Above the Great Dao

Peng Ju spread his wings and flew up, with Chen Shi following him, arriving in front of one of the bird nests.

Peng Ju laughed and said, "Sister, I'm back alive!"

He entered the room but didn't find his sister, and said, "Chen Shi, wait here for a moment. I'll ask the neighbors if they know where my sister went."

Chen Shi nodded.

Peng Ju spread his wings and flew towards other bird nests.

Chen Shi surveyed the bird nest; it was utterly bare, three rooms, with two being sleeping quarters for the siblings, merely built with dry branches and reeds, without any decoration. The other room was a kitchen, doubling as a living room, tidily kept.

Peng Ju's sister must be a clean-loving Roc; although the house is simple, it is tidy.

He came outside the bird nest and looked again at the gigantic iron cauldron, thinking, "The aura of this prehistoric relic is incredibly strong. Who is the mysterious bone inside the cauldron? Why are they suppressed inside it?"

What's stranger is that the mysterious bone within the cauldron still emits a sky-high aura. Could this bone still be alive?

Just as he thought of this, he suddenly felt an unusual aura behind him. He turned his head and was stunned.

He saw the locust tree where Peng Ju lived standing in front of the mountain cliff. Chen Shi suddenly saw, behind the locust tree, a pair of giant feet hanging from the sky.

Chen Shi flew up and reached the top of the locust tree, gradually seeing the entire figure of the owner of those feet clearly.

On the cliff facing the locust tree hung the corpse of a godlike being, about a thousand feet tall.

The god had a blue face, sharp fangs, four arms, golden armor draped over its body, and its head hung low.

The chest of the god was pierced by a black iron spear, nailing it dead to the mountain cliff.

Clouds floated around its waist, and the blood on it had not yet dried, still fresh.

Chen Shi's heart was shaken. He steadied himself and looked in other directions, seeing a second godlike being, also nailed to the mountain cliff. But this god had a bird's head and a human body, its throat pierced by a spear.

His eyes twitched. Following the direction of the cliff, he saw that the length of the cliff was endless, stretching from east to west, across an unknown number of miles. Every few miles, a godlike being was nailed to the mountain cliff, one after another, their numbers unknown!

"Why were these godlike beings nailed here?"

He was inexplicably shocked when Peng Ju's voice called out, "Chen Shi! Chen Shi!"

"I'm here!" Chen Shi quickly replied.

Peng Ju came flying with a little Roc with a bird's beak and a human face, landing on a large leaf, and said, "Found my sister. It's been unsettled around here lately, so she's staying at a neighbor's house. I need to report back to Heavenly Pond. Heavenly Pond is just above Infinite Cliff; do you want to come with me?"

The little Roc curiously examined Chen Shi, showing great interest in this skeleton.

Turning back, Chen Shi said incredulously, "Did you see these?"

Peng Ju asked puzzledly, "I saw them, what's the matter?"

Chen Shi widened his eyes: "These godlike beings' corpses, why are they hanging here? Don't you find it strange?"

Peng Ju laughed and said, "They've always hung there, what's strange about it? They were already there when I hatched. I even asked the elders in the village; they said these corpses might have been hanging here for tens of thousands of years."

Chen Shi steadied himself, looking at the bodies of the godlike beings, still finding it hard to maintain his composure, muttering, "How did they die?"

"I don't know."

Peng Ju said, "You haven't seen anything spookier. Last year, I was ordered to deliver a message to the Eastern Palace, arriving at a place called Yin Spring Sea. There, giant trees reach into the sky, hanging upside down from above. Under the trees were giant coffins, towering a thousand feet high, facing the spring of Yin Spring Sea. Occasionally, giant corpses would fly out of the coffins, disappearing into the sky, utterly terrifying."

Chen Shi looked peculiar, thinking, "The place he's talking about should be Mirror Lake Villa. The so-called giant coffins are the coffins my grandfather and they crafted, and the situation of giant corpses flying out should be me or Xiao Wangsun and others coming out of the coffins."

Despite thinking this, he was still inexplicably shaken as he looked at the bodies of the godlike beings hanging on Infinite Cliff.

"If they were in the Mortal World, these godlike beings would likely be in the Mahayana Realm, maybe even higher!" he thought to himself.

Chen Shi pondered for a moment, then asked, "Peng Ju, where did you see the Yin Spring Sea?"

Peng Ju raised his hand, pointing into the distance, saying, "I flew tens of thousands of miles in that direction and saw the Yin Spring Sea."

Chen Shi frowned; Yin Spring Sea is Mirror Lake in Qianyang Mountain, showing that the place they're in is indeed Qianyang Mountain. It's just that the corresponding underworld of Qianyang Mountain is truly eerie.

Just at this moment, the hand of a Divine corpse suddenly moved. Chen Shi pointed at that hand and exclaimed, "He's still alive!"

Just as he said this, that Divine being suddenly opened his mouth and roared in fury, the roar was like thunder, rumbling and echoing below the Infinite Cliff!

The Divine being struggled with all his might, his four arms gripping the iron spear lodged in his chest, actually trying to pull it out!

The iron spear suddenly radiated a brilliant light, pressing the Divine being heavily against the cliff wall. The Divine being struggled for a moment, but then fell still once again.

"Sometimes it happens like this."

Peng Ju took it as a common occurrence, seeing nothing strange about it, saying, "Chen Shi, will you go to Heavenly Pond with me?"

Chen Shi shook his head, "I'll stay here. If I go too far, I'm afraid Granny will have difficulty summoning me back with her soul-summoning calls."

Peng Ju understood and whispered to his sister, "Although he is quite powerful, he's likely a bit slow-witted; he still doesn't know that he's already dead. Peng Yan'er, you must take good care of him!"

The little Roc nodded solemnly and quickly.

Peng Ju gave a few more instructions to Peng Yan'er, then said to Chen Shi, "You stay here and wait for me a few days, I'll return after accomplishing my mission." With that, he flapped his wings and flew away.

Peng Yan'er said to Chen Shi, "Don't stay on the tree, it's too high up here, and there are often strong winds."

Chen Shi followed her back to the nest. Peng Yan'er hopped around to boil water for tea and put a red date in the tea, saying, "I picked these dates from a date tree at Evil Dog Ridge, they can drive away the chill, try it."

Chen Shi smiled, "I don't drink..."

Peng Yan'er's gaze turned sobering; Chen Shi had no choice but to pick up the teacup, open his mouth and pour it in. The tea flowed down through his throat bone, reaching his ribs and spine, then flowing through his pelvis and leg bones, practically soaking everything.

"Good tea. My chill has improved a lot." Chen Shi put down the teacup.

Peng Yan'er looked at his two dripping feet, and sheepishly said, "I forgot you're a skeleton… Should I light some incense for you?"

Chen Shi laughed, "No need."

Peng Yan'er's eyes rolled, and she laughed, "Should I make you some clothes? I picked some colorful feathers on Golden Chicken Mountain!"

Thinking of himself covered head to toe in chicken feathers, Chen Shi shuddered and quickly refused, laughing, "Peng Yan'er, you don't need to busy yourself. I don't need food or drink for the next few days, I need to cultivate."

However, Peng Yan'er always wanted to take care of him, either getting him something nice to eat or something fun to play with. Her personality was much more lively and couldn't sit still compared to Peng Ju.

Chen Shi, unable to handle it, simply decided to spend some time passing on the Blood Lake Scripture to Peng Yan'er.

What shocked Chen Shi was that Peng Yan'er's natural talent and understanding were far superior to Peng Ju's. The Blood Lake Scripture contained the Divine Language, extremely complex and difficult to pronounce, hard to learn, but Chen Shi taught her once or twice, and Peng Yan'er mastered the Divine Language.

Chen Shi also taught her the cultivation route, and she quickly comprehended it, integrating everything before long.

"This girl's talent and comprehension are really too good!"

Moved by her potential, Chen Shi taught her how to mobilize her own strength, to enhance her body, and also passed on the key techniques of swordsmanship and refining.

Peng Yan'er diligently practiced outside the nest, progressing rapidly.

"She's truly material for cultivation," thought Chen Shi.

"Peng Yan'er, how did your Blood Lake Scripture become lost?" asked Chen Shi.

Peng Yan'er replied crisply, "We can't read."

Chen Shi laughed, "Then let the literate roc teach you all."

Peng Yan'er shook her head, "The other clansmen can't read either."

Chen Shi was puzzled, and asked, "Then, is there anyone who can read?"

Peng Yan'er shook her head, "My brother said that all the ghost gods of Heavenly Pond Country can't read. There's a lot of cultivation techniques like Blood Lake Scripture, but since no one can read them, they can't cultivate them."

Chen Shi was taken aback, "You're saying, all ghost gods in Heavenly Pond Country can't read?"

Peng Yan'er nodded.

Chen Shi fell into deep thought, always feeling that this situation was somewhat similar to the True King cutting off Tribulation Crossing and Ascension to the Second Realm. However, Heavenly Pond Country had abolished all literacy skills, whereas the True King had changed the cultivation path!