He had never imagined that Sun Wukong had stayed at Spirit Platform on Mount Fangcun for such a long time. A full seven years had passed before he heard Master Subhuti use the ruler to knock on his head three times.
Why did he hear it and not see it? The reason is simple: because he couldn't see. Why? Let me explain.
After so many years, Mo Xuan had figured it out. The old master had indeed discovered his existence, otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed so steadily on that tree for seven years. But at the same time, the old master had obviously regarded him as a small monster that had just gained consciousness but hadn't yet transformed. He hadn't discovered the fact that Mo Xuan was a transmigrator.
It can be said that these seven years were the most important seven years in Mo Xuan's life. Because in these seven years, he basically figured out the situation of the world he was in now. It was similar to ancient China, but obviously, compared to ancient China, the scope was countless times larger, not to mention that immortals and demons were real existences.
In these seven years, he thoroughly understood the methods of cultivation. And Master Subhuti, whether intentionally or unintentionally, gradually included more cultivation methods for monsters in his preaching. This was a huge blessing for Mo Xuan.
It's funny to say, originally he saw that the monkey, like him, was not in human form, so he also regarded him as a kind of monster. That's why he felt at ease following him to learn the Nine Ranks of Heavenly Immortals Technique. But he overlooked a key point.
After all, he and Sun Wukong were different.
Although he was a transmigrator, his body was essentially still a crow. And crows are just ordinary creatures. Even if they became spiritual, they were mostly ordinary monsters, with ordinary aptitude, ordinary physical conditions, and ordinary spiritual intelligence. It can be said that if it weren't for Mo Xuan's transmigration, this body of his would just be an ordinary crow.
And Sun Wukong? What was he? He was a naturally born stone monkey. What is a naturally born stone monkey? To quote the Buddha, a naturally born stone monkey is neither heaven nor earth, neither god nor human, neither ghost, nor insect, nor scaly, nor furry, nor feathered, nor arthropod. One of the four monkeys mixed in the world, not belonging to any of the ten categories. Born from a celestial stone on the Flower Fruit Mountain in the Aolai country, a naturally born spiritual seed. That celestial stone, since the beginning of creation, had received the essence of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and moon, forged for who knows how many years, with how much innate spiritual energy concentrated within it, to finally produce such a creature. If he wasn't a bit special, it wouldn't do justice to the heaven and earth that nurtured him!
So, overall, the essence of the sun and moon that the monkey absorbed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, after transformation, became not demonic energy, but immortal energy, the most exquisite and concentrated immortal energy.
And if it weren't for this, would the Celestial Court let him up there to be an official? Think about it, this monkey had only cultivated for just over twenty years at Spirit Platform Mountain, and he could beat the celestial soldiers and generals who had cultivated for thousands or tens of thousands of years like dogs? That doesn't make sense, does it?
It was because of this that Master Subhuti passed on the Nine Ranks of Heavenly Immortals Technique to the monkey as an entry-level method, and only such an immortal technique was suitable for this monkey. But for the monkey, the Nine Ranks of Heavenly Immortals Technique was just an entry-level, while for Mo Xuan, it was different. He was just a crow, a monster, a monster that hadn't yet transformed. The Nine Ranks of Heavenly Immortals Technique, apart from the basics that helped him, and referring to other methods the old master had mentioned, Mo Xuan himself had only figured out a little that was helpful to himself, but this was far from enough.
He needed more, more suitable methods for himself, and the techniques that the old master later revealed in the process of preaching were just right for him.
However, because of this, it was now very difficult for him to go there to listen to the old master's preaching. Why? Because of the demonic energy.
You should know that Mo Xuan was not an ordinary monster now. Although his aptitude was far inferior to that monkey, his spiritual intelligence was more than twice as strong as that monkey's. Who was Mo Xuan? A Ph.D. in Physics, a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University. How could he not be smart?
So, overall, his progress in those monster techniques was very fast. In a few years, his body was already full of demonic energy. And the result of being full of demonic energy was that he now couldn't get close to the Three Stars Cave at all. Not to mention those arrays around the Three Stars Cave that were extremely sensitive to demonic energy, even those little Taoist priests could very easily sense the demonic energy of a small monster like him, and had the ability to drive him away.
Perhaps this was the purpose of the old master passing on those monster cultivation methods to him. He was just a small, spiritually aware monster. Seeing that he was sincerely pursuing the Tao, the old master passed on some techniques to him, giving him a way out. If he wanted more, that would be not conforming to heaven's will!
Mo Xuan could understand this kind of thinking. After all, they had no relation to each other, yet they had passed on so many techniques to him. Naturally, they had done right by him. Whether human or monster, one should be sensible.
However, he wouldn't just let it go like this.
Those arrays were sensitive to demonic energy, and the Taoist priests could sense demonic energy. So, when Mo Xuan concealed his demonic energy, except for his lively eyes, he was naturally no different from an ordinary crow.
He knew some methods to hide demonic energy. Subhuti hadn't taught him these; he had figured them out himself. However, this was based on two premises. First, his demonic energy was weak and easy to hide. Second, the time was short; he couldn't hide it for more than half an hour. It was like holding his breath when practicing diving when he was still human. And Subhuti's preaching usually lasted a whole day. What use was half an hour? However, for others, half an hour might not be of much use, but for him, half an hour was enough.
He didn't use the half-hour to listen to the preaching, but to install eavesdropping devices.
I know this sounds incredible at first, but in fact, it's very simple. Now, although he still couldn't transform, his pair of claws were more flexible than human hands. It was with these claws that he made a simple eavesdropping device.
He had made this kind of thing in elementary school during craft classes. It was also his method of wooing little girls. At that time, it was also a cotton thread with paper-pasted speakers at both ends. Using this, he and the little girl upstairs would talk secretly at night, and the effect was very good. Although now, that little girl had gone who knows where, he hadn't lost this skill.
Using the principle above, he took materials from his surroundings and used the principle of sound transmission in physics to carefully design two eavesdropping devices. For the speaker at the Three Stars Cave end, he used the decorations on the jade platform. As for the one outside the Three Stars Cave, he used two tree hollows.
Although the transmission distance of this kind of eavesdropping device was very short, it didn't matter. After all, when the old master was preaching, there were no Taoist priests patrolling the mountain. And those arrays were all around the Three Stars Cave and didn't extend into the forest. As long as there were no traces of magic or demonic arts on this eavesdropping line, the arrays wouldn't take effect.
And the eavesdropping effect was not bad, at least not worse than the telephone Mo Xuan had used in his previous life.
Why did he say two?
There was another one installed in Master Subhuti's bedroom. You ask why? What do you think?!
And today, he finally heard Subhuti's scolding voice and the sound of the three knocks on the head with the ruler.