Chapter 288: Powerless Fist, Unbreakable

Sun Wukong's eyes were so red they seemed about to bleed.

It was a feeling he had never experienced.

Powerless!

A bone‑deep powerlessness that surged up from the deepest part of his Línghún!

His fist could shatter an entire star region with a single blow.

His staff could pierce a hole through the so‑called Fixed Number.

But now, that power capable of overturning Heaven and Earth could not even brush the events unfolding before his eyes!

That was not an attack.

It was the execution of a rule.

Cold, efficient, without a trace of flamboyance.

Like a machine whose program has long been set, methodically erasing all the stray 'garbage code' that should not exist.

And those universes brimming with life and possibility are the garbage code!

"Aaaah—!!!"

Sun Wukong roared skyward, his voice filled with unprecedented madness and pain!

He surged at Hongjun, moving so fast that even time seemed to be left behind!

The Golden Cudgel, bearing his lifelong fury and resentment, transformed into a sweeping golden blaze that struck down hard at that solitary silhouette!

He must first slay this madman!

He must kill him!

Yet, at the instant just before the Golden Cudgel could touch Hongjun's body—

Hongjun's figure, like a water reflection disturbed by a pebble, silently dissolved into countless points of light, fading into the Star Sea.

A swing, striking empty air!

That world‑shattering power struck the void, and the resulting Storm of Rules ground the surrounding stellar debris into fundamental particles!

But Hongjun was gone.

In the next instant, a cold, emotionless voice rang out from all directions, from every inch of space and every dimension, simultaneously.

"Useless, Sun Wukong."

"I am Order."

"In the Arbitration Ground, I may not be able to persuade that newborn 'Heaven'."

"But here, in this universe that I have governed for billions of years..."

"My word is a heavenly decree!"

"You, how can you oppose the rules of the entire Universe?"

Before the words finished, thousands upon thousands of Hongjun figures simultaneously materialized around Sun Wukong.

Each one was identical.

Each bore that cold, ant‑scornful gaze.

"Give me, old Sun... crush!!!"

Sun Wukong went completely mad!

He no longer cared which was real and which was false!

He brandished the Golden Cudgel, turning it into a golden destruction Storm, smashing every Hongjun illusion he passed into the void!

Bang!

One illusion shattered.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Hundreds to thousands of illusions, under his frenzied assault, continuously turned into dust!

But this was meaningless!

Each time he shattered an illusion, more emerged from farther away.

At the same time, he could clearly sense.

At the moment he swung the staff, not far from him, another world brimming with birdsong and floral fragrance,

a vibrant world, silently completed its entire life.

The birds inside, before they could leave the forest, turned into withered bones.

The flowers inside, before they could bloom, became dust.

Everything, in silence, returned to Deathly Silence.

What terrified him even more!

He could feel it clearly!

Each time he extinguished such a world full of Freedom's will and variables, the foundation of his Way of the Equal Heaven seemed to be stripped of a strand out of thin air!

Though faint.

Yet that feeling of the foundation being shaken was crystal clear!

Undermining!

This old thing is actually playing the undermining strategy!

Ruthless!

Fucking ruthless!

He is not killing those Living Beings.

He is not destroying those worlds.

He is erasing the "meaning" of Sun Wukong's existence from the most fundamental logic!

Your Way of the Equal Heaven, your "variable count", aren't they derived from these worlds full of infinite possibilities?

Fine.

Then I'll strangle all these "possibilities" in the cradle!

I look at your great way; what could possibly remain!

Sun Wukong's movements slowed and stopped.

He stood like a statue, quietly within a region of Deathly Silence among the stars.

Around him were countless remnants of worlds that had just been extinguished.

They still retained the shape of their final "death", like grayish glass beads that would never shine again.

The raging fury in his heart, at this moment, strangely subsided.

It did not extinguish.

Instead, it was compressed and condensed, turning into an ultimate Deathly Silence hotter than magma and more violent than a star's core…

He finally, completely understood.

This war is no longer a simple fight.

Nor is it a contest of strength.

Hongjun is pressuring him.

Using the silent deaths of countless worlds to force him to watch with his own eyes, to force him to admit—

The "Freedom" he has protected, upheld, and fought for all this time is precisely the root that has brought about this destruction!

It is a mental torture!

"Did you see it, Sun Wukong?"

Hongjun's voice sounded again; this time, his figure slowly coalesced before Sun Wukong.

A sickly, twisted smile lingered on his face.

"This is the 'variable' you desire."

"This is the 'process' you pursue."

"Is it dazzling?"

"Is it splendid?"

"In the end, doesn't it still return to the 'order' endpoint I set?"

"You and I are actually no different."

"The only difference is that I choose to make this process more efficient."

"You should… thank me."

Each word from Hongjun was like a poisoned steel needle, brutally piercing Sun Wukong's Dao Heart!

Sun Wukong lifted his head; in those blood‑red eyes, there was no ripple.

He simply stared at Hongjun, as if looking at a corpse.

But at that moment!

His blood‑red pupils snapped shut!

His gaze pierced the endless void, looking toward another distant star region!

There, the newborn world where Yao resides!

It is the hopeful land that blossomed after the Master's "Heart‑Thought Flower" bloomed!

At this moment, the "Purifying" storm that swept the entire Multiverse finally reached the edge of that world!

A layer of dream‑like barrier built by Yao's Illusory Dream Path now shrouds the whole world.

Yet under the wash of the fundamental law of "Order Purifying", that barrier began to violently ripple!

Upon the barrier, circles upon circles of ripples spread!

Each ripple's spread dimmed the world's Color a little more!

The barrier emitted a strained wail!

It can't hold for long!

That instant!

The extreme madness suppressed in Sun Wukong's eyes suddenly faded!

In its place came an absolute calm that made even Hongjun's heart flutter!

A resolve to protect something at any cost… a decisive determination!

Being hit passively?

Watching helplessly as everything you cherish is erased by this madman in such a ridiculous way?

No!

I, old Sun, have never been the kind to sit and wait for death!

Since reasoning is useless.

Since the table has been flipped.

Since you, Hongjun, won't fight me, but want to play by rules…

Fine then!

Sun Wukong's mouth curled into a snarling grin.

Then I, old Sun…

…will also play with you!