Chapter 69

This little thing clearly understood Ding Huan's words; it suddenly raised its front paw and gestured frantically in the air…

But after only a few gestures, it slumped and lowered its paw.

Ding Huan flew into a rage, raised his hand, and slapped the little thing on the head, sending it flying into the wall, then sliding down.

"I've seen plenty of ungrateful bastards, but never one like you. I saved your dog's life, asked you a few questions, and you try to kill me? You damn dog—"

It wasn't even a dog, but Ding Huan still cursed it as a dog.

Ding Huan knew fireball spell, wind blade spell, and various minor arts. Seeing this little thing gesture, he realized it was trying to form hand seals to cast a spell on him.

But this thing had just awakened its memories and had forgotten it was now merely a Level One Gene Beast—how could it cast any spell?

Though Ding Huan hadn't struck to kill, the little thing was clearly badly hurt; when it finally staggered to its feet moments later, fear gleamed in its eyes.

"Ji ji ji ji…" After being scolded by Ding Huan, the little thing dared not act on its own again and quickly chattered away—Ding Huan understood not a single word.

Ding Huan rubbed his forehead. "Forget it. I can't understand your bird language. Let me ask you—are you from the Dao Cultivator Era?"

The little thing had no idea what the Dao Cultivator Era was; it stared blankly at Ding Huan, then shook its head.

Doesn't know the Dao Cultivator Era?

As Ding Huan pondered where to begin, he suddenly saw the little thing leap onto the lab table and pick up a pen.

"You can write?" Ding Huan rejoiced, quickly opening a notebook and placing it before the little thing.

"That bastard Duobao broke his word, betrayed my Monkey Lord…" To Ding Huan's astonishment, the monkey actually wrote a line of characters.

The script was neat enough, though archaic—Ding Huan recognized every character.

Duobao? Duobao Daoist? Buddha?

Before Ding Huan could ponder further, the little thing continued writing: "I was betrayed by Duobao, then struck on the head by the Stone Monkey's staff…"

"Wait—was the Journey to the West real? Are you the Stone Monkey?" Ding Huan realized, astonished.

The little thing stared at Ding Huan in confusion, then wrote: "What is Journey to the West? What is Sun Wukong? Are you referring to that Stone Monkey?"

Except for the first few crooked characters, the little thing's writing improved with each line.

"No, in Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong was born from a Stone Monkey, who later escorted Tang Sanzang westward to retrieve the scriptures.

Along the way, a Six-Eared Macaque impersonated Sun Wukong and claimed to be him.

But the Six-Eared Macaque looked so much like Sun Wukong that no one could tell them apart, so they went to Buddha to have him decide.

Buddha identified the Six-Eared Macaque, trapped it with a treasure, and Sun Wukong killed it with one blow of his staff. Correct?"

As Ding Huan spoke, he suddenly remembered something and added:

"Later, I read many theories suggesting the real Sun Wukong was the one killed, and the Six-Eared Macaque, following Buddha's orders, continued escorting Tang Sanzang westward and eventually attained Buddhahood."

Ding Huan stared intently at the little thing before him. "You're not telling me you're that unlucky Stone Monkey, are you?"

The little thing grew even more confused; it shook its head, then after a long pause, wrote again:

"I don't know Journey to the West, nor Sun Wukong or any Stone Monkey, nor the journey westward. But I am indeed a Six-Eared Macaque. What's going on?"

"Could it be that some of your memories are missing?" Ding Huan said uncertainly.

He had felt certain he extracted all the Stone Monkey's memory genes, but this was his first time doing such a thing—and now he wasn't sure if he'd fully separated the Stone Monkey's memory genes.

"… " The little thing pressed its hands to its head, straining, but could not recall anything about the journey westward.

"Then don't think about it. Write down what you remember. Fine, from now on, I'll call you Liu'er." Ding Huan said.

"That name sounds awful. I won't be called Liu'er." The little thing wrote.

Ding Huan sighed. "Alright then, I'll call you Lao Liu. You know Laozi, right? Anything with 'Lao' in it is powerful."

"Fine, I'll be Lao Liu." Hearing Ding Huan call him Lao Liu, the little thing perked up. It loved the name—Laozi was a Sage!

Now its name had the word 'Lao' in it too—how glorious!

"Hey Lao Liu, you've got your name. Now write your story properly—I'm watching." Ding Huan cut off Lao Liu's daydreaming.

"The Lord told me that if I took the Stone Monkey's form and argued with him, he would move to subdue the Stone Monkey, and I'd seize the chance to kill him…"

As Lao Liu wrote this, he suddenly froze—it was exactly the story Ding Huan had just told.

Ding Huan chuckled. "Still denying you're the Six-Eared Macaque from Journey to the West? I told you your memories are missing. Hmm, maybe it's because my skills aren't good enough.

Doesn't matter. Keep going. That missing memory isn't important."

Lao Liu glanced at Ding Huan, as if judging his sincerity, then after a moment continued writing: "If I killed the Stone Monkey, then when Earth's reincarnation comes, I, Lao Liu, will survive."

I never expected the Lord didn't subdue the Stone Monkey—he subdued me. The Stone Monkey performed the move I'd planned—it struck me on the back of the head…"

"Wait…" As Ding Huan read this, he sensed something was wrong.

