Translator: Henyee Translations
Editor: Henyee Translations
Meanwhile, Li Qinglin had reached the mountaintop all by himself. The mist was the densest in this area and it had blurred all the grotesque rocks in the background, giving off the sense that it was an immortal’s land.
He touched the rock and felt its rough texture, which meant that it wasn’t often touched. Nothing seemed to be out of the place except for some dry blood on the rocks nearby. It seemed that someone had been severely injured here, splashing blood all over the rocks.
After some hesitation, he scraped his hand on the sharp edge of a rock and smeared his blood on it. He waited for a moment after that, but nothing happened.
So, the blood was irrelevant and there was no secret behind it.
He also found some criss-crossing lines carved into the ground. They looked complicated but patternless and he couldn’t tell what they were used for. They looked more like children’s doodles.
Li Qinglin pondered, untied a jade pendant from his belt, and put it on the ground.
The mist that seemed to have been avoiding him stopped. Instead, it began to move away from the jade pendant. Shaking his head, Li Qinglin started glowing, blocking out the mist with his activated spiritual essence.
It was indeed a resentful energy because his presence in the battlefield wasn’t what had been keeping the mist away—it was this piece of treasure he had been wearing. But as a warrior, his spiritual essence could have the same effect.
After retrieving his jade pendant, Li Qinglin was planning to walk deeper into the rocks when he smelled a stench coming from deep inside the rocks. He held his spear tighter and looked into the distance. Gradually, a pair of blood-red eyes the size of saucers came into his vision.
A tiger about half his height slowly walked toward him. Narrowing his eyes, Li Qinglin studied the wings growing out of its back. They were over a meter long spread out, and the tiger didn’t look too pleased with the intruder. Compared to the mutated boar from before, this tiger seemed much more spirited. It had already become a demon.
It bellowed and jumped at him.
Li Qinglin wanted to see if it wasn’t really going to chase him, so he backed out of the ring of rocks.
He was right. Something seemed to be blocking the tiger from coming out.
Li Qinglin looked at the lines on the ground again and smiled. He realized that a formation had been set up to lock the tiger inside. There really were some capable people in the vicinity.
“If that’s the case, let me get rid of it for good.”
Li Qinglin raised his spear and gave it a forcible shake. The long spear vibrated and made a sound that reminded one of the roaring of a dragon.
At the foot of the mountain, Li Qingjun was still up. Still irritated by Qin Yi, she was wide awake, so she decided to cultivate for a while. She didn’t meditate for long before she heard the faint roaring sounds of a tiger and a dragon in the air. Her eyes snapped open and she cried out, “That’s my brother’s Dragon’s Roar!”
She couldn’t sit still anymore. Picking up the spear next to her bed, she rushed out of the room.
Seeing Li Qingjun disappear into the dark, Qin Yi followed her out.
He had spread rumors about seeing immortals here just to attract new immortal-seekers to get rid of the tiger.
The tiger had transformed into a demon and was too powerful for him to subdue. He was forced to learn the demon-constraining formation from Liusu to keep the tiger inside the ring of rocks to prevent it from hurting anyone. But it was only a temporary solution, and the formation could stop working one day. Someone had to eliminate the tiger for good.
Once the demon tiger was killed, he could clear off the demon-transforming miasma. After that, he would be free. He could stay here or go anywhere else he wanted to. Nothing would hold him back anymore.
His only hope now was that the Li siblings would be as reliable as they looked.
He could see the glinting silver spear before he reached the mountaintop. The blade was glistening and the impact of the strikes sent grass and dust flying all over the place. When he moved closer, the wind was like little blades cutting into his skin, threatening to tear him up if he made another step.
“That’s a very impressive martial arts practitioner. I think he’s passed the bone-changing stage and has reached perfection in the innate stage,” Liusu said. “I didn’t expect to find such an advanced martial arts practitioner in such a deserted land.”
