Chapter 436 - Ambushing Fu Qingjin
Chapter 436 - Ambushing Fu Qingjin
The blade aura dispersed. Within a radius of a few hundred meters, the ground had been cut up and shattered. Not a single blade of grass survived. Only the master of the Vermillion Clothes sect, who wielded a blood-red blade, remained standing like a deity.
A slash had appeared across his neck as blood poured out from his chest, soaking his vermillion clothes. Yet, the colour of the blood was a dark green. The bright yellow satin hovered about, falling out of the air and covering his face filled with reluctancy. He collapsed on the ground loudly.
Although a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s life force still paled in comparison to a Daemon General’s, wounds to the body no longer mattered so much as someone who had become one with nature. Otherwise, Ye Liubo’s first strike would have ended his life. However, the poison attacked all aspects. Foundation Establishment cultivators were still incapable of achieving complete independence from their bodies.
The Vermillion Clothes sect could be regarded as a battle-oriented sect, and their sect master’s strength ranked towards the top in the Clear River prefecture. In a direct confrontation, even several Ye Liusus would struggle to finish him off in a short amount of time.
However, the concept of assassination had always been about catching the opponent off-guard and killing them despite being weaker. The master of the Vermillion Clothes sect had lowered his guard due to the formation, so he suffered a fatal strike from Ye Liubo. Victory had already been decided the moment he was poisoned.
Ye Liusu and Ye Liubo emerged from Night Roaming and knelt on the ground, breathing heavily. Both of them were covered in several dozen brutal wounds. The master of the Vermillion Clothes sect’s final strike had truly been startling. The blade he wielded was anything but ordinary.
“It’s otherfolk! Kill them! They’ve killed the sect master!” “How did they get in here? Why didn’t the formation give off any warning?”
As the disciples of the sect cried out, Ye Liusu and Ye Liubo smiled at one another. They made their way over to the corpse of the sect master like no one else was present and began to search through it.
A tenth layer disciple lunged over, swinging his blade. There was a flash from the curved dagger, and he was bisected. Despite being injured, they still were not people who could be threatened by these regular disciples, as they had undergone a heavenly tribulation.
Seeing this, the disciples hesitated and staggered back before scattering off in all directions. Ye Liusu had already found the formation disc, deactivating the formation.
Black figures flew into the Vermillion Clothes sect, tailing behind each disciple like their own shadows. A few cries rang out, but the valley fell silent very soon.
The turrets remained untouched. Ye Liubo held the controlling mechanism and disassembled them one by one, stowing them away in her hundred treasures pouch.
Li Qingshan unfurled his wings, flew along a straight line, and landed on a turret, surveilling the entire valley. All the night roamers returned before him, offering up the hundred treasures pouches they had obtained. None of them dared to keep it for themselves. The hundred treasures pouches of Qi Practitioners was not worth this kind of risk.
Li Qingshan did not hold back, accepting all the hundred treasures pouches. In the end, he received the sect master’s hundred treasures pouch from Ye Liusu and smiled. “The two of you hold the greatest merit in this attack. Once this is all over, I will reward you accordingly.” He also said to the other night roamers, “I’m just holding onto all the spoils for now. I will reward your clans according to your contributions once we return underground.”
Ye Mingzhu said immediately, “Wise be sir Northmoon. We will definitely work as one team and demonstrate our loyalty to you, sir.” The other matriarchs all cursed her inside for being a bootlicker, but they were afraid to fall behind, just in case they lost out in the very end when they split the spoils.
“As long as we work together, there’s nothing we can’t overcome.” Ye Liusu was riled up. This was the first time she had felt so relaxed as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but she also understood she would never feel so relaxed if it were not for Li Qingshan’s command.
The other night roamers did not necessarily agree with her, but they did accept everything Ye Liusu had done.
As Ye Liusu advocated for her belief of unity, Ye Liubo snuck over and hugged Li Qingshan around the waist. She handed the blood-red blade from the sect master to him and bit his ear. She spoke with a sickly sweet voice, “This’ll be a gift from me, alright?”
“That won’t do. Even you’re mine. Are your injuries fine?” Li Qingshan lifted up the blood-red blade, and he could not help but praise, “A good blade.”
The blood-red blade was extremely sharp, having surpassed the boundary of regular spiritual artifacts already. This was the keepsake of the masters of the Vermillion Clothes sect, having been passed down through the generations. It had been refined countless times.
It was not as flexible as regular arcane artifacts with fancy tricks or abilities, but it only seemed more practical and suited Li Qingshan better. Even when he faced Fu Qingjin’s Green Ruins sword, he would not lose out by too much now.
“It’s just a few small scratches. I’ll be fine with a bit of rest. There won’t be any scars. Though, the blade qi is a bit troublesome. All you say is that I’m yours, so why don’t you want me?” Ye Liubo sulked.
Li Qingshan lowered his head and kissed her gently on the lips. He pressed his hand against her back and purged the blade qi. He smiled. “Stop flirting around.” He raised his hand and said, “Mingzhu, bring the map. Where’s the closest sect?”
The moon hung high as stars covered the sky.
Li Qingshan unfurled his wings and flew over the wilderness. Black figures followed behind him silently along the ground. Only a night breeze passed by wherever they were.
Very soon, a chain of mountains appeared on the horizon. Li Qingshan furled his wings and shot off rapidly. That was his next target.
The night roamers became more practised as they went. Towards the end, they could even send in four people through the formations instead of two, and regular sects only possessed a Foundation Establishment cultivator or two. They assassinated them with a crushing advantage, almost undefeatable. The Foundation Establishment cultivators did not even have a chance to send out a distress signal.
