Great Demon Sun Wukong

(The guardian of the Fire Attribute Divine Stone is the Illusion Demon Clan, which was previously stated as the Demon Dream Clan, and I am restating it here. If any readers spot such errors, please feel free to point them out, and I will correct them promptly.)

"You, you mean Hong Hai'er is the Fire Attribute Five-Colored Divine Stone?" Sun Wukong exclaimed in surprise upon hearing what Six-Eared Macaque had said. This revelation could not but shock Sun Wukong: he himself was the Earth Attribute Five-Colored Divine Stone, and Nezha was the Metal Attribute Five-Colored Divine Stone. Now, could it be that Hong Hai'er was the Fire Attribute?

"Big brother, what are you saying about Hong Hai'er?"

"Oh, you might not know about this. On the journey to obtain the scriptures, when we passed through Huoyun Cave at the dry pine stream of Flame Mountain, we met the Holy Infant King, Hong Hai'er. Later, I learned from the Deity of the Land that the child was actually the son of my sworn brother, the Bull Demon King.

This Hong Hai'er is an innate Fire Spirit Body, able to freely spit Samadhi True Fire, and very difficult to deal with."

"Then big brother, it's very possible that Hong Hai'er is that Fire Attribute stone. After all, having an innate Fire Spirit Body is extremely rare. By the way, when was Hong Hai'er born?"

"I'm not exactly sure about the details, but it should have been after my havoc in the Heavenly Palace, during the five hundred years I was suppressed under the Five Elements Mountain."

"Hmm, then it must be him. When I first arrived on the island, that stone was already gone."

"The more I think about it, the more possible it seems. Because my sworn brother is a Heavenly Demon Bull who attained enlightenment, and the mother of Hong Hai'er is the princess of the Rakshasa Kingdom; the child they would logically produce should also be of the Heavenly Demon Bull lineage.

Even if the Rakshasa bloodline from the mother caused some interference, at the very least, there should be a pair of bull horns. But when I saw the child, not only did he have no horns, he did not have a trace of the Demon Bull's bloodline. If I didn't know for sure that my sister-in-law was fiercely loyal, I would have suspected that the old Bull had been cuckolded.

Now that I think about it, it turns out that Hong Hai'er is actually transformed from the Five-Colored Divine Stone. No wonder, no wonder..."

Having finished speaking in one breath and after analyzing with each other, they were finally certain that Hong Hai'er was the Fire Attribute Five-Colored Divine Stone. But now, Sun Wukong truly faced a dilemma.

"Big brother, do you know where Hong Hai'er is now?"

"If nothing unexpected happened, he should be serving as a Child of Good Fortune under Guanyin Bodhisattva."

"Guanyin? Isn't Hong Hai'er a demon? How...?"

Suddenly, Sun Wukong's face twisted with embarrassment. "That Hong Hai'er once captured my master, Tang Sanzang, and obstructed our quest for the scriptures. But since he is the child of my elder brother, I couldn't bring myself to be too harsh. However, I didn't expect that child to show me no mercy at all. Eventually, I found it too troublesome and called for Guanyin Bodhisattva.

As a result, Hong Hai'er was taken away by Guanyin Bodhisattva."

"And my elder brother even turned against me over Hong Hai'er incident, to the extent of getting into a fierce fight at Flame Mountain. Alas, on this journey to obtain the scriptures, I've offended so many people."

"So, do we go to Guanyin's place to find Hong Hai'er now, or...?"

"Not to mention that Buddhism has undergone such a transformation, whether Guanyin Bodhisattva is still in the South Sea or not. Even if we truly find him, how could I bring myself to do it? Am I really supposed to kill Hong Hai'er?"

"Sigh, it's indeed a tough situation."

"Now the Bull Demon King is enduring hardships in the Extreme Northern Ice Field, and Princess Iron Fan of the Rakshasa is missing. If I were to kill Hong Hai'er as well, I might as well let my elder brother kill me directly."

"How about this, we first go to the Hidden Wood Forest to get the Wood Attribute Divine Stone. As for Hong Hai'er, let's take it one step at a time."

"That's the only choice we have, alas. Are you coming with me?"

"Of course. Actually, Meng Gui, the Clan Leader of the Illusion Demon Clan, set off for Hidden Wood Forest a while ago," he told me before he left, "if someone else comes along to challenge and defeats me, take them to Hidden Wood Forest. And here we are talking about you, boss."

