Basically all the daemon and otherfolk kings across the Mist province had hurried over, gathering in Towering city to congratulate the Great Banyan Tree King on becoming the god of the Mist province. As such, the aura they gave off naturally formed a tremendous pressure. The existences that had not undergone the third heavenly tribulation could not even approach the place.
However, despite being the host, the Great Banyan Tree King never appeared. Some of the guests gathered in threes and twos and conversed with one another, while some would sit in a corner alone, away from everyone else.
It had to be mentioned that the Daemon Kings in human form resembled humans much more than the otherfolk kings. However, that was only in terms of appearance. Their primitive, wild aura was unconcealable. When they were happy, they beamed in high spirits, but when they were irritated, they ground their teeth and glared away. They were so loud that they were audible from several hundred kilometers away.
Even human cultivators did not get along with everyone, let alone these daemons and otherfolk of various species and races. Murderousness would erupt between them from time to time. If this had not been Towering city, they might have fought quite a few times already.
The only “human”, Xiao An, was the “person” at the centre of attention.
She looked down as she sat on a banyan leaf that resembled a small boat. She clutched a string of scattered Skull Prayer Beads in her left hand as she formed a buddhist seal with her right, chanting the scriptures softly.
The little phoenix perched on her shoulder obediently as if he was paying close attention to her chants.
Both of them possessed transcendent beauty, which produced a quiet and serene atmosphere. Even the non-human otherfolk could sense it clearly. They did not come forward to disturb them unless they had to, but it became the topic of many conversations instead.
“Why’s there a human here?”
A thin man who seemed to be completely forged out of bronze frowned. He came from one of the seven divine races, the Metal Essence folk. They possessed indestructible bodies, but it also made them perfect materials for forging weapons. Countless Metal Essence folk had died in the furnaces of humans, so he possessed a deep hatred of them.
“Is that a phoenix? It really is as beautiful as they say!” a woman said in admiration.
Her voice was very pleasant, and she was quite small in size. Her head was covered in fine, verdant-green feathers, clearly an avian Daemon King.
The little phoenix was not paying attention to the chanting at all. When he heard the praise, he could not help but raise his head proudly. Right when he was about to cry out a few times, Xiao An glanced at him mildly, and he immediately held back, lowering his head in dejection.
Xiao An understood the stubbornness of the little phoenix very well. If she let him do as he pleased, he would definitely stir up trouble. During the past few days, she had plucked plenty of feathers from the little phoenix through various reasons, so he did become a lot more obedient.
However, while she did not want trouble, trouble came to her.
“I am the Silver Snake Prince. May I ask for your esteemed name, miss?”
A pretty, pale-faced, and feminine scholar arrived on the same branch as Xiao An with a flash before bowing. His words and actions were elegant, but he was clearly drooling over her.
“Fuck’s it got to do with you?” The little phoenix raised his head, demonstrating the fruits of Li Qingshan’s fantastic education once again.
The Silver Snake Prince was taken aback. He had never expected this bird that resembled a phoenix to be so crude when he spoke. The Silver Snake Prince smiled. “How bold. A mere Daemon Commander dares to sit above us all. That’s far too disrespectful. Get down here!” He extended his hand towards the little phoenix. His arm extended and flexed, looping around Xiao An’s shoulder in the process.
“What are you waiting for? Give him a beating,” Xiao An stopped chanting and said.
“Alrighty!” The little phoenix was overjoyed. He spread his wings and let out a cry before rushing towards the Silver Snake Prince.
The Silver Snake Prince was alarmed. He never expected a Daemon Commander to possess such strength and such startling speed. He had been pushed off the branch before he could even respond.
The Daemon Kings happened to be bored from the waiting, so they immediately cheered when they saw this.
But to their surprise, while the little phoenix did suffer in the beginning because of his lack of battle experience, he shrugged off any wounds he suffered like they were nothing. Instead, it roused his enthusiasm for battle, becoming more and more vicious as he fought. A while later, the Silver Snake Prince actually began to lose the upper hand.
