All Gods: Starting with Two Families

Chapter 125 The Art of Spirit AwakeningAfter the banquet dispersed, Zhou Zheng was in no hurry to leave.

He sat on the threshold of the palace, watching the members of the Feather Clan and Scale Clan bustling in and out.

Some were moving stones, others were repairing houses, and a few were gathered together, pointing at a tattered animal skin scroll.

Pale Feather walked out from inside and sat down beside him.

”Let them be busy,” the old man’s voice was somewhat weary. ”Breaking the Seal requires preparing many things. Some Materials we have hidden for tens of thousands of years, and they must be dug out slowly.”

Zhou Zheng nodded without speaking.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly spoke: ”After the Seal is broken, what are your plans?”

Pale Feather was stunned for a moment.

”Plans?”

”I mean after you get out,” Zhou Zheng looked at the busy figures in the distance. ”You must have a place to go.”

Pale Feather was silent for a long time.

”I haven’t thought about it,” he finally said. ”It’s been too long. So long that we dare not think about what happens after we leave.”

Zhou Zheng looked at him: ”If you have nowhere to go, I know a Plane. It has mountains and water, and it does not have such heavy Death Qi.”

Pale Feather turned his head, a flash of complex emotion appearing in his eyes.

”Are you willing to take us in?”

”It’s not taking you in,” Zhou Zheng said. ”It’s just a piece of land. You can live on your own.”

Pale Feather stared at him for a long time. That look made Zhou Zheng somewhat uncomfortable—it was not gratitude, but something... he couldn’t describe.

”Thank you,” Pale Feather lowered his head. ”After we get out, we will definitely consider it carefully.”

Zhou Zheng said nothing more.

After sitting for a while longer, he stood up.

”You all continue with your preparations. I’m just going to look around.”

Pale Feather also stood up, hesitated for a moment, and then asked: ”Where would you like to go?”

”Just wandering around,” Zhou Zheng said. ”To see how you usually live.”

Pale Feather did not stop him. He just nodded and shouted to the distance: ”Listen up! Our honored guest is going to walk around here; no one is allowed to offend him!”

A few responses came from the distance.

Zhou Zheng stepped away.

...

He walked aimlessly.

When passing by a stone house, he stopped.

Someone inside was Cultivating.

Zhou Zheng stood outside the window, looking inside through the dilapidated window lattice.

Inside the room sat three young Feather Clan members—two men and one woman, eyes closed, their chests rising and falling slightly. Their hands were joined in front of them, palms facing upward, as if they were holding something.

Zhou Zheng watched for a while but couldn’t make sense of it. Just as he was preparing to leave, a voice came from behind him:

”Is the honored guest interested in Cultivating?”

Zhou Zheng turned around. It was the old Scale Clan man he had seen at the banquet earlier. He was leaning on a wooden staff, standing not far away, looking at Zhou Zheng with a smile.

”A little,” Zhou Zheng said. He thought for a moment and asked: ”How is your Cultivating different from the outside world?”

The old Scale Clan man was silent for a moment, as if organizing his words.

”Honored guest, do you know how demons come to be?”

Zhou Zheng nodded: ”Clan Chief Pale Feather mentioned it. Beasts that have awakened their spiritual intelligence.”

”Correct,” the old Scale Clan man said. ”But awakening spiritual intelligence is only the first step. Once spiritual intelligence is awakened, one can only be considered ’started.’ To truly become a demon, one must still Cultivate.”

He pointed to the three young people in the room.

”Look at them. What they are doing now is drawing the essence of the sun and moon into their bodies, refining the spirituality within them into their Bloodline. The stronger the spirituality, the purer the Bloodline, and the higher the cultivation base.”

Zhou Zheng was startled: ”The essence of the sun and moon?”

”Yes,” the old Scale Clan man looked up at the gray sky. ”Unfortunately, here, we cannot see the real sun and moon. We can only rely on memory, imagining what that light looks like when it falls. The effect is much worse, but it is better than nothing.”

”Then where does the spirituality come from?” he asked.

The old Scale Clan man’s smile became bitter.

”Moon Flow Spring.”

”Here, we have no sun and moon essence to replenish our spirituality. In fact, this land is actually devouring our spirituality.”

”Therefore, if you want to Cultivate, you must rely on external forces. The water from Moon Flow Spring is our only source now.”

”Every time the spring water gushes out, we go to collect it. We bring it back and distribute it to the clan members. Those who get more can Cultivate more, and their cultivation base will be higher. Those who get less can Cultivate less, and their cultivation base will stagnate. Those who don’t get any...”

He didn’t finish, but Zhou Zheng understood.

Those who don’t get any are the ones in the outer circle.

”Then how do you awaken the spirits of ordinary beasts?” Zhou Zheng asked. ”The kind that... have never had their spiritual intelligence awakened?”

The old Scale Clan man was stunned for a moment.

”Why does the honored guest ask about this?”

Zhou Zheng thought for a moment and said: ”I know a Plane that has many Demonic Beasts. If they could be awakened, allowing them to become demons, the owner of that Plane would likely be very pleased.”

He was not lying. He simply omitted the fact that ”the owner of that Plane is myself.”

The old Scale Clan man was silent for a while, then spoke slowly:

”Spirit awakening, it can be difficult, or it can be simple.”

”The beasts in this world originally have the chance to become demons on their own. In places where the essence of the sun and moon is abundant, some with gifted talent can endure thousands of years of day and night cycles, and their spirituality will naturally awaken. Those who become demons naturally often have greater potential.”

”But it’s different here. No sun, no moon, no spirituality; we can only rely on artificial spirit awakening.”

Zhou Zheng pressed: ”How does one perform spirit awakening?”

The old man beckoned, bringing Zhou Zheng to another stone house.

This stone house was larger than the others, and two Feather Clan guards stood at the entrance. Seeing the old man, they bowed and made way.

The room was very dark. There was only one oil lamp, placed on a stone table in the center of the room.

On the stone table lay a bird.

It was a very ordinary bird—gray feathers, a thin body, eyes closed, chest rising and falling slightly. It was asleep, or unconscious; Zhou Zheng couldn’t tell.

Beside the stone table stood a young Scale Clan woman. She held a palm-sized jade bowl in her hand, which contained a little bit of clear liquid. With her other hand, she dipped a little and was drawing something on the bird’s forehead.

Zhou Zheng walked over to look. It was a simple rune, winding and curvy, looking like a simplification of some ancient text.

”This is an Awakening Rune,” the old Scale Clan man whispered. ”Drawn with water from Moon Flow Spring. Its role is to help the beast sense the essence of the sun and moon—telling their bodies when and in what way to absorb those two forces.”

”Those that become demons naturally rely on talent. They are born able to sense the flow of the sun and moon essence, knowing how to absorb it and when to absorb it. But most beasts cannot; they need a little... guidance.”

”This rune is the guidance.”

Zhou Zheng watched the bird. After the rune was drawn, the Scale Clan woman stopped, stepped back, and waited quietly.

The room was extremely quiet.

Zhou Zheng could feel something slowly gathering. Not wind, not light, but an existence lighter and fainter than that. They fell from a small hole in the roof, following the rune on the bird’s forehead, slowly seeping in.

The bird’s chest rose and fell. And again. With each rise and fall, that force deepened by a fraction.

After a long time—perhaps the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, perhaps half an hour—the bird suddenly opened its eyes.

In those eyes, something was slowly brightening.

It was not light. It was consciousness.

The Scale Clan woman breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.