Chapter 348 - Fighting Fire with Water

Li Qingshan suddenly pointed at the picture book on the table. The pages turned hurriedly in a flutter, and the story passed by in a rush before it stopped on the final page.

This is all I can try now!

He did not use Ma Liang as a medium. Instead, he directly used the power of belief to summon this picture!

This was the end of a fairy tale story…

Ma Liang was captured and sent to the imperial palace. The emperor wanted him to paint a money tree, so Ma Liang painted an ocean. The emperor was very displeased by this and cursed, “I want you to paint a money tree, not an ocean!” Ma Liang then drew a small island in the ocean and a very tall, expansive tree on it. “Isn’t this a money tree?”

The emperor immediately beamed. “Draw a ship quickly! I want to go and pick money from the tree in the ocean!” Ma Ling drew a very, very large wooden ship. The emperor boarded it with the empress, his princes, princesses, and many officials and generals. Ma Liang then drew some wind, and the ship set off.

The emperor felt that the ship was too slow, so he called out at the nose of the ship, “Make the wind bigger! Make it bigger!” Ma Liang added a few more strokes to the wind, and the wooden ship sped off into the ocean. Ma Liang added more strokes to the wind, and the ocean began to roar, swelling and surging with waves. The ship teetered about. The emperor became afraid and called out at Ma Liang, “The wind’s big enough! It’s big enough!” Ma Liang feigned ignorance and continued to add to the wind. The ocean unleashed its fury, and the waves surged towards the ship.

The ship slanted and everything onboard was thrown into a mess. The emperor clung onto the mast as he constantly called out, “The wind’s too big! The ship’s going to overturn! Stop painting!” Ma Liang ignored him and continued to add to the wind. The wind became even stronger, blowing over many thick, dark clouds. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed as torrential rain began to fall. The seawater stood like walls as they fell towards the ship…

Han Qiongzhi could not bear to watch on anymore. She was worried that Li Qingshan would be unable to endure the mental shock that came with defeat. She was thinking about how she would comfort him later without encroaching on his dignity. After all, he was such a proud man. He would definitely be happy if she gave him that. If that was not enough, she could just fulfil his wish from a few days ago at most.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of waves. The lake was very distant from here, so why was there the sound of waves? Subsequently, the smell of salt assaulted her nose. She raised her head abruptly.

A huge, wall-like wave stood before Li Qingshan.

“Boundlessness of the Ocean!”

Li Qingshan pushed his hand forward, and the huge wave fell. It swept towards the scorching fire and forcefully pushed it back from right before him.

The flickering tongues of fire and the splashing foam tried to collide, only to be reduced to steam. But at the same time, even more water and fire surged over.

An intense clash unfolded along the lengthy boundary. Steam surged into the air like smoke, forming a white wall before dispersing again due to the depletion of power of belief.

Within the hisses, water extinguished fire and fire vaporised water; this was a battle between water and fire.

But very soon, the huge wave ran out of force, completely evaporated away by the fire. The suppressed flames managed to surge over once more, only to encounter a second wave immediately.

Chu Danqing’s face had been dyed bright red by the fire. It was slightly twisted and even his eyes flickered with red light. He was close to becoming demented as he constantly powered the Hell Rhapsody so that even more flames of hell surged out. He carried the expectations of his master, the hope of the school of Painting, and his wife in-name in the painting. He could not afford to lose this battle. He could not!

Li Qingshan had stopped caring about the depletion of his power of belief a long time ago, conjuring wave after wave. Cloudwisp island was a good place, so how could he let someone else just take it from him? If he lost, all the power of belief he depleted right now would go to waste. He smiled. And, he could not afford to embarrass himself before his future wife and father-in-law.

The circular stadium was split into two, dyed with a scarlet-red and a clear blue; this was a hell of fire and an ocean of water. A twisted boundary constantly advanced and receded, surging about with great intensity.

The burning of fire and the roaring of water was deafening.

Everyone was stunned by the earth-shaking clash of techniques. Originally, they thought they could never be surprised by a battle between Qi Practitioners again after witnessing the battle between Li Qingshan and Chu Tian.

If Li Qingshan and Chu Tian had only demonstrated the ability of Foundation Establishment cultivators every now and then during their battle back then, then Li Qingshan and Chu Danqing had completely exceeded the standard of Qi Practitioners now. They seemed no different from Foundation Establishment cultivators.

If it were just the school of Painting, then so be it. However, Li Qingshan was demonstrating the power of the school of Novels they had mocked all this time. And, Li Qingshan’s cultivation was only at the seventh layer. Had they been underestimating the school of Novels the entire time?

Chu Shidao’s eyebrows scrunched up firmly. He gazed at Chu Danqing’s figure in worry as the latter gave it his all. Never did he think that Li Qingshan would actually possess such strength. He had some understanding regarding the powers of the school of Novels. It should have been limited by the Divine Talisman of Great Creation. This situation had clearly arisen from countless people firmly believing in his novel. Just how did he achieve this in merely half a year?

Liu Chuanfeng had stopped cheering. As he stood on the platform, his mouth hung agape as he raised both hands; he was like a frozen statue. His entire body was tense, as if he was pushing the waves along.

Sun Fubai took in all of this greedily. Both joy and sorrow filled his face. Yes, this was the power of the school of Novels their master had described to them, as well as the thing he had once doubted. Now, Li Qingshan was proving it to them, to everyone.

