Great Sage Path

Chapter 4 The Green Ox Under the Moon

The night sky was clear, and the silver moon hung high.

In the southern suburbs of Mufeng City, a large river meandered, its sound exceptionally clear in the night.

A low wooden house stood quietly in this place, next to a simple cowshed. A fenced yard contained an old locust tree, its trunk ancient but its branches lush and verdant.

Under the old locust tree, a man sat cross-legged, his long, flowing black hair cascading over his shoulders. His hands were in a mudra, faint white circles swirling around them, a subtle energy circulating within him, circling his eight extraordinary meridians.

This man was Sun Sheng.

"Boom!"

Half an hour later, a soft cracking sound rang out, and Sun Sheng's body trembled. The white circles around him vanished, dissipating like fireflies.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Sun Sheng was drenched in sweat, utterly exhausted. He leaned against the old locust tree, panting heavily.

"Sure enough, I can't gather Qi in my dantian. I still can't refine Qi. Once this Qi enters my dantian, it just dissipates on its own." Sun Sheng was deeply frustrated.

This wasn't the first time he'd tried. At his current Qi-moving realm, he could gather the primordial energy of heaven and earth, transforming it into his own Qi, and then moving it around. Once condensed in his dantian, he could transform it into a furnace to forge this Qi—a process commonly known as Qi refining.

However, unfortunately, Sun Sheng's injuries from years ago were too severe; his dantian was riddled with cracks, making it impossible to gather Qi.

A year ago, Sun Sheng saw a method in an ancient book that suggested using one's own Qi to nourish a damaged dantian, perhaps allowing it to be rebuilt and regenerated.

For the past year, Sun Sheng had been trying, but ultimately, all his efforts had failed, and the cracks in his dantian had only increased.

"Damn it! Which bastard wrote that book? At this rate, my dantian will shatter again sooner or later. Forget about rebuilding it; I might not even survive!" Sun Sheng cursed viciously, his forehead covered in sweat.

However, Sun Sheng still didn't want to give up. This was a risky way to win. If he couldn't repair his dantian, his life would be mediocre, ordinary, and even subject to bullying.

Therefore, no matter how painful, even if it meant dying, it was the only way, and he had to try.

At that moment, Sun Sheng regained some strength and tried again to condense the energy of heaven and earth, circulating it. A faint white aura once again enveloped him.

"Bang!"

But half an hour later, the white aura dissipated, and Sun Sheng still couldn't gather energy in his dantian.

And this time, Sun Sheng felt a sharp pain in his dantian. He curled up into a ball, trembling on the ground.

As expected, this attempt worsened Sun Sheng's condition further. The pain felt like a thousand steel needles piercing his lower abdomen simultaneously, causing him to break out in a cold sweat and tremble uncontrollably.

A long time passed before the pain subsided. Exhausted, Sun Sheng sat up, leaning against a large tree trunk, gazing at the bright moon in the night sky, a bitter smile on his face: "It's still no use at all. If this continues, I might die before I'm eighteen. Father... Mother... Perhaps I'll never see you again in my entire life, and my little sister too..."

At this moment, Sun Sheng felt utterly hopeless. He thought of his parents; he hadn't seen them for over a decade. Were they still alive?

"Moo!!"

Suddenly, the blue ox in the nearby cowshed, which should have been asleep, stood up abruptly and let out a long, mournful bellow towards the silver moon in the night sky. The sound, like muffled thunder, echoed through the night, making Sun Sheng's ears ache.

"Good heavens, Tiezhu, why is your voice so loud? What's all this sudden outburst? Having a nightmare?" Sun Sheng scolded, startling him.

But then, a bizarre scene unfolded. In the cowshed, the blue ox, its large, bell-like eyes bulging, suddenly uttered a sentence: "I... I remember everything."

"You remember everything? Did you lose your memory before? I say, Tiezhu, you... wait a minute, Tiezhu, was that you speaking just now?" Sun Sheng had initially tried to laugh it off, but his face suddenly changed, his childish face turning pale as he turned to the blue ox.

"It was me speaking. I remember everything." The blue ox spoke again, its eyes exceptionally bright.

"Oh, good that you remember. Life is short, how much can one remember? You agree, right? Hehe, I'm going out for a bit." Sun Sheng struggled to his feet, ignoring the pain and the throbbing agony in his lower abdomen, and walked towards the yard outside.

"Where are you going so late?" The burly blue ox swayed slightly in the cowshed and asked Sun Sheng.

"I'm going to calm down..." Sun Sheng walked out of the yard without another word.

He went to the large river in front of the yard and plunged straight into it, the water splashing and creating a huge ripple.

More than a minute later, Sun Sheng emerged from the river, climbed ashore, and, completely soaked, felt much more refreshed by the icy water.

"It wasn't a dream. I don't think I had a fever. Damn it, this is really unbelievable! Tie Zhu actually spoke! It...it's clearly an ox!" Sun Sheng slapped himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He clearly remembered finding the blue ox in this very river.

But now, such a bizarre scene had unfolded: a blue ox speaking human language, conversing with him under the moonlight.

"Your way of expressing surprise is quite unique." In the middle of the month, the blue ox emerged from the courtyard and stood before Sun Sheng.

It was indeed a blue ox. Even in the moonlight, its hide was clearly dark blue, its horns gleaming like metal, and its limbs adorned with spiral patterns. Its massive body strode forward, its large eyes blazing like beacons in the darkness.

"Tiezhu, are you human or ghost? No, are you an ox or a ghost?" Sun Sheng took a step back, calming himself.

The blue ox approached, its voice deep and honest, saying, "The ways of heaven are unpredictable. Was our meeting destined, or merely a coincidence?"

"Uh… Tiezhu, you've only just learned to speak. Try to speak like a human, don't be so enigmatic, okay?" Sun Sheng said awkwardly, maintaining a certain distance from the ox, for the events of the night had been far too bizarre.

"Don't worry, I'm still me," the blue ox said.

Sun Sheng composed himself slightly. No matter what, as long as the ox before him was his Tie Zhu, that was enough. They had relied on each other for so many years, and Sun Sheng trusted it completely. Although it had suddenly spoken, uttering human language, wait!

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Sun Sheng said, "Tie Zhu, you're a demon spirit, aren't you?"

Sun Sheng was a Qi cultivation practitioner and naturally knew of demon spirits. They were powerful beings, each with formidable abilities, comparable to powerful Qi cultivation practitioners. In ancient times, these creatures were called demons, but later many demons were subdued by Qi refiners and became spirits, hence later generations simply called demons demon spirits.

In Qingluan Mountain, a thousand miles away from Burning City, lived countless demon spirits, a training ground for some Qi refiners. Some powerful demon spirits were not much weaker than Qi cultivation grandmasters, and it wasn't uncommon for them to speak human language and take human form.

Therefore, Sun Sheng suspected that the blue ox before him was very likely a demon spirit. If that was the case, then there was really nothing to fear. After all, he wasn't unfamiliar with demonic spirits. Back in the Purple Sect, he had witnessed powerful Qi cultivation practitioners subdue demonic spirits as mounts.

"You think I'm a demonic spirit?" The green ox snorted out two puffs of white breath, seemingly a little angry, but then it grinned and chuckled, saying, "A demonic spirit it is, that might make sense to you."