Li Qingshan gazed over the stretch of clouds in the direction of the Green Vine mountain.

  I’ve made a mess already, so let’s make a larger one to cover it all up. Fu Qingjin, let’s see whether I have the right to carry your shoes or not.

  “You want to kill the Green Vine Elder!” Qiu Haitang was stunned. He had already killed the disciple of Pine Sough academy, Jiang Shancheng, and he still was not satisfied. No, perhaps this was his original intention, to steal the Soaring Dragon ship to destroy the protective formations of the Green Vine mountain.

  “That’s right.” Li Qingshan had originally decided this on a whim, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He had heard that the Daemon Suppression alliance had cast down a Duality Formation of Disintegration or whatever it was called around the Green Vine mountain. He could use this Soaring Dragon ship to destroy the formation.

  Fu Qingjin, since you’re bold enough to attend the banquet, I’ll kill the Green Vine Elder for you to see!

  “If I assist you, wouldn’t I become an accomplice?”


  “That’s still better than dying!”


  “I don’t even know whether you’re going to uphold your word.” Qiu Haitang studied him.

  “Doesn’t seem like you have much of a choice.” Li Qingshan grinned, revealing his teeth.

  “Fine!” Qiu Haitang no longer hesitated. Just like what he said, she had no choice at all. The other important reason was because her gut told her he had no ill intentions towards her. This feeling was completely groundless. Was it because of his exceptionally handsome appearance, even on par with Hua Chengzan’s? She shook her head. It was not like she was an actual infatuated romantic!

  Under Qiu Haitang’s control, the Soaring Dragon ship slowly turned around and dispersed the clouds, flying in the direction of the Green Vine mountain.

  Li Qingshan sat on the top of the dragon figurehead at the front. The breeze ruffled his scarlet hair, as well as Qiu Haitang’s dress close behind him. She gazed at his back and found her encounter tonight to be unimaginably strange.

  Never did she think Hua Chengzan would turn her down, and never did she think she would almost be disgraced by a despicable man. And now, she was actually assisting a daemon in attacking the Green Vine mountain.

  “Qingshan, Qingshan, what’re you smiling for?”


  Li Qingshan returned to his senses. In the lantern-lit hall, Han Qiongzhi sat beside him and asked in confusion.

  Han Qiongzhi asked, “What are you thinking about? You were in a daze the entire time.”


  Juechenzi and the others gazed over curiously as well.

  “Don’t tell me you were thinking of another woman?” Qin Yin joked. As the primary disciple of the school of Music, her voice seemed to possess some kind of strange tone, which made it indescribably pleasant.

  “With a beauty like senior sister Qin here, how can I think of another woman?” Li Qingshan chuckled.

  At this moment, two different scenes played before Li Qingshan’s eyes. One was located above the sea of clouds, under the moon and stars, while the other was the banquet of the Hua family, surrounded by guests and friends. It was difficult to explain just how interesting of a sight it was.

  “You’re too kind, junior brother.” Qin Yin smiled slightly. With her charming appearance and twinkling eyes, she seemed both indifferent and tender.

  She had originally been an extremely withdrawn and aloof person, focusing purely on music with a dislike for contact with other people. But at a time like this, she was forced to make use of her advantage as a female cultivator and befriend some of the more powerful figures in the academy.

  Once chaos truly erupted, the school of Music would definitely become involved as one of the hundred schools. Even if she could forsake herself, she still had to consider for her junior sisters in the school of Music.

  Li Qingshan even wanted to joke a little more, but Han Qiongzhi grabbed him by the ear and smiled. “If I weren’t here, do you plan on pursuing senior sister Qin too?”


  “Hmm? How did you k- If you keep twisting, it’s really going to fall off.”


  Everyone erupted with a roar of laughter, but the sounds of dispute appeared in another corner of the hall.

  “Beauty, come drink with us! Just one cup and we’ll let you go.”


  Hua Chenglu was greeting and receiving the guests in Hua Chengzan’s place. When she arrived on the table of the disciples of the Vermillion Clothes sect, a man with a full beard grabbed her wrist. He was completely drunk, while the others on the table were all tipsy too. They began to kick up a fuss.

