Great Demon Sun Wukong

As mentioned before, there are ten palaces corresponding to the ten forces, with eight positioned in eight directions. However, their distribution is indeed scattered. The remaining two palaces are located within the circle formed by the surrounding eight palaces—one to the south and one to the north.

Among these, the Myriad Demons Palace of Myriad Demons Country is located directly to the north of the Patrolling Celestial World, followed by Myriad Gods Hall to the northeast, Transforming Thunder Ancestral Realm to the east, Myriad Spirits Realm to the southeast, Fangcun Spirit Realm due south, Netherworld World to the southwest, Canglan River Realm due west, and the Ancient Primordial World to the northwest.

Genesis Divine Nation and Annihilation Demon Nation are encircled by these eight great forces. Annihilation Demon Nation lies to the north, while Genesis Divine Nation lies to the south. It is unclear whether such distribution is intentional or coincidental. In any case, for Netherworld World, this arrangement is very advantageous.

With Genesis Divine Nation directly ahead, Canglan River Realm to the left, and Fangcun Spirit Realm to the right, not only are there little threats, but the allies are also remarkably close.

Netherworld World already possessed a complete map, so as long as Sun Wukong and his two companions didn't encounter any lethal dangers along the road, they would soon reach Genesis Divine Nation. Once they established contact with Genesis Divine Nation and the two nations combined, it would be time to attack or defend as needed.

If they were to attack, uniting the forces of both nations would grant an absolute advantage, whether they chose to march directly north to assail Annihilation Demon Nation, or first seize Canglan River Realm and Fangcun Spirit Realm on either side. If they were to retreat, the proximity of the two nations allowed for rapid troop deployment.

They could even establish outposts between the two nations to provide swift assistance should one be under attack.

However, despite being called nations, in the Patrolling Celestial World they were simply palaces, and the combatants numbered only thirty-six individuals each. So if the two forces were to clash, individual strength would play a significant role. If one force had an exceptional warrior, that being could devastatingly seize the palaces of others with the remaining thirty-five.

After Sun Wukong and the others had set off, Xi Zhao continued to give orders. Out of the thirty-three remaining individuals, three were left to guard the palace, and the rest were divided into ten groups of three to start exploring the surroundings of Netherworld Palace. The main goal was to survey the nearby terrain for dangerous beasts or any defensive oversights.

Given that this was not large-scale warfare and while head-on attacks were common, it was also necessary to guard against any who would use divine skills to secretly infiltrate the palace and activate the World Suppressing Stele unnoticed. If such a scenario were to occur, it might as well be time for everyone to consider ending themselves. Therefore, scouting the surrounding terrain was essential.

Not just Netherworld World, but all forces sent out most of their people to scout the terrain as soon as the trial began. Particularly for those without a map, it was akin to groping in the dark in the Patrolling Celestial World. One's own location, nearby elements, the location of others, proximity, and where allied nations were standing, all remained unknown.

Consequently, on the one hand, they needed to survey the terrain as quickly as possible, while on the other, they had to slow down and ensure that all were within effective sensing range. Otherwise, any individual or survey team that carelessly ventured into another's domain due to haste could be ambushed and eliminated, resulting in a considerable loss.

A slight loss could be a reduction in combat power, and a major one could lead to complete annihilation because of leaked information or lost personnel.

Therefore, although the trial had just started, everyone had already tensed their nerves. The exact size of the Patrolling Celestial World was unknown, but with the strength of these individuals, they could cover a thousand miles in a blink. Thus, it was not impossible to be attacked on the very first day.

Especially since three divine kingdoms had maps, no one could ensure their people scouting would not face an all-out attack from a map-possessing kingdom, ensuing in the guardians of the palace being wiped out and the World Suppressing Stele activated!

At this juncture, everyone realized the immense difficulty of this trial—it demanded everyone to rack their brains for strategies, combat plans, and whether to focus on defense or offense, form alliances or disrupt others. In some cases, the application of tactics was even more critical than combat power.

"Monkey, do you think we'll win?" Right now, as Sun Wukong and his two companions carefully scouted ahead, they referred to the map. The three hadn't expected the Patrolling Celestial World to be such a vast expanse of virgin forest with no clear paths. So, although navigating by the map, their journey was still extraordinarily difficult.

