Legend of the Great Sage

Chapter 1516 - The Underworld

Li Qingshan’s chest heated up. The alcohol seemed to be burning in his belly. After such a lengthy journey, the warrior was approaching the final battlefield!

“Old brother A’pang, how do we go to the very depths of Avīci?”

Ox-headed A’pang asked, “Kid, are you afraid of suffering?”

Li Qingshan nodded. “I’m afraid of suffering the most! I’m afraid of pain and death too. What’re you asking that for?”

Ox-headed A’pang gazed at him with some surprise. “You sure are honest.”

Li Qingshan let out a simple smile. “I don’t really have any upsides. I’m just honest.”

“Alright! Then I’ll take you and infiltrate the eighteenth layer of hell.” Ox-headed A’pang seemed like he was ready to embrace death.

“Will it be dangerous?”

“There’ll be some risks. After all, the Hell realm has the Ten Courts of Yanluo and the K?itigarbha Bodhisattva. If we accidentally give ourselves away, everything will be over.”

Li Qingshan said in thought, “No, that’s too dangerous. That comes completely down to luck. Is there any other way?”

Ox-headed A’pang gazed at his face. Even after hearing about K?itigarbha, he did not panic at all, only becoming much more cautious. He could not help but admire him. This kid who was afraid of suffering, pain, and death just happened to have a dauntless spirit, advancing valiantly, never to turn around.

“There is another path, but it’s filled with suffering.”

“Let’s hear it then.” Li Qingshan smiled. “I might be afraid of suffering, but that doesn’t mean I don’t even have the courage to hear it out.”

“I’ll deliver you to the underworld as Le Tian, and you’ll be able to mingle among the wretched ghosts so that the adjudicator banishes you to the eighteenth layer of hell.”

“I see.”

Li Qingshan nodded in thought. The former was without a doubt a shortcut. With Ox-headed A’pang leading the way, he only needed to follow along, and that was enough. However, the latter meant he had to wade through the numerous hells and face the tortures. The pain involved went without saying.

“So be it. Let’s not go with the shortcut then and embrace the pain like everyone else! Sigh, I originally thought it would be as straightforward and delightful as raising ten thousand banners on an expedition to slay the king of hell. I didn’t think it'd still be so punishing!”

Ox-headed A’pang laughed. “Raising ten thousand banners on an expedition to slay the king of hell? How can it be that easy? Aren’t you afraid of suffering? Once you enter hell, you’ll basically be wishing you were dead for good. You better not end up spilling everything under the torture, or I might as well risk it with you.”

“Perhaps!” Li Qingshan did not hold his ground. “Perhaps I’ll spill everything, but that’s still the path I’ve chosen at the end of the day. Even if I fail, I can only blame myself for being useless.”

Ox-headed A’pang shuddered inside. The words sounded very depressing, but to him, they resonated even louder than when he said raising ten thousand banners on an expedition to slay the king of hell.

He blamed neither heaven nor man. He walked his own path and shouldered his own mistakes.

Suddenly, he understood what that person meant. He was not making him pay back his debt of kindness and walk to his death for so-called loyalty. He just wanted him to choose his own path. That was why he never came to him for help over all these years, no matter how many failures he had been through.

Otherwise, if that person invited him to join him when he was most powerful, he would not even have the courage to decline. No, not only would he be unable to decline, but he would even forget himself and join fervently, fighting to revive a cause that was already lost, fighting for the sake of delusional hope, even going as far as to perish in battle.

However, what that person wanted definitely was not a fellow like this. He needed allies that shared the same cause, not measly nobodies who were willing to sacrifice themselves for his cause.

That was why he had only paid him a visit when he had sunken deep enough in hell, fully experiencing how it was like to be a dog, letting him make a choice again.

Suddenly, he recalled the very distant past. He’s never treated me as a nobody!

At that instant, the man’s looming presence on the back of the dragon, as well as the shadow cast by the dragon wings, abruptly vanished completely. Two trails of hot tears ran down his cheeks.

