"Good." Li Qingxian nodded gently.
Xiaohua laughed again.
Shen Xiaoyi hadn’t expected Li Qingxian to steal his catchphrase. He said helplessly, "Even if the swarm is lying in wait, we still need to keep them in check. I have a Large Thunder God Pot and a pair of Fierce Sparrow Beaks here. They should be of great help to your borrowed Insect Phase."
Li Qingxian said, "You’re knowledgeable and worldly. Could you tell me some ’stories’ about Life-Seeking? Especially stories about Life-Seeking deep in the wilderness. You just tell the stories, and I’ll just listen."
Shen Xiaoyi shot Li Qingxian a look, then looked down in thought for a moment. "Alright, I’ll tell you three stories."
"The first is a story from the Anx Country of the Old Dynasty. Back then, the Grand Ancestor of Qii Country was brutally slaughtering the people of Anx, cutting off ears and flaying them alive. After one of the Grand Ancestor’s generals massacred a village, a Fate Master happened to pass by. As it turned out, that Fate Master had once lived in that very village. Consumed by a towering rage, he single-handedly hunted the three-thousand-strong Qii army deep into the wilderness. To find the ever-fleeing general, he employed twelve different Life-Seeking Skills..."
"The next is about a Fate Master’s revenge. When he was young, his family was murdered by a Demon Cultivator. After growing up and mastering his Cultivation, he descended from his mountain and began a quest for vengeance that lasted ten years..."
"The third story is about the famous Fate Master, Hek Yunjing..."
After hearing the three stories, Li Qingxian said, "My opponent is a Seventh-Grade Fate Master, so he’ll naturally have many tricks up his sleeve and will surely try to neutralize my Fate Skills. I have zero experience with Fate Skill Duels. While you’re at it, could you tell me a few stories about Fate Masters dueling each other?"
Shen Xiaoyi sighed in resignation. After a moment’s thought, he told several stories about Fate Skill Duels, including one he had witnessed himself.
As Shen Xiaoyi spoke, Li Qingxian seared the stories into his Spirit Platform. Afterward, he replayed the details in his mind over and over. Whenever an insight struck him, he immediately wrote it down, carefully analyzing the cause and effect.
After two hours of this intense, repetitive analysis, Li Qingxian’s understanding of the Life-Seeking Skill deepened, as did his comprehension of Fate Skill Duels.
Finally, Li Qingxian gathered Shen Xiaoyi and the other Cultivators on the mountaintop. He requested a Middle-Grade Daoist Practitioner to lay down a Concealing Array to prevent any outside detection.
Li Qingxian found a white stone, a bowl of living water, a ball of leaves crafted to trap the air within, a branch, a handful of green grass, and, finally, a large yellow swallowtail butterfly.
Using these six items as the primary components, he arranged other Life Materials around the edge of each one—some had as few as three, others as many as seven or eight. He placed a particularly large number of them around the yellow swallowtail butterfly.
Next, a Fifth-Grade Taoist placed a hand on Li Qingxian’s back, slowly channeling Magical Power into his body.
Li Qingxian cast six consecutive spells, refining the six small collections of Life Materials into six distinct phases.
They became, respectively: a half-foot-tall Stone Ox, a Pisces ice sculpture, an Eagle with a round, bulging belly, a Seven-Color Flower, a foot-long green Grasshopper, and finally, a green caterpillar.
Li Qingxian then asked a Daoist Cultivator to step forward. The Daoist Cultivator took out various Magical Artifacts, muttered incantations, performed the rite of Stepping on the Stars and Treading the Dipper, and finally cast his spell.
The six phases shifted and warped, each one generating five illusory copies of itself.
Li Qingxian then used the Life-Separating Skill, forging a Fate Skill connection between each illusory copy and its original.
After that, Li Qingxian called upon the Fourth-Grade Martial Cultivators.
The Fourth-Grade Martial Cultivators produced a total of thirty-six drops of their Essence Blood, which were mixed into a single bowl. Li Qingxian cast a spell, dripping the blood into each of the thirty-six phases, forming a ward of Qi and Blood over them.
Next, Li Qingxian had a Literature Cultivator use the Righteous Concealed Sword, hiding its power within the phases.
He then had a Daoist Cultivator apply Daoist School spells to the thirty-six phases.
Finally, he had a Puppet Cultivator cast various Curses on them.
Once all was done, Li Qingxian began to employ a variety of Fate Skills, leaving the onlookers completely dazzled.
When he was finished casting, a pale Li Qingxian walked up to Shen Xiaoyi and asked, "Brother Shen, is there any other advice you can offer?"
