“What a great appetite,” Ru Xin glanced at Li Qingshan and said to him secretly.

  “It’s so-so. I really need to thank you, miss Ru Xin!”


  Li Qingshan stretched his neck as he sat to Liu Zhangqing’s left in his impressive Scarlet Hawk commander uniform.

  To Liu Zhangqing’s right was Han Anjun. Just the change in his seating position demonstrated how different his status was now. It filled Liu Chuanfeng who sat in the corner with envy.

  There were quite a few Foundation Establishment cultivators who belonged to the Academy of the Hundred Schools in the Clear River prefecture. Some had high degrees of seniority and others had powerful cultivations, but in a formation meeting, the people who sat at the very top would always be the prefect, general, and commander. Even Zhou Tong who was known as the greatest in the Clear River prefecture could only sit in a lower seat.

  This was a form of orthodox status. Liu Zhangqing’s status went without saying; the empire recognised him as someone who stood at the top in terms of status. While Han Anjun only led the school of the Military, he could directly enlist the disciples of the academy during times of crisis. As for the Hawkwolf Guard, they were a system of violence that answered directly to the empire.

  They represented the three traditional authorities of politics, the military, and policing.

  While the schools of Buddhism and Daoism were filled with talents and possessed a deep foundation, they could not interfere with these matters as religious figures.

  Li Qingshan even tried to persuade Liu Zhangqing otherwise. “Don’t fret, sir Liu. The Watermirror disc isn’t something the moon demon can obtain just because he’s asking for it!”


  Hua Chengzan also felt that the moon demon’s demands were very exorbitant. If the moon demon had taken something else, then so be it, but the issue was it happened to be the Lightning Slaughter wooden sword…


  “Kid, that’s easy for you to say. That’s my sword, for heaven’s sake!” Sure enough, Zhou Tong became rather restless. The Lightning Slaughter wooden sword was a critical arcane artifact for his second heavenly tribulation. It was something that tied into his life. Now that he had the opportunity to take it back, how could he not become interested?

  “Please calm down, senior Zhou. I’m just considering the bigger picture!” Li Qingshan thought to himself, Heh, of course I know it’s your sword. If it wasn’t your sword, I wouldn’t have taken it!

  “Hmm. The Watermirror disc is precious, but the Lightning Slaughter wooden sword is a rare arcane artifact too. There might even be the chance for it to become an arcane treasure in the future. It’s a real pity if we lose it. Sigh, let’s just discuss what we’ll do!”


  Li Qingshan said a whole lot, but everyone felt like he had said nothing at all.

  Zhou Tong even stated it bluntly, “You speak like you’re breaking wind. You’ve achieved absolutely nothing!”


  It was true. There was nothing Li Qingshan could say. Opposing the exchange was opposing himself, while supporting the exchange would easily attract suspicion, right?

  The discussion gradually intensified, so Li Qingshan split his focus, dealing with the meeting in the academy on one side while focusing on the glistening Moon Court lake on the other!

  He raised his head and saw a creek gurgling as it flowed down a mountain.

  The creek was even smaller than the river Li Qingshan had refined in the beginning. If it were not for the fact that it meandered through the mountains and forests, it probably would not even be enough to condense a god seal.

  Li Qingshan stood over the outlet as his surging daemon qi moved upstream. Under the support of the god seal, it filled the entire water system in the blink of an eye.

  If there was still space in the Water God Seal, he could have merged it into the god seal with great ease and then expanded the bodies of water under his control slightly.

  However, the god seal was already full, unable to accept even an additional stream.

  Li Qingshan shut his eyes and felt an extremely thin, blue band of light stretched into the mountains and forests.

  He extended his hand, and with a scoop, he removed the band of light and wrapped it around the Water God Seal.

  Sure enough, this process was much more difficult than directly using the Water God Seal to accept the water system. It was equivalent to recondensing a god seal.

  If it were not for Ru Xin’s water god seal, he would not be able to overcome the suppression of the nine provincial cauldrons and condense a god seal even with a creek like this.

  The Water God Seal spun like a spindle. The blue band wrapped around it like thread, again and again in an endless fashion.

  As the condensing process continued, Li Qingshan gradually grasped the trick. The Water God Seal spun faster and faster. He also felt like this process was not as difficult as it was described in the books.

  It’s probably because I’ve already become a higher water god, while the creek is simply too small!

  Li Qingshan spent a few more hours before finally refining the creek. The Water God Seal in his hand changed once more. It remained the same size, but the patterns on it did become a little more complicated.

  Even if he scattered all the power inside, the level of the Water God Seal would have still increased slightly. This was an aspect that would not change.

  Is it because I practise the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression? Li Qingshan became filled with enthusiasm as he came up with another guess.

  Li Qingshan’s guess was correct. Regular daemons, even water daemons who had become Daemon Commanders, would require a few days at the very least to condense a god seal from the creek.

  Creating something from nothing had never been so simple unless one was born with that ability, possessing the bloodline of a divine beast.

  The spirit turtle happened to be the most renowned water divine beast. Its status was equivalent to the phoenix’s status to fire.

  The crux of the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine was “transformation”. It could grant a regular, human teenager the abilities and power only the strongest demonic and divine beasts in the world possessed.

  Spirit turtles could even suppress boundless oceans, let alone a mere mountain creek.

  Divine beasts possessed the adjective “divine” in the first place. They were born with divine powers, which was why the scenery when Li Qingshan refined Moon Court lake was different from regular daemons, resulting in a magic phenomenon.

  Yep, they’ve finally reached a conclusion!

  ……


  The meeting at the academy entered a stalemate once again. Liu Zhangqing refused to part with the Watermirror disc, and while Zhou Tong wanted his Lightning Slaughter wooden sword back, it was difficult for him to bring it up.

