Legend of the Great Sage

The Xuanming dwelling.

The great wave produced by the black dragon rapidly settled down as if an invisible power flattened the surface of the water.

All of the sounds vanished. There was no longer a single ripple on the water surface anymore. It was as smooth as a black mirror.

The bottom of the abyss was connected to the ocean, which was several times larger than the entrance of the cave. A beam of light poured in from above, but it could only illuminate a small part of the water, like a spotlight in the centre of the stage.

Li Qingshan stood directly in the light, above the black water, smiling towards Pi Yangqiu above.

Pi Yangqiu clearly saw his own reflection inside the “black mirror”. His face was both horrified and twisted. He wanted to flee instinctively, as far as he could go, even if it meant deserting the sect.

However, anyone with a bit of common sense knew that turning around and fleeing when confronted with a vicious beast would only set off their hunting instincts.

He tried his best to calm down, forcing himself to meet Li Qingshan’s eyes. He descended slowly and said, “I… erm… this…”

Despite how sharp and clever-tongued he usually was, all he could produce now were broken words.

He was absolutely terrified!

This fear had completely exceeded his expectations. Imagining running into Li Qingshan and actually confronting Li Qingshan was vastly different.

He was like a person who had only ever seen tigers in paintings suddenly encountering a real tiger in the forest one day. The trembling beard, the yellowed teeth, the orangey-red eyes, the bloody aura—everything was far too realistic, filling up his face, making him lose his breath, leaving him immobilised.

Pi Yangqiu had already used up all of his courage by descending and facing the tiger. If he knew exactly how he would feel right now earlier, he would have never entered this place even if it killed him.

“No hurry. Take your time.”

Li Qingshan basically understood what “stunned out of your wits” meant now, but he was rather puzzled inside, I’m not that terrifying?

He personally believed he did not give off any murderousness and even his hostility was lacking. He only wanted to learn about the Myriad sect’s current situation and perhaps recruit Pi Yangqiu in the process. He had no interest in killing him.

Little did he know that in Pi Yangqiu’s eyes, his pitch-black eyes were as unfathomable as the black water beneath his feet, like thousands of black dragons churning and roaring under the calm surface, desiring slaughter and destruction, where just uttering a single incorrect word would have him eaten, never to be reborn again.

After undergoing the seventh heavenly tribulation, Li Qingshan had already fully reached the realm of immortals and buddhas. He already possessed an intrinsic difference from Yang Soul cultivators like Pi Yangqiu.

And as the lord of the Demon domain, he possessed the fury and hatred that all the living creatures of the Demon domain had accumulated over countless years—desiring slaughter, desiring destruction, desiring revenge, revenge against all the living creatures and the gods and buddhas up above.

This power that came at a cost constantly eroded away at his mind. Even when it was suppressed by the Spirit Turtle Transformation, he still ended up exposing a hint of it.

In other words, it was not that Li Qingshan possessed hostility towards Pi Yangqiu, but that he possessed hostility towards all of the living creatures. Compared to the influence of the “living”, the wills of the “dead” was much more intense and turbulent, but it was also simpler and cruder, instead easier to control, so their influence was limited. As a result, even he grew accustomed to it as time went on, forgetting about it.

One was dripping water, while the other was a flood. The latter was almost insignificant, but it could influence him unconsciously. It could not be resisted. The latter produced a mighty disturbance, but as long as he guided it properly and vented when it was appropriate, he could pacify it.

People all described the might of gods to be hellish. Under such pressure, how could Pi Yangqiu not be terrified?

At the same time, he was under the impression that he had attacked the Xuanming dwelling and deeply offended Li Qingshan, so it made perfect sense for Li Qingshan to want to kill him. That was called having a guilty conscience. It made him even more frantic and terrified as a result.

However, to Li Qingshan right now, a dwelling was nothing. He was supposed to give up on everything in the Human realm anyway. Now, he treated the entire Demon domain as his dwelling, yet the demonic land he gave up with each passing day was worth more than ten thousand Xuanming dwellings.

In the future, when he raised an army, he would be conquering the six realms of saṃsāra, making the flames of war burn even beyond the Nine Heavens. He would be taking back much more than just a dwelling.

