Li Qingshan scrunched up his face and reached over viciously, tearing apart his flesh and sending blood everywhere, twisting apart the image. When his wound closed up, the image returned to its previous state as well.

  He said sternly, “Xiao An, use fire!”
Xiao An hesitated for a moment before spreading her fingers and pressing her hand against Li Qingshan’s back. The Samādhi Flames of White Bone surged out and ate away at his flesh, only stopping after it had stripped away all the skin from his back.

  Li Qingshan sat with his legs crossed, using the qilin’s ability, the Cycle of Life and Growth. After a while, the flesh regrew, and the image reappeared with it. It seemed even more vivid now.

  Li Qingshan furrowed his brows firmly. He had been going on about some “great technique of summoning a god into the body”, only to actually summon the god “onto” his body. It truly was more difficult to get rid of a god than getting help from one.

  Xiao An asked in concern, “Do you feel uncomfortable in any way?”
Li Qingshan shook his head. Apart from feeling unhappy about this, he did not feel uncomfortable. However, the path of cultivation was about absolute control over the mind and the body. Now that he had gained a thing like that on his back randomly, it probably was not some good sign… And most importantly, he still had no idea whether it was an accident or a process he had to go through as a practitioner of the Heavenly Tome of Liberty. As the first person to practise the Heavenly Tome of Liberty, there were far too many unknown factors.

  Gu Yanying reminded him. “It’s time.”
Rain poured down violently; the winds whistled wildly. The seas surged as waves rose and fell like mountains.

  We are Hosted Nov3l, find us on g00gle.

  Li Qingshan made up his mind. Let’s not worry about this for now. There’s something else to do! He pacified his anger and gazed at the sky, praying quietly, “Maheśvara, oh Maheśvara, if you can actually hear me, please lend me a hand. I’ll definitely pay you back in the future.”
The image did not respond. He had no idea whether Maheśvara had received his message or not.

  “I’ll go scout out the Xuanming dwelling right now. Be ready to help out at any time.”
Li Qingshan sat with his legs crossed and projected his Yin Demon, using the Divine Movement of the Five Elements and then the Illusionary Demon Movement Technique to hide the five-coloured glow. His Yin Soul gradually vanished, becoming invisible.

  Gu Yanying and Xiao An nodded together. “That’s more like it.”
Yin Souls had always been ungraspable and good at hiding, while a Yin Demon refined from the Heavenly Tome of Liberty was even more so. However, he did not know whether this was actually due to divine assistance or because his comprehension had deepened.

  Li Qingshan discarded these random thoughts. The Yin Demon vanished into the rainy night with the wind, drifting towards the Xuanming dwelling.

  ……
The Xuanming dwelling reached the bottom of the ocean. Ao Xuan coiled up inside there and sank into his thoughts.

  _ Support us at h+sted novel _

  He had no idea what had happened to Lin Xuan in the nine provinces that prevented his return, so he could only make a decision himself. The Myriad sect was definitely out to take back the Xuanming dwelling, but the sect had no first senior brother, so they were in a state of disunity. Even after they had elected a new first senior brother, they might not be enough to deal with him.

  There were only four people that truly possessed the power to expel him. The grand sect master was a True Immortal of the Nine Heavens, so it was almost impossible for him to appear in person, so he was out of the picture. The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance basically never left the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes, while the two sect masters wandered beyond the Nine Heavens, so they would not bother with a “trifle” like this. Just with the fact that they knew each other for quite some time, they probably would not bother with this.

  He was free to occupy the dwelling and continue cultivating. Once he underwent the sixth heavenly tribulation, the world was there for him to roam. Perhaps he could also stick around as a “spirit reverend”. However, as soon as he recalled what had happened recently, he felt a little uneasy, casting a haze on his mind.

  He had interrogated the Rāhu asura, but he did not find anything useful. There was nothing surprising about that. Even regular asura were difficult to deal with, let alone a Rāhu.

