With a thunderous roar that echoed through the thirty-three heavens, two golden lights pierced the firmament, blazing brilliantly and lingering for a long time.
The staff members were startled. Upon re-examining the source, they discovered it originated from the direction of Mount Huaguo.
They exclaimed, "Could it be that person, undergoing tribulation?"
Although no specific tests had been conducted, the combination of Mount Huaguo, two golden lights, and their direct ascent to the Heavenly Court made it almost certain to be that monkey.
However, these two golden lights were far stronger than the previous ancient sage, Leng Yu Bing.
Could this ancient sage, who had descended upon Mount Huaguo, be a true Immortal Emperor-level existence?
...
The Dao says: Since the heavens and earth were first created, the Yin and Yang have had my being. I once caused the Three Realms great distress, the divine paths of the four directions feared me, the ghostly soldiers of the five peaks raged, the six harmonies and four directions were in chaos, the seven netherworlds and the Big Dipper were indistinguishable. Who among the eight directions and ten thousand worlds is revered? The nine heavens cannot capture me, nor can the hundred thousand demon lords.
It is said that in the sea, there is a mountain. This mountain is the ancestor of the ten continents and the dragon vein of the three islands, named Mount Huaguo.
Within Mount Huaguo, there is a blessed cave, known as the Water Curtain Cave.
At the summit of Mount Huaguo, the monkeys, sensing something, bowed in unison, saying, "We welcome the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Walker, the Hundred Thousand Demon Lords, back!"
Upon a stone monkey with fully formed features and limbs, Sun Lu Zhen shook his head and said, "I was once the leader of the demon army, and I was also a member of the journey to the West."
"I was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and I was also called the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven."
"Some people once called me Sun Wukong, but I could never comprehend emptiness, and merely practiced truthfulness."
"You may still call me, Sun Lu Zhen."
Looking at the monkeys, Sun Lu Zhen's eyes held a multitude of memories.
...
In the past, during a previous tribulation, on Mount Huaguo.
A human from Earth named Sun Yuan transmigrated, possessing the will of the Heaven-Mending Stone on Mount Huaguo.
The Heaven-Mending Stone revealed a slight crack, and with a thunderous sound, it exploded, transforming into a golden-furred monkey.
Sun Yuan looked at the cracking stone behind him and then sent two golden lights straight into the sky.
His heart trembled as he understood his transmigration identity.
"A monkey emerging from a cracking stone, if I'm not Sun Wukong, then who am I?"
I am Sun Wukong.
Sun Yuan firmly accepted this fact.
He soon became happy.
The identity of Sun Wukong was excellent!
Sun Wukong was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, possessing immense divine abilities and boundless magical power. He could snatch the Dinghai Shenzhen from the Dragon Palace, alter the Book of Life and Death, and even wreak havoc in the Heavenly Palace.
Even if it were just a monkey's play, what of it? Sun Wukong's ultimate fate was not bad; he eventually attained the status of the Victorious Fighting Buddha in Buddhism, which was at least a Buddha position, ensuring immortality.
Compared to his previous life as an ordinary person with a hundred-year lifespan, even if Sun Wukong had fared worse later, having a Buddha position as a fallback was still a position above all living beings.
Sun Yuan was very satisfied with this identity.
He was a person who knew contentment.
Regardless of whether people in the real world sympathized with Sun Wukong's tragic experiences, Sun Wukong's ending was still that of a high-ranking immortal, an immortal with eternal life. Whether he submitted to Buddhism or not, he was still an immortal.
How could that compare to his previous life?
As an ordinary person, transmigrating into such a character was already a very good outcome. Sun Yuan would not lament his transmigration into this identity as a terrible misfortune. In fact, becoming a dog of Buddhism was not that easy; ordinary people did not have that qualification.
Of course, on this basis, if he could avoid being a dog, he would not be one, and if he could avoid certain things, he would avoid them.
