Chapter 664: Chirp Chirp

Birth, death, and reincarnation are all appearances.

What he had just witnessed deepened Chen Shi’s understanding of those words.

A moment ago, they had used their Yin-Yang Eyes, Buddhist Eyes, and Divine Eyes to examine this world, yet none of them had seen anything amiss. They had looked at the people of the Wotu Kingdom, too, and could not tell they were ghost monsters. They seemed no different from the living.

That was what it meant for life and death to be mere appearances. They had been deceived by appearances and could not see the truth.

They had been cautious, so they had not been drawn into this cycle of reincarnation.

The monks attending this Water and Land ritual had also failed to see through appearances. But driven by greed and the desire to become Buddhas, they had stepped into this cycle and become part of it.

Countless evil ghosts dragged them along, leaving them unable to break free. Their powers, which could reach through heaven and earth, were now utterly useless.

They had already become part of the cycle of reincarnation, and their cultivation was part of it, too.

Zhong Wuwang’s master, the old monk Yun Cheng, had also been affected by the Wu Fang World. Laughing uproariously, he rushed toward the vegetarian dishes, grabbed the food, and began wolfing it down.

“Wuwang, have you sensed the changes brought about by the Scripture of Eternal Freedom Through a Thousand Calamities?” Chen Shi asked, carefully sensing the subtle changes in the Great Dao around them.

“Scripture of Eternal Freedom Through a Thousand Calamities?”

Zhong Wuwang had never heard of this cultivation method. He paused, then carefully sensed the subtle changes in the Great Dao around them and said, “I heard that the reason the Wu Fang World became like this was a Bright King whom our Buddhist Sect had suppressed. That Bright King was originally a Great Luo Gold Immortal. He committed a grave offense and suffered for tens of thousands of years. After atoning for his sins, he was released more than ten years ago and made a Bright King. Could this Bright King be the Great Luo Gold Immortal who created the Scripture of Eternal Freedom Through a Thousand Calamities?”

“Most likely. I’ve heard this cultivation method can transfer one’s calamity’s fate to others.”

Chen Shi said, “He used this method to make Sanyuan, Tailai, Wu Fang, and the glassy glaze world bear the Opening of the Calamity in his place. He survived, while those four worlds were destroyed because of it. He destroyed four worlds just to escape an Opening of the Calamity, then spent tens of thousands of years in confinement. And eating vegetarian food and chanting Buddhist prayers was enough to wash away his sins? Heh, Er Niu, your Buddhist teachings are truly amazing.”

Zhong Wuwang found his words deeply sarcastic, but he did not consider himself a disciple of Western Heaven. “I suspect that the moment we entered the Wu Fang World, we fell into the lingering effects of his divine ability. But he used that ability to transfer his calamity’s fate a long time ago, didn’t he? Why would we fall under its influence after coming here?”

The Wu Fang World was a place the Buddhist Sect used for training. If it were as evil as this, and every monk who came here died, the monks would have stopped coming long ago.

In other words, what Chen Shi and the others were experiencing had only begun recently.

Western Heaven had no idea the Wu Fang World had become so dangerous!

When Zhong Wuwang thought of that, his heart sank. In other words, they could not expect rescue.

Chen Shi speculated, “Could it be because he is no longer being suppressed? When he was imprisoned, his calamity’s fate couldn’t sense him. Now that he has escaped his confinement, the calamity’s fate has returned, and his divine ability to transfer it has begun operating again, trapping us here.”

“That’s certainly possible!” Zhong Wuwang said. “I heard this Opening of the Calamity is an epochal calamity, and all immortals will be caught up in it. That Bright King must have his own calamity’s fate, too. His divine ability to transfer it must have revived when he was released thirteen years ago!”

Chen Shi said gravely, “In other words, every monk who entered this place over the past thirteen years has been trapped inside this divine ability!”

Their expressions turned solemn. They hurried to sense the changes in the Great Dao around them. Only by sensing those changes could they figure out how this divine ability for transferring calamity’s fate worked!

“This food tastes wrong!”

After taking a few bites of the vegetarian dishes, the old monk came to his senses. He spat out the food and sneered, “This old monk eats meat, not vegetables! You think a mere reincarnation technique can trap me?”

