When the voice reached the city, Qiu Haitang blanked out, while Liu Changqing beamed with joy. “Qingshan is back!”
“Alright, alright, alright! I haven’t even gotten to you yet, yet you’ve actually delivered yourself to me! You better watch how I kill your friends first!”
The Soaring Locust King sneered, and the locust Daemon Generals all took action together. Their spear-like front legs thrusted towards Yu Shukuang, Liu Hong, and Huang Binghu wildly, but before their laughter had even died down, they saw a string of afterimages in their compound eyes.
Li Qingshan seemed to have appeared before each locust Daemon General at the same time, throwing his fists, swinging his blade, launching elbow strikes… Immediately, the locust Daemon Generals were all torn apart, splattering with fluid.
Before the locust Daemon Commander could even return to his senses, Li Qingshan had already arrived before him, basically right in his face. He asked, “Just with you?”
“How is that possible!?”
The locust Daemon Commander paled in fright. The speed that Li Qingshan had instantly erupted with could actually leave afterimages in his eyes. That was not something a Golden Core cultivator or Demon Commander was supposed to be capable of.
Hua Chenglu had eased up significantly when she saw him, and now, she completely stopped worrying. Gazing at his tall, large back, it overlapped with the images in her memories. In the past, it had been the West Gate Granny. Now, it was the Soaring Locust King. Her enemies had ranged from puny Qi Practitioners to powerful Daemon Kings, but he continued to stand by her side as if he could shield her from everything.
With a flash, the locust Daemon Commander retreated in a hurry, vanishing into the sea of insects. He wanted to use the insects to smother Li Qingshan.
“You say you’re a mighty Daemon King, so why are you so small-minded? I just cursed you a little, and you start spouting things like ‘all of Li Qingshan’s friends must die.’ Aren’t you just being an idiot?”
Li Qingshan strolled over leisurely, approaching the locust Daemon Commander at a steady rate. Several Chains of Demon Suppression linked together to form a mesh ball, whistling about and crushing the incoming locusts.
Ever since he became a Daemon King, his body alone was enough to crush this locust Daemon Commander, even without any innate abilities. The reason why he chose to demonify was just to hide the daemon qi he accidentally gave off, as well as to provide a reasonable explanation for his overly-powerful body.
“You damned bald ass!” The locust Daemon Commander ground his teeth. Seeing how he could not escape, he used all of his daemon qi to swipe at Li Qingshan’s throat.
“Bald ass? Do you think I’ll forgive you for that?” Li Qingshan casually grabbed the locust Daemon Commander’s wrist, and Chains of Demon Suppression crept over, binding him firmly. He grabbed him by the neck and pulled him over, pointing at his own head. “This is called hair!”
The locust Daemon Commander erupted with murderousness. His mouth split open into a vicious mandible, biting at Li Qingshan’s head.
Li Qingshan raised his head and gave him a headbutt. The sharp mandibles shattered.
“Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!”
The locust Daemon Commander struggled as hard as he could, making the Chains of Demon Suppression jangle.
“Demon Suppression!” Li Qingshan chanted.
The Demon Suppression Tower descended from above, encapsulating the locust Daemon Commander with a boom. Under his will, the Demon Suppression Tower rapidly shrank, flying back to his hand. He glanced inside, and the locust Daemon Commander turned back into a tiny locust as if it was very susceptible to the Demon Suppression Tower’s restraint.
“Li Qingshan, you will regret this!” the locust Daemon Commander said.
“I think you’ve said that to me before. Whatever. If you’re not happy with this, then send your main body over!”
Li Qingshan begged to differ. He was ready to take the locust Daemon Commander back for Ru Xin’s research. If it was useless, then he could get Xiao An to hit him up with the Buddha Slaying sword. That would definitely injure the Soaring Locust’s King’s main body.
Hua Chenglu used a technique to protect Yu Shukuang and the other two. Having seen Li Qingshan vanish into the sea of insects in pursuit of the locust Daemon Commander, she was worrying over whether he would encounter any danger, but Li Qingshan had already strolled back by then. The circling Chains of Demon Suppression ground up the incoming locusts.
“Did he escape?” Seeing how he was safe and sound, Hua Chenglu stopped worrying.
“With your big brother Li here, how could he have escaped?” Li Qingshan showed off the tiny, detailed Demon Suppression Tower in his hand with a smile.
Hua Chenglu was astonished. Originally, she thought with all these years of arduous cultivation, she would not fall too far behind even if she could not catch up to him, but she never expected his cultivation to have reached such an unbelievable level already.
“Qingshan!” Yu Shukuang and the other two had yet to realise what had happened. Li Qingshan’s name was still echoing through their minds. Now that Li Qingshan was actually standing in front of them, they felt a little afraid to acknowledge him.
“Sure enough, you are my old friends. The locust hasn’t found the wrong targets!” Li Qingshan smiled. Liu Hong, Huang Binghu, and Yu Shukuang had all once been involved in important matters with him, and they had all helped him too.
The surrounding locusts suddenly stopped attacking them. They advanced with quite the vigour, which made Li Qingshan frown. “So he still won’t give up!”
The locust Daemon Commander had been captured, but the Soaring Locust King did not give up, ordering the army of locusts to continue towards the prefectural city.
The cloud of insects passed by, and the surroundings brightened and opened up. All Hua Chenglu saw was a black mass of insects lingering on top of the protective formation, launching a furious attack without any regard for their lives. They basically surrounded the entire city, forming a ball of bugs. The protective formation began to shake and destabilise before long.
