"This little Shi Shi might really be the eighth Sage!"
"If that's the case, after Journey to the West is over, Old Sun will be one of the senior executives of the founding team of the Sakya clan. Becoming a Buddha will be small potatoes; becoming a Buddha who commands billions of demons will be more exciting."
"It seems that taking in Tathagata as the first VIP of my New Flower Fruit Mountain was the right decision. From now on, he will be the class monitor of the 'Court Death Training Class'."
What Sun Kong said wasn't just to flatter Shakyamuni. Based on his experience from two lifetimes, he saw the qualitative change in the young Lai Lai before him.
He truly needed to shed the rigid formalities of his Duobao Daoist period.
He needed to shed the vanity and arrogance of his Buddha Tathagata period.
To truly become a new Tathagata whose ultimate goal was for billions of sentient beings to achieve Buddhahood.
Such great ambition.
Such broad vision.
Forget about that damned Dao Ancestor Hongjun, or those damned Six Sages. They had nothing on this. Those quasi-Sages were even more lacking.
In fact.
Sun Kong himself might not even possess such an idea.
He was content with a comfortable life for himself and those around him.
But Shakyamuni truly possessed an unparalleled Dao Heart, comparable to the Great Dao, comparable to Pangu!
Let's not talk about anything else.
Just now, those tens of thousands of people were his equals, with no distinction of high or low, noble or lowly!
Pray tell.
Even the Two Sages of the Western Teachings, who advocated equality for all sentient beings, or anyone from the various Buddhist schools, could achieve this?
No.
The answer was truly not a single one.
In their eyes, Sun Kong was a chess piece. Tathagata, who was responsible for evolving Sun Kong's primordial spirit with the Mani Pearl back then, was also a chess piece.
There was no difference.
As the saying goes, beneath the Heavenly Dao, Sages are ants.
Beneath the Sages, sentient beings are ants.
These people never truly practiced the Great Dao of impartiality, nor did they possess the compassionate heart of Great God Pangu who split the heavens and nourished all beings.
In the past, before Sun Kong's transmigration, for their own selfish gain, they raised the banner of justice, creating calamities like the Dragon-Phoenix Tribulation, the War of Dao and Demons, the Lich Tribulation, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Tribulation, the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, and so on.
At that time, no one could stop them, not even slightly.
Now, after Sun Kong's transmigration, they dared to act this way. Forget whether the Heavenly Dao would intervene, even Sun Kong himself, and Shakyamuni who shared his desire for 'court death',
would not allow them to manipulate sentient beings like this.
They would not sit idly by. Instead, they must use that spirit of 'court death', that spirit of shocking others, that spirit of changing karma.
They must fight to the end.
To 'court death' until they truly died!
"Courting death people, courting death souls, the courting death class is truly spirited. Courting death, courting death, and again courting death, all courting death to live as humans. Courting death today, courting death again tomorrow. Today's courting death is even greater than tomorrow's."
"Ordinary courting death, advanced courting death, top-tier courting death, and then the ultimate courting death that even Old Sun doesn't know how to achieve."
"Perhaps, with this set, we can truly break the monopoly of discourse by the Sages of the heavens, and use the Ninety-Nine Eighty-One Tribulations of the Journey to the West to reshape the three realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man."
"If we can achieve that, Old Sun, oh no, I, Sun Kong, my two lifetimes of experience will not have been wasted."
"However, the class monitor of the 'Court Death Training Class' has just been appointed, so where are the others?"
"As the ancestor of 'courting death' and the principal of 'courting death', what should I do?"
It was precisely because Shakyamuni had created the Sakya clan that Sun Kong fell into deep contemplation, and his entire demeanor changed slightly once again.
Unfortunately, he was too engrossed in his thoughts to notice the strange phenomena occurring within him. Even more so, he did not see Shakyamuni, who had been calm moments before, now utterly shocked into silence!
At a certain moment.
Sun Kong's Pangu bloodline, his innate divine-demonic roots, and his innate Chaos Technique, activated on their own.
His aura inexplicably rose to the level of a lower-grade quasi-Saint.
During this process.
The 본명마원 (Natal Demon Ape), which had hidden itself and not reappeared since last time, bared its teeth and leaped out.
Every movement.
Was more terrifying than the Buddha Tathagata in his prime.
This scene stunned Shakyamuni, who was sitting opposite him!
Although Shakyamuni had also lived two lifetimes, he couldn't discern what was happening with Sun Kong.
He could only sigh with admiration.
"This Kong Kong is too mysterious."
"Others can at most use such a natal demon ape to sever an evil corpse. But he is different. It seems that this natal demon ape dares to challenge even the Sages?"
"Such a phenomenon is completely unlike any of the Three Thousand Great Daos that I know of. What exactly is going on?"
Before Shakyamuni could find an answer.
The next second.
Sun Kong's aura, propelled by an unknown force, continued to ascend, from lower-grade quasi-Saint to middle-grade, then to upper-grade.
And finally to Great Perfection.
Even then, it did not stop, but the subsequent scene was even more beyond Shakyamuni's comprehension.
Sun Kong was supposed to "naturally" merge his three corpses and manifest the aura of a Sage.
But unexpectedly.
Just then, the natal demon ape seemed extremely impatient. While roaring at the sky, it actually pulled out another monkey from Sun Kong's meditating body...
No.
Sun Kong's good corpse was not a monkey, but a strange figure wearing slippers, carrying a Gatling gun for Journey to the West, and smoking a ginseng fruit tree cigarette in his mouth.
That's right.
This strange figure completely bewildered Shakyamuni. He had no idea where such a peculiar person could have existed in the Primordial World's Three Realms throughout millions of years.
"Could this person be the source of Kong Kong's past fortuitous encounters?"
"But he has his three corpses, yet he doesn't sever them or achieve Sainthood. What does he intend to do in the future?"
"Also, were those scenes just now my illusion, or..."
This was the first time Shakyamuni had been so shocked since his reincarnation.
So speechless.
And so unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
It was only at this moment that Sun Kong felt something unusual and immediately became somewhat clearer. He gently patted the dumbfounded Shakyamuni.
He then looked around himself. He didn't see the natal demon ape or the slippered youth from before. Instead, he assumed Shakyamuni was seeing things.
"Little Shi Shi, what amazing thing did you see that you've been stunned for so long?"
Sun Kong asked subconsciously, without giving it too much thought.
Instead, he simply explained the situation in the Immortal Realm.
This was considered exchanging intelligence and updating the latest situation with Shakyamuni. On a small scale, it was about advancing and retreating together. On a larger scale, it was about avoiding information distortion that could affect future major events.
"You didn't see anything? Uh, alright, perhaps I was just seeing things. It's nothing, really. Let's continue talking about this new Six-Eared Macaque."
Seeing that Sun Kong truly didn't notice anything, and the scene just now seemed more like some kind of illusion, Shakyamuni also became a little unsure of himself.
He had to regain his composure.
When the two started discussing the new Six-Eared Macaque, the conversation became much more lively.
The information Sun Kong had was still insufficient.
At most, he could say that he had dealt with the demon clan's household child from the second tribulation and Qingfeng, who was deluded by the new Six-Eared Macaque.
But on Shakyamuni's side.
There was explosive news!