When people argue, they often say things without thinking. For example, phrases like "You beast!" are quite common in domestic arguments.
But given Ying Gou's personality,
it seems unlikely that he would engage in such crude brawls, insulting people with words.
Even when facing Ban Zhanglian (Half-Face), who had betrayed him, Ying Gou didn't fly into a rage and start cursing.
Sometimes, when arguing with Boss Zhou,
he'd repeatedly call him a "watch... dog...",
to the point that Boss Zhou was tired of hearing it, but Ying Gou never thought to come up with something new.
This only shows that Ying Gou used to simply use anyone he disliked as a footrest.
Compared to the scope of the Mount Tai Underworld Monarch's era and the current situation of the Underworld, Ying Gou's era was simply him sitting alone on the throne of the Nether Sea. It seemed lonely, but it also reflected his arrogance.
Therefore,
this can only mean one thing:
that the paper figure before them
might not be the Underworld Monarch at all,
but a genuine... beast!
If the stories of the successive Underworld Monarchs and the monkeys were compiled into a book, it could fill an entire library, detailing their meetings, encounters, mutual understanding, companionship, their lives, their battles, their achievements, their struggles...
《Untold Stories of the Underworld Monarch and the Monkey》
《Love-Hate Relationship Between the Underworld Monarch and the Monkey》
《On the Importance of Monkeys to the Underworld Monarch》
《Apes Forever》...
It seems that not many people know whether the successive Underworld Monarchs had their own companions,
but everyone seems certain that they could be without women, but they definitely had their own monkeys.
To be called a beast and also be able to control the Underworld Monarch's "residual soul,"
the answer
is truly unique.
This also explains why, even though the paper figure's series of moves from its appearance onward gave off a huge and terrifying pressure, Boss Zhou still felt that it was a bit low.
A perfect idiom to describe this feeling is,
a monkey in a hat.
The words "monstrous creature" seemed to have completely provoked the paper figure, as the blue flames swept over again, engulfing the surroundings in an instant with a sense of madness.
People often compare things in thought to flames – the flame of thought, the fire of ideas. It can spread, it can be transmitted, and the resonance it causes can, in a sense, burn everything like fire.
And right now, it seems to be the same concept.
After the blue flames engulfed the area,
what remained
wasn't scorched earth,
but a desolate landscape that had shifted from blue to black,
between reality and illusion,
drifting in the cracks between the present and the past.
Zhou Ze was standing in the very center of it, and in front of him was a transparent cave.
A very poetic and abstract scene. You could see that it was a cave, but everything inside the cave wasn't obscured in the slightest by its existence.
A man wearing a light blue robe was sitting on a chair inside the cave,
wearing a purple crown,
revealing an air of elegance.
At the same time,
when he opened his eyes,
it seemed that even the movement of the stars could be controlled by him.
He was very majestic, like a true master.
Zhou Ze just looked at him.
Strictly speaking,
the person before him
was considered the creator of another unified era after Ying Gou's time.
However, Ying Gou was like a wolf king on the grasslands.
He was there,
and as long as he was there,
everything in hell
shifted according to his will.
And this person before him not only ended a turbulent era but also personally created a system that continues to this day.
Both were figures who stood at the peak of their respective eras.
Just like how Ying Gou waited for Buddhism to flourish and for a true Buddha to appear,
Ying Gou was always full of anticipation for those who interested him or had even a little bit of qualification and possibility to have an equal dialogue with him, and he was willing to invest a little more patience in them.
Because the wolf king is lonely.
It's a pity
that this confrontation
didn't last too long.
When looking at a painting, if it's just a fake, there really isn't much meaning in delving into it and appreciating it, even if it looks exactly the same, it lacks that sense of atmosphere.
"Get… out…"
Zhou Ze raised his hand.
The cave began to collapse,
along with it,
was the body of the man in the purple crown and robe.
"Roar!"
A jet-black monkey rushed out of his body.
It was furious,
it was crazy,
it was angry.
Actually,
Ying Gou's tearing apart of this disguise
was a kind of terrifying harm to the monkey, not a physical harm, but a harm from psychological awareness.
For many, many years,
the monkey had been having a dream.
It was still alive,
and the Underworld Monarch must still be alive.
After the first Underworld Monarch's end,
it accompanied the first one into the tomb,
becoming a "tomb guardian."
In these long years, the monkey gradually began to believe that the first one had not died, but was only in a deep sleep.
God said, let there be light, and there was light in the world.
When you're really high enough up, even in the mortal realm, you can control the weather and call a stag a horse, not to mention this Purple-Gold Divine Monkey who was valued by the first one and chosen to be by his side.
