Chapter 196: Bodhi's Memory, Heavenly Dao's Rebellion!

The light of nothingness, like an eraser, wiped away the last trace of the grave keeper's existence.

This graveyard, which buried the myriad ages' Grand Dao, welcomed a moment of deathly silence.

Sun Wukong withdrew his palm; the golden divine markings on his brow retracted, and he could even feel the drain of this power.

The Master's Dao is indeed overwhelmingly domineering.

But this graveyard is connected to Hongjun's Heavenly Dao.

As long as the Heavenly Dao does not perish, the resentment and deathly energy here will flow endlessly.

As expected.

The shattered tombstone dust on the ground began to wriggle again.

From all directions, more remnants of the Lost Dao were forcibly awakened by an invisible force, uttering unwilling wails before being compelled to converge.

A grave keeper, more solid and terrifying in aura than before, was reforming.

"Never ending!"

Sun Wukong's eyes flashed with a murderous light.

He finally understood.

This thing is the graveyard's immune system.

And I am the invading virus.

Trying to beat it to death with brute force is simply unrealistic.

"But..."

Sun Wukong grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth.

"My old Sun's Dao is fundamentally the most unreasonable thing in this world!"

His black-gold Great Sage Equal to Heaven Dao Rhythm surged skyward once again.

The grave keeper is assembled from countless failed, rigid, fixed rules.

But his Dao is the ultimate 'change'!

It is the greatest variable, the greatest accident, the greatest unreasonableness!

Perfect—it is this thing's nemesis!

Sun Wukong was about to raise his staff again, using his 'change' to disrupt its assembled 'fixed'.

But just at this moment!

Somewhere inside his body, a searing pain suddenly surged!

Hiss!

Sun Wukong's stance faltered, and he nearly fell from mid-air.

He lowered his gaze and saw, within the source of his Dao Rhythm, a golden rune he had forcibly suppressed earlier now flashing wildly.

That was the Heavenly Dao tracking seal left by Hongjun!

At this moment, this seal is no longer merely a tracker.

It is like a living venomous snake, frenziedly gnawing at the source of his power,

releasing supreme Heavenly Dao pressure, attempting from within to lock down his Equal Heaven Path outright!

A force of 'Fixed Number' seeks to completely suppress this 'variable' of his!

Outside, the grave keeper eyes him covetously.

Inside, the Heavenly Dao seal frenziedly backlashes!

Attacked from both inside and outside!

Old Hongjun, what a scheme!

"Roar——!"

Sun Wukong unleashed a earth-shaking roar; his golden pupils instantly filled with bloodshot veins.

You want to make my old Sun collapse inside and out?

Go dream your mother's spring and autumn dream!

"Give it to me, suppress!"

He actually, relying sheerly on that unyielding will—defying heaven, earth, and his own fate—forcefully suppressed the rampaging Heavenly Dao seal within his body!

Like a peerless ferocious beast, he brute‑forced the chains nailed into his own marrow back inch by inch!

The intense pain twisted his features somewhat.

Yet his motion showed not the slightest pause!

While suppressing the internal turmoil, his whole body turned into a black‑gold stream of light piercing heaven and earth, and the Golden Cudgel in his hand erupted with unprecedented ferocity!

"Those who block me, die!"

That strike employed no fancy variations.

Only pure, savage force, aiming to smash everything before it into pulp!

Boom——!

The grave keeper that had just formed didn't even get to utter a proclamation of its rules.

It was smashed head‑to‑toe by that blow!

Its body, woven from myriad remnants of the Lost Dao, shattered like porcelain struck by a hammer, exploding into billions of fragments in an instant!

This time, Sun Wukong didn't even spare it a glance.

He knew it would revive again.

But he no longer had time to waste on a dog.

His figure, in the instant of smashing the grave keeper, swept past that storm of laws and finally reached the very heart of the Lost Dao Graveyard.

At the moment when he saw the scene before him clearly.

Sun Wukong's violently charging figure suddenly froze.

