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

“How am I supposed to dispose of so many of them? Why don’t we just leave them here? They’ll rot away in less than ten days!” Xianghua Man widened her eyes. There were several hundred corpses here. If she were supposed to bury them all, how large of a pit did she have to dig?

“Be good, or you’ll turn into a monster!” Li Qingshan said in an unconcerned manner and made his way into the depths of the fort. Originally, he had mentioned it thoughtlessly, but since he had said it, it would be an order. He had gone to such great lengths to extract the life force so that she could recover her youth and increase her strength. Was he supposed to just provide for her for free?

“Yes!” Xianghua Man nodded immediately.

Li Qingshan made it to the end of the fort and gazed over. An ancient totemic diagram was carved into the rock face. There were only a few strokes, but it was vivid, spilling with artistic charm. It was shaped like a tiger, but it seemed even more vicious. It had a pair of wings on its back, which did bear some resemblance to the tiger demon. However, the tiger demon was purely battle intent and killing intent, while the totemic diagram possessed a sense of deep malice, opening its mouth as if it were trying to swallow people whole.

If he had guessed correctly, this was the Bone Eating tribe’s altar. It vaguely gave off a shocking power, which was the result of countless years of worship from the Bone Eating tribe.



Li Qingshan pressed his hand against the rock face gently, and immediately, the totemic diagram sprang alive. It glared at him viciously, and with a roar, it leapt off the rock face.

“Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell!” Li Qingshan bellowed.

With that, the vicious totemic beast collided heavily against the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell.

Bang!

Cracks appeared on the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell!

“What power! This is the Bone Eating tribe’s strongest trump card! They actually have something like a guardian beast, and its strength nears Daemon General! Fortunately, they didn’t activate it, or I really might be in some trouble!”

Clang!

The Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell shattered!

Li Qingshan unfurled his wings and took off into the air. The totemic beast flapped its wings too, chasing after him closely. However, after reaching several hundred meters into the air, it no longer took a step further. Clearly, it could not travel too far away from the altar.

Li Qingshan studied the beast. Sure enough, it seemed like a vicious, black tiger, constantly swinging its claws at him.

The totemic beast growled for a while before returning to the rock face. Li Qingshan exhaled gently, and his breath slammed against it viciously. The totemic beast lunged back, waving its claws and baring its fangs. It obviously could not reach Li Qingshan.

Whenever the totemic beast tried to return to the altar, Li Qingshan would disturb it. This went on for over two hours, and the totemic beast gradually faded before vanishing completely.

Li Qingshan arrived before the altar and threw a punch at the rock. The rock face shattered, and rubble crumbled down. There was a shiny flash, and Li Qingshan reached in to take a look at it. It was a shiny skull that resembled both a human and a beast’s, glistening under the sunlight. He had sensed that the altar was hiding something right from the beginning, which was why he went so far to deal with the totemic beast.

He looked back and asked, “What is this?”

“This seems to be the skull of the Bone Eating tribe’s ancestor!” Xianghua Man was currently making her way over.

“Didn’t you say they ate their predecessors?”

“This is a Bone Eating shaman who’s undergone the heavenly tribulation. It’s probably too tough. No one can bite through it!”

“There are other Bone Eating tribes?” Li Qingshan brought the skull to his nose and sniffed it, sinking into his thoughts.

“Of course. The Mist province is littered with Bone Eating shamans. There are tribes of all different sizes! This one is only average in size. It’s said that large Bone Eating tribes have thousands of Bone Eating barbarians!”

Li Qingshan said, “Then I’ll have to take a look for myself in the future!”





Chapter 720: Return | Legend of the Great Sage




The malice hidden within the crystal skull resembled the tiger demon. It definitely was not as simple as the skull of a powerful Bone Eating shaman. It probably had something to do with the totemic beast they worshipped.

What Li Qingshan needed to practise next apart from the second, third, and fourth layers of the Phoenix Transformation was the fifth layer of the tiger demon. He would complete these two goals after he balanced out the powers in his body. By then, even if he ran into the Dragon King of Ink Sea again, he could retreat with ease.

As a result, as long as it had the slightest connection to his cultivation, he would place great emphasis on it.

“What’s the totemic beast that they worship called?”

Xianghua Man said, “Qiongqi, a vicious beast that likes to eat people. All the Bone Eating tribes worship it! Legend has it that during ancient times, a tribe found a deceased qiongqi. After eating its flesh, one of them became an extremely powerful shaman that specially began eating his own kind, birthing countless Bone Eating tribes.”

TL: Qiongqi is one of the four perils of Chinese mythology. It was first mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and there were two vastly-different descriptions of it. One said it was shaped like a tiger with a pair of wings, while the other said it was shaped like an ox and was covered in hedgehog-like bristles.. It likes to eat people and oftens starts with the head when it eats.

“Qiongqi!” Li Qingshan muttered. He swiveled his eyes; he looked at Xianghua Man. “Did you complete the task?”

“There’s so many corpses and absolutely no need to dispose of them. Just spare me, A’yue!”

Xianghua Man had already spent so many years as a matriarch, so why would she be willing to do heavy, manual labour like this? She went at it for a while before running out of patience, choosing to just sit on the ground and watch Li Qingshan battle with the totemic beast.

“Go!”

“No!” Xianghua Man threw a tantrum. Since direct objection would not work, she would be indirect. If this continued, she should be able to achieve her objective. She had already begun to consider how to make use of his power to earn even more benefits.

Li Qingshan snapped his fingers, and Xianghua Man collapsed on the ground. Her blood bubbled as if she had been thrown into a pit of fire to roast, but she was unable to say anything at all. The life force that had merged with her body possessed his imprint. It could both lengthen her lifespan and give her a powerful body, but it could also become lethal poison.

Just like how only women and the despicable were difficult to deal with, where getting too close to them only led to rudeness, he had really gotten along a little too well with her during the past few days. Or, perhaps it was because she had already become accustomed to commanding people around as the matriarch, but in short, she had to learn to be a little more compliant from now on.

“What I place the greatest emphasis on is fairness. Think about what you’ve given up, and then think about what you’ve gained. Do you think this is fair? I’m not going to stay here forever. It’ll be two years at most, and then you’ll never see me again. I hope you can properly cooperate with me during this short period of time. At the very least, don’t let down what I’ve bestowed upon you. If you can’t stand someone ordering you around, I can make everything return to its original trajectory. What do you think?”

“I’ll never do it again!” Xianghua Man felt her body loosen as she poured with sweat. Fear filled her face.

“I have high expectations of you!”

Under Li Qingshan’s patient persuasions, Xianghua Man completed her job very soon, and they set off on their return journey on the back of the pack animal, leaving behind an empty fort in the sea of trees. It probably would not take long at all before new vegetation swallowed it up.