Chapter 455 – Freezing Strongboulder with the Ice Flame of Soul (1/2)

Li Qingshan said coldly, “Even without me, you wouldn’t die in a place like this, fellow Fu. You have plenty of talismans from the Sword Collection palace anyway.”

“I still have to thank you,” Fu Qingjin smiled, basically admitting he was under no danger at all.

Actually, he was truly thankful to Li Qingshan for saving Yu Zijian, but he did not mention it openly.

Li Qingshan had vaguely realised that too, but he did not state it either.

Fu Qingjin sighed gently. “I didn’t want to use something like that either unless I had no other choice. This isn’t our Sword Collection’s palace path of the sword. However, the rock demon poses a great threat. He’s slaughtered millions of people and countless cities already. In order to kill him, I could not afford to care so much anymore.”

Li Qingshan seemed to hear the funniest joke in the world as he laughed aloud.

“Why do you laugh, sir?”

“If you hadn’t broken the Treaty of Kings first, why would these daemons run amok above ground in the first place?”

“Since it’s called the Treaty of Kings, how can a measly person like me break it? I’m just going with the flow.” Fu Qingjin naturally possessed the bearing of a lord who ordered people around at whim. He sounded like he was treating his subordinates courteously and condescendingly, as if they should feel flattered because of him.

“Don’t even think about running away from the responsibility. You’re connected to this one way or another.” Li Qingshan refused to play along. It made him feel even more displeased, as a matter of fact. He had been trying everything to tie up these loose ends involving him, yet all Fu Qingjin did was take an easy step back and push aside his responsibilities.

Fu Qingjin smiled. He really was unable to shirk away from this anymore, so he changed the topic. “Sir, could I take a look at the arcane artifact you used earlier?”

“With how great the Sword Collection palace is, why would you need a measly arcane artifact of mine?”

As they said that, the streaks of light arrived. The group from the academy was led by Wang Pushi and Hua Chengzan.

“Qingshan, are you fine?”

Hua Chengzan literally leapt up in fright when he heard his sister and Yu Zijian had run into the rock demon slaughtering a city. Despite his incredible intelligence and all the calculations he had made, a situation beyond his control like this was exactly what he was afraid of.

If it really were the rock demon, then let alone two measly Qi Practitioners, even Li Qingshan would be in danger.

Li Qingshan said, “I’m fine. I even killed a Daemon General. Don’t forget to record this under my name when you get back, old Wang. Oh right, I am a Foundation Establishment cultivator now after all. I should have been promoted to the same standing as you a long time ago!”

As a result, Li Qingshan told them roughly what he had gone through.

Hua Chengzan clapped his hands together and praised, “Qingshan, you’re a genius!”

The other cultivators present could not help but reevaluate Li Qingshan too, I didn’t think the school of Novels would produce someone like him after all the time I spent in secluded cultivation. Not only did he save two Qi Practitioners in front of the rock demon, but he’s even bold enough to turn back and assist Fu Qingjin in killing the rock demon. He even managed to kill a Daemon General when he was encircled by them. Not only would you require wits to achieve this, but it would require absolute guts too.

If it were them instead, just going back to save two Qi Practitioners would require careful consideration. It would be like walking on a tightrope, where just the slightest carelessness could cost them their lives.

Actually, Li Qingshan had not thought that much at all. Even if he gave a handicap to Strongboulder, he would not be able to kill him. A person who was not afraid of falling from the tightrope would obviously be brave enough to dance around there gracefully, which instead led to gasps of admiration from those who did not know the whole story.

Fu Qingjin finished his conversation with the cultivators of the Daemon Suppression alliance before glancing at Hua Chengzan deeply, basically warning him.

Afterwards, he clasped his hands at Li Qingshan with a smile. “If everyone from the academy could be like fellow Qingshan, brave, resourceful, and open-minded, what couldn’t you achieve? What daemons can’t you kill?”

The cultivators from the Daemon Suppression alliance were all surprised. Rarely did they see Fu Qingjin treat someone else so politely.

In the depths underground, Strongboulder shook off his Daemon General subordinates and reached an extremely deep cavern by moving through the earth. After confirming that no one was chasing after him, he eased up inside. His face was sunken as his teeth creaked from how hard he grit them.

“I’ll make you suffer a horrible end, Fu Qingjin, and that kid too!”

He had been quite heavily injured this time, having been pierced all the way through by Fu Qingjin’s fusion with his sword. This was not a simple stab wound. All of the powerful sword qi and sword intent within the attack was enough to destroy his organs.

If he were some regular Daemon General, he definitely would have died on the spot. It was exactly because he was a stone daemon, possessing no vital points on his body, that he managed to hang on tenaciously.

Just as he tried to force out the sword qi before returning to his territory to heal.

Cling~ Cling~ Clink~

In the darkness, a shiny, snow-white bead bounced over. The bouncing sound was extremely prominent in the silent underground world.

Strongboulder found this rather strange. His beady eyes moved up and down with the bead until it arrived before him. He picked up the bead and wondered, What’s this? Seems like bone.

He was unable to sense even a hint of aura from it. He tried to crush it casually, but the bead refused to budge. He became more and more surprised. There really were not a lot of items in the world that could not be crushed by him.

Clink! Clank! Clonk! Like beads of various sizes falling into a jade bowl, over a dozen beads bounced over loudly. They arrived beside Strongboulder’s feet and leapt up like they were alive.