Chapter One: The Stone Man Born of Heaven

  In the third year of Daxing's Kaiyuan era, a heavenly calamity descended.

  Thousands of massive meteorites, burning with a terrifying crimson flame, fell in various states and counties of the Great Sui, accompanied by earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis and other disasters.

  For a time, the Sui Dynasty was filled with mournful cries everywhere.

  From the Son of Heaven to the common people, no one will forget this year.

  The Emperor Wu of Sui, who had just changed the year title, had to issue three edicts confessing his guilt and again change the title to "Tian Shun".

  The disaster lasted for three whole months, with non-stop urgent reports bearing bloody handprints being delivered to the capital by horseback. The people of the capital would feel a sense of foreboding whenever they saw exhausted horses foaming at the mouth galloping down the streets under the relentless whipping of equally exhausted riders. Each report meant thousands or even tens of thousands of innocent lives lost!

  Fortunately, three months later, the emperor's self-blame edict seemed to have taken effect. This strange and unprecedented disaster gradually came to an end, and no emergency reports of disasters had been received for over a dozen days.

  ……

  Today is a good weather, near Luoyang Mountain in Yuzhou, Henan Province, it's often overcast and rainy all year round. Days like today with sunshine and clear sky are really rare.

  The children of Lianhuatai Village finished their classes and dispersed in a lively manner.

  At thirteen years old, Sun Li blended into the crowd and walked out. The teacher stood solemnly at the door, every student who went out bowed to bid farewell.

  Husband is a forty-year-old, slightly weak scholar, said to have the honor of being a xiucai. The literary style has been flourishing near Luomei Mountain since ancient times, and even small villages like Lianhuatai have collectively invited this husband to teach the children's lessons.

  At his age, Sun Li was already a good labor force in the family. Every morning he would listen to Master Fu's lectures, and every afternoon he would go to work on farm chores.

  When encountering an outstanding student, the master will naturally smile and may even pat him on the head, offering a few words of encouragement.

  When he met those who were lazy and didn't strive for progress, the Master would naturally put on a stern face and give them a few severe warnings.

  Sun Li walked away, clasped his hands together in a salute and said respectfully: "Farewell, Master."

  The husband nodded and waved his hand to let him pass.

  No encouragement and no supervision. It's treated like an ordinary person.

  Sun Li had long been used to it.

  He was inconspicuous in this Lotus Platform Village, and many things and many gazes would inadvertently overlook him.

  But Sun Li himself knew that he was not as ordinary as others thought. The group of children in sight, he was different from them.

  He walked home from the school building outside the five thatched cottages.

  There were classmates beside him, leaning on each other's shoulders: "Sanzi, what are you doing this afternoon?"

  "How boring! Master asked me to read the Book of Changes, but I just can't understand it. What's the point?"

  "Hey, how about we go fishing this afternoon?"

  "Not going, I just went yesterday."

  "Shall we go find Li widow's daughter to play?"

  "Hehe, I like this..."

  "Hahaha!"

  These people are all wealthy households in the village and don't need to work hard. The leader is Tanaka Nagayoshi's son, Tanaka Hidemasa.

  Tian Yingdong turned his head and saw Sun Li standing beside him, a strange smile immediately appeared on his face, and he called out to her: "Lili, do you have any guests this afternoon?"

  The children around burst out laughing.

  Sun Li naturally understood they were making fun of his name.

  Sun Linai is the eldest son in his family. His father gave him this name, naturally hoping that as the eldest son, he would be able to hold up the Sun family gate in the future.

  But it was also unknown which day, the village spread out that in Xiancheng Honglou there was a slightly plump prostitute named "Lili", and Tian Yingdong and others would often use this to tease Sun Li.

  Sun Li ignored them. Tian Yingdong and his group thought they had won, snickered and stopped paying attention to him, walking away quickly.

  Sun Li shook his head, a wry smile floating on his face, and thought of a sentence he had read in a book: Muddle along, ordinary people enjoy themselves.

  These people thought it was funny, but they never really insulted Sun Li: a monkey baring its teeth at someone, showing off its buttocks to someone, would anyone feel defeated?

  He has been reading books since he was a child and thirteen is just the time when his thoughts are taking shape.

  The people in front were still laughing and chatting, when suddenly a huge crimson flame fell from the sky and exploded among them with a loud "boom".

  "Ah..."

  Several mournful cries, three or four of them fell down, some were blown up, and others had their clothes burned.

  Tian Yingdong got a bit further away and narrowly escaped, but was also frightened pale. He stared blankly at his injured companion, not knowing what to do for the better.

