Legend of the Great Sage

st its gaze could melt everything.

It felt like even if he threw his entire life into hardships and struggles, he could not even reach one of the great buddha’s toes.
Even his legs that had remained standing despite the shattered knee felt an urge to bend over.
That was a sense of reverence that did not originate from fear or power, but more like the sense of insignificance humanity felt when they first discovered the existence of the universe and realised the entire world in their belief was merely a speck of dust hovering in the boundless sea of stars.
It was an indescribable sensation of despair.

His knees trembled, and he gritted his teeth, even shattering them.
Blood and fire surged out from his mouth, but even that was not enough to drown out the deep feeling of despair.
This danger was even greater than when the Dragon King of Ink Sea hunted him down and when Qiongqi threatened him.
None of the hopeless situations he had faced in this life could compare to it.
Even if someone killed him, that was only destruction, but at this very moment, his very will wavered violently.

If he lost himself to it right now, then it would all be over, but how was he supposed to contend against it? He could not even attach the label of “enemy” to everything before his eyes right now.
There was nowhere for him to channel the tiger demon’s battle spirit, the spirit turtle’s longevity could only last an instant, and the phoenix’s nobility seemed lowly.
All that remained was groundless, meaningless, pointless persistence!

A word of entrustment rang out in his mind again.
“Remember, don’t lower your head to anyone, as you have once ridden on my back!”

As a result, he did not kneel!

A while later, the final ray of holy light vanished into the air, and the crack ran across the great buddha’s cheek.
In the blink of an eye, cracks spread across the entire statue, and the great buddha’s impervious body shattered and dispersed.
The setting sun melded into the horizon.

The short moment felt as long as an entire age.

Li Qingshan remained in the same position, his ox face filled with stubbornness.
His body was stuck in the mud, but his heart was in the Nine Heavens!

The monks had originally been bowing towards the great buddha.
Now that the great buddha was gone, they seemed like they were bowing towards him.

Xiao An drifted over and widened her eyes.
In a daze, she seemed to see the existence of another figure, but only when she blinked her eyes again did she realise it was a false impression.

Suddenly, Li Qingshan fell backwards stiffly, like the collapse of a mountain.
With a boom, he leaned against Great Buddha mountain.

In the underground caves deep below, the Soaring Locust King suddenly stood up.
His mouth split open a little, and he shoved the remaining half of the grandmaster of the school of Agriculture into his belly.
Demon qi surged behind him as he murmured to himself with a hideous grin, “Killing you once isn’t enough for you to die, but twice should be enough!”

“Qingshan!” Xiao An arrived beside Li Qingshan.

“A bunch of trash!” The Soaring Locust King sat back down, turning into a thumb-sized locust and flying off into the depths.

“I’m fine.
How are you?” Li Qingshan spread his limbs and gasped for air.
His body slowly shrank before turning back to normal.
Even a mere hint of buddhist nature could suppress his mind, and the bearing alone could make his will waver.
Just what kind of monster was brother ox up against beyond the distant Nine Heavens?

“It’s been quite the harvest!” Xiao An smiled.
Not only had she obtained all the śarīra left behind by the past monks of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, paving a foundation for her upcoming cultivation, but she had benefited quite a lot from the final Buddha Slaying stroke too.
What she gained from that was no less than the former as a matter of fact.
She raised her right hand and showed the Buddha Slaying sword to Li Qingshan.
A golden thread now pierced the entire sword, and Li Qingshan could vaguely sense the changes inside as well.

“What an annoying sword! Keep it away from me!” The Blade Spirit of Frenzy Flower’s voice was laced with a hint of alarm.

“That truly is an existence beyond belief!” Xiao An said from the bottom of the heart, half out of admiration and half out of joy.
Even Li Qingshan who had the demonic and divine coexisting within him struggled a little to understand how she felt right now.

The Dark Queen drifted over.
Before she could even speak up, the black cat leapt out of her arms and landed beside Li Qingshan and Xiao An.
She said in utter surprise, “Meow! Big Blacko! Li’l Whitey! It really is you!”