The school of Novels was not trash. The heavens had bestowed the school of Novels with this child.

Han Qiongzhi held her hands and gazed at Li Qingshan in fascination. She was tempted to tell everyone that this was her man. Of course, everyone actually already knew that.

Wang Pushi shook his head. This kid sure caused a lot of surprises! It had only been a year since he joined the academy. If he had the time to develop, just what level could he reach? The Han family had found a fantastic son-in-law. He would definitely be a capable person in the future.

But at this moment, Han Anjun felt slightly worried aside from his delight, which was soon followed by relief. She had to slowly experience this great life of hers by herself.

Juechenzi saw how the slovenly daoist priest directly poured alcohol into his mouth and smiled. “Master, you’ve become filled with regret again.”

The slovenly daoist priest growled. “Since when did I feel regret? Since when did I feel regret, huh?” He could not help but admit that he did feel a tinge of regret. Even the arts of the school of Novels could be unleashed to such a degree by him. If it were the arts of daoism instead, wouldn’t it be even more powerful? Sigh, if I had known earlier, I would’ve treated this kid a little more politely. There are plenty of disciples I’ve cursed before, but only a fucking kid like you was bold enough to lose your temper at me!

At this moment, the glow on the Hellscape Rhapsody gradually dimmed. No matter how much effort he put in as a painter, all paintings had a moment when they ran out of power.

The water that Li Qingshan had conjured was just regular water, slightly lacklustre compared to the fire, but with the mutual regulation of the five elements, it was extremely easy for water to put out fire, and it would take tremendous amounts of energy for fire to evaporate water.

Li Qingshan suddenly kicked up an even taller, even larger wave. I’ll give up on all the power of belief I’ve accumulated over the past half a year. I’d like to see just how much longer you can last!

Chu Dangqing was at his wits end. He continued to power the Hellscape Rhapsody, and a tiny crack appeared on the painting. He no longer cared. Even if he had to destroy this painting, he would continue.

“Danqing, that’s enough!” Chu Shidao’s voice rang out in Chu Danqing’s head.

“But master…”

“If you keep fighting, it won’t be a victory for either of you.” Chu Shidao was a person who appreciated paintings, so how could he just watch as Chu Danqing destroyed the Hellscape Rhapsody he had spent six months painting? And, Li Qingshan showed no signs of running out of power of belief. Chu Danqing’s chances of triumphing had already approached zero.

Chu Danqing could not disobey his master. He kicked over the table and stowed the Hellscape Rhapsody away reluctantly.

Li Qingshan immediately stopped using the Divine Talisman of Great Creation. It had not been easy for him to gather the power of belief. Every bit counted.

In a single instant, the water and fire subsided together.

Everyone found this incredibly surreal. If it were not for the clear traces left by the scorching fire and surging water in the stadium, they basically would have thought it was all a dream.

Silence descended. Everyone exchanged glances. Just who had won?

The school leaders, however, all saw it clearly. Liu Zhangqing shot a questioning glance towards Chu Shidao.

Chu Shidao raised his hand at him before making his way over to Chu Danqing’s side. He patted his shoulder in consolation and said to Li Qingshan, “You’ve won.”

Li Qingshan clasped his hands. “You’ve gone easy on me.”

However, he saw Chu Danqing’s eyes redden as his lips trembled, as if he was about to burst out crying. Why do I feel like I’ve become a great villain who bullies naive boys? It’s just a match. Do you have to be like this?

Before this, while Li Qingshan was radiating with confidence, he had already prepared himself for defeat. After all, nothing was absolute. Compared to the crushing defeats he had suffered in the past, a match that did not even threaten his life was absolutely nothing. The worst outcome would just be moving to another island and developing there. The school of Novels did not depend on its environment too much. As long as his thoughts remained with him, would development really be an issue?

As someone who had climbed up from the very bottom, there was no way Li Qingshan could understand Chu Danqing, who had never suffered any setbacks during his decade of learning paintings. He had lost his first battle right after emerging from the mountains, so it really was difficult for him to put up with this contrast. Li Qingshan only thought he had won a powerful painting, but never did he imagine it would be Chu Danqing’s wife.

Cheers rang out from the platforms. The school of Novels did not really have a good reputation, but compared to the school of Painting who were outsiders, they were still more attached to it. After all, they had spent all these years cursing it. Now, everyone recognised the power of the school of Novels.

They could actually conjure a character who could use the abilities of painters to defeat painters; this was simply unbelievable. Some of the new disciples even began to regret that they had not enrolled for the school of Novels instead.

With Liu Zhangqing presiding over the matter, Chu Shidao and Liu Chuanfeng arrived at the centre of the stadium. Their primary disciples followed behind them.

Chu Shidao offered the Heavenly Maiden Scatters the Blossoms with both hands. “I’ve long heard that the school of Novels can conjure anything and everything in a miraculous manner. With what I’ve seen today, it really is true. You really do live up to your reputation as one of the ten standard schools designated by the founding emperor.

“Your dear disciple is even more so a talent among men. We’re sincerely convinced with our defeat this time. If I have offended you in any way in the past, please forgive me, school leader Liu. This painting is an amalgamation of all my efforts, so please accept it as an apology from me. Please treat her well too.”

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