Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)

The rash kid from the country of the past had already become a man of indomitable spirit in the blink of an eye, but he was just the same as before, standing tall and proud, challenging the strong fearlessly.

Li Qingshan nodded with a smile before casting his gaze towards Si Qing. He was curious what he meant by “fighter”. The bitter battle that Gu Yanying had mentioned was about to show itself.

“Of course!” Gu Yanying smiled as she clapped her hands gently. “Qian Rongzhi, Yan Xixin, please come to the front.” She paused before she said, “Li Qingshan, you can wait for now!”

Li Qingshan only heard a noise from behind, and a late Foundation Establishment White Wolf guard stood up and made his way to the front. His cultivation must have been towards the apex among White Wolf guards.

Qian Rongzhi emerged from the corner, but she left everyone astounded. Li Qingshan was still at mid Foundation Establishment after all, but she was only at early Foundation Establishment. Without any impressive identities or backgrounds, it had already been very startling that she had been directly promoted to White Wolf guard, yet she had been specially chosen by Gu Yanying now.

Li Qingshan noticed how the two of them were carrying at least two arcane artifacts on them each. If it were only the White Wolf guard known as Yan Xixin, then so be it, but it was impossible for Qian Rongzhi to be that wealthy. Even if she did possess such wealth, she would never show it considering the type of person she was. They had probably been prepared for them by Gu Yanying too so that they could handle the bitter battle tonight.

As for Si Qing’s side, three people stood forward too. One was an old man with peppered hair in a long gown, one was a bare-chested, burly man riddled in scars, and the last one was a small, short dwarf who resembled a monkey.

The three of them were all at late Foundation Establishment, and they were all geared with arcane artifacts. Although they remained silent, Li Qingshan could sense a faint aura of murderousness coiling around them. He was extremely familiar with this feeling.



Li Qingshan thought, These three people have probably all gone through a myriad of battles and killed countless people. Only by undertaking countless battles to the death can you develop a bearing like that. And, they’re armed with arcane artifacts, so they’re definitely well beyond what regular Foundation Establishment cultivators can handle. However, with how peaceful the world has been, how did they manage to develop something like this?

“The three of them are my fighters. I think I have far too great of an advantage over you. Yanying, were you intending to go easy on me?” Si Qing smiled like victory was within his grasps.

Gu Yanying said, “Cut the nonsense. If you like to speak so much, then why don’t you tell us the rules of this battle? Are we going with the convention of a revolving team battle?”

Si Qing seemed extremely interested. Perhaps due to drinking alcohol, his face glowed red. It was completely opposite to the bored demeanour he had when watching the performance earlier. There was basically a hint of fanaticism.

“Most of the people over there should be from the Green province, so you might not understand the traditions of our Dragon province too well. Allow me to explain. The customs and culture of the Dragon province are oriented towards battle and revere warriors. Even the games played among children involve clashing with wooden swords, and these swords are replaced with real swords when they grow older. Basically everyone practises martials arts, and anyone with some talent will enrol in the Academy of the Hundred Schools and focus on cultivation.”

Li Qingshan had heard about it too. In the Dragon province, cultivation methods were extremely widespread. Regular people could come into contact with Qi Practitioner cultivation methods with ease, and the number of cultivators they possessed were much higher than the eight other provinces. Under these circumstances, powerful figures obviously rose up in great numbers.

Centred around the imperial clan of Great Xia, all official positions, whether civil or military, were occupied by cultivators, while esteemed positions like the three ducal ministers, the nine ministers, and the six ministries were all held by great cultivators of the third heavenly tribulation. However, Li Qingshan had no idea why Si Qing was saying all this. Was he showing off the strength of the Great Xia empire?

Si Qing paced around the centre of the hall and said loudly with his voice that was shrill like a jackal’s, “As a person of the Dragon province, do you know what we normally love the most? It’s attending arenas to watch fighters kill each other!”

Basically all the cities in the Dragon province, whether big or small, had arenas. Meanwhile, those who took part in these battles in the arena, also known as duels, were called “fighters”. They could range from regular martial artists pitted against bears and tigers while wielding weapons to cultivators battling it out with arcane or spiritual artifacts.

The arena was always in a great commotion. Under the cheers of thousands of people, people died, and the sand became splattered with blood every moment of the day. Even brothels and facilities of entertainment like the Parlour of Clouds and Rain were unable to rival the popularity of arenas.

Li Qingshan gazed at the three people there and said with his soul sense, “Commander Gu, so this is the bitter battle you speak of!” He felt rather unhappy. Although he was quite battle-hungry, he refused to serve as the pastime of “higher people” like fighting cocks and dogs.

“Do you know how the princes and princesses of the imperial clan come about?” Gu Yanying smiled.

“They were obviously born from the emperor and his consorts.”

“They’re not. The emperor hasn’t even seen most of the present princes and princesses in the very beginning until the day they became princes and princesses.”

“What’s this all about?”

“In the Great Xia empire, any child with the bloodline of the imperial clan has the right to become a prince or princess.”

“Then how many princes and princesses do they have to confer?” Li Qingshan asked in surprise. Great Xia had been around for several millennia, constantly propagating and widening their family tree. There were probably millions or even tens of millions of people with the bloodline of the imperial clan now.

“If they want to become princes or princesses, all they have to do is register, and they will receive the best guidance from the imperial court and be able to use the resources of the imperial clan. They’re arranged to fight in a duel every once in a while. Less than a tenth actually become princes and princesses in the end.”

“Don’t tell me the other ninety percent are…”

“Dead. They either walk out in infinite glory, or they’re carried out. They won’t even have the right to be buried in the imperial tomb. The chances of survival are far too low, so the number of people who register aren’t as high as you imagine it to be, but of course, it’s not low either. The Si family has never lacked geniuses.”

Li Qingshan was astounded. The way they groomed princes and princesses was basically like how they would nurture gu. It was extremely brutal. Only true geniuses would be confident enough to take part in such an elimination, and those who survive in the end would definitely be geniuses among geniuses.

Right from the beginning, he felt Si Qing was much more difficult to deal with than the Marquis of Ruyi Jiang Fu, but he could not help but raise his guard a little more now. He dared not look down on him or be careless at all anymore. And, he also understood what Gu Yanying meant by “Thirteen” and “Eleven” earlier. Clearly, that was not a ranking based on age, but on strength.