Chapter 434 – The Hour of War (1/2)

His scarlet eyes flickered like flames as his scarlet hair danced like fire.

Half of Li Qingshan’s body had been swallowed by the magma. Suddenly, he let out an earth-shattering roar and kicked up a great wave in the lake of magma. The various colours of magma, dark red, scarlet red, bright red, golden red, seemed to be blended together, hissing with white smoke that filled the entire cavern.

Rolling flames surged over, colliding against the dim barrier in front of the Spider Queen before shattering. It made her face flicker. Who knew what she was thinking.

Li Qingshan recovered his humanoid form and spread out his arms, laying back on the lake of magma and bobbing up and down. His burn marks rapidly recovered, and the vicious fire poison settled down. Something that imitated the phoenix’s embryo had finally been condensed in his body.

When he raised his hand, the fire gathered in his hand automatically, abiding to his will.

Was this the first layer of the phoenix?

Li Qingshan shook his head. No, something was still missing. This was just a temporary work around against the problem. As long as he was unable to merge fire and water, he would not be able to properly practise the Phoenix’s Scripture of Nirvāṇa. However, this was already quite a large step forward. He had basically gained a grasp over the fundamentals.

Just when he was about to prop himself up, a soul sense pierced the magma and his body, reaching his sea of consciousness. Li Qingshan “saw” the turbulent magma and the violent explosions of the earth bubbles. Among all of that was a golden, glistening infant sleeping soundly.

Don’t tell me this is the Spider Queen’s son?! A thought crossed Li Qingshan’s head, and it was so absurd that it was funny. Even the Spider Queen herself could not reside safely in the depths of the mantle.

The infant suddenly snapped open its eyes. In that instant, Li Qingshan felt like he had been seen through. Before he could even closely tell what was going on, a strand of spider silk flew over, wrapped around him, and directly dragged Li Qingshan out of the lake.

“What did you see?” asked the Spider Queen as her face pressed in.

“I didn’t see any… thing… An infant. Who is he? Or should I ask, what is it?” Li Qingshan changed his mind halfway. If it were a blessing, then it was a blessing, but if it were a curse, it would be unavoidable. Instead of making the Spider Queen doubt him, he would be better off trying to get to the bottom of this.

If they fell out, then he could toss out the phoenix’s embryo he had just condensed and blast her into disarray, giving him the opportunity to slip away.

Li Qingshan appeared a hundred steps away in a flash. “I didn’t see him. He was looking at me.”

“Then did he say anything to you?” A hint of nervousness appeared on the Spider Queen’s face. She placed her hand on Li Qingshan’s shoulder and tightened her grip.

Li Qingshan’s heart shivered. Daemon Commanders really were something else. “He only looked. He said nothing at all.”

The Spider Queen’s expression varied, sometimes vicious and sometimes peaceful. Li Qingshan was already prepared with the phoenix’s embryo, poised for anything.

In the end, the Spider Queen’s murderousness faded away. From Li Qingshan’s demonstration earlier, she could tell that Li Qingshan had indeed come for cultivation. He had intruded upon this place accidentally. As long as he had not been sent here under someone’s command and was not scheming something, she was reluctant to kill this powerful daemon at a time like this.

“Don’t mention this to anyone. If even part of it leaks out, I’ll…” The Spider Queen turned her head and kissed Li Qingshan’s cheek gently. Her bright-red tongue brushed past Li Qingshan’s face.