc before turning around and returning to the island.
Hua Chengzan had prepared many things to say, but he actually had no opportunity to say it. However, what Li Qingshan said happened to be his objective. He actually felt rather lost after achieving his objective so easily.
Li Qingshan returned to the island. Ye Liusu saw the Watermirror disc in his hand and asked curiously, “What is that?”
“The treasure of the Academy of the Hundred Schools.”
Li Qingshan stared at the Watermirror disc in his hand, and his mind was sucked in involuntarily as if the lover of his dreams was standing right before him, naked. He actually felt like he was unable to shift his gaze.
This had originally been an idea he had come up with on the spot, but looking at it now, it was no longer that simple anymore. As Li Qingshan channeled in his daemon qi, the spirit turtle’s daemon core in him suddenly responded, emitting rings of light.
Li Qingshan had refined many arcane artifacts and spiritual artifacts before, but this was the first time the spirit turtle’s daemon core had such a violent response.
The Watermirror disc’s function definitely was not as simple as surveillance.
Ye Liusu said, “Master, it’s far too empty here. I’ll go bring some clansmen. They’ll definitely be happy.”
Hearing the way she referenced him, Li Qingshan was slightly surprised, but he discovered Ye Liusu had already recovered her usual demeanour. However, there was a hint of bitterness in her eyes as if she was blaming him for placing all his focus on the Watermirror disc.
Li Qingshan stowed the Watermirror disc away and pinched her cheek. “I didn’t realise, but you sure know jealousy well, Liusu.”
Ye Liusu held his hand, and her gaze became tender and full of concern. “Cultivation takes priority. I know, the Spider Queen won’t leave the matter be.”
“Yeah, fair enough.”
Li Qingshan nodded, wanting some intimate contact. He had plenty of time ahead of him. If Lolth defeated him, then there was no point thinking about anything. Ye Liusu’s lovely dream would end prematurely too. A failure could only protect his measly life at most. He still had to draw a clear line between his priorities.
Li Qingshan kissed Ye Liusu on the lips gently as a farewell kiss, but she actually pulled him in, kissing him passionately.
It was as if her passion and boldness as a female night roamer had completely erupted after expressing her feelings, but that was not actually the case.
In that instant earlier, she had no idea what Li Qingshan had promised, but with her female instincts, she could feel he was thinking about another woman.
Who was that woman? Ye Liubo? Impossible, because she could feel that was not the affection a master showed to a pet, but the affection of a man to a woman. Moreover, the affection was even deeper than what he showed her.
She found this rather difficult to accept. Although she knew it would be impossible for him to be all hers, she still made up her mind to claim a spot in his heart. She believed that she, Ye Liusu, was no worse than any other woman.
Li Qingshan never would have guessed so many thoughts had already passed through Ye Liusu’s head in such a short time frame. All that could be said was once a woman fell in love, their thoughts would become ten times as nimble.
Through the passionate kiss, Li Qingshan’s lust had been aroused once more. He fiddled around with her perky, supple bottom with one hand as his other hand landed on her chest. The tough, black armour obviously could not stop him. With a gentle flick, it was shaken apart.
Her perky chest emerged vividly. Although it was nowhere near as full as Ye Liubo’s, the naked upper half of her body possessed a sculpturesque beauty.
Just when he was about to do something, Ye Liusu instead pushed him away violently. When their lips parted, Ye Liusu bit down forcefully on his lip as if she was trying to leave behind some kind of mark on him.
With a wave of her hand, the black cloak landed on her body again, covering all of her skin. She bowed. ‘Master, this subordinate will be taking her leave. Please focus on cultivation!”
Li Qingshan rubbed his head and saw a feeling of “resentment” from her gaze for the first time. As he watched Ye Liusu vanished into the lake water, he rubbed the mark on his lip and shook his head. It would be best if he ignored the matters weighing on a woman’s mind.
He was not Hua Chengzan, an infatuated romantic who placed the word “love” on the highest pedestal.
He had fallen in love with Gu Yanying at first sight, but never had he longed for her constantly, becoming lovesick for her. He felt no regret in being able to express what he felt back then after all these years. As for whether Gu Yanying would actually accept it or not, it was not even important anymore.
Although he had also once considered pursuing something like sincere love, after his entanglement with Han Qiongzhi, he had basically used up all of his feelings for this life.
Right from the beginning, he had never planned on devoting his life to a woman or several women. Romantic relationships were definitely important, probably enough to match his pursuit of power and desire for battle.
However, it still paled in comparison to his dream of beyond the Nine Heavens, his promise to brother ox.
In the eyes of women, men always seemed rather heartless. That was because the world of men always seemed overly vast, but nowhere near as vast as the ambition within them.
The north wind called the warriors, to leave the warmth of their homes to run towards the boundless ocean. Even they were unable to stop themselves.
This was where the meaning of life lay within the endless adventure and pursuit.
Li Qingshan gathered his focus and discarded his other thoughts. He also arrived in Moon Court lake, planning to properly study the Watermirror disc and see whether he could increase his strength again.
……
In the depths of the water, Li Qingshan stared at the Watermirror disc. As his daemon qi surged and channeled in, he immediately discovered the residual imprint Liu Zhangqing had left behind.
He had erased it before long, but during the process, he discovered something. It seemed that even Liu Zhangqing had not been able to completely refine the Watermirror disc.
Elsewhere, Zhou Tong basically snatched the Lightning Slaughter wooden sword from Hua Chengzan’s hand when he returned to the academy. Zhou Tong caressed the sword like he was caressing his lover that he had not seen in a very long time.
As for Liu Zhangqing, he asked Hua Chengzan while grieving like he had just lost his parents, “You gave him the Watermirror disc?”
“I did.”
Liu Zhangqing let out a heavy sigh at first before becoming slightly irritated. “The Watermirror disc is something ancient cultivators left behind. He’s dreaming if he thinks he had refine it so easily as a daemon.”
“Let’s hope so!”
Li Qingshan had already begun refining the Watermirror disc, and he immediately sensed the startling power in there. Was this a legendary arcane treasure? Li Qingshan shook his head. That was impossible. Even Golden Core cultivators rarely possessed arcane treasures.
Perhaps it was because of the spirit turtle, or perhaps Li Qingshan and the Watermirror disc were truly compatible, but he did not encounter any problems like Liu Zhangqing had hoped apart from spending quite a lot of time. He easily refined the Watermirror disc completely, unlocking the other functions that Liu Zhangqing could not use.
“So that’s how it is! It really is a great treasure! It’s a great treasure!”
Li Qingshan was overjoyed before coming up with another idea. If he used the Watermirror disc to use the Watermirror’s Image, would there be any other wondrous effects?
……
There was no concept of time to those isolated from the world.
In the blink of an eye, autumn had already passed and winter had arrived. Moon Court lake turned into a gleaming landscape of snow.
Ye Liusu had already migrated some of the night roamers to Moon Court lake, beginning a new life there, while Li Qingshan had never stopped, refining as many water systems as possible. With each river he refined, it would be an additional portion of power and an additional safeguard.
This day, Li Qingshan happened to be traversing through the gloomy depths underground. He followed another underground river and arrived in the territory of another Daemon General. The Daemon General sensed his daemon qi and avoided him from far away, absolutely refusing to see him.
At this moment, Li Qingshan’s heart skipped a beat. A snowy-white thread of silk suddenly shot out from underground, piercing towards his neck.
Li Qingshan had already shifted his body, so all it pierced was the blur he left behind.
The spider silk trembled, emitting Lolth’s voice, “Northmoon, it’s time for you to come and die!”
Li Qingshan smiled. He was just about to agree to her and charge into the lair of the enemy alone again.
The spirit turtle’s daemon core suddenly emitted an extremely solemn warning, actually even more intense than last time.
Li Qingshan raised an eyebrow. This was impossible. His current strength was more than ten times greater than when he risked his life last time. He had also gained so many trump cards, and he still had seventy percent of the power of belief left in his Divine Talisman of Great Creation. And, with the speed of his wings of wind, even if he could not win, he would still be able to escape.
Despite all these seemingly-advantageous conditions, such a great danger still actually existed!
However, the spirit turtle’s daemon core clearly told him that confronting the Spider Queen this time would be one of the most dangerous situations he would encounter in his life.
“Haha, mother of my child, you’re too slow. Let me finish with what I’m doing right now, and I’ll definitely come to you.”
Li Qingshan intended on waiting for Xiao An to forge the Blood Sea Banner and emerge from secluded cultivation before venturing underground. It would introduce an additional safeguard to this battle.
With his strength right now, it was impossible for him to break through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, so there was no possibility for him to suddenly become more powerful on the spot. Taking another risk like that had become completely pointless.
“I want you to come right now!”
“Right now? You’ve made me wait for so long, so you give me some time too!”
“Fine. I’ll give you a month.” Lolth’s voice vanished in that instant.
Li Qingshan instead became even more vigilant. She had chosen to make a concession like this clearly because she was afraid of frightening him away. In other words, she was truly confident she could kill him.
