Chapter 175: The Name of Li Qingqiu
Within the collapsing subterranean blessed cave, Li Qingqiu’s robes billowed violently.
He held the Tianhong Sword in his hand, facing the Ancient God that stood like a mountain, without the slightest fear.
Chu Jing emerged from within the sword blade.
As he looked at the Ancient God, his face was filled with terror.
In his field of vision, the Ancient God was half-concealed in darkness.
Just the portion of its form that was revealed already reached a height of a hundred zhang.
The aged face embedded in its tree trunk alone occupied a third of its body.
Having lived nearly two hundred years, he had never seen such an evil existence.
When he thought about how, throughout the past years, every time he stirred the clouds and overturned the rain, there had been such an evil being watching him in the shadows, smiling as it observed his childish games with Zhao Zhi, he felt a chill run through his bones.
He finally understood how foolish he truly was.
Even if he had never encountered Li Qingqiu, he was fated to fail.
This world was not a world of power, nor a world of brute force, but a world that belonged to transcendent immortal cultivation power.
“Charging alone into the dragon’s den, what tremendous courage. Could it be that you are the Clear Sky Sect Master, Li Qingqiu?”
The Ancient God’s voice rang out, echoing through the subterranean blessed cave like muffled thunder.
Li Qingqiu?
When Qi Tianquan heard this name, his heart trembled.
The name Li Qingqiu was resounding throughout the present world.
Even before the Qi Clan emerged from seclusion, Qi Tianquan had already heard of it.
In the past, Qi Tianquan had regarded martial experts as no better than chickens and dogs.
That was until Li Qingqiu single-handedly slew Zhao Zhi and cut his way through Zhongtian Province.
Only then did he gain a new understanding of martial experts, and he engraved the name Li Qingqiu into his heart.
Yet he never imagined that after killing Zhao Zhi, this Li Qingqiu would then come to the Qi Clan’s ancestral grounds.
He dared not imagine—if Li Qingqiu were to slay the Ancient God as well, just how high would his reputation rise?
“Demonic abomination, daring to call yourself an Ancient God, deceiving the Qi Clan, fooling the world, and slaughtering the common people. Today, I have come to cut you down.”
Li Qingqiu’s voice rang out.
A massive broken log crashed down toward him, but just as it was about to strike, it was severed by invisible sword energy and scattered to either side.
Qi Tianquan vaguely saw a sword shadow enveloping Li Qingqiu, and from it he felt Li Qingqiu’s imposing presence.
This man was extraordinary!
“Cut me down?”
The Ancient God seemed to hear a colossal joke.
Its aged face turned ferocious as the ground began to tremble.
One enormous wooden vine after another burst forth from the earth, like flood dragons awakening beneath the ground, twisting their massive bodies as they looked down upon Li Qingqiu.
Li Qingqiu was instantly surrounded on all sides.
Qi Tianquan hurriedly retreated.
As he looked at Li Qingqiu, an inexplicable tension welled up in his heart.
He could not tell whom he was worried for, but one thing was certain—even as an entry-realm expert, he was incapable of intervening in the battle that was about to unfold.
The gigantic wooden vines, each over a zhang in diameter, lashed out toward Li Qingqiu from all directions.
Before they even struck him, fierce winds assaulted him from every side.
Li Qingqiu leapt into the air.
Sword energy erupted, transforming into a beam of sword light that surged forward, severing vine after vine along its path, as if tearing apart the darkness of the subterranean blessed cave.
Seeing Li Qingqiu charge in, the Ancient God’s colossal tree body immediately shook, and countless flying leaves shot forth like a torrential rain.
No matter how many leaves tried to block him, Li Qingqiu’s figure did not slow in the slightest.
Puchi—
The Tianhong Sword, wreathed in sword energy, pierced straight into the Ancient God’s brow.
Its pale eyes widened instantly.
Countless shattered leaves drifted down behind Li Qingqiu.
His expression was incomparably cold.
