Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

"If you don’t go, stay behind. There’s always someone else who will go."

"I’ll go, I’ll go!"

Jiang Yao pursed her lips and took the four Profound Iron Thin Plates, a flash of Spiritual Light in her hand as she hurriedly stored them in her Sumeru Ring. Instead of staying in the Ancient Qingzhou and enduring the torment of these Noble Family Descendants, it was better to venture into a remote place.

Moreover, assessing the Golden Order Blade Catchers could be considered an achievement, contributing to the Demon Slayer Bureau by bringing in fresh blood.

If later, among the batch of Golden Order Blade Catchers she assessed, someone could stand out and even soar through the ranks, then she would also benefit greatly.

However, Jiang Yao did not hold much hope for the latter. Even the Three Canglan Counties, placed in Qingzhou, were just remote lands. And Qingzhou itself was regarded as a bitter and barren place by the populace of the current Ten States of Great Yan, known for producing nothing but unruly people, not heroes or great figures.

Although Jiang Yao didn’t like this saying, she had to admit there was some truth in it. How could those from bitter, barren lands compare with those born with a silver spoon from Major Sects, Great Noble Families, or even the Da Yan Royal Family?

Even if these people had equal talent, even if a Qilin Child emerged from those desolate lands, without resources for nurturing, it would be in vain, unless they were someone with the genius and talent akin to Martial Emperor Xiang Yu.

Still, Jiang Yao just couldn’t agree with this saying, which was why she chose to come to Qingzhou.

"Four people, just four people... Just as well, I don’t have any subordinates yet. I might as well find myself a few subordinates this time. It’s just uncertain how many of these four will pass the assessment."

Jiang Yao nodded to herself, thinking it was truly unbecoming to be a Judge’s subordinate without any Golden Order Blade Catchers to command. This time, she would make up for it.

Early the next morning, Jiang Yao took off the tiger-patterned black robe of the ’Judge’ and rode away from the Ancient Qingzhou alone on a tall black horse.

...

The secret cave was timeless, and peace reigned serene.

Yan Xiaolan came to the entrance of the cave once more and set down the food she had brought. Seeing the previous food had been taken, she secretly sighed with relief.

She wasn’t worried about mountain beasts devouring it since the cave’s Fire Sparrow, though long dead for countless years, still exerted lingering might. This was an area of Great Mist Mountain that was absolutely off-limits to beasts, none dared to step here.

"I hope the senior is doing well!"

Inside the cave, before the corpse of the Fire Sparrow, Su Mu in his wheelchair had a furrowed brow.

"My previous inference was flawed... Inscriptions are derived from the bones, sharp claws, and the texture of blood and flesh of Demon Beasts. They cannot be grasped through mere imagination but require the unity of knowledge and action."

"Such a simple principle, yet I... was blind to it."

Prior, Su Mu had always taken the existing Forging Inscriptions he mastered as the blueprint, using them as a basis for inference, but that premise was wrong from the start.

"What I need to do is not borrow from existing inscriptions... but create an entirely new ’inscription,’ perhaps a path no one has ever walked before!"

Su Mu, sitting in his wheelchair, slowly opened his eyes, decisively halting the further inference of Crane Play, completely overturning the method of integrating the inscriptions he had previously inferred.

Realizing the mistakes he had made, correcting the deviant path of his inference, Su Mu did not feel the slightest frustration; instead, his heart burned with intense fervor.

Immediately, he uncorked a bottle of Sparrow Blood Wine, took a swig, and, with undivided attention, entered a state of Soul Incarnation.

His deep eyes fixed on a wound on the Fire Sparrow’s body, Su Mu concentrated entirely, carefully observing each fine texture in the fractured bones and torn flesh.

Days passed, and as Su Mu looked, ten full days elapsed, a glimmer of Spiritual Light emerged in his mind.

Then came the second wound, nine days, the Spiritual Light surfaced a faint outline.

The third wound, eight days, the Spiritual Light gleamed brightly.

Sitting in his wheelchair, Su Mu gulped mouthfuls of Sparrow Blood Wine, the remaining will of the Fire Sparrow within the wine allowing him to better immerse himself into the Fire Sparrow. Gradually, Su Mu felt as though he had truly become a Fire Sparrow.

"Ah-----!"

He attempted to spread his wings, but his whole body was gripped by indescribable pain, as if in a single breath, thousands of sharp blades churned his flesh, bones, shattering every inch, forcing Su Mu to cry out in agonizing screams one after another.

The eyes of Su Mu sitting in his wheelchair became bloodshot, blood continuously seeped and flowed from his eyes. As he stared directly at the Fire Sparrow’s wounds, fully immersing himself, the damage left by the Dangling Eye White Tiger caused Su Mu to empathize, but not for a second did he stop.

What ordinary people can’t achieve does not mean Su Mu cannot. He cannot halt here; what is a little pain!

Time flew by, and two months elapsed.

Sitting in his wheelchair, Su Mu slowly opened his eyes, his fully blood-red eyes brimming with bright divine light. At this moment, the Spiritual Light in his mind fully materialized, dazzlingly brilliant.

Two months of observing the wounds brought immense gains to Su Mu; he finally preliminarily refined the advanced martial arts of Crane Play and confirmed the outline of advanced martial arts in Five Animals Qigong.

"The advanced martial arts of Five Animals Qigong shall henceforth be called Profound Demon Five Transformations, with the first transformation of Crane Play being the Fire Sparrow Transformation."

He vaguely felt even Transforming Mortals into Demons was only a new beginning for this martial art and not its end. The Profound Demon Five Transformations retained the five from Five Animals Qigong, honoring its origin, created by Divine Doctor Hua Tuo in a previous life.

The so-called heaven, earth, and the mysteries of the universe, the Profound Demon Five Transformations contain Su Mu’s martial arts pursuit and ambition, possibly evolving into Earth Demon Five Transformations, Celestial Spirit Five Transformations, and even more transformations in the future.

Su Mu slowly raised his hand, letting his blood-stained fingertips touch the rock wall. Slowly closing his eyes, he began engraving that all-too-familiar inscription from his mind.