Chapter 115: Disciple, Master, has left

That gentle voice still echoed in his ears.

But before his eyes, his master's familiar silhouette, like sand in the wind, was gradually fading away!

"Master?!"

Sun Wukong's ecstatic expression froze instantly!

A fear colder and more piercing than being suppressed under Wǔxíng Shān for five hundred years clenched his heart!

"Master! What's wrong with you?!"

He rushed over like a madman, reaching out, trying to grasp those dissipating specks of light.

But his hand passed through those specks of light time and again.

He desperately tried to grab something, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not touch anything!

It felt as if the whole world had drifted away, leaving only endless void and bewilderment.

"My 'Dao' is nothingness..." The Bodhi Patriarch's silhouette gradually grew hazy,

like mist dissipating across the horizon, finally leaving only a faint, barely visible outline.

Yet, although his form was nearly transparent, his voice remained clear and pleasant, each word distinct,

resonating like a great bell beside his ears without cease,

and accompanied by an otherworldly, transcendent feeling that could perceive all phenomena in the world.

"Now, the Dao I have comprehended has merged into this brand-new universe and become its cornerstone,

and also the origin from which all things flow, arising from emptiness and giving rise to existence......" As his words faded,

the Bodhi Patriarch's outline grew ever darker and dimmer until it vanished completely,

as if merging with the vast heavens and earth, leaving no trace to be found.

Yet at this very moment, his lingering, Zen-like, philosophical echo still clung to his heart: "I shall now return to emptiness..."

"No!!!"

Sun Wukong let out a heart-rending roar, his eye sockets instantly turning blood-red!

"I don't want any damn cosmic cornerstone!"

"I, Old Sun, don't want you to return to emptiness!"

"I just want you to live! Live well!"

He was anxious, he really was anxious!

He bellowed wildly, expending the newly grasped power of "Equal Heaven" that follows his words!

"I say! You cannot leave!"

"I say! You must stay for me!"

"Restore me! Restore me!!!"

The supreme "Equal Heaven" law surged wildly in the newborn universe, attempting to reaggregate those dissipating specks of light.

But it was useless.

Those specks merely paused for a moment, then merged into heaven and earth at an even faster speed.

"Silly disciple."

The Bodhi Patriarch let out a soft laugh, his voice full of indulgence.

"Emptiness is fundamentally the foundation of Equal Heaven."

"How could you possibly command your own foundation?"

"Your Dao is to move forward, to create, to break everything."

"While my Dao is to return home, to retreat behind the scenes, to become the firmest soil for you who come after."

"Disciple, Master, I am not truly gone; walk the road ahead well, we still have a chance to meet again."

Sun Wukong was utterly stunned; the tears in his eyes could no longer be held back, pouring down.

He understood.

Master, from the very start, never intended to survive.

He sacrificed everything he had for this grand plan.

He made himself the first handful of soil for this new world.

"No... this shouldn't be the case..."

Sun Wukong knelt on the ground, like a helpless child, choking on sobs, unable to cry out.

"We had agreed... we had agreed to fight side by side..."

"We had agreed... to let me, Old Sun, be worthy of standing beside you..."

"You deceived me... you deceived me, Old Sun..."

Bodhi Patriarch looked at his disciple, bawling his eyes out, and that final outline also began to fade.

"Wukong."

He called out one last time, softly.

"Raise your head."

Sun Wukong instinctively lifted his head, gazing through tear-filled eyes at his master's final glow.

"From now on, no one in this heaven and earth can bind you."

"No Jade Emperor, no Tathagata, and not even... Master."

"Do whatever you wish."

"Live however you want."

"This is what Master truly wishes to see—a true Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

"Go walk your own path."

"Don't… let Master be disappointed…"

The words fell silent.

The last sliver of light also completely merged into the void.

Between Heaven and Earth, there is no longer Bodhi.

Only that sentence remains, its endless hopeful entrustment echoing in the wind for a long time.

"........"

The whole world fell silent.

Sun Wukong knelt on the spot, motionless, like a petrified statue.

He no longer cried, nor roared.

He simply stared silently at the place where Master disappeared, his gaze hollow.

Beside him, Yao had already been weeping, wanting to comfort him but not daring.

She could feel that at this moment Sun Wukong was like a volcano that had stored billions of years, ready to erupt at any time.

It was unclear how long had passed.

Perhaps a moment, perhaps ten thousand years.

Sun Wukong slowly rose from the ground.

He lifted his hand and wiped away the tear marks on his face.

No trace of sorrow remained on his face.

In its place was a kind of unprecedented calm.

A calm that made hearts flutter.

He turned and looked at the one who, like him after Master vanished, had fallen into Deathly Silence—the Pantheon Lord.

The Pantheon Lord's body was still composed of light.

But now, within that pure "order", there was an extra thread of emotion called "bewilderment" that even he could not comprehend.

His "worldview" was overturned.

He could not understand why any Living Being would willingly choose self‑sacrifice for a vague, illusory "hope".

This does not follow logic.

This has no "benefit" at all.

At that moment, Sun Wukong's voice rang out.

It was light, faint.

"Hey."

The Pantheon Lord's data stream rippled slightly, casting its gaze toward him.

Sun Wukong grinned, exposing a set of stark white teeth.

That Smile held no warmth.

"My Master, he's gone."

"He, the old man, is kind‑hearted, saying he'll give you a chance for self‑growth."

"But…"

Sun Wukong slowly raised the Golden Cudgel in his hand.

On the staff, the newly ascended, supreme "Equal Heaven" Dao Rhythm began to boil wildly, violently!

"I, old Sun, am narrow‑minded."

"Moreover, I don't think a Supreme Prison Warden who has imprisoned Chaos Realm for billions of eras has anything… that needs growth."

"So…"

He pointed the Golden Cudgel far toward the Pantheon Lord, and within those calm eyes ignited a torrent of demonic flame capable of scorching Jiǔtiān!

"My Master's debt, today, I, his disciple, will settle with you… properly!"

"You ready to meet my old Sun's 'Equal Heaven'?!"

At the same time, Sun Wukong was earnestly pondering Master's words: will there be a chance to meet again later?