Chapter 263: You have always been here, never left

This torn Star Sea has fallen into a strange Deathly Silence.

All eyes of existence, whether it's the gloomy-faced Hongjun in Purple Cloud Palace,

or the mysterious ruler in the depths of the Star Sea whose face cannot be seen,

Or that solitary, pale 'Ji', all stare fixedly at that black crack.

An old geezer who calls himself the garbage dump's gatekeeper, speaking in the most lazy tone,

demanding compensation from a Star Sea Sovereign for trampling the flowers and grasses.

This matter, no matter how you look at it, exudes absurdity.

In the depths of the Star Sea, that radiant giant hand hovers in the void.

The hand's owner, that voice which had always been lazy and teasing, now brims with icy anger.

Utter humiliation!

He has roamed this star field for endless ages, treating all worlds as collections and all beings as playthings—when has he ever been so despised?

And to add insult, he's being humiliated under the pretense of 'gardening'!

"You..."

Just as he was about to speak, he used the supreme Dao to erase that ignorant garbage dump gatekeeper together with his ramshackle dump.

But just then!

A figure sliced through this frozen standoff!

Sun Wukong!

He didn't look at that crack, nor pay attention to that giant hand.

Upon confirming Yao Anran was safe, even her breath more rounded and clear than before, his heart that had been lodged in his throat finally dropped heavily back down.

My old Sun's wife is fine!

He flashed forward, crossing spacetime, arriving before Yao.

He reached out his hand, moving with surprising gentleness, supporting the still somewhat dazed Yao.

And just at this moment!

When his palm touched Yao's body, feeling that gentle yet vast Creative Force that had not yet dissipated,

Sun Wukong, his whole person froze.

This power...

The root of this power...

is exactly the same as the Void Seed within his body!

But one is to cut! to break! to scrutinize and shatter everything—the 'subtraction'!

The other is to create! to bring forth! to go from nothing to something—the 'addition'!

One represents ending, the other represents beginning!

One is withered, the other is flourishing!

Starkly opposite, yet both spring from the same source!

Boom!

A never-before-had realization, like the godly thunder that split heaven and earth, struck hard into Sun Wukong's sea of consciousness!

He understood!

He fully understood!

Master!

The Void Grand Dao left by his old master is not the whole thing at all!

That is merely... half!

It is used to cut through thorns and smash all shackles—the sharpest... spear!

And the other half, which his master never showed before, is this very power before him!

It is those defined as 'failures,' thrown into the garbage dump, yet bearing his master's countless efforts and the will of No Regret, the embryonic worlds,

that, in the endless Deathly Silence, jointly nurtured... protection!

It is the gentlest, yet also the indestructible... shield!

Offense and defense!

Destruction and creation!

This damn it, is the master's complete Dao!

This is truly... the Void!

Void is not nothingness!

Void is able to contain everything!

It is the embrace of life and death, the destination of success and failure!

Having figured all this out, Sun Wukong only felt a hot surge rush from his heart straight to the crown of his head!

That is not the fire of anger, but a kind of utmost clarity, ecstatic joy!

A kind of finally having found one's root, feeling solid!

As it turns out...

As it turns out, my old Sun has never fought alone!

He looked at Yao in his arms, her complexion now fully flushed, even more beautiful than before.

He glanced again at the distant crack, which was continuously seeping out gentle power.

That fearless monkey's eye sockets actually felt a bit hot.

"Master..."

He used a voice only he could hear, murmuring softly.

In the voice was a hint of something never before felt, a childlike... dependence.

You have always been here.

You never left.

You just changed the method, using the gentlest way, silently protecting the... variable you value most.

You turned yourself into the wind, rain, sunlight, and earth of this newly born Chaos Realm.

You are everywhere.

Sun Wukong smiled.

He smiled brilliantly, flamboyantly!

That laughter rang especially shrill in this Deathly Silence Star Sea!

All gazes of existence instantly shifted from that crack to him.

Sun Wukong slowly lifted his Golden Cudgel, pointing far toward the dazzling Star Sea, toward the frozen giant hand.

The smile on his face held three parts delight and seven parts arrogance.

"Hey!"

"That guy with the huge hand!"

"My Master, the old man, is asking you something!"