The little phoenix turned into a streak of light and flew about everywhere using his advantage of speed, smacking the Silver Snake Prince in the face with his wings. He cursed as he beat him. “Why don’t you keep biting off more than you can chew? Huh?”
The cheering from the Daemon Kings grew louder and louder. The sounds of mockery rose and fell.
The Silver Snake Prince became furious from the humiliation. Killing intent shone in his eyes, and with a flip, he turned into a huge, silver snake that was six hundred meters long. He opened his gaping mouth and lunged towards the little phoenix.
The little phoenix let out a cry and suddenly expanded in the wind. His wings reached a hundred meters across.
He was much smaller than the silver snake, but he radiated with light that could overwhelm everything. With a gentle flap of his wings, he arrived above the silver snake, and his claws pierced the silver scales with ease, grabbing him by the spine and lifting him high into the air.
The huge snake squirmed violently, but he could not break free. Blood poured down like rain as he was overwhelmed with an instinctive sense of fear, limiting his strength. When regular daemons reverted to their original forms, that would be when they were the strongest, but transforming had not helped him at all. He was severely overwhelmed as soon as he transformed.
It was as if they had returned to the primordial times when a divine bird went hunting. Even with a major realm of cultivation between them, the little phoenix could still dominate.
The little phoenix’s elegant eyes stared at the silver snake in his claws coldly. He pecked towards the top of the snake’s head viciously with his sharp beak.
Everyone could tell that if the peck landed, the silver snake’s head would definitely be pecked in. Even if he managed to survive, he would be half-dead. Originally, they had treated this as a show, but before they knew it, it had suddenly turned into a struggle to the death. They all called out, “Stop!” “This is Towering city!”
Once his murderousness was roused, the little phoenix no longer cared about anything else.
At this moment, a voice rang out, “Damned brat, get over here!”
The little phoenix blinked his eyes and tossed aside the silver snake in his claws, turning around and flying towards the forest. His figure rapidly shrank, turning back into a little boy and throwing himself into Li Qingshan’s arms. He grumbled, “First father, where did you go? Why didn’t you bring me with you?”
“I went to make a little brother for you.” Li Qingshan sniggered.
“But I prefer a little sister!” The little phoenix widened his eyes.
Li Qingshan was taken aback. He never expected him to possess such lofty aspirations at such a young age. He patted his head and said mysteriously, “Then that’ll be up to how lucky you are.”
“You ought to work a little harder in the Shadow palace.” Ye Weiyang smiled. Compared to that Ghost Shadow, she was much more interested in Li Qingshan’s bloodline.
“Let’s forget about that.”
Only a small number of the Daemon Kings and otherfolk kings here had seen Li Qingshan before, so they were all surprised by this sight. The divine bird, the phoenix, actually had a human for a father. How did that make sense? And the human had clearly only undergone the second heavenly tribulation, yet he joked around with the Shadow Queen as an equal. How unbelievable.
“Fellow Ye, who is he?” the Metal Essence Folk King asked with a frown. He lived in the mountains to the north-west, so he did not recognize Li Qingshan.
“The King of S- Oh no, that’s wrong. He’s the White Hawk commander, Li Qingshan!” Ye Weiyang introduced.
“A Hawkwolf guard!”
Under everyone’s gazes, Li Qingshan immediately felt pressured. Apart from the Giant Lumberman King and the ones he had seen when he first came, the other Daemon Kings and otherfolk kings all expressed scorn and hostility. In a few short days, the entire world had already learnt about how the leader of the Hawkwolf Guard, the Hawk God, had come to declare war against the Great Banyan Tree King. As such, that made them a hundred times more despicable than any normal human.
“What’re you on about? Who’s the White Hawk commander? Don’t you know that I’ve been promoted?”
Li Qingshan shot a glance at Ye Weiyang, but he was accustomed to something like this. Compared to the encirclement of the seven Demon Kings in the Twelve Citadel Demon Formation of the Ominous, this truly was nothing.
