The three yellow talismans with unknown effects were probably Qian Rongming’s so-called trump cards. Li Qingshan had learned from Yan Song that talismans were also separated in different levels of quality. The three talismans were yellow ones, but the spiritual light on them was much more abundant compared to the ones in Li Qingshan’s possession. They were at least low-quality or perhaps medium-quality. His perception and judgment in this domain was still very lacking.
The talismans or spiritual devices ordinary people from the martial world could buy with money were mostly dreg level products that were manufactured by novices who’d just learned how to refine weapons or inscribe talismans. Ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to make use of genuine beginner level spiritual talismans or spiritual devices even if they managed to procure them. At the very least it was difficult triggering a low-quality spiritual talisman by biting one’s tongue and spraying blood on it.
At long long last he wouldn’t need to carry all these random bits and pieces on his person anymore. Apart from the Sumeru ring that wouldn’t go inside, Li Qingshan put all his belongings in the Hundred Treasures Bag. Examining his own properties added to Qian Rongming’s silver, he had a total of seventy to eighty thousand taels of silver, several talismans, and three bottles of qi condensing pills. That was even discounting little things like healing pills.
However the most precious thing he had on him apart from the Sumeru ring wasn’t among these. It was the monster core he’d gotten from the great mouse general inside the Boundless Mountains. Halfmoon naturally didn’t care for it, hence she left it for Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan had no idea how he should take it. He didn’t dare recklessly eat this thing, so he’d kept it around inside a small bottle all this time. He took it and once again admired it for a while before putting it inside the Hundred Treasures Bag. Finally he put the Hundred Treasures Bag inside his clothes1.
A great increase in the a.s.sets on hand was truly a great feeling. Li Qingshan’s heart of murder had been stirred; he considered whether he should go all in, go look for that Qian Rongzhi to cut the weeds and pull the roots. One had to say one could become addicted to killing for wealth. Why was mankind always fighting endless wars? Because it was far much easier to s.n.a.t.c.h from others rather than to build with your own hands.
He forcibly suppressed this idea as soon as it came however. It wasn’t because of compa.s.sion and benevolence, but because he worried that the murderous facet of his nature would be greatly stirred in that case, to the point he would also get rid of that black-faced man at the same occasion in order to s.n.a.t.c.h his things.
He absolutely had this strength. He wouldn’t even need to release his monster power, it would be enough as long as he joined hands with Little An. If on one hand someone had something you wanted on them, and on the other you also had the strength to s.n.a.t.c.h it, and then you wouldn’t even need to pay any price on top of that. In that case, how many people would be able to repress the voracious greed inside their hearts.
Even with the repression of the [Spirit Turtle Sea Guarding Secrets], the primitive instinct at the bottom of his heart was still entirely like that of a demon, and it urged him to do so. But to allow free rein to his instinct truly wasn’t the dao he searched for. He was continuously learning how to master his power at the same time this power constantly grew mightier, for the sake of preserving his own heart and mind.
He realized something else at the same time, about how terrible a person would become after acquiring great power. Qian Rongming probably had had the same kinds of thoughts. He could casually kill Li Qingshan and not pay any price for it, effortlessly venting his anger. It was simply as easy as eating a meal or drinking a gla.s.s of water.
The dangers awaiting on the road of cultivation in this human world were probably even above those inside the Boundless Mountains. Li Qingshan pushed these distracting thoughts away. If that Qian Rongming didn’t come to provoke him then that was that. If she dared to come, then he’d kill her as well. There was no particular need to bother looking for her himself at this time.
He took the bones on the floor together with the clothes and carried them outside the room, ready to throw them into the river and erase all the traces. But as soon as he opened his door, he saw the black-faced man look at him with a face full of disbelief, look at the bones in his arms.
“What a coincidence!” Li Qingshan was slightly startled, then he sent a greeting with a smile and walked around the black-faced man. He tossed the bundle in his arms inside the pitch-black river, so easy and relaxed it seemed he wasn’t tossing a corpse but enjoying the sight of the night instead. This wasn’t actually because his mental fort.i.tude far surpa.s.sed that of ordinary people, but because of the calmness of one secure in his own strength.
The black-faced man’s body stiffened all over. He clenched his fists then loosened them again. There was no longer any contempt in his eyes when he looked at Li Qingshan now. They were filled with vigilance instead, and even a trace of dread.
He’d stood in observation in a dark corner outside all along, ready to seize the opportunity to launch an ambush. But the one who’d walked out of the room wasn’t actually Qian Rongming but the Li Qingshan who was already dead for certain in his imagination. There was no need to ask the ident.i.ty of the eerie white skeleton. Yet it would have been very difficult even for him to achieve a kill in a single strike, even with a sneak attack. This wasn’t a duck or a chicken, but a qi refining warrior ten times more ferocious than even tigers or lions.
He very wanted to ask how Li Qingshan did it, but then no word came out when he looked at Li Qingshan’s smile. What was even more frightening was that he couldn’t sense the existence of qi on Li Qingshan even now. It was precisely the so-called unknown that the most fearful.
After successfully tossing the corpse away, Li Qingshan once again said to the black-faced man, “What are you called?”
There was no longer any trace of disdain in the black-faced man as he answered with caution, “Diao Fei.” He had the nagging feeling the present Li Qingshan was a little different than during daytime. This young man seemed to be hiding something terrible about him. Of course, it was possible this was mere illusion.
Li Qingshan said, “You’re going to Blessed Peace City to be an Eagle Wolf guard?”
“Yes!”
“What a concidence, me too!”
Diao Fei’s mind braced taut, readying himself to deal with any attack.
But Li Qingshan clearly didn’t have such intent. He continued to chat, “How many people will the Eagle Wolf Guard recruit this time?”