Countless ghost monsters surged toward him, intent on tearing him apart.

The old monk was originally a ferocious beast, a rare creature of heaven and earth. He had practiced Buddhist teachings and eaten vegetarian food only because he had no choice. Now that he saw these ghost monsters daring to run wild in front of him, he was about to reveal his true form and devour them all!

He was just about to twist his neck and transform when he suddenly came to his senses. “If I eat people again and Tathagata finds out, I might never be allowed to leave Spirit Mountain. Then I won’t eat them!”

He raised his hand and summoned the Yin Yang Qi Bottle. In the next instant, countless ghost monsters were lifted against their will and fell into the bottle.

The old monk laughed. “I’ll refine them to death. Then Tathagata won’t have anything to say.”

Chen Shi and Zhong Wuwang still had no success. Chen Shi was about to take out a Fulou Village medicinal pill to improve his ability to sense the Great Dao when the world around them suddenly began to shake violently. An invisible force swept over them, passing across the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers.

At the same moment, the old monk was about to capture all the ghost monsters and refine them to death.

The old monk sensed that force, and his expression changed dramatically. He immediately revealed his true form, transforming into a Great Roc Golden-Winged Peng. With a flap of his wings, he shot upward, his talons reaching down to seize Chen Shi and Zhong Wuwang as he soared beyond the ninth heaven!

He was astonishingly fast, so fast that he seemed almost to ignore space itself, as if he were about to crash into the stars beyond the heavens!

Just then, it was as though an invisible wind had blown past. The Great Peng felt a chill run through his body and looked down. The entire world, himself included, was caught within a dazzling divine ability.

He beat his wings and flew through that divine ability at an incredible speed, but he and the entire Wu Fang World were twisting within it!

“So this is a Great Luo Gold Immortal’s divine ability?”

The old monk laughed in fury. “I had no idea the gap was this great!”

Chen Shi and Zhong Wuwang also felt a chilly wind brush past their bodies. The world around them grew impossibly cramped, as if they had fallen into some strange space.

“Buzz!”

The world trembled faintly, and everything returned to normal.

Monk Zheng Nian and Arhat Tianyan walked together beneath a towering tree. Birds sang, flowers filled the air with fragrance, and the scenery was pleasant.

The master and disciple stopped. Arhat Tianyan looked toward the Wotu Kingdom’s capital in the distance and said, “Zheng Nian, this place is different from what we expected. I thought it would be a land steeped in resentment, but I never imagined it would be so prosperous. It’s completely unlike what the rumors said. We came here to dispel resentment and save all living beings. Now we’ll have to change our goal.”

“Master, what should our new goal be?” Monk Zheng Nian asked.

“Turn the Wotu Kingdom into a Buddhist Kingdom and gain boundless merit!”

They set off toward the Wotu Kingdom’s capital.

Meanwhile, in a bird’s nest more than three meters across, Chen Shi opened his eyes and looked around. The world around him was tranquil and peaceful, quite unlike the cramped chaos they had seen before.

Everything here was orderly.

“Chirp!” A bird called out beside Chen Shi.

He looked toward the sound and saw Zhong Wuwang sitting beside him in the nest. He looked like a fledgling and seemed unsteady on his feet. His bottom hit the nest as he fell back into it.

Besides the ordination scars on Zhong Wuwang’s head, a few little tufts of feathers had grown there.

He seemed a little mangy and did not look very healthy.

Chen Shi burst into laughter, but what came out of his mouth was a chirping sound.

Chen Shi’s heart gave a jolt. He raised a hand to feel the top of his head and found a tuft of feathers there, too. They were much more vigorous than the ones on Zhong Wuwang’s head.

The two stared at one another, then gazed at each other’s feathers in silence.

Aside from the feathers growing on their heads, nothing else about them had changed.

“Chirp chirp chirp chirp,” Zhong Wuwang said. (We didn’t take part in this Water and Land ritual or absorb any merit. Why did this happen to us?)

Chen Shi thought for a moment, then said, “Chirp chirp chirp.” (From the moment we entered the Wu Fang World, we were already caught in the divine ability of the Scripture of Eternal Freedom Through a Thousand Calamities. We were affected from the start.)

