A formation?
And not even a particularly sophisticated one at that. It was just that the Yin and Yang energies here were rather intense, making space as solid as a defensive spiritual treasure, impossible to break through directly.
Hadn’t their Phoenix Clan accumulated nine hundred thousand years of cultivation knowledge? He at least possessed that much learning.
Finding himself trapped in the formation and unable to force his way out, the Golden-Winged Great Peng thrashed about for several hours before quickly calming down.
Since brute force wouldn’t work, he had to find the formation’s living gate…
The corner of the Great Peng’s mouth curved into a cold smile, his eyes blazing with golden light as the formation’s spiritual energy flow patterns were imprinted in his mind.
Found it – the living gate!
The Great Peng’s form flickered as he appeared before the living gate, but then… he hesitated again.
Would the Water God set up such a simple formation?
After a moment of silence, the Great Peng tentatively took a step forward. His surroundings immediately transformed, and his body fell several zhang downward, falling into another trapping formation.
Multiple layered formations?
The Great Peng let out a breath of relief, his heart feeling somewhat more at ease.
He continued carefully investigating each area, searching for living gates while staying alert for hidden killing moves.
Thus, he proceeded cautiously – examining everything thrice, his gaze sharp as lightning as he vigilantly scanned his surroundings.
In the Celestial Palace, a divine immortal sighed with feeling: “Only the Water God could frighten such a powerful expert into this state.”
Senior Master Li smiled calmly and replied: “It’s merely due to his insufficient character, not my doing. Watch – he’ll likely attack without a word when he sees me in the formation later.”
The assembled immortals’ interest was piqued as they gazed intently at the great bronze mirror.
In the linked formations of the Fourth Heaven, the Great Peng had already found the second living gate. This time he was slightly more decisive, stepping through after just a brief observation.
The surroundings changed once again, and after the trapping formation came yet another trapping formation.
If not for each formation being slightly different, the Great Peng would have suspected he had entered some kind of supreme formation.
But what followed was…
Trapping formation after trapping formation, living gate after living gate…
The Great Peng’s pace grew increasingly swift as his brows furrowed deeper. After breaking through over twenty trapping formations, his form suddenly froze.
He saw the old Daoist drinking tea under the crooked-necked tree and the hanging wooden sign.
[Lost your way?]
“Hmph!”
The Great Peng burned with rage. Two golden wing phantoms flashed behind his back, bursting forth with dozens or even hundreds of golden feathers of light, turning the old Daoist’s form and the wooden sign into sieves!
The old Daoist, covered in dozens of transparent holes, calmly set down his teacup, slowly shook his head, and dispersed into the mist.
The Great Peng coldly snorted again and continued searching. Upon discovering this was still a trapping formation, the corner of his mouth twitched several times.
“Water God! What game are you playing?”
“Don’t think these mere formations can trap me!”
“You may trap my physical form, but you cannot trap my spirit!”
Senior Master Li ignored him. After the Great Peng found the living gate and left, he once again condensed a faint avatar under the crooked-necked tree, hanging up… an identical wooden sign.
Thus, two hours later…
The Great Peng broke through to this same formation from the same position, and upon seeing the old Daoist, crooked-necked tree, and [Lost your way?] sign, he was momentarily stunned.
There were many small details, such as Senior Master Li’s misty avatar’s expression and movements, that were completely identical to the previous time, without the slightest difference.
“What schemes are you plotting?”
The Great Peng shouted in anger, raising his hand to strike out with a beam of black light that shredded everything – person and tree alike – to powder.
Afterward, the Great Peng cursed twice before turning towards the formation’s living gate.
After he left, Senior Master Li’s Dao presence appeared again, becoming the same old crooked-necked tree, the same wooden sign, the same old Daoist.
Seeing this, the assembled immortals in the Celestial Palace were quite puzzled.
Wood Lord asked: “What is Water God’s intention with this?”
“Wood Lord, don’t be impatient,” Senior Master Li smiled and said, “Just keep watching. This Golden-Winged Great Peng was born with extreme speed – his circling will get faster and faster. It won’t take too long. Everything will become clear within a month.”
Question marks appeared above the immortals’ heads, and even the White-Robed Jade Emperor was thoroughly confused.
Just as Senior Master Li had said, this time it took only half an hour for the Great Peng to return to the crooked-necked tree for the third time.
Though his expression was still cold and fierce, there was no hesitation in his gaze. After destroying the crooked-necked tree, he hurriedly left.
The next circuit was shortened to just a quarter-hour as the Great Peng rushed to the crooked-necked tree…
[Lost your way?]
The wooden sign swayed gently, creaking without ceasing.
The Great Peng’s originally firm Dao heart now began to waver slightly…
“I truly don’t believe this!”
