The Legends of Ren Zu, Chapter Four, Section 32, continued:
Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence had challenged the strange horse and zebra beastmen to a race, but she had not moved.
Nor had she given up.
Instead, she turned and walked around Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance three times.
Then she faced the beastmen.
"I have won."
The beastmen glared at her. "Human! What nonsense is this?"
"A person's family is their world," she said calmly. "In other words, my brother is my world. I have circled my world three times."
The beastmen ground their teeth, hooves scraping the earth. They had been outwitted!
However, none of them impede the path of the two siblings as they moved forward.
Further ahead, another tribe appeared.
These beastmen were covered in thick white fur, their forms resembling polar bears and walruses.
"Humans," they growled, "You dare intrude upon our territory! You are courting death!"
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance stepped forward. "Then we challenge you - to see who can endure the cold the longest."
The beastmen laughed. "You? Against us?"
They moved to a cold area of Purple Heaven where a frosty wind blew. The temperature dropped; Wondrous Myriad Gold Essence could see her breath crystallize into tiny ice shards each time she exhaled.
Both sides sat in place as the temperature continued to drop.
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance clenched his body. Heat surged through him - but it was not enough.
The beastman who was his challenger remained unmoved as well.
A flash of inspiration struck Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance's mind. His own physique was not enough to get out of this trouble. He would have to innovate.
And a memory came back to him.
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance struck the ground and began digging.
"What are you doing?" the beastmen roared.
He did not answer.
He burrowed deep, creating a shelter beneath the earth, escaping the freezing winds entirely. Much like he had done back under the influence of Pride Gu.
Time passed.
At last, the beastman could endure no longer. He fainted, the frost coating his body from top to bottom.
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance emerged from his shelter.
"You win," the beastmen admitted grudgingly.
Cognition Gu spoke again. "Well done. Strength is not only found in resistance - but in understanding the situation."
The two siblings proceeded forward.
At the center of Purple Heaven, they finally found what they were looking for - though not in the form that they had expected.
What awaited them was bizzared. A creature beyond reason.
It had three heads - a hawk, a tiger, and a horse. Its body was malformed, covered in scales in some places, and feathers in others. Wings sprouted from its back, while gills opened along its sides. Its limbs were uneven, asymmetrical, and belonged to various differing animals. It was difficult to even imagine a creature like it existing. Was it dead? Or just an amalgamation of various animal parts?
To their surprise, the thing spoke.
"Humans… you have finally found me. Good. I've been waiting for you."
"Who are you?" Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence asked.
"I am Transformation Gu," the thing answered.
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance frowned. "A Gu… worm?"
"Look around you, humans," it said. They did. This area around Purple Heaven was filled with beastmen and wild creatures.
"The beastmen that you found along your way - I created them," Transformation Gu said. "I sought to turn beasts into something greater. All of these are my attempts to do so." It gestured to its own body. "And this… is my greatest failure."
"What were you trying to create?" Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance asked. This structure was so confusing he couldn't even make heads or tails of it.
"A human," it replied simply. "Man is the spirit of all living things. I wished to replicate the form of Ren Zu, the Spirit Ancestor from these wild animals. I made the beastmen. I tried to perfect what my transformation was, but I failed."
Silence fell.
At last, Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence spoke. "Transformation Gu, we seek your power."
Transformation Gu's many eyes flickered.
"Human, if you wish for power than a price must also be exacted. I demand something of yours in exchange for my Then give me your flesh. One is shaped by what one consumes. If I eat you… perhaps I will finally succeed in creating a human!" Transformation Gu said.
The siblings exchanged a glance.
Then, without hesitation, they each cut a piece of their flesh and offered it to this strange creature.
Transformation Gu consumed it.
Its body writhed. New forms split off, becoming even more beastmen - yet none truly resembled humans.
"…I have failed," it said quietly. "But a deal is a deal."
It turned to Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance. "Oh Human, take my power. It is yours now."
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance used Transformation Gu and his body shifted. His eyes became smaller as his nose became longer and harder.
Feathers burst forth from his arms. Wings spread wide. His eyes sharpened.
He had become an eagle!
"So this is freedom…" he thought to himself, soaring into the sky.
The unparalleled freedom of being able to fly was amazing. Out there, flitting around in Purple Heaven, away from his worries and troubles. His former problems and failures seemed to diminish with every beat of his wings.
He had taken this form to see if it was easier to find the rest of his family like this, however, he soon forgot about this entirely and started flying around aimlessly. It was initially just to get away from his worries, but he seemed to have lost his purpose entirely as he started flitting around Purple Heaven.
"Brother!" Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence called as Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance . But he did not respond.
Cognition Gu spoke gravely. "Human, he has lost himself. In gaining another form, he abandoned his own. He has forgotten about being a human and has completely lost himself in turning into an eagle."
"Can he be saved?" she asked.
"If he accepts me again," Cognition Gu said. "Only then can he remember what it means to be human."
Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence looked up at the sky where her brother continued to disappear from sight. Cognition Gu said that she had to catch up to him, but how was she going to do so.
"How will I even reach him like this?" she asked.
***
"Looks like this oaf has finally fallen asleep," Fang Yuan said to Bai Ning Bing as the man had begun snoring. "There - that's his wish granted, let's leave and see if there is anything else for us to do."