Saltcue had always believed that his greatest skill was that he was lucky enough.
Not only did he survive the shipwreck in which he should have perished, but he was also favoured by the White God.
Later on, he did a series of wrongdoings in his arrogance and ignorance, and was again tolerated and forgiven by the benevolent Yao God.
Several times he narrowly escaped death but was lucky enough to survive.
One by one, his contemporaries died, and among them there were many gifted ones, who were all swallowed up by the Sea of Time one after another. On the contrary, he himself, who had little talent, became a transcendent by mistake, and saw the vast world above the more watery surface.
Before he turned thirty-seven, Saltador was in spring, with a fair wind and sunshine, and things were going well. He thought he could keep on growing and nothing could break him.
At the age of fifty-one, Shiodome lost his left eye and entered summer.
He saw the uncertainty of life’s ups and downs, and that the only way to not lose your way is to have strong faith. He learnt that God Yao not only represents strength, but also brings faith and hope to all the weak.
When he was one hundred and one years old, Yanjiu fought against the Black Water Strider and his right arm was destroyed, arriving in autumn.
He could clearly feel that his body was declining inexorably, but his strength was stepping to its peak, the reward of faith and perseverance. Salt long showed the fruits of his cultivation bounty to all, telling them not to be deterred by difficulties and to continue to push the limits of humanity.
One hundred and forty-two years old today, Shiohisa was in the middle of winter.
Unprecedented weakness surrounded his old, crippled body, and no amount of perfect craftsmanship by dwarven artisans could stop the flesh from rotting and stiffening.
He welcomed death with open arms.
For Saltcourt knew that he had fought as hard as he could.
His consciousness became more and more blurred. Suddenly, Saltcue felt himself flying, and when he came back to his senses he found himself in a desert.
Large clouds wandered over the dunes, as if this was some secret place in the sky.
A voice came to his ears.
“The Lord God is giving you a chance, if you wish, you can ascend the [Running Cloud Platform] to become a Cloud Transforming Monk, or [Entering the Sand Road] to become a Sand Walker.”
“These two wonders will allow you to gain a brand new body and a fresh start, but there is a price to pay.”
Saltcue squinted hard.
Standing in front of him was the Apostle Isabelle-sama.
A hundred years had passed, and she still hadn’t changed at all, maintaining her youthful appearance.
The gods had once again sent down a gift.
Salt long was somewhat terrified.
“Thank you very …… much Yao God-sama …… cough, cough ……”
“Choose.”
Isabel said softly, “Your body won’t last long. Whether it’s the Ghost, the Cloud Transforming Monk, or the Sand Walker, you can choose ……”
“Only, the Cloud Transforming Monk and Sand Walker are forms that no one from the Yao Clan has ever set foot in before. You have to be mentally prepared for the possibility of encountering difficulties you’ve never seen before.”
Yanjiu staggered and eventually stepped onto the path into the sand.
He didn’t choose to run to Yuntai because Saltcue wanted to go back. Back to the world where he was born and grew up, and once he became a Cloud Transforming Monk, there was no way to get out of this desolate land of sand.
The Road into the Sand was a spiral staircase that looked as fragile as a tower in the air, but stood quiet and stable in the storm.
With every step, Saltjou felt his body reacting in some way, and his entire body became dry, hard, coarse, and sandy.
Flesh and blood gradually collapsed, bones turned to gravel, and thoughts broke away from the shell to hover on the steps.
Saltjou could clearly see that he was being disintegrated and remodelled.
Just a moment later, he seemed to rise to the surface from the suffocating and heavy underwater, and subconsciously breathed in the air, sucking it down his throat along with the yellow sand.
Saltador saw that his body was completely unchanged, still old and dry and thin.
But it was different.
For the slightest touch of his hand could pass through his chest.
Sandwalkers, all transformed into gravel, existed on the basis of the sand element.
Salt long ceased to feel cold and debilitated.
In its place, there was a loose stability, where the whole body could separate at any time and easily merge into one.
This marvellous feeling was very new to Saltcue.
He gently jumped onto the sand like a ball of water smashing into a lake, instantly becoming indistinguishable from the desert before coalescing into a human form from another place.
In his excitement, Yanjiu hurriedly knelt on the ground and reverently pressed his head into the sand: “Lord Yao Shen, you have once again graciously given guidance and grace to your ordinary followers, there are no words to describe how grateful I am and how much I praise you.”
“I will definitely continue on the path of cultivation, extolling your well-being and benevolence until the day this body is destroyed and dissipated.”
Isabel nodded slightly at him, “You are the first Sandwalker of the Yao Clan and a pathfinder of the Yao Clan world, cherish the hard-won opportunities.”
“Another Apostle Knowing Monk, will give you guidance.”
After saying this she disappeared without a trace.
Saltjou kept it in mind.
Next, he first initially adapted to his body and abilities.
After turning into a Sandwalker, Saltcue added two new abilities in addition to retaining [Fire Clothes] and [Evasion].
……
[Sand].
Being a part of sand itself.
[Rule Walker].
A stalker in the power of rules, with a certain probability of successful stalking.
……
Unlike the world of the Yao Clan, in this sea of desert called the Temple of the Clouds, Yanjiu could perceive the power of sand.