At that moment, lightning burst forth from the Tianhong Sword, rapidly expanding like a thunderous blossom blooming in an instant, covering the Ancient God’s entire face.
The earth shook even more violently.
Soil and rocks rained down from above, and the Ancient God’s visage grew ever more ferocious.
Suddenly!
Thick poisonous mist billowed out from the Ancient God’s five orifices, startling Li Qingqiu into pulling out his sword and leaping away.
He landed a hundred zhang away, sliding backward several steps, yet his posture remained upright.
Under Li Qingqiu’s gaze, the Ancient God trembled violently, rising higher and higher, as though it were about to burst out of the ground entirely.
Li Qingqiu leapt upward, swiftly vanishing into the darkness above.
Qi Tianquan sensed disaster and turned to flee.
Li Qingqiu burst out from the enormous pit.
In midair, he stepped repeatedly on falling leaves and broken wood, as if flying, before landing once more atop the high city wall.
He turned to look back.
Enormous wooden vines surged out from the pit.
Under the night sky, they looked like subterranean demons pouring forth, horrifying beyond measure.
Soldiers rushed over from both ends of the city wall, staring at Li Qingqiu with nervous expressions.
Li Qingqiu glanced at them and said, “An evil demon is emerging, and you still want to deal with me?”
Hearing this, the soldiers instinctively turned their heads.
When they clearly saw a mysterious gigantic entity emerging from the pit, every one of them turned pale with fear.
“Hurry and evacuate the common people. The tree demon nurtured by the Qi Clan is about to emerge. If you run too slowly, its vines will burst out from beneath the streets, devour the people of the city, and devour you as well, turning you into its power.”
Li Qingqiu spoke quickly, his gaze fixed firmly on the pit.
The primary purpose of this trip was to slay the Ancient God and trample the Qi Clan flat.
He did not wish to implicate the innocent.
But if, after his warning, there were still those who stubbornly refused to leave, then they could go and be buried alongside the Ancient God and the Qi Clan.
One soldier could not help but ask, “Who are you? Why should we believe you?”
“Clear Sky Sect, Li Qingqiu. If you do not believe me, then wait for death.”
Li Qingqiu replied impatiently.
He had known there would be such questions.
“What? Li Qingqiu!”
That soldier cried out in shock.
The other soldiers were equally stunned.
Immediately after, something completely unexpected to Li Qingqiu happened.
These soldiers instantly turned and ran along the city wall.
Very soon, Li Qingqiu heard their shouts.
“The Qi Clan demon has emerged, run for your lives!”
“The immortal of the Clear Sky Sect, Li Qingqiu, has come to exterminate demons. Everyone, flee at once!”
“There’s a demon wreaking havoc, hurry and run! Your homes will collapse at any moment!”
“Come out quickly! A tree demon is about to eat the entire city!”
Li Qingqiu had not expected his reputation to be so great.
He had not even needed to prove whether he truly was Li Qingqiu.
Chu Jing floated behind him and laughed.
“This is the importance of reputation. Just by executing Zhao Zhi, you already reached the level of being known by everyone under heaven. As for whether you are righteous or evil, the people of the world already have their own answer. Even if someone wants to smear you, it will take time.”
Li Qingqiu fell silent.
A trace of comfort arose in his heart—this counted as an unexpected gain.
He did not rush to act, instead waiting for the Ancient God to emerge fully, conveniently giving the people of the city time to escape.
As for whether the Qi Clan would flee amid the chaos, he was not worried.
He had already dispatched Mo Jiuhong ahead.
Mo Jiuhong, who possessed the Fate Trait of the Path of Infiltration, had previously infiltrated the Qi Clan multiple times and had a certain understanding of them.
Moreover, Mo Jiuhong was unlike Shen Yue—he did not resist killing large numbers of people.
As one enormous wooden vine after another emerged, the Ancient God’s tree body slowly rose.
The dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and the bright moon revealed itself.
