Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)

His scarlet pupils flickered with red light. Although the upper half of his body still remained mostly humanoid, no one standing there would connect him with the word “human”.

The effect of the pills he had swallowed in one gulp had completely kicked in, but this time, the Ox Demon Transformation that had always been the easiest to practise became especially difficult.

“It’s still not enough. Something is still missing! Pills? No! What is it?”

Li Qingshan was dripping with sweat as two white clouds of scorching steam sprayed out from his nostrils. The medicinal effects began to wear off.

The Ox Demon, with its Great Strength, Sinks in the Mud!



The ominous mantra appeared in Li Qingshan’s heart again. He deeply comprehended a sense of sombreness like a hero at the end of their path, a form of helplessness like great strength that could not be used.

However, there seemed to be something else among all this. The ox demon’s figure appeared in his sea of consciousness once more.

He stared at the figure for a long time and suddenly developed a sense of doubt.

Why? It clearly knew it was stuck deep within the mud, so why did it still struggle? Wouldn’t it sink even deeper the more it struggled? It had already tried everything it could, and since it did not work, why not stop and take a break? Why did it continue to torture itself painfully?

In the past, the Hegemon King of Chu lost the Battle of Gaixia. As he listened to the lamenting songs of Chu all around, he said, “My strength plucked up the hills, My might shadowed the world; But the times were against me, And Zhui runs no more; When Zhui runs no more, What then can I do? Ah, Yu, my Yu, What will your fate be?” Afterwards, although he managed to break out of the encirclement of the Han army, fleeing to the banks of Wu river, he sighed to himself. “I have no face to return and see the elders of Jiangdong.” before slitting his own throat. He became the classic example of a hero at the end of his path, leaving behind a heroic lament passed down and sung throughout the ages.

TL: This basically refers to the downfall of the Hegemon King of Chu, Xiang Yu, right before the founding of the Han dynasty. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiang_Yu#Defeat_and_downfall

Li Qingshan had learnt this poem from the textbooks of his past life, but there had been a similar example. Thousands of years later, there was another marshal who had been surrounded by the enemy army who also left behind a seven-word poem, printed in his textbook. It remained as a clear memory to Li Qingshan.

So what if I lose my head today? Pioneering has never been easy, riddled with battles. Off I go to the underworld to call upon my fallen comrade in arms, ten thousand we stand to slay the king of hell!

TL: This is a poem by a Chinese communist army commander, Chen Yi, when he was surrounded by the enemy and thought he was done for in 1936.

The heroic bearing of facing death unflinchingly even surpassed the Hegemon King of Chu who blamed everything but himself and refused to return to Jiangdong.

As these thoughts flashed through his head, only an instant had passed in reality.

“I understand!”

The red light in Li Qingshan’s eyes suddenly flashed, like firelight. Afterwards, when he looked at the ox demon’s figure, he saw something different.

He saw the ox demon enduring and persisting with its extraordinary endurance. Even if it was all to no avail, even if fate had predestined it and destiny could not be changed, it would never give up, fighting to the end.

It could be destroyed, but it would never be defeated!

The flickering light in Li Qingshan’s eyes gradually settled down, and the streams of air from his nostrils eased up as if he could remain like that for a century, for a millennium.

Suddenly, the same forceful and vigorous bearing as the ox demon’s figure began to radiate from his body!

He had reached the fourth layer of the Ox Demon Transformation!

Li Qingshan’s body gradually turned back to normal. Unlike the past, he did not ravish with joy, nor was he in a hurry to test how much his strength had increased by.

During the cultivation process, the black ox’s will seemed to merge with his body through this Ox Demon Transformation. It was a form of inheritance. No matter how many profound transformations the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine had, the Ox Demon Transformation would always be the greatest.





Chapter 477: The Day of the Battle | Legend of the Great Sage




Li Qingshan’s large, tall body was riddled in clearly-divided muscles. He gained a sense of heaviness, standing like a mountain.

His bright, black pupils seemed extremely peaceful. It was different from the state of emotionlessness and desirelessness when he practised the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression. Instead, it was a form of firmness that reached as deeply as his bones.

Endless power radiated from his body, connected with the boundless earth. They were indivisible.

In the past, whenever he broke through with the Ox Demon Transformation, he would always carefully test his new strength. He did this to enjoy the increase in his strength, as well as to maintain control over his increased strength.

But this time, he did not feel any joy from the drastic increase in his strength. Instead, he discovered a boundary, such that just simple actions like moving his arms and legs were riddled with obstacles. He was unable to unleash the strength to his heart’s content.

However, his strength clearly increased, and not just by a bit. Who knew how many times greater it was compared to before.

His strength in the past was basically enough to rival the strength-type Daemon General with a special bloodline, Strongboulder.

Yet right now, he could completely overwhelm Strongboulder with only a single hand, or directly crush Strongboulder’s almost-indestructible body. This aspect alone had completely exceeded the level of a Daemon General.

The Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine was an unparalleled ability created by the black ox. It seemed extremely ordinary at the beginning. When he was at the first layer of the Ox Demon Transformation, all he could do was harass a few figures of the jianghu. He could not even defeat a few stronger Qi Practitioners.

But as time went on, the changes brought on by each layer was world-shaking. His strength swelled upwards by compounding on itself. The difficulty of cultivation did rapidly increase, but the efficiency of his cultivation increased too. He could not help but think about the classical story of the wheat and the chessboard.

A clever vassal had invented the game chess for a bored king. The king was extremely interested, asking him what he wanted as a reward. As a result, he mentioned a “simple” request, asking the king to reward him with some wheat. He asked the king to place a single wheat kernel on the first square, two wheat kernels on the second, four on the third, and so on.

The king agreed to it happily. In the very beginning, the request seemed extremely simple, taking up very few wheat kernels, but before he had even filled half the board, the king discovered that even if he took all the wheat available to the kingdom, he would not be able to fulfill this “simple” request.

The Ox Demon Transformation might have only had nine layers, but the strength definitely did not just multiply each time. If he truly compounded it a ninth time, then even he would not be able to imagine just what level his strength would reach.