Thirteenth month of death

Chapter 261 The Unprincipled Background
“This is the last one.” Li Daosheng gazed at the distant palace complex, the bronze mirror trembling slightly at his feet. “The Mysterious Heaven Mirror.”

The bronze mirror passed through the clouds and landed in the square in front of the main hall of the Xuantian Sect.

Contrary to expectations, there were no heavily guarded personnel, only an old man with a white beard sitting quietly on the stone steps in front of the hall, with a game of chess in front of him.

"They've arrived." The old man didn't even look up, lightly tapping the chessboard with his fingers. "I've been waiting for a long time."

Li Daosheng and Su Moshi exchanged a glance and slowly stepped forward.

When Li Daosheng saw the old man's face clearly, his pupils contracted slightly—Wu Dao's memories surged again. He saw Wu Dao playing chess with this old man for three days many years ago, and finally leaving a magical artifact in the center of the chessboard that looked like a bronze mirror.

"Master of Xuantian Sect," Li Daosheng bowed, "This junior has come for the Xuantian Mirror."

The old man—the Xuan Tian Sect Master—finally raised his head, his gaze sharp as lightning. He lingered for a moment on the long mark between Li Daosheng's eyebrows, then looked at the bronze mirror at Su Moshi's waist.

"Su Daozi, how have you been?" He nodded slightly, then looked directly at Li Daosheng. "You have the aura of Wudao on you, yet you are not him. Interesting."

The Xuan Tian Sect Master chuckled, his sleeve brushing across the chessboard, and the chess pieces instantly vanished in a stream of light: "Wu Dao sent you to retrieve them, didn't he?"

He stared intently at Li Daosheng: "Back then, Wudao forcibly seized the unique secret manuals of various sects, but left behind magical treasures as compensation. Judging from the names of these magical treasures, you two can probably guess that Wudao specially crafted them for the major sects."

"Now, if he wants to take it back, that's fine with me. However, since you've kept it safe for so many years, I'll have to put you through a difficult task. If you can pass the test of the Xuan Tian Illusionary Realm, I will return the Xuan Tian Mirror to its rightful owner."

"how?"

"What kind of test?" Li Daosheng asked in a deep voice.

"Enter the Xuan Tian Illusionary Realm and experience a lifetime of reincarnation. If you can break free from the illusion, the Xuan Tian Mirror will naturally be offered to you." The Xuan Tian Sect Master gathered a point of clear light at his fingertips. "Of course, if you become trapped within it, don't blame this old man."

Su Moshi frowned slightly: "The sect leader's suggestion is a bit too much..."

“I’ll go,” Li Daosheng interrupted her.

Su Moshi looked at Li Daosheng, then at the Xuan Tian Sect Leader: "I'll go too."

The Xuan Tian Sect Leader's gaze shifted between the two men, then he suddenly burst into laughter: "Good."

Before he finished speaking, he formed a hand seal, and a beam of clear light burst forth from his fingertips, enveloping Li Daosheng and Su Moshi.

The world spun around him, and the last thing Li Daosheng saw was a mirror-like Xuan Tian Mirror emitting a faint light.

An endless feeling of falling washed over me...

Li Daosheng felt as if he were encased in thick rocks, unable to move or speak, his consciousness drifting through endless time.

He didn't know how much time had passed—perhaps a thousand years, perhaps just a moment—but he suddenly realized that he had turned into a stone.

This is a secluded valley where sunlight rarely shines. Only at noon do a few rays of light penetrate the dense canopy and fall on this inconspicuous blue stone.

Rain and sun gradually smoothed the surface of the bluestone.

"who I am?"

When this thought first surfaced in "Stone's" mind, the wildflowers in the valley had already bloomed and faded for hundreds of years.

As time passed and things changed, the stone's consciousness grew clearer and clearer, and finally...

It gave itself a name—Wudao (meaning "no way").

Because it is born of heaven and earth, and does not follow human ways.

When wildflowers, representing countless lifetimes, bloomed beside him, Wudao discovered that he could perceive things from a greater distance.

It "saw" the stream outside the valley, and the fish swimming in the stream; it "heard" the laughter and chatter of people in the distant village.

Humans...what strange creatures.

Their short lives are like those of mayflies, yet they were able to create so many wonderful things in such a short time.

If... I could become like them, maybe life would be a little more exciting?
It's getting a bit tiresome to see it remain unchanged for thousands of years.

at last……

It was a stormy night when lightning cleaved the oldest oak tree in the valley and struck the blue stone where Wudao was sheltering. In the midst of excruciating pain and burning heat, Wudao felt his consciousness detach from his stone body and coalesce into a blurry human form.

As the first rays of dawn pierced through the rain clouds, a young man with black hair and blue eyes stood amidst the rubble, staring blankly at his newly grown hands.

His naked body was like a piece of the finest jade, every line of which was so perfect that it seemed otherworldly.

"cough……"

Wu Dao's voice was somewhat hoarse, like a string that hadn't been used in a long time.

He stumbled toward the stream and saw his reflection in the water—exactly the same as the later Li Daosheng.

This memory flooded into Li Daosheng's consciousness like a tidal wave, and he was shocked to find himself experiencing Wudao's life from a first-person perspective!
At the edge of the illusion, he vaguely sensed the presence of Su Moshi, who seemed to be immersed in a certain memory as well.

Wu Dao soon encountered trouble.

When he walked naked into the human village, the villagers were first astonished by his appearance, and then someone shouted "monster!" and stones and farm tools rained down on him.

"I..." Wu Dao tried to explain, but no one listened.

An arrow pierced his shoulder, but strangely, no blood flowed out; only a few pebbles fell from the wound.

The villagers were even more terrified: "It's a stone demon! Quickly, summon a celestial master!"

Wu Dao fled back to the deep mountains.

He didn't understand why his simple desire to get closer to them had provoked such hostility.

Is it simply because he is not human?
The wound healed quickly, but the confusion and pain in my heart lingered for a long time.

Wudao began to wander in the mountains. He could make rocks float and mountains tremble, but these abilities only made him more certain of his difference from humans.

Until one day, he met an old Taoist priest with white hair.

“Interesting.” The old Taoist stood on the treetop, looking down at Wudao, who was practicing the art of controlling stones. “A stone spirit taking human form is a once-in-ten-thousand-years occurrence.”

Wu Dao retreated warily: "Are you going to kill me too?"

The old Taoist priest smiled and asked, "Would you like to cultivate with me?"

practice?

Wu Dao followed him in a daze.

He was taken back to an unknown Taoist temple.

The old Taoist priest is the current abbot, and his Taoist name is Yunweizi.

The days spent in the dilapidated old Taoist temple were the happiest time for Wudao.

He eagerly learned everything about humanity—writing, etiquette, Taoism…

His talent astonished the few other senior disciples in the Taoist temple, and in just ten years he achieved a level of cultivation that ordinary people could not reach in a hundred years.

However, not everyone welcomed him.

The eldest disciple's hostility toward Wudao grew daily.

"Demons are demons after all." The eldest brother often said this to others when Wudao passed by, "Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts."

Wu Dao pretended not to hear, but those words were like poisonous thorns, deeply embedded in his heart.

"What the hell am I?"

Wu Dao looked up at the sky blankly, as if trying to see the ethereal and elusive Heavenly Dao.

Since the birth of consciousness, it seems that he is the only stone in the world that has come to be sentient.

(End of this chapter)