Cracks appeared on the Shanhuangshi, and the spiritual energy in it was constantly increasing. Mountain winds filled with spiritual energy blew into the mountain temple and swirled around the Shanhuangshi. Earth spirits from the earth continued to gather into the Shanhuangshi, and more importantly, a breath of earth veins came along with the earth spirits.
Shi Youdao was still unconscious at this time, but as the spiritual energy in the Shanhuang Stone became stronger and stronger, his consciousness began to gradually awaken.
In the darkness, Shi Youdao vaguely heard the sound of singing, which seemed like the echoing of natural poetry.
The darkness in consciousness is gradually fading, and the sense of color is slowly increasing.
"Wake up, wake up, Fellow Daoist Shi, it's time to wake up!"
Ji Yuan's voice was heard, and in the haze, a light lit up all around, and the colors changed in unison, showing crisp mountains. This was the artistic conception of a righteous practitioner, and it was recreated.
“Click… Click…”
Gravel powder continued to fall, and a faint fluorescence appeared on the yellowstone. Then the light became blurred, or rather, the texture of the yellowstone became blurred, and it looked more and more like a human figure.
Finally, the halo faded away, and the yellow stone on the ground had turned into a monster with many pieces of broken stones stuck to its body. It was Shi Youdao.
The monster moved, stretched out from its curled up state, opened its eyes, and began to receive light from the outside world again.
"Friend Shi, it's time to wake up."
Ji Yuan's voice sounded again, and Shi Youdao's previous memories kept flashing through his mind, from the time he gained spirituality and became a monster, to his practice in the mountains, to his later encounter with a master who assigned him to guard monsters, and finally to the moment he encountered danger.
The last horrifying scene frightened Shi Youdao so much that the dizziness and trance in his heart disappeared in an instant and he immediately regained consciousness.
"I, I'm fine?"
Shi Youdao stood up, looked at his hands, then looked in front and behind him, touched his head and limb joints, and found nothing was missing. Then he hit himself hard twice.
“Hahahaha… I’m fine! I really am fine! Hahahaha!”
Shi Youdao was so happy that he danced with joy. To the human race, they were born with spirits, but to Shi Youdao, being able to become a member of sentient beings was such a great fortune and such a rare opportunity.
Ji Yuan, who was watching from the side, also smiled knowingly, and Lao Long and others, who were dazed at seeing Shi Youdao's new life, were also somewhat infected by his emotions at the moment, and they also stroked their beards and smiled.
“Hehehe…”
"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Shi!"
"good."
Shi Youdao then came to his senses and saw Ji Yuan, the old beggar, and three other unfamiliar masters. He was so happy that he cried. He knelt down in front of Ji Yuan and kowtowed to him.
“Boom… Boom… Boom… Boom…”
"Thank you so much, Immortal, for saving me. Thank you so much, Immortal, for saving me. I am as kind as my parents in my cultivation. I am as kind as my parents in my cultivation. I wish to return to you and sit down with you. I will obey your orders forever!"
“Boom… Boom… Boom… Boom…”
Shi Youdao could still recognize Ji Yuan's voice. At this moment, he could still hear the song faintly in his heart and even in the mountains outside. Although the sound was slowly weakening, it was undoubtedly the Immortal Ji. At this moment, he was so excited that he kept kowtowing, expressing his sincere gratitude and admiration for the immortal's ability.
Although there are five masters in the mountain temple at this moment, Shi Youdao has already identified Ji Yuan.
Lao Long and the others looked at each other and thought that this mountain god was indeed a man who knew how to borrow the slope. If this succeeded, it could be said to be repaying a favor, and it was also climbing to a high branch, no, it should be said to be ascending to the sky.
Ji Yuan reached out and supported Shi Youdao to stop him from kowtowing, then gently used force to help him up.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, please stand up."
When Shi Youdao got up, his originally excited mood finally calmed down. He looked at the environment and found that he was in his own mountain god temple. He subconsciously looked at the statue of the mountain god. The broken and horrible appearance of the statue corresponded to his previous fate. For a moment, he was filled with emotion.
"Practicing is difficult, and correcting the path is even more difficult. Why are there so many evil demons in the world? It's because of the great temptation. But is there a shortcut to practicing? If you don't find the way and just keep going, the road you take will eventually lead to a dead end!"
Ji Yuan looked at the broken statue of the mountain god, then returned his gaze to the short Shi Youdao.
"Bend to make it whole, bend to make it straight, hollow to make it full, old to make it new. After going through this catastrophe, can Fellow Daoist Shi see his true nature?"
Shi Youdao bowed to Ji Yuan again and also bowed to the four masters around him.
"The little god has gained a lot of insights!"
The old beggar nodded, stretched out his hand and gently flicked in the direction of the mountain god statue beside him. The original yellow stone fragments and some mud on the ground all flowed up along the base of the altar little by little, and then flowed back to the top along the mountain god statue. After a moment, a repaired mountain god statue appeared in the temple.
"That's more appropriate."
