“Xiao An, Xiao An, granny is back,” the witch suddenly croaked. Her wrinkly face formed a mysterious smile. It was anything but amiable.
The worker knew the witch did not have any grandchildren, so he was frightened out of his wits. He placed everything down in a hurry. Suddenly, he felt like someone was tugging his pants, but looking back, there was no one there at all. He cried out, “Mother of heaven!” and scrambled away. Sharp laughter rang out behind him.
“Xiao An, granny is speaking to you. Someone has harassed granny.”
No one answered her in the empty hall.
“What? How dare you not listen to granny…” The witch’s face suddenly became vicious, and she launched a series of insults and scolds. She shook a bronze bell in her hand.
A cold wind immediately arose in the room.
A long time later, the witch became gentle once more. “Good, that’s more like it. Granny doesn’t want to hit you either, my good grandson.”
From the beginning till the end, she had only been talking to herself.
Li Qingshan returned to his house. He had no idea where the black ox had run off to. It had probably gone to hunt for him again.
Using his high spirits from drinking, he began to practise the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength again. He had already become as familiar as he could with the basic stance of the three forms, so his body moved automatically. He thought about everything he had gone through today. Something that seemed so terrifying was actually so flimsy. If he had fled out of fear when he was in front of caretaker Liu’s house, how was he supposed to realise the fa?ade of the entire situation.
Regarding this matter, his true opponent was not caretaker Liu or village head Li, but the fear in his heart. What was true strength? The Dao De Jing had already provided an answer to that question. “Those who dominate others are strong, but those who overcome themselves have strength.”
“The courageous are fearless!” Li Qingshan roared out these four words as if he had overcome an invisible barrier. His movements suddenly gained an indomitable aura. No matter what difficulties or dangers lay ahead, he would overcome them with his head held high. He would never lower his head and retreat.
There are no gods watching over up above. I am the god. Justice does not lie in the hearts of people. It lies in my hands.
In his limbs, chest, and abdomen, every single muscle across his body seemed to be linked together by this determination. He could unleash the strength of his entire body through a single punch. He had a feeling that even if he did not use a weapon, he was confident about defeating Li Hu and Li Bao together in a direct confrontation right now.
Chapter 11: Haunted by an Evil Spirit | Legend of the Great Sage
His courage increased his power, and his power increased his courage. It was a positive feedback loop.
He trained until sunset and actually felt hungry again. Right now, he was still very skinny, nowhere near as wide as Li Hu or Li Bao. Only he knew that none of the essences from the water deer meat had gone to waste. It had all merged with his body.
His body was like a bottomless hole, draining and absorbing all the alcohol and meat greedily, converting it into power.
After training, Li Qingshan sat down on the spot, closed his eyes, and settled down, feeling all the changes to his body. Overexerting his muscles and bones was extremely painful. He could still remember how he almost could not get out of bed from the pain on the second day of practising the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength.
On that day, the black ox had not urged him on either. He had forcefully endured the pain and gotten up to train. Only after a dozen or so days of consecutive training did it get slightly better. No, it should be that his tolerance had increased. Logically, his body should have gradually grown accustomed to it all after making it through the first few days, but the pain he experienced did not lessen at all. He still felt like he had only begun training every day.
Every single change his body went through was reflected in his heart with great clarity. Unfortunately, he could not sense any of the so-called qi. According to the black ox, only when one sensed the flow of qi and produced a trace of true qi would a grasp of the basics for any ability or technique be achieved. He had been cultivating for far too short a period.
At this moment, he suddenly felt a chill. It moved about behind his neck like a cold breeze.
However, there was no breeze at all, much less a cold breeze.
Is this the so-called qi?
Li Qingshan was elated. He concentrated on the cold sensation, but he gradually felt the chill penetrate his skin and enter deeper and deeper, reaching his bone marrow and even his soul. It was extremely cold and very unpleasant.
Li Qingshan shook his head. He stood up and practised a little more. The chill dispersed slightly, but it pestered him once again when he sat back down.
He had no idea what went wrong, so he went to the stream by his house to wash himself. The moon shone brilliantly that night. When he glanced at his reflection in the water, he saw a pale-white child with a stiff expression perched on him.
Even with his increased courage, he became covered in cold sweat from fright. Immediately, he thought about a movie from his past life called The Grudge.
If it were someone else, they would have definitely become stupefied, but Li Qingshan had lived with an ox daemon for so long after all. Using the reflection, he made eye contact with the child. The child only seemed to be seven or eight years old. His expression was dull and stiff. Li Qingshan said to the child, “What are you? Why’re you on me?”
However, the child only moved its head. The surface of the water rippled at this moment, and the reflection of the child vanished. However, the chill clearly remained.
Li Qingshan did his best to remain composed. I’ve run into a ghost. Why is this little ghost haunting me? I have to wait for brother ox to return so that I can talk to him. Fortunately, I won’t be losing my life anytime soon.
However, he felt no confidence, only feeling fear. The coldness ate away at him faster and faster, so he began practising the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength again in a hurry. Only then would the cold sensation vanish. However, he was not a machine that knew no fatigue. He still needed to sit down and rest, which felt especially tormenting whenever it happened.
This lasted until the middle of the night, a time when yin qi was the heaviest.
The cold sensation had already invaded most of Li Qingshan’s body. He felt no obvious pain. However, his arms and legs gradually grew numb, and his senses felt blurred.
An intense sense of danger made him wrack his brains as hard as he could.
He had heard that all people possessed yang qi, which could restrain creatures of the dead. He thought about how his blood vessels swelled as blood rushed through them when he practised the ability, which was why the little ghost had been afraid of approaching him. As a result, whenever he meditated, he did his best to replicate the feeling of when he practised. He closed his eyes, used his thoughts, and tensed his muscles. As expected, it was somewhat effective, allowing him to barely stop the attack of yin qi.
He lasted the night like that. His mind would be clear at times and sleepy at others, which was a vicious exercise on his mind and willpower. This situation continued until his willpower was close to collapsing.
With a rooster’s crow, the sun began to rise, and Li Qingshan’s eyes snapped open. Sunlight landed on his face through the trees, which was rather dazzling. The coldness on his body had vanished. The black ox looked at him from nearby with great fascination.
Li Qingshan said, “Where’d you go, brother ox? Did you know what I came across last night?”
“I came back a long time ago. Isn’t it just a little ghost on you?”
“And you just watched on?”
Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)
Dream Teller's books
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 101-Chapter 200)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 201-Chapter 300)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 301-Chapter 400)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)