Spirit Platform on Mount Fangcun.
In an extremely hidden cave about fifty miles away from the Three Stars Cave, a strange event was taking place.
Mo Xuan was about to transform.
Generally speaking, in this world, among mountain spirits, trees, birds, and beasts, except for naturally born spiritual creatures like monkeys, it was extremely difficult to achieve enlightenment.
Because, to achieve enlightenment, the first and most important and difficult thing was spiritual intelligence. Humans are the most spiritually endowed of all creatures, born with spiritual intelligence, avoiding this first hurdle. Other creatures were different.
There were only two ways to awaken spiritual intelligence. The first was to be lucky and accidentally eat some rare flowers or fruits. Although this was a world of gods and demons, the so-called rare flowers and herbs were only available in heaven. Although they also existed on earth, they were extremely rare, and when distributed across this vast continent, it could be said that there were almost none. Unless one had extremely good fortune, otherwise, one was destined to be an animal for life. The second way was for someone else to awaken your spiritual intelligence. The most common example was the monster soldiers under monster kings. However, this method of awakening spiritual intelligence was very crude. Most monster kings used a kind of magic called enlightenment magic, which could give ordinary animals a little spirituality. However, this was the most basic level, such as walking upright, speaking simple words, with generally very low intelligence. This was why those small monsters encountered by Tang Seng on his journey to fetch the scriptures were all so stupid. Because as far as Mo Xuan knew, those small monsters affected by enlightenment magic had intelligence equivalent to only five or six-year-old children. This was also why Sun Wukong's tricks always succeeded.
Apart from these, there were no other methods.
The second hurdle was transformation, and only monsters who had transformed could truly be called monsters. Before that, they could only be called spirits.
Monster transformation refers to shedding the original non-human body, rearranging the cells inside the body to form a body similar in appearance and roughly the same in function as a human body. Or, this was the legendary evolution. The so-called rough similarity meant that it was not exactly the same, only having most of the human organs. Most monsters evolved well except for their heads. Apart from having a bit more hair and sharper nails, everything else was fine. Only the head was the most difficult to evolve. Mo Xuan couldn't figure out why. After successful transformation, this would be the monster's final body. Apart from their original form, they would never have the chance to change again, except by using illusion magic. Most monsters, after successful transformation, would use illusion magic to make themselves look exactly like humans. This was fundamentally different from the body after transformation because it was just an illusion.
However, it's not to say there weren't any exactly the same. There were, but very few.
This transformation depended on two aspects of conditions. First, the degree of condensation of monster energy. Second, the degree of awakening of spiritual intelligence. The level of monster energy required for transformation was not high. Some monsters, even after cultivating for thousands of years with overwhelming monster energy, still couldn't transform. This was because their spiritual intelligence was not enough. It's not to say they weren't smart. Spiritual intelligence consisted of two aspects: intelligence and enlightenment. Those monsters who had cultivated for thousands of years but couldn't transform could speak human language, think quickly, and even have thoughts exactly like humans, more cunning and intelligent than humans. But due to lack of enlightenment, they hadn't discovered the key to transformation and could only maintain their original form throughout their lives until death. Some monsters had high spiritual intelligence. Although they had cultivated for a short time, when their monster energy reached the minimum limit for transformation, they had already comprehended the essence of transformation and could transform. Just like Mo Xuan now.
After transformation, the original body was not useless. On the contrary, the original body was very important for the transformed monster because only the original body could exert 100% of its power. This was the so-called return to original form. At that time, the monster's power would be at its greatest. But this is a story for later, let's not mention it for now.
Now let's talk about Mo Xuan starting to transform.
After continuously listening to Subhuti's preaching for nearly ten years and cultivating for ten years, with his excellent spiritual intelligence, Mo Xuan finally discovered that he had reached the edge of transformation.
The moment of transformation was the most dangerous moment in a monster's life, even more dangerous than resisting heavenly tribulation. Because during transformation, monsters had no ability to resist at all. So early on, he had found a safe place for transformation.
It was this cave.
You should know that although Spirit Platform on Mount Fangcun was called "fang cun" (square inch), it stretched for thousands of miles. The Three Stars Cave was just a small part of Mount Fangcun. In such a big mountain, it was not difficult to find a slightly larger cave, and Mo Xuan found one not far from his nest.
