Chapter 368 - Otherfolk and Other Abilities
Li Qingshan found Ye Liusu to be rather admirable. With how reinforcements came flooding over to support her, it only demonstrated her control over this territory. That dimwit Milliped would have never been able to match her.
Daemons that Li Qingshan found extremely familiar appeared at the entrances one by one, shuffling in the shadows. There was also a group of Night Roaming folk guards, composed of both males and females. Their facial features were all delicate. They wore simple armour, wielding bows and arrows and spears.
“Leader?” The daemons all gasped in surprise. Although Li Qingshan’s appearance had changed drastically, they could still recognise him with a single glance through his special characteristics.
“King Ye Liusu!” The guards glared at Li Qingshan; they fully drew their bows and raised their spears high. They awaited Ye Liusu’s orders.
Ye Liusu did not ease up at all. If he were a regular Daemon General, then she might have been able to control and weaken him with an advantage in numbers, but the one before her right now was clearly not a regular Daemon General. If they interfered, it would only lead to unnecessary losses instead.
She waved her dagger and ordered loudly, “Don’t interfere! This is our battle!”
The daemons immediately let out a sigh of relief. Who wanted to fight a Daemon General? Daemons were forbidden from killing one another, but it would be bad if he really became carried away.
“King!” The captain of the guards, Ye Liubo, was confused by this. Why did she have to fight the enemy alone?
She had already fully drawn her bow; the three nocked arrows shone with a dim light, directed right at Li Qingshan’s back. Clearly, they had been smeared with poison. From such a close range, even Daemon Generals would struggle to dodge a volley of arrows.
However, the “enemy” ended up turning around at this moment, ignoring her drawn bow and smiling at her. His handsome appearance and dazzling smile made her heart skip a beat, but she kept the bow drawn firmly. If it were the past, he could serve as outstanding company in bed, but they stood as enemies right now.
Li Qingshan studied the night roamers curiously. He felt slightly excited. This was not a sight he could just happen upon. It was just like the legends, where the majority of night roamers were beautiful in appearance. If one of these night roamer guards were brought outside, any one of them, they could be regarded as handsome or beautiful.
In particular, the “girl” in the lead had an exquisite face that seemed slightly similar to Ye Liusu. Her appearance stood out, only slightly worse than Ye Liusu’s. Especially when she drew her bow, the waves on her chest surged.
“Lower your weapons! This is an order!” Ye Liusu said coldly.
Only then did Ye Liubo lower her bow reluctantly. She thought, Has big sister Liusu taken a fancy to this Daemon General? But she’s never shown any lust? Looks like she has come to a realisation after seeing this rare, attractive man among daemons. If that’s really the case, that’s good news. I wonder if she’ll let me borrow him for a few days.
“Hmm? What’s this?” Ye Liubo suddenly saw Xiao An crouched in a corner. Because she gave off no aura at all, Ye Liubo had mistaken her to be something dead, except she clearly saw the skeleton move earlier. The skull turned towards her; roaring flames burned in the eye sockets.
“Vice leader!” The daemons were all taken aback again.
Ye Liubo pointed at Xiao An. “That’s a comrade of the enemy. We’ll deal with it. We’ll just let the king deal with the other one. Once we’re victorious, be sure to let our sisters have some fun too.” She glanced at Ye Liusu to check her reaction. The red-haired Daemon General was complete eye candy to her. Seeing how Ye Liusu had no objections, she beamed inside.
The guards of the Night Roaming folk answered loudly. In particular, the female guards all looked at Li Qingshan with shining eyes. Their gazes were like how bandits usually stared at a noble beauty they rarely came across, easily penetrating his robes.
It made Li Qingshan feel slightly unnatural. Suddenly, he remembered that Han Qiongzhi had once told him, “The Night Roaming folk have earned quite a bad name for themselves. They’re known to be promiscuous. Men and women sleep around freely. They have no concept of purity, unlike humans. In the past, there was a person who came across villages of Night Roaming folk after becoming lost. Because of his handsome appearance, many female night roamers fought over him, wanting him to stay in their homes overnight. When he returned eventually, he took great delight in talking about it.”
Li Qingshan even sighed back then. “Why did a place as great as that just vanish?” He ended up being viciously strangled by Han Qiongzhi, who continued, “It’s all just a misunderstanding of regular people, as night roamers practise matriarchy. Their women are not bound to any form of ethics at all. They toy around with men just like how human men toy around with women, as if it’s their natural right. If you like it, I’ll go find some toy boys for you to befriend too!”
Li Qingshan immediately became excited from this thought. Heaven does exist! He called out, “Even if you’re not victorious, I’ll still let you sisters have some fun!”
Ye Liubo broke into laughter. “This guy is pretty interesting. I just wonder how he does in bed. King, don’t hurt him, particularly below!” It led to a roar of laughter.
Li Qingshan turned back around and said to Ye Liusu, “Looks like your clansmen place great confidence in you!”
Ye Liusu said, “Aren’t you worried for your companion at all? Oh wait, I’ve forgotten. Since when did a concept like that exist among daemons?”
