“Young master, I’ve heard of some news recently!” Chi Da said.
“Huang Binghu of the Drawn Reins village has recovered from his illness!”
“How is that possible?” Yang Jun said impatiently.
Chi Da secretly cursed him as useless. “It’s said that his illness is chronic and can only be healed with the spiritual ginseng!”
Yang Jun’s eyes lit up. He was tempted to rush to the Drawn Reins village immediately and get to the bottom of this, but he was not crazy. With a sunken face, he said, “Go ask my father to come here. The spiritual ginseng can’t be digested so easily. Even if he has eaten it, I’ll get him to spit it back out!”
As the world experienced such a clamour, no one noticed that the area behind Li Qingshan’s house had been dug up, and the porcelain jar of white bones had vanished.
As snow fell heavily, the water of the pool became bone-piercingly cold but showed no signs of freezing. Li Qingshan climbed out from the water with blue lips before lying down on the dried grass. He looked at the grey sky beyond the white waterfall, and his breath turned into white mist.
This form of cultivation was basically fatal, but Li Qingshan would only climb out and rest for a bit once all of his strength and true qi had been depleted.
Only after taking a sip of the spiritual alcohol did his body recover its warmth, and the dried up true qi surge again.
A wild beast was roasting on the fire, giving off a heavy fragrance. Xiao An crouched by one side like a professional barbecuer, turning the wooden prong as he sprinkled on the seasoning and cooking alcohol he had brought back from home. He was engrossed in the process.
Seeing Li Qingshan emerge, he sliced off a large chunk of meat with a wave of the hunting blade before delivering the meat to Li Qingshan’s mouth. Only when he watched Li Qingshan wolf it down would he smile.
Li Qingshan’s mouth became all oily before he suddenly became surprised. “You’re not afraid of fire?” Xiao An was afraid of sunlight as well as fire. He was restricted by many things, so it should have been impossible for him to just crouch beside the fire so carelessly. Although today was a gloomy day, Xiao An would still normally hide within the scholar wood tablet, unwilling to come out.
Xiao An faltered, unable to answer.
Li Qingshan smiled. “What ability did you learn from brother ox? It’s not easy to get him to give you something. Why’re you hiding it from me?”
Xiao An hesitated before taking out a porcelain jar from the bushes with difficulty. Li Qingshan opened the lid and a sanguine smell surged froth. Inside was a small, white skeleton, dripping with bright red blood.
The two colors of red and white were extremely dazzling and distinct. It gave off an evil, bloody aura.
Li Qingshan frowned. “What’s this?”
Xiao An was like a child who had done something wrong, standing there silently with his head lowered.
“The Path of White Bone and Great Beauty!” The black ox suddenly appeared and stated those eight words.
“Is this also an ability?”
“Ghosts don’t have a body. They seem to be free, even able to avoid the senses of ordinary people, but when it comes to cultivation, they suffer from natural deficiencies. In addition, they’re afraid of fire and light. They’re suppressed by many techniques.
“But there are ways to deal with this. Absorbing the aura of the living is only the crudest method. As mentioned in the vast buddhist dharma, even great beauty will rot away into white bone upon death. Everyone is made of flesh, skin, and white bone, regardless of appearances. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. In a single instant, beauty can turn into a skeleton, while white bone can also grow skin and flesh. An eminent monk of buddhism attempted to attain the fruit of bodhisattva, but failed in the end and suffered a backlash of the heavenly tribulation. Filled with an unwillingness to accept this result, demonic thoughts sprang forth. Entering the demonic through buddhism, inverting the powers of dharma, and creating the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, condensing a ?arīra of white bone and becoming the White Bone Demon God, calling itself the White Bone Bodhisattva.”
Chapter 42: The Strength of an Ox | Legend of the Great Sage
Li Qingshan breathed in deeply. “The White Bone Bodhisattva! The demonic path again!” Although he was clueless about the greatness of an eminent monk of buddhism who was about to attain the fruit of bodhsattva, he did know that this was probably a supernatural ability that surpassed his imagination.
Li Qingshan said sternly, “This ability is probably difficult to cultivate, right?”
The black ox said, “Yes. An ability like this involves all of life, death, and fortune. Not only does it require the cultivator’s soul to possess extraordinary talent, but it also needs to be refined with the blood of creatures on the brink of death, enduring the scorching of blood and qi to extract tremendous amounts of essence and vitality. He’s just using the blood of beasts as a substitute right now, but the best material for refinement is obviously human blood, particularly blood from practitioners of martial arts with vigorous vitality.”
Li Qingshan shivered inside. Anyone who heard about this cultivation method would only think of it as an evil art from the demonic path. And, in any legend or story, every single person who used human lives for their practice were antagonists, suffering horrible deaths in the end.
He could not help but ask, “Why are you practising this?”
Xiao An paled in fright. As he gradually recovered his intelligence, he too knew that this was a demonic path of extreme evil.
The black ox said, “Obviously, it is to help you. Heh, is this perhaps the superior way to control ghosts?”
Li Qingshan shuddered, unable to say another scolding word. He lowered his head, only able to smile bitterly. “It looks like we’ve both chosen the wrong master. We’re destined to walk to the very end of this demonic path.”
Only with that did Xiao An ease up and smile shyly.
A spotted deer moved through the forest quickly, dodging the chilly wind that tailed it like a shadow, but in the end, a hunting knife slit its throat. Before the spray of blood could even hit the ground, a porcelain jar caught it. As soon as the steaming hot blood fell inside, a chilling gale swept up a set of white bones that soaked in the blood.
The set of white bones sat with its legs crossed like an old, meditating monk. It actually gave off a mysterious aura that merged holiness and evil. If a monk were present, they might have been able to comprehend the buddhist truth of the impermanence of glory and decay, the passage and arrival of life and death.
However, all Li Qingshan saw was Xiao An possessing the bones, refining the blood and qi. The blood and qi rose up like blood-red tongues of flames. Xiao An furrowed his brows as his soul trembled, enduring tremendous pain.
Most abilities of the demonic path took shortcuts, but they would be dangerous, coming at great costs and requiring great risk. The pain from having blood and qi scorch his soul was even worse than having flames burn his body. It required great willpower to remain conscious. Practising this ability was not something ordinary people could do.
Li Qingshan clenched his fists firmly. He only felt like flames were burning in his heart, so scorching that it was unbearable. The pain that Xiao An had experienced from the witch was probably not even a hundredth of what he currently suffered. Li Qingshan wanted to extend his hand to stop him.
The black ox said, “It’s not just for your sake. You have things you want to do, dreams you want to fulfill. He does too. This is his freedom.”
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)