"Record of Transformations at Will"

"When I fought the Flying Earthworm, its flood-serpent fate had already been broken, so it could no longer restrain the two monsters. I never expected Huaqing and Hua Hong to seize the chance to escape."

Within the mountain, brilliant light shimmered.

A Purple-Gold Treasure Light hovered above, swelling and fading, with Golden Light to the left and silvery Illuminating Light to the right, arranged in the positions of the Three Powers.

Within the Treasure Light, an enormous form rose and fell, many blood vessels already faintly taking shape.

Now the Illuminating Light flickered, following the rise and fall of Li Fuchan's thoughts.

He could not help marveling at the two monsters.

Their methods were crude, but it was a genuine Snake-Man Leap. They had learned the move in only a few days.

"Big cities really do toughen people up."

Looking at the two monsters he had already cowed, Li Fuchan could not help considering swallowing them, but he let the thought pass.

The Flying Earthworm had awakened these two monsters. Apart from Huaqing's powerful Illuminating Light, neither possessed much cultivation, and both were now badly wounded. Though he remained at Outer Scenery, his command of the Three Lights was no longer what it had been. Killing them would be as easy as turning his hand.

"They aren't mindless wild beasts, after all. They won't willingly let me lure them inside. Rather than provoke their resistance, I should trick them into working for me."

Meanwhile, outside the mountain, Hua Hong's slit pupils narrowed to threads, horror surging uncontrollably through him. "How could he be here? Has he already slain Master?"

Compared with Hua Hong, Huaqing was a little calmer. "After battling the Old Flood Dragon, he must be in bad shape too. Otherwise, he'd have sent a blade of Golden Light slashing at us, rather than merely threatening us. Perhaps I could..."

"Heh, I fought the Flying Earthworm, and my fleshly body has now been destroyed. To meet old acquaintances far from home, and find my senior brother and sister here—what a stroke of fortune. Please come inside for a chat."

As his words fell, beneath a jagged rock face at the foot of Black Mountain nearby, a doorway burst open with a boom.

There was neither Golden Light nor any trace of how it had opened. Dark and fathomless, it resembled a gaping mouth, silently inviting them into the trap.

At the sight, Huaqing immediately abandoned her little scheme.

Had Li Fuchan put on a mysterious act and pretended to be unfathomable, that would have been one thing. His frankness instead put both monsters on guard.

Besides, if he could open the mountain's interior even with his fleshly body utterly destroyed, he would not be easily plotted against, even if he lacked the strength to kill them.

Transformation Qing was just about to yield—after all, she and Li Fuchan did have some friendship—when someone moved faster, before she could even turn.

A streak of red light swept up, a serpentine body twisted, and Hua Hong actually dropped to his knees, crying out repeatedly, "Junior brother! That old earthworm committed every kind of evil and forcibly held me captive, making me bow and scrape. Only your rescue has brought your senior brother to this day! Once I left Flying Earthworm Cave, the vastness of heaven and earth filled me with dread. Day and night, I worried about you and searched all the way here. At last, I've found you! From now on, your senior brother has a home!" With that, he truly squeezed out two tears.

Transformation Qing stared at him, dumbfounded.

She was both anxious and furious.

Well done, Hua Hong. Every word was loyalty, every sentence about Master's kindness. So this was your loyalty. This was your gratitude to Master.

"Transformation Hong knows when to bend and when to stand tall, and his thirst for killing runs deep. His blind loyalty and viciousness were only a disguise. Beneath it, he hides treachery, keeping his rounded cunning concealed behind a square exterior. I misjudged him."

Li Fuchan put away the trace of condescension that had arisen in his heart and no longer dared underestimate them. Illuminating Light rippled as he asked, "We are fellow disciples, after all, and should support one another. But I wonder what our senior sister thinks?"

In an instant, Hua Hong's ill-intentioned gaze and that unseen gaze both settled on Huaqing, making her face grow even paler. After hesitating for a long while, she finally said, "You may not know, junior brother, but that snake poison has wounded me badly. I'm afraid death could come at any moment. I have little time left, and fear I might hinder your great undertaking."

This was an open demand for benefits.

Li Fuchan was not annoyed.

By exposing his own weakness, he had genuinely startled Huaqing and made her wary, while also genuinely convincing her that she might plot against him gradually. Otherwise, how could he keep these two monsters in hand? He immediately manifested a spark of Illuminating Light and sent it straight into the still-shaken Xu Xuan, saying gently, "I am the lord of Black Mountain."