Destroy trees, and bird flies.
After the Great Peng left, Senior Master Li appeared again, restoring everything to its original state.
The fifth circuit, the sixth circuit…
The tenth circuit, the eleventh circuit… the eighteenth circuit…
The Great Peng’s circling speed through the linked formations grew faster and faster. Later on, upon encountering the crooked-necked tree, his form would directly pass through the misty avatar, crashing into the entrance of the next formation.
On the nineteenth circuit, the Great Peng’s steps faltered.
Now his eyes were bloodshot, his long hair somewhat disheveled, his breathing somewhat rapid, his spiritual power scattered. But for the first time, he stopped before Senior Master Li.
Senior Master Li smiled, maintaining his previous repetitive movements as he raised his teacup for a sip and said slowly:
“Have you understood?”
The Great Peng was stunned for a moment, stood still for a while, then showed a fierce expression. He raised his hand to strike out a palm that turned the scene before him to mist, then lowered his head and continued breaking through.
“You think you can delude my Dao heart with just this!”
To this, Senior Master Li remained unhurried and unconcerned, once again condensing the same arrangement, quietly waiting.
Seven more circuits passed, and the Great Peng stopped again, but this time, he stopped at the ‘previous square’ where the crooked-necked tree was located.
“No, this is an illusion formation, everything around is illusory!”
The Great Peng looked at the rock crevice where the only living gate was located and took two steps back, his voice rising from a mutter to a shout to a scream…
“It’s all fake, everything is fake!”
“This is an illusion, all is false! False! Only my Dao is true! Only my Dao is true!”
Then his form transformed into a ball of golden light, charging left and right within this formation, only to be blocked by Yin-Yang diagram after Yin-Yang diagram formed of the two energies, crashing until his head was bloodied and his long hair scattered!
In the Celestial Palace, the assembled immortals…
Felt somewhat sympathetic.
Senior Master Li shook his head slightly and said: “This divine bird’s mental cultivation is truly insufficient. I thought he could endure eighty-one circuits, but unexpectedly his Dao’s heart began to collapse before thirty circuits.”
Wood Lord couldn’t help but cover his face with one hand.
An immortal sighed: “Even we observers can feel the sense of helplessness.”
“Water God is truly brilliant. The linked trapping formations could only physically trap this divine bird, but Water God’s repeated appearances and different suggestive expressions caused his mental defenses to gradually crumble.”
“If it were us in there, we likely couldn’t last thirty circuits either.”
“Now we know that thunder and heavenly fire are minor punishments, and the eighteen hells still show mercy.”
Senior Master Li smiled calmly and said no more, secretly observing the Jade Emperor’s expression while his consciousness returned to the trapping formation.
By now the Great Peng had broken through the living gate again, looking at the crooked-necked tree and the elder beneath it with somewhat lifeless eyes.
“Have you understood?”
Senior Master Li asked this question again, and the Great Peng showed a fierce expression, once again sweeping past beneath the crooked-necked tree and crashing into the formation’s living gate, falling into the next ‘cycle’.
At this point, Senior Master Li began to add some new variations.
At the formation eyes of the linked formations, Senior Master Li released several paper Dao puppets who began chanting Daoist scripture in unison, causing sutra-chanting sounds to echo throughout the formations.
Thus, three days later…
The Great Peng had lost count of how many circuits he had made, how many times he had seen the three characters spelling [Lost your way?], how many times he had destroyed the Water God’s avatar.
His spirit was somewhat dazed as he stumbled to that rocky peak, his body feeling waves of emptiness.
As if possessed, the Great Peng entered that rocky peak as if guided by spirits, once again seeing the identical scene and hearing that voice:
“Have you understood?”
The Great Peng’s legs went weak and he knelt on the cloud path, looking up and muttering: “Understand what, can you tell me what to understand? Water God, what exactly do you want me to understand?”
Senior Master Li’s expression showed some disappointment as he shook his head without saying more.
The Great Peng now lacked his previous fierceness, but as he stood up, trembling all over, wanting to strike out with his palm yet feeling it would be futile, he lowered his head and flew past.
Ten more circuits later…
Thud!
The Great Peng knelt before the crooked-necked tree, looking at Senior Master Li as tears couldn’t help but fall from the corners of his eyes.
“My Lord, what do you want me to understand? What exactly do you want me to understand? Can you tell me? Whatever you want me to understand, I’ll understand it!”
Senior Master Li shook his head again and said calmly: “When you truly understand what you need to understand, you will find the answer. Go now.”
“Ah—”
The Golden-Winged Great Peng cried out in breakdown, stood up stomping his feet, and his form flashed past this place with extreme speed, continuing to circle.
