Chapter 158 – Reconstructing Flesh and Blood (2/2)
Yu Zijian curled her lips, but she did not try to rebuke that. She just felt like her father had changed recently. In the past, if she was ever bold enough to say something like this in front of fellow people of the martial arts society, great hero Yu would have frowned and scolded her already. If she refused to oblige, he would even draw his sword. Although he had never swung it at her, he had never been so gentle to her.
Due to his daughter’s friendship with Hua Chenglu, great hero Yu had now become greatly respected by his fellow members of the martial arts society. He basically would even laugh in his dreams over this. Not only did Yu Zijian’s future prospects become limitless, but even he as her father benefited as well. As a result, he became very amiable with his daughter. In particular, whenever he was in front of Hua Chenglu, he would basically set the norm of a loving father.
Under the flattery from the orthodox masters, Hua Chenglu tried to smile it off like she was unfazed. She waved the banner in her hand and launched a barrage of cannonfire again.
The entire Island of Cherishing Flowers was now engulfed in fire and smoke.
The barrage landed on a huge shield and dispersed as violent gusts of wind. Li Qingshan lowered his spiritual artifact shield as he looked at the surface of the lake in surprise. What is going on?
He was not surprised by the existence of guns and ammunition in this world. Instead, he wondered just who was trying to interfere and blow the Island of Cherishing Flowers to pieces.
However, there was no point for him to think too much about this. After all, they had assisted him instead. Cannonfire on such a level did not pose any threats to him. As he held the shield that had already transformed to the size of a table, he strolled through the cannonfire like it was nothing. He was completely unscathed.
However, to these unorthodox masters, it was basically the end of the world. Not a single super master burst out yelling, “You have cannons? Well I have divine martial arts!”2 They were all blown to pieces as they sobbed for their lives, saving Li Qingshan the trouble of hunting them down individually.
Xiao An crossed through the cannonfire easily as well and arrived before Li Qingshan.
Under the constant booms, Li Qingshan nodded; his voice was drowned out by the cannonfire. However, his lips parted, and he seemed to say, “You can start!”
Both of their eyes seemed to shine.
Xiao An brought his hands together in a prayer position, with the Skull Prayer Bead between his palms. Afterwards, he lowered his head and chanted scriptures quietly.
Flames flowed out like water, silently spreading through the heavy smoke, descending over the collapsed walls and extending towards the buildings, swallowing every single corpse it came across along the way.
Four hundred and twenty seven, three hundred and eleven, two hundred and twenty five, one hundred and thirty one…
He counted to himself inside. Suddenly, Xiao An raised his head, and his eyes were filled with joy. All of the flames began to flow back to him, wrapping around him like a snake. It turned into a cocoon that enveloped him. Gradually, Xiao An disappeared inside. All that remained was a great, scarlet cocoon composed of fire floating in the air.
Li Qingshan stared right at the cocoon of fire without shifting his gaze at all. He clenched his hands firmly as he suddenly became nervous.
The explosions continued. At this moment, a cannonball whistles through the air, passing through the thick smoke and flying towards Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan extended his left hand with lightning speed and caught the cannonball.
Boom!
The cannonball exploded in his hands, charring it. He continued to stare at the cocoon like nothing had happened at all. He did not even turn his head.
Time trickled by. After who knows how long, the cannonfire subsided, while Li Qingshan simply sat down by a destroyed wall, leaning his head on his hand.
At this very moment, there was not a single matter, not a single person, that was worth his attention aside from Xiao An. Even Xuanyue and Gu Yanying formed no exceptions. His ambition that lied beyond the Nine Heavens was temporarily set aside as well.
Hua Chenglu smiled on the deck of the ship. “It’s done!” She swung the small banner and ordered, “Let’s set off and go take a look!”
“What’s that?” Suddenly, someone called out and pointed behind the ship.
Everyone looked over and became extremely stunned. A horse carriage tore through the fog and rapidly rolled over the surface of the water. It arrived before the ship very soon and gradually came to a halt.
The West Gate Granny lifted the curtain and frowned. This was the Wave Breaker of the Hua family! She had seen it in Clear River city before. She could not be wrong. This mechanical ship had been created by several great masters of modhism. The Fire Dragon cannons on it were powerful, and it possessed several hundred mechanical puppet soldiers as well. Every single one of them possessed the strength of a weaker Qi Practitioner. They were extremely costly to create.
The Sect of Clouds and Rain was powerful, but it was unable to ignore the influence the Hua family had over the Clear River prefecture. She called out loudly, “May I ask which fellow of the Hua family is present?”
Hua Chenglu leapt off the railing and replied, “Hua Chenglu is present.”
The West Gate Granny said, “So it’s you, brat. You’ve stolen your family’s ship and come out to play? Be careful of being spanked for getting involved with these untrustworthy folk.”
None of the orthodox masters had any objections to being labelled as untrustworthy folk. Regardless of their gender, they all looked at the West Gate Granny in infatuation and lamented, There are actually beauties like her in the world. Even her wrinkles seemed to be extremely charming.
1. These characters come from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer written by Louis Cha, which you are welcome to check out. For those who have read the book or watched adaptations faithful to the book, you should be familiar with these references.