His gaze was tender and completely unfazed by that. After staring at her for a while, he quietly made his way back down stairs, sitting down and leaving behind his body.

The Yin Soul drifted out, reuniting with Chao Tianjiao in the Xuanwu hall.

“Come!” Chao Tianjiao spread her arms and opened her mind. With a lunge, Li Qingshan’s Yin Soul merged with her.

“How do you feel?” Chao Tianjiao moved her arms about. She felt like she had equipped a strange armour.

“Nice figure,” Li Qingshan said jokingly.

Chao Tianjiao’s expression changed. Her Yang Soul shone bright and sharply. Li Qingshan’s Yin Soul felt like it was being sliced by blades.

“It’s just a joke. Calm down, calm down.”

He had embedded her with his Yin Soul, but it was only equivalent to an outer garment. He did not actually make contact with her, and she had projected out her Yang Soul too. However, both her inner garments and outer garments were a perfect fit, so it did outline her figure. The praise had come from the bottom of his heart, except she did not seem to appreciate it.

“I can tolerate you usually, but I cannot permit any jokes on the battlefield, or you will face the iron fist of military law.”

Chao Tianjiao was stern. Actually, she knew what kind of person he was a long time ago, so she was not truly angered. She only did this to put him in his place, as well as to test him slightly in preparation for their upcoming trip to the Demon domain.

She practised the Heavenly Tome of Xuanwu and walked the path of xuanwu; this was the path of the Zhenwu Emperor, the Demon Purging Grandmaster of the Nine Heavens who currently managed the warfare against the Demon domain.

Her Yang Soul had been condensed from the biting-cold aura of bleakness from the seven stars of the north. She possessed an extremely heavy aura of slaughter, where regular Yin Souls would become injured just from approaching her, let alone embedding on her.

He could endure her aura, which also meant she could move around with even greater freedom. She could use some techniques without worry, which was something worth rejoicing.

“Alright, you’re in control. I’m just an invisibility cloak.” Li Qingshan sighed and added another entry to his mental list. He wondered how he would get his revenge. Of course, there were some very sexual and violent scenes that flashed through his head too.

“As long as you understand.” Chao Tianjiao smiled brightly and leapt down the cliff behind her. The rock face protruded and sank in as the winds whistled by their ears.

She completely ignored Li Qingshan’s complaints, gradually unleashing the power of her Yang Soul and shining away like a star.

“The Roof star!”

The seven stars in her Yang Soul glimmered. One of them was particularly bright.

Specks of light condensed into wings and tail feathers that resembled scissors. She was like a silver swallow, shooting through the sky just before dawn, flying towards the Demon domain.

Li Qingshan understood her powers a little more. So this is the Heavenly Tome of Xuanwu. In a direct confrontation, I stand no chance against her. I won’t even be able to block a strike. I’ll only be able to endure it powerlessly.

Even if he had the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens, it would be useless. No matter how powerful his fist was, it was pointless if he could not hit the enemy. Maybe he could if he trapped her firmly with a formation like what he did with Ao Xuan, but that could not be called a direct confrontation.

He had been too ambitious. He had only undergone the fourth heavenly tribulation recently, yet he was comparing himself to a peak fifth heavenly tribulation cultivator. She was even the kind that was skilled in battle. Of course, his strength was insufficient.

Whatever. I’ll just observe closely for now and make preparations for the duel in the future.

Chao Tianjiao had guessed all of his thoughts, so she intentionally made him realise the difference between them to cut down his confidence. With the path they walked, the last thing they lacked was confidence.

Just like that, the feuding senior sister and junior brother who constantly clashed flew over the mountains and the tundra and arrived at the boundary between the two worlds.

She halted her technique and descended from above, concealing her aura. She said without any politeness at all, “Hurry up, kid. Don’t drag my feet!”

Which foot am I dragging, huh? What are you, a dog? Li Qingshan was furious. He unleashed the Illusionary Demon Movement Technique, and a cluster of light flowed and rippled, gradually concealing her figure.

“If you continue to use some other random technique, I’m not going to be able to hide you.”

“Be quiet!”

Chao Tianjiao kicked down gently and shot off without raising a speck of dust. She was not slow at all.

“Hmm? Why don’t I sense the rejection from the Demon domain?”

That had always been the most terrifying enemy to human cultivators, yet it seemed to have suddenly vanished.

She sensed closely and discovered the invisible, repulsive force was still present, and it grew stronger and stronger as she ventured deeper into the Demon domain. However, it simply flowed past her like water.