Li Qingshan thought, Isn’t this ox head a little too emotional?

Ox-headed A’pang turned around. He stared straight at Li Qingshan with his teary eyes. “You’re right. I’m just a guide. You still have to walk the path yourself. Don’t count on me to help you with anything. I have my own matters to deal with!”

He had to attempt the seventh heavenly tribulation to become a True Immortal. Only then did he have a chance at revenge.

Actually, after all these years of consolidation and the contribution of countless Human Sovereigns, it had been sufficient a long time ago. He had even lived longer than most True Immortals. However, he did not have the courage to try. He was afraid of being killed by the tribulation lightning, he was afraid of being killed by the demon of death, the m?tyu-māra, and he was afraid that he would succeed.

He had once thought, Since I already have eternal life, why should I take a risk like that? If I really arrive beyond the Nine Heavens and become wrapped up in a crisis of the world, I might end up dying sooner instead.

He refused to face those familiar faces again, much less join another side, whether it was his leader from the past or that terrifying man. He did not dare to oppose either of them.

He would rather hide in hell as a measly Hell Guard and avoid the crises like that, thinking of himself as clever.

Only now did he understand that the reason why he could avoid it all was because the two men allowed him to.

One used him as a sign post to demonstrate his mercy and generosity, to encourage even more people to surrender. The other respected their past, reluctant to drag him into the waters away and pull him back onto the battlefield.

That was why he could drag out an ignoble existence. Actually, all of the crises of the world involved devastating battles. Even the Hell realm enjoyed no peace.

Even several of the Ten Courts of Yanluo had perished, and who knew how many generations of the Ten Hell Guards they had cycled through already, yet a traitor like him had managed to survive.

Towards the end of the previous crisis, the infamous Intelligent Stone Monkey barged into the underworld, wanting to save his “fifth brother”. The Four Great Adjudicators fled a little slowly, and three of them perished under a single sweep of his staff. The monkey patted him on the head. “Heh, I, Old Sun, will spare your life in consideration for this ox head of yours. If you run into me next time, you better not blame me for not showing any mercy!”

That was why he managed to have a lucky escape.

But just how many more times lucky could he get? The crises of the world became more and more intense as well as more and more frequent. Perhaps next time, he would be sent onto the battlefield, then he really would be a measly nobody. Even if it was just for the sake of preserving his own life, he had to do something.

Even when it came the damned kid beside him who seemed a little foolish, he had been born for a crisis and possessed an extremely heavy murderous nature. He would never be soft-handed when it came to butchering traitorous dogs.

He was not some incredibly powerful figure right now, but just how much time had passed since the leader told him that he was still a mortal? In the past, even the Intelligent Stone Monkey was just a shitty rock!

“If you can’t help me, then you can’t help me. What’re you glaring at me for?”

Li Qingshan scratched his head, becoming even more puzzled by what went on inside Ox-headed A’pang’s head.

“C’mon, time waits for no one. We need to set off!” Ox-headed A’pang realised that he was running out of time. Otherwise, if this kid ended up patting him on the head. “Heh, I’ll spare your life in consideration for this ox head of yours.” then he really would be better off just throwing his head against a wall and dying.

Though, the conversation that was much more possible was. “Haha, I’m kidding with you. Tell me, are you Le Tian? Look at my middle finger. Tell me, is it six? Is it six?” He had absolutely no doubts that this kid was capable of something like that. He was much worse than that monkey.

“Alright then!” Li Qingshan saw how Ox-headed A’pang had suddenly become hostile, so all he could do was follow along. Then he asked, “How do I get the adjudicator to banish me to the eighteenth layer of hell?” He personally believed he had not committed any major sins yet. If he only banished him to the upper layers, then wouldn’t he be going through all that suffering for nothing?

Ox-headed A’pang droned, “Just act like how you are normally.”

After walking for who knew how long, a greenish-grey stone tablet appeared, planted beside the Road to the Yellow Springs. A single word was scrawled on there, “Underworld.”