Li Qingshan said without even looking back, “Li’l South, don’t harm them.”
Xiao An gazed harmlessly at the night roamers who lunged over. Hearing “Li’l South”, she was taken aback, but she immediately understood what it meant. The two words “north moon” had come from the scholar wood tablet carved with “south An” in Xiao An’s possession. She obviously could not use her original name in a world of daemons.
Ye Liubo did not use any weapons. She directly tried to grab Xiao An. She did not take this tiny skeleton seriously at all. It did not seem like anything powerful no matter how she looked at it. At most, it was probably just a servant or puppet. She could not harm it either, or she would displease this “red-haired hunk”, and he would not end up trying in bed later.
Xiao An did not move at all. She did not attack her, she did not dodge, nor did she flee. She just let Ye Liubo grab her.
Before Ye Liubo had even understood what had happened, she had already hit the ground. Her mind was extremely clear. She did not feel any injuries at all, but she could not even raise a single finger. She felt like her body had become possessed.
Since the very beginning of practising the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, Xiao An already possessed the ability to control flesh and blood. She even opened Li Qingshan’s Fengchi acupoint at a critical moment.
After that, she rarely ever used this ability again. After undergoing the heavenly tribulation, this ability had become several times stronger. She was already showing mercy by sparing those who touched her with their bodies from death.
The night roamer guards immediately fell into chaos. Ye Liubo was the strongest among them, and she was close to the heavenly tribulation, yet she had actually collapsed before she could even launch an attack.
“Captain! Captain!” Has she been afflicted with corpse poison?” “Don’t touch the skeleton!”
“Liubo!” Ye Liusu called out loudly, but she received no reply. She also became surprised. She stared at Li Qingshan. “What did you do?”
Li Qingshan shrugged as if he was saying, “What’d I say?”
“Don’t worry, she won’t die. You’d better get your people to just watch the battle obediently instead! What, are you reconsidering my suggestion?”
Ye Liusu said, “If you win, I’ll return the territory to you.”
Li Qingshan added, “If I lose, then I’ll let your sister have some fun. Oh right, you should be in the mix too, right?”
“Don’t even think about it! I’ll show you the true power of the Night Roaming folk right now!” With her dagger in hand, Ye Liusu walked towards Li Qingshan slowly, but her figure gradually vanished, like a piece of paper placed in ink. At first, the dense ink dyed the edges, and then it became completely pitch-black in the end. She had merged with the omnipresent darkness.
Even with Li Qingshan’s extraordinary senses, he had completely lost all trace of her. He was amazed inside. So this is the real power of the Night Roaming folk.
Han Qiongzhi had once explained to the confused Li Qingshan, “Do you know why night roamers practise matriarchy? That’s because their women are much more powerful than their men. Only with power do they receive respect. They’re actually no different from us.”
“This power is not referring to physical strength, but “other abilities”. Just like how Giant Lumberfolk can plant their feet underground to absorb energy and their bodies can constantly grow like trees, Night Roaming folk have their own innate abilities. They can draw energy from the darkness and merge their bodies with the darkness.”
“By otherfolk, it’s not referring to “other races”. Instead, it means “those who possess other talents”. It’s said that a very, very long time ago, the world was under their reign. Regular people worshipped them as gods.”
In the sea of flowers, only Li Qingshan was left. He observed even the slightest movements in the surroundings. Suddenly, he took a step back, but it was already too late. A shiny flash swept past his face, leaving behind a small wound before vanishing into the darkness again. A few strands of red hair floated through the air.
Just what was the dagger made of? Even the Ox Demon Forges its Hide failed to block it.
Ye Liusu was completely taken aback. Her “Hook dagger” was extremely sharp. Combined with the Night Demon’s Blade Style of Disaster from the Night Demon scripture, it could cut through anything. However, when it landed on his face, she actually felt like it could not penetrate any deeper.
The female guards all sighed, like they had just watched a perfect creation being destroyed, which made Ye Liusu utterly furious. Just whose side were these people who lost their minds the moment they saw a man on?
The main reason for all this was because the guards placed complete confidence in Ye Liusu’s strength, but she just happened to lack this confidence herself.
This Daemon General called Northmoon was simply too powerful. So far, he only seemed like he was toying around with her. He had not unleashed his true strength at all. And, the skeleton called “Li’l South” had managed to subdue Ye Liubo without moving at all. It had probably undergone the heavenly tribulation already too.
This was an unprecedented danger she faced since becoming king. However, she needed to conquer this danger. Only then could the Night Roaming folk prosper.
There was another stroke, this time sweeping towards Li Qingshan’s frail throat. He raised his hand in an attempt to catch the dagger, but he only grabbed some scattered light. A gash appeared on his palm this time.
In the blink of an eye, many more wounds appeared on Li Qingshan.
Ye Liubo had been dragged out of Xiao An’s range of control by her companions, finally recovering control over her body. Before she could even glare at Xiao An, she pushed herself off the ground and pointed in Li Qingshan’s direction, calling out hurriedly,
“King, don’t harm his nethers!”