“Do you feel a little better now, my king?” Yin Qing smiled.
“My mood is not the problem. My luck is just a little too ‘great’!” Li Qingshan glanced at Yin Qing. Her lucid eyes hid a smile, which diluted the desolate murderousness on her. It made her seem more and more feminine.
“This isn’t actually a coincidence. Regular Asura Commanders have a steel-forged battle spirit. They would never want to leave the Asura realm. Only those who wield heavy weapons can’t respond in time and are sucked into Asura Fields. Even if they don’t use spiky clubs, it’ll be the likes of large maces. Once the Asura Field becomes even stronger, other weapons will appear, but you can forget about assassins like me.”
Yin Qing stood with a hand on her hip, as if she was not just showing off her identity as an assassin, but her proud figure as well. She was not shy at all.
“I see, so my luck was technically alright…” Li Qingshan smiled. He sensed Xiao An’s gaze from the side and cleared his throat, hiding his emotions. “That’s strength. The Bone Eating Shaman King should have received the news already. Why is he still not here to avenge his clansmen? Don’t tell me he’s in secluded cultivation?”
This war had basically cleaned up all the Bone Eating shamans in the Mist province. A hundred thousand Bone Eating shamans had died, which was absolutely impossible to keep a secret. He had ordered the ten cave masters to operate secretly just to buy time to refine the Asura Field, but a month had already passed now, so the news should have spread long ago.
The ten cave masters basically visited every corner of the Mist province, moving between hundreds of Bone Eating shamans. It was impossible for them to hide their tracks perfectly. As long as the Bone Eating Shaman King looked into the matter slightly, he could trace it back to Savage mountain with great ease.
Li Qingshan was already prepared for the Bone Eating Shaman King to attack Savage mountain. He would use the formations to wear down his strength before striking suddenly and sucking him into the Asura Field. Afterwards, he would overwhelm him with the Myriad Poison Ancestor, Xiao An, and Yin Qing, which would then allow him to take Bone Eating city.
And after all that, the Asura Field would definitely become even stronger, which was beneficial to his cultivation of the Tiger Demon Transformation. It was also possible for him to break through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon through the battle. The plan was not flawless, but it was a robust progression of events. However, even until now, there was absolutely no response at all, which filled him with doubt.
Xiao An said, “That’s fine. If he won’t come, we’ll lure him over.”
……
To the east of the Mist province was a magnificent city. The uneven stone structures were covered with ivy, which varied in colour with the seasons. It was not as detailed and stylish as the prefectural city of Clear River, but it had its own style.
The spiritual qi in the city was so dense that it even surpassed Savage mountain. It was actually a rare, blessed land of cultivation. On a tall hill in the centre of the city sat a grand hall, which was the centre of this blessed land. It even outclassed the Savage King hall on Savage mountain. The countless trees around the city had been cut down, and the miasma had been dispersed as well, converted into rolling fields that brimmed with life.
When the sun set in the west, the long sound of a horn rang out from the hall, and the farmers all returned to the city in groups. The setting sun turned the city and fields into a brilliant red, which made the hall seem even more majestic and noble. All was peaceful.
As a farmer approached the city gates, he glanced at the battlement and saw three ancient words carved into it deeply, Bone Eating City.
The city had a population of a million, but only a hundredth of them were Bone Eating shamans. The rest were mortals, or in other words, “food people”.
Men were impelled to farm day in, day out. Because of the dense spiritual qi in the blessed land and the abundance of food, every single one of them stood strong and tall. Frail or disabled infants were reduced to food, but only Bone Eating shamans of higher status could enjoy them. Regular Bone Eating shamans were forced to wait until the men weakened with age and could not work anymore before finally feasting.
As for the women, they did not have to tend to the land. They only had a single job, which was to give birth. They birthed child after child, until they could not give birth anymore, and they too would be reduced to food.
They thrived and multiplied generation after generation just like this. A small number of lucky people would be nurtured into Bone Eating shamans, while the majority were so-called “food people”, who would give birth to even more Bone Eating shamans or food people.
This was the holy land of Bone Eating shamans. They did not have to hunt arduously and fight against other shamans to obtain sufficient food. However, even with a population of a million, sustaining the Bone Eating shamans that amounted to just a hundredth was already the limit. The population of the food people was restricted by the size of the land too. They could not expand any further.
As a result, a group of Bone Eating shamans would be expelled every few years, turning into the various Bone Eating tribes scattered across the entire Mist province. Among these tribes, anyone who reached a certain level of cultivation or exhibited extraordinary talent would have the opportunity to return to Bone Eating city. There had always been a never-ending flow of pilgrims too.
But recently, the pilgrims had suddenly vanished, which led to many discussions in the city. The Bone Eating Shaman King sent people to investigate, but he had yet to find anything.
“Who is it exactly? Who’s bold enough to massacre my clansmen?”
A furious voice rang out in the hall, breaking the peace of dusk and echoing across the entire city. Whether they were Bone Eating shamans or mortals, they all prostrated in the direction of the hall, too afraid to make any noise. The bustling city suddenly fell silent.
At the very top of the hall was a stone wall that stood three hundred meters tall, depicting a life-like totem of Qiongqi that gazed over the entire city.
A middle-aged man stood on a tall platform in front of the totem, waving around the black sceptre in his hand. His face was twisted in anger. He wore long, black robes with dark-red hems, which made him seem like a dignified ruler.
