“Granny” was frightened, retreating instinctively and swinging her cane to block. The dragon-headed cane was also an arcane treasure, sculpted from a dragon’s bone. It possessed a hint of intelligence, producing a dragon’s cry, except it seemed rather feeble within the wild roar.
Foul wind swept through the surroundings, and murderousness surged.
Li Qingshan went from being a rather sickly man to an unparalleled tiger demon, and the blade in his hand was the tiger demon’s fangs!
He had never had the chance to try out the blade since he obtained it. Even when faced with “granny’s” provocation, he was not too interested in using the blade, as the price he would have to pay was substantial.
Now, he had finally swung out with it to his heart’s content.
He had never properly studied a blade style. Although the swing was rooted in the path of the sword, it was much more free-flowing, forming a style of its own. It did not possess any resemblance to the path of the sword. Instead it gave off a hearty and satisfying feeling.
Sure enough, I should use the blade!
With that thought in mind, the streak of blood-red light clashed with the dragon-headed cane.
Black cracks flowed on top of the red light, tremoring away rhythmically and slicing into the cane like a chainsaw. It cut through the cane in a single stroke before cutting through her protective spiritual qi, slicing through her flesh, and greedily drinking her blood.
“Granny’s” face was filled with disbelief. Everyone’s faces were filled with disbelief. Only Xiao An remained expressionless. The Divine Nun of the South Sea suddenly understood what she meant. As it turned out, Li Qingshan was not the one reaping what he sowed.
Li Qingshan held back Tiger’s Fang’s bloodthirsty desire and sheathed the blade. He stood right in front of the jade table, just like before, and asked, “Did you see it?”
The blood-red light lingered in everyone’s field of view, only dispersing after quite a while. For a moment, they were all speechless. “Granny” clutched her wound, and her face was pale. The others all wondered what would happen if they had been on the receiving end of that swing instead.
“Granny” returned to her senses, surprised and angered, yet also with some lingering fear. She called out, “What are you standing there for? Capture this madman!”
“Granny, please calm down!” Gong Yuan grabbed “granny” by the shoulder and channelled a wave of coldness into her, freezing the blade wound in the process too. The blade was extremely strange. With the healing techniques of Merfolk, she was actually unable to close the wound immediately.
“And you still want me to calm down!?” “Granny” became even more furious. It was not that she had not been injured in her life, but this was the first time she had been injured in the Crystal palace, and a human was behind the injured too. It was basically utterly humiliating from messing up such a simple task.
“Don’t forget about what you taught me. The interests of the Merfolk come first!” Gong Yuan said coldly.
“Granny” wavered. This Li Qingshan’s strength had far exceeded her imagination. If she used the formations of the Crystal palace, she could subdue and capture him, but it would be difficult to say whether she would end up wounded or not. The war against Fire Melt mountain was looming right before them, so this would be no different from digging her own grave. It was still unknown which side Ji Changfeng would take. Even if he remained neutral, the alliance this time would have collapsed before it had even formed. If she wanted to prioritise the interests of the Merfolk, she definitely could not fall out with Li Qingshan right now.
The Divine Nun of the South Sea glanced at Li Qingshan in utter surprise and also tried to mediate the situation.
“You can’t blame me. She insisted on seeing it!” Li Qingshan sat back down on the jade table and shrugged. If he was not even capable of that, why would he be bold enough to come to the Crystal palace to form an alliance?
He originally thought that even if “granny” managed to hold back her urge to attack him, she would definitely storm off furiously, but he never expected “granny” to come back to him a while later and sigh. “I really have grown senile. I can’t even recognise the outstanding figures of the world anymore. If I have offended you earlier, please forgive me, King of Savages!” Her back suddenly seemed much more hunched over.
“Heh, I’m young and hot-headed, so I’m the one who’s offended granny, so please don’t blame me, granny!” Li Qingshan did not take it too far. He had already achieved his objective with that swing of his. The two other Merfolk Kings sitting on the side had both become cautious. They were also very puzzled.
“It really is a fine blade. Is this how you slew the giant god of fire?” Gong Yuan came to a realisation. Her attitude towards Li Qingshan was much more placid. After all, she never saw him directly fight back then on Giant Ship island, so she also had some doubts. She wondered just what the Asura Field had done in order to trap and kill the giant god of fire. Only after seeing this did she become amazed and convinced by his strength.
Li Qingshan only smiled. He understood everything best as the person involved. The swing earlier seemed extremely fierce, but if he used his full strength, he would not be able to unleash it too many times. It would grow weaker with each swing as the blood in the blade was depleted. Although it had absorbed some blood, it was impossible for him to make up for the depletion unless he killed “granny”. He would still have to use his own blood to feed the blade. It was no wonder that even asura refused to use this blade. It really did pain him a little.
Though, it really was strong enough. Earlier, he actually had the chance to kill “granny”, but that did not necessarily mean he was stronger than “granny”. If they clashed like normal, it would be very difficult for him to defeat her.
Actually, “granny” has just been making things difficult for herself earlier. She had never been skilled in close combat, and coupled with the decline that came with age, she actually still stood right in front of him and provoked him. She should have checked what Li Qingshan was capable of first. The strength of the ox demon, the explosiveness of the tiger demon, and the judgement of the spirit turtle were all present in that swing.
“With the King of Savages’ assistance, would we even have to worry about not achieving revenge?” Ji Changfeng said from the bottom of his heart.
