Chapter 272 Shameless
Liu Zhiyan was pretty reluctant to part ways with Li Ye and Su Emei, but he did not speak out against their decision. All cultivators who made their living in Jianghu knew when to do what.
Li Ye felt himself turn optimistic all of a sudden as he watched the vast fleet of the Changhe Gang travel majestically southward on the mountain top by the Ji River bank. It was a spectacular sight indeed, even more so as it was their own fleet.
After the battle, Li Ye and Su Emei were close to achieving breakthrough. Without dallying, they found a courier station to train in isolation. Su Emei had arrived at this state after receiving the Demon Fei and Dragon Lady’s powers of cultivation, while Li Ye had reached Zero Realm level after receiving the luck coming toward him from everywhere.
He trained in isolation within his room for one day and night, successfully progressing to Yin Spiritual Master level at dawn the next day. This meant that the citizens and soldiers of Pinglu were one with Li Ye, and they had complete faith and would stand with him even if the demon scourge had still not been eradicated.
After progressing to Yin Spiritual Master level, his Yin Spirit could emerge from his body and travel anywhere. He was extremely familiar with the technique and immediately allowed his Yin Spirit to leave his body and the courier station before soaring to the skies.
He surveyed his surroundings, observing the hills, valleys, farms and houses beneath him. Qi Prefecture was situated not far away, like a chess board, and it lay on the plains like a predator. Li Ye did not take much notice of the scenery. Instead, he was focusing his attention on demon Qi. It was also one of the effects of the Yin Spirit; it possessed the ability to differentiate between the natures of all matter.
Li Ye continued ascending and quickly noticed, after a round of observation and sensing, that the division of demon Qi in Qi Prefecture appeared like lights of a city at night on a satellite image. It was very obvious to him and scattered all over the prefecture, and he could tell the intensity of demon Qi with a single glance.
Li Ye frowned slightly as he looked in Huafuzhu Mountain’s direction. The intensity of demon Qi around the mountain was nearly several times greater than that of other huge mountains and famous shrines, and it seemed like the demon clan’s main base was situated there, managed by one of its Great Powers. By analyzing the density of demon Qi, Li Ye could tell that there was a Greater Demon of Yang Spiritual Master level there.
Now that he had progressed to be a Yin Spiritual Master, Li Ye was not really afraid of Yang Spiritual Masters. He considered the situation for a moment before deciding to head to Huafuzhu Mountain.
After making up his mind, Li Ye absorbed his Yin Spirit back into his body and began observing the situation inside his body. After progressing to Yin Spiritual Master level, the previously dormant Dragon Qi within him had been awakened, but it looked as though it had just got up from a slumber and lay at its original spot without much movement. The only thing he could observe was flowing white light between the scales on its green body.
Li Ye tried to awaken his Dragon Qi. It moved its body lazily, as if it was stretching itself out, before turning active. It swam around his Ocean of Qi for one round before letting out a loud roar, most likely because it had warmed up!
Countless rays of white light suddenly appeared on the dragon’s green body, and greenish-white streams of air darted forth to merge with Li Ye’s Spiritual Qi. He could sense an immense amount of energy bursting forth from the Dragon Qi and it shook his insides up. The rampant energy seemed as though it was a bronco that had broken free of its reins as it erupted from his meridians, seemingly with the force that could shatter mountains and cut off rivers!
Li Ye’s mind trembled and he pressed a hand against the ground with great force to unleash his Spiritual Qi. The moment it left his body, he immediately sensed that something was not quite right. The great amount of energy would raze the entire courier station, and there was no way for him to absorb it back into his body. He could only direct as much Dragon Qi into the ground as he could.
There was a loud explosion as dust erupted around Li Ye’s palm. He was sitting cross-legged and could feel a huge rebounding force traveling up his arm. His entire body flew up and broke through the roof of the courier station before rising about 300 meters into the air.
A circular hole with a diameter of about one meter had appeared on the ground in the room. It was a hole and not a pit, and it was bottomless. Its interior was obscured and dark, and even Li Ye, with his exceptional power of sight, could not see where it ended. It had to be at least forty meters deep.
The entire courier station crumbled down after being hit with the Spiritual Qi shockwaves. Dust swirled in all directions, and Li Ye’s expression changed. He wanted to save the people inside the station, but it was too late. Fortunately, the roof stopped falling after half of it had fallen off. “All of you, get out!” Su Emei’s voice came.
At first, all of the officials and guests in the rooms of the courier station looked shocked and lost. They were so shook-up as they observed the dangling roof above them and forgot to move. Everything happened so quickly and they received no warning. Instead, they only regained their senses when they heard Su Emei speak, and exclaimed as they ran out.
Su Emei flew out of the courier station after everyone else had fled, and the station only crumbled down after her exit. Fortunately, her reaction was swift and she had already attained Yin Spiritual Master level powers. Otherwise, she would have been unable to save their lives.
Li Ye looked at his palms in shock as he blanked out for a little while, suspended in mid-air.
It was the first time he had experienced a loose of control over his powers. The Dragon Qi had resided for such a long while in his body, and he had unleashed immense powers before, but never like this before. It was far beyond anything Li Ye could have predicted.
After shrieking, the Dragon Qi returned to its original position and lay motionless, seeming to have stopped after feeling very pleased with its show of might earlier on. The greenish-white streams of air circled around it, as if they were protective divine fire.
