Chapter 244: The Art of Soaring, The Divine Eyes Open

"The Mad Monk said to avoid temples and retreat from observatories; part the clouds and mist, and the bright moon will be revealed."

"And my Dao lies within that bright moon."

Xu Qing recalled the Mad Monk's sixteen-character prophecy, feeling an inexplicable sense of surprise in his heart.

The direction of the immortal fate guided by the Immortal-Seeking Art happened to be exactly within the stream water illuminated by the bright moon.

Was this a coincidence, or did the Mad Monk truly possess a divination ability comparable to a Heaven-grade divine power?

Xu Qing recalled the Mad Monk's words, yet he overturned this possibility.

In Abbot Dingguang's memories, the Mad Monk had more than once feigned madness and stupidity to offer guidance or satire to the monks inside Cizhao Temple.

But in the end, only a young monk and a foolish monk heeded the advice, left Cizhao Temple, and became wandering monks.

Through the Mad Monk's prophecies, Xu Qing could perceive that the other party clearly knew about the problems existing in Ruyi Observatory and Cizhao Temple.

Yet he did not choose to confront these filthinesses directly, but instead chose to avoid them and stay far away.

This indicated that the Mad Monk did not possess world-shaking abilities; if he could truly see through Xu Qing's Heaven-Deceiving Art and unleash an Immortal-Seeking divine power comparable to a Heaven-grade rank, he would not be so fearful, nor would he have spoken words telling him to avoid temples and retreat from observatories.

As a zombie who had survived the lightning calamity and possessed five hundred years of cultivation, was it really hard to guess who should avoid whom?

There was only one possibility for this result: the Mad Monk had not seen through his background, let alone penetrated his Heaven-Deceiving Art.

"The immortal fate lies within the bright moon."

Xu Qing sorted out his thoughts and immediately made a decision.

Regardless of the truth, he only needed to go to the place indicated by the Immortal-Seeking Art, and naturally, he would be able to clarify the context of the entire matter.

However, before that, he still had some cleanup work to do.

After two rounds of natural and man-made disasters, Ruyi Observatory had become a ruin, but this did not mean the sins committed by the demonic Daoists within the observatory were completely washed away; some things must be remembered.

Xu Qing borrowed Xuanyu's precious sword and carved several lines of text onto the stone wall not far from Ruyi Observatory—

"Yellow sprouts are originally the marrow of infants; mercury and lead are born from the sea of blood."

"Today I unsheathe the three-foot sword from its sheath, to show injustice to the world for the sake of Heaven."

South foothills of Cloud Dream Mountain, within the chaotic mountains and deep marshes.

Under the cover of night, the youth and the young girl moved forward together.

"What is Immortal Xu looking for?" the young girl asked.

"The moon!" Holding the map of Bai Yun Cave in one hand, Xu Qing searched along the direction remembered in his mind.

Passing through ancient forests of vines and winding around red cliffs and strange rocks, Xu Qing felt the path becoming increasingly familiar the further he walked.

It turned out that the path to Bright Moon Stream and the direction to Bai Yun Cave were actually on the same line.

"The old fox of Bai Yun Cave is an evil demon, and the heavenly book techniques he transmitted were all tampered with evil arts, unworthy of being called immortal fate; with Bright Moon Stream so close to Bai Yun Cave, what kind of immortal fate could be transmitted there?"

Filled with doubt and expectation, Xu Qing continued walking along this path; midway, he encountered Gaoshan blocking the way, and in order to chase the moon and reach Bright Moon Stream before sunrise, Xu Qing chose not to climb over the mountain.

He took out a Cloud-Crawling Talisman, intending to let Xuanyu restore her true form so she could carry him to climb the clouds and soar, but then he heard the young girl beside him say:

"No need for talismans; I can carry Immortal Xu to fly over this mountain."

"Fly?" Xu Qing's heart stirred, and he asked, "Could it be that Xuanyu is already able to ride the clouds and drive the mist?"

The young girl nodded quite proudly: "Once a demon condenses a demon core and attains five hundred years of cultivation, they can control demonic winds and mist to roam across mountains and ridges."

"Doesn't Immortal Xu know this?"

Xu Qing truly did not know!

For human cultivation, even if one's cultivation is sufficient, one must still learn the corresponding methods and divine powers to achieve cloud-riding or wind-controlling; if one holds such divine powers, then traveling by borrowing light or flying by raising rosy clouds is no difficult task.

But without these, one can only leap and bound, or employ some insignificant minor arts of cloud-crawling.

Yet even for the minor art of cloud-crawling, without guidance, it is absolutely impossible to learn on one's own.

In comparison, the demon race is different.

