Chapter 624 - The Soaring Cloud Terrace
E Dan’s expression changed. “Li Qingshan!”
The cultivators on the ground all stared at the figure in the sky with differing expressions.
Caretaker Zheng flew up and blocked Li Qingshan. “Flying is forbidden above the marquis’ estate!”
“Didn’t you hear that the marquis wishes to see me?” Li Qingshan did not stop.
“Then please land on the ground and walk over to the Soaring Clouds terrace to be called in.”
Caretaker Zheng was frosty, completely behaving like he was handling official business with absolutely no room for negotiation. It formed quite a contrast with his humility when he received Gu Yanying that night.
Before Li Qingshan could even turn around, caretaker Zheng parted his hands and yellow light flooded out, draping down over Li Qingshan.
He thought, I only showed you some respect for the sake of Gu Yanying that day, but are you really going to look down on a mighty Golden Core cultivator like me? I’ll show you what’s what today!
Among the cultivators below who had come to partake in the celebration, most of the cultivators from other prefectures had heard about Li Qingshan too. When they saw this, they all shook their heads inside. This Li Qingshan is far too arrogant. No matter how powerful he is, he can’t be stronger than a Golden Core cultivator. Being suddenly slammed against the ground in front of all these people will be humiliating!
Li Qingshan did not stop at all. He raised the corner of his lips and lifted his hands, pushing them forwards. A great wave surged, growing an inch taller with each inch covered. In the end, it turned into a huge tsunami over thirty meters tall, colliding viciously with the yellow light.
Boom!
The tsunami surged and was smashed to pieces, scattering as light. At the end of the day, it was still a little tough for him to take on a Golden Core cultivator with a cultivation at Foundation Establishment, but Li Qingshan’s objective was not to defeat caretaker Zheng, nor did he have any plans to confront him directly. The moment the two forces collided, he pulled back his hand and stepped down with both feet, making waves surge.
Caretaker Zheng shuddered. The force behind the tsunami was surprisingly great. The yellow light had dimmed slightly, and its advance had been momentarily halted.
A figure suddenly rose up, breaking free from the range of the yellow light and making a quick turn in the air, shooting towards the Soaring Clouds pavilion like an arrow.
“Oh no!”
Caretaker Zheng pivoted himself suddenly and launched a violent palm strike. In the moment earlier, he had taken him lightly, and he had held back slightly for the sake of Gu Yanying. He no longer held back now. If Li Qingshan made it to the Soaring Clouds pavilion, he would be completely humiliated. He poured all of his strength into this strike.
Li Qingshan glanced at it, and the yellow light whistled over.
From the ground, the yellow light seemed like a huge fly-swatter, while Li Qingshan was the tiny fly. The cultivators from the Clear River prefecture all cried out, “Dodge it!”
If that landed on him, he would definitely be heavily injured. If he were a regular Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was even possible for him to be killed on the spot. Golden Establishment cultivators had always possessed crushing strength before Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Li Qingshan turned in the air and spread his arms, unleashing the Turbulent Flow Form. The region within several meters of him turned into turbulent rapids, but the power behind the yellow light was far too great. All of the turbulent flow dispersed wherever it pa.s.sed by, unable to change the trajectory of the attack at all.
“Mere tricks!” Caretaker Zheng sneered and pushed a little harder.
With a thunk, Li Qingshan was sent flying.
“What!” Caretaker Zheng’s face immediately changed instead, as Li Qingshan had not been launched away, instead flying right in the direction of the Soaring Clouds pavilion. He was even smiling.
Although he could not change the trajectory of the attack and avoid injury, he could redirect where it struck him. Using this force, Li Qingshan’s flying speed suddenly doubled.
Caretaker Zheng was unable to catch up anymore either. All he could do was watch helplessly as Li Qingshan flew towards the Soaring Clouds pavilion. Right when was about to collide with the pavilion, he gently waved his hands like willow branches in the height of spring, producing an extremely gentle force and drifting upwards. Then he leapt over the railing and slid to the centre of the terrace. After that, he turned around and gained his footing before facing Gu Yanying and Si Qing and exhaling deeply. He folded his hands.
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“Greetings to commander Gu and your highness. May I ask why you have summoned me in such a hurry?”
A series of cheers rang out far away from the terrace. For the sake of Si Qing’s dignity, the Golden Core cultivators did not say anything, but they were all secretly amazed. Those were some impressive moves. He managed to achieve his objective under the obstruction of a Golden Core cultivator, and he even managed to do so so easily. It’s no wonder he’s gained commander Gu’s trust at such a young age!
“Your highness!” Caretaker Zheng made his way to the terrace too. His gentle face now seemed rather exasperated.
“Old Zheng, you better go receive the guests first!”
Caretaker Zheng shot a vicious glance at Li Qingshan’s back. Don’t get too ahead of yourself, kid! You’ll find yourself facing a horrible death in the Exhibition Matches of the Nine Prefectures!
Gu Yanying smiled. “His highness has a few questions to ask you. All you have to do is answer truthfully.”
“Li Qingshan, your cultivation sure has progressed rather quickly!”
Si Qing studied Li Qingshan as he felt indescribable surprise. Just how much time had pa.s.sed since their last meeting? Yet he had gone from mid Foundation Establishment to late Foundation Establishment. If he were already about to break through the bottleneck, then it would be nothing strange, but the issue was his aura had already reached the level of peak Foundation Establishment.