The reason Mo Xuan chose this cave was simple. Because this cave was in the belly of the mountain, with only a small entrance no wider than 30 centimeters. The entrance connected to a long passage leading straight into the mountain belly, like a long-necked bottle. The cave in the mountain belly was not big, just a small cave about 100 square meters in area and about 3 meters high. The narrowest part of the entrance passage was no higher than 20 centimeters. Even with Mo Xuan's small crow form, he could barely squeeze in.
This place was deep in the mountain belly, and usually no creatures could come in. Apart from that one passage, there was only a thin mountain crevice leading to the outside, faintly letting in sunlight. It was exactly the "one-line sky" scenery that Mo Xuan often saw on TV in his previous life.
Black qi swirled around his body, monster energy filling the entire cave. Although Mo Xuan had reached the stage of transformation, his cultivation time was short after all, and his monster energy was limited. His monster energy had just reached the critical point when he started to transform, so his monster energy didn't overflow but filled the entire cave. This also prevented other creatures from noticing.
In that black qi, his feathers began to fall off. His body, originally no bigger than a football, began to slowly wriggle and swell. The blood vessels all over his body began to protrude, and his body made cracking sounds.
Mo Xuan felt as if every inch of his body was splitting open. His tendons and bones began to dislocate, and his blood began to reorganize. It was thanks to the good mental state he had cultivated over these years, otherwise, he would have been tortured to death by this painful feeling long ago.
And just when this painful feeling reached its peak, he felt his body relax and expand. From outside his body came a vitality and energy like a spiritual spring, seeping into his body, beginning to repair every cell and tissue. In fact, this was the monster energy surrounding his body returning to his body.
The surrounding black qi slowly concentrated inward, finally condensing into a mass and seeping into Mo Xuan's curled-up body. When this black qi dissipated, Mo Xuan began to stretch his body.
He had succeeded. Without external interference, Mo Xuan's transformation process was surprisingly successful.
This Spirit Platform on Mount Fangcun had high and beautiful mountains, deep forests, thousand peaks like halberds, ten thousand cliffs like screens. Deep in the mountain, there was a mountain stream, a waterfall flowing down from the mountain top. The waterfall flowed into a spring, the spring sounding clear. At the lower part of the mountain stream was a deep pool.
Now, Mo Xuan was standing by the edge of the deep pool, looking at his current form in the mirror-like surface of the pool.
Overall, this body was not bad. Medium build, about 170 to 180 cm tall, the legendary height. As for skin color, it was the color of the yellow race, slightly whiter than the average yellow race, looking a bit unhealthy. What satisfied him most was that his head had evolved completely, not only completely but also quite delicate, not the bird head he had worried about before. This finally put all his worries to rest.
Checking his body's internal functions again.
Overall, it was not bad. All the monster energy had been used up in the transformation process. Now his body was not much stronger than an ordinary person's, but he didn't care. Monster energy could be cultivated again. Now, he had plenty of time, and he was full of expectations for the content he was about to cultivate.
The Nine Ranks of Heavenly Immortals Technique, and those 72 Earthly Fiendish Transformations.
Now his physical condition should be able to fully cultivate, and at the same time, he could cultivate monster cultivation methods. For him, monster cultivation methods were still the most suitable because essentially, he was still a monster body. However, all this was for later. Now, what he needed to do was leave this place!
Looking up at the mountain top that he couldn't see the top of, Mo Xuan could only smile bitterly. After the monster energy dissipated, to leave here he could only return to his original form and fly over that high mountain top. But could a crow fly that high?
His body curled up, and after a gust of wind, Mo Xuan turned back into that ordinary crow form. Flapping his wings, using all his strength, resting three times in between, he finally flew over that mountain top and returned to the familiar territory of Spirit Platform on Mount Fangcun. Counting the days, it seemed to be time for the old master to preach again, so he flew towards the Three Stars Cave. Just as he was flying close, he saw the monkey.
A monkey riding a cloud. Looking carefully, who else could it be but that Sun Wukong?
That monkey was riding a white cloud, swaying in the sky, covering only three or four miles in the time it takes to eat a meal. Seeing this scene, Mo Xuan was startled in his heart. He thought of one thing.
The Somersault Cloud!
Yes, the Somersault Cloud. Although he wasn't very familiar with Journey to the West, he knew some special plots very well, including the part where Sun Wukong learned the Somersault Cloud.
Flapping his wings, Mo Xuan closely followed behind that monkey. The monkey's speed was ridiculously slow, even a bit slower than Mo Xuan's full-speed flight, so Mo Xuan wasn't worried about losing him.
You should know that now, Mo Xuan's monster energy was almost completely gone, so he wasn't afraid of triggering the arrays around the Three Stars Cave. The only thing he feared was Master Subhuti's attitude.
Unexpectedly, things didn't go as he thought. After the monkey returned, the master immediately taught him the Somersault Cloud. In front of all the disciples, Subhuti only mentioned that he would teach the monkey the Somersault Cloud, but didn't teach him on the spot. He only explained the principles of cloud riding and some ordinary methods in front of the disciples. These methods, the disciples, including Mo Xuan, had heard before. It's just that this time, he explained more profoundly. So he didn't mind Mo Xuan, this little monster, listening on the side.
It wasn't until evening, after all the disciples had returned to their caves, that he took the monkey back to the meditation room for private lessons. Mo Xuan couldn't ask for more.
Why? Because he didn't need to be there anymore.
The so-called cloud-riding method refers to the most common travel method of those high-level creatures in this world of gods and demons. Of course, although essentially the same, they each had their differences. Each family had their own method. For example, immortals mostly rode auspicious clouds, because of their immortal energy, while monsters mostly rode strange winds, because they cultivated monster energy. As for colors, they varied. The most flamboyant five-colored auspicious clouds looked quite presentable, while the most despised was evil wind, or stinky wind. It was said that a yellow weasel spirit once used it, but later died from being beaten by a group of monsters due to the great public indignation it caused.
Although essentially the same, there were differences. These differences were mainly reflected in performance. It was like the cars in Mo Xuan's original world. Although they all had one engine and four wheels, different cars naturally had different effects when driven.
Like the white cotton ball the monkey made during the day, it couldn't even be called a car, only on the same level as a tractor.
Just like engines, everyone understood the general technical principles, but the real advanced reasons, such as how to make the cloud faster, more comfortable to sit on, more stable, these secrets were only in the hands of a few people. Like the kind of legendary "morning tour of the North Sea, evening visit to Cangsang" type of technology patent similar to Ferrari sports cars, not everyone knew it. The vast majority of people only mastered the technology of the old Ford Model T.
And this Master Subhuti was obviously one of the senior engineers who owned the sports car engine patent technology, and the highest level at that. One somersault covering 108,000 li, like child's play.
Naturally, that night, Mo Xuan learned the essence of the Somersault Cloud. It's just that he didn't want to do any somersaults because he wasn't a monkey. That posture was too undignified. Didn't you hear "all immortals rise by stamping their feet when riding clouds"? He wanted to rise by stamping his feet, wanted that immortal's grace. The Somersault Cloud naturally wouldn't do.
However, this didn't take much effort, because before teaching the Somersault Cloud, the old master had also taught the monkey the regular Ferrari technology. Naturally, Mo Xuan also heard it.
"Why is the old master so good to the monkey? Could it be that the monkey is his illegitimate son?" Sometimes when Mo Xuan had nothing to do, he always maliciously speculated like this in his heart.
"Sun Wukong has learned the Somersault Cloud, the time for him to leave is not far. Then what about me?!" Mo Xuan thought secretly. Over these years, staying on this Spirit Platform on Mount Fangcun, listening to Subhuti's preaching, was quite carefree. But he also saw that among Master Subhuti's disciples, except for this seemingly illegitimate son Sun Wukong, there really wasn't anyone who had received his true teachings. His disciples muddled through every day. Every now and then, some disciples would leave the mountain, and new disciples would arrive. Over these years, more than half of the disciples from twenty years ago had left the mountain, and those remaining were all new disciples. The monkey was now called senior brother.
Although the Tao methods he taught were not without profound methods, every few years, he would repeat the previous content because new disciples had come up the mountain. It was like the school Mo Xuan used to attend. A teacher would finish teaching senior year of high school and then start with freshman year, then teach all the way to senior year, and cycle like this. The content learned wasn't much different. Unless he encountered a disciple like the monkey again, otherwise, he wouldn't learn much more.
Moreover, although the things he did were hidden, Subhuti might not necessarily not discover them. This old guy had been busy teaching Sun Wukong all these years, so he didn't have that much time. Once the monkey left, he would relax, and his little tricks really couldn't fool him. Thinking again, when he followed the monkey flying into the Three Stars Cave today, it seemed that the old master had scanned him with a puzzled look. Could it be that he had seen through something?
Thinking of this, he made up his mind. Leave, better leave quickly, don't wait for the monkey. Anyway, he had learned everything the monkey had learned. Better quit while he was ahead!