Found the Monkey

【You passed by the three great sacred lands.】

【The entire eastern coastline of the continent had been pushed back a thousand miles, all of it submerged beneath the sea.】

【As a result, the mountain gates of the three great sacred lands now lay beneath the ocean.】

【Near the archipelago where the Xiaoyao Sacred Land had once stood, you saw Dongfang Shuo sitting on a broken piece of wood floating on the sea.】

【Huge waves surged across the ocean, while terrifying bolts of lightning struck down from the sky from time to time.】

【Dongfang Shuo’s hair was disheveled, his lips pale. Sitting cross-legged on the broken wood, he looked as though he were waiting for death to arrive.】

【You came out onto the sea, walking across the surface of the water.】

【Dongfang Shuo opened his cloudy eyes, seemingly unable to believe what he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes.】

【“Is… is that Chen Yi?”】

【You stopped in front of Dongfang Shuo and raised a hand, suppressing the waves around you and bringing a measure of calm to the area.】

【“It’s me.”】

【“You… have you returned to save the human realm?”】

【“If only I could. Unfortunately, I’m merely a projection now, and I can’t remain here for long.”】

【“Sigh…”】

【“What about the masters of Jiugong Island…”】

【“When the calamity struck, they refused to retreat, fighting to the death to preserve their legacy. In the end, they were unable to withstand the overwhelming force of nature.”】

【“Are all the Martial Kings and Martial Saints of the three great sacred lands gone?”】

【“Even those who survived the first wave of disasters eventually fell during the battle against the falling starfields.”】

【This was a true cataclysm—a calamity that shattered Heaven and Earth.】

【The most lethal part had been the falling starfields.】

【So many stars had crashed into the ground with enough force to annihilate every living thing.】

【Yet you could see that quite a few people were still struggling to survive in the cracks between disasters. That was because, when the starfields fell, many martial artists had charged into the sky to hold them back.】

【The three great sacred lands had been honored with the title of “sacred lands.” When faced with the threat of extinction, they had stepped forward without hesitation.】

【Now, Dongfang Shuo was the only one left in the entire Xiaoyao Sacred Land.】

【You could tell that Dongfang Shuo was in terrible condition.】

【He was not only wounded physically; his heart had also fallen into darkness, and his will to survive was weak.】

【“What about God Xiaoyao? Could he still be in the Time Chamber?”】

【Dongfang Shuo hesitated.】

【“I… I’m not sure.”】

【“You’re not sure?”】

【“Once God Xiaoyao enters the Time Chamber, no one can contact him. He won’t contact us either. As long as he doesn’t come out, how could I know what happened to him?”】

【“Where is his Time Chamber?”】

【“I don’t know…”】

【“Could God Xiaoyao already be dead?”】

【That fellow had a history of being the first to get killed, so you couldn’t help wondering whether he had already been taken out by the Black Hand.】

【You left.】

【Dongfang Shuo continued sitting on the broken piece of wood, waiting for the end.】

【You sped onward, leaving shattered fragments of space in your wake.】

【Just as with the Sword Master in the fifth simulation, whenever you used a divine ability or power that exceeded the Void Realm’s limits, the surrounding space would collapse.】

【If the human realm were still intact, the space would slowly recover after you moved away.】

【But now, once it shattered, it stayed shattered.】

【Fortunately, you were currently far beyond the continent, out on the boundless sea, where there was no one around.】

【Before long, you arrived at the Chaotic Crystal Sea.】

【The entire place had undergone a drastic transformation.】

【Underwater volcanoes had erupted violently, causing peaks formed from cooled magma to pile up on the seafloor. Their summits broke through the surface, forming vast stretches of connected land.】

【On this newly formed land, you saw Wang Mingbai and his father, Wang Yanbing.】

【Wang Yanbing had lost both legs and was lying inside a cave.】

【Wang Mingbai was dressed in rags, his hair and face filthy. He looked like a wild man as he fished by the water.】

【“Dad! Don’t worry! We’ll definitely have fish to eat today!”】

【Wang Mingbai stared at his empty fishing rod and let out a miserable sigh.】

【Behind Wang Mingbai were several mountains made entirely of crystals.】

【These crystals had been blasted up along with the underwater volcanic eruptions.】

【Yet this mountain of wealth had lost all meaning.】

【Even a hundred times more crystals would not be as valuable to Wang Mingbai as a single fish.】

【“Brother Wang.”】

【You descended.】

【Wang Mingbai froze for a moment, then turned and looked at you.】

【“M-Martial God Chen? Why are you…”】

【You smiled, took out the Demon Refining Pot, and aimed it at the sea.】

【“Absorb!”】

【A group of sea demons hiding deep beneath the ocean was drawn into the Demon Refining Pot.】

【You then shook the pot, turning the sea demons into patties, and handed them to Wang Mingbai.】

【You could not come into contact with matter from the Void Realm, and naturally, neither could anything you carried.】

【But your power could still affect the Void Realm.】

【“Thank you, Martial God Chen! Thank you, Martial God Chen!”】

【Wang Mingbai grabbed the meat and hurried toward the cave.】

【His father would not last much longer without food.】

【You followed him into the cave.】

【When Wang Yanbing saw you, he became so excited that he tried to crawl toward you.】

【“Patriarch Wang, please rest.”】

【“Martial God Chen! I beg you, save my son! Take him somewhere safe! The Wang Clan is gone, and I’m crippled. I don’t want him to stay here and wait for death!”】

【Wang Mingbai hurriedly said, “Dad! What are you talking about? How could I abandon you in this condition and still call myself your son? Eat quickly. Martial God Chen helped me get this…”】

【You let out a sigh.】

【“Patriarch Wang, I’m afraid I can’t help. I’m only a projection, so I can’t remain in the human realm for long. Besides… there’s no place in the human realm that could still be called safe.”】

【Wang Yanbing fell back in grief, tears streaming down his face.】

【“Patriarch Wang, do you know anything about the destruction of the Five Great Artifacts?”】

【Wang Yanbing shook his head.】

【Then he seemed to remember something.】

【“Thirty years ago, the crystal vaults of my Wang Clan were looted. An enormous quantity of crystals vanished overnight. The culprit came and went without leaving a trace, and we had no idea who was responsible.

Do you think this could be connected to the destruction of the Five Great Artifacts?”】

【“They left no trace at all? Taking your clan’s entire stockpile couldn’t have been that easy, could it?”】

【“Truly, there wasn’t a trace. It was as if they had the key to the vault, simply unlocked the door, took everything, and locked it again before leaving.”】

【You frowned and pondered.】

【“Could the Wang Clan have had a mole?”】

【“Even if there was one, he’s dead now.”】

【“What would anyone need so many crystals for? One person couldn’t spend them all in several lifetimes…”】

【At that moment, Wang Mingbai suddenly remembered something else.】

【“A few years ago, I saw a mountain floating through the sky. There seemed to be a monkey inside it, and perhaps a person as well. I don’t know whether they had anything to do with the person who destroyed the artifacts.”】

【Your eyes lit up.】

【“Where did that mountain go?”】

【“I only saw it fly in that direction.”】

【A look of delight appeared on your face.】

【You’ve found them!】

【As you prepared to leave, you turned back and said to the father and son of the Wang Clan:】

【“Do you believe in an afterlife?”】

【“Does it matter whether we do?”】

【“The afterlife... perhaps there is hope there!”】