"What do you mean by 'Earth's reincarnation'?" Ding Huan asked.

"It means Earth's reincarnation. The Dao Ancestor said Earth is about to reincarnate; anyone who stays on Earth will die. To leave Earth, one must enter the Cosmic Disc.

Without such a treasure, only Sages might find a place to survive in the boundless cosmos. Ordinary Immortals who enter the Void Cosmos face only death." Lao Liu wrote.

"What is the Cosmic Disc?" Ding Huan asked next.

"It's the Dao Ancestor's treasure. Only those who attain Immortal Rank—or equivalent—may enter. The universe's primordial four monkeys are destined for only one Immortal Rank, so only one of us, me or the Stone Monkey, may enter the Cosmic Disc."

Ding Huan now realized it wasn't that he'd failed to fully extract Lao Liu's memory genes—it truly had nothing to do with Journey to the West.

But this matched the Earth reincarnation information he'd obtained. This Lao Liu was useful. Satisfied, Ding Huan continued: "What is Immortal Rank?"

"Immortal Rank is Immortal Rank. Buddha Rank, Emperor Rank, Demon Rank, Ghost Rank—all are the same."

"At that time, the Zuzhijie Sect held the most ranks. The Chan Sect, to block Zuzhijie's ranks, allied with the Western Sect to scheme against the Zuzhijie Sage…"

As Lao Liu wrote this, it suddenly understood something; it stared blankly at the table.

It too had been a pawn in the scheme. Damn it—was even this rank being manipulated?

Ding Huan now grasped the scheming behind Earth's first reincarnation—Lao Liu's account was simple, but beneath it lay unimaginable intrigue.

So the Divine List was the result of the major sects' plots during Earth's first reincarnation?

But that still didn't fit—the timeline was wrong.

According to the timeline, the Legend of the Divine Table is part of Huaxia history, traceable back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

At that time, Earth could not have had reincarnation; if it had, he probably would not exist.

Ding Huan covered his head; he felt his thoughts were becoming disordered—who was right and who was wrong?

No, there's something off about what this Sixth Brother said.

"Sixth Brother, I ask you—is the reincarnation of Dixin the same as Earth's reincarnation?" Ding Huan seized upon the key issue.

Sixth Brother stared blankly at Ding Huan, and after a long while, wrote: "What is Earth?"

Ding Huan said urgently, "Earth is where we live—is Dixin the same as Earth?"

"If that doesn't make sense, let me put it another way. Earth is a planet; the greatest distance between two points on its surface… is about twenty thousand kilometers."

Sixth Brother shook his head instinctively, then suddenly understood and quickly wrote: "That's certainly not it—twenty thousand kilometers? Heh, I can make several round trips in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

"That tiny place is less than one ten-thousandth the size of a single continent. The Ten Great Continents of Dixin are only part of it. Besides, Dixin does not include the Nine Layers. Including the Immortal World and the Nine Layers, I don't even know how big it is…"

As he wrote this, Sixth Brother grew confused again.

Wasn't he dead? In the reincarnation of Dixin, who could have saved him? He glanced instinctively at Ding Huan—was this an ultimate transcendent? Stronger than a Sage?

Something's wrong—this person before him doesn't seem particularly powerful. He has no cultivation yet, and no aura of strength can be sensed.

Ding Huan nodded instead—that made sense.

It seems the reincarnation of Dixin is not Earth's reincarnation.

As Ding Huan thought of this, a stream of information suddenly reappeared in his mind.

"After our planet's reincarnation, we lost the Nine Layers, the Ten Great Continents, the Immortals and Gods, and the spiritual roots.

But within the long river of time, civilization must arise again, and someone must record our era…

Some souls from our era will be reborn; they may not remember who they once were, but can vaguely recall fragments of the past—these fragments allow the new civilization to follow the path of the old one.

After many years, someone might even use memory genes to resurrect the souls of our era… I wish myself good luck…"

After receiving this information, Ding Huan's mental clues grew clearer.

The former world included Dixin and the Immortal World, and even the Underworld—like Yujing, which was in the Immortal World; Yuxu Palace, Bajing Palace, Yaochi, the Heavenly Court, the Three Immortal Islands—all should have been in Yujing.

Such a vast Yujing was probably just a tiny corner of the Immortal World.

I don't know whether the Nine Layers were within the Immortal World.

After Dixin's reincarnation and the universe's collapse, the Nine Layers and Yujing either shattered or relocated.

When Dixin collapsed, only one in a hundred million remained—this one in a hundred million is Earth.

Earth was once part of Dixin, so it once held the corpses of Immortals and Gods. After Earth gave rise to new civilization, they were reborn with fragments of memory.

These memories became the link preserving the legacy of Dixin's ancient civilization.

Whether it's Journey to the West or the Legend of the Divine Table, they are merely novels rewritten by reborn souls relying on those vague memories.

He most admired the master who left the hide scroll—he actually calculated that someone could restore Dixin-era soul memories through memory genes.

Could this be even stronger than a Sage? Who was the one who left the hide scroll?

And why did this powerful figure who left the hide scroll say, "I wish myself good luck"?