Chapter 232 - Remnants of the White Lotus

Priest Qiu collapsed on the ground as blood flowed from his body. His eyes were wide open, dying with many regrets.

All of the independent cultivators in the surroundings were stunned. Li Qingshan shook his head. This was indeed a very terrifying move, but locking him in this tiny hut was their biggest mistake.

If priest Qiu had used the true qi to launch techniques from afar, Li Qingshan would find it very troublesome, but at such a close range, it was impossible for him to dodge the terrifying sword qi from the Cursive Sword Calligraphy. He did not even have the chance to use any techniques.

At the end of the day, priest Qiu was still a seventh layer Qi Practitioner, not a tenth layer Qi Practitioner. His reaction was even worse than the masked man from before. How could the protective true qi that had not been refined in any fashion at all block the sword qi?

“Leader!” Han Xiong roared out and lunged at Li Qingshan.

Spurt! The ice blade ran through Han Xiong’s body, and the tip protruded from his back. With bloodshot eyes, Han Xiong continued to advance forwards, wanting to grab Li Qingshan’s shoulders.

However, his body rapidly froze under Li Qingshan’s icy gaze, turning into a statue of ice. His face was blue and pale, vicious like a ghost’s.

Li Qingshan twisted the hilt of the blade, and the statue of ice shattered, scattering on the ground. Pieces of Han Xiong covered the timber floor of the hut.

The ice blade rapidly vanished, appearing behind Li Qingshan and beheading a Qi Practitioner who swung his sword at Li Qingshan. A series of sharp howls, like ripping air, rang out at this moment.

With priest Qiu’s death, all of the independent cultivators became enraged. Death was no longer a concept to them. Li Qingshan was the murderer of their father.

Several dozen hands extended out with the furious glares of several dozen eyes. The room seemed to spin. Li Qingshan felt slightly dizzy as he stood in the centre.

Was this the feeling?

According to his mind, the ice blade turned into a blueish-white blur.

Seven hands flew into the air. Four legs were severed. A young man was cut into two pieces, while the independent cultivator who wanted to share her body earlier was directly bisected along the waist. Fortunately, none of them could feel any pain, as the coldness infiltrated their bodies, freezing their corpses and shattering them as they hit the ground.

It sounded like someone had thrown a pile of glassware onto the ground.

From life to death, it only took an instant. The moment they struck the ground, they were reduced to pieces of ice.

A flying sword pierced the blur, shooting directly towards Li Qingshan’s temples. Without even looking back, Li Qingshan raised his hand and caught the flying sword. The flying sword trembled like a small snake, but it was unable to break free.

Li Qingshan tilted his head and made eye contact with the sixth layer Qi Practitioner who had released the flying sword. He tossed it conveniently, and the flying sword shot over uncontrollably, penetrating deep into the wooden door. The end of the sword vibrated.

The other sixth layer Qi Practitioner had thrown himself on the ground in a panic. He wanted to open the formation to flee earlier. If it were not for his swift reaction, he would have lost his head.

The two of them were central figures to the Truth-seeking society. Perhaps due to their greater strength, the control on them was weaker. They were not as crazed as the regular cultivators who charged over recklessly with priest Qiu’s death. One of them wanted to launch a sneak attack, while the other wanted to flee.

Li Qingshan gripped the hilt with his left hand as well, wielding it with two hands now. The tip of the blade slanted behind him as he crouched down slightly.

Li Qingshan vanished, and a cold gust of wind kicked up the icy power. Like a roaring ice dragon, it rushed towards the sixth layer Qi Practitioner who tried to launch a sneak attack on him.

All of the independent cultivators in the path of the ice dragon were ripped to shreds, becoming a part of the icy powder.

The sixth layer Qi Practitioner was shocked. His reaction was quite fast though. He took out a Scarlet Flame talisman and activated it as he roared out, “Die!”

The sixth layer Qi Practitioner at the entrance cried out, “Don’t!”

The Scarlet Flame talisman had already sprayed out flames that resembled a fire dragon.

The ice dragon and the fire dragon collided.

Boom!

The entire valley rumbled.

The quiet, little hut that sat in the valley had its ceiling blown several meters into the air by the blast wave, ripped to pieces. White smoke rose from the hut. Due to the formation, most of the structure of the hut remained intact, but it was charred everywhere.

The dozen or so figures that silently approached the place fell to the ground in a hurry, looking at the hut nearby in shock. They had no idea what had happened.

Xiao An eased up slightly. She could already sense Li Qingshan’s aura.

The Whale’s Ingestion of Water in Li Qingshan’s hand had turned into a strange shape. The back of the blade expanded in all directions, forming a great ball of ice that enveloped Li Qingshan. It was very thin, but it was enough to block the explosion of the Scarlet Flame talisman. As for the long edge of the blade, it had already nailed the sixth layer Qi Practitioner against the charred wall.

The Whale’s Ingestion of Water blade was just too useful to him. With his ability to react in battle, he managed to make complete use of the blade’s ability to transform.

However, because he was only at the fourth layer, he was unable to control the high grade spiritual artifact completely. If he did not cultivate Gui Water true qi and his true qi was not extremely pure, it would be impossible for him to unleash such power.

Li Qingshan drew out the blade, and the Qi Practitioner slid down from the wall, hitting the ground with a thump.

Li Qingshan looked back. The only person left alive in the room was the sixth layer Qi Practitioner at the entrance, but he was also heavily injured. The wooden door he wanted to open had been blasted open. The formation had completely fallen apart. He crawled outwards with difficulty.

