Black Lotus clasped his hands at Li Qingshan while in thought. “Thank you, fellow!” Then Black Lotus cast a glance at the White Lotus Mother. Although the White Lotus Mother was filled with reluctance, she also bowed towards him rigidly.
The two leaders of the Snake God cult were surprised. They never expected the situation to end up like this.
“Don’t even think about leaving here today!”
The cult leader of the left swung his hand. Golden sand flew out, glimmering with light and enveloping both Black Lotus and the White Lotus Mother. Although it was not an arcane treasure, it was an arcane artifact that came in a set. Every single grain of golden sand possessed the power of an inferior arcane artifact. It did not seem to be of high quality, but there were thousands of grains of sand.
No matter what kind of opponent he encountered, he only needed to envelope them and grind them, and they would be immediately reduced to powder!
Li Qingshan was also enveloped in the golden sand.
“Fellow, if you let them go today, they’ll definitely come for revenge in the future! If you’re reluctant to fight, all you need to do is stand aside. We’re willing to do it for you!”
The cult leader of the right wielded a strange, circular weapon. The edge shone brightly and split into two, followed by four. Before long, over a hundred of them had appeared, wrapping around them as hoops.
Li Qingshan ignored them. Instead, he extended his hand towards Ru Xin. His hand was covered with armour, and streaks of light ran from the back of his hand to the tips of his fingers. They were on full display, which seemed rather vicious.
Ru Xin placed her hand in his. It was still as hard as jade, but there seemed to be warmth.
The ripples turned into a smile on his curved visor. “It’s time to go back!”
Then he said to the two cult leaders, “Are you prepared to die?” The smile on the visor turned vicious.
“Let’s do it and kill him as well!” the cult leader of the left called out.
“You’re pushing your luck! You don’t have much strength remaining after a bitter battle!” the cult leader of the right said coldly.
The gold sand was like mist, enveloping over. The circular blades were like knives, criss-crossing and cutting through all.
“I do indeed feel a little tired!” Li Qingshan confessed calmly.
Right now, he was exhausted, and his daemon qi was depleted. Even most of his demon qi had been used up. The White Lotus Mother was not a nobody that he could kill with ease after all.
“However, as long as I can still move one of my arms. I can still kill the likes of you!”
Li Qingshan gripped the Demon Dragon sword firmly and thought to himself, I’ll definitely give you a massacre this time!
Suddenly, lotus flowers bloomed and blocked the sand and blades.
The White Lotus Mother waved the white lotus flower in her hand, while Black Lotus held a black lotus in his hand, conjuring a series of black lotuses. They seemed much weaker than the white lotus, but the teamwork was perfect. Not a single grain of golden sand could penetrate the defence.
Li Qingshan said, “Didn’t I say I let you go?”
“Do you think I don’t want to go? Don’t tell me you’re blind when you wear this thing!” Ru Xin extended her hand and knocked the visor on Li Qingshan’s face, making it ripple.
“Alright then! I’ll send you off!” Li Qingshan lifted up the Demon Dragon sword, but Ru Xin grabbed his hand. “Why don’t you rest up and recover some strength first instead?”
“How fussy! Haven’t you heard that women shouldn’t get in the way of men?”
“Tsk, it’s not like I’m a woman. And, do you even count as a man?” Ru Xin sneered and objected at the same time.
“Don’t piss me off! Or I’ll leave you here!”
“I can only wish for that! Long live the holy mother! I want to survive or perish with the White Lotus cult, hehe!”
Ru Xin’s face was solemn and firm like the most devoted follower. In the end, she could not help but laugh aloud, which led to a series of twitches from the corner of the White Lotus Mother’s eye. She was tempted to kill this traitor in a single blow!
Li Qingshan asked, “Don’t you find this to be quite the coincidence?”
“What’s coincidental?”
“There are three forces, and they just happen to be a man and a woman or a male and a female, or whatever you call it!”
“We count as a force too? Alright, what are you trying to say?”
“We seem like a pair! The type that’s deeply in love!”
“Hurhur!”
“Don’t laugh like that! That’s rude and sarcastic where I’m from!”
“What a coincidence then!”
“What coincidence?”
“It’s the same with where I’m from!”
“Go kill yourself!”
As the White Lotus cult and the Snake God cult fought tooth and nail outside, Li Qingshan and Ru Xin stood in the centre of the battlefield and talked to each other like they were engaging in cross talk. It left a bad taste in both of their mouths for some reason.
“Fellow, we can’t continue for much longer!” Black Lotus said.
The White Lotus Mother was weakened, while he had only undergone the second heavenly tribulation a few days ago. Right from the beginning, they fell into a disadvantageous position of being surrounded. They could not last too long against the two cult leaders who were in peak condition.
“Move aside! Let the professional do it!”
Li Qingshan bellowed. A dragon-shaped streak of light whistled over, smashing through the golden sand and blades and carving out a path forcefully.
The White Lotus Mother grabbed Black Lotus, and the lotus platform beneath her closed around them. She rushed out through the path.
“Go after them! Don’t let them escape!”
The cult leader of the left shot a glance filled with killing intent at Li Qingshan and chased after the White Lotus Mother!
“Suppress!” Li Qingshan extended a finger conveniently, and the Demon Suppression Tower descended from above. Clearly, the cult leaders were not some good people either.
The Demon Suppression Tower was extremely lofty, crushing down viciously like it could suppress everything in the world!
The cult leader of the left felt a great sense of danger. He raised his hands, and the golden sand condensed into two large hands, forcefully propping up the Demon Suppression Tower.