Sun Wukong, bringing up the rear, kept a vigilant watch with his fiery eyes while Rogue Heart Sword Hero blazed a trail ahead. Flame God, due to his attribute, refrained from taking action, seeming somewhat bored. They had been walking for more than three Chinese hours. Besides the difficult path, they encountered no other dangers, and the map indicated this stretch was safe.
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"How should I know? But with such a big advantage we have, we should win, right? Hey, Flame God, why don't you fly up and have a look? See how much farther we have to go!" Sun Wukong was also rather bored, but he lacked Flame God's carefree attitude.

"I wouldn't dare, let's just walk honestly. This Patrolling Celestial World is too strange, it even suppresses one's Divine Sense to such a low level. I'm afraid if I fly too far, I won't be able to find you two! Plus, we're about to enter a dangerous area soon, and the last thing I want is to fail before I've even started!" Flame God idly swung his Exploding Phoenix while constantly looking around.

"Can you two stop being so obviously bored? Do you have any idea how tough it is for me to clear the way up front? The trees in this godforsaken place are even harder than Refined Steel Stone, I'm exhausted! Why don't we just make some marks instead? It's not like we're marching in a large force, no need to specially clear a path!"

Sun Wukong and Flame God, who were behind, were stunned when they heard Rogue Heart Sword Hero's words, then Sun Wukong said, "That's a great idea, who was the one who wanted to clear a path in the first place?"

Sun Wukong and Rogue Heart Sword Hero then both turned their gazes towards Flame God, "Alright, alright, I was wrong, okay? I was just trying to make things easier, besides, we do have the task of pathfinding, don't we? Since that's the case, let's just fly over!"

Flame God wanted to explain further, but seeing the angry looks from the two, he quickly changed the subject. However, before he could even get up, he suddenly felt darkness before his eyes, followed by shouts from Sun Wukong and Rogue Heart Sword Hero: "Run, run, behind you!"

By then, Flame God realized what had happened without a doubt and unhesitatingly placed his huge Exploding Phoenix behind him. As the blade just touched his back, he felt a great force behind him as if kicked by a giant, and he was sent sprawling to the ground. Thankfully, he had managed to block with the Exploding Phoenix in time, otherwise, it wouldn't be as simple as just falling over!

"Don't get up, stay down!" Flame God, who felt the danger had passed and was about to get up, suddenly heard Rogue Heart Sword Hero shouting, so he continued to lie on the ground, not daring to move an inch. But then he regretted it because as soon as Rogue Heart Sword Hero finished speaking, he felt as if a huge foot had stepped on his back, pressing down so hard it almost suffocated him.

"Monkey, feint attack, I'll handle this!" Hearing Rogue Heart Sword Hero shout again, Flame God barely lifted his head and saw Sun Wukong wield his Jingu Bang, as his body split into three. The three Sun Wukongs, each holding a Jingu Bang, charged in three different directions towards him.

At that moment, Flame God guessed that he must have been ambushed by some fierce beast, and he was currently being stepped on by it. Sun Wukong was already near, but then Flame God suddenly saw the three Sun Wukongs instantly blown away. Before he could feel astonished, he heard Rogue Heart Sword Hero's low shout: "Demon-breaking Slash, waist cut!"

Then Flame God felt his back lighten, and he immediately stood up, only to see a giant fiery red rhinoceros lying behind him. But at that moment, the rhinoceros had been sliced in half at the waist, though it was not yet completely dead. That's when Flame God noticed something—in the spot where he had been pressed down, just less than half a meter behind his feet, a deep crevice had appeared.

Clearly, it was the mark of Rogue Heart Sword Hero's slash.

Looking at that crevice, Flame God's brows twitched violently before he suddenly turned around and seized Rogue Heart Sword Hero by the neck, roaring, "Explain yourself, what's the big idea? Ah? Was that slash meant for me or the rhinoceros?"

Sun Wukong nearby was already rolling on the floor laughing. Looking at him, one could see not a speck of dust on his body, which clearly meant that the three Sun Wukongs who had been blown away were all fake. Besides, even if they were fake, there's no way a rhinoceros that had just reached Nine Patterns Supreme could blow them away.

So there could only be one explanation: "You two were playing me, weren't you?"

(Welcome to join Great Demon Sun Wukong, group number: 214501643)