Legend of the Great Sage

The endless outer space filled their eyes as the stars turned into thousands of streaks. The kunpeng suddenly pulled in its wings and stopped firmly in outer space.

Li Qingshan lay on the back of the kunpeng. He could not help but glance backwards. The small world had already been cast far behind him, turning into a shining star tens of thousand kilometres away.

He looked towards the depths of space again. The darkness was deep while the stars were brilliant. He immediately understood that every single planet here represented a world, and countless things were happening in each world.

“Qingshan, are you still connected with your clone?”

Gu Yanying’s voice rang out in Li Qingshan’s mind as if it had become vaster.

She had decided to uphold her promise of taking him back to the nine provinces, to take this gamble with him, but she was not taking a reckless risk either.

It was crucial for Li Qingshan to remain connected with his clone if he wanted to calculate the route back, as he would require the spiritual qi for support. Otherwise, his spiritual qi would constantly disperse in outer space, and the calculations themselves took a tremendous amount of spiritual qi.

“Let me say this one last time. Returning now is still not too late!”

Rāhu Xiaoming’s voice rang out. He was near Li Qingshan, his appearance already resembling a two or three year old toddler. He was covered in jiggly fat, like a small, plump mound. Even with his face full of seriousness right now, he did not seem serious at all.

“Of course, I still have a connection, and it’s very strong!”

Li Qingshan heard the conversation between his children on the cliff and even controlled the clouds to paint a self-portrait.

Sure enough, his mirror clone had not disappointed him. Just like that, he had the support of an entire world on his way home.

More wondrously, the flow of time in the small world was much faster than outer space. Everything seemed to be on fast forward. In the blink of an eye, the clouds had gathered and dispersed, and the sun and moon had changed places. The children scattered through the world, each doing as they pleased.

Originally, he was even thinking of appearing with his clone and going for a return of the king so that he could make everyone leap in fright, but looking at it now, the title of the hero king would probably become a distant legend by the time he actually could do that.

However, that was fine too. They could take their own paths! He could take his own path too.

“Good. Start calculating then!”

Gu Yanying flapped her wings gently again, and she felt an unprecedented power surge and flow through her.

This still was not her own power, and she had only managed to recover it after who knew how many years, but she was certain there would be a day when she would become a true kunpeng!

At this very moment, the connection between her and the kunpeng’s feather had reached an unprecedented level.

Since they were birds, they wanted to fly.

The kunpeng possessed a form as a giant fish, but like how butterflies metamorphosed from caterpillars, every moment they spent swimming in the deep sea, crawling around the ground, was for the day when they could soar through the sky. Only that could be regarded as staying true to themselves. Hiding away in forbearance blindly was not truly the kunpeng’s heart. This journey to her was not just for the sake of a promise but a greater trial for her to overcome.

Li Qingshan nodded and tried utilising his powers. Without the small world’s restraints, the ox demon, tiger demon, spirit turtle, and phoenix all woke up, opening their eyes once more.

In that instant, all of his powers recovered, dyeing his dark-golden eyes. They were not a deep red anymore, instead becoming pitch-black. He was almost tempted to shout out, I, Li Qingshan, have returned!

However, as he powered the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression, his mind settled down again like the deep sea.

He examined his current state first. The Ape Demon Transformation was still at the first layer, so it did not influence the balance of the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine too much, but nothing flowed as smoothly and freely as before. However, this was a new power after all. Blindly seeking balance was meaningless. Only when new powers constantly surged forth could he reach greater heights than before.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a hint of worry, as the Spirit Turtle Transformation’s powers completely recovered, the connection between him and his mirror clone became stronger, making it easier to control. That in itself was not an issue. It was like how a person would definitely find their bodies to be much more nimble and much smoother after exercise.

However, if it could grow stronger, then could it grow weaker too? If he really moved millions, tens of millions, or hundreds of million kilometres away, could he really maintain the connection?

That did not change his determination to return home, but he did not hide this matter either. He informed Gu Yanying and Rāhu Xiaoming about this.

Gu Yanying said, “Xiaoming, what do you think?”

“If your clone ability comes from the spirit turtle clan of Ruin’s End, then it truly is extremely powerful. I’ve heard that certain spirit turtles would make their clones wander through the six realms of sa?sāra, but you need to know that while the six realms of sa?sāra are large, it cannot be compared to all of outer space. There is a limit to all abilities, no matter what they are. Omnipotence definitely does not exist. I’m not certain how much of an impact distance will have on your ability either. All we can do right now is continue onwards and find out experimentally. It would be best if you can approximate our distance from the nine heavens during this period. We can make our decision then!”

Rāhu Xiaoming did not condone this distant journey, but since he had said, “Let me say this one last time.” previously, then it really would be the last time. Li Qingshan had not changed his mind, so he would not say anything more. Instead, he would offer his full support and give the best suggestions using his knowledge and experience.

As a god in the past, he understood outer space the most out of the three of them. He was still very feeble right now, but under these circumstances, knowledge was much more important than strength.

Similar to how Li Qingshan would not nip him in the bud just because Rāhu Xiaoming had shouted he would get his revenge, they both had an element of open-mindedness to their personalities, which was why they could travel together.

“Yeah, I will do everything that I can to see if I can calculate any of the patterns involved.”

