Li Qingshan was blown out of the Hell realm by the great gales, and his comprehension immediately began to regress. The Attainment of Neither Perception Nor Non-perception immediately collapsed, followed by the attainment of Infinite Nothingness, the attainment of Infinite Consciousness, the attainment of Infinite Space… It was like he was falling out of the air, losing his balance.
He forgot what “emptiness is no other than form” meant. Only some lingering thoughts remained, which utterly consumed him mentally. His sea of consciousness was in chaos. He could not even maintain the most basic thought.
In a daze, he sensed that he was lying on the moist earth. The gurgling sound of water rang out beside him as the sunlight filtered through the leaves.
Everything that occurred in the Hell realm and the Formless realm seemed like a great dream. The pain and determination, the tortures and revenge, all seemed extremely surreal.
When his thought processes gradually returned to him, the first thought that occurred to him was, Where… am I?
The great gales left him sore and numb all over. He could not even budge a finger. He tried his best to turn his head and look around. The sun was shining, the water was rippling, and the grass was bright-green. It was a romantic sight of spring.
The wilderness of the mountains and the banks of the river were once scenes he frequently saw in his youth, yet never did he find them so nostalgic and pleasant.
“I should have been transported to the Human realm. Sigh, you really don’t know how great living is until you visit hell!”
It was not like he could move, so he just shut his eyes and rested.
At this moment, there was a rustle in the trees, and Li Qingshan opened his eyes again. He looked over. A great brown bear extended its head out from the bushes.
Don’t tell me I’m going to be eaten by a bear? Sigh, what am I thinking! It’s not like I have any flesh or blood, but speaking of which, do bears even touch people who play dead?
As he was lost in his thoughts, the great brown bear completely emerged from the woods, standing up straight in front of him. Under the bear’s head was the face of a man. As it turned out, it was a man draped in bear skin.
Li Qingshan could not help but break into laughter, and the man smiled as well. He said with a strange tone, “And I had thought it was prey. So it’s a person!”
Li Qingshan glanced at the bow and arrow in his hand and the quiver on his waist. He must have been a hunter of this mountain. However, he seemed extremely bold and valiant with his face painted with colours. It gave him a deep impression. He must have been someone tough who usually roamed through the mountain freely
Li Qingshan tried his best to move his lips. He said without much clarity, “Old brother, you got any alcohol?”
The man was taken aback. He fished out the wine skin on the back of his waist. “How did you know I had alcohol?”
Li Qingshan licked his lips and smiled. “You don’t look like the type who drinks water.”
“Hah, I do indeed drink alcohol as water!” The man took out the wine skin and drank away. The fragrance of the alcohol filled the air.
Li Qingshan began to drool as he watched him. He urged him. “Don’t finish it all! Save me a few sips!” Never had he missed the taste of fine alcohol so much.
The man studied him. “How are you going to drink it?”
Li Qingshan opened his mouth wide and nodded with difficulty. “Ahhh…”
The man had no idea how to respond. He turned the skin, and a stream of translucent liquid flowed out, falling into Li Qingshan’s mouth.
“This…” Li Qingshan suddenly widened his eyes. Never had he tried such delicious alcohol before. Even the legendary elixirs of immortals probably came nowhere close. Sigh, the Formless realm was simply tormenting. Even the thought of it made him pity himself.
The man ignored Li Qingshan’s pleading gaze and stowed the skin away resolutely. “Brother, where are you from? Why are you lying here?”
Li Qingshan smacked his lips. “Old brother, give me a few more sips. Don’t be so stingy. It’s not like I can’t pay for it!”
The man laughed. “Learn to be satisfied. I need to save a few sips for myself too.”
Li Qingshan had no other choice. “Alright then! I was blown here by a great gust of wind!” The alcohol in his belly turned into streams of warmth, purging the numb sensation from his body. He felt like he had regained his strength. He used his arms and legs to climb up. “Where is this?”
The man rebuked with a smile. “Nonsense. How can there be such a great gust of wind in the world? So great that it can even pick up someone as large as you.”
Li Qingshan moved his arms and legs around. “Heh, let alone someone as large as me, it can even pick up mountains!”
“Heh, you sure know how to boast!”
Li Qingshan grinned. “Of course, it can pick up oxen too!” He stopped dwelling on the matter. All he said was, “Thank you for your alcohol. What are you hunting for?”
