Chapter 131 - 123 Behind
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While Sun Wukong was lost in thought, a middle-aged man clad in a golden yellow dragon robe appeared before him. The moment he laid eyes on the man, Sun Wukong nearly knelt down uncontrollably. What dominance and majesty this was! Wukong had thought Donghuang Taiyi was already very dignified, but upon seeing Di Jun, he suddenly understood what a natural-born king was!
Although Di Jun always seemed to be smiling, Sun Wukong didn’t dare to take him lightly. Even though he didn’t perform the kneeling salute, he still bowed in a gesture of respect from a junior.
However, while Sun Wukong was astounded by Di Jun’s aura, he failed to notice that Xi Zhao, though surprised, showed no panic at all. Upon seeing the Nine Patterns Supreme of the Demon Clan, Di Jun, he merely clasped his hands together in greeting.
With a laugh, Di Jun quickly approached. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the surrounding guards. Then, he scrutinized Sun Wukong closely before nodding in satisfaction, saying, "Mid-level Six Patterns – not bad. Reaching this level in the Netherworld World in less than a year, even with some shortcuts, is still quite impressive.
Come, let’s continue in the hall; this is not the place for a conversation."
Having said that, he took Sun Wukong and started walking. Yet, after only a step, he suddenly turned to Xi Zhao and remarked, "Although I don’t know what your intentions are, you seem to be a friend of Wukong’s. Come along as well."
Then, without further concern for Xi Zhao or Donghuang Taiyi, he led Sun Wukong away.
It seemed he was quite pleased with Sun Wukong’s arrival! Donghuang Taiyi, well-acquainted with Di Jun’s character, didn’t mind and looked at Xi Zhao before heading towards the Inner City on his own.
Xi Zhao touched his nose and smiled wryly, but followed Donghuang Taiyi toward the Inner City all the same. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
When Xi Zhao arrived at the hall with Donghuang Taiyi, he found Di Jun and Sun Wukong already sitting inside, talking about something, so he seated himself at the entrance.
"All right, now that everyone’s here, we can finally speak. Though it’s complicated – on one hand, we hoped you would reach this place, but on the other, we wished you would never come."
"Senior, Wukong has many doubts as well. Can you help to clarify them for me?"
"Of course, today was meant for revealing everything to you. But I don’t know how much you understand, so you ask away!"
Continue your adventure with empire
And Donghuang Taiyi just sat at a place next to Di Jun, resting with his eyes closed. Xi Zhao sat at the entrance, pricking up his ears to listen in.
Sun Wukong, who was seated behind Donghuang Taiyi, felt a bit sorry for Xi Zhao, who was sitting so far away. Di Jun, of course, noticed this, and beckoned, "Come over here. Even though you’re not from the Demon Clan, you’re still from the Human Clan. And you seem to be a sworn friend of Wukong’s; if you want to listen, then listen together.
Hopefully, you’ll become a friend of our Demon Clan in the future!"
Upon hearing Di Jun say this, Xi Zhao showed a grateful expression and sat down next to Sun Wukong.
With Xi Zhao seated nearby, Sun Wukong organized his thoughts and then asked, "Senior, why are you and Senior Donghuang present here? Legend has it that both of you have... perished, haven’t you?"
"Ha ha, indeed we’ve died, but have you forgotten this is the Netherworld World? Back in the day, I chanced upon the World Suppressing Stele, the same piece you’re holding. Later, with the mighty power of the Stele and the deployment of the Great Formation marked upon it, I led the Demon Clan to become the Supreme Monarch of Pangu Realm. All beings revered the Demon Clan above all others."
"Then, Senior…"
"Alas, victory blinded me back then. I thought that as long as I had the World Suppressing Stele, there would be no rivals in this world. This led to a series of events and eventually, Donghuang and I turned against each other and both perished!"
"What? Could it be, could it be that you two…"
"Yes, Donghuang and I were both killed by each other. In that battle, we both met our end! Actually, there was a huge conspiracy involved, which I only understood after I died. After our death, Donghuang and I, due to our insufficient realms, ended up in the lesser Netherworld.
Later, we both realized our mistakes, thus, giving up our hatred and making concerted efforts, we finally reached our current state, becoming Nine Patterns Supremes and possessing our own cities!"
"Senior, what exactly is this conspiracy? Frankly speaking, before coming here, I too had a feeling that there was something even greater behind the Heavenly Dao."
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"Oh? You’ve noticed it too?"
Subsequently, Sun Wukong recounted the scene of that last battle and how he met his own death. After finishing his story, even Donghuang Taiyi, who was meditating with his eyes closed, opened his eyes in surprise.
"So it has come to this? It seems that over such a long period, they haven’t been without gains. To think they could create so many at the Half-step Great Path level, the situation is more serious than imagined."
"Senior, there’s no need to worry so much, right? Not to mention you, even I now possess the power of Six Patterns, and dealing with those at the Half-step Great Path will be very easy."
"No, things are not that simple. Every world has its own rules. Even if you can leave this place successfully, you will be unable to return to the Pangu Realm. Unless you are willing to give up your current power. Let’s not talk about this for now. I ask you, you are aware that Chang’er is actually an incarnation of Heavenly Dao, right?"
Sun Wukong nodded.
"However, that isn’t a pure incarnation of Heavenly Dao. To be precise, Chang’er is a vessel for Heavenly Dao. After Pangu initially created the heavens and the earth, countless years later Hongjun achieved the Great Dao and, eventually, sought to merge with it to reach higher levels and break through limits.
But he didn’t expect that not only did he fail to break through, but because of his obsession, he inadvertently contaminated the Heavenly Dao, which wrongly gave birth to Spiritual Wisdom. This type of wisdom is abnormal, entirely an embodiment of Hongjun’s greed and obsession."
"Therefore, Nuwa and Fuxi later chose to merge themselves with Dao in hopes of eliminating this erroneously born wisdom. But because the obsession and greed were too strong, Chang’er and Fuxi could only suppress it, unable to eradicate it completely.
And the so-called ’mending of the heavens’ by Nuwa was merely using the power of the Five-Colored Divine Stone to temporarily seal the Spiritual Wisdom of Heavenly Dao."
"But as time went on, the Spiritual Wisdom of Heavenly Dao managed to escape and then found a host in Chang’er. Thus, Chang’er usually acts on her own consciousness, but whenever anything threatens Heavenly Dao, the will of Heavenly Dao awakens. The first awakening of Heavenly Dao’s will was when I acquired the World Suppressing Stele.
The Heavenly Stele was not from the Pangu World originally, so Heavenly Dao cannot control it, and furthermore, the might of the stele is too powerful. If someone can wield its true power, they would definitely possess the ability to annihilate Heavenly Dao."
"Senior, it’s said that you can unleash the full power of the Heavenly Stele. There are even rumors that you once used the stele to pierce through a planet."
Hearing Sun Wukong bring this up, Di Jun suddenly became somewhat embarrassed. At this moment, Donghuang Taiyi suddenly said, "Legends are fictitious; at best, he just learned the Zhou Tian Star Dou Great Formation from that stele. As for the rest, the stele was just like throwing a stone in his hands.
However, it’s true that he pierced through a planet, but that planet was already on the verge of breaking apart."
Unexpectedly downplaying his own shortcomings, Di Jun suddenly raised his head, his face filled with pride as he said, "Now I can definitely unleash a hundred percent of the Heavenly Stele’s power. And if I use it as a stone, it’s the most formidable stone. Enough of this, let’s talk about the important matters!"
With a provocative glance at Donghuang, Di Jun continued, "When Heavenly Dao realized I possessed such a terrifying Heavenly Stele, it directly tried to take control of Chang’er’s body to snatch it. But by then, I was already at the Half-step Great Path level, and with the World Suppressing Stele, I could even fight a Saint of the Great Dao.
So Chang’er was defeated by me, but later she managed to escape."
"I thought that would be the end of the matter, but unexpectedly, Chang’er reappeared later with a young man by her side. This young man had a nefarious aura, but his power was high; at least, I couldn’t see through him at the time. When Chang’er appeared, Donghuang and I didn’t take much notice.
But during the subsequent great battle, we found that the young man with the evil aura was actually able to engage both of us at the same time. While the young man held us off, Chang’er began a massacre of the ordinary demons of the Demon Clan. Enraged by the sight, I immediately used the World Suppressing Stele.
After taking out the stele, the young man could not stand against it, and he started to flee with Chang’er. But how could I let them escape? Holding the World Suppressing Stele, I gave chase. Eventually, I chased them to a very dilapidated planet in the Endless Void."
"There, we engaged in another great battle. That planet is the one rumored to have been pierced by me. But later I realized, the reason the planet crumbled so easily was that it had no Spiritual Energy at all, and even if I hadn’t struck it, it probably would have exploded soon after. However, because Donghuang and I were not familiar with the Void, we ultimately let the two of them escape."
At this point, Di Jun suddenly asked me mysteriously, "Wukong, have you been to the Moon Palace?"
Caught off guard by this question, Sun Wukong nevertheless instinctively replied, "I have."
"So, the planet where the Moon Palace is located, had it already become a dead star? A dead star is one completely devoid of Spiritual Energy, with no plants, no water, utterly lifeless, and also very small."
"Now that I think about it, aside from The Moon Palace, there really wasn’t much else on the moon."
"That’s right, I’ll tell you, in our era, the moon was a world just like the Pangu Realm, with life ascribing to it. And why it has become a dead star is all due to that young man with the evil aura that I just mentioned. This young man belongs to a special race whose ability is to devour the Energy of mature planets.
Thus, those Half-step Great Path puppets created by Chang’er later were using the energy of planets to augment their strength."
"So, just like you said, behind Heavenly Dao, there is a very large force involved, but due to certain reasons, they can only covertly aid Heavenly Dao to achieve some of their goals."