Qin Yi was a little shocked. He was a martial arts practitioner as well, so he understood what Liusu’s comment meant. Li Qinglin was already a very advanced warrior by the standards of mortal men. Those more capable than him would be considered invincible mortal warriors, and if they wanted to improve their skills further, they would have to become cultivating swordsmen, or temper their bodies until they became supreme masters. Martial arts practiced at that level were no longer considered mortal skills, and only a handful of people in this world were lucky enough to acquire this knowledge.
That was why people wanted to seek out immortals.
When Qin Yi reached the mountaintop, the first thing he saw was Li Qinglin’s silver blade. The tiger spread out its wings and dodged the strike with nimble movements. After his spear hit empty air, Li Qinglin immediately swiped it across the air and hit the tiger’s wing. The tiger flapped and the impact made a loud thump. The giant tiger was then smacked into the cliff.
Li Qinglin, on the other hand, only took a step backward. He was obviously on the winning side.
Li Qingjun made a soft cry and joined the battle. The tiger had yet to recover from crashing into the cliff before another spear charged at it with the same level of ferocity.
Meanwhile, Li Qinglin attacked it from the other side, blocking its way, so that it wouldn’t be able to dodge.
“Roar!” The tiger leapt up and its tail hit Li Qingjun’s spear. She made a grunt but wouldn’t back away. Instead, she kept charging at the tiger like a fierce dragon.
With Li Qingjun blocking its way on the other side, the tiger could no longer run away from Li Qinglin’s spear which stabbed into the side of the tiger’s belly. Blood gushed out.
Wounded, the tiger growled and pounced at Li Qingjun. She turned her spear horizontally to block the attack but was knocked away by the great impact, her boots making two long ditches in the ground. Li Qinglin dragged the tiger off with the spear that was still buried in its belly and threw the tiger onto the cliff. There was a loud thump, and the entire mountain seemed to shake with it.
Li Qingjun knocked into some rocks on the other side, and blood oozed out of the corner of her mouth. But she charged at the tiger again without wiping the blood away.
“That girl is quite impressive, actually.” Qin Yi was amazed. The tiger was already much stronger than when he set up the formation. Apparently, it had absorbed a lot of energy from the demon-transforming miasma and had evolved. He would never have been able to set up this formation if it had been this powerful in the beginning.
Li Qingjun might seem like a tender teenage girl, but she was actually a very tough fighter!
Both of the siblings were tenacious warriors. Li Qingjun might be a little arrogant, but she was no spoiled child. Qin Yi wondered what family could’ve brought up their children this way. Some general in the army?
Li Qinglin was capable enough to handle the tiger alone, and after Li Qingjun joined in, there was no surprise left. The wounded tiger couldn’t withstand their joint attack and was soon stabbed to death.
Its demonic energy gradually dissipated into the air.
Qin Yi sighed in relief. As it turned out, the siblings were quite reliable.
Liusu snorted. Since Qin Yi’s plan had worked, that meant its meaner backup plan was in the ditch.
“Brother Qin, you can come out now.” Li Qinglin smiled and didn’t sound offended when he called out, “You’ve been watching for a while without trying to give us a hand. That wasn’t very nice. After all, the beast has been living on your mountain.”
Qin Yi walked out of the shadows, showing no sign of remorse. “Well, we all have our own jobs to do. My responsibility is elsewhere.”
Li Qingjun leaned on her spear and panted. She then saw Qin Yi walking into the ring of rocks. The siblings exchanged looks and followed him in.
Qin Yi crouched down, took out a small shovel, and started digging. A moment later, he whispered, “That’s it.”
They saw Qin Yi taking out something covered in mud. After brushing it away, they saw that it was an incense burner carved with images of monsters. Dark red smoke was rising out of it.
Li Qingjun suddenly saw light. “You did it on purpose! You spread rumors of seeing immortals here on purpose! You’ve been trying to lure people here to kill the tiger so that you could dig this thing up!”
Qin Yi looked over his shoulder and grinned at her. “I’m not going to take it. I just wanted to…”
He raised the spiked club as he spoke and smashed the incense burner into pieces.
