The sky was empty; the sea was vast. Li Qingshan flew over the ocean. He had less than a month. That was far too tight, basically impossible to make ample preparations.

  If he had a few years to cultivate slowly, to reach the fifth layer with the Ape Demon Transformation, to recover his full strength before running through the methods of the various schools that worshipped Maheśvara, his strength would definitely skyrocket. Just a measly true dragon at the fifth heavenly tribulation would be nothing difficult to deal with.

  And after reaching Daemon Emperor, it should have led to another five new innate abilities as well, but now, that did not happen for an array of reasons. It was innate, but even birds needed a process before they learnt how to fly. If he comprehended them slowly, it was not like he would not be able to comprehend them, but it was still that problem. He did not have enough time.

  He would be doing quite well if he could comprehend an innate ability or two in a month’s time, but it was almost impossible to use them freely. On top of that, the exact effects of the new innate abilities were still unknown.

  Perhaps he would go to such great lengths to comprehend it, only for it to be completely useless for fighting Ao Xuan. That would be nothing strange at all. Not every single innate ability that he had completely comprehended so far would be used in every battle. As a result, he was better off spending time practising the techniques related to the Heavenly Tome of Liberty. At the very least, he had a clear goal in mind.

  That was how fate worked. It would never wait until you had made all your preparations. Instead, it would smack you over the head painfully at all times.

  Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath and dismissed these random thoughts, gathering all of his attention on the current matter at hand. He contemplated how to unleash their fullest potential so that he could get through this crisis.

  He looked through the records regarding the first senior brother Lin Xuan’s battles first. There were no images, only words, but Lin Xuan’s power from the past still managed to surge forth from the words. He was truly worthy of being described as invincible and ever successful. People could only look up to him.

  With the Heavenly Tome of True Dragon in hand, he unleashed its powers in a myriad of ways, killing countless powerful enemies on the battlefield.

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  Not only was he powerful, but he was even quite a talented leader too. He was wise and decisive, able to win people over to his side. He could freely command the armies from beyond the Myriad sect too. He was basically completely different from the Lin Xuan that Li Qingshan knew, let alone that clown Chu Tian.

  Perhaps it was exaggerated, but it definitely was not groundless. At the very least, he was much more worthy of the title of first senior brother compared to Li Liehuo and Chao Tianjiao.

  However, fate was merciless. If he could not become an immortal, once his lifespan elapsed, it was useless even if he spent his life committing heroic deeds. Even after reincarnating, he would not be the same anymore.

  And behind all of the matters regarding Lin Xuan was Ao Xuan’s shadow. He even had the glorious battle record of holding off five Demon Sovereigns alone before. It was a bitter battle, and he was saved in the end by Lin Xuan and others, but Li Qingshan also became sterner after reading that.

  At the very least, that true dragon was still a powerful opponent that he could not defeat right now. The aura of death grew heavier as the battle spirit within him blazed like fire.

  Even he himself had not realised that he had subconsciously pursed his lips and flared his nostrils, coming off as stubborn and tenacious as an ox.

  At this moment, a green, verdant island appeared on the horizon. It happened to be located five thousand kilometres from both Myriad city and the Xuanming dwelling.

  Li Qingshan descended from above and cut right to the chase, sharing the information he had found with Gu Yanying and Xiao An.

  “We don’t have a lot of time, fifteen days at most. By then, I’ll try to find Xiaoming, and then we’ll prepare for a battle to the death with Ao Xuan!”
Gu Yanying said, “Understood.” Xiao An nodded silently.

  As a result, Li Qingshan said nothing more, turning around and making his way into the depths of the island. He immediately began to cultivate, starting off with the Divine Movement of the Five Elements.

  In the depths of the thick forest, a huge tree blocked the path. Who knew how many years it had been growing there, and its circumference was probably as long as over a dozen people holding hands with their arms outstretched. It almost resembled a wall.

  Li Qingshan directly walked over, walking into the wooden wall silently. The small world that was still half-chaotic in his body shrank and swelled with each breath of his, constantly circulating.

  With success in one technique came success in all techniques.

  If regular cultivators wanted to achieve an initial mastery of the Divine Movement of the Five Elements, it would take years at the very least.

  However, moving through wood was no longer anything difficult, as he had reached the first layer of the Qilin’s Conventions of Longevity.

  Just like that, he made his way through the forest, passing through tree after tree until a great mountain blocked his path.

  He smiled. With a leap, he dove into the rock like a fish slipping into water, immediately lighting up with a specific glow, navigating his way through the mountain. Only that could be regarded as a true movement technique. Not only was it unopposed, but it could even make use of the terrain to move faster. Moving through earth was basically as easy as breathing to him.

  There was quite a lot of ore in the mountain, which posed a slightly bigger obstruction than the rocks, but it was not much of an issue either. He made his way into the depths of the mountain with the movement technique and suddenly plunged downwards. The heat gradually rose up; an endless sea of fire abruptly filled his face.

  Li Qingshan thought, Oh, so this is a dormant volcano!

  The underground magnetic field interfered with techniques, so the light around him flickered. The Divine Movement of the Five Elements sometimes stopped working, which made the sea of fire swallow him immediately.

  Among the movement techniques of the five elements, practising moving through fire was the most dangerous. Moving through earth was only a matter of being buried alive and moving through water was only drowning. Neither was lethal to cultivators. However, being burned by fire was not that comfortable. Normally, they would all begin by practising in a cauldron. They would have friends watch over them so that they could stop the fire at any time. Even with that, it was extremely easy to be injured or even lose their lives.

  It was basically unheard of to begin cultivating in the flames of the earth like Li Qingshan.

  Not only were there severe fire toxins here, but there was the influence of the underground magnetic field as well. The magma was not purely fire either, so it required mastery over earth movement and metal movement. The slightest mistake could lead to unthinkable consequences.

  It was probably because Li Qingshan had already grown accustomed to balancing various powers a long time ago that he could maintain the movement technique under the influence of the magnetic field, moving through earth unobstructed and traversing through fire unharmed. He moved about freely.

  At this moment, he suddenly encountered an earth bubble that ruptured violently. The magma surged, and the magnetic field was thrown into chaos.

  The movement technique was immediately disabled, and his chest heated up. His wound that had already closed ruptured again, and blood and fire surged out like a volcanic eruption. That was the residual power from Li Liehuo’s punch.

  Li Qingshan was covered in scorch wounds. If it were not for the phoenix’s bloodline, he would have found it unbearably hot. The turbulent magma rushed in from all directions.

  Even though he possessed experience with moving through earthen flames and he had done so with just his body, this was the Human realm. Everything in the surroundings told him a simple fact.

  You aren’t that strong here!

  HIs reckless behaviour when he rampaged through the nine provinces in the past seemed to become a distant dream. Just like when he had first arrived in the small world, the concept of “invincibility” was only an immature game between children.

  Is this it? Is this it? Li Qingshan asked himself.

  He gritted his teeth and silently focused on every area of pain from his body. His various emotions after arriving in the Human realm filled his mind. He had been treated as a pawn, an object for gambling, freely insulted and ordered around, forced into dire straits step by step. Even after casting aside the notion of death, it took him everything to preserve his dignity, and he was still left with a hole in his chest.

  He clenched his fists and let out a hysterical roar, casting himself into the depths of the earth fire.

  Boom. The mountain shook, and the ground rumbled.

  Xiao An suddenly looked back. ‘Qingshan!”