They only failed once. The formation of the Rose Clouds sect was relatively special. It was mist that enveloped several dozen kilometers, which could not be breached with Phantom Roaming. As a result, they moved onto their next target.
Just like that, Li Qingshan destroyed four sects consecutively with his group in a single night, killing three Foundation Establishment cultivators. They had a bountiful harvest.
Ye Mingzhu unfurled the map. “Sir, it’s quite late now. The next target is here.”
“What sect is it?”
“The Bronze Cauldron sect. They’re known for forging artifacts, so they should be easy to deal with.”
Fu Qingjin sat on a nameless peak, absorbing the spiritual qi of the world. He had already cast out his net. All he had to do was wait for the right moment to reel it in, and he would be able to end this lengthy journey of his. He would be able to take her back to the Sword Collection palace.
Through everything that happened during these three years, witnessing the various tragedies caused by daemons, she must have understood the importance of strength, no longer possessing such naive thoughts anymore. He was reluctant for her to go through such pain, but it was a crucial step to take.
At this moment, the tablet of the Daemon Suppression alliance on his waist suddenly began to flash. Fu Qingjin’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a distress signal from the Bronze Cauldron sect.”
Green light rose up into the air, and Fu Qingjin arrived at Bronze Cauldron mountain on his sword. As he gazed down, even he could not help but be shocked despite his mental fortitude.
The prosperous Bronze Cauldron sect had basically been reduced to ruins, like a huge beast had trampled through it. There was not a single complete structure in sight. All that remained was a large, bronze cauldron standing alone in the ruins.
What had happened? Fu Qingjin arrived before the bronze cauldron. “Sect master Chen, are you inside?”
Sect master Chen’s anxious voice rang out from inside, “Be careful, fellow Fu!”
An hour ago, Li Qingshan launched a surprise attack on the Bronze Cauldron sect with the night roamers. Phantom Roaming succeeded once again. However, as they waited for the formations to be taken down from the inside, the mechanical turrets continued firing away, blasting out with streaks of light and forcing back a few night roamer assassins into scattering and hiding.
Li Qingshan rose up and transformed mid-air, landing back down loudly. Streaks of light shot over, and the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell constantly assembled and disassembled, blocking the attacks.
Boom!
With a great boom, shockwaves swept out around the iron roof, ripping aparts all the structures within the turrets and sending them flying. As for the disciples of the sect who stood on the ground, they all exploded as pieces of flesh. Bronze Cauldron mountain trembled and became covered in cracks, closed to collapsing.
All the night roamers were dumbstruck by this apocalyptic sight. He had reduced the Bronze Cauldron sect to ruins in the blink of an eye. If Li Qingshan massacred cities, he would be even more effective than Strongboulder and Bloodshadow.
After the shockwave settled, the night roamers responsible for the assassination returned. They raised their heads and reported, “Sir, there’s been some issues.”
Li Qingshan gazed down. He had noticed the source of the issues a long time ago. Only a single bronze cauldron remained fine within the ruins, as if even his shockwaves could not destroy it so easily.
“He’s hiding in there. There’s nothing we can do.” Just when the night roamers began their assassination, the master of the Bronze Cauldron sect immediately summoned out a cauldron and hid in there.
“Can you use Phantom Roaming?’ Li Qingshan patted the bronze cauldron, and it clanged loudly. The cauldron was actually an extremely rare arcane artifact, the sect treasure of Bronze Cauldron mountain. It was extremely tough and sturdy such that even the night roamers were helpless against it.
Ye Mingzhu said, “We should be able to, but entering the opponent’s cauldron should put us in an extremely disadvantageous position.”
“If that’s the case, we’ll just wait for him to come out,” said Li Qingshan. An arcane artifact cauldron for forging artifacts was extremely rare. Since he had come across it, how could he just leave without it? He was tempted to carry the whole thing back. He refused to believe a mere cauldron could stop him.
Ye Mingzhi said, “About that… The sun’s rising soon. He’s probably sent out a distress signal already.” Although the influence from sunlight had already become extremely miniscule to night roamers at their level, this influence would slowly build up and still cause quite a bit of trouble. In particular, if they wanted to open another phantom path, it would not be that easy anymore.
“Alright then. Retreat!” Li Qingshan immediately changed his mind, turning and leaving decisively. He exchanged glances with Ye Liusu.
The group retreated to below the mountains, and Ye Liusu ordered everyone to lay in ambush there. They also took out all the mechanical cannons they had gathered along the way, carrying out Li Qingshan’s original plan of drawing in the reinforcements and defeating them.
The blood-red blade reflected Li Qingshan’s face, “Retreat? You’re dreaming! I’m still not satisfied yet! Since sneak attacks won’t work, we’ll just lay in ambush here. If that still doesn’t work, we’ll just forcefully break through and use our momentum to deal a heavy blow to Fu Qingjin of the Daemon Suppression alliance.”
They waited until a streak of green light descended from above. Li Qingshan’s eyes suddenly lit up. He never thought he would catch a big fish right from the beginning.
He had the blood-red blade in hand, many subordinates around him, and countless cannons prepared. If he grasped this opportunity, he might be able to kill Fu Qingjin then and there and end their conflict prematurely.
Li Qingshan leapt out from the forest and waved his blade at Fu Qingjin, “Fire!”
Right now was the darkest moment, right before daybreak. In a single instant, countless streaks of light illuminated the night sky, weaving into a net.
Fu Qingjin turned around dumbfoundedly. The streaks of light rushed over along a slightly curved trajectory.
As he cast out his net for Li Qingshan, he never thought he would run into Li Qingshan’s net first.