"Did you chop off your own hand to make amends, or... shall old Sun help you out?!"

The words caused the whole venue to gasp in shock!

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's pupils suddenly contracted!

Master?!

That old guy in the junkyard, is he Sun Wukong's Master? Is he the Bodhi who has already become void?!

How could this be possible!

He clearly already...

On that pale, silent face, a "shock" expression appeared for the first time.

That gentle force, opposite to his "end", actually... also originates from Bodhi?!

Deep within the Star Sea, that mysterious being also froze in astonishment.

For the first time, he began to reexamine that crack, to scrutinize that lazy voice.

A Master capable of teaching Sun Wukong such a "variable"?

A Master who dares to demand compensation from him...?

Things seem to be getting interesting.

At this moment under everyone's gaze, within the crack, the lazy voice,

sounded out of place again, letting out a long yawn.

"Aiya..."

"You mischievous monkey, can't you let the Master be clean for a moment?"

"A trivial matter, why the fuss, what's the big deal."

Though he complained verbally, the gentle power seeping from the crack suddenly grew even richer!

That power, like spring wind turning to rain, once again enveloped the freshly restored world.

Mountains, rivers, and streams no longer merely returned to their original state.

The mountains grew taller, more spiritual!

The water became clearer, richer in Vitality!

In the void, countless profound laws, like newborn stars, began to flicker and intertwine.

The world's Life Rank was abruptly elevated by a level within those few sentences!

This is no longer mere restoration!

This is... recreating the cosmos!

Such a subtle yet overwhelmingly domineering method made Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's back break out in a cold sweat!

This is ten thousand times more terrifying than Sun Wukong's brute force of smashing everything with a single stick!

The lazy voice sounded again, this time turning toward Sun Wukong.

"Alright, monkey brat."

"Set up your own frame, strike it yourself."

"I, the Master... must go water those newly sprouted seedlings."

"Don't make too much noise, disturbing their sleep."

As the words fell, the vast Creative Force truly receded like a tide, slowly flowing back into the crack.

It seemed he truly only came out for a glance, then returned to continue being his... gardener.

At that moment, the pressure instantly transferred entirely onto the ruler deep within the Star Sea.

Everyone's gaze focused on him.

Fight?

Or not fight?

Fight, though that mysterious "gardener" retreated, who knows if he'll appear again?

Moreover, a battle‑fueled Sun Wukong watches hungrily!

Not fighting?

He, the magnificent Sovereign of the Star Sea, is being pointed at and humiliated by a monkey and a gardener; if he just lets it slide, how will he ever stand firm in this Star Sea?

His dignity will be utterly lost!

Silence.

A deathly silence.

That radiant giant hand, in the void, slowly clenched.

Endless killing intent began to boil!

Sun Wukong shouldered his Golden Cudgel, grinned, revealing his snow‑white teeth.

"How?"

"Want to fight?"

"Come on!"

"My old Sun's staff hasn't tasted a 'Sovereign'-level bone in ages—what flavor does it have now?"

Mad!

Mad to the extreme!

The owner of that giant hand, furious, laughed.

"Well..."

"Very good!"

"A monkey who doesn't know the height of heaven and depth of earth, a gardener who pretends to be divine!"

"Since you both love 'life' and love 'creation'..."

His voice turned gloomy and strange.

"Then I shall give you a... feast of life!"

The moment his words fell!

That radiant giant hand, covering countless light‑years, suddenly opened!

This time it was neither an attack nor a grasp.

From his palm welled forth... the world!

Countless black, rotten worlds, filled with death, plague, curses and wails...

All of them are the specimens he has conquered and destroyed!

They were twisted by his most vicious Dao into eternal death‑paradises!

These death worlds, like a horrendous locust swarm,

These death worlds, like a horrendous locust swarm, swept over the battlefield that had just regained vitality, over Sun Wukong and Yao, blanketing the sky and engulfing the earth!

Their aim is not destruction!

But... contamination!

They want to turn this chaos into an absolute dead wasteland that even that 'gardener' cannot repair!

"Come on!"

"Gardener!"

"Your plants have come!"

"Let me see how you can grow a flower of life in my death garden!"

That chilling laughter echoed throughout the Star Sea!

Sun Wukong's face darkened instantly.

"Damn!"

"Playing dirty!"