Chapter 276: The Sand Table of Order, the Desperate Simulation

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ did not speak.

He didn't even glance at Sun Wukong, as if this monkey who dared to challenge the Heavenly Dao was already unworthy of his judgment in words.

He simply sat on the Divine Throne formed from myriad orders and laws, faced the void before him, and gently, with a wave of his hand.

No earth‑shaking display.

No world‑destroying power.

It was like a mortal casually brushing dust off a table.

Yet, where his hand swept, the entire space of the Source of Ten Thousand Paths gently trembled.

In the next instant, Sun Wukong's pupils shrank sharply to the size of a needle tip.

Before him, in the endless void, countless specks of light materialized out of nowhere!

Those specks were initially only grain‑of‑rice sized, but in an instant they expanded, becoming billions of fist‑sized, crystal‑clear light spheres.

Each light sphere seemed to contain an entire Universe within.

Stars were born within, galaxies spun within, and life was nurtured within.

Billions of universal sand tables floated silently between the two of them, dense and boundless, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

Sun Wukong's hand gripping the Golden Cudgel tightened involuntarily by three more degrees.

Damn it!

You old scruffy one, aren't you trying to argue?

You made all this stuff, what do you want to do?

Hongjun remained expressionless, raised a withered finger, and casually pointed at one of the light spheres.

The light sphere, guided by his finger, instantly shot out from the countless sand tables and rapidly enlarged.

A vibrant world unfolded clearly before Sun Wukong's eyes.

The mountains were magnificent, the rivers roared.

Countless races and countless civilizations freely developed in this vast Universe, full of infinite possibilities.

Sun Wukong's gaze hardened.

He even saw a familiar scene on one of the azure stars.

On the high mountains, a troop of monkeys frolicked, gathered wild fruit, chased and tussled, unrestrained.

That primal wildness and vigor, born from the bones, was just like Mount Huaguo deep in his memory.

This is what he seeks—Equal Heaven!

Every living being can follow its own will, live its own way, unbound by any rule!

Yet Hongjun seemed determined to make him see clearly.

His fingertip twitched, and the flow of time within that sand‑table Universe began to accelerate wildly at a terrifying speed!

Hundreds of years, thousands of years, ten thousand years…

Soon, the hint of nostalgia on Sun Wukong's face solidified.

He saw that Mount Huaguo‑like tribe, fighting a war with another powerful tiger tribe over richer lands.

Blood flowed like rivers.

He saw, in a more distant star region, two interstellar civilizations that had reached their pinnacle,

who, to seize a Star containing massive energy, brazenly launched a war that swept the entire Star System.

Countless stars were blown apart, countless lives turned into cosmic dust amid wails.

Greed, desire, hatred…

These emotions, amplified infinitely by Freedom, acted like the fiercest catalyst, causing the Universe's contradictions to erupt violently.

No unified order.

No supreme constraint.

Each civilization, in a frenzy of plunder for its own survival, took without limit.

In the end,

in an endless internal strife that engulfed the entire Universe,

the last Star went out.

the last life took its final breath.

That once vibrant Universe, full of infinite possibilities, completely fell into extinction.

All its light and heat were exhausted, all matter fell silent, and it finally collapsed into a cold, death‑emanating… gray bead.

"Plop."

The bead fell into Hongjun's palm, cold and heavy.

Sun Wukong's chest felt as if blocked by a massive stone; he nearly couldn't catch his breath.

He wanted to retort, to roar, saying this was just an exception!

But Hongjun gave him no chance to speak.

Expressionless, he casually tossed the gray bead, letting it turn into flying ash.

Then, he waved his hand again.

Another Universe sand table, filled with variables and Freedom, was magnified.

The living beings of this Universe seemed to have learned the lesson.

Although they also possessed free will, they knew restraint, forming loose alliances and coexisting peacefully.

Sun Wukong's eyes sparked with a hint of hope again.

Yet, the simulation continued.

This time, the disaster comes from outside.

A twisted, massive monster suffused with Chaos Realm aura unexpectedly tore the fabric of space and barged into this peaceful Universe.

Facing an external enemy.

The countless civilizations of this Universe, their first reaction is not to unite in resistance.

Some choose to cower, praying that the monster will not notice them.

Some choose to flee, attempting to migrate to the opposite end of the Universe.

