Finding the enemy that he had absolutely no information on was even easier than Li Qingshan originally anticipated it to be.
Through the illumination of the Profound Light Illuminates All, he saw a magnificent palace sitting in the region of deep water in the centre of Calm Wave lake. Water daemons swam around in the surroundings like guards. They moved around in an orderly manner, which formed quite a sight.
Li Qingshan thought in wonder, He really is a Daemon Commander from the Ink sea. He sure knows how to play around. I just wonder about his strength.
He could basically conclude that the water Daemon Commander the Dragon King of Ink Sea sent was probably much more powerful than those Daemon Commanders of the Ruyi commandery, but he did not particularly care about that. The only worry he had to consider was the Water God Seal in the enemy’s possession. That represented the right to control over almost half of the water in the Ruyi commandery. Not only could it provide endless daemon qi, but abilities and techniques used with it would definitely be drastically enhanced.
It was exactly because of this that it was very unlikely for the enemy to return the water territory obediently. As daemons, strength was still everything at the end of the day.
Li Qingshan could wield his own Water God Seal and mobilise vast amounts of water to attack too, but when two powerful daemons that each controlled a half of the water in the Ruyi commandery began fighting, the water would probably reach everywhere. Countless lives would be lost. He was not exactly a kind-hearted person, but he did not want innocent casualties either unless he had absolutely no other choice. Moreover, there was no need for him to kick up such a great stir to deal with a Daemon Commander anyway. He only had to find the target and directly take him out.
When he tried to take a look at the situation inside the palace, the scene remained stuck. It did not move. A pliable but tough force obstructed it. As it turned out, a spherical barrier enveloped the palace.
“The Profound Light Illuminates All, together!”
Li Qingshan swung out with his finger and pointed at the piece of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell that depicted the palace. The other pieces of Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell flew together and overlapped with one another, forming a hexagonal cylinder.
The frozen scene suddenly pushed forward until it reached inside the palace and clearly depicted what was going on in there. Li Qingshan was surprised once again. They’re actually holding a banquet!
Seven or eight guests sat at the banquet; there were both males and females, all varying in appearances. Li Qingshan recognised a good handful of them, all Daemon Commanders he had once defeated. Despite being unruly Daemon Commanders, they all now used chopsticks obediently and rather unnaturally.
Li Qingshan sneered inside. In the past, he could take on all of them at the same time and defeat them alone, so there was even less of a reason for him to worry about these Daemon Commanders now. His gaze gathered on the primary seat of honour very soon.
An ugly, pasty, square-faced man sat there, holding a cup in his hand as he gazed around complacently. He gave off a unique aura, the aura of the strong.
Li Qingshan knew that this was the enemy he had to deal with this time.
The ugly man groaned. His head swiveled around as he scanned through the surroundings like he had noticed something.
“He’s quite sharp.” Li Qingshan sniggered. He continued to study him fearlessly.
The ugly man was in doubt. He had suddenly felt like someone was watching him, but he discovered nothing at all upon closer inspection. Only when he considered how it was impossible for anyone to enter the palace silently did he relax slightly.
“I hope big brother Sha can unite all the water territory in the Ruyi commandery soon and give that bastard a thorough beating and chase him out of the Ruyi commandery!”
A fat man stood up and toasted. He was the bullfrog Daemon Commander Li Qingshan had once taught a vicious lesson to.
“How is it enough to just chase him out of the Ruyi commandery? We should have his limbs ripped from his body to go with big brother Sha’s wine!” An old man immediately followed up, his face filled with hatred.
“Ripping off his limbs won’t be everything. We even have to dig out his daemon core to nourish big brother Sha so that big brother Sha can become a Daemon King sooner!”
“No, no, no. We can’t spare his life. We have to tear him to pieces. We’ll each have a piece and taste his flesh.”
“I want to eat his brain!”
“I want to eat his heart!”
When Northmoon was mentioned, all of the daemons put on a tough and fierce appearance and spoke up, each more vicious than the last. A while later, they had already divided up every single piece of flesh on Northmoon’s entire body. Two Daemon Commanders even almost flipped the table over their dispute to see who would get his heart. One of them had never even fought Northmoon before.
Li Qingshan widened his eyes. His face was bright red. He tried everything he could to hold it back, but he could hold it back no longer. With a spurt, he clutched his belly and collapsed on the cloud, breaking into laughter.
“With the likes of you, it’ll be more fitting if you eat my cock! If it weren’t for the sake of the Dragon King of Ink Sea, I would have torn you to pieces a long time ago!”
With the joys that came with peeping, Li Qingshan was in no hurry to take action. He wanted to see what other hilarious things these daemons could come up with!
At the same time, the “big brother Sha” also laughed aloud. “Thank you for your blessings, brothers, but I’ve come in the place of sir dragon king to invite that bastard Northmoon to the Ink sea. There’s really no reason to get all violent.”
“Big brother Sha, how can that be? We’re still relying on you to avenge us!”
“Don’t fret. Let me finish. This will depend on whether Northmoon is sensible or not. If he’s willing to hand over the Water God Seal in his possession obediently, then so be it. But if he’s not willing, then I’ll let him taste some pain. However, under the orders of sir dragon king, we daemons are still forbidden from killing one another. We can lop off his limbs and take his daemon core at most.”