"So, shall we set off now?"

"Absolutely, let's go right away!" As soon as Six-Eared Macaque finished speaking, with a whirl of his feet, he was already riding the clouds away. Sun Wukong couldn't help but be surprised. It seemed like the Six-Eared Macaque was even more anxious than himself. So, without further ado, he summoned his somersault cloud and caught up.

Standing on his somersault cloud, Sun Wukong suddenly asked, "Six-Eared, why do you look even more anxious than me?"

Then, with a mischievous smile, the Six-Eared Macaque turned around and said, "We've made such a mess of Illusory Demon Island; if we don't run, who else is going to clean up after us?"

"You rascal. Actually, when I was looking for the Water Attribute Divine Stone, the Elder of the Aquatic Tribe, Shui Xuwu, told me to first go to Hidden Wood Forest in the extreme east to get the Wood Attribute Divine Stone. But later, I took a shortcut and came to Illusory Demon Island first, only to end up having to go to Hidden Wood Forest anyway.

Do you think that Water Tribe Elder already knew it would end up like this?"

"Haha, boss, this is what they call 'Failing to heed the wise leads to trouble at your door.' But come to think of it, these clan leaders and elders of the Ancient Clans, they truly possess profound cultivation. And it seems everyone is skilled in divination. However, boss, if you had gone to Hidden Wood Forest first, who knows when we would have met up.

It's all the same now that I'm with you, getting that Wood Attribute Divine Stone will be a snap. Hahaha."

With bursts of hearty laughter, Six-Eared Macaque sped through the clouds at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye. And the Crimson Blood Roaming Dragon Staff had long been put away by the Six-Eared Macaque.

"Six-Eared, how about we have a little competition? You know the way to Hidden Wood Forest, don't you?"

"Sure, we're competing? Although I haven't been to Hidden Wood Forest, I still know the way," replied the Six-Eared Macaque.

"Alright then, let's see who gets to Hidden Wood Forest first!" After saying that, with a piercing shriek, he accelerated his somersault cloud. The Six-Eared Macaque also shouted out and, not to be outdone, spurred his clouds to pursue.

At this point, the speed of the two had surpassed what the naked eye could detect, yet they seemed unsatisfied with the velocity.

Mounted on his somersault cloud, Sun Wukong struck a few hand seals with his hands, then suddenly a pair of dazzling light blue ice wings sprouted from his back. As soon as the ice wings appeared, with a flap of the wings, Sun Wukong's speed increased by a third, and he instantly surpassed the Six-Eared Macaque.

Their cloud-riding speeds had been comparable initially, but with the appearance of Sun Wukong's ice wings, the Six-Eared Macaque was left trailing behind. Seeing this, Six-Eared Macaque realized he would surely lose if this continued, so he drew a line in the air with his right hand, creating a spatial rift, and a small blood-red dragon materialized out of nowhere.

"With the power of Ying Long, soar!"

This small dragon, thirty feet long with six wings on its back, was none other than Ying Long, a rare species among the ancient Divine Dragons.

In ancient times, young dragons without horns were called Chi Dragons; hornless yellow dragons or hornless females were called Qi Dragons; scaled dragons that could cause floods were defined as Jiao Dragons; dragons with horns were known as Horned Dragons, with Jiao becoming Horned Dragons over five hundred years; elder dragons among them were referred to as Horned Dragons.

Those with wings were Ying Long, who, after a thousand years, could transform from Horned Dragons, typically soaring in the sky and overlooking the Nine Provinces; another kind that lurked underground were Pan Dragons, which disliked flying and were considered terrestrial.

Finally, there were the orthodox Divine Dragons, Azure Dragons, one of the four holy creatures and ancestors of ancient dragon lineage.

Chi Dragons, Qi Dragons, Horned Dragons, Ying Long, Pan Dragons are not considered orthodox dragons but possess mysterious might akin to that of gods and demons. Among the orthodox dragons of ancient times, other than the progenitor Azure Dragon, only his descendants, the Canglong, were considered. And all amongst the dragon race revered the Azure Dragon with its blue scales.

What the Six-Eared Macaque summoned was a flying dragon, Ying Long, albeit only an apparition created by the True Blood of Ying Long Although it was just a phantom, it doubled the speed of the Six-Eared Macaque in an instant, allowing him to overtake Sun Wukong after just a few blinks of an eye!