  The two people who were on fire instinctively rolled around on the ground for a while, extinguishing the flames.

  One was injured on his face and one on his hand, with extremely deep wounds, groaning in pain.

  Sun Lim stared at the distant sky with a look of horror, then suddenly reacted and shouted at them: "Run quickly..."

  "Hmm, hmm, hmm......"

  One after another, crimson flames swiftly traversed the sky and came crashing down. The small ones were only fist-sized, while the large ones were as big as a human head.

  Those guys were so scared that they dropped their books and ran away in all directions, screaming continuously.

  In the clear sky, three huge golden red fireballs are slowly falling, and it's obvious that they're heading towards Lianhuatai Village!

  And those numerous fireballs were surrounding the three largest golden-red fireballs, rushing forward one step at a time to bombard the earth.

  " Meteorite! Run quickly!"

  The whole village was thrown into chaos, and in the face of such a disaster, no one in this small mountain village could remain calm. Chickens flew about, dogs barked wildly, children cried, women wailed, men shouted, and everything was in an uproar.

  Sun Li stared in shock at the three huge fireball meteors, with long tails of flame behind them. In front of them was a dazzling halo of flames, enormous beyond measure, several times larger than the largest meteor in the great calamity that had befallen the Great Sui Dynasty.

  Those fireballs that accompanied the meteor, each one that fell down would shake the ground, and some houses in the village started to shake.

  Everyone panicked, they knew that such a massive meteor impact would inevitably trigger a series of disasters, and being so close to the small village, they couldn't escape.

  After the chaos, it was a matter of waiting for death. Everyone looked at the three huge fireballs falling from the sky and closed their eyes in despair.

  But after a while, the expected big earthquake did not come, and the huge whistling sound of the meteor flying across the sky also disappeared. People slowly opened their eyes, only to see that behind the village, thick smoke was rolling...

  Three gigantic fireballs descended silently, without even causing the ground to tremble. The villagers, in a state of panic, looked at each other in dismay, some unable to believe they had narrowly escaped disaster, and seemingly puzzled as to why the King of Hell had spared them.

  The big fire in the mountain is burning fiercely, let alone putting out the fire, the villagers don't even dare to get close. They have become startled birds. Suddenly someone pointed at the thick smoke and exclaimed: "It seems like there's something inside!"

  Everyone rushed to see, smoke and fog surged up, couldn't see clearly, but it seemed that there was something hidden inside, and it should be enormous and terrifying!

  What's going on?! The villagers were as silent as cicadas in winter.

  ……

  It wasn't until the seventh day that this great fire was finally extinguished in a sudden heavy rain.

  As the rain started, all the villagers gathered together, looking nervously at the direction where the meteorite fell, as if waiting for a trial that would determine their fate. The thick smoke slowly dispersed, revealing what was inside.

  Three gigantic stone statues stand steadily in the mountains.

  Although this is only the periphery of Luomi Mountain, the general mountain peaks are also hundreds of feet high. However, these mountain peaks only reach the ankles of those three giant stone statues.

  The stone statues have a ferocious face, are terrifyingly majestic, and seem to be able to look down on the entire world with disdain from their lofty height!

  On the left is a stone statue with 100 eyes, and on the right is a stone statue with 100 arms. It seems that the central stone statue is revered, but surprisingly, the central stone statue has nothing special about it, looking ordinary, only taller and larger.

  "Ah!"

  The villagers felt that something was off and their faces looked extremely ugly. Tanaka had intended to report the disaster, but Lianghuatai Village did not suffer much damage, so he could only shake his head and look again.

  It's strange to say that such a huge three stone statues can only be seen in Lianhuatai Village, and once you leave the village, you can only see a misty cloud in the distance.

  This omen made many villagers secretly discuss that this is a sign from heaven that disaster will befall Lianhuatai Village!

  In just a few days, the villagers spontaneously set up an incense table outside the mountain, lit incense and candles, and offered sacrifices to the three evil spirits. Some people even kowtowed every day.

  ……

  "Ari, come here and kowtow too. Ask the stone god to forgive our family's sins and bless our family with prosperity."

  Sun Li was pulled by his mother and reluctantly knelt down in front of the incense table. However, he had some inexplicable feelings towards these three stone statues.

  A thick layer of wax oil had accumulated on the incense table, and the smoke from the burning incense wafted through the air. Through the mist, Sun Li suddenly felt that one of the three stone statues in the distant mountains seemed to have glanced at him!

  Sun Lixin smiled and blinded himself.

