Legend of the Great Sage

In the endless darkness, the flow of time became blurred. A very long time seemed to have passed, yet it only seemed like an instant at the same time.

However, he could clearly remember that this was the twenty-third time his mirror clone and his main body had merged together.

HIs mind was in intense pain. When he returned to his “original state” again, all of the “incorrect” thoughts had been corrected again. Remaining “true to himself” turned out to be such a “troubling” matter.

The pain came quickly and receded quickly too. He could vaguely hear the sound of shattering memories. It was crisp like the shattering of thin ice. The fragments merged with the black water.

However, he did not know what he had forgotten. It was probably something not too important, but he still could not help but tremble.

Through his knowledge about consciousness, he understood one thing. There was nothing that bore absolutely no importance. Important matters were always composed of a great pile of unimportant matters, just like how there were always the efforts of others behind the legends of heroes.

He was like a colourful painting whose edges were being seeped by black ink. If this continued, just how long could he maintain his so-called important matters?

In outer space, he lost his powers, but here, he was losing himself.

He also found it ironic and darkly humorous. Once he lost a majority of his memories, the Yang Soul in hell would instead be closer to the original meaning behind the name “Li Qingshan”.

What if someone asked who exactly was the real “Li Qingshan”?

The answer was extremely simple. The stronger one was Li Qingshan!

This was the path of cultivation, a place where power collided, where the clashing of wills never ended. The weak were not worthy of carrying that name. The weak were not worthy of anything.

He had already swum through Ruin’s End for a very, very long time, but he still did not see anything, whether it was a streak of light or a speck of dust. There was only endless black water.

But in his head, there was a clear “map”, starting from where he had first entered Ruin’s End and constantly following his journey. The path he had travelled was like a swirl, expanding outwards.

At the same time, he continued to give off light constantly as he used the Profound Light Illuminates All to observe hundreds of kilometres away, so there was a very large gap between his path.

However, in the boundless Ruin’s End, he was still like a lost firefly, wasting his glow for nothing.

Though, the light was not just light. It also contained a message, using the deep, black water as a medium where the light was devoured by the darkness to broadcast it even further.

Mind to Mind—the second new ability of the Spirit Turtle Transformation.

This was a long-range communication technique. He could link up with the minds of others from an extreme distance away, allowing him to observe through the Profound Light Illuminates All while conveying messages at the same time.

Under normal circumstances, it did not seem particularly useful, but it was perfect as a broadcast system right now, constantly emitting a signal in hopes that the prisoner of Ruin’s End would receive it.

Because overly-complex messages would be lost easily, there were only three words in the message in order to ensure it was transmitted sufficiently far away—Who am I?

Not only did he simplify the message to the extreme, but the question was even relatively easy to attract attention too. If there were any lurking enemies, he would not expose his objectives so easily either. He would just be treated as a regular spirit turtle in thought.

Perhaps it was also so that he could constantly remind himself.

Everything was going according to plan. It possessed the caution of a spirit turtle, but it was still a foolish idea.

The path before him was hazy. Perhaps he would receive a reply in the next moment. Perhaps he would never receive a reply.

In the end, he would just be like a frog sitting within the warm water, gradually being boiled alive. Oh right, frogs were not actually that stupid, yet as potentially the most intelligent race in the world, a spirit turtle, he was unable to avoid this fate.

As a result, he began an endless spiral in the endless black water.

When his mirror clone and main body merged together the hundred and eighth time, another portion of his memories were lost after the expected pain.

When his mirror clone and main body merged together the one thousand and eight hundredth time, he could no longer recall a single book from the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes, including the Heavenly Tome of Liberty. All that remained of it was a name.

Just how long had passed? A year or two? Or eight or ten?

He could no longer remember. Originally, it was very easy to calculate. The time to merge together again was basically identical, yet he had even forgotten that now. And, whenever he merged together, he would forget it once, as remembering something like that was completely pointless. Instead, it would only eat away at his willpower.

Time became a blurry concept.

Upon the three thousand, five hundred and twenty eighth time, he did not feel like he was spinning anymore. Instead, it felt like the entire Ruin’s End was spinning. The deathly silence was just an illusion. In reality, it was a great whirlpool, spinning away at extreme speeds.

He was unable to sense it, just like how humans could not sense the spin of the earth. The whirlpool was far too large, and he basically maintained the same relative speed within it, so he did not feel like he was moving.

He personally believed he was advancing along the ingenious path he had come up, but in reality, he was constantly approaching the centre of the whirlpool.

Of course, even he himself was not sure if this was a true result of his calculations or a false illusion. With the loss of his memories, everything became ambiguous.

By the seven thousand, seven hundred and fifty ninth time—who am I?

He shut his eyes slowly, reaching the ninth layer of the Spirit Turtle Transformation. Everything was over!

