Li Qingshan and Han Qiongzhi told each other everything they wanted to say and agreed on a time to meet again. Only then did Li Qingshan leave the room reluctantly. A smile remained on his face.

  At the same time, Wen Zhengming left the Hawkwolf Guard, taking off into the air.

  A cloud hovered in the sky above Clear River city. If someone were bored enough to stare at it for a long time, they would discover it was different from regular clouds. It did not drift with the wind.

  Wen Zhengming passed through the cloud. A huge Soaring Dragon ship was docked in the cloud.

  Shuffling about on the deck were all confucian disciples in the robes of scholars. Just the Foundation Establishment cultivators among them amounted to over a dozen, yet none of them engaged in any idle chit chat.

  All of their gazes were focused on the three men dressed as confucian scholars on the nose of the ship, standing in the wind. When they saw Wen Zhengming arrive, a talented scholar in white clothes called out loudly, “Junior brother Wen, how was the investigation?”


  “Don’t worry, senior brothers. I already have a plan in mind. This time, we can settle both the commandery governor’s task and Shancheng’s revenge.”


  ……


  “Golden Cicada? I think I’ve heard it somewhere. It sounds rather familiar.”


  Ru Xin fiddled with her hair and sank into her thoughts, but no matter how serious her expression was, she always seemed like she was joking around slightly.

  She currently stood before a medicine cabinet. The tall cabinet behind her and the drawers of various sizes were completely soaked in a heavy medicinal fragrance, forming a bitter and refreshing smell.

  As she thought, she controlled a medicinal pot, carefully brewing something. She would wave her hand from time to time and a drawer would open with a few medicinal items flying out.

  Li Qingshan stared at her dazed expression and also became slightly dazed.

  Ru Xin returned to her senses. As if she had just noticed Li Qingshan, she said, “What brought you here?”


  Li Qingshan shot a vicious glance at her. “I- Hurry up and think!”


  Ru Xin smiled. “If I’ve guessed correctly, you’re asking about a daemon, right?”


  “Possibly.”


  “That’s roughly a yes then. I didn’t think, I didn’t think…”


  “Hurry up and tell me!”


  Ru Xin laid out her hand and curled her finger. Only after offering up a sum of spiritual stones as the fee for the information did she smile. “Have you heard about the Seventy-two Daemon Kings before?”


  ……


  At the same time, in the underground of endless darkness, eight eyes flickered with light, radiating with a heavy and dangerous aura.

  A black figure drew closer unscrupulously, even richer in colour than the darkness.

  “Mo Yu, why have you come?” Lolth’s voice rang out in the darkness.

  “I’ve come to assist you under the dragon king’s orders,” a deathly voice said.

  “I don’t need it!”


  Lolth was rather surprised. As the most trusted Daemon Commander under the Dragon King of Ink Sea, Mo Yu’s relationship with the Dragon King of Ink Sea was like one of disciple and master, son and father. He was equivalent to the “crown prince” of the daemons across the entire Green province. His cultivation had already reached the peak of Daemon Commander. Even facing three or five regular Golden Core cultivators alone was no issue for him.

  However, it was exactly because of his esteemed status and great strength that he barely showed himself to others anymore. Most of the time, he remained in Ink sea, cultivating arduously. He would never intervene unless it truly reached a point when it mattered. The Dragon King of Ink Sea was not lacking any subordinates either, so sending him over was rather strange.

  “You have a daemon called Northmoon as a subordinate. He seems to be very impressive. Tell him to come see me.”


  ……


  “Sir, are you the envoy of the dragon king?”


  Li Qingshan studied Mo Yu. His appearance was nothing unusual, just deathly pale. He was draped in pitch-black feathers, which seemed like the rich, dark, night, radiating with a heavy feeling of ill omen. The ominous feeling was so heavy that even the spirit turtle would respond, warning Li Qingshan to keep his distance.

  However, the powerful aura he gave off was enough for Li Qingshan to confirm he was a powerful support.

  “You were the one who killed Dragonsnail,” Mo Yu said emotionlessly. He was clearly asking a question, but his voice was completely flat. He sounded like he was reading an obituary.

  “Yes!”


  Li Qingshan frowned. He scanned past Mo Yu and glanced at Lolth in the cavern. That was a terrifying spider that could make a person jerk awake from a nightmare before frightening them to death again.

  “How dare you break the rule that forbids daemons from killing one another.”


  “He wanted to kill me. I can’t just sit by and let him do so!”


  “If it weren’t for the king’s orders, I would kill you right now.” He spoke with the same flat, stiff tone as if he was stating a fact. He radiated with a great confidence of, “If I want to kill you, then that’s your fate.”


  Before an existence who stood at the peak of Daemon Commander, a Daemon General, even a rising star among the Daemon race who possessed great talent, was absolutely nothing.

  “You’re welcome to try it!” Li Qingshan laughed instead of losing his temper.

  “You want me to try it.” Apart from the moment at the beginning when their eyes met, Mo Yu never looked at Li Qingshan again. Now, he turned around, and his dark, hollow eyes stared straight at Li Qingshan.

  In that moment, Li Qingshan could also sense the trembling aura of death, but it only left him even more unconvinced. He sneered.

  He could sense that for some reason, this powerful reinforcement from Ink Sea demonstrated great prejudice and hostility towards him. Even his sheet-white, emotionless face was unable to hide it.

  Li Qingshan met his eyes. “Yes.”


  “You really are accustomed to talking wildly. Looks like you’re very confident, and you don’t need my assistance.”


