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

“What ghost slave? He’s just a kid. I’ve already promised him his freedom.” Even during the most difficult of times, Li Qingshan would never betray his morals. For example, he had refused to sell the black ox to cover his travelling expenses. It was even more impossible for him to do so now.

The black ox felt like he had spoken too much, so he yawned. “Whatever you want. However, now that he has lost his master, and there’s no one feeding him, he’ll run out of spiritual qi before long. Subsequently, his soul will disperse.”

Soul will disperse! Xiao An blinked his eyes in confusion.

“Ghosts aren’t pets or livestock, so why would they still need to be fed?”

“The dead cannot remain in the living world. Even extremely powerful ghosts cannot withstand mere sunlight. Even a strong gale can destroy them. If every single dead person would leave behind a ghost in the living world, who knows how many ghosts there would be in the world after all this time?”

“Then what should I do?”

Around dusk, Li Qingshan strode through the forest with an axe on his shoulder as a transparent little ghost roamed around him.

He would run far away to the side of the stream and study a fish curiously at times, or fly into the branches and touch a bird at others. However, before Li Qingshan could call for him, he would return to his side like a gust of wind, staring at him eagerly.



Li Qingshan shook his head and smiled back. He had developed a slight sense of responsibility for this child.

However, behind them, the flying bird would seize up and fall from the branch, while the fish in the water would float to the surface with its belly up, indicating that this was not an ordinary child; instead, he was a dangerous ghost.

Li Qingshan combed through the forest carefully and finally stopped before a huge scholar tree that could only be embraced by a dozen or so people. He picked up his axe and began chopping.

He did not know any axe style or blade style, but the Ox Demon’s Fist of Great Strength included the most basic and profound ways of using his strength. He could handle any weapon in his hand skillfully.

Every swing of the axe landed at the same location heavily.

Wood chips flew, and the huge tree fell.

Li Qingshan paid no attention to anything else. He only cut out a tiny piece of the pith from the very centre and presented it to Xiao An.

Xiao An extended his hand and touched the pith before delight flooded his little face. In the end, he turned into a slight breeze and entered the piece of wood.

Li Qingshan smiled. This was something the black ox had taught him. He had to find an ancient scholar tree that was over a hundred years old. Scholar tree wood could naturally attract yin spirits and were highly beneficial to ghosts. Now that he had tried it, he found it to be true.

As a result, he no longer needed to worry about Xiao An dispersing.

Returning to his house, he sat down on a large rock in front of the entrance and carved the pith into a wooden tablet. After polishing it carefully, he carved the word ‘An’ onto it before wearing it on his waist. His yang qi as a living person could slowly nourish Xiao An’s soul.

He could also borrow Xiao An’s yin qi to practise controlling his own qi.

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In the small courtyard, Li Qingshan sat on the ground and constantly called out, “Xiao An, the neck!”

Xiao An hugged his neck, and under the stimulation of the yin qi, the sliver of true qi in Li Qingshan’s body began to move, flowing to his neck.

“Right arm!”

Xiao An quickly moved himself and hugged Li Qingshan’s arm. Although his delicate face was still pale, an innocent smile covered it. It was like this was an extremely fun game.

Only when the moon had risen beyond the trees did Li Qingshan stand up. At this time, Xiao An backed away reluctantly.

Under Xiao An’s assistance, the sliver of true qi in Li Qingshan’s body became much more docile. On the other hand, Xiao An’s eyes became brighter, no longer as dull as before.

Li Qingshan thought that it probably was not just because of being nourished with yang qi. No matter how clever and sensible a child was, once they were taken away from their parents and abused and beaten freely, they would probably all become dull like that.

Now that he was free, and his life had gradually returned to normal, the liveliness in his heart had begun to sprout.

Xiao An looked at Li Qingshan eagerly. He still could not speak, but his eyes clearly dictated. “Again!”

“Enough. This isn’t a game. We’ll stop here for today. Maybe tomorrow evening!”

Xiao An nodded obediently. He would never be as mischievous as a regular child, but he was unable to hide his disappointment.

Li Qingshan felt utterly helpless against that. “Fine then. Again!”



Xiao An smiled bashfully, but his ears immediately pricked up.

“Left leg! The back!”





Chapter 19: The Might of the Ox Demon | Legend of the Great Sage




Time passed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, autumn had arrived. The maple leaves in the mountains gradually reddened as the golden ears of rice swelled up bit by bit.

An ox cart slowly rolled through the path between the fields. No one controlled the black ox that pulled a cart covered in a thick layer of hides. Atop the hides was a young man with a piece of straw in his mouth, resting on his arms leisurely as he looked at the sky. Tied to his waist was a blade and a wooden tablet. He was Li Qingshan.

Currently, he was heading to Cypress Stream town more than five kilometres away with over a thousand taels of silver on him. In such a remote mountain hamlet, trying to spend money was really difficult.

If he wanted to make purchases, he could only go to larger towns or cities. Qingyang city had an abundance of goods, but it was simply too far away, and it definitely would not be cheap.

He could only fall back on his second choice and go to the town. At a set time every month, the town would hold a large-scale gathering. When that happened, the people of the nearby villages would all go to the town for the market and buy, sell, or exchange items. This was the best time to buy ginseng. He had gathered quite a number of beast hides as well, so he could use this opportunity to get them off his hands.

Originally, Li Qingshan did not want the black ox to pull the cart anymore, but the black ox did not mind continuing being an ordinary beast of burden.

When he arrived at Cypress Stream village, the sun had only just risen. The small town was bustling with people shuffling about. Many small pedlars called out loudly to sell their goods. It was an extremely lively sight.

Li Qingshan found an empty place and spread out the hides on the cloth canvas he had prepared beforehand. He did not copy others by calling out; instead, he simply sat by the side and meditated. He did not let this opportunity to cultivate pass by.

The sliver of weak qi in his body had already become much larger. He was like a child who just loved playing around, constantly controlling the sliver of true qi to move through his body.

He did not move, but this was extremely exhausting. Li Qingshan would open his eyes from time to time to answer customers who had come to ask for the price.

He possessed a tremendous sum on him, and he did not have any plans to make a lot of money from the hides. He only wanted to get rid of them as quickly as possible so that he could buy ginseng. As a result, the price was extremely cheap.

Although he was resistant to bargaining, business was still extremely successful. It was almost winter, and Li Qingshan himself had first-hand experience of the agony of biting, cold winds. There was not a single normal person who did not want a set of leather shoes or a coat, so a great group of people gathered around him before long.

“Move! Move!” A few young men with hunting knives and bows and arrows on their backs parted the crowd with hostility. They surrounded Li Qingshan’s canvas, casting a shadow over him.