Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

Su Mu’s heart burned with heat as he uncorked the bottle and took a light sip.

The wine he’d ordered from Zhang Kang in Canghe County was originally a strong spirit. Now, with just a few drops of Fire Sparrow Blood added, one mouthful felt like gulping down a fireball, scorching Su Mu’s entire body in a blazing heat.

As the wine circulated with his blood through meridians and limbs, Su Mu instantly sensed a surge of scorching energy released inside him. In that moment, his eyes saw fire spiritual qi drifting between heaven and earth, gathering toward him.

One sip.

Two sips.

Su Mu gulped down three mouthfuls of Sparrow Blood Wine in a row. As the wine was completely digested, just in this short while, he felt the condensed fire attribute power in his body equaled the gold attribute power that had taken him days of cultivating Gold Element Divine Skill to obtain.

It was just that Su Mu currently had no Sixth Grade Martial Arts Technique to circulate and refine Fire Power. He could only watch helplessly as the fire power granted by the Sparrow Blood Wine slowly faded away within him.

But right now, that didn’t matter. What was most crucial now was borrowing the Fire Sparrow Blood to master the Crane Play from his inferences. Su Mu focused his senses, and when his eyes opened again, a brilliant light flashed within them.

"What pure demon blood! Compared to this, Flame Fire Eagle Essence Blood is utterly insignificant!"

Without hesitation, Su Mu tilted his head back again, taking another deep draught of Sparrow Blood Wine before entering a meditative state, channeling his full concentration to begin the final fusion of Sparrow Blood and Crane Play.

Before Su Mu’s eyes, five shadowy figures appeared. When his terrifying Dragon-and-Phoenix Level comprehension was pushed to the extreme, Su Mu entered a state of total self-forgetting.

Gradually, he felt himself being devoured by flames, merging with the Fire Sparrow’s corpse before him. In a flash of intuition, Su Mu sharply perceived a lingering thread of Fire Sparrow will within the Sparrow Blood.

Through that pulse of fierce, unyielding will, Su Mu saw a miraculous demon egg shimmering with flowing firelight.

Soon after, a fledgling bird broke through the shell—an infant Fire Sparrow. Its feathers were not yet full; its entire body appeared plump and round, much like a common ground chicken, carrying a touch of comical charm.

But then the scene changed. In front of this rather comical young Fire Sparrow stood a frost wolf over ten feet long, trembling in terror. Its limbs shook as the Fire Sparrow devoured it. Then, countless more demon beasts were swallowed by the Fire Sparrow.

The Fire Sparrow, it fed on demon beasts!

After a time of hunting, the Fire Sparrow grew by absorbing nutrients from demon beast flesh and blood. Feathers sprouted from its wings, gradually becoming fuller and glossier with each step.

At this stage, the Fire Sparrow faced a metamorphosis. It soared high, journeying through heaven and earth, finally finding an Earth Fire Meridian. The Fire Sparrow dove resolutely into the earth fire, breathing flames to forge a shell, just like a snow silkworm spinning a cocoon to bind itself.

Time passed within. Unending baptism by earth fire brought transformation to the Fire Sparrow, whose wings became truly robust. Then, for a second time, it broke from the shell, spreading powerful wings—emerging, reborn as a true Fire Sparrow!

"What a mighty Fire Sparrow! To transform directly by harnessing earth fire’s power!"

Su Mu murmured, unconsciously grabbing the wine gourd beside him and pouring the Sparrow Blood Wine down his throat, draining a whole bottle in one go.

Roar!

Roar!

Two awe-inspiring, thunderous roars shook heaven and earth. In his state of soul incarnation, aided by Sparrow Blood Wine, Su Mu saw a Fire Sparrow drifting between realms confronted by a daunting foe—a likewise formidable Hanging Eye White-Fronted Tiger.

Two tigers cannot share a mountain. The beasts clashed, sand and stones flew, mountains collapsed and earth split. The fierce battle ended with the Hanging Eye White Tiger’s narrow victory. Letting out a sky-shattering roar, it did not pursue the Fire Sparrow, but headed toward the south of Cyan Cloud.

The Fire Sparrow, severely wounded, fled north, escaping into the misty deep mountains, crashing to the ground and with flame melted out an underground pit—intent on cocooning itself once more for transformation in this hidden chamber.

At this point, the vision grew vague and indistinct.

"Bang!"

The second bottle of Sparrow Blood Wine was opened, and Su Mu again tilted his head, pouring down the fiery drink.

Immediately, Su Mu witnessed the Fire Sparrow’s wrecked body within its shell of flames, rapidly healing to the naked eye—yet, the instant it healed, the wounds tore open anew, flesh and bone brutally cut and crushed by a terrifying sharpness. How could the wounds left by the Hanging Eye White Tiger heal so easily?

Body after body, the Fire Sparrow endured countless cycles of total collapse and repair, spending in this process an immeasurable span of life force and vitality. Just before the final trace of the White Tiger’s sharpness dissipated, the Fire Sparrow collapsed first, breath of life extinguished.

Su Mu poured down the third bottle of Sparrow Blood Wine.

In that instant, Su Mu’s body shuddered violently. In his soul incarnation state, he stood wholly within this scene, and with his own fate mirroring the Fire Sparrow’s, his heart welled with grief and regret. The Fire Sparrow’s anguished, unyielding cry echoed unceasingly in Su Mu’s ears, lingering without end.

Even as formidable as the Fire Sparrow was, it still fell to the Hanging Eye White Tiger—this time, it could not complete its rebirth by fire, falling at the final hour and utterly perishing in the cave.

"Weaving a cocoon and forging a shell—rebirth in the flames!"

Enlightenment dawned slowly in Su Mu’s heart. Witnessing the Fire Sparrow’s birth, its rise, journey across the heavens, and its final demise by the White Tiger, a shower of spiritual light erupted in Su Mu’s mind, brilliant and searing as meteors.

At his brow, his spiritual power Flood Dragon surged, and Su Mu devoted his entire being to controlling the Sparrow Blood within him, striving to condense it into the profound patterns foreseen in his inference.

He was officially initiating his first assault upon the realm of Transforming Mortals into Demons!

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