Others even dare to communicate with the monster, offering other civilizations in hopes of self‑preservation.

They fight each other, scheming and backstabbing, utterly unable to form an effective resistance in a short time.

The result is unsurprising.

That powerful Chaos Realm creature, like a starving wolf that has entered a sheepfold, easily devours all civilizations one after another.

The entire Universe becomes its sumptuous lunch.

At the end of the simulation, it is still a cold, Deathly Silence gray bead.

Sun Wukong's complexion has already grown rather unpleasant.

And this is only the beginning.

Hongjun seems too lazy to utter another word; he merely remains indifferent, like an emotionless machine, repeating his simulation.

Buzz—!

The billions of sand tables floating in the void, at this moment, suddenly begin to accelerate simultaneously!

Billions of Universes filled with Freedom and variables, billions of different developmental possibilities, all begin to unfold at once.

Some are destroyed by endless civil wars.

Some perish from uncontrollable plagues.

Some, by over‑probing the Universe's taboos, trigger a cascading collapse of the laws.

Some, while internally peaceful, are wholesale plundered by mightier space pirates.

……

The outcome, without exception.

The brilliant star‑river turns to ash.

The dazzling civilizations return to dust.

Countless Universes brimming with infinite possibilities ultimately converge on the same end—heat death,

internal strife, self‑destruction, or being devoured by a stronger Order.

Billions of light spheres representing Possibility and Freedom, before Sun Wukong's eyes,

extinguish one by one, turning into one cold, desperate gray bead after another.

The scene resembles a grand and cruel funeral.

What is buried is Sun Wukong's proud Equal Heaven Path.

It is his "My fate is my own."

It is the foundation of all his resistance!

Hongjun's simulation, like one relentless hammer after another, brutally smashes Sun Wukong's Dao Heart!

You said you wanted Freedom, didn't you?

Here you go.

You said you wanted infinite possibilities, didn't you?

Here you have it too.

What was the result?

The result is destruction!

It is thorough, unequivocal destruction!

After an unknown span, when the last light sphere exhausts its glow and turns gray, the entire void sinks into a death‑like stillness.

Hongjun slowly extends his hand, supporting that final gray bead that represents termination and failure.

He finally lifts his gaze, calmly looking beyond billions of dead Universal wreckage, and casting it toward the massive pupil formed from the Cosmic Pan-Consciousness.

He uses no ornate diction.

Nor any boast of victory.

He merely employs the coldest data, billions of gruesome facts, to present his conclusion to this supreme arbiter.

"The end of Freedom is destruction."

"The terminus of variables is void."

"Only absolute order can bring eternity."

His voice is not loud, yet it reverberates like the final judgment in every corner of the Source of Ten Thousand Paths, indefensible and unquestionable.

Sun Wukong trembles all over.

That is not Fear Heart Demon.

It is anger!

It is a suppressed, sky‑splitting fury!

He wants to smash it all!

But he cannot!

The rule here is "discourse of Dao," not combat!

Hongjun, using his most adept method, struck him down in one blow!

His body will be left without a single intact skin, speechless!

Hongjun's gaze finally moved away from the eyes of the Cosmic Pan-Consciousness and fell upon Sun Wukong,

That look was as if he were staring at a prisoner already sentenced to death.

Everything is over.

However.

At this Deathly Silence, even the Cosmic Pan-Consciousness seemed to be digesting this "iron proof."

A sudden sound broke the silence.

"Heh…"

"Hehe…"

"Hahahahahahahaha—!"

Sun Wukong suddenly laughed.

He covered his face, his body shaking violently from his wild laughter, and in that laugh,

there was not a trace of defeat or despair, but instead an unprecedented frenzy and wildness!

Hongjun's indifferent expression instantly hardened, his brows tightly furrowed.

This monkey, gone mad?

Sun Wukong abruptly lifted his head, his Fiery Golden Eyes blood‑red like flames, and he extended a finger

, not toward Hongjun, but toward the countless gray beads that represent destruction.

On his face was a dazzling Smile that made even Hongjun's heart flutter.

"Old Zamao, you call this… a failure?"

"No, no, no."

He shook his finger, laughing until tears nearly spilled.

"Where is the failure?"

"This damn thing is actually a good start!"