Before Ru Xin had boarded the Silver Dragon Ship with the Myriad Poison Ancestor, she had passed the Lost Stalks of the King of Yue to Li Qingshan just in case some kind of strange reaction occurred between the arcane treasures.
“You’ve actually given him the Lost Stalks of the King of Yue in exchange for suppressing your inner demons as the condition?”
The King of Southern Yue’s mid-air projection was rather surprised. Then he looked at Gong Yuan and came to some understanding.
He said he had come for Li Qingshan, but actually, his primary objective was still to force Gong Yuan into handing over the Lost Stalks of the King of Yue in exchange for his promise to not support Fire Melt mountain. He never thought another twist would occur at the last moment. This Li Qingshan…
“That’s the spoils of my race. I can hand it to whoever I want. The past King of Yue was known for his path of divination, but he still ended up miscalculating, losing the stalks and suffering in the South sea! I’d advise the King of Yue to not take a pointless risk. If it reignites war, perhaps it’ll be a grievance that extends for another several thousand years!”
In the past, while the Kingdom of Yue had failed to conquer the South sea, they had dealt a heavy blow to the Merfolk of the South sea, resulting in negotiations and a truce in the end. The later Kings of Yue had all been interested in revenge, but all of them were afraid to become involved in this mess again, so they only used Fire Melt mountain to inhibit the Merfolk.
Faced with the overbearing King of Southern Yue, Gong Yuan immediately recovered her cold and proud nature as a king. However, her current position did affect her bearing as a king, as she was still in Li Qingshan’s arms.
The King of Southern Yue never expected Gong Yuan to take Li Qingshan’s side in such a clear-cut manner. Was it to save Ru Xin? But according to what he knew, Gong Yuan’s personality was not that soft. Though, the thoughts of women had always been unpredictable and impossible to grasp.
“Hmm? There seems to be two stalks missing!”
“The last two are with me!” Gong Yuan immediately took out a black and a white Lost Stalk of the King of Yue. She said coldly, “Release her and I can give you the entire set of cleromancy stalks!”
The King of Southern Yue fell into a momentary silence. He said, “Li Qingshan, if one day, you become my enemy, I’d rather go without these cleromancy stalks!”
The strength that Li Qingshan had demonstrated was far too terrifying. If he was forced to make an enemy out of him, he had to do everything within his ability to nip him in the bud.
“I don’t need to swear any solemn oaths. Do you think I’m the kind to submit to another, King of Yue?” Li Qingshan asked loudly.
The King of Southern Yue nodded with a smile. “You really don’t!” Suddenly, he changed the topic. “Though, after saying all this, you’re still wearing your helmet. Isn’t that a little too rude?”
Li Qingshan shuddered inside. After breaking through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, his strength had advanced significantly, but the spirit turtle was completely incapable of suppressing his demonic nature. He could not recover his human form anymore, which was why he maintained the horned helmet the entire time to cover up his appearance. He never expected the King of Southern Yue to notice this.
He had disregarded the King of Southern Yue’s threats, resolving to face him in battle, which was a consequence of the tiger demon. The more powerful the enemy he faced, the more restless and bloodthirsty the tiger demon would become. He hesitated for a slight moment before immediately making a decision!
The people below were utterly nervous, afraid they would suddenly fall out and the King of Southern Yue would carry out a massacre. They did not even have the strength to run away right now.
The coldness from the frozen sea reached all the way up into the sky, making huge flakes of snow drift down. Within the cold stand-off, the King of Southern Yue suddenly began laughing aloud. “I see! I should have thought of that a long time ago! No wonder you’re not afraid of making an enemy out of me!”
Everyone looked at one another, both curious and surprised. They had no idea what the King of Southern Yue had noticed that would actually make him say Li Qingshan was unafraid of making an enemy out of him! Even though they had already become numb from Li Qingshan’s various displays of power, they could not help but be shocked again right now.
That was the King of Southern Yue! Even Fire Melt mountain could only be considered as a minor force compared to him! Just what did Li Qingshan possess to deserve such an evaluation?
“Northmoon!”
Gong Yuan raised her head and murmured that silently. When the horned helmet turned to demon qi, it revealed a handsome face that was clearly different from Li Qingshan’s. The face was horned and had scarlet hair like fire. The words “North” and “Moon” were clearly engraved on the horns.
She was still slightly unfamiliar with the name, but the King of Southern Yue was extremely familiar with it.
Back then, didn’t the Dragon King of Ink Sea travel over ten thousand kilometers, venturing all the way into the Mist province, exactly because of this daemon? It was no wonder the Great Banyan Tree King would give his good graces to a human. As it turned out, he was not a human at all, but a one-in-a-thousand-years prodigy of the Daemon race.
