Legend of the Great Sage

Li Qingshan sheathed the sword, immediately leaving the state of becoming one with the heavens. Under the glow of the moon, he descended from above, landing on the terrace of a skyscraper.

“Sure enough, with my own cultivation and comprehension, I still can’t grasp the laws even after comprehending the Divine Dragon Transformation coupled with the blessings of the demonic heavens. I’ll have to undergo the seventh heavenly tribulation and reach Forging Soul back into the Void at the very least.”

“And if I want to reach the ninth layer of the Divine Dragon’s Path of Qian Yuan, even true god and True Immortal are insufficient. I’ll have to undergo the eighth heavenly tribulation and reach the supreme realm of Merging the Void with the Dao. I’ll have to become a Great Sage!”

Thinking up to there, he gazed at the sword in his hand in wonder. The sword was a little too mighty. Let alone regular arcane treasures, even the three mountains that the Mountain-moving Great Sage gave him came nowhere close. Probably only the Mountain-moving tablet could rival it, and he had a feeling that the ancient bronze sword was still slightly stronger.

“Who exactly is that man draped in bear skin? And what’s the Youxiong tribe about? He even said he would bestow the entire land to me, but who has the right to do that?”

He suddenly raised his head, gazing into the depths of the sky, through the deep, distant demonic heavens, until he reached beyond the Nine Heavens.

He had once found it difficult to describe the man. Now that he comprehended the Divine Dragon Transformation, he suddenly discovered that the man was not an elusive dragon, but one that soared through the sky.

“Is he a friend? Or an enemy!”

He shook his head, deciding to not think about this for now. He made his way over to the edge of the building. The rain had already stopped, and the whistling night wind blew over the smell of death.

The demon city became deathly silent. Corpses piled up in the streets and alleyways, male and female, old and young, strewn around and decaying rapidly.

A flock of crows appeared from somewhere, blanketing the place as a black mass as they fought over the rotting corpses with caws.

He suddenly felt like beneath his feet was not a city, but a graveyard. The skyscrapers were like gravestones, standing in solitude and communicating their departure that no one cared about.

Suddenly, the night wind seemed to blow into his arms. His heart trembled.

At this instant, he was no longer “the heavens”, and these demonfolk were no longer just a “number”. At the very least, they were still alive the moment before.

Various emotions trickled to form a great river, turning into a strange sense of shock that slammed against his mind, even making him waver slightly.

The heavenly Dao was devoid of emotion, but he was still a man.

They’re just some demonfolk that deserved to die!

Did they really deserve to die? Even those demonfolk with kindness? And that female demonfolk pregnant with the child? Did the little demonfolk in her belly deserve to die too?

Li Qingshan shut his eyes, unable to answer these questions. He sucked in a deep breath and tried his best to maintain his composure, discarding all of these thoughts. He turned around and asked, “Where are we going off to?”

A colourful, large snake burst out of the ground at a certain time, coiling around the skyscraper and extending her head to the terrace, flickering her forked tongue with hisses.

Qian Rongzhi sensed his changes, but she did not comment on it. She only said, “If we can’t make it through customs, then only one path remains…”

“Where do you want to go?”

Suddenly, a voice boomed through the sky, dignified, icy-cold, and imposing. Divine might filled the surroundings.

Caw! The crows took to the skies with a ruffle, furiously circling between the skyscrapers and crying out, but they refused to fly any higher.

Whoosh! The fierce wind lifted up Li Qingshan’s scarlet hair. All he saw were surging winds and clouds in the sky, blotting out the moon in a single instant and looming over the entire demon city.

In the depths of the demonic clouds was a vague face. It was devoid of any expressions, like a carving of taotie on a great bronze cauldron, outlining the cold eerie face of a beast through the most simple lines possible. It stared straight at Li Qingshan, which made him recall the sensation when he faced the Sangharama God.

“Demon God Taotie!” Qian Rongzhi immediately shrank back into the ground.