In the world today, the gods did not manifest, and there was no notion of mountain gods. Quite a few demons, however, occupied great mountains and linked themselves to the earth's veins. They occasionally ate a few people, gathered a band of spirits and monsters, and offered some protection to the villages and towns below in exchange for offerings.

Hearing this, Xu Xuan dared not entertain the slightest doubt.

The earlier conversation between the three had taken place entirely through their inner voices, so he had heard not a single word. All he had seen was the two monsters kneeling and bowing toward Black Mountain, which had already frightened his soul out of his body. He hastily flung himself down, prostrating fully as he cried, "Lord of Black Mountain, grant me your protection! This mortal, Xu Xuan, is willing to offer four sacrificial beasts and five fruits, eight candles and nine lamps, with incense offerings that shall never cease!"

Li Fuchan nodded slightly. Within Xu Xuan's spiritual awareness, he raised a hand and pointed at Huaqing and Hua Hong, saying, "Rise. Do you know who these two monsters are? They are the Azure and Red attendants of my Cave Abode on Black Mountain."

"The Azure attendant is skilled with poison, full of deep schemes and far-reaching plans. While I was meditating and roaming in spirit, I grew weary and fell asleep. She secretly opened the scripture chamber and stole half a volume of transformation arts, then left the mountain to flaunt her tricks. Little did she expect them to rebound upon her today. Truly, those who harm others ultimately harm themselves. The Red attendant is bloodthirsty and quarrelsome, vicious, cunning, and unruly. Seeing Azure leave the mountain, he grew restless too, broke out of the medicinal garden, and joined her in doing evil. You two wretched beasts left the mountain to wreak havoc while I slept, and now things have come to this. If you will not reveal your true forms to me now, what are you waiting for?"

Before he had finished, Huaqing and Hua Hong had begun trembling all over at the word "attendants." They lay prostrate on the ground, not daring even to raise their heads. Hua Hong's glib tongue could not produce half a word, while Huaqing's face alternated between green and white.

"That damned Lower Beast! He's crushing our dignity like this. He's gone too far!"

Furious inside, Hua Hong nevertheless transformed without hesitation into the image of a great red snake, and even bowed toward Black Mountain.

Seeing that Li Fuchan truly intended to recruit her, Huaqing did not stand on ceremony either. She shook herself and immediately conjured the form of a Green Snake, though she did not shamelessly bow her head like Hua Hong.

One azure and one red, two serpentine forms coiled before the mountain, a terrifying sight.

Xu Xuan's legs went weak and numb. He backed away several steps until his spine pressed flat against Black Mountain's stone wall, cold sweat streaming down.

Within his Spiritual Nature, Li Fuchan said gently, "Do not be afraid. I will keep the two attendants in check. Only, the poison you administered is rather troublesome. Please spare her the antidote, young fellow. From now on, I shall discipline her strictly and never give her another chance to escape and harm anyone."

Xu Xuan understood as clearly as if his heart were a polished mirror: this lord of Black Mountain was most likely a powerful demon too.

Demons were different from monsters. They understood human nature and could cultivate. A single one could throw a hundred li around it into turmoil.

For such a being to speak to him so amiably was already an enormous honor. How could he dare utter a single word of refusal?

Wanting only to escape with every part of him intact, he hastily took out the antidote and tossed it toward the Green Snake with trembling hands.

The Green Snake dismissed her transformation, caught the antidote, and immediately applied it to herself.

Xu Xuan prostrated himself several more times, declaring that he would return to the mountain in three days to request a name tablet and erect a ritual altar, and that his incense offerings would never cease thereafter.

Then he scrambled up and ran down the mountain without looking back.

Even after escaping Black Mountain's territory, Xu Xuan dared not pause, racing onward. Fear and excitement mingled in his heart. "For generations, my family has been trapped by our limited horizons, doing nothing but trading in snake remedies and mountain produce. Now there's no room left to grow. If I can forge a connection with a demon who understands people and listens to reason, if I can climb beneath the shelter of this great tree, perhaps the Xu Household will have a chance to turn its fortunes around!"

The more he thought, the hotter his blood ran, and the faster his feet moved. He no longer chose a path, simply darting wherever the vegetation grew sparse.

As he ran headlong, something suddenly caught his foot. He pitched forward and hit the ground hard, getting a mouthful of dirt. Xu Xuan looked back, and the sight instantly frightened his soul beyond the heavens.

