Since ancient times, only Goddess Nuwa and Heavenly Emperor Di Jun from the era of the Ancient Demon Clan's Heavenly Court, as well as Eastern Emperor Taiyi, had possessed a Heavenly Demon Body. Their meridians were no different from those of the Human Race, allowing them to prove the Tao and become Saints. Later powerful beings of the Demon Clan, such as Demon Master Kunpeng and Kong Xuan, although exceptionally strong, ultimately could not advance further due to the lack of a critical heart meridian.
Because once born, the meridians inside one's body were fixed, and to think of repairing them later was akin to a fool's dream!
The Time-Space Life-Death Talisman brought Sun Wukong's Soul Spirit True Essence back into the Immortal Stone from before his birth, merging with the Soul's True Spirit that was still in the gestation phase in this timeline, innately strengthening it by a large margin. Not to mention, he also possessed memories from his past life and memories from another timeline brought by the Divine Talisman. By absorbing nature's essence before his birth and repairing the missing heart meridian, he could become like Goddess Nuwa, Heavenly Emperor Di Jun, and Eastern Emperor Taiyi, possessing a Heavenly Demon Body and no longer restricted.
Thinking it, he did it. Sun Wukong activated the Eight-Nine Profound Skill, utilizing the Immortal Stone's matrix to absorb the essence of nature. The entire Immortal Stone began to emit a faint golden light, and the essence of nature, including the spiritual energy from the sky and earth, converged, purified by the Immortal Stone before gradually merging into Sun Wukong's body through the matrix of the stone embryo.
In the Western Cattle Gift State, on the Spiritual Platform of Flower-Fruit Mountain, in the Meditation Chamber of the Puti Patriarch who was meditating and regulating his breath, the Puti Patriarch's heart stirred and his eyes suddenly opened, his brow slightly furrowed. He extended his right hand to make a divination and said, "The trajectory of the destined disciple's fate has changed, how curious and strange!"
Wanting to divine further, he discovered a layer of fog shrouding the path of fate, concealing the trajectory. Even with the ability of the Puti Patriarch, a Heavenly Dao Saint, he could not divine any more information. Only the bond between teacher and disciple remained unchanged, all else was different. But where exactly lay the difference was as obscured as mountains veiled in mist.
"Well then, this matter of destiny is elusive to begin with. Its existence is justified as it is. As long as the bond between teacher and disciple remains, why bother taxing the mind?"
After pondering with a frown for a while, the Puti Patriarch suddenly smiled lightly and sighed somewhat self-deprecatingly, then closed his eyes to resume his meditation.
Time hurried by, and in the blink of an eye, fifty years had passed.
Within the Immortal Stone, Sun Wukong's body had fully developed. Perhaps due to the memories of another timeline altering his sense of aesthetics, Sun Wukong unconsciously made some changes to his appearance over these fifty years.
Compared to his previous life, he had much less body hair. His face and chest were practically without monkey fur, and though his features were more human-like, one could still tell that he was a monkey—a very handsome monkey at that. He no longer had that sharp, snarling, Lord of Thunder look but rather truly deserved the title of the Beautiful Monkey King.
Beyond the change in appearance, the most important thing was that the missing heart meridian was finally restored!
The moment the heart meridian was completed, Sun Wukong felt the Eight-Nine Profound Skill operating within him like never before, smooth and unimpeded. The Way of Transformation of the Seventy-Two Transformations also felt interconnected and integrated. In his previous life, whenever he transformed into a human form, he could never completely conceal his yellow fur, red buttocks, and tail. The fundamental reason was that these were Cultivation Techniques and Subtle Formulas of the Human Race. How could the Demon Clan, lacking the key heart meridian, fully grasp its essence no matter how much they cultivated?
But now, it was different!
Cracks began to appear in the patterns inside the Immortal Stone's matrix. The time of dormancy had passed—it was time to greet this world where both immortals and Buddhas coexist, and only the strong survive!
A booming sound erupted as the Immortal Stone shattered, and Sun Wukong leapt out from the stone matrix, rising dozens of feet into the air and tumbling twice before landing on the ground.
Unlike his previous life where he could not control the essence qi within him and gold light shot from his eyes straight to the heavens, this time Sun Wukong locked all his essence qi and spirit tightly within his body with not a hint of leakage. Moreover, Sun Wukong had now reached the phase of Qi Refining and Spirit Transforming, belonging to the Human Immortals; he only needed to survive one of the Three Disasters and Nine Tribulations, the Doomsday Thunder Disaster, to advance to Earth Immortal, much stronger than in his past life!
Apart from the Innate Deities, other beings seeking to break the limits of life must absorb nature's essence and transform themselves. This is the same in all worlds, though the divisions of realms differ. From low to high, the realms in the Earth Immortal Realm are: Essence Refining and Qi Transforming, Qi Refining and Spirit Transforming, Essence-to-Spirit and Returning to Void, Merging with the Void, and Proving the Tao and Becoming a Saint.
The Essence Refining and Qi Transforming phase can be called the True Person Phase. The Qi Refining and Spirit Transforming phase is split into two levels: Ghost Immortal and Human Immortal. The Essence-to-Spirit and Returning to Void phase requires surviving three disasters: the Doomsday Thunder Disaster, the Great Sun Fire Disaster, and the Black Wind Disaster. These disasters occur once every five hundred years. Surviving the Doomsday Thunder Disaster advances one to an Earth Immortal, the Great Sun Fire Disaster to a Heavenly Immortal, and the Black Wind Disaster to a Taiyi Scattered Immortal, entering the phase of Merging with the Void. The phase of Merging with the Void is divided into three levels: Taiyi Scattered Immortals, Taiyi Golden Immortals, and Da Luo Golden Immortals. The process of merging with the void is the process of Slaying Three Corpses, with each slain corpse elevating one to Quasi-Saint, and upon slaying all, one can Prove the Tao and Become a Saint, becoming an immortal Heavenly Dao Saint.