The other independent cultivators had all been reduced to charred fragments in the explosion.

Just like how a Lightning Summoning talisman would achieve extraordinary results in stormy weather, the tiny room sealed by the formation concentrated and restrained the power of the Scarlet Flame talisman in here, squeezing and condensing it. Even sixth layer Qi Practitioners would become heavily injured if they did not possess a defensive spiritual artifact.

Li Qingshan held his blade as he walked over slowly. The Qi Practitioner looked back in fear as he did everything that he could to mobilise the remaining amount of true qi in him.

“D- don’t kill me. I was forced into this.”

However, Li Qingshan did not stop. There was no expression on his face either, but there was a sliver of confusion in his eyes, as if he was contemplating a question he just could not understand. He arrived near the Qi Practitioner and lifted his blade.

“Stop! The Hawkwolf Guard is here!” The dozen or so people leapt out from the snowy landscape, drawing their blades with a series of swishes. Reflecting the sunlight, the Wind-entwining blades all pointed at Li Qingshan. Nine Wolf Fang flying blades hovered in the air, ready to strike at any time.

The concealing technique faded away, revealing their Black Hawk and Wolf uniforms. All of them were commanders, while the leading man wore a scarlet uniform. He was a scarlet wolf. He did not have a blade in his hand. Instead, a thin chain wrapped around it, shining with light.

“Argh!” There was a momentary shriek. Li Qingshan let his blade fall, and the Qi Practitioner’s head rolled down the steps of the hut.

“How dare you!” The man in the scarlet uniform was furious. The chain in his hand immediately grew thicker and longer and straightened with a rattle. The end of the chain turned into a snake’s head that bit towards Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan tilted his head slightly, dodging the snake head, but the chain suddenly changed directions mid-air. It wrapped around him before suddenly tightening, trapping Li Qingshan firmly. The snake’s head bit into Li Qingshan’s shoulder.

Li Qingshan’s Gui Water true qi immediately seemed to freeze up. He was unable to mobilise it anymore.

The man in the scarlet uniform rejoiced as his lips curled into a sneer. The Python Constrictor chains were a high grade spiritual artifact he had exchanged for after completing so many missions. He could wield it as he wished, so it was much more useful than a regular flying sword. Once it wrapped around the opponent, it could seal up their true qi. A Qi Practitioner without any true qi obviously could not fight back. With this spiritual artifact, he had caught many vicious criminals in the past.

The other Black Iron Hawk and Wolf commanders all eased up. Only a pretty woman frowned slightly. She wore the uniform of a Black Wolf commander, and her cultivation was only at the fifth layer. Among these people, she was basically the weakest of the bunch.

However, when she looked at the extraordinarily large man and then the ruins behind him, she felt doubt.

According to the lead, a remnant of the White Lotus cult, Qiu Ruiliu, should have been here, with several dozen independent cultivators he had recruited to his side. Qiu Ruiliu was only a seventh layer Qi Practitioner, so the Hawkwolf Guard of the prefectural city had sent a single scarlet wolf and mobilised the commanders from the surrounding Hawkwolf Guards to provide assistance.

While the White Lotus cult was the sworn enemy of all of the Hawkwolf Guards of the Ruyi commandery, the higher-ups had mobilised such a great force for a single Qiu Ruiliu, which only demonstrated how difficult of a target he was to deal with. Now, all of these people seemed to have died, slain by this man. However, she clearly noticed that even though this man had been wrapped up in the chains, he did not panic at all.

“Get over here!” The man in the scarlet uniform tugged the Python Constrictor chains. The chains became taut, but he immediately became stunned. Li Qingshan did not move at all.

“You get over here!” Li Qingshan grabbed the metal chains and tugged hard.

The man in the scarlet uniform felt a tremendous force, so great that he was unable to oppose it at all, reach him through the chains. Caught off-guard, he was pulled into the air. He felt disbelief. All the strength a Qi Practitioner possessed originated from their true qi. How was it possible that he still possessed such terrifying power after his true qi was sealed up?

Li Qingshan thought, I won’t lose to anyone else when it comes to physical strength, but why has the Hawkwolf guard appeared here? Have they discovered my identity, wanting to capture me?

He glanced past all the Hawkwolf guards and suddenly stopped on the pretty woman. Qian Rongzhi! He never thought she would come as well, but she seemed to have failed to recognise him. That also meant they had not come for him, so he eased up slightly.

Apart from Qian Rongzhi, the other commanders were all stunned. Although Wu Gen was just a Scarlet Wolf guard and not a commander, he was still half a rank higher than black iron commanders like them, and he was much stronger too, having reached the eighth layer. They were extremely envious of the high grade spiritual artifact in his hand, the Python Constrictor chains, too. But never did they think that he would actually fail to take down an unknown independent cultivator.

They came to Wu Gen’s rescue in a hurry. The flying blades shot forward, while those who could not control flying blades charged forward with their Wind-entwining blades.

Qian Rongzhi said, “Be careful! This person is endowed with physical strength! He might be a Body Practitioner!”

Wu Gen was unscathed as he flew through the air, but he was utterly humiliated before so many subordinates, which made him turn red. Furious from the humiliation he had suffered, he controlled the Python Constrictor chains to shrink around him, wanting to constrict Li Qingshan to death. He completely ignored Qian Rongzhi’s words. He refused to believe that someone with some physical strength could break free from his Python Constrictor chains.