“Where are you taking me this time?”
After the Struggle ended, Gu Zichen took Ye Zichen with him. They now stood within a chaotic space, their surroundings completely empty save for the occasional meteorite and the pits the falling rocks carved into the earth.
“Hurry up and give me the seal, then let me go back to Maple City…..”
“I brought you here for your own good,” said Gu Zichen. He glanced at Ye Zichen coldly. “The seal is too powerful. If you activate it within the Three Realms, it might cause a major disturbance. Did you forget that there are people watching you from the higher realms?”
Ye Zichen froze briefly, then arched his brows. “Thanks for your concern. Can you give it to me now, then? Alternatively, just skip it and let me go instead.”
“Are you really in such a hurry to go back?”
“What a load of nonsense!” Ye Zichen knit his brows and roared. “I don’t even know the situation over there…..
Suddenly, Gu Zuchen smiled, then looked directly at Ye Zichen. “But even if you went now, you wouldn’t be of any use.”
With that, he reached out and tapped the sky. A ripple appeared, and before long, a waterfall-like curtain manifested before them.
The Great Sage’s violent fury was displayed on its surface. At that very moment, he was waving his staff and ending zombies.
“Is that…. Is that the Great Sage?”
Ye Zichen frowned as he watched the situation play out on screen. That golden-furred figure was far too different from the Great Sage he knew. If it weren’t for the Ruyi Jingu Bang he wielded, Ye Zichen wouldn’t have recognized him
“The Intelligent Stone Monkey”
Gu Zichen’s lips tightened into a smile. “The Intelligent Stone monkey was born of spiritual rock. It absorbed the luck of heavens and earth and the essence of the moon and stars. Faced with this sort of heaven-defying being, the heavens naturally had to take certain precautions, so they placed seals within his body the moment he was born. Now he has clearly opened the first seal.”
“Which seal?”
“You don’t need to know all that,” said Gu Zichen without hesitation. Then he arched his brows. “Right now, I want you to look closely at the current state of the battlefield.”
The scene on the curtain instantly transformed into a hologram displaying both the demon horde and the tens of thousands of zombies.
Although the Three Realms had quite a few soldiers, they looked vulnerable by comparison.
“Did you see it?”
“I did.”
The more he learned, the heavier Ye Zichen’s heart grew. He frowned and as he took it all in…..
“Then it’s even more important that you let me go. Don’t delay me any longer. Hurry up and send me back.”
“You still want to return?”
Even after all this, Ye Zichen wouldn’t shut up about wanting to go back. Gu Zichen was baffled.
“Could it be that you don’t fully understand the situation? If the current you goes back, what then? You have no hope of changing the current situation. You might even make it worse.”
“Of course I know that,” said Ye Zichen.
“Then why are you still going on about wanting to go back?” frowned Gu Zichen. “You know that going back means throwing your life away. Are you brain-damaged?”
“Then am I just supposed to stay here? Will staying here fix anything?” asked Ye Zichen.
Pat.
Gu Zichen didn’t quite know how to respond, so he patted his head. “What did we come here for? It was to give you the Seal of the Master of the Three Realms! This seal is a spiritual treasure born of Heaven and Earth. If you return after refining it, you might very well have a chance to turn things around. Got it?”
“……”
Speechless!
“The Intelligent Stone Monkey can hold on a little longer. I recommend that you seize this opportunity….”
Before he finished his sentence, Ye Zichen interrupted him. “Did you experience this?”
After a brief, surprised pause, Gu Zichen nodded.
“Back then, you walked down this same path?”
Gu Zichen nodded once more.
“Then, what was the result?
“The result?” Gu Zichen’s lips quivered for a while. He didn’t finish his sentence.
Ye Zichen, seeing this, filled in the blanks. “It was miserable, wasn’t it?”
“That was already the best possible result.”
“I refuse.” Ye Zichen ignored Gu Zichen’s explanation. If this was the path Gu Zichen once walked, it was doomed to inevitable failure.
If he wanted to avoid Gu Zichen’s tragic fate…….
He had to refuse.
“Send me back now. I don’t need the Master of the Three Realms’ seal.”
“You….”
“Don’t delay me any longer.”
Ye Zichen left him now leeway at all. Gu Zichen looked at him helplessly and sighed. “Fine then, I’ll send you back.”
Ye Zichen was surprised; he’d expected Gu Zichen to insist. Despite his shock, this was good news for him.
“Let’s go then. How do I get there?”
Gu Zichen immediately pointed somewhere. Ye Zichen nodded slightly, then headed in that direction.
Bang.
Before he’d taken more than a few steps, Ye Zichen felt someone karate chop his neck. He turned to look and dimly saw Gu Zichen take out a hand-seal.
“You….”
“My apologies, but this the path you must walk.”
He pushed the seal firmly between Ye Zichen’s eyes. As it sunk into his forehead, Ye Zichen lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
“If you refuse to walk this path, everything ends here.”
He lay Ye Zichen on the ground, then looked at the scene reflected on the curtain. “It all depends on you know.”
The torrential downpour continued.
Jingu Bang in hand, the Great Sage stood proudly beneath the rainclouds, his golden eyes literally ablaze as he watched Hanba intently.
“Answer me. Was it you?”
Terror.
As those golden eyes bore into her, all of Hanba’s inner defenses seemed to shatter; she was overcome with fear.
She wanted to run, but the other party had locked onto her. Even if she wanted to run, she couldn’t.
This feeling……
“Die.”
She didn’t know when he’d arrived, but Houqing appeared behind the Great Sage. Sharp claws shot out of his right hand as he lunged at the Great Sage’s back.
Bang.
The Great Sage suddenly turned, then fiercely slammed his staff into Houqing’s arm.
Crack.
Despite Houqing’s powerful physique, his arm snapped in half. Then the Ruyi Bang lengthened, slamming Houqing right into the distant mountainside.
“This has nothing to do with you. Scram! I’ll deal with you later.”
With that, he turned back to look at Hanba, his gaze emotionless.
In the face of extreme terror, people tended to either destroy themselves or go insane.
Hanba clearly wasn’t the type to end her own life, so she chose insanity.
“Die, monkey!”
“Hah…..” The Great Sage laughed coldly, then immediately swung his staff…..
“You…. How’ve you been?”
