Chapter 449 – Blue Bird (1/2)

If it were not him but some other Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would never bother with a mission like this. Towards the end, he just laid down on the sword and closed his eyes, beginning to practise the Arts of the Boundless Ocean.

After reaching the fourth layer of the spirit turtle, he could connect with the water spiritual qi in the surroundings as easily as eating or drinking. Endless spiritual energy gathered in his dantian, powering the sea of qi to produce ebbing waves.

Four hours later, Li Qingshan opened his eyes, and the spiritual energy within his sea of qi had become very plentiful, constantly churning away. The cultivation had been startlingly effective.

Just like the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression, his cultivation of the Arts of the Boundless Ocean had reached the fourth layer, basically early Foundation Establishment. As long as he continued cultivating like this, breaking through to the fifth layer would just be a matter of time.

This obviously was not just due to the spirit turtle’s daemon core. The cultivation speed of humans had always exceeded that of daemons. A thousand years of bitter cultivation for a daemon might have only been equivalent to a century or two of cultivation from a talented human. They were not joking when they called humans the paragon of animals.

However, any old daemon, even a tiny one, could live for a few centuries. Even human Foundation Establishment cultivators could not come close. These were the unique advantages that they could only envy one another over.

Li Qingshan practised as both, so he could feel the differences even better. He truly could not underestimate the cultivation of humans at all. If it were not for the constant ingestion of pills, his cultivation as a human probably would have vastly superseded his cultivation as a daemon already.

And, in the future, it would definitely become more and more difficult to obtain pills. By then, even if Li Qingshan became very powerful, enough to hold large-scale massacres for spoils, the pills that could satisfy him would still become rarer.

Perhaps by then, his daemon side would have to depend on his human side.

At this moment, Yu Zijian and the others on the ground finally arrived at the tiny city for their mission. Li Qingshan immediately sensed a tiny daemonic beast hidden in there. It might have been an extremely vicious monster to regular people, but it did not pose any threat to them at all.

This bustling sight also made Yu Zijian recall the past. She subconsciously gripped the hilt of her sword as she stared into the emptiness before her.

Li Qingshan simply stood there. In that instant, he thought she had discovered something, but he soon realised she was only blanking out. Gazing at her face that had visibly become thinner, he could not help but take pity on her. Zijian, oh Zijian. What has happened to you?

Hua Chenglu fished out the Daemon Searching compass and determined the location of the daemonic beast very soon. However, the daemonic beast was rather clever. It had already burrowed an escape tunnel in the ground. As soon as it caught a whiff of them, it immediately dove into the ground.

However, these people seemed to be well-prepared for a situation like this. Most of the daemons came from underground, so all of them knew how to burrow through the earth. If they could not even track them down, what were they hunting daemons for?

Hua Chenglu patted her hundred treasures pouch, and a few mechanical snakes flew out, waving their heads and tails about. They shone with a metallic lustre as the segments of their bodies curled up before pouncing out vigorously like a spring. They shot into the tunnel in pursuit.

The mohist ideology had always been about love and pacifism, but their engineering could be pushed to the limits through war. They could create powerful mechanisms and puppets that could deal with various circumstances. Because they did not have any particularly high requirements on the user, and they could be adjusted to various cultivation levels, there was an extremely high demand for them across the Clear River prefecture.

As the machines of war were created in the mohist factories one by one, any ideology would become worthless. Only existence and victory held meaning.

Before long, the mechanical snakes choked the daemonic beast to death and returned to the surface. They lost two of the snakes, and the mission was completed.

Fate was unpredictable. Sometimes, catastrophe would seem imminent, but it would take a turn for the better and become a blessing instead. Yet other times, it would feel like smooth sailing, only to run into an unfathomable storm and capsize.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and began to discuss how they would split the remains of the daemonic beast. These items were worth quite a lot. The bones could be ground into dust for refining pills, while the hide could be used for forging artifacts. Even the flesh had a use. If it were consumed regularly, it would bring countless benefits to the body.

A series of cheers rose up from the surroundings. The people of the city all viewed them as heroes. Only Yu Zijian continued to grip her sword, lowering her head with a frown. What she heard instead was countless wails as those people she had cut down rolled about and took their last breaths.

At this moment, a crisp song jerked her back to her senses. A blue bird landed on her shoulder, singing happily like it was completely unafraid of humans. It was lively and touching.

Just when Yu Zijian extended her hand over, the blue bird used its vermillion beak to peck the tip of her finger gently. She could not help but smile.

“It’s not afraid of humans. Don’t tell me it’s a daemon!” Sun Yi said cautiously.

“How’s that possible? It doesn’t have any daemon qi. It was probably a pet that managed to escape. Seems like it likes you very much, Zijian.” Hua Chenglu saw her smile for once, and she felt happy inside too.

Li Qingshan stood nearby, smiling to himself.

They did not encounter any accidents. After contacting the academy, a new mission arrived very soon. It was already late now, so they decided to rest for the night. They would undertake their necessary daily cultivation and set off tomorrow.