Of course, Merging with the Void, Slaying Three Corpses, and Proving the Tao are still too far-fetched for Sun Wukong right now. He needed to consider carefully how to proceed on his future path.
Sun Wukong's gaze turned towards the purple orchid that was originally beside the Immortal Stone. Perhaps due to his active circulation of the Eight-Nine Profound Skill within the stone matrix to absorb nature's essence, this purple orchid beside the Immortal Stone also received nourishment. Its splendor was blooming, suggesting it had formed a spirit. With more cultivation over time and continuous absorption of nature's essence, it would eventually have its time to shape-shift into a demon.
After some thought, Sun Wukong walked over to the purple orchid, bit his finger, and squeezed out a drop of Heart's Essence Blood to fall onto the bloom of the orchid. "Since we are companions by fate, consider this a gift from yours truly."
Now at the peak of Human Immortal cultivation and having transformed into a Heavenly Demon Body, the Essence Qi contained within just one drop of Sun Wukong's Heart's Essence Blood was incredibly profound. After absorbing it, the purple orchid suddenly bloomed with a deep charm, and a faint, ethereal silhouette seemed to emerge upon the flower. However, Sun Wukong didn't notice, happily hopping and swinging down the mountain peak by the vines.
Flower-Fruit Mountain remained just as it was in his memories, with green mountains and clear waters, layers of emerald peaks, birdsong, and fragrant flowers—a beauty that captivated Sun Wukong so much that he became entranced. It had been a very long time since he had felt such leisure…
After wandering around Flower-Fruit Mountain for several days, drinking from springs when thirsty and eating wild fruits when hungry, Sun Wukong quickly became familiar with the monkeys of Flower-Fruit Mountain. When they heard he had sprung from a stone, they were astonished; they were even more amazed by Sun Wukong's abilities. Wolves, leopards, tigers, and panthers, upon seeing Sun Wukong, would scurry away as mice scurry from a cat, even being careful not to trouble the other monkeys of Flower-Fruit Mountain anymore.
"Since there is a stream in this mountain gorge, there must be a source upstream. We spend our days here doing nothing; why not follow the stream upwards to have a look?"
Over the past few days, Sun Wukong had come to a clear understanding: he couldn't afford to waste time and had to become stronger as quickly as possible, not just for himself, but for his tribe as well. The Monkey Tribe of Flower-Fruit Mountain needed to grow stronger without delay. First, they needed a stable place to live—Water Curtain Cave Heaven was his foundation, the foundation for the entire Monkey Tribe of Flower-Fruit Mountain. The sooner it was discovered, the better.
"Then let's go take a look."
Unaware that Sun Wukong was intentionally guiding them, the monkey crowd nodded and followed Sun Wukong's lead along the stream to search upwards. They found a waterfall, and while Sun Wukong knew that Water Curtain Cave Heaven lay behind it, the monkeys did not. They frolicked and played in front of the waterfall, swimming in the pool below.
"Strange, there's no water flowing down from above the waterfall; it's as if the waterfall magically emerged from the cliffside. Where could its source be?"
After playing for a while, the oldest monkey of the tribe expressed his doubt.
"Yeah, where is the source of the water?"
All the monkeys showed their curiosity, scratching their heads and ears.
"It should be behind the waterfall. If anyone has the ability to safely enter it and see the source, then we shall hail him as our king—how about that?"
The words came from the old monkey, who glanced at Sun Wukong intentionally and unintentionally. Over the past few days, he had noticed Sun Wukong's extraordinary qualities and wanted to test his true capabilities.
In his past life, Sun Wukong had not paid attention to this point, but he was no longer the naive stone monkey of his former life. The old monkey's eyes were shining with wisdom; he was a sage among the monkey crowd, recognizing Sun Wukong's uniqueness and wanting to see if he had the capability to lead the tribe.
The development of the Monkey Tribe required a powerful leader. From the high platform by the pool to the waterfall was a distance of tens of meters, and it would be impossible to jump so far even with the help of vines. A monkey with such ability would definitely be out of the ordinary, and the old monkey was very clear about this fact.
Conveniently, this was exactly what Sun Wukong needed. After several monkeys who considered themselves strong failed, Sun Wukong stepped forward: "I'll give it a try!"
With an effortless leap, Sun Wukong jumped through the waterfall into Water Curtain Cave Heaven. Inside, an iron plank bridge extended towards the Cave Heaven, its waters below connecting to the Eastern Sea. The currents from the Eastern Sea rushed in, striking against the Stone Orifice beneath the bridge, and soared to the top of the cliff, spilling down to form the waterfall, concealing the entrance to Water Curtain Cave Heaven.
"The Blessed Land of Flower-Fruit Mountain, the Cave Heaven of Water Curtain Cave …"
Looking at the large characters carved on the stone monument above the iron plank bridge leading into the Cave Heaven, Sun Wukong fell into thought. In his previous life, when he discovered this Water Curtain Cave Heaven, he was ecstatic, believing it to be a natural abode bestowed upon the Monkey Tribe of Flower-Fruit Mountain by the heavens, and he did not think deeply about it. But after experiencing two lifetimes of calamity, especially after inheriting the memories of Lin Yi, he now looked at Water Curtain Cave Heaven and sensed it was extraordinary.
This place was definitely the dwelling of a great Divine Power, cleverly hidden with such ingenious thoughts; perhaps it concealed some earth-shattering secret.