Big brother Sha switched the conversation topic to something else, and a vicious light flashed through his small, beady eyes. Ever since he obtained the Water God Seal, he could sense that his cultivation rate had become much faster. If this continued, he could probably become a Daemon King in less than two centuries, so he desired Northmoon’s Water God Seal even more.
Although he had heard about Northmoon’s glorious achievements in battle, his strength could not be compared to these local Daemon Commanders as a direct subordinate under the Dragon King of Ink Sea. He also had half the water territory in the Ruyi commandery as a foundation now. Combined with these Daemon Commanders, he was not afraid of Northmoon if they actually began fighting.
Li Qingshan smiled even wider, except his smile gradually twisted viciously. He licked his lips. “You want to eat me? Then I’ll let you all get a taste of me!”
He dispersed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell and leapt out. He did not make his way down, instead flapping his wings and flying up into the sky.
Fierce wind whistled by; gradually, it was no longer pure wind. It was imbued with a sharpness even more cutting than blades and swords—atmospheric winds. Just like the underground magnetic field, it was a powerful force that determined the boundaries of this world.
Li Qingshan continued to climb higher, and the atmospheric winds turned violent, roaring madly past his ears. However, they were completely invisible and omnipresent.
Only when a stream of atmospheric winds brushed past his face and left behind a small, bloody cut did he stop climbing higher. He raised his head and gazed at the further depths of the windstorm. “Diving into the earth is not easy, but climbing up into the sky seems even more difficult!”
Then he gazed down. He had already thrown the clouds far behind, which had become very small. He could see the entire Calm Wave lake too; it seemed like the size of a pond.
He unleashed the wings of wind violently. After becoming a Daemon Commander, the innate ability that belonged to the tiger demon had become more powerful and robust than ever. As he flapped them, they merged with floating slivers of atmospheric wind.
Clouds followed dragons, and the wind followed tigers!
TL: This saying comes from the Qian hexagram of the I Ching, Yi Jing, or Classic of Changes. It basically means mutual compatibility between certain things.
The wind fed the flames, and the wings of the phoenix blazed brightly.
Li Qingshan’s eyes narrowed, locking onto the palace at the bottom of Calm Wave lake. He suddenly descended.
The ground shot towards him with startling speed. In the blink of an eye, Calm Wave lake had completely filled his field of vision.
Li Qingshan’s pupils dilated, and his heart tensed up. He never thought he would actually be able to move so quickly now!
No longer suppressed by the spirit turtle, the power of the phoenix wings could finally be pushed to their limits. The wings of wind amplified them further, and the slivers of atmospheric wind assisted them.
However, that was not all. The ox demon’s new innate ability played a critical role too.
As Li Qingshan fell, a circular shape suddenly sunk in on the surface of the lake, only a few meters across. Directly below it was the underwater palace. A similar hole had appeared on the roof of the palace.
Big brother Sha currently sat under the hole. The moment before, he was still drinking happily with the Daemon Commanders, but in the next moment, he had collapsed on the ground in a horrible position. It was like an invisible force had pushed him down to the ground heavily. For a moment, he was actually immobilised.
There was a messy clatter as all the cups and dishes on the ground were reduced to dust. The jade table in front of him, as well as the jade tiles around him, suffered the same fate, forming a circular region that had sunken in.
“Big brother Sha!” The Daemon Commanders all paled in fright.
Big brother Sha lay firmly on the ground. His face was filled with shock, as he actually had no idea where the attack came from.
As the water god of this region, no one could hide from his senses if they entered this water territory. Even if they could completely conceal their aura, they could not conceal their existence. As long as they entered the water, they would obviously have to part the water to advance. Yet, even after being attacked right now, he had yet to discover the enemy.
The method of attack was far too strange. It was nothing physical, nor was it some ability or technique. Although it did not cause him any substantial damage, he felt like he was carrying a mountain on his back, completely immobilised.
“What’s going on?”
The Gravity of the Earth was the name of the ox demon’s new innate ability, only a single word off from the Strength of the Earth. As its name suggested, it could control the gravity within a certain region, making everything as light as a feather or as heavy as a mountain.
The reason why Li Qingshan could fall so startlingly fast was because he had been enhanced by this gravitational pull. As long as they dwelled in this region, no creature, absolutely nothing, could escape from this force. What attacked big brother Sha was the boundless earth, or in other words, he could not withstand his own weight.
Big brother Sha could sense intense danger; it was as if imminent catastrophe was descending over him. He responded extremely quickly. With a sudden transformation, he turned into a huge, dark-green, softshell turtle, and he immediately felt much safer. He was extremely confident in the defences of the turtle shell on his back. Among his three innate abilities, the most powerful one was the shell.
At that moment, all the Daemon Commanders felt tremendous daemon qi descend from above. Before they could even respond, they saw a flash of scarlet light in their eyes.
Li Qingshan landed a punch on the turtle shell. He only paused for a moment, and he grinned.
The unforgettable scarlet hair and eyes made all the daemons cry out, “Northmoon!”
Soon afterwards, the lake water surged in violently and swept them away. The magnificent underwater palace was immediately reduced to pieces, surging off into all directions.
The banquet had come to an end.
