Chapter 31: Who Do You Think You Are?

The world has stopped.

It's not an adjective.

It's a physical, literal halt.

Outside Gao Lao Zhuang, the Bajie who just turned into a real pig halted, the half‑chewed grass root in its mouth frozen.

The splashes from a distant brook hung suspended in midair, like glittering diamonds.

The wind no longer blows, the clouds no longer drift.

Even the flow of time becomes incomparably viscous at this moment.

At the center of the sky‑filled, ground‑covering purple aura.

A silhouette slowly materializes.

There are no earth‑shaking entrance effects, nor a grand procession of ten thousand immortals paying homage.

It is simply an old Taoist priest clad in a gray cloth robe.

He holds a bamboo staff in his hand.

His hair is speckled gray, tied into a simple Taoist knot.

If placed in a mortal market, he would be just an ordinary fortune‑telling old man you could see everywhere.

Yet even Sun Wukong's Fiery Golden Eyes that can pierce illusion.

Cannot discern his face.

That place seems both a void and a cradle of the Universe's birth and death of stars.

He is the Dao.

He is the Rule.

He is the true ruler of this world.

Hóngjūn Dàozǔ.

Beyond the thirty‑three heavens, within the Zixiao Palace, the countless primordial Assemblies that have merged Dao exist.

At this moment.

In the ruins of Lingxiao Hall, the Jade Emperor; in the rotting mud of Ling Shan, the Tathagata; and the Two Western Saints trapped in a tower counting ants.

Even the Three Purities meditating in Chaos Realm.

All sensed this aura.

Though the Jade Emperor's Xiūwéi has been sealed, he still weeps with excitement, frantically kowtowing toward that direction.

"Dao Ancestor! Dao Ancestor has manifested!"

"Those demons are finished! This world is saved!"

The Tathagata even struggles to reshape his Golden Body, muttering, "Heavenly Dao shines bright, retribution is unsatisfied."

In their eyes.

Hongjun is the ultimate safeguard, an absolutely invincible being.

As long as the old man acts.

Not even Bodhi, even Pangu's rebirth must be shown some respect.

In the high heavens.

Hongjun pays no heed to the kowtowing disciples and descendants.

His gaze, spanning the Three Realms, lands on the Bodhi in white robes, seemingly harmless to both man and beast, outside Gao Lao Zhuang.

That is the only variable in this world.

A variable that even the Creation Jade Disc cannot calculate.

"Dao friend."

Hongjun spoke.

His voice is soft, yet it resounds in every Living Being's sea of consciousness.

Without any emotional tint.

Like mechanical gears turning.

"Pass."

Just two simple words.

Yet they fall like two ancient divine mountains crashing down.

Words Follow Law.

As those two words descend, the surrounding shattered mountains and rivers begin to show signs of restoration.

That is the Heavenly Dao Law forcibly correcting the Error.

He is issuing a command.

He is passing judgment.

He tells Bodhi: "You've caused enough trouble; it's time to end."

That lofty, indifferent disdain that treats all things as fodder makes Sun Wukong's monkey hair stand on end.

He bares his teeth, a low roar emanating from his throat.

This old man.

Is a thousand times more detestable than that spineless Jade Emperor.

"Pass?"

The Bodhi Patriarch, who has never behaved properly, this time neither cleans his ears nor cracks melon seeds.

He lifts his head.

Staring straight at that face whose features were indistinct.

His white robe moved on its own without wind.

A hazy stream of grayish qi rose from beneath his feet.

It was Chaos Qi.

It belonged to neither the Five Elements nor the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Dao.

It tyrannically tore apart the law field beneath Hóngjūn Dàozǔ's veil.

The mountains and rivers that were restoring shattered again.

"You think you're big,"

The Bodhi Patriarch's voice was crisp.

It carried a brash, street‑thug vigor.

Yet it rang clearly across the Three Realms.

Deathly Silence.

True Deathly Silence.

The Jade Emperor's bowing motion froze.

The Tathagata's mouth, mid‑chant, closed.

Even the Tongtian Patriarch, who was still at Zi Xiao Gong just after emerging from the gate and watching the livestream, crushed the tea cup in his hand.

"Cursing the Dao Ancestor?"

"Calling Hóngjūn Dàozǔ a big shot?"

"This... this is no longer madness."

"This is a challenge to the entire cultivation world's worldview!"

A ripple seemed to pass over Hóngjūn's blurred face.

How many Yuan Assemblies have passed.

