Chapter 192: 192
Not a single daemonic beast, no matter how vicious or terrifying, could make Li Qingshan react like this . However, what he saw was not a beast of any kind, but a person . More accurately, it was a fair-skinned fatty sprawled out at the centre of the alcohol jars .
His head was shiny, and he wore a pink cloak, exposing his bulging, white belly . He gave off heavy daemon qi and the smell of liquor .
As a result, Li Qingshan performed a very simple calculation . What do you get when you combine a daemon with a human form?
Li Qingshan breathed in deeply and swallowed back the foul language he was about to let loose . The one who had been secretly eating his food was actually a Daemon General!
He had only seen two Daemon Generals in his life, a cat and a rat . Xuanyue had been utterly spoiled, so she went without saying . However, even that rat happened to be the great king of Black Rat mountain . He was an imposing figure with countless under his command .
A mighty Daemon General was an existence on Wang Pushi’s level if it were a human, standing above millions . Why would something like that do something so degrading?
This was why he had never thought of this in the beginning . In the end, he was slapped across the face by the cruel reality . He clung onto the hope that the poison and drugs in the alcohol had come into effect .
However, the bald Daemon General’s heaving belly and his thunderous snoring completely obliterated all of Li Qingshan’s hopes . He had not been poisoned . He had just fallen drunk .
Li Qingshan and Xiao An looked at each other . Li Qingshan slowly retreated backwards, while Xiao An controlled the Iron Plate corpse in a slow retreat as well . They had created the hole as a path of retreat, but who knew it would actually lead to the den of something so terrifying . They could not remain in this mountain manor any longer .
Clang!
The bald Daemon General with his pink cloak scratched his belly and knocked over a jar .
However, it was like a clap of thunder to Li Qingshan’s ears . He immediately stopped . Only after seeing how there was no more activity for quite a while did he continue with his gradual retreat . True qi formed a thick cushion below his feet, preventing him from producing any sound .
Under Xiao An’s control, the Iron Plate corpse’s feet landed on the ground softly as well .
The bald Daemon General suddenly opened his eyes . He writhed in a strange manner as he stood up . At first, his calves straightened up, followed by his thighs, and then the upper half of his body . He looked at Li Qingshan and Xiao An in a daze .
Li Qingshan felt a chill run from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head before emerging from his scalp . This completely originated from his instincts towards danger as a daemon . He became more and more certain that this Daemon General was not someone he could deal with right now .
The bald Daemon General did not seem like he had completely sobered up yet . The ten talismans landed on him perfectly, including one on his face .
Li Qingshan rejoiced over his good fortune . At the same time, he stuck a Swift Breeze talisman to his legs and immediately tried to charge out . However, just when he was about to turn around, his eyes narrowed, and he halted .
The bald Daemon General just stood right in front of him, almost right in his face . The Immobilization talismans on him were eaten away rapidly, until not a single sliver remained, revealing his dazed face .
Only from this angle did he notice that the Daemon General was not particularly fat . He was long and mellow . As he stood there, he actually towered above Li Qingshan . He bent over as he stared straight at Li Qingshan with his bulging eyes . It was an indescribably terrifying sight .
Xiao An reacted by moving a finger . The Iron Plate corpse hugged the Daemon General, and Li Qingshan used the opportunity to retreat in a hurry .
The bald Daemon General trembled, and a pink gas emerged around him . The Iron Plate corpse that charged over seemed like it had stepped into a vat of acid . With a series of hisses, white smoke rose up from its body . Its powerful body that had been strengthened with metal and refinement was completely eaten away in the blink of an eye . All that was left was a ball of pale, red flames that returned to Xiao An’s hands .
The Iron Plate corpse that could even kill sixth layer Qi Practitioners could not even last a single attack . It had not even been enough to make the enemy move a finger .
Li Qingshan was astounded . He became extremely fearful of the pink gas .
The bald Daemon General moved extremely quickly and without any rhythm at all . They could not escape . Li Qingshan released his violent daemon qi and immediately reached thirty feet, smashing through the earth above his head . He grabbed Xiao An and tossed her outside . “You go first!”
The pink gas spread rapidly, enveloping Li Qingshan’s surroundings . Hisses rang throughout the secret room . Large portions of the stone floor weakened and collapsed . To think that Li Qingshan had wanted to deal with him using poison . He had finally witnessed what poison actually was . There was an azure, blue colour within the surging pink gas . It originated from a spherical barrier composed of countless hexagons, which protected the area around Li Qingshan and stopped the invasion of the pink gas . As a result, Li Qingshan eased up slightly . Fortunately, the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell was sturdy enough . Now, he had to think of a way to get out of this situation .
He stomped down with his hoof . Explosive power filled both his legs, causing the ground to crack . His steel-like body creaked as it twisted, using the force to launch himself into the air .