Li Qingshan was unfazed. He had been expecting this. Under the state of being one with the heavens, he had already understood that running was futile. The entire Taotie’s dominion was Demon God Taotie’s territory. Taotie was the true “heavens”. His consciousness was omnipresent, such that he could descend anywhere whenever he wanted. As such, even fleeing thousands of kilometres from here was useless.

If he wanted to leave, he had to face him. He had to disperse the consciousness that Demon God Taotie descended with, and only then would he have a chance at escaping.

The only thing worth rejoicing over was that Demon God Taotie had only descended with his consciousness. He had not come in person, or it was basically guaranteed death.

However, that was also because Demon God Taotie was confident enough. He could overwhelm anything and everything with his consciousness. Even Heretic Gods and Human Immortals would not stand a chance.

As such, it was still almost certain death.

At this moment, the face of the beast in the sky suddenly sprang alive. He did not fly into a rage and kill Li Qingshan immediately. Instead, he asked with intrigue, “You did all of this?”

“Yes,” Li Qingshan answered honestly.

Lying to a true god was pointless. However, he did silently move the ancient bronze sword behind him. Fortunately, the divine sword was not particularly eye-catching, seeming just like a regular bronze sword most of the time, without giving off any aura.

He clenched the hilt firmly in one hand, ready to draw it at any moment and fight Taotie to the death.

“I must admit that I’m very curious about how you did it.”

A Heretic God and a hundred million demonfolk, where they had even mobilised all of their power of belief before death, yet they had still all died.

“I killed them!” Li Qingshan said firmly. He refused to reveal how he did it.

“Good. Very good!” However, Demon God Taotie seemed to be very satisfied with this answer. “However, you killed my cook. I’m missing a cook now.”

Li Qingshan realised, He’s trying to recruit me. So he also thinks I’ve come to become a Heretic God.

After all, that was the most logical explanation. Otherwise, why would a Human Immortal run into the territory of a Demon God? Were they looking to die?

In the chaotic and wicked Demon domain, there was absolutely no such thing as friendship and loyalty. To Demon God Taotie, since he had lost a Heretic God, then filling the spot with a stronger one was enough. It was merely the strong preying on the weak. As for these demonfolk, they were like weeds. He would never run out of them, so he did not care at all.

“Or, you can become a dish. You have no other choice.”

Taotie’s face descended a little further. The hellish might of a god was unbearable.

“Of course. I understand.”

Li Qingshan thought, My objective is Qingqi mountain. Throwing myself at Taotie is pointless. As long as I can make it past this, the customs clearance documents will all be on me too. Once I deal with Qiongqi, what can you do to me? How do you know who’s going to be who’s dish?

“Yeah, I can consider accepting, but I don’t really know how to cook.”

“That’s not a problem. State your origins, hmm, full name.”

“Li Qingshan.” He could not lie before a true god and hiding his identity was pointless, so he just told the truth.

“Hold on, Li Qingshan? You’re Li Qingshan? The person chosen by the chief?”

Li Qingshan was surprised. “The chief? You mean brother ox?”

Demon God Taotie immediately confirmed it. He declared, “I am of the Jinyun clan, son of Jiang, descendant of the Flame Emperor. You and I are both part of the Shennong tribe. Haha, kid, I order you to come to the Jinyun Food hall immediately. I’m going to invite you to a feast!”

His voice was filled with joy, completely lacking any of the coldness and sternness of a Demon God. Instead, he seemed more like a loving senior, telling his junior to eat at his house. The beast’s face even revealed an expression that resembled a smile.

Li Qingshan’s jaw almost dropped. If it were not for the fact that he knew Taotie had no reason to lie to him, he basically would have suspected this was some kind of scheme. He did not know what the hell the Jinyun clan was, but he was all too familiar with the words like the Flame Emperor and the Shennong tribe. It revealed all of the answers.

As well as who brother ox was.