The Great Banyan Tree King had probably played a role in why he could survive the Dragon King of Ink Sea’s pursuit too. Although he did not know how he had managed to fool everything with a human identity, his reason for coming to the Mist province was as clear as day. It was clearly to hide from the Dragon King of Ink Sea. He had even included one of the Ten Daemon Kings, the Dragon King of Ink Sea, on his list of revenge, so of course he would not be afraid of offending a King of Yue.
Most importantly, he was not the first daemon to infiltrate the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. Once his identity was exposed, the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga would never allow him to stick around for any longer. Even the King of Chu would not be able to keep him around, and he was bitter enemies with the Dragon King of Ink Sea too. That was equivalent to saying the entire Green province, both Human and Daemon races, were all his enemies, so why would he assist the Green province against the Mist province?
“Your majesty, how’s that?” Li Qingshan asked. After breaking through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, he was capable of protecting himself even if the Dragon King of Ink Sea came from him again. Only strength was the foundation of all.
“Very impressive!”
The projection in the air suddenly vanished. A while later, Ru Xin flew down from the Silver Dragon King.
Li Qingshan and Gong Yuan tossed the Lost Stalks of the King of Yue into the air at the same time. The Silver Dragon King emitted a silver beam, and the cleromancy stalks rose up along the beam.
The King of Southern Yue stood up, slightly excited as he assembled the two sets of stalks together.
At that moment, a dragon’s cry rang out. The figure of a dragon rose up. In the beginning, it was only as thick as a wrist, but it became as wide as a water tank in the blink of an eye, soaring around the Silver Dragon King like a river.
Li Qingshan raised his head and was shocked. The figure of the dragon was extremely blurry, and he had already seen countless dragons in the past. He had once possessed a Demon Dragon sword that could turn into a demon, but unlike the Demon Dragon sword, unlike the fire dragons that the giant god of fire rode, unlike the black dragon that Si Qing transformed into, that was the aura of a true dragon!
Quite a while later, the figure of the dragon gradually shrank, receding into the Silver Dragon King.
The Myriad Poison Ancestor said, “Congratulations on recovering a great treasure of the King of Yue, your majesty. Your chances in the war against the Kingdom of Chu have increased yet again.”
“Even with this treasure, I cannot calculate everything in the world. The descendants of the Kingdom of Yue must heed the lessons of the past kings. From today onwards, let’s call this set of cleromancy stalks as Lost Stalks of the King of Yue as a reminder of the past!” the King of Southern Yue said.
The Silver Dragon King split through the clouds and sailed off. The King of Southern Yue’s voice rang out from afar, “King of Savages, if you ever wish to drink in the future, come to the King of Yue’s estate. I will invite you to the best alcohol the Mist province has to offer!”
Since he had decided against becoming enemies with him, an existence of both startling strength and potential like him was still very much worth befriending. The Great Banyan Tree King had already expressed his wish. Once that was fulfilled, perhaps he would be the next Daemon King of the Mist province!
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Only when the Silver Dragon King vanished into the horizon did Li Qingshan lower his head. Gong Yuan pushed him gently and broke free from his embrace, slowly stowing the Heart of the Abyss away.
Li Qingshan also reeled back his consciousness, and their feeling of compatibility was immediately severed. He still felt rather reluctant about all that, but Gong Yuan’s expression was cold like her face was frosted over. She seemed quite willing to turn against him then and there.
Li Qingshan brushed it aside with a smile and put on the horned helmet again. He said to Ru Xin, “Are you fine?”
Ru Xin smiled. “Fortunately, you’re not stupid enough to fall for his threats!”
“Almost!” Li Qingshan’s smile contained some relief. He was not actually as staunch as he seemed when he was resolved to face the King of Southern Yue in battle earlier.
He had anticipated that the King of Southern Yue would not go as far as to hold Ru Xin hostage against him, but once the situation really deteriorated to that point, he would still put up with it and negotiate. He definitely would not allow Ru Xin to die before him over something like pride or honour.
Ru Xin’s heart softened. She wanted to mock him a little like normal, but she was unable to say it. However, there was a belief she held onto. She would rather die than see him lower his head to another for her.
Then she glanced at Gong Yuan deeply and said, “Thank you!”
Gong Yuan sucked in a deep breath and said coldly, “Don’t be so self-centredly sentimental. I only saved you for your Stoneheart. Don’t forget about your promise.”
“Don’t listen to her nonsense. She cared very much about you earlier! She’s just gone a little crazy with cultivation, such that even her regular emotions are repressed. The aura of Ruin’s End really is a little too extreme.”
Li Qingshan immediately rebuked. Earlier, he had been mentally linked with Gong Yuan, so he could sense everything she was feeling.
Gong Yuan was furious. “Shut your mouth!”
Ru Xin smiled. She still could not forgive her, but it did make her feel glad.
