32: Chapter 32 Pilgrimage to Shi Tuo

Gaosheng Square, Wei hour.

Shen Moyan, dressed in green robes with long hair flowing like a waterfall and a handsome face, drew the gazes of many Academy students.

Most of the Academy students were at the second or third level of Qi Gathering, with the occasional eighth or ninth level student who had disguised their cultivation.

However, they were all seen through by Shen Moyan's Jade Pupil Technique in meticulous detail.

"It seems my true Aptitude isn't that great," Shen Moyan thought suddenly as he looked around.

To others, he had reached the Mortal Transformation Realm before the age of twenty.

But Shen Moyan knew this was the result of the accumulation from his three previous lives.

Just now, he noticed several students at the fourth or fifth level of Qi Gathering, which was equivalent to the level of a First-rate expert in Great Qǐ. Yet they were very young, around sixteen to eighteen years old.

At the same age, Shen Moyan might not have necessarily reached the cultivation level of these students.

Shen Moyan shrugged and quickly accepted this reality.

There are always people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens.

Shen Moyan naturally wouldn't be as narrow-minded and arrogant as the Small Bird tribe in the records of the mountain and sea official appointments.

He wanted to be like A Fan, calmly accepting his ignorance but refusing to accept the unknowable.

As his thoughts drifted, Zhou Zhanpeng arrived late.

"Everyone is here, let's go."

Zhou Zhanpeng spoke to the Academy crowd and nodded to Shen Moyan, signaling him to follow.

Everyone arrived at the Ascending Platform in the square. Along with a series of clicks from the stone steps beneath their feet, the platform carried them up into the sky.

In an instant, the speed of the platform's ascent suddenly increased. The hems of everyone's robes flapped loudly in the airflow, and they all mobilized their Spiritual Qi for protection.

Shen Moyan looked down; the main district where the Gao Sheng Heavenly Tower was located had already shrunk into a neat outline.

Green tiles stretched out like scales, the moat outside the city district wound like a silver ribbon, and the once-towering buildings now appeared only as small as grains of rice.

Gradually, the steps broke through the cloud layer, and a sky full of white mist surged in like a tide.

The clouds were a pure white and felt slightly cool to the touch.

Suddenly, one of the students cried out in surprise, pointing toward the distant sea of clouds.

Sunlight pierced through the clouds, refracting into seven-colored halos in the mist. Tiny specks of Spiritual Qi drifted within the halos; inhaling them made one feel a surge of warmth in the Dantian.

Shen Moyan reached out to touch the sea of clouds. Where his fingertips passed, the white mist parted like water and then quickly closed back up, leaving a fleeting trail.

"This is the scenery that 'A Fan' wanted to see."

Shen Moyan remarked with emotion. He looked up, and the Stone Rubbing of the dao transmission stele came into view.

Although called a Stone Rubbing, it was actually a copy of the content from the original origin dao preaching stele, inscribed onto another stone monument.

This stone monument stood above the sea of clouds, over a thousand zhang tall and more than a hundred zhang wide.

Its entire body was a dark gold color, cast from unknown precious Materials. However, any material capable of carrying the content of the original dao transmission stele must be extraordinary.

Shen Moyan focused his gaze. The stone monument was covered in ancient runes and totems, with a faint golden light flowing over them, emitting a majestic and ancient aura.

There was no support beneath the stone monument; it just floated at the peak of the sea of clouds, surrounded by visible Spiritual Qi vortexes.

At the foot of the stone monument, a Heavy-armored person sat cross-legged in the mist with eyes closed. His face was covered in scars, and his heavy armor was rusted, emitting a primal and ancient aura.

As the Academy group drew near, he suddenly opened his eyes.

The entire sea of clouds came to a sudden standstill, frozen by his gaze.

Danger! Extremely dangerous!

The students all lowered their heads at the same time, not daring to meet the gaze of the Heavy-armored person.

Everyone could feel that Killing Intent; if they made a single reckless move, death would be their only greeting!

Shen Moyan's entire body was also tense.

Even the world-ending pressure from Gao Sheng and Zheng Quan hadn't given him such a strong sense of oppression.

But that Killing Intent was quickly retracted by the Heavy-armored person, replaced by a soft gaze that enveloped everyone.

"My apologies."

