Legend of the Great Sage

be unavoidable for him to be splattered with blood one day, he had to understand the significance behind slaughter at the very least.

“Why?” Li Fengyuan pulled a long face.
He said in great reluctance, “They even tried to steal my flower!” He raised his right hand as he said that, which happened to be holding the Fire Velvet flower.

Since when? Li Qingshan was mildly surprised before breaking out in laughter.
He really was a natural divine bird after all, the leader of avians.
Just his talent alone was a thousand times greater than that boy cowherd of the past.

“Because I’m stronger than him!” Li Qingshan said sternly, “I said you can’t, so you can’t.”

“You’re being unreasonable, first father!” Li Fengyuan cried out.
Feng Xiwu was a modest, self-disciplined gentleman.
When he spent time with Li Fengyuan, he placed particular focus on his bearing as a gentleman.
He would never be as rude and unreasonable as Li Qingshan.

“That’s my surname.
I’m most reasonable.” Li Qingshan grinned, leading Li Fengyuan utterly livid.

Note: In Chinese, “reason” is 理 (lǐ).
Their surname, “Li”, is 李 (lǐ).
It’s pronounced the same.

“Anyway, you can deal with them.
I’m setting off!” Li Qingshan glanced from the corner of his eye and saw Xiao An standing gently on the top of a mountain in the distance.

“Farewell, father.
May you be ever-victorious and may everything go in your favour!” Li Fengyuan became solemn, folding his hands and bowing.
His plumage drifted.
Despite still being very young, he already possessed a hint of a composed bearing.

Li Qingshan nodded and said nothing more.
He took a step in the air, and he had already arrived on the distant mountain.

“Be sure to visit me when you have time!” Li Fengyuan staggered a few steps forward, and his eyes became misty.
Tears trickled down his cheeks, with every single droplet translucent.
When they landed on the Fire Velvet flower in his hand, it immediately bloomed even more gloriously.

He was still a child at the end of the day.
He was still not accustomed to partings.

They could not be regarded as actual father and son, and they had not spent a lot of time together, but he was particularly attached to this first father of his who gave him his surname.

“Once I get back, I’ll butcher you if you can’t even withstand three strikes from me!” Li Qingshan’s voice rang out from afar.
He had already vanished into the horizon.

“Alright!” Li Fengyuan wiped away his tears.
Looking around, he saw the burly man and dark-skinned man staring at him, which made him say, “What’re you looking at? Haven’t you seen good men shed tears before? You two bastards, get over here!”

……

The mountains rose and fell, the forests were dense, and the mist was never-ending.

Li Qingshan and Xiao An travelled several thousand kilometers and arrived before Savage mountain.
They passed through the fog and arrived in the valley, but the sight before them left them slightly surprised.

A city sat in the valley, littered with halls and buildings.
People bustled about.
If it were not for the great banyan tree that shrouded the sky, it was basically like when they first set foot on Savage mountain.

The Great Banyan Tree King’s delighted voice rang out in his mind, “You’ve returned!”

“I’ve returned.”

“As long as you’ve returned.
There’s a person who’s been waiting for you for quite some time now!”

“Oh? Who?”

“Who are you? Stop right there! How did you get here? How dare you intrude on our Savage mountain!” A man with pigments on his face and a spear in his land leapt out, questioning them loudly.
When his gaze drifted past Xiao An, he was unable to move it away from her anymore.
He was infatuated.

“That’s what I’m supposed to be asking!” Li Qingshan laughed loudly and stopped keeping a low profile.
He allowed his aura to radiate as he strode towards the great banyan tree.

The man with the spear shuddered.
All he felt was the tall man’s figure right before him grow larger and larger, eventually blotting out the sky and filling his eyes.
He was like a mountain pressing towards him.

The valley fell silent.
Everyone raised their heads at the same time.
Their hearts thumped away.

A while earlier, a monk leaned over a table in a raucous tavern as he stuffed himself.
His face was dark and ugly, and his grey monk robes were covered in a layer of grease, which formed black and yellow spots.
A great string of prayer beads hung around his neck.

People would greet him from time to time and tease him.
“Ugly monk, you really can’t go without meat, can you!”

The ugly monk raised his head and grinned with his oily mouth, revealing a simple and honest smile.

The ugly monk had come to Savage mountain over two years ago.
Back then, the two provinces had yet to formally declare war, but Savage mountain had already developed to its current scale.
Many shamans and cultivators gathered here.
This was not a shelter for fugitives anymore, but it was still the south after all, so finding a person good at heart was even more difficult than ascending.

The ugly monk’s arrival formed an exception to this rule.
His simple and honest face pissed people off no matter where he went.
In the beginning, people all thought he was faking it.
This place had never lacked any actors or posers anyway.
But gradually, everyone realised that was not the case.
The ugly monk was actually simple.
He did not fight back, nor did he curse back.
Instead, he persuaded everyone to do good.

This place was basically an example of good people getting abused.
Convincing others to do good was no different from cursing them.
As a result, the ugly monk was cursed and beaten up even more.
If it were not for the fact that killing was forbidden in the valley, perhaps he would have been beaten to death a long time ago.

This lasted until one day when the people that the ugly monk had advised countless times began disappearing one by one, but the cave masters all remained silent.
It was rumored that the ugly monk transformed into a monster and ate all the missing people, that he was actually a direct disciple of the first cave master, the Gentleman of Heavenly Blubber.
Only then did everyone treat him politely.

However, the ugly monk continued as before, remaining simple-minded and advising others to do good.
No one knew his name or dharma name, nor did anyone know why he had come or why he was here, up until now.

The ugly monk suddenly raised his head and leapt up.
He beamed in surprise.
“First senior brother!”

He was about to rush out of the tavern when he suddenly studied himself with a frown.
With a tremble of his clothes, his robes became clean like they were new.
With a shudder, he became spotless.
The filthy prayer beads around his neck recovered their shine too, flowing with different colours.
He had turned into a neat and tidy ugly monk before arriving before Li Qingshan as a grey blur.
He brought his palms together and bowed.

“First senior brother, do you still recognise me?”

“Duoge, you really have grown up quite a lot.
How long have you been here?” Li Qingshan immediately understood; this was the person the Great Banyan Tree King spoke of that had been waiting for him for quite some time now.
As it turned out, the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga was not just trying to call him back.
They had already sent someone over.