Li Qingshan said nothing and stuck with serving as her invisibility cloak. He thought, Hmph, it’s not just no repulsion! You have no idea how welcoming the Demon domain had been the last time I visited! If it weren’t for the fact that I’m benevolent at heart, I would have taken Black Cloud city already and fucked you a hundred times by now.

“Hey kid, don’t tell me you’re actually a spy sent by the Demon domain!”

Chao Tianjiao seemed to sense some kind of malice from him, so she stopped and developed doubts.

“Hehe, Qiongqi has told me to tell you that as long as you surrender to the Demon domain…”

Chao Tianjiao laughed. “Qiongqi! You sure are bold enough to say his name.” Qiongqi was a true god. In terms of battle prowess, he probably even surpassed the Elder of Heavenly Tomes. He was far too distant to a Yang Soul cultivator like her, let alone a mere Yin Soul cultivator.

She sneered and said, “Then who are you to Qiongqi?”

“Qiongqi is my mount.” Li Qingshan boasted. If he could win that gamble, then he could indeed subdue Qiongqi according to the Blood Oath of the Nether River.

“Kid, you sure know how to joke.” Chao Tianjiao’s lips curled, and she no longer had any doubts. There were no demonfolk that dared to speak ill of a Demon God like this.

“… as long as you surrender to the Demon domain, I can guarantee you a life of wealth and prosperity! Quit dreaming, you traitor! Don’t shoot, captain…”

TL: Li Qingshan should be playing out a skit right now.

“Can you shut up?” Chao Tianjiao ran out of patience with him.

“I can’t!”

Li Qingshan had no fears. After all, he had secure backing because they had already entered the Demon domain by now.

Chao Tianjiao stopped to sense around again and discovered that sure enough, she did not face any repulsion, which gave her confidence. With that, the chances of being exposed had greatly diminished. Out of joy, she ignored the cross-talk skit he acted out.

“Heh, kid, you’re quite capable!”

Li Qingshan became bored and stopped messing around. “You best be careful. It’s fine if you die, but I don’t want my Yin Soul buried with you.”

“Yeah,” Chao Tianjiao answered as her footsteps became firmer, gradually approaching Cold Blood pass.

The broken flags drifted under the black sun, which made the place seem even more bleak.

Li Qingshan and Chao Tianjiao had both seen this before. One of them had seen it with his own eyes, while the other saw it in an illusion.

Cold Blood pass was completely devoid of any signs of life. Even the smell of blood had completely dispersed. There was only the bleak coldness. Suddenly, gentle snow began to drift through the air again.

“Do you want to go in and take a look?”

For once, Chao Tianjiao asked for Li Qingshan’s opinion. They were about to enter a zone of danger, so if they could not reach an agreement on this, it would be extremely dangerous.

However, Li Qingshan felt slightly uneasy. His main body in the distant stone tower immediately began to divine the consequences through the Spirit Turtle Transformation.

“It’s best if we don’t. I feel that something is amiss. Something this major has happened, so how can the Demon domain not make a response? They’ve left an empty fortress here, so if it’s a trap…”

“What, you afraid?”

Chao Tianjiao smiled. She had been through countless battles before. She was someone who had infiltrated armies alone to assassinate Demon Sovereigns.

When it came to the fate of two or three hundred thousand demonfolk, it was not exactly that major of a matter. If it were not for the puzzling circumstances involved, she would have never bothered with investigating this personally.

“I still don’t want you to die to the hands of others just yet.”

The results of the divination were extremely blurred and limited. Of course, there were many reasons for that, and the main one was he was not afraid at all. Nothing was a major matter apart from death. Even if his Yin Soul was destroyed, it would only take a toll on his strength. He would not be in any life-threatening danger at all. The spirit turtle was completely unable to tell whether this was a threat on his life or not.

As for killing with a borrowed blade, he had not even considered it. This was basically the similarity that he, Li Liehuo, and Chao Tianjiao all agreed on.

“This kid! You make me seem stingy instead now.”

Chao Tianjiao realised something. She knew he definitely did not discourage her because of his own fears or cowardice. She smiled. “I understand.”

“Thank you…”

“But since we’re here already, how can we go back? We have to go in and take a look no matter what. Even if it’s an ambush, there’ll just be three or five Demon Sovereigns at most. Don’t worry, I’ll guarantee that you won’t die.”

With that, Li Qingshan instead became even more reluctant for her to take this risk. It had not been easy for him to reach this current level with his Yin Soul either. Who knew just how troublesome it would be to condense and train up a new one.

“I think I better just…”

“This is a military order!”

“Yes, ma’am.”