Chapter 329: 329
Under Li Qingshan’s suggestion, Xiao An tried ingesting a black lotus seed . Immediately, the flames released some extremely pure essence of flesh and blood, enough to rival the flesh and blood of over a thousand people .
Xiao An immediately began cultivating, refining the lotus seed completely .
Li Qingshan stopped worrying too . Originally, he planned on taking Xiao An on another trip outside . However, not only would it be time-consuming, but he could easily attract suspicion too .
A bloodthirsty personality could explain why he killed, but the disappearance of the corpses would be difficult to explain . If he caught the attention of someone observant, then he would be in trouble . These lotus seeds should be enough to provide for Xiao An’s cultivation for a very long time . At the very least, she would not be held back by the lack of flesh and blood .
Leaving Xiao An there to cultivate, Li Qingshan opened the door . The moon shone brightly with a few stars in the night sky, and white snow covered the entire courtyard . He also had to make some preparations for his own path .
That night, Li Qingshan visited Benevolence island and Wuwei island first and found Juechenzi and Ru Xin . The schools of Daoism and Medicine were the most skilled in alchemy . As the primary disciples of the two schools, they were both in charge of some pills . He chose some higher quality pills and bought them, also reminding them to not tell anyone else .
The two of them were neck deep in work after the disaster that the academy had faced . Ru Xin was in a hurry to heal the injured, while Juechenzi had been handling the various matters of the school of Daoism in the slovenly daoist priest’s place, as he was still missing . They had a short conversation with him and handed the pills to him in a hurry before getting back to work . Even Ru Xin was not in the mood to joke around .
In the end, he went to the school of Miscellany’s Treasure island . He exchanged all the remaining spiritual stones on him for pills in the main store of Miscellaneous Goods . He also kept an eye out for the prices of other items . He discovered that the prices of spiritual artifacts and talismans had begun to increase .
He could imagine the shock that the cultivators had experienced from this battle . Li Qingshan gave it some consideration, but he still decided against selling the talismans and spiritual artifacts on him .
Returning to Cloudwisp island, Xiao An was still meditating . As it seemed, refining the black lotus seed would take quite a lot of time .
Li Qingshan did not disturb her . He thought over everything he had gained today . Because he had focused on choosing relatively better pills, he did not have a lot of them, but it should still be enough for him to reach the third layer with the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength .
The sky gradually lit up, and Hao Pingyang came to visit him . He told Li Qingshan a piece of news—Zhang Lanqing had died .
He had died at the hands of an Altar Lord . All he was hit by was a single attack, and he was reduced to nothing . He could not fight back at all . If it were not for the fact that the Altar Lord wanted to capture Hao Pingyang alive, he would have been dead already too .
When he mentioned that, Hao Pingyang’s voice became hoarse, and his eyes reddened .
Li Qingshan asked after quite a while of silence, “Is there anything I can do?”“I’ve just come to tell you this . He has already been avenged . I plan on paying a visit to his home . ” Hao Pingyang said a few other things absentmindedly before leaving .
This was the last bit of existence that this dark-skinned, honest-to-the-core man had left behind .
Li Qingshan stood in silence for a little longer before beginning to practise his forms . In the empty bamboo forest, he practised the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength again and again . He did not stop until he used up the final shred of his strength . Only then did he fall down on the ground, huffing and puffing .
The sky gradually grew brighter . Today, they held a collective funeral on Contention island . It was called a funeral, but most of the cultivators who had died had not even left behind any remains . Even if they did leave behind remains, they had been delivered back home to be buried too .
The various disciples lit lanterns over the lake, remembering their fellow disciples that they might or might not have known .
Li Qingshan gazed off into the distance . The lantern light drifted apart in the darkness, gradually growing further and further away . He returned to Cloudwisp island and continued cultivating .
Pills after pills were converted into energy in his body before turning into power that surged and churned within him, awaiting for a time of release . On Contention island, a building rose straight from the ground . Due to the engineering of the school of Mohism, they built structures at a startling rate . There were many mechanical structures too .
At the top of the building, the twelve school leaders gathered in a single room .
The slovenly daoist priest was utterly displeased with this result . His pursuit of Altar Lord Black Lotus had failed in the end . He had almost leapt to his feet and erupted with curses when the One Thought master glanced at him, but he held himself back in consideration for the atmosphere .
Earth elder Huang took great puffs of his pipe . The school of Agriculture had suffered heavy losses, but not in terms of disciples . Instead, his precious fields and orchards had sustained quite a lot of damage . When the cultists of the White Lotus saw so many spiritual fruits, they forcefully plucked them regardless of whether they were ripe or not . He ended up getting it all back, but it was still quite the loss .
Standing behind them to their sides were their primary disciples . They all sat on their heels quietly too .
Only Wang Pushi lacked a person behind him . Hua Chengzan had entered secluded cultivation . For him to neglect the bigger picture despite his personality, it only demonstrated how determined he was .
Xiao An wore black, silken robes . A wooden pin barely managed to hold it together in a bun, but quite a lot of her long hair still flowed behind her . After digesting a black lotus seed, she had advanced with her cultivation of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty yet again, and she had conveniently pushed her cultivation as a Qi Practitioner to the eighth layer too, which was a better match to her identity as a primary disciple and provided an explanation for the pills the One Thought master had given her . Li Qingshan’s gaze brushed past Ru Xin . She nodded slightly in acknowledgement as her lips curled slightly . This disastrous event that had shaken up the entire academy did not seem to affect her much . He believed that if it were not for the fact that she had to consider the feelings of others, she would still be joking around fearlessly .
This was not just lacking a sense of parental selflessness as a doctor . She was basically heartless . It made Li Qingshan feign a glare at her .
After a sorrowful grieving over the deaths, he suddenly changed the topic . “… but it has also exposed many holes in our system . A certain school leader was so weak and powerless that he couldn’t even keep an eye over his own waist tablet, so is he really shameless enough to continue holding a position he does not deserve?”
He did not mention a name, but everyone’s gazes landed on Liu Chuanfeng, who sat at the very end . Despite his drunken dream, it still had not managed to save him completely .
Liu Chuanfeng felt awkward, but he was accustomed to this . It was not like Liu Zhangqing had the right to dismiss him as a school leader anyway . The only reason why he had to lose his waist tablet was because it was a component in the plan too, so just how was he supposed to stop all of it?
Liu Zhangqing said, “Our academy is in urgent need of a capable and responsible school leader to watch over the formation on Cloudwisp island . ”
Li Qingshan was perplexed . Surely a school could not claim two islands at once? The school leaders would be overwhelmed if that were the case!