However, the single horn on his forehead, the wings on his back, and the terrifying aura that filled the surroundings explained who he was. He was the Bone Eating Shaman King.
“Shaman King, according to the results of the divination, the enemy is in the south.”
The great shaman priest stood below the platform and reported with her sharp, raspy voice. She was shaped like an old woman, where her back was as hunched over as it could be. She was no taller than a ten-year-old. She wore a black feather crown on her head and dressed in colourful, shabby shaman robes.
“The south? Is it the Myriad Poison cult?” The dark-red wings on the Bone Eating Shaman King’s black flapped furiously.
“No, Shaman King. It’s not the Myriad Poison cult. The cave masters of Savage mountain were behind it,” said the great shaman priest.
“Savage mountain? Why would they do this?”
The Bone Eating Shaman King had to furrow his brows before he remembered what kind of place that was. Savage mountain was merely a second-rate organisation in the Mist province, an assembly of misfits. If they had just destroyed a few Bone Eating tribes, then that would be nothing. He did not actually care too much about the fate of the Bone Eating tribes outside. However, their genocidal actions conveyed something different altogether. They had clearly developed a deep grievance with him. Where did they find the courage to?
If they were only regular, weaker tribes, then so be it, but the larger tribes all had second heavenly layer Bone Eating chieftains or shaman priests. They possessed a geographic advantage too, so how had they been captured so easily?
“Savage mountain is no longer the Savage mountain of the past. A White Hawk commander by the name of Li Qingshan has occupied it. He’s used the Blood Oath Scroll to place ten demonic cultivators under his control, which are the ten cave masters, and he calls himself the King of Savages. He’s clashed with the Myriad Poison cult,” said the great shaman priest.
“The King of Savages! He’s undergone the third heavenly tribulation, so why is he a White Hawk commander?”
Bone Eating city was several tens of thousand kilometers away from the south. The Bone Eating Shaman King had been in secluded cultivation the entire time too, so he knew very little about Li Qingshan.
“No, he only has a cultivation at the second heavenly layer, but he’s very powerful. Even the Myriad Poison cult has suffered heavily at his hand, basically losing all their disciples. Even the Myriad Poison Ancestor is powerless against him. As for why he’s doing this, no one knows.” A hint of worry appeared in the great shaman priest’s eyes.
“Savage mountain? Very well! Li Qingshan? Very well! I will make them pay. I will make them serve as food people for the rest of their lives in the city. I’ll cut off a piece of his flesh every single day to eat. It’ll definitely make my cultivation progress!”
The Bone Eating Shaman King’s mouth was filled with sharp teeth. The wings unfolded quickly, and fierce wind spilled out into the surroundings. He was about to fly off and capture Li Qingshan and the others so that he had something to go with his alcohol.
This was not being rash. Instead, it came from the Shaman King’s confidence. As long as he knew the enemy’s position, those geniuses and arcane treasures would all be useless if there was not an equal opponent. However, unbeknownst to him, the Myriad Poison Ancestor had also attacked Savage mountain with the exact same kind of confidence.
“Shaman King, please hold on. Li Qingshan comes from the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga of the Green province. His master is a Monk King. There’s also a woman by his side who is also a disciple of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.”
“Hmph, the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga! Are they bold enough to come to the Mist province? Even the Myriad Poison Ancestor is not afraid of them, so am I supposed to be afraid?”
The three great sects of the Green province possessed imposing strength, which the Bone Eating Shaman King had heard about too. The four guardian kings of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga were renowned throughout the world, but there was no need for him to worry at all with the hostility between the two provinces.
That was what the Myriad Poison Ancestor had thought too.
The great shaman priest was too afraid to say that the Myriad Poison Ancestor had suffered so much, yet he had still failed to take Savage mountain. “Before you go, we should offer sacrifices to great god Qiongqi and carry out a divination.”
Her interruption made the Bone Eating Shaman King calm down very much. He felt like she was right. This matter came off as fishy from many perspectives. Let alone the others, just grasping the location of every single Bone Eating tribe was unbelievable.
Bone Eating tribes varied in size. They were not like regular tribes that prospered across the generations in one location. Instead, they regularly moved about in search of even more “food”.
A White Hawk commander from the Green province had actually managed to grasp the location of every single Bone Eating tribe so accurately before launching an attack with lightning speed. That simply surpassed what he should have been capable of.
There was a very big question to this too. Just what did he do this for? Just what benefits, or in other words, reasons, gave him the courage to be so fearless and reckless?
If it was for refining an artifact, then finding a hundred thousand mortals was as easy as it could get. Bone Eating shamans focused on tempering the body. Apart from the handful that had undergone the heavenly tribulation, the souls of regular Bone Eating shamans were not any stronger than mortals.
Was there some kind of deeper scheme hidden within? The general situation across the entire world was becoming more and more turbulent now. At a time like this, two genius disciples of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga refused to cultivate in peace in the Green province and instead chose to come to the south despite all the risk. Just what was the reason behind that?
After calming down and contemplating it, it really was mystifying. He could not afford to be careless.
“Alright, just as you said! I’ll definitely be getting this revenge!” the Bone Eating Shaman King said. He had not been acting on impulse. Instead, a king had a king’s dignity.
“Yes, Shaman King. I’ll go prepare right now!”
