Chapter 116 - 108: Hope and Despair
How then for themselves, if even the Primordial Heavenly Venerate, someone at the peak of the Half-step Great Path Realm, had fallen? Who might be the next to perish? In this chaotic world of strife, just how many deaths would it take to bring it all to an end? War, always war—if there are people, there will be wars, and with wars come death. This is the unchanging truth of the world.
Even they, who had long transcended the confines of this world, could not escape this fate.
The Primordial Heavenly Venerate, that was the Primordial Heavenly Venerate. The highest Taoist existence, among the great three purities and three virtues of the natural order, he was the strongest.
The Jade Pure Primordial Heavenly Venerate, the High Pure Lingbao Heavenly Venerate, and the Supreme Pure Moral Heavenly Venerate. These three could be considered the spiritual pillars and supreme leaders of the Taoist Sect. Moreover, the Primordial Heavenly Venerate was also revered with the ancient title of Primordial Heavenly King, from the time of Pangu.
But what of it? Even the great divinity Pangu could not escape the fate of demise, so what could the Primordial Heavenly Venerate do? Wasn’t he still crushed into spirit and body annihilation by a stele at this nameless place in the end?
There is life and there is death; even if you could live forever, even if your power reached the heavens, in the end, death is inescapable!
Quietly retracting the World Suppressing Stele, Sun Wukong didn’t even feel like checking why, after annihilating the Primordial Heavenly Venerate, the stele flashed with three red rays of light and absorbed the Life-bound Essence of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate.
Though he had personally slain Li Jing and mistakenly killed Zhen Yuanzi, Sun Wukong did not feel the same direct and intense emotions as he did now. Li Jing, plainly speaking, was a minor character. Even if his powers rose to the Half-step Great Path Realm for some reason, in their eyes, he was still that minor commander from Chentang Pass, who had driven his own son to death with his own hands.
Even if he had become the Great Marshal of the Heavenly Court, even if he wielded the Supreme Treasure, the Exquisite Pagoda, he remained the same powerless and incompetent Li Jing. Thus, he was doomed to be a minor figure. Perhaps, that was also why Li Jing had appeared in this final battle. Maybe, he wanted to do one last thing for his son Nezha, in a father’s name.
But no matter what, no one really took Li Jing’s death to heart.
The death of Zhen Yuanzi brought Sun Wukong a sense of grief for the passing of a good friend. Zhen Yuanzi’s situation was indeed very difficult, and for a person who had always regarded loyalty as his life’s command, death was the best solution under those circumstances.
Therefore, it was only after the death of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate that Sun Wukong truly felt fear in his heart. Sun Wukong didn’t want to die; he had been aware of this ever since he was born. Rather than say Sun Wukong was always rebelling, it would be more accurate to say he just didn’t want to die.
For a very long time, Sun Wukong truly believed he would not die because he was Sun Wukong, vested with extraordinary abilities. But upon witnessing the death of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate, for the first time, Sun Wukong thought that perhaps, someday in the future, he might also die, possibly even in the next moment.
Sun Wukong, Kunpeng, Human Emperor Fuxi, the Yellow Dragon, and the Kirin—all five were silent, and as if upon a tacit agreement, they began sitting cross-legged on the spot, recovering their spent Spiritual Power or contemplating certain matters.
Only after half a Chinese Hour did Sun Wukong suddenly stand up. With the help of the Five-Colored Divine Stone and having sustained almost no injuries, Sun Wukong was the first among the five to return to his peak state. However, the others were not far behind and quickly stood up as well.
These five were now the Demon Clan’s most powerful individuals, of course, not forgetting Nuwa and the Ancestral Master Hun Kun. So although they all felt a sense of sorrow for the death of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate, none of them were weak. They knew the battle was not over yet.
However, when all five of them stood up, they suddenly sensed intense fluctuations of Spiritual Power coming from the distance. Clearly, someone was fighting and heading in this direction at the same time. The five exchanged glances and almost simultaneously took to the air to respond.
It didn’t matter who was coming; as long as there was fighting, one of the parties involved must be from the Demon Clan. With these five surviving members of the clan, they were confident of defeating any opponent.
No sooner had the five taken flight than four streams of light, tangled with one another, approached from afar. Upon spotting the five figures below, two of the lights suddenly split from the other two and flew towards them.
