Great Demon Sun Wukong

Underworld Venerate, this name was quite unfamiliar to Sun Wukong. In fact, after a million years, the name Underworld Venerate had been forgotten by the vast majority, or rather, it was intentionally erased from the long river of history by certain individuals. The only thing everyone remembered was that a million years ago, there appeared a demon who wanted to destroy the universe, whose strength was extremely formidable, but was ultimately defeated and annihilated by the Lord Pioneer of the universe.

As for who that demon was, what name it bore, and why it sought to destroy the universe, no one knew. Regardless, that was history. The reason Sun Wukong knew of this person, Underworld Venerate, was because he learned of the alliance between the Myriad Demons Country and the Underworld God Army, which Xi Zhao and Jue Luan had told everyone about. However, at that time, Xi Zhao and Jue Luan did not go into much detail, seemingly avoiding some topics.

Now, what made Sun Wukong quite helpless was that the figure he had only regarded as part of mythological stories had actually appeared, without any warning, causing waves of surrealism to wash over him. It was like a mythological tale you'd been listening to, but one day, the character from that tale suddenly appeared beside you. The shock was incredibly intense. Moreover, this Underworld Venerate didn't seem to be an easy adversary.

Yet, Sun Wukong simply couldn't part with the Wasteland Soil Stele. After weighing his options, Sun Wukong decided to keep the Wasteland Soil Stele on him but resolved to use it as little as possible in the future. Although the Underworld Venerate sealed within it was a terrifying threat, firstly, there was the white shadow inside restraining it, and secondly, nothing had come of it after such a long time, having saved him at critical moments multiple times. Should any problem arise in the future, he would deal with it then.

Having thought it through, a smile finally appeared on Sun Wukong's face, but it did not last long before vanishing. Because just now, two dreadful thoughts had arisen in Sun Wukong's mind. The first was the discovery that the Underworld God Army of the Patrolling Celestial World was secretly carrying out a plan to resurrect the Underworld Venerate, and the other was that he realized he had been used as a pawn by the Spirit Controller. His previous speculations about the Spirit Controller seemed accurate—the Spirit Controller's knowledge of the existence of the Underworld God Army was indeed a great problem. Whether it was because of his recent discoveries, he could not be sure. Perhaps it was more due to the presence of those chains.

However, these matters were of little consequence to Sun Wukong. What truly frightened him was that at the altar, he saw a Soul Body. Ordinarily, Sun Wukong wouldn't pay much heed to a soul, but he subconsciously scanned it with his Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes, and in the brain of the Soul Body, he read a segment of memory. It wasn't that Sun Wukong's Heaven and Earth Dao Eye had the ability to read memories, but rather the Soul Body had peeled off that memory segment so that whoever touched it with their Divine Sense would automatically read that memory.

The content of that memory revealed that this soul was not from the Patrolling Celestial World, but a super-strong being from a high-level world. When his strength broke through to its limit, under normal circumstances, he could ascend to a certain Divine Kingdom. However, he did not do so and instead appeared in the Patrolling Celestial World. This clearly wasn't his own will but the consequence of being drawn by the Spirit Controller and, upon arriving in the Patrolling Celestial World, had his strength boosted to the level of Domain Lord Peak. Later, the Spirit Controller gave him a mission, stating that once the mission was accomplished, he could return to his original world, where he would be an omnipotent god.

The content of that mission was exactly the same as Sun Wukong's: slaughter the Underworld God Army, as many as possible. That person truly was a genius favored by the heavens, who, relying on his own overpowering strength, single-handedly annihilated two cities of the Underworld God Army. He slaughtered a total of three hundred people, and he truly killed the members of the Underworld God Army, completely destroying their souls and bodies. However, just as that person was preparing to continue the attack on the next city of the Underworld God Army, something terrible happened.

The Spirit Controller appeared and personally took action to directly destroy that person, and not just that, but the high-level world he resided in was also destroyed. It was only after that person died that the Spirit Controller told him that he had been chosen by the Spirit Controller, and that he was neither the first nor the last to be chosen. The mission, or rather the very meaning of their existence after being chosen, was to kill the Underworld God Army, to thoroughly kill them, but once a certain number had been killed, the Spirit Controller would then destroy them, and completely and utterly destroy their world as well.

The reason the Spirit Controller did not destroy his soul at that time was because that person's soul was very special, and the Spirit Controller wanted to subdue it. But later, he managed to escape. In the end, however, due to a stroke of misfortune, he was captured by the Underworld God Army and then sealed inside that sacrificial altar, used as a vessel to convert Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power.

The Underworld God Army, desiring the resurrection of the Underworld Venerate, also needed to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power and refine it into a life-giving Spiritual Energy. But the members of the Underworld God Army were bound by those chains and could offer very little Spiritual Power. Therefore, they conceived a method using such an altar, then sealing a powerful soul inside, and by infusing the absorbed and gathered Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power into that soul, they made the Spiritual Energy carry the breath and vitality of the soul.

The reason Sun Wukong knew he had been deceived by the Spirit Controller was because of that person, who also possessed a World Suppressing Stele, and it was the very one in his hand—the Wasteland Stele. Every chosen individual had two things in common: possession of the Wasteland Stele and the ability to completely annihilate the Underworld God Army. In both respects, Sun Wukong completely fit the bill.