He sat cross-legged and tried to activate the Primordial Chaos Infinite Innate Art. But his heart sank. He could not sense his Primordial Spirit, his Dao Realm, or the cultivation he had gained through countless trials.

He did not have even the slightest bit of magical power!

Seeing this, Zhong Wuwang hurried to activate his cultivation method as well, and his heart turned cold.

His cultivation had vanished, too!

Both of them were True Immortals, yet their cultivation had been crippled without their knowing when. For a moment, they were both left utterly lost!

Zhong Wuwang struggled to stand. His legs trembled, as if they could not bear his weight. He looked around, bewildered. “Chirp?”

Chen Shi thought hard, then shook his head. “Chirp. Chirp chirp?”

Zhong Wuwang raised a hand and scratched the few tufts of feathers on his head. “Chirp…”

He had only just started speaking when a gale suddenly sprang up. A Great Roc Golden-Winged Peng swooped down from the sky and landed in the nest.

The top of the Great Roc’s head was completely bald, rather like the old monk Yun Cheng’s head. But he had already transformed entirely into a bird, with a long beak and sharp talons gripping a strange beast.

Chen Shi and Zhong Wuwang had just been wondering where the old monk had gone. They had not expected to meet him here, and they were both surprised and delighted. They hurried over, calling, “Chirp!” “Chirp chirp!” “Chirp chirp chirp!”

The Great Roc, who had been the old monk, tore the strange beast apart with his talons. He pulled a strip of lean meat free with his beak and stuffed it into Zhong Wuwang’s chirping mouth.

The strange beast’s meat lodged in Zhong Wuwang’s throat, making his eyes roll back.

The Great Roc used his long beak to push the meat farther down his throat.

Chen Shi watched, dumbfounded. At this rate, the beak might poke all the way into Zhong Wuwang’s stomach!

The Great Roc tore off another strip of meat and looked at Chen Shi.

Chen Shi hurriedly shut his mouth.

The Great Roc motioned for him to open it so he could feed him. Chen Shi dodged left and right, evading the offered strip of meat.

The Great Roc had no choice but to turn and feed Zhong Wuwang.

Zhong Wuwang had just been fed one strip of meat. Now he was holding his mouth open, trying to vomit it back up, when the Great Roc stuffed another strip of lean meat inside. It looked to weigh about a pound or two.

The Great Roc tore off another piece of meat and prepared to feed Chen Shi. Chen Shi kept dodging, so the Great Roc had no choice but to turn and feed Zhong Wuwang instead.

Choked by the food, Zhong Wuwang could barely breathe and looked as if he were about to suffocate. Seeing this, the Great Roc seemed to give the matter some thought with his simple mind. He stuck his beak between Zhong Wuwang’s lips, then opened it up and down, forcing Zhong Wuwang’s mouth apart. The beak reached into his throat and probed deeper before pulling out a strip of lean meat weighing more than two pounds.

At last able to breathe, Zhong Wuwang hurriedly cried, “Chirp!”

The Great Roc understood. He held the meat in his beak and turned toward Chen Shi, only to see Chen Shi beside the strange beast, tearing off a piece of its meat with his hands and eating it.

The Great Roc was very pleased. He thought his child had grown up and could look after himself. Holding the meat in his beak, he turned to Zhong Wuwang again.

Zhong Wuwang tried to run, but his legs were unsteady and he fell over again.

The Great Roc waited until he got back up, pried his mouth open with his beak, and stuffed the strip of meat into his throat, pushing it farther inside.

A while later, Zhong Wuwang was full. He lay in the nest, staring blankly into space.

Beside him, Chen Shi and the Great Roc ate the strange beast’s meat at their leisure.

“Chirp chirp. This strange beast’s meat is pretty good raw. It’s a little sweet,” Chen Shi said to Zhong Wuwang.

Zhong Wuwang rolled his eyes weakly.

Not long afterward, Chen Shi had eaten his fill. He sat in the nest and practiced the Primordial Chaos Infinite Innate Art, beginning with Foundation Establishment.

