Legend of the Great Sage

Chapter 1616: A God’s Dream

Li Qingshan indulged himself on this enchanting island of blooming flowers, savouring the sweet nectar and fragrance to his heart’s content. He temporarily forgot the hardships and weariness of the journey, adding some charming sights to this journey of visiting past acquaintances.

The young girl of the past had already become a lover in his arms. Her boldness even took him by surprise, which left him lamenting over the unpredictability of human nature.

He once refused to ever look back, advancing ahead blindly, refusing to be tied down by anything, yet in a daze, he realised that there were certain things that he wanted to end and get rid of, yet he was simply unable to forget about them, always leaving him with sweet memories through certain incidents.

As such, he understood that everything he had experienced from the Crouching Ox village to the Demon domain was firmly embedded in his memories whether he liked it or not, and it deeply influenced the world. In the end, it reciprocated him through some form or manner, whether it was good or bad, kindness or grievances. This was probably what buddhism meant by karma.

Today, as he became a true god, the king of demons, he influenced the lives of billions with each passing moment even when he submerged himself in the warmth.

The black sun shone on the bleak land. The black masses of armies followed the rise and fall of the land, extending off into the horizon.

With his order, the entire Demon domain began their great retreat. The land they had claimed over millions of years after the sacrifice of countless demonfolk and humans in millions of horrific battles was abandoned without batting an eye. At the same time, the fatigue of the journey and the pain and conflict within their hearts tormented every single demonfolk.

However, no one complained, as this was the will of the Demon God. They had grown accustomed to serving those superior to them a long time ago. Even Demon Generals could send them off to their deaths in battle on a whim, let alone the king of Demon Gods that even the twelve Demon Gods submitted to. He was basically an unbelievably distant existence.

However, the atmosphere was different from the past. There was no violent cursing or wild howls. The superior forgot to abuse the inferior and the inferior forgot to flatter up to the superior. They advanced silently through the dust in the air as if they had learnt the meaning of melancholy in a single night.

Just recently, all of the demonfolk that were unable to stand the pain and torment turned into demonic beasts, running off in a stampede and chasing the sun until their deaths.

Now, the entire Demon domain was submerged in this melancholic atmosphere.

The pair of black eyes would peer through the dust and stare at the black sun with a gilded edge from time to time, muttering a name in their minds—Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan opened his eyes, waking up from the dream. He returned to the island of sweet memories, in the embrace of a beauty, but his expression was rather melancholic.

When he influenced the demonfolk, the demonfolk were also influencing him. All actions came with consequences.

His powers grew with every passing moment, even much faster than when he cultivated. That was the power of belief from billions of demonfolk.

A single demonfolk was very weak. Compared to a true god like him, they were basically like a droplet and an ocean. However, upon gathering billions of droplets, they were enough to make rivers spill their banks and the oceans overflow.

In the past, under Black Cloud city, the army qi momentarily gathered from an army of a few hundred thousand had multiplied his powers, giving him the ability to crush everyone at the same realm of cultivation. The number of demonfolk now was several tens of thousand times more, consistently providing him with the power of belief. Just how terrifying of a force was that?

And this was only merely the beginning. The demonfolk had only just heard of Li Qingshan’s name so far. Qian Rongzhi had yet to do anything either, such as making her Ming cult prosper. He had not even become a faith to the demonfolk yet, but they were already capable of influencing his emotions.

As the faith deepened, the influence on him would grow deeper and deeper as well, even twisting some of his thoughts and downright swaying his sense of self.

That was why he refused to be worshipped and refused to be influenced by others. However, from the moment he swallowed the Black Sun Demon Heart, decided to change the Demon domain and influence the billions of demonfolk there, he could no longer refuse the influence of the demonfolk anymore. As the king of the Demon Gods, the lord of the world, he naturally became the subject of worship for the demonfolk whether he liked it or not.