Not only did this imply that he possessed extremely great talent and ability to comprehend, but it also implied he had someone’s great support from behind. However, according to the information, he had not taken on any masters. As it seemed, Gu Yanying truly valued this kid very much.
But that was not strange either. Reaching peak Foundation Establishment in their twenties would be regarded as extraordinary even among the princes of the Dragon province. In a place like the Ruyi commandery, they were definitely outstanding geniuses. As a result, he became even more determined to kill him, or things would be much more difficult once he underwent the second heavenly tribulation and reached Golden Core.
“It’s all thanks to commander Gu’s fostering. I have no idea when I’ll be able to pay back her great kindness!”
Li Qingshan bowed slightly towards Gu Yanying and put on a grateful appearance. He had already learnt to push everything onto Gu Yanying by now.
Gu Yanying only smiled. She knew he was reminding her. Oi, you still owe me money!
“Li Qingshan, do you know why I’ve called you here?” Si Qing’s voice suddenly sank, like a threatening, jackal’s growl. The atmosphere on the terrace became tense.
“I don’t,” Li Qingshan said calmly.
“Have you killed anyone recently?”
Li Qingshan thought about it. “I have killed three people!”
Even if the Golden Core cultivators present did not know who Li Qingshan had killed in the beginning, they could easily ask each other and find out during that time. Seeing how he answered in such an unfazed manner, they all frowned slightly.
The Green province had enjoyed several millennia of peace. The concept of peace had already become deeply ingrained in people’s hearts. Grievances and murder were a little more common between Qi Pract.i.tioners, but they would all cherish their lives a little more in comparison when they reached Foundation Establishment. Even when it came to conflict between the hundred schools and the sects, very rarely did they reach a life-or-death struggle, let alone killing fellow colleagues of the hundred schools.
If they had tried to kill each other over a bit of benefit and conflict, then basically the entire cultivation community would be thrown into disorder, and the Green province would become a lawless place like the Mist province.
“You worked with Chu Danqing and helped him murder his own senior brothers and sisters. You are a Hawkwolf guard that represents the school of Legalism, so tell me, what crime have you committed?”
“I’ll be honest, your highness, I’m really not from the school of Legalism, so I’m really not that familiar with the laws of Great Xia. However, if other people want to kill me, surely I can’t just stay put and let them kill me! Speaking of which, this should be called justifiable defence. Let me add just one more thing. The three of them had all been killed by me. Chu Danqing had done nothing the entire time.”
Li Qingshan explained everything that had happened before taking out the recording stone from his hundred treasures and playing the recording, proving he was not lying.
Only then did everyone learn the true story. They thought, If this really is the case, the three of them have really been seeking their own doom. Even if they were killed, they deserved it. Though, he even managed to take on three people while being ambushed. This Li Qingshan sure is vicious.
Jia Zhen remarked sinisterly, “I know you’re a novelist, and what you’re skilled in the most is making fiction into reality and bending the truth. Who knows if you captured them first before forcing them to say that. There’s nothing difficult to forge the voices in the recording stone either!”
“If you’re determined to incriminate me, you’ll always find a way to do so. If you insist on badgering on like this, then there’s nothing I can say.”
Li Qingshan said flatly as if he could not be bothered with refuting. Gu Yanying was here anyway. Without concrete evidence, it was impossible for the three of them to frame him with merely a few words.
Si Bao smiled. “Si Qing, all he did was kill three treacherous, despicable people who sold out their master for the sake of glory. Do you have to behave like you’re about to go to war?”
“We’ll set this matter aside for now.”
Bang!
E Dan suddenly slammed the table. “You worked with that wretched daemon Northmoon to kill several of my disciples. What crimes have you committed with that?”
When he mentioned Northmoon, the Golden Core cultivators all leapt up inside. Whether it was Northmoon’s actions of refining the water in the Ruyi commandery en-ma.s.se or his terrifying battle record of taking on virtually all the Daemon Commanders in the Ruyi commandery at once, they had all made him the most famous and most powerful daemon in the Ruyi commandery.
Now that the situation between the humans and daemons was becoming tense, Northmoon was definitely a sword hanging over the heads of all the cultivators in the commandery. Once a full-blown war erupted, he would behead everyone. There were not many people present who were confident they could survive a direct clash with him either. This was basically a horrible situation to Golden Core cultivators who had lengthy lifespans and a n.o.ble status.
The accusations truly were growing larger and larger!
Li Qingshan countered with a question. “May I ask how I worked with Northmoon and killed your precious disciples?”
“When I asked you what happened back then, you actually dared to mislead me with lies. Only afterwards did I get to the bottom of everything. Tell me clearly. My disciple E Feng had already s.n.a.t.c.hed over the jade tablet used to contact Northmoon in that b.i.t.c.h Qiu Haitang’s hand. Weren’t you the one who personally shattered the tablet, which summoned Northmoon in the end?”
“None of your disciples believed the jade tablet was real. I actually broke it when I clashed with them. Who knew whether it could actually summon the moon demon. You’re afraid to find the moon demon for revenge, so you find me to vent your anger. You’re basically just hara.s.sing the weak and fearing the strong. It’s completely unreasonable!”
“When I fought the daemons in the Clear River prefecture, who knew how many times I risked my life in order to kill a few Daemon Generals, yet you now suspect I have a connection with the Daemon race. How absurd!”
Li Qingshan behaved furiously, like he had just experienced injustice. Gu Yanying could not help but smile.