The best candidate for this task was naturally Sun Kong himself.
However, because he had to personally guard the New Flower-Fruit Mountain and constantly monitor the Journey to the West in the Immortal Realm, making it difficult for him to leave, he reluctantly plucked out another monkey hair.
He blew on it.
It transformed into a monkey hair clone. Without any unnecessary words, after bowing and scraping to Sun Kong, it drilled into the spatial barrier between the Immortal Realm and the Mortal Realm, heading towards the human world!
Seeing him depart,
Sun Kong himself felt a little more at ease. He intended to continue calculating the new Six-Eared Macaque, but this fellow was incredibly alert. After a brief encounter with the demon clan's page boy, they parted ways.
Not even he had more than a second's opportunity!
"Good heavens!"
"Could this new Six-Eared Macaque be another transmigrator?"
"Otherwise, why is he more alert than I am? I haven't been able to deduce much about him, yet he always evades me in advance. It's truly maddening."
"Enough, enough. Let's assume you are the most formidable villain, destined to be dealt with at the very end. I, Old Sun, cannot get angry because of you, nor can I lose my composure."
"For now, everything is secondary to the calamity of the Journey to the West, and the upcoming second trial is paramount. All other matters, even if the human world were to explode, I would ignore."
After several rounds of self-consolation, Sun Kong finally regained his composure.
While constantly keeping an eye on the situation in the Great Tang Empire, he also cultivated day and night, striving to elevate his cultivation to higher realms.
During this period, it wasn't that he hadn't considered where else to court death, to be audacious, or to shock others and gain more rewards.
However, things were not that simple.
Even courting death was not as easy as it was five hundred years ago.
There were three reasons.
First, the spectacle of his courting death five hundred years ago was so terrifying that the great figures of various factions subsequently dared not provoke him easily, nor did they give him opportunities to court death at their doorstep.
Even with Sun Kong's methods of conventional courting death, advanced courting death, and so on, when others offered no opportunities, and he had no reason to visit them,
He could only give up.
Second, over the past five hundred years, the Three Realms had undergone considerable changes. Most of the older generation who knew of Sun Kong's name had either chosen to retire and avoid him or had participated in the Journey to the West calamity.
Because after the Journey to the West began, if it wasn't a calamity directly related to Sun Kong, he had no direct way to intervene, thus serving as another method of avoiding him.
The few remaining individuals had long since moved away, hiding in nooks and crannies that Sun Kong could not easily find.
Third, it was this damned system.
Five hundred years ago, many people and events were almost identical to the records in "Journey to the West," with at least 99% matching. Therefore, when Sun Kong himself couldn't court death and obtain rewards, the system could still provide some reminders.
But five hundred years later, everything had changed too much. This system, due to its inability to upgrade back then due to the missing Third Prince of the Jade Dragon, had fallen behind.
As a result, Sun Kong, as its host, suffered quite a bit!
"It's a pity that Erlang Shen Yang Jian failed."
"Just who in the blazes stole that Third Prince of the Jade Dragon?"
"Without him, and without the original Six-Eared Macaque, my Journey to the West plan is truly incomplete. This is too damn frustrating."
"Don't let anyone discover the whereabouts of this fellow, otherwise, I, Old Sun, will absolutely not let him off lightly. Forcing him to spit out his fortuitous encounters and foundation is a light punishment; I will surely skin him alive and boil his tendons to show him my might!"
Here, Sun Kong was still cursing due to Erlang Shen Yang Jian's five-hundred-year failure.
On the other hand, a dragon, suspected to be the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea in the Immortal Realm, was coiled in a place no one would expect in the human world.
Kapilavastu!
This was the birthplace of Buddhism in Sun Kong's original timeline before transmigration. Although in this timeline it was no longer related to the birth of the Buddha Tathagata, it was still of extraordinary significance.
Behold.
Within the area of only a few hundred li, Kapilavastu possessed Buddhist fortunes unimaginable to ordinary people. Although the locals had not seen a single Buddha, Bodhisattva, Arhat, or Vajra.
Not even the weakest Buddhist disciples from Spirit Mountain in the Immortal Realm.
However, the people here were naturally devoted to Buddhist teachings, learning without a master, and cultivating on their own, making it one of the purest and most miraculous places in the human world.
Thus, it was praised for having Dharma without Buddhas and being skilled in Dharma without Buddhas.
And this praise had another side.
That is, the dragon coiled here was revered by the locals as the supreme righteous god, and his original identity was none other than the Third Prince of the Jade Dragon!
This story began five hundred years ago.
At that time, Sun Kong had prematurely initiated the calamity of the Journey to the West, focusing entirely on dealing with the first trial. Unexpectedly, before Erlang Shen Yang Jian, who had cooperated with him, could find the Third Prince of the Jade Dragon, this fellow had already joined the ranks of the new Six-Eared Macaque.
After some machinations by the new Six-Eared Macaque, the Third Prince of the Jade Dragon, regardless of destroying all his cultivation, joined the demon clan, breaking free from the control of the Heavenly Dao.
He then came to the human world, to this Kapilavastu, and went into hiding.
He had been in hiding for several hundred years, until recently, when he gradually sensed the approaching second trial of the Journey to the West in the Immortal Realm, and the fortuitous encounter that the new Six-Eared Macaque had told him about back then.
Was also coming!
It was mid-morning on this day.
The sun was shining brightly.
It was also the decade-long celebratory ceremony of the local people of Kapilavastu.
The Third Prince of the Jade Dragon, in his true dragon form, was coiled atop Mount Sakyamuni, the country's highest mountain, basking in the most potent Buddhist energy in the entire human world, overlooking the crowds offering tributes and worship below.
His heart was filled with joy.
After all, in his past life, although he was the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea, his status was not high. He was merely a minor dragon king in the eyes of mortals, and he could be bullied by anyone, be it the Jade Emperor of the Heavenly Court or the Buddha Tathagata of Spirit Mountain.
But here, it was different.
He could still absorb Buddhist energy, nourish his body, and cultivate his primordial spirit.
He could also receive the worship of countless people, who treated him, the minor dragon king, as the supreme righteous god!
Wasn't this much better than being the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea?
Wasn't this much better than being captured by Erlang Shen Yang Jian and handed over to that monkey Sun?
Thinking of this,
The Third Prince of the Jade Dragon slightly shifted his body, drawing more praise and adoration from countless people, and gradually sensed that the person destined for him had arrived.
Without daring to delay,
He immediately abandoned his physical body.
Escaping as a primordial spirit, he had just reached the void when he saw that Mo Zhuang, sent by the new Six-Eared Macaque, was indeed heading this way.
As soon as the two met, they sensed the powerful demonic aura emanating from each other.
Without further ado,
They immediately formed a team according to the new Six-Eared Macaque's plan!
"Master Mo Zhuang?"
"Are you the White Dragon, the Third Prince of the Jade Dragon, from the original Journey to the West?"
"Indeed, I am."
"It's a pleasure, it's a pleasure. We are all family, why be so formal? Come, let's find another place to talk properly."
The two entered the center of Mount Sakyamuni to converse.
On the other side, Sun Kong's monkey hair clone, having thoroughly investigated the vicinity, happened to witness this scene!