Legend of the Great Sage

Beyond the Nine Heavens.

“Little bro, have you ever been to the heavens?” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes asked.

Li Qingshan shook his head. “I haven’t.”

The colourful, auspicious cloud was like a small boat, carrying them through the endless darkness.

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes wanted to ask something else, but he did not end up doing that.

Li Qingshan stared at the sun and moon with focus, comprehending the pattern that they followed and said nothing more either.

For a moment, the “small boat” sank into silence. The dark stillness slowly emanated over, seeping into all of their pores and making it even more difficult to speak up. It was as if they would be disturbing two primordial gods the moment they said anything. After that, everything would be remoulded, including themselves.

The sun and moon grew larger and brighter until it reached an unbelievable level. It made the colourful cloud seem even more insignificant, like a speck of dust on the black curtains.

Chao Tianjiao and Li Liehuo had never heard of the Battle of Mending Heaven before, and they did not understand the true form of the sun and moon. However, they could clearly feel a powerful and invisible pressure, even grander and more ungraspable than the heavenly emperor’s might.

Perhaps due to the nature of humans, when Li Liehuo saw Li Qingshan stare into the moon for so long with a strange expression, like he was looking at a living thing or even family, he could not help but observe the moon closely as well.

In the beginning, the moon was only a moon…

Afterwards, the moon became rather strange…

And after that, Li Liehuo’s bronze skin gradually turned pale-white and transparent like the moonlight…

“Disciple.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes patted Li Liehuo’s back and warned with a smile. “Do not stare into the sun or moon!”

“Huh!?”

Li Liehuo shuddered and suddenly returned to his senses, staggering back by half a step and almost falling back on his bottom. He discovered that in just that short while, the fire in his Origin Soul had already become an ember in the wind. If he stared at it for a little longer, he might have died from staring at the moon.

But he clearly felt like he had only taken a few extra glances.

He was soaked in cold sweat as if he had just jerked away from a nightmare. He cursed inside, What kind of damned place is beyond the Nine Heavens!?

Chao Tianjiao smiled. “First senior brother, if you feel cold, you’re welcome to stare at the sun and warm up a little.”

She clearly knew the rules of the heavens, so she stared at the Primordial World the entire time, using that as an anchor point. She would glance at Li Qingshan from time to time, but she would never directly stare at the sun or moon.

In her knowledge, even True Immortals faced the risk of dying if they got too close to the sun or the moon.

As he cultivated, Li Qingshan also smiled.

The auspicious cloud immediately became lively, except Li Liehuo felt a little depressed. He had gone through several thousand years of cultivation and finally became a Human Immortal, a divine general, yet he could not even look at the moon. Wouldn’t that mean he would not even be able to raise his head once he arrived in the Primordial World?

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes seemed to read his thoughts. He comforted him. “Disciple Liehuo, you can look at them once you get there.”

Li Liehuo was very tempted to ask why, but under his various emotions, he decided against that.

“Li Liehuo.” Li Qingshan stared at the moon and asked without looking back, “Do you know what the moon is?”

Li Liehuo was surprised. He never expected Li Qingshan to strike up a conversation with him. He felt like there was a certain strangeness to Li Qingshan’s question, so he answered with a question, “Isn’t the moon the moon? What else can it be?”

Li Qingshan turned around and said seriously, “Your mother.”

“Motherfucker! Li Qingshan!

Li Liehuo flew into a rage. Flames burned in his eyes. He suddenly took a step forward and threw a punch at Li Qingshan’s wretched face.

He had suffered far too much insult today. He no longer cared whether Li Qingshan was a true god or an honoured guest of the heavenly emperor anymore. He wanted to fight him.

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes did not try to stop him either, taking half a step back with a smile.

Li Qingshan seemed to anticipate Li Liehuo’s actions, so he tilted his head slightly and easily avoided the punch. Then he continued to ask, “Have you ever heard of Nüwa creating humanity?”

With that, Li Qingshan held his breath as if he was waiting for something.

Immediately, a solemn atmosphere began to radiate from him, making Li Liehuo’s punch freeze mid-air. He gazed at Li Qingshan hesitantly, no longer certain whether he was toying with him or not.

Li Qingshan smiled. Sure enough, the dark night was just as silent as before. No lightning fell.

This was not merely a joke or an attempt to spread Nüwa’s kindness. He was investigating the space here. It was very likely for this place to end up as a battlefield. 24062

And as he had expected, special “natural phenomena” like heavenly tribulations were unable to unleash their might in this space.

If “lightning” was Fuxi’s authority, then the darkness was Nüwa’s domain.

This meant that if he Merged the Void with the Dao in this space, it probably would not trigger the eighth heavenly tribulation. However, being directly exposed to the glow of the sun and moon would probably be even more dangerous than facing the heavenly tribulation.

That was only his secondary objective. His primary objective was to cast out his greatest gambling chip in this journey—”wake up mum”.

“Li Qingshan, stop with the nonsense! Humans are the paragon of creatures. How can they be created by others?”

Chao Tianjiao shouted suddenly, except her large eyes were filled with anticipation. She had heard far too many secrets today, so it was fine if she heard some more. This was not just to satiate her curiosity, but also to accumulate comprehension for cultivation.

“Tianjiao!”

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes shot a glance at her. He became stern the moment he heard Nüwa’s name and subconsciously tidied his appearance. He could talk about the decline of the Shennong tribe freely, but he had to maintain some respect for “her”.

Then he said to Li Qingshan earnestly, “Do you really insist so much on opposing us? Just what benefit would you get out of this?”

Li Qingshan smiled. Very good. The opponent had accepted this move of his.

This was not pointless chatter along the way, but an actual attempt at deterrence.

Very clearly, the Elder of Heavenly Tomes understood the significance involved as an envoy of the heavenly emperor.

“Heh, as someone’s child, isn’t it lamentable if you can’t even mention your mother’s name?”

Li Qingshan glanced deeply at the Elder of Heavenly Tomes before turning to the others and describing the history of the Battle of Mending Heaven…

Originally, the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance spent the entire trip fiddling around with his Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes, but now, he had rolled up the painting in a hurry, listening along with his full attention. Blue light flickered in his eyes as he fervently recorded, analysed, and deduced everything…

Li Liehuo and Chao Tianjiao were both dumbfounded. The sun and moon were actually living existences, and they were existences even greater than the heavenly emperor! Humanity actually possessed such origins, and they had almost been eradicated!

Then Li Qingshan explained to Li Liehuo, “The myriad paths are all closely connected to yin and yang. The path you walk approaches extreme yang, so you need to draw in a certain amount of yin for balance. However, if yin flares and yang declines, then your fire will be extinguished. That is why you can’t stare into the moon…”

“But if you stare into the sun, you’ll burst into flames with a whoosh. Yin emerges from the extremes of yang. Yeah, once you get to the Primordial World, yin and yang would have melded together, so it wouldn’t matter anymore.”

Not only was Li Liehuo greatly inspired by those words, but even Chao Tianjiao’s eyes lit up as if she had realised something.

Li Liehuo asked, “Aren’t you afraid that my cultivation will progress drastically and I’ll turn into a threat against you?”

“Just you?” Li Qingshan laughed rudely and patted him on the shoulder. “You better go cultivate for another ten millennia!”

However, Li Liehuo did not become angered. Instead, he felt a strange sensation. Li Qingshan is still that Li Qingshan!