“We still need to work together as a team. With my strength alone, I can’t take down Fire Melt mountain. Anyway, back to the main topic, the conditions I mentioned earlier…”
“No problem. Fire Melt mountain and the divine wutong tree are all yours,” Gon Yuan said immediately. The three other Merfolk Kings had no objections either. It was just too great of a bargain for a powerful cultivator like him to fight for them at such a price.
“Then the demands you mentioned earlier…”
“Let’s forget about the first demand. I owe her that. I can only hope she lives a favourable life from now onwards and no longer dwells on her past hatred. As for the second demand, I don’t want your cultivation method, but I do hope you can help me suppress my inner demons so that I can increase my cultivation. We’ll have a better chance with the battle too!”
“That goes without saying. The outcome of this battle will entirely depend on how much strength you can release, your majesty. I also need you to connect with Ruin’s End. This is something that benefits us both.” Li Qingshan smiled.
Gong Yuan eased up slightly. Since Li Qingshan also required her, this was not a one-sided request anymore. Instead, she found Li Qingshan much more pleasing to the eye now.
After agreeing on the basic allocation of spoils, they finally began discussing the actual battle strategy.
If the Divine Nun of the South Sea wanted no part in this, she should have taken her leave now, but she glanced at Xiao An and thought, Buddhism has produced such a wondrous prodigy. Even if she doesn’t want to become my disciple, I can’t just watch her die there. There’ll definitely be great danger in this battle, so I should ensure her safety. If she witnesses what I’m capable of, or if I save her life in the battle, perhaps she’ll agree to become my disciple out of gratitude.
With that in mind, she chose not to leave. She pulled Xiao An to one side to talk again, and Xiao An played along gratefully.
Gong Yuan disclosed the entire plan that the Crystal palace had come up with to Li Qingshan. “Fire Melt mountain possesses an extremely great geographical advantage. It restrains us very much. If we don’t weaken that, we can forget about attacking Fire Melt mountain altogether.”
“Since they can draw out the flames of the earth to destroy your geographic advantage over the ocean, can’t you usher rain and clouds to Fire Melt mountain?”
“Logically speaking, we can, but you’ve seen Fire Melt mountain. It’ll be far too strenuous to maintain clouds above there. Before we even start fighting with the fire devourers, we’ll have used up too much strength. The fire devourers can draw out the flames of the earth over the ocean because they have the Divine Fire tablets, and that’s only possible on an island. I’d like to see them come to the deep sea and try that!”
“Since you’re familiar with everything, you must have thought of a counterplan.”
“That’s right. They have a geographic advantage, so we have to make use of timing. Before long, there’ll be a great storm over the South sea, blowing northwards to the Mist province!”
“I see!”
Li Qingshan understood now. With the Merfolk’s understanding of the ocean climate, coupled with some divination and forecasting techniques, learning about a storm before it occurred was nothing difficult.
The storms of this world were far stronger than those from his previous life. As a matter of fact, they would even merge with the atmospheric winds from time to time, making them more and more terrifying. Even the Merfolk were calling it a great storm, so it must have been a terrifying storm that even cultivators rarely encountered. A storm like that could impact several thousand kilometers of land. It would be a terrifying force of heaven that even great cultivators would come nowhere close to. It could suppress the geographic advantage of Fire Melt mountain.
“However, it’s not like you started the storm. The wind can change directions at any time. Fire Melt mountain is rather far away from the shore, so unless it is struck with the eye of the storm, there probably won’t be much impact.”
“That’ll be up to fellow Ji.” Gong Yuan looked at Ji Changfeng. She had personally ventured to Giant Ship island to request for Ji Changfeng’s help exactly so that she could get him to control this great storm. They wanted it to blow towards Fire Melt mountain precisely. That would be far more helpful than having him directly clash with the fire devourers, and it would be much more difficult too.
Even as the Wind Gale King, just how effective could he be before a terrifying force of the world? No one would know until that day arrived.
“Even if it’ll cost me my life, I’ll make the fire devourers pay!” Ji Changfeng was already prepared to risk his life.
“When the time comes, I might be able to lend you a hand, fellow.” After breaking through to the fifth layer of the tiger demon, Li Qingshan gained some more understanding over controlling wind, but it was far too soon. He had not consolidated his cultivation yet. If he could participate in controlling a great storm like this and contend against the force of the world, it would definitely bring great benefit to his cultivation.
“Then let me thank you first!” Ji Changfeng clasped his hands with a smile.
Li Qingshan clasped his hands back at him with a smile. Then he said seriously, “Though before this, we might as well take a look at the effect of Stoneheart. If it really is as effective as we anticipated it to be, we might as well provoke them and try to get them to give up on their geographic advantage to attack the Crystal palace. If that happens, then we’ll be the ones with the geographic advantage.
He was not particularly familiar with battle strategy, but he could be described as rather experienced when it came to mocking the enemy. He used it whenever he had the opportunity. He had his own considerations behind that too. If the fire devourers directed their attention to Savage mountain out of fury, he really would not be able to stop them.
Gong Yuan glanced at him and saw through his thoughts, but she did not lay it out in the open. Sacrificing a Savage mountain would bring no benefit to the war at all. If they wanted to destroy Fire Melt mountain, then they had to be prepared to turn the Crystal palace into a battlefield.
