“In the past, the founding emperor had only completed his great cause with the support of seniors Hawk God and Wolf God. As a descendant of the imperial family, I’m also willing to follow my ancestor’s example and become allies with you so that we rule over the Ruyi commandery together. You can manage the daemons, while I manage the humans. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”


  Si Qing made a promise, but the killing intent in his heart did not lessen at all. Misleading was also a part of hunting. In order to deal with intelligent prey, he had to use intelligence too.

  “That’s fantastic, but I want to refine the waters of the Ruyi commandery…” Northmoon’s eyes lit up as if he was very interested yet rather doubtful.

  “You can refine the rivers and lakes of the Ruyi commander freely. We won’t obstruct you at all,” Si Qing said generously, but he thought inside, Your Water God Seal is mine. Only by refining the mountains and waters before combining it with the power of belief of the people can you refine the true Seal of Mountains and Rivers. Its power is so great that even Soul Nascence cultivators cannot be careless when facing it.

  Li Qingshan smiled. “You sure are much more generous than Jiang Fu. Not bad, not bad!”


  Jia Zhen said, “A coincidental meeting is far better than an invitation. Why don’t you return to the marquis’ estate with us so that we can discuss how we rule over the Ruyi commandery?”


  “About this… Is there anything good in the marquis’ estate?”


  Si Qing said, “Delicious food and wine; music and dance; rare and precious treasures; whatever you want!”


  “Are there any beauties?”


  “So Northmoon has an interest in this. There are numerous beauties for you to freely choose from.”


  “That’s great, but I just wonder if any of these beauties are prettier than Qiu Haitang? Oh right, I think I killed a few people a few days ago. They claimed to be the disciples of some E Dan person. Don’t tell me you’re E Dan!” Li Qingshan smiled as his gaze drifted over to E Dan’s face.

  E Dan showed no anger at all. Instead he laughed aloud. “Sect master Qiu is obviously a rare beauty. Great minds sure do think alike, but she’s not the only beauty in the world. Once we return to the marquis’ estate, we can admire and evaluate the various beauties of the Ruyi commandery together. As for my disappointing disciples, if you’ve killed them, then you’ve killed them. You’ve saved them from running around and embarrassing me. I really need to thank you for this!”


  “Fellow E truly is a straightforward man. I like it!” Li Qingshan praised loudly, but he thought inside, If you had spoken like this right from the beginning, why would I have my mind set on killing you?

  “It’s quite late now. Let’s go!”


  Li Qingshan considered it and shook his head. “Maybe some other day! I still have to continue with refining the river. Once I complete this, I’ll definitely pay a visit to the maruqis’ estate and express my thanks!”


  “Alright, then I await your arrival in the marquis’ estate.” Si Qing clasped his hands and flew away with Jia Zhen and E Dan.

  Li Qingshan rubbed his chin. He watched the three of them vanish into the horizon as he smiled in thought. “This sure is interesting. Heh, these crafty humans, but I’m no different from you!”


  The three of them directly returned to the estate. E Dan asked, “Will he buy this?”


  Jia Zhen swung his feather fan gently. “Don’t tell me what I said earlier made no sense? Don’t worry, no matter how cautious someone is, they’ll lower their guard as time goes on. We can still make good use of him before we kill him. The death of your son will definitely be avenged.”


  The three of them glanced at each other while smiling. At this moment, caretaker Zheng came in and reported, “Your highness, a Qi Practitioner wishes to see you!”


  “A Qi Practitioner? Send him away!”


  “He says he has a great secret to offer up to your highness!”


  “Oh? Then send him in. If he’s just trying to amuse me, hmph!”


  A while later, caretaker Zheng brought in a jittery young man. He dropped to his knees as soon as he saw Si Qing. “Greetings, your highness!”


  Si Qing did not answer back, gazing at him from above indifferently. Caretaker Zheng said, “If you have anything to say, make it fast!”


  “Please avenge my father, your highness!”


  “Hmm? Who’s your enemy?” Si Qing said with some displeasure.

  “The Scarlet Hawk commander of the Clear River prefecture, Li Qingshan!” The young man was overcome with rage as he ground his teeth.

  “That Li Qingshan again. Didn’t you say you had a secret to tell me?”


  “Will you carry out my revenge for me, your highness?”


  “Raise your head. Are you trying to bargain with me?”


  “I would never. It’s just that the secret touches on something major…” The young man made eye contact with Si Qing, and he immediately turned sheet-white.

  “Speak. There’s nothing you can’t say here.”


  “I- it has to do with the Painting Tomb!”


  “The Painting Tomb!”


  As it turned out, Chu Danqing’s first senior brother had always been cautious. Before he left, he told this secret to his most beloved son just in case. In the end, he really did not end up returning, and the news of Li Qingshan killing the three spread very quickly.

  The son was wracked with hatred and fear. Not only was Li Qingshan’s cultivation great, but he had Gu Yanying as a backer too. He even held a recording stone as evidence. With his strength, not only was revenge absolutely impossible, but he was even in constant fear about Li Qingshan coming to tie up loose ends. In the end, he made up his mind to offer this secret up to prince Si Qing who also had grievances with Li Qingshan, just to avenge his father and seek refuge.

  Si Qing listened to the entire story and said, “In other words, you only know who possesses the secret of the Painting Tomb, and you only heard that from your father? The veracity of this piece of information is worth doubting.”


  “It’s definitely true. Please believe me, your highness. I’m willing to offer up my head as guarantee.”


  “Apart from you, no one else knows about this?”


  “Absolutely no one!”


  Si Qing patted his shoulder kindly. “Don’t worry, I will avenge your father, as well as you!”


  ……


  Li Qingshan left the underground cavern and returned to Moon Court lake. With a wave of his right hand, the water before him condensed into a mirror. A while later, his mirror clone walked out.

  Li Qingshan took back the Water God Seal and began practising the Arts of the Boundless Ocean. After breaking through to the sixth layer, his dantian could hold even more spiritual qi. It was like how an expanded pool could hold even more water.

  This would require ingesting large quantities of pills to develop. However, having reached his realm of cultivation, his demand for pills became even greater too. Low level pills like Qi Condensing pills already caused more harm than good now, while high level pills were not so easily obtained.

  Unless they possessed a background like Gu Yanying or Si Qing, most cultivators were forced to devote large amounts of time and effort to absorbing and refining spiritual qi bit by bit in order to cultivate.

  But now, Li Qingshan was borrowing the power of countless rivers and lakes to cultivate, which saved him an immeasurable amount of time and effort.

  Li Qingshan shut his eyes and sat down. Specks of light hovered out from the Water God Seal, merging with his body and seeping into his dantian. After being refined, it turned into raging, pure spiritual qi.

  The sun rose, and the moon fell. Day and night alternated and time flew by. His dantian had finally reached a state of saturation with water spiritual qi. It was no longer able to accept another strand.

  Li Qingshan slowly opened his eyes. Although his foundation was still rather unconsolidated and his mental cultivation was lacking, he had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment from the perspective of spiritual qi alone. He could basically see the gates of the Golden Core realm already.

  Perhaps I might undergo the second heavenly tribulation with my human identity! Looking at the time, the Exhibition Matches of the Nine Provinces seem to have begun already!