Chapter 110
Hence, the two of them once again appeared in front of Li Qingshan. The man didn’t waste any time with nonsense and tossed a pile of silver notes in front of Li Qingshan. “Take up the money and go downstairs!”
Li Qingshan slapped the silver notes in the man’s hand. “You better ask someone else!”
The woman stopped the angry man and introduced themselves with a faint smile, “I’m called Qian Rongzhi, this is my elder brother Qian Rongming.”
The steward interrupted in alarm, “Could the two guests be from Ancient Wind City’s Qian clan?” Ancient Wind City was a considerably great city. He was a man who’d sailed to the four directions. How could he not have heard of great clans who could groom qi refining warriors.
Qian Rongming snorted proudly. Qian Rongzhi merely nodded in indifference and continued to say to Li Qingshan, “My advice for you is better to accept it. My brother is capable of killing people once he becomes angry.” Since they came from a great clan, then she had to pay attention to the appearance of a great clan, not losing her bearing at any time. She liked best to achieve victory without resorting to arms.
Li Qingshan crossed his arms. “Is that right? I’d actually like to experience it for myself.” Having someone come bully to his door for the second time, there were still limits to his tolerance.
Qin Rongzhi’s expression changed faintly. She came from a great clan and was born with the natural talent to refine qi. Together with a beautiful appearance that earned her the title of first beauty in Ancient Wind City, she was worthy of being called a woman beloved by the gods. From her childhood to now, nothing was impossible to her as long as she opened her mouth, especially those stinky men who were ready to slave away for her like horse and cattle. When had she ever been refused. Compared her self-possessed appearance, the pride deep in her bones was much greater than even her brother Qian Rongming. She coldly said, “It seems you’d rather drink bitter wine rather than a toast.”
“I’ve never been picky in my whole life. Toast or bitter wine, I can give everything a try!” Li Qingshan earnestly observed her face. He watched the changes on the face of a young miss from a great clan as if he were watching a certain miraculous exhibition.
Qian Rongzhi took a deep breath in and walked back a step. She faintly said, “A man of the martial world with some external martial arts actually dares to act wild in front of qi refining warriors, you simply can’t tell life from death. Such a stupid thing is surplus in this world even if alive, there’s no harm in killing him.”
Qian Rongming came forward with a nasty grin. The steward sighed and was already preparing to call people and gather the corpse. It was truly too unwise to go head to head with the Qian clan.
A sudden sound came right at this moment. Everyone turned their heads around and took a look. They saw a man over thirty coming out of a room. His stature wasn’t tall, and a pair of droopy eyes sat on his black face as he contemptuously looked at them.
“What thing are you?” Qian Rongming went forward in great anger, but Qian Rongzhi actully pulled him back and watched the man with vigilance, “I dare ask, who is your excellency? What is your meaning?”
Li Qingshan realized it was yet another qi refining warrior, a master at the third level at that. No wonder he dared to disregard this pair of brother and sister at the second level of qi refining.
The black-faced man said in derision, “Just relying on your two’s talent, you’re far too lacking to join the Eagle Wolf Guard. Why waste your time to go to Blessed Peace City, hurry up to leave the boat and go back home!”
Only then did Li Qingshan understand that this man wasn’t sticking out for his sake, but because the Eagle Wolf Guard spots were limited, hence he acted in advance to strike a psychological blow to his rivals when he realized Qian Rongming and his sister’s purpose.
Qian Rongming and Qian Rongzhi exchanged a look. Their strength was one level lower, but there might be some opportunities if the both of them joined hands. However they were bound to use those precious talismans and lose the opportunity to join the Eagle Wolf Guard in that case.
“You just wait.” The two of them hesitated a little, then left some vicious words before leaving hurriedly. The words weren’t only meant for that man, but even more so for Li Qingshan; they threw a vicious headlong glance at Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan said, “Many thanks for helping me out of trouble. May I venture to ask this brother’s honorable name?”
“Kid, don’t think you can act as you please just because you’ve got some money. There are too many people in this world you can’t afford to provoke, I advise you to disembark in a hurry!” The man slammed shut his room after speaking in a cold indifferent tone.
Li Qingshan shrugged. This was the treatment reserved for the weak.
The great boat moved slowly, breaking waves after waves on the gentle river. It followed the flow and sailed toward Blessed Peace.
There were only a few rooms on the dragon boat’s top layer, the doors to them all tightly shut. There was only Li Qingshan walking here and there on the deck, admiring the wide landscapes on both shores of the river. The sight was almost too much for his eyes to take, immediately pushing the matter earlier to the back of his mind.
The boat sailed into the night. Li Qingshan sat in meditation inside his room and cultivated. He was in the possession of four techniques right now, the [Bull Demon Strong Fist], the [Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist], the [Spirit Turtle Sea Guarding Secrets], and the [Innate Qi Refining Secrets]. All of them were separated in nine layers. His cultivation was at the first layer in each of them. The former ones belonged to the category of supernatural skills from the way of monsters and demons. They became the harder the deeper one went, and the time required also increased geometrically.
When it came to the [Innate Qi Refining Secrets] however, the speed of progress was much faster because it was a human technique, a bottom-level one on top of that. Li Qingshan invested much energy in it in order to obtain the things inside the Sumeru ring. The rate he refined his vitality and turned it into qi was astonishing thanks to his formidable physique. He wasn’t far from the second layer after several days’ worth of effort.
Little An had no way of cultivating though. Instead he squatted in a corner of the room and read a book. There were two bookcases inside the room, containing many leisure books containing verses, poetic songs, and the likes. There were also some commonly seen Daoist scriptures and Buddhist texts. The book Little An was reading was precisely a Buddhist scripture.
