Legend of the Great Sage

“A bountiful harvest!”

Li Qingshan whistled, but he immediately felt troubled again, as there were no mountains nearby to shelter them. Even if they traveled a little further away, the pulling force would just be a little weaker at most, but the Earthen Magnetic Poles were extremely difficult to deal with. Even from so far away, it could make his daemon qi collapse slightly, so if it were closer, would the influence not be even greater?

“Sigh, looks like we have to take it slowly then.”

Even if it was for the sake of the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens, they could not give up right now. He was about to make Gu Yanying fly towards the closest mountain nearby.

Rāhu Xiaoming said, “How long are you going to take then? Are you really going to wait until a space-devouring beast swallows us all?”

“Then what do you think we should do? We can’t just give up like this, can we?”

Li Qingshan could clearly sense the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens calling for him. Perhaps it was only an illusion, but there was something he was absolutely certain about. The Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens would be of great benefit to the Ox Demon Transformation, so he really could not accept simply giving up like this.

“Here!” Rāhu Xiaoming passed the cosmic pouch to Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan accepted the cosmic pouch and said in surprise, “For me?”

“You bastard! I’m just lending it to you.”

“Haha, how stingy.”

Li Qingshan channeled daemon qi into the pouch, and he could immediately control it. Clearly, Rāhu Xiaoming had made it like that for him. He did not say anything, but he was slightly touched inside. Only with this much trust could they truly travel together in one boat.

“Let me teach you how to use it…”

Rāhu Xiaoming explained slowly, and Li Qingshan nodded away. The cosmic pouch was basically a work of a god. It definitely was not as simple as an upgraded version of the sumeru ring. It was basically like a miniature world.

He tossed the cosmic pouch high up. It rapidly expanded, becoming several hundred kilometres wide; this was under the circumstances of Li Qingshan’s limited strength, or it could become even larger. It was a complete mystery what its limit was.

“Open!” Li Qingshan shouted out.

The cosmic pouch opened up like a great stomach that had opened its mouth. It sucked in a deep breath, and the atmospheric winds in the area all whistled over. Strands of Atmospheric Wind Essence entered the pouch.

However, the Eathen Magnetic Poles were completely unaffected, continuing to move around freely without any pattern. Their intrinsic nature was vastly different from Atmospheric Wind Essence. They clearly seemed tangible, but the atmospheric winds did not affect them. Instead, they resembled balls of lightning as they flickered with light.

Rāhu Xiaoming said, “Use your pull!”

“Understood.”

Li Qingshan spread his arms and unleashed the Force Field of the Earth, locking onto the Earthen Magnetic Poles one by one, but the end result was not as smooth as he imagined.

The pull affected the Earthen Magnetic Poles, but they were clearly much more reluctant to leave the mountain. Just like that, they entered a stalemate. Who knew how long it would take before he could pull them over.

Li Qingshan closed his eyes and sensed for the small mountain’s existence. It actually possessed a motherly warmth within the cold, empty outer space. He said softly, “Please lend me your power!”

The great pull from the mountain suddenly weakened, while Li Qingshan’s Force Field of the Earth rapidly strengthened. The balls of Earthen Magnetic Poles immediately shot over like arrows, all landing in the cosmic pouch.

Pulling the red string shut, the pouch was closed, and it gradually shrank, falling into Li Qingshan’s hand again. It was plump and round as if it had been filled with wind. He casually passed it back to Rāhu Xiaoming as if it was a regular money pouch that only contained a few pieces of silver.

Rāhu Xiaoming extended his hand and accepted it before hanging it on his waist again, behaving like it was perfectly normal.

The region had been cleared out, but there were still a large number of world fragments floating around. They gathered more densely here than any place they had passed by. Unless the kunpeng could shrink even further, they could not approach the mountain.

Li Qingshan experimented around. The Force Field of the Earth could affect the world fragments, but even the cosmic pouch was unable to store them, as their nature was definitely on par with the cosmic pouch or even greater.

However, there was no reason to feel any pity either. This trip had been extremely worth it even if they only looked at the amount of Atmospheric Wind Essence and Earthen Magnetic Poles they had gathered. However, the best would always be saved for last.

Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens, I’m coming!

Li Qingshan spread the phoenix wings and said to Rāhu Xiaoming, “Lend me some wind!”

Rāhu Xiaoming opened the cosmic pouch slightly as a wisp of atmospheric winds whistled out. Li Qingshan’s wings of wind reached three thousand metres across, borrowing the winds to rise up. He did not encounter any resistance in outer space, so he reached an extremely great speed. Then he used the Force Field of the Earth and immediately became several times faster again. At the same time, he constantly adjusted his posture to dodge the world fragments.

This was the first time he had flown this quickly through his own strength, which made him understand Gu Yanying’s pursuit slightly. However, what he was after was not the sky, and he loathed the silence of outer space even more. Sensing the calling of the earth, he flew towards the small mountain like a child throwing himself into his mother’s embrace.

Rāhu Xiaoming said, “He’s not going to crash into the mountain and die, right?”

Gu Yanying said, “Surely not!”

From their perspective, Li Qingshan was basically hurtling head-first towards the small mountain. Only when he reached within fifty kilometres of it did he suddenly spread his wings and reverse the force field, but he still moved extremely quickly. Right when he was about to crash into the mountain, he threw a powerful punch.

The small mountain cracked opened silently, and Li Qingshan ventured in along the cracks until he reached the very centre. There, he finally saw the legendary Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens.

As Rāhu Xiaoming had said, its appearance was not special at all. It seemed like an absolutely normal brownish-yellow lump of soil. It did not possess any spiritual qi, much less give off any glow, and it was only the size of a fist.

However, in Li Qingshan’s heart, the tiny lump of earth was even heavier and vaster than all of the mountains here.

Only a pile of countless pieces of rock could be regarded as a mountain. Only the accumulation of an endless amount of soil could be regarded as the earth.

However, on the tiny lump of earth, every single bulge was like a mountain, and every single nook was like a valley. It seemed to be the very origin and symbol of the word “earth”, regardless of where or when, regardless of its size or shape. None of that could influence its nature.

Li Qingshan extended his arms slowly, approaching the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens. Brother ox’s figure suddenly appeared in his heart as everything before his eyes changed, from practising martial arts in Crouching Ox village in the very beginning to the various kinds of cultivation and trials he faced afterwards, the first layer, the second layer… all the way until the fifth layer of the ox demon. Every single ability of the Ox Demon Transformation flashed through his head at that instant, such that he actually felt like he had mastered them all at that instant.

He could not help but say sternly, “The Ox Demon, with its Great Strength, Sinks in the Mud!”

There was no longer a single obstacle between him and the sixth layer of the Ox Demon Transformation anymore. As a matter of fact, he could even break through right now and obtain the unprecedented strength of the ox demon.

He sucked in a deep breath and controlled his emotions. He never expected just seeing the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens would bring him such great benefit. It was similar to when the spirit turtle obtained the power of Ruin’s End.

The power of Ruin’s End was vast and so plentiful that it was boundless, so how could it be compared to the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens? Even in this world that was no smaller than the nine provinces, there was only such a tiny lump of the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens, and it was not always guaranteed to have any. Just how precious and scarce was that?

The tip of his finger touched the Swelling Earth of the Nine Heavens. At that moment, Li Qingshan felt endless power surge through his body, completely trivialising the power he once possessed!