In a situation like that, Li Qingshan was reluctant to make trouble, but all of the daemonic beasts that were bold enough to attack Li Qingshan all possessed startling strength. Xuanyue became more and more cautious as well, no longer helping out so easily. She carefully concealed her daemon qi. Li Qingshan would often have to go through a difficult battle before he could head off again.
After the rounds and rounds of slaughter, he grew more accustomed to battle as well. Against these terrifying daemonic beasts, there were not a lot of moves or tricks. Most of it involved using strength against strength, forcefully beating them up.
However, they came across many daemonic beasts that were difficult to handle as well. It was all thanks to Xiao An’s Blood Flames of Corpse Incineration that performed outstandingly time and time again, burning many daemonic beasts to death. He was even fiercer than Li Qingshan. In the beginning, it was not obvious, but as time went on, the strength of the flames became clear.
Moreover, after burning several daemonic beasts to death, the Blood Flames of Corpse Incineration became more and more vicious as well. Wherever it passed by, it was unstoppable, overcoming the strong despite being weaker time and time again. It also made Xuanyue look at him in surprise again and again. She wondered what ability or technique he practised that was actually effective against all creatures of blood and flesh.
However, Xiao An could not speak, so she was unable to get anything out of him. Li Qingshan only said that he knew it right from the beginning. However, Xiao An was unable to remould his body from all of this. It actually seemed like he required humans as sacrifices, so there was nothing they could do about it. They could only wait until Li Qingshan had recovered his human form.
However, they never came across Daemon Generals or daemonic beasts with daemon cores along the way. It was not because of Li Qingshan’s luck. Most of the time, Xuanyue would suddenly order him to stop or change directions.
Daemons were similar to wild beasts. They had their own hunting zones, something regular people could not sense. Xuanyue could closely sense the changes and strength of daemon qi, which allowed them to avoid some dangerous regions. They would basically be travelling along the boundaries of the invisible territories many times. As for Li Qingshan, he handled the rough direction they had to travel in.
As they constantly stopped as they travelled, their relationship actually mellowed out a lot more, or in other words, Li Qingshan’s tolerance increased significantly. With his cultivation of the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression, he felt his restless heart gradually settle down. And this was all due to the spiritual pills and Xuanyue’s extremely cute appearance, which drastically boosted his tolerance, or in other words, he had no choice but to put up with all of it.
Of course, what prompted his cultivation now was not just in order to assume a human form. It was also the sight of getting a certain cat to call him master. Just like the principle of how braised meat within reach would always be better than a white crane beyond reach, he obviously moved down the priority of making Gu Yanying his wife. Moreover, Xuanyue was not just braised meat. She was basically a foodie’s feast. If the two of them stood right before him to choose, he would truly be troubled. He compared them to each other countless times, but he still had no idea how he would decide in a situation like that.
Just as the frog was still leaping along on the ground, it had already begun contemplating which crane was tastier, and it was even considering twelve different ways to eat a crane. As a result, Li Qingshan held high hopes for the future with these outrageous, lecherous thoughts.
Before he knew it, several days had passed. On this day, Xuanyue suddenly whispered into Li Qingshan’s ear, “Stop!”
Li Qingshan stopped in a hurry. He concealed his aura according to the guidance of the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression. A series of heavy steps rang out from nearby. An enormous lizard, the size of a dinosaur, passed by in front of them.
If it were an actual dinosaur, Li Qingshan would not have been so afraid. However, the enormous lizard breathed out cold air as it walked, and wherever it passed by, the vegetation would be reduced to frozen statues.
What heavy daemon qi. Li Qingshan had learnt quite a lot as well. For example, he now knew how to use daemon qi to discern the strength of his opponent.
Once the ice lizard had passed by, Xuanyue asked in fascination, “How did you do that? How did you withdraw your aura so completely? Was that your innate ability? But you haven’t condensed a daemeown core yet, have you? Are you supposed to be a spiritual beast?”
“I don’t know. I can do it just from holding my breath.” Li Qingshan had already understood that daemons did not pursue various kinds of techniques like humans. Instead, they constantly developed their natural strengths, practising innate abilities. Although it lacked flexibility and change, it would usually be extremely powerful.
Innate abilities did not come with birth. They would only be awakened when a daemon core was condensed, and they would grow with the daemon’s personal strength, which could even lead to awakening even more innate abilities.
Shadow Displacement and Moon Concealment were Xuanyue’s innate abilities. They were extremely rare abilities for movement and hiding. She probably was not a regular cat daemon either, but some sort of spiritual cat.
“Hmph!” Li Qingshan’s insincere answer was not worth her attention. However, she never tried to probe any deeper either. Daemons were usually reluctant to tell others about their innate abilities. However, in her eyes, Li Qingshan became more and more mysterious.
Suddenly, a streak of light shot through the sky, and a gaze as sharp as a sword swept past the ground.
With Li Qingshan’s sharp vision, he saw the figure in the light with a single glance.
The Soaring Dragon Elder also saw Li Qingshan on the ground. “A Daemon General? But its daemon qi is far too weak!” Humanoid daemons were relatively more rare. “But what’s that?” He saw Xiao An beside Li Qingshan as well.
Li Qingshan made eye contact with the sharp gaze. He felt both afraid and startled, as if a sword was hovering right above his head, about to behead him in the next moment.
That’s a sword immortal!
Even though he had already seen Gu Yanying fly before, he was still filled with shock when he saw a real sword immortal of the legends. Was there anyone who had not dreamed about the freedom that came with riding a sword and soaring through the skies?
Afterwards, he suddenly remembered his current identity and appearance. He was a daemon. If the sword immortal descended from the sky, how was he supposed to respond?
Only when the streak of light passed by without stopping did Li Qingshan sigh in relief. The Soaring Dragon Elder believed he had more important matters to attend to, so he was reluctant to spend time on a ‘mere daemon’.
Xuanyue had even held her breath earlier. Only now did she speak. “Oh no, he’s from the Sword Collection palace. Fortunately, my Moon Concealment is powerful enough, or I’d be done for. Of course, you played a small part in all of it as well, so I’ll reward you a spiritual pill later.” She rubbed Li Qingshan’s head. If she had been travelling alone, she would have been discovered.
“What Sword Collection palace? He’s coming for you?” Li Qingshan felt an ill omen. This mission was even more dangerous than he had imagined it to be.
Xuanyue did not hide anything, roughly explaining the conflict between the Dark Queen and the Light Queen. Li Qingshan’s expression became even uglier. Even when he held the spiritual pill, he could sense how thorny of an issue this was. That was an important figure, renowned through the Green province. For someone as insignificant as him, even if he had several lives to spare, they would not be enough if he was dragged into such a vortex.
Xuanyue tried to raise his morale. “Don’t be so worried. As long as we make it to the Dragon province, he won’t dare to come for us even if he had twice the courage. Once that happens, the sky will be the cat’s limit! We’ll be able to do as we please! Meowhahahaha!”
Li Qingshan was not as optimistic as her. However, he had already embarked on a path of no return, so no matter how dangerous it would be, he could only gamble on it.
Suddenly, Xuanyue stopped smiling and said with sternness she had never shown before, “If, and I say if, we are discovered, go up and bite him, Big Blacko. No meowtter how he tries to slice you and kill you, don’t let go. I’ll use that opportunity to escape. I’ll work hard on my abilities in the future and avenge you!”