Shen Xiaoyi was silent for a long moment before speaking. "You must not have had a master to guide you. Your methods are crude, and many of the finer details need refinement. But... in a Fate Skill Duel, your victory is all but certain."
"Why?"
"No matter how skilled your opponent is, he’ll only use methods for dealing with a Fate Master. Who could possibly expect you to use not only Fate Skills, but also Daoist Skills, Puppetry, righteous energy, and Martial Arts Qi and Blood? If I were in his shoes, I would undoubtedly fall for your tricks." Shen Xiaoyi’s face was pale.
Li Qingxian said nonchalantly, "That’s where you’re wrong. Didn’t the Great Fate Master Xu Yuanhai borrow the power of an Upper-Grade Daoist Cultivator?"
"But Master Yuanhai merely asked for assistance! He didn’t tamper with his Fate Skills like you’re doing," Shen Xiaoyi retorted.
Li Qingxian pursed his lips. "That’s only because we don’t have anyone from the Evil Sects or any Demon Cultivators on our team, or else I could have thrown in some Evil Skills and Demon Poison. But you’ve just reminded me—Eunuch Fei, do you think we could arrange to have some Evil Sect and Demon Cultivators join our Patrol Bureau in the future?"
"An excellent idea," the old eunuch said, beaming.
"Who on earth did you learn this from? I’ve never heard of a Fate Master doing things this way," Shen Xiaoyi asked, his curiosity piqued.
Li Qingxian replied, "I control the Fate Skills; the Fate Skills do not control me."
Afterward, Li Qingxian checked everything over one more time, added a few more ’sunshine-and-rainbows’ Fate Skills, and nodded with a smile. "Alright, it’s ready. Let’s see who’s lucky enough to have a Fate Skill Duel with a greenhorn like me."
Li Qingxian sent his people out to bury the thirty-six phases in various locations.
The more Shen Xiaoyi watched, the more he shook his head.
Xiaohua asked quietly from the side, "Young Master, what is it?"
Shen Xiaoyi sighed. "I finally understand how he was able to win the title of Play Leader. He’s completely different from any normal Fate Master. He always uses methods from outside the discipline of Fate Skills to empower his Fate Skills."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"I don’t know." Shen Xiaoyi watched Li Qingxian’s retreating back with a puzzled expression.
Many people stood with Shen Xiaoyi, watching Li Qingxian and discussing the miraculous Fate Skills.
Atop the small mountain, Li Qingxian, dressed in green, gazed into the distance.
The morning mist had just dispersed, revealing rolling peaks, jagged rocks, dense green trees, and a winding river.
Throughout the mountain forest, his people were setting the phases in place.
Li Qingxian turned to Shen Xiaoyi. "Young Master Shen, surely you can lend me a Life Disc? They’re a pain to forge and expensive. I thought it would be ages before I could afford one, but who knew I’d be forced to hunt down these rebels without any time to prepare."
"You..." Shen Xiaoyi shot Li Qingxian a fierce glare, then produced a bronze disc about a foot in diameter from an inner pocket as if from thin air and tossed it over.
"This is my spare. It has yet to be bound to a Spirit Platform. Name a price, and it’s yours," said Shen Xiaoyi.
Li Qingxian caught the Life Disc. ’So cautious,’ he thought. ’Shen Xiaoyi was probably afraid of what I might do if I merely borrowed his own Life Disc.’
"I still need to craft a few Life Artifacts, so I don’t have any spare cash. I’ll write you an IOU and pay you back when I’m rich," Li Qingxian said.
"Young Master Li, have you no shame?" Xiaohua cried out.
"Brother Shen is a great guy; he won’t mind. Right, Brother Shen?" Li Qingxian said with a wide grin.
Shen Xiaoyi rolled his eyes at him.
Li Qingxian looked down at the Life Disc. It was bronze with black markings, complete with engravings for Yin and Yang, the Three Powers, the Four Pillars, the Five Elements, the Six Harmonies, the Seven Stars, the Eight Trigrams, the Nine Palaces, the Heavenly Stems, and the Earthly Branches—a standard design, though the materials were of a slightly higher quality.
He tapped the center with a finger. The sound of a grinding millstone and clashing metal rang out simultaneously. The interlocking rings in the middle of the Life Disc separated slightly, and each ring began to slowly rotate.
He discreetly used a Fate Skill to inspect it and confirmed that it was indeed brand new, with no issues whatsoever.
After letting it spin for a moment, Li Qingxian gave it a light pat. His Magical Power surged, and the Life Disc dissolved into a searing, molten liquid. It flowed through his veins into his Spirit Platform, where it finally solidified and took its place within his Life Mansion.