“Yep. I’ll help you!”


  At this moment, no one had any idea that an unruly chess piece would enter the board properly, much less expect what change his appearance would bring.

  Li Qingshan returned to Cloudwisp island. He frowned near the bamboo loft and heard the moans of a woman ring out from Liu Chuanfeng’s room.

  Don’t tell me this bastard has used the Divine Talisman of Great Creation to do that again. Li Qingshan said to Xiao An, “Wait here!”


  Afterwards, he rushed over and kicked open the door.

  Sure enough, Liu Chuanfeng was entangled with a naked woman. The woman was so life-like that even Li Qingshan struggled to tell whether she was real or fake.

  “Who is it? Oh, Qingshan, you’ve emerged from seclusion!” Liu Chuanfeng turned around and saw Li Qingshan, beaming with surprise. He had already reached Foundation Establishment, but he was unable to hide his feebleness. Combined with his messy clothing, Li Qingshan only frowned when he saw him.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Li Qingshan barked.

  “Living in the world, you should seize the day and enjoy yoursel- Ah, ah, let go of me. I’m your master!”


  Before Liu Chuanfeng could finish talking, Li Qingshan had walked over and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him up.

  “Master my ass. So much for my efforts for you to reach Foundation Establishment. You’re wasting the power of belief again to do something as depraved as this.”


  “S- s- she’s real. She’s from the Parlour of Clouds and Rain. She’s not made from the power of belief!” All Liu Chuanfeng felt was like his shoulders were about to be ripped apart. He was in no state to maintain his facade anymore as he explained frantically.

  Li Qingshan looked at the woman again and saw her surprise. Never had she seen a Qi Practitioner “harass” a Foundation Establishment cultivator like that.

  After chasing away the woman, Li Qingshan and Liu Chuanfeng sat down.

  “When did you succeed with establishing a foundation?”


  “Over two years ago.”


  “How’s the school of Novels doing?”


  “Oh Qingshan, the school of Novels is completely done for! Daemons run amok and bandits are everywhere. Everyone’s in a state of fear. No one’s in the mood to read these stories anymore. We even have to go risk our lives to kill daemons. Who knows when we’ll be slaughtered. Qingshan, just spare me!”


  Did all that hard work go to waste like this?

  If it were yesterday, Li Qingshan definitely would have sighed and lamented, but right now, he grabbed Liu Chuanfeng by the collar and lifted him up. “Then you still have to keep writing! This is exactly when people need your stories! You need to inspire people!”


  “Alright, alright, alright.” Liu Chuanfeng had always been somewhat fearful of this disciple of his, and it was not just because of his cultivation. Just a single vicious glance from Li Qingshan could make him feeble inside. He would never object.

  “As long as you understand!” Li Qingshan dropped Liu Chuanfeng. As he made his way out, he looked back and added, “There’ll always be an opportunity to turn things around.”


  ……


  “The tenth layer! Qingshan, you cultivate at an alarming speed!”


  Around dusk, Hua Chengzan rushed back in a hurry and arrived on Cloudwisp island. His eyes lit up the moment he saw Li Qingshan. Breaking through to the ninth and tenth layers had always been the most time-consuming, yet he had managed it in just three years. He was truly something else. Perhaps he could succeed with establishing a foundation before long and lend great support.

  “Barely, just barely. You’ve changed too. Looks like I’ve missed out on quite a lot in the past three years.” Li Qingshan studied Hua Chengzan, and he discovered that his handsome appearance was more mature and sombre now.

  “You’ve already seen everything you should see. What do you plan on doing next?” Hua Chengzan’s face sank.

  “Lend assistance to the academy, obviously,” Li Qingshan replied without the slightest hesitation.

  “Let’s go. We need to celebrate for you. I’ll go call Tieyi. The others don’t have time. Even if I call them over, you might not necessarily see them. You can’t exactly call this maltreating you if you have the three of us celebrating for you!”


  Having three Foundation Establishment cultivators celebrate for a Qi Practitioner was an extremely rare treatment to enjoy. It was basically impossible unless they had close ties with one another.

  However, Li Qingshan shook his head and declined. “That won’t be necessary.”


  “Is it because there’s not enough people?”


  “I want to celebrate once I reach Foundation Establishment,” Li Qingshan smiled. He had already made up his mind. He could make a push through this final obstacle now.

  “Foundation Establishment?” Hua Chengzan raised an eyebrow. He called himself a genius, but in order to successfully establish a foundation, who knew how much effort he had spent towards it. He would have never mentioned it so easily.

  Liu Chuanfeng on the side raised his head in surprise too. This disciple of his really liked to boast.

  “You want to enter seclusion for another three years?” Hua Chengzan probed. He thought Li Qingshan was trying to avoid the current situation after seeing all the dangers. This was a common thought. As a result, the academy maintained an extremely tight control over the disciples in secluded cultivation now. However, he felt like Li Qingshan was not that kind of person.

  “It shouldn’t take that long this time.” Li Qingshan shook his head gently.

  At this moment, Han Tieyi descended from above. Without saying anything, he directly shoved a letter into Li Qingshan’s hand.

  Li Qingshan opened the letter in confusion. There were only ten words, “You bastard son of a bitch, write back to me!”


  “You contacted her.” Li Qingshan smiled bitterly as he read those ten words again and again. His heart warmed up. Her appearance suddenly grew clear in his mind, like she was cursing him loudly in his ear.

  “She’s still my elder sister after all,” said Han Tieyi. Although they never seemed like siblings, even rather distant at first glance, their familial connection where blood ran thicker than water could never be severed.

  “I often forget about that.” Li Qingshan stowed the letter into his bosom.

  “Are you going to reply?”


  “Of course.” Li Qingshan smiled. His heart was no longer lost or confused. His various thoughts of running away had all been swept clean. This was his responsibility as a man.

  Han Tieyi then took out a jade slip and passed it to Li Qingshan.

  “What’s this?”


  “You’ll know once you take a look.”


  Li Qingshan opened the jade slip and immediately became speechless. The jade slip recorded a cultivation method—the Arts of the Boundless Ocean.

  “You said you wanted the cultivation method that could allow you to completely power Ocean Wielding. This is it, the Arts of the Boundless Ocean. She asked our uncle to find it. Although it’s missing the first half, she’s asked our uncle to patch it up, so it shouldn’t affect it too much. It should be the cultivation method most suited for you. She wanted me to give it to you once you emerged. You can say it’s a surprise.”


  Li Qingshan rubbed his tingling nose. He had almost forgotten he had mentioned this to her, yet she still remembered it. Was it all just a coincidence? No, it wasn’t. It was inseverable love. Even if she did not know about his various secrets, did that make her love any less real?

  Li Qingshan waved around the jade slip in his hand. “If I wasn’t going to reply, you never planned on handing me the jade slip, did you?”


  “I’m still her younger brother after all,” said Han Tieyi after quite a lengthy silence. Although every single cultivator had their own thoughts and choices towards these emotions, people who were faithless and fickle did not deserve her concern.

  Li Qingshan returned to his room and wrote a reply with just a few flicks of the brush. He shoved it into the envelope and handed it to Han Tieyi.

  “She’s written so many letters. You’re just going to answer her with a few words?” Hua Chengzan smiled.

  “She knows. Actually, I hate writing a lot.” Li Qingshan’s heart was no longer shackled down anymore.