Legend of the Great Sage

Li Qingshan remained silent for a moment before waving his hand and turning to leave.

The corner of Qian Rongzhi’s lips curled slightly. They were eye-catchingly red. She bowed deeply again. “I will convey the good news. The king’s benevolence will definitely be spread throughout the Demon domain, to be known by all living creatures in the Demon domain. They will be your most loyal and most fanatic of warriors.”

Afterwards, she stood up in satisfaction and made her way down the mountain.

Li Qingshan raised his head, gazing very, very deeply into the black sun with a gilded, golden edge, overlapping with his pitch-black eyes.

Finally, there was only him left there.

Like an ascetic, he sat down on the rocks and sank into a lengthy thought.

At that instant, the winds and clouds churned and surged.

The tremendous, endless spiritual qi of the world gathered together on this plateau, this peak, this man.

The moment Qian Rongzhi had made her way off the plateau, she suddenly looked back, only to see a river of spiritual qi visible to the naked eye form in the air. It flowed with a variety of colours like an aurora, which made her sigh from the bottom of her heart. “What a magnificent sight!”

All the demonfolk within several tens of thousand kilometres of this place could see it as well, enamored by this beauty they had never seen before.

Waves surged through the river. That was his heaving emotions. From time to time, they would form whirlpools. Those were his surging thoughts.

Is it worth it?

As he comprehended the laws of the Demon domain, he saw the future clearly. He saw how his statues were sculpted from rock, gilded in gold and delivered to the decorated halls. He also saw the piousness and fervency of the people, bowing at the feet of the statue, filled with pain and hope.

However, the only thing I can bring to them is destruction!

From beginning to end, he only wanted to walk his own path, which was why he refused to establish overly-deep relationships with others.

Hatred and hostility was a restraint, but those terrifying enemies would only rouse his fighting spirit, making him struggle free from ease and comfort, advancing valiantly, killing resolutely, and brutally destroying all obstructions, standing on the corpses of enemies and laughing to his heart’s content.

The most difficult to deal with was instead those gentle feelings of goodwill and affection, those people who whole-heartedly treated him well, those people who were willing to do anything for him.

That was why he refused to call himself a world saviour. Whether it was devouring the Black Sun Demon Heart or being killed by the Thunder Lord General of the Nine Heavens billions of times, those were all paths he had chosen. He did not need anyone to thank him or to compensate him.

If this really was an offering to heaven, then he would not mind being the lone, proud sacrifice.

“I place my hopes in the stars, yet no one knows. I swear I will repay my hotbloodedness to the land.”

However, if he could not rally all of the demonfolk, this battle would be unwinnable. Instead, as the two worlds rapidly merged together, it would lead to even greater chaos.

Right from the get-go, it was no longer just his matter. He was the origin of all sins, the source of all wickedness. He was the demon.

He sent his mind deep into the Demon domain and the pain and hatred accumulated over countless years by innumerable demonfolk surged forth like the ocean, not desiring salvation, only revenge, even directing their revenge to anyone, only wanting blood and souls.

“Going out in a blaze is still better than dragging out a depraved existence!”

Li Qingshan’s voice rang out, cold and resolute, whistling and echoing between the mountains.

Qian Rongzhi bowed. “Your will is also my fate.”

……

Jetavana.

A gentle breeze blew past the bodhi tree and all the branches and leaves responded together, producing a metallic ringing that formed a wondrous tune.

However, the sound today was different from normal. It lacked some of the buddhist truths and contained a little more of the daoist truths.

The buddha leaned against his hand with his eyes shut. Hearing the sound, he opened his eyes and brought his palms together, bowing to give his regards. He smiled. “Teacher, it’s been a while. How have you been? Are you not practising alchemy and speaking to your students today?”

If someone else heard that, they would definitely be astounded. Just who deserved to be referred to as “teacher” by the buddha?

The one who arrived was a daoist priest. His hair was white, but he had a youthful countenance. He seemed like a sage, yet there was something worldly about him as well. At first glance, he seemed no different from a regular old daoist priest.

