The primordial sunlight shone upon all living things.
Summer cicadas chattered noisily, broadcasting the heat of life. Thick green trees formed vast stretches of shade, swaying gently with the wind.
A large vat of fine wine sat before Tai Ri Yang Mang, yet he furrowed his brow and had no desire to drink deeply.
"O Spirit Travelling Gu, Spirit Travelling Gu — you've truly made me suffer. Now that I have fine wine, I still dare not drink freely. I fear that once I'm drunk, you'll drag me off to some other dangerous place again." Tai Ri Yang Mang sighed in distress.
The last two times, Spirit Travelling Gu had once whisked him to the Ordinary Abyss, and another time dropped him into a pot of boiling oil among the Hair Folk. Fortunately, his luck had held, and he'd barely escaped death both times.
Spirit Travelling Gu spoke: "Prince of Humanity, I didn't do it on purpose. Every time, it was you who activated my power after getting drunk. I'm innocent too — besides, I once saved your life, didn't I?"
Spirit Travelling Gu had indeed saved Tai Ri Yang Mang once from the clutches of the Spotted Tiger Bees.
Tai Ri Yang Mang looked dejected: "Sigh… let's not bring up the past. Now, because of you, I don't dare touch fine wine at all. My life has become utterly devoid of joy."
Hearing this, Spirit Travelling Gu felt a pang of guilt: "In that case, let me teach you a method. First, fly up to the heavens. In Azure Heaven, the sixth of the nine heavens, there is a bamboo grove. From that grove, pluck a stalk of azure jade bamboo. Then fly into Blue Heaven, the seventh of the heavens, and at night, collect octagonal diamonds from the shards of starlight. After that, at dawn, fly into the sky and use the glorious light of the morning sun to transform me into Fixed Immortal Travel Gu. Once I become that Gu, I will never again drag your drunken self all over creation."
Tai Ri Yang Mang's spirits soared at the news.
But after thinking carefully, he felt the hope was slim: "Gu, I was born with my feet planted firmly on the ground. I'm not as light as mist and clouds, nor do I have wings like a bird. How could I ever reach above Azure Heaven to harvest jade bamboo? How could I collect octagonal diamonds from the shards of starlight? And flying toward the rising sun is even more impossible."
Spirit Travelling Gu replied: "That's true — humans can't fly. But it doesn't matter. We can seek the help of Zhi Hui Gu. Its wisdom is unfathomable; surely it will know a way."
Tai Ri Yang Mang and Zhi Hui Gu were already acquainted. The reason Tai Ri Yang Mang drank in the first place was because Zhi Hui Gu had taught him how.
But Zhi Hui Gu had only taught him to drink so he would stop pestering it. Sensing that Tai Ri Yang Mang was coming to find it, Zhi Hui Gu quickly hid.
Tai Ri Yang Mang couldn't find Zhi Hui Gu and was thoroughly disheartened.
But Spirit Travelling Gu spoke again: "If we can't find Zhi Hui Gu, we can go visit Thought Gu. It is Zhi Hui Gu's mother."
So Tai Ri Yang Mang sought out Thought Gu and asked for a way to fly.
Thought Gu replied: "You've come to the right one, because thoughts are born with wings of freedom. However, every person's thoughts are different — what kind of wings you get depends on yourself."
With that, Thought Gu radiated a gentle, warm glow and enlightened Tai Ri Yang Mang.
In that radiance, a pair of pristine, slender feathered wings sprouted from Tai Ri Yang Mang's back.
The wings were extraordinarily beautiful — white as snow, without the slightest stain, like the wings of a white dove.
Thought Gu glanced at them and said: "Mm, these wings are called Self. Every person has their own thoughts. These wings are remarkably agile and wonderfully free. But you must be careful — do not let the sunlight strike them too much, or your Self will either swell and grow or shrink and dwindle."
"Young one, remember my warning well. The higher you fly, the harder you'll fall." Thought Gu's final words were spoken with earnest gravity.
Tai Ri Yang Mang, overjoyed to have obtained the Thought Wings called Self, immediately took to the sky.
He flew and flew, rising ever higher.
Humans were not born to fly, so soaring freely like a bird gave Tai Ri Yang Mang an utterly novel sensation.
He played in the sky to his heart's content, filled with delight. At the same time, he heeded Thought Gu's warning faithfully and never let the sunlight strike his wings too long.
Whenever the weather was clear, he would fly into the clouds to shelter himself.
And so Tai Ri Yang Mang kept ascending, finally reaching the uttermost heights — the far edge of Azure Heaven.
There, jade bamboo stalks grew spontaneously out of the void, their lush branches and leaves spreading in deep green. Their roots sank into the emptiness, their tips plunged back into the void as well, so from outside one could see only the central sections of each stalk.
Tai Ri Yang Mang casually snapped off a section.
This deep-green stalk gleamed like jade — palm-sized, hollow through the middle, smooth and cool to the touch.
Delighted with his jade bamboo, Tai Ri Yang Mang continued to fly higher still.
The primordial sky was divided into nine layers, in order: White Heaven, Scarlet Heaven, Orange Heaven, Yellow Heaven, Green Heaven, Azure Heaven, Blue Heaven, Purple Heaven, and Black Heaven.
Having harvested the azure jade bamboo from Azure Heaven, Tai Ri Yang Mang flew up to Blue Heaven, the next layer above.
At night, the stars in Blue Heaven blazed in dazzling brilliance. As the stars played and raced across the sky, they scattered endless shards of starlight. These shards gathered into an ocean — a silver, resplendent river of stars that flowed across all of Blue Heaven.
Tai Ri Yang Mang beat his Thought Wings and plunged straight into the starlit river to frolic.