TL: In Chinese, boasting is known as “blowing (inflating) oxen”. The etymology for the phrase is that herdsmen used to exaggerate the number of oxen they had when they talked, so they were essentially boasting. In this case, Li Qingshan is interpreting the word literally as “blowing (picking up) oxen”.
The man suddenly drew his bow and pointed it at Li Qingshan’s face. “Oxen!”
Find the original at Hosted Novel.
Li Qingshan leapt in fright and could not help but take a step back. He actually shivered slightly.
The man stowed his bow and arrow away and laughed. “It’s a pity that there’s fewer and fewer oxen now. Instead, there’s more and more people who know how to boast.”
Li Qingshan eased up. The coldness vanished. He smiled self-deprecatingly. With the sudden regression of his comprehension, had he lost all of his courage too?
“You’re alone?”
“No, I have a tribe.”
Li Qingshan jokingly said, “Oh my, to think you’re a chieftain!”
The man raised his arms very gracefully, opening up his chest. He smiled brightly. “And the shaman.”
Li Qingshan found it quite fascinating. “Your tribe must be very large then!”
The man said proudly, “Oh it’s large! Extremely large! Everywhere where the sun shines is my land.” He unintentionally gave off a sense of dominance and even shocked Li Qingshan. When he returned to his senses, he smiled inside. What a dominant village chief who thinks so highly of himself. Everywhere where the sun shines is your land? Who do you think you are, the lion king?
The man suddenly said to Li Qingshan, “How about this, brother? Join my tribe! I’ll bestow you all the land under the sun, with as much fine alcohol and women as you’d like. You don’t have to get blown around by the wind anymore either.”
Li Qingshan was basically smiling from ear to ear inside. Don’t tell me you’ve booked this entire fishpond too!
TL: Booking out an entire fishpond is a meme to describe people who flaunt their wealth. It originates from a Chinese drama where a character says he wants the entire world to know that he’s booked out this entire fishpond, in an attempt to flaunt his wealth (since wealth-flaunting is quite ingrained in Chinese (mainland) culture).
“Old brother, if you give me all the land beneath the sun, then where are you staying, chief?”
The man pointed above. “The sky belongs to me.”
“Yeah, that’s very reasonable. Hahaha!” Li Qingshan finally could not help but break into laughter. “And you said I was boasting. I’ve never heard a boast as great as that before!”
The man only smiled.
It took Li Qingshan quite a while before he stopped laughing. “Alright, I’ll join!”
The man nodded. He gave off the aura of a king as if he was not some chieftain of some tribe, but the actual lord of the sky.
Li Qingshan raised his right hand. “Chief, I want to drink alcohol!”
As a result, the man removed his wine skin and tossed it to him. He grabbed it and drank away vigorously, filling his mouth again and again. He exhaled deeply. “Nice alcohol!”
His face was bright-red, and he felt extremely energetic. His body was filled with power. Drunkenness rushed through his head. Then he raised his right hand. “Chief, I strongly ask to become the chief!”
The man shook his head with a smile. “We can’t do that. Only the strongest person can be the chieftain. As for you, you’re still nowhere close!”
“Haha, you need to stop!”
Li Qingshan clutched his belly and rolled around on the ground laughing. He was immediately about to demonstrate his great powers as the successor of the māra, a great Human Immortal so that this “dominant village chief” could widen his horizons, but with some further thought, he found it to be pointless. He had invited him to a drink out of kind intentions after all. There was no need to frighten him like that.
“Sure. You’re the chieftain. What you say, counts! Though, I’m going.”
Since his powers had already returned, it was time to continue on his way.
“There are many tigers and wolves in the mountains. Protect yourself with this!” The man did not urge him to stay, tossing out another item in the process.
Li Qingshan caught it casually, except it was an ancient, bronze sword this time. He drew the sword from its sheath. It did not possess a cold glow nor a sharp glint. It did not even have an edge. There was a sun, moon, and some stars engraved on one side, while the other side was inscribed with mountains, rivers, and trees. Apart from that, it was nothing special.
As a result, he casually tossed it back without any interest. “That won’t be necessary. I use blades!”
“This is a keepsake, as well as a bestowment,” the man said sternly. At that instant, he actually gave off a feeling that he could not be defied.
“Alright then. Thanks, chief.”
Li Qingshan clasped his hands casually and suddenly rushed into the air. He looked back and asked with a smile, “Chief, what’s the name of our tribe?”
The man smiled just like before. “Youxiong.”
