The union of tortoise and snake

None of the cultivation methods Shi Feiyang had acquired so far could give him human form. In the world of Mount Shu, supernatural creatures could not simply transform at will once they possessed magical power; they had to cultivate toward it step by step. Lady Baoxiang of Mount Huang was one example, though she was a fox spirit and rather unusual. Jin Xunu of Purple Cloud Palace in the South Sea was another. If an opportunity arose, Shi Feiyang ought to visit him in the South Sea and ask how he had done it.

Shi Feiyang remembered that beneath Mount Dongting lay a copy of the Inner Scenery Origin Treatise. The Green-Haired Perfected One, Liu Laogen, had compiled it specifically for the Apes under his tutelage. It was a method for nonhuman beings to cultivate to immortality, so it should contain a way to attain human form.

But first, Perfected Liu had expressly left it for his former pets. Second, a Black Dragon like Shi Feiyang traveling from Zhejiang to Jiangsu would attract the attention of Sword Immortals from every sect, no matter how he went about it. Whether righteous or evil, most would want to cut him down—either to rid the people of a menace before he harmed anyone, or to slay a dragon for its treasures. Besides his two inner cores, his bones, tendons, blood, and marrow could all be used in medicines and elixirs, or to refine magical treasures. At the very least, dragon liver was a rare delicacy that even Gods loved to eat.

For now, he could only stay at Dinghu Peak and cultivate quietly, first mastering the Daoist texts already in his possession. His principal studies were the Twenty-Eight True Scripture and the Twenty-One True Scripture. He used his two inner cores to cultivate true yin and true yang energy, bringing them into harmony and mutual resonance to strengthen his vital energy and steadily increase his Daoist power.

For swordsmanship, he focused on Wei Fengniang's Tianshan Swordsmanship, supplementing it with the sword techniques in the Lesser Book of Heaven.

For everything else—practical spells, elixir refinement, formations, and so forth—he relied primarily on the Lesser Book of Heaven, with Wei Fengniang's Tianshan Sect spells and Western Demon Cult spells as supplements.

Beyond his own cultivation, he had not forgotten the two immortal herbs in the cave. Every day, he released true solar fire through his inner core, then infused the Queen Mother Herb and Immortal's Couch with a stream of Elixir Qi apiece to aid their cultivation. The Queen Mother Herb, Mo Zhui, naturally grew more accomplished by the day. Immortal's Couch finally shed his old limitations and awakened his spiritual intelligence, transforming into a little person who could leave his original body and run about.

This Immortal's Couch had three thousand years of cultivation. Under the Queen Mother Herb's meticulous care, he had grown strong and healthy. Had he not so often shielded the Queen Mother Herb from calamity, suffering injuries when humans or other creatures mistakenly ate him, he would have attained human form long ago. Even so, he had been only one final step away. Shi Feiyang's daily infusion of Elixir Qi hastened his spiritual awakening, and now he had finally brought his cultivation to fruition.

The Queen Mother Grass was an Immortal Herb capable of bringing the dead back to life, yet his body was pitch-black. Despite his delicate, handsome features, he looked poisonous.

Immortal's Couch, by contrast, was green all over. Aboveground, he grew as a black lingzhi the size of a washbasin, but his underground portions were a tender green. His cultivated human body looked even more like a figure carved from jade, adorable beyond words.

When the two stood side by side, anyone whose eyes worked would assume Immortal's Couch was the Immortal Herb and the Queen Mother Grass was the poisonous one!

The little person formed by Immortal's Couch was simple and guileless, too. Nourished daily by Shi Feiyang's Elixir Qi, he regarded Shi Feiyang as his father after emerging into the world, and called Mo Zhui his elder brother. Even when Mo Zhui teased him, he never got angry; he merely smiled foolishly at him.

Shi Feiyang gave him a name as well: Moxiang. The little fellow really did have a fragrance about him. Mo Zhui was fragrant too, with a faint, cool scent like orchids that left anyone who smelled it feeling refreshed and clearheaded. Moxiang, however, gave off a warm fragrance that made people feel languid all over, unwilling to move. Breathe in too much and they would want to sleep; linger longer and they would fall into a deathlike slumber...

