Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)

“Qingshan, once this ends, let’s go for a few drinks in the Parlour of Clouds and Rain,” Wei Yangsheng said suddenly. Although he was not exactly trying to curry favour and fawn over Li Qingshan just yet, he did show deep reverence.

Actually, while Li Qingshan had been unconcerned, he had always been a point of focus to everyone. Even Han Tieyi who was as cold and staunch as metal viewed him in a completely different light after the hints from Han Anjun. The only person who did not treat him seriously was the leader of the school of Medicine, Ru Xin, or at least that was how it seemed.

“Sure. The Sect of Clouds and Rain still hasn’t been shut down?” Li Qingshan agreed happily. He was not some ascetic. If there was an opportunity to drink fine alcohol liberally, why would he turn it down?

“Even upon death, a centipede does not keel over, let alone something as large as a sect. Though, they do seem to be facing quite a few issues lately. They’ve lost their backbone after all. Qingshan, why don’t you just take over?” Liu Zhangqing continued the conversation with a smile and suggested to Li Qingshan.

After granny You’s death and Qiu Haitang’s disappearance, the Sect of Clouds and Rain became leaderless. Not only were they fragmenting from the inside, but they faced numerous dangers from the outside too, becoming the target of many organisations.

Liu Zhangqing originally wanted to use this opportunity to swallow it up, but upon further consideration, he gave up on that idea. Li Qingshan had taken on great risks to help Qiu Haitang escape, yet the benefits all fell to him in the end. If it led to any misgivings between them, then it would not be worth it at all. Through his identity as the prefect, he maintained the current situation of the Parlour of Clouds and Rain, preventing it from dispersing while preventing anyone from claiming it.

“Me? Let me consider it!” Li Qingshan originally wanted to say, Why would I want that? However, he soon remembered that this did belong to Qiu Haitang’s sect after all. If he had the opportunity in the future, returning it to Qiu Haitang was a good idea.

The various tests were carried out in an orderly manner. In the end, the handsome young man known as Lin Xuan passed through the tests with ease and joined the school of Daoism, becoming a daoist priest, which brought great pity to the leader of the school of Confucianism, Wei Yangsheng, as well as much confusion to many people. Ever since Juechengzi died, the school of Daoism never had a proper leader. It completely relied on their primary disciple and a few professors to maintain the situation and pass on their daoist techniques. No one could make the decision to give him any additional benefits, while Wei Yangsheng had put forward rather impressive conditions.

However, Li Qingshan understood that he had probably chosen the school of Daoism to avoid any special attention from a particular person. He would probably become the leader of the school of Daoism soon. Not only did he have a powerful cultivation method and cultivation experience, but Ru Xin had even agreed to provide him with sufficient resources for cultivation in exchange for detailed guidance over the Daoist Arts of Cloud Furnace and the Heavenly Tome of Cloud Furnace.

Li Qingshan could already see the rise of a new star.



Liu Chuanfeng sighed. “If only this child joined my school of Novels.”

“You better stop dreaming, junior brother. The school of Novels might be much stronger compared to the past, but true geniuses still won’t take this path.” For this entrance examination, Sun Fubai had specially hurried back, accepting over a dozen disciples for the school of Novels.

Li Qingshan said, “If that bastard Zhou Tong hadn’t gone so far, I would have never ended up in the school of Novels either.”

Sun Fubai smiled. “This was fate as well as great luck for us. I’ll definitely do everything I can to not leave you disappointed, Qingshan. I’ll tell you in detail when we get back, but the school of Novels also has brilliant prospects!”

Returning to Cloudwisp island with the new disciples, the three of them said some words of encouragement, explained a few rules of the school of Novels, and allowed them to stroll around before they returned to the bamboo loft to discuss official business.

Out of the dozen or so new disciples, the oldest was already twenty, while the youngest was only nine. After the three of them left, everyone let out a sigh of relief. The pressure from Foundation Establishment cultivators was far too great. Even just the aura they gave off unintentionally was enough for them to hold their breaths.

The young man who was the oldest said excitedly, “It really is him!”

The youngest, the nine year old child, tilted his head in confusion. “Who?”

“The one who spoke at the end. The one with the largest stature. That’s senior uncle Li Qingshan! Haven’t you heard of him?” The young man stifled his voice, basically amazed by how he had not heard of Li Qingshan before.

“Of course I’ve heard of him! He’s the Scarlet Hawk commander of the Clear River prefecture. Originally, he was a cowherd, but after around a decade of cultivation, he defeated a whole group of Foundation Establishment cultivators from the school of Novels during the Exhibition Matches of the Nine Prefectures! He’s already close to breaking through to Golden Core, and he’s not even thirty yet! He’s the most outstanding genius of our Clear River prefecture- no, the entire Ruyi commandery!” a young girl said immediately.

The young girl was so proud that it seemed like she was describing these feats as her own. Her eyes were filled with admiration.

The young man sighed. “Sigh, I don’t want anything else. I’d be happy if I can establish a foundation before the age of thirty.” The others all showed admiration and anticipation too, becoming filled with confidence over their future lives in the school of Novels. The power of role models was endless.

Although Li Qingshan was still a fair bit off from his goal of shaking up the world with his name, shaking up the Ruyi commandery with his name was no longer an issue. Before he knew it, he was already becoming something like a legend.

……

In the bamboo loft, the three of them sat together. Li Qingshan picked up a tea cup and said to Sun Fubai, “Fubai, it’s been tough on you. Please accept my toast of tea instead of alcohol!”

Liu Chuanfeng picked up his cup too, thanking Sun Fubai. If he had not rushed about outside, the Cloudwisp association would have never achieved its current accomplishments.

Sun Fubai replied with a smile, “My junior brother and I should be the ones to thank you. Qingshan, do you happen to have any money on you?”

“Money? You mean spiritual stones?”

Sun Fubai shook his head with a bitter smile. “No, just money. Gold and silver.”

Originally, golden and silver were basically no different from scrap metal to cultivators at their level. However, when he tried to expand the Cloudwisp association and carry out Li Qingshan’s plan to organise private institutions throughout the Ruyi commandery and teach the children of poor families how to read so that he could pave the foundation of the school of Novels, he discovered that they were truly short on money.

Across the expansive territory of the Ruyi commandery, just building these private institutions would probably take hundreds of million taels of gold and silver. Coupled with recruitment and the fees to maintain the operations, it was an astronomical sum, and he would earn no money from these operations either.

Sun Fubai had plenty of ways to gather money. He already had many salterns and gold mines under his control, which all poured with profits. However, if he insisted on carrying out a grand plan like this, there was still quite a large gap he had to make up for.