The current Sun Yuan was only contemplating that he must cause trouble in the Dragon Palace, otherwise, he would not have the formidable weapon, the Golden Cudgel. He also had to cause trouble in the Underworld; if he didn't alter the Book of Life and Death, he would be waiting for death.
However, causing trouble in the Heavenly Palace was not necessary.
Even if fate was predetermined, and even if he didn't cause trouble in the Heavenly Palace, other events might occur, forcing him to do so.
But that would be another matter.
"I wonder if the Heavenly Court has noticed me yet, and if Buddhism has already made its plans?"
Sun Yuan thought to himself.
In the years that followed, he secretly tested the waters through his actions.
However, whether it was because the gods and Buddhas had not yet arrived, or because they had seen through him, or because they did not care, these tests yielded no response.
As a monkey with intelligence and innate divine strength, Sun Yuan also found the Water Curtain Cave and became the leader of the monkeys, the Handsome Monkey King.
He had a heart inclined towards the Dao and a desire for immortality. He had long planned to go out to sea and seek out Patriarch Bodhi to learn the art of immortality.
However, Mount Huaguo was located in the ocean. To go out to sea, he needed to build a boat. In the original Journey to the West, the Handsome Monkey King merely gathered some dry pine branches, wove them into a raft, took a bamboo pole as a punt, and was able to embark on the raft alone, traveling throughout the four great divine continents.
When Sun Yuan arrived at the seaside, he saw the white waves surging and the sea wind roaring. He did not quite believe that a mere bamboo raft could take him to all four great divine continents.
These rolling waves were at least seven or eight meters high. What kind of bamboo raft could cross such an ocean? Even the most elaborately built large ships of ancient times might not be able to cross it, let alone a bamboo raft that lacked any technological sophistication.
Especially after inquiring about the vastness of the sea from the nearby Old Ape with Arms, he found it even more unreliable.
This Old Ape with Arms was the ape who inspired Sun Wukong to seek immortality and enlightenment in the original Journey to the West.
It was he who stated that there were immortals, divine beings, and sages between heaven and earth, who transcended reincarnation, were immortal, lived as long as mountains and rivers, and were not subject to the jurisdiction of King Yama.
It was also he who pointed out that the immortals and sages were within the Yanfu World, within ancient caves and immortal mountains, giving the Handsome Monkey King a direction for his quest for immortality.
Later generations believed that this Old Ape with Arms was either from Buddhism or the Heavenly Court, otherwise, how could a mere monkey know so much?
Sun Yuan had also tested him several times, but in the end, he felt that unless the Old Ape with Arms was an Oscar-winning actor, he was definitely not from Buddhism or the Heavenly Court, but merely an ape who cultivated demons and had extensive knowledge.
That's right, cultivating demons.
On Mount Huaguo, there were no immortals or celestial beings, but that did not mean there was no supernatural power.
In the original Journey to the West, Mount Huaguo had seventy-two demon kings, and the Water Curtain Cave was just one of them! Besides the monkey tribes, there were many other demons on Mount Huaguo.
They also possessed supernatural powers, capable of controlling demonic winds, and some could even "condense demonic cores."
When Sun Yuan learned of this, he was secretly surprised. What realm among immortals and gods did this "condensing demonic cores" correspond to? Perhaps it was the Core Formation or Golden Core stage realm above the path of cultivation, who knew?
In any case, although the Old Ape with Arms was still far from condensing a demonic core, he possessed demonic arts and magical power, and thus had more knowledge than Sun Yuan.
He told Sun Yuan about the vastness of this sea. Let alone the four great continents, even the closest island to Mount Huaguo would take a cultivator who had condensed a demonic core ten thousand years of flight to reach their destination.
As for the four great continents, they were even more distant. Sun Yuan converted these distances to modern units and found that even the closest of the four great continents was a hundred million light-years away from Mount Huaguo.
At such a distance, even a light-speed spaceship from science fiction novels would take a hundred million years to arrive. To attempt to cross such a vast distance on a bamboo raft was clearly wishful thinking.