When the kunpeng flew over here, it had not travelled in a straight line at the same speed. Instead, their path had been filled with twists and turns. With how quickly the kunpeng moved, the variation in its speed was so great that it was beyond their imagination. Even he was not certain whether he could find the pattern involved.

“But even if I lose my connection with my clone, I won’t be turning back!”

Rāhu Xiaoming said, “By then, it’ll be too late. We need to find another world to make a stop at before you lose connection with your clone. Then we need to build up strength so that we can wait for the next opportunity. You’ve both crossed through worlds before, so you should know the dangers involved. Gu Yanying, do you have this ability?”

“If it’s not too far away, I have the confidence to fly over with you, but I can’t screen the worlds one by one.”

When they first flew to the small world, the kunpeng’s feather had been under the influence of her will, which made it choose the safest world, but despite that, they had still faced hardships before they gained a footing. If it were not for Li Qingshan’s Divine Talisman of Great Creation, they probably would have died in the small world already.

Now, the Divine Talisman of Great Creation was already lost in the small world. It could not be used to save their lives anymore, so the choice of the worlds became even more important. If they were careless, their lives would be in danger.

“Alright then. I’ll screen the worlds then. I’m very good at that.”

Rāhu Xiaoming smiled in a self-deprecating manner and touched the slingshot on his waist.

“Alright, thank you for your support then!” Li Qingshan said sincerely.

With such companions, how could he still worry about not being able to achieve something great?

“You can save the nonsense. We’ve left the small world anyway, which was important to me as well. In outer space, it happens to be difficult for her to lock onto my location.” Rāhu Xiaoming thought to himself, I sure am lucky to have encountered these two!

“Xiaoming, let’s make another promise. If you can help me return to the nine provinces, I’ll definitely help you with beating up your mum!”

Li Qingshan spoke solemnly, issuing a promise of great weight while completely ignoring the fact that another powerful god would be added to his enemies! He already had a promise of five centuries with Qiongqi anyway. Just like how he would stop worrying when he had enough debts, it stopped bothering him when he had enough gods as enemies.

Rāhu Xiaoming was taken aback. His eyebrows scrunched up. “Why does it sound so off?”

“Haha, as long as you get what I mean! She wholeheartedly wants to kill her own son. Now that’s a mother even beneath a beast! You might as well just kill her!”

Li Qingshan had known Rāhu Xiaoming for several decades, so he personally believed he understood his personality slightly. He had no idea what kind of great sin he had committed such that he would actually be burnt to death by his own karma, but he definitely was not an extremely violent and wicked person. The other aspects went even more without saying. He was definitely someone worth befriending.

Rāhu Xiaoming glanced at Li Qingshan deeply. A friend? That was something he had never had before. In the past, who had the right to be friends with him?

Li Qingshan said nothing more. He shut his eyes and began focusing on calculating the route. In order to deal with the risk of losing his connection with his clone, he needed to calculate as much of the journey as possible here.

The spiralling, receding sea of stars when they first arrived appeared in his mind once again before gradually slowing down. He matched up the stars one by one.

It was only a small world, but the spiritual qi it possessed was absolutely tremendous. He did not seem to have to worry about running out. However, in outer space, the rate at which his spiritual qi dispersed was far too fast. He had to stop very frequently and wait for his spiritual qi to slowly recover.

He could not help but become slightly envious of Gu Yanying and Rāhu Xiaoming. Gu Yanying had become the kunpeng, so she was not relying on her own power at all. Meanwhile, Rāhu Xiaoming had not even undergone the first heavenly tribulation, but not only did his powers remain, but he could even draw power from outer space. He was focusing on cultivation right now.

Can I lock in the spiritual qi? But even the spirit turtle can’t suppress it, let alone the ox demon and tiger demon. But wait! Li Qingshan thought of something. He extended his hand and pressed down on the top of his head, muttering under his breath, “The Ape Demon Locks the Space!”

That was the name of his first ape demon ability!

Originally, the Ape Demon Transformation was far too weak, severely overwhelmed by the four other transformations. It was possible to imagine an image with a black ox to the left, a scarlet tiger to the right, a spirit turtle at the bottom, and a phoenix standing on top, with a pitiful ape squished in between, scratching its head in distress. Now, it had finally been freed, stretching its arms and locking up space.

Immediately, Li Qingshan felt he had been isolated from the vast space. Sure enough, the spiritual qi stopped leaking away.

He was completely immobilised under this state and maintaining the innate ability would take a certain amount of spiritual qi, but it was still much better than the situation before.

The calculations and reverse engineering did not require him to move anyway. Thinking was enough, so his efficiency immediately increased drastically.

Rāhu Xiaoming could not help but open his eyes and glance at him. He really did have various powerful bloodlines, and strangely enough, they all merged together in him.

If the ability to lock up space truly was from that legendary monkey, then once it completely matured, roaming through outer space would be nothing difficult.

After who knew how long, Li Qingshan opened his eyes. “Let’s fly!”

*****

Give Me Monthly Votes—The Great Chicken Spreads its Wings

This month, I caught a cold, I attended a summit meeting and dealt with all sorts of annoying housework. In the past, any of them would be enough for me to miss releases, but this month, I haven’t missed any.

The chicken that leapt from the roof of the coop still seems to be beating its wings with difficulty in the middle of the air, but it’s held on without landing. Can I also feel some delight and then find even greater courage?

As a result, please lend me a hand to fly high in the sky!