Chapter 153 - The West Gate Granny

Xiao An was willing to search for them with him slowly, to advance slowly with him. If they found someone, they would kill them, but if they did not, there was no need to panic. However, seeing how impatient Li Qingshan was, Xiao An did not want him to trouble himself over his matters, so he came up with an idea.

“Why don’t we find a way to gather them together?”

Li Qingshan gasped in admiration. Compared to looking for them one by one, he could try inviting all of them to a certain place before taking them down in a single swoop. If he wanted to grind mobs, then he obviously had to lure mobs. Why hadn’t he thought of such a simple principle?

He rubbed Xiao An’s head. “I couldn’t tell, but this little head of yours sure can scheme.”

Flattered, Xiao An lowered his head in embarrassment.

After being inspired like that, Li Qingshan’s thoughts immediately sprang to life. Afterwards, he searched through the files from the missions and finally found a name.

Shen Xihua. He occupied an island on a large lake to the south. He called himself the Island Lord of Cherishing Flowers. He was a confident romantic and had a rather obscene nature. In the past, he had committed over a dozen acts of sexual assault. He was also the person with the highest cultivation in Li Qingshan’s twenty-seven missions, at the first layer of Qi Practitioner. He was extremely renowned among the unorthodox martial arts practitioners, and the files mentioned that he had vast connections.

In the eyes of the Hawkwolf Guard, he thrived in a zone that no one had any interest in, yet he could also defeat all practitioners of martial arts. He could be described as a master who lived within the cracks of the system.

Li Qingshan muttered to himself, “Just from a single birthday celebration, Qian Yannian managed to invite so many people to congratulate him. You might be slightly weaker, but you shouldn’t be much worse. Right now, all I need is quantity, not quality.”

Of course, there probably was not a coincidence like his birthday had just come up, but whether it was getting married or having children, there were plenty of excuses! If he did not have any excuses, he could create one for him, and then invite many masters on the blacklist over to celebrate.

The corner of Li Qingshan’s lips gradually curled up. Perhaps there would be many unexpected extras to it all!

……

Silver Mountain town, the third day after Li Qingshan had left.

In the middle of the night.

Amidst the thick mist.

A magnificent carriage was pulled along slowly by a horse. As the wheels rolled over the cobblestone road, it did not produce any sound at all; it was as if a layer of foam separated it from the ground. It stopped silently in front of the Auspicious casino.

A handsome teenager in red disembarked from the carriage and entered the casino with his head held high.

Shi Jixiang was gone, but he had five leaders beneath him. Two of them died at Li Qingshan’s hands that night. The other three had been watching over the mines and other property, which was why they managed to avoid it.

Currently, they had gathered together with their subordinates and were locked in an intense discussion over how they were supposed to divide this chunk of meat. They went into so much detail that it even included Shi Jixiang’s concubines. The three of them laughed obscenely together. The atmosphere was rather harmonious. They got along rather well.

However, their faces changed as soon as they reached the topic of the profitable Auspicious casino. They argued so furiously that they almost drew their weapons.

The young man in red walked into the casino at this very moment. He seemed alone and very frail, with no signs of martial arts or qi. However, he behaved in a very arrogant manner, so obviously he was not well-received.

“Where the hell did this kiddo come from? This isn’t a place you should have come to. Hurry up and get out of here!” As soon as the person finished talking, his head fell from his shoulders. His expression was still one of shock. He had no idea why the world had suddenly flipped on him.

Only at this moment did a cold snort ring out from the carriage outside the casino. A withered finger extended out from the curtained windows of the carriage.

The teenager in red smiled. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“An innate master!” The three leaders immediately paled in fright. It was not just an innate master, but one that was unimaginably powerful.

Probably only Qi Practitioners who had split open a sea of qi like Zhuo Zhibo could witness the true gateway to practising qi. Even powerful sixth layer Qi Practitioners would have to rely on spiritual artifacts if they wanted to kill someone from several dozen meters away, yet she managed to do so with true qi alone.

This was completely different from using techniques. If Li Qingshan used a suitable technique, he could launch such a long-ranged attack as well, but in terms of using his true qi alone, ten meters would have been his limit, and he would have only been able to knock people away, not behead them. As for regular second layer Qi Practitioners, being able to reach three meters away would already be an impressive feat.

After all, if the power of techniques was the same as directly using true qi, why would Qi Practitioners put effort into creating techniques and condense true qi into techniques during battle?

An old, screechy voice rang out, “You’ll answer whatever question he asks. If you don’t know, then investigate. If he doesn’t get his answer, all of you will die.”

Everyone in the casino trembled all over. The boy in red took out a portrait. “Was he the person who came to the casino that night?”

Depicted in a life-like fashion within the portrait was Li Qingshan.

A while later, the boy reported back, “Ma’am, I’ve confirmed that he’s Li Qingshan. He has left Silver Mountain town now. I wonder where he has gone.”

“He has probably gone to Giant Deer valley.” She seemed to have grasped Li Qingshan’s tracks completely.

“Then let’s set off now!”

“How impatient.”

This time, an old hand extended out from the carriage curtains, except the long nails were painted bright red. It was a rather strange sight.

A series of cries rang out in the casino. An ordinary blade suddenly began to dance and swing around as white streaks, killing everyone in the casino one by one.

Compared to directly killing people with true qi, borrowing a ‘tool’ or ‘a(chǎn)rtifact’ was still much simpler. Of course, this would be even more simple if it was a spiritual artifact.

Everyone in the casino knew martial arts, and the three leaders were all second-rate masters as well. However, against the nimble blade, they could not hold their ground at all.

In just a few seconds, the casino became littered with corpses. Only then did the blade drop to the ground with a clang.

The teenager in red was slightly surprised. All he heard was the old voice in the carriage. “They’ve insulted my Jie’er, so how can they be left alive?”

The teenager immediately showed great happiness. He entered the carriage and threw himself into the arms of an old woman.

The old woman was dressed in red and had a head full of grey hair. Her face was shriveled, but as she held the handsome young man, they seemed like a pair of lovers. They were not the only two in the carriage. There were three more young men, all dressed in red and just as young and handsome.

One of them grumbled, “Granny is picking favourites. Granny only spoils Jie’er.”

Jie’er said, “We’ve all sworn that we would serve granny for the rest of our lives, so you’re not allowed to be jealous. Granny, why must you personally look into this matter? Can’t you just send disciples from the disciplinary hall?”

“It’s very likely that what happened to the Parlour of Clouds and Rain in Jiaping city is related to this person. You’ll need a sixth layer Qi Practitioner at the very least to kill Zhao Liangqing without raising any attention. If we send regular disciples, we’ll just be sending them to their deaths. There’s no point in staying in Clear River all the time either. We can relieve our boredom by going on a stroll.”

The granny’s formal title was the West Gate Granny, not because her surname was Ximen, or West Gate, but because the Sect of Clouds and Rain had four gates and four grannies representing the four directions. Every single one of them were powerful ninth layer Qi Practitioners who had opened all eight extraordinary meridians.

There was no longer anyone bold enough to refer to her by her actual name within the sect, while other people gradually forgot about her original name as well. Only the title of West Gate Granny that represented her status remained, replacing her name.