That senior monk who’d striven for the realm of the Bodhisattvas had entered the way of the demons, and the [Dao of the Beautiful Bones] was also a supernatural skill from the way of the demons. But in essence it’d still been evolved from the Dharma, so of course he had to carefully comprehend it. The bloody flames inside his eye sockets illuminated the words on the book. The scene was rather strange.
He suddenly raised his head. Li Qingshan also opened his eyes and looked at the door. They both sensed it, one thanks to his keen perception toward the vitality of the living, one thanks to his six consciousnesses as powerful as a monster.
The silhouette of a man secretly climbed to the top floor of the dragon boat and came in front of Li Qingshan’s door, the desire for murder overflowing from his eyes.
Qian Rongming was actually convinced he didn’t make the slightest sound and didn’t expose the slightest aura. Of course he wasn’t worried about Li Qingshan, but about that qi refining warrior next door. He only wanted to butcher Li Qingshan tonight. He viciously thought in his mind he ought to have killed him the first time they met.
As to the qi refining warrior next door, he’d also made his plans. He would definitely take out his trump cards and make him suffer during the Eagle Wolf Guard’s martial contest. Or maybe it wouldn’t be too late for revenge after becoming an Eagle Wolf guard.
In the room next door to Li Qingshan, a sensation likewise flashed in that black-faced man’s mind. But he didn’t plan on acting. Li Qingshan was merely a small insignificant character for him. Moreover he also ignorantly antagonized qi refining warriors and didn’t listen to his advice either, so it would be well deserved even if he were to die.
He was considering whether he should make something out of this matter, take advantage of Qian Rongming being alone to kill him. Someone from Ancient Wind City’s Qian clan would certainly have some good stuff on him. Then he could go below and kill Qian Rongzhi. He would be more confident about this journey after that. His lips curved up slightly; he quietly stood up.
The door opened slightly ajar and Qian Rongming flashed inside. He lifted his right hand when he saw Li Qingshan on the bed. He maneuvered his true qi and shot his hand down in a slap. A stuffy bang sounded. Qian Rongming exposed a happy smile.
“What are you smiling for?” Li Qingshan suddenly opened his eyes, a red light suddenly emerging inside them.
Qian Rongming was suddenly greatly startled inside. Muscles all over his body stretched taut as he was about to launch a series of attacks, but then his body loosened again. He looked with disbelief at his chest. The tip of a sword had pierced through his heart.
He couldn’t believe that he had been sneak-attacked. What was even more fearful was that he couldn’t sense the existence of that person behind him even now. It was only possible not to leak out the slightest aura if that person didn’t breathe and his heart didn’t beat. In the end he struggled to turn his head back and witness the last scene of his entire life, a skeleton with flames burning inside its eyes. The Cremation Blood Fire spread to his whole body, melting him into a part of the bloody fire.
It wasn’t that Qian Rongming was too weak or too careless. Little An’s present strength was simply at least equivalent to a qi warrior of the third or fourth level. Under the suppression of absolute strength, together to the sneak attack, it would have been strange instead if he weren’t killed in a single strike.
Li Qingshan sighed softly and said, “Why go as far as killing for the sake of a few unpleasant words? Are you too arrogant, or am I too low-key?” Li Qingshan already had had the strength to kill him back then at the restaurant, but he hadn’t done anything, not because he was afraid of trouble but because he didn’t want to kill indiscriminately. Those who killed for the sake of a few unpleasing words were mere brutes. He wanted to kill with good reasons when he did kill. But perhaps others didn’t think so. Perhaps he truly was a cricket among many in their eyes, someone that could naturally be stepped on whenever they wanted to step on him.
He casually examined his spoils of war, but he didn’t find the spiritual pills or talismans he’d imagined. He found a black brocade sack instead that looked a little familiar. It was dim and worn to extreme shabbiness, with even many spots cracked open on its surface. It seemed really incongruous on a pampered noble son like Qian Rongming.
An idea struck Li Qingshan. He poured his meager spiritual qi inside the brocade sack. A wonderful space suddenly opened inside his awareness. He seemed to be looking at a small imaginary case filled with various kinds of things inside.
There was naturally no lack of silver notes. There were also several small bottles as well as several talismans. The things inside appeared inside his hands with a thought.
Li Qingshan was delighted. It turned out to be a Hundred Treasures Bag from the legends. He’d inquired from Yan Song about quite a lot of common knowledge about qi refining warriors. He’d learned that a Sumeru ring was something only truly mighty cultivators could possess, with an extremely vast space inside. As to exactly how vast, he’d only heard about it and never seen it for himself. It would be rare for an ordinary qi refining warrior to have a Hundred Treasures Bag already.
The reason why this embroidered bag seemed familiar to him was because he’d already seen the like on the Red Eagle Captain Wang Pushi. However that Hundred Treasures Bag on Wang Pushi looked so much better than this one, and presumably its storage space was also much bigger. One didn’t need to think to much to know that the one on Qian Rongming was a substandard product. It couldn’t even store a somewhat longer spiritual weapon.
But even a substandard Hundred Treasures Bag was extremely rare. At least a qi refining warrior at the second level like Yan Song didn’t have one. Qian Rongming was indeed worthy of coming from a so-called great clan, he really had some stuff on him.
Li Qingshan checked the things inside the Hundred Treasures Bag. Among these several bottles, one contained healing medicine and three contained qi condensing pills. These weren’t knock-off medicine refined by ordinary men of the martial world. These were true spiritual pills. If one were to compare them to the ones Halfmoon had given him, then of course the difference between them would be as great as the distance between the sky and the earth, but they were still real and genuine spiritual pills used by qi refining warriors. They were what Li Qingshan most needed right now.