Chapter 660

This was truly miraculous to her.

Xue Baochai felt the same, like Liu Laolao entering Daguanyuan, curious about everything.

"Since someone has arrived, let's hurry," Qing Zhu said eagerly, "I want to see what kind of treasures the Ancestor left behind."

Ye Hei smiled: "I guarantee you'll be amazed."

Qing Zhu stepped onto the altar, his heart uneasy.

The next moment, a Bagua alchemical furnace floated above the altar, then descended onto Qing Zhu and merged into his dantian.

"Transmuted into an Alchemist!" Ye Hei exclaimed, "Congratulations, Brother Qing Zhu—being able to transmute into an Alchemist proves your talent in both the Immortal Dao and the Alchemy Dao is exceptional."

"Thank you," Qing Zhu sighed in relief, bowed, stepped down from the altar, and stood aside to contemplate the mystery of his transmutation.

After some comparison, Qing Zhu realized the benefits of transmutation were immense.

The Jin Dan Dao, once obscure and incomprehensible, now seemed remarkably simple.

The Jin Dan Dao is both the supreme cultivation path and, in a sense, the alchemy path.

The only difference is one refines external elixirs, the other internal elixirs.

As he activated his cultivation method, he found his magic power flowed much faster—in an instant, he broke through a minor realm, as if the bottleneck had vanished entirely.

"This is truly a heavenly opportunity! With this opportunity, becoming an Emperor within a century is no dream!" Qing Zhu mused, glancing at Wei Wei and the others, seeing they too were stunned into silence, eyes gleaming with wonder, unable to express their emotions in words.

Wei Wei sighed: "We've incurred a massive debt—we have no idea how to repay it!"

Qing Zhu laughed: "There'll always be a chance. If Brother Ye ever needs anything, just say the word—I've already pledged my clan's support in advance."

Wei Wei also smiled: "Same here. When the time comes, just send word—I won't break my promise."

Jin Peng and the others felt the same.

But Xue Baochai, Sōsaka Ai, and Sigong Huiye felt no such profound effect.

It wasn't that the transmutation wasn't wondrous—it was simply that they had cultivated too briefly, or had just begun, and didn't yet understand the true difficulty of normal cultivation.

Ye Hei's era was one of depleted essence and qi, where attaining the Dao was exceedingly difficult.

Qing Zhu and the others had endured the perilous, step-by-step grind of cultivation; after transmutation, with no bottlenecks, this godlike ease was utterly novel.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the banquet has begun—please follow me."

At that moment, a divine light descended, revealing a fairy maiden who waved her hand and summoned a floating cloud, upon which everyone stepped, heading toward Daluo Heaven.

By Zhang Taixuan's decree, the cloud surged straight toward Daluo Heaven.

Along the way, the group marveled at the scenery of the thirty-three layers of the Immortal Realms, feeling their spirits uplifted.

"Yohoo!"

As the group prepared to cross the final layer of heaven, a cheer rang out—and next, a golden figure somersaulted through the air toward them.

Seeing the group, he stopped.

"You're here for the banquet too? Hehe, so am I, Old Sun!"

Ye Hei gasped: "Whoa—it's Brother Monkey!"

Pang Bo's eyes sparkled: "It's the Great Sage Equaling Heaven!"

Qing Zhu and the others had never read the Journey to the West novel; seeing Sun Wukong's divine aura, they instantly recalled a race—the Holy Monkey Clan.

They looked at Sun Wukong with new eyes.

Sun Wukong relished this gaze and admiration, delighted.

"It's only your kindness, fellow cultivators!"

"Too bad he's not the real Great Sage Equaling Heaven—if he were, I'd ask for an autograph."

At that moment, a sigh echoed.

Sun Wukong froze, his temper flaring.

I'm not authentic?!

Is this a joke?

He turned—and saw a group of women drifting slowly toward them atop Bai Yun.

The leader was Su Xiao.

Sun Wukong stepped forward: "Little girl, did you say Old Sun isn't authentic?"

Su Xiao: "Yes. You're the Sun Wukong from the Da Hua Xiyou world—not the real Sun Wukong!"

"Are there many Sun Wukongs?" Sun Wukong sneered. "If you can't explain this, Old Sun will ask the Dao Lord to settle this!"

Xiao Mai chuckled: "Su Xiao, you've stirred up trouble."

"This monkey really is too handsome," Jia Bai Li sighed. "He doesn't look like the monkey in the original."

In the original Journey to the West, the monkey had a hairy face and a thunderous mouth.

From a monkey's aesthetic, he might be beautiful.

From a human's perspective, not necessarily.

"Being beautiful is a crime?" Sun Wukong was stunned.

Have these humans lost their minds?

Su Xiao thought, and pulled out a copy of Journey to the West, tossing it to him.

"This is the original Journey to the West! Many Journey to the West stories evolved from this."

In truth, more accurately, Journey to the West itself is a fan fiction.

Before Journey to the West was written, many versions of the Journey to the West story already existed.

Journey to the West was adapted from these earlier versions.

Sun Wukong's divine sense was powerful—he finished reading the entire novel in an instant.

"This…?" Sun Wukong was stunned. "The Sun Wukong in this book isn't beautiful at all—why call him the Beautiful Monkey King?"

【Lanky and crooked of face, two yellow eyes, a bumpy forehead; tusks jutting outward, like a crab's—flesh on the inside, bone on the outside】

Looking like that and still calling it beautiful?

Xiao Mai laughed and said: "Great Sage, perhaps you've been human for too long and gotten used to human aesthetics. If you were a monkey, you might well think the original Great Sage Equal to Heaven was beautiful."

Sun Wukong listened and felt even more doubtful about life.

At least as far as he was concerned, his aesthetic sense when he was a monkey was no different from now!

Ye Hei laughed and said: "Great Sage, none of that matters. As long as you consider yourself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, that's enough. Let's go, we're heading up to the Great Luo Heaven for a drink. The matter of the other Sun Wukongs can wait."

Sun Wukong listened and immediately burst out laughing.

"You're right—why should I trouble myself? Let's go, drink!"

"No matter how many more Sun Wukongs come in the future, I'll make them coil like dragons and crouch like tigers." (Wang Hao Le)

Su Xiao Xiao giggled: "That'll be hard, Monkey Brother. A proper Sun Wukong cultivated to the Taiyi realm in just seven years—your current strength is still far too lacking."

Xiao Mai teased: "Who knows, by then Monkey Brother might get beaten up badly by a newly arrived Sun Wukong and have to ask Daoist Brother to step in for you!"

"What nonsense are you spouting, woman!" Sun Wukong was speechless. "Am I really that pathetic? Getting beaten by another Sun Wukong and having to ask my lord Daojun to step in? Isn't that just like a child?"

Though he said so, a wariness rose in his heart—so many worlds, there might truly be an unimaginably powerful Sun Wukong out there.

If I don't work hard, isn't there really a chance I'll get beaten?!

As Sun Wukong, he understood his own temper all too well.

Once he knew there were other Sun Wukongs out there, wouldn't the other party immediately bristle?

Sun Wukong versus Sun Wukong was inevitable!

For the sake of that future battle, he had to cultivate with all his might!

Otherwise, going to ask Daojun to step in would be far too embarrassing!