A Pair of Wings Sprouted from His Back

In the Zu Mountain World, demons did not naturally gain the ability to assume human form after cultivating for a certain length of time, as they did in Journey to the West or Investiture of the Gods.

For birds and beasts in this world to cultivate a human form, they had to work at it little by little, teaching themselves to walk upright and making their heads, hands, and feet increasingly human. Even when their cultivation reached considerable heights, they would still be hideous freaks.

To become a true human completely, they either had to cultivate a primordial embryo and reincarnate as a human, as Huizhu had, or rely on treasures of heaven and earth to remake their bodies, shedding their entire outer skin like a molting creature to reveal the tender, fair flesh beneath, as Jinxu Nu had.

Shi Feiyang did not want to reincarnate. He hesitated over whether to take the second path: first bringing his body infinitely close to a human's, then undergoing a complete transformation. Either method was tremendously troublesome, and without anyone to help him, relying entirely on himself, the difficulty would be piled upon difficulty. The slightest setback could undo all his efforts, and an enemy could easily find him at a critical moment, leaving him like fish on someone else's chopping block, ultimately reduced to dust and ashes.

When he first arrived at Great Roc Bay, Geng Kun had worried that he would cause trouble and watched him closely for some time. He discovered that this Black Dragon was unlike other nonhumans. Once he entered the Carefree Palace, he never came out again, staying inside every day. Not only did he refrain from stirring up trouble outside, he had no dealings whatsoever with his fellow disciples.

This was nothing like a Long, or