Chapter 274: On the Eve of the Storm, the Final Battle Approaches

That unstoppable warning was like an invisible Mount Tai, heavily pressing down on the heads of all existence.

This warning caused the Star Sea, which had just been tense and on the verge of total collapse, to fall into an eerie, temporary calm.

Whether it was the Grey Robe Raiders lying in wait to strike or the various gods and demons secretly spying, at this moment they all chose to lie low.

But Sun Wukong knew, this damn thing wasn't any kind of peace at all.

It was merely the suffocating deathly silence before a more terrifying storm arrived.

The stage of the final battle was no longer something he could choose.

He, together with that immortal old fogey Hongjun, was forcibly dragged by an even more unreasonable power to an unprecedented height.

A gambling table where losing meant losing everything.

At the instant he stepped into the threshold of Chaos, the whole world vanished.

There was no light.

There was no darkness.

There was no up, down, left, or right.

Sun Wukong felt as if he had been thrown into a huge, precise analytical instrument.

Every bone of his, every drop of blood, even his pride—the Equal Heaven Path capable of tearing apart the Heavenly Dao—

were being peeled apart layer by layer by an incomprehensible force, examined thread by thread.

This feeling was worse than being sliced alive by ten thousand knives.

It wasn't pain.

It was the humiliation of being thoroughly analyzed, appraised, and labeled from the very root of existence.

"Damn..."

Sun Wukong's divine soul roared, yet in reality he could not make a single sound.

He felt that his defiance, his struggle, all his will, before the other party, had turned into lines of visible code.

And the other party was coldly reading his 'source code'.

No one knew how long it had been.

Perhaps an instant, perhaps billions of years.

When Sun Wukong regained perception, he found himself standing in an indescribable space.

Under his feet was an endless, mirror-smooth black platform.

On the platform, the birth and death of billions of stars were reflected, yet it was ice-cold, without a trace of warmth.

He looked ahead.

At the far end of the platform, the figure of Hongjun, the Dao Ancestor gradually emerged, his face looking worse than death.

On that face once filled with 'Heavenly Dao's dignity,' now only the humiliation of being forcibly summoned and the anger suppressed to the extreme remained.

Their gazes crossed this deathly silent space and slammed together fiercely.

No sparks.

No collision of laws.

Only the most primitive, pure hatred—wanting to completely erase the other from existence.

The Golden Cudgel in his hand hummed, emitting a low growl that longed for battle.

Sun Wukong could feel that this divine iron, forged from a hundred million unyielding wills, also sensed an unprecedented oppression.

It wanted to smash this place.

Sun Wukong wanted to even more.

But he knew, now was not the time.

He still did not understand the rules of this place.

The ghostly thing that had forcibly dragged him and Hongjun here had not yet shown its face.

Just then.

A voice sounded.

It came from no direction, but seeped out from every corner and every particle of this space.

The voice had no emotion, no tone, like absolute-zero ice, or like an instruction from the most precise computer.

"Arbitration Unit: Sun Wukong, in position."

"Arbitration Unit: Hongjun, in position."

"Root Contract arbitration procedure… initiating."

Sun Wukong jerked his head up, his Fiery Golden Eyes scanning all directions, but he could not find the source of the voice.

This space itself was that so-called 'Arbiter'!

Hongjun's face also turned extremely grim; as an incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, he could not even catch a trace of the other.

The other's level far surpassed the Heavenly Dao.

"Violation of Article 17 of the 'Root Contract': No triggering irreversible consumption of the 'Iterative Universe' by means of one's own Dao conflict."

That cold voice continued, as if reading a pre-written judgment.

"Arbitration Unit: Sun Wukong, his Dao is 'Variable,' his essence infinite possibilities; over-expansion will cause the cosmic logic chain to completely collapse, falling into Chaos."

"Arbitration Unit: Hongjun, his Dao is 'Fixed,' his essence absolute order; over-consolidation will cause the cosmic vitality to utterly die, falling into Nothingness."

"The conflict between Variable and Fixed has already touched the bottom limit of the 'Iterative Universe's self-repair."

