Humanoid Boulder

In the boundless universe, a streak of golden light shot out of the void, streaked across billions of miles of deep space, and finally plunged into a spatial node shrouded in temporal fluctuations.

Within the space concealed by time and space, the golden light eventually landed on a habitable planet in a star system. Among the mountains and forests, it transformed into a ten-meter-tall humanoid boulder that, at a glance, looked like a Buddha seated cross-legged on a lotus throne.

This habitable planet was several times larger than Earth. Most of its surface was covered by ocean, with one and only one enormous landmass in the middle. The landmass alone covered an area equal to a third of the ocean.

The land was lush with vegetation and blanketed in forests. Many creatures of all shapes and sizes lived on the continent, including some whose appearance was almost identical to that of Earthlings.

Countless creatures that lived in the water had also evolved in the depths of the ocean, making the planet's biodiversity far greater than Earth's.

As the years passed, a tribe of the Human Race on the continent gradually migrated to the foot of a mountain not far from the boulder formed by the golden light, fleeing from powerful giant beasts, and settled there anew.

It was around then that Qi Tian, transformed into a humanoid boulder, regained consciousness.

"Where am I?"

Qi Tian's consciousness seemed to have endured endless ages, yet it also felt as if only an instant had passed in the chaos.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a patch of grass among the mountains and forests, with a river several meters wide nearby.

"Why can't I move... Damn, what's going on with me?"

As Qi Tian gazed at the lush, dense forest before him and tried to move around, he realized he had become a massive boulder, half buried in the soil and completely immobile.

After struggling several times in vain, Qi Tian felt utterly frustrated. He had only followed the Buddha Pendant's guidance to find a temple. He'd just finished burning incense, and now he was in a strange place—and had even turned into a rock.

"Right, the Buddha Pendant. Where's that damn thing?"

The nameless fury in Qi Tian's heart grew stronger. He searched himself with his consciousness, but there was no trace of the Buddha Pendant.

But the next moment, his consciousness was drawn into the dark, empty sea of consciousness, where he discovered a golden lotus throne floating in the air.

A golden Buddha statue sat upon the lotus throne, radiating an ancient and majestic aura.

Through the golden light it gave off, Qi Tian could just make out the statue's features. They bore a striking resemblance to his own. At the same time, a secret manual flooded into his sea of consciousness along with the Lotus Throne Buddha Statue.

—Buddha Karma Twin Bodies.

Qi Tian tried to communicate with the golden statue, whose appearance resembled his own, but received no response.

After several more fruitless attempts, he turned his attention to the secret manual called Buddha Karma Twin Bodies.

The instant his consciousness touched the manual, the book-shaped secret art transformed into streams of golden light that floated above his sea of consciousness.

They then began arranging themselves into a huge, complex, and obscure golden Sanskrit Phantom.

Qi Tian watched the endless golden light in his sea of consciousness, along with the phantom of Sanskrit slowly filling with that light.

Judging by the sheer size of the Sanskrit, it would take quite some time for all the golden light to arrange itself into a complete text.

After observing the Lotus Throne Golden Body and the Sanskrit Phantom for a long while, Qi Tian saw that neither was doing anything. He had no choice but to withdraw his consciousness from his sea of consciousness.

Once his consciousness returned to the humanoid boulder, he realized that he could see much farther than before.

No, it wasn't his eyesight. It was more like an all-around perception, like a heavenly eye.

"I can actually inspect my surroundings in 360 degrees, and my range isn't short, either."

Qi Tian marveled at the change in his vision, then extended his consciousness outward. It slowly passed through the forest before him, stretching nearly two thousand meters before meeting a force of resistance.

"Everything within a radius of nearly two kilometers is laid bare before me—even underground and inside the mountain behind me. This is incredible."

"Huh? Is someone playing wilderness survival?"

At the outer edge of his perception, Qi Tian spotted a human wearing animal hide around his waist and carrying a wooden spear entering his range.

The sight of this primitively dressed human delighted Qi Tian. Then he realized the man was fleeing for his life.

Right after that, a wild boar nearly the size of a water buffalo entered his field of view, charging toward the man. As it went, it smashed straight through tree trunks as thick as a person's thigh.

The boar was all bulging muscles, with a sleek coat and a tuft of fiery red hair on its head. As it sprinted, the tuft swayed like a candle flame in the wind.

The primitive was also incredibly fast. As he dodged and weaved between the trees, he moved with astonishing agility.

"This man's speed, that boar's size... Could I be in another world?"

All Qi Tian knew was that he was in these mountains and forests, with a towering mountain range behind him, a river and a grassy patch in front of him, and dense woods blocking his view in the distance.

At first, he'd thought he was somewhere in a forest on Earth. But after seeing this, he knew this wasn't the Earth he'd come from.

Two minutes later, the primitive was still nimbly darting between the trees. He was almost at the grassy clearing where Qi Tian's humanoid form stood.

The giant boar behind him plowed ahead, trampling a path through the forest. It had smashed down hundreds of trees, leaving chaos in its wake.

"Whoosh."

The primitive burst out of the forest and spotted the grassy clearing. A four-meter-wide river wound down from the enormous mountain ahead, blocking his way.

Hearing the boar's thundering footsteps close behind him, he didn't dare stop. Its "snort, snort" grunts echoed right at his heels. Still running at full speed, he leaped straight across to the other side of the river.

As soon as he landed, his gaze fell on the humanoid boulder not far away. Such a massive boulder looked out of place among the lush green mountains and forests.

The primitive didn't dare dwell on it. He had already heard a splash behind him. The boar must have charged straight into the river and was still coming after him.

Watching the primitive draw closer, Qi Tian saw that he looked exactly like an Earthling, except he was much stronger and just over two meters tall.

"Is he going to hide behind me, or is he planning to climb up here?"

As Qi Tian wondered, the primitive had already reached a few meters away and was getting ready to leap onto him.

The humanoid boulder Qi Tian had become was over ten meters tall, with several meters buried in the earth. Its exposed, cross-legged figure stood ten meters high.

If the primitive could climb to the top, he'd probably be safe—unless the boar smashed the boulder to pieces.

"Don't come any closer!"

The primitive was already leaping high toward him. Qi Tian could clearly see the panic on his face as the boar chased him. Instinctively, he wanted to raise his hand and swat the man away like a mosquito.

Just then, Qi Tian's consciousness took the form of a solid giant hand. It swept the primitive away, sending him flying dozens of meters before he landed in the river that curved around the grassy clearing.

The giant boar that had charged after the primitive saw its prey suddenly flying off to the side. It hurriedly slammed on the brakes with all four hooves, tearing up the grass and sending dirt flying.