Seeing this, Zhong Wuwang suddenly understood. “We’re already caught in this Great Luo Gold Immortal’s divine ability and can’t escape. Our only chance is to find a flaw in it. Without cultivation, there’s no way we can sense it.”

He sat down and began cultivating as well.

His cultivation method had originally evolved from the teachings of Despair Slope. Later, he drew on Chen Shi’s methods and the Great Wilderness Ming Dao Collection. After arriving in the Earth Immortal Realm, he studied Buddhist cultivation methods under the Great Roc Golden-Winged Peng. Drawing on the strengths of many schools, he had developed his own system of cultivation, called the Great Wilderness Prajna Sutra.

Prajna meant wisdom in Sanskrit.

The Great Wilderness Prajna Sutra had only just begun to fuse various cultivation methods, but it had already shown its extraordinary nature. Zhong Wuwang cultivated both internally and externally, and his cultivation far surpassed that of his peers. After falling into the Bright King’s divine ability this time, he quickly steadied his mind and began cultivating from the beginning.

The strange beast’s flesh contained tremendous power. The two sat in meditation and cultivation, drawing out the power in the meat. They felt hot currents surge through their bodies, circulate through the small Heavenly Cycle, and open the Caudal Gate, Spinal Pass, and Jade Pillow. The currents joined the Governing and Conception Vessels and grew stronger and stronger. After cultivating for an hour or two, they had already made their internal energy circulate on its own.

Once they had completed Foundation Establishment, the two refined their Eight Extraordinary Meridians, then opened the Great Heavenly Cycle. Their internal and external qi connected, allowing them to draw on the qi of the world around them to cultivate their own true energy.

Their energy expenditure increased, and before long they were so hungry their stomachs were growling. So they went to eat the strange beast’s meat.

Zhong Wuwang was still weak, however. After a few bites, he had no strength left. The Great Roc came over, tore off a piece of meat, and pushed it down his throat.

Zhong Wuwang silently endured it.

After a few days, they had both refined their Golden Cores.

Zhong Wuwang finally had enough strength to eat and drink on his own.

The two of them grew hungrier and hungrier. They had to eat a whole strange beast each day, so the Great Roc often flew off to hunt.

One day, the Great Roc returned from a hunt and chirped twice. Chen Shi laughed and said, “Fellow Daoist Yun Cheng, I’ll teach you the principles of harmony, generation, and mutual support in the yin-yang Dao techniques, as well as Primordial Chaos. I’ll also teach you the rootless method and give you a hand. Once your cultivation advances, we might be able to leave this place sooner!”

The Great Roc had always thought of himself as a mother bird, and raising two little birds had struck him as exhausting. Although the two fledglings did not look much like birds, he had still diligently fed them.

That day, the larger of the two fledglings actually began to speak. The Great Roc was astonished and immediately decided to kill Chen Shi, thinking his nest had been cursed and a monster had hatched in it.

Chen Shi darted and dodged, nimble as a hare, avoiding his attacks. He was preparing to give the Great Roc a good beating, but the Great Roc struck him with one flap of his wing and sent him sprawling.

The Great Roc prepared to exorcise the monster. Chen Shi hurriedly cried, “Chirp!”

The Great Roc’s beak came down over Chen Shi’s head, nearly splitting his skull open. At his cry, it stopped, and the Great Roc examined him again and again.

Chen Shi obediently crouched in the nest. “Chirp.”

The Great Roc was unconvinced, but lay down in the nest all the same, glancing suspiciously at Chen Shi from time to time.

Chen Shi thought, “Speaking like a person won’t work. He’ll think I’m a monster, so I’ll speak like a bird instead!”

Soon, the nest rang with chirping. People passing beneath the tree heard the birds and thought it amusing. They had no idea that Chen Shi was using birdsong to teach the Great Roc Golden-Winged Peng, helping him awaken his intelligence sooner.

Before they knew it, more than ten years had passed. The fame of the Three Evils of the Crow’s Nest had spread throughout the Wotu Kingdom. The kingdom summoned traveling eminent monks to subdue the monsters, and many were killed. The Three Evils of the Crow’s Nest remained free and at ease.

“Birth, death, and reincarnation are all appearances. I still can’t see through those words,” Chen Shi murmured.