This power was different from the power of the gods, more dull, messy and rough, existing in the world in a strange track that was invisible to the naked eye.
Salt Long observed a trajectory of the power of rules on the desert, when suddenly a loud voice came from his side.
“O guest from afar, you are welcome to the Temple of the Clouds, the young monk is the guest-knowing monk here.”
He immediately turned his head and saw a giant fish head. The extremely widely spaced eyes were gazing at him, the long fish whiskers extended towards the sides, and between the opening and closing of the fish’s mouth, it set off a gust of dry wind.
The fish head shaped like a dune was rather friendly.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen a live Sandwalker here, it’s been nostalgic …… Do you have a lot of confusion?”
The Knowing Monk showed a warmth that Saltcue had never seen before.
It recounted the past and present of this world to Saltcue, telling him how the Cloud Transforming Monk drifted around and walked alone in the rules Yu Yu, and how one Sandwalker after another dived into the power of the rules and ascended to other worlds to collect the fire of faith for the gods.
It took the sound of a wooden fish to silence the monks who were rambling on and on.
Salt Long waited for the sound to end before he asked the Knowing Monk, “May I ask Lord Apostle, if I want to return to the Yao world, what should I do?”
The catfish head’s long beard gently raised, “This is not difficult, Sandwalker Ascension will be able to cross the border.”
So the Knowledgeable Monk taught Salt Long exactly how Sand Walkers in the past had crossed the border and soared along the force of rules to reach another world.
“But you only have one chance.”
The Knowing Monk admonished, “If you fail, you will be locked and bound by the rules, and you will never be able to soar again.”
“But this is also the best chance, because you’ve only completed the transformation now, and the power of the rules still has less of an impact on you……. Many of the Sandwalkers who have failed have tried to wait for their preparations to be complete, and then as soon as they dragged themselves down, they were stuck by the rules.”
Salt Long, who was still somewhat hesitant, immediately made up his mind.
Just for today!
Even if he failed, he tried his best to try.
Lord Yao Shen had given this precious opportunity, and I’m sure it was so that he could move on.
How could one stop for fear of failure?
As long as he returned to the Yao Clan world, he should have completed the initial trial given by the gods.
Salt Long followed what the Knowing Monk had said and waited until the next time the sound of the wooden fish rang out and the Cloud Transforming Monks showed up, he transformed into yellow sand and burrowed into the border.
The Knowing Monk waited for a long time, but did not wait for Salt Long to return.
The huge catfish on couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “Success?”
“It has been many years since a Sandwalker has ascended, worthy of being chosen by the gods.”
A moment later it thought that it didn’t seem like a particularly happy thing either.
It was so hard to have someone to talk to, and they had only just gotten to know each other, only to have the other person soar away.
The whole world became lonely again.
Just as the Knowing Monk was wandering in the sand, Isabelle appeared.
“Where’s Shiohisa?”
“Unfortunately, he ascended.”
“……”
……
After what seemed like an incomparably long period of drifting, Saltcue regrouped his body, his scattered and drifting consciousness contracting into a whole once again.
He opened his eyes and found himself in an odd world.
The sky was grey here, and amidst the black clouds, a multitude of thin lightning bolts crawled through the gloom like silver snakes.
On the ground stood a strange house, with wide and thick walls, but shaped like a tower, with a layer of light green glowing fire lingering on its surface.
They did not look like living dwellings, but more like burial mounds for the dead.
After his successful ascension, Saltjou felt a lot stronger.
Unfortunately, he didn’t return to his hometown, but instead drifted to an unknown otherworld under the force of the rules.
Just as Saltcue was looking around, a monster burrowed out from under the stone house. It had a human form, but crawled forward on all fours on the ground, letting out a beast-like hiss.
Facing the enemy, Shiohisa turned into gravel and merged into the earth, disappearing without a trace.
Two years later.
Saltcue finally gained some understanding of this world.
This is called the [Ghost World], a world of the dead, and living on this continent is a group of humans called the [Funeral Race], who are able to create [Black Tombstones], which are the clusters of graves that Saltcue saw.
The black tombstones can hold many ghosts, which live in the tombstones and can manipulate the tombstones to spew out green [Spectral Fire].
The multi-layered black tombstones can also spawn ghouls – the same kind of humanoid monsters that first attacked themselves.
The god who rules here is called the [Ghost God], and his power is unfathomable.
Saltjou transformed into sand and secretly observed the Psi-Ghost Realm.
He knew that that Psi-Ghost God had probably already discovered himself.
With his own abilities, he could not hide himself from a god.
Instead of continuing to hide, it would be better to reveal himself in a big way, he had to find a way this world to stand firm and make a name for himself in order to have a chance of surviving. Otherwise no one would care about anything one said.
Salt Long’s body coalesced in front of a three-storey high black tombstone.
Outside the tombstone, three ghouls were gnawing on a pile of dead fish on the ground.
Noticing the intrusion of the outsiders, half of a giant skull emerged from the black tombstone, ghostly flames flickering in the black eye caves, while the ghouls roared and charged at him.
This time Saltcue didn’t step back.
The old man simply raised his right hand, palm facing upwards, and said softly in Yao language, “Salt City Salt Long, please instruct me.”.