  “Please behave yourself. My elder brother is Hua Chengzan.” Hua Chenglu tried to break free, but she failed. She was only at the fifth layer, while the man had already reached the ninth layer.

  “Second senior brother, let’s just forget about it. This is the Hua family after all.” Some sober disciples tried to convince him otherwise.

  “What Hua Chengzan? Isn’t he just a piece of trash from the Hawkwolf Guard? Is he bold enough to offend our Daemon Suppression alliance?” The man was taken aback and sobered up slightly. He muttered a few insults under his breath and released her awkwardly.

  Every single person in the hall had sharp eyes and ears. The legalist disciples all became furious, but Han Qiongzhi frowned and did nothing. Ever since Hua Chengzan entered secluded cultivation, it had always been her who handled the affairs of the Hawkwolf Guard. She had basically become the primary disciple of the school of Legalism already, and before she knew it, she had developed much better self-control. In particular, they were about to carry out a large operation, so acting rashly and alerting the enemy would not be a good idea.

  “Damned crook, eat my palm strike!” Bang!

  Five-coloured light appeared, and Chu Tian burst out from somewhere, unleashing the Palm of the Five Elements and slamming the ‘second senior brother’ with it. The second senior brother was also at the ninth layer, but he was no match for Chu Tian, who cultivated all five elements. With a clatter, he shot over the table and collided heavily against a wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

  “Junior sister, are you fine?” Chu Tian spun around and grabbed Hua Chenglu’s hand, looking at her in complete concern.

  The noisy hall fell silent immediately, while Hua Chenglu was stunned. Why the hell would I need you playing the hero? If it were not for the bigger picture, the fact that this was Hua Chengzan’s celebratory banquet, was she supposed to worry about a lack of powerful people in the Hua family at her beck and call?

  If this second senior brother continued, even those first senior brothers would not sit aside and watch as he offended the Hua family.

  “You pieces of trash! Why don’t you check where you are?!” Chu Tian cursed loudly.

  Looks like this idiot’s behaviour isn’t all just directed towards me! Li Qingshan lit up inside and felt slightly better. This guy’s ability for taunting really isn’t a joke!

  The disciples of the sects all changed in expression and stood up. The atmosphere immediately became tense. The tiny incident instantly developed into a major matter.

  The second senior brother shook his head and sobered up completely. He was utterly furious. His face became bright red as he drew his blade and swung it at Chu Tian.

  Chu Tian sneered. Trash will always be trash. It was a perfect opportunity for him to show off. Five-coloured light appeared, and he did not forget to smile at Hua Chenglu. “Don’t worry, junior sister. Your senior brother is here for you!”


  “Lu Dun, back away!”


  “Stop, Chu Tian!”


  Two voices rang out; two figures, one red and one white, almost arrived at the same time as the voices. One grabbed the spine of Lu Dun’s blade, while the other grabbed Chu Tian’s shoulder.

  Lu Dun and Chu Tian were both haughty people, but when they saw these two people, they could only stop and call them senior brother.

  The two senior brothers glanced at one another and stated their origins. “Jin Feipeng of the Vermillion Clothes sect.”


  “Wei Yangsheng of the school of Confucianism.”


  “Why did a confucian disciple injure a member of my sect?”


  “It’s all a misunderstanding. It seems like the disciple of your esteemed sect possesses quite a powerful cultivation, so he’s fine. Let’s just end it here!”


  “A misunderstanding? Then you better let us return that palm strike so that we can clear up this misunderstanding. What do you think?”


  “Of course not. I said it was a misunderstanding, but I was just trying to respect your esteemed sect. Actually, you can call that a lesson.”


  Both of them were reluctant to make a mess, but as they clashed verbally, neither of them wanted to back down either.

  Li Qingshan watched on in interest from a corner of the hall. Suddenly, he heard a voice, “The Pine Sough academy must have received a distress signal already. They’ll definitely arrive very soon. Their head scholar is a Golden Core cultivator. Aren’t you afraid of being killed if you still go to the Green Vine mountain?”


