Chapter 253 – A Thousand Years in an Instan (2/2)

Li Qingshan crossed through the sea of flowers and placed Milliped onto the stone platform. This was his favourite bed. Perhaps the spiritual qi on there could help him. Then he took out all of the recovery pills in his hundred treasures pouch, feeding them to him or applying it on him externally. He used it all on Milliped without thinking.

However, Milliped continued to lay on the stone platform without moving at all. Li Qingshan’s hopeful eyes gradually dimmed. He raised his head and let out a roar, but all he saw was the pitch-black ceiling. His voice resonated through the cavern for no one to hear.

He felt like he had returned to the Ice Sword cliff. He truly was naive to think that he could break out of this cycle. As it turned out, nothing had changed at all!

He stood before the stone platform with his head raised. His scarlet hair drooped down, covering his face. He was like a stone statue that had stood there for centuries.

After who knows how long, Xiao An’s ice-cold bone hand touched Li Qingshan’s face. His heart warmed up slightly as he said gloomily, “Xiao An, why am I so weak?”

“You’re not. Your opponent was too powerful. You’ve only just begun cultivating. You will definitely be more powerful than everyone in the future.”

At this moment, there was a flash from the stone platform, followed by a gentle hiss.

Under Li Qingshan’s gaze of disbelief, Milliped rolled over and moved his legs, climbing up and raising the upper half of his body, waving his feelers at him like he was greeting him.

Li Qingshan scooped him up in a hurry and brought him to his face. “Y- you’re still alive!”

Milliped nodded and used his remaining, feeble daemon qi to express, “Playing dead.”

Li Qingshan’s lips curled into a grin before drooping once again. He had no idea how to react, but his heart seemed to loosen. He fell back onto his bottom. “Oh you!”

Milliped then said, “I’m hungry.”

Li Qingshan took out a pile of grain in a hurry and placed it before Milliped. Milliped immediately buried his head in it and began eating.

Heavy, noisy footsteps rang out in the surroundings. Before he knew it, the daemon soldiers had all gathered. They whispered among themselves.

“What’s wrong with the great king?”

“He charged out mindlessly and fell into the human’s trap.”

“He won’t do anymore. It looks like a new king will take over this place now.”

Li Qingshan suddenly turned around, and the daemons immediately shut up.

Li Qingshan recovered his calm. After a moment of thought, he sat down on the stone platform and issued orders.

“The great king has only suffered some temporary, minor injuries. Now, present everything you collected. It’s time to calculate your individual contribution.”

The daemons handed over the hundred treasures pouches and the various spiritual artifacts and talismans.

Even after setting the various assortment of spiritual artifacts aside, the hundred treasures pouches still amounted to over a thousand. They formed a small hill. Even Li Qingshan had not been expecting this, so he asked them about it.

Only then did he find out that many human cultivators had ventured underground and died to these daemons even before the Herb Gathering ceremony this time. Their spiritual artifacts and hundred treasures pouches all glowed, so the daemons all took a liking to them. They had no idea what their effects were, but they still collected them, which grew to quite a sizable amount after all these years.

It was impossible for the other regions to have so many hundred treasures pouches either. The other Daemon Generals all managed their own territories properly, so rarely did any Qi Practitioners venture in there to seek death. It was exactly because of Milliped’s negligence that this region had remained as a battlefield between humans and daemons, and there would be a lot of spoils of battle.

However, these spoils did not serve any practical use to the daemons, so they all brought them to exchange for delicious food. Even though most of them were the hundred treasures pouches of weaker Qi Practitioners, it was still a tremendous piece of wealth. It was exhilarating to Li Qingshan.

Thinking about things calmly, Milliped would have been lured to the surface, and he would probably die anyway even if he blew up his daemon core if Li Qingshan had not been there. At least, he had escaped with his life intact, which left behind limitless potential. He could make up for his lost cultivation, and he could have his revenge too.

While it would be very tough, not everything remained the same. He was inching closer and closer to his opponent, and he had saved his friend’s life too. Moreover, he had only begun cultivating a little over a year ago. If he wanted to sulk and sigh any further, then would he still be a man?

Elder of the three mountains, Fu Qingjin, hmph. He suddenly clenched his fist. If I don’t get revenge, I swear that I am not human, no, a daemon. These hundred treasures pouches would serve as the source of his energy!

At this moment, Milliped said, “I have some too.”

Li Qingshan was stunned. He had never expected Milliped to possess hundred treasures pouches too. But thinking about it, how was it possible that no one had intruded upon this place across all these years? These Blue Butterfly flowers were a crucial component to refining True Spirit pills. They were worth a startling amount, enough for people to risk their lives.

Combined with Milliped’s habit of hibernating, it only provided people with more opportunities to take the risk. As a matter of fact, many powerful Qi Practitioners had aimed for these Blue Butterfly flowers in the Herb Gathering ceremony this time.

Milliped stood up and used his body to point in a direction like a compass needle. Li Qingshan dug down in a corner of the cavern, and just as he had expected, he excavated a pile of hundred treasures pouches and a few shining spiritual artifacts. None of them were below mid grade.

If they wanted to snatch from the tiger’s jaws, they needed strength. Without strength, it was impossible to navigate through the dark caves and reach so deep underground. However, no matter how strong they were, they would still be Qi Practitioners.

Those who were unlucky would run into Milliped when he was half-awake. Seeing an intruder barge around in his own home and stealing his food, Milliped would just catch them and fill his belly with them. The items owned by these people obviously could not be eaten, so he would just dig a hole and bury it before going back to sleep.

As promised, Li Qingshan took out all the food and allocated it among the daemons according to their respective contributions before making them disperse.