Legend of the Mythological Genes

It stills the ocean with its might; it awes the jade sea into calm.

It stills the ocean with its might: tides wash its silver slopes and fish swim into its caves

It awes the jade sea into calm: amid the snowy breakers, the sea−serpent rises from the deep.

It rises high in the corner of the world where Fire and Wood meet; its summit towers above the Eastern Sea.

Red cliffs and strange rocks. Beetling crags and jagged peaks.

On the red cliffs, phoenixes sing in pairs; lone unicorns lie before the beetling crags.

The cries of pheasants are heard upon the peaks; in caves, the dragons come and go.

(excerpt from Journey to The West)

…

The waves beat against the shore of the lone island in the sea. The immortal grass here was lush and vibrant, painting a scene of a land untouched by time, resembling an immortal realm on earth.

Standing atop a lone peak, Feng Lin turned a blind eye to the beautiful vision before him.

He didn’t know whether to cry or smile. When he lowered his head and stared at the stone shell beneath his feet, he repeatedly stroke the golden fur on his hand.

Although he had no way to see his entire appearance, Feng Lin could still have an impression. The mouth of the chinese Thunder God, high cheekbones and bow-legged…

There’s no mistake, I’m a monkey now!

Pei!

I’m not a monkey, I’ve only just become one!

Wrong!

I’m not a monkey, I just appear to resemble one!

…..

Everything was so confusing.

Feng Lin shook his head. He felt that he had turned into a monkey, and his mind had become short-circuited.

He drew a deep breath to calm his emotions. Pointing to the stone shell on the ground, he finally recognized a fact. He had somehow become a monkey, a monkey that was just born from a stone.

As he continued thinking, his thoughts became muddled.

Something’s wrong!

In the legends, during the birth of the stone monkey, didn’t Sun Wukong gleam with golden light as all living things in the four directions bowed to him?

Why were things so low-profile when he became the legendary stone monkey? So low-profile that he wanted to cry!

Ugh, something is definitely wrong, why am I grumbling about this?

What I should be thinking about is why did I suddenly become a monkey.

…

Every time Feng Lin’s thoughts returned to the main topic, it would unceasingly drift off to random directions as other thoughts filled his head.

Eventually, his head became extremely muddled and confused.

Gu, gu, gu…

A thunderous rumble woke him up from his pondering. It wasn’t that he had figured out something but rather…

Feng Lin was clutching his stomach while frowning. He was hungry!

Without realizing it, he had already stayed an entire night on this lone peak. Now that dawn had approached, he naturally became hungry…

Feng Lin cast his vision and looked far away. He actually had nothing to say. He felt that he became more and more like a real monkey.

This sense of hunger was incomparably fierce, causing his entire body to be devoid of strength.

After all, Feng Lin now was just a stone monkey that had just recently born. He was tiny and had a weak body; he hadn’t even had a bite of sustenance yet.

He felt helpless in his heart. He could only toss aside his anger, grief, and conflicts, as he started to look for food.

Luckily, this lone island in the sea was a paradise on earth. There were flowers, lush trees, and even countless immortal fruits everywhere.

As he descended from the peak, Feng Lin instantly saw a dense forest of peach trees. The bright red peaches sat there gleamingly.

Feng Lin couldn’t control it any longer. He licked his lips and scampered up the tree.

Why did he ‘scampered’?

For some reason, Feng Lin felt that after he became a monkey, his instincts became more and more like one as well.

He climbed agilely, seemingly effortless. It was as though he was a real monkey.

Feng Lin’s stomach continued to rumble, and his eyes turned red. He transformed his grief at becoming a monkey into appetite. He wanted to feast upon these peaches, stuffing them down his throat to relieve his hunger.

As he bit down on the first one, the peach’s juices sprinkled through the air, wetting the fur on his chest.

At the next moment, Feng Lin’s eyes widened. This was simply the best peach he had ever eaten. It was sweet but not overly so. It was fresh and tasty and had a light fragrance as well, bringing an effect of causing his mind and state of heart to feel refreshed. It made him want to eat more and more; he basically couldn’t stop eating them…

In this wilderness, there was no one snatching food from him. Feng Lin naturally wouldn’t be polite.

He grabbed a peach with one hand and had a bunch of them in his embrace, frenziedly feasting on them.

Hmm, something is wrong!

Feng Lin startled for a moment but soon tossed all his thoughts and considerations to the back of his mind. Why should he bother thinking so much? He continued his feast, stuffing the peaches into his mouth until he came to a point where he ate the peaches selectively, only eating the sweet tasting parts and tossing the others back to the ground.

