The figure of the spirit turtle hovered above the Myriad Poison Ancestor without pressing down any further, but it continued to glow.
Li Qingshan definitely believed the Myriad Poison Ancestor had the determination to drag him down with him. Most importantly, the suppression of the spirit turtle could not be completed instantly. It gave him ample time to think and decide on the course of action to take.
If the soul nascence blew up in his sea of consciousness, he would definitely be blown to pieces. No matter how tough his body was, no matter how startling his regenerative powers were, only death would await him.
Li Qingshan could not help but lament that this Myriad Poison Ancestor sure was difficult to deal with. He had been caught off-guard and successfully ambushed; then the asura assassin Yin Qing had kept him busy, followed by a pursuit of several thousand kilometers. In this battle, Xiao An had basically been incapacitated, while Yin Qing was on the brink of death, yet he still almost escaped. Just when Li Qingshan had made a breakthrough on the spot after so much difficulty and thought he could finally kill him, they still ended up in a stalemate.
“Hurry up and get rid of this turtle, or I’ll take you down with me!” The Myriad Poison Ancestor’s soul nascence waved its fist around, giving off its own sense of viciousness and resolve.
However, Li Qingshan did not remove the spirit turtle. Instead, he smiled. “Myriad Poison, you’ve cultivated arduously for a thousand years at the very least, undergoing the third heavenly tribulation and condensing a soul nascence after so much difficulty, yet you constantly say you’ll drag me down with you without even batting an eye. Who are you trying to frighten?”
Even if Li Qingshan was not bold enough to force the Myriad Poison Ancestor into dire straits, the Myriad Poison Ancestor would be underestimating Li Qingshan’s courage a little too much if he thought he could get away with whatever he wanted just by threatening to perish together. He believed the Myriad Poison Ancestor would not go with this worst plan possible as long as there was still a ray of hope.
If regular cultivators had ended up like this, perhaps they might put everything on the line without the slightest regard out of dejection. However, while great cultivators still experienced the same emotions as regular people and could be affected by their emotions, they would not lose their most basic rationality.
“Hehe, I’ve already lived long enough, while you’re in the prime of your life. You’re already so capable at such a young age, where even the princes of the Dragon province pale in comparison to you. If a futureless old coot like me could end the path of a genius like you, that’s not a bad way to die.”
The Myriad Poison Ancestor faced dire straits, but he instead recovered some of his bearing as he spoke slowly.
“You’re far too kind, fellow. How could a junior like me compare to you…”
The two of them chimed in one after another. One said the other was highly accomplished and had gone to great lengths with his cultivation, while the other praised he was a talented genius and had a limitless future. If a third person listened in on the conversation, they would have thought they were sucking up to one another!
Right now, whoever cherished their life more would be under the control of the other.
“I’ve heard that soul nascences are extremely wondrous. As long as they’ve found a suitable body, they won’t lose any cultivation apart from wasting some time!” Li Qingshan gave some hope to the Myriad Poison Ancestor.
“Sigh, I’ve screwed up such a simple task and am now in dire straits, so how can I still think about the future? I might as well just forget about it!” The Myriad Poison Ancestor sighed and the soul nascence suddenly began to tremble. Terrifying power that could destroy everything was gradually released.
“What are you trying to do?” Li Qingshan asked calmly.
He arrived high in the air, among the atmospheric winds, and flapped the wings of wind. He flew in the direction of Savage mountain as he tossed two sumeru rings into the Watermirror’s Image, transferring it to his clone in Cloud Dream marsh.
They were his and the Myriad Poison Ancestor’s sumeru rings. He was preparing for the worst as he tried to come up with a counterplan.
If he ejected his daemon core and fled far enough, then even if the Myriad Poison Ancestor blew up his soul nascence, he could still maintain a ray of hope and undergo nirvā?a rebirth. This could be considered as his final trump card.
However, once he lost his daemon core, his strength would decline drastically. He would immediately lose control over the Myriad Poison Ancestor’s soul nascence, instead allowing him to escape. As a result, he had to transfer the daemon core to his clone the moment the Myriad Poison Ancestor blew up.
The timing was far too difficult to grasp. If he ejected it too early, then the Myriad Poison Ancestor would stop the self-destruction. If he ejected it too late, then the daemon core would be sucked into the explosion, so how would he still have a chance to be reborn?
Even if he used the spirit turtle’s divination to grasp the timing, a round of nirvā?a rebirth would still take several years before he full recovered. When he turned into a phoenix embryo, he could not even maintain basic consciousness. It was the worst plan possible.
However, the worst plan possible was still a plan. It was still better than having no plan. Li Qingshan eased up. At most, I’ll just do it and undergo rebirth again! Who’s afraid of who?
“Send me back to the Myriad Poison cult, and that’ll be the end between us.” The Myriad Poison Ancestor put forth his condition.
“Heh, you can keep dreaming. If I entered the Myriad Poison cult, you’ll probably activate the formations and kill me as soon as you emerge!”
Li Qingshan bought time as he accelerated. As long as he returned to Savage mountain, he could make Xiao An’s clever brain come up with an idea, not to mention there was the Great Banyan Tree King whose wisdom was as deep as the sea.
“I’m not going to make things difficult for you. You don’t have to enter the Myriad Poison cult. Just the edge will do. You can remove this turtle and allow me to sense the outside world, and I’ll leave,” said the Myriad Poison Ancestor.
Li Qingshan fell silent. Only when the Myriad Poison Ancestor asked again did he say, “Since you already know my identity, you’ll definitely make it public once you return. If the Dragon King of Ink Sea comes knocking, I’ll really run out of options then.”
That was exactly what the Myriad Poison Ancestor was planning. Originally, he planned on feigning ignorance over the matter between Northmoon and the Dragon King of Ink Sea, but now that he had laid it out in the open, there was nothing he could do. He countered with a question. “What do you want then? Do you really want us to thrive or die together?” As he said that, he behaved like he was going to blow up his soul nascence again.
“If you have to be like that, then do it. Even the Dragon King of Ink Sea couldn’t kill me in the past. You’ll be no different!” Li Qingshan said coldly.
“Alright, alright, alright. Then let me try whether I can drag you down with me!” the Myriad Poison Ancestor said. All of the resentment and indignation in him had erupted, making him a little hysterical.
In the centre of the soul nascence, the green light grew brighter and brighter.
Li Qingshan’s heart tensed up, and he immediately stopped flying. A piece of the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell flew out before him, as smooth as a mirror, except it reflected the scenery of Cloud Dream marsh over several tens of thousand kilometers away. He spat out his daemon core and let it pause by the edge of the mirror.
But a while later, seeing how Li Qingshan did not respond at all, the soul nascence that was on the brink of exploding settled back down. The Myriad Poison Ancestor said viciously, “Kid, let’s just say you got me good! I’ll just remain in your sea of consciousness forever. Let’s see how you cultivate now!”
The older a person was, the more afraid of death they became. They instead lacked the courage of young people. Unless they had no other choice, they really were reluctant to choose mutual destruction.
Moreover, the fact that Li Qingshan had survived the Dragon King of Ink Sea did leave him fearful. If he laid down his life, only for Li Qingshan to be alive and kicking again within a few years, then that would be a great loss. This kid had far too many tricks hidden up his sleeve.
But since he wants to negotiate with me, he’s still scared of me blowing up my soul nascence after all. As it seems, even if he can escape alive, he’s either not that confident, or he’ll pay a hefty price, or it’s a combination of both. Hmph, I refused to believe you can keep me trapped in your sea of consciousness forever. Let’s see who can outlast who.
“You better calm down so that we can come up with something that makes the best of both worlds!”
Li Qingshan could not help but laugh aloud, but he felt relieved inside, as even until the moment when the soul nascence was about to blow up, he had not accurately grasped the timing. All he could do was take a gamble.
It was even possible that this opportunity did not exist at all…