The raging fury in his eyes seemed to be instantly extinguished by a basin of icy water from the Nine Abysses.

What replaced it was endless cold, and a piercing pain that went deep into the marrow!

Here stood a tombstone so huge it could not be described.

The tombstone's material was neither metal nor stone, presenting a chaotic gray color, with no inscriptions on it.

But it, however, is the end of everything.

And upon that huge tombstone.

A golden Dao Seed that should have shone brilliantly, illuminating the myriad worlds.

It was being pierced through and nailed to the tombstone by nine pitch-black chains like ink!

Those chains are not physical.

But are condensed from the purest, most Primordial Source Heavenly Dao Law.

On each chain flows the icy aura of 'Order', 'Fixed Number', and 'End'.

They are like nine greedy maggots, deeply rooted in the Dao Seed's Primordial Source, frantically devouring its light and wearing away its spirituality.

The golden Dao Seed's light had dimmed to the extreme.

It trembled slightly.

It emitted wave after wave of silent wails, yet powerful enough to tear apart the Divine Soul.

That is pain.

That is torment.

Sun Wukong's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Not because of fear.

But because of an extreme anger that almost burned his reason to ashes!

That is his Master!

He is the person he respects most in his life!

He is the benefactor who gave him his name, transmitted the Great Dao to him, and led him from a naive stone monkey onto the path of the strong!

Now, a part of his Primordial Source is, like an unforgivable criminal, nailed here!

Being corroded day and night by the world's most filthy resentment!

Being mercilessly tortured by the Heavenly Dao's coldest law!

"Master..."

Sun Wukong's throat emitted a dry syllable.

He reached out his hand, trembling, slowly, and touched the golden Dao Seed that was wailing.

Just as his fingertip made contact with that faint golden light.

Boom—!

A vast memory flood, like a sea of smoke yet utterly shattered, surged along that unseen connection and rushed into his mind!

Time and space shifted, the stars moved.

Sun Wukong found himself standing in a palace that was ancient, vast, and majestic to the extreme.

Purple Cloud Palace!

Before him, two figures were facing off.

One, seated upon a cloud bed, had a blurry figure, yet seemed to merge with the entire Heavenly Dao.

Cold, indifferent, devoid of any feeling.

That is Hongjun!

And the other figure made him feel as if struck by lightning!

That was an old man wearing simple Daoist robes, holding a whisk, with a gentle countenance.

His stature was not tall, yet standing before the supreme embodiment of the Heavenly Dao, he showed no humility.

His waist was ramrod straight!

Bodhi Patriarch!

He is the Master!

Sun Wukong heard his Master's voice, gentle yet extremely firm.

"Dao Ancestor, the Heavenly Dao should be like rivers and seas, accommodating all streams, flowing into the ocean, only then can it be endless."

Bodhi Patriarch looked at Hongjun and slowly said: "You have now turned it into an impregnable dam,"

"Although it can bring temporary peace, it also makes all beings like fish in a pond."

"This is not the Great Dao, but rather... a prison!"

Hongjun's blurry figure showed no flicker.

His voice was cold as ancient profound ice.

"Any uncontrollable variable is a cancer of Chaos; it must be eradicated at the root."

"Bodhi."

Hongjun's voice carried a judgment-like solemnity.

"Your 'Emptiness' can give birth to everything; this is the greatest variable."

"Your path of the 'Variable' is heresy among heresies!"

"Execute!"

The scene of memory ends here.

In the end, Sun Wukong only saw his Master, who, upon hearing the "Zhan" character, felt neither anger nor Fear Heart Demon.

He merely let out a long, resolute sigh.

Then, he turned his head.

His gaze seemed to pierce endless spacetime, beyond the ages of eternity.

He looked toward the direction where Sun Wukong stood.

That look was extremely complex.

It held comfort, reluctance, and anticipation.

And a faint, deep apology.

As if saying.

Sun Wukong.

Master, I must go ahead first.

The road ahead…

I entrust it to you.