Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)

The black ox turned away its head and began to ignore him.

Li Qingshan knew that brother ox truly possessed the stubbornness of an ox, so he did not say anything more. Over the past few days, they had conversed quite a lot. He could sense the black ox’s intentions to a certain degree. It did not want Li Qingshan to rely on it. He had his own path to walk. He had to handle his own matters.

Around sunset, the black ox suddenly handed a small, porcelain bottle to Li Qingshan. It did not provide any explanation and left straight through the gate, climbing up the Crouching Ox hill and gazing at the myriad mountains below the setting sun.

Li Qingshan opened the bottle and looked inside. There was a transparent, bluish liquid inside. He realised what it was and smiled brilliantly, thanking the black ox while looking at its back. He dipped a stalk of wormwood into the bottle and carefully dripped the liquid into his two eyes.

He felt nothing at the beginning, but afterwards, his eyes became hotter and hotter, swelling and becoming burning-hot. If it were not for the difficult training he had gone through in the past few days, he basically would have cried out in pain.

In a house of brick and tiles covered in smoke, a group of outsiders who had come to have their fortunes told watched in stupefaction as a piece of talisman paper flew up in the air before suddenly lighting on fire. It even burned with blue flames.

What they could not see was a pale-faced child holding up the talisman paper strenuously. All they did was lower their heads and hand all of their silver and money to the witch out of fear and awe before backing away.

The witch carefully accepted the money, and her expression suddenly twisted. “What’s the matter? Why is Li Er still alive? Have you been slacking off when you handled it? Do I have to teach you a lesson?”

The child’s stiff and blank face revealed fear as well, and he shook his head desperately.

The witch suddenly lifted the bell in her hand, and the child rampaged through the house in pain with gusts of chilling wind, dispersing the curling smoke.

Only after quite a while did the witch place down her bell. “Good, listen to granny. Granny would never treat you badly.” She handed an embroidery needle that was as thin as a strand of hair to the child. “Take this and stab out his eyes.”

The child held the needle with great difficulty and flew towards the Crouching Ox hill with the night wind.



In the gathering darkness, Li Qingshan continued to meditate with his eyes closed in the courtyard.

The child walked over and lifted the needle, slowly stabbing it towards Li Qingshan’s eyes. An ordinary person would only see a needle flying through the air. Moreover, with how thin the needle was, it was almost impossible to see it during the day, let alone during the night.

Li Qingshan seemed to sense something, and his eyes snapped open. He ignored the needle that was only inches away and stared into the child’s pitch-black pupils with his sharp gaze. “What are you trying to do?” His eyes shone brightly like two balls of flames.

Around nightfall, just as Li Qingshan was in pain, the strand of almost non-existent qi suddenly began to flow. It flowed to his eyes, and the pain immediately lessened significantly.

By the time the scorching pain had vanished, a cool sensation filled his eyes, which he found to be extremely pleasant. It was also at this moment that he suddenly experienced an omen of warning, so he opened his eyes. He happened to see the little ghost from last night, holding the needle right in front of him.

He was also surprised, experiencing some lingering fear from what had happened yesterday. Originally, he thought the witch would just use some evil schemes and that she would never confront him directly. It was not like the little ghost’s yin qi could harm him, so he could afford to be careless and underestimate this opponent. However, if it were not for the fact that he could suddenly see ghosts, he might have fallen for the sneak attack and lost his eyes, which would have made him worse off than just trying to kill her off nice and early.

The child was even more surprised. Having been glared at by Li Qingshan, he trembled all over and dropped the needle, drifting far away to avoid him.

Li Qingshan studied the little ghost carefully and discovered that he was only six or seven years old. His facial features were extremely delicate. If it were not for his overly-pale face, he really would have seemed pure and innocent. He wore robes made from silk, which should have been his attire before death. He did not seem like a ghost under control; he looked more like a little young master of a large clan.

Seeing how Li Qingshan could actually see him, the child immediately became afraid of approaching him, but he was also afraid of failing the mission and being punished by the witch, so he dared not leave. He froze up there.

Li Qingshan no longer felt any fear. Invisible things were always the most terrifying. Now that he could see it all clearly, he discovered that the little ghost was even more afraid than him. As a result, he asked, “What’s your name? Where do you come from?”

However, no matter how he asked, the child never replied with his dull face. Li Qingshan thought of something. “You can’t speak?”

The child hesitated for a while before nodding.

Li Qingshan thought about how this child was only being used by the witch. He had passed away unfortunately at such a young age, and perhaps the witch was behind his death as well. As a result, Li Qingshan felt rather sympathetic, and his tone warmed up slightly.

“You stuck to me so close last night, so what’re you hiding for now? Come over here. There are things I want to ask you.”

The child saw how his expression was no longer as frightening and took a few steps forward like a timid little animal.

Li Qingshan asked, “Since you can’t speak, then you can nod or shake your head to answer me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The child nodded.

A man and a ghost began to communicate with each other just like this.





Chapter 14: Bursting Through the Door | Legend of the Great Sage




Li Qingshan asked many questions, and the child answered all of them as if he did not know how to lie. He either nodded or shook his head, but he could only answer simple questions. Complicated questions would only leave him dazed.

When Li Qingshan asked for his name and where he came from, he shook his head for both of them. When he asked whether the witch was still hiding any tricks, the child stood there blankly.

Despite that, Li Qingshan managed to understand many things. The witch really was behind the child’s death after all, refining him into a little ghost to serve her. Originally, he could speak as well, but the witch had fed him a bowl of medicinal soup that turned him into a mute.

Li Qingshan guessed that the witch had abducted this child and was afraid he would blabber along the way, so she had turned him into a mute. However, whenever he mentioned the witch, the child’s face would become filled with fear.

Li Qingshan said gently, “Don’t worry, I won’t harm you. I will kill that old hag and set you free.”

Unknowingly, the child had approached Li Qingshan, and there was now attachment on his little raised head.

Li Qingshan revealed a comforting smile and wanted to touch his head, but Li Qingshan’s hand passed through his body, and he immediately froze.

The child became depressed, lowering his head and silently crying.

Li Qingshan suddenly felt sorrow well up inside. He roared at the sky. Why were there so many injustices in the world? When humans harmed each other, they were no less brutal than demons and monsters.

On the other hand, the child was stunned, looking at Li Qingshan in surprise.

Under the moonlight, the young man with unswerving determination actually had something sparkle at the corner of his eyes.