Legend of the Great Sage

Gong Yuan wanted to rebuke him, only to see that his expression had changed. He raised his head slightly and looked up, sighing with a smile. "I still have a very long path ahead of me. I can't die here right now!"

His gaze seemed to traverse the endless darkness and reach an extremely distant place, like a frog gazing at the stars, like a child chasing after a dream. He was so insignificant, yet also so persistent.

At that moment, Gong Yuan experienced a false impression. She was clearly in his arms, yet she felt like the shattered space separated them. Suddenly, she discovered that he was a little pitifully lonely, and the light he gave off was so brilliant that it blinded anyone who stared at him.

Through their mental connection, she could feel his complicated feeling of a much deeper sense of desire replacing lust, which made her sigh. Under his almost-lay appearance, he was still a cultivator after all!

At this moment, the shattered space in the surroundings was automatically repairing itself, like how a shattered lake surface would settle down sooner or later. His current strength was nowhere near enough to bulldoze the lake surface for good.

"When a slight crack appears, power the Heart of the Abyss with everything you have and provide me with the power of Ruin's End. However, those guys outside will definitely use this opportunity to strike. You need to protect me for a moment."

"Alright," said Gong Yuan.

"I can't be your partner of cultivation, but if we can get through this..." Li Qingshan suddenly laughed in a self-deprecating manner. "Forget it. Didn't I say I would stop with that? Let's butcher those bastards outside together!"

As the shattered space repaired itself, the Demon Kings were all ready to strike. Li Qingshan slowly swung his fist and punched the surroundings a few more times. Every single punch was extremely sluggish and heavy as if each bore the weight of ten thousand tonnes. The power of tremors was condensed in the punches as he tried his best to maintain as much control as possible.

The space shattered again, but under his precise control, a single crack remained open.

Gong Yuan immediately powered the Heart of the Abyss and connected with the world of Ruin's End. Li Qingshan shut his eyes, and from that moment onwards, he cast aside all of his thoughts and circulated the Spirit Turtle's Method of Sea Suppression as quickly as possible, absorbing the deep, cold power of Ruin's End. As if he had returned to his long parted home, his mind became extremely calm.

At this same time, a cluster of black qi snuck in through the crack, turning into a strange, black snake and biting viciously towards his neck.

Li Qingshan was completely unaware of that. He devoted all of his attention to cultivation.

With a flash of cold light, a diamond-shaped ice crystal shot into the snake's mouth and dispersed it.

Gong Yuan stood coldly and proudly, right in front of Li Qingshan. She said, "I haven't lived for long enough either!"

A smile flashed across Li Qingshan's lips before he completely devoted his mind to the deep world of Ruin's End. If he wanted to break through to Daemon King, balancing fire and water was not the only way. Actually, there was another path he could take, which was pushing the Spirit Turtle Transformation to the fifth layer.

In truth, this path had become available to him a very long time ago. However, he still ended up deciding against it after an attempt, as the Phoenix Transformation back then was far too feeble. Once he did that, his future cultivation would become especially difficult.

But now, the Phoenix Transformation had already reached the fourth layer, achieving a balance with the Spirit Turtle Transformation, so the consequences of this had diminished drastically. Although balancing the two first was the most optimal choice, not everything in life would unfold according to plans. However, since someone wanted to give him a slight surprise, he decided to give them a slight surprise too.

The Spirit Turtle Transformation had reached the cusp of breaking through a long time ago. After two decades of accumulation, he was only a single step away. With the support from Ruin's End, this step became especially easy to take.

In a short while, a rumble rang through his sea of consciousness. After an earth-shaking surge, it was immediately suppressed again. A spirit turtle dove all the way to the bottom of the sea of consciousness and slowly extended its dragon-like head, letting out a growl.

Gong Yuan was fending off the furious attacks of the Demon Kings arduously when she sensed something and glanced over from the corner of her eye. In a daze, she seemed to see a spirit turtle looking at her with its tranquil gaze. Only with a closer glance did she discover it was Li Qingshan's gaze. Not only was the aura that he gave off broad and distant, but even his appearance had changed tremendously.

His scarlet hair and eyes turned black again, while his horns, claws, and teeth all vanished. A hint of handsomeness vanished from his appearance, replaced by a hint of sharpness. Having suppressed the ox demon and tiger demon, he went back to being the original Li Qingshan.

"Thanks!" Li Qingshan said.

Gong Yuan's hair was a mess, her aura was weak, and there was a wound on her shoulder. It had been frozen in ice, but it was still black. Even just through a tiny crack, blocking the various attacks of seven Demon Kings was anything but easy. On top of that, the crack had grown larger during this time. If it were not for the fact that the Demon Kings were afraid of dying in the process, thus avoiding all risk, the situation would have been even more dangerous.

"It's no problem. I'll trust you one more time. You better not disappoint me this time!" Gong Yuan swung the pitch-black power of Ruin's End with her left hand and shouted, "Icebound Domain!"

She never expected the ice wall to block the Demon King's attacks the moment it appeared, even plugging the crack momentarily. She was surprised. She never thought she could erupt with such power.

On one hand, she no longer needed to split her focus to support Li Qingshan's cultivation, and on the other hand, it became even easier for her to wield the power of Ruin's End now that Li Qingshan had broken through to the fifth layer of the spirit turtle.

"Since when have I disappointed you?"

Li Qingshan took a step forward and hurled a punch. The power of tremors whistled out, shattering the space in the surroundings again. He glanced at his fist and smiled. "Sure enough, the effect is remarkable!"

He had not strengthened the Ox Demon Transformation, but the various transformations of the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine influenced one another. Going from the fourth layer to the fifth layer was tremendous progress for the Spirit Turtle Transformation. His control over his strength had increased evidently.

The sounds of thunder penetrated the space there with grandeur, shaking up their minds.

As the absolute principle for measuring a cultivator's realm of cultivation, even the shattered space could not prevent the arrival of the heavenly tribulation.

Li Qingshan stopped smiling. He had already taken the critical step, so what came next was the true challenge!

"Wait for me!" Li Qingshan dove back into the Asura Field with that.

The feeling of intimacy and serenity drained from her heart, which made Gong Yuan feel empty inside. She sucked in a deep breath and said gently, "Sure!"

At the same time, Xiao An stood within the ruins in the Myriad Poison cult. The Skull Prayer Beads turned into skulls and revolved around her, with golden pages of scriptures fluttering through the air further out. Standing within them, she maintained her eerie appearance of half-great-beauty and half-white-bone. She pressed the Buddha Slaying sword into the ground with one hand and pointed the disciplinary stick towards the sky with the other. The Blood Sea Banner stood right behind her, swaying in the wind.

The golden, holy glow seeped into her skin and flesh spread, covering her half of white bone in the blink of an eye. It turned her into an alluring beauty as she gazed down, her face filled with benevolence and solemnity and making her inviolable. However, the Samādhi Flames of White Bone burned silently in the depths of her eyes, emotionless and characterless.

Perhaps her unbudging true self had pulled through, perhaps the White Bone Bodhisattva had left behind this possibility in the first place...

"Qingshan, I've done it. Wait for me."

Lightning illuminated the entire region as the heavenly tribulation rained down from above!