“Is it subject Xie?” The lord of White Deer country heard the voice and looked around. “Why did you fall from the sky and cause such a great commotion?”
“Your majesty, I’ve brought a senior to the banquet!”
Below the pavilion, Xie Maoshi was pure-white as his stomach surged about. Only now did he understand why Zhu Yingcai had covered his mouth earlier. It took him quite a while before he forced it back. Actually, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was already capable of flight, but he could only leave the ground by a few metres and cover four or five kilometres at most. He had never experienced this sensation of whistling through the winds before.

  Then he looked at Li Qingshan beside him who stood firmly on the surging surface of the water. He no longer had any doubts about his cultivation. If he was not a Soul Nascence cultivator, how could he be capable of something like this?

  “Oh! Senior, what senior?” The lord of White Deer country was more than familiar with Xie Maoshi’s cultivation, so he immediately became interested when he heard the words “senior”. He tidied his clothes in a hurry and sat firmly on the throne, demonstrating his bearing as the lord.

  “It’s a great Soul Nascence cultivator!”
“Is that true?”
The lord of White Deer country’s eyes lit up, ignoring the mess on the banquet table and arriving on the side of the pavilion steadily. He placed his hand on the railing and glanced down, meeting with Li Qingshan’s eyes that resembled green jade. As if he had been entranced by an invisible power, he was immediately left speechless.

  Li Qingshan had always been quite contemptful of the incompetent lord of White Deer country. As the leader of a country, he managed to do such a horrible job that the country was a mess, so Li Qingshan purposefully asserted himself to knock him into his place. His gaze was also filled with judgement, such that it could make the lord of White Deer country succumb to him naturally.

  But to his surprise, the lord of White Deer country did not resemble the incompetent, self-indulgent ruler he imagined. Instead, he had a slender figure and clear, bright eyes. With the crown on his head, he was very neat, actually also possessing the cultivation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He did not seem like a fool at all.

  If he really was an idiot, how could he cultivate? Even Qi Practitioners required great effort and intelligence, let alone Foundation Establishment cultivators.

  “Welcome, senior! Please forgive me for failing to anticipate your arrival! Please come up!”
The lord of White Deer country was enthusiastic. Li Qingshan’s actions had not angered him at all, and he instead became even more polite and respectful. He did not seem like the lord of a country at all, but a junior who had encountered a powerful senior.

  With Li Qingshan’s experiences and insight, he could obviously tell his behaviour was not an act. He was completely sincere, without any hint of insincerity. He lifted up Zhu Yingcai and Xie Maoshi and leapt up gently, arriving in the pavilion.

  Sure enough, as he glanced out, all the guests were Qi Practitioners. This was a gathering of cultivators, just on the lower end of the spectrum.

  The guests all stood up. Most of them were drenched in water, which made them seem extremely miserable, but none of them dared to disrespect Li Qingshan or even show a hint of anger. They all bowed with the lord of White Deer country. “Senior!”
Li Qingshan nodded in a reserved manner. The lord of White Deer country asked, “May I ask how subject Xie encountered this senior?”
Xie Maoshi explained everything that happened in the Flower Fragrance parlour, from beginning to end. The lord of White Deer country only became even more amazed after hearing that. “A technique like that must only be a trifle to you, senior, but you sure have widened the horizons of these mortals. They truly are up on their luck! Servants, reset the banquet! Musicians, play well and receive this senior properly!”
Afterwards, he invited Li Qingshan to the seat of honour while he sat on the side. The music started up again.

  All Li Qingshan saw was the basically-untouched delicacies being swept blindly into buckets by the servants, which left him sighing even more inside. He thought about how the homes of the wealthy reeked of the smell of meat and alcohol while the poor starved and froze to death on the streets. He could not help but sneer. “Fellow, you sure are unfazed, without the slightest worry on your mind!”
The lord of White Deer country became even happier when he heard how he had been referred to as “fellow.” He asked, “Senior, what do you mean by that? How do I deserve an evaluation like that?”
“You have rebels besieging the city, yet you’re still in the mood to hold a banquet?”
The lord of White Deer country waved his hand in an unconcerned manner. “You have nothing to worry about, senior. They are merely some lower people. They’ve been spurred on by scoundrels, which is why they’re bold enough to commit such treachery. Just starve them for a few more days, and the siege will collapse by itself!”
“If you starve them to death, of course, dead people won’t be able to cause any more trouble!”
Li Qingshan raised his eyebrows. Simply from looking at the extremely-lax soldiers on the city walls and the starving beggars inside, he knew that this city would fall before long.

