Chapter 72
“Yesyesyes, Constable Li is great hero and a great good man, he’ll naturally not try to get this small benefit at this small shop’s expense. It’s this petty self who’s lowered others to his standards with his narrow mind.” The owner was delighted and immediately took the silver as he spoke extremely deferentially.
Li Qingshan turned around and went out. Those men of the martial world discussed among themselves in low voices.
“So that was Tiger Descending the Mountains Li Qingshan? It turns out he’s only a little kid.”
“What kid, he’s someone who exterminated the Black Wind Camp and the Dragon Gate Sect, and I also heard he was expert with the “Black Tiger Heart Scoop”…”
“What’s surprising about the Black Tiger Heart Scoop? I can use it too, who can’t use it in the martial world.” This was the most standard of techniques for men of the martial world.
“Shut up, don’t interrupt me. Everyone he’s killed has had their heart scooped out, can you do that?”
Everyone at the table sucked in a cold breath. “What savage methods!”
“That’s why we have to be careful this time, and be careful some more.”
Several days went past, and there were more and more men of the martial world inside Suncheer City. The surprise attacks Li Qingshan was on guard against unexpectedly hadn’t happened yet. Everyone was still quietly observing. The savage fame of scooping hearts after murder indeed exerted an extremely great effect. Moreover, the more people of the martial world there were, the more cautious they were. They feared becoming the mantis stalking the cicadas, unaware of the oriole behind.
Li Qingshan was happy no one came to disturb him so he could train with single-hearted focus. He could become a little stronger again with each day you gave him. But his figure was slimming down very fast. It was almost back to his original appearance.
It was different with that kind of weak thinness from back then however. The present him was just like a piece of steel being unceasingly hammered, its volume increasingly smaller but also increasingly tighter and harder. He was just like a javelin standing there, carrying with him an intimidating edge.
Li Qingshan hadn’t expected either at the beginning that the [Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist] could actually reach such a level in body tempering. But such tempering also brought extremely great burdens to the body.
At present, outside of eating his meals, he also ate ginseng. Correct, not drinking medicinal wine soaked with ginseng, but directly eating them. Each time he trained himself to exhaustion, he would eat ginsengs several decades old as if they were snacks.
Dried ginseng was hard as wood, but his teeth were even sharper than steel knives. He would grind them to pieces with a few chews and swallow them in his belly, not worried at all about nosebleeds. The yuan essence transformed from the ginseng in his belly didn’t even have to run a lap inside his body before being cleanly absorbed by a physique eager and thirsty for energy. It was also thanks to those ginsengs that he hadn’t become even thinner.
The great snow sometimes stopped and sometimes fell. Another half-month went by.
Li Qingshan was sitting in meditation when a flurry of wind attacked the back of his head. He didn’t even turn his head back. His body suddenly bounced up and collided backward, just like a great human-shaped spring.
His head hammered the one who’d sneaked up on him and sent him flying out from the collision, pasting him on the stone wall.
The eleventh. This was already the eleventh person to sneak up on him during these days. Although most chose to observe from afar, those who wanted to try their luck weren’t few either. It was unfortunate said luck wasn’t that good.
Li Qingshan stood up. He sensed seven or eight peeping gazes in the surrounding and shouted in a low voice: “You can all get lost!” The shock from his voice containing true qi caused the tiles to tremble. Those whose skills were a bit lacking out of those observers immediately felt something heavily boring into their head. They vanished without delay.
Li Qingshan took the heart after killing someone as usual, then threw the corpse outside the walls. He felt that the true qi inside his body that had initially been like a gossamer thread had already become very abundant and powerful at present, flowing wantonly inside his body like a river.
He’d drunken the eight great jars of tiger bone wine clean, and the two baskets of ginseng had already been chewed until not a single one was left, as well as the several bottles of medicinal pellets he’d captured from the Dragon Gate Sect.
He’d cultivated the [Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist] to some small success, but there was still some gap with the first layer. He didn’t know whether it was his accumulation that wasn’t enough or if the opportunity hadn’t come yet.
