Dark clouds loomed, and light snow fell.
Li Qingshan shook his head. None of the demonic transformations were about anything particularly auspicious. There was the ox demon’s stubbornness, the tiger demon’s frenzy, and now, there was the ape demon’s ignorance as well.
Brother ox, oh brother ox, just what are you trying to tell me?
Through his previous cultivation experience, he understood that this was a spirit contained within the brand-new transformation, and it was not something he could comprehend overnight. As a result, he simply stopped racking his brains about it.
The path lay right below his feet, and all he had to do was advance!
He was certain there would be a day when he understood exactly what the moon in the water meant.
Li Qingshan let out a great howl, which lingered endlessly. It churned up the sky full of light snow, but it did not possess the brutality and violence of a tiger’s roar.
“The howl of an ape!”
Everyone throughout the entire mountain manor suddenly realised it had already been a very long time since they last heard this ape howl. In the past, the White Ape King loved letting out howls. If it were not for the fact that they sounded completely different, they almost would have believed that the White Ape King’s soul had come back alive and was currently haunting the mountain manor.
The White Ape King’s howls were always high and sharp, possessing the pride and aloofness of looking down on the world. On the other hand, this howl was hollow and distant, full of flexibility and interest, but they could not help but develop a sense of sorrow after listening to it for a while.
On the tall building, Gu Yanying slammed her hand against the stone railing and gazed in the direction of the howl. However, the clouds blotted out the moon, so everything was dark. Has this kid comprehended something again?
“Manor lord?”
Feihong set down the Fierce Fire sword and listened closely for a good moment. Did someone like him experience sorrow as well?
Suddenly, the howl vanished in the snow and wind. Li Qingshan lurched forwards, swinging his arms about. His eyes were filled with colour and intelligence as if he had turned into a great big ape. He had formally begun practising the Ape Demon’s Method of Moon Scooping.
As he leapt and bounded about, there was no violent, offensive behaviour, just like an ape playing about and having fun in the forest.
Li Qingshan’s heart was filled with joy as well, feeling as if he had returned to his childhood. Even when he was alone, he did not feel bored. The world was filled with joys and strange things, which were more than enough to stop him from frowning.
This was the first time he had felt so joyful and happy when it came to practising a cultivation method. The melancholy from the futile effort of scooping the moon had been cast to the back of his mind long ago.
Of course, any cultivation method he practised required the support of resources. The world definitely would not give him even a sliver of spiritual qi, but why would he need anyone’s charity? He powered the Divine Talisman of Great Creation at full strength, producing extremely pure spiritual qi. As it flowed through his body, his movements became more agile, whooshing about with the sounds of wind.
The benefits of this world had been demonstrated at this point in time. The invisible restraints had instead removed all of his obstructions. He did not have to consider any balance between the demonic and divine. All he had to do was dance to his heart’s content.
Whether it was the ox demon and tiger demon or the phoenix and spirit turtle, all they could do was watch helplessly as this little monkey leapt around, unable to influence it at all.
Only when day broke did Li Qingshan stop. He was covered in sweat, but his face was filled with excitement and joy. The Ape Demon Transformation sure was fun. There was actually such a joyful cultivation method in the world.
But before he knew it, he had already used up almost half of the power within the Divine Talisman of Great Creation. That power was enough for him to kill the White Ape King two hundred times, but his cultivation of the Ape Demon Transformation had only just begun.
It was like how killing a person only needed a gentle swipe, yet forging a treasured blade required tempering and beating thousands of times.
Thinking back to the time he spent in the nine provinces, even eating meat and drinking alcohol could be regarded as cultivation, and who knew how many pills he had eaten. It was equivalent to the entire world supporting him. Now that he had left the nine provinces, he could only depend on himself. It was truly like how “Mothers are the best in the world. Children without mothers are like a blade of grass.”
However, at least he had forced open a path. As long as he sold the Legend of the White Ape King across the world, would he still have to worry about insufficient power of belief? Before he left this world, he should at least reach the first layer of the Ape Demon Transformation and grasp an innate ability.
Abruptly, he discovered that his body felt rather different. Only when he raised his arms did he discover they had become much longer. His hands had been elongated too, covered in thin fluff. He touched his face in a hurry, and his entire face seemed to have bulged forward slightly too.
Oi, if this continues, I’m actually going to turn into a monkey. But at least it bears some resemblance to a human!
Li Qingshan glanced over and saw the frozen pool again. With a leap, he extended his arm, and his fingers pierced the air.
With a clank, he forcefully ripped out a piece of the rock-hard ice and crushed it to pieces.
Then he raised his arm gently, and the drifting snow seemed to be sucked into his hand. He rolled it into a snowball and threw it hard, causing it to vanish off into the sky.
Gu Yanying was currently peering into the darkness when a speck of white suddenly appeared in her vision, rapidly growing larger. Before she could even respond, a ball of coldness struck her in the face, sending snow everywhere and making her reel over.
“You bastard!”
With his hands on his hips, Li Qingshan laughed aloud.
……
From that day onwards, a few discussions began in the mountain manor. The manor lord seemed to have gone insane.
First of all, he changed the plaque from the Mountain Manor of the Divine Ape to the Mountain Manor of the Ape Demon, and he wrote it personally. He wrote two extremely ugly characters on paper and stuck it to the plaque with his spittle.
Yes, his spittle, and all thanks to the fact that it was currently winter, it froze very quickly, or it would have been blown away by the winds in the blink of an eye.
Everyone was dumbfounded the first time they saw the new plaque. They had no idea how to respond. No one understood the meaning behind changing the divine ape to the ape demon. Was he intentionally getting it backwards?
He also liked to climb and leap around the icy-cold, precipitous cliffs, letting out a strange howl and laugh at the same time. Sometimes, he would leap up from the cliffs suddenly and make them leap in fright.
Someone said it was because he ate the White Ape King’s daemon core that he became more monkey-like, but the person was rebuked immediately. Even the White Ape King was not that monkeyish.
He became more and more temperamental and unpredictable too. A few days ago, he abruptly gathered everyone to hold a banquet, but the end result was everyone’s tables only had fruit. Fruit was extremely precious given the season, except his table was piled up with meat and alcohol. He ate away all by himself as if he was striking back at them for calling him a monkey.
During the banquet, a young swordsman grumbled under his breath in displeasure, and Li Qingshan immediately threw the White Ape King’s skull that he used as a cup over, leaving the young man bloodied. Right when everyone thought he was about to fly into a rage and carry out a massacre, he began laughing aloud, giving the cup to the young man. He went on about something like it was already his, as he had marked the cup with his blood.
Everyone could still recall the young man’s expression back then, but they could not describe it or even imagine it. It was an expression that actually bore fear, shame, surprise, and joy at the same time. The young man originally considered whether to beg for his life or not, but it suddenly became whether he should thank him or not. The end result was he simply stood there in a daze.
Towards the end, everyone basically became a little envious of him. Just by getting smacked in the head, he obtained the White Ape King’s skull. Even when a few swordsmen from aristocratic clans offered a tremendous sum for it, he refused to sell it, as he also came from an aristocratic clan.
Gu Yanying was deeply affected. Li Qingshan had come up to her and said he wanted to show her something all mysteriously. Then he brought her to the corner of a wall and showed her the bathing women on the other side through a tiny hole. She basically wanted to choke him to death.
“Kid, I know you’re doing this to comprehend the nature of the ape, but even when it comes to cultivation, you don’t need to be so devoted!”
“No, I’m very happy!”
