“Alright. If you want to die so badly, then I’ll give you what you want!”
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance finally told him the method of entering Ruin’s End, but he made absolutely no mention about surviving within it.
Li Qingshan stopped acting arrogantly and listened quietly before bowing deeply. “Thank you, spirit reverend!” He suddenly smiled. “Are you really capable of leaping out of this great chessboard and running away from everything?”
He did not have much of a friendship with the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance, so there was no point for him to go to the lengths of persuading him otherwise. If he really wanted to stop him from going to Ruin’s End, why did he tell him the method? Li Qingshan still did not think he could truly threaten a spirit immortal.
Just who was the one controlling the chess pieces behind the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance.
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance was left speechless. He replied after a good moment, “The spirit turtles are the historians of the world. Of course, they can’t keep out of all of this.”
“Historians of the world!”
“To write history for the world, to write legends for immortals and buddhas, to search for all unanswered truths, to pass on all forgotten secrets, as well as those secrets that no one will ask about again.”
Li Qingshan widened his eyes, staring at the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance in surprise. For the first time, he saw something called “pride” on that indifferent face.
“Is this the meaning of the spirit turtles’ existence?”
“Meaning? No, that’s an inferior concept of humans because they’re not creations of nature. As such, they’re not born with meaning, which is why they desperately search for the meaning of life. That’s why you’re not a spirit turtle.” The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance pressed down on his chest slowly. “This is our nature.”
Li Qingshan came to a realisation. Trying to understand and measure these divine creatures of nature from the perspective of humans was simply absurd. Right from the moment they were born, they had inherited certain knowledge and disposition. They would never become lost in their own definition.
As a result, they did not have to search for something like “meaning”, much less make a decision between all of the “meanings”. They only needed to follow the track of fate, going from life to death naturally. Of course, there would not be as much struggle and pain.
Just how fortunate was that? Compared to that, not only were humans puny in strength, but they were virtually mentally disabled too.
Regular daemons did not possess such powerful bloodlines and legacies, but they were still creations of nature, so they did not have any random, disturbing inner demons. It all came down to preying and fleeing, strength and decline, survival and death.
Only humans, little monsters moulded from mud by empress Nüwa, shoddy figurines created purely out of interest, would be so feeble.
Li Qingshan bowed deeply again. “Thank you, senior. I’ve become even more certain in my thoughts. No one lives for the sake of living. Empress Nüwa did not give humans the meaning of living, perhaps exactly so that we can search for it ourselves.”
He turned around and left.
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance watched as Li Qingshan moved away. Right when he was about to descend down the stairs, he suddenly stopped and looked back with a smile. “Oh right, be sure to leave enough length in that annals of the world for me, or you better not blame me for not warning you! Hahaha!” With a great chuckle, he made his way down, reciting slowly.
“All these efforts just for a scripture, to fell all the stars around me. The landscape shattered, erm, how does it go again? Whatever. Who in history has defied death? Might as well live up to history until my final breath!”
TL: There’s a double entendre in this poem. The first line “all these efforts just for a scripture, to fell all the stars around me” can also mean “despite all my efforts, the weapons of war fell the stars around me”. The second should be what Li Qingshan is trying to say, but the Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance interprets it as the first.
The Spirit Reverend of Ocean Returnance shuddered inside, The weapons of war fell the stars around me!
He did not recite it with the poem’s original sorrow but with a surging murderousness!
Buddhism called the oral instructions of the buddha “scriptures”, which corresponded to his cultivation method.
As for “stars”, there were only ever two kinds of them. One of them was the trichiliocosm, and the other was the immortals and buddhas beyond the Nine Heavens.
Perhaps intentionally or otherwise, the poem spelled out his aspirations.
Time flew. The moon phased in and out.
Life was like mayflies, while the ocean stood boundlessly.
From an extremely high point of view, through the thick storm clouds and through the turbulent surface, a speck, a mayfly, swam through the depths slowly.
However, looking from within the ocean, it was quite shocking to discover that the “mayfly” was actually thirty thousand metres long, shaped like a whale with feather patterns. With a sweep of its tail, it abruptly leapt out to the surface, swallowing the lobster Daemon King that was facing the heavenly tribulation on the surface with a single gulp. Then it fell back into the ocean like it was soaring, kicking up a colossal wave.
The sky full of lightning rained down, but most of it was drawn towards the “human-shaped lightning rod” above its head. The rest landed on its colossal body, only leaving behind a faint mark.
The storm clouds in the sky dispersed very soon.
The “human-shaped lightning rod” asked, “How does it taste?”
“Absolutely delicious.”
“Why didn’t you save any for me?”
“You’re just a clone. Why do you need to eat?”
“Can’t I get a taste?”
