Li Qingshan’s back arched high into the air, turning into a turtle shell that resembled a multicoloured mountain. His limbs dangled down like four columns as the colour of his body became mild like jade, shimmering with a divine glow. He slowly sank down, churning up and dispersing the demon qi.
The spirit turtle suppresses the seas, rippleless for ten thousand kilometers.
Everyone was left momentarily speechless, shocked by the great power.
Boom!
The colossal spirit turtle that Li Qingshan had turned into loomed over the demon cavern. He pushed the might of the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression to the limit and let out a deep below, like the cry of a dragon from the depths of the ocean.
The demonfolk army surged before the demon cavern, only to be met with a jade wall that shone with a divine glow. It blocked their paths.
“That fool Battle Demon Hun actually had his army annihilated!”
The commander of the demon army was a small, short old woman. She wore absolutely nothing, but was instead covered in red fur. Her withered face was filled with malice. She said to the Demon Kings behind her without even looking back, “Smash through him!”
Instantly, streaks of demonic light filled the cavern, erupting forth!
The red-furred old woman snickered. Just how powerful was the combined attack of several dozen Demon Kings? It was enough to instantly destroy a mountain. Trying to block the demon cavern with his own body was basically a futile effort. However, the jade wall suddenly flashed with a mirror-like lustre, and the attacks rebounded, raging through the narrow demon cavern.
The old woman’s expression changed, and she flew backwards. It was fine for her to retreat, but the Demon Kings retreated as well. Originally, it was very possible for them to block the attacks given their strength, but no one wanted to stand forward, so the attacks whistled into the demon army and countless demonfolk were reduced to ash, suffering heavy losses.
Li Qingshan grinned. Just like when he used the Ox Demon Transformation, the power behind the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell and the Last Reflection of the Setting Sun had reached an unprecedented level. On top of that, they had basically become second instinct to him.
The red-furred old woman was furious. “Go get him! If anyone even takes a step back, I’ll execute them without mercy!”
Seeing how the techniques were useless, her red fur began to grow, stabbing towards Li Qingshan like a million needles. The Demon Kings rushed over as well, launching furious attacks.
Li Qingshan felt a prick and an itch on his belly, followed by violent shaking. He could not last too long like this. He raised his head that resembled both a dragon’s and a snake’s and said to the Fierce King of Chu, “What are you still waiting for, fellow?”
“Alright!”
With a wave of his hand, the Fierce King of Chu pointed down, and the Green Province cauldron fell heavily. With a rumble, it rested on the back of the turtle.
Li Qingshan shouldered the mountainous Green Province cauldron, feeling no discomfort at all. Instead, he felt like he had become one with the entire Green province, forming a single, whole entity. The landscape of the Green province flashed through his tranquil eyes. Every single mountain was a part of his body, and every single river was a blood vessel. The stinging and pain from his abdomen immediately faded away.
The Fierce King of Chu was surprised as well. He had actually comprehended the Green Province cauldron in such a short time, allowing him to borrow the power within.
The red-furred old woman gave up on the attack. Her face was completely sunken. The region above the demon domain had been suppressed and sealed up again. Although it did not possess the power of suppressing demons like the Demon Suppression hall, it was far sturdier than the Demon Suppression hall had ever been. Given their strength, they could never get through it within a short period of time.
……
The churning demon qi dispersed, revealing the sky full of stars again. Before they knew it, night had already arrived.
Everyone could not help but gaze at the sky. Never had they found the galaxies to be so resplendent. When they looked down again, the ground no longer bore any resemblance to before. What replaced it was a divine turtle that shouldered a huge cauldron.
He was the one who had ended the battle.
“Qingshan!”
The Unraging monk arrived before the spirit turtle, filled with a multitude of emotions. Given Li Qingshan’s strength, he could have left as he pleased with no one to stop him. Even if the demonfolk conquered the world and turned the nine provinces into the Demon domain, there were no Demon Kings that could do anything to him. Speaking of which, he counted as half of a battle demon, so perhaps he would have been better off.
“Don’t worry, master. The demon cavern has already been suppressed!”
Li Qingshan turned over with his huge head. His profound eyes seemed azure at first glance, but upon gazing into them, they became darker and darker, dark like the deep ocean. They shone with the glow of demonic nature, flowing with profound truths and tranquility.
