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Every avatar of the Monkey King wandering through the corners of South Heaven Gate slowly faded away.
The high-altitude wind drifted by, and the mists of the Thirty-Three Heavens shifted their shapes in the air.
Floating stones and ruins—everything was bathed in that dazzling golden radiance, yet at this moment, not a trace of warmth could be felt.
Lord Lao's mad laughter echoed in their ears.
A chill pierced to the heart, transforming into a raging fire that burned within. It was a sensation never felt before—a feverish blaze consuming the mind.
The veins on the Monkey King's forehead bulged.
A gentle breeze ruffled his fur. His face twitched slightly, eyes wide as he stared dazedly at the giant Buddha before him.
Bathed in radiant light, the Buddha atop the lotus pedestal was so blurred that even his outline seemed illusory—a mere projection onto this world. Yet he was undeniably present.
From beginning to end, he kept his eyes half-lidded, as if nothing in this world could stir his interest. No joy, no anger, no sorrow, no delight—he had cast aside everything, leaving only his Buddhist doctrine.
"The seal on the Book of Life and Death—that was my doing, yes. But it was he who sent the soul into reincarnation. To keep Buddhism's hands clean, he cast the soul into the cycle and hid it along the Heavenly Dao's original trajectory, deceiving Master Sage Subhuti and sending it into Crescent Star Cave... because he knew Tripitaka would seek out Master Sage Subhuti, and Subhuti would be moved. Thus, everything was left to fate, and you wouldn't suspect a thing."
"These two have been in league from the very start!"
"At Crescent Star Cave, Master Sage Subhuti had you choose the Sage's Path, all to exploit your character's weakness and force you to pick the Traveler's Path yourself... He knows your nature: suspicious, stubborn. Only the path you choose yourself will you stubbornly walk, even if you must crawl. Sending you to Kunlun Mountain was because he knew disaster would strike there, to make you bear the identity of a demon and stand wholly against the Heavenly Court!"
"They want to use your hand to destroy the order of the Three Realms—to shatter my Heavenly Dao Stone! For countless ages, their deepest desire could only be fulfilled by you..."
"Buddhism claims all is emptiness, cultivating only the self and seeking bliss. So they are scattered, rarely stirring for millennia. But their Dharma is not empty—so they can unite as one, mobilizing countless powers without a whisper of rumor. If I hadn't seen the tampering on the Book of Life and Death, even I would have been kept in the dark."
"Why did the Five Directional Wardens risk so much to help you? Hundreds of thousands of Gold Essence—hundreds of thousands! The Five Directional Wardens aren't like Li Jing, commanding vast armies. With their positions, how could they produce such numbers at once? Yet they found ways to divert it, just to let you reach the treasury before I noticed, and quietly... obtain the Soul Token. Planning ahead—just one Soul Token sealed my path..."
Lord Lao looked down at his bloodstained hands, trembling as he spoke: "One wrong step... and every step after is wrong. Heh heh heh... If they hadn't acted first, how would I have ended up always on the back foot?"
"If I had been the first to discover you—even if it had been Master Sage Subhuti or Tripitaka—none of this would have happened!"
"To turn the tide, I had to risk striking at Belle... After sealing the Book of Life and Death, he used the Five Directional Wardens to deliver a forged, supposedly 'unsealed' Book of Life and Death to the Jade Emperor, just to drag the Heavenly Court into the chaos as I prepared to act. Even alerting Lord Genesis and the Grandmaster of Tongtian was his doing—he deliberately left clues..."
"All of it was to ensure the Sevenfold Cloud-Veil Pill landed in your hands without arousing suspicion, so you'd remember it at the critical moment. Each step linked to the next, every move calculated. On one hand, he broke my game; on the other, had the Five Directional Wardens support you from within. Had nothing gone awry, you would have entered South Heaven Gate as the Heavenly Tribulation descended, and then the tribulation would have torn South Heaven Gate apart... From then on, all the heavens would be joined, and there would be no more distinction between Heavenly Court and the mortal world. Then he would step out to clean up the mess..."