This also meant that once Sun Wukong killed a certain number of the Underworld God Army, then he would be erased by the Spirit Controller, and utterly destroyed, along with his world in the Pangu Realm—all would be annihilated. Therefore, after discovering this, Sun Wukong truly felt fear. Thinking that if not for his curiosity that had led him to inspect that altar earlier, he could very well have been the next victim, at this moment Sun Wukong felt a chill run through his entire body.

Indeed, misfortune and blessing depend on each other. On one hand, he discovered that he had tragically become involved in a horrendous vortex, and with his strength, he simply couldn't escape it. On the other hand, he also realized the extreme danger he was currently in. Fortunately, he had discovered it in time; otherwise, he wouldn't even know how he died when the time came. And it wouldn't matter much if he died, but it would probably mean the death of everyone, including old Sha and the Dragon Emperor.

In that case, the presence of Ming Tiekuang, whose greater significance seemed to be one of surveillance, right? To prevent them from slacking off? But the plan to stealthily attack the Underworld God Army headquarters was proposed by the Dragon Emperor. It appeared that the Dragon Emperor might have received some hint, or rather, could it be that the Dragon Emperor did it on purpose? Wanting to trade his own life for the safety of his entire Dragon Race? The more Sun Wukong thought about it, the colder he felt inside.

Previously, I thought this operation would go smoothly, but now it has turned into this mess. Not only have I failed to recruit any allies, but I have also dragged both myself and Old Sha into an extremely dangerous situation. What should I do now? Should I just run away and not return? No, that's not an option. Old Sha is still over there, and Ye Zi, Wu Ming, and Hei Kui at Hidden Mountain are likely unaware of what's happening. But what if I go back? Let's not even mention that the World Suppressing Stele might react to that shadow, but what should I do next? Should I fight the Underworld God Army or not? If we fight, how do we fight them? If we don't, what excuse do we use?

For a moment, Sun Wukong felt his mind was like a tangled mess. No matter how hard he tried to sort out his thoughts, they only became more chaotic. His current situation seemed to be caught in a vicious cycle. And even if he decided to abandon everything and run back to the Netherworld World, would he be safe then? Eventually, he would still have to battle the people from the Netherworld World and the Underworld God Army of the Myriad Demons Country.

Suddenly, Sun Wukong's heart shuddered!

Could it be that this Patrolling Celestial World trial wasn't actually organized by the Heavenly Patrollers at all but was instead initiated by the Spirit Controllers? Was the purpose to ensnare the trial participants in battles with the Underworld God Army and then massacre them? The Spirit Controllers were no longer satisfied with just seeking out the chosen ones; instead, they wanted to use the war of the ten powers to annihilate the Underworld God Army in one fell swoop? If so, the only outcome for the allied forces of the Netherworld World would be that, with the covert aid of the Spirit Controllers, they would wipe out the Underworld God Army, the Myriad Demons Country, and the Annihilation Demon Nation, only to be destroyed by the Spirit Controllers in the end!

But was that really the case? Could it be that the Spirit Controllers were already prepared to completely sever ties with the other Law Enforcers?

There's a saying that fits perfectly here: the more you know, the more you realize your own ignorance. This is exactly how Sun Wukong felt now—he had glimpsed just a corner of a massive iceberg. To determine whether this corner was indeed part of an iceberg, and how large the iceberg might be, was utterly impossible through mere conjecture. So Sun Wukong needed more clues. And right now, there was only one person who might provide Sun Wukong with those clues.
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Still lying on the ground, Sun Wukong's Divine Sense had already entered the World Within the Artifact of the Jingu Bang. Without delay, he fished out the Underworld God Army squad leader from the Thunder Pond—the only soul that had not been dissipated. At this moment, the squad leader looked dim, with flickering electrical light all over his body, yet he seemed to be unharmed.

"I'm not one for small talk. If you want to live, then you'll need to answer all my questions," Sun Wukong said. "If you want to die, that's easy too!"

Upon hearing Sun Wukong's words, the squad leader immediately knelt down, trembling, and said, "I want to live, I want to live. My lord, just ask, and I will tell you everything without holding back anything!"

Surprised by the man's reaction, Sun Wukong didn't expect him to be so craven. However, Sun Wukong's Heaven and Earth Fire Eyes were already active, so he could easily distinguish the truth of the squad leader's words at a glance!

"Good, I'm pleased with your attitude. First off, do you know what the chains on your body are for?"

"I know, I know!"

Just as Sun Wukong was interrogating the squad leader, elsewhere, in front of the Annihilation Palace of the Annihilation Demon Nation, a long-bearded old man appeared out of thin air, all smiles. The previous Annihilation Palace had been destroyed in that great battle, with only the World Suppressing Stele left lone standing atop a pillar of rock. Now, even the big pit was still there, but the Heavenly Stele was gone. However, at the edge of the pit, a new Annihilation Palace had already risen aloft.

"Is Mo Wu around? Come out quickly, poor Dao has brought you a gift!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and Monthly Passes at Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)