“Three!”
“So few.”
Diao Fei stayed silent.
Li Qingshan had wanted to inquire more information out of him at first, but he shrugged his shoulders and went back to his room when he saw the other side standing on full alert.
Diao Fei suddenly said, “May I ask your excellency’s honored name?” This young man might be a rival once they arrived in Blessed Peace.
“Li Qingshan!”
It seemed he’d heard the name somewhere. Diao Fei thought for a while but from beginning to end he couldn’t remember where he’d heard this name from. He also returned to his room, then he didn’t sleep for the entire night, staying on his guard at all times.
A feeling came to Li Qingshan as soon as he returned to his room. He opened the windows and looked in the distance. He saw a silhouette leap down from the boat when the boat sailed close to the sh.o.r.e, then fall on a patch of sandbank and quickly disappear inside a dense forest. Judging from its stature, it was precisely Qian Rongzhi.
Li Qingshan sighed with emotion. This woman’s decisive thinking was truly good. In all likelihood she’d realized something was wrong when Qian Rongming didn’t go back, hence she directly jumped ship and made her escape without even making inquiries or investigations.
He shook his head and put this matter aside. Li Qingshan took out a bottle of qi condensing pills. He opened it and found out there were only three pills inside, each of them the size of a longan. He took one out and started cultivating.
The speed of his cultivation indeed became a little faster with the external a.s.sistance of a pill. The medicinal power nourished the true qi. The true qi circulated a full turn inside the body in the s.p.a.ce of a breathe in and a breathe out. Time pa.s.sed fleeting. His body very quickly refined one qi condensing pill, then Li Qingshan took out another qi condensing pill and swallowed it down.
Another qi refining warrior would certainly be dumbfounded if they saw this. How could one eat spiritual pills like beans and candies. Pills could greatly increase the speed of cultivation, but that didn’t mean that someone could simply become a master just because they had spiritual pills and immortal herbs. Talent, efforts, the teachings of a master, and even luck were all indispensable.
Moreover, there was a limit to how many pills one could eat. It wasn’t as simple as eating as many pills as one had and then entirely transforming them into power, otherwise genuine pill refining masters would all be powerhouses unrivaled in the world. For example, Qian Rongming’s nine qi condensing pills were originally his dose for three months. He’d take one every ten days and slowly convert the medicinal power.
Even this was for someone the clan put value on who ate them somewhat faster. The normal speed would be two pills a month to guarantee the medicinal power wouldn’t be wasted in the slightest. Who would eat them the way Li Qingshan did.
It was impossible for the medicinal power from a single trivial qi condensing pill to stay ten days inside his body. He had to fight for seconds and minutes, racing against time to transform it into true qi, or else it would be s.n.a.t.c.hed by his monster core and forcibly turned into monster qi if he were to delay a little. He could be a.s.sured none of it would be wasted.
Li Qingshan naturally didn’t know all this. He was still happily thinking that eating pills indeed made his training go faster. He logically cultivated the [Innate Qi Refining Secrets] to the second layer by the time he’d eaten down his seventh qi condensing pill. He didn’t feel any bottleneck whatsoever thanks to the Sumeru ring purifying his true qi.
He stood up and felt a true qi pure to the extreme flow inside his body like a vast and mighty river. His entire body seemed to have become much lither.
He collected the two qi condensing pills left. His acute hearing could hear noises and voices in the distance. The boat also became noisy, and he vaguely heard many people say, “We’ve reached Blessed Peace City!”
Li Qingshan hurriedly went out to take a look. He saw the decks below already covered in people. A great mountain barred the way of the great river, forcing it to bend around.
A grand city sitting between rivers and mountains emerged in Li Qingshan’s vision when they went past the bend. To be accurate, it couldn’t be called a city because there were simply no city walls around it. It was a little closer to a modern metropolis.
Here was the confluence of two great rivers. The Yi river flowed into the Clear River in this place. Blessed Peace spread out on the sh.o.r.es of the two rivers. Row upon row of houses, buildings, high towers, monasteries, and Daoist temples extended without limit on the earth in each and every direction, with boundless golden fields beyond them. Great flocks of birds danced free in the blue sky above the city.
Li Qingshan never saw ancient cities, but he was confident the metropolis in front of his eyes was vaster and more thriving than famous flourishing places in antiquity like Hangzhou and Yangzhou2. The lack of city walls was proof of the rulers’ absolute confidence in not depending on earth and stone to defend themselves.
Only small cities like Suncheer would have city walls to defend them against the attacks from bandits and mountain brigands. No genuine great city had built a city wall. These were metropolises ruled by qi refining warriors. If there were truly enemies that could pause a threat to such a city, then they wouldn’t be stopped by mere walls of stone. A wall would only disturb the development of the city instead.
Li Qingshan finally understood why Ye Dachuan was so delighted when he learned he could be a county commissioner here. Being a small official in this place was so much more powerful than being in Suncheer. Then just how flourishing would be the Clear River City that governed the entire Clear River province? He couldn’t even imagine how the Ruyi region capital would look like, even more so.
Everything in front of his eyes made him understand that here wasn’t a simple ancient world. The existence of qi refining warriors deeply influenced everything in this world, shrouding it in a layer of mystical flavor, just like in the legends.
The dragon boat berthed at the dock. Li Qingshan disembarked from the boat together with the flow of men. He thought before of asking Diao Fei or someone about the whereabouts of the Eagle Wolf Guard, but now he knew after arriving that wouldn’t be necessary.
1. The Hundred Treasures Bag is maybe more accurately called the Hundred Treasures Purse, but it sounded a little too feminine to me.
2. Hangzhou and Yangzhou are two cities in southern China that both served as (short-lived in Yangzhou’s case) capital of southern China.