Chapter 255: Under the Olive Branch, Silence

Sun Wukong's footsteps halted.

His Fiery Golden Eyes, which had just ignited endless battle spirit, narrowed slightly.

This sound…

…was not the cold program of the Zeroers.

…nor the false order of Hongjun.

It was a pure tone, lazy and teasing.

Like a deity perched in the clouds, watching a monkey play that had barely piqued his interest.

One of the opponents?

Not even qualified to be a true opponent?

Sun Wukong curled his lips, showing his forest‑white teeth.

That Smile was wild and dangerous.

"Interesting."

He muttered softly; instead of anger, the excitement in his eyes grew even stronger.

"Another one who wants to be a chess player."

"Fine!"

"I, Old Sun, love smashing the board!"

Yet, just as Sun Wukong was completely stirred by boundless battle spirit deep within this unknown Star Sea,

he did not know.

At the border where his newly forged Chaos Realm met the lingering old Three Realms, a colder plot was silently brewing.

Zi Xiao Gong.

Here, once the supreme holy ground of the Heavenly Dao, the source of all laws.

But now it was pervaded by an inescapable decay and dead air.

The glazed tiles atop the palace had lost their former divine light, becoming dim and even coated with a layer of gray dust.

Sitting cross‑legged on a mat, Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's face was so gloomy it seemed it could drip water.

His breath was more chaotic than ever before.

Since Sun Wukong opened the "Equal Heaven" Chaos, forcibly stripping his Heavenly Dao authority and demoting him to a so‑called "Guardian",

he felt his connection to the entire Three Realms being constantly diluted and polluted by a wild yet vigorous force!

That force was Sun Wukong's Way of the Equal Heaven!

It was like the most terrifying virus, infiltrating everywhere.

It told all beings that there is no need to worship gods, no need to trust fate.

It told all things that they are born equal, all can achieve Equal Heaven!

This is literally digging up his roots!

"Sun Wukong!"

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ snapped his eyes open; the eyes that should have been as still as an ancient well were now filled with Bloodshot and fury.

"You brat! You've gone too far!"

He, the illustrious Daozu, head of the mysterious sect, was forced by a monkey into this predicament!

He cannot swallow this foul air!

He must not lose this escalating Dao dispute!

Hongjun forced down the raging fire in his heart, his gaze turning exceedingly Irrational.

In a hard‑hit clash, he had already lost the initiative.

Sun Wukong's "Variable" Dao was too overbearing, specifically countering his Fixed Number order.

To deal with this Irrational virus, a more extreme, purer power must be used to neutralize and erase it!

A power representing "End" and Deathly Silence.

A name rose from deep within Hongjun's mind.

Silence!

That original demon god's apostle, the madman who wielded the Way of the End!

Although he had long been slain by that demon god himself, his "Dao" left an extremely deep impression on Hongjunnumeros.

It was a pure "Nothing" that even he felt his heart flutter.

"As long as we win… any price is worth it!"

A flash of mad determination flickered in Hongjun's eyes.

He thrust out his withered hand, its skeletal fingers stabbing into the void, as if probing an invisible river of fate.

"In the name of my remaining Heavenly Dao, I trace cause and effect, seeking the remnants!"

Boom!

The entire Zi Xiao Gong shuddered violently!

Hongjun's body aged visibly in an instant, a head of white hair turning grayish again.

He was burning his last remaining Heavenly Dao essence!

In his perception, within the cracks of the Chaos law, strands of nearly vanished black Dao Rhythm were forcibly captured and drawn in.

That was the most primal Silent Extinction Dao Rhythm, scattered after Silence was erased, drifting between heaven and earth.

"Condense!"

Hongjun let out a low roar, pouring his pure Source Power unreservedly into those lingering Dao Rhythms.

The black Dao Rhythm, like a long drought meeting sweet rain, began to frenziedly twist and converge.

A blurry, pallid humanoid outline, in the center of the Purple Dawn Palace, slowly coalesced into form.

It's Ji!

His eyes tightly shut, his breath so weak it seemed it might dissipate again at any moment.

Hongjun gazed at his own 'creation,' a hint of weary yet ferocious smile appearing on his face.

He walked up to Ji, his voice carrying an indisputable authority.

"Ji, wake up."

That pallid figure's eyelids twitched slightly, then slowly opened.

What hollow eyes they are.

Inside, there was no light, no emotion, only an eternal, deathly silence void.

He looked at Hongjun before him, expressionless, as if gazing at a stone.

"Sun Wukong, the source of that variable, is overturning everything."

Hongjun did not beat around the bush, speaking directly.

"Our Dao is all being eroded by it; your so-called 'End' is nothing but a joke before his vibrant Equal Heaven."

Ji's gaze remained utterly still.

Hongjun looked at his corpse-like appearance, feeling a bit impatient, yet he still raised the stakes, throwing out the olive branch he had prepared.

"Submit to me!"

"Help me exterminate Sun Wukong, and return this polluted Chaos Realm completely to 'Order'!"

"Then I shall grant you... supreme authority over the 'End'!"

Hongjun's voice was full of allure.

"By then, this entire new and old Chaos Realm will become your proving ground for the Dao! You can let everything you dislike return to deathly silence as you wish!"

"How?"

He stared fixedly at Ji, waiting for his response.

In his view, this was an temptation no fanatic pursuing the ultimate Dao could refuse.

However.

Ji merely looked at him coldly.

Indeed, there was not a ripple in his heart.

Submit?

Authority?

In Ji's mind, another face involuntarily surfaced.

It was a face of unrestrained arrogance, forever burning with defiance and fighting spirit—a monkey's face.

Sun Wukong.

He had also once 'invited' himself.

But that was neither charity nor command.

That was a fair and square... challenge, wagering each of their Daos.

Ji refused.

Then he lost, lost utterly.

He witnessed his own Master, the great 'Void' demon god, how Sun Wukong, in the most overbearing way, shattered his shackles and gained 'Freedom'.

He thought he would completely dissipate along with his Master's defeat.

But now, he has lived again.

Being fished back from the brink of death by another self-righteous 'Order,' treated like a war dog.

How... ridiculous.

Ji slowly raised his right hand.

A streak of black light, purer and more inwardly focused than before, gathered in his palm.

That light ultimately formed a blade as thin as a cicada's wing, yet exuding the aura of ending all things—a black shortsword.

This is his reforged 'End' blade.

This time, not for his Master.

Only for himself.

Hongjun looked at the shortsword emanating an ominous aura, his brows slightly furrowed.

"What is your choice?"

He asked in a low voice.

Ji, did not answer.

He gripped the knife in his hand; those hollow eyes, for the first time, gained a hint of focus.

He glanced at Hongjun, whose face was written with 'control' and 'utilization'.

Then his gaze seemed to pierce the dome of the Purple Dawn Palace, pierce the endless Chaos Realm, and look toward the depths of the Star Sea.

There, a will as fervent as the sun stood opposed to an even greater existence.

Ji's mouth corner slowly twitched into an extremely minute arc, almost nonexistent.

That was not a smile.

Rather, it was more like a confirmation of having found a new goal.

He suddenly raised the End blade in his hand.