Since he aligned himself with the Heavenly Dao, who has not shown him utmost respect upon seeing him?

Even the most unruly Demon Ancestor, Luo Hou, in those days, dared not point at his nose and curse.

"Audacious."

Hongjun lightly tapped his bamboo staff.

There was no earth‑shaking energy surge.

But in the void above Bodhi's head, an ancient, simple Jade Disc's illusory shadow materialized.

Creation Jade Disc.

A supreme treasure containing the three thousand great Dao laws.

Even a fragment alone could suppress the heavens and myriad realms.

Countless law chains hung down from the Jade Disc.

Golden law of metal, azure law of wood, black law of water…

They intertwined into an airtight great net, descending to envelop Bodhi.

This is not an attack.

It is erasure.

From the perspective of causality, it seeks to completely wipe the existence of 'Bodhi' from this world.

"Playing rules with me?"

The Bodhi Patriarch sneered.

He did not retreat but advanced.

He stepped forward.

The void beneath his feet crumbled inch by inch, revealing the pitch‑black, profound Chaos Void behind.

"When I taught Pangu to wield an axe within the Chaos,"

"You are still just a cicada rolling in the mud!"

Bodhi formed a fist with his right hand.

No flamboyant divine skill.

Just a plain, simple punch.

He hammered the law net in the sky.

This punch was launched.

There was no light.

There was no sound.

Because even the concepts of light and sound were devoured by the ultimate power contained in this punch.

It was a great Dao named 'Force'.

One Force shatters myriad laws.

Crack!

A crisp cracking sound.

The law net, capable of entrapping a Saint, was pierced cleanly by this punch as if it were paper.

The illusory shadow of the Creation Jade Disc trembled violently, and a fine crack appeared.

Puff.

Hongjun above the heights.

His figure swayed slightly.

He stepped back half a step.

Although it was only half a step.

But this scene utterly shattered the Dao Hearts of all beings in the Three Realms.

Dao Ancestor…retreated?

The one who represented invincibility, who represented the Heavenly Dao—Hongjun—was actually punched back by someone?

"You…"

Hongjun finally lost his composure.

In those originally indifferent eyes, for the first time appeared the emotion called "shock."

He fixed his gaze on the rich, unfathomable chaos primordial source emanating from Bodhi's body.

"Chaotic Demon God?"

"Impossible!"

"Pangu split heaven, slew the three thousand demon gods—how could you possibly still be alive?!"

"And moreover…"

A barely perceptible tremor entered Hongjun's voice.

"Why isn't your power suppressed by the Heavenly Dao?!"

"Suppressed?"

Bodhi withdrew his fist and blew on his knuckles.

A look of contempt.

"Just your broken Heavenly Dao?"

"Full of loopholes, too selfish."

"It should have been fixed long ago."

He turned his head and glanced at Sun Wukong, who was already gaping beside him.

"Disciple."

"Did you see that clearly?"

"This is what a real fight is."

"Those flashy divine tricks are just for women to watch."

"True strength."

Bodhi pointed at his own fist, then at Hongjun in the heavens.

"Trust only your own fist."

"Even if it's Heaven."

"Even Heaven has to kneel before me!"

Sun Wukong's hand gripping the Golden Cudgel trembled.

It wasn't fear.

It was excitement.

It was the frenzy of boiling blood.

This is the master I've wanted.

This is the Dao he has longed for.

What Buddha, what immortal, what heavenly rules and precepts.

All of it is bullshit!

"Master!"

Sun Wukong roared, and the Golden Armor on his body burst forth with ten thousand zhang of light.

"This old man, since he's born from a cricket…"

"…couldn't he be roasted and eaten?"

Hongjun in the heavens turned completely black-faced.

"A cricket?"

"Roasted?"

This master and disciple truly have no intention of letting him return alive!

"Good, good, good."

Hongjun, furious, broke into a grim laugh.

The bamboo staff in his hand exploded, turning into countless specks of starlight that merged into his body.

"Since you're seeking death…"

"…then this poor Daoist will let you witness…"

"…what the wrath of the Heavenly Dao is!"

Boom—

The entire sky of the Three Realms turned completely blood-red.

A colossal eye slowly opened in the firmament above.

The Eye of Heavenly Punishment.

The omen of world's end.

At this moment.

Whether mortal or immortal.

In their hearts, only one thought remained:

It's over.

But this master and disciple.

One holding a stick, the other with hands behind back.

Standing on the ruins of High Old Village.

Gazing at the great eye in Heaven.

As if looking at a light bulb about to explode.