Chapter 39: The Monkey Wants to Ascend to Heaven

Mount Huaguo summit.

A huge stone stood abruptly there.

Sun Wukong sat cross-legged.

He closed his eyes.

His breathing was very slow.

With each inhale, the surrounding spiritual energy formed a huge vortex that poured into his nostrils.

With each exhale, the white airflow like two long dragons shattered Heaven's cloud layers.

Bodhi Patriarch hovered in midair.

He held the broken gourd that could never be filled with wine.

"Want a sip?"

He turned the gourd's mouth upside down.

What poured out was not wine.

It was gray mist.

Chaos Realm spiritual energy.

This was the stash he had gathered in the Chaos Void.

An ordinary immortal would explode and die after inhaling a single breath.

"Thank you, Master."

Sun Wukong opened his mouth and inhaled.

That gray mist, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, all drilled into his belly.

"Boom!"

A muffled sound came from within his body.

Like a dam bursting.

The golden hairs on Sun Wukong's body stood up one by one.

The somewhat depleted demon god's primordial source was instantly filled, then overflowed.

Heaven changed.

Not the kind of change with dark clouds covering the sky.

It was the entire sky collapsing downward.

Black.

A blackness where you cannot see your fingers when you stretch out your hand.

There was no thunder.

Only that oppressive feeling that makes the heart palpitate.

Inside the Purple Cloud Palace.

Hongjun, who was in closed-door cultivation to heal his injuries, suddenly opened his eyes.

"Mixed Yuan Tribulation?"

His face changed.

"How is that possible… without Hongmeng Purple Qi, without Heavenly Dao's recognition…"

"On what basis does he prove the Dao?"

Hongjun wanted to move.

But moving aggravated his wound, and a thread of essence blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He looked toward Mount Huaguo, his eyes sinister.

"Variable…"

"This really is a major variable."

Above Mount Huaguo.

The first bolt of lightning fell.

It was not purple.

It was black.

Like a black giant python, it silently bit toward Sun Wukong's crown.

The law of destruction.

This is the calamity lowered by the Great Dao, not under Heavenly Dao's jurisdiction.

"Good timing!"

Sun Wukong suddenly opened his eyes.

Golden light pierced the darkness.

He did not use the Golden Cudgel.

He rose to his feet directly and punched toward that black giant python.

"Bang!"

His fist collided with the lightning.

There were no sparks.

Only the annihilation of space.

The black lightning coiled up his arm, scorching his flesh.

A burnt smell spread.

Sun Wukong grinned, revealing his fangs.

This bit of strength isn't even enough to scratch an itch for me!

His body shuddered.

The Chaotic Demon God's qi and blood surged, directly shattering that lightning.

The second.

The third.

The lightning tribulation came faster and faster.

Its power grew greater and greater.

Sun Wukong's flesh burst open, revealing his golden bones.

But the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He was laughing.

Laughing wildly.

"Exhilarating!"

He snatched a bolt of lightning, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it.

Tempering his body with the Great Dao tribulation lightning.

Only that bunch of Chaotic Demon Gods could pull off this kind of madness.

Bodhi watched from the side.

From time to time he tossed two melon seeds into his mouth.

"Not bad."

"It's nowhere near what Pangu managed back then, but out here in the boonies it'll do."

Although he complained about it,

but his hand kept gripping his sleeve.

As soon as Sun Wukong showed any sign of not being able to hold up, he was ready to flip the table.

The eightieth lightning tribulation fell.

Sun Wukong's half body was ripped apart.

Golden blood sprayed across the mountaintop.

But he still stood.

His spine stood straight like a spear.

"Any more?"

He roared at the heavens.

The cloud layers roiled.

The final tribulation.

No movement.

No lightning, no fire.

The scene before Sun Wukong's eyes suddenly changed.

No longer a scorched-black mountaintop.

It was a peach blossom forest.

Pink petals drifted down.

A woman in purple robes stood beneath the tree.

She held a precious sword in her hand.

She gazed at him with a gentle smile.

"Supreme Treasure."

The woman's voice was light and soft.

Like a feather brushing the tip of the heart.

"You promised to marry me on seven-colored auspicious clouds."

Sun Wukong froze.

A flicker of confusion crossed his murderous eyes.

Zixia.

The name that had appeared countless times in his dreams.

The shadow from five hundred years ago that he had tried to grasp but could not catch.

"Look."

Zixia pointed at the sky.

"The clouds are coming."

"Let's go. We won't go fetch the scriptures, and we won't be the Great Sage Equal to Heaven."

She reached out her hand.

Her fair palm, with clear lines visible.

Sun Wukong instinctively reached out his hand.

His fingertips touched that warm, soft palm.

It felt very real.

So real it made him want to cry.

"Wukong!"

In the distance, someone seemed to be shouting.

But the voice was very vague.

Sun Wukong's foot stepped forward.

If I follow her, all this slaughter will end.

No Tathagata, no Jade Emperor, no those calculations.

Only this peach blossom forest.

How wonderful.

Sun Wukong's hand grasped Zi Xia's hand.

Zi Xia smiled.

She smiled beautifully.

But the next second.

Her smile froze.

Because Sun Wukong's other hand pulled the Golden Cudgel out of his ear.

"It's very beautiful."

Sun Wukong looked into her eyes.

His tone was very calm.

"But you are fake."

Zi Xia's expression became twisted.

"Don't you want to save me? Don't you want…"

"Want to."

Sun Wukong nodded.

"But my Lao Sun's path is not to hide in a Dream and be a turtle."

"If I want to save you, I will go to the Underworld and tear the Book of Life and Death, go to the Heavenly Court and smash Lingxiao Hall."

"Not to stay here and play house with you."

He swung the staff in his hand violently.

"No woman in the heart, drawing the blade naturally becomes divine!"

"Break it for me!"

The Golden Cudgel, accompanied by a whistling wind, smashed hard onto Zi Xia's crown.

Without any hesitation.

Without the slightest pity or tenderness.

"Crack."

It was like a mirror being shattered.

The peach blossom forest shattered.

Zi Xia shattered.

The warm sunlight also shattered.

Sun Wukong returned to the charred mountaintop.

The black clouds above dispersed.

A violet‑golden pillar of light descended from the void, enveloping him.

The wounds on his body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His breath rose step by step.

Quasi‑Saint pinnacle.

Sub‑Saint.

Boom!

The invisible threshold was violently kicked open.

A boundless, vast pressure, centered on Mount Huaguo, instantly swept across the Three Realms.

All living beings felt it at that moment.

Another supreme being was born.

Not by merit, not by slaying three corpses.

It is by strength proving the Dao.

Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal!

Sun Wukong bathed in golden light.

He clenched his fist, feeling the power inside that seemed able to crush stars.

He turned around.

He kowtowed heavily toward the old Taoist not far away.

"Master."

"I've become."

Bodhi stretched lazily.

He flicked the melon‑seed shells from his hand.

"If you're done, come down."

Don't strike a pose there.

He turned and walked toward the Water Curtain Cave.

I'm hungry.

Get something to eat.

Sun Wukong jumped up from the ground.

The dignity on his face collapsed instantly, turning into that goofy, smiling monkey look.

All right!

I'll go catch two fat sheep right now, and we'll roast a whole sheep tonight!

Under the setting sun.

An old and a young figure, their shadows stretched long.

As for what the gods and buddhas in heaven think,

Who cares?

Anyway, the Heaven of the Three Realms

From now on, his surname is Sun.