And if he was not imbued with this power of belief, it would be impossible for him to achieve victory in battle. His opponents were renowned immortals and buddhas, worshipped across the six realms of sa?s?ra and the trichiliocosm. Each and every one of them had amassed the power of belief over who knew how many tens of thousand years. Not only did they grasp the laws, but they also grasped the wills of the people.

If he was not even willing to pay this small price, how was he supposed to contend against them? Perhaps it was exactly because the seven Great Sages lacked this bit of power of belief that they had been suppressed.

War was not a game. Even to gods, it was the same. What he had to sacrifice was not just these regular demonfolk as well. As the king of the Demon Gods, he was the most important offering.

Hua Chenglu touched his furrowed forehead gently with her slender fingers and asked curiously, “Do gods dream too?”

Li Qingshan answered softly, “Gods are the dreams of the living creatures.”

“Dream?” Hua Chenglu blinked her eyes, trying her best to understand what he meant.

Li Qingshan rubbed her head. “It’s time for me to go.”

Hua Chenglu did not try to make him stay. She just smiled. “Take care.”

The flower had already bloomed, so there were no longer any regrets. As for when the admirer of flowers would visit again, that was the admirer of flowers’ problem.

The traveller left with the sweet memory, continuing onwards with that distant dream—on that pitch-black, rainy night, the young man in a rain cloak stood in an alleyway with a small girl beside him, clasping his hands at the carriage that raced past, bidding farewell to Yu Zijian and Hua Chenglu who were still young girls, vanishing into the pitch-black curtain of rain.

TL: This is referring to chapter 162.

And then? Oh right, he faced off against commander Zhuo Zhibo. He was ordered to complete a mission, to investigate a morgue, but in reality, Zhou Zhibo had been trying to use the Zombie Daoist to finish him off. That was the same place where he had encountered the disciples of the school of Mohism lead by Hao Pingyang. Afterwards, they entered the underground cave together and faced the Zombie Daoist, killing off Zhuo Zhibo.

Out of the mohist disciples, only Hao Pingyang had survived until today. He had been quite talented as well, having undergone the third heavenly tribulation.

However, Li Qingshan had no plans to enlist him to the Demon domain like he had done with Li Long.

The Demon domain’s agriculture was not developed, but when it came to machinery, no one world was close. Even beyond the Nine Heavens could not compare to it, let alone the tiny World of the Five Continents.

Who could help the fact that the Demon domain had a Demon God Jiazuo?

Legends had it that he was originally a lord in the ancient times. He was fascinated by all sorts of automata since he was young. Before he had even turned ten, he was capable of carving bamboo and creating birds, which took flight the moment they were completed and spent three days without falling out of the sky. As such, a sage advised him that while wooden birds were exquisite, they brought no benefit to the people, where their practical use was not even as great as an axle carved by an ordinary carpenter. And, as the lord of a country, he should not have spent all his time thinking about machinery, devoting himself to such an unimportant practice.

However, he did as he pleased and ignored him, continuing to be fascinated by the various automata and techniques. Afterwards, when he was exiled to the Demon domain, they had instead given him what he wanted, paving a new path for himself that conformed with the Dao, becoming a Demon God.

If gods ardently loved something, the skill they could achieve was well beyond what mortals could imagine.

Demon God Jiazuo’s ability to create had even surpassed Li Qingshan’s imaginations. It was well beyond anything that the school of Mohism could come close to. Over the years, he had gathered a large group of Heretic Gods and Demon Sovereigns skilled in this craft as well, which was equivalent to possessing a construction team of his own. He was the best choice for the minister of infrastructure.

The Demon domain had already been unified. What he needed to do next was to focus on infrastructure. Whether it were water resource facilities, bridges, or roads, he needed to build them all. In this revolution against the heavens, he needed to build first.

Water resource facilities could increase food production and greatly increase the population of the Demon domain, while roads and transportation could connect the vast Demon domain, such that they could mobilise armies to the front lines at any time.

Strength came in numbers. People were the foundation of everything. Only with people could there be cultivators, could there be gods and immortals. Even the most ordinary demonfolk could provide a tremendous amount of power of belief and determine the final outcome of this war.