Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)

The world was a pale yellow. Only that figure was so clear, leading him off into the unknown.

However, no matter how Li Qingshan chased after him, the figure was just beyond reach. It gradually grew further away before completely vanishing in the sand and wind. A moo rang out from the distance.

“Sure enough, it’s just an illusion?” Li Qingshan knelt in the sand, heaving for air. He suddenly spread his arms and called out at the top of his lungs, “I will go there! Beyond the Nine Heavens, I’ll definitely go there!”

The sandstorm gradually subsided, and Li Qingshan found the stone pillar again. It had almost been buried by a sand dune, while the words and diagrams had all been ground away by the sand.

But there was nothing beneath the stone pillar!

“There seems… to be something here…” Li Qingshan was clueless, extending his hand to touch the stone pillar.

The stone pillar crumbled silently, turning into dust that was even finer than the sand and dispersing with the wind.

Li Qingshan stood on the sand dune, left in a daze for a good while. Only the sea of sand spanned as far as the eye could see. He was alone. He felt his heart ache slightly, and his eyes grew rather moist. He shook his head forcefully and gazed at the Clam building on the horizon.

He could still remember. I need to go there and find the Clam King of Mirage Sea!

With a strange sense of reluctance, he continued on his way. He just wanted to turn around and take a look, but he hated looking back the most, so he gritted his teeth and continued on the way. Very soon, he threw the sand dune behind. It was no different from the thousands of other sand dunes.

The wind blew gently. Li Qingshan was stern, constantly advancing towards the Clam building. The surrounding scenery gradually became monotonous. There were no ruins, nor were there any ancient poplars, only sand dunes upon sand dunes like waves in the sea of sand.

However, the sandstorms occurred more and more frequently, so he was forced to give up on flying. After walking for who knew how many days, or perhaps years, the sun continued to loom over his head, radiating with scorching light. It made him feel restless.

Even with the Strength of the Earth, waves of exhaustion attacks. His body was covered in a layer of dust, but he could not stop. The Clam building was still there, growing closer and closer.

Finally, after the passing of another sandstorm, Li Qingshan looked around. There was only a boundless desert. He gazed at the horizon.

“What… is supposed to be there?”

He was lost.





Chapter 815: A Life Like Drifting, Like a Dream | Legend of the Great Sage




Li Qingshan thought for a good while, but he reached no conclusion. He was confused. Why am I in this desert?

He thought of something and checked his sea of consciousness, but it was empty as if something was missing. The motivation he had just found dispersed again.

However, he could not stay here. For some reason, great fear filled his heart, urging him onwards. He casually chose a direction and staggered onwards.

He had no objective, no companions, not even enemies. Only sandstorms passed by one after another. A strange sense of emptiness filled his heart, constantly expanding until it became one with the entire desert, the entire world.

His face had become rugged yet lost from the sand and wind. All he could do was constantly advance, afraid to stop for even a moment. It was as if he would immediately be swallowed up by the desert if he stopped. However, the exhaustion grew heavier and heavier. The earth no longer granted him endless support, instead draining his strength and spirit bit by bit.

The desert was no longer golden sand, and the sky was no longer azure blue. It was as if the constant sandstorms had blown away the colour.

Finally, after a sandstorm, even the sun vanished. All that remained was the empty, white sky, as well as the endless sea of pale sand.

The sandstorms stopped from then onwards. The wind vanished too. In the world, only he continued to trudge arduously, listening to his own rough breathing and stubbornly refusing to look back. He was unable to see that every footprint he left behind would immediately vanish as if it had never existed at all.

The concept of time became blurred. Suddenly, his final consciousness collapsed just like the stone.

Finally, he collapsed in the desert. Perhaps this place could not even be called a desert anymore. There were no rising and falling sand dunes, just boundless white.

His black eyes were blurred like frosted glass, gazing at the distant horizon. The white sand surged, swallowing him inch by inch.

……

Under the pitch-black sky, an uninterrupted chain of mountains lay there like a huge beast, quietly awaiting the break of dawn.

A hamlet sat below a small hill shaped like a crouching ox.

“Xiao Er, get up!” A voice broke the silence of the entire world. A middle-aged farmwife with a somewhat wide waist called out.

Within a pile of straw in the cowshed, a skinny young man immediately jerked awake from his dream. He wondered in a daze, Who am I?

He looked around at the dirty cowshed and sensed the itch from the mosquito bites. It was rather uncomfortable, but he found this all to be so familiar. He gradually woke up from his dream too, but the dream had been far too realistic. It felt surreal as if everything before him right now was fake.

However, when he tried to recall the dream, it rapidly vanished like a wisp of smoke. He could only vaguely recall it to be an extremely terrifying nightmare, basically striking fear into his heart and making him feel like he was unable to wake up. As a result, he gave up on recalling it.

“Where else could you be? Of course, you’re at home! Xiao Er, the weather is getting cold now, so don’t sleep in the cowshed anymore, or you’ll catch a cold! I’ve made breakfast, so come and eat!” The middle-aged farmwife smiled. Her voice was loud, but it was filled with concern, which filled the young man’s heart with warmth.

That’s right. I’m Li Er. This is Crouching Ox village. My parents were both farmers of the village, but they passed away when I was young. It’s all thanks to my elder brother and his wife who raised me. They’re like my parents to me.

He stood up and immediately loomed over the sister-in-law. The sister-in-law sighed. “Sigh, time sure flies. In the blink of an eye, you’re already as tall as your brother. In another two years, you can get married and start a family. We have to start preparing now. Once your brother returns from selling the ox, we’ll take the cowshed apart and build a new house for you. It might not end up being better than the other houses, but we can’t let it be any worse. With the kind of talent you are, Xiao Er, we can’t lose out to anyone apart from the kids from caretaker Liu and village head Li’s homes. Oh, the water is boiling. Stop standing there. Come and wash your face and get ready to eat!”

The sister-in-law rambled on for a good while before rushing off to the kitchen.

However, he only heard a single sentence. Once your brother returns from selling the ox!

Yes, this had been all planned out. Because the black ox that had grown up with him had become so old that it could no longer work in the fields, they were going to take it to the butchers in town and exchange it for money to build him a house. Back then, he had disagreed with this plan very much, but it was not like he had a choice. When farmers owned oxen, they were all like this.

However, when he recalled the black ox’s moist eyes, his heart shuddered, and he murmured, “No, no, this is wrong!”