Chapter 368: A Flower Blooms Above Despair

Outside Wanshen Fenchang, in that endless void.

A supreme will was preparing to execute its final command.

【Formatting】.

This was its final mercy toward the most interesting "failed product" it named Sun Wukong.

It enjoyed the process of gradually negating lively resistance into absolute nothingness.

Like a skilled sculptor removing the last blemish from a piece of raw jade.

Sun Wukong's consciousness was like a candle in the wind, about to go out at any moment.

Now is the time to deliver the final blow.

That ultimate Negation force, capable of erasing all meaning, pressed down like an invisible flood, bearing the majesty of judgment!

Target, Sun Wukong's Divine Soul about to sink completely!

However!

Just as that force was about to touch the core of Sun Wukong's consciousness!

Dong!!!

A deep, muffled roar that seemed to shake the foundations of the Multiverse exploded out of nowhere!

That irresistible force, which could easily Negate even three thousand demon gods,

was like slamming at high speed into an invisible mountain forged of absolute Concept!

It stopped!

It could no longer advance even an inch!

The supreme will, for the first time, produced a fluctuation akin to bewilderment.

Impossible!

In this world, no existence can resist the truth of Negation!

This monkey, though its Dao Heart was shattered and its Divine Soul collapsed, had only a last breath left!

What does he rely on to resist?

What does he have to resist with?!

Amidst this astonishment, the blocked Negation force began to shudder uncontrollably!

No!

It is not it that is trembling!

It is the thing it struck, the thing awakened from the deepest part of Sun Wukong's Divine Soul, now throbbing wildly at a terrifying frequency!

Each throb was like a heaven-splitting hammer strike, slamming hard against that Negation force!

Making it emit a groan of unbearable strain!

The supreme will, for the first time, felt… troublesome.

As if it stretched out a hand to crush an ant.

But the ant suddenly turned into a red-hot branding iron bristling with spikes!

Not only did it fail to crush it, it burned a hole through its hand!

……

Sun Wukong slowly opened his eyes.

No longer the previous madness and fury.

Nor the sorrow and despair of a broken Dao Heart.

In those golden eyes now remained only… a kind of seeing through everything,

after trampling all joys and sorrows underfoot, leaving only pure calm.

Within that calm lay a hint… of teasing, like watching a monkey show.

He leisurely rose from the ground.

His movements unhurried, like strolling through his own backyard garden.

He reached out and lightly patted his tattered Golden Armor, carefully brushing off the nonexistent dust upon it.

Every motion was filled with composure.

Having done all that, he lifted his head, gazed at the formless void, and grinned.

"Thanks."

His voice was not loud, carrying a hoarse rasp of just having awakened, yet it echoed clearly through every inch of space.

"If you hadn't driven me to this desperate path, this old monkey Sun would never have grasped this Principle."

The supreme will shrank sharply upon hearing those words!

It felt it!

An unprecedented, instinctive… dread!

This monkey!

He is not merely enduring!

He isn't even resisting!

He is simply… standing there!

He used something it cannot comprehend, define, or touch to completely isolate his ultimate truth from the outside!

How is this possible?!

It is the end! It is the verdict! It is the Universe's final answer!

A loser! An erroneous datum about to be erased! A struggling ant on the chessboard!

What does he rely on to resist "Truth"?!

Sun Wukong ignored the shock of that will.

His gaze slowly shifted, landing not far away.

That massive gate, reinforced by his own hands and gleaming with cold golden light.

Once, this gate was his greatest shame.

It was proof of his foolishness.

It was the indelible mark of him personally driving his Master into a deeper hell.

But now...

Looking at that gate, Sun Wukong's gaze became incredibly gentle.

That blinding gold was no longer the color of a prison in his eyes.

That was the Dao of Hongjun's "absolute order".

That indestructible prison was no longer a symbol of despair in his eyes.

That was his defeat from his own stubborn refusal to turn back until hitting the south wall.

And all of this—all the shame, failure, and despair—combined to finally achieve this moment's……【No Regret】!

This gate is not a disgrace.

It is a monument!

A monument bearing witness to master and disciple—one exhausting schemes, the other exhausting brute force—both ending up in the same place, falling flat on their faces, a glorious monument!

Hehe…

Sun Wukong looked at that gate and couldn't help laughing softly.

Then, as if recalling something, he turned his head and gazed once more at the void.

"You say this thing is called despair, right?"

He stretched out his finger, pointing far away at that golden ultimate gate, his smile full of provocation.

That supreme will had no response.

But the cold and negation it exuded became even more intense.

In its definition, that is the embodiment of 【Despair】.

An unbreakable prison forged by the hands of the defeated, the most perfect cage.

"Oh, if you think so, then it is."

Sun Wukong shrugged indifferently.

Immediately after, he made a motion that caused even that supreme will to pause.

He extended his left hand.

On his arm, that gray 'rust spot' that once made his Dao Heart crumble, like a bone-deep maggot, still existed.

But now, Sun Wukong looked at it as if it were an ordinary birthmark on his skin.

"You shouldn't be idle either."

He softly said to that rust spot:

The next moment, his thought stirred!

That lethal rust spot representing "ultimate negation" did not frenziedly erode his Dao body as before.

But instead… it became obedient, like a tamed wild dog!

It actually followed Sun Wukong's will, actively detaching from his flesh and blood, swiftly gathering toward his fingertip!

All the gray, all the deathly silence, all the "negation"!

Finally, it condensed into a single grain on the tip of his index finger!

A grain smaller than a sesame seed, yet seeming to contain all "endings" of the universe, pitch-black like ink……a seed!

This seed was the weapon that bastard used to try to kill him!

It is the concentrate of its "ultimate truth"!

It is the final form of all things withering and returning to nothingness!

Gazing at this seed, that supreme will surged again.

It did not understand.

How could this monkey wield his own power, playing with it in the palm of his hand?

Even less understandable, what does he intend to do by condensing this "death seed"?

Throw it away?

Destroy it?

No matter what he does, it's meaningless.

Because this power is indelible.

However, Sun Wukong's next action utterly shattered its cognition.

He did not discard this seed.

Nor did he try to destroy it.

He simply held the pitch-black seed, stepped forward, step by step, and walked to before that massive golden gate.

Under the bewildered and uncomprehending gaze of the hidden mastermind.

Sun Wukong raised his hand.

Then, gently.

Like an old farmer in spring, carefully placing a most precious seed into fertile soil.

He placed that seed representing 【End】 and 【Negation】 of death.

Pressed onto the ultimate golden gate constructed from 【Order】 and 【Imprisonment】!

Boom!

Two utterly different yet equally extreme 'Dao', upon contact, erupted into a fierce clash!

The golden Order divine chains, frenziedly wanting to strangle this seed daring to defile its 'filth'!

And the jet-black Negation seed, instinctively, wanted to 'Negate' this indestructible Order!

The entire Wanshen Fenchang trembled violently due to this clash!

However, Sun Wukong felt nothing at all.

He merely pressed the seed steadily with his finger.

No matter how those two forces clashed and collided, they could not move him in the slightest.

He raised his head, gazed at that expanse of emptiness, split his mouth open, and revealed a mouthful of stark white teeth.

That Smile, brilliant enough to be dazzling.

You said, this is despair.

You said, this is the end.

You said, here…… nothing will ever exist again, right?

He asked each question in turn, as if chatting with an old friend.

Finally, he pressed the seed with his finger, exerting a slight force.

Then this old monkey today, I will stand upon your despair……

""

Let me bloom a flower for you to see!