Legend of the Great Sage

The World of the Five Continents.

A man walked along the road.

It was early morning. The sun had yet to rise and the sky had only just begun to light up. The expansive wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see. The air was fresh and moist, which was refreshing. His footsteps were particularly swift and light, but he would leave behind a deep footprint with each step, filled with courage and confidence. He allowed the dew to moisten his clothes. His expression was as relaxed as if he was walking through his own courtyard.

This was his world. His name was Li Qingshan.

After visiting the island where the flowers bloomed, the fragrance continued to linger by his nose. There was nothing more relaxing than the gentle touch of a beautiful woman, let alone the gentle touch of a striking beauty of the world, the champion of a hundred flowers. Even after travelling so far away, he still savoured the aftertaste.

As he recalled everything that happened the night before and rode on the cool breeze of the morning, he felt almost slightly tipsy.

He followed tracks left behind by the flow of the river of memory in this journey of returning home—Li Long, Xuanyue, Yu Zijian, Hua Chenglu… which led to many different emotions. There was plenty of loneliness and sentiment involved, but it still left him feeling cheerful at the end of the day.

In particular, after a romp in the sack, bathing and changing his clothes and a night of sleep at Hua Chenglu’s dwelling, he felt at ease throughout his entire body. Every single bone in him had relaxed.

Sure enough, I should rest like this before the great battle.

However, that was also the exact reason why he was not in a hurry to visit the next “acquaintance”, instead strolling through the wilderness.

That acquaintance was far too special. She was a woman that he had almost married—Han Qiongzhi.

Back then, he had only just begun to take on the world. He possessed some strength, but he still hid it away deeply, yet he happened to earn the affection of her, the first young miss of the Han family, who wanted to be with him without any regard.

Who knew how many beauties he had encountered in his life, but something like that had only happened this one time. To him, it was not just the love between a man and a woman, but also an extremely special case of gratitude from being appreciated.

The time he spent with her basically could be described as the most peaceful and quiet part of his life. There were no tragic incidents of love, while writing stories definitely could not be called fascinating either. Despite all of that, it was extremely precious to his life.

However, he was unable to spend his life peacefully with her like that at the end of the day. Many things happened afterwards too—deceit, the breaking of promises, and partings. Even when he thought of it now, he still felt ashamed.

As a result, he refused to see her in this state. He could only face her once the fragrance had dissipated and the aftertaste had vanished.

He could not help but shake his head. During this journey of returning home, many people behaved in ways that took him by surprise. Sure enough, human nature was the most unpredictable thing out there. Even as a god, he was unable to calculate that.

At the same time, in the Hundred Flowers dwelling.

Within the hazy steam, Hua Chenglu extended her body, leaning comfortably on the side of the hot spring. She thought with a smile, Big brother Li, oh big brother Li. You think you’ve taken advantage of me, but little do you know that I’ve used you to make up for my regrets of the past, hehe!

Throughout the world, who would have thought that the mighty Hundred Flower Fairy had been constantly preoccupied by a man? However, if they discovered the man was Li Qingshan, they definitely would not be surprised.

However, Li Qingshan had always been a forgetful person. He welcomed the rising sun and strode on forwards. As such, as the sun rose, the aftertaste evaporated like the morning dew.

He sucked in a deep breath, taking in the last hint of flower fragrance, before suddenly smiling in a self-deprecating manner. He felt like a husband who had just gone out on an affair, who needed to adjust himself mentally and come up with what to say before he entered the door, cleaning up the perfume and the kiss marks.

Right when he was about to complete the distant journey with a single step and arrive before Han Qiongzhi to give her a surprise, he suddenly heard a strange hum in his head.

He furrowed his brows in doubt and subconsciously listened carefully. All the sounds within fifty kilometres of him were within his senses, yet he was unable to locate the source of the sound.

He could even expand his range of control and hear everything that the world had to offer, but the sound was clearly just inches away as if it was right by his ear.

Then he covered his ears with both hands, blocking off all external sounds, but the hum still did not vanish.

His face sank as if he realised what it was. He lowered his hands slowly and exhaled gently, gathering his focus to distinguish between the hums. In the end, he gradually managed to tell that it was the product of the sounds from countless people gathered together, whether young or old, male or female. It was just too soft and too chaotic that it sounded like a hum.

At the same time, he sensed the gathering and growth of power. It was not particularly great, but it was like an unending stream and different from regular spiritual qi.

Not only was he unable to find any joy, but he had instead become even sterner. He stopped, like he was confronted by an abyss, like he was crossing over thin ice.

“Isn’t this exactly what you want?”

Li Qingshan muttered to himself with a wry smile and shook his head helplessly. His hands drooped beside his body powerlessly, while his expression even seemed slightly saddened.

Even when he faced the most terrifying of enemies and the countless dire straits that brought him to the brink of death, he had never shown an expression like that.

This power, this hum, was the so-called “power of belief”.

Everything was happening much faster than he imagined. Perhaps the dream last night was already a warning.

He was like the ray of light that appeared in the deepest and darkest of nights. Under the name of the Demon Godking, all of the hopes, wishes, and beliefs gathered towards him.

Droplet by droplet, the streams amassed to form oceans.

As such, the scarlet star began to shine brighter, gradually surpassing the twelve demon stars assembled around him that represented the twelve Demon Gods.

In the past, under Black Cloud city, before the two armies, just the army qi momentarily gathered from an army of several hundred thousand could leave him unstoppable, let alone the belief of billions of demonfolk. That would definitely lead to unbelievable divine might.

But at what cost?

Li Qingshan probably understood it very well. That was something even more precious than his life, something he would rather die than lose—the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine, just so he could not change.

However, he probably still stood no chance against the constant wear of water droplets. He could already foresee that the “belief” would influence him more and more, deeper and deeper. This was the path he had chosen. This was the price he had to pay.

That woman Qian Rongzhi had not even done anything yet.

Perhaps a single demonfolk’s voice was like a gnat’s wing flaps, but the sound gathered from billions of demonfolk would definitely be thunderous, and it would continue onwards without ever stopping, filled with fear, fury, hatred, mournings… All of the negative emotions, both imaginable and unimaginable.

Yes, if they were satisfied with life, then why would they pray to gods and buddhas? It was exactly because life could not leave everyone satisfied that the countless living creatures searched for that Sukhāvatī, let alone the living creatures of the Demon domain who suffered from pain and torment on the opposite side of Sukhāvatī.

He clenched his hands, holding back the urge to cover his ears. He could sever all of this “ruckus” and sever all of this belief.

However, he needed this power. The enemies beyond the heavens were coming!

That man who seemed to be an embodiment of the heavens, yet draped himself in bear skin.

The owner of the huge hand that parted the pure land and the demonic land—the buddha Tathāgata.

Neither of them were existences he stood a chance against right now. He needed the power of the living creatures of the Demon domain to even have a chance at a direct confrontation against them.

He only hoped that when that day arrived, Li Qingshan was still Li Qingshan.