Journey to the West: Starting with becoming an apprentice of the Nine Heavens Demon-Subduing Patriar

Outside Huangfeng Ridge, jumbled rocks lie scattered about.

From a dilapidated cave at the foot of the ridge, abandoned for who knows how long, gusts of foul wind blew out, making the few withered grasses at the cave entrance tremble.

At the very back of the cave, Lu Shanjun suddenly opened his eyes.

He coughed once, and before he could catch his breath, he spat out a mouthful of black blood, which splattered onto the blue stone in front of him, making a sizzling sound and burning several shallow pits.

After spitting out the blood, he felt much lighter.

"Where...am I?"

Lu Shanjun leaned against the stone wall to stand up and looked down at his hands.

It wasn't a hand, but a claw.

Covered in a layer of short golden fur, with thick knuckles, its five black claws gleamed coldly in the sunlight filtering through the cave entrance.

Then came a loud "boom," and memories flooded his entire sea of ​​consciousness.

In his previous life, Lu Shanjun was an ordinary person. He worked overtime all night and was so sleepy on his way home that he could barely keep his eyes open. When he opened them again, he looked like this.

At the same time, the memories possessed by the body of "Tiger Vanguard" also emerged.

Huang Fengling, a vanguard general under the command of Huang Feng Dasheng.

A magnificent tiger, cultivated for over a hundred years, with a mouth that could gnaw blood, had devoured countless people, and its fearsome reputation had spread throughout the surrounding area.

Journey to the West.

As soon as those two words were uttered, the hair on the back of Lu Shanjun's neck stood up with a "whoosh".

He finally understood.

For some unknown reason, his soul ended up in the body of a demon destined to be cannon fodder in "Journey to the West".

On this road, gods and bodhisattvas can be seen everywhere. If you're not careful, golden light will come down and you'll be smashed into a meat pie.

After calming down, Lu Shanjun noticed the strangeness beside him.

It was a vine, lying quietly in the crack of the rock.

Its entire body was crystal clear, like a piece of beautiful jade, with a faint blue hue surrounding it.

The aura was cool and refreshing, unlike anything found in the mortal world. I twitched my nose slightly, took a breath, and some of the chaos in my mind dissipated.

There were originally two thumb-sized fruits on the vine.

At this moment, only one remains.

The second peach still had some moisture clinging to its stem, indicating that he had inexplicably picked and swallowed it while he was half-asleep.

Lu Shanjun's heart skipped a beat.

There is a saying among spiritual practitioners called "the mystery of the womb".

When the soul enters a new body, it is like an infant sitting in the mother's womb again, ignorant of the past, with an invisible barrier covering the primordial spirit.

Nine out of ten people who are reincarnated will live in a daze within this barrier until they die.

However, the moment he tasted this mysterious fruit, it cleared away his stagnation.

Not only was the illusion cleared, but the foul and turbid odor within this demonic body was also completely cleansed.

"This is good stuff..."

Lu Shanjun stared at the remaining fruit, his Adam's apple bobbing, his eyes gleaming.

Suddenly, a mountain sound came from outside the cave.

"Big brother...big brother, you're awake?!"

A large, black-spotted tiger, twice the size of an ordinary tiger, crashed into the cave, its roar causing rocks to fall from the cave ceiling.

It braced itself on its two hind legs and stood upright, with a person on its front paws...

An old Taoist priest wearing a blue robe and a lotus crown was carried across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Big brother, you're finally awake. You were unconscious for the past few days, and I, Biaozi, was so worried I almost plucked out a handful of hairs."

After processing his memories, Lu Shanjun realized that the tiger before him was his second brother.

Tiger Two slammed the old Taoist priest he was carrying on his shoulder onto the ground with a thud, grinning with his fangs.

"Look, I was thinking of giving my elder brother a welcome feast, so I specially went down the mountain and caught a Taoist priest. This thing has tender meat, stewing it will be good for his health!"

The old Taoist priest, after being thrown, bared his teeth but surprisingly didn't shout or cry out. He simply sat upright on the ground, stroked his gray beard, and half-opened his eyes.

Lu Shanjun didn't pay much attention, staring at Hu Er for a long time before suddenly letting out a long sigh.

"Biaozi, how many years have you been with me?"

Tiger Two was taken aback, then scratched his head: "I've been by my eldest brother's side since I can remember... he must be sixty or seventy years old by now, right?"

"It's been over sixty years."

Lu Shanjun shook his head, heartbroken. "Over sixty years, and you're still this stupid. I ask you... can people be eaten?"

Tiger Two, with a self-righteous air, bared his fangs and said, "Why can't I eat it? It smells delicious!"

"You have already chosen a path to death."

Lu Shanjun shook his head. "Let me ask you, what is in a person?"

Tiger Two was stumped by the question. His large, bell-like eyes widened, and after a long pause, he finally managed to utter three words: "...Is there meat?"

There is a cause and effect!

Lu Shanjun carefully considered every word and phrase.

On this journey to the West, if you eat the wrong person, you'll attract either a pilgrim seeking scriptures, a demon slayer, or at the very least, a passing immortal.

When the time comes, a golden light will descend, and no matter if you are a vanguard general or not, you will still be smashed into mincemeat.

You should never do a business that loses money.

"Why is cannibalism the first taboo for cultivators in this world?"

He walked around the cave with his claws behind his back, slowly composing in a semi-classical style.

There is a saying in the Tao Te Ching: "All things flourish and then return to their root."