He stood up and found out his fingernails had once again grown longer. The sound produced by the friction as they crisscrossed together was like the ring of metal. He lightly clawed on the stone table beside him, clawing four deep scars on the table as if it were made out of butter. It was easy to imagine the kind of savage martial move produced when he used the “Tiger Demon Heart Scoop” with this kind of hands.
He had confidence he could entirely kill off those observers, but he hadn’t done so. He didn’t want to employ a killing hand as long as they didn’t directly act against him. But this kind of patience was fading away bit by bit. The deeper he gradually followed through the cultivation of the [Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist], the stronger the vicious nature and evil tendencies in his heart became.
He was like just like a fierce tiger twitching inside its cage, itching to brandish its teeth and claws. He’d also become aware of those changes.
“If a master of the rivers and lakes were to be spied on so unscrupulously, he’d probably have started a great massacre already. Is it that I’m a little too good to bully?” This kind of thoughts continuously turned inside his mind, and the voice was already becoming louder and louder. But he still tried his best to restrain himself.
Little An held Li Qingshan’s wrist with some worry. Out of the eleven persons Li Qingshan had killed these days, apart from the first two, no one out of the nine after that wasn’t a second-grade master. Their blood energy was much stronger compared to ordinary people, and Little An’s strength was growing as if it had no limit and suffered no bottleneck.
Li Qingshan said: “Let’s go, let’s go out and relieve some boredom!” He put on the dark wolf garments, and fitted the wind stitching blade, then walked outside, walked toward the largest restaurant in Suncheer City. People of the martial world would all be gathered there for the most part. He had to talk clearly about this matter today.
News spread out throughout the entire city as soon as he walked out of the yard gates. “The Black Tiger came out of its cave!”
Inside the Iron Fist Gate, the Iron Lion Liu Hong was in the middle of saying respectfully to a middle-aged man over thirty years old with a white face and a miniature beard: “Hall master Wu, things are just like so. Li Qingshan isn’t to be trifled with, it won’t be easy to snatch the spirit ginseng. Moreover masters have gathered like clouds inside this Suncheer City, there are already first-grade masters who’ve shown themselves. They all want to use the spirit ginseng to break toward the innate realm. It wouldn’t be easy to swallow the spirit ginseng even if we seized it.”
Hall master Wu chided him: “Liu Hong, you’ve been enjoying retirement for too long in Suncheer, your courage is becoming increasingly smaller. When has my Iron Fist Gate ever been afraid of any master. If Li Qingshan truly has good natural talents, let him proffer the spirit ginseng out and we’ll have him join the Iron Fist Gate, it won’t be a loss for him.”
Dragon Li waited on the side and heard him address his own master directly by name in a very rude manner. He was very indignant in his heart: with this conduct of yours, you might not be able to beat Qingshan. Wait until he scoops your heart out, you’ll know what’s fierceness then.
How would Liu Hong not understand his own disciple. He feared he would say some improper words, so he grabbed his shoulder and said to hall master Wu, “Hall master Wu, this disciple of mine has decent aptitudes, it’s a pity to have him stay inside this Suncheer City. Would it be possible for your honored self to take him with you this time, let him follow you and experience the world.”
Hall master Wu looked at Dragon Li: “About this, division leader Liu you’ve gained merit this time providing news, so there’s nothing impossible about taking a person or two away.” Anyway searching for talent was also one of the great goals when the Iron Fist Gate had established a division in this kind of desolate area. This kind of doing someone a favor at little cost was also worth it.
Liu Hong was delighted: “Many thanks hall master Wu. Little Dragon, what are you doing staring blankly there, hurry to thank hall master Wu for his grace.”
Dragon Li couldn’t fail to live up to his master’s painstaking efforts. Although his heart wasn’t willing, he didn’t expose any of it on his expression as he honestly gave his thanks.
A light “pa” sounded.
Apart from the three men inside the room, there was another man admiring the paintings and calligraphy on the wall as if no one else were present. He didn’t communicate with anyone else. He was the one who’d caused that sound; it seemed he had very little patience left.