Ten more circuits later, the Great Peng’s heart trembled as he suddenly realized something.
Lost your way?
This was the question he had seen countless times, the question the Water God kept asking him.
By now, what needed to be calm had calmed, what needed to be understood had been understood.
If the Water God wanted to kill him, there would have been no need for such elaborate schemes. Thinking back to every conversation with the Water God, the other had said he was sparing his life for the sake of an old friend…
It must be the Peacock, that being of undetermined Yin and Yang, whom he didn’t even know whether to call brother or sister!
The endlessly cycling formations, the Water God appearing time and time again, repeatedly asking if he had understood yet, and that gently swaying wooden sign…
‘Golden Peng, are you lost?’
At that moment, such a greeting arose within his Dao’s heart.
All those voices he had heard before now rang out in succession, pushing him to retreat continuously, all asking him this question.
Everything before his eyes turned white, and within that whiteness floated several scenes, from near to far…
‘Hmph, just wait Peacock, I can lead the Phoenix Clan to prosperity too!’
‘Mortals are nothing but weaklings, and the Dao Sect are all frauds. I, the Golden-Winged Great Peng, must walk a different path.’
‘Peacock, you go to the primordial world yourself. Those three drops of true Phoenix Clan blood were all given to you. I’m just a Phoenix variant, not important.’
‘I, the Golden-Winged Great Peng, will be the fastest being between heaven and earth!’
Scene after scene, moment after moment.
All the situations after entering the Three Realms, all those memories from before entering the Three Realms…
The flattery he received was nothing but others using him, the praise he heard was merely medicine others had poured down his throat.
Who had ever truly respected him?
He was, after all, a child of the First Phoenix – how could he not understand these matters, how could he not comprehend this way?
It was just that flattery and praise were like poison, and he had gradually lost himself in the Western Teaching’s constant calls of ‘speed kid’.
Such elaborate arrangements in this place…
I was telling him that indulging in such vanity and superficiality was nothing but self-limitation, nothing but losing oneself.
The Water God’s constant enlightenment…
“Have you understood?”
Suddenly hearing the gentle call, the Great Peng abruptly returned to his senses, only to find himself somehow standing once again beneath the crooked-necked tree, before the Water God, in front of that [Lost your way?] wooden sign.
Thud!
The Great Peng’s legs bent as he knelt down, his eyes full of tears, his once proud head gradually lowering until it touched the cloud path.
“I was wrong…
I just joined the Western Teaching out of momentary impulse, I just wanted to prove I wasn’t inferior to Kong Xuan.
I had long lost my way, I had long forgotten where I should fly.
I was born with extreme speed, but no one ever told me where to fly to, no one ever told me what I should do!”
Senior Master Li: …
Is this how he understood?
Of course, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Great Peng was deliberately putting on this act.
Better play it safe, and proceed according to plan.
Senior Master Li slowly sighed and said:
“Knowing to return from straying, the prodigal’s heart returns home, all things end in goodness, the Dao follows nature.
Go through once more, but this time don’t use spiritual power.
Go listen, go look, go think.”
The Great Peng raised his head to look at Senior Master Li, his eyes full of confusion, then lowered his head and bowed again:
“Yes.”
After speaking, the Great Peng stood up, his steps somewhat floating, and entered the next living gate.
Following Senior Master Li’s words, this time he slowed his pace, walking slowly through the now-familiar formations, and quickly discovered some details he hadn’t noticed before.
—Of course, these were just added by Senior Master Li.
Such as a scroll painting, a stone tablet, or a simple drawing carved on a rock wall.
Stories of the world’s creation, scenes of the Dragon-Phoenix wars, past conflicts between the Demon, Immortal, and Human tribes…
Some scriptures, some ambiguous sentences, and some sutra-chanting sounds brought peace to one’s Dao heart.
The Great Peng’s gaze gradually cleared.
He understood the insignificance of living beings, understood the magnificence of heaven and earth, understood that he had previously been nothing but a clown, understood the grandeur of the Heavenly Dao and the brilliance of the sages.
Extreme speed had become a constraint, transcendence wasn’t simply flying out of heaven and earth into the chaotic sea, his walking in this world ultimately had its own meaning.
Half a month later, the Golden-Winged Great Peng returned once again to that crooked-necked tree.
He smiled slightly.
Previously, with his restless heart and demon-afflicted mind, shuttling through these linked trapping formations, no matter how fast he flew, how urgently he rushed, he was merely spinning in place.
But now, his fierce qi was completely gone, after wandering for half a month to return here, though he was back at the starting point, he had seen a different world, different heavens and earth, and his heart had completely changed.
The Golden-Winged Great Peng lifted the hem of his long robe, his movements firm and swift, and knelt before Senior Master Li.