What had tripped him was actually a great snake as thick as the mouth of a bowl, stretched across the grass, long dead.

The snake bore no wounds anywhere, and its scales gleamed. Yet its entire body was rigid, its eyes still wide open but utterly hollow, as though something had forcibly scooped out its soul.

This was no ordinary death.

The expression in Xu Xuan's eyes shifted. After a long while, he bowed toward Black Mountain, hoisted the great snake onto his shoulder, and left.

He remained entirely unaware as a spark of Illuminating Light sprang from between his brows and flew away.

Li Fuchan withdrew that spark of Spiritual Nature.

Then he turned his gaze back to the two monsters.

He said, "I am very interested in your transformation arts, senior sister. Would you be willing to teach me?"

Huaqing hesitated briefly, then took out her transformation manual and held it in her hands.

"Please take a look."

Hua Hong's gaze was drawn over as well.

"Li Fuchan said his fleshly body was destroyed. Let's see how he takes the book, and where he puts it. Even if I can't defeat him for now, at worst I'll be his dog, his slave, and acknowledge him as my master. If I can see where he stores this book and discover the location of his true form, I might yet have a chance to escape—or even turn on him."

The azure and red monsters both harbored this thought.

Li Fuchan understood perfectly well, of course, but paid it no mind.

He had little to say to these fellows who had never had cheats.

Illuminating Light rippled, and he immediately discerned the ancient book's title.

"Myriad Transformations at Will Talisman Register"

Once this Talisman Register was mastered, five Spirit Talismans became available.

One of them, "Mirage Pavilion," transformed a single essence into myriad distinct forms. It was a spiritual talisman for gathering qi and shaping it.

With enough magical power, one could gather various kinds of qi into forms, even fashioning an entire mirage city. It was a true art of transformation, profoundly wondrous.

"So this is what allowed those two to conceal their snake bodies. They merely molded qi into legs and covered their serpentine bodies with them. This was most likely part of that Flying Earthworm's collection too."

At that thought, Li Fuchan's heart tightened.

The immortal mentioned by the Flying Earthworm had guided it to "become a dragon," carved out a little world like Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed, and left behind so many arts. Clearly, their designs were immense.

Now that he had seized the Flood Serpent's Destiny, he had no idea when that so-called immortal would come looking for him.

Glancing at the image in his mind, which was still shrouded in chaos, Li Fuchan shook his head. "When soldiers come, meet them with generals; when water comes, dam it with earth."

Li Fuchan already possessed powerful Treasure Light and deep-rooted magical nature. After seizing that Destiny, his foundations had deepened further and his comprehension had advanced greatly, allowing him to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

And "Mirage Pavilion" happened to correspond to the word "shen."

A shen was a giant clam. Though it belonged to the shelled creatures, it shared the same qi as flood serpents despite its different form, fitting precisely the saying, "The qi of the flood-serpent kind manifests in forms such as these."

Thus, bearing the Flood Serpent's Destiny, he easily saw through and mastered "Mirage Pavilion."

Soon, a transparent spiritual talisman appeared within his Treasure Light. The violet-gold radiance swayed, seized a fistful of mountain-rock qi, and, using "Mirage Pavilion" as its foundation, molded an illusory form.

All of this took only a few breaths.

Outside the mountain, Huaqing kept her head lowered as thoughts crowded her mind. "Still not coming out? Did my offer of the art throw him off balance? It seems he truly is gravely wounded, and his claim that his fleshly body was destroyed wasn't a lie. In that case, perhaps I have an opening..."

In little more than two months, Li Fuchan had risen from an ordinary mortal to someone who could turn the tables and kill the Flying Earthworm. She did not believe he had done so without some fortuitous opportunity. If she could find his true form, she might be able to seize that opportunity for herself, and thereafter roam freely through heaven and earth.

As she glanced back, she caught a flash of vicious light in Hua Hong's eyes.

Sure enough, the bastard was already harboring evil intentions.

"Let him probe first. If there's an opening, I'll make my move."

Time passed, second by second.

Both the azure and red snakes had begun harboring greed and murderous intent. Hua Hong's body swayed slightly, and just then, a steady male voice suddenly sounded behind them.

"Sorry for the wait, senior brother and sister."

"What?!!!"

Both snakes whipped around in shock.

A young man stood firmly behind them, clad in a black robe with broad sleeves. His brows were long and his eyes narrow, and his hawklike gaze struck straight at them, seizing their souls.