  "Hurry up and bow, your brother has already done so." Mother urged.

  Sun Li's second brother, Sun Chun, was very obedient and piously knelt down, his little head knocking against the bluestone slab with a loud thud. Sun Li said filially: "Mother, I'll kowtow now."

  He held up three incense sticks, bowed respectfully three times, and then stood up and inserted the incense into the incense burner.

  A distant voice suddenly echoed in his ear: "Come..."

  In an instant, thousands of mountains responded!

  Sun Li's hair stood on end: "Huh?"

  He looked around and saw that his mother was still closing her eyes to make a wish, while his younger brother Sun Chun had run to the side to tease an insect in the grass. The insect threatened him, its whole body standing on end, with colorful stripes.

  Sun Li was surprised: Did I hear it wrong?

  "Come on, come on..."

  "Who!?" Sun Li exclaimed in fright, jumping up.

  "What's wrong with you, child? You're so startled and frightened! Quickly kneel down and kowtow to the stone god to apologize. If the stone god blames us, our family won't have any peace!" His mother hastily pulled him back.

  Sun Li reluctantly did as his mother said. His mother was chanting words of apology, no more than asking the immortal to forgive their sins.

  The ceremony finally came to an end, and Mother stood up, pulling Sun Chun along, calling out to her eldest son: "A Li, let's go back, if Mom doesn't go back to cook, your father will surely starve himself to death."

  Sun Li smiled and followed. After walking a dozen steps, he couldn't help but turn his head to take another look. Amidst the swirling smoke, he clearly saw that the giant stone statue in the middle moved its lips slightly.

  "Come on..."

  That voice came again from afar, Sun Li was surprised: "Mother, Er Ge, did you hear someone talking?"

  "Who's talking?" Sun Chun curled his lip.

  "Mother also shook her head: "What nonsense are you talking about? This is just between us mother and daughter, who else would say anything?"

  "But I really did hear someone talking..."

  His mother reached out and felt his forehead: "This child, won't he be ill?"

  "Mother!" Sun Li opened his mother's hand: "I saw that stone statue's mouth move, it was talking to me..."

  "Smack!" Sun Li's mother slapped him on the forehead: "Shigami is a stone, how can it possibly move its lips and talk to you? Don't ever say such things again, if the villagers find out, they'll think you're possessed."

  Bastard!

  The last person possessed by the evil spirit was burned to death, and his relatives were also forced to leave Lianhuatai Village and drift away. The villagers have an innate great fear of such disasters related to ghosts and gods.

  Sun Li immediately shut his mouth and didn't dare say another word.

  He walked a few miles, but still couldn't help turning his head to take another look. The three stone statues stood with white clouds on their heads, motionless as before, without anything unusual. But Sun Li's heart was full of doubts.

  ……

  Every morning before Mr. Fu lectured on the classics, the children would pay their respects to the portrait of the sage. The portrait had been hanging on the wall of the school for many years and had turned yellow with age. Sun Li had also looked at it for several years and was extremely familiar with it.

  Kowtowing and standing up, in Sun Li's eyes, the saintly figure had transformed into a stone statue. Its lips moved, and a deep, distant voice said: "Come..."

  Sun Li was stunned on the spot.

  ……

  He didn't know if he had really been possessed by an evil spirit, but since that day when he heard the stone statue speak, no matter where he was or what he was doing, there was always a voice calling out to him from afar.

  Those almost ubiquitous calls were driving him crazy!

  "If I'm really possessed by evil spirits, then let me suffer alone, don't implicate my family."

  Sun Li sat on the edge of the bed, having made up his mind.

  He quietly opened the door and slipped out. He ran wildly all the way, entering the back mountain. The stone statue looked even more ferocious and frightening in the darkness, but Sun Li didn't know why, his heart was no longer afraid, and he ran wildly on the mountain road, rushing towards the stone statue!

  Ever since the stone statue fell here, no one dared to approach that mountain forest.

  In the village, there was a boastful Zhang San who claimed to be very brave. One day, he bet three jars of old wine with someone that he dared to touch the stone statue. However, halfway through, he got scared and ran back, crying out loud like a ghost or wolf. He fell ill for half a month and never dared to mention what he saw and heard on that day again.

  Sun Li grew up in the mountains since childhood, exercising good legs and feet. However, even at full speed running, he didn't arrive near the stone statue's mountain domain until midnight.

  He was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through, and his hair stuck to his forehead. Yet, he suppressed a surge of energy within him, using all fours to climb up a mountain peak. Without even looking at the three gigantic stone statues, he let out a loud roar: "I'm here!"

