Chapter 264: Carrying Hope, Moving Forward

That gloomy laugh, like hundreds of millions of poisonous insects, drilled into the sea of consciousness of every Living Being present!

Damn!

Playing dirty!

Sun Wukong shouted in anger, the fury in his Fiery Golden Eyes almost igniting this whole Star Sea!

Before him, it was no longer a simple energy attack.

That……was a world!

Thousands upon thousands of rotting, pitch-black worlds, reeking of stench and curses!

They were like a flock of vultures starved for hundreds of millions of years, dragging long tails made of despair and wails,

They lunged viciously toward this pure land just restored by Master's power!

This is not destruction.

This is contamination!

The most vicious, the most despicable contamination!

It was like dumping a whole bucket of filth into a bowl of the purest spring water!

It was meant to tell you that all your efforts, all your protection, in the face of absolute malice, are fucking jokes!

Sun Wukong instinctively turned his head and glanced at Yao.

Yao's body had been completely reshaped by Master's gentle power, even more solid than before, with a dreamlike radiance flowing all around her.

At this moment, she was also looking at Sun Wukong.

In those beautiful eyes, the previous weakness and confusion were gone, replaced by an overflowing… trust and gratitude.

She said nothing.

But Sun Wukong understood.

That gaze told him: Wukong, I trust you.

Sun Wukong grinned, his teeth stark white.

He turned his head again, gazing at the incoming 'Death Garden'.

At this moment, he was no longer alone.

He suddenly understood.

Master, that lazy master who disliked his noise, why did he, after recreating this world, immediately withdraw?

Because Master had already become the 'Shield'.

He transformed himself into the foundation of this new world, the bedrock of the 'Equal Heaven' world that carries all variables and hopes.

He became the wind, the rain, the silent support of this land.

The old man had already done everything he needed to do.

And now……

It was his turn as the disciple, his turn as the wielder of the sharpest 'Spear', to protect this gentlest 'Shield'!

They were no longer just one person.

Hahahaha……

Sun Wukong suddenly burst into loud laughter, his laughter filled with unprecedented exhilaration and arrogance!

That laughter made the entire Star Sea hum with resonance!

From the depths of the Star Sea, the mysterious sovereign's voice came with a hint of mockery.

Even with death at your doorstep, you're still laughing madly?

You monkey, are you crazy?

I want to see how you, with that broken staff, can block the contamination of these tens of thousands of death worlds!

Sun Wukong's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

He shouldered the Golden Cudgel, tilted his head, and looked toward the depths of the Star Sea with the eyes of one looking at an idiot.

Block?

Who the hell told you that Old Sun needs to block?

Before his words even finished!

He moved!

He didn't retreat half a step, nor did he set up any defense!

He actually……charged forward to meet that sky‑covering death world!

Like a golden meteor, he plunged without hesitation into the deepest darkness!

Wukong!

Yao let out a cry of alarm.

On Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's face appeared the expected cold smile.

Even the pallid 'Ji' showed a flicker of incomprehension in his hollow eyes.

Voluntarily diving into the source of contamination?

What's the difference between that and seeking death?

Haha! Stupid monkey! Are you adding a new material to my collection?

The mysterious sovereign's mad laughter echoed through the Star Sea!

However, the next second!

His laughter was like a rooster whose throat had been seized by an invisible giant hand, suddenly choked!

Only saw Sun Wukong rush into the torrent formed by the death worlds, not only not being instantly contaminated or assimilated.

On the contrary!

The golden light on his body grew ever more brilliant!

He raised the Golden Cudgel in his hand high!

That staff, which had accompanied him through endless ages, was no longer merely a black iron rod.

Above it, billions of points of light blazed!

Each point of light represented a will of 'unwillingness'!

That is… Master's creation that failed countless times!

They are the embryonic worlds that the Zeroers ruthlessly discarded, yet found their haven upon Sun Wukong!

Their Dao, their dreams, their longing for existence—all now gathered upon this staff!

"Give it to me, Old Monkey..."

Sun Wukong's roar, like a thunderclap, burst in the sea of consciousness of every existence!

"Wake——up——!"

Boom!!!

His strike was not aimed at any world!

