Chapter 273: Source of Ten Thousand Paths, End-of-World Summons

That grey hand composed of jumping numbers, carrying the deathly silence that withers everything,

It slowly reached toward the newborn world that had just been saved by the Master's will.

Sun Wukong's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot.

"Fuck!"

A repressed, extreme roar exploded in the depths of his Divine Soul.

He wanted to move.

He wanted to smash that grey-robed monster and the entire starry sky behind it into the most primordial particles with a single blow!

But he couldn't move!

That damned Cosmic Pan-Consciousness, that imprint in his Divine Soul of the 'cannot be defied' warning,

Like a prison forged from the weight of the entire Multiverse, it firmly pinned him in place.

As long as he dared to leak a trace of the Equal Heaven Path's aura.

That so-called 'repair procedure' would label him an 'obstructor' and prioritize his eradication!

How stifling this is!

How ironic this is!

He watched helplessly as the world's barrier, beneath that grey hand, began to emit a groan unable to bear the weight.

The Living Beings of the world, those fortunate ones who had just been rescued from destruction, once again showed expressions of despair.

Their Faith, their prayers, their cries, at this moment seemed utterly powerless.

Sun Wukong's steel teeth were almost shattered by his own clench.

His chest heaved violently; that uncontainable blazing fury almost completely burned away his reason.

However.

At the one-thousandth of a moment before that grey hand was about to touch the world's barrier.

Time, as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, was fiercely choked at the throat.

Everything stopped.

That grey hand halted in midair.

The grey-robed figure whose face was composed of numbers, the stiff arc on its face, froze.

Behind it, the countless fellows, like a locust swarm passing through, all turned into motionless sculptures.

Even the Equal Heaven Path within Sun Wukong, about to run berserk, was also seized by this sudden,

more overbearing, more ancient, more irrational power, which forcibly pressed it back.

This power did not belong to Hongjun.

Nor did it belong to the Zeroers.

Even less did it belong to the Cosmic Pan-Consciousness that had just finished showing off and fled.

It……was even older.

So ancient it seemed as if the 'First Rule' had existed even before this Multiverse was born.

The next second.

Two beams of light, indescribable in any words, were born from 'nothing'.

They ignored space, ignored time, ignored all known and unknown Dao laws.

One beam came to a precise stop before Sun Wukong.

The other pierced through billions of miles of void, appearing directly above the ruins of Zixiao Palace, stopping before Hongjun, the Dao Ancestor.

The light faded.

Two identical scrolls, neither metal nor jade, seemingly formed from the purest 'Principle,' slowly unfurled.

There was not a single character on them.

But the moment Sun Wukong's gaze touched it, a massive, irresistible stream of information was directly etched into the deepest part of his Divine Soul.

It was not a warning.

It was……a summons!

【Violator of the 'Root Contract': Sun Wukong.】

【Violator of the 'Root Contract': Hongjun.】

【Your conflict has reached the stability limit of the 'Iterative Universe,' causing irreversible damage.】

【Now the judgment:】

【Immediately proceed to the 'Source of Ten Thousand Paths' to undergo Final Arbitration.】

【This is an End-of-World Summons, which cannot be defied.】

【If there is disobedience……】

【This universe, together with all that exists within it, will uniformly undergo 'Formatting,' returning to absolute nothingness.】

Each word was like a giant hammer that had existed since the dawn of creation, striking heavily upon Sun Wukong's heart.

Formatting!

Formatting again!

But this time, the issuer of the threat is obviously far higher in authority than the Zeroers' permit!

This damn thing is practically the Universe's Supreme Court, directly issuing the notice of Final Judgment!

Sun Wukong stood stunned.

Hongjun also stood stunned.

Even those Grey Robe Raiders who had just been invincible now stood frozen in place, utterly motionless.

They seemed to know the origin of the 'summons'.

On the face composed of numbers, an emotion akin to 'apprehension' appeared for the first time.

Boom!

At that moment, the Cosmic Pan-Consciousness force that had been firmly suppressing Sun Wukong receded like a tide.

He attained Freedom.

The "cannot-defy warning" hanging over his head also faded away.

But Sun Wukong felt no ease at all.

He merely felt that he had been moved from a slightly larger cage to a smaller, sturdier one.

He slowly turned his head, looking toward the direction of the Zi Xiao Gong.

He could sense that Hongjun's aura, before that summons, was like a candle in the wind, humble to the extreme.

Inside the Zi Xiao Gong.

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ gazed, lost and distraught, at the Golden Summons hovering before him.

On his face came extreme astonishment, then overwhelming shame, finally turning into dead ash.

He, Hongjun!

One with the Heavenly Dao, the Dao Ancestor who has governed the Three Realms for countless eons!