  The sound echoed, as if countless mountain demons and fierce ghosts responded together: "I'm coming..."

  The birds in their nests were startled and flew away, making a strange "plop-plop-la-la" sound.

  Under the darkness, Sun Li clearly saw those three huge stone statues, and looked down at himself!

  The stone statue with a hundred eyes on the left suddenly shook its head, and each eyeball swept over itself.

  As soon as he was seen by those eyes, Sun Li's mind buzzed loudly, his body swayed and he fell down softly!

  ……

  Sun Li felt that he had a bad sleep, and when he woke up, he was still drowsy. In his dream, someone kept talking to him...

  "Heaven and earth are two instruments, yin and yang transform each other... Controlling heaven and earth with one's palm, capturing yin and yang with one's eyes!"

  "The ninefold ultimate law, the sky is full of immortals and demons, annihilating nature and thought, overturning seas and mountains. Even if the Great Way is endless, I have a thought that follows my heart, the long journey is boundless, the ancients are not seen, only waiting for those who come..."

  "The mediocre disturb themselves, the ordinary condense, the Taoist adjusts and harmonizes, the virtuous unite with truth, the true person guards the spirit, the ultimate person gathers the spirit, the sage treads on emptiness, the immortal is unobstructed..."

  "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, regarding all things as straw dogs; Straw dogs opposing heaven, opposing the repair of fate to seize life is being an immortal!"

  "The Great Way is three thousand miles long, and all people in the world think it's the gate to immortality. I alone break through the gate and come out, opening up a new path. My fate is not among the Five Elements, my soul is not within the Six Paths!"

  “……”

  A complete mess, basically all of which he had never heard of before.

  What's even more infuriating is that there isn't just one voice, but at least two voices arguing, and yet it gives people a feeling that there's a third presence. It's just that the third person refuses to speak up, for some unknown reason.

  Occasionally, a flash of images flashed by, and in the void, the eyes of the giant with hundreds of eyes emitted countless rays of light, and under the scan, the stars fell one after another!

  There are also hundred-armed giants, with their heads and feet in the infinite void, each palm holding a river of stars!

  The third person seems ethereal and illusory, mysterious and spiritual, stabilizing the universe's vastness...

  What a mess!

  He sat up, shook his head, came to for a moment, and looked out the window to find it was already mid-morning.

  Sun Li suddenly had an epiphany: didn't he go to the mountain? He even saw those three stone statues, and then fainted, but how did he end up waking up on his own bed?

  He suddenly stood up, something flashed in the corner of his eye, he turned his head to look, and was immediately stunned: on the old broken table by the bed, three small stone statues were placed.

  The stone statues were only fist-sized and looked a bit rough, but they were clearly the three stone statues in the big mountain behind the village.

  On the left, hundred arms; on the right, hundred eyes; in the middle, seemingly ordinary and unremarkable.

  It's just smaller by an unknown number of times.

  At this moment, a shout came from outside: "The stone statue is gone! The stone statue is gone......"

  The murmur of the crowd grew louder, with people discussing how the ferocious and evil giant stone statue could have disappeared overnight without a trace. Various groundless speculations and rumors began to spread.

  Sun Li looked at the three small stone men, somewhat disbelieving: Could it really be them?!

  Whether or not, Sun Li didn't dare to let anyone know about the existence of these three small stone men, and even more so, he didn't dare mention what happened last night. Moreover, how did he come back, he himself found it inexplicable.

  He hastily put away the three small stone men close to his body and walked out of the door.

  "Dad, Mom."

  Now it's the slack season for farming, and his parents didn't go out. Seeing him come out, the two old men smiled. His mother was listening to the noise outside and was a bit curious. She glanced at Sun Li's father, but Old Sun didn't show any expression. So she quickly put away her work: "The stone statue is gone? What's going on? I'll go ask around..."

  Sun Li's father knew his wife's temper and just smiled without saying anything. Sun Li's mother had already quickly run out.

  Sun Li hesitated for a moment, but still decided not to tell his parents and younger brother Xiaoshi about the matter - the tragic fate of the person who had previously "fallen into evil" in that house left Sun Li with lingering fear, he made up his mind: if he really was possessed by evil spirits, he would bear it alone, absolutely not implicating his family members.

  ……

  In the second year of Daxiang in the Sui Dynasty, Sun Li was already 15 years old but had not yet married.

  Sun Lijia was considered a decent man in Lianhuatai Village, he looked normal and had no bad habits, but his marriage always ended in failure, and the other party always had various reasons, leaving Sun Lijia's parents speechless.