With so much wealth (peaches), Feng Lin became so wasteful suddenly…

Not long later, the seeds from the peaches could be seen littered all around the ground. Feng Lin didn’t care about protecting the environment or cleanliness at all.

As he lowered his head and stared at his ‘masterpiece’, Feng Lin giggled.

I’m a monkey, who am I afraid of?

His golden fur was drenched with peach juices. He bared his fangs and smiled mischievously. Just by glancing at him, there was no doubt that he was a monkey.

He stroked his round belly and lazily stretched comfortably while sitting on a branch of a tree. The mountain breeze gusted by, giving him a cool and refreshing feeling as an expression of satisfaction appeared on his face.

“I, Ol`Sun (ref to Sun Wukong), wrong! I, Ol`Feng, has never been so satisfied just from eating before.”

As his emotions changed, he suddenly lost his balance and fell from the tree branch.

This tree was over thirty meters tall. Feng Lin directly smashed through the ground, creating a monkey-shaped crater.

But at the next instant, he did a somersault and leaped up from the crater. He wasn’t injured at all.

A stone monkey was birthed by heavens and nurtured by the earth. He had stone skin and steel bones, invulnerable to sword and saber. His defense naturally wasn’t a joke.

How could this bit of impact do anything to him?

As an alpha male among monkeys, he naturally had to be tough and unyielding!

Feng Lin agilely stood up and patted his body, causing clouds of dust to fall off as he easily climbed the tree again.

Suddenly, his expression changed. He could feel a surge of rich and powerful energy that seemed to have come from all the peaches he had consumed. The energy circulated rapidly through his body, giving him a cool and refreshing feeling.

This surge of energy wasn’t explosive in nature and was mild and gentle instead. But the quantity was simply too much, and the circulation was extremely fierce. It was like water was the source of life, but too much of it would be a calamity instead.

The surge of energy had become a flood in his body, threatening to fill him to the brim, causing him to be on the verge of implosion!

The peaches he had eaten actually contained so much energy? Feng Lin didn’t understand.

He was also extremely familiar with this feeling. This feeling was like when he drank genetic potions, the energy of spirit particles!

What should he do?

Feng Lin panicked. If he couldn’t find a solution soon, his body might really explode from having too much energy within.

At this crucial moment, an ancient memory suddenly appeared in his mind. Although this memory had been forgotten for a long time, as long as one encountered a suitable situation, the memory would automatically awaken.

This was an innate instinct, for the sake of survival!

Feng Lin’s controlled his state of mind and sat down cross-legged. Both his palms were turned face up, as he rested them on his knees. For some reason, the turbulent energy coursing through his body underwent a mystical change. In his Dantian that was three inches below his navel, a vortex akin to a black hole suddenly formed, capable of devouring everything.

The energy from the spirit particles was sucked into the vortex, being refined into purified qi to aid his body in absorbing it.

Feng Lin instantly felt that there was something different in his body. Every single part of his body started to absorb this purified qi, as they began a godly transformation.

His body was like an inflating balloon as it continued to expand. His bones ground against each other, creating creaking and popping sounds while his muscles lengthened. The golden fur covering his body also grew brighter and brighter, creating a dazzling sight.

His entire body felt extremely cool and refreshed, like a cool breeze constantly gusting at him. All the pores on his body were opened as his meridians and energy channels were all connected.

The peaches he had eaten earlier all transformed into nutrients that replenished his body, flowing smoothly along his energy channels like spring water moisturizing the parched desert.

The cells in his entire body were like hungry ghosts; they absorbed a large amount of energy every second, continuously strengthening his body.

Not long later, Feng Lin slowly woke up. The pain had vanished completely, and his round belly from overeating was gone, becoming flat again.

He stood up, causing his bones to creak. The vision before his eyes changed. All the things within his vision seemed to have shrunk by three inches all of a sudden.

He had once experienced this feeling before. That was during the time when his body underwent a growth spurt and grew taller.

Feng Lin hurriedly ran to the seaside. The clear water reflected the image of a furry monkey that was clearly a macaque.

But things were different from earlier. If he had been just a skinny, weak little monkey earlier, he was now more akin to a grown-up muscular ape.

What an earth-shaking transformation. When Feng Lin thought back to that mysterious state he had been in earlier, his heart couldn’t help but be stirred.

Was that…?

The transformation of energy into qi of the legends?!