“Sure enough, you’re a lackey of the government. Have you come to Towering city to die?” the Metal Essence Folk King said coldly.
“Who might you be?” Li Qingshan then asked.
“The Metal Essence Folk King, Tong Gang!”
“Heh, death by running out of essence!” Li Qingshan began his mockery. The little phoenix paid close attention.
Note: Li Qingshan used a pun here. In Chinese, the Metal Essence Folk King is pronounced as jīnjīngrénwáng, while death by running out of essence is jīngjìnrénwáng. There’s very little difference verbally, but clearly it makes all the difference in the world once translated.
The Metal Essence Folk King cut right to the chase, throwing a punch towards Li Qingshan’s chest. He gave no warning, only possessing rigid killing intent. When he saw how Li Qingshan did not budge at all, he even thought he could not react in time, so he became even more scornful inside.
With a thunk, a wave of air rushed out and turned into a fierce wind that reached hundreds of kilometers away.
Li Qingshan’s chest did not cave in as expected. Instead, the Metal Essence Folk King’s arm produced the sound of twisting metal. Li Qingshan smiled as he stood right there without moving.
The otherfolk kings and Daemon Kings all widened their eyes. They could all recognise exactly what was happening. The Metal Essence Folk King’s punch did not contain his full strength, but he was not intentionally holding back either. Even tough Daemon Kings could not receive it forcefully. To achieve this effect, not only did he have to possess a powerful defence, but it also required overwhelming strength too. However, the strangest part of this all was that Li Qingshan’s aura did not even fluctuate.
Only Ye Weiyang noticed that the skin on Li Qingshan’s chest had darkened slightly. It was his newest innate ability of the Ox Demon Transformation, the Ox Demon Forges its Hide!
Not only did the Ox Demon Forges its Hide possess stunning defence, but it was also connected to another innate ability of the ox demon, the Strength of the Earth. Neither of them required the support of daemon qi. It had already replaced the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell as his greatest defensive ability.
The Metal Essence Folk King immediately calmed down. He thought, Since this lackey of the government is so cocky, I’ll have you witness the power of the Metal Essence folk.
Immediately, his fist turned into a drill. He pushed down as hard as he could as it spiralled away furiously. Golden light erupted!
Li Qingshan raised an eyebrow and felt his skin sting. If he let him drill a few more times, his defences really might crumble. As it seemed, the Ox Demon Forges its Hide did not make him indestructible. If he continued to stand there without budging, he would be biting off more than he could chew.
As a result, he casually grabbed the drill. Among the sparks, the drill head came to a forceful halt, twisting in his hand.
Actually, unbeknownst to Li Qingshan, Metal Essence folk regularly searched for precious metals underground. The drill was their special technique that they refined from a young age. The Metal Essence Folk King was already terrified enough by the fact that he could not actually drill through his skin. In a regular battle, clashes all occurred in a single instant, so why would he ever have the opportunity to take his time and drill him?
“Here, I’ll repay your punch,” Li Qingshan swung his fist and said with ease.
A sliver of shock appeared in the Metal Essence Folk King’s eyes. The punch did not fluctuate with any aura either, but it felt like it could crumble mountains and crack the earth.
“Enough, Qingshan. Stop joking around.” The Great Banyan Tree King’s voice rang out from Towering city.
“Do you have to be so on time?” Li Qingshan shook his head, but he knew that the Great Banyan Tree King had chosen this exact moment to appear so that Li Qingshan could introduce himself through his own strength. He could demonstrate to the Daemon Kings and otherfolk kings that had not seen him before that the name “Li Qingshan” was not a joke.
Li Qingshan’s fist fell down. He patted the Metal Essence Folk King on the shoulder. “You owe me a punch.”
“Any time!”
At this moment, numerous doors opened, and the Great Banyan Tree King and madam Vine walked out together. Everyone became stunned.
Li Qingshan blinked his eyes. “Woah!”