However, the old daoist priest was the founder of daoism, the teacher of the immortals, the Supreme Venerable Sovereign, Taishang Laojun.

Compared to the spread of the buddhist dharma and buddhism’s attempt to bring salvation to all, he spent most of his time in the Heavenly Palace of Tuṣita comprehending the origins of the universe, the fruits of Dao. Apart from refining a few cauldrons of pills for the heavenly emperor and explaining the fruits of Dao to the immortals every now and then, he never involved himself in other affairs. It had already been several tens of thousand years since he last saw the buddha.

He was well aware that even if he denied the title of teacher, the buddha would still insist, so he accepted it. He was in the buddha’s abode, so he adjusted to his customs, bringing his palms together and returning the bow.

“The heavenly emperor witnessed the emergence of the daemon star of misfortune and that the great crisis is imminent. He has gathered the subjects to discuss the matter of subjugating the demons. He had specially sent me to invite the world honoured one.”

The buddha nodded slightly, also accepting the title of the world honoured one. He smiled. “His majesty is probably very cheerful!”

“He’s extremely cheerful. He’s taken out that bear skin again, strolling around in the palace every single day with it on, except that sword is gone from his waist.” Taishang Laojun shook his head with a wry smile. He was obviously aware of the whereabouts of the sword.

The buddha said in surprise, “Don’t tell me it’s the same one from Zhuolu back then!”

Taishang Laojun nodded with a long face. “I especially divined this, and it really was that one.”

The two of them laughed together. Their laughter rustled all the leaves on the bodhi tree.

“He really is attached to it.”

“His majesty has already felt that he triumphed in the past two crises unfairly. He blames you for getting in his way, so he’s specially ordered me to tell you that the will of the heavens are difficult to defy. Once or twice, but not thrice.”

“This was clearly the teacher’s idea.”

“If you refuse, then I won’t either.”

“There’s nothing you can do about that. I am also deeply at fault. However, please tell his majesty to not worry. This time, I definitely won’t create any additional problems.”

With their cultivations, even the slightest memory would not fade away with time. Whenever they recalled it, it was no different from when they were in the moment. The emotions they felt from it were millions of times more than what regular people could experience. They could sympathise with the ignorance and baseness of the common people, but the common people were unable to understand their wisdom and pity.

Of course, whether it was the heavenly emperor or the buddha, they all had matters where their abilities were limited and they were powerless over. The extravagant spirit of “using the world as a chessboard and the living beings as chess pieces” was only the absurd fantasies of mortals, like how an emperor would use a golden carrying pole.

“The heavenly emperor is the descendant of Fuxi after all! The dragon has no regrets.”

Taishang Laojun stood with his hands behind his back, thinking about something. In a daze, his figure seemed to become extremely large, connecting the sky with the ground, having surpassed the Dao, peering down from an unreachable height. However, by the next moment, he truly was just a regular old daoist priest who gave off a sense of worldliness.

He was extremely ordinary yet extremely great, extremely gentle yet also extremely staunch. He did nothing for anything, yet also anything for nothing. These two polar opposite realms and sensations merged together perfectly on him.

The buddha said in praise, “The teacher has made progress yet again! If you hadn’t visited me, I would have visited you for some more guidance.”

“There is no end to the Dao. Its profound wonders cannot be described. Unfortunately, you’re only interested in the living creatures. You’re unable to see everything I see. Wisdom to you is only a means at the end of the day. If you could shift your view away from the living creatures and observe this world together with me, the wisdom you will receive will definitely surpass all of this,” Taishang Laojun said with great pity.

“With your wisdom, teacher, you would obviously refuse to tread in the secular world, but I too am a living creature. Lotuses bloom from the sludge of mud. Realities arise from the heart and comprehension is created by the heart. If there were no living creatures, the world would also hold no meaning. As long as you and I can still understand the suffering of living creatures, we can never transcend.”

“I can never win an argument against you.”

“The kind do not argue. Those who argue are not kind. True words are not beautiful. Beautiful words should not be trusted. Being unkind and unbeautiful is just me.”

