Chapter 271: Ancient Will, Multiversal Pan‑Consciousness

A failed concept.

It should be discarded.

The Zeroers' voice, devoid of any emotion, was ten thousand times more terrifying than Hongjun's world‑destroying decree.

That was a judgment from a higher dimension.

It negated the legitimacy of Sun Wukong's existence.

The moment the words fell.

Sun Wukong felt his Equal Heaven Path actually beginning to self‑destruct!

That unyielding will—refusing Heaven, refusing Earth, refusing all beings, refusing discipline—at this moment seemed to have found an irrefutable reason.

One…… a reason that it should never have existed.

Heh……

Sun Wukong's body was fading, his golden fur losing its luster, like weathered stone.

Yet the corner of his mouth split into an arc more manic than ever before.

"Laozi's Dao, needs…… needs your recognition?"

He raised his arm, which was turning translucent, with difficulty yet unwavering resolve, and grasped the Golden Cudgel, which was likewise losing its substance.

"I, Old Sun, am here—the Dao is here!"

"I, Old Sun, die—but the Dao… does not perish!"

Boom!

A more resolute, purer "Unyielding" will exploded from the depths of his crumbling Dao Heart!

This will even ignited his Divine Soul!

He intended to prove his past existence through his own utter annihilation!

The Zeroers' vast, indifferent eyes showed a flicker of the minutest fluctuation.

Its logic system could not comprehend this self‑destructive resistance.

In its calculations, this was the most unreasonable choice.

"Error…… of…… logic……"

The Zeroers were about to increase the force of their "rejection" to completely erase this anomalous bug.

However.

Just at this moment.

Time stopped.

Space congealed.

Everything fell still.

The multiverse, which was wildly collapsing, froze like a movie frame paused on a playback, eerily fixed in place.

Hongjun's detonation of the Heavenly Dao‑triggered apocalyptic surge halted.

The Zeroers' ultimate judgment, capable of erasing concepts, came to a stop.

Sun Wukong's final strike, which burned his Divine Soul, also stopped.

Even the mysterious ruler deep in the Star Sea, watching the flames from afar, had his colossal hand forged from myriad star rivers frozen in place.

All of it.

All that could move and all that could not.

All with consciousness and all without.

In that instant, everything lost its meaning.

Because.

A will awakened.

A will that could not be described, understood, or perceived.

It did not appear.

Yet it was everywhere.

It had no sound.

Yet it drowned out all the clamor of the myriad worlds.

It was, in fact…… the very multiverse itself, the colossal prison that carries all "Dao" and "Li", finally opening its eyes that had lain dim for a hundred million years.

Inside the Zi Xiao Gong.

Hongjun, the Dao Ancestor's manic smile on his face froze solid.

The world‑destroying power he gained by burning the Heavenly Dao's Primordial Source paled to a mote of dust before that will.

He felt he was no longer the sovereign of the Heavenly Dao.

He was nothing more than a…… thief who sets fire in someone else's house and gets caught red‑handed by the owner.

That was a fear springing from the deepest reaches of life, the most primal terror.

He could not even muster the thought to move a finger.

The Scrap Processing Facility.

The Zeroers' vast consciousness, composed of pure logic, first produced garbled code.

【Warning……】

【Detected unknown permission……】

【Permission level: undefinable……】

【Error! Error! Core logic conflict!】

Its purpose of existence is to clean the garbage for the Origin and to preserve the purity of order.

But now it discovers that it, together with the Origin it serves, are only a part of this garbage dump.

And this garbage dump has awakened.

Deep within the Star Sea.

The mysterious ruler retracted the gigantic hand formed from the star river.

His teasing, lofty demeanor vanished without a trace.

In its place came an unprecedented solemnity.

He had always thought he was a fisherman fishing in a pond.

Until this moment he suddenly realized in terror.

This is no pond.

It is clearly the … eyeball of an ancient colossal beast that has slept for endless ages.

And he, along with everyone else, are merely tiny parasites inside that eyeball.

Silence.

The apostle of the End Dao, the blade in his hand that can cut through everything, also droops helplessly.

His Dao is to return all things to Deathly Silence.

But before this awakened will, he discovers that the Deathly Silence he pursues is so shallow, so laughable.

Because this will itself contains life as well as death.

It is everything.

Yao clutched Sun Wukong's hem tightly; her Illusory Dream Path could not stir even a ripple before this will.

She feels that all the dreams she has made have been seen through.

Among the strong present.

The only one who can still retain a hint of clarity is Sun Wukong.

He does not feel fear.

He only feels… strange.

Very familiar.

His Equal Heaven Path was born from nothing, from the unreasonable.

His Master's Void Path further embraces all failures and possibilities.

Their Dao seems inherently closer to the underlying code of this Universe than Hongjun's order and the Zeroers' logic.

"Is this… something beyond the Heavenly Dao…?"

Sun Wukong murmurs to himself.

He does not sense hostility.

That will is merely "watching".

Like a person who just woke up, surveying the chaotic arrangement in his own room.

It first "looked" at Zi Xiao Gong.

The burning black flame on Hóngjūn Dàozǔ went out with a puff.

He seemed completely drained of strength, collapsing on the throne, lacking even the courage to lift his head.

Then it "looked" at the Zeroers again.

The Zeroers' massive body began to flicker violently, like a TV screen with a bad signal, ready to vanish completely at any moment.

That will seems to say: You, are too noisy.

Finally.

The ancient, boundless, impartial, and tranquil Multiverse Cosmic Pan-Consciousness.

It cast its "gaze" upon Sun Wukong.

In that instant, Sun Wukong felt that from inside out, from his Divine Soul to every strand of monkey hair, he was completely "read".

His past.

His resistance.

His Equal Heaven Path.

The Void Dao Seed his Master left behind.

Everything, all of it, cannot hide before this will.

It does not judge.

No anger.

Nor approval.

Its "gaze" lingered on Sun Wukong for a long time.

It seemed to be analyzing.

It seemed to be contemplating.

It was deciding how to handle this tiny yet extraordinarily unique "garbled code".

Should it suppress him like cleaning Hongjun?

Or treat him like the Zeroers, sending him away?

Or perhaps…

Should it directly, from the root, completely "format" it?

The entire Multiverse awaits a result.

A final judgment from the highest will.

Sun Wukong grinned, showing a mouth full of white teeth.

He slowly raised the Golden Cudgel in his hand and pointed again at the indifferent giant eyes spanning the edge of the Universe, representing the Zeroers.

No matter what this awakened big guy intends.

He must first smash the bastard in front of him who wants him to "not exist" today!

This is his Dao!

Just then.

That vast pan‑consciousness finally moved.

It did not attack anyone.

Instead it sent down a… message.

A stream of information that all Living Beings can understand was directly imprinted in the minds of Sun Wukong, Hongjun, Zeroers, and every other being present.

The message was simple, only two characters.

【Repair】