“Thank you, Master, for pointing out the way. The Golden-Winged Great Peng has committed several great crimes before, please punish me, Master!
But, this body still wishes to serve the Phoenix Clan’s cause. Please spare this disciple’s life, Master. When the Phoenix Clan’s bloodline once again propagates between heaven and earth, this disciple will accept death.”
Senior Master Li nodded with a smile, his form dispersing into mist, but around them, an illusion appeared.
At the same time, the Golden-Winged Great Peng sensed a familiar presence…
Peacock…
The illusion was a dense forest, within which appeared Kong Xuan’s graceful and delicate silhouette, and Senior Master Li’s words rang out in the forest.
“Friend, rest assured, I will do my best.
But, are you truly decided? Such a great sacrifice…”
“Mm,” Kong Xuan turned slightly, revealing that already seven-tenths feminine profile, “He is still my brother after all.”
“Friend, you dwelling among mortals, teaching them, preserving some fortune for the Phoenix Clan, and now this… Ai.
What I promised you, I, Li Changgen, will pursue with all my might.”
Kong Xuan smiled slightly, a smile containing acceptance and helplessness, carrying some hope and aspiration, before transforming into a five-colored divine light and vanishing.
All around, the sounds of a hundred birds singing rang out.
The formations slowly dispersed.
The azure sky was dotted with white clouds, brilliant sunlight filling the area…
The Golden-Winged Great Peng knelt there, unconsciously already in tears.
Before him, a golden glowing bracelet lay where Senior Master Li had been sitting.
The bracelet was carved with complex Dao patterns, though simple in style, it emanated an ancient and primitive Dao rhythm.
The Great Peng showed some acceptance, carefully holding the bracelet in both hands, muttering:
“Master, I understand.
Once I put this on, I accept Heaven’s restraint, my extreme speed will henceforth serve only Heaven.
I am a Phoenix Clan variant, like my sister, unable to pass on the Phoenix bloodline, but I am willing to help preserve the Phoenix Clan’s fortune and serve Heaven, accepting death a hundred times without complaint.”
At this, the Golden-Winged Great Peng sighed softly, closed his eyes, and raised the bracelet to his head…
In the Celestial Palace, countless immortals stood up;
While showing solemn respect, several emotional old immortals were already openly weeping.
Wood Lord sighed deeply: “Wearing the golden bracelet, extreme speed henceforth has limits; not wearing it, impossible to share his elder sister’s burden.”
The Jade Emperor further sighed: “Awakening in time, he deserves the name of a Phoenix Clan man, use him well, use him well indeed.”
In the bronze mirror, Senior Master Li appeared again, walking to the Golden-Winged Great Peng’s side and handing over a scroll.
[Template for Heaven’s Immortal Official Oath of Office]
“Master…”
“Mm,” Senior Master Li patted the Golden-Winged Great Peng’s shoulder three times, “Read it.”
The Great Peng revealed a happy and comfortable smile, nodded heavily, opened the template, and began reading aloud, summoning the power of the Heavenly Dao.
An hour later…
The Great Peng finished reading the scripture, golden light shining around him, and he lowered his head to kowtow to Senior Master Li again.
“Thank you, Master, for this opportunity!”
But with a tinkle, the golden bracelet balanced on his head slipped down, startling the Great Peng.
“Silly child,” Senior Master Li said warmly, “You are the fastest divine bird between heaven and earth, what use is a headband?
This is an… ankle ring, personally refined by the Supreme Lord Lao.”
The Great Peng was stunned, then held up the golden bracelet to measure against his foot, and the bracelet immediately fitted around his ankle.
“Does it fit?” Senior Master Li asked warmly.
The Great Peng’s eyes immediately filled with tears as he nodded emotionally, “Thank you for Master’s care, the size is just right.”
Senior Master Li slowly acknowledged, smiling as he gazed at the clouds on the horizon.
Feeling just a tiny bit guilty.
“Remember to thank your sister, though wait a few decades, she’s in closed cultivation now.”
“Yes, Master. Could this disciple have one of those ‘Lost your way?’ wooden signs? I wish to carry it always as a reminder.”
“Good.”
In the Celestial Palace, the White-Robed Jade Emperor couldn’t help but reveal a slight smile, saying warmly: “I feel these trapping formations should be kept as a benevolent heavenly punishment for teaching good. What do you all think, beloved officials?”
Silence…
“Your Majesty… This subject thinks that may not be necessary.”
“Your Majesty, please reconsider, what crime would warrant such punishment!”
Senior Master Li smiled calmly, while inwardly beginning to look forward to what scene would unfold at the Immortal Alliance meeting in half a year when the Golden-Winged Great Peng would appear as the special envoy of Heaven’s special envoy…