  Li Qingshan turned around. Under the bright moon, Qiu Haitang stood with her arms in her sleeves on the deck as her clothes drifted about in the wind.

  “They aren’t enough to kill me.”


  “This is your clone?” Qiu Haitang never planned on convincing him to leave either. She simply wanted to break the silence. This Daemon General enveloped in danger and mystery made her curious, and his almost-human behaviour made her rather surprised. She spontaneously recalled a piece of information she had heard, so she tried probing him with it.

  “How did you know?”


  With that, Qiu Haitang completely gave up on the thought of fighting back. Even if she managed to kill this clone out of pure luck, she would still become a target for vicious revenge. His clone was already so powerful, so how strong was his main body supposed to be?

  “That’s not exactly a secret. I’m very curious about where your original body is.” Qiu Haitang immediately grasped the crux of the matter.

  “I think it’s your turn to fulfill my curiosity now. Why were you so emotional?” Li Qingshan avoided the question.

  “You’re welcome to guess.” Qiu Haitang stopped asking. She simply crossed her legs and sat down.

  “I’m guessing you were dumped by a man.”


  “How did you know?” Qiu Haitang was surprised at first, but then she laughed in a self-deprecating manner. “Has my behaviour become so obvious that even a daemon can tell?”


  “Let’s hear it. What kind of man is he?” Li Qingshan admitted he was rather intrigued by gossip. However, investigating the private matters of people he knew under an unknown identity was extremely interesting.

  “I don’t want to talk about this.”


  “You better be careful, as I just might kill you.”


  “I’m still not going to talk about this.”


  “Then forget about it.”


  After a while of silence, Qiu Haitang frowned. Now that the person she had purposefully tried to forget was mentioned, he began to haunt her mind. She was unable to stop thinking about him anymore.

  Finally, she said, “He’s called Hua Chengzan…”


  With that, she was like a collapsed dam. Words flowed out of her mouth endlessly, going from how her heart skipped a beat when they initially met expectedly to her later infatuation. Her gaze passed by Li Qingshan to an extremely distant and obscure place. Perhaps she no longer cared about who was standing in front of her right now, and she just wanted to tell someone about it.

  “Daemons can’t understand something like that. I’ve actually said so much to you.”


  Qiu Haitang smiled in a self-deprecating manner. Jiang Shancheng only wanted to take advantage of her vulnerable state. In the end, it was actually a daemon who had almost killed her who listened to her. Fate sure was unpredictable. Of course, if he were a human instead, if it were actually her friends who wanted to listen to her, she would not be able to bring herself to say so much.

  “Even if you’re venting to a treehole, you’ll feel better.” Li Qingshan smiled. Originally, he looked down on her behaviour, but towards the end, he could not help but sigh slightly.

  Qiu Haitang was taken aback. As expected, she felt much more liberated, but to her surprise, a daemon actually cared about how she felt?

  “And, why can’t daemons understand something like that?” Han Qiongzhi’s figure appeared in Li Qingshan’s head, and he smiled.

  “Qingshan, go!” Han Qiongzhi pushed Li Qingshan.

  “What? Me? Oh, I understand.” Li Qingshan was in a daze, and he returned to his senses. Although he had been focusing on Qiu Haitang’s story, he still paid some attention to this side.

  As Jin Feipeng and Wei Yangsheng bickered, they gradually became angered. Neither of them relented.

  At this moment, Hua Chengzan and the master of the Vermillion Clothes sect had come down from upstairs to mediate the dispute. They decided to set several aspects for them to compete in, as not only would that maintain harmony, it could liven up the banquet too. The losing side would only have to apologise.

  On the Soaring Dragon ship, Qiu Haitang stared silently at Li Qingshan as he smiled and recalled the past. She was very taken aback. Do even daemons possess emotions that they’ll never forget? The heavens have been far too unfair with me.

  “Oi, we’ve arrived at the Green Vine mountain!”


  PS: Recently, I’ve had quite a lot of discomfort in my right hand, so the releases have been rather slow. I’ve stuck a Yunnan Baiyao plaster over it, so I should get better very soon! Anyway, please forgive me.