Chapter 558 – Above the Marsh (1/2)

Overall, it was a little more shallow, but its advantage was its vast area. If he could refine it, then the benefits he would receive might even exceed the Clear river. Perhaps he would be able to accumulate enough power to suppress the ox demon.

“Is this marsh your territory?”

Li Qingshan reeled in his gaze, directing it at the burly Daemon Commander before him. He refused to believe any Daemon Commander was bold enough to move around on the surface. The Ruyi commandery neighboured the Dragon province, which was the nucleus that ruled over the Great Xia empire. It was not a place remote like the Mist province.

“Piss off!”

The burly Daemon Commander bellowed, giving no explanation. How dare a measly Daemon General question him!

At the same time, he opened his mouth to an unbelievable degree and spat out a half-transparent gas. It rapidly moved through the air, stretching into an oval as it flew towards Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan raised his hand, spread his fingers, and grabbed the gas. He felt a tremendous force applied to his palm, actually causing it to ache slightly. “You really are a Daemon Commander. All of you are quite capable.”

“That’s impossible!” The Daemon Commander’s eyes popped out all of a sudden. The gas was one of his innate abilities. It was so powerful that even Daemon Commanders dared not receive it directly, yet this Northmoon had managed to block it with a single hand.

He caused Li Qingshan quite the surprise. “There’s no need for you to respond as exaggeratedly as a cartoon character!”

The Daemon Commander had no idea what he was saying. The gas pushed hard, but it refused to budge anymore. He suddenly sneered, and the gas distorted violently.

Li Qingshan felt that an explosive power was about to erupt in his hand. He suppressed it momentarily with the spirit turtle, tossing it behind him casually.

Boom!

With a great rumble, a huge pit was created in the marsh from the blast. The fierce wind surged like a typhoon, and muddy water shot off like bullets.

A tree became riddled with holes before being uprooted by the fierce wind. It flew into the air, rushing past Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan patted his hands and continued with the topic from earlier. “Since this territory isn’t yours, it’s mine. Please piss off, alright?”

“I’ve changed my mind. You better stay here so Lolth can offer up a piece of territory to pay off your ransom!”

The Daemon Commander immediately flew into a rage. He leapt up with his two feet, slamming towards Li Qingshan.

No different from before, Li Qingshan simply raised a hand like normal.

Li Qingshan became completely surrounded by the gas.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

When the gas exploded, the Daemon Commander rushed into the centre of the explosion against the wind with a sneer, only to see Li Qingshan maintaining the same posture as before. His arm was raised and his scarlet hair fluttered about. While his body was riddled with many wounds, it was nothing compared to how tough a daemon’s body was.

After breaking through to the fifth layer of the ox demon, his innate abilities were not the only things that had strengthened. His ox hide had truly become much tougher than before. For the first time, it had surpassed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell, becoming his strongest defence.

The Daemon Commander’s eyes suddenly popped out again. He felt like the battle was going extremely badly. He wanted to halt himself, but there was a flash of scarlet and it arrived before him, only inches away. A hand pressed down on his huge, bald head as an overwhelming and terrifying power was applied down.

“I said to stop behaving like a cartoon character! If you make me laugh while fighting, what am I supposed to do if I ruin the atmosphere?”

Li Qingshan roared. He gripped the Daemon Commander’s bald head and spun around three times in the air before throwing him at the ground.

With a boom, the Daemon Commander was thrown deep into the marsh.

The marsh suddenly swelled. Something seemed to be rapidly growing beneath the marsh, reaching the size of a hill.

A pair of eyes the size of ponds bulged out, lifting up the mud. It opened its fissure-like mouth and let out a thunderous cry.

“Croak!”

Li Qingshan exhaled. “Looks like it’s my mistake.”

Within the drizzling rain, a small village sat peacefully between two mountains. The chaotic sound of galloping hooves broke the peace. A group of bandits arrived in the valley and the only one-eyed rider drew his blade and pointed it at the village.

“Brothers, you wanna do this?”

“We do! We do! We do!” the mountain bandits called out together.

“Steal money, steal food, steal women! We’ll kill anyone who blocks our way!” the bandit leader called out as his horse reared.

“Kill them all! Kill them all!”

At this moment, there was a rustle in the bushes. The bandit leader’s ears caught the rustle, and he called out, “Who’s there!” He swung his hand and a caltrop flew out. He was a master of the jianghu who used throwing knives.

Clang! The caltrop seemed to strike something, flying back out of the bush. The mountain bandits huddled over and swung their weapons wildly. The bush collapsed, but no one was there.

“Hmm? What’s this? It seems like a letter!”

A short, small bandit knelt on the ground and blinked his eyes. Sure enough, a letter laid on the grass. They had no idea what kind of paper it was, as it remained dry even in the rain. A series of words, “For Qingshan; Private and Confidential”, were written on it. He extended his hand to grab it and the letter moved, and it moved extremely quickly.

Only then did the mountain bandits notice what was beneath the letter.

A skeleton the size of an index finger held the letter. It seemed rather hideous, but with how small it was, there was nothing frightening about it.