"Arbitration begins."

Hearing this, Sun Wukong could no longer bear it.

He opened his mouth, revealing a smile full of mockery and ferocity.

I, Old Sun, will fuck your mother's arbitration!

His divine sense turned into the sharpest dagger, viciously stabbing into that void.

"When have I, Old Sun, ever followed your bullshit rules?"

"From the day I was born, I've been fighting Heaven, fighting fate!"

"What the hell are you, to dare judge me, Old Sun?"

However.

That voice produced no response to his roar.

It merely paused, like a computer program encountering an irrelevant pop‑up, and casually clicked 'Ignore'.

"Detected arbitration unit: Sun Wukong, exhibiting extreme resistance emotion."

"Correction plan: none."

"Continue executing arbitration procedure."

Immediately, the voice's words caused Sun Wukong's and Hongjun's pupils to contract violently.

"Given that the balance model of 'variables' and 'fixed numbers' has been proven to fail."

"Now, according to the supreme law of the Root Contract, initiate the 'Uniquification' plan."

"Uniquification?"

Hongjun lost his voice, his tone for the first time carrying undisguisable horror.

Sun Wukong also felt something was off.

Within these three words lay an aura of termination more terrifying than death.

That icy voice slowly, word by word, gave the answer.

And this answer is the true storm that is about to sweep everything away.

"The 'Uniquification' plan means selecting either the 'variable' or the 'fixed number' as the universe's final form."

"The arbitration method is neither debate nor judgment."

"But rather... consumption."

Consumption!

These two words were like two Creator God thunderbolts, exploding in the minds of Sun Wukong and Hongjun!

"Your Dao will be completely liberated in this 'Return-to-Source Land'."

"You will become each other's sole 'food'."

"Consuming the opponent will turn their Great Dao, their existence, their everything into part of oneself."

"The victor's Dao will become the new cornerstone of this 'Iterative Universe', becoming the sole 'Principle'."

"The loser..."

The voice paused slightly, as if simulating an emotion called 'Cruelty'.

"The loser will be completely erased from all levels of causality, time, existence, concept, and so on."

"Together with the traces of their Dao's existence, they will become part of the victor's Dao foundation, never to transcend."

"This, is the final arbitration."

Crazy!

This is fucking crazy!

This isn't arbitration at all!

This is raising gu!

"Throwing them both into a jar, letting them tear at each other, consume each other, and the last survivor becomes the new 'Gu King'."

Sun Wukong's chest heaved violently, his eyes instantly turning blood‑red!

He looked at Hongjun.

Hongjun was also staring fixedly at him, the fear on his old face having faded,

What replaced it was a desperate, hysterical madness and greed!

If before, Hongjun merely wanted to kill Sun Wukong and seize the Heavenly Dao's authority.

"Now what he wants to do is to crush Sun Wukong flesh and bone, together with that damned 'Equal Heaven Path', and swallow it down!"

"Because this is his only chance to survive, even to surpass the past and become truly 'Unique'."

Sun Wukong laughed.

He laughed with unprecedented exhilaration and wildness.

He slowly raised the Golden Cudgel in his hand, pointing at Hongjun, who was likewise beginning to gather his entire body's Dao Rhythm.

"Good!"

"What a perfect final arbitration!"

"What a perfect mutual consumption!"

His battle spirit, at this moment, broke through all repression, turning into golden flames that would burn the Nine Heavens!

He turned his head, facing the void, and let out a mad laugh that shook the entire 'Return-to-Source Land'.

"I, Old Sun, like this rule!"

"Cut the crap!"

"Let's begin!"

It seemed to be a response to his battle spirit.

That icy voice uttered the final command.

"Arbitration unit liberated."

The field rules are reconstructed.

The final showdown...

Start!

The moment the words fell.

The black platform beneath Sun Wukong and Hongjun's feet, boundless and endless, shattered with a boom.

An irresistible suction came from below, pulling both of them,

Simultaneously pulling them into a deeper realm, filled with an aura of endless destruction and creation...

The final battle arena!