Some days later, the Red-Scaled Strange Snake came calling again.

This snake knew how to make himself welcome. He had first come shortly after Shi Feiyang survived his tribulation, showing off the progress he had made in his cultivation and bringing plenty of spiritual herbs. Among them was a thousand-year-old Solomon's seal, a rare find.

Shi Feiyang agreed to take him under his tutelage and teach him spells, telling him to come for help if he encountered trouble in the future. He also assigned him tasks, instructing him to find medicinal ingredients he needed.

The Red Snake was highly perceptive. Not only did his cultivation advance by leaps and bounds, but he also carried out every task Shi Feiyang assigned him. Whether gathering herbs or catching venomous insects, he exceeded his quota every time.

That day, the Red Snake came to Dinghu Peak again, bringing a large tortoise with him.

The tortoise was ink-black all over, her shell larger than three Eight Immortals tables pushed together. Such a cumbersome body could never have climbed the thousand-zhang Dinghu Peak. The Red Snake breathed out red Elixir Qi, while she breathed out black Elixir Qi. The two mingled into a cloud of poison that carried the tortoise and snake up to Dinghu Peak.

The Red Snake told Shi Feiyang that this Black Tortoise was his close friend as well as his mate, and hoped she could also become Shi Feiyang's disciple.

Shi Feiyang looked at the enormous tortoise, somewhat displeased that Red Snake had brought her without telling him beforehand. He asked, "Have you taught her the cultivation method I taught you?"

Red Snake hurriedly denied it. "I haven't even fully grasped the cultivation method Your Majesty taught me, and I haven't received permission. How could I dare pass it on to her without authorization? I only brought her this time because our bond runs deep..."

As it turned out, the red snake and Black Tortoise had known each other for more than three hundred years. Each year, when the seven mansions of the Black Warrior moved directly overhead, they would come together to mate. Through the union of tortoise and snake, a mysterious resonance arose, drawing down the essence of the stars in the Black Warrior's seven mansions. They absorbed it into their Elixir Qi, greatly increasing their strength.

Hearing this, Shi Feiyang immediately became interested. He also recalled that in the original story, the blood energy released during the union of Turtle and Snake could even corrupt a cultivator's Primordial Spirit. It was truly rather extraordinary.

He told Red Snake, "Passing on the method without permission would actually harm her. I devised the method I gave you specifically for your circumstances. Though you're a snake, your essential nature is fire, so I taught you how to draw true yin from fire. This Black Tortoise is precisely your opposite. If she practiced your method, she would not only expend twice the effort for half the result, but eventually shorten her own life. She needs a method that generates True Yang from water!"

He agreed to take Black Tortoise into his service and taught her a set of cultivation practices as well.

Overjoyed, Turtle and Snake lined up side by side on the rock and touched their heads to the ground, expressing their boundless gratitude.

With underlings to send on errands, everything became easier for Shi Feiyang. Beyond ensuring an ample supply of medicinal ingredients, he could also have them gather information and keep him informed of developments in the outside world.

Day after day passed, and before long, the Jiangnan region entered the plum rain season.

Dark clouds shrouded the sky without respite. Pale gray mist blanketed the land, mountains, and rivers, and rain fell everywhere.

Shi Feiyang floated on the water, letting the fine rain patter against his newly grown, glossy scales. With both foreclaws braced against the peak's rocks, he gazed outward at the swirling clouds, the jade-green mountains, and the graceful curves of Lianjin Creek. "When unending rain falls thick and fast, and the skies do not clear for months; when chill winds howl in fury, and turbid waves surge into the heavens; when sun and stars hide their radiance, and mountains conceal their forms; when merchants cease their travels, masts topple and oars shatter; when dusk sinks into darkness, tigers roar and apes cry..."

He recited Fan Zhongyan's Record of Yueyang Tower. Though it did not quite fit the scene, the cool, damp weather genuinely delighted him, and he could not resist finding something to recite to give voice to his feelings.

His spirits refreshed, he suddenly found the lake's mouth rather cramped, its limited space leaving him unable to swim and frolic to his heart's content. So he leaped from the summit and plunged into Lianjin Creek below.