Chapter 211 – Unifying the Territory (1/2)

The blackwater salamander had been curious about what kind of daemon Li Qingshan was supposed to be a long time ago.

Li Qingshan said, “You’re a thing!” He punched down with his fist. Although the blackwater salamander was exhausted, it was not stupid. It dodged quickly.

Li Qingshan shot a glare at him. “How dare you dodge when the leader is hitting you? Do you still want to live or not?”

Xiao An’s two skulls pressed over threateningly. With no other choice, the blackwater salamander made his way back over and let Li Qingshan hit him.

Li Qingshan let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the spot. He looked at the first daemon soldier under his command in satisfaction. He had never thought he would end up becoming a leader among daemons before he even managed to become a Black Wolf commander. Moreover, he was one that led some of the strongest daemons out there.

According to the standard of human Qi Practitioners, the blackwater salamander was around the ninth or tenth layer. It was quite close to Daemon General now.

If Li Qingshan’s strength as a daemon was measured using the standard of Qi Practitioners, it would be rather impressive if he managed to reach the seventh or eighth layer. He was still very far away from Daemon General. There was nothing he could do about it. Cultivating as a daemon took up tremendous amounts of time in the first place. Those pills had already been of great help to him to be able to reach his current strength so quickly.

His three powerful abilities were the only reason for his victory.

Now that there was no danger, the blackwater salamander settled down to rest as well. It glanced at Xiao An carefully before asking, “Leader, Milliped…”

Li Qingshan corrected, “Call him great king.”

The blackwater salamander continued, “Why has great king Milliped sent you to beat me up?”

Li Qingshan said, “It’s not just you. I’ll be beating up all the daemons underground. I’ll spare them if they yield, but if they don’t, I’ll beat them all to death.”

Although the blackwater salamander was not the strongest daemon in this region, it was the daemon that was the most difficult to handle. Even Milliped was reluctant to venture into its waters. Even if he did, subduing him would still be very difficult. That was why Li Qingshan decided on him as his first target.

The blackwater salamander looked at Xiao An. “Leader, who’s this?”

Li Qingshan said, “That’s the vice leader!”

The flames in Xiao An’s eye sockets surged. She had actually become the vice leader.

Li Qingshan asked, “Do you know where great king Milliped’s dwelling is?”

“I do, I do!” Probably all the daemons in this region that had some intelligence knew where it was.

He was not satisfied with just beating up these daemons and making them submit to him. His primary objective was still to turn them into a combat force that he could control. As a result, he came up with a daemon’s gathering with Milliped, where he would summon all the daemons who had condensed daemon cores.

The blackwater salamander could only agree helplessly.

Li Qingshan thought of something. He took out an uneaten roasted chicken from his hundred treasures pouch and tossed it to the blackwater salamander.

The blackwater salamander ate it in a single gulp. The various spices, and the taste of salt in particular, permeated its mouth. It swam around Li Qingshan excitedly and stared right at him. “Leader, is there anymore?”

Li Qingshan thought, Just as I had expected. Although the underground was like a great treasure trove, possessing spiritual veins and various spiritual herbs, it could never match the abundance of food available on the surface. Even a Daemon General like Milliped could not eat whatever he wanted, let alone regular daemons.

He only needed to absorb the spiritual qi of the world within the black water, and he would not starve to death even if he went a decade without food. However, the instincts of creatures would never vanish. The carrot and the stick had been proven to be highly effective throughout history. Now that Li Qingshan had used it properly, it resulted in exactly what he had expected.

“Hmph, if you go when the time comes, there’ll be as much as you want!”

“I’ll definitely go! I’ll definitely go!” The blackwater salamander immediately became extremely eager. If he could eat such good food every single day, there would be nothing wrong with being a daemon soldier.

Li Qingshan left the region with Xiao An. He ate a Hundred Grasses pill and recovered most of his daemon qi before asking Xiao An curiously, “Why did you turn back?”

Xiao An explained. As it turned out, she did it to hide her identity. There would be a time when they would return to the surface. If she remained in human form, she would be remembered by far too many creatures. It might even lead to the exposure of Li Qingshan’s identity in the future. And, in this subterranean world, a non-humanoid form was instead more convenient than a humanoid form when it came to moving about.

Li Qingshan admired Xiao An’s cautiousness. He could not be certain that the world of humans and the world of daemons never intersected. There would never be anything wrong with being a little more careful. They could communicate using their auras anyway. Xiao An’s aura consisted of the flames that surged from her body.

“Let’s go to the next place.”

……

Outside Salt Mountain city, in the quiet garden, within the hole.

Li Qingshan looked at the daylight pouring in from above and felt dazzled. He turned around and said to Milliped, “I’ll go prepare some food and drinks for them. You can go back first!”