What he struck was void!

It was the void between the dead worlds, a space filled with despair and deathly silence!

The Golden Cudgel fell!

There was no earth‑shattering boom, no heaven‑destroying energy explosion.

There was only a single golden ripple.

A ripple containing infinite 'variables' and the will of 'unyielding', centered on Sun Wukong,

spreading gently yet overwhelmingly domineering in all directions!

This ripple swept over those dark, rotting worlds reeking of death.

A miracle occurred!

On the death world nearest to Sun Wukong, pitch‑black all over, its surface covered with dried bloodstains,

A sprig of emerald green sprouted, trembling, from a huge crack!

Immediately after!

It was the second sprout!

The third sprout!

Countless sprouts!

In the blink of an eye, the planet that had lain deathly silent for untold billions of years was completely blanketed in a dazzling layer of green!

A surging vitality shot up to the heavens!

It came back to life!

This is merely the beginning!

Just like lighting the first bonfire!

The golden ripple continued to spread!

The second world, the third world, the hundredth, the thousandth…

Those rotting, dead worlds, as if nourished by spring rain, began to frenziedly burst with vitality!

On the parched land, rivers once again rushed forth!

In the shattered sky, the sun and moon once again turned!

The remnants of living beings twisted into monsters, under the golden light, wailed as they turned to ash,

and from their ashes arose brand‑new souls brimming with hope!

Sun Wukong—he was not purifying!

He was… awakening!

Awakening in these worlds the yearning for life they possessed before that mysterious sovereign twisted them!

He bore Master's hope, he bore the hope of those myriad 'failed creations', and pressed onward!

He used his own 'Equal Heaven' Dao to tell this Star Sea——

No one is born to be defined as trash!

No one is born to be eternally trampled underfoot!

My fate is mine, not Heaven's!

The world, too!

"No……impossible!"

In the depths of the Star Sea, that mysterious sovereign let out an incredulous roar!

"You trash! Defective goods!"

"It is I who conquered you! It is I who granted you eternal deathly silence!"

"You……how dare you betray!"

His voice was filled with rage and terror.

Because he discovered that the worlds he had revived not only failed to obey his order to attack Sun Wukong, but instead turned around!

Tens of thousands of worlds, newly reborn, like the most loyal guardians,

stacked layer upon layer to protect Sun Wukong, Yao, and the restored world at the center!

Their 'world will' converged into a torrent, jointly resisting the pressure from the depths of the Star Sea!

Sun Wukong shouldered the Golden Cudgel, standing at the center of myriad worlds, he grinned, revealing his forest-white teeth.

You see?

This is the people's will!

Your ways are outdated!

Pfft—

That mysterious sovereign seemed furious, a muffled sound like spitting blood came from the void.

Immediately after came an even icier, more vengeful roar!

Good… very good!

Monkey, you have successfully angered me!

Since these mortals are beneath your notice, then I shall let you witness… my most perfect collection!

At the moment his words fell!

A wave of despair, far surpassing the sum of all previous dead worlds and ten thousand times more terrifying, rose slowly from the deepest part of the Star Sea!

That is… a world that cannot be described in words!

Its entire body is composed of an unknown, translucent crystal, magnificent to the extreme.

And at its core, sealed is a huge, slowly weeping… pupil!

In that pupil, there is no anger, no hatred, only… pure, thick to the point of being inseparable, a weariness and despair toward all existence!

Merely swept by that aura, the worlds behind Sun Wukong that had just revived now showed signs of withering!

Come, let me introduce it to you.

The mysterious sovereign's voice carried a morbid pride.

It is called—'Tear of the End'.

A powerful world that once gave birth to a Quasi-Saint–level civilization. Its world will,

After witnessing the universe's final outcome, it fell into eternal self-doubt,

Finally, it knelt before me, weeping, begging me… to end it.

Now…

The sovereign's voice became incredibly cruel.

Let it end you, and that ridiculous hope behind you!

That huge, magnificent, despair-filled crystal world ignored the distance of space.

In an instant, it appeared directly above the pure land that Sun Wukong guards!

Then, carrying despair capable of crushing everything, it slammed——

crashed down!