Legend of the Great Sage

Li Qingshan raised the bamboo pole in his hand and gazed at the tip in a slight daze. Who knew what he was thinking. He smiled.

The light and shadows flickered in the forest, landing on his smiling face, actually giving off an indescribable sense of purity.

It was as if he had comprehended the meaning of life and death through great sorrow and pain, or perhaps he had never needed to go through all those vicissitudes of life and deep thought at all, where simply maintaining his original form was enough.

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes could not help but peer at the sky. Your majesty, are you satisfied with an opponent like this?

He brought his fist up to his mouth and coughed gently. “Little bro, I might not be able to let you get away with this.”

Li Qingshan looked back. “That’s difficult to say!” He studied the Elder of Heavenly Tomes’ furry head and took quite a liking to it.

“I’ve heard that numerous True Immortals have perished in previous crises of the world.”

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said helplessly, “You and I have no grievances, little bro.”

Li Qingshan thought about it seriously and nodded. “That is true. You may have said a lot of trash today, but you have answered many of my questions as well, so technically, we’re in the clear. However, if we meet again on the battlefield in the future, I won’t be able to show any mercy either.”

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes complained, “How are we in the clear? The Myriad sect nurtured you, yet you decided to bite the hand that fed you and destroy the Myriad sect. Speaking of which…” Suddenly, he blinked his eyes craftily. “If I had arrived a moment sooner, would you have been able to obtain the Myriad Heavenly Tome to cleanse your demon brats of their demonic nature?”

When he said that, they were all taken aback.

“Master!” “Master?”

Chao Tianjiao, Li Liehuo and the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance were all extremely clever. They immediately realised what had happened.

It was no wonder the Elder of Heavenly Tomes had arrived at that exact timing, no sooner or later. Right when Li Qingshan had obtained the Myriad Heavenly Tome, he descended from above and assisted them in escaping.

Li Qingshan lowered the bamboo pole in his hand and blinked his eyes strangely. “Old bro, are you colluding with the enemy? Don’t tell me you want to pledge your allegiance to me? Cough, cough, if you lay down your weapon and surrender with grace, you’ll still retain your promise of god, no, sovereignty!”

He immediately recalled that saying of his, except when he said it to Li Liehuo before, it was merely a joke. Now that he said it to the Elder of Heavenly Tomes, there was a little more sincerity and enthusiasm.

He was a True Immortal; he was even one whose cultivation and status that other True Immortals struggled to rival. He knew countless secrets too. If he were willing to change sides, wouldn’t that mean he had great hopes behind his great cause of rebellion?

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes shook his head with a smile. “I’m only loyal to the heavenly emperor. If it were your elder brother, perhaps he’d possess some right for me to bow down, but you’re still nowhere near enough, kid.”

Li Qingshan was rather puzzled. The heavenly emperor and the buddha were unfathomable enough, but why was the Elder of Heavenly Tomes so difficult to understand too? Did everyone beyond the Nine Heavens just like screwing each other over?

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said seriously, “Little bro, I know you’re a reasonable person.”

“My surname is Li. Of course, I’m reasonable.”

TL: To possess reason is to have “理”, or “lǐ”. It sounds the same as Li Qingshan’s surname.

“Then to the Myriad sect, to me, do you think you owe anything?” the Elder of Heavenly Tomes asked.

“I do.” Li Qingshan admitted.

“If you were an emperor, what would you do?”

“If I were an emperor, I’d compensate you with ten Myriad sects.” Then Li Qingshan added, “Unfortunately, I can only become a Great Sage, not an emperor.”

He understood extremely well that while he was originally a human, if he wanted to revolt against the heavens, he could only be a daemon.

Then, he would be a daemon.

“If you were a Great Sage, what would you do?”

“I’d do everything I can to kill you. At most, I won’t hang you on my banner pole. I’ll burn a few sticks of incense for you too,” Li Qingshan swung the bamboo pole and said with some slight pity.

“What if I don’t oppose you?” the Elder of Heavenly Tomes asked.

Li Qingshan said firmly, “I always keep a clear record of the debts I owe and the debts I am owed. If you don’t oppose me, I definitely won’t oppose you either!”

Only a fool would reject the opportunity to convince an enemy True Immortal into backing down from a single promise. Now this was called gathering all the power that could be gathered.

Otherwise, who knew how much difficulty and what price he would have to pay to kill this old bastard.

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes shook his head. “Still not enough!”

Li Qingshan patted his chest and said in guarantee, “If you need help with anything, old bro, I’ll definitely lend you a hand!”

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled in satisfaction. “That’ll be it then.” He stretched his arms. “With that, both my private and formal matters are settled.” He waved his hand. “You’ve rested up enough too. Grab your pole and let’s go attend the banquet!”

Li Liehuo and Chao Tianjiao basically had no idea what was going on from the side. Wasn’t the Elder of Heavenly Tomes’ “public matter” to enlist Li Qingshan to their side? Yet, not only did Li Qingshan have no intentions of accepting the enlistment, but he even seemed like he wanted to fight to the very end. How was that settled?

And why would a mighty close subject of the heavenly emperor require a promise from the chief enemy, even going as far as to offer up the entire Myriad sect for this favour?

The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance suddenly asked, “Master, will you be entering rebirth again?”

“Yeah! Though, you and I are both going this time. I’ve chosen a good place that probably won’t be affected by the crisis. This time, Ruin’s End probably won’t be peaceful either.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes was aware that the Mountain-moving Great Sage was imprisoned there.

Li Qingshan was shocked. Originally, he thought the Elder of Heavenly Tomes only wanted to maintain neutrality so that he would remain untouched no matter who won. He never expected the Elder of Heavenly Tomes to be so “radical”.

By “entering rebirth again”, that was basically no different from dying.

He had never thought that his might was so great that he would actually frighten a True Immortal into committing suicide on the spot.

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said, “Don’t misunderstand me, little bro. I’m not avoiding you, but the Dao.”

Li Qingshan said, “Yes, yes, yes. Old bro, you really are a True Immortal! You understand the Dao the best!” However, his expression was “I’m fucking awesome”!

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said helplessly, “You know about my origins. Have you ever heard of this name before?”

“What?”

“The Five Absolutes Immortal.”

“That’s you!”

Li Qingshan immediately recalled the flash of inspiration he had experienced when he first saw the Elder of Heavenly Tomes, reminding him of the legendary figure from the World of the Nine Provinces, the Five Absolutes Immortal. When he ventured around through the nine provinces, he often ran into all sorts of things left behind by the Five Absolutes Immortal, like some Dragon King of Ink Sea or some sword called Deviance. They had all almost ended his life.

And when he first began cultivating, he had even gathered quite a few pieces of the Cursive Sword Calligraphy!

Now that he recalled it, the quality of the item was not particularly high, but it had gained brother ox’s recognition, which was simply unbelievable.

As a result, he asked, “That was your clone?” If the Cursive Sword Calligraphy was the work of a True Immortal, then it would make sense.

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said, “Not a clone, but my actual body. Clones don’t work.”

Li Qingshan questioned closely, “To avoid the previous crisis of the world?”

The Elder of Heavenly Tomes shook his head. “Not that. Back then, the previous crisis of the world had already passed. As I said, it was to avoid the Dao.”

Li Qingshan was confused. “What’s wrong with the Dao?”

Wasn’t the exact thing that all cultivators pursued? They all wanted to Merge the Void with the Dao. That represented endless power, limitless abilities, and an undying existence.

Li Qingshan’s primary objective right now was to Merge the Void with the Dao as well.