He had even offered up his name, yet he still received no reply.

Before despair could even surge forth, it had already begun to recede. He was extremely calm and extremely weary.

With his last bit of consciousness, he let out one final message before sinking into an eternal slumber.

“Who am I?!!!!!”

Suddenly, a voice barged into his sea of consciousness, like an avalanche, like thunder, like a million tigers roaring away furiously at the same time. It jerked him awake, such that he shrank up in his turtle shell uncontrollably.

The voice continued to echo violently. Even the turtle shell shuddered and reverberated like some sort of musical instrument.

Li Qingshan widened his eyes. Ravishing joy filled him. Even though he had basically forgotten why he felt happy, he still felt happy.

“I’ve found you?”

The silent water surged violently, forming countless swirls and torrents. Every single swirl and every single torrent was hundreds of times larger than him. Even Daemon Sovereigns could be torn apart easily.

But he was fearless. As the Spirit Turtle Transformation reached utter completion, he had already become a pure-blooded spirit turtle. With each swirl was a marker and each torrent as a path, he accelerated towards the depths of Ruin’s End.

Suddenly, a towering, uneven figure appeared before his eyes, like a crouching beast, emerging from the endless darkness and fading off into the endless darkness, stretching for thousands of kilometres!

“It’s a mountain!”

He had never thought that there would be a day when he felt so intrigued by a mountain, as well as so attached to one.

That was not just because this was Ruin’s End, but also because he had lost all of his memories regarding mountains, including his own name, so this was equivalent to seeing a mountain for the first time in his life.

He approached it slowly. The mighty voice had originated from this exact mountain. The craggy rocks and towering boulders were already within his reach, but he found nothing else. There were only cliffs apart from the stones.

He used the Profound Light Illuminates All and scanned the entire mountain range closely. He discovered that there seemed to be a few words carved on the mightiest peak.

He went up to take a closer look. It turned out to be three large words that stretched thousands of metres across—Lion Spirit Ranges!

The name seemed slightly familiar, but he was unable to recall where it was from. He still did not find anything living either, so he asked loudly, “Where are you?”

A voice a million times louder than his answered, “I’m below your feet!”

Rumble! The black water surged and waves heaved, creating countless currents.

Li Qingshan unleashed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell, blocking the soundwave barely. He gazed down and thought of something. “You’re crushed under the mountain?”

He found this setting to be very familiar, so he could not help but look around. Was there supposed to be something like a paper talisman that he was supposed to remove, and then they would set off to the west, where he would go on a meteoric rise in life?

TL: This is a reference to how the Monkey King Sun Wukong was trapped under a mountain before he was released by Tang Sanzang in Journey to the West.

However, the voice laughed, making the mountains shake. It answered with a question, “How am I supposed to be crushed by these mountains?”

Li Qingshan was taken aback. This was Ruin’s End. Even if there were these mountains, they should have been floating in water, so there was nothing to crush him against. “Then you’re sealed in the mountains?”

“You’re on my back.”

“Surely not!”

Li Qingshan was astounded. He pushed the Profound Light Illuminates All to the limit and tried to take in the entire mountain range in a single view. Only then did he realise it very much resembled a crouching, male lion. The mountain he was standing on was the lion’s arched back.

Having completed the Spirit Turtle Transformation, he was already quite large, yet he was like a flea on the lion’s back.

Rumble!

The lion raised its head, making the mountains heave. He let out a great yawn, revealing a pair of fangs that resembled two upside-down mountains. He looked back at him. His brown eyes were like two scorching suns, immediately purging the endless darkness.

“Little fellow, who are you?”

“I’m… well, I’m not some little fellow! Can you talk a little softer?” Li Qingshan knew what he was facing, yet he did not feel fear. Instead, he felt extremely close to him.

“I can’t, little fellow.” The lion declined without any hesitation.

Li Qingshan grinned. This damned lion! He’s clearly completely unaware of being a prisoner.

The lion flicked his ear. “Please watch your thoughts. I can hear them.”

“And who are you?” Li Qingshan could vaguely guess the lion’s identity. He had preserved that part of his knowledge.

“I forgot!” The lion announced proudly. “But my first brother once called me a foolish lion, so you can just call me the old fool!”

Li Qingshan rolled his eyes. What was there to be proud of about being called a “foolish lion”? Perhaps what was worth being proud about was that “first brother”! He probably did not need any additional explanation for that. The existence here should have been able to see everything on him. Though, why did this “old fool” sound a little familiar?

“Whatever. If I’ve guessed correctly, you’re the Mountain-moving Great Sage, the Lion Spirit King!”

The Lion Spirit King glanced at the three large words etched on his back. “Ah yes, that’s it.”

“……”

“...”

So that was why it was etched on his back!