Chapter 209 – The Blackwater Salamander (1/2)

Li Qingshan took out the underground mental map he had obtained from the Zombie Daoist. Unfurling it and taking a look, he discovered that they were completely beyond the range of the map.

When he poured his true qi into the mental map, a speck of light lit up, but there was no image. It was just a blurry path of light. Who knows what was interfering with it.

Xiao An said softly, “It should be due to the underground magnetic field!”

Li Qingshan asked, “How do you know that?”

Xiao An hesitated. “I think I read it somewhere, but I don’t remember where.”

Li Qingshan smiled. “It must be your past memories!” Otherwise, with how good her memory was, how could she have forgotten about some book?

Xiao An immediately sank into her thoughts. For once, she appeared to be worried. Perhaps it was due to Milliped’s great bed of spiritual stone or the fragrance from the blue butterfly flowers, but the memories in the depths of her mind had returned bit by bit, giving her illusionary dreams.

Li Qingshan sank into his thoughts too. He thought of the same thing as her. The unknown hometown in the distant south might suddenly leap into her head at a certain time and take her away.

He lifted her from his neck and held her like a baby. He gently stroked her soft, smooth hair and kissed the red mole on her forehead. The smell of sandalwood lingered on his lips.

“Having your memories return is never bad! Tell me more about the underground magnetic field! I’ve never heard Milliped mention it!”

Xiao An nodded obediently. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “The underground magnetic field can interfere with the usage of techniques and spiritual artifacts. The further underground you venture, the greater the interference.”

Li Qingshan casually used a simple technique. As expected, it was slightly more difficult to use compared to above ground.

This truly was the turf of daemons. Although daemons also used abilities similar to techniques, they basically relied on their powerful daemon qi to deliver it forcefully. They did not have any delicate or detailed processes that they needed to go through. As a result, they were basically unaffected.

“How clever!”

Xiao An smiled slightly. “There’s also atmospheric winds in the sky, which become stronger the higher up you go. It can disperse true qi and spiritual qi. It can also blow away the souls of people.”

“Really? That’s so impressive!”

“And, there’s cloud-incinerating skyfires…”

Li Qingshan advanced as he listened closely with a smile. She rarely spoke so much. They forgot about the worries hidden in their hearts and did their best to enjoy the time right now, when they were together. Afterwards, they hoped that a never-ending banquet actually existed in the world and would be prepared for them.

……

In these underground caverns thousands of times more complicated than any maze, no one was certain where the tunnel ahead of them led to. When you single-mindedly wanted to travel up, to return to the surface, the cavern might just suddenly turn downward or end, destroying all of your plans and forcing you to find a new path.

Coupled with the ever present threat of daemons hidden in the darkness, even powerful ninth or tenth layer Qi Practitioners could grow anxious and exhausted, maybe even becoming lost in the depths underground. The dangers and terrors of this place were no longer a matter of strength alone.

However, Li Qingshan strolled through this place like it was his own garden. His sharp senses allowed him to find the way easily. As long as he released his powerful daemon qi, the other daemons would maintain their distance, and they would not attack blindly. As for the greatest, most terrifying daemon around here, the great king Milliped, he was his powerful backer.

However, he did not bring Milliped with him this time to restrain the other powerful daemons.

The path of daemons respected the strong. They did not have a rigid order like humans. The principle of strutting around with borrowed plumes was not as useful in the world of daemons as in the world of humans. If he was unable to demonstrate sufficient strength, how was he supposed to make these unruly daemons submit to him, the leader of the daemon soldiers?

Aside from that, he had a further objective in mind.

Li Qingshan followed an underground river that possessed the faint presence of spiritual qi. As the river gradually led deeper underground, he entered the water and went with the flow, swimming away.

An hour later, the cavern suddenly opened up. He entered an extremely spacious region of water. Casting out his gaze, he actually failed to see the boundary. The water surface no longer existed. There were only ripples in the tranquil, dark water, like black jade hidden underground.

Regular people would obviously think of endless earth when the underground was mentioned, but no one would have imagined that the underground actually hid such an abundant source of water.

Li Qingshan thought, The one that Milliped spoke of should be here.

The spiritual qi in the black water was extremely dense. Although it was not as great as the place where resided Milliped, it was still quite a rare holy land for cultivation.

According to Li Qingshan’s observations from the past few days, there was a spiritual vein underground that stretched off in this direction. It was very likely for crystalline spiritual stones to exist below the mud and sand in the depths of the black water.