The bald Daemon General took another strange posture, with his body bent forward and his bald head directed at Li Qingshan . His tall body contracted significantly, like a spring that had been forced down before being let loose suddenly .
All Li Qingshan saw was a blurry figure charge towards him ten times faster than he had launched into the air .
Thunk!
A large crack appeared on the indestructible Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell . Li Qingshan was knocked off his trajectory, from flying up vertically to horizontally . Who knows just how many walls he smashed through before becoming deeply embedded in the soil .
He was shocked . He had just achieved the strength of two oxen, so he had absolute confidence in his strength . However, the Daemon General was still much stronger .
The bald Daemon General sprang up from the ground and rubbed his head in a daze . He raised his head and looked at Li Qingshan, as if he had never imagined that he would fail to destroy Li Qingshan’s Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell .
At this moment, two prayer beads whistled down from above, directly striking the Daemon General’s bald head .
The Daemon General raised his head . A petite figure landed behind him with lightning speed, surging with pale, red flames . She used all of her strength, directly converting a portion of her own flesh and blood into flames to deliver the most powerful thrust she had ever unleashed .
Li Qingshan instead panicked . He called out, “You idiot! Get out of here!” Daemon Generals were not existences who could be defeated with tricks like that . He disregarded the poison and punched out as hard as he could .
The Daemon General did not try to avoid the attack . He said sluggishly, “Are you daemons? Why do you attack me?” His voice was slightly slurred, but Li Qingshan still managed to make out what he was saying . Everyone present stopped like an invisible hand had interfered with the situation . Li Qingshan’s punch stopped before the Daemon General, while Xiao An’s hidden blade remained three inches away from his bald head . The falling Skull Prayer Beads halted above the Daemon General’s head too .
Li Qingshan reverted to human form and clasped his hands . “May I learn your name, great Daemon General? I am Black Mountain . I’ve cultivated for five centuries in the mountains, and I’ve barely managed to assume a human form . I had no intentions of offending you . It truly is my fault . ”
“I’m Milliped . What does offending mean? And what’s ‘fault’?”
Li Qingshan was slightly relieved, having confirmed that this Milliped was not angry about what had happened earlier . He seemed to be slightly dim, and his reactions were extremely sluggish .
He suddenly thought of something . By Milliped, that’s basically just a millipede . This guy is actually a millipede daemon, so it’s no wonder that he’s so powerful and fast, yet his reaction speed was so slow .
He had once heard Xuanyue mention a lot of common knowledge regarding daemons . Daemons with flesh and blood were primarily divided into four groups, the scaled, the furred, the feathered, and the carapaced .
The scaled referred to animals of the water, the furred referred to terrestrial animals, the feathered referred to animals capable of flight, and the carapaced referred to insects .
Among them, the carapaced possessed the largest variety . There were countless insect daemonic beasts . No one knew just how many insects there were in the world .
Insects were born without much intelligence, completely acting on instincts, so there were many that could become daemonic beasts . However, there were far fewer that could condense daemon cores or reach even higher realms of cultivation compared to the other categories .
However, insect daemons would often be the strongest . Whether it be strength, speed, endurance, or tenacity, they would exceed all other daemons of the same cultivation level .
An ant could carry four hundred times its weight . A flea could jump a hundred times its length, and it could jump once every four seconds for several dozen hours on end . The tenacity of cockroaches was as clear as day . These creatures all resided at the bottom of the food chain, but if they had the opportunity to turn into daemons, they would immediately reach the very top . They would become the most terrifying hunters in the world . However, insect daemons had one fatal flaw, which was their very low intelligence . Even if they gained self-consciousness after condensing a daemon core, they would not be particularly clever . Intelligence was basically their weakness .
Li Qingshan came up with an idea as a result . He asked, “Milliped, why have you eaten my things?”
Milliped said, “I didn’t know it was yours . No, it’s all mine, everything underground . ”
Li Qingshan said, “Do you want more?”
“Yes!” Milliped opened his mouth and saliva flowed out .
Li Qingshan said, “There’s no more food here, but there’s plenty above ground, so why don’t you go there?”
Milliped shook his head like a motor . “Can’t go above ground . ”
“Why not?”
Milliped’s dazed expression revealed a sliver of fear . “Orders . I can’t go against them . ”
Li Qingshan rejoiced . He had gotten him to speak so easily . He sure was simple . He was much easier to handle than someone clever like Xuanyue . Intelligence would always be the most important standard for comparing creatures . Humans used this only advantage of theirs to suppress all other beings by themselves . If they were dim-witted, it would be useless no matter how powerful they were .
“There’s none left here . I’ll go up and grab some more for you, okay?”
“Okay, okay . Go quick, go quick!” Milliped’s eyes lit up and urged him on .