Chapter 19 Wuji Xusheng
When the sun neared its zenith, Zhen Xu relieved himself in the back room — Master Ge had forbidden him from leaving the cave until the implants were extracted. The room was identical to the one in the previous cave, though it lacked the chests. Then he returned and made a cut on his finger with a blade, activating the seal and talismans with his blood and a mantra. Then he lay down, head facing east, arranged the golden talismans over the projected positions of his organs, and placed a purple elixir seed under his tongue. Despite its stone-like appearance, the seed turned out to be soft and pliable — more like paste than rock.
After just a few seconds, he began to feel his tongue go numb. Then his throat. Then tingling in his fingers. Breathing became difficult. Before fear could set in and he could panic, tearing off the golden seals—Zhen Xu was already dead. His heart had stopped the moment the numbness reached his chest.
At that very instant, Zhen Xu saw his body from the outside — or more precisely, from above, near the high ceiling. His body lay in the center of a formation ring, surrounded by a faintly glowing mist. His consciousness floated separately, now an Yin-spirit (yin shen). But he no longer cared. There was a sense of peace and bliss, as though a heap of flesh and bone — what his body now seemed — had finally been discarded.
His Heavenly Eye was open, and he could see the Qi of the surrounding world. He watched as the talismans around his body pulled colored threads of Qi from different parts of it. The internal Qi of the body was actively transforming. Waves of light pulsed outward from it, as if some cosmic event was taking place. It looked beautiful — but he wasn't interested. The idea of attachment to a body or the material world was completely gone from his mind.
Suddenly, a point of light appeared above him near the ceiling. It rapidly expanded into a wide opening, emitting a soft, gentle radiance — a light that felt like it was made of love and kindness.
From within that light emerged the shape of a young man dressed in flowing white robes, his golden hair pinned up with a long hairpin, his eyes a clear sky-blue. In his hand he held a Daoist ritual whisk made of white horsehair, its handle shimmering with mother-of-pearl. The figure spoke directly into his mind:
"Zhen Xu. I am an Enlightened Ancestor of the Holy Sect of Refining the Void. My name is Wuji Xusheng (无极虚圣). While you are in this out-of-body state, turn your attention to this question: from where are you seeing? If your body lies there, on the floor, then who is watching it — and with what? Whose corpse is that? Who are you? What is the 'I'?"
Each word of the Ancestor echoed like thunder inside Zhen's mind.
Who... how... with what... whose corpse... who am I... what is I?
Then, suddenly, Zhen no longer felt like Zhen — or anyone at all. He became pure, boundless emptiness. There was no up, no down, no past, no future. No Zhen Xu, no Su Zhen. Nothing remained. Not even the idea of self.
How much time passed? What is time?
Just as suddenly, a new point of light appeared, expanding rapidly and pulling something in — something that once again became Zhen. He found himself once more under the ceiling, looking at Ancestor Wuji.
"Good. Now return to your body and fulfill your mission," the Ancestor said. He waved his whisk, and Zhen was drawn back into his body through the crown of his head.
A moment later, he was back on the floor, gazing at the ceiling through his Heavenly Eye. Above him hovered a shimmering orb of light, like a distorted sun reflected in rippling water — and then it collapsed into a point and vanished. From that spot, ripples of Qi and the light of De spread outward in waves, and Zhen Xu could now sense the difference between them instinctively.
He lay there silently for several more hours, completely disoriented.
Who was he?
Where was he?
Why was he?
What was "he"?
Eventually, memory returned in fragments, and he tried to rise.
"Congratulations, Zhen Xu," said a voice. "You've passed the first trial of an alchemist and removed the demonic implants. You are now, to some degree, free from the influence of the Moon."
"The Moon?"
"Yes. The Moon is the demons' mothership. That's where their control emanates from. Even its very orbit is an instrument of domination over all life on the planet."
Zhen sat cross-legged in silence, staring at the glowing patterns on the walls.
So captivating... so blue... such beautiful sigils...
He stayed like that for nearly an hour until Master Ge sent a light burst of Qi into his chest, snapping him out of the trance.
"Enough staring at the walls. Get up and step out of the formation. And put the talismans back in the chest," the teacher's voice rang out sternly.
Zhen reluctantly got to his feet, unsteady, and gathered everything from the floor.
"There's no intelligent life for hundreds of miles. You can step out and relieve yourself, but don't wander far from the cave. There are large reptiles out there — some of them fly.
...And don't overuse your Heavenly Eye yet, or you'll get spotted again. You're still inexperienced. We have nowhere left to teleport. If the demon's vimana locates us, our little adventure ends right here."
***
The dank cave was behind him — but beyond it stretched an equally stifling forest, as if drawn by the fever-dream of a mind overcome by delirium.
The air was thick and humid, saturated with the familiar scent of pine and something foreign — sweetish, like overripe fruit. There was hardly a breeze; only the occasional rustling of giant fan-shaped ginkgo leaves swaying on their branches. Scaly-barked tree trunks rose into the mist, disappearing into the haze that clung to the cliffs and shrouded the entire area. Pale light filtered through the fog and tangled canopy, fighting for each ray. Vines and moss hung from the branches like old ropes.
"The Misty Forest," Zhen recalled from Bai Xiao's Flora Encyclopedia.
He sat on a gnarled root and extended his Qi-sense from his Dantian. The forest teemed with life. Snakes, small reptiles, birds, and countless creatures. No large predators in the immediate area.
He stood and slipped between the trees like a shadow. Found a spot farther off and relieved himself. Then he followed the sound of flowing water.
"Nice. Cattail thickets and a mountain stream. Food and drink in one."
He pulled up a few cattail plants, found some tender roots, crunched on them raw, and tossed the rest into the water.
Sitting by the stream, Zhen again drifted into a light trance, losing himself in the motion of water.
A small feathered predator reptile crept out of the brush to inspect him — sizing him up to see if he could be eaten. It looked like a carnivorous chicken with teeth. Zhen snapped out of the trance, smirked, and sent a flick of Qi toward it. The creature shrieked and scrambled back into the thicket.
"Even if it's demons who implant us and seduce us into war and violence... who made the predators? Are there predators on other worlds? Is this world sick by nature, or am I just missing something?"
He returned to the cave, still lost in thought. This place could support him for a while — especially if he built a fire. Even without one, his internal Yang could keep him warm at night. And as far as he knew, a person could survive a week or two without food if they had water.
But then what? He couldn't live on cattail roots forever. Albeit, Master Ge hadn't eaten anything for three centuries…
Would he now spend the rest of his life hiding from demons in the woods? Running, surviving, evading, for centuries?
With such thoughts, Zhen returned back to the cave, intending to question old Ge thoroughly.