The True Projection of the Great Sage

The imperial capital seemed to have no night.

The Scroll of Rivers and Mountains stood like a screen before the royal city, its soft glow resembling a majestic canopy, radiant and awe-inspiring. The city bathed in twilight appeared more like a celestial palace than a mortal realm.

Li Mo stood atop the Cloud-Stepping Tower, leaning against the railing as he gazed into the distance. The higher the floor, the more prestigious the tower became, and Li Mo’s residence was second only to the top level—a daily cost of one Mystic Crystal, essentially the otherworldly equivalent of a seven-star presidential suite.

From this vantage point, pedestrians below looked like ants, the clamor of the world distant and silent.

For a fleeting moment, it felt as though the splendor of the imperial capital lay beneath his feet.

"Slurp—"

Young Li Mo sat on a stool, holding a large bowl, his left foot propped on a wide armchair as he noisily devoured a steaming bowl of braised beef instant noodles.

Me? Fight a Great Sage’s projection?

Li Mo decided to eat three big bowls first to calm himself down.

Before long, after a brief meditation, he entered his inner world.

It was still the same Yin-Yang Dojo.

"It really is full."

"All this power of sentient beings… did the Demon-Summoning Sect gather it?"

Li Mo took out the Prismatic Void Tower, lowering his eyes in contemplation.

His progress in comprehending divine intent had slowed recently, as he had already defeated many projections of extreme forms, handling them with ease unlike before.

He needed a stronger opponent.

The surging power of sentient beings, vast as an eastward-flowing river, poured into the Heaven-Reversing Mirror, causing it to emit an unprecedented radiance.

Beside the Yin-Yang Dojo, the bluestone he often leaned against trembled, shedding a fine dust of powdered rock.

Then, amid a deafening roar, a stone monkey erupted from the ground.

Its body was dark cyan, its eyes blazing like torches, standing ten feet tall. Yin and Yang energies flowed through the rock-like patterns covering its form, its power distorting the surrounding space. Its towering figure blotted out the moonlight, exuding an aura as deep as an abyss.

"Is this the Great Sage’s projection?"

Li Mo found it vaguely familiar—it bore a striking resemblance to Wuzhiqi, one of his Seventy-Two Transformations.

But at that very moment…

The stone monkey divine pattern in his dantian lit up, and the Great Sage’s divine manifestation materialized behind him. Across the howling wind, it locked eyes with the stone monkey.

For the first time, it displayed a hint of human-like emotion.

"Fight, and the truth will reveal itself."

Li Mo shed his pure white robe, revealing his muscular frame as he gripped his hammer.

Facing this stone monkey, likely the Great Sage’s projection, he dared not let his guard down for even a moment.

The white robe had barely touched the ground when the stone monkey leaped high, its shadow engulfing the young man. The heavy Star-Piercer Hammer felt weightless in Li Mo’s hands, yet it seemed to drag his body into a spinning motion as he swung it down with all his might.

Hammer met stone with a deafening clash.

In terms of raw strength, Li Mo, bolstered by his mystic weapon and hammer techniques, stood nearly equal.

The stone monkey dug its feet into the ground to halt its momentum, its tail flicking slightly as it adjusted its stance. Its coiled body sprung like a released spring, lunging forward in a killing strike.

It didn’t seem to know any martial arts.

Yet its punches, though seemingly simple, carried a refined simplicity—a mastery of reducing complexity to its essence.

Li Mo’s mind and body were in perfect sync. Every hammer strike from his forging practice flashed brilliantly in his thoughts.

Strike!

He refused to retreat. The hammer, light yet heavy, floated forward and landed on the stone monkey’s arm joint.

But his perfectly poised hammer momentum was split apart by that straightforward punch.

Not only did it fail to land a decisive blow, but it seemed to amplify the opponent’s force instead. Li Mo found himself caught in a vortex of energy, his defenses wide open!

Not good…

A golden glow of Vajra Indestructibility flared across his body. By the second exchange, he had already been forced to use his ultimate defense.

Clang—

Sparks flew as he took a solid punch, sent flying to the edge of the Yin-Yang Dojo.

Had it not been for Vajra Indestructibility, this battle would have ended right there.

Suppressing his shock, Li Mo gritted his teeth and plucked two strands of hair. Three identical figures, each wielding a hammer, charged at the stone monkey from all sides.

Yet against the tripled opponents, the stone monkey only grew more at ease, turning the extra clones into liabilities.

When one clone struck its elbow, it used the momentum to pivot, raising both fists and smashing down—slow, yet unstoppable.

Does it know Sevenfold Heaven-Sundering too?

Li Mo’s heart skipped a beat, forcing him to dodge.

No, that’s not it.

The stone monkey didn’t know any martial arts. It relied purely on instinct, turning the crude into the miraculous—whether that took the form of techniques or something else entirely.

But what was the foundation of this?

Fists, elbows, even its tail—each strike came like a storm, simple yet overwhelming.

Li Mo struggled to defend, even resorting to the Heaven-Earth Manifestation, yet he couldn’t gain the upper hand.

Logically, their strength was comparable, and he had more techniques at his disposal.

Yet he was the one being overwhelmed.

Li Mo’s breathing grew ragged.

Since his debut, he had never faced such a suffocating opponent. Even against higher-realm foes, he could always find a weakness or bridge the gap with other means.

But now, against this stone monkey—whose physique and divine intent were on par with his own—he felt powerless.

If this dragged on, he would lose…

Then, a silvery moonlight suddenly brightened.

The lunar orb in his inner world shone brilliantly.

Everything around him seemed to slow. The frustration and helplessness in Li Mo’s heart were washed away by the cool, soothing lunar divine intent.

Under the moonlight, the stone monkey’s movements appeared sluggish. He could see every strand of its fur, every shift in its power.

The stone monkey vanished.

All that remained was the most fundamental, the simplest essence.

The stone monkey was reduced to this, and so was Li Mo. Never before had he felt so acutely aware of himself, of his own physical existence.

A realization dawned on him.

"I’ve never truly understood my own heart."

His mind became still, casting aside all techniques, secret arts, and divine skills.

Clang—

Another collision.

A plain, unadorned hammer strike met the stone fist, not as adversaries but as blacksmith and metal.

Li Mo activated the Heaven-Earth Manifestation, his arm swelling in size.

As he swung again, a blinding golden light erupted before him.

Boom—

The tremendous recoil sent him reeling, his blood and qi churning violently.

A gilded staff stood planted before the stone monkey, unmoved despite the Heaven-Earth strike.

The stone monkey halted, its expressionless face suddenly alive.

Pieces of stone crumbled away like dissipating ash, and the golden light broke free, flowing onto the staff and illuminating the inscriptions upon it.

The weapon’s hum shook the inner world, stirring wind and clouds.

[The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod]