After 3,000 years, Minghe was once again at the feet of Mount Buzhou, looking up at Pangu's relic. He still looked like he was in his early twenties, though there was a trace of weariness in his eyes. After all, he had toured the whole Wu Tribe, Demon Tribe, Dragon Tribe, and Four Seas all these years.
His cultivation of the mind was not up to his expectations, but it had at least caught up with his physical cultivation. In the past 3,000 years, he did not see great improvements in his cultivation, but his enlightenment of the Law of Heaven and Earth had finally become on par with the three other Divine Laws.
Fresh knowledge can be gathered upon a reflection, Minghe spent considerable time reviewing what he had previously learned. If his current knowledge was version 1, then his new enlightenment can be considered version 1.1. Even that 0.1 was enough to give a significant boost in his strength.
It was near impossible to rapidly gain cultivation for a Sage-to-be unless one made Separation on coincidence or increase cultivation through merits. Those were the shortcuts. Minghe was not interested as he believed a step-by-step approach was much more effective. It was more important to have a solid foundation.
A good example was his mount, Chixuan. When he was still a Blood Jade Kylin, he relied on a single tactic to reach Golden Immortal. He later had the cultivation of Primordial Unity Golden Immortal by absorbing Evil Blood Aura and swallowing Blood Jade Ganoderma Lucidum. Despite his high cultivation, his foundation was incredibly unstable.
In the beginning, Minghe imparted Spiritual Inheritance of the Way of Heaven on Chixuan. But Chixuan started his cultivation directly as a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, leading to an unstable foundation. Minghe failed to notice until he returned from his tour and rebuked Chixuan for doing so.
Considering Chixuan's current condition, it was unlikely he would ever reach the realm of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal for the rest of his life. So Minghe forcibly took away all Chixuan's cultivation and healed the damage to his foundation with elixirs, allowing him to restart his cultivation.
Since Chixuan was Minghe's mount, he ought to have proper cultivation lest he embarrassed his master. It so happened that Minghe wanted to gain enlightenment from Pangu's relics in Mount Buzhou. He could take the opportunity to preach to Chixuan as well. If he was confused by any of the tactic methods, Minghe could explain it to him.
One day, Minghe felt someone peeping on him as he was preaching to Chixuan. He initiated his Spiritual Thoughts, but felt no creatures nearby. It was a peculiar situation. With his cultivation of Secondary Stage of Sage-to-be, no one could approach him without being noticed. Unless, of course, it was a Sage.
Moreover, Minghe found he had this feeling each time he preached to Chixuan. The man with the highest cultivation in Untainted Land at the moment ought to be Hongjun, but he was not yet a Sage. Besides, he bet Hongjun was not interested in his preaching.
Who exactly was it? Minghe considered and thought for a long time before abruptly stopping. A trace of a smile appeared on his face. No wonder he failed to track the eavesdropper with his Spiritual Thoughts. That person was millions of miles away from him and was using Magic Skills to eavesdrop.
Minghe gave a light rebuke. "What a bold monkey! How dare you eavesdrop on my preaching? What courage! Come here this instant!" After a moment, the feeling of being eavesdropped on disappeared. Minghe laughed and continued to preach to Chixuan.
Several years later, a monkey carried a huge stone pot with much difficulty and went to Minghe. This monkey was pretty unusual for he was only a Veridical Immortal, but could bear the pressure of Mount Buzhou. What left the biggest impression on Minghe was the monkey's six ears.
In the world, there were five immortals in total: heaven, earth, god, human, and ghost; five insects: bold insect (without feather), scale insect (fish, dragon), fur insect (Kylin), feather insect (Phoenix), and carapace insect (shellfish). This monkey did not belong to any of those categories.
A smile appeared in Minghe's face when he looked at the six-eared monkey. Everything became clear to him. This monkey was Liu Er Macaca Mula, with great hearing abilities and human-like intelligence. In the Journey to the West, Sun Wu Kong killed him for pretending to be the Monkey King.
What Minghe failed to anticipate was that Liu Er Macaca Mula would be born so early. He deemed it possible upon second thought. Liu Er Macaca Mula would not be able to rival Sun Wukong if they were born in the same period.
Assuming they were born in the same period, Liu Er Macaca Mula would still fall behind Sun Wukong. Even though the six-eared monkey had mastered the Somersault Cloud and the 72 Changes, he was no match against Sun Wukong, who had stolen many peaches and elixirs of life from Palace of Heaven and cultivated Piercing Eyes and Indestructible Body in the Eight-Trigram Furnace. There was no way for Liu Er Macaca Mula to equal Sun Wukong's strength.
Considering Liu Er Macaca Mula's early birth, he would become a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal by time Journey to the West rolled around. Sun Wukong was nothing but a product of the times. How could he fight against Liu Er Macaca Mula in the future? This was a mystery.
Minghe was too lazy to get to the end of that mystery. Now that he met Liu Er Macaca Mula, he would not let him go. With proper cultivation, Liu Er Macaca Mula would have a bright future, thus alternating Minghe's destiny as well. Luckily, this monkey showed up and even brought him a gift.
Earlier, Minghe was not trying to scare off Liu Er Macaca Mula. He was trying to offer him an opportunity. Had the monkey disappeared out of fear, he would have missed the fated chance Minghe was giving him. Furthermore, he would also die in Sun Wukong's time, as the Way of Heaven went.
What inside the stone pot was the famous Monkey Liquor, made of a hundred kinds of fermented fruits which were reserved for their winter storage. This was wonderful for Minghe as there was no concept of liquor in Untainted Land. Minghe was happy to have a taste.
The wine was perfectly mellow and fragrant; it was truly a peerless wine. After taking a sip, Minghe grinned. "You're a pretty clever monkey. Since you're here, are you willing to be my disciple?" Liu Er Macaca Mula was overjoyed upon hearing this and kowtowed excitedly. "Master, your disciple greets you."
Minghe nodded. "My disciple, do you have a name?" Liu Er Macaca Mula replied respectfully, "I was born with six ears, so I call myself Liu Er." It was a pragmatic name indeed.
Minghe said, "That's nice. Liu Er, I'm the master of Nether Blood Sea, Ancestor Minghe. From now on, you're my eldest disciple. This nine-grade Red Lotus of Fire is a gift for you. I'll teach you cultivation methods when we return to Blood Sea."
Minghe had no intentions of taking too many disciples, so the Red Lotus of Fire acted as a sign of his disciples. The remaining Nine Grade Red Lotus of Fire was naturally left for his first disciple. As for a weapon, Minghe would carefully refine one for him when they return to Blood Sea.
Liu Er was happy when he recognized the Red Lotus of Fire. He also keenly felt Minghe's generosity. Even though his cultivation was not high, his ears helped him learn many things and he knew the preciousness of primordial spiritual treasures. What Minghe gave him was a Top Grade Primordial Spiritual Treasure with excellent attack and defense ability, which was even more priceless. How can Liu Er not be excited?
Having accepted Liu Er as his first disciple, Minghe's tour was considered to end with a successful merit fulfillment. He kept Liu Er and Chixuan in the Map of Heaven and Earth and flew towards Blood Sea on clouds. It took less than an hour for him to return to Sacred Island on Blood Sea.
To be honest, Minghe had really quite missed Blood Sea and Sacred Island since he had not returned for 3,000 years. It was, after all, his home no matter how other creatures in Untainted Land viewed it. For Minghe, his affection for Blood Sea was irreplaceable.
Back in Blood Sea, Minghe began imparting cultivation methods to Liu Er. Normal tactical methods were not suitable to utilize Liu Er's complete potential. Consequently, Minghe taught him the Arcane Way of Divine Beings.
The Arcane Way of Divine Beings comprised nine parts. After finishing all of them, one could reach the realm of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of Origin. Right now this was simply Minghe's prediction, but completing eight parts could definitely push one to the realm of Sage-to-be, which was also Minghe's current realm. The ninth part was still being predicted by Minghe.
Liu Er was one of the Four Monkeys of Destruction with a strong body. Otherwise, he would not have been able to resist the pressure from Mount Buzhou as a Veridical Immortal. The Arcane Way of Divine Beings was most definitely the perfect method to cultivate one's body. Given the opportunity, one could even Return to Genesis and rebuild the body of Rakshasa.