"Humans are the most intelligent of all beings in this world, possessing three souls and seven spirits, and bound by a wisp of karmic force. If you eat a bite of their flesh, you will be tainted with their resentment. If you take a life from them, you will create a feud with them."

The more he talked about it, the more plausible it seemed, and he even started to believe it himself.

"Resentment enters the belly, karma binds the body, and over time, it condenses into an indissoluble black cloud on your primordial spirit."

Lu Shanjun stretched out a claw and lightly tapped Hu Er's forehead.

"You may enjoy the food now, but if you cultivate for three or five hundred years, you'll be on the verge of breaking through to immortality and ascending to heaven..."

"Boom! The karmic backlash caused all his cultivation to vanish, not only returning him to his original form, but also condemning him to the animal realm, where he will be a beast for eternity."

"Tell me, is it a loss or not?"

Tiger Two turned pale upon hearing this, even his fangs stopped twitching, and he stammered, "Then...then...it can't be eaten!"

"Of course you can't eat it."

Lu Shanjun nodded in satisfaction.

"From this day forward, you are not allowed to touch a single hair on any human being on or around Huangfeng Ridge. Do you understand?"

"I heard it! I heard it!"

Tiger nodded vigorously.

"Whatever Big Brother says goes. Big Brother is the most knowledgeable; he's always right!"

As the two were asking and answering questions, an old Taoist priest sitting on the ground, his eyes half-closed, gradually opened them.

As for this old Taoist priest, we'll leave aside for now what his name was and where he came from.

It is said that he was traveling and passed by Huangfeng Ridge. At night, he observed the celestial phenomena and saw that the area was filled with demonic energy and black clouds. He had some thoughts of eliminating the evil for the people, so he deliberately revealed his whereabouts to lure the black tiger to capture him.

He carried three Supreme Talismans and a three-inch peach wood sword in his bosom. He originally planned to enter this tiger's den, find an opportunity, and deliver this den of man-eating beasts to the afterlife, which would be considered as accumulating a merit.

But to everyone's surprise, the leader of the tiger demons did not rush to capture him and cook him. Instead, he solemnly reprimanded his subordinates, saying that they should not eat people.

What alarmed him even more was that, although his words were cobbled together from various sources and were incomplete, the underlying truth was actually quite genuine.

"Entangled by karma, confused by darkness, destined to be livestock generation after generation"—though the language is crude, the principle is very real, vaguely aligning with the fundamental principles of the cycle of karma and the infallibility of cause and effect.

"Huh...this beast actually possesses wisdom?"

After finishing his lecture, Lu Shanjun's gaze returned to the white vine.

The last remaining spirit fruit was gleaming with a bluish-green light, looking quite delightful.

He hesitated for a moment.

If one were to swallow this fruit, it would cleanse one of the impurities, thus benefiting one's spiritual practice.

But he looked down at the turbid air swirling around Tiger Two.

This silly younger brother has been with him for over sixty years and listens to him in everything. If he puts himself first, he doesn't seem like a proper older brother.

That's it.

Lu Shanjun reached out and plucked the fruit, then stuffed it into Hu Er's mouth: "Eat it."

Tiger Two didn't even ask what it was.

My older brother gave it to me; I chewed it with my eyes closed.

The next moment, Black Tiger shuddered violently and spat out a mouthful of black blood. The blood was extremely foul-smelling and even hissed and emitted white smoke when it landed.

After vomiting, Tiger Two felt incredibly refreshed, even his black spots seemed to shine a bit brighter. Confused, he asked, "Big brother... what happened to me...?"

"I've cleansed you of all your filth."

Lu Shanjun raised his paw and patted it on the head, his tone unusually softer, "From now on, follow me and cultivate diligently."

After doing all this, Lu Shanjun turned to the old Taoist priest, swiftly and decisively waving his claws.

"Taoist priest, you may leave. Tiger Tomb will not keep you. This 'welcome feast' is off."

The old Taoist priest was taken aback, clearly not expecting that he would be able to walk out of the tiger's den unscathed.

The old Taoist slowly rose, straightened his robe, looked at Lu Shanjun deeply, bowed to him, and then turned and left the cave.

Lu Shanjun stood at the cave entrance, watching the figure in the green robe disappear into the vast clouds and mist, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

The journey to the West is fraught with danger; avoiding every karmic consequence increases one's chances of survival.

This old Taoist priest clearly has some background; it's wise to do him a favor and let him go today.

Just as he turned to go into the cave, he caught a glimpse of something on the blue stone at the cave entrance.

It is a book.

It's about the size of a palm, bound in green thread, and the edges are worn and frayed, so it looks like it's been around for a while.

The old Taoist priest left in such a hurry that he left it here.

Lu Shanjun bent down, picked up the book, and brushed the dust off the cover.

Six simple, archaic characters caught my eye.

The Lesser True Martial Qi-Inducing Technique.

Immediately afterwards, a blue phantom slowly unfolded in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Lines of clear light floated and sank, mysterious and profound, as if flowing with the essence of Taoism.

Name: Lu Shanjun

[Race: Tiger Demon]

Lifespan: 89/300

[Cultivation Level: Refining Essence into Qi]

[Technique: Lesser True Martial Qi-Inducing Technique (Beginner 0/100)]

[Spell: None]

[Supernatural Powers: None]

[Annotation: Consuming the spiritual fruit cleanses the marrow and purifies the body, breaking through the illusions of the womb, resulting in exceptional innate qualities, making one capable of cultivating the superior path.]