Legend of the Great Sage

In the quiet room.

Le Tian felt extremely troubled. How was he supposed to explain the mysterious circumstances around the first senior brother’s death at his place? Was he supposed to tell others that the first senior brother had been asking for it and he had been dragged off to hell by Ox-headed A’pang?

Others definitely would think he had used some kind of trick so that Li Qingshan served as a substitute for him. He could not afford the accusation of conspiring against the first senior brother. If Chao Tianjiao heard about this, she would never spare him!

And he had a feeling that once he confessed everything—Ox-headed A’pang’s strange behaviour, the vortex of fate he had seen, the terrifying crisis of the world—then everything would only become much worse.

He was such a clever person, yet at a time like this, he felt helpless. He had no idea what to do. All he could do was sit and wait while staring at Li Qingshan.

Before long, he suddenly noticed the corner of Li Qingshan’s lips twitching. His brows became furrowed, clearly in pain. He seemed as if he was trapped in a nightmare, unable to wake up. His body shook gently.

In the depth of hell, great snow filled the air as the cold pressed against his skin, chilling his bones and making his teeth chatter.

Countless icy mountains plunged into the air. Frozen clouds filled the sky. Everything was gilded with a frosty bluish-white.

There was ice as far as the eye could see. It was all bluish-white.

However, there were countless red figures on the bluish-white glacier, scattered and twisted like coral. He blinked his eyes forcefully to clear the frost on his face, only to discover that they were frozen flames, balls of “dead fire”.

The coldness grew even heavier. His clothes had already been turned to tatters, revealing his sturdy chest. His skin cracked open from the cold; the blood inside had already frozen, unable to flow out. It was like the dead fire on the glacier, as well as lotus flowers, gorgeously red.

This was extremely deep in hell. Within the pain that grew heavier and heavier, he gradually forgot how many layers he had been through already. All that remained was numbing endurance.

The blue ghost hid behind the glacier in the distance, sighing with some pity. “This is it!”

The eight cold hells and the eight hot hells were the graves of countless wicked fiends. When they had grown completely numb, they would be frozen utterly, stopping there forever until the day that they disintegrated in the cold winds or were burned to ash by the wildfire.

He could not help but wish. “Enough, you can just stop here!”

This was hell, a place to give up all hope. Death was already the best outcome.

However, Li Qingshan simply refused to give up hope. He refused to stop, so he continued.

Standing on the cold, frozen earth with his bare feet, it felt like he was stepping on countless needles. The red lotuses around him bloomed even further as wisps of coldness permeated his body.

However, that made him feel much more sober. He chose the glacier furthest away from him and strode off.

The chilly winds froze his eyes, turning them into a pair of misted balls of ice, but his feet never stopped. He could already visualise the icy mountain in his mind. He continued onwards, running through the glaciers.

He inhaled and exhaled the icy air along the way, feasting on the ice and snow, falling over and climbing back up.

If he could see, he would have discovered that the icy glacier remained beyond his reach. He was not a single step closer. Perhaps he would not care and only looked at it because he refused to stop.

An indescribable feeling welled up within the blue ghost. He asked, “Why?”

Li Qingshan’s eardrums had frozen over a long time ago. He could not hear anything, which did save him from the shrill shrieks of the wind. All he could do was swing his powerful arms and extend his robust legs, rushing forwards.

He strode over the firm, frozen soil and arrived on the frozen surface of a lake. A gust of fierce wind scattered the snow there. Countless balls of dead fire lay beneath his feet, shimmering with a fiery-red light like coral.

Suddenly, there was a crack. The surface of the lake fractured, producing a long crevasse.

He was unable to see or hear, much less use any of his powers. He fell into the crevasse helplessly.

The frozen, dead fire suddenly sprang alive again, dancing madly like snakes of flames. They warmed up his frozen body, but the temperature continued to climb. Sweat poured from his body like water until there was no moisture left. His skin was charred inch by inch, dispersing with the rising, hot winds before he even made it to the bottom of the valley.

The blue ghost watched from afar and completely realised something. He still had not been defeated by the pain. He still had not given up completely. He would not be stopping here.

Very soon, he was reborn in his ashes, left trembling within the freezing winds once more. His body began to bloom with red lotuses again. Right before his eyeballs had frozen over, he gazed deeply at the glacier in the very distance, beginning a new round of the journey.

“First senior brother! First senior brother!”

Le Tian tried to wake up Li Qingshan. Before long, Li Qingshan’s eyelashes trembled, and he opened his eyes slowly. Sure enough, he had awakened. Glancing at Le Tian, his eyes were hazy, like he had just returned from another life. He could still see the reflection of the glacier. His lips trembled as he asked, “How long has it been?”

“Three days.”

“Only three days?”

Li Qingshan felt like it had already been many years. He was certain that was not just an illusion that had arisen in the pain, but also the laws of hell at work.

Not only was his main body unable to remain unaffected, but he would even find it more unbearable than that trip in hell, as all the pain he experienced at that instant had been accumulated over several days in hell.

He was awake, but the nightmare continued. Ice and fire constantly overlapped and replaced one another, freezing his flesh in the biting cold, only to be reduced to ash in the scorching heat.

It was a constant cycle of endless suffering.

“First senior brother, you-” Le Tian immediately understood what was going on. His Yang Soul was still in hell, going through the tortures.

Li Qingshan pressed against his knees and helped himself up with difficulty. He knocked away Le Tian’s hand to help him up and made his way out. When he pushed through the door, he turned around. “Don’t let anyone else know.”

His gaze was fleeting, and his voice was exhausted and feeble. It did not sound threatening at all.

However, Le Tian experienced a great pressure, like he was facing fate itself. He lowered his head deeply. “As you wish!”

Li Qingshan’s lips twitched like he was smiling. “Thanks!” He vanished through the door.

“Huff.” Le Tian exhaled deeply and lay down.

Li Qingshan stumbled back to the Xuanming dwelling. With a thunk, he fell heavily into the water.

He used the Spirit Turtle Transformation to suppress all of the sensations, and only then did he recover a wisp of clarity. No, this won’t last too long. I need to go to Ruin’s End quickly!

His willpower was extraordinary but not endless. Once it reached beyond his limit, he would also go crazy or even die.

Before then, he had to make a decision as soon as possible. He had to completely sever the connection between his main body and his Yang Soul, or he would definitely collapse.

The greatest risk lurking behind that was once his Yang Soul broke free from his control, it was possible for it to become completely independent, even opposing his main body, wanting to replace it. By then, that would be a terrifying opponent that basically knew all of his secrets.

This happened all too commonly within the cultivation community, which was why refining a second or a third soul nascence and then refining multiple Yin Souls and Yang Souls could drastically increase their cultivations, leaving them invincible especially when it came to battle, but it had always been a forbidden practice, never adopted by the orthodoxy.

However, Li Qingshan was not concerned. Instead, he felt like this was for the best. Perhaps Ruin’s End would be even more dangerous and unpredictable than the Hell realm. If he failed, at least he could maintain a sliver of hope to continue forwards.

As a result, he activated the formation he had prepared beforehand. At that moment, deep-blue light welled forwards, and a vortex appeared on the surface of the water, gradually growing larger and deeper until it led to the depths of the ocean, forming a black hole.

The water level rapidly fell, all sucked into the hell. It was worth noting that the bottom of the dwelling was connected to the ocean, so the water level was the sea level. Who knew how much water the black hole had sucked away in that instant.

This was why all water flowed to Ruin’s End!

Without any hesitation, he cast himself into the vortex. Right before he was swallowed by the hole, he and his Yang Soul that was in hell uttered the same thing.

“Good luck!”