Li Qingjun was dumbfounded, but she still felt indignant. “Still, you used us!”
Qin Yi slowly took out a teal of silver. “Do you want to get paid?”
Infuriated, Li Qingjun wanted to raise her spear, but Li Qinglin stopped her. “Brother Qin reminded us about the tiger on the mountain, but I insisted on seeing it myself. I volunteered to be used as a weapon, so Brother Qin shouldn’t be blamed. Although judging from what has happened, I see that Brother Qin was the one who imprisoned the tiger here.”
Qin Yi nodded. “I couldn’t let it harm others.”
Li Qinglin said, “Brother Qin, you were able to neutralize the resentful energy with your pill and you’re familiar with rare items as well as formations to restrain monsters. I see that you’re an alchemist with profound knowledge in a lot of special fields. May I ask who your teacher is?”
“I’m pretty much self-taught, and I don’t know if I can be considered an alchemist at all…” Qin Yi could only ask, “Brother Li, how may I help you?”
“Well, here’s the thing.” Li Qinglin heaved a sigh. “My father has been bewitched by some swindler alchemist over the past few years, and his health has deteriorated from misusing pills. It’s become our greatest concern. Since you’re a real master yourself, I wonder if you would like to go back with us and expose the swindlers of their lies. It’s the least me and my brother can do as my father’s children. I promise you that your reward will be very generous.”
After a pause, he added, “And that’s why Qingjun is hostile toward alchemists. I apologize for her behavior.”
He assumed that Qin Yi had been mistreated by his sister after she went back to argue with him, so he apologized. Li Qingjun lowered her head, and Qin Yi didn’t know how to react. In the end, he said, “I’m used to living an unrestrained life out here. So, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you.”
Li Qinglin said, “How about just thinking of it as your way to thank us for getting rid of the tiger?”
Qin Yi was speechless for a moment before chuckling. “I see that Brother Li had a plan as well.”
Li Qingjun glanced at her brother. Only then did she realize why he didn’t mind being used and even volunteered himself for it. He was hoping that Qin Yi would go with them to show his gratitude.
She had been kept in the dark this entire time.
Qin Yi still wanted to say no. He was the indoors type and had always found the village an ideal place to live. He didn’t want to get into conflict with some other alchemists. After some hesitation, he took out the pill he had just made and said, “Brother Li, please accept this as my way to thank you for killing the tiger.”
Li Qinglin sighed and was going to try to persuade Qin Yi again when Li Qingjun flared up. “So be it! Who do you think you are?! Let’s go! He’s not the only alchemist in Nanli!”
Li Qinglin tried to calm her down. “Qingjun, it may take us forever to find another one.”
Li Qingjun yelled, “He’s up to no good! How do we know he’s not like that Donghuazi?!”
Qin Yi was turning to leave when he heard the name “Donghuazi”. He stopped abruptly and spun around. “Who did you say you were going after again?”
Liusu had devoured the original owner of this body, but the owner’s obsession and hatred were still there. What was left of the body’s previous host hated a so-called “master teacher” and wanted to know why he had to die. That obsession had turned into recurring nightmares, and Qin Yi had asked around and learned that the master teacher of Nanli was called Donghuazi!
Seeing the changed look on Qin Yi’s face, Li Qinglin regretted having told Qin Yi too much. He already was reluctant to help, and if he heard that their enemy was going to be the master teacher of the kingdom, he would never agree to go with them. Li Qinglin had planned to trick Qin Yi into going with them first, but his sister had revealed the secret prematurely.
He looked at Qin Yi and said with resignation, “His name is Donghuazi, and he’s the master teacher of Nanli. Brother Qin, if you’re scared, I can find someone else for the job.”
“No,” Qin Yi said decisively. “I’m going with you.”
Li Qinglin was surprised. “Brother Qin, why…”
Qin Yi pointed at the shattered incense burner and said coldly, “I need to ask him a question: why?!”
Even Li Qingjun was surprised. She had never thought that a mischievous person like Qin Yi could have such a serious side. He looked like he was ready to kill someone.