  If he wanted to bring a quick end to this entire matter, then he would have to kill him, but he soon thought of the threat that the kunpeng had left behind. Coupled with how valiant and fearless the Rāhu was, perhaps he was capable of rebirthing in the Asura realm somehow.

  With his bloodline, even undergoing the seventh heavenly tribulation was not impossible. Coupled with the status of the Rāhu clan among asura, perhaps he would send people for revenge even before too long. The assassins of the Asura realm were renowned throughout the six realms, which would truly result in endless problems. He could not help but feel extremely troubled, so all he could do was trap him in the prison of ice for now.

  Logically, he should have gotten to the bottom of this no matter what, but he felt like he had been sucked into something much greater than him, making him feel a little uneasy.

  Ten thousand kilometres away, the winds and rain whistled gloomily. However, the breeze was gentle and the moonlight was clear near the Xuanming dwelling.

  In the depths of the ocean where the gentle breeze and clear moonlight could not reach, the Yin Demon moved along silently, stopping a very long distance away from the shore. He could vaguely make out a criss-crossing network, completely enveloping the Xuanming dwelling and constantly changing with time.

  According to the indications of the formation scroll, there were a total of nine layers to the Xuanming formation. Each layer was well-connected and interlinked, reaching from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the clouds. If he could not take out the core in a single stroke, then he could forget about venturing any further, as he would become caught in the formation and face attacks from both inside and out, leaving him dead.

  If Ao Xuan discovered him, he would not have to personally do anything at all. He only needed a single thought to crush the Yin Demon.

  Li Qingshan took out the Xuanming formation disc, but he did not dare to be careless.

  This was basically the only thing he relied on to deal with Ao Xuan. If his Yin Demon were destroyed, he could refine it again, but if he lost the formation disc, who knew when he could save Xiaoming.

  He circled around the outermost layer of the Xuanming formation and constantly analysed it, as possessing a scroll of the formation did not ensure absolute success as the formation operated. Only when he found the most vulnerable opening of the formation did he make his way in silently. However, the further in he travelled, the more complicated and profound the formation became.

  He had to maintain the Divine Movement of the Five Elements and the Illusionary Demon Movement Technique at the same time, so the mental toll went without saying. At the same time, the closer he was to the Xuanming dwelling, the closer he was to Ao Xuan. Even with the formation disc and formation scroll, it was like walking on a tightrope.

  However, Li Qingshan’s thoughts only became deeper and clearer in situations like that. Even if the matter was extremely important and it was extremely dangerous, he did not feel any nervousness or fear at all. He entered the earth from the ocean, going from water movement to earth movement. He made his way over with great expertise.

  Finally, he approached the Xuanming dwelling. The entire mountain was basically oozing with spiritual qi, where any rock he found on the ground was a high grade spiritual stone. Xuanming qi seeped out from this place too, basically turning the soil into ice. It was a hundred times tougher than steel.

  Li Qingshan experimented a little. Even the earth movement he was most skilled in became extraordinarily slow. He would probably run out of energy before he even found Xiaoming, ending up crushed in the mountain.

  He could not help but back out and stick with his original plan, searching through the entire mountain. Finally, he found a natural crack in the mountain, except it was so small that even an ant could not crawl through. He still had to use his movement technique.

  Fortunately, he was very well-prepared. He carefully took out the piece of Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens. That was the most valuable treasure in his possession right now, so if he lost it, it really would be an absolute loss. He was also like a gambler on a path of no return, staking everything that he possessed on this.

  Using the power of the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens, he slowly expanded the crack until it was as wide as a little finger. His Yin Soul seeped in like water.

  The Xuanming dwelling was not built with cells to hold prisoners, so Ao Xuan sealed Rāhu Xiaoming in ice and casually placed him in a stone room, out of sight so that he could not be annoyed by his presence. He probably never expected someone to actually be able to infiltrate this place.

  With a gentle crack, the unnoticeable hairline fracture on the top of the stone room opened slightly, like it was widened from the cold in the most natural manner possible. With a chilly gust of wind, Li Qingshan arrived before the ice silently.

  At this moment, Ao Xuan opened one eye as if he had sensed something.