  Only at the very end did they barely reach a conclusion, which was to have Hua Chengzan visit the moon demon again and ask if he could change his conditions.

  “Alright then. I’ll pay another visit, but it’s best if you don’t hold any high hopes.” Hua Chengzan sighed and stood up.

  “I’ll come with you!” Zhou Tong stood up abruptly.

  Hua Chengzan was unable to discourage him. All he could do was smile bitterly while allowing him to come along. “Senior Zhou, you have to remain calm when we get there. You mustn’t clash with the moon demon again.”


  The two of them traveled through the night and returned to Moon Court lake. Only after wandering around for quite a while did they find the moon demon Li Qingshan on a small island in the lake.

  Hua Chengzan raised an eyebrow as he found the situation even stranger than the last time they met. The moon demon crouched on the sandy beach as he tended to a barbeque.

  A plucked chicken was skewered on a tree branch, turning on a fire as he lathered it with some sauce he had found from somewhere.

  “My Lightning Slaughter sword!”


  Zhou Tong was cautious. Only when he got closer did he see the tree branch that Li Qingshan turned was the unimpressive Lightning Slaughter sword, leading to a miserable shriek.

  “It’s my Lightning Slaughter sword,” Li Qingshan corrected him before biting viciously into the chicken.

  Hua Chengsan took a step forward and bowed politely. He expressed cheerfully, “The Watermirror disc belongs to the academy. It’s not something that we can decide to give away, so why don’t you change your condition? It’s not like you have any use for the Lightning Slaughter wooden sword anyway, so why not exchange it for something useful instead?”


  “How’s it useless?! This is a crucial tool to my secret cooking technique, the dual roasting of lightning and fire. What am I supposed to do if I can’t eat it in the future anymore?” Li Qingshan waved the roast chicken around furiously. As he watched Zhou Tong’s face darken, he thought, Heh, I was right. Your sh*tty tree branch can only be used for a roast, and the food cooked with it takes especially bad.

  As Hua Chengzan caught the burnt smell wafting from the roast chicken, he had no idea on how to respond. There was nothing he could say.

  “Moon demon, you drive me crazy!” Zhou Tong bellowed out as he crackled with lightning.

  Li Qingshan pointed with the roast chicken. “You are bold enough to attack me?”


  “Senior, please calm down!”


  Hua Chengzan went up to stop Zhou Tong. He did not do anything in the end. He had a violent temper, but he was no idiot. He would never do something as useless as throwing an egg at a rock.

  And, he could clearly sense that the moon demon had become even stronger. He had become even stronger than when he stole the Lightning Slaughter sword from him!

  If Zhou Tong knew the person standing before him right now was merely a clone, and he had actually failed to see through it, who knew what he would feel?

  “It’s a pity, oh it’s a pity. It’s far too tiring to eat while holding it up. I’m only missing a good plate. That’s all I need for this to be perfect.” Li Qingshan shook his head as he said to himself, “If you really refuse to give it to me, I’ll just fetch it for myself in the future.”


  Hua Chengzan shivered inside. As it seemed, the moon demon had truly set his mind on the Watermirror disc. The exchange this time no longer involved only these two items. It would also affect the future situation. If the exchange were successful, then it would be a very good beginning. They could bring the pointless war to an end.

  However, if it were not, it was possible for the moon demon to reignite the war. By then, even the best situation would be the Ruyi commandery becoming involved, and the Clear River prefecture would turn into a mire of warfare again.

  Li Qingshan obviously did not want to declare war against the academy. He had far too many acquaintances there. If he accidentally caused the death of father-in-law Han or his brother-in-law, then his relationship with Han Qiongzhi would truly become some half-assed drama.

  Not to mention, with how great the situation was right now, he would never be stupid enough to actively destroy it. As long as no one could reign him in, he would continue to refine these rivers and lakes one by one. There were no negative consequences with that.

  It was not like it cost him anything to throw some threats around!

  Hua Chengzan dragged Zhou Tong away and returned to the academy, telling Liu Zhangqing everything that had happened.

  This time, they did not hold a meeting. It was just the three of them. Liu Zhangqing’s expression changed again and again, unsure as to what to do.

  “Prefect Liu, do you trust this lowly daoist?” Zhou Tong asked.

  “You’re too polite, senior. Of course I do.”


  “The Lightning Slaughter sword gives me an additional thirty percent confidence in overcoming the heavenly tribulation at the very least. If I succeed, I’ll definitely come up with a way to retrieve the Watermirror disc. If I fail, then I’ll still make it up to you with something else. As long as the threat of the moon demon remains, I will continue to watch over the Clear River prefecture.”


  “If I fail the tribulation, the Lightning Slaughter sword shouldn’t be destroyed. It’ll probably absorb the power of lightning and become even more powerful, so it can replace the Watermirror disc. We can put this transaction in writing and send it to the Ruyi commandery. It’ll be a deal between the moon demon’s and my name. What do you think?”


  In that instant, Zhou Tong seemed extremely calm as he clearly explained everything.

  Hua Chengzan thought about it before understanding what was going on. What worried Liu Zhangqing the most was still the Ruyi commandery. The Marquis of Ruyi had not sent any reinforcements, but he had never told him to assist the daemon’s growth in power under its threats either.

  By saying that, Zhou Tong had essentially lifted Liu Zhangqing’s responsibilities from his shoulders.

  Liu Zhangqing remained conflicted for a very long time before finally agreeing reluctantly. “Fine, but I need to report this to the Marquis of Ruyi first. If the marquis doesn’t object, then feel free to take the Watermirror disc!”