Chapter 340

Deathly Silence.

Star Sea has regained tranquility once again.

But this tranquility is more suffocating than any clamor.

Just like the eerie calm before a storm, so brief it's horrifying.

Sun Wukong stood in place, feeling the icy imprint deep within his Divine Soul.

【Suggestion…… Formatting.】

He grinned, smiling silently, but that smile held no warmth, only a chilling, ancient killing intent.

Formatting?

What a big attitude!

When I, Old Sun Wukong, find you, I'll twist your head off and kick it like a ball!

Yao's figure appeared beside him, her face filled with undisguised worry and fear.

"Wukong, what should we do?"

Her voice was trembling.

"That presence…… feels more terrifying than Hongjun, purer than silence."

"He didn't even lift a hand against us; he just said a single sentence…"

Just one sentence made the two terrifying beings standing at the pinnacle of the Universe tuck their tails and flee like obedient dogs.

Just imagining this aura makes one feel a chill deep in the Línghún.

Sun Wukong turned his head, looked at her pale little face, suddenly grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

"What's there to fear!"

He reached out and habitually rubbed Yao's head, but the gesture was much gentler than before.

"Even if Heaven falls, there's someone high holding it up."

The "high one" he spoke of is naturally his Master, the Bodhi Patriarch.

Yao looked at his carefree demeanor, as if nothing weighed on his mind, and her tightly wound heartstrings inexplicably loosened a bit.

Yeah.

Behind them, there's still that old gardener who tends flowers.

The one who dares to extort compensation from the Lord of the Star Sea, the invincible Master.

However, Sun Wukong spoke lightly, but his mind was as clear as a mirror.

Master?

Everything the Master could do has already been done.

He left behind a Study, a backup plan, and even that tortoise shell capable of turning the heavens and earth.

But the Master's Way is "protection," it is "creation."

And the existence of that "lock"-outside trash is nothing but Negation of everything.

All the Master can do is stay within the rules, constantly advising him, giving him the possibility to create a breakthrough.

But the real battle, that final stick that overturns the table, still must be wielded by himself.

He can't keep waiting passively like this!

Waiting just means giving that trash more time to "contaminate"!

Waiting just means watching helplessly as the rust spots on one's body keep expanding, until one is completely corroded into a pile of scrap iron!

He must take the initiative!

Find that bastard's lair, then……

One smash, crush it!

Together with that damn chessboard, smash it to pieces!

But where should we look?

That bastard is formless and shapeless, everywhere yet nowhere—it feels as if it doesn't exist anywhere in this universe.

He is like a player hiding outside the screen, while I am merely a preset character inside the screen.

How do we fight?

What do we fight with?

Sun Wukong's Fiery Golden Eyes scanned the endless Star Sea; his divine sense, like the most precise carpet‑scan, covered a range of hundreds of millions of light‑years.

He left no world, no star, no speck of dust unexamined.

The result was pure emptiness.

There was nothing at all.

That bastard is like a fart: you can smell it, but you can't see its shape or hold onto it.

This left Sun Wukong feeling an unprecedented agitation.

He would rather face countless Hongjuns than deal with this slippery bastard!

Suddenly, a place flashed across his mind.

The Source of Ten Thousand Paths!

The place where he once debated the Dao with Hongjun!

The foundation of the universe, the origin of all laws!

Could that bastard be hiding there?

That place is the heart of the entire Multiverse, the most dangerous spot—and, as the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place!

The moment that thought rose, his blood throughout his body began to surge!

But the next second, that flame of excitement was doused by a bucket of cold water he poured on himself.

Stupid.

He shook his head self‑mockingly.

That scoundrel, who could toy with Hongjun, Silence, and even Absolute Malice at his fingertips, must have a mind that has already surpassed the realm of calculation.

How could it possibly place its lair in such an obvious spot as the Source of Ten Thousand Paths?

That place is like the inner palace of a mortal emperor; everyone keeps their eyes on it. If it went there, wouldn't it be walking into a net of its own making?

Absolutely impossible.

That scoundrel's lair must be in a place that he, even his Master, could not have imagined.

A corner that everyone has overlooked, the most inconspicuous one.

The most unexpected place…

The most unremarkable…

Sun Wukong's brows knit into a knot.

His Original Spirit instantly sank into the depths of the Sea of Consciousness, returning to the solitary 'Heart's Study'.

He needed quiet.

Absolute quiet.

He paced irritably around the Study, the wooden floor creaking under his steps.

His mind raced wildly through every experience and detail of his journey so far.

From Mount Huaguo, to Slanting Moon Three Stars Cave, to Heaven, to Five Elements Mountain, then the Western Journey road, and finally to this endless Star Sea.

He sifted through every place, every person, every event in his mind.

None!

Still none!

No clue points to that damned place!

"Damn!"

Sun Wukong let out an irritated growl, then abruptly lifted a foot and slammed it hard onto the desk his Master had left.

Whoosh!

The desk toppled with a sound.

The jade slips and ancient scrolls on the table scattered across the floor.

The cup of clear tea his Master had left, still steaming, shattered to pieces.

The entire Study lay in ruins.

Beneath the overturned desk, among countless volumes chronicling the birth and death of the Universe,

one object stood out, alone.

It showed no trace of magical flux, nor any Dao Rhythm.

It was just that ordinary, that unremarkable.

A pitch‑black piece, riddled with cracks, even stained with a hint of aged tea…

tattered turtle shell.

It was exactly the shabby thing his Master had once casually used to prop up the uneven desk leg.

All of Sun Wukong's movements froze completely at that moment.

His breathing also ceased.

The entire 'Heart's Study' fell into Deathly Silence.

He stared, dead‑stared, at the tattered turtle shell lying amid the wreckage.

The final line his Master had left, like a Thunderbolt, exploded in his mind!

【The only… vitality… is that piece I used to prop the desk leg… the turtle shell!】

Until now, he had always thought it was merely a hint, a token his Master gave him.

But now it seems…

Sun Wukong's pupils contracted in an instant into the most dangerous, sharpest needle points!

He bent down slowly, slowly.

He reached out, picked up the cold, rough tattered turtle shell.

Then, he smiled.

He laughed more wildly, more unrestrained than ever before!

That laughter rang with the clarity of a burden lifted and the boundless excitement of having found prey!

"So…"

He muttered in a voice only he could hear.

In those golden eyes blazed a mad flame capable of burning through the entire Universe.

"So it's you, you damned thing!"