A formation that covered such a large range could never be too sturdy. After hearing Li Qingshan’s voice, Qiu Haitang became slightly flustered as well. Her control over the formation stopped being so fluid.
Under Liu Changqing’s lead, the cultivators stationed in the city constantly unleashed techniques. Flames, water, and lightning rushed into the air, massacring large numbers of locusts. However, there were far too many insects, ranging into the billions, so it was impossible for them to kill them all. The black cloud continued to linger in the air as if it was pressing closer bit by bit.
Even the cultivators could not help but become fearful, so the mortals were utterly frightened out of their wits. Some of them hid in their homes and trembled away, while others ran about on the streets like headless flies, howling at the top of their lungs. It really did resemble the end of the world.
“Big brother Li, what do we do?” Hua Chenglu asked. If the locust army entered the city, they could easily cause a loss of several hundred thousand even without a great threat like the locust Daemon Commander.
“That’s easy!” With a flip of his right hand, Li Qingshan lifted an item into the air.
“That’s… the Asura Field!” Hua Chenglu still remembered this place that had once changed her life. Afterwards, it was said that Northmoon had taken away the Asura Field, so why was it in big brother Li’s hands now?
Li Qingshan tossed the Asura Field into the air, and it rapidly expanded, hovering above the city. It suddenly emitted a blood-red swirl that sucked the locust swarm into the Asura Field.
Great numbers were terrifying, but that did not make them impervious. Even though the locust swarm had daemonified, their individual strength only rivalled regular wild beasts after all. Why would they stand a chance against this arcane treasure?
“Li Qingshan! I will definitely make you die a graveless death! All of your friends and family will die miserably!” The locust swarm roared furiously, assuming the vague shape of a twisted face.
Li Qingshan’s reply was only a great fit of laughter.
Qiu Haitang immediately felt the pressure lifted from her shoulders. She could not help but look in the direction of the laughter. When she saw Li Qingshan, she shuddered inside helplessly.
Li Qingshan seemed to sense it. He turned his head and looked over. It really is her! Sure enough, she’s already undergone the second heavenly tribulation.
At least that was another matter resolved for him. Although she was dressed in a solemn, black dress, it could not hide her impressive figure. The black veil that hid her face instead added a hint of mysteriousness and temptation to her. He could not help but nod and greet her when he recalled everything that had happened between them in the past.
Qiu Haitaing immediately looked away. She did not look at him again.
Li Qingshan felt rather puzzled, but now was not the time for him to think of this. He focused on the Asura Field, continuing to suck away the insect swarm.
A group of cultivators had rushed over from the Academy of the Hundred Schools to provide assistance, but now, they had all stopped, gazing at this from afar.
“The Asura Field! Li Qingshan!” A sliver of shock appeared on Han Tieyi’s expressionless face. After so many years, he had already become so powerful?
“The disciple of our school of Novels has returned!” Liu Chuanfeng was overjoyed. The disciples of the school of Novels had already heard him ramble on about Li Qingshan for many years now, but most of them had not even seen him before, so they all treated it as fictional stories. Now that they saw him for themselves, it was actually even more wondrous than the stories.
The cultivators in the city all stopped casting techniques, looking up at this unimaginable method of combat.
After capturing the locust Daemon Commander alive, the remaining clones of the Soaring Locust King were completely incapable of dealing with this. They could only stabilise themselves and avoid being sucked into the Asura Field. However, they gradually separated from the regular locusts, forcing them to disperse and flee.
Li Qingshan arrived directly above the city with a flash. Chains of Demon Suppression surged out, piercing the locust daemons in their backs. He subdued and captured them together.
A while later, the terrifying locust plague had been completely resolved, which everyone found to be incredibly surreal.
Li Qingshan held the tiny Demon Suppression Tower in his right hand as many thin chains draped down from his left. A string of locusts were tied to each chain, kicking their legs and struggling for their lives.
He dispersed his demonic armour and stood in the air, gazing down at the familiar city and sensing the familiar auras. It brought a smile to his face.
Everyone looked up at him too. The cultivators seemed to have witnessed an unbelievable miracle, while the mortals felt like they were looking at the saviour of the world!
“Li Qingshan is the one who saved us!” one person said. That was all thanks to how many times the Soaring Locust King had repeated his name.
Following that, cheers erupted, and the city began to surge. Countless people flooded the streets, chanting his name at the top of their voices.
“Hello everybody! It’s just a small deed. You’re welcome!” Li Qingshan waved his hands at the people with a smile, and the chains of locusts in his hand swung around as well. He was in quite a good mood. He did not mind doing bad things, but doing good things made him quite happy!
However, the cultivators felt like his current actions wore away at his glorious demeanour when he swept up the insects. Even if he did not avoid publicity and leave immediately, insisting on enjoying everyone’s cheers, he should have maintained a bearing that belonged to a cultivator.
Hua Chenglu smiled. Big brother Li was still the same big brother Li. He would also do some strange things.
“Sect master Qiu, I’d like to play the host today and hold a banquet in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain to entertain my old friends of Clear River city…”
Li Qingshan landed on the Parlour of Rains and Cloud, but before he could even finish speaking, Qiu Haitang interrupted him abruptly. “Apologies. The Parlour of Clouds and Rain is not receiving guests today!”