Yet at that moment, snowflakes unexpectedly began to fall.
The Ancient God’s eyes rose from the pit.
Those pale eyes glimmered with cold light as it stared at Li Qingqiu from afar, its fury difficult to contain.
Having survived on this land for over a thousand years, this was the first time the Ancient God had been stabbed in the face with a sword.
The humiliation deeply stimulated it.
It swore to beat Li Qingqiu to death in Nightbright City.
It would devour Li Qingqiu’s flesh and blood.
At present, it no longer cared about exposing itself.
In its view, the Clear Sky Sect already knew of its existence and was spreading the news widely.
There was no meaning left in hiding.
As long as it annihilated the Clear Sky Sect, the world would be free for it to harvest.
“Li Qingqiu—”
The Ancient God let out a piercing cry that resounded beneath the night sky, heard by everyone in the city.
Before the words even fell, the land within the inner city walls split open.
Wooden vines burst forth, charging toward Li Qingqiu.
Li Qingqiu leapt up, dodging the vines, while the city wall beneath him was blasted apart.
Before the Ancient God’s power, the sturdy inner city wall was like paper, utterly defenseless.
As the wall collapsed, the common people, high officials and nobles, and martial artists in that direction all turned to look.
Every one of them saw the terrifying wooden vines, and earth-shaking clamor erupted.
The entire Nightbright City descended into chaos.
More and more people began fleeing toward the city outskirts, and those unaware of the situation followed along in panic.
Li Qingqiu moved along the city wall, dodging attacks as the Ancient God went mad, continuously smashing the walls apart.
Chu Jing floated behind Li Qingqiu and said in terror, “Master, this thing isn’t easy to kill!”
The Ancient God was simply too enormous.
Even with Li Qingqiu’s profound cultivation, he did not possess the ability to annihilate it outright.
Even with a sword, how many strikes would it take to completely chop such a colossal Ancient God to pieces?
The disparity was plainly visible.
Li Qingqiu did not answer.
He continued to evade, wanting the Ancient God to be completely exposed before the eyes of the world.
Elsewhere.
Shen Yue stood atop the eaves, resisting martial artists attacking from all directions.
Not a single martial artist could withstand even one move from him.
Centered on him, streets, courtyards, and rooftops in all directions were littered with Qi Clan martial artists wailing or unconscious, their numbers growing ever greater.
Shen Yue liked nothing more than fighting when outnumbered—the more enemies there were, the more excited he became.
However, his gaze was drawn by the disturbance in the distance.
He could see the swaying gigantic wooden vines, and his heart trembled in secret, filled with curiosity about what the Ancient God truly looked like.
Facing such a terrifying demon, what method would Li Qingqiu use to end this calamity?
……
When the final section of the inner city wall was blasted apart, Li Qingqiu leapt onto the ruins.
This time, he no longer evaded.
“You think that by exposing me before the eyes of the world, you can save the world?”
The Ancient God’s voice rang out, filled with mockery.
“Even if you wipe out the Qi Clan, there will still be other clans that come seeking me. There will also be people who suppress the news on my behalf. As long as you cannot eliminate me, I will continue to loom over this land. This is human nature—something immortal cultivators cannot change!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh……
Endless leaves shot forth from several li away, unstoppable.
Under the night sky, they were as fast as lightning, impossible to track.
Li Qingqiu held his sword in one hand and raised it forward.
Vast sword energy erupted, forming a protective barrier around him that blocked the impact of countless leaves.
The surrounding ruins were torn apart, dust billowing everywhere, yet Li Qingqiu’s figure did not shift in the slightest.
“Chu Jing.”
Li Qingqiu suddenly spoke, surprising Chu Jing behind him, who did not know what command he was about to receive.
“Next, I will let you experience the methods of immortal cultivators. You should abandon martial thinking.”
Li Qingqiu’s tone was calm.
His words fell upon Chu Jing’s ears like a thunderclap, causing Chu Jing’s pupils to quake violently.