All things possess spirituality; demons inherit their nature; the essence of demons is cultivation passed down through bloodlines, and many spells originate from bloodline instincts, so as long as the cultivation level is reached, they will naturally comprehend certain divine powers and techniques.

Only when needing to further improve themselves will demons choose to take a master and learn arts.

Humans are not like this; from babbling speech at birth to learning to read and write, all require human teaching and guidance, and if one wishes to cultivate, one must find a famous master to learn methods and cultivate according to scriptures.

This is the utmost fairness of the Heavenly Dao; humans, due to excessive wisdom, have instead lost some abilities, while although it is difficult for demons to enter the Dao, they retain the inheritance within their bloodlines.

One positive and one negative, one yin and one yang; between fullness and waning, the outcome was determined long ago.

As a zombie, Xu Qing was a corpse of a living person after death; without the enlightenment of the Degree-People Sutra, he feared he would possess not only no wisdom but also lack the bloodline source and flow like the demon race.

Zombies, apart from the instinct to crave blood, have no other reliance; even after completing the evolution from Wandering Corpse to Crouching Corpse, it is merely a post-transformation change.

At present, although Xu Qing had broken through the bottleneck of the Crouching Corpse and survived the lightning calamity, he had never learned the means of riding clouds and driving mist.

Meanwhile, other cultivators or demons possessing five hundred years of cultivation had mostly already learned the Art of Soaring by this time.

If a zombie receives no teaching, they must wait until becoming an Unchanging Bone and achieving the status of a Flying Zombie before they can control wind and drive mist.

A thousand-year Flying Zombie, a ten-thousand-year Hou; at a thousand years they learn to soar, and only at ten thousand years can a zombie possess the means to traverse heaven and earth, slay dragons, and swallow clouds.

However, the current Xu Qing could only rely on the four-sided reliance flags to achieve brief flying evasion, and moreover, he could not carry others.

On the contrary, Xuanyu, who was one step behind him and had just survived the calamity, had comprehended the method of soaring one move ahead of him.

Xu Qing clicked his tongue; there was no choice but to let Xuanyu carry him to fly over the high mountain before them.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing's two arms and two hands naturally rested upon Xuanyu's shoulders.

It was almost an instinct arising from being a zombie.

"What are you pawing at me for?"

Xuanyu looked completely bewildered; the feeling of Immortal Xu standing behind her and holding her shoulders made her feel yin energy rising straight up her back, as if she had been possessed by some netherworld creature.

"To fly, of course; aren't you going to carry me in flight?"

Xuanyu turned her head, a stiff zombie and a cat staring wide-eyed at each other.

"It is controlling the wind, not carrying Immortal Xu on my back to fly! Besides, Immortal Xu is so tall and so heavy; how could I possibly carry you?"

"What if I get injured someday and can't walk? Would the Xuanyu immortal family still refuse to carry me?"

"Mm."

In the end, Xu Qing followed Xuanyu's direction and stood before the canyon where the mountain winds converged.

It was Xuanyu's first time controlling the wind; her entire small face flushed red with excitement, clearly thrilled beyond measure.

Seeing this, Xu Qing felt a trace of unease instead.

This was the cat's first time learning to fly, and moreover, her first time carrying a person; he was so heavy—what if she couldn't lift off?

From start to finish, Xu Qing had never feared falling from great heights; he possessed the Reliance Banner and the Cloud-Climbing Talisman, so even if he fell, he would be fine.

Even without those, as a Corpse Refining the Unchanging Bone, if he truly smashed into the ground, only the flowers and grass below would be injured.

Fortunately, the cat was clever; as the valley wind blew past her skirts, lifting her waist-length hair that flowed like silk, Xuanyu lightly tapped her toes, and her lithe figure suddenly soared into the air like a feather.

The mountain wind, spiraling and howling, acted like an invisible giant hand, lifting Xuanyu's body. At the same time, Xu Qing felt the supporting force surrounding him.

He did not resist, merely relaxing his body and allowing the wind and mist to envelop him.

Once her demonic energy was fully released, Xuanyu stretched her waist, stepped upon the churning clouds and mist with her toes, and gracefully rose straight up from where she stood.

In the blink of an eye, the two had climbed over a thousand-zhang cliff face; amidst the cloudy mist and windy qi, the surging pines and rocky stones below came fully into view.

Standing within the cloudy mist and demonic wind, Xuanyu finally realized the vastness of heaven and earth.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the two finally descended toward the Cloud Dream Mountain.

Not far before Xu Qing, there indeed stood a stone bridge spanning a deep ravine.

Before Xu Qing could even take a step, he heard Xuanyu ask him: