The Stars Beyond

Chapter 148: Becoming A Demon

As Wang Xuan ventured into the mist, the world transformed around him. It seemed as though the fog had served as a boundary between life and death.

Outside the mist, the sun blazed fiercely, with vast forests, numerous lakes, and monsters roaming freely. It was brimming with vitality. But inside this veil of fog, a full moon hung in the sky, casting a deep nocturnal shade, making everything eerily silent.

Wang Xuan wondered if he'd stepped into a different realm. Has some twist of fate transported me to an unknown land? He had read tales of time-travel and alternate universes, but he had never met any of the clichéd fates one reads about. There was no car, nor was there a suicide attempt. His last memory was of battling extraordinary creatures.

The silence in this new world was deafening; Wang Xuan couldn't even hear his footsteps. As he glanced down at his body, he noticed bleeding from various places. Panic gripped him; something felt profoundly wrong about this place.

Turning around, hoping to trace his way back through the mist, he froze. The fog that he'd passed through had vanished, leaving only the dark of the night. Had he truly landed in a new world?

Doubtfully, Wang Xuan gazed at the barren ground where his faint footprints were the only mark. He decided to retrace his steps, hoping to break through the barrier and return to the sunlight. Yet, as he walked deeper into the darkness, a suffocating sensation gripped him. It felt like drowning, and his consciousness began to blur, threatening to shatter.

Desperate, Wang Xuan retreated quickly, gulping down air once he felt he was out of immediate danger. He stood, lost in this unfamiliar world, with no way back. To add to his distress, Wang Xuan could feel sharp pains throughout his body. Red blotches were spreading, seeping blood—the aftermath of consuming the blood grapes. Was he turning into some demonic creature?

As Wang Xuan's eyelids twitched with discomfort, he felt a stinging pain, and soon, crimson tears streamed down his face, appearing eerily like tears of blood.

No ancient technique from the Early Qin sages nor the martial arts of the Five-Page Golden Book could stem his grotesque transformation. It seemed this silent, otherworldly realm only intensified his slide into demonhood. Disturbingly, the red patches on his skin started to swell, hinting at something alien wanting to emerge.

His body was in turmoil. Blood and cold sweat seeped from every pore. Despite employing the formidable defenses of the Golden Body Technique, it couldn't fend off this malevolent change. It felt like creatures were wrestling their way out from his very soul.

A peculiar call emanated from the heart of this new domain, tugging at his now emerging demonic instincts. Curiously, the deeper he ventured, the more his agony dulled.

But with every step, the physical manifestations grew more shocking. His hair, once of a common shade, transformed to a deep blood-red and elongated wildly. His shoes split open, revealing newly formed, razor-sharp talons. Most horrifyingly, his shoulders bulged and, to his utter disbelief, two small heads began to sprout. The easing of pain did little to comfort him. The horror of his morphing body gripped him tighter than any previous encounter. For Wang Xuan, a modern man of flesh and blood, the prospect of evolving into a demon was inconceivable.

His past brushes with the supernatural—a sword-wielding fairy, a confrontation with a red-robed demoness—paled in comparison to this current terror.

How could his human essence shift so dramatically in mere moments?

Alarmed, he hastened his retreat. He pondered whether this fog-shrouded expanse housed elements that accelerated one's demonic transformation. Earlier, he had overheard alien entities speculate about secret passages within this realm. But his current predicament cast doubt on any such hopeful rumors.

As Wang Xuan neared the boundary of this area, the demonic alterations in him were undeniable. He gazed at his elongated talons, lamenting, "Can this monstrous transformation not be undone?"

Wang Xuan's very spirit seemed to quiver, echoing the tremors in his physical being. An inexplicable yearning gnawed at him, luring him deeper into this strange new world. Yet he resisted the pull, skirting the edge of darkness. He felt that the impulse beckoning him was not of his true self, but rather a sinister transformation taking root.

A scream ripped through him. The agony was unbearable, which was saying something for someone like Wang Xuan, whose strong-willed spirit had forged its own dominion. All over his body, the ominous red patches tore open. This wasn’t merely skin deep; even his bones felt the cruel shift. The sensation was akin to being flayed and deboned.

He had endured numerous trials since embracing ancient arts, but this was uncharted torment. It wasn't an enemy inflicting pain, but his very body betraying him.

Suddenly, a searing heat emanated from his spine. In horror, he twisted to glance back, and his heart plummeted. Protruding from his backbone were fiery red spines, each over two feet long, reaching out as if to pierce the moonlit sky. No human bore such aberrations. Was he truly turning into a demonic entity?

His clothes tore further as more grotesque transformations manifested: radiant red feathers sprouted along the outsides of his arms and thighs. "What kind of monster am I becoming?" he gasped, refusing to accept his metamorphosis.

Desperately, Wang Xuan stretched and contorted his body, employing ancient grounding techniques and the martial arts he had learned from Old Zhang, hoping to suppress the monstrous changes.

Touching the spines on his back and the new crimson feathers, he exclaimed, "These aren't solid... they're made of energy!" Was there still hope to counter this escalating transformation?

The deeper these anomalies took root, the more intense his compulsion to venture deeper into the alien world. Like moths irresistibly drawn to light, he struggled to contain this overpowering instinct.

In an act of sheer desperation, Wang Xuan sprinted along the periphery of darkness, soon realizing that this peculiar realm wasn’t as vast as it appeared. A full loop around was but a few dozen miles, eerily mirroring the distance he'd run around the foggy periphery in the outside world.

From the raw flesh of Wang Xuan's shoulders emerged two energy-formed skulls, each the size of a fist. Their forms were nebulous, making it impossible to determine the creatures they might finally manifest as. To add to his horror, a pair of ox-like horns sprouted from his forehead, causing him excruciating pain.

"Perhaps death would be a mercy," he thought.

Resigned to his fate, Wang Xuan decided to venture into the very heart of this mysterious realm. Even as he held onto the edges, trying to resist the dark pull, the demonic transformation within him persisted unabated. He figured a direct confrontation at the realm's core might at least bring a swift end to his torment, preferable to the slow torture he currently endured.

As he approached the central region, low, barren hills obstructed his view, ensuring the heart remained shrouded in mystery. The chilling silence persisted, rendering the world lifeless.

Yet, as Wang Xuan drew nearer, his transformation into a demon seemed to accelerate. Scales began to adorn his skin, and a serpentine tail of pure energy sprouted from his back.

But when he scaled the low hills, what he saw left him spellbound. Contrary to the barrenness of the wasteland, a serene scene lay before him: a luminescent blue pond pulsated with mysterious energy. A few vibrant lotus flowers floated atop, their verdant leaves dotted with glistening dewdrops. Above, a pristine moon hung high, bathing the pond in a surreal glow that appeared as a fine mist.

This tranquil setting, reminiscent of a lotus pond bathed in moonlight, stood in stark contrast to the nightmarish landscape he'd anticipated. There was a sense of ethereal calm, a stark departure from the chaos of his transformation.

And for the first time since his arrival, he heard sound. He was no longer deaf.

A resounding boom echoed through him. His hair, now a fiery red, grew at an alarming rate, reaching down to his feet. The scales on his body clinked against each other, hinting at their shift from ethereal to tangible. The feathers and the skulls on his shoulders followed suit, becoming more solid.

The two skulls swelled and, in a spine-chilling moment, opened their eyes. Slowly, they turned to regard Wang Xuan with icy, eerie stares. They still bore human features; one even had an ancient appearance, adorned with a bamboo pin.

The horror of his transformation and the contrasting serenity of the pond threw Wang Xuan's mind into a tumultuous conflict.

The second skull on Wang Xuan's shoulder bore a distinct otherworldly charm. It had long, flowing hair, and despite its masculine appearance, carried an eerie beauty reminiscent of a demonic transformation. The presence of these inscrutable skulls, staring at him with a chilling coldness, was disconcerting.

Suddenly, Wang Xuan cast his eyes downward, catching sight of his own shadow beneath the moonlight. What he saw sent chills down his spine: his silhouette was far more terrifying than his current physical form. The shadow was alive with movement, revealing hundreds of hands reaching upwards, as if a horde of vengeful spirits were trying to snatch the moon from the sky. Faintly behind, the shadow grew immense, with dozens of huge skulls swaying — some of beasts, some of birds, and some of horned demons.

Aghast, Wang Xuan realized that while he remained motionless, his shadow was performing a frenzied dance, with various demonic forms emerging. He was convinced this wasn't merely the aftereffect of consuming the blood grapes; it had everything to do with this cursed land.

"Is this the secret path of demons?" he pondered.

This place was sinister, not meant for humans. It seemed designed to accelerate one's transformation into a monster.

"I refuse to become a demon! I cannot fall here!" Wang Xuan roared, taken aback by the monstrous timbre of his own voice, which now sounded like a formidable demon's.

Struggling with his sense of self, Wang Xuan realized his physical form remained stationary, but the horde of shadows behind him seemed to push him forward. His feet dragged deep tracks in the ground. Even as he tried to resist, his shadowy entourage propelled him closer to the luminescent blue pond.

Behind him, cacophonies of beastly roars and birdlike screeches resonated, as if a throng of mythical creatures were wrestling and howling. Although he had only one physical body, there appeared to be hundreds of shadows writhing and twisting behind him.

"What unholy transformation is this?!" he exclaimed, filled with dread and confusion.

As he neared the edge of the blue pond, the scenery shifted abruptly and dramatically.

With a deafening crash, everything changed.

Waves surged, seeming to kiss the heavens. What met Wang Xuan's gaze was an expansive ocean, its raging tides crashing onto the shore. Along the coast stood towering platforms, each surrounded by countless beings, human and otherwise.

"I want to become the Golden Winged Roc!"

From beneath one of the platforms, a humanoid creature roared this declaration. Around him, both humans and creatures joined in, their cries fervent. Above them, on the platform, a radiant golden glow encased a silent bird with its eyes closed – a magnificent roc.

On another platform, another group of zealous beings shouted, waving their arms dramatically, "I want to become the Thousand-Armed Deity!" Their platform was graced by a divine glow, within which sat a hazy figure, a man with a thousand arms.

Reaching the coast, Wang Xuan felt as if he was being torn apart. The shadows behind him danced frantically, trying to pull him towards different platforms. Hundreds of such platforms stood tall, each representing a legendary entity shrouded in a mysterious glow and worshiped by legions below.

"This isn't real! Everything I see is an illusion! I want none of this!" Wang Xuan yelled.

However, his body bled in reality. The shadows tore at him, almost ripping him apart, causing intense pain throughout his being. "If you wish to become monsters, go on your own! Wings, horns, tails, demonic wings, three heads, a thousand arms, whatever! Just get away from me! Stop tormenting my body!" His voice raspy with effort, Wang Xuan struggled fiercely, refusing to be abducted or transformed into one of those grotesque creatures.

As he fought, the vast ocean seemed to caress the moon in the sky. Deep within the waves, Wang Xuan spotted a flat boat, shimmering golden, tossed occasionally skyward by the tides, nearly touching the moon.

It was a boat carved from the Ascension Bamboo. He had seen such a craft before in the underground lab of the Greater Khingan Range, where a female alchemist lay in such a bamboo boat, full of life after three millennia.

Now, he encountered this unique bamboo boat again, only this time, it was much larger. With a diameter of three meters, the body of the Ascension Bamboo floated resiliently in the ocean, unfazed by the roaring waves.