Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Three hundred years of cultivation were not yet complete, yet it was the number one Demon in the world.

In the vast world, among famous mountains and extreme terrains, who knows how many strange species are hidden, yet it was a big black dog that rose to the top and claimed the throne of the number one Demon in the world.

If human cultivators are included, looking across the rivers and mountains, it is enough to rank among the top five masters in the world.

"King Yan..." Zhang Fan mused thoughtfully.

That big black dog, he had seen it before in the Three Corpses Daoist's memories.

During the youth of the Three Corpses Daoist, it accompanied him, and they had seen the childhood of Chu Chaoran. One person, one child, and one dog had traversed nearly half of Hua Country during those desolate and war-torn years.

Sixty years ago, during the Jiazi Demon-Vanquishing.

The Three Corpses Daoist perished at the East Peak of Mount Tai, and since then, that big black dog had retreated into the Wuwei Sect Ancestral Court Daoist Temple, never set foot into the Red Dust again.

"King Yan, the youth you saw was King Yan?" Zhang Fan asked incredulously.

Wearing black leather and black sunglasses, he walked along the river, and casually bought Yu Fu from a fishmonger, who, at the time, wasn't even considered a spirit monster.

Such an image appeared in Zhang Fan's mind, seeming somewhat ethereal.

"Probably." Yu Fu said softly.

"My connection with him is very shallow, just a fleeting encounter. He released me, probably just acting on a whim."

To an existence of that magnitude, a little carp that wasn't even considered a spirit monster was indeed negligible.

However, such an unintentional act by such a great person completely changed Yu Fu's fate.

"Zhang Fan, do you know about fish transforming into dragons?" Yu Fu abruptly switched topics.

Zhang Fan murmured an "um", nodding slightly.

From ancient times to now, there has been a legend of "fish leaping over dragon's gate, ascending to heaven and transforming into a dragon."

It is said that among the world's rivers and mountains, lies a dragon's gate, appearing at the river mouth during the peak of summer, when thunder intertwines, and any water creature that crosses this dragon's gate could invoke heavenly fire, refine away its mortal body, and become a True Dragon.

"Fish leaping over the dragon's gate..." Yu Fu mockingly said.

"Carps have dragon nature but lack dragon appearance, fish transforming into dragons, akin to humans becoming immortal, is a dream... an unattainable dream..."

"However, even such a dream can only be pursued by the carp that is destined."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Fan asked, puzzled.

"The so-called dragon's gate isn't a real gate, but the place three inches atop a carp's skull, similar to the Spirit Platform at the human brow..." Yu Fu sighed softly.

"It is said that true dragon-natured carps are born with a protruding Spirit Bone here, which is the dragon's gate, only they can dream the beautiful dream of fish transforming into dragons."

Rumor has it that once such a carp cultivates successfully over time, the dragon's gate will crack open, bathed in heavenly fire, transforming into a new body, which is the so-called fish leaping over the dragon's gate.

This resembles "caterpillar transforming into a butterfly", "Golden Cicada Shell".

A few years back, after the Qiantang River tide rose, there was an unusual fish skin floating ashore, of rare texture, which could not even be cut with a blade. Some said it was the skin shell shed after the fish transformed into a dragon, which was later bought by a wealthy overseas businessman for a huge sum.

"I was born without the dragon gate Spirit Bone, just the most ordinary carp." Yu Fu chuckled lightly, as if long resigned to such a fate.

All beings are like this, each coming as the protagonist, but eventually, after tumbling through the Red Dust, gradually accept their ordinary fate.

"But I am more fortunate than my peers, by instinct alone I cultivated, twenty years after King Yan released me, I finally became a spirit monster in the water, no longer fearing being caught by humans and becoming food on a plate..."

At this point, Yu Fu paused slightly, gaze lingering on the carefree little fish in the fish tank, speaking softly.

"It was probably that year, just as King Yan foretold, I encountered the first benefactor in my life..."

"She was a Kun Dao, cultivating at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain."

"Qingcheng Mountain!"

Zhang Fan remained silent, destiny's threads finally connected Yu Fu to this Daoist Sect famed mountain that shook the world.

"She often came to the riverside, seeing me as a spirit monster, not only did she not try to subdue, but instead enlightened with compassion..."

In Yu Fu's eyes, a touch of gentle emotion sealed by dusts of time emerged.

"For ten years, she often came to the riverside to lecture me on techniques, teach principles, sometimes, when the moon shone in the sky, she would be inspired to play the flute along the river..."

"That was probably the most beautiful sound in the world."

Yu Fu murmured softly, gaze gradually blurring, eyes seeming to return to the scene of surging river waves crushing the reflection of the virtual moon, where the melodious flute sound echoed across the river and blended into the long wind.

A carp half out of the surface, gazing at the graceful figure standing by the riverbank, listening in a trance.

"Silkworm Cong and fish-fu, founding the country so vague. Four thousand eight hundred years from now, never with Qin's border communicating human habitation. To the west against Mt.Taibai there is a bird path, can cross Mt.Emei pinnacle..."

"Earth crumbles, mountain shattered, warriors die, only then heavenly ladder and rocky pathway connect..."

"This was her favorite poem, often reciting it facing Linqu River, I asked her what it meant..."

"She said Silkworm Cong and fish-fu were ancient kingdoms of Chuanshu, with long-lasting years, yet they never shared with external world, due to the difficulty of the Shu path, harder than ascending the azure sky..."

"Harder than ascending the azure sky..." Yu Fu lamented.

"Human cultivation is the same, Pure Yang Wuji, Earthly Immortal, where is there a touchable azure sky?" Yu Fu's voice trembled slightly, as if returning to the scene from years ago.

"Every time then, when I looked into her eyes, it felt as if I saw myself..."

The path of dragon transformation, the road to immortality, compared to the difficulty of Shu path, how many thousands or tens of thousands of times harder.

At this point, Yu Fu stopped, gaze increasingly distant.