"Thank you, Immortal."
The old beggar waved his hand.
"No, there's no need to be polite. My skills are nothing compared to the Taoist song that Mr. Ji just sang."
Of course, the four of them were very curious about Ji Yuan's previous actions, but they also knew when to ask for advice.
Ju Yuanzi on the side looked at the mountain god and asked.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, although you haven't completely melted the earth veins, you already have the foundation of a mountain god. How did those monsters catch you?"
Gods like mountain gods and land gods, especially those spirits born and raised by nature, hide underground under their jurisdiction, as if they were integrated into the earth. It is very difficult to find them accurately without extremely special means. From the previous description of the golden-armored warrior, although those demons are very powerful, they are not able to easily capture the mountain gods who are trying to avoid them.
"They found my hiding place accurately. Now that I think about it, I must have accidentally leaked it to the eight-tailed fox demon. It was my own fault... and the seal was broken, and the demon escaped. I apologize to the two immortals, and I am willing to take the blame."
Shi Youdao knew that since he had saved him, the punishment might not be too severe, but his apology was sincere.
Ji Yuan shook his head.
"Ji told you a long time ago that you shouldn't trust Tu Siyan. Isn't this a big enough lesson?"
"It's too late for me to regret... By the way, Lord General... How is he?"
Hearing that Shi Youdao still cared about the golden-armored warrior, Ji Yuan also smiled slightly.
"He is fine, much better than you were before. Now that you are awake, just let Daxiu Tianshi Mansion know. We should leave now."
Shi Youdao hesitated when he heard this. Seeing that Ji Yuan and the others had already left the mountain temple, he gritted his teeth and said it while following them.
"Master Ji, I am willing to obey your orders forever!"
Ji Yuan looked back at him and nodded in reply.
"Practice well in the mountains and don't go astray. We'll see you later."
Lao Long and the others looked deeply at the little monster, and like Ji Yuan, they bowed to Shi Youdao, and then left together with a wisp of breeze.
Shi Youdao stood in front of the mountain temple, bowing and politely performing the ritual. Even after Ji Yuan and others had left, he did not stop politely for a long time.
Immortal Ji did not agree directly, but he did not refuse directly either. At this moment, Shi Youdao's heart was not as calm as he appeared.
It was not until it had darkened and the sounds of voices and footsteps could be heard in the distance that Shi Youdao put away his gift, dived into the ground and disappeared.
On the other side of the mountain path, six fully-equipped people were walking towards the mountain temple. Some were carrying backpacks, some were carrying spears and bows, and everyone had a water bottle and a hat. There were also ropes, shovels and other items in the backpacks.
Seeing the outline of the mountain temple appear in front of him, a young man in the team suddenly became excited.
"Uncle, the mountain temple is just ahead!"
"Well, walk faster, it's getting dark."
The others were also cheered up.
"Great, I can finally take a break!"
"Yeah, there's still a place to shelter from the wind and rain. It looks like it's going to rain soon."
"Go, go faster!"
Several people tightened their backpacks and walked quickly towards the mountain temple. The young man walked in front. When he arrived at the temple gate, he grabbed the spear and hit the wooden door a few times, making a "dong dong dong..." sound. This was the same as stirring up trouble by beating the grass. They were afraid that there might be wild beasts in the temple, and going in directly would easily scare them.
Seeing no response in the temple, the older man called uncle by the young man also spoke in a slightly relaxed manner.
"Let's go in!"
A few people pushed open the temple door and walked into the temple. The first thing they saw was the statue of the mountain god.
"Hey! Mountain God!"
"Oh my mother!"
"Is the statue of the mountain god ready?"
The originally damaged mountain god statue looked very scary. If there was firelight at night, the broken face would look like an evil ghost. But at this moment, in the dim light before nightfall, the mountain god statue looked calm and peaceful, and the most important thing was that there was no crack on its body.
"The mountain god... has appeared..."
"Uncle, didn't I say I seemed to hear singing? You said I was being suspicious and scaring people. Now I think it must be the mountain god singing! That's not the voice of an ordinary person at all!"
"It's possible, it's possible. Why are you still standing there? Burn incense to the mountain god!"
"Yeah!"
A group of people hurriedly took out the sandalwood from their backpacks, first used a tinder to start a fire, then lit the sandalwood and began to worship the gods.
On the distant mountain top, Shi Youdao appeared, feeling the long-lost power of incense and prayers. Looking at this temple that symbolized his identity as a mountain god, he was naturally happy, but compared to before, his mentality was different. This feeling was very strange, as if he saw through something in the calmness, but he couldn't put it into words.
"Perhaps this is what Master Ji meant by seeing one's true nature..."
At this moment, in the sky north of Pozi Mountain, Ji Yuan and others had already left Pozi Mountain, flying in the sky on the breeze. Looking back in the direction of Pozi Mountain, Ji Yuan had a thoughtful look on his face, and a phantom of a chess piece flashed in his sleeve, and it was a directly generated white piece.