This was the Daemonic Beast realm of the six realms of sa?sāra, or pejoratively called the “Animal realm”.
The skies were tall, the seas were vast, the mountains were deep, and the trees were thick. It was the wonderland for all daemonic beasts, a great wonderland where the strong preyed on the weak and the fitter survived. The never-ending hunting and flight, survival and death, formed the ultimate melody—absolute freedom, where beasts ran unreined.
Apart from natural herds and loose alliances, there was no such thing as cities or cultivation sects like in the Human realm.
It was not just due to the various differences between the species and their lower overall intelligence compared to humans. The great daemons with exceptional intellect leaned towards leading alone too.
This was the will of the Daemonic Beast realm, following the natural instincts of all.
If anyone tried to establish some kind of great alliance or great organisation, they would discover very soon that their cultivation had halted and their luck had worsened. Even loose systems for sects like what the Myriad sect had in place were basically too much discipline, well beyond the limits here.
As a result, there was absolutely no safeguard either. Even Daemon Kings that were about to face a tribulation could only accept their fates once they encountered a powerful predator.
As a result, many daemons chose to work with humans, becoming mounts and leaving this overly “free” environment.
No matter what, it was impossible for a direct disciple of the Myriad sect to be swallowed in a single gulp by a “monster” when they faced the tribulation. That was the advantage of organisations.
However, there were many human cultivators that turned this around too, willingly accepting the danger of turning into prey to return to wonderful nature.
Like this “mayfly monster”.
Li Qingshan spread his arms and sucked in a deep breath. The sea spray landed on his face with the ocean wind. “Ah, how wonderful!” He patted the great kun below him. “Yanying, do you suddenly feel an urge to mate?”
“Sure! Let’s do it!” Gu Yanying swivelled her eyes, hiding back smiles. With a gentle swing of her tail, she dove deep into the ocean.
Li Qingshan glanced at her mountainous figure and asked, “Could you turn back into human form?”
“Nope,” Gu Yanying answered bluntly.
“Forget about it then.” Li Qingshan gave up immediately.
Gu Yanying asked, “Why exactly did you come?”
“To inspect you and to experience life.”
“So are you done?”
Li Qingshan nodded. “Yeah. Seeing how free you are, I don’t have to worry.”
After all these years of cultivation, Gu Yanying underwent the fifth heavenly tribulation as well.
Her bloodline was half-human and half-daemon, but she always possessed the heart of a hawk, chasing after endless freedom. Especially after she merged with Heaven-stirring’s feather, she completely abandoned her human bloodline, turning into a natural spirit, a kunpeng, similar to the spirit turtle and phoenix.
That was perhaps the creature most compatible with the Daemonic Beast realm out of all of the species.
There was no need to search for some meaning. Freedom was fate, and fate was freedom. They lived freely and died freely.
It even left Li Qingshan rather envious. If his main body arrived in the Daemonic Beast realm, he probably would have become blessed by the heavens too, but he definitely would come nowhere close to her.
And a fate like that was instead a form of restraint on him.
After all, the divine and the demonic always collided in the hearts of man.
Whether it was the stubbornness of the ox demon, the fury of the tiger demon, or the pride of the phoenix, the scheming of the spirit turtle, and the benevolence of the qilin, they were all a form of obstacle to freedom. Only the heart of the ape demon came close to freedom, but it was far too besotted with it.
He read all the heavenly tomes that the Pavilion of Heavenly Tomes had to offer, but there was only a Heavenly Tome of Liberty and a Heavenly Tome of Nature, not a Heavenly Tome of Freedom.
This was basically a case of nature over nurture, something that lacked in nature and could not be made up for with nurture. He yearned for freedom, but not just for the sake of freedom. However, that was fine. It was quite nice to see her obtain freedom.
Li Qingshan smiled. “Hopefully, I can see your valiant figure of rising up to the heavens soon!”
“I won’t be too far behind you.”
Li Qingshan stretched his arm, and his figure merged with the ocean currents, just like an image in the water.
The vastness of the oceans here far surpassed the Human realm, but it was still different from Ruin’s End. Ruin’s End was not an ocean. No matter how much of it he experienced, it was useless.
With a thought, the blood-red sky and the blood-red earth unfolded before his eyes.
Rāhu Xiaoming held a huge sword he had picked up from the ground, standing in a battlefield strewn with corpses. He looked over and asked the same question, “Why did you come?”
Li Qingshan said grievingly, “Aren’t any of you going to welcome me? I was the one who helped you set up the teleportation formations after all.”
Rāhu Xiaoming threw aside the huge sword. “Heh, if your main body was here, I’d definitely give you a proper ‘welcoming’.”
“Heh, aren’t you afraid that your mum’s going to call you home for dinner?”
