Eternal Faith leaned against the ice-cold walls of the tower. Although his robes and golden avatar protected him, he did not feel safe at all as he watched Li Qingshan’s red eyes that radiated with malice grow closer and closer. He was like a mortal trapped in a cage with a vicious tiger.
Thunk!
Li Qingshan punched out vigorously, his fist piercing through the air and slamming into the golden bell. The golden bell contorted and changed in shape, sinking in deeply. Its golden light scattered strand by strand.
“Ahh!”
Eternal Faith cried out. The imprint of a punch appeared on his robes, and it showed no signs of fading away. His Protective Robes of the Golden Bell were an arcane artifact for heaven’s sake!
Although it was only an inferior arcane artifact, it should not be fragile to the point where it would sustain so much damage from a single punch. If that punch had downright landed on him, would he still be alive?
Li Qingshan glanced at his fist. From his expression, it seemed like he was rather dissatisfied with the power of the punch.
Although his strength had increased drastically after demonifying, the destructive power was still nowhere close to the true power of the ox demon and tiger demon. Otherwise, a casual punch would have been enough to reduce Eternal Faith’s robes to dust.
However, he was currently right below Great Buddha mountain. Even though he was in the Demon Suppression Tower, he refused to use his powers as a daemon carelessly. Who knew whether the Dauntless monk and his junior brother were currently watching or not.
If he could not tear apart Eternal Faith’s defence quickly, then the powerful figures of the monastery would probably arrive to support him. By then, he would not be able to teach him a fierce lesson anymore.
Suddenly, he was hit with a gust of wind to the face. The wooden fish opened its mouth again and tried to swallow Li Qingshan, while the wooden fish mallet quietly circled around him and flew towards the back of his head. It remained the same size as a regular wooden fish mallet, so it was extremely easy for the attack to succeed if he were careless.
Li Qingshan leapt up, avoiding the lunge from the wooden fish and reaching backwards without even looking back. He caught the wooden fish mallet before quickly falling down and landing heavily on the wooden fish.
The two arcane artifacts trembled desperately, but they were unable to break free from his restraint.
After demonifying, these two arcane artifacts alone were unable to pose any threat to him anymore. Li Qingshan smiled and drew a strange sword from his hundred treasures pouch, the Traitorous Demon sword.
The eyeball on the hilt swiveled, and its pupils locked onto Eternal Faith firmly. Eternal Faith shivered inside, actually feeling like he had been completely seen through.
Within Li Qingshan’s field of vision, a different sight immediately appeared.
He felt like his gaze had passed through the golden bell, the golden avatar, and even his skin, flesh, and bones, seeing something that was even more fundamental. He saw the demonic nature in Eternal Faith’s heart, a clump of swirling, black mist.
Everyone had a demonic nature. Although Eternal Faith was a buddhist disciple, he was greedy and easily angered. His demonic nature was even heavier than regular people’s. Afterwards, Li Qingshan pulled back his gaze and stopped on Eternal Faith’s golden bell.
The strange eyeball on the hilt of the Traitorous Demon sword trembled. Suddenly, Li Qingshan saw a thin, black line on the bell, but he was unable to see anything with his naked eye, nor did he find anything with his soul sense.
What’s that?
Li Qingshan thought. He swung the Traitorous Demon sword and tried slashing along the black line.
The sword passed by with a flash. Eternal Faith was about to mock Li Qingshan’s futile efforts before suddenly shivering. His robes had been cut open silently, revealing his chest and belly and the pale white fat on there.
The glow dispersed, and the golden bell vanished. The robes had lost their protective function.
How is that possible!? My Protective Robes of the Golden Bell! That must be a coincidence! Eternal Faith’s eyes widened. He struggled to believe that a protective arcane artifact could be destroyed silently like that.
Li Qingshan gazed at the Traitorous Demon sword in his hand and said in praise, “Good sword!” As it turned out, the black line was where the gap in the robes existed. He was rather taken aback with joy. Ever since he obtained this sword, he had never properly studied it. He never expected it to have such a special ability.
The Traitorous Demon sword was originally called “Evil Eye”. Its strongest aspect was not how sharp its edge was or its toughness. Instead, it could use its “eye” to see many things that were invisible to the naked eye, such as the flaws and gaps that had always existed in items.
Lietu had managed to kill a powerful Demon General and take his demon heart in a single slash through this exact ability.
However, the true strength of an ability like that could not be unleashed without a suitable demon heart serving as the iris. Afterwards, when Lietu merged with the sword, he had used his own demon heart as the iris, but his mind was clouded. He was trapped in the Demon Suppression Tower, caught in a close-ranged battle to the death with the crazy Duoge, which completely prevented him from unleashing the power of the sword.
After that, he died, and the Traitorous Demon sword ended up in Li Qingshan’s hands. Originally, making the Traitorous Demon sword yield was not easy. When regular demonfolk obtained the sword, they would have to spend day and night interacting with it and refining it. It would take them a few months at the very least before they could unleash this power.
However, Li Qingshan’s demonic nature was far too pure and powerful, and he did not fear the special characteristic of the Traitorous Demon sword at all, even bequeathing it with the name of “Traitorous Demon”. As a result, the Traitorous Demon sword seemed to run into the perfect master and was willing to be used. Even before Li Qingshan could carefully study it, it offered up its powers actively.
Just like how every person had their faults, Eternal Faith’s Protective Robes of the Golden Bell were not as flawless as they seemed. It had flaws.
Especially after blocking a direct palm strike and a punch from Li Qingshan, the “flaw” became even more obvious, but it was still invisible to the naked eye. However, as Li Qingshan had the Traitorous Demon sword in hand, he could see these flaws.
