The sea water ebbed gently. Li Qingshan gazed at the sky and lay on the surface of the ocean quietly. All of the tribulation clouds had dispersed, and the sky full of stars seemed to be within arm’s reach. Enduring the pain, he extended his hand as hard as he could at the sky like he was trying to grab one of the stars…
In the Hundred Herbs garden, Ruan Yaozhu returned to her body. The expression on her fair and gentle face changed, like a spring breeze over the surface of a lake, like she was in thought. Even though he had convinced her, the change was still there, like a knot in her heart.

  The nine-coloured deer laid in the basket lazily. “Has he died?”
Ruan Yaozhu wanted to smile, but she was unable to. She shook her head.

  “Sigh, I knew it!”
“Jiu’er… what kind of person do you think he is?” Ruan Yaozhu faltered.

  “What happened?” The nine-coloured deer sat up like she had just jerked away. The speckled patterns across her chest shimmered as the basket swayed.

  Ruan Yaozhu shook her head again and said rather tiredly, “Nothing.”
Very soon, Li Qingshan returned from the ocean. His entire body still ached painfully, but a new journey had already begun, so he set of eagerly.

  Under the golden-leaved bodhi tree, he patted the trunk with a sense of both unfamiliarity and closeness. He turned around and gazed out.

  The sun rose up in the east, giving off a burning glow and dyeing his eyes and hair red as if he had turned into Daemon King Northmoon, no, Daemon Emperor Northmoon.

  He smiled. The entire Hundred Herbs garden demonstrated a sight he had never seen before right in front of his eyes.

  Within this space of just several hundred kilometres, earth, fire, wind, and water revolved. Four kinds of heavy colours lurked in the depths of this landscape painting, constantly changing and merging together.

  It was the start of spring. Overall, the brimming vigour that the plants all gave off as they grew could not match the hue of these four colours, but it was still exceptionally beautiful. Through the scenery, it could pull him into the painting.

  The newly-born qilin opened its eyes and stared at everything with its gentle gaze, whether it was the small world, the Hundred Herbs garden, or the entire world. Finally, it started taking care of itself.

  Spring was the busiest season in the Hundred Herbs garden. Li Qingshan clenched his fists. “Time to get to work!”
He completely discarded the thoughts of pain. He strolled around the golden-leaved bodhi tree idly with his arms behind his back. With each step he took, he left behind an afterimage. It was identical to himself, down to even the wrinkles in his skin, like the scene had suddenly been frozen. However, the afterimage immediately materialised and sprung alive.

  Even the expression was identical to Li Qingshan’s, scratching his head impatiently as if he did not really want to work. However, he still picked up a farm tool and strode off from the hill.

  Li Qingshan circled around the tree ten times, and a hundred clones made their way down the mountain. Suddenly, he stopped. “It’s enough.” He clasped his hands in the direction of the Hundred Herbs dwelling. “Senior sister, I’m going to be upholding my promise.”
This should have been a request, but when he said that, it felt like she was forced to accept it whether she wanted to or not, even if he had no intentions of coming off as condescending, even if he had no right to be condescending.

  The red sun rose gradually, making his shadow move. A while later, Ruan Yaozhu’s voice rang through the entire Hundred Herbs garden.

  “From today onwards, Li Qingshan will be responsible for the regular affairs of the Hundred Herbs garden.”
The cultivators busying about in the Hundred Herbs garden looked at one another in surprise. They all stopped working and began discussing among themselves.

  “Is he replacing senior brother Shen?”
“Just how important and complicated is senior brother Shen’s work? How can she leave it up to a Soul Nascence cultivator? Senior sister Ruan is just a little…”
“Sigh, even senior brother Shen lost, his body destroyed, so you should just save it!”
“I heard the kid comes from quite a background and has connections above. He’s valued by so many direct disciples…”
As they spoke, Li Qingshan’s figure suddenly appeared in the surroundings, whistling away leisurely with a plough and walking over steadily. He got close and called out, “All of you, get to work!”
Everyone looked at each other, none of them replying. They all were slightly discontent with this. Even when Shen Yushu was around, he did not order them around like this. Do you really think a formal disciple like you can order us around just because you have senior sister Ruan backing you up? If we go on strike together, let’s see how you face her.

