“Li Qingshan, I admit you’re much stronger than regular trash, so I have to advise you to not mistake yourself. Don’t ruin your future prospects for the sake of worldly possessions!”
Even when Si Qing stood in front of Li Qingshan, he was condescending and arrogant.
“It’s not like my future prospects can be destroyed so easily, even if it’s some prince or crown prince!” Li Qingshan fiddled around with the Asura Field and ignored Si Qing’s threats.
“Unraging master, not only does this Asura Field belong to me, but it also belongs to the imperial clan, so I must take it back. Will the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga really oppose the empire for the sake of this kid?” Si Qing said to the Unraging monk as he held back his urge to kill Li Qingshan on the spot.
“You’re only a crown prince. You still don’t represent the empire. This Asura Field was soaked with the blood of cultivators from our Green province. If you want to take it back, I don’t think it’ll be that easy!” The Unraging monk responded in a way that was neither too rigid or flexible.
“You say all that just because you want some benefits. Alright, what are your conditions?”
Si Qing snorted in disdain. He had noticed the thick, blood-red glow from the Asura Field. It was clearly much stronger than when he first refined it, so he did not mind paying a small price. It would all be paid back to him in the future.
“I have no conditions! You can’t take this Asura Field!” Li Qingshan declined bluntly.
“Li Qingshan, why don’t you check yourself? Is this a conversation you can participate in? Si Qing was infuriated. He had reached the limit of his patience after being provoked again and again by a White Hawk commander.
“I don’t think you’re going to give up on this, so let’s just go for another gamble. The Asura Field can go to the winner!” Li Qingshan said.
“Gamble on what?” Si Qing asked.
“Don’t you like duels? Let’s go for another duel!”
“You want your master to duel against me. What a great disciple!” Si Qing sneered.
Yue Wuyang frowned heavily, viewing Li Qingshan with great disdain. Was he bold enough to go his own way just because of the borrowed might from his master?
However, the Unraging monk did not think that. He understood Li Qingshan’s personality very well. He was so independent that he was aloof and proud, even refusing to accept his protection, let alone sending him into battle in his place.
“No, I’ll duel with you!” Li Qingshan’s eyes shone as he stared straight at Si Qing.
With that, everyone was taken aback apart from Gu Yanying. They doubted their ears.
Not only had Si Qing faced the third heavenly tribulation, but he practised the Black Emperor Dragon Classic of the Three Graves and Five Classics. His strength surpassed regular Soul Nascence cultivators.
“Li Qingshan, don’t be impulsive!”
The Unraging monk smiled wryly. Now this was Li Qingshan’s personality. Damned disciple, oh damned disciple, you might as well have me fight instead!
Yue Wuyang went from disdain to surprise. In the end, he could not help but admit that he really could not read Li Qingshan!
“Master, I know what I’m doing. In the south, I’m known as the ‘King of Savages’!” Li Qinshan smiled.
The King of Savages. Don’t tell me he… No, that’s impossible!
With a quick thought, Si Qing immediately dismissed this unbelievable idea. As a prince, he possessed the best talent, the best resources, and the strongest cultivation method, yet it still took him three centuries before he reached this step. Going from the second heavenly tribulation to the third took over a century by itself.
Given Li Qingshan’s background, it was already a miracle that he could become a White Hawk commander at this age. He had only faced the second heavenly tribulation two or three decades ago. It was impossible for him to have undergone the third heavenly tribulation.
Hmph, the so-called “King of Savages” must merely be an undeserved reputation. What King of Savages? More like a savage! You don’t even have to worry about being mocked in a land of wilderness like the south!
It was not Si Qing’s fault for thinking like that. No one present, apart from Gu Yanying, could guess that Li Qingshan had already undergone the third heavenly tribulation. This had nothing to do with intelligence. It was simply common sense.
“What, you’re afraid? Your majesty the crown prince!”
This bastard, even trying to bluff me! thought Si Qing.
Si Qing felt humiliated over his hesitation earlier, so he said proudly, “Dueling with you is an insult to me, but I’ll give you the chance in consideration of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga.”
Li Qingshan smiled inside. He had finally bitten the bait, or perhaps more accurately, the fish had leapt ashore itself with a curl of his finger. “Since you want my Asura Field, then you should offer up something of equal value as a wager. Otherwise, this duel can’t go ahead.”
“It doesn’t have to be that troublesome. I also have a condition.” Si Qing’s eyes flashed coldly.
“What condition?” Li Qingshan asked.
“I want to face you in a deathmatch. Before our fates are decided, no one can interfere!” Si Qing’s killing intent shivered, no longer under disguise.
“A’qing, this isn’t particularly appropriate!” Gu Yanying tried to persuade him.
“Yanying, this has nothing to do with you!” Si Qing said bluntly. He was certain that Gu Yanying was biased towards Li Qingshan and was trying to help him.
Gu Yanying shook her head. Why bother at all?
Li Qingshan lowered his head and acted like he was hesitating so that he could hide his inner joy. To think that there was something as great as this!
Originally, he had to take Si Qing’s identity into consideration. Killing him would definitely lead to endless trouble, which would completely destroy his plans in the Green province, so he was still considering whether to kill him or not. He never expected him to put forward such a delightful condition.
“What, you’re afraid?” Si Qing became even more certain that Li Qingshan had been bluffing earlier.
“Uhh, I vaguely recall that duels can only be carried out with your own strength?” Li Qingshan asked a probing question as if he was trying to shirk away on the spot. However, he had already made up his mind to kill inside. He thought, This bastard should have quite a lot of life-saving measures on him as a prince. If it’s just a regular encounter, I might not actually be able to kill him.
