Chapter 80: Chapter 73: Spiritual Wood Clan (2)
"Boss, aren't you exaggerating a bit too much?"
After dealing with his own fire dragon, Six-Eared Macaque had wanted to see Sun Wukong make a fool of himself, but when he turned around, what he saw was a several dozen meters long ice dragon. Had Sun Wukong completely frozen the fire dragon? Even the flames? Was this the power of the Five-Colored Divine Stone?
"Hehe, not bad, huh? I didn't expect the power contained in this water attribute Five-Colored Divine Stone to be so terrifying, it even startled me. Originally, I just planned to produce some water to see if it could extinguish the fire dragon. But then, it turned out like this."
Six-Eared Macaque got closer to the ice dragon, and as he scrutinized it, he couldn't help but marvel. In this world, perhaps only the Five-Colored Divine Stone possessed the might to freeze flames, and not just any ordinary flames.
"Boss, did you notice that this flame is extraordinary?"
"Indeed, it far surpasses the Samadhi True Fire. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the Nine Mysteries Scarlet Fire, which is even beyond the Blazing Heavenly Fire. It's just a little shy of the Solar Divine Fire."
"Haha, the flames are indeed mighty, but your ice sealing is even more powerful."
Sun Wukong laughed heartily, "What comes around goes around, Six-Eared. Can you tell the direction?"
As he spoke, Sun Wukong actually picked up the two-meter-thick, several dozen meters long ice dragon. "Hmm, this direction, right, a bit to the left, there, just this position."
Having aimed, Sun Wukong's arm muscles bulged, and then with a forceful exhale and a loud shout, he hurled the several dozen meters long ice dragon as if it were a javelin. And the target was precisely the place from where the fire dragon had come.
After clapping his hands, Sun Wukong shared a smile with Six-Eared Macaque. In fact, ever since he met Six-Eared Macaque, Sun Wukong's disposition had gradually become brighter. No matter how difficult or challenging the task, Sun Wukong was confident in facing and conquering it, simply because he now had a brother.
It had been a long time since Sun Wukong felt this camaraderie, this sensation of fighting side by side with a brother, since his journey to obtain the scriptures.
Suddenly, a furious roar came from a distance, and then Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque saw that in the direction where the ice dragon had flown, a huge fire tornado rose, except this tornado was lying flat on the ground instead of standing upright, like a beast with a gaping mouth, swallowing the ice dragon.
Grasping the Jingu Bang, Sun Wukong said, "Six-Eared, the real deal shows up, let's go."
Six-Eared Macaque shouldered the Earth Elemental Giant Axe as well and rushed towards the fiery tornado.
A few breaths later, they arrived where the fiery tornado was. Only by then, both the tornado and ice dragon had vanished, and in their place, there was a person in a fiery red robe. This person was half the height of Sun Wukong and wore a fierce ghost mask on his face, clearly not wanting his true identity to be recognized.
"Where did this little devil come from, all hidden and disguised?" After speaking, Sun Wukong activated his fiery golden eyes, but when he looked at the person with his fiery golden eyes, he couldn't see through the mask on the person's face. What the fiery golden eyes saw was no different from what the naked eye could see.
This surprised Sun Wukong a bit. There are only three situations in which the fiery golden eyes can't see through something.
The first is if the person's strength exceeds his own by a whole great realm, the second is if there is a powerful blocking item, but the items that can block the fiery golden eyes in this world are extremely rare, and the third situation is if the opponent's illusion technique has reached the ultimate level, to the extent of creating something out of nothing.
However, looking at the person in front of him, it was probably the second case. The fierce ghost mask on this person's face was likely one of those rare items capable of completely shielding his fiery golden eyes.
Since his fiery eyes and golden pupils could not penetrate the disguise, Sun Wukong no longer bothered to squabble. It didn't matter who this person was, anyone who stopped him from entering the Hidden Wood Forest was an enemy. The only question was whether to defeat or to execute them.
"Who are you, and why are you blocking our way?"
It was supposed to be a symbolic question, but to his surprise, the man with the ghost mask actually answered. His voice, however, was extremely hoarse. "If you want to go to the Hidden Wood Forest, you'll have to step over my dead body. Oh, and the Wood Spirit Clan, I've slaughtered them all. As for the thing you're looking for, hah, it's in my hands.
If you two kneel down and kowtow thirty times, maybe I'll feel generous enough to give it to you, hahahaha."
Though the ghost-faced man spoke tolerably, his laugh was like torture to the soul. In his thousands of years of existence, Sun Wukong had never heard such an unpleasant sound. Nonetheless, Sun Wukong did not directly attack, instead communicating with the Six-Eared Macaque through their divine senses. After all, they did not know the true capabilities of this person or whether his claims were true.
If they acted rashly, they could likely be at a disadvantage.
Seeing that the two did not attack but seemed to be communicating through divine senses, the ghost-faced man couldn't help but speak again, "A pair of monkeys, is that all the courage you have? Are you afraid you can't defeat me? Don't worry, I won't kill you. Oh right, I forgot to tell you, for some reason the Hidden Wood Forest is now filled with countless monkeys.
Tsk tsk, I really apologize, I didn't pay attention when I was attacking. I wonder how many of them are still alive."
The two, who were communicating through divine sense, were suddenly alarmed and quickly used their divine skills to check the Hidden Wood Forest. But the sight they were met with tore them apart. Both Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque felt their chests burn with rage.
It was because Sun Wukong's fiery eyes saw the bodies of monkey kin and other demons from Flower Fruit Mountain strewn everywhere, each face etched with despair and pain and also faint glimmers of hope.
The Six-Eared Macaque heard the countless wails and cries – the wails of fear of death, the cries for the desire to live.
In that moment, Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque completely lost their composure. Both of them shouted in rage and then Sun Wukong transformed into a fifty-meter-tall Heaven-Supporting Giant Ape with ice-blue wings on its back, its entire body in an earthy yellow hue, and its arms shining with a metallic luster.
The Six-Eared Macaque also transformed into an approximately fifty-meter-tall Hou Tu Divine Ape, wearing an antique armor, holding the Crimson Blood Roaming Dragon Staff, and surrounded by five divine dragons of various sizes and colors swirling around.
Clearly, both of them had brought forth all their strength. Anger, pain, sorrow, and remorse made them want to completely annihilate the ghost-faced man, to obliterate both his form and spirit.
All of this happened because the Monkey Tribe had their names crossed out in the Book of Life and Death. Naturally, this allowed the Monkey Tribe to leave the Three Realms and be unbound by the Five Elements, achieving eternal life. However, should a member of the Monkey Tribe be killed by someone, they would die permanently, leaving no soul imprint behind.
It would be a complete dissolution into the cosmos. Hence, seeing the corpses all over the Hidden Wood Forest, Sun Wukong felt as though his heart was being sliced by knives.
His efforts through thick and thin were for the monkey kin of the Monkey Tribe and the demons of Flower Fruit Mountain, but now, all his efforts had gone to waste.
Back when he caused uproar in the Heavenly Palace, the memories of the monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain were erased. Later, when he once again fought against Heaven, Tathagata ambushed them. Now, Heaven and Buddhism were no longer to be feared, for he had become the strongest in the Pangu Realm. Yet, they were all dead.
He had failed them. Ever since he became the Monkey King, he had brought them nothing but calamity.
I, Sun Wukong, am a sinner.
With a heart-wrenching roar, Sun Wukong's figure vanished, and in the next instant, the fifty-meter gargantuan appeared right before the ghost-faced man. Then, a right fist, gleaming with a strange metallic sheen, mercilessly smashed toward the ghost-faced man.