  The lord of White Deer country clapped his hands and smiled along. “A wise judgement, senior. That’s exactly the case.”
Li Qingshan lost his temper out of frustration. “What an incompetent ruler!”
The lord of White Deer country did not become angered. “Whether competent or incompetent, a ruler will be reduced to a pile of soil in a century’s time. Only through cultivation and comprehension can you realise longevity and endless freedom. Otherwise, all are ants. I ceased to care about the various affairs of mortal life a long time ago. Even this position as the lord of the country has become a shackle of burden to me. Fortunately, I’ll be able to shed it from my shoulders and continue cultivating in the Myriad sect soon!”
“The Myriad sect again!”
Li Qingshan became cautious. “You must have obtained an Immortal Ascendance tablet already?”
“What Immortal Ascendance tablet? That’s merely a rumour created by the ignorant. It’s only a bookmark. Who knows how many the Myriad sect has forged and carved. If obtaining one was enough to ascend as an immortal, the world would be filled with immortals already.”
The lord of White Deer country laughed as he retrieved a yellow bronze bookmark from his sleeve. It was identical to the bookmarks that Li Qingshan had obtained in Si Long’s dwelling, only better than the Black Wood bookmark in terms of quantity.

  “But you can’t underestimate this bookmark. Once you get to the Myriad sect, there’ll be plenty of times when you can use it! Pardon me, but it is similar to the gold and silver in the hands of mortals. You can use it to exchange for whatever you want!”
Li Qingshan immediately understood the purpose of the box of bookmarks. They were something akin to currency in the Myriad sect, or in other words, they were the money that Si Long had saved up. If he went off the spiritual qi they contained and their quantity, green jade was most valuable, followed by white silver, then yellow bronze, and lastly black wood.

  The one in Zhu Yingcai’s possession was a Black Wood marker, while the lord of White Deer country had a Yellow Bronze market. It had to do something with their cultivations.

  “It sounds like you are quite familiar with the Myriad sect.”
The lord of White Deer country said proudly, “Of course. Our princess emeritus cultivates in the Myriad sect!”
“Princess emeritus?”
Li Qingshan was slightly surprised. He had only ever heard of emperor emeritus, so what the hell was this princess emeritus? It was no wonder why this guy treated him respectfully but did not possess the same reverence and awe as Xie Maoshi. Originally, he thought it was because he possessed the bearing of a monarch. As it seemed now, it was because there was someone higher up.

  “A country led by mortals can only last for a century or two. If it were not for the princess emeritus, how could White Deer country stand for thousands of years?”
Li Qingshan sank into his thoughts. He sure knew how to have run-ins with the Myriad sect. However, this was the Myriad sect, and everyone who cultivated was probably related to them, so he had to be careful. As a result, he asked further.

  “Then what is the cultivation of your princess emeritus?”
The lord of White Deer country clasped his hands at the sky. “The princess emeritus is a direct disciple of the Myriad sect, at the fifth heavenly tribulation, a Human Sovereign!”
Li Qingshan was shocked. It was not just because of this princess emeritus’ cultivation, but even more by the fact that she was still a disciple in the Myriad sect. In other words, the sect master and the elders above would be Human Immortals of the sixth heavenly tribulation at the very least.

  And according to Rāhu Xiaoming’s speculation, it was very likely for the Myriad sect to have True Immortals.

  That was definitely a prominent figure he could not afford to provoke right now. Even a princess emeritus was probably well beyond what he could handle. He had personally experienced Si Long’s power before, and that was when he was restrained by the laws of the nine provinces without the true Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon. If they fought again in the Human realm, they basically had no chance at victory.

  But how could her name alone deter him? He scolded him. “So you have no fear at all, unafraid that you’ll perish with your country!?”
Li Qingshan’s aura erupted instantly, making the lantern light flicker and extinguish one by one.

  “W- what are you trying to do?”
The lord of White Deer country shivered. As a cultivator, he understood how terrifying great cultivators were. A single major realm of cultivation made all the difference in the world, and his cultivation was even two major realms higher, so killing him was basically no different from crushing a bug.

  “Senior, senior! Please calm down!” Xie Maoshi tried to persuade him in a hurry.

  The guests shuddered, wanting to leave first.

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  Instead, the guards in the surroundings all drew their blades and called out, “How dare you! Release his majesty!”
With a casual wave of his hand, the guards flew out of the pavilion and landed in the water. He grabbed the lord of White Deer country who was trying to flee. “You do the job that you hold! As the lord of a country, an incompetent ruler like you just cultivates and enjoys himself while neglecting the suffering of the common people, yet you still resort to sophistry!? Even a thing like you, no different from a pig or dog, dares to say something like all are ants?”