Chapter 1: Lingtai Fangcun Mountain, the Slanted Moon and Three Stars Cave
The Western Continent of Niuhe Zhou
“Qin Chuan! Faster, faster! After years of searching, we’ve finally encountered an immortal today!”
Towering peaks pierced the clouds, their jagged ridges veiled in swirling mist. Ancient trees stretched towards the heavens, their canopies alive with birdsong. Crystal streams murmured through the valleys, accompanied by the distant cry of deer.
A peculiar figure darted through the branches. From afar, it resembled a monkey. Up close—it was a monkey.
“Slow down, you ape! How do you even know that the man ahead is an immortal?” Qin Chuan sighed as he leaped effortlessly between treetops, keeping pace with his excitable companion.
Since transmigrating to this world, Qin Chuan had used his modern knowledge to build an empire. The day he was crowned the “Number One Under Heaven” in the martial world, he learned this land was called Nanzen buzhou—the Southern Continent.
This changes everything.
Just as Qin Chuan despaired over finding a path to immortality, his subordinates reported a miraculous sight: a monkey speaking human tongue had appeared in the city. His heart stirred—he knew exactly who this was. He hadn’t expected their timelines to intersect.
Without hesitation, Qin Chuan abandoned his worldly achievements. For seven years, he journeyed with the monkey in search of enlightenment.
The monkey suddenly skidded to a halt atop a boulder, scratching his head wildly.
“Didn’t you hear that man’s words?
‘Where we meet, none but immortals dwell,
Who sits in silence, the Huangting to tell.’
The Huangting is the sacred text of the Dao!
Only a true immortal would recite such wisdom!”
Qin Chuan froze. The woodcutter. If they’d reached this point, they must already be at Fangcun Mountain’s borders. After so long, his memories of the original tale had grown hazy—without the monkey’s reminder, he’d have missed the clue entirely.
“Then what are we waiting for? Move!” In a burst of speed, Qin Chuan overtook the monkey.
With a chattering grin, the ape employed an advanced movement technique to chase him. Over their years together, Qin Chuan had taught the monkey every martial art he knew.
As expected of Heaven’s favored child. The monkey had mastered Qin Chuan’s supreme techniques—originally derived from the world’s first spark of spiritual light—in record time.
Soon, they spotted a woodcutter splitting logs with his axe.
Qin Chuan’s mind erupted with visions—a figure standing mid-air, one axe stroke cleaving mountain ranges, another severing rivers.
Ordinary woodcutters never triggered his spiritual insight, yet this one had instantly unlocked a divine technique. His enlightenment ability clearly responded to who performed the action, not just the action itself.
A shame his current strength as a Grandmaster couldn’t fully unleash the axe technique’s potential.
“Elder Immortal! Elder Immortal! This humble disciple pays respects!” The monkey, oblivious to Qin Chuan’s musings, scrambled forward to bow.
The woodcutter appeared flustered, waving his hands repeatedly.
“I’m just a simple man—how could I be called an immortal? Such words mustn’t be spoken carelessly!”
Qin Chuan stepped forward with a respectful bow. “Elder brother, we followed the sound of your song here. Might you point us towards enlightenment?”
The woodcutter studied Qin Chuan with surprise before smiling.
“Ah, that song was taught to me by an ancient immortal. Six or seven lies from here lies the Sacred Mountain of the Heart’s Retreat—the Slanted Moon and Three Stars Cave, where the Patriarch Subodhi resides. If you two can become his disciples, it would be a profound blessing.”
At this, the monkey leaped with joy.
“Qin Chuan! Quickly, we must go meet the Patriarch at once!” Without another word, he bounded past the woodcutter and dashed ahead excitedly.
Thanks to Qin Chuan’s influence over the years, the monkey hadn’t endured the hardships described in the original legends.
“Many thanks for your guidance, elder brother.” Qin Chuan bowed deeply to the woodcutter before hurrying after his companion. Whether the woodcutter was the hidden sage he suspected mattered little—securing their place as Patriarch Subodhi’s disciples took precedence now.
Watching their retreating figures, the woodcutter smiled faintly.
“Master! Master! Your disciple comes with a devoted heart!”
Within the cavern’s celestial realm—a sanctuary of tranquility and seclusion—Patriarch Subodhi sat serenely upon a cloud dais. The monkey prostrated himself immediately.
An existence as eternal as the heavens themselves, a great master who has transcended countless trials. This was Qin Chuan’s sole thought upon first beholding the Patriarch. Could this truly be an incarnation of that Western Sage?
“Master, your disciple comes with a devoted heart.” Lacking protocol, Qin Chuan could only mimic the monkey’s full bow.
The Patriarch’s gaze lingered briefly on the monkey before settling on Qin Chuan.
Who is this? With inscrutable calm, the Patriarch closed his eyes, summoning profound insight. The Heavenly secrets are obscured… Could this be the work of Those Ones? Or perhaps…
“From what lands do you hail?”
“Your disciple comes from the Flower-Fruit Mountain’s Water-Curtain Cave in the Aolai Country of the Eastern Pūrvavideha Continent!”
“Honored Patriarch, I am from Linchuan City, Ancient Shu Kingdom, in the Southern Jambudvīpa Continent.”
Thus did Qin Chuan witness this legendary encounter firsthand, as both were accepted under Patriarch Subodhi’s tutelage. The Heaven-born stone monkey received his destined name: Sun Wukong. Qin Chuan was bestowed the Daoist name “Wuxin.”
After their initiation, the two became neighbors on the mountainside, rising with the sun and retiring with the moon—often venturing to the Rotten Peach Mountain behind the caves for fruit. In quiet hours, they visited senior disciples who took their fancy.
Time passed unnoticed, and over six or seven years had gone by.
Qin Chuan realized that most of his senior brothers and sisters weren’t particularly skilled—hardly any had stepped onto the path of immortality, and few had even achieved the Nascent Soul stage.
After some deliberate inquiries, he learned that this batch of disciples had mostly come after Patriarch Bodhi’s sudden whim to hold public lectures.
They weren’t even considered formal disciples.
“No wonder what I’ve comprehended from them pales in comparison to what I learned from the woodcutter,” Qin Chuan sighed.
After seven years in the sect, he had reached the peak of the Refining Void and Uniting Dao stage, just one step away from becoming a Nascent Soul True Person.
This progress was by no means slow—in fact, he was considered a cultivation prodigy, envied by countless others.
But only Qin Chuan knew that when the Patriarch later gave private lessons to that snoring monkey, that would be the real meteoric rise. And that was when his opportunity would come.
“All disciples, enter the cave for a lecture.”
One day, Patriarch Bodhi’s voice rang in his ears.
Qin Chuan’s eyes snapped open, flashing with brilliance.