83: Chapter 83 Vice President Qi

Hearing Pei Se's request to see the deputy president, Old Chen was slightly stunned.

He raised his head and looked into Pei Se's eyes, which were filled with seriousness.

"Miss Pei, not just anyone can see the deputy president. Although you are at the Fourth-Turn, you know the rules—"

"Old Chen, just help me report it."

Pei Se interrupted Old Chen and looked down at Huang Zu's head on the table.

Old Chen followed her gaze and saw the head of the Fourth-Turn Great Demon.

He gritted his teeth, stood up, and said,

"Fine. Since you brought back the head of a Fourth-Turn Great Demon this time, I suppose the deputy president won't mind."

"Wait here, and I'll go report it."

After Old Chen left, Pei Se leaned against the edge of the table and took another gulp of wine.

The surrounding people from the Demon Slayer Association had not dispersed yet; some were still staring at that head.

Some were secretly glancing at her, while others were whispering among themselves.

Pei Se ignored them and simply drank her wine while waiting.

After a while, Old Chen returned, walking fast with sweat still hanging on his forehead.

He stopped in front of Pei Se, caught his breath, and his voice still carried a hint of disbelief.

"The deputy president said to let you in."

Pei Se hung her wine gourd back on her waist, picked up the head, and followed Old Chen through the corridor deeper into the Demon Slayer Association.

The gazes of the people behind her chased her retreating figure until she disappeared around the corner.

After Pei Se's figure vanished, the demon slayers still in the main hall began to discuss animatedly.

After all, the deputy president of the Huainan Circuit Demon Slayer Association was rumored to have the worst temper among the four deputy presidents.

According to past records, he rarely ever met martial artists below the Fourth-Turn.

After passing through the corridor, Old Chen stopped in front of a door, stepped aside, and motioned for Pei Se to go in by herself.

Then he turned and left, his footsteps quickly vanishing at the end of the corridor.

Pei Se stood at the doorway, took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and walked in.

The room was not large and had simple furnishings: a table, a chair, and a bookshelf.

Wood shavings were piled on the table, and the air was filled with a faint scent of pine.

A one-armed man sat behind the table, his right sleeve hanging empty by his side, while his left hand held a carving knife as he lowered his head to carve a piece of wood.

His left hand was very steady, the carving knife moving across the wood stroke by stroke, unhurriedly and steadily.

Wood shavings curled up from the tip of the knife, falling onto the table and also onto his knees.

That piece of wood had already taken initial shape as a dragon with its head held high.

The patterns on the dragon's body were intricate and clearly visible, and even the scales on its claws were carved out.

Pei Se walked up to the table, stopped, and looked down at the forming dragon, looking at that knuckle-prominent hand holding the carving knife.

She lowered her eyelids, cupped her fists, and bowed.

"Deputy President Qilianshan."

This deputy president was named Qilianshan.

Hearing Pei Se's voice, Qilianshan's hand holding the carving knife paused for a moment.

That hand lifted from the wood, placed the carving knife on the table, and picked up the half-finished dragon.

He blew away the wood shavings on it, examined it over and over again, and placed it back on the table.

Then the one-armed man raised his head, revealing a sharply defined face with thick eyebrows, deep eyes, and high cheekbones.

Being stared at by those eyes, Pei Se only felt a sharp, fierce aura rushing towards her face.

Qilianshan glanced at Pei Se, his gaze sweeping over the two clinking wine gourds at her waist.

"I heard you brought back the head of a Fourth-Turn Great Demon?"

Qilianshan said indifferently.

Pei Se placed the cloth bag on the table, untied the opening, and revealed Huang Zu's head.

Qilianshan's gaze landed on that head, and then he raised his head to look at Pei Se.

"You killed it?"

Pei Se shook her head.

"No, the one who killed this Fourth-Turn Great Demon was—"

"A deity!"

Hearing the two words 'deity', Qilianshan's expression did not change at all.

Pei Se knew that Qilianshan did not believe it.

She opened her mouth to say something, but only saw Qilianshan extend his left hand towards her.

Qilianshan extended his left hand with his five fingers slightly spread.

A surge of Qi and Blood gushed out from his palm—not the kind of turbulent, overflowing blood qi, but a Qi and Blood condensed to the absolute limit.

That Qi and Blood drifted out from his palm like a wispy blood-red thread, burrowing into Pei Se's abdomen and entering her body.

Pei Se's body suddenly stiffened.

She felt that Qi and Blood roaming through her body, unhurried and steady, like an invisible hand rummaging through something in her Qi Sea.

Her expression changed, not because of pain,

But because she was witnessing Qi and Blood projection right before her eyes!

This was something a low-Turn martial artist could never possibly achieve.

On the path of Qi and Blood Martial Arts, refining the skin, tempering the bones, changing the tendons, and cleansing the marrow all focused on oneself—the bones, muscles, skin, flesh, and Qi and Blood inner force.

Qi and Blood could only circulate within the body and would disperse the moment it left the body; this was an ironclad law.

External release of Qi and Blood?

She had only ever heard of it in legends.

After all, for low-Turn martial artists, Qi and Blood was the foundation of martial arts and the fuel of the physical body; leaving the body meant consumption.

No martial artist would do this, nor could any martial artist do this.

But Qilianshan did it; his Qi and Blood gushed out from his palm, roaming inside her body with complete freedom of retraction and effortless mastery.

Shock rippled through Pei Se's pupils.

Qilianshan's eyebrows twitched.

His Qi and Blood found that thing inside Pei Se's body.

A blood-red talisman.

This talisman was quietly suspended inside Pei Se's body.

Qilianshan's Qi and Blood paused at the edge of this talisman, as if observing or confirming something.

Then he withdrew his Qi and Blood, and the feeling of being manipulated receded from Pei Se's body.

Pei Se's breathing relaxed, and her back was already soaked in sweat.

Qilianshan pulled his hand back, rested it on the table, and tapped his fingers lightly on the desktop, tap, tap.

After a moment of silence, Qilianshan slowly spoke.

"Who gave you that talisman inside your body?"

"Replying to the deputy president, it was given by that deity."

Pei Se coughed a few times and replied.

Qilianshan's fingers tapped twice on the desktop, his voice very soft.

"A deity?"

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Absurd."

Pei Se did not speak, simply standing there.

She knew how absurd her words sounded to others.

She hadn't believed it either, in the past.

Until she witnessed the divine miracle of Lord Qinling with her own eyes.

Qilianshan moved his gaze away from her face and onto Huang Zu's head.

His gaze paused at the severed cut of the neck, and then he continued,

"This talisman indeed possesses some mystical properties."

He withdrew his gaze and picked up the carving knife once more.

"It's a pity that it only has some effect on martial artists below the Fourth-Turn, and is of no use to martial artists at the Fourth-Turn and above."

"As for any talk of deities..."

He lowered his head and continued carving the dragon, the carving knife roaming across the wood, wood shavings curling up from the tip of the knife and falling onto the table.

"Absurd."

Hearing Qilianshan's disdain for the talk of deities, Pei Se could only give a helpless smile.

"However, considering that you still brought back the head of a Fourth-Turn Great Demon, and the talisman on your body indeed possesses some mystical properties—"

"Speak of your purpose in seeing me."

Qilianshan said indifferently.