Great Demon Sun Wukong

Sun Wukong's words had the nine-headed hydra rolling its eyes, although this was hardly discernible in its serpentine eyes. Yet despite his irritation, it couldn't do anything about Sun Wukong. Not to mention, it was outmatched in a fight and would later have to rely on him—clearly, he didn't trust it in the slightest. The nine heads bowed rather humanely, and one of them spoke with a hint of grievance, "If that's the case, what if I give you a strand of my soul origin to hold on to? That way, you'll know in advance if I plan to harm you, and I'll be largely restrained by you."

This time, Sun Wukong finally nodded with a smile. As the saying goes, one may cast aside the intention to harm others, yet must never discard the wariness against potential threats. The battles in the Patrolling Celestial World, especially the never-ending undercover tactics from the Myriad Demons Country, had truly broadened Sun Wukong's horizons. Thus, he would no longer offer his unconditional trust to anyone as he had in the past. This could be seen as a shift in Sun Wukong's mentality or, perhaps, it was the pain and enlightenment that Xi Zhao brought to him.

Despite the nine-headed hydra's seemingly naive and straightforward behavior, Sun Wukong did not fully trust it. In this world, perhaps no one but Master Zun Dao Zhun could be so selflessly kind-hearted to him. Dao Zhun had dedicated everything unconditionally to Wukong, paving the path for him to reach the endpoint of the Supreme Path, even sacrificing his own life and bequeathing his life-bound space.

Thinking of Master Zun Dao Zhun, Sun Wukong felt deep sorrow wash over him again. "Alright then, split your soul origin and give it to me, and after that, go fetch your treasures. By the way, if I master that domain instrument, there won't be any problems, will there?" The nine heads of the hydra each spat out a finger-length, translucent thread, which Sun Wukong swiftly gathered with his divine sense, sealing them within his sea of consciousness. These strands would act as his only means to restrain the hydra, should it try anything.

After spitting out nine strands of soul origin, the hydra appeared quite exhausted but still perked up spiritedly, "Now that we've reached a cooperative relationship, albeit at a great cost to me, I trust you. There's one last thing I need to tell you." Hearing the hydra's words, Sun Wukong got a bad feeling—what else was there? Why hadn't it mentioned it earlier? Seeing Sun Wukong's face darken, the hydra just chuckled carelessly, "This last thing is very important for you. I originally didn't plan to tell you, but seeing how pitiful you are..."

Before the hydra could finish, Sun Wukong had already drawn his Golden Hoop. Frightened, the hydra quickly exclaimed, "Don't attack, your temper really needs work. Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you. This last thing, it's good news, very good news. Put your staff away, or you'll regret it later." Sun Wukong ignored it, so the hydra had no choice but to say reluctantly, "Actually, there's a way to resurrect your master!"

As soon as the hydra had spoken, Sun Wukong froze, and his Golden Hoop dropped to the ground, landing directly on the hydra's tail. The hydra screamed, twisting its body desperately to free its tail from underneath the staff, but after several attempts, it failed and quickly yelled at Sun Wukong, "Hurry, take away this damn staff, quickly, or my tail will break!"

Sun Wukong, who had been immersed in the joy of hearing that Master Zun Dao Zhun could be resurrected, was abruptly pulled back to reality by the hydra's cries. Looking down, he saw black smoke rising from the hydra's tail, which was pinned by the Golden Hoop. As he bent down to pick up the staff, Sun Wukong said in surprise, "What happened? Aren't you just a soul body? How can the Golden Hoop hurt you? And I don't remember the staff having that kind of ability."

The hydra shook its tail and shouted angrily, "Your cursed staff, does it contain a world that's forming? This is just bad luck, terrible bad luck." Sun Wukong nodded, then seemed to realize something, "You are the Annihilation Nine Headed Serpent, and there's a world being born inside the Golden Hoop. Could there be a restraining effect between the two of you?" The hydra placed its injured tail in one of its mouths, while the central head replied, "Of course there's a restraint. Creation and Destruction are fundamentally opposite forces. Don't ever touch me with that staff again. It's a good thing I wasn't using the Power of Destruction when you hit my vital point, or I would have been done for."

Although surprised that the Jingu Bang could still restrain the Annihilation Nine-Headed Serpent, Sun Wukong was more concerned with what the serpent had mentioned earlier, regarding the resurrection of Dao Zhun. "You mentioned earlier that my master could still be resurrected. How can that be the case? My master didn't even leave a body behind, so how can he be resurrected?" At that moment, however, the serpent ignored Sun Wukong and swiftly slithered up his leg, coiling around his waist, and then its nine heads burrowed straight into the position of Wukong's dantian in his lower abdomen. Wukong felt very uncomfortable watching a snake wriggling into his body. However, upon second thought, he realized it was merely a soul body and would not cause any harm, thus he barely suppressed the urge to reach out and yank the serpent out.

Once the nine-headed serpent had completely burrowed into his dantian, a voice resounded in Wukong's mind, "In truth, extracting the vital essence of the soul has already left me significantly weakened, and this ordeal has further drained me. I must now sleep. When I awake, I will answer you. For now, follow the map and head south, find the two pits marked there, and enter. Keep going until you reach the deepest part. I will be awake by then." The voice then disappeared, and although Sun Wukong wanted to ask more about his master's resurrection, he could no longer sense the serpent's presence within him.

Heaving a sigh of resignation, he consoled himself to not rush, reminding himself that having hope was far better than having none. What he needed to do now was to find that large hole first, collect the treasures, and then head straight back to the Pangu Realm. In truth, Wukong should have returned to the Netherworld World first, as without Yue Huangquan offering Wukong the chance to venture to the Patrolling Celestial World, he would not have encountered Sha Wujing or met Master Dao Zhun, which meant there would have been no possibility of returning to the Pangu Realm. Moreover, Yue Huangquan had said that upon completing the trial, they could be resurrected and return to their original world, and also bring one more person back with them.

However, after some thought, Sun Wukong realized he had no one to bring back, and with no attachments left in the Netherworld World, there was no need for a deliberate return. Yet, after handling matters in the Pangu Realm, he still planned to visit to express gratitude and to meet again with the Sword Hero Flame God and the others. Furthermore, he needed to ask Yue Huangquan about the Six-Eared Macaque. Previously, in his confidential conversation with Yi Xuan, she had informed him that the Six-Eared Macaque had left him a message, which was with Yue Huangquan, but as to what the message said and where the Six-Eared Macaque might be, Yi Xuan remained silent no matter how Wukong asked.

Yi Xuan's assurance that he and the Six-Eared Macaque would meet again was the only information given to Sun Wukong. Nonetheless, Yi Xuan urged Wukong not to worry about the safety of the Six-Eared Macaque, thus Wukong didn't urge Yue Huangquan for information about Six-Eared's whereabouts and the message. Once he returned to the Pangu Realm and with his assistance, reviving his master would pose no problem. He then planned to find a way to locate White Dragon, as he currently held two of those elixirs, which he intended to give one each to his master and White Dragon.

Under his protection, he believed those two elixirs would definitely enhance his master and White Dragon to Unity Dao or even beyond, and after settling things in the Pangu Realm, they could then venture into a broader world. As for Bajie, the fool, though there were no elixirs left for him, Wukong had not forgotten him. Before leaving, Wukong had specially asked Flame God for two kinds of fire: one was a batch of Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame obtained from the lair of the Underworld God Army by Flame God, and the other was Purple Gold Kirin Flame, the life-bound flame of Ling Weiyang from the shadowy Myriad Demons Palace. Blessed with these two types of fire, Bajie was sure to be overjoyed. And once his power reached Dao Patterns, Wukong would permit him to recognize and claim the World Suppressing Stele.

Otherwise, with Sha having one and him without, that fool would surely be discontented.

As he contemplated plans upon his return to the Pangu Realm, Sun Wukong was already speeding through the skies. By nightfall, he had reached the airspace above the large hole marked on the map. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please support us with your recommendation and monthly pass votes on Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can read at m.qidian.com.)