“It’s already being gathered...” Lord Lao muttered under his breath, when a coughing sound from his attendant interrupted him: “Lord Lao, you forgot to add fuel to the furnace.”
“Oh dear, my elixir!” Lord Lao hurried off in a fluster.
Guanyin hadn’t caught what he muttered, only staring in confusion at these Heavenly Court employees.
“Uh... I forgot to walk the dog.” Yang Jian stood up and bowed, “Lady Guanyin, let me walk the dog first, then I’ll go catch that Monkey!”
“My eyes hurt, Shunfeng Ear, take a look for me.” Thousand Li Eye suddenly clutched his eyes, and Shunfeng Ear grabbed him as they left.
Tai Bai Jin Xing looked around anxiously: “Ah, I forgot the task the Jade Emperor assigned me!”
In an instant, only Nezha remained on the scene. He looked puzzled at his colleagues fleeing one after another. The news of Sun Wukong’s escape had been circulating in the Heavenly Court for days, an open secret that everyone chose to ignore. Now that Guanyin had come to ask about it, why were they still pretending not to know?
“That Monkey...” Nezha started to speak, when a shout came from somewhere unknown:
“Celestial King, why didn’t you bring your pagoda out?”
Nezha perked up instantly: “Good timing!”
As a fiery red figure dashed out, Guanyin frowned slightly. It was obvious—these fellows had known about this all along. Could they have done it themselves?
No, impossible. Though they and the Western side were at odds on the surface, they wouldn’t go so far as to secretly release that Monkey—it would gain them nothing.
After some thought, Guanyin decided to return and report this to the Buddha.
Only after she vanished from the Heavenly Court did a pageboy with a bun-shaped hairdo poke his head out: “Lord Lao, she’s gone!”
Lord Lao also poked his head out: “Good riddance, good riddance.”
“Lord Lao, you almost let it slip.”
“Ah, just a moment of carelessness, a moment of carelessness...” Lord Lao chuckled, “The entire Heavenly Court knows that Mischievous Monkey is the disciple of Patriarch Bodhi. If we upset him, it’ll be awkward meeting the Patriarch later, won’t it?”
“Lord Lao, don’t pretend. Weren’t you the one who specially gifted Sun Wukong a pair of fiery golden eyes?”
“Ahem, that was an accident.”
“An accident? Sun Wukong just ate a few bottles of elixir, but you later claimed he ate over a hundred of your bottles and even got the Jade Emperor to compensate you with plenty of good stuff...”
Lord Lao quickly covered the pageboy’s mouth: “Keep your voice down. Didn’t you have a share in those elixirs?”
“Mmph mmph...”
Deep in the Heavenly Court, the figure seated behind the table spoke slowly: “Is Guanyin gone?”
“She’s gone.” Tai Bai Jin Xing wiped his sweat, “Jade Emperor, won’t this offend them?”
“No matter. This is after all the destined course for that Mischievous Monkey. Everything in this world happens with its own cause and effect. Let nature take its course.”
Fang Zhiyi now had a splitting headache.
Because he had set out on the Pilgrimage to the West ahead of schedule, he had barely encountered any demons along the way. Thinking about it, it made sense—it wasn’t yet the Tang Dynasty era, so the news about Tang Monk’s flesh granting immortality hadn’t spread. Naturally, the demons couldn’t care less about a shabby-looking monk.
If it were just a lack of trials, that wouldn’t be so bad. But the bigger trouble was, ever since he arrived here, he couldn’t even beg for food anymore. The moment he mentioned alms, people thought he was a swindler.
Sun Wukong remarked: “Even the demons, let alone mortals, would think you’re no proper monk in that get-up.”
Fang Zhiyi looked down at his clothes. What was wrong with them?
“Which proper monk embroiders flowers on his robe? And last time, when you smiled at that young girl, her parents almost called the authorities on you.”
Fang Zhiyi felt wronged: “Can I help it?”
It wasn’t his fault this body looked so dubious. And wasn’t he smiling just to get some food more easily?
“I’m hungry.” Sha Wujing rubbed his stomach.
Fang Zhiyi was starting to regret bringing this guy along. He ate way too much—he’d already devoured more than half of the supplies originally planned.
“Excuse me, monk...” a woman’s voice came through.
Fang Zhiyi spun around, his heart leaping with joy.
A beautiful young woman appearing out of nowhere in the wilderness—only a fool wouldn’t know something was off. The previous incarnation of Ghost Tripitaka was obviously that fool.
Lady White Bone suddenly froze. She had only spotted people here and thought to suck some life essence, but...
Why did these three look at her with such terror?
“Nothing, never mind,” Intuition told her to turn and bolt.
“Young lady!” Fang Zhiyi jumped up, “No, miss! Wait!”
“I’m hungry.” Sha Wujing also stepped forward.
Sun Wukong squinted, sizing up this woman with ill intent.
“Ah! Don’t chase me!” Lady White Bone fled at once. What was wrong with these guys?
Whatever, flee first.
“Great Sage, hurry! She’s escaping!” Fang Zhiyi groaned in frustration as the White Bone Demon flew away.
Sun Wukong laughed: “Easy peasy.”
“Nobody’s arranging anything for us, so we’ll find our own tribulations… and maybe throw in a little black eat black along the way.” Fang Zhiyi stroked his chin, revealing a sly grin. He turned to look at Ghost Tripitaka. “Sound about right?”
Ghost Tripitaka said nothing.
Sun Wukong, however, nodded. “That line of thinking could work.”
Sha Wujing clutched his stomach as he watched the monk and the Great Sage talking to thin air, not daring to interrupt. He always thought there was something off about those two—they kept chattering at nothing.
It was damn creepy.
At that moment, Lady White Bone was throwing a tantrum in her own cave.
“I nearly died today! Didn’t you say you could boost my strength?”
From the shadows, a sphere slowly materialized.
“Lady, your points aren’t enough to exchange for a cultivation manual.”
“Points? What the hell are those? And look at the tasks you’ve given me—steal Guanyin’s treasure, grab Zhen Yuanzi’s ginseng fruit, and go to the Dragon Palace in the East Sea to seduce the Dragon King? Do you think I have nine lives?”
The sphere paused for a moment. “Calm yourself, Lady. There’s some anomaly in this world’s data. The system hasn’t completed its scan yet. I’ll modify your tasks right away…”
Not long ago, this sphere had appeared out of nowhere beside Lady White Bone and called itself a system. Lady White Bone had no idea what a “system” was, but this thing could provide her with plenty of conveniences—even letting her keep tabs on everything nearby without stepping out of her cave. Since she had no minions to speak of, she let it hang around.
At first, the thing kept calling her “host,” which annoyed her until she forced it to address her as “Lady” instead.
“The system can offer you a newbie gift pack, Lady.”
Staring at the pill that materialized out of thin air, Lady White Bone was somewhat taken aback. Still, she reached out and took it. After examining it briefly, she shoved it straight into her mouth.
Once the pill went down, a surging power slowly spread through her bones, even causing her skeletal frame to regrow flesh and blood.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