When it felt that the first one was still alive,
the first one was "alive."
When it thought that the first one had a remnant soul,
the first one had a remnant soul.
It felt that the first one was still there, and it felt that in some things, the first one should do this, should make this choice,
so the first one did it and made that choice.
"So, from beginning to end, was this monkey having a split personality?"
Boss Zhou said in his heart.
Ying Gou didn't respond.
It seemed that at this time, he was too lazy to answer this kind of question.
However, Boss Zhou's description was indeed very apt.
Split personality.
An ordinary person's split personality is at most a sudden change in personality, using different personalities to talk to themselves, but this one has truly split into substance.
The monkey walked out of the collapsing cave.
It has lived countless years.
When Boss Zhou and Lawyer An were discussing monkeys over wine,
Lawyer An commented on the monkeys around the successive Underworld Monarchs.
The first Purple-Gold Divine Monkey's biggest characteristic was "immortality."
Of course, this is an exaggeration. In essence, it refers to the Purple-Gold Divine Monkey's physical body being so strong that it was almost despairing.
Perhaps, this is also the reason why this monkey was able to live so long.
But it seems that fate truly has a destiny that controls and regulates everything.
Ying Gou has existed since ancient times, but can only hide himself and slowly recover.
Hanba, as the former princess, is now in even worse shape than Ying Gou.
Xiezhi has been sleeping, etc., etc.
You can live a long time,
but you can never live well.
Just like this monkey who can live for a long time,
it has forced itself into becoming a mental case.
After the monkey approached,
you can see it more clearly.
At the location of the monkey's head,
there is a big hole.
You can even see some wriggling brain tissue inside.
The former Purple-Gold Divine Monkey's fur turned black due to a serious injury, but the injuries it suffered when it followed the first one to conquer hell were far more than that.
"The Underworld Monarch... is not dead."
The monkey suppressed its voice,
staring at Zhou Ze with an unquestionable tone, also staring at Ying Gou.
Ying Gou reached out,
probing forward.
Purple luster appeared around the monkey,
forming an extremely terrifying defense,
but in front of Ying Gou's fingers,
it was like paper, instantly torn apart.
"Poof!"
Ying Gou grabbed the monkey's neck,
lifting it up,
and even shook it like he was drying clothes,
and incidentally weighed it.
It felt
a little light.
"The Underworld Monarch... is not dead..."
The monkey repeated this over and over, seemingly only knowing this sentence.
It didn't attack again, and it didn't know whether it was because it understood the level comparison between itself and Ying Gou, giving up the attack, or because of other reasons.
In Ying Gou's eyes,
he saw a body full of sores, a soul full of holes.
The erosion of time can take away most of the outstanding people of an era.
Those who can transcend the times and continue to live on are truly rare.
This monkey has lived to this day,
but it is already full of death.
If it hadn't been staying in the ancient tomb, equivalent to a state of hibernation,
even if it was a Purple-Gold Divine Monkey,
it wouldn't have been able to survive for so long.
Ying Gou grabbed the monkey with one hand,
and tore apart the void here with the other.
The next moment,
reality returned.
The old Taoist was lying unconscious on the ground.
Zhou Ze was holding the paper figure in his hand, and on the rooftop not far away, a dirty monkey was reaching out to grab its neck, its expression extremely painful.
"I... am not dead..."
The paper figure continued to repeat with difficulty.
Zhou Ze's eyes turned cold.
He grabbed the paper figure,
walked to the unconscious old Taoist,
and raised his foot.
He seemed to be planning to step down.
The paper figure was indifferent,
and continued to repeat, "I... am not dead..."
Zhou Ze stopped his movement. The one controlling this body now was actually Ying Gou.
His hand
was placed on the location of his chest.
Five fingernails grew out,
aiming at his chest,
and prepared
to stab down!
The paper figure was stunned.
Its brain really had some problems.
In terms of thinking,
it could no longer understand the logic of how this person could kill himself,
but it broke the repetition with instinct,
and exclaimed:
"Don't... don't kill him... don't..."
Zhou Ze heard this,
and his breathing was cut short.
Unspoken anger began to ripple out.
There are many things that Boss Zhou may not be able to understand even if he sees them because he is not high enough, but for Ying Gou, many so-called schemes, layouts, and arrangements,
with just one point,
he can understand.
Like now,
he almost roared:
"This... is... my... house's... dog..."
————
Got home in the afternoon, slept for a while, and set an alarm to get up and write.
chun jie di xiao long will write another chapter.
Don't panic!