It was like a clash between two armies, where one side possessed a natural fortress that could hold out against all. If the other side were to launch a direct attack, then perhaps even an army of a hundred thousand would struggle to emerge victoriously. However, as long as they had a guide and a narrow, secret path into the natural fortress, they only needed to send a group of elite, and they would be able to triumph over their enemies.
The Traitorous Demon sword served as the guide here.
“Li Qingshan, don’t come over here! This is the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga! You can’t kill me!”
Eternal Faith put on a tough front despite his lack of confidence inside. He pushed his powers desperately, and the golden avatar shone even brighter. He grumbled inside, So this Li Qingshan’s real identity is a demonfolk. Since I’ve seen his true identity, he definitely won’t let me escape. He wants to silence me with death. If I had known this earlier, why would I have said so much just to redeem my pride?
He wanted to redeem his pride not only because of low tolerance, but also because he believed he possessed an advantage and thought Li Qingshan was a sitting duck, someone he could do whatever he wanted to. Never did he think he could force him into such dire straits even when surrounded by so many people.
Li Qingshan smiled indifferently and closed his eyes, sending his soul sense into the Traitorous Demon sword. The evil eye on the hilt let out rings of light.
Afterwards, he “saw” the golden light on Eternal Faith dim. On his golden avatar, splotches of black appeared. They were all weaker points of the golden avatar. There were even a few black specks that were particularly dark.
Openings!
Li Qingshan took a step forward. The Traitorous Demon sword pressed forward, passing through the air and stabbing into one of the black specks.
Li Qingshan opened his eyes again, only to see the golden avatar glistening with golden light. There were no black splotches or black specks at all. However, cracks had appeared on the golden avatar where his sword had made contact with it.
Li Qingshan smiled and drove all of his strength and spiritual qi into the strike. The tip of the sword plunged in.
Clang!
With a sound like metal had been ripped open, the indestructible golden avatar of buddhism shattered and dispersed. Eternal Faith was like a hermit crab that had just lost its shell. Disbelief filled his face, no longer possessing a hint of unruly arrogance.
Eternal Faith urged the wooden fish as hard as he could as he reached into his hundred treasures pouch frantically. He still had many powerful talismans in his possession, enough to turn the tables. However, as soon as his fingers touched his hundred treasures pouch, the icy-cold edge of a sword pressed against his neck.
He never expected Li Qingshan to tear through his two layers of defence so quickly and easily such that he had not even prepared mentally for it. There were many techniques and items he had not used. This was the result of not fighting in a long time.
“If you move again, say bye bye to your head!” Li Qingshan said.
Eternal Faith felt a prick of pain on his neck and warm fluid flowed down. He immediately became too frightened to move again. As he gazed at the dark-red pupils, his face contorted. He seemed like he wanted to cry, yet also laugh. He was certain Li Qingshan was trying to silence him, so he wanted to say something flattering and beg for his life. He normally heard things like that all the time, yet he was completely unable to utter any of them now.
With a jangle, Chains of Demon Suppression draped down, tying up Eternal Faith like a christmas present and hoisting him into the air. Eternal Faith feigned composure. “If you kill me, you won’t be able to escape death either!”
“If you don’t want to piss me off to the point that I actually kill you, you better shut up!”
Eternal Faith dared not utter another word, but hope rose up in his heart. He really is afraid of killing me. He thought viciously inside, Once I get out, you better watch how I deal with you!
“Hmph, do you really think I don’t know what you’re thinking? You’re a little man who takes bribes. That’s what you do, yet I’m forbidden to say you are? I originally planned on ignoring you, yet you sure were proactive with coming after me, refusing to let me go. You even dared to do some imitations, playing those games of trying to frame me verbally. Why don’t you check yourself? There’s a saying from my hometown: Don’t take my discretion as a reason for you to walk all over me. Have you heard of it before!?”
Eternal Faith was obviously too afraid to answer.
Li Qingshan took out a whip from his hundred treasures pouch. It was only a high grade spiritual artifact, and he had even forgotten where or who he had obtained it from. Coupled with how he was not skilled with whips, he originally thought he would never use it, but he never expected an opportunity would present itself today.
Grasping the handle, he shook it forcefully and circled it over his head before lashing out viciously. With a crack, a bloody mark immediately appeared on Eternal Faith. His body trembled as he let out a squeal like a pig about to be butchered.
Although he had been restrained, his spiritual qi still protected him, so he should not have been so miserable. However, Li Qingshan’s whip possessed the power of demon suppression. Eternal Faith had demons in his heart, so he was unable to avoid punishment.
Eternal Faith began cursing again, and Li Qingshan let out a laugh. He swung the whip around, making it dance like a dragon as he whipped Eternal Faith viciously, feeling great joy inside. He could sense that the monks outside were attacking the Demon Suppression Tower, but he did not care at all.
The special characteristic of the Demon Suppression Tower was that the stronger the demonic nature of those being suppressed was, the sturdier it would become. Eternal Faith was a little man, but his demonic nature was not exactly heavy. However, Li Qingshan’s demonic nature was far too strong, so as he stood inside, the Demon Suppression Tower became extremely sturdy, more sturdy than it had ever been.
He felt another tremor from below his feet, and he ignored it again. If the senior who created the Demon Suppression Statuary did not even have a tower footing when he came up with the Demon Suppression Tower, and they could simply burrow in through the earth, then what the fuck was he on about with demon suppression?
“Amitābha, what is going on here?”
Outside the Demon Suppression Tower, an old monk suddenly appeared without any sign at all. His hair and beard were all grey, and he seemed very gentle and solemn. He was the head monk of the Courtyard of Secular Affairs, the Distant Enlightenment Chan Master.