  The parents gradually became anxious, but Sun Li didn't think so. He was very much in agreement with the matchmaker's perfunctory remark: "It's not yet destined."

  Sun Li felt that there seemed to be something waiting for him. Because in his mind, those three existences would occasionally jump out and argue with each other.

  The speakers were still two people, but Sun Li always felt the presence of a third person, and that presence was as stable as Mount Honghuang, immovable.

  The two speakers' voices were extremely loud, like thunder.

  It started half a year ago, only when he was sleeping, but later it didn't matter what time or occasion. Sometimes he was drinking water, suddenly a loud snore, and he would choke on the water in his nose...

  But under such constant indoctrination, he gradually came to understand that this debate was actually a kind of illusory and elusive "cultivation" method.

  According to what they said, there is a group of people in this world called "Xiu Shi", who divide the people of this world into different levels.

  Ordinary people can't even be considered as "ordinary", they muddle through life, coming into this world with their eyes closed and leaving with their eyes closed, without understanding any truth. Such people can only be called "mediocre".

  Mediocrity is the true "ordinary person".

  Practicing martial arts with a strong foundation, even if one reaches the pinnacle and is hailed as "the greatest under heaven", they would still only barely qualify as an "ordinary person".

  Those monks only need to go through the simplest cultivation to reach the state of "ordinary people".

  Above ordinary people, there are six major realms: Taoist, virtuous person, true person, ultimate person, sage, and immortal. All practitioners strive towards the goal of becoming an immortal.

  But not everyone is qualified to cultivate, and it seems that there are some harsh requirements. But what exactly these requirements are, Sun Li still doesn't understand.

  Sun Li was tormented by the sound of quarrels for two years and still didn't understand how he should cultivate himself.

  The only benefit is that when he sees something, if it's particularly valuable, a voice will suddenly pop up to remind him.

  For the past two years, Sun Lishi would occasionally venture deep into the Luomei Mountains and sometimes come across some precious herbs. Under the reminder of those sounds, he would pick them up and give them to his father to sell at the market, which indeed brought in a considerable income. Thanks to this, the Sun family was able to build a new house.

  Sun Li's father was particularly proud and often bragged about his son outside.

  Apart from herbs, there were also some strange stones, animal horns and bones in the mountain. Sometimes, when he saw them, the voice would tell him their names and effects, but Sun Li couldn't understand any of it. However, he picked everything up anyway. Since these things had no market value, he stuffed them into a pouch and treated them as his own playthings.

  No matter how proudly Sun Li's father boasted about his son outside, Sun Li was still the same boy who was easily overlooked by everyone two years ago.

  In these two years, another child in Lianhuatai Village rose like a comet, shining brightly!

  He is Tanaka's son, Tanaka Hideto.

  Tian Yingdong is also fifteen this year and has not yet married, but that is the result of the Tian family refusing at least twenty marriage proposals.

  The originally stubborn Tian Yingdong, after the three giant stone statues landed on the mountain and mysteriously disappeared two years ago, seemed to have suddenly enlightened overnight. He first had a photographic memory, memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics in just one month, and could even recall more than half of some rare classics. Master was extremely delighted, feeling that it was worth his life to be able to cultivate such a disciple!

  Later, Tian Yingdong made even more astonishing works, gradually emerging in the flourishing Wenfeng area of Luomei Mountain. Scholars would mention that young Tian Yingdong was always ranked first among the talented youths. Even many prominent scholars from Yu State felt that with two or three more years of practice, Tian Yingdong would have enough strength to win the imperial examination!

  What was unknown to outsiders, however, was that Tian Yingdong not only had exceptional literary talent but also possessed extraordinary bravery. He could lift a 300-jin stone lock with one hand. Last winter, when snow fell, Tian Yingdong accompanied the county magistrate's daughter, who had come to admire his name, on a snowy mountain hike, where they unexpectedly encountered a starving tiger. Tian Yingdong actually fought and killed the ferocious beast bare-handed! This also won over the heart of the county magistrate's daughter.

  Tanaka Nagakazu's mouth was not closed, his son was both civil and military, and it was natural that he would shine at the door. He naturally wanted to let his son study with peace of mind, and as for getting married, at least wait until after his son graduated from high school before considering it, maybe his son could be a double champion in literature and martial arts, and receive an imperial marriage!

  There is such a radiant Tian Yingdong, Sun Li looks dull and dim in comparison.

  No matter how hard his father tried to boast about him, Sun Li was still just an ordinary young man in the eyes of others.