Beneath their mutual understanding was a difference even thousands of years could not reconcile.

As they spoke, the crisis of the world forged onwards.

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Volume Epilogue—The Flowers of the Other Side Bloom

Some of you still might not know, but the upcoming volume is the final volume of Legend of the Great Sage.

Before any of us realised it, four or five winter breaks had already passed. As a reader, you must have gone through many important turning points in life during this period!

Starting from the first volume “The Young, Gallant Wanderer”, Li Qingshan underwent “Daemonification” and Xiao An went “From White Bone to Flesh”. They experienced the bizarre adventures in the “Daemon City Underground” and Li Qingshan became a failed novelist in “Amok in the Hundred Schools”, swearing the oath of till death do us part.

That was the beginning of this book. You can call it the first part.

Afterwards, with “Chaos Rising”, the Green province plunged into war and Qingshan fought against the current, becoming the “Lord of the Clear River Waters”. After a “Dance with the Dead”, he gained the “Phoenix's Nirvāṇa” before experiencing “A Dream in the Mist Province” on the shore of the South sea. He also became lost in outer space before finally staging a return and waging war everywhere, earning the title of the “Supreme Daemon King”.

In the blink of an eye, we’ve already completed a majority of the journey. I called it the end of the first part, or more accurately, the middle part.

During this process, I’ve truly gone through a storm. Who knows how many tosses and turns I’ve made, spending entire nights without sleep, ravishing with joy upon sudden understanding, crying painfully when lost. I’ve once been sent into the sky by a mountainous wave, mistaking that I had already learnt how to fly, only to be slammed into the depths of the ocean again in the blink of an eye.

Actually, I expected this right from the beginning. Right from when this book only had a few hundred thousand words, the title of the author’s word for making it onto the front page as a recommended book was “Through this Ocean”. After all, I’ve just never been particularly successful in my life. I just didn’t expect it to be so tortuous this time.

TL: Chapter 244 for the author’s word is titled “Through this Ocean”.

I’ve given up on chasing after success or whatever it is a long time ago. All I want to do is write a novel I like and do my best to write better and better. Even if I can’t become a phenomenal author or make the big bucks, it’s fine. There are so many failures in the world. Someone is bound to lose, so why can’t it be me? Yeah, this is just how I strive for “self-improvement”.

However, even just this small wish, such a straightforward matter, is actually so difficult to come true. Sometimes, I do everything that I can, only to discover that I’m in the same exact place as before. I discard my past self, yet I don’t know where my future self is.

Many people have told me, “You think too much”. However, that’s exactly what I find the greatest joy in life to be in! No matter how painful and tortuous it is, I’ve never regretted it before, as I have once witnessed extremely grand and magnificent scenery and experienced extraordinary emotions.

Wang Anshi once said, “The wondrous, imposing, precious, unique and extraordinary sights of the world are often hidden in dangerous and remote places that people rarely frequent, so those without aspirations can never reach them.” I deeply concur with him, and I believe my job is to share everything I experience with you.

This is the exact belief I possess as I pass through the storm, raise the sails, and begin the final journey.

This time, I will reach the other side!

When Li Qingshan scaled the Heaven Climbing Vine and ascended to the six realms of saṃsāra, kicking off the “Chronicles in the Human realm”, he used the thick foundation he accumulated in the World of the Nine Provinces to rapidly rise up as the greatest true disciple of the Myriad sect. Of course, it was not a boring repetition of the Academy of the Hundred Schools, but the bloody battle of Black Cloud city, the spirit of a dragon rising up from his circumstances.

He comprehended the attainment of Neither Perception Nor Non-perception in Avīci and searched for the answers to everything in the Great Thunderclap temple of Sukhāvatī before venturing deep into the Demon domain, slaying a Heretic God, facing Taotie, killing Jiuying, awakening “A Sacred Heart” with the solemn and stirring lament!

The flowers of the other side bloom. The Nine Heavens aren’t far.

The final volume—Unparalleled.

Everything has only just begun.