The vicissitudinous and hoarse voice reached everyone's hearts, calming their spirits.

After the Heavy-armored person sensed the Academy credentials in Zhou Zhanpeng's hand, he closed his eyes again and ignored them.

"Children, do not be afraid. He is the Stele Guardian," Zhou Zhanpeng said to the Academy crowd.

"Unlike the original 'origin dao preaching stele', the Stele Guardians of the Stone Rubbings in each prefecture are the remnants of ancient soldiers."

They once fought alongside the Xuanhuang Emperor Lord across the Mountain and Sea. After they died in battle, their remnants were collected by the Holy Court and deployed across the Three Thousand Prefectures of the Mountain and Sea.

These remnants transformed into Stele Guardians to protect the Stone Rubbings of the origin dao preaching stele, ensuring the continuation of the world's cultivation paths.

If a prefecture were to be invaded by the Yao Race or an Immortal Lineage and the defensive lines collapsed completely, they would be the final insurance to protect the peace of each prefecture.

The Academy students were greatly relieved, their faces lighting up with joy. Their conversations and mannerisms were filled with youthful vitality.

Shen Moyan, however, had a different look in his eyes as he suppressed the wariness in his heart.

If he were to walk the Heavenly Demon Great Dao in the future, he would have to face such existences.

Shen Moyan followed the crowd as they slowly stepped off the Gao Sheng platform and onto the Pilgrimage Steps. Looking up at the stone monument, he felt as small as an ant.

Some of the totems inscribed on the stone monument were not much different from the content in the records of the mountain and sea official appointments.

On the Pilgrimage Steps, Shen Moyan slowly climbed the stairs, his gaze fixed straight ahead. The further he walked, the more he felt his mind being drawn in, and even his breathing slowed down involuntarily... The origin dao preaching stele, as recorded in Chapter 2, Section 2 of the records of the mountain and sea official appointments:

In the ancient Mountain and Sea, the myriad monsters were classified into Five Insects: Ying, Scale, Fur, Feather, and Shell.

It is said that after A Fan successfully converted Spiritual Qi into Dharma Power, he lost his feathers and became a Ying Insect—that is, a human.

Facing the sneers of the divine birds in the sky, he fell unwillingly from the heights.

The sound of the wind whistled in his ears. His back, once covered in plumage, now had only bare skin. Those wings that could stir the cloud qi had degenerated into a pair of somewhat muscular arms.

A Fan was like a kite with a broken string, drifting down to the Kong Sang Sea beneath the green clouds.

This continent was the Mortal World where Ying Insects gathered. Moving between the green bricks and black tiles were humans who had no wings and measured the land with their feet.

When he woke up, he was lying in a woodshed, covered with old, coarse cloth clothes.

The salty smell of the sea breeze came from outside the window. After being washed ashore, he had been saved by 'people'.

"Seeing as you fell so hard, just stay here and recover for now." The one who saved him was an old woman whose husband had died years ago. Her children were not around either, having gone to the coast early on to forage.

A Fan touched his arms. What his fingertips met was warm flesh rather than familiar feather shafts, and his heart felt heavy.

He tried to circulate Spiritual Qi, but he had no Demon Core, only a body full of Dharma Power stored in his Dantian and flowing through his Meridians.

Mortal Transformation—he had succeeded, yet he had also failed.

Success, because he had Dharma Power comparable to demon power.

Failure, because he didn't know how to use this Dharma Power, and he had become half-human and half-bird, without wings.

'Feathers, I must grow feathers again,' A Fan thought, making a silent resolution.

But how could a Ying Insect grow feathers?

"You want to go outside?"

When the old woman brought the porridge and saw A Fan staring blankly at the sky outside the window, she smiled and shook her head.

"To be human is to be down-to-earth. You're still young. If you really want to travel far, wait until you're fully recovered, then go to school and study. In the future, earn an official rank and travel the world by carriage; it's even faster than flying."

Hearing the word 'fly', A Fan's eyes gradually became solemn.

Leaning against the window, he expanded his Spiritual Sense, and the vastness of the Mortal World flowed into his eyes.

(PS: In the early stages, the protagonist's behavior is strange and his thoughts are irrational. His path towards becoming a Heavenly Demon is because he was unintentionally infected by certain existences, which will be explained later. Please don't be too harsh; I have a fragile heart.)