The Unraging monk felt his heart heat up. Even throughout buddhism, just how many people could undertake such a responsibility and make such a sacrifice? Who could still say his disciple was unworthy of being a disciple of buddhism?
The Dauntless monk brought his palms together towards Li Qingshan. “Amitābha. I express the thanks of all living beings of the world. Fellow, you might be a daemon, but your actions are like the dragons and elephants of the buddhas. Your kindness knows no bounds!”
“Heh, thank you for your praise, abbot, but I’d rather be the ox that carries a child on my shoulders.”
TL: “The ox that carries a child on his shoulders” has multiple meanings. It comes from a story where Duke Jing of Qi had a son, An Ruzi, that he spoilt so much that despite being the lord of a kingdom, he got on his knees and allowed his son to ride around on his back with a rope in his mouth like an ox. His son fell off his back by accident and tugged on the rope, breaking his teeth. The Ruzi in “An Ruzi” also means “little boy”. Anyway, the historical meaning is being spoilt by your parents, but the meaning was later changed by Lu Xun in a poem to mean possessing a selfless spirit to serve the people.
Suddenly, Li Qingshan understood what brother ox was thinking a little. If he were to choose, he would rather carry a child on his back too instead of serving the gods and buddhas as a mount, a domesticated animal.
The Dauntless monk frowned, but it did make him sigh without any surprise.
“Exactly!” The Golden Cicada Spirit King smiled.
Gu Yanying sank into her thoughts. She approached him and asked with a smile, “Is it heavy?”
“Do you even need to ask? Why don’t you try and shoulder it?” Li Qingshan said in exasperation.
Actually, it was not exactly heavy, but the issue was he could not move, which made him very irate. Now was the perfect time to demonstrate the usage of the Watermirror’s Image…
“I can never shoulder something like that.” Gu Yanying shrugged. “Is this worth it?”
“I just wanted to do it, so it doesn’t matter if it’s worth it or not.”
With a thought, a mirror clone walked out from his left eye and let out a great yawn and stretch. Soon afterwards, another mirror clone emerged from his right eye, twisting and stretching his neck with force.
Under the Spirit Turtle Transformation, all of the spirit turtle’s innate abilities had become stronger, which gave him sufficient ability to move around.
“Looks like you’ve already found a way to deal with it,” said Gu Yanying.
“Of course. I can’t stay here forever. I still have to pay a visit to the Ink sea!” Li Qingshan smiled.
“Li Qingshan, I’ll be waiting for you in the Ink sea. Don’t make me wait for too long!”
The Dragon King of Ink Sea left without any hesitation, turning into a dragon and vanishing into the horizon.
“You fought alongside one another after all. Can’t you just set aside your differences and befriend each other?” Gu Yanying sighed.
“We don’t need a woman sticking her nose into matters between men!” Li Qingshan said.
“Save it.” Gu Yanying shot him a glance before breaking into a smile. She extended a hand and patted Li Qingshan’s head. “I’m going. You can just lay there!”
Snap!
Li Qingshan gnashed his teeth, but Gu Yanying had already ridden off in the wind. A single message drifted over through the sky. “Hurry up and free yourself. You still owe me something. I’ll be needing your help very soon.”
“Understood!” Then Li Qingshan raised his head to the Fierce King of Chu and the King of Southern Yue. “Your majesties, could you come over here?”
“I was just about to bid farewell. Qingshan, is there anything else you need help with?” the King of Southern Yue said extremely warmly, which made the Fierce King of Chu furrow his brows heavily.
“Xiao An has already told me all about your assistance. I’ll definitely pay you back in the future!” Li Qingshan said.
“You’re too kind, Qingshan.”
The King of Southern Yue smiled. He had been waiting for that. It could be said that the only reason why he had done everything he did in the Green province was because of Li Qingshan’s personality, where he paid back all of his debts. He immediately felt like everything had been worth it.
“Your majesty the King of Chu, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you,” said Li Qingshan.
“What is it?” the Fierce King of Chu asked.
“Given the Green Province cauldron to the Great Banyan Tree King, or you and I will be stuck here forever.”