  “I don’t need anyone’s assistance,” Li Qingshan said proudly. Since it was obvious Mo Yu did not take a liking to him, he would not warm up to him and try to please him either. He would not seek help from him.

  Mo Yu smiled. The corner of his lips curled up at first before stretching to a startling width. It was like an eerie smile painted on a mask. The ominous feeling grew heavier. He stared at Li Qingshan and spoke like he was making a declaration.

  “You will die.”


  The black feathers suddenly expanded, and he vanished. Only a clump of darkness that twisted and collapsed like a dark hole sucked Mo Yu away, distorting, shrinking, and vanishing.

  Li Qingshan originally planned on relying on this relationship, but now all that was left was a bad taste in his mouth like he had just eaten a fly. He no longer considered forging an alliance with Lolth either, leaving immediately.

  He refused to believe that he, Li Qingshan, would not be able to survive without the Dragon King of Ink Sea! Having grown up in loneliness, he would never consider placing all his faith in any person.

  “Do you know why Mo Yu is so hostile to you?” Lolth walked out of the cavern and turned back into human form. She smiled bewitchingly as she felt very delighted inside. She wore a poison suit, but it was clearly much coarser compared to the one she wore during her battle with Li Qingshan.

  “It’s obviously because of the wonderful words you put in for me.”


  “No. Since you’ve gained sir Golden Cicada’s recognition, I can’t be bothered dealing with you like that.” Lolth’s hips swayed from side to side as she approached Li Qingshan, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “I think you just find it humiliating!” Li Qingshan smiled as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist. Embracing such a delicate and seductive body should have been something that brought great comfort, but the parts of him that touched her immediately grew numb from the poison. The feeling began to spread.

  However, she clearly had not had enough time to further refine it, so the venom was not particularly potent.

  Lolth’s expression stiffened. Li Qingshan had hit the spot. In order to deal with a Daemon General under her command, a Daemon Commander like her even had to work with someone else, and the tables were still turned against her in the end. To her, this was truly a deep disgrace.

  She touched Li Qingshan’s face and said venomously, “I will personally kill you. If Mo Yu becomes involved, then I won’t even be able to get a hand in this before you disintegrate.”


  “And why’s that?” Li Qingshan was curious. He had never met Mo Yu before, so there should have been no grievances between them at all.

  “Have you forgotten about what you said when you fought Fu Qingjin?”


  “What I said?” Li Qingshan was taken aback. He recalled everything that happened that day and suddenly came to an understanding. “You mean Gu Yanying?”


  Lolth smiled again. “Don’t you know Mo Yu’s identity? The Dragon King of Ink Sea spends most of his time in secluded cultivation. He’s basically the dragon king’s spokesperson, ruling over the daemons of the Green province in his place. If he says you’ll die, you won’t be able to live. If that’s the case, you might as well die to my hands. I can even let you have some fun again.”


  “Even with his cultivation and identity, he still plays these games of fighting over a woman’s favour?”


  Li Qingshan frowned. It was no wonder Mo Yu said he was accustomed to talking wildly. His confession to Gu Yanying basically came off as wild words of lusting after a woman he was not worthy of in the eyes of others.

  He was not a romantic like Hua Chengzan, nor was he determined to obtain Gu Yanying. But at a time like this, it did rile up his fighting spirit. If I do end up winning over Gu Yanying some day, I’d like to see just what kind of expression this arrogant Mo Yu will have.

  As it seemed, these games of fighting over a woman’s favour had nothing to do with identity or strength. As a matter of fact, it did not even have anything to do with lust and feelings under certain circumstances. It was purely a masculine instinct.

  “Who do you think you are? Do you really think you’re worthy enough of contending for a woman’s favour against him? He just casually “took care” of you, and you couldn’t even withstand it.” Seeing Li Qingshan in dire straits, Lolth felt great joy too.

  “He’s merely a slightly larger fly, that’s all. I’ll swat him to death sooner or later!” Li Qingshan broke away from Lolth and directly set off for the surface.

  “Then you’ll be swatted to death by the dragon king!”


  “The dragon king? If I were fated to be as useless as him, I might as well die right now!” Li Qingshan suddenly looked back.

  Lolth was stunned. She was not loyal to the Dragon King of Ink Sea from the bottom of her heart, but she still felt respect towards this prominent figure of the Daemon race, the ruler of the daemons in the Green province.

  Perhaps some cultivators hated the Dragon King of Ink Sea to the very core, but probably never had anyone connected him to the word “useless”. However, Li Qingshan showed absolutely no intention to scorn or insult him from his expression. Instead, he was extremely serious, or even somewhat solemn.

  He was speaking from the bottom of his heart!

  The Great Xia empire had been established several millennia ago and that was also when the Dragon King of Ink Sea became the ruling Daemon King of a region. Coupled with the process of regular daemons cultivating to Daemon King, his age probably approached ten millennia already.

  Yet, the time the black ox had given Li Qingshan was just ten millennia!

  As Golden Cicada had said, the nine provinces were like a well. There was an infinitely vast world up above and even further up was beyond the Nine Heavens.

  If he spent ten millennia only to become a Daemon King, it would mean he completely failed. He would not have even completed half the journey. He would have let down all the trust brother ox had placed in him. He would only be a useless piece of trash. Even if he died, there would be no regret.

  Ten millennia is too short. All I can do is seize every moment!

  Lolth came to a vague understanding of why the Golden Cicada Spirit King treated him with special respect.