Li Ye made estimation in his mind. The Dragon Qi’s might seemed to have multiplied, and did not have to fear normal Yang Spiritual Masters with his current abilities.
Earlier on, when faced with the Demon Fei, Li Ye was one rank lower and could not face it head-on. Now, he possessed the confidence to deal with normal Yang Spiritual Masters of the Demon Clan and defeat them quickly. It was a piece of cake to him, much like when he challenged cultivators of the mortal realm who were of a higher realm than him.
The power of the abilities he inherited from Yuan Tiangang was indeed incredible. He was gratified to see that the Dragon Qi had progressed so much after swallowing the greenish-white pearl.
Just at this moment, Li Ye suddenly sensed that the Spiritual Qi fluctuation in the air in front of him was strange, as if someone was hidden in the void there. He lashed out with a Cloud-gathering Punch without hesitation in that direction suddenly!
The force of his punch did not travel too far. It seemed to have crashed into a mountain and trembled before dissipating.
A red puff suddenly appeared in mid-air where the force of Li Ye’s punch vanished. It began twirling around its core, quickly revealing the nine-tailed Demon Fox, whose entire body was fiery red. Its fur was glossy and glimmering, giving it a dazzling, spectacular aura. Anyone who looked at it could tell that it was no ordinary fox.
However, at this moment, the red fox was frowning, as if it was suffering from stomach aches after consuming something bad.
The nine-tailed Demon Fox quickly transformed into human form, turning into an extremely beautiful red-haired woman in a red dress. She had a bright pair of huge eyes, and they gave off a sharp glint as she stared in Li Ye’s direction.
Li Ye was slightly shaken as he saw the woman appear; he could recognize the great Green Hill Fox, and he could tell that it was a Yang Spiritual Master.
The fox had obviously come for him, and Li Ye immediately drew out the Luke Sword without hesitation, getting ready to do battle. After breaking through to the Yin Spiritual Master level, he believed that he could defeat even normal Yang Spiritual Masters of the Demon Clan, and the Green Hill Fox would be an excellent target for practice.
However, the nine-tailed Demon Fox did not seem to want to engage him immediately. After staring at Li Ye, she gazed casually at the deep hole in the courier station and laughed coldly upon noticing that he was about to strike. “You’re Li Ye?” she asked.
Li Ye brandished the Luke Sword twice and shifted the balance of power in his body. “I’m him. I believe you’re here for me. Since you’ve found me, what shall we do next?” he asked, laughing gently.
The nine-tailed Demon Fox stared at Li Ye, flames seemingly dancing in her pupils. She gritted her teeth as she replied, “Since you know that I’m here for you, you should also know that I’m from the Demon Clan. Do you think you can defeat… the Son of God?”
Li Ye was slightly stunned. He thought the nine-tail Demon Fox would ask him something along the lines of “So… do you think you can beat me?”, and he never expected her to mention a “the Son of God”. Earlier on, when Li Ye was observing Huafuzhu Mountain, he could already sense that there was a Greater Demon of Yang Spiritual Master level there. He believed that this very same expert was the “Divine Son” the nine-tailed Demon Fox was talking about.
A thought came to Li Ye’s mind as he heard the title. Was the descendant of the Sixth Great Sage also known as the Son of God?
It was not the time to ponder about such issues, however. Li Ye saw the nine-tailed Demon Fox staring at himself, her gaze filled with killing intent. Evidently, she wanted to fight him. “I don’t know any the Son of God from the Demon Clan, but I’ve met the Demon Fei and the Dragon Lady. In fact, I’ve killed them. Since you’re here, why don’t you attack me? I’d like to see how powerful a Yang Spiritual Master of the Demon Clan is,” he said.
Li Ye was intent on using the nine-tailed Demon Dox as target practice. After all, he still had not got acclimatized to the amplification of Dragon Qi in his body, and he was prepared to defend while observing his opponent’s skills for a start.
The fox’s gaze became even more terrifying, as she let out a threatening low growl, revealing her two canine teeth. “Do you think that you can challenge the Yang Spiritual Masters of our clan at your current level? Aren’t you being a little cocky?”
“Wouldn’t you know if you tried?” Li Ye asked, getting a little impatient with the talkative fox. Even though the Demon Fei was also chatty, it talked while fighting. The Demon Fox, on the other hand, was just talking.
If looks could kill, the Demon Fox would have already slain Li Ye tens of thousands of times by now. She could sense his impatience, and her cheeks had turned scarlet with rage. However, her next action was completely beyond Li Ye’s expectations.
“You’re good. Just you wait, the Son of God will take care of you soon!” she said before turning to fly away. She… just… flew… away.
Li Ye was stunned and dared not give chase immediately.
The nine-tailed Demon Fox had made a spectacular appearance and her words were filled with killing intent. She seemed to wish that she could hack him into pieces immediately, and spoke viciously to him. Li Ye believed that she was about to strike, but never expected her to leave after talking. It made him suspicious about whether it was part of her ploy to entice him to give chase.
After all, the nine-tailed Demon Fox was a cunning animal.
Li Ye was utterly confused as he watched the fox disappear from sight.
After a long while, Li Ye finally realized that his plan to use her as a practice target had failed. He cussed as he muttered, “No matter what, you’re a Yang Spiritual Master, and you’re from the Demon Clan. Aren’t you ashamed of fleeing without even striking a single blow?”