“Heh, he’s even glaring at me. Haven’t you heard? Even the grievance of a hostile glare must be resolved! Crush him!”
Li Qingshan said as he wielded the Demon Dragon sword in a flurry, knocking away the circular blades that shot over.
The cult leader of the left obviously could not chase after the White Lotus Mother anymore, while the cult leader of the right did not have the courage to pursue them alone. All they could do was watch helplessly as they escaped. They directed all of their wrath towards Li Qingshan!
The cult leader of the right produced two beams of silver light from her eyes, unleashing her innate ability as a daemon!
Ru Xin said, “Don’t make eye contact with her! You’ll turn into stone!”
However, she was one step too late. Li Qingshan had already met the pair of snake eyes. He immediately felt his body harden as if his flesh was being converted into stone.
The cult leader of the left used this opportunity to open his mouth and spit out a ray of golden light. With a shrill voice, it whistled towards Li Qingshan’s head. Even though it was weaker than the white light from the protective formations of the Lotus Flower peak, it was close in terms of power. Moreover, it possessed the cult leader of the left’s will, so even if Li Qingshan used the Watermirror’s Image, he would struggle to reflect it.
In the face of danger, Li Qingshan shuddered and unleashed the innate ability he rarely used proactively—the Strength of the Earth! He felt like he was connected with the boundless earth. He had always been a stubborn rock on the earth, so why would he be afraid of petrification?
The silver light flowed back, and the cult leader of the right felt her eyes stab with pain. Tears poured down her face. In the past, even if she failed with this innate ability, she had never suffered a backlash like that. In that split second, she actually saw the boundless earth, vast and thick. It was not something a mere innate ability could shake.
Li Qingshan raised his arm and split apart the golden light. Then he asked Ru Xin in some confusion, “Why are you fine?”
“I’ve always been stone!” Ru Xin knocked her hand, and it clinked like striking rock on rock.
“Surely you won’t be like this in the future!”
Li Qingshan understood this was an effect of practising the Heavenly Tome of Cloud Furnace to an even higher level. However, if she truly turned into a “jade beauty”, he would be filled with endless pity.
“What’s wrong with that? It’s perfect for ending certain, unrealistic fantasies of a certain person!” wRu Xin chuckled as if she had read his mind.
“Stone is fine too!” Li Qingshan said resolutely.
The cult leader of the left bellowed out and pushed upwards, sending the Demon Suppression Tower away. The golden sand condensed into a fist, which hurtled towards Li Qingshan.
“Alright!”
Li Qingshan responded with a punch. The demon qi turned into a vortex, surging and colliding against the golden sand viciously. It produced the ear-splitting sound of scraping metal.
Boom!
The two fists collided!
Li Qingshan did not budge at all, but the cult leader of the left was sent flying. His hand ruptured and shattered, sending broken bone everywhere. He widened his eyes in disbelief. His strength! How can it be so great!?
“Heh, I’ve run into another one who wants to challenge my strength!”
Li Qingshan pulled back his fist, only to see that a layer of the armour on his hand had been forcefully ground away, leaving behind a bone-deep wound. A few grains of golden sand remained in the wound, worming into his body desperately.
With a surge of demon qi, he immediately demonified the golden sand. There were many grains of sand, which also meant the will within each grain of sand was very weak. Even an arcane treasure that contained a powerful will like the Soaring Dragon sword had been demonified by him, let alone tiny inferior arcane artifacts.
“This person is too powerful! Let’s fuse!” The cult leader of the right reeled back the circular blades and flew to the cult leader of the left’s side.
“Fusion!?” Li Qingshan was surprised. Ru Xin said, “The Snake God cult has always been about a fusion between snake and human. The human has the snake gu, while the snake has the human gu. They become the true cult leader after they fuse, and their power increases drastically. Be careful!”
The two kinds of light, gold and silver, mingled and merged in the air, turning into an androgynous figure that had a humanoid body and the tail of a snake. They wore a snake circlet of gold and silver on their head, wielding the circular blade in their left hand. As for the right hand that had been crushed, it rapidly recovered and grew back through the powerful life force of daemons. The golden sand coated the surface, glistening with light.
“You actually dared to stop us. Do you really think we won’t kill you?”
The male and female voices merged together as a pair of snake eyes glared at Li Qingshan viciously. However, they dared not use the same innate ability as before carelessly.
“Then try it!” Li Qingshan placed the Demon Dragon sword on his shoulder.
The cult leader let out a fierce howl and spat out another streak of golden light. The golden sand danced around, and the circular blades soared, leaving behind a trail of silver light as it shot over. Clearly, they had used an innate ability.
The golden sand, golden light, and circular blades rushed over together, but their target was not Li Qingshan, but Ru Xin beside him!
He’s even willing to face so much trouble just to find this woman, so she must be extremely important to him, but her strength is only at the first heavenly tribulation. He can’t allow her to die, but if he wants to protect her, it’ll weigh him down heavily, which is his fatal weakness!
Ru Xin did not dodge, or perhaps in other words, it was absolutely impossible for her to dodge. A vicious, terrifying figure suddenly appeared behind her, passing through the grains of golden sand and the circular blades and throwing itself at the cult leader.
Before the cult leader could even make out what that figure was, a blood-red swirl had appeared before them, swallowing them up. Before they could even react, they had run right into it.
Li Qingshan collected the Asura Field. “Hmph, fusion! I wonder if that’s one plus one equals two?”
Ru Xin said, “What a dry joke!”