Before he knew it, great winds rose and the kun transformed into the peng, rising up into the heavens with the sky on its shoulders, unstoppable and southbound.

The swallows that once accompanied him were no longer able to understand his current thoughts.

From the perspective of a cultivator, the loss of a dwelling was a matter of life and death. It was worth fighting a war, worth risking their lives. However, to a god, it was merely bickering over tiny pieces of land. It had lost its meaning.

Seeing Li Qingshan approach him, Pi Yangqiu thought he wanted to kill him. He no longer dared to stare him in the eyes. He suddenly lurched forwards, throwing himself on the ground. “Spare me, first senior brother! Dai Mengfan forced me to do all this!”

“Dai Mengfan?” Li Qingshan heard another familiar name. He had quite a fine impression of this “third senior sister”, or perhaps it was better said that he had quite a fine impression of all the good-looking women that did not oppose him.

He could not help but curse with a smile, “You bastard, you’re a thief, yet you’re still trying to push the blame onto others! How can Dai Mengfan order you around?”

“I’m innocent!” Pi Yangqiu wailed out. He blabbed up everything that happened in the Myriad sect, especially Dai Mengfan’s various actions that broke the usual convention. He absolutely hated Dai Mengfan for sending him on a mission that would cost him his life like this.

In the beginning, Li Qingshan found it quite interesting. He knew Dai Mengfan treasured her life very much and hated war. The position of first senior sister had probably been forced on her by the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance. Her expression back then must have been very fascinating.

However, when Pi Yangqiu told him about what Ruan Yaozhu had said in the Direct Disciple hall, he could not help but sigh. “Yaozhu, oh Yaozhu!”

Once again, he would be letting her down.

He soon heard how Dai Mengfan had ordered Ruan Yaozhu to capture Li Fengyuan, and his face sank slightly. He smiled, revealing his teeth. “Does this woman really think I’m powerless against her?”

Seeing how his attempt at shifting the hatred had succeeded, Pi Yangqiu let out a great sigh of relief inside. “Hmph, she thought that the first senior brother wouldn’t be returning after entering the Demon domain. Little does she know that Li Qingshan’s powers are beyond her imagination. First senior brother, I’ll take you to the Hundred Herbs garden right now!”

Li Qingshan shifted his gaze to him. “You also thought I would never return again, right?”

“This…” Pi Yangqiu was unable to answer him, but he did raise his head silently and glance at Li Qingshan. His eyes swivelled, recovering their usual unpredictability. He gradually recovered from his initial fear and thought, The Desireless Heavenly Palace has set up nets across the entire Human realm. Once Heretic Gods enter the Human realm, they’ll be discovered immediately. How is he avoiding the Desireless Heavenly Palace’s watch?

He had been silently sensing Li Qingshan’s aura the entire time, which further confirmed a thought of his, The one before me is not Li Qingshan’s main body!

That was true. Li Qingshan’s main body obviously could not leave the Demon domain, or the ones visiting him would not be the Divine Generals of the Six Ding and Six Jia anymore, but the Zhenwu Emperor himself.

The one standing here right now was indeed just a clone, and it was only one of his many clones. He had scattered his clones throughout the Human realm to raise an army, preparing to draw all the demonic cultivators throughout the world to the Demon domain.

War was imminent. He obviously would not do nothing and wait for others to attack him. He had to work towards strengthening himself and weakening the enemy.

In order to avoid being detected by the Desireless Heavenly Palace, none of his clones possessed a particularly great cultivation. The one here was relatively stronger compared to the rest, but even it was only at the third heavenly tribulation. It was stronger than all Origin Soul cultivators and could rival Yin Soul cultivators, but it was not the opponent of Yang Soul cultivators.

Gods were not omniscient and omnipotent. An ocean might be vast, but it was still limited. No matter how great the power was, once it was dispersed, it would only form trickling streams.

Pi Yangqiu had only been frightened by Li Qingshan’s aura, but he seemed to realise this gradually.

Li Qingshan was just about to ask him, Are you willing to stick with me?

Pi Yangqiu suddenly leapt back onto his feet from his prostrating posture and shot into the air, flying away without any regard.

“Err… he fled.” Li Qingshan had no idea what to say.