“That’s correct. No foreign items are allowed in duels. The sumeru rings will be handed to an intermediary, and the victor will obtain everything. How’s that? The wager is much bigger than the Asura Field.” Si Qing was afraid that Li Qingshan would change his mind, so he made the offer a little more tempting.
“Alright!” Li Qingshan acted like he had just made a very great decision. He thought inside, Si Qing, oh Si Qing. You can’t blame me if you’re just asking to be killed!
When Li Qingshan answered, uneasiness suddenly surged through Si Qing’s heart. It felt as if he had made an incorrect judgement over something. However, he immediately dismissed this feeling. There was no reason why he would fail.
“Great General King, please lend us your Asura Field!”
“Please hand over your sumeru rings, as well as all of your possessions!” Yue Wuyang took out an Asura Field with a flip of his hand. Sure enough, the patterning was different from Li Qingshan’s, and the bloody aura was even heavier.
“Yanying, you can serve as the intermediary,” Si Qing said to Gu Yanying.
“That requires agreement from both sides.” Yue Wuyang looked down. The owner of the Asura Field normally served as the intermediary in duels. Si Qing clearly did not trust him.
Gu Yanying nodded and said to Li Qingshan, “May I?”
“Sure.”
The two sumeru rings ended up in Gu Yanying’s hand, which she clenched firmly. “It’s a deathmatch, but I’d advise both of you to stop when you should.”
Si Qing thought that Gu Yanying was talking to him. He sneered gently and made no comment.
“I have always stopped when I should.” Li Qingshan smiled. He would not stop when he should not either.
With that, he entered the Asura Field first. Under the familiar blood-red swirl and within the heavy smell of blood, everything was dyed with a layer of red light.
The terrain there was roughly the same. Mountains rose and fell. Within the embrace of the mountains was an extremely expansive plot of open land.
Li Qingshan watched as Si Qing appeared in mid-air. They stood at a distance, confronting one another.
Soon afterwards, the Unraging monk and everyone else appeared on the highest peak, overlooking the battlefield below.
“Yue Wuyang, who are they?”
With a flash of red, a dishevelled man appeared on the mountain peak, directly referring to Yue Wuyang by his name. The aura he gave off indicated that he was an Asura King.
“A living man and a dead man!” Yue Wuyang said.
“A deathmatch! Interesting!” the Asura King said.
“Who do you think will win?” Yue Wuyang asked.
“There are actually duels with outcomes that even you can’t grasp?” The Asura King was rather surprised. He scanned below and said, “If this were a bet, I’d put my wager on the kid on the right.”
Yue Wuyang was slightly surprised. Li Qingshan was standing to the right. He said sternly, “But he hasn’t even undergone the third heavenly tribulation.”
“What? Was I mistaken?” The Asura King knew nothing about Li Qingshan. He had made the judgement purely based off his instincts as a warrior. He gazed at Li Qingshan deeply. “His aura is completely hidden, so how do you know he hasn’t undergone the third heavenly tribulation? Why do I feel he’s much more troublesome of an opponent than the kid on the left? Perhaps you’re mistaken.”
Yue Wuyang wanted to deny that, but he was unable to bring himself to question an Asura King’s instincts for battle. Had he really mistaken instead?
“Li Qingshan, use whatever you’re capable of! I’d like to see where your confidence to face me comes from. I heard you practise the secret cultivation method of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, the Demon Suppression Statuary. Let’s see how impressive it is!”
“As you wish!”
Li Qingshan released his suppression over the demon heart. Immediately, demon qi rushed into the air and gushed out in all directions like the tide.
He had not spent enough time building up “quality”, but from the perspective of “quantity” alone, it was quite a startling effect.
Si Qing was stunned. He refused to believe it.
“Demon King!”
Yue Wuyang’s eyes narrowed. All he saw was Li Qingshan’s dark-red eyes shining like cold stars within the surging demon qi as strange demonic markings covered his body.
Suddenly, he understood what was going on. Killing a locust Daemon Commander within a locust swarm with ease was not something a Golden Core cultivator could achieve. He definitely had not been relying on the Asura Field alone. But how was this possible? He was only so old right now!
The Unraging monk was taken aback before chuckling aloud. This disciple of his would always surprise him.
“The third heavenly tribulation. He’s already undergone the third heavenly tribulation!” Yue Bing murmured. Thinking about how he had said he wanted to test Li Qingshan out in the Chain mountains, only now did he realise how hilarious of a proposition that was.
“Li Qingshan, oh Li Qingshan. So I’ve still underestimated you.” Han Anjun glanced at Han Qiongzhi again and saw how she was unworried. He could not help but sigh inside.
“Do you think you can defeat me with just this?” Si Qing recovered from his shock, roaring as he turned into a black dragon. He lunged towards Li Qingshan.
“Alright, we don’t even need to guess now. The outcome has already been determined!” the Asura King said.
“The difference in their strength isn’t great!” Yue Wuyang remarked. Si Qing was even slightly stronger.
“You still don’t understand? I think you’ve spent far too much time as the Great General King that you’ve even forgotten about the very basics. When wild beasts hunt prey, don’t they all hide themselves as much as possible? It was completely possible for the kid on the right to keep his strength hidden and launch a sudden attack when it mattered.”
Yue Wuyang became speechless. Did he stop hiding because he had already achieved his objective and possessed absolute confidence in killing Si Qing here?