  At this moment, a female cultivator saw another familiar figure walking over from the corner of her eye. She could not help but become surprised. “L- look over here.”
Another Li Qingshan walked over. If it were not for the fact that he carried a different tool on his shoulder, it basically would have been impossible to disguise them. He yelled at them again, “Get to work.” He even added, “Stop crowding around there and talking rubbish, or I’ll…” He waved his fist at them fiercely.

  In just a short while, over a dozen Li Qingshan walked past. Some of them were a little more amiable, while others completely looked down on them, except they basically all lectured them a little.

  “T- those are… clones?”
“Hmph, it’s all just measly tricks, an attempt to scare us!”
An old cultivator stroked his peppered beard impatiently and swung his arms backwards, rising up in the air like a crane. He gazed down from above and everything unfurled before his eyes.

  His expression hardened. All he saw was Li Qingshan’s figure everywhere, handling various different tasks with flexible and powerful movements. He was completely unable to distinguish which ones were real and which ones were fake. Some of them even used some techniques to water the plants and add fertiliser.

  On top of that, even more Li Qingshans walked out from under the golden-leaved bodhi tree. He gulped and descended slowly. Under the gazes of the other cultivators he said, “Stop talking and get to work!”
Under the golden-leaved bodhi tree, Li Qingshan absorbed the thick spiritual qi and slowly recovered his strength. The pain from his body and soul did not just come from his injuries. It was also because he had reached a whole new level.

  Everything that he initially believed to be perfect had all been upheaved again; he had an even better blueprint now, like he had undergone an even deeper rebirth.

  The Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine obviously went without saying. The Heavenly Tome of Liberty was no different.

  The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance might have been under the suspicion of screwing him over, basically screwing him over to his death, but the Heavenly Tome of Liberty truly did suit him extremely well. Not only was it compatible with his disposition and cultivation, but it matched his gambling nature too.

  He gambled with his life. Now that he had won the gamble, the winnings were particularly plentiful.

  The Yin Soul condensed from the Heavenly Tome of Liberty, or more accurately, the Yin Demon, basically possessing an endless array of functions. Even he did not have enough time to enjoy all of the fruits from breaking through. However, if he fought Shen Yushu again, he would not even need to lift a finger. Just the Yin Demon would be enough to toy him to death. The demon nascence alone could hide in space and dodge the tribulation lightning. Even if the primary target of the tribulation lightning was not it, what kind of movement techniques were that?

  The clones he produced completely overturned his understanding of clones too. It had become extremely simple. Now, every single thought of his could turn into a clone, independent of one another yet also all linked together, under his control yet also able to move about freely.

  With an endless number of thoughts came an endless number of clones. It would only be limited by his soul sense and power. However, with the support of the new small world, he was completely capable of producing an atrocious number of clones. Taking care of the Hundred Herbs garden would not be difficult at all.

  However, the slightly awkward part about all of this was that many of his clones laid down and began resting after arriving in the fields, crossing one leg over the other and admiring the sky. There was nothing he could do about it. Everything had upsides and downsides. These thought clones bore a slight resemblance to the demon nascence that had broken free from his control. He did not have to control every single movement of every single clone in such a tireless manner, which was why he could surpass the limitation of numbers.

  If the thought in his head when he produced a clone was, “Wow, the sky is so blue and the grass is so green. I might as well just lay down and rest a little”, then the thought clone would not be particularly enthusiastic when it came to work.

  As a result, Li Qingshan was forced to destroy all of these lazy “thoughts”. He circled around the tree faster and constantly uttered “work hard”, producing even more thought clones that were enthusiastic to work.

  In the Hundred Herbs dwelling, Ruan Yaozhu and the nine-coloured deer saw this. The nine-coloured deer said in surprise, “Isn’t the Heavenly Tome of Liberty a little too powerful? He can fight, he can flee, and he can work. This kid is far too lucky!”
Ruan Yaozhu said, “If you knew about his situation when he faced the tribulation, you wouldn’t find it lucky anymore.”
“Oh right, what happened? I asked you, and you didn’t tell me. Are we even sisters still?”
“His soul nascence demonified and wanted to destroy him.” Even without the armaments of tribulation lightning, the demon nascence was enough to kill most cultivators.

  “Ah, then how did he survive?” The nine-coloured deer became even more curious. Ruan Yaozhu seemed to have changed slightly ever since she returned.

  Ruan Yaozhu brushed aside the question. “Anyway, he found his true self and survived!”
The nine-coloured deer was suspicious. “Are you hiding something from me?”