Great Demon Sun Wukong

It wasn't because the Nine Swords were particularly mysterious; those swords were quite ordinary, relying merely on the might of the Divine Sword. What Sun Wukong cared about was the original intention behind Master Zun's execution of these nine swords. Although it seemed that in the end Master Zun and the Pioneer had collaborated to slay the Underworld Venerate, and indeed the legend said so, Sun Wukong always felt something was off, yet he couldn't figure it out right away. In fact, after seeing what had happened just now, Sun Wukong himself was rather confused and completely at a loss for conjecture.

Zhu Bajie, on the other hand, was ceaselessly beating his chest and stomping his feet. Sun Wukong was puzzled because Zhu Bajie shouldn't recognize these people, yet his behavior seemed to be lamenting something. "Bajie, what's wrong with you?" Sun Wukong couldn't help but ask as he looked at Zhu Bajie's nearly tearful face. Zhu Bajie sighed and said, "To actually explode one, to actually explode one, it's really too regrettable, too regrettable." Sun Wukong suddenly realized that the idiot was actually bemoaning the explosion of a Spirit Pill.

"Idiot, do you really care that much?" Upon hearing this, Zhu Bajie immediately said in all seriousness, "Now, my ultimate life goal is to eat all of these elixirs, not sparing a single one, including the exploded one!" Watching Zhu Bajie suddenly turn so earnest, Sun Wukong found it quite amusing, but recalling the recent events, his smile turned bitter. Just then, the previously still images started to twist again. Sun Wukong thought there would be something else behind, but the scene just warped a bit and then disappeared. Sun Wukong was quite surprised. What was this all about? Bringing them here to watch so many memory scenes and then disappearing abruptly, what was the meaning of this? If someone wanted them to know something, why not just tell them directly?

However, the person who had shown Sun Wukong these images didn't seem to care about Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie's feelings at all. After the images disappeared, the entire void space also began to distort and slowly dissipate. Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie also felt a strong dizziness and, in the last moment before losing consciousness, Sun Wukong suddenly gathered all his spiritual power in his eyes. His Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes erupted, and then he saw a figure appear in front of him and Bajie. Sun Wukong felt the figure was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before. Then his consciousness faded, and Sun Wukong fell into a faint.

When Sun Wukong woke up again, he found himself lying on the edge of the small island where Zhu Bajie had faced his tribulation. The moist sea breeze kept blowing, quickly bringing Sun Wukong's consciousness back. Suddenly sitting up and looking around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Shortly after Sun Wukong came to, Zhu Bajie also woke up. Neither of them felt anything wrong with their bodies—of course, Zhu Bajie's increased strength was not included. After a while, the White Dragon flew back from afar, carrying a string of unknown wild fruits in his hand.

"White Dragon, how long have the two of us been unconscious?" As soon as White Dragon landed on the island, Sun Wukong was the first to ask. Zhu Bajie immediately pounced on the wild fruits in White Dragon's hand, devouring them one by one. Of course, he didn't forget to toss a few to Sun Wukong too. White Dragon, seeing that Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie had both woken up, was greatly relieved and answered, "It's the morning of the second day now; you've been unconscious for an afternoon plus a night. Big Brother, are you all right?" Sun Wukong shook his head and said, "No problem, but do you know when we appeared in that space and how we came out of it?"

White Dragon said, "You two fell into that spatial rift for just a handful of breaths before suddenly coming out, appearing out of nowhere, and then you fell into a faint, and Second Brother was talking in his sleep all night, constantly ranting about wanting to eat some purple elixir. I thought Second Brother was poisoned!" Hearing White Dragon's words, Sun Wukong didn't notice anything amiss, and knowing Bajie's gluttonous nature—though it was a bit extreme this time—it seemed normal to him.

After checking Bajie's body and finding nothing unusual except for the increase in cultivation, Sun Wukong finally felt relieved. However, just as Sun Wukong was preparing to leave the place with the two of them, Zhu Bajie suddenly said to Sun Wukong, "Brother Monkey, are you sure you haven't noticed anything wrong with me?" Sun Wukong, confused, said, "No, why, are you feeling unwell?" Zhu Bajie also seemed unsure and said, "I always feel there's been some change inside my body, but I can't pinpoint what it is. Brother Monkey, can you check again for me?"

Zhu Bajie's tribulation was truly unprecedented, so it wasn't surprising if something inexplicable had occurred. Sun Wukong didn't dare to be careless and activated his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes once more to thoroughly examine Zhu Bajie's body. This time, aside from discovering Zhu Bajie's stash of private money, Sun Wukong indeed noticed something unusual. "Bajie, do you feel something is wrong with the flames inside you?" Zhu Bajie immediately nodded vigorously. Sun Wukong continued, "Now, release all the flames that you can use towards me, don't worry, those flames won't hurt me!"

Zhu Bajie, having witnessed Sun Wukong's true strength before, didn't hold back, raising his hand towards Sun Wukong, and a red flame dragon burst forth between them. The flame dragon enveloped Sun Wukong, turning him into a fiery figure, but Sun Wukong tore the dragon apart in a matter of moments. "This is the Red Lotus Karma Fire accompanying your Red Lotus Fire Body; the level isn't very high, not much use against an enemy." Then, another golden flame dragon surged out.

"This is Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame; its level is very high, and it can harm the enemy during battle," Sun Wukong said as he felt the might of Zhu Bajie's flames and helped him analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Then another flame shot out, nearly to a blinding white. This flame was a fusion of the Golden Crow True Fire, Red Lotus Karma Fire, and Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame. Zhu Bajie named it the Red Lotus Golden Crow Fire. "Hmm, this one is much more powerful than the pure Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame."

Then, Zhu Bajie hesitated for a moment, but quickly another flame burst forth from his fingertips, this time, a green one. The green flame was quite unique. As it enveloped Sun Wukong, he actually laughed out loud. "Idiot, you've made a fortune this time. It seems your Red Lotus Fire Body has capabilities beyond just smelting; it can actually devour and convert. This green flame actually has a healing ability, replenishing life force. It looks like you've integrated that leaf!"

During Zhu Bajie's tribulation, Sun Wukong gave him a leaf to instantly recover, sticking it on the largest clump of flame. At that time, the flame directly incinerated the leaf, and Sun Wukong thought it was wasted. Hearing this, Zhu Bajie was also stunned, then somewhat incredulously reached out his hand towards the ocean, and in an instant, he caught a large fish. Bajie first scorched it with the Red Lotus Karma Fire and then covered it with the green flame. Shortly afterward, the scorched area visibly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It's really true, no wonder it felt so strange to me even though I couldn't put my finger on it. But this is too odd, healing flames... Brother Monkey, there's nothing wrong with this, is there?" Sun Wukong gave him an assuring look. There's definitely no problem with anything from the leaf. However, as he watched Zhu Bajie continuously emitting green flames, a thought suddenly struck Sun Wukong. Since when did the Red Lotus Fire Body become so potent?

All this time, Sun Wukong hadn't paid much attention because Zhu Bajie's Red Lotus Fire Body was reforged by the Master using the Void Transcendence Flower to induce the Red Lotus Karma Fire from the Netherworld Hell specifically for Bajie. But back then, Sun Wukong's own cultivation realm wasn't high, so he didn't think much of it. But now, as Sun Wukong's cultivation had risen to his current level, his horizons had also expanded significantly, and he knew that the Red Lotus Karma Fire was just a relatively powerful flame in smaller worlds. It's far inferior to even a spark of Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame.

Yet now, the Red Lotus Fire Body, reshaped by the Red Lotus Karma Fire, was showing such potent abilities that it seemed dubious. He hadn't noticed before, but now that he thought of it, Sun Wukong's mind became turbulent. He realized that although the Red Lotus Fire Body possesses the ability to devour other flames and thus advance in level, it should have had a limit. But when he offered Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame to Bajie, Bajie had almost instantly devoured and absorbed it. Of course, since Earth's Core Gold-Melting Flame itself is a flame, maybe that was understandable, but it was abnormal for Zhu Bajie to recklessly devour Spirit Stones within his own World Within the Artifact.

Those Spirit Stones were of extremely high grade and quality; didn't you see how the Peak of Unity Dao Kuzhan was ecstatic just to have obtained one? Yet Zhu Bajie not only consumed those Spirit Stones like candy but even swallowed the Spiritual Essence Jade used by Heavenly Venerate level cultivators in one bite? Thinking about it in detail now, it's simply inconceivable. Using top-grade Spirit Stones beyond one's level is a big taboo in cultivation, but Zhu Bajie didn't seem to care about this prohibition. And there's one more thing—Zhu Bajie actually ate those mysterious chains of the Underworld God Army at the bottom of Thunder Pond. The chains that even Thunder Pond couldn't refine, Bajie had digested them and could even turn them to his use. Is that normal?

How could a mere Red Lotus Fire Body possess such terrifying abilities? But since it had happened, it indeed was possible, but it's absolutely not normal. The first thought in Sun Wukong's mind was that his Second Senior Brother, Zhu Bajie, must be an imposter.

"Bajie, do you remember when, after I wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, you led the heavenly soldiers to attack my Flower Fruit Mountain?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with a recommendation ticket or monthly pass at Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)