By that time, Sun Wukong’s fiery, golden eyes were wide open, and he had already recognized the two streams of light as Ancestral Master Hun Kun and Nuwa. Moreover, Nuwa was severely injured, nearly unconscious. Sun Wukong immediately flashed through the air and caught Nuwa, then helped her back to the center of the group.
Another streak of light had already descended; it was none other than the ancestor Hun Kun. Although he too had sustained injuries, they were not particularly severe.
On the other side, two more streaks of light revealed their forms, revealing themselves to be the immortal Yang Mei and the ancient sage Hongjun. Although both appeared somewhat disheveled, they were largely unharmed. However, upon seeing that the Demon Clan still had five members standing, a trace of solemnity appeared on their faces.
At the beginning of the great battle, the Taoist Sect was outnumbered, leading figures like Lu Ya, Zhen Yuanzi, and Jiang Ziya to each take on two opponents. Now it seemed that the numerical advantage of the Demon Clan had indeed become the key to their eventual victory.
Although it was not certain that the rest of the Taoist Sect had met their demise, they had likely lost the capacity to fight again. Otherwise, Wukong and his four companions would not be waiting here in their peak condition.
The moment they saw their opponents, Hongjun and Yang Mei quickly analyzed the situation. In short, it proved to be very disadvantageous for them. Stay connected via empire
While the two could have taken the opportunity to flee immediately, or even wait until the Demon Clan’s strong had dispersed before picking them off one by one, they simply could not do so. They could die, but the Taoist Sect could not be defeated; otherwise, all would be lost.
At this thought, they both made a fierce decision, no longer concerned about whether they were outnumbered, whether they could win, or if there were any other alternatives at all. With all considerations cast aside, the two showed a ferocity that the strong of the Demon Clan could never have anticipated.
They fought with a disregard for their own lives, intent on trading blow for blow, injury for injury. One must understand that these two were the last bastions of the Taoist Sect and had always been revered figures from legends. Yet today, they fought like street thugs.
This bizarre scene gave Wukong the feeling that there was some terrifying force behind these two, compelling them to fight desperately as if they had no other choice.
Or, more accurately, compelling all members of the Taoist Sect.
Li Jing followed this pattern, as did Zhen Yuanzi and the Venerable Hongjun, and now, both Yang Mei and Hongjun joined in. If it were just one person fighting with such disregard for life, it could be explained away, but when everyone did the same, it became truly eerie.
Moreover, having just witnessed the fall of Venerable Hongjun with their own eyes, Wukong and his four companions actually felt some apprehension toward Hongjun and Yang Mei’s desperate stance.
Thus, a strange situation arose, where two were pressuring seven in battle. And of those seven, five had already returned to their peak condition! How could such a situation not arouse Wukong’s suspicion? He began to wonder if Venerable Hongjun’s actions had been deliberate.
But at this moment, Wukong had no time to ponder those thoughts further. Steadying his mind with a roar, he transformed into the Five Elements Chaotic Body and summoned the World Suppressing Stele, ready for a desperate fight himself.
Just then, Hongjun and Yang Mei, who had until now been fiercely attacking, suddenly ceased their assault and quickly retreated, creating distance between themselves and Wukong’s group.
As Wukong and the others looked on in confusion, the space around the seven of them began to fluctuate. Then, they witnessed a scene that shocked and even frightened everyone present.
After the spatial fluctuations, rifts began to appear. From within these spatial fissures, figures started to emerge.
The Jade Emperor, Emperor of Eternal Life, Black Tortoise Emperor, Purple Tenuity Emperor, Yang Jian, the Four Heavenly Kings, the Great Peacock Ming King, Maitreya Buddha, the Ancient Buddha of the Lamp, Bodhisattva Manjushri, Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, and finally, Bodhisattva Guanyin. A total of twelve people, moreover, all of them had been considered dead.
But what truly frightened everyone present was not their appearance; it was that all twelve possessed the power of the Half-step Great Path!
(Third update delivered. I could have written more words for this chapter, but as I was typing away, I accidentally clicked the back button and lost everything. I had to rely on memory to type it all again. The new gaming mouse I bought is too powerful; right under the thumb, there are two buttons for going back and forward.)