Chapter 42
Li Qingshan sucked in a deep breath: “Skeleton Bodhisattva, while still using a demon dao!” Although he didn’t know yet what kind of level this senior Buddhist monk on the verge of reaching the realm of Bodhisattvas had reached, he still realized that this was probably a supernatural skill far surpassing his imagination.
Li Qingshan’s expression became heavy as he said: “I’m afraid this divine skill is probably not very easy to cultivate!”
The green bull said: “That’s right, this kind of supernatural skill manipulates the creation of life and death. Not only it requires the cultivator’s soul to have outstanding aptitude, it also needs to use the fresh blood of creatures at the moment of their death as sacrificial refining, to also endure the burning heat of blood and vital breath to acquire large amount of qi essence. But right now we’re only using animal blood as a temporary stopgap. The best material for sacrificial refining is naturally human blood, especially from martial artists who possess rich blood and vitality.”
Li Qingshan’s heart trembled. No matter who heard about this way of cultivation, they could only think of evil arts and demon dao. And no matter the legend or story, those who used as many human lives as they could to stuff up their cultivation were all villains, and all ended with a wretched death.
He couldn’t help asking: “Why cultivate this?”
Little An was scared until his face was pale white. His wisdom had gradually recovered and he also knew that this was an extremely evil demon dao.
The green bull said: “Of course it’s to help you. Heh, could only this be considered a superior ghost enslaving heart technique?”
Li Qingshan’s whole body shook, and he couldn’t speak out any word of condemnation anymore. He lowered his head and only smiled bitterly: “Looks like we both followed the wrong master, we’re doomed to walk into the abyss on this demon road.”
Only then did Little An feel relieved and smile shyly.
A sika deer scuttled inside the woods, dodging the evil wind that followed it like a shadow, but in the end a hunting knife slit its throat. The splash of fresh blood hadn’t had time yet to fall to the ground that
it was caught by a porcelain jar. As soon as it inside, the evil wind swirled up a skeleton dripping with fresh blood.
The skeleton sat cross-legged, unexpectedly seated just like an old monk. There was unexpectedly a secretive feeling of holiness and evil mixed together. If a senior monk were present at this time, maybe he could have understood the Buddhist truth about the cycle of desolation and glory, or the back and forth between life and death.
Li Qingshan could only watch Little An attach himself on the skeleton and refine the blood energy. The blood energy leaped like flames of blood. Little An’s brows creased tightly and his soul trembled, enduring the greatest of pains.
For supernatural skills from the ways of demons, most of them looked for shortcuts, but shortcuts were also dangerous roads that required one to pay extremely great costs and take extreme risks. The pain of the blood energy burning the soul surpassed even the pain of the body being set ablaze. He still had to maintain his consciousness with great perseverance and cultivate the supernatural skill. It was truly something ordinary people couldn’t cultivate.
Li Qingshan clenched his fists and felt as if a flame was also burning inside his heart, so hot he couldn’t resist. The misery Little An had suffered with the witch was probably not even one percent of this present moment. He reached his hand out and wanted to stop it.
The green bull said: “This isn’t only for you. You have things you want to do, dreams you wish to realize. He is also the same, this his his freedom.”
“His dream?”
“Correct, his dream is precisely to be able to help you.” The green bull couldn’t resist crack up at his wisecrack rhetoric, but it saw that Li Qingshan showed no sign of laughing, so it took its smile back. “Do you know? I have no idea just how happy he was when I agreed to this little ghost’s request. Moreover he’s very happy even now. As long as I can free the feelings deep inside my chest, whatever happens I will have no regrets and no complaints, isn’t this something you said?”
It took a long while to refine the blood energy. It merged with the skeleton, and there was a faint layer of dark red attached to the bones.
Li Qingshan took out the spirit ginseng, and pricked out another drop of ginseng liquid, then dropped it between Little An’s eyebrows. Little An closed his eyes and fell deeply asleep.
Li Qingshan turned around and once again leaped into the icy cold pond. It was the only way to cool down his heart and mind.
The days went by all of a sudden. The hundred thousand mountains were all draped in adornments made of silvery silk. Li Qingshan went inside the water to train every day, and almost everyday he’d only come out with his body full of injuries. Without a physique surpassing ordinary men and without the constant nourishment of the spiritual wine, his body would have collapsed long ago.
Little An followed suit, continuously hunting and killing wild beasts. At first he only used the blood from small vegetarian animals like wild hares or gazelles, then later he refined carnivores full of heavy blood energy and balefulness like tigers and panthers.
It was as if the two of them were competing against each other as they desperately trained their supernatural skills. The taste of the wine soaked with spirit ginseng was fainter and fainter.
The Bull Demon Ground Stamp steadied the body, the Bull Demon Skin Refining resisted the currents, while the Bull Demon Horn Gore struck at the whirlpool.
The true qi also revolved like a whirlpool, becoming a very small cyclone. The true qi flowed to his four limbs and hundred bones, its speed increasingly higher.
The deep pool’s surges were ten times more violent than usual.
Li Qingshan fired out a fist.
“Boom.” Like the sound of muffled thunder exploding in the water, a fearsome aura radiated from within the pool, alarming countless birds and beasts.
Little An’s heart jumped. It was as if some fearful wild beast had been released, far surpassing ordinary predators. He stared tightly at the water’s surface. The pool’s surface had restored its calm, and that great ceaselessly rotating whirlpool had surprisingly disappeared.
A smile floated from the green bull’s eyes.
A tall silhouette leaped out form the deep pool and landed on the rocks. Li Qingshan’s bronze-colored body was robust as a bull, as if carved from rocks, and every muscle was filled with explosive strength.
He smashed a punch on the rocks at his feet. There was a loud “bang.” It didn’t seem like flesh hitting stone, but more like stone meeting stone.
After a moment of quiet, “crack crack!” These huge rocks polished by the pool’s water for countless years split open in multiple crevices, then finally exploded into pieces.
Li Qingshan had already jumped to the side before the rocks had broken into pieces. He watched his own two hands, muttering: “Is this the strength of one bull?” He felt that his body contained almost boundless strength, as if he’d shed his mortal body and exchanged his bones. If he met the kind of third-grade masters like the third boss, he could squeeze them to death with only one hand, without any hope for the opponent to injured a single hair on his body.
The green bull said: “You finally entered the door of the dao.”
Li Qingshan took the Stone Rending Bow and pulled it like the moon. The originally hard steel bow was now as soft as ordinary wooden bows.
“Beng Beng Beng,” Li Qingshan again and again pulled the bowstring, actually displaying the Pearl String Arrows technique with a three stones bow. Exploding sounds came from the bowstrings with this series of continuous arrows, as if the shaking sounds of the plucking string were cutting the air open.
Li Qingshan felt he still had strength to spare and didn’t stop. With a great roar, he fired arrows up and down, left and right, shooting once in every direction.
Power, an unending stream of power, as if he could do anything as long as he wanted to, beat every enemies. This was finally the feeling of a supernatural power not belonging to any mortal martial art.
Little An watched on the side with unlimited adoration.
“Little An, time to go out of the mountains!” Li Qingshan grabbed up the porcelain jar and walked out of the mountains, not toward the Black Wind Camp, but to Suncheer City.
The noises from the waterfall fell far away. The pool’s waters surged once more, spinning again into whirlpools.
The two words “Suncheer City” were engraved over the tall gates. Li Qingshan looked up at them for a while. He had heard of this city ever since he was a child, but today was merely the first time he had come here.