He was actually treated as a criminal, placed alongside that monkey, and summoned together?

To undergo… arbitration?

Does he deserve it?!

Does that monkey deserve it?!

A surge of anger rose from his heart, but in an instant it was extinguished by the Formatting Cold Will on the summons.

He had no doubt.

As long as he dared to utter a 'no', this summons would instantly turn into a force that obliterates everything,

erasing him and his last refuge from causality entirely.

He had no choice.

He had never had a choice.

So-called mastery of the Heavenly Dao now appears to be nothing more than a slightly prominent prisoner becoming a temporary cell boss when the supreme will dozes off.

How tragic!

How ridiculous!

Hongjun's body trembled uncontrollably.

The other side of the Star Sea.

The Grey Robe Raiders, after a moment of silence, their leader—the numeric-faced monster—actually made an extremely human-like gesture toward Sun Wukong's direction.

It... spread its hands.

As if saying: "Look, it's not that we don't want to rob, it's that an overseer has come, and this business can't be done."

Immediately afterward.

All the grey-robed persons, like ghosts merging into shadows, silently retreated, once again disappearing into the darkness at the edge of the Multiverse.

They, in fact, temporarily gave up plundering.

They were watching and waiting.

Waiting for the result of the Final Arbitration coming from the Source of Ten Thousand Paths.

Sun Wukong withdrew his gaze, the irritation in his heart growing ever stronger.

Damn it.

One is more pretentious than the next.

One hides deeper than the next.

This universe is practically a giant set of nesting dolls.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his chest, turned his head to look at Yao beside him.

"Are you okay?"

Yao's complexion remained pale; she shook her head, tightly gripping the corner of Sun Wukong's clothes, her eyes filled with worry.

"Wukong, what place is the 'Source of Ten Thousand Paths'?"

Sun Wukong tugged at his mouth, trying to squeeze out a reassuring smile for her, but found his facial muscles extremely stiff.

"I don't know."

"But it sounds like a place that discusses Principle."

"And I, Old Sun, am worst at discussing Principle."

His voice carried a hint of self-mockery.

Also a hint of untamable arrogance.

Just then.

He and Hongjun's two Golden Summons before them blazed with light simultaneously.

Immediately afterward, the space before the summons began to warp and collapse.

Two identical vortex-shaped portals, formed from the purest Chaos Realm light, gradually took shape.

From the other end of the portals, no aura emanated.

Only a profound darkness that seemed able to devour everything.

The path to the Source of Ten Thousand Paths has opened.

Sun Wukong glanced at that door, then at the newborn world guarded behind Yao.

He remembered his Master's lonely silhouette.

He remembered his Master's sigh: "Don't let this Heaven... turn utterly cold."

He knew he could not retreat.

And he could not cause trouble.

At least, not now.

"Wait for me to return."

Sun Wukong turned his head, looked at Yao, his voice low but utterly resolute.

Yao's eye sockets reddened, and she nodded firmly.

Sun Wukong said no more.

He suddenly turned, his gaze like two bolts of lightning tearing through darkness, crossing the endless void,

and collided violently with Hongjun, who likewise lifted his head amid the ruins of the Zi Xiao Gong.

No words.

Only the most primal, pure killing intent and hatred.

They were arch-enemies.

They were two prisoners forced together by this damned fate, hauled before the judgment seat!

Sun Wukong slowly raised the Golden Cudgel in his hand, not for battle, just a habitual motion.

He felt the fleeting, vicious yet complex calculation in Hongjun's eyes.

That old Daoist, even in this predicament, was probably still scheming how to turn the tables at the Source of Ten Thousand Paths, how to kill himself.

Sun Wukong gave a cold snort.

Just perfect.

This old monkey also wants to see what this so-called Final Arbitration really is!

If it's not to my liking…

In Sun Wukong's eyes, a flash of crazy golden flame flickered and vanished.

Then smash it too!

The next moment.

Just as Hongjun was still hesitating, still weighing gains and losses,

Sun Wukong had already shouldered the Golden Cudgel, without the slightest hesitation, stepping into that unknown Chaos Realm Gate!

His figure was instantly swallowed by that profound light.

In the Zi Xiao Gong, Hongjun saw this, his face turning even darker.

That damned monkey!

Even in death, he wants to get ahead of me!

He gritted his teeth, then turned into a streak of light and plunged into the gate before him.

With their disappearance,

the two golden End-of-World Summons also turned into specks of light and vanished into nothing.

The entire Star Sea once again fell into Deathly Silence.

Only Yao remained, standing blankly in place, gazing toward where Sun Wukong vanished, muttering to herself.

"Please… come back…"