Rebirth in Journey to the West: Sun Wukong

"Entering three times in a row would result in the divestiture of Divine Soul Marks to form Divinity?"

Nezha widened his eyes; he genuinely didn't know about this!

"Big Brother Yang, did you know?"

Nezha looked towards Erlang God Yang Jian. Three days later was to be the day of the finals, and instead of returning to his usual place at the Yangtze River, Erlang God Yang Jian had been staying in Nezha's Crown Prince's Palace.

"I knew."

Erlang God Yang Jian nodded, "But it doesn't affect me!"

"It doesn't affect you? Why?"

Nezha blinked, exchanged glances with Sun Wukong, both completely baffled.

"Because I have attained Physical Body Sanctification!"

Erlang God Yang Jian coolly said, "Anyone with Physical Body Sanctification has an extremely stable Divine Soul, never to be stripped of its Divine Soul Marks by external forces, not even the Investiture of the Gods, which is a heavenly tome, holds such power to forcefully extract my Divine Soul Marks. What's there to fear?"

"Being physically sanctified means no fear of Divine Soul Mark divestiture from the Investiture of the Gods?"

Sun Wukong and Nezha looked at each other. They too were physically sanctified, so if Erlang God Yang Jian could resist the power of the Investiture of the Gods to divest Divine Soul Marks, then they should be able to as well.

"Of course!"

Erlang God Yang Jian nodded.

"Big Brother Yang, how come you never mentioned this before?"

Nezha was somewhat speechless. He had never heard a hint of this from Erlang God Yang Jian's mouth. If it weren't for Sun Wukong bringing it up specifically, he would have remained clueless!

"I thought you knew. Besides, you too have achieved Physical Body Sanctification, not fearing the Investiture of the Gods, so I didn't mention it."

"..."

Nezha was speechless again but then thought about it. Despite being the prestigious Third Prince in the Heavenly Court, he had always been suppressed by the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing.

Not to mention advancing through the Ascend to Heaven Platform for cultivation, even his regular cultivation resources were variously deducted; how could Li Jing possibly tell him about the Investiture of the Gods!

"Those who have achieved Physical Body Sanctification won't have their Divine Soul Marks stripped, but what about others? Not all immortals are physically sanctified. And what about your former master, Real Man of Jade Cauldron? He hasn't practiced the Eight-Nine Profound Skill, isn't physically sanctified, does he also have nothing to fear?"

Sun Wukong stroked his chin, still somewhat puzzled.

"I don't know about that. Maybe they've found other methods to resist the power of Divine Soul Mark divestiture from the Investiture of the Gods, but it's irrelevant to us. Why bother about it?"

Erlang God Yang Jian waved his hand nonchalantly, showing that his conflict with the Real Man of Jade Cauldron was deep, not only breaking the master-disciple bond but Yang Jian didn't even want to mention the Real Man of Jade Cauldron's name.

Sun Wukong didn't inquire further; his primary reason for visiting Nezha was about the issue of Divine Soul Mark divestiture by the Investiture of the Gods. Since it didn't affect him, he could now prepare peacefully for the finals in three days.

Three days passed swiftly.

Atop the martial arts field, the Jade Emperor and Queen Mother were seated high above, immortals and gods of the Heavenly Court were arranged to their sides, surrounded by Heavenly Soldiers guarding them, and Sun Wukong and four others stood on the field, clearly divided into two camps: one for the Real Man of Jade Cauldron and one for Sun Wukong's group of four.

The Jade Emperor briefly encouraged everyone again with some niceties and then started the drawing of lots. The result was Nezha having a bye, Sun Wukong fighting against Real Man of Jade Cauldron, and Erlang God Yang Jian facing the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming.

"Phew~!"

Sun Wukong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, this drawing result was absolutely perfect. Among the four of them, God of Wealth Zhao Gongming was mostly aiming to be free from the restrictions of the Investiture of the Gods; gaining magical treasures by cultivating on the Ascend to Heaven Platform wasn't as crucial for him.

Meanwhile, Sun Wukong and the other two needed this place to stabilize their rapidly improving cultivation levels. Similarly, both Nezha and Erlang God Yang Jian urgently required an Innate Spiritual Treasure from within that spacetime black hole to help them comprehend the power of their domains.

Under such circumstances, as long as Sun Wukong defeated the Real Man of Jade Cauldron, severely injuring or even killing him, there would be no fear of him snatching one of the Ascend to Heaven Platform cultivation spots. Of course, the prerequisite was that Sun Wukong could severely injure or even finish him off!

"Wukong, you must be careful, that old thief is not easy to deal with!"

Nezha worriedly communicated to Sun Wukong through a voice transmission.

"Don't worry, if I could repel him once, this time I can definitely flatten him!"

Sun Wukong grinned, last time he had restrained himself from acting in order to grasp the control of Domain Power, resulting in numerous scars on his body that slightly affected the burst of his ultimate move's power.

Now the situation was different; after recuperating for three days, his strength had returned to its peak state, and his ability to control Domain Power had also stepped up a level, solidly stabilizing. This time facing the Real Man of Jade Cauldron might not be a matter of who suppresses whom!

"Be cautious, that old fellow isn't easy to handle!"

Erlang God Yang Jian, who had been maintaining a stern face, moved his lips slightly and finally squeezed out these words. Sun Wukong couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, thinking that the Three-Eyed wasn't so cold-hearted after all, still warm-hearted beneath his cool exterior like in his past life!

Although somewhat worried about Sun Wukong, both Nezha and Erlang God Yang Jian were aware that having Sun Wukong confront the Real Man of Jade Cauldron was the best arrangement since any of the three of them wouldn't stand a chance against him!

"Damn it, why did I have to face this Demon Monkey right from the start?"

Contrarily to Sun Wukong and the others, the Real Man of Jade Cauldron's face looked extremely unpleasant. His least desired opponent was Sun Wukong early on, because it meant he had to give his all in the first match, and even if he won, a severe injury could adversely affect later matches!

Although winning one match would securely earn him one of the three Ascend to Heaven Platform cultivation spots, facing Sun Wukong, the Real Man of Jade Cauldron could hardly claim certain victory; this Demon Monkey was too freaking tricky!

The first match was between Erlang God Yang Jian and the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming. After entering the space inside the Investiture of the Gods, the Jade Emperor equipped the Hao Tian Mirror, enlarging it in the air and displaying their combat through the mirror within the Investiture of the Gods space.

This time the venue of their fight differed from the first and second gates, occurring in an extremely stable space on a Great Plains.

Erlang God Yang Jian and the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming didn't waste much time on words; after bowing to each other, they started fighting vigorously. Unlike a duel to the death, their exchange was more like sparring, lacking overt tension and flashiness, and they did not use lethal moves.

After fighting over a hundred rounds, the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming revealed a flaw, which Erlang God Yang Jian exploited with a strike, defeating him.

The first match, Erlang God Yang Jian wins!

"Why hold back?"

Erlang God Yang Jian was puzzled by the outcome of their fight; he was unaware of the agreement between Sun Wukong and the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming, not understanding why Zhao Gongming would easily reveal a flaw and concede the round, which he perceived as an oversight and an insult!

"My aim was never to train at the Ascend to Heaven Platform. Great Sage Sun has already agreed to help me with my problem, so winning or losing doesn't matter to me now!" Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire

The God of Wealth Zhao Gongming smiled and replied through voice transmission, "Moreover, if we had continued fighting, I would still have lost in the end, which we both know. So why waste our energy? Better to save our strength for the upcoming matches!"

Erlang God Yang Jian wanted to ask Sun Wukong what problem he had agreed to help the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming with that made Zhao Gongming so easily concede victory, but Zhao Gongming clearly didn't want to elaborate, so Yang Jian could only keep his full belly of questions to himself until his turn to fight Sun Wukong comes!

"Sun Wukong, be careful, don't lose! I'm still waiting to compete against you!"

The second match was the confrontation between Sun Wukong and the Real Man of Jade Cauldron. As Sun Wukong was about to enter the Investiture of the Gods, Erlang God Yang Jian's eyes sparked intensely, focusing on Sun Wukong and speaking out.

Though he knew he wouldn't be Sun Wukong's match until he comprehended Domain Power, he still wanted a personal bout to see how large the gap between them really was!

"Hey, rest assured, I'll definitely meet you in the final round! This old mixed-fur Jade Cauldron, I never put him in my eyes!"

Sun Wukong spoke very arrogantly, and it wasn't through a transmission, but openly in front of a large crowd. The Real Man of Jade Cauldron's face darkened on the spot, his gaze chillingly fixed on Sun Wukong, teeth clenching in hatred.

The next moment, he soared into the sky, charging into the halo floating above the martial arts field into the Investiture of the Gods, with Sun Wukong closely following.

On the Hao Tian Mirror, the battlefield of Sun Wukong and the Real Man of Jade Cauldron was revealed.

Unlike the battlefield of Erlang God Yang Jian and the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming, Sun Wukong and the Real Man of Jade Cauldron appeared among peaks, surrounded on all sides by towering, cloud-entering dangerous peaks, with abyssal ravines beneath their feet, a much more perilous battlefield than the previous one.

"Sun Wukong, I will not give you any chance to catch your breath today!"

Upon entering the field, the Real Man of Jade Cauldron immediately summoned the Sword of Trapping Immortals, grasping it in his hand, and activated the Trap Heaven Domain. Clearly, he intended to defeat Sun Wukong with the force of thunder, preferably by obliterating him outright!

"Mutual feelings, I had no intention of sparing you, you old mixed-fur!"

Sun Wukong countered with a cold smirk, his Ruyi Golden-Hooped Rod slanting toward the Real Man of Jade Cauldron, its golden light blazing up, and the Heaven-Breaking Domain also starting to activate. Testing each other like in the second gate was long over; now was the time to unleash the strongest combat power, aiming to defeat the enemy in the shortest time!

However, unnoticed by anyone, a very blurry shadow flew out from Sun Wukong's body, vanishing in the blink of an eye. It was a clone summoned by his Cloning Divine Powers, carrying the Divine Soul Mark of the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming to search for Zhao Gongming's Lifebound Divinity. Since he had promised Zhao Gongming, he must fulfill it, now being the best opportunity.

Although having the clone absent might impact his combat power, he couldn't care less!