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

Under the influence of alcohol, patch-haired Liu let loose a great string of profanity and kicked the door viciously a few times. His swearing led to a series of dog barks around the village before he finally turned around and left.

The widow inside eased up a little and silently peeked outside through the door slit. As expected, patch-haired Liu had left, causing her to finally relax. Suddenly, there was a flash right before her, and she saw a figure following patch-haired Liu closely. It was dark, so she was unable to make out the figure’s appearance or attire. She only thought he was one of patch-haired Liu’s followers, but she could feel that something was rather off.

Li Qingshan followed patch-haired Liu to a remote area. Making up his mind, he yelled out and suddenly lunged forward.



Patch-haired Liu turned around in surprise, but all he saw was a dull knife stab towards him. He immediately became half-sober. He wanted to escape or fight back, but his arms and legs were powerless. Normally, he only used a blade to scare some villagers and would get involved in some scuffles. When did he truly experience an actual battle for his life? The assailant was just a teenager, but when his killing intent and determination flooded over, he was like a wild beast from the mountains.

Without any obstruction, the knife plunged into his body. Even Li Qingshan himself had never expected patch-haired Liu who swaggered around daily to be so useless. Looking at patch-haired Liu’s terrified, begging expression, he seemed to become even more drunk. His eyes shone with a dim redness as his head seemed to stop working. Only his hands continued to move constantly.

The sheen of the knife and the colour of blood danced about in the darkness.

By the time that Li Qingshan had calmed down, patch-haired Liu had already collapsed in a pool of his own blood. He could not be more dead than that. The heavy smell of blood under this moonlit night was slightly chilling.

Li Qingshan forcefully composed himself and left in a hurry. He ran all the way to the stream below the Crouching Ox hill in one breath before stopping. He looked at himself in the reflection of the water and could not help but leap in fright. “Is this still me?”

The water reflected a bloodied teenager, his mouth tightly shut and his eyes wide open with an undispersed sense of murderousness. It was extremely terrifying.

Li Qingshan cupped the cool stream water and washed all the blood off himself before returning to the cottage. He did not pay any attention to the black ox beside him. Instead, he directly collapsed on his bed.

Only now did his hands begin to shake; they were suddenly covered in cold sweat, drenching his clothes. He had completely sobered up now.

The black ox asked with a smile. “Aren’t you going to run away?” It was as if it were not the reason why Li Qingshan had gone and killed someone.

Li Qingshan replied, “I need to run away after killing someone like that?” He had not chosen patch-haired Liu on impulse. He was utterly wretched in the village. No one would stand forward for him. If no one reported the matter, there would be no investigation. As long as he did not leave behind any evidence that was far too obvious, nothing definite would probably come up over the death of such a person.

The approval in the black ox’s eyes deepened. Finding a common person who killed once angered was very easy, but finding someone who knew who to kill, who not to kill, and how to remain safe while killing was not. Moreover, even if his current composure were all fake, it would only demonstrate his willpower.

Li Qingshan could not hide his trembling hands from the black ox, but in its eyes, there was no shame in this. There were plenty of people who were so fierce and cruel that murder was nothing in their eyes, but to be able to suppress this nervousness and fear until now was truly impressive.

Quite a while later, the black ox asked, “How do you feel?”

“Utterly terrified and utterly exhilarated!” Li Qingshan was speaking from the bottom of his heart. After the fear passed by, there was actually a sense of indescribable delight. Most of his pent-up anger had vanished. Thinking back to when he read ‘Water Margin’, it was the same feeling from the chapters of Lin Chong Shelters from the Snowstorm in the Mountain God Temple and General Zhang’s Blood Spatters the Duck and Drake Bower.

TL: Lin Chong Shelters from the Snowstorm in the Mountain God Temple is the name of chapter 10 of Water Margin, while General Zhang’s Blood Spatters the Duck and Drake Bower is the name of chapter 31. The translations for these chapter names are loosely borrowed from Sidney Shapiro’s translation of Water Margin, which you are more than welcome to check out and read.

The black ox chuckled. “Get some sleep. There’s a lot to do tomorrow!”

Li Qingshan’s heart skipped a beat. He was overjoyed. “You mean…”

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Chapter 5: Nine Oxen and Two Tigers | Legend of the Great Sage




The black ox did not reply. Instead, it closed its eyes.

Li Qingshan laid flat on the bed. He remained calm on the surface, but his emotions were surging uncontrollably on the inside. As a result, he was unable to fall asleep even till the early hours of the morning. However, once his heart that had been stretched tight by excitement finally eased up, he felt even more exhausted than after working an entire day on the farm. He immediately sank into a deep sleep.

That night, he dreamed of becoming the enemy of thousands, killing until mountains of corpses blotted out the sun and seas of blood swallowed the stars.

Waking up, his dream receded like the tides. Sunlight poured in brilliantly. It was already late in the morning.

Patch-haired Liu’s death was like a droplet of water to a pot of oil. It caused a great disturbance in the village. He had always been making trouble in the village, and now, he was finally dead. Basically all the villagers clapped and cheered, saying that it was retribution.

However, they then began to speculate about the person responsible for this. There were many people who had grievances with patch-haired Liu, but there were not many who were bold enough to settle it. There were no secrets in this tiny village. As soon as the villagers thought about what had happened in the ancestral hall the day before and how the person in question did not come to check out such a major event, they only became further convinced about their speculation.

“Li Erlang has committed murder.”

“He seems quiet most of the time, but he actually possesses such bravery.”

“He has probably fled already.”

As the quiet discussion continued, the elder brother and sister-in-law turned pale-white, while caretaker Liu and village head Li had sunken expressions. The scoundrels became so frightened that they were weak in the knees. If they had been the one who had gone out last night, wouldn’t they be lying there right now instead?

Someone called out, “Li Erlang is here.” The crowd automatically parted to form a path. Under everyone’s gazes, Li Qingshan strode over to patch-haired Liu’s corpse. He could not tell last night due to the darkness, but looking at it now, he also felt that patch-haired Liu had suffered a horrific death. However, he showed none of it on his face. All he said was, “Good riddance.” He glanced around at the crowd.

They all felt that Li Qingshan seemed to have become a completely different person overnight. He had become rather fearful. Everyone his gaze brushed past felt a chill run down their spines, while those who had been directly involved with him leaped in fright.