“What a great demon!” Ru Xin smiled.
“Then aren’t you a demoness? Aren’t we a perfect pair?”
Li Qingshan pursed his lips and gazed at her smile. He could not help but lower his head and try to kiss those slightly-curved, red lips, only to be blocked by the hideous bronze mask. He smiled and continued with the kiss, kissing the mask gently. He felt her shoulders tremble.
Leaving the dwelling, Li Qingshan had basically gained a clearer view over why Ru Xin had come to the south, but he did not know why she had a grudge with the fire devourers, and it did not only seem to be due to the fact that they were the mortal enemies of her race. On top of that, not only did she refuse to return to the South sea, but she even included the merpeople in her scheme. Clearly, they did not offer much of a sense of belonging.
Her grudge was clearly so deep, yet she tried to persuade him out of opposing Fire Melt mountain in the beginning. She was more willing to risk her life than drag him into the matter, which left him feeling both touched and helpless.
However, he still ended up taking the path of opposing Fire Melt mountain, which meant fate sure did want them to be in the same boat. Her plan for revenge had also drastically increased his chances at taking down Fire Melt mountain.
However, in order to carry out the plan, he had to wait until she underwent the second heavenly tribulation at the very least. Even with the Myriad Poison Ancestor’s full support, devoting all the resources from the cult to her to help her refine the diseases and increase her cultivation, it would still probably take a few years’ time.
To cultivators, a period like that was neither long or short, so it was worth it to deal with such a prominent existence like Fire Melt mountain.
Li Qingshan obviously would not let this precious time go to waste. He planned on entering secluded cultivation first so that he could consolidate what he had comprehended in the illusions of the Mirage sea. As a result, he handed over a few matters to the ten cave masters and spent some more time with Ye Liusu and Ye Liubo before returning to the Eight Point hall.
Soon afterwards, Xiao An arrived in the hall too. She had already passed the entirety of the Scripture of the Ghost King to the Myriad Poison Ancestor, but it would obviously take him quite some time before he truly comprehended everything and became a ghost cultivator. As a result, she sent him back to the Myriad Poison cult. He could return for orders once he had completely become a ghost cultivator. He obviously had to keep everything that happened on Savage mountain a secret, and he had to maintain a hostile cover against them, turning him into a secret chess piece.
As a result, the battle between Savage mountain and the Myriad Poison cult suddenly began before suddenly stopping, which led to many theories.However, the Myriad Poison Ancestor had not died after all, which would be impossible to hide from the heavenly secrets. They all thought he was in secluded cultivation right now and wanted to find an opportunity for revenge in the future. Even the King of Southern Yue never thought he would actually lose in a direct confrontation and have his body destroyed, let alone become a servant.
He obviously believed that Li Qingshan would face quite the problems from now on in the south now that he had a powerful opponent like that. There would be no need for him to personally plot anything. He only had to see whether Li Qingshan sought reinforcements from the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga or not.
Sure enough, a few months later, the King of Southern Yue received news that Li Qingshan had received permission from the Gold Hawk commander and had silently returned to the Green province.
Li Qingshan flew off into the horizon and gazed at the land of the Green province he had not seen for a very long time. He obviously did not return to seek reinforcements from the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. Instead, a communication jade had suddenly shattered in his sumeru ring.
There were many methods of communication in this world, but across a distance of tens of thousand kilometers, many of them would either be rendered useless or they were worth more than the trouble, as communication would be extremely inconvenient. When it mattered, all they could do was rely on this primitive method to send messages.
Communication jades came as a pair. When one was crushed, the other would shatter too. Li Qingshan possessed a total of four jades, which all represented different things.
One was with Han Qiongzhi so that she could contact him whenever she faced any urgent matters. One came from the Golden Cicada Spirit King because he said he had a gift for him when he ascended. He had given one to Qiu Haitang, originally so that he could save her if she faced danger, but it had become more of a memorial now. The last piece was with Chu Danqing. In the past, he had agreed to contact Li Qingshan once the Three Absolutes Calligraphy was completely repaired.
The one that had shattered right now was Chu Danqing’s.
It had been several years since he last saw Chu Danqing, and Chu Danqing had never contacted him, so Li Qingshan had almost forgotten about this matter. He suspected that with his cultivation, he might not be able to repair an arcane treasure like that. Now that Li Qingshan had suddenly received a message, even he had no idea whether Chu Danqing had completed the repair or simply given up.
The Three Absolutes Calligraphy was no regular arcane treasure. Not only did it contain the powerful way of the sword, but it also seemed to be connected to the secret of the Painting Tomb. It might even be critical to killing the Dragon King of Ink Sea, so it bore great importance to Li Qingshan. He had become rather nervous and eager.
He was in a rush to find out what had happened, but out of caution, he did not use any daemon abilities on the way here. Instead, he intentionally gave off Li Qingshan’s aura. When he left the Mist province, he even went out of his way to report this to his superiors, just to guarantee there would not be any holes in his story.
However, with his current cultivation, he did travel rather quickly if he spent day and night on the road. He returned to the Ruyi commandery several days later, arriving in a mountainous forest with beautiful scenery and dense with spiritual qi. He knew this was where Chu Shidao cultivated in peace in the past.
“Danqing, I’m here,” Li Qingshan arrived before the formation and called out.
Only a while later did the formation open, letting Li Qingshan in. All he saw was a hut on the white, sandy shore of the blue lake. They seemed simple, but they merged with the surrounding scenery, forming a natural and harmonious landscape. The hut was surrounded by grass and weeds that swallowed the path. It seemed extremely dilapidated. Clearly, no one had tended to the hut in a very long time.
Li Qingshan’s face sank. The dwelling bore great significance to Chu Danqing, yet he actually could not even find the time to tend to it.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Li Qingshan knocked on the door.
“Qingshan, there’s no need to be so polite. Come on in!” A feeble voice rang out from inside. It was so weak that it sounded like it could drift away any time.
Li Qingshan made his way through the door, only to see someone sitting on the bed by the window. When he saw his appearance, he could not help but be taken aback. “Danqing, how can you end up like this!?”
Chu Danqing was not exactly stunning like Hua Chengzan, but he did have delicate features, and his appearance did stand out. However, right now, his face was covered in wrinkles, his eyes were murky, his hair was a greyish-white, and his skin was pale and withered. He seemed like he had aged several decades. At that moment, Li Qingshan basically thought he was seeing Chu Shidao, except even Chu Shidao looked better than him.
Most importantly, he had already undergone the first heavenly tribulation and become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but right now, his aura had declined to the level of a Qi Practitioner that had not even condensed a sea of qi.
Seeing Li Qingshan, Chu Danqing stood up excitedly. He tottered about, almost falling. Tears welled up in his eyes. He opened his mouth, but he said absolutely nothing.
“Don’t be in such a hurry to say anything. I told you to repair the Three Absolutes Calligraphy. There’s no need for you to end up like this!”
Li Qingshan rushed over to support him and injected spiritual qi into his body. He could sense that his cultivation had regressed severely, where even his soul was damaged. He was basically in a state even worse than when Milliped blew up his daemon core.
“Qingshan, I did it, I did it!” Chu Danqing gripped Li Qingshan’s wrist firmly. After saying that, he downright fainted.
