The Lower Realms, in the Endless Beast Region.
The skies flickered with dazzling, piercing rosy light so intense, no one could look directly at it. They couldn’t even raise their heads.
Beneath that grand flow, there was a mountainous pressure. It completely surrounded Mount Huaguo, home of the spiritual apes.
At its center was a kneeling man in purple and white robes. His hands were both pressed into the dirt.
A staff emblazoned with the characters “Ruyi” was lying on the ground before him.
The man’s sweat poured down like rain, but he still faced the pressure head-on, his fiery red eyes staring directly into the dazzling glow overhead.
“Zi Xia!”
“Wait for me! Sooner or later, I’ll come swooping in on my magic cloud and marry you!”
“Wait for me!
The echo of his voice seemed to linger forever.
Then, seemingly the entire Yao Realm heard this furious response: “For a wild monkey, you sure can spout nonsense!”
……
She’d wept then too, back when her family dragged her back to her ancestral home.
…..
“For a wild monkey, you sure can spout nonsense.”
“He’s no wild monkey. He’s Supreme Treasure!” Zi Xia had wept and argued for him. “I believe everything he said. The man in my heart is a peerless hero. He’ll definitely come riding in on his seven-colored magic cloud, sweep me off my feet, and marry me.”
…..
Her thousands of years of waiting weren’t in vain.
He was here. He was really here!
He was dressed like Supreme Treasure, emitting a valiant aura, and riding his seven-colored magic cloud.
“You…. Dare hurt her?” The Great Sage had grabbed the hooded demon’s arm. His eyes glinted with sharp golden light. He squeezed, followed by the sound of bones cracking. He’d shattered the demon’s arm.
The Great Sage immediately stomped on it, then flung him against the wall.
“Fairy Zi Xia, are you alright?” Ye Zichen landed beside her and asked in concern. She looked at him in befuddlement, then heard him explain, “I’m the Great Sage’s friend.”
“Oh! I’m fine.” She smiled warmly at him, then watched the Great Sage’s back in tranquil silence. It was just his back, ordinary as could be, yet in her eyes, it seemed endlessly radiant.
The guests were stunned and bewildered. This new arrival had swooped in and suppressed a ruler in a single blow. What kind of power did that take?
Zi Yun was in a rage, but when he saw this, he too was stunned. He watched in a daze. Although he couldn’t see the Great Sage’s face, his figure overlapped with another in his mind.
It’s him?
When I brought Zi Xia back to the clan all those years ago, that monkey, the so-called “Great Sage” was just a human-immortal-level yao. Then, when he last showed up here, he was just a sky supreme.
The difference between an immortal king and a supreme was like the gulf between heaven and earth, never mind a mere human immortal.
When the Great Sage and his sister first met, all Zi Yun had to do was release the bȧrėst trace of his aura and ward him off. Not even a sky supreme or immortal king could have endured.
Yet he’d remained, right in the center of Zi Yun’s spiritual pressure, even after the sheer force forced him to the ground. His arms trembled and his legs quivered from exertion as he struggled not to sprawl against the dirt. He’d looked up, his eyes full of golden light as he gazed at Zi Xia and made that ridiculous promise.
Then, just a few days ago, he’d truly come for Zi Xia.
He was still weak, and a few words were enough to scare him off. Who would have thought that now, on the brink of calamity, it wasn’t Violet City’s Hui Liu who intervened on their behalf, but rather, this insignificant, weak, paltry monkey?
He’d struck like lightning and forced a ruler-level demon expert into retreat.
How was this possible?
Zi Yun was so stunned, he couldn’t even speak. The others were dazed as well.
When they saw the hooded demon pushed back, the other demons’ auras surged. Every single demon present was a ruler, a top expert.
They released their domains, which covered the entire estate.
“Aren’t you going to help?” Even though Zi Xia was not yet a diviner, she could sense how strong these demons were, and she could sense the changes to the surrounding space.
In response, Ye Zichen merely grinned and shook his head. “Your Supreme Treasure isn’t as weak as you think. You of all people out to know: your man is a peerless hero.”
“A domain?” Even as it surrounded him, the Great Sage let out a cold laugh. He then pointed at the group of demon rulers.
Boom!
A torrential wave of aura swept by, like howling wind, destroying the decorations and overturning furniture. The guests stared, taking in the Great Sage’s towering fury. Almost none of them recognized him.
“It’s him! He’s the one who released that overwhelming pressure a few days ago!”
“This is a real expert, he’s got to be at least a Yao King!”
“But which race’s expert is he? This aura….”
“Don’t tell me he’s the guy Zi Xia said she was in love with? If that were true, why would the Zi Family bother forming a marriage alliance with the Hui Family? Ten Violet City city lords can’t compete with such an expert!”
“I know, right? Based on this aura, he’s at least a Yao King!”
“It’s him!” No one in the city lord’s estate recognized the Great Sage with one notable exception. He’d encountered the great sage outside the restaurant. This was the ruler the city lord had sent to accompany the wedding procession.“I never would have guessed he was a Yao King-level expert. I’m just glad we didn’t seek out further trouble with him!”
But the most stunned of all was Zi Yun!
A Yao King!
How on earth had his cultivation increased so quickly? When they first met, the Great Sage was a human immortal, while Zi Yun was a sky supreme.
He’d only recently broken through and become a diviner, while the Great Sage was already….
“What a small domain? You’ve really got gall, showing it off in front of me.” With a disdainful mutter, he swallowed up the twelve demons’ joint domain. All of them were now within range of his fury.
“Who dares hurt her? You, you, and you!” The Great Sage pointed to a few demons. His targets’ hearts shook, and they didn’t dare meet his gaze.
Beneath his protection, the Fairy Zi Xia’s smile turned brighter and brighter. She had her hand on her cheeks as she watched him and took in his momentous presence. Her eyes were like crescent moons.
She was proud, and happy too.
“How cool!” She laughed as she looked at his long purple and white robe and recalled their history together.
Finally, she recalled what she’d said earlier with such conviction: the man I love is a peerless